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Some time passed after Natalia left the house, and it was already the middle of the night.

There were two things in Olivia’s mind.

One was her dear mother.

Olivia knew how her father died, protecting her mother from a curse. That was a really heartbreaking period for her, but she was glad she still had her mother. But that had not been entirely true, Ophelia had been affected by the curse, and tried to live hiding it.

Now she also understood why her mother had insisted on her attending a general studies school. Ophelia had been preparing her daughter so she would be able to live without issues when the day came for them to part ways.

Olivia felt frustrated realizing all that when it was too late, her mother looked like she was on her last breaths, and Olivia could do nothing about it.

The other thing in her mind was her beloved Natalia.

She had been thinking about Natalia all the time after she left. Natalia was kind, and strong, and would always watch over Olivia, helping with whatever she could. After not seeing each other in months, she looked even more beautiful than before, and her eyes looked resolute.

Now Natalia had gone to a dangerous place. Olivia had no way of stopping her, and she knew that if she was in Natalia’s boots, she also would not let anyone stop her. Olivia understood that that was necessary to rescue her mother.

But if something happened to Natalia… Olivia would lose both her mother and the person she liked the most at the same time. Just thinking of that made her mind vanish in a darkness without exit in sight.

“Mother…Natalia…”

She grasped her mother’s hand tightly, and felt it move gently in return.

“Olivia… You came back, welcome home…”
“Mother!”

Seeing Ophelia’s eyes open narrowly, Olivia threw herself on top of her to embrace her.

“Mother, hang in there. Natalia went to get you some medicine.”

Olivia encouraged her mother, trying to share her faint hope. But Ophelia, the most powerful sorceress of the country, or maybe even the world, knew that curse better than anyone else.

“Olivia, open the drawer on my desk.”

Olivia wondered why Ophelia requested something so odd during this dire situation, but she did as told and found a bundle of documents inside.

“What are these, Mother?”
“Natalia’s blueprints.”

This was the first time Olivia had seen those diagrams and plans. For an automaton, blueprints were like their soul, so it was something kept secret.

Ophelia had been teaching magic to Olivia since she was small, but she had no aptitude for alchemy or puppeteering, so she never taught her that stuff. But now she was sharing Natalia’s blueprints. The reason for that was painfully obvious.

“Mother, stop. I don’t want you to…”

Olivia was on the brink of tears, and Ophelia spoke gently to her.

“Olivia, do you like Natalia?”
“Mm…yes, I do. I love her.”
“Good…”

Ophelia sounded satisfied and smiled hearing that response.

“Then protect her with everything you have. She’s gotten way stronger than before, but she still has some rash tendencies.”

Ophelia looked up, thinking about her other daughter that was not present in the room.

“To be honest I wanted to make some corrections first, but I overestimated my time. I didn’t think the curse would activate this quickly…”
“Mother…”

Olivia did not know what more to say. She did not want to accept that her mother was about to die. She wanted to see her mother continue fighting until her last breath.

But she knew that Ophelia knew better than anyone else how her body felt and the curse’s properties. The correct response would be to not let her mother’s efforts go to waste, and cherish everything she wanted to leave behind.

She needed the resolve to ignore that emotion. Olivia’s mind was in turmoil, unable to decide what she should do as a good daughter, and in the end could only fight back the tears.

In the middle of the night, I got deep into the Valhen Woods, near a swamp. I run around looking around through the darkness, and then I see it.

Somehow my senses feel much sharper after the fight with the golem. Ophelia had mentioned she rearranged some stuff inside, so maybe that’s why. Thanks to that I had no issues coming this far, and while I did run into a pack of Night Wolfs, I easily took care of them with my new night vision.

I also had no issues spotting the monster I was looking for. I’m currently observing it while covered by the green knee-height swamp water. Its squirming body turns and the monster stares at me.

It was a five meter long bear. Though it was no regular bear either, as multiple wriggling tentacles grew out from its back. There are many monsters agonizing nearby too, all killed by that bear.

The reference book put it in the same rank as the Tyrannoghavial I had fought before. I know this won’t be an easy fight.

I stand up and pull the trigger, a magic bullet piercing into its stomach, but the bear shrugs it off and continues walking unbothered.

I shoot him many times, but it seems my gun isn’t powerful enough to make it care. But I’m here to gather parts from it, so I can’t just go wild with incendiary rounds.
Little point to keep using it then.

I holster Black Hawk to keep my right hand empty.

Black Hawk, my trusty partner that accompanied me through many fights. Not being able to use it weighs heavily on me. But that doesn’t matter.

I form a magic blade on my left hand and charge forward. The bear stands on two legs to counterattack. I sidestep the paw he swings at me, and then jump back to avoid the second paw coming after me.

The bear followed that up by swinging its paws up, like nets catching fish, but somehow I managed to evade all of it. I take a low stance, and jump up with increased momentum to swing my blade upwards.

A blue streak follows my arm, and the bear’s arm gets torn open all the way to the shoulder.

The momentum carried me into the air, where the bear’s tentacles closed into my back. I had been hit by a similar attack earlier during training. But I would not fall for that twice.

I twist my body and cut off the tentacles with my blade. I shoot off my right hand and hold onto the bear with it, then quickly wind up my nerve threads. At the same time I point my blade at it, letting my momentum impart a more powerful strike.

My blade cuts cleanly along the bear’s large body. But it just staggered the bear for a moment, and it recovered soon after.

I turn my body around in mid-air and cut off many of the tentacles growing on its back. But no matter how many I snipped off, more would sprout one after another. The bear shuffles its front legs, turning around to face me. I instantly jumped back.

The wound on its shoulder was getting filled with tentacles, similar to the ones on its back, and they stretched like spears towards me. I managed to stop them with my magic blade, but I couldn’t hold off all of their momentum and I was flung back.

“Dammit!”

I quickly get on my feet again and look at the bear. The bear is wheezing painfully now. So far it seemed like it could feel no pain no matter how much I hurt it, but something had changed.

I stand further back to watch what’s going to happen, and see a large orange tentacle sprout from the shoulder wound.

“You’ve finally decided to come out, Tentacle Beast.”

The book described it as a fungal parasite monster. The orange tentacle is its main body, and the part I need for the medicine.

It seemed to hail its kin as it wriggled out of the bear, as the dead monsters around me also grew similar tentacles and began moving like the bodies controlled by a Shaman Ape.

“They were all infected already then.”

The number of enemies has increased drastically, but I can’t afford to get scared. Ophelia, my Mistress’ life depends on this. That’s why-

“Just die and lemme use your parts!”