《I was Summoned as a Hero, but I Became the Demon Lord Instead》


 Prologue.

    Prologue.


    I¡¯ve always dreamed of being summoned to another world. However, my wish wasn¡¯t quite as normal as one may believe.


    If one were to ask me what my present situation was, it could be surmised very easily.


    It more or less went as follows.


    ¡°Hero we have summoned you to slay the demon king.¡±


    The moment the king announced it as such, a palace guard burst into the room.


    ¡°Your majesty, the demon lord is dead!¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Your majesty I shittith thou not! The previous hero who we thought was about to die... when he reached the demon lord¡¯s castle, he somehow succeeded.¡±


    ¡°No way! That was the 45th summoned hero you know! Are you playing pranks with me? The prophecy said he would die a cruel, painful, and agonizing death you know!¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°It¡¯s true your majesty. Just as the 45th hero reached the demon lord¡¯s castle, the demon lord¡­ he¡­ he¡­¡±


    ¡°Out with it already you stuttering fool! He what?! Don¡¯t keep your king waiting with his panties in a buncheth! Speak now!¡±


    ¡°He... had... a heart attack?¡± The guard had the most uncertain expression I¡¯d ever seen any man sport.


    The room turned dead silent. Like it were all some sort of sick twisted joke of the century.


    When I realized the awkward situation I was now placed in, I opened my mouth to break the ice and asked, ¡°then what about me?¡±


    ¡°Oh you? Well¡­ we don¡¯t really need you anymore.¡±


    ¡°We could send you back, but that would be a waste of the taxpayers money. Seeing as you have no major accomplishments and no one even knows you¡¯ve been summoned yet, you can just die.¡±


    When I heard that there was a way to be sent back I was a bit depressed. What happened to my unable to return and need to find a way back home route? When I registered the second part of his follow up, I felt like someone had abruptly smeared a nasty pile of shit on my face.


    Thus, this was how I stumbled onto the path towards becoming the next demon lord.


    I mentioned I¡¯d always dreamed to be summoned to another world, right? Well, the reason my wish wasn¡¯t quite normal was because rather than being summoned as a hero, I dreamed of being summoned to be the demon lord who slayed the heroes instead.


    Mwahahaha!


    As for that bastard king who wanted to kill me, I¡¯ll certainly burn your kingdom to the ground if I¡¯m given the chance you cheap, slimy prickish royal arse!

 Chapter 1.

    Chapter 1.


    Drip... Drip... Drip...


    The only thing I heard was the dripping sound of liquid as it fell from the ceiling above. It splashed off a puddle formed on the ground and echoing loudly throughout the cave. As for everything in front of me; it was complete pitch black, as far as the eye could see. Not a single thing was visible in this spine chilling world of darkness that wore away at your soul.


    The only thing I felt was the cold hard floor.


    Right now, my objective was to become the next demon lord, one on the level that no other demon lord had ever attained. Now there was only one major problem I must first overcome. I¡¯ve been tossed into the world¡¯s most dangerous dungeon underneath the kingdom to die, all alone without any sort of aid.


    Before I was kicked down here, they were nice enough and took the time to explain things to me like they took pride in the task they¡¯d been given.


    They took me to a large bottomless pit, but before they kicked me into it, like a certain spartan warrior, they chuckled sinisterly and said, ¡°Hehehe. Kid you¡¯re real lucky, you know that? Not many have the pleasure of dying inside this dungeon leisurely like this. This dungeon is the most dangerous dungeon in the world. Normally we use it to train heroes to the point they are strong enough to take on the demon lord. Most heroes go the normal route and start on the first floor. No hero has ever made it to the bottom floor like you¡¯re about to. In fact, they usually stop at the 20th floor. After the 20th floor, the danger level spikes significantly and any hero that overestimates their prowess thinking they have any chance past that point for training typically die. However, you my friend, are a lucky man. We have an agreement to send down beings with large amounts of mana within their body to the bottom floor, the 100th floor to be specific, to feed the almighty existence who controls this dungeon.¡±


    ¡°This being is far more dangerous than any demon lord that has ever existed in this world. Apparently nobody knows, or at least no one remembers where they came from, but it is said that long, long ago, they were sealed down here by our ancestors. Our ancestors made an agreement with the being that was sealed here. Every year we are to send down food for it to feast on. In doing so, it provides us with a dungeon we can use for both the kingdom¡¯s livelihood as well as a means to train the heroes. It also provides us with bountiful blessings for each sacrifice offered, the more mana the better.¡±


    ¡°Hehehe, we¡¯ve never actually sent a hero down there before. The mana in your body is truly off the charts. The benefits the kingdom gets is entirely dependent on how satisfied that mysterious being down there is with the quality of the sacrifices. Usually we send down high leveled convicts captured by the heroes we groom, but a hero being sent down is a first for us since they typically all die before they slay the demon lord.¡±


    ¡°You should thank the princess who made such a brilliant suggestion; instead of simply being hung or beheaded, you get to contribute greatly to our kingdom by providing us with countless blessings.¡±


    Yeah I really should punch that slut beside the king in the face the next time I see her, if I ever do see her again that is.


    Those were a few of the things they explained to me before I was kicked off spartan style into this crappy abyss.


    Apparently, I have a lot of mana, or at least all summoned heroes have a lot of mana. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to use it. It was also made known to me that all heroes normally get an introduction to a magic academy when they are first summoned or after they go through some basic training in the dungeon. Bluntly speaking, they are fattened up like sheep, only to inevitably be slaughtered by the demon lord.


    When I learned of all this, my desire to become a demon lord only intensified. This shitty other world should really have all its human inhabitants slaughtered. They just conveniently summon otherworlders so they can slack off and do nothing. Isn¡¯t this far too disgusting and revolting to accept?


    If anyone wondered why I was still alive after falling down 100 floors, that would probably be thanks to the floating notification that popped up in front of my chest when I hit the ground which said, ¡°Immortal Object.¡±


    I naturally understood what it meant right away. I realized my ass may hurt like hell, but I wouldn¡¯t die. It seemed this convenient message meant I couldn¡¯t die, but I still felt pain to the point I wished I was dead. I was immensely thankful that my fat ass didn¡¯t land on a pole protruding from the ground like one would expect of a pitfall trap used to capture unsuspecting prey. Just thinking about it left me shivering in fear.


    Shortly after that, I met the so called mysterious being who I was now food for. At first I was a bit ecstatic as it was a beautiful redhead vampire lady gifted in all the right places, with eyes reminiscent to that of a blood moon, but those expectations didn¡¯t last for long.


    My joy quickly took a turn for the worst when she came up to me and wordlessly sucked all the blood from my body. I quickly shriveled up like a prune and became an empty bag of blood.


    Strangely enough, I didn¡¯t feel any pain; rather, it felt unusually pleasurable when all my blood was drained away. When she finished sucking out all my blood, she turned away with the clear intent to take her leave. However, she only took a few steps before a message popped up in front of my chest again,


    Just like before it read, ¡°Immortal Object.¡±


    The red haired vampire with an unmatched beauty stopped in her tracks and turned around when she detected something unusual. When she examined me again, I was dazed, entranced, and captivated when I stared deep into her blood moon eyes like a drunken idiot. Her eyes drew you in against your will as it tugged at your very soul.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    That was also when I heard her voice for the first time. The first word that left her mouth was, ¡°strange.¡±


    Her gaze that left me entranced, I could tell exactly what I looked like in her eyes. It was actually really easy to describe, it only took two words in fact, ¡°fast food.¡±


    She walked back over to me and once again drained my body of all the blood that instantly regenerated after the immortal object message popped up earlier.


    By now, I naturally realized what the cheat like power I was given as compensation for being summoned to this world. I was truly an immortal that could not be killed. I might¡¯ve been a bit presumptuous to think that so audaciously with this very limited testing method, but after she drained my blood a hundred more times, that was the only possible conclusion I could come up with.


    ¡°Such good food exists? Tastes good and instantly regenerates? With something this good, won¡¯t I be able to break out of this seal effortlessly? Ha! That damn hero of the past thought he could buy time for his world by sealing me down here. Luckily I successfully deceived him with that stupid agreement of a sacrifice every year so I could slowly accumulate my strength. That idiot probably never thought they¡¯d throw something like this down here as a sacrifice.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m through with offering them compensation to get them to offer better stuff.¡±


    ¡°You, kid, who are you?¡±


    I was a bit stunned by the sudden revelation of the red haired crimson eyed vampire girl directly in front of me.


    ¡°Are you mentally challenged or something? Can you not understand my words?¡±


    When I still failed to respond, she scrunched up her brows and grabbed my hand. She then ripped my arm clean off of my body. She really seemed to have a bad temper. No, that really shouldn¡¯t be my first thought.


    Of course what followed was as one might expect.


    ¡°Aggggghhhhhhhh!¡±


    I rolled around on the ground like a baby in tears. After five seconds, the message ¡°Immortal Object¡± appeared once again in front of my chest and my arm instantly grew back.


    ¡°Oh? So you can say something after all. That regeneration is no joke either.¡±


    ¡°What are you doing?! Suddenly sucking me dry and ripping an arm off like that, are you a lunatic?! Do vampires have no decency?¡±


    ¡°Usually when I drain people¡¯s blood they¡¯ll at least cower backwards and ask what I am doing right away. Because of your lack of response at the onset, I thought you might have hit your head on the way down and became an idiot or something. When I drained your blood, you only put on a stupid pleasurable face and said nothing. Only when I ripped your arm off you finally screamed. I just wanted to make sure you weren¡¯t incapable of speech. But, are you actually a bit slow in the head?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not an id-¡±


    ¡°Now, answer me, what exactly are you, Mister Food?¡±


    Ugh. At least let me finish. Whatever, forget it, it¡¯s true that I lost myself captivated by her like an idiot when my eyes first landed on her. More importantly, ¡°Mister Food? You know, I have a name.¡±


    ¡°Oh? But food is food, it doesn¡¯t really matter to me if you have a name.¡±


    ¡°I have a perfectly good name, please at least use it!¡±


    ¡°Tch. Fine. Fine. What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°My name is¡­ Eh? What was my name again?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha what the heck? So you don¡¯t even have one after all? Really, why would some nameless fool like you be sent down here?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m an unneeded summoned hero from another world I suppose. Right after I was summoned, the moment they were about to ask me to defeat the demon lord, a palace guard rushed in and announced the demon lord had perished due to a heart attack.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Really? A heart attack... are you serious? Tch. That useless subordinate of mine actually died of a heart attack?! Being sealed down here I can¡¯t receive any news from the outside world to verify that information so quickly. Is it time to start preparations to send out a new provisional demon lord? Well, I don¡¯t really need to do that now that I have a way to break the seal though.¡±


    I felt like I¡¯d heard a lot more ridiculous things just now.


