Ruin

As we walk through the dimly-lit hallway, the tension is palpable. "Tsk, dammit, Isabella, don't you dare," I'm not going to let you fight any monsters right now; you're just going to keep making noise.

I turn to Rai. "You can deal with this one. It's only a Giant Horned Wolf."

Rai grins ear to ear, unsheathing his sword and letting his lightning affinity flow into it. Sparks dance along the blade. He even winks at Luna, who just rolls her eyes in response.

However, just as he's about to charge, Isabella clicks her tongue and starts firing away—a chaotic blend of wind and fire spells that set off minor explosions. The ceiling crumbles, and chunks of rock fall down, crushing the wolf beneath them.

"Come on, Isabella, can you at least do me this one favor and not make a scene?" I almost shout. She's definitely doing this on purpose. Ugh, Isabella, why do you have to be such a bitch?

Isabella turns to me, her face unfazed. "Will you become my servant if I do?"

I rub my temples in frustration. "No, I won't."

Before either of us can continue this ridiculous exchange, a low growl fills the air. We turn and find ourselves facing a pack of Giant Horned Wolves. I sigh. "Ugh, see what happens when you make too much noise?"

Isabella raises her wand, clearly ready to cause another ruckus. I click my tongue and position myself in front of her, making direct eye contact. "They will deal with this, don't interfere."

I can feel her cold gaze penetrating through me. "Get out of my way, V."

Am I going to have to keep her in line like this the entire time? I wonder. But before I can even react, Luna has already knocked down three wolves with her arrows. Rai, close combat as ever, is handling the rest, his sword crackling with lightning.

Arin interrupts, "Come on, V, you two shouldn't be fighting. We should decide which way we're heading."

Realizing that he's right, I step aside and rub my head in exasperation. I turn to Isabella. "Which way are we heading?" Might as well ask; she's going to decide regardless.

Isabella closes her eyes for a minute before finally pointing in a direction. "Alright, let's head that way then," I concede, tired of arguing with her.

As we move forward, Lysandra nudges me. "Hey V, I'm huuungryyyy, feeeed meeeeee."

I sigh. "We'll move a bit more before we eat."

Lysandra clicks her tongue and starts walking, clearly bored out of her mind. Of course, hunger isn't going to kill her; her dramatics might kill us all, though. I get that nothing here could possibly scare her, even if there was a monster or person stronger than her she just lacks the concept of fear.

Our party comes to a sudden halt when we enter a room filled with spiders and webs. "There's got to be a sigil in here, right?" Rai speculates.

Before anyone can answer, Isabella conjures fire and hurls it into the room. The webs and spiders burst into flames, filling the air with the scent of burnt silk and...other unpleasant things. Just when I thought she might actually be getting the hang of subtlety.

After waiting a bit, we walk into the room, scanning for anything of interest. Suddenly, everyone scrambles out of the way as a massive spider—easily the size of a truck—lands right where we were standing.

"What the hell is that?" I think. That thing is a monster. It's obviously a spider but nobody wants to see one this size, it's damn gross.

Isabella's initial magic attack does nothing; the spider just tanks it like a pro. Luna fires a dozen arrows that get caught mid-air by... strings? Extremely thin, almost invisible strings. They're all over the place.

"Don't move! There's strings all over, extremely thin and sharp," I warn everyone. It's like navigating through a minefield designed by a sadistic puppeteer.

Isabella and Rai would be fine—Isabella's got defensive runes on her clothes and Rai could slice through it with his lightning-infused sword. Lysandra is... well, she's Lysandra. A law unto herself.

Just as the spider lunges toward Arin, Isabella throws up several layers of magic shields around him, Luna, and Lysandra. A second later, dual magic circles appear in her hands. Oh, no, this isn't going to end well.

With utter abandon, she compresses fire and wind into beads and launches them at the spider. The room rocks with the explosion, the wind spreading the damage further.

I groan inwardly as the spider loses just a single limb. "Stop it, Isabella! You might attract an opposing team!"

"It's best for the rest of us to deal with this," Its intelligence is rather low, it's attacking based on instincts. Ah, I better deal with these webs first. I don't want to do this but It's the best option for now.

I sigh and conjure a ball of dark red fire in my hands. The hue of the flame always gives me an uncomfortable feeling, but I've learned to deal with it. I send the fire across the room, illuminating the nearly invisible threads that crisscross the space. It can't burn well for some reason, but it can at least mark where all the webs are.

Luna reaches into her bag, pulling out a set of purple-tipped arrows. She coats them in mana and lets them fly. The spider, perhaps overconfident from tanking Isabella's previous attacks, tries to absorb the first arrow head-on. Bad move. It penetrates its thick hide, making the spider scream and swerve in pain, dodging the rest of the arrows in a zigzag pattern. Luna's face is a picture of concentration, shooting from every angle she can find.

Rai looks ready to charge in, his sword crackling with anticipation. But I grab his shoulder. "Wait up, man. Give her a minute."

"Are you serious, Rai? You've fought against Luna before. Shouldn't you know better?"

The spider seems to shake off its momentary lapse and lunges at me. Just as its legs leave the floor, Luna grins and mutters, "Boom."

The purple-tipped arrows begin to glow, and strands of lightning arc between them, forming a sort of electric fence discharging around the spider—including the arrow lodged in its flesh. Caught in mid-air, the spider twitches uncontrollably.

Seeing the opportunity, I unsheath my sword. "This is how you fight without causing a scene, Isabella," I say, as I slice the spider's head clean off. Physical attacks really do seem to be the most effective in these ruins. Or, to be more specific, aura attacks. I suspect Isabella knew her magic would be weak here but chose to ignore it.

