Chapter 298: Jungle Adapted
Lidia held her arms around Jacob’s neck as his transformation was being slowly reverted. He rolled on to the ground and vomited a bit of black blood before coming back to himself.
"Ugh. I just don’t get it. It’s like the mark has a mind of its own that takes over my brain instantly whenever I allow it."
"Well, one thing is for sure, I don’t know how much more time I have to practice with you Jacob. My belly is about to pop here."
Lidia’s stomach was now notably very round and poking itself outward under her clothes. Jacob held on to his head as he stared in disbelief.
"Has it really been nine months in this place already?! It hardly feels like yesterday when Slimo and I fought each other."
Slimo clapped his hands as he scooped Lidia off her feet.
"You both did good today. Let’s head back to check on Maria and the others. Maria might want me to cut her hair again. It’s getting pretty long."
As they all turned around to walk back, a massive, corrupted ant sprouted from the ground behind them, ready to close its dark pincers around their bodies. Without even looking back, Slimo through the back of his fist into the ant’s lower jaw, exploding its entire head instantly from the impact. He looked over his shoulder as the carcass of the ant laid still, bleeding out by the second.
"Ant again? I’m so tired of eating those things. I wonder when another boar will appear."
"Let’s just leave it back here. We’ll run out of animals in this place if we aren’t careful."
Slimo chuckled lightly to himself.
"I couldn’t even imagine us saying that all those months ago."
They all walked back to a small clearing in the forest. Squabee was practicing strange gestures with her hands on a leaf while mumbling to herself.
"Any luck, Squabee?"
"Argh! No matter how much I try, I can’t seem to get it! Enki made it look so easy!"
"It’s okay, just keep at it. I’m sure something will sprout eventually."
Sarah was wearing a beautiful, white-plated armor while she stirred a pot of fresh plants and diced meat.
"Hey, Sarah. Is our armor cleaned yet?"
"Yup! Maria should be returning with them shortly with Sheeby."
"Maria went by herself?"
"Does that worry you?"
"It does, but it’s not her I’m worried about. We’re going to run out of jungle here if she gets into another fight!"
"Maybe Slimo should teach her some of his technique then."
Slimo rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly.
"Well, I tried to, but she told me she could already do it and that she wanted her attacks to be widespread."
"What? Why would she want that?"
"Well, I don’t think she likes this jungle very much after her and Jacob learned about its true nature."
"She can’t kill an entire jungle by herself."
"That won’t stop her from trying. When has Maria ever not tried to do something impossible?"
Sarah smiled and continued stirring the stew.
"She’s back."
Maria descended while standing on Sheeby’s back confidently, her ominous spear resting in her left hand. Her hair was now back to the length it used to be before Jacob had managed to cut it in his beast form, but she kept it tied behind her head using weeds from the jungle. She was wearing a similar suit of armor to Sarah, except it was stained black and red, most likely from all the fights she had been through. As Sheeby landed, Maria untied the other suits of armor attached to Sheeby and pushed them on the ground.
"Why didn’t you wash your armor, Maria?"
"I don’t want to. These stains remind me of every battle I fought very hard to win. It’s like keeping trophies."
Jacob smiled before walking over and kissing her gently on her lips.
"I think you look great either way."
Jacob reached down and slowly put on his dragon-scaled armor himself. The feeling of wearing it was nostalgic and brought him great comfort. However, the scales he was currently wearing were far beyond the strength they used to be thanks to Sheeby’s diet of leviathans. He felt like he could take a hit from a guardian and still hardly move an inch.
"This feels so much better. Thank you."
Slimo put his on and carried Lidia’s over to her before setting it down close. Her belly had been preventing her from wearing armor for a long enough time that she couldn’t wear it anyway. After everyone was content with receiving their belongings, Maria laid down on the ground and stared at leaves covering the sky.
"So, did Jacob get anywhere with his transformation yet?"
"He hasn’t."
"I can’t help it! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!"
"Maria managed to get hers under control within the first few months. Surely this is something you can handle as well."