    ¡°Although, in all honesty, I¡¯m not really interested in the whole world destruction thing anymore after I¡¯ve been sealed down here for so long and had time to think things through more clearly. Those little childish whims I had in the past have long cooled down.¡±


    I almost couldn¡¯t keep up with all the world shattering things that were casually being revealed before me.


    ¡°Uh... you just mentioned something about a provisional demon lord and your subordinate, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh what is it Chi Kaban?¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    She just pointed her dainty little index finger directly at me like it was only natural.


    ¡°You¡¯re my blood bag from now on. Hence, Chi Kaban.¡±


    After I was begrudging named as such, I decided to let it go. I couldn¡¯t remember my name anyways.


    I continued on with what I wanted to find out from her and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You really want to know?¡±


    ¡°I feel like I know the answer, but I still want to hear the confirmation from your mouth.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m¡­ your lover from a past life?¡±


    ¡°Like hell you are! Who are you really?¡±


    She put on a troubled face and replied like it couldn¡¯t be helped, ¡°Look, I am¡­ your mother.¡±


    ¡°Can you please be serious?!¡±


    ¡°You really wanted me to say I was your father?¡±


    ¡°Nonono, please stop trying to crack bad jokes here.¡±


    ¡°Tch. Fine. Fine. I¡¯ll say it. I¡¯ll say it. I¡¯m the true demon lord, the progenitor of all demon lords so to speak, you got a problem with that? You happy now? I¡¯m just an old granny that looks young! You trying to pick a fight with me? I¡¯m probably your great umpteenth grandmother for all you know. You should be kowtowing towards me and rejoicing at becoming the food of this great grandmother of yours.¡±


    Yep. That actually surpassed my expectations by a mile. I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be troubled over her age with an appearance as youthful as hers. Why do women care so much about a stupid number anyways?


    ¡°Tch. Why am I trying to pick a fight with my food? Am I an idiot or something?¡±


    Yep. This totally just happened. Before I came anywhere near my goal of becoming a demon lord, I somehow became the true demon lord¡¯s blood bag who was already long forgotten in the present times.


    Really? What is wrong with my summoned to another world story?

 Chapter 2.

    Chapter 2.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re one of those idiotic mass produced summoned heroes I¡¯ve heard of?¡±


    ¡°Well, I was supposed to be until the demon lord suddenly passed away.¡±


    ¡°Humans are such idiots. The process has already repeated numerous times already, yet they never learn. Another demon lord will just pop up soon after one falls anyways. Give or take, it¡¯s only about one hundred years of peace I normally give them. They could have just used the time to train you beforehand so you would be strong enough to chop him down the moment the next demon lord popped his head out of the ground. Instead, they just foolishly tossed a super rare, limited edition immortal boy toy like you down here for me to feast on. They probably thought you would be an old man by the time the next demon lord came about. They probably figured it would be a waste of taxpayers money to bring you up when you might be dead due to old age by the time the next demon lord appeared.¡±


    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m not a boy toy.¡±


    ¡°Oh? You¡¯re not? Then what are you?¡±


    ¡°A future demon lord in the making.¡±


    ¡°Pfft. What? You? Hahaha! You think I¡¯ll let my endless supply of food leave my side and really think I¡¯d send you out to play the part of the next demon lord?¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°You know, you may be able to regenerate endlessly, but you¡¯re way too weak. If you get caught and they realize you are immortal, they will cut you up endlessly in pursuit of the secrets to immortality. You¡¯d face a fate far worse than being my blood bag you know. Why don¡¯t you just be a good little boy and obediently be my blood bag for eternity?¡±


    ¡°Are you actually just a lonely old granny who just wants some company?¡±


    The moment the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted it when I realised she¡¯d disappeared from in front of me. In my confusion, I slowly looked down and saw a delicate, deceptively dainty hand, stained crimson and pierced directly through my chest from behind. She casually held my heart in the palm of her hand without any hint of aversion towards the extremely graphic scene. I literally watched my heart beat before my eyes. I definitely never imagined I¡¯d ever witness this horrific scene.


    When the pain finally registered, I screamed out at the top of my lungs. Shit! It hurts so bad that I couldn¡¯t stop the tears that accumulated at the corners of my eyes. I felt like I could faint, but I was unable to when I noticed the pleasurable feeling mixed in amidst the pain. That pleasant sensation originated from my neck as the blood in my body was once again violently drained from my body.


    ¡°Who¡¯s a lonely old granny?¡± She only said that after she sucked me dry and parted her lips from my neck.


    ¡°You¡¯re an old granny, it¡¯s the truth. You think I¡¯m afraid of you just because you¡¯re stronger than me? We¡¯re both immortal, bring it on you old hag!¡±


    With my rash words as a trigger she ruthlessly clenched her hand into a fist and completely destroyed my heart right before my eyes. Shortly after my heart was turned into nothing more than dust, she pulled her hand out of my chest. I fell backwards and collapsed onto the ground before the ¡°Immortal Object¡± message appeared in front of my chest again. The wound instantly closed up and my heart regenerated right away.


    ¡°Well, since we¡¯re both immortal, shall we test the limits of your immortality, my precious bottomless blood bag?¡±


    She straddled on top of my waist, palmed my forehead and firmly pulled on my hair.


    ¡°What are you doing you crazy ol-¡± Pain immediately registered and my words were cut short.


    She swiped her free hand across my neck and her long fingernails traced a straight line through the air with a blood like after image in its path. Her nails now dyed crimson, sliced cleanly through my neck which left behind a distinct red line. She raised my head up, separated it from my body and brought my face to eye level.


    I couldn¡¯t stop the screams of agony that leaked out from the overwhelming pain. I somehow felt the pain from the detached portion of my body concurrently with the pain from my severed head. As such it was amplified severalfold, much more than any time before. This hurt like hell! Shit, she may very well be right. If I were caught by humans and this was done to me over and over, wouldn¡¯t I be better off dead? I¡¯d definitely lose my sanity. The physical pain was far worse, more so than anything I¡¯d ever experienced in my life.


    ¡°It hurts, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°It does! So please just attach my head back to my body.¡±


    ¡°No. This will be a lesson for you. You just casually said you wished to be a demon lord, but you don¡¯t even have the slightest idea of the weight the term demon lord holds. Especially not the weight of being an immortal demon lord who is presently nothing more than a weakling who can easily be toyed with by any random passerby.¡±


    ¡°Let me tell you a story of a girl from the past. Better yet, I¡¯ll let you experience it first hand.¡±


    ¡°Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a girl born into this world. She didn¡¯t know who her parents were, but she did know one thing. She was human, as far as she could tell. She lived in a peaceful orphanage where many children were abandoned after the wars waged between two empires. The first empire was a peace loving population known as the Demonic Empire, while the second empire... in simple terms they were a group of war mongers known as the Human Empire. At the time, the Demonic Empire was renowned for being the strongest empire in this world; even as an empire that strongly advocated peace, they were unmatched in overall military might.¡±


    ¡°However, this little girl did not grow up in the peace loving Demonic Empire, she grew up in the Human Empire. Although the Human Empire was known for its devastating wars, that didn¡¯t mean there were no peaceful locations. She somehow managed to leisurely pass the days peacefully in an orphanage within the Human Empire. She even managed to make bonds with the villagers and children in the orphanage. She lived a very happy content life, eventually came of age, and one day she turned eighteen. Which should have been when a girl her age was ripe to marry.¡±


    ¡°However, all good things will naturally come to an end. The time before she came of age was truly the happiest time she had ever known. Unfortunately. on the night she turned eighteen, there was a blood moon in the sky. It was that very same night that girl¡¯s entire world changed. The girl once thought she was a human, but in reality, she was not. She was actually a pure blood vampire who had yet to awaken to her bloodline. Unknown to the little girl of that time, she was born in the Demonic Empire; however, thanks to the schemes of the Human Empire¡¯s royalty, her parents were assassinated shortly after she was born. Her parents were the last true blood vampires in the Demonic empire. In an effort to protect their daughter, her parents sealed her bloodline and hid her away in the last place humans would ever expect, within the very borders of the Human Empire.¡±


    ¡°You see, humans were lusting after the secret to immortality; so on one auspicious night, they infiltrated the Demonic Empire¡¯s royal palace. They assassinated her parents in an attempt to capture the infantile little girl so they could turn her into an obedient research subject to advance the human race. The strongest hero of the humans wielded a powerful one time use sword, rumored to be bestowed by the human gods, it was said that it had the power to neutralize immortality. This cursed blade allowed the hero to successfully assassinate the girl¡¯s parents. However, the little girl¡¯s parents had long seen through the Human Empire¡¯s greed and had already made arrangements for their sole daughter who possessed their bloodline to flee and live a peaceful life elsewhere. However, unfortunate as it may be, the key to undoing the seal on her bloodline just so happened to be observing the blood moon.¡±


