Gardenia's Heart

Chapter 89: Infection

As they walked through the Elven Forest, the girls gradually began to understand some of its peculiarities.

Whether it was flowers, trees, mushrooms, vines, or creepers, each type of vegetation changed almost entirely as they moved deeper into the forest. Apart from the fact that everything was unnaturally large, each section of this vast land felt like a completely new place waiting to be explored.

"My father once told me about flowers that bloom on water, but I never imagined I’d find one here," Lily said as she leaped between two giant water lilies floating on the river, her steps so light they didn’t even disturb the fish beneath the surface.

Even in such a challenging situation, she couldn’t contain the small thrill bubbling up inside her. For a plant lover, the Elven Forest felt like a place where every plant in the world had been gathered in one vast expanse.

"Nia, how long have we been walking?" she asked, still hopping across the floating plants, her tone brimming with excitement.

The terrain of the forest wasn’t entirely flat, allowing small clusters of raised land—almost like tiny hills—to form. Between these elevations, after some

Its eight spindly, angular legs trembled like razor-sharp claws, crushing the branches beneath its weight. Multiple eyes gleamed with a spectral, almost sickly green light, reflecting off the glistening white webs that surrounded it.

The creature—undoubtedly a colossal spider over five meters tall—had a crystalline green body reminiscent of an emerald. Its almost ornamental carapace blended seamlessly with the foliage, providing it with natural camouflage. From its vantage point, it fixated on the girls, preparing to strike.

“We walked straight into its nest,” Lily muttered coldly, as the putrid stench of decay assaulted her senses.

At the highest point of the webbed expanse, a massive nest stretched between four trees, filled with silk-wrapped cocoons. Lily concluded that those were the unfortunate animals that had wandered too close.

Covering Lily’s mouth and nose with a black mask made from her own material, Nia reformed her dark wings at the same moment a downpour of white threads rained upon them.

“For its size, it’s surprisingly fast,” Lily remarked as she swiftly maneuvered between the trees, gaining distance.

Using its webs, the spider spun intricate pathways that allowed it to move rapidly through the forest, relentlessly pursuing the girl who weaved between the branches with agile flight.

Lily didn’t believe the creature had the strength to break through Nia’s black shield, but getting caught in its webs would be troublesome. Trusting her wife to guide their path, she picked up speed, ensuring they wouldn’t lose their way.

(Interestingly, it's using its webs both to create platforms and to generate impulses.)

As Lily dodged the strands of web fired to ensnare her, Nia began analyzing how the monster was moving.

"Good thing we trained a bit on the way to the forest." Gritting her teeth, Lily twisted her entire body as she shot through the gap between two trees, folding her black wings at the last moment.

Her wings eliminated the need for running, allowing her to gain momentum by using the trees as footholds. With teleportation limited, they couldn't rely on a powerful close-range attack to finish the spider instantly—they needed another method.

The night breeze swept through her hair as she descended, skimming just inches above the ground. She spun around one of the trees and, with a powerful burst of speed, propelled herself directly toward her opponent.

Caught off guard by its prey suddenly charging instead of fleeing, the spider hastily wove a dense wall of web to block her advance.

Just as Lily was about to conjure an ice spell to shatter the web before she got trapped, Nia’s voice echoed in her mind.

(Use my sword.)

Still surging forward, Lily drew the stardust sword from her waist.

The blade, infused with Nia’s mana signature, began to emit a violet glow, and within a single second, a dense layer of black fire enveloped it.

With one swift slash of the blazing sword, Lily cleaved through the web, reducing it to ashes.

"Nia, this is amazing!" Eyes wide with excitement, Lily continued swinging her sword, effortlessly cutting through every attempt the spider made to attack from a distance.

(Fire spells are harder to control in large quantities, but with the stardust swords, we can shape them more easily.)

Nia’s words reminded Lily of how most fire mages she had encountered never unleashed flames recklessly; they always concentrated them around their fists or weapons for precise attacks.

The heat radiating from the blade in her grip was intense—even if it wasn’t as powerful as when Nia had used it in the Mage Academy’s arena, it burned even hotter than it had back then.

"I always say this, Nia—you’re amazing!"

Accelerating even more, Lily finally struck one of the monster’s legs with her sword.

The impact felt like striking solid rock, but the flaming blade didn’t falter. Instead, it forced the spider backward, and tiny cracks began forming along its emerald-like limb.

A sharp, agonized screech rang through the forest as the spider felt the scorching blade cut closer to its core.

It realized that using its webs was futile. Lily wasn’t even stepping on the branches or the webbing to reach it—immobilizing her wasn’t an option. If it wanted to survive, it needed to fight back with brute force.

Two massive legs swung down at Lily, but before she even needed to react, four tendrils wrapped around her protectively.

(Don’t think I’ll just sit back and watch while you hurt my wife!) Nia’s voice rang out as her tendrils coiled tightly around the spider’s limbs.

The monster struggled, but its legs couldn’t move to defend itself—the crushing force applied by Nia’s tendrils was overwhelming. Pain flooded its body as its trapped limbs began to crack, oozing green liquid from the deep wounds.

"Thanks~" Lily murmured playfully, not even needing to turn her head to know that her beloved was protecting her.

Her midnight veil-like wings beat stronger, pushing her forward with even greater force.

The spider’s remaining five legs desperately flailed, but it was already too late.

A surge of black fire streaked through the forest.

With one final, decisive swing, the stardust blade cleaved through the spider’s body—splitting it clean in half.

Amidst the flickering flames, the white strands that formed the web began to unravel, causing the lifeless body of the five-meter-tall spider monster to collapse onto the ground.

"That one really put up a fight until the very end." Landing softly with a gentle flap of her wings, Lily observed the fallen creature.

Its emerald-like body was still being consumed by the black flames, while the grassy ground beneath it was slightly scorched and damaged from the impact of its fall.

(Lily, do you want me to leave any part of it?) Nia asked, her gaze lingering on the almost ornamental corpse of the monster despite the scorching fire.

"Don't worry about it—you can eat it all~" With a bright smile, Lily reassured her beloved that it was fine to consume everything.

(Thanks for the meal.) Unable to hold back her excitement, the shapeshifter spoke in a sultry tone as several tendrils extended toward the spider, beginning to absorb its remains.

As she watched her wife happily devouring the defeated monster, Lily tilted her head, lost in thought for a moment.

"Do you think the spider was the source of the infection?"

Although their battle had spread across multiple areas of the forest, the spider was the only monster that had appeared. Since they were relatively close to where they had first encountered the infection, Lily wondered if there was a connection.

(I don’t think so. Nothing about the spider’s behavior suggested it could have created that. Besides, even its nest was built in a way that avoided that area.)

Nia’s reasoning made sense. If the infection had originated from the spider, it should have shown some sign of it during the fight.

Deciding to wait for her beloved to finish her meal before continuing their exploration, Lily turned her attention to the forest around them.

Her curious eyes wandered over the flowers and plants, taking in the unfamiliar flora. But as she glanced further into the trees, she caught sight of small, colorful orbs of light in the shape of spheres—only for them to dart away the moment they realized they had been seen.