Chapter 56: Dammit
A huge bow appeared in Tsundria’s left hand as an arrow appeared in her right one, both items out of a sparkling white mist.
She nocked the arrow and pointed its tip at Edmund, opening her mouth to say, "Now, give me the sword or say bye to your life." Her voice was full of seriousness that even the huge boulders beside them kept quite... as if they knew how to talk.
"I’m sorry we have to do it the hard way," she added and drew her bow.
Edmund stared at her with a smile on his face, a sign that he was not afraid of her threats.
"Go on, shoot me!"
What else could he say? Nothing!
Because of the distance she had travelled to pick up her dress, there was now a 10-meter interval between them. He could not pounce at her before she could release the arrow. As for dodging it, he would be too full of himself to believe that he could do so. That’s why he urged her to go on and shoot him.
The right corner of Tsundria’s lips curled as she said, "Do you think I’m joking?"
Edmund knew she wasn’t. Her expression said how easy it would be for her to loosen the grip on the arrow and send it to pass through his heart. However, he also knew what she wanted. She wanted the Dreadful Dagger which she could not get when he was dead.
He would die with it.
"Who said we’re joking?" he replied. "Go on and shoot me."
He knew how useful his life was to her. She could only get her hands on the sword she wanted only if he was alive. He also was still useful even without giving her the sword. That’s why he dared her to shoot him for the second time.
To show him that she wasn’t joking, Tsundria loosened her grip on the arrow. Edmund saw it lunching at him with tremendous speed but didn’t even flinch. He had seen how she had tilted it a little to divert it’s way. She was only trying to scare him by shooting it past him, not to kill him.
The blue fletched arrow shot past Edmund’s left ear and left a whoosh sound behind and a cool feeling. This prompted Edmund to smile even wider.
"I know you don’t want to and can’t shoot me!" he told her, dismissing the Slice of Heaven; fighting was not what he needed to convince her.
His mouth was enough
Edmund could see a mist of white sparks enveloping both her bow and arrow. She, too, was dismissing her weapons.
Seeing this, he took a step toward her, adding, "You better stop wasting your time on forcing me into doing something that you know I’m not going to do." He was spreading his arms, suggesting she should come and hug him.
Tsundria just stared at him. She was seemingly deep in thought. Then, her mouth twitched.
"Yeah! You’re right!"
She took a step toward him, too, and fell into his arms the second later.
Edmund didn’t expect to hear the Goddess of Beauty’s voice.
"That was quite easy. Tough guy, what a professional tamer you’ve become!"
Before Edmund could react to the goddess’s words, he heard Tsundria adding to her words.
"I can’t shoot you! I don’t want you dead."
Edmund patted her back, happy that she knew he was useful when alive.
"Good choice!"
Unbeknownst to him, there was a mist of white sparks around Tsundria’s right hand. Something red in colour, so long and tough weaved itself out those sparks, a mischievous grin appearing on Tsundria’s face.
"However..."
Edmund felt something cold wrapping around his neck.
"...I can tie you, hang you over a cliff and torture you into giving me what I want."
Hearing these words, coupled with the cold feeling around his neck, Edmund tensed and, instinctively, pushed Tsundria away. He was summoning his sword—Slice of Heaven—in the process.
Unfortunately, he was too late.
Tsundria was done tying the red rope around his neck. As if there was a ghost helping her, the damn rope swirled around on its own, tying Edmund’s entire body before even a second could elapt; the sword he had summoned fell onto the dusty ground with a thud sound.
"What the fuck are you trying to do?"
Tsundria’s giggles are what he got as a response.
His arms were glued to his body, his legs pressing on each other and the red rope around his body. You would mistake him for a huge barbecued sausage.
It is this reason why he fell onto the ground and rolled like a log pushed down a hill.
’Don’t tell me I’m rolling toward the cliff!’
’Oh man!’
His heart jumped into his throat out of fear.
’Beauty Goddess, do something!’ If it was a voice, not a thought, panic is all one could hear from it.
"Don’t worry, tough guy! She said she wants to torture you. You’re not going to die."
’Huh?!’
Edmund could not believe his ears. Was the goddess heartless or something? How could she be so nonchalant about seeing him being tortured?
’That means she’s going to kill me slowly, can’t you understand?’
"I’m sorry, I can only help you with words."
She had already told Edmund this, but how? Where was her body? Why was she incorporeal? Did she leave her body somewhere so she could enter into his soul?
’You’re lying! Get out my soul, go into your body and come rescue me!’
"Oh tough guy, don’t panic! You’re not even still rolling down the cliff. Tsundria had stopped it."
This snapped Edmund out of his stupor, making him laugh at himself. He knew Tsundria didn’t have any intention of killing her. Why was he panicking? Maybe he was overreacting.
’She’s not going to kill me!’
This was supposed to calm him down, but it didn’t. Reason? Edmund had no plans of surrendering the sword to her. It was an Over my dead body situation. What if Tsundria decided to just end his life out of her ego?
’Let’s hope she doesn’t!’
With this, he opened his eyes and studied his surroundings. What he saw made him shudder.
’Is she even human?’
Tsundria stood a few meters from him, her right hand around the brown handle of her red rope. Edmund could see red coils around her wrist, a sign that she was the one stopping him from rolling further. If she unrolled the rope to its full length, he would undoubtedly find himself plummeting down the cliff. How was she able to hold his weight with one arm and with that ease, Edmund could not tell.
’Don’t be stupid! She’s not a human, of course... at least not a normal one. She’s a Venomous Beauty.’
Seeing that he was back to his senses, the Venomous Beauty smiled at him and asked, "Are you still unwilling to give me the sword?"
"You’ll pay for this!"
She harrumphed...
"That’s not an answer to my question."
Then, before Edmund could say anything, she unrolled the rope.
"Seems like your big balls are influencing your mouth," she was still unrolling the rope to make it longer, her left hand holding it to prevent Edmund from rolling down the cliff.
"If you don’t want to give me what I want," she added, slowly loosening her grip on the rope. "There’s no other reason for me to keep you alive. Let’s see how you’ll climb up that cliff to make me pay."
Not even a second passed after she said this and Edmund found himself rolling toward the cliff, once again.
’Dammit!’