    ¡°More specifically, to bathe under the moonlight of the blood moon on one¡¯s coming of age, the night when one turned eighteen. The girl for certain reasons just so happened to be out on that night, deep within the forest taking a relaxing dip in the lake near the village when she grew entranced by the crimson moon that hung overhead. It was due to this unfortunate event that the once a little girl, now a woman, faced a calamity.¡±


    ¡°When she came of age and her bloodline awoke, her eyes changed to resemble two blood moons, far from that of a normal human¡¯s eyes. It was impossible to hide it from the other villagers. When she returned to the village she grew up in, the humans who were once close to her treated her like a satanic blasphemous devil. It was like the life she lived up to that point was all a lie. She was heartlessly stoned and forced to leave the village where she grew up.¡±


    ¡°But that was not all there was to the story that fate wrote for her. It really wasn¡¯t quite as simple as merely departing from that village. Somehow, word spread to the Human Empire that a peculiar girl had been sighted with eyes reminiscent of the blood moon. It was a trait distinct only to an immortal vampire and it easily ignited the Human Empire¡¯s lust to new levels after they had failed to locate the last descendent of the immortal bloodline for such a long time. Of course, the Human Empire easily put the pieces together and realized it was the lost immortal daughter from all those years ago. It wasn¡¯t hard for them to trace things back to the source and confirm that the girl had been sheltered in that village the entire time. This fact inevitably lead to the complete destruction of the one place the girl thought of as a home all her life.¡±


    ¡°The Human Empire didn¡¯t take long to act and immediately moved out to enact the so called punishment for the villager¡¯s blasphemous action of raising the girl up from young. They burned the village to the ground and planted slanderous claims that they were heretics who had sheltered and raised a potential demonic lord. It was only later on that the little girl discovered the reason everyone turned cold was to drive her out so she wouldn¡¯t be caught. It was a village that, in truth, were actually on good terms with demonkind. The majority of the humans in that village owed a debt to the girl¡¯s parents, but of course there were spies of the empire planted everywhere, even in such a small remote village. After years of scouring through the Demonic Empire, they realized they couldn¡¯t eliminate the possibility that the little girl was no longer within the Demonic Empire. Thus, a large net was cast both inside and outside the Human Empire.¡±


    ¡°One day, worse came to worst and the girl was confronted by the devious hero who killed her parents. He easily captured the girl and brought her back to the empire. That was where she learned the truth behind everything related to her past directly from the heroes mouth. He boasted about how treacherous and vile demonkin were and how he was a righteous hero who had personally slayed the demon lords. He easily handed the girl over to the Human Empire thinking his actions were just and that it was all for the betterment of the human race. What the hero didn¡¯t know was just what the innocent girl was undeservedly forced to experience after that. He turned out to be nothing more than an ignorant tool used by the empire without realizing it.¡±


    ¡°Can you imagine what fate befell the immortal girl? Can you?!¡±


    When she said that, I knew for certain she¡¯d reached a very emotionally unstable state, her grip on my head gradually increased as time passed by.


    She slammed her palm down and my body disintegrated into dust. The pain that coursed through my head was unbearably excruciating, but moments after, a message popped up in front of my eyes which said, ¡°Immortal Object.¡± I knew it was for the best to keep my mouth shut and not put up any resistance. The more of a fight I put up, the more punishment I¡¯d be in for, and thus the longer the physical pain would be prolonged. A wise man knows when to shut his mouth and say nothing. Not only that, even if I wanted to put up any sort of struggle, her unusual blood moon eyes applied some sort of strange pressure that seemingly restricted any strength I had to go against her. I had no means to put up a resistance even if I wished to.


    Shortly after the Immortal Object message appeared, my body reformed directly below my head; my body and head was, to my great relief, in one piece again.


    She continued on with her story.


    ¡°Over and over again. Time after time the little girl was experimented on like a lab rat. Her limbs were continually cut and viciously ripped off; she continually screamed, begged and pleaded for mercy, but only cold indifferent eyes returned her desperate pleas. As the days passed, her hatred towards humans grew stronger and stronger.¡±


    In parallel to her story, it seemed she desired to demonstrate the pain she endured. With each overly graphic scenario she described, she ripped off one limb at a time from my body. I was crying tears of blood by this point and my voice had gone hoarse to the point I was only blowing out hot air. She even went as far to rip out my vocal cords at some point unknown to me. She tore open my guts, chopped my intestines into pieces, and disintegrated every organ within my body; all the while, she narrated her story of the various different types of torture she experienced at the hands of the countless, ruthless, cold blooded humans that experimented on her body in their maddened pursuit of the secrets to immortality.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Her face was twisted; warped with boundless rage and resentment. I felt like I suddenly understood the hardships of a stress ball. My appreciation for stress balls rose ever so slightly deep within my heart. I thought if I had the chance, I¡¯d definitely buy one for her if they existed in this world.


    ¡°Yes, exactly like what you¡¯re experiencing right now, but her agony went on for years, maybe even decades! Who knows really? The girl had lost track of time at some point and only wished for death and revenge. She was too weak at the time to fight since she only lived the simple life of a peaceful villager her entire life. The cold merciless eyes of the people experimenting on her like she was nothing more than an animal always pierced to the depths of her soul; even now she still remembers each and every one of them to this day.¡±


    ¡°Haha. Can you imagine? Can you?! Well, you probably don¡¯t need to imagine it since you¡¯re experiencing it first hand right now.¡±


    She showed a jeering smile towards me as though she were looking at an ant.


    ¡°During the time the girl was imprisoned like an experimental lab rat, the Human Empire rapidly increased their strength through discoveries related to their research on the girl¡¯s immortal blood. They used her immortal blood to fuel powerful magical weapons of mass destruction and they started a crusade in the name of ¡®slaughtering the demon lords who oppressed the human race.¡¯¡±


    She said her last words with so much fury, to the point her voice were reminiscent to nails scraping on a chalkboard.


    ¡°It¡¯s really the funniest damned joke I¡¯ve ever heard. The so called demon lords had already secretly been dealt with by the human hero through despicable means after all.¡±


    It was like her anger was directed towards me. I felt like her rage would be able to completely shatter my soul and wipe me out of existence. I felt so tiny and insignificant in front of her wrath I couldn¡¯t utter a single word. I now somewhat understood a little of what the words demon lord meant to her.


    To vent her boiling rage, her hand pierced directly through my chest a few hundred times before it recovered whereupon she momentarily paused her actions. She changed course, extended her hand towards my face and ripped my eyeballs out of its socket then squashed it before it regenerated moments later in my eye socket.


    Of course all the pain left me wishing I were dead, but somehow, I couldn¡¯t find it in myself to hate her. I felt more irritated with unreasonable humans in this world than her. If this was what she personally experienced and survived through, I also felt it would be too pathetic of me to plead for forgiveness from her. I just needed to suck it up and deal with the pain until she finished venting. I¡¯m a man right? It¡¯s just a little pain, right? If she survived through it, wouldn¡¯t I be far too pathetic if I started to beg for mercy now?


    Besides that, what good would there be in coming to hate her to begin with? Who knows how long I will be trapped down here together with her? It would be best to try to find a way to at least get along in the long run.


    ¡°In the end, the Demonic Empire fell after humans exploited the girl¡¯s immortal blood. Eventually, the human hero who had grown much older eventually returned from the front lines as well. He was heavily rewarded and showered in praise for his services for slaying uncountable demons. He was also granted one wish from the emperor. He asked if he could learn of how the empire suddenly created such powerful weapons. The emperor only smiled at the hero at the time and allowed him to meet the girl once again. By this second meeting between the two, the hero and girl, the girl was now nothing more than a lifeless corpse.¡±


    ¡°When the hero saw how the girl was dissected and saw her dead lifeless eyes, perhaps it was then, for the first time he felt something. Maybe it was the same dead lifeless eyes he had seen from the humans of the Human Empire who had suffered through countless years of unending wars led by the imperial family. It was only at that point the human hero asked the emperor a question he had never asked before in his life, ¡®why do we fight demons?¡¯¡±


    ¡°The emperor only smiled back at the hero and casually said, ¡®because they are the root of all evil, they are the ones that oppress us humans.¡¯¡±


    ¡°The human hero immediately asked a follow up question, ¡®Are they really evil? What makes them evil?¡¯¡±


    ¡°¡®Of course they are evil, what are you thinking oh mighty hero of the human empire? They are evil because they are the root of all evil.¡¯ The emperor said it like it was the only possible answer. It was really an answer that was not an answer at all; simply said, it was the fallacy of begging the question, or in other words, circular reasoning.¡±


    ¡°The hero took one last look at the girl before he departed with the emperor. He mumbled something under his breath when he left that he thought only he could hear. But the girl who was far superior to humans easily heard, ¡®who is really on the side of evil?¡¯¡±


    ¡°That same night, the hero snuck in and granted the little girl freedom. He explained all that happened while she was locked up, along with the secrets behind the defeat of the Demonic Empire. In short, her empire fell due to the very blood that once protected it. Perhaps it would have been best if the hero just hid everything from the girl, but maybe it was that his guilty conscious wouldn¡¯t allow him to. He had personally brought destruction to the girl¡¯s homeland after all. The so called demons were now all slaves to be used as the Human Empire saw fit.¡±


    ¡°The hero took her far away and left her to her own devices. He probably couldn¡¯t bear to face the girl anymore than that. The girl naturally despaired and mourned the fall of the homeland she never had the chance to know, she even wished she were never born. She wished she could die, but she couldn¡¯t as the curse known as immortality was placed upon her. She wished she could atone for her sins, but more than that, she wished to destroy everything.¡±


    ¡°Thus the girl fought. She was left in the wilderness where only desolate beasts existed. She fought and she fought and she fought some more, until she eventually became unmatched in the short span of ten years. She became a feared existence and not a single beast in the wilderness dared to venture within a hundred miles of her. When she attained sufficient power, she returned to the wretched Human Empire and eventually brought about a calamity across the lands.¡±


    ¡°When the girl returned, at first she thought at the very least it would now be a peaceful empire. She yearned and desired to completely crush that disgusting false peace, but rather than there being peace, there were endless civil wars occurring all across the Human Empire. The humans didn¡¯t seek peace at all, all they cared for was increasing their power and stirring up more chaos. They only thought to better their own lives and not others. They couldn¡¯t care less even for their own kind.¡±


    ¡°Her fury and madness only crescendoed into a torrential storm and her sole purpose in life had turned towards slaughtering everything within her path. The girl judged that humans were worthless and insignificant creatures not worthy of living. Thus, she brought about a massacre within the borders of the Human Empire. When she reached the capital of the empire, the human hero surprisingly didn¡¯t intervene at first. Instead, he sat on the sideline far away and simply watched as the girl killed countless swarms of humans single handedly. By this point, the girl had become a savage blood thirsty demon that only knew how to kill and slaughter. There existed not a single shred of good or warmth within her eyes. When the girl finally took the head of the emperor and finished off the royal family, the hero finally made his move.¡±


    ¡°The hero had a second sword he was bestowed by the so called human gods. By exchanging his life, he could seal any being he so desired once. Thus, even while he was already on his deathbed and no longer able to fight the girl head on, he successfully sealed her in a moment of carelessness when she finished off the imperial bloodline. His dying words were an apology towards the girl and her people. He admitted his wrongs and how he was blinded by the church and the empires words. When she was sealed, the girl made a deal to exchange benefits with the human kingdoms for sacrifices. This was the girl¡¯s only idea on how she could accumulate strength to break out after she was sealed.¡±


    ¡°In the end, a large crater was left as a result of the seal. With nothing better to do, the girl, after many years of effort, built a dungeon in her spare time underneath the sealed off area through various means. Over time, humans eventually forgot about the significance of the seal and built up a kingdom on the ruins of the destroyed empire. However, humans continued to wage wars against each other. Though, thanks to the girl¡¯s efforts, many citizens of the Demonic Empire were freed and they even regrouped and formed their own smaller segregated, isolated, kingdoms. With the strongest hero out of the way, and the loss of the weapons of mass destruction, the citizens of the demonic empire were able to recover over time. Eventually, a demon lord to rule over them was necessary. So the girl raised a few demon lords and occasionally sent them to the demonic kingdom. The seal was only effective on the girl, not the beings she turned into servants.¡±


    ¡°As for how she created such powerful demonic lords, that had to do with the bloodline passed down by the strongest hero of the old Human Empire. Till this date they have abided by the human hero¡¯s wish to atone and have followed the girl¡¯s instructions. They remained secluded from the affairs of the world and offered the strongest of each generation up to the girl to become a servant. The girl turned them into demonic beings and trained them so they would act as a provisional demonic lord to keep humans in check. By doing so, the benefit they reaped was they managed to prevent wars between humans from breaking out.¡±


    ¡°In the end, it turned out the humans needed this foreign enemy to stay united. This was the girl¡¯s compromise to the situation she faced where she was sealed away while helpless and unable to do a thing for her people; it was the only thing she could really do. In the end, although the girl found humans to be utterly despicable, she still remembered the warmth of her time in the human village and how they tried to protect her. The girl was torn and couldn¡¯t find a way for both sides to stop fighting. So she could only give the demons a demonic lord that would protect them from the humans, while she gave an enemy for the humans to fight against and stay united.¡±


    ¡°However, this story isn¡¯t quite finished. There was something the girl only realized after she¡¯d been sealed for so long. This story actually had a mastermind that never entered the girl¡¯s eyes back then when she was blinded by revenge. As one might expect, the girl¡¯s anger was only ever directed towards the empire, but there was another existence that stood side by side with the empire in the background. An existence the girl should have easily noticed. In fact, it should have been among her top priorities to wipe out. Yet, why did the girl not notice them? She was a fool, just as the human hero was. They were truly two faced; they performed evil deeds when they were hidden in the dark, while they put on a righteous air on the surface in the eyes of the public when in broad daylight.¡±


    ¡°We were all unaware chess pieces dancing on the palms of the church''s hands. In the end, religion was the true root of all evil. They were the only ones who had an even deeper history in comparison to the empire. They were the ones pulling the strings behind the loyal dogs they planted and brainwashed within the imperial family. The girl was still young and naive back then and she didn¡¯t understand such complicated matters back then. With the way she was raised as a simple minded country hick out in the boonies, she only sought out what was on the surface.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    When she finally finished her story I was unable to move a single muscle. I was also unsure of what to say in response to her long story after this painful torture session. Although everything was healed and my body was perfectly fine, the torment she put me through while I listened to her story left my mind in chaos. The only thing I thought of was to try and break the awkward silence, ¡°see, you¡¯re just lonely after all, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Just what the hell am I saying? Well, in all honesty I didn¡¯t like the sight of the deep melancholy that had seeped into her entrancing eyes and deep down I wanted to see her smile at least once. But of course, after the last word left my mouth, all I could see was her arm that suddenly appeared between my eyes. Her hand had pierced cleanly through my skull from behind and held my brain directly in front of my eyes.


    ¡°Is it this useless brain that keeps thinking of idiotic things to say when someone is just telling a story of some random unrelated girl on a whim?¡±


    She¡¯s a bit scary, but she¡¯s somehow cute, albeit extremely violent. Maybe this is just how immortals show affection towards each other.


    While I thought of more idiotic things, my brain was squashed, fragments of crushed brain matter flew out in all directions before my body soon returned to normal.


    ¡°Tsk. You really are immortal with no way to die, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    She seemed to be in a rather foul mood when she voiced her slight surprise. Somehow I found her reactions to be a bit cute.


    ¡°There really isn¡¯t anyone in the demonic race that carries a pure immortal bloodline like mine any longer. What am I supposed to do? Am I really left with no other choice? I¡¯d rather not with a despicable, disposable summoned human hero though.¡±


    ¡°Hey, is it really impossible for me to be a demon lord after all?¡±


    ¡°Yeah it is. I can¡¯t turn you into a demon since you¡¯re already immortal. I already tried to turn you into a servant while I drained your blood earlier, but it was no good.¡±


    ¡°Does a demonic lord really need to be a demon to begin with? Isn¡¯t it fine if a human becomes a demonic lord?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still casually spouting nonsense about becoming a demon lord after all I put you through? Are you just an idiot? You know, you could very well be the second little girl from that story if you fall into human hands.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it fine? Can¡¯t you just become the hero in that story and come break me out?¡±


    ¡°Are you really just an idiot?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, maybe I am. I don¡¯t like humans after all. I¡¯d rather they all died.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Why do you hate them?¡±


    ¡°If the majority of them are as bad as you¡¯ve described them to be and are like what I saw when I was first summoned, aren¡¯t they all better off dead? In my world there are countless stories about humans being oppressed by demons. Demons are also always villainized as being evil and humans are always on the side of good. It was to a point where it felt like they were trying to brainwash everyone into believing that was the only possible truth. But I don¡¯t believe in stupid stories like that. Demons can think and feel just like humans do. Humans only reject them because they look different.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Did you think I was going to fall for you if you spewed a few crappy lines like that?¡±


    ¡°It was worth a shot, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Hah. You¡¯re really just an idiot after all.¡±


    When I saw the beautiful mocking smile bloom on the face which clearly expressed nothing but utter disdain, I couldn¡¯t tear my eyes away from her for even a second. It might have just been because of the stark contrast between now and her earlier melancholic expression that only showed agony and a painful heartache that left me so captivated.


    I somehow found myself completely lost in those captivating blood moon eyes that glowed with a deep crimson hue. The eyes that belonged to the so called true demon lord before me left me muddle headed, so much so, to the point that I even thought it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to be sealed here for an eternity with her. My splattered blood on the side of her face similarly gave off an utterly demonic allure in the instant she licked off the blood that had stained those petite pale white fingers of hers.

 Chapter 3.

    Chapter 3.


    (POV ???)


    I can¡¯t accept this. There is no way I can accept this.


    What played out before my eyes was the delinquent banchou from my school who single handedly fought off a hundred men from the Yakuza.


    There was no way this was real. How could this person be? He was like this, right? He surely had some sort of cheat ability, right? This made no sense! Why was life so unfair?


    One hundred men were left sprawled out on the ground without a shred of life in them, around that lone individual, with not even a single scratch on him. Men with guns were unable to land a single shot as he cleverly weaved through the crowd and used them as shields while slicing them up into pieces with a only a blood stained knife at his disposal.


    Blood dyed the ground a crimson hue on that moonlit night where I questioned reality. This person¡­ why I was unable to defeat such an idiotic barbarian like him was an eternal mystery to me.


    No matter how much effort I put in, not once had I ever come out on top against him.


    No matter what field, I was unable to defeat this monster who I once looked down upon at the start.


    Why the hell was a vicious barbaric animal like this the top of our class in academics?!


    Saikyo Tensai, he truly lived up to his name. The strongest genius. A complete delinquent whom I had not once seen study or put in any effort. He was a person capable of everything and he always made it all look effortless. Since he first enrolled in high school, not once have I ever seen him get a single academic question incorrect.


    Every single test he has taken, he has scored a perfect mark. There are even rumours his answers were so perfect, teachers were forced to give bonus marks and seek him out for lessons instead. On many occasions his answers far surpassed the teacher¡¯s answer keys.


    Of course, these were all just rumours. There was no way I believed such nonsense was possible. He had to be a cheater! Definitely. That had to be it. I¡¯ve watched him for the last two years since the midterm result in our first year of high school came out where he was placed first in all academic subjects with perfect scores.


    Even though he was so amazing, not once has he stayed awake in class. No matter what angle I look at him he is clearly just a slacker. He always slept with his head down, yet the teachers didn¡¯t make a peep or voice a single complaint.


    There was a time where I even secretly spied on him for a week and found that all he did was get into fights like this one I coincidentally came across. He definitely did not study in secret. I was nearly certain that he¡¯d blackmailed and threatened the teachers to give him full marks on everything.


    That felt far more plausible than him actually scoring those marks legitimately.


    My pride could not accept any other possible answer. I felt like, if I did accept it, my entire life and self worth would mean nothing when compared to such a freakish monster.


    I am the girl you would call forever second, as long as Saikyo Tensai existed at least. I wasn¡¯t always second place, in fact, throughout middle school I was always first, but the moment high school started, I was completely crushed by his existence.


    In fact, thanks to him, our school which was once known for its high academic standards, turned into a school filled with only delinquents. All the overachievers left one by one, unable to accept the cruel reality that such an outrageous person existed. Eventually I was the only overachiever that remained in the school full of delinquents. I was a girl who had taken up second place since the moment he first appeared.


    Don¡¯t get me wrong, I am no genius, in fact, I am actually a complete idiot. It took me an unbelievable amount of effort just to keep my grades as high as they were. The only thing I had going for me was my stubbornness. Until I beat him at least once, I couldn¡¯t just run away from this monster.


    When I finally did beat him, I¡¯m sure I¡¯d enjoy rubbing it in that bored looking face of his. However, there was one problem, he didn¡¯t know who I was even after I¡¯d one sidedly competed with him for the past two years. He never bothered to check results, so I was certain that not once had he ever heard of my name.


    That single depressing thought always extinguished the little competitive fire that raged within my heart.


    How was I supposed to beat someone like this? No matter how many cram schools I attended, no matter how many textbooks I purchased, no matter how many tutors I was mentored by, no matter how many hours I put into my studies, I had never won even once against this freak of nature.


    I¡¯d definitely had enough of it. It was to the point that I wished I could just leave this world behind and run away from it all, but because I was stubborn, I couldn¡¯t accept such an outcome where I never won even once.


    Unfortunately, although I wished for one thing, things didn¡¯t always play out as one desired.


    Fate was sometimes cruel and unexpected things far beyond one¡¯s control always happened when one least expected it.


    A few days after I witnessed that bloody scene of carnage and I locked myself up in my room; while asleep, something I never would have imagined occurred. The dream I had to defeat that man was suddenly made impossible.


    When I opened my eyes, in what should have been the morning inside my bedroom, I found a man with closed eyes in front of me.


    The first words that came out of his mouth were, ¡°hero we have summoned you to slay the demon lord.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Of course I was unable to say a thing in my confusion. I was unable to comprehend a thing related to what had happened.


    When he heard my lack of response, the man in front of me opened his eyes, and puzzled, maybe even baffled said, ¡°Eh? You¡¯re a girl? The 45th hero is female? But the prophecy said the 45th hero was supposed to be male. What is going on here?¡±


    Beside the man wearing a crown, a girl who looked to be about my age adorning a beautiful dress sat prim and proper with a refined look on her face. She really looked the part of a princess of a great kingdom with all the jewelry she wore.


    ¡°Royal Father, who cares if it¡¯s a woman, we can just dress her up and have her act the part of a male hero. This suits my preferences much better anyways.¡±


    I still couldn¡¯t keep up with their conversation at all. I was just an average girl with a bit of an inferiority complex towards a certain monster. What is with all this talk of heroes? One moment I was curled up on my bed, asleep in my room having a nightmare about a certain scene I witnessed a few days prior; then the next thing I knew, I was in front of these two?


    Was I actually still in a dream or nightmare? Did things take a strange turn where I thought I woke up, but actually woke up still inside a dream? I never even watched movies, so it wasn¡¯t like I could use the excuse that I¡¯d watched too many movies lately.


    At the very least, my theory sounded much more logical than the other fear that slowly creeped into my heart. The other possibility I slightly feared was something absurd that only came straight out of works of fiction. I was summoned to another world to become a hero and slay the demon lord.


    No way, right? Even if it was real, they probably just got the wrong person, right? Surely it should have been someone else. That monster was definitely more suitable to play the role of a hero in comparison to a weak average girl like me. Well, rather than that, now that I think about it, he might be more suited to play the role of a demon lord instead.


    ¡°Uh, I think you summoned the wrong person. I¡¯m just a weak average girl who is only slightly alright in academics. Can you please send me back?¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Oh? Send you back? You don¡¯t even have any merits yet, it would be a waste of taxpayers money if we just sent you back without you accomplishing anything. Ehem. Sorry I misspoke. I meant we don¡¯t actually have a method to send you back. We are only able to summon heroes from other worlds.¡±


    It¡¯s a scam! It¡¯s definitely a scam! I might be a bit slow, but I¡¯m not a complete idiot you know! You really think I¡¯d believe there¡¯s no way to send me back after what you just said?!


    ¡°Well¡­ if you don¡¯t want to be a hero, I suppose we can just use you as a sacrifice.¡±


    ¡°Royal Father?! What are you saying? This woman is the next hero to slay the demon lord! Of course she will live up to expectations. As compensation, I will even wed the hero after the hero has slain the demon lord.¡±


    Are you kidding me?! Is this the so called good princess, bad king act? What a rip off. Also, I really don¡¯t need that sort of compensation to begin with. Is she actually just a lesbian who hates men? Just for the record, I¡¯m a straight woman and I don¡¯t swing that way.


    But it seemed like my life was sure to be in danger if I didn¡¯t at the very least make myself appear as if I were useful. What can I really do though? I was just a normal high school student up until a few minutes ago, not a freak of nature like a certain someone I knew.


    I figured it was for the best if I just played along for now and did as they said. Otherwise... I really may forfeit my life. These two felt like quite the unreasonable father daughter duo and they really didn¡¯t seem like they¡¯d listen to any reason I came up with.


    It was only now I realized that I was actually quite calm despite my circumstances. Maybe deep down I actually really wanted something like this that forced me against my will to escape from that monster.


    In regards to whether this was just a dream or reality, I still played things safe.


    ¡°Uh, seeing as there is a demon lord, does that mean magic also exists in this world?¡±


    The king answered back as though it were a matter of fact, ¡°of course it exists.¡±


    ¡°The majority of summoned heroes are boundless containers full of mana. You are no different. Surprisingly, I dare say you may be the hero with the most mana we have ever summoned to date. You would definitely be suitable towards utilizing magic. As for your ability with the sword, we will need to test your compatibility.¡±


    The king motioned towards the guards at the side of the room. Shortly after, they brought over a sword with the appearance reminiscent to a star filled night sky.


    ¡°Hero, take a hold of the Star Cleaving Sword. It will radiate starlight when you grab ahold of it. The sword will judge your talent in swordsmanship. The more compatible with the sword you are, the more starlight will be generated and illuminate the room.¡±


    Haha, this isn¡¯t going to be something stupid like it radiates so brightly that I break it or something, right? I¡¯m just a normal girl after all. What sort of ability in swordsmanship could I possibly have? I should still be cautious though.


    Looking at the sword held respectfully in the two hands of the guard whose eyes were filled with reverence towards the sword, I felt a bit awkward. I easily sensed the guards passion towards swordsmanship. It oozed out from every pore of his body, to the point I felt a bit nauseous. I figured I¡¯d just poke it a bit and retreat. I¡¯d rather not have to get up close and personal and bathe in the blood of my enemies like that monster.


    I stretched my index finger out and poked the hilt before I pulled my hand back quickly fearful that it might really explode.


    The king, frustrated by my act voiced his displeasure and complained. ¡°What are you doing? Hold it properly.¡±


    Just as the words left his mouth, the sword suddenly jumped out of the guard¡¯s hands of its own volition and darted straight towards me.


    Luckily, I was prepared for this sudden turn of events and I successfully dodged out of the way beforehand when I expected some sort of an explosion. The sword penetrated the ground behind me before it floated up again and pointed its tip directly towards me.


    ¡°What the hell? Did I suddenly offend a sword spirit or something?¡±


    The king seemingly shocked by something screamed out, ¡°This?! It can¡¯t be!¡±


    It can¡¯t be what?! The spirit of the sword suddenly wants to kill me? I can understand why you¡¯re shocked. I¡¯m just as shocked as you are.


    ¡°Why this girl? You can¡¯t be serious! The sword has chosen its master after all these years?!¡±


    Eh? What? It doesn¡¯t want to kill me? It¡¯s actually something even more cliche than I expected?


    Once again the sword darted towards my direction, but I just narrowly rolled out of the way in time and dodged it. My heartbeat was out of control. What did you mean it¡¯s chosen it¡¯s master? It clearly just tried to kill me!


    ¡°Why do you keep dodging it?! Insolence! Are you rejecting the sword spirits desire to make you its master?¡±


    The king kept saying more incomprehensible things.


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding right? I¡¯ll die if I don¡¯t dodge it!¡±


    ¡°Are you stupid? Why would the sword spirit kill the one it has acknowledged as its master?¡±


    Once again the sword floated up into the air and pointed directly at me.


    ¡°Please we can talk this out. I¡¯m really not interested in being your master or anything. Why don¡¯t you go pick the guard oozing jealousy over there who was holding onto you earlier? I¡¯m sure he is far more suitable than I am.¡±


    Without waiting for me to say another world, the sword zoomed directly towards me. Just when I thought my head was about to be pierced, the sword skimmed past the side of my cheek and flew out of the room.


    ¡°Ah! Look at what you¡¯ve done you insolent girl! The sword spirit fled in embarrassment from having her confession of love rejected¡­ Ehem. Sorry, I misspoke, I meant being rejected by the one she acknowledged as her master! This is a clear display of rebellion towards the kingdom. Guards, send her to the gallows to be beheaded and toss her into the pit after she is executed!¡±


    Eh? What? No no no. Don¡¯t give me that!


    ¡°Wait! Please give me a second chance! I was just a bit flustered by the sword spirit¡¯s sudden confession?... Or acknowledgement? And I didn¡¯t know how to react.¡±


    What did they mean it fled in embarrassment anyways? Can swords actually feel embarrassed?


