Mushroom Lord (3)

"Wait, what's she doing? Is she not gonna use the circle?"

"...?" Feny and the others looked at each other in confusion. But since the mushroom tried to attack Aria again, they could only go back to the first plan. Which to throw weapons while Aria was running around incoherently.

But after a while, Helen then realized what Aria was doing. "Hey… I think she's trying to draw another circle." She said.

"What? Really?" Ask the others.

But it wasn't even half done, yet Aria had to be hit by the balls again. She doesn't know how many times she's been hit, but her eyes were really starting to get dizzy at that point.

"Ugh, just a little more…" Aria grumbled, who was starting to lose her balance.

She was really about to lose her consciousness, but then one of the mushroom's hands caught her leg. "GRAWRR!" The demon sounded happy when it managed to wrap around Aria's body, ready to be eaten.

'...As expected, I'm not suited for this job.'

Aria was already praying that her death would not be too painful. But when she heard Feny's voice screaming 'Aria!' in such a desperate tone, Aria decided to shake her head and force her eyes to open again.

"W-Wait!!" And she shouted.

Aria honestly wouldn't be surprised if the mushroom would still eat her. But because the mushroom's hand actually stopped for a moment, she continued her last, foolish endeavor.

"U-U-Um, m-m-mushroom, sir, how about we talk first? I-I don't taste good anyway…" She said through her gritted teeth.

"GRR…" Even though it was still roaring, its voice was not as scary as before.

"That, um, my name is Aria. What's your name?"

"GRR…"

"A-Anyway, I bet you have a cool name. Haha…" She said again. "But Mr. mushroom, what's more important now, I actually thought we could--"

ZRAATT! But a sword suddenly flew and cut off the mushroom's hand. And before Aria fell to the ground, someone immediately caught her first and stole her away from the mushroom.

"...R-Rei?!" Aria squeaked in disbelief. Her eyes were blurry, but it was definitely the face of the person who had sent her here in the first place. "What are you--"

"Shut up." Rei replied while he was busy throwing small knives at the mushroom.

Aria could only grab tightly to his neck at first. But then she remembered her plan again. "Wait, Rei! I actually--"

"You just stay here." Rei said while putting her down with Feny and the others. "I'll take care of the rest."

"What, wait!" Aria tried to stop him. But because he still ignored her, out of anger, Aria accidentally grabbed him by the collar. "I said wait!"

"--What the hell?!" He almost fell because Aria pulled his clothes suddenly, but fortunately he managed to stay balanced. "What are you doing?"

"I-I'm sorry. I just…" Aria hurriedly pulled her hand again, but she still continued. "I was actually drawing another magic circle. So if you could just help me finish it…"

"..." Went silent for a bit, Rei looked at the mushroom again. And indeed, there was an unfinished magic circle around it. But… He recognized something different. "What circle is that?"

"Uh… A very powerful one!"

But of course Rei sensed that Aria lied. "Just say it. I don't have time for this."

"..." But Aria couldn't just reply honestly to that. Because if she says that she doesn't want to kill the mushroom, Rei might just chained her to a tree. "Just let me try it. Please."

"If you do something stupid--"

"I won't!" And Aria ran back to the field just like that.

"Ugh, I swear I'm gonna fire her after this." Rei grumbled, though he decided to just wait for now.

But then he heard a boy whispering to Feny. "Who is he?"

"Who are you?" Rei asked back. Cal went silent because he was a bit scared, but then Rei's eyes already turned to another girl beside him. A girl holding a familiar cube.

"Why are you holding that?" He asked. But not even answering, Helen immediately hid the cube as if she was worried he would steal it. Even Cal also came to protect her.

Rei was almost tempted to actually steal it, but then he heard Aria's scream who apparently tripped over the mushroom cannonball. "Ugh, really useless." He grumbled and he finally flew back after her.

"Enough. You're fired." He said while holding her hand.

But as if she didn't care about that, Aria just pulled her hand and went back to draw the few remaining lines. "Just a bit more."

It wasn't long before Rei grabbed Aria's hand again to drag her away, but luckily the magic circle was finished this time. So instead of protesting, Aria turned to Helen.

"Helen, the cube!" She asked. But because Helen sprained her hand, Helen gave the cube to Cal so he could throw it.

But because Aria's vision was already blurry, she missed. Rei caught it in her stead, but he furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why do you need this?"

"To save it."

Aria grabbed the cube and scribbled a bit of her blood on it. Then she threw it into the middle of the field, right under the mushroom.

"Wait. Don't tell me--" Rei was about to protest, but since the magic circle had started working, he hurriedly carried Aria again and went back to the side with the others.

And POOFFF! The mushroom lord ended up trapped in the cube.