"Our transformations are completely different! We feel completely different things, our body structures transform differently, there’s too many different factors for her advice to be of any help."
"Are you just upset because you normally master these things fast?"
"Yes! Who wouldn’t be upset at something like this?! And on top of it, I feel terrible making Lidia help me all the time. She’s about to burst any moment now!"
Even though Lidia acted strong, she was still really anxious about childbirth. She heard stories of how painful it was going to be, and that scared her to no end. Not only that, but there were also the dangers of disease, creatures, and something going wrong during the procedure that could possibly harm her or the child.
Squabee walked over to Lidia’s stomach and pressed her ear against it.
"I’m making sure this baby hears auntie Squabee’s voice! I’m going to spoil it so much!"
"Squabee, you’re making me uncomfortable."
"Sorry! I’m just really excited! I’ve never really had a family so close with me before so I’m a bit giddy!"
"You can help Sarah with the procedure then. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can just feel like they’re almost about to come out."
Slimo raised his head.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then what the hell are we standing around for?! You heard the woman, Sheebster! Let’s moved out of this place and settle somewhere!"
Sheeby pranced over while roaring. She scooped up Slimo on her back before running after Lidia and lightly grabbing her with her tail, setting her gently next to Slimo.
"Everyone, get on!"
"... did you just call my Sheeby ’Sheebster?’"
"Yeah? What’s wrong with that?! She likes the name! Right, Sheebster?"
For a reason that Maria could not explain, Sheeby actually appeared to enjoy such an odd name. It was the only thing Slimo had ever called her that didn’t make her want to slap him silly. Maria sighed and jumped on to her back. Jacob helped Squabee lift Sarah up before they all took off.
Sheeby flew through the jungle like it was nothing. The hundreds of hours of practice had all refined her flying style so perfectly that even the irregular patterns of vines and brush couldn’t slow her movement. She was in her element, her ever-changing element.
They flew for three hours before landing next to a small river. Slimo hopped off Sheeby and landed waist-deep in the freezing water. He inhaled deeply before throwing a fist forward.
"HAH!"
An air current so powerful it pushed the water straight up like a geyser was sent forward. Underneath the water, there wasn’t a single monster to be seen.
"Clear!"
Jacob and Maria split to two different sides. After a few loud booms, Jacob came out of his side freshly painted in monster guts.
"Clear!"
Maria ran into no trouble and walked back while beginning to cut away the tall grass on the ground using her spear like a scythe.
"Clear over here too! Let’s set up camp!"
Squabee helped Sarah drop off Sheeby lightly while she curled herself up into a ball to warm herself up. Winter was just ending, but Sheeby did not like the cold very much so she always tried to stay warm as much as she could.
Jacob walked up to Slimo.
"Do you have any idea what exactly we should build for this baby? How do we carry it around? How would we protect it?"
"Ask Sheeby. She’s been closer to that thing than we all have!"
Squabee scoffed as she put her hands on her hips.
"Do you boys really know nothing about caring for a child?!"
"We know how to care for a child!"
"Yah! We need to start training it right away to be super strong!"
"Exactly! We can also build it a super awesome crib! Probably one way better than you could make!"
Jacob and Slimo clapped hands firmly feeling very proud of their answers. Squabee’s face drooped to the floor.
"I’m not letting you idiots near that poor thing."
"What?! I’m its dad!"
Lida began to sweat.
"Guys?"
"And I’m going to be its aunt! I bet you don’t know the first thing about burping!"
"Burping? It can burp on its own just fine, right?"
"Guys!"
"Maria! It’s just as bad as I feared! You have to help me!"
"Jacob, do you really not know about burping?"
"I can burp, so why can’t a baby?!"
"Have you ever changed a diaper?"
"No. Have you?"
"No. But I bet I can figure it out faster than you!"
"We don’t even have diapers!!"
"I can make some then!"
"GUYS!!"
Everyone looked over at Lidia. Her face was dripping sweat, beating red and she was breathing heavily.
"I think it’s coming."