    ¡°You have one hour! Become the master of the sword or be executed!¡±


    Everything had been nothing but confusing ever since I got here. What was I even supposed to do about this situation?


    Guided by guards, I was directed along the path the sword had escaped. I walked through several grand hallways before I left the palace and was brought near a large pit. Directly above the pit, floating in mid air was a sword that appeared quite lonesome like it wanted to plunge itself downwards into the abyss below out of pure depression.


    ¡°Sword spirit! Please think about this carefully! So what if that girl rejected you just now, it¡¯s nothing that you should lead you towards thoughts of suicide over. Nothing that enters this abyss has ever returned to see the light of day. Please don¡¯t be impulsive over a youthful blunder.¡±


    The guard that initially brought the sword to me was somehow having a strange conversation with the sword that appeared to be contemplating suicide by descending into the pit below.


    Can swords even commit suicide? Actually, better yet, why is this sword spirit acting like a maiden who was rejected by her first love?


    I really can¡¯t keep up with this.


    ¡°You! You say something to the hurt sword spirit as well! Can¡¯t you see how much agony she is in after you heartlessly rejected her? Are you a demon?¡±


    Do I really need to?


    Ugh. If I want to live, I guess I have to.


    ¡°Oh holy magnificent sword spirit, the moment I laid eyes upon you, I felt as though I were unworthy of you. Please don¡¯t taint yourself with such thoughts of ending your... life?... and plunge into this pit. Such a death would be far too unbecoming of a perfect being like you.¡±


    The sword vibrated a bit and let out a hum as the flowery words, that seemed slightly effective, flowed out from my mouth.


    I felt like a bad uncle trying to deceive a child right now, but it appeared to be working. The sword had inched a bit closer towards me as though it were now a bit interested in what I had to say.


    Why is this sword so damn fickle and similar to a human?


    It still looked slightly hesitant to fully believe me as it swayed back and forth a bit in mid air like it didn¡¯t know how to react. Don¡¯t be so indecisive now when I¡¯m now in the weaker position. If things keep going this way, the sword spirit might think I¡¯m a bit too easy. I realized I had come on too hot in my approach and I needed to now pull back a bit.


    ¡°Of course if the sword spirit no longer wants me as it¡¯s master, I suppose it can¡¯t be helped. I will just need to resign myself to my fate and die.¡±


    It was a gamble, but I wanted to make the sword spirit think my death would be due to its hesitation to act. I didn¡¯t want to give it too much time to think things through, so I acted immediately and walked over to the pit and looked over the edge. When I did, there was nothing but a pitch black darkness as far as the eye could see. It was such a mysterious looking abyss and I was slightly curious as to what could be hidden within the depths.


    Without realizing it, I had gone into a trance like state and I lost myself in the world of the abyss below. It was strange, it felt like I was presently falling even though I was clearly still standing right at the edge of the pit still. For some inexplicable reason, while I was slowly drawn in, I saw two blood moons peering up at me from below. It felt as if they were trying to pull me into the abyss.


    Unconsciously, I lifted one foot off of the ground and it hovered directly over the pit. Just as my center of gravity moved towards the pit, like a lightning bolt, the sword in front of me plunged directly into my skull. I was pushed backwards from the swords momentum and blood sprayed out everywhere in all directions.


    ¡°Ahhhhhhgggggggg!¡± I naturally let out a loud scream due to the endless pain that followed my skull being penetrated.


    Although the pain was unbearably excruciating, I somehow still managed to retort in my mind.What the heck? See? Wasn¡¯t I right? It really did just want to kill me after all!


    Like that, the world I had just been summoned to disappeared before my eyes as my consciousness faded to black. The only thing that remained in my mind within the pitch black darkness were the two blood moons that floated about mysteriously like they were observing me curiously after their interest had been piqued.

 Chapter 4.

    Chapter 4.


    It¡¯s already been five years since I was summoned to this world to slay the demon lord. I went through all sorts of trials and tribulations along the way. I made many friends and companions throughout my journey. I also overcame my inferiority complex thanks to the bonds I built with all the people throughout my long journey.


    Everything was all for the sake of bringing an end to the threat known as the demon lord.


    At first, when I came to this world, I was tossed into the dungeon below the city to grind my level up using the Star Cleaving Sword. I spent a full two years there before I finally made it to the 20th floor, but I was warned by everyone to venture no further until I raised my strength in the outside world. I only reached level 30 by the time I reached the 20th floor.


    Thanks to the cheat like secrets hidden within the Star Cleaving Sword I was able to learn the skills of any enemy I slayed with it. Whether it be elemental type resistances or immunity to status conditions, they were no exception to the absurd abilities granted by the Star Cleaving Sword and I¡¯d long maxed them all out.


    Any magic ability I came across, I easily learned through the sword¡¯s magic decomposition and analysis ability. Any sword technique I witnessed in battle was easily replicated through the very same analysis ability that belonged to the overpowered sword. The sword spirit could even trigger an enraged berserk buff condition in which all my stats were raised by 500%.


    It was only around the time right before I left the dungeon that I met the person in my party. They became my first trusted comrade that I strongly believed would certainly share life and death with me. A priest, he was a true hidden talent among talents. His ability to heal and buff left me awestruck. Buffs and healing spells from him were 50% more effective compared to any other priest I had teamed up with before. Of course I wouldn¡¯t let a great talent like him escape so easily in a world where I could die from the slightest bit of carelessness.


    By the time I finished up with my training in the dungeon, the two of us were sent over to the Magic Academy to learn all sorts of advanced magics. With such cheat like abilities, I somewhat felt like I had surpassed the inner demon in my heart known as Saikyo Tensai. I was unrivalled amongst my peers and I could fight demons several levels above me thanks to all the life hacks bestowed by the Star Cleaving Sword. Within the short span of two years, I graduated early and I departed the academy at the top of my class at level 40.


    My second party member came along with me from the Magic Academy. It was someone that reminded me a lot of myself in the past. A person also known as the eternal second place ever since I showed up at the academy. She always worked diligently to defeat me, but by graduation she never won once. She was a cute half elven girl who was renowned in her homelands as a descendant of an elven hero and human. She was a very powerful mage whom I could not let my guard down around. By graduation she¡¯d mastered all elemental magics thanks to her high affinity with magic. Her supply of mana was only second to my own.


    It was only thanks to my larger supply of mana that I defeated her in the Magic Academy''s annual tournament two years running.


    The last member who joined us was brought up and raised as an assassin. Shortly after we departed from the academy we stumbled across an underground organization that focused on raising child assassins. He was the top assassin brought up by the organization and he had racked up quite the impressive kill count without a single failure to his name. Every mission he partook was completed perfectly without a hitch. It¡¯d already been a year since he first joined our group when he was fifteen. Now at sixteen years of age, by the standards of my previous world, he was a complete hottie who girls went crazy over.


    I was truly living the dream in another world. I had two hot guys in my party along with the cute elf girlfriend that some could only dream of having. However, if I had to voice a complaint about my situation, it was that what should have been my harem of hot guys and gals took a strange twist.


    Sure, there was a hot priest and assassin and I even had a cute elven girl in my party to dote on... but... the guys only had eyes for her instead of me! I know I¡¯m not that attractive, being the dorky glasses girl swinging a sword around loser that I am. I also recognize the fact that it¡¯s also because I need to pose and dress as a male thanks to a certain idiotic king, but isn¡¯t this too much?! Shouldn¡¯t they have at least gotten some sort of vague idea that I was actually a girl after all this time? Am I that unfeminine? Did I actually ooze with testosterone?


    No matter how defenceless I made myself appear when sleeping next to either one of them when we took turns keeping guard while we were out in the wilderness, they just fell asleep like logs and didn¡¯t pay me the slightest bit of attention. Well, of course, right? Because of the king I¡¯m passing myself off as a guy. Of course that¡¯s how things are, what can I really expect?


    But to add insult to injury, whenever it¡¯s my turn to to keep guard outside the tent at night, do they really think I don¡¯t notice the shenanigans they get up to all the time? Do they really think I can¡¯t hear her stifled heated moans? They really have the gal to believe I can¡¯t feel the scorching fire in the tents from their passionate trysts in the midst of those oh so cold and lonely nights when I¡¯m pouting all alone outside keeping guard?


    What¡¯s worse, she¡¯s a two timing slut and the guys are completely oblivious to it all! If you thought the reason she followed me was something convenient like she fell for me, sorry to burst your bubble. She actually just had the hots for the priest in my party that I picked up and tagged along with me to the academy. Well, at first she did come onto me as well under the impression I was male, but I flat out rejected her at the time. I¡¯m a straight girl, no matter how attractive a half elf you may be, at the end of the day I like guys.


    When the assassin kid joined, I thought even someone like me might have a shot at romance in another world. However, as though she were venting all her grievances with me, either because she was always treated as second best when we were compared; or maybe it was just revenge for flat out rejecting her back then, she even laid her hands on the fifteen year old kid without the slightest bit of hesitation. I even heard their first night together, the sounds of him calling out ¡°big sis, wait! I¡¯m going to¡­¡± I can still remember it as plain as day. I definitely got NTR¡¯d hard.


    I really regretted thinking she was ever cute or thinking of her as someone I could dote on. In the beginning, I somehow let it go when it was the priest, but when it was clear she did it just so she could feel some sort of superiority over me, I was infuriated. It was at that point I really couldn¡¯t wait to finish up this nonsense with the so called demon lord. The sooner I killed him, the sooner the idiotic party disbanded.


    Since I couldn¡¯t vent on the party members as it would affect our ability to coordinate together, I unjustly transferred all the blame towards the demon lord. Wasn¡¯t it his fault that I was summoned here? Wasn¡¯t it his fault that I needed stupid party members to fight him? Wasn¡¯t it because of him I had to suffer through all these injustices?