"Alright, good job, Luna," I announce, sheathing my sword.

Luna simply sighs and goes about collecting her arrows. Rai is beside himself. "Isn't she amazing?"

Arin grabs Rai's shoulder, grounding him. "You need to calm down."

Looking around, I notice Lysandra playing with a huge ball of spider threads, covered in my fire, just humming to herself. Ah, there she goes with her weird liking to it. Well, as long as she doesn't start breaking everything I guess it's okay.

"Alright guys," I say, hoping to steer us back on track. "Let's start moving. We don't know what monsters Isabella attracted, or when we might run into an opposing team."

★ ★

"Alright, let's stop here," I announce as I start setting up what seems to be an entire damn kitchen set. I unfold an oven, counter space, and a dining table with chairs—like something out of a luxury home catalog. A flick of my toy, and the oven is piping hot.

Luna just looks at me like I've lost my mind. "W-what, no... w-why do you have all of that?" she stammers.

I shrug. "This is, you know, for cooking." I did bring the smaller set; didn't even include the smoker, the ice cream maker, or the sous-vide machine.

Luna rubs her forehead in exasperation. "No—That's not what I mean! Why—Ah, you know what, forget it."

I think Luna's probably just tired. "Alright then," I say as I rummage through the ingredient bag I've also conjured. I pull out a bunch of meat and vegetables—some of which don't exist in my original world—and a collection of spices.

"Ah, I know. I'll make something this world doesn't have—Beef Stir-Fry," I say to myself, excited to bring a little culinary innovation into this magical realm. "But let's add some flair, shall we?"

First, I grab a piece of aqua-blue meat. It's beef but with a twist. Some of the cows here eat a special kind of grass that turns their meat blue. Same texture, same flavor, just blue. I find it intriguing, and it'll make a visually striking dish. I slice it into thin strips.

While I'm cutting, I can't help but notice Isabella sniffing the air, her eyes closing momentarily as if she's meditating or something. "Are you enjoying that?" I ask.

"No," she replies flatly, but her expression betrays her. I chuckle. Hahahaha, everyone bows before me when I'm cooking!

Next, I opt for vegetables. There's this purple bell pepper I find fascinating. It's more savory than sweet and will balance the dish nicely. I also grab some greenish-yellow onions and a fiery red variant of broccoli that's spicier than the one we have on Earth.

"I could have gone with standard onions, but where's the fun in that?" I talk to myself as I chop everything into uniform pieces. "This will give it a unique kick."

The spices are next. "Hmm, yes, black salt from the Dead Sea of Erevos," I mumble. I love how it has a slight sulfuric kick to it. I toss in some other spices like rainbow peppercorns and magenta paprika from a spice dragon's lair. "It's expensive, but it has an ethereal smokiness. Totally worth it."

As I preheat the cooking space, which I magically speed up, Luna finally caves. She stands up and walks over, sniffing the air. "That actually smells really good."

"Of course it does. Now, sit. Let the artist work," Tsk, don't bother me while I'm cooking.

First, I summon a burst of blue flame, specially designed to spread uniformly beneath the wok. "No regular fire can do this; culinary magic at its finest," I grin. Then, I pour in some olive oil mixed with a dash of unicorn fat for that extra zing. Yeah, unicorn fat—it's a thing here. Taking the cooking class really was the right choice, I'm going to start creating my own dishes with these new resources.

In goes the beef, sizzling as it hits the wok. "Ah, music to my ears." After a quick stir, I slide it out onto a plate, leaving the juices in the wok. "You don't want to overcook it. It's going back in later."

Now for the veggies. Into the wok they go, stirring rapidly. "Stir, stir, stir. A stir-fry waits for no one," I comment as I notice Rai giving me thumbs up from afar. I give him a nod and focus back on the dish. He's the second person here to keep bothering me about food, so he must've liked it before.

The vegetables are cooked but still crisp, just the way I like them. Time to bring back the beef. Into the wok it goes, followed by a splash of dark soy sauce infused with elfish wine, and a sprinkle of crushed phoenix feather for a slight touch of heat.

I toss everything high up in the air, letting the magic in the ingredients dance with each other. "And voila, it's done," I announce.

As I serve the dish onto the plates, I can't help but notice everyone's eager faces—even Isabella looks somewhat impressed.

Rai is the first to take a bite and his eyes go wide. "This is...amazing!"

Even Isabella can't contain her curiosity. She takes a bite and for the first time, I see her smile, just a little. "Not bad.... for an idiot like you." she concedes.

Luna digs in and pauses, her face lighting up. "V, this is incredible. How did you even come up with this?"

"Ah, it's a dish I came across while traveling," I say. I have nothing but respect for culinary history, it would be fucked up if I say it's my original dish.

"Alright, I made enough for all of us, so let's eat," I announce. "Don't worry, I made enough for you too, monster," I say, looking at Lysandra, who seems pleased with the prospect of a good meal.

However, our appetites are interrupted by an impending sense of danger. In a split second, I throw a plate up into the air—no way am I dropping this culinary masterpiece—and grab the knife that's aimed for my throat with my gloved hand.

Fucking shit, if it wasn't dark, I would've died, for heaven's sake.

Lysandra, faster than anyone could see, catches the plate that's falling. Good catch. At least my cooking is saved.

Another set of knives flies through the air, aimed at me. But I'm not falling for that again. I catch them with the same gloved hand and flick them aside. "That won't work twice, you bastards."

Footsteps approach us, and a soothing voice echoes through the chamber. "Hmhmhm, tsk tsk tsk. I told you, Knox, the cook isn't going to be weak. Haha, at least we can have some fun now."