    Thus, in my fifth year in this world, I was determined to bring down the demon lord. My patience could no longer put up with their passionate trysts at night every single day. I really thought I¡¯d lose my sanity if I heard them going to town even one more time.


    Yet, although I had such a resolution, when I finally arrived at the demon lord¡¯s castle after slaughtering a path of carnage to the gates. The moment I broke through the gates, what I happened upon was¡­ a funeral. There was a grave that said, ¡°here lies the demon lord who died of a heart attack.¡±


    The climactic battle I had built towards for the last five years of my life suddenly turned into a complete joke. The snickers of the elven girl still rings out loudly in my ears at night whenever I try to sleep. When I think about it all now, haven¡¯t I just had horrible luck my entire life?


    Even when I was given some cheat like sword, even when I was no longer second best, aren¡¯t I always coming out on the bottom every time? Sent to another world just to act like a male, gathered hotties, but they have no interest in me, and lastly, I trained my butt off only for the target at the end of the journey to pass away from natural causes right before the final climactic battle?


    My bad luck naturally didn¡¯t end there though. When I finally returned to the kingdom after a months long journey, I had my audience with the king and I was provided an opportunity for a reward. When I asked to be transported back to my world, they first had the nerve to accidentally let a slip of tongue escape before correcting themselves just like our first meeting. He actually slipped up and mumbled to himself about how my contribution towards humanity was too low and it would be a waste of the taxpayer¡¯s money.


    The king covered up his blunder by once again stating there was no known way to send me back. The princess then declared that we would be betrothed to one another like it was the greatest reward I could ever be bestowed with as compensation for their inability to send me back.


    Of course, I flat out rejected the proposal. I was straight after all. That was probably the biggest mistake I made though. The moment I rejected her, she whispered something to the king. Thanks to my heightened abilities over the last five years I was able to distinguish every word she said.


    ¡°Since she¡¯s refusing to remain shackled to the royal family and act as our tool of slaughter, we should just send her down as another sacrifice, shouldn¡¯t we? We didn¡¯t get any sorts of blessings or benefits after the last person we sent down recently. We really need to confirm whether it was just the sacrifice somehow being insufficient. She didn¡¯t really do anything useful in the end either way, right? It¡¯s also already been spread that the demon lord died of a heart attack as well. The populace, rather than remembering her as a hero, would only remember her as a waste of their money if we don¡¯t at least recycle her, right? Also, if the royal family wants to break free of them, we need to get as many benefits through sacrifices, don¡¯t we?¡±


    The king had the nerve to immediately nod his head like he also had the same train of thought. The fact that he looked over to his daughter with a look of approval in his eyes enraged me even further.


    Now that just about brings me to my present situation. Just like five years ago, I¡¯m surrounded by guards. The only difference this time being, I have a powerful weapon in my hand along with an abundance of combat experience. I also have powerful party members at my side who I could share life and death with¡­ probably¡­ no, definitely. We may have our differences, but when all¡¯s said and done we¡¯ve still shared the same tent, eaten the same food, and relied on each other over the years. I just need to believe in the bonds I¡¯ve formed with my comrades. Yeah¡­ believe¡­ I need to stop letting negative thoughts preoccupy my mind.


    While I slightly wavered internally due to trust issues and prepared to break through with my party, something unexpected, or maybe I should say expected happened. The priest and assassin who were at my sides suddenly latched onto both of my arms before they tossed and pinned me down on the ground. They simultaneously kicked the Star Cleaving Sword towards the guards who skillfully restrained it before they forcefully severed my connection to the sword spirit.


    A familiar enchanting voice that soothed one¡¯s soul rang out from behind me when all this occurred.


    ¡°Your majesty we have restrained the hero who has been plotting against the kingdom with thoughts of rebellion.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to believe it, but it was the sound of the elven girl who I had known for the past three years.


    ¡°Rina, Seth, Kurotsuki, what is the meaning of this?!¡±


    ¡°How dare you spout our names with that blasphemous mouth of yours, traitor of the noble and prestigious human race?!¡±


    When I heard her ingratiating words towards the despicable royalty in the room, I felt painful pangs of heartache course through every stretch of my body. This sudden betrayal was far too much. It was too unfair. I did my best to blend in with everyone since I came to this world. I really did. I tried to get along with everybody, including her after I rejected her advances. Sure the two of us didn¡¯t get along that well, but I always thought it was just on the level of a healthy rivalry between comrades. I never thought I¡¯d be outright betrayed the moment things turned south at the drop of a hat like this. It was only now I realized just how weak and feeble I was. Without the Star Cleaving Sword I couldn¡¯t use the vast majority of my strongest abilities when I was restrained and isolated like this.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Tap. Tap. Tap.


    ¡°You, what are you-¡°


    Shing.


    ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!¡±


    When I heard her walking over from behind me, I grew extremely nervous about what she was plotting next. The moment I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed, I trembled with anxiety towards what was to come. A moment after I heard the sound I was forced to let out a scream of utter agony from the stinging pain in my right thigh. She¡¯d lodged the sword directly through my right thigh from behind. I did have pain resistance maxed, but this sword seemed to completely nullify my resistance to pain.


    ¡°Do not kill her.¡±


    The king casually said as such which left me slightly hopeful, but that half elven whore followed up quickly. She certainly wished to leave me without the slightest path of escape.


    ¡°Your majesty, this is not going to kill a hero. This is just to make sure she has no strength to escape, retaliate or kill herself. We can¡¯t have her committing suicide after all. You can¡¯t let your guard down when it comes to heroes and their desire to die with their heads held high. Besides that, the only thing we need to make sure is the sacrifice¡¯s mana is conserved for when they are sacrificed, right?¡±


    ¡°Umu, that is true. You may proceed.¡±


    What followed next was my left thigh.


    ¡°Gaaaaaaahhhhh!¡±


    Tears formed at the ridge of my eyes, but I didn¡¯t want to show weakness and beg for my life in front of this disgusting party full of traitors with the despicable king and princess in tow. I¡¯d fought and slaughtered an untold number of demons over the past five years, but when I thought back over it all, I realized the demons were far more humane than the disgusting creatures in this room.


    From then on, she proceeded to methodically pierce through my two upper arms and went on to slit the tendons near my joints so I couldn¡¯t move a single muscle. During the cruel mutilation process, I continually let out agonized wails from the excruciating pain that threatened to drive me to madness. Anytime I was cut I¡¯d let out curses towards every single person within the room wishing disaster to befall each and every one of their descendants.


    However, it was like every curse I uttered went in one ear and out the other. I didn¡¯t get a single response from them except for cold detached eyes filled disdain and mockery like I was some sort of clown. How can humans be such vile beasts? Is this just a side show for them to pass some time? What did I work so hard for the last five years for? Who have I been fighting for? Actually, who have I really been fighting against? Aren¡¯t the real demons right before my eyes? All for the sake of some stupid blessings they¡¯re treating me like some sort of animal they can butcher for their own gains?


    Where is the fairness in all of this? Hah! Fairness?! What kind of delusional crap am I spouting?! From the moment I was brought to this world, there was never any fairness! The humans of this world only care about themselves. No, that¡¯s probably incorrect, I¡¯ve met a number of good humans as well over the last five years. It¡¯s just the ones with the power to oppress and reign over others that are completely corrupt in this world. To them, only the people born in this world were considered real humans. Us summoned heroes from other worlds were probably nothing but convenient tools easy to manipulate and control by threatening us with death if we resisted even slightly.


    ¡°Haha. What¡¯s wrong hero? You can¡¯t scream out anymore? Did I go too far by cutting your vocal cords? But your curses were getting a bit annoying to listen to. I always did find your voice to be rather unpleasant, there were times where it sounded way too girly to be a man¡¯s. It¡¯s a shame I can¡¯t bask in your screams of agony anymore, but oh well. Anyways, aren¡¯t you too incompetent for a hero? You really are incredibly useless without that sword of yours, aren¡¯t you? Really, if it wasn¡¯t for that stupid sword of yours I wouldn¡¯t have been second best for all this time. I¡¯ve really been waiting quite some time for the moment where you slipped up you know. In a way I¡¯m really thankful towards you for messing up right at the end and declining the princess.¡±


    I wanted to say something, but I was unable to say a thing thanks to my vocal cords which were cut at some point. This really was too much. The ground all around me, died crimson, completely stained by my blood. For some reason my wounds never closed up even with my high self regenerative abilities either; it definitely had something to do with the sword she used. It was likely a cursed sword that weakened regenerative abilities and nullified resistances. However, even though I thought I would just die like this, the priest, Seth, who restrained the left side of my body repeatedly restored my health, but he did nothing to heal the wounds.


    Whenever my consciousness was on the verge of fading, he casted a buff to regain one¡¯s clarity of mind. It was truly despicable, shameless and unforgivable. Why did I have to suffer through this humiliation and torture? Are there no gods in this world to correct these disgusting animals?


    Finally putting an end to things, the king calmly spoke out.


    ¡°Enough. Guards, take the fallen hero away and toss he- him into the pit.¡±


    ¡°¡°¡°¡°¡°Yes your majesty.¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±


    ¡°You three may stay.¡±


    While I was dragged by the collar like a dead dog out of the room, I left a long trail of blood in my wake. I saw the half elven girl as I was dragged backwards and passed by her side. However, she didn¡¯t look anything like the girl I remembered. Rather than someone cute to dote on, she now appeared to be a seductive vixen. She simply smiled complacently at me once, clearly happy to see me gone before she turned away and never spared me another glance. It felt like I was something she¡¯d rather never see again in her life.


    I was of course startled by the sudden turn of events and wondered whether she used illusion magic the entire time to appear cute like a little sister people would dote on to make me let my guard down around her. Had she really been plotting against me from the moment we first met?


    Everything was far too much for me to accept at this point in time. I didn¡¯t have the time to think about it either. When I saw the faces of the priest and assassin in my former party, their eyes were vacant and blank like they were puppets who only knew how to mindlessly follow orders.


    Did that slut do something to them to control them like this?


    ¡°Princess, please forgive your half elven slave for not showing proper courtesy towards her master.¡±


    What?! When I looked over to the princess, she simply nodded her head towards the half elven whore in acknowledgement. So she was the princess¡¯ slave since the beginning?! I really couldn¡¯t bring myself to believe the events that transpired before my eyes. There were far too many things that didn¡¯t add up. The information felt too contradictory, unless everything from the very start was really orchestrated by the princess the entire way. The crappy marriage she¡¯d brought up at the start of everything was all just a sham to get me to lower my guard. It was all just politics? My heart sunk even lower. My entire body felt ice cold. I wanted to be put out of my misery. This disgusting world was too malicious.


    ¡°Your majesty, on account of apprehending the traitorous hero, this pitiful half elven slave pleads to serve the country along with the two comrades I¡¯ve enslaved on the princess¡¯ orders. The three of us desire to become the swords of the kingdom to vanquish and eradicate all the wretched demon spawn out of existence. Your highness, with me belonging to the princess and these two fully under my control, you need not worry about any sort of betrayal.¡±


    You bitch! First you betray me, now you want a reward for it?! You¡¯ll willingly submit your life to royalty who may shower you in glory one moment, but have your head rolling on the floor the next?


    If I somehow survive, I promise you, I will definitely slaughter each and every one of you!


    ¡°It¡¯s true, we could use this as a cover up for sacrificing the hero to ease the citizens minds. As you wish, let it be known to the people, the 45th summoned hero fell to the whispers of the demons and conspired to assassinate none other than, I, the king. The three valiant heroes Rina, Seth, and Kurotsuki filled with valor foiled their despicable plans and saved the life of I.¡±


    Every word the king spoke while I was dragged away were like grains of salt poured into each of my open wounds. I couldn¡¯t even grit my teeth or clench my fists in frustration as all those muscles had long been slit to prevent me from doing anything to retaliate. I suppose they didn¡¯t wish for me to even be capable of biting my tongue and bleeding. They definitely wanted to ensure I had no form of control over my own death.


    I couldn¡¯t even use wordless incantations as the pain from my wounds prevented me from concentrating. Like a broken doll I was incapable of doing a single thing. There were no miraculous twists like in stories where the hero awakens to enlightenment while on the verge of death. Nor would my trusty sword I¡¯d been together with from the beginning break free and miraculously save my life. My connection to the sword spirit had already long been forcefully severed by the guards when they restrained it and took the sword away.


    Five years ago I was just a normal high school girl living a peaceful life in her homeland. For five long years... FOR FIVE LONG YEARS! I had bathed in the blood of my enemies and tempered my will into a thick sheet of steel! For what! FOR WHAT I ASK YOU! Even with a tempered will like mine, that will could not help but shatter from the despairing situation I was presented with. There was no hope for me in this world, none at all. The so called companions I once believed to be comrades I could share life and death with turned out to all be traitorous swine. It broke my heart. It completely shattered into millions of microscopic pieces. Everything I¡¯d done since I came here was all a lie. A joke. A JOKE DAMN IT! I was just a pawn on a board for the royalties amusement


    When I finally came to a stop, the guard let go of the back of my collar. I collapsed with my back to the ground. I faced the sky, my head dipped slightly over the edge of what I presumed was the pit I¡¯d soon be tossed into. It was the same pit from five years prior where I became the master of the Star Cleaving Sword. The same pit I¡¯d seen the two enchanting blood moons. It¡¯s been five years since then, but it was without a doubt the exact same pitch black abyss I remembered from that day.


    At first I wondered why they didn¡¯t just toss me in, but the guard¡¯s following words answered my questions.


    ¡°Hey guys, let''s do that game again.¡±


    Game?


    ¡°Eh? That again? Don¡¯t you get tired of doing things like that?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t act like you don¡¯t enjoy it.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like we hate it or anything.¡±


    ¡°Good. What¡¯s our wager this time?¡±


    ¡°Thirty meters or greater and we¡¯ll buy you lunch.¡±


    ¡°Any less and you¡¯re treating all of us.¡±


    ¡°No way, that¡¯s too unbalanced, I have too much to lose compared to all of you.¡±


    ¡°How about this, in addition to you all treating me to lunch, the five of you also have to fork over one gold coin each.¡±


    ¡°How about if you break your record and reach forty meters we do that?¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    I heard one of the guards as he walked away from me further into the distance before he came to a stop.


    Forty meters? What are they even talking about? It was only after a minute where I waited anxiously in silence that I finally understood. I heard the sound of the guard in the distance when he sprinted towards me, his armour jingled about noisily as he rapidly closed the distance to the pit where I laid lifelessly.


    The next thing I knew a strong force landed between my nether regions. The strong force propelled me up into the air above the pit.


    If I really were a man, I¡¯m sure I¡¯d never be able to have descendants in the future, those were my honest thoughts. Thankfully I wasn¡¯t and he didn¡¯t have boots that nullified pain resistance.


    I was sent flying a solid forty meters from the edge of the pit when I understood the meaning behind their wager. It was to see how far he could kick me to my death.


    I made sure to engrave the bastard guards face into the deep recesses of my heart in the event, as unlikely as it may have been, I somehow lived to see the light of day. If reincarnation exists and I reincarnate, I¡¯ll surely remember to hunt you down in the future. It was really the definition of kicking a defeated dog when he was down. Purely to add insult to injury. All for the sake of stripping me the last dignity I had as a human. I was not even allowed to die in peace, instead I was used as part of an idiotic bet between guards for the sake of their next meal.


    I absolutely hate this world! I truly despise it all! There may still be some good people in this world, but the humans in this kingdom''s capital are all surely the bottom feeders of society. It¡¯s just a cesspool of filth and garbage. It would really be best off if this kingdom fell into ruins! I curse this wretched kingdom to have each and every one of its citizens die the most excruciatingly and painful death conceivable to man!


    While I fell further and further into the endless abyss, all sorts of negative emotions filled my mind as the last line in my heart had been crossed.


    I¡¯m no hero, I¡¯m just a weak innocent girl who was dragged into some nonsensical world filled with nothing but trash. Why couldn¡¯t someone strong and capable have been summoned rather than me? When I thought back to the world I lived in up until five years ago, a certain figure flashed through my mind. Why wasn¡¯t it someone like him instead? With the type of person he was, I¡¯m sure he could have accomplished something great in this world. He was far more suitable than someone like me.


    He was someone who I never understood no matter how I tried to wrap my head around him. He was someone who never got close to anyone, but always somehow effortlessly towered over everyone around him. Someone who was always at the top without needing to put in the slightest effort. Someone who could do everything by himself.


    Why did someone normal like me get summoned here rather than that prodigious delinquent? If it was him, he could have surely made it to the demon lord before he died of a heart attack. He definitely would have become a sword to cut away and eliminate the corrupt and filthy vermin from this world as well.


    ¡®You really think so?¡¯


    When such final thoughts flowed through my head, a voice I thought to be a figment of my imagination while on the verge of death sounded out at the back of my mind. Without thinking much about it, I inadvertently answered back with confidence, ¡®definitely, if it was him.¡¯


    That was the last line I thought to myself before my inevitable death.

 Chapter 5. Part 1.

    Chapter 5. Part 1.


    (POV Chi Kaban)


    I was minding my own business in the abyss when all of a sudden a stereotypical event transpired. Someone fell from the sky and landed on top of me. At first I was slightly expectant, I thought a beautiful girl had fallen from the sky, but upon closer inspection they wore clothes intended for males. I felt cheated so I tossed them to the side disinterestedly.


    It appeared he was already dead and I had no interest in necrophilia, nor was I gay. I was still troubled over my present situation as a blood bag for this high and mighty vampire progenitor. No matter how I tried over the last month I never even landed a single scratch on her fair white skin, nor did I ever successfully pin that dainty little waist of hers to the ground. Rather the reverse often happened.


    She often toyed with me playfully like a cat that had mischievously stalked a mouse as she amused herself with the feeble little resistance I put up. Every day she drained my blood at least twenty times. It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t put up any resistance, it¡¯s just that with my limited strength I was not her match.


    Occasionally she summoned low level monsters in hordes and watched as I was ripped to shreds. I was far weaker than them, but occasionally I somehow managed an occasional kill due to their negligence.


    My first kill was sadly only because I was eaten in one piece by a creature with the appearance of a pig. Through a miracle I used brute strength and just barely ripped apart it¡¯s intestines from the inside. I naturally exited from where the sun didn¡¯t shine, covered in it¡¯s disgusting bodily fluids.


    When I got out, she was actually repulsed enough that she didn¡¯t want to suck my blood directly. As for her solution to that problem, she lopped my head off and destroyed my body. After it reformed she chopped my head off and destroyed my head.


    Suddenly I was as clean as a baby¡¯s bottom, just how she liked before she quickly drained me of all the blood in my body. Was this how an immortal took showers? It was certainly quite the painful way to keep clean.


    As I spent an entire day inside that pig-like creature she really had her fill for that meal, not just seconds, but forty more body bag sized servings.


    When one considered how my blood regenerated endlessly, it wasn¡¯t too bad, but it wasn¡¯t fun being dominated and played with like this every day. Sure, she was hot. Sure, but, not being able to touch the meal before my eyes was excruciatingly painful as a man.


    While I squatted down and examined what I presumed was the body of a dead man, I thought of the devil and she naturally graced me with her almighty presence. She appeared right on time for her meal. Her fangs happily pierced into my neck with arms wrapped around me from behind. As for why she insisted on stirring my desires in such a suggestive manner, perhaps I¡¯ll never know.


    She only does things like this when she¡¯s enjoying her meal though. On any other occasion, she treats me like dirt, not letting me touch her for even a moment. She¡¯s really stingy with skinship outside of her meals to the point it¡¯s infuriating.


    ¡°By the way Chi Kaban, who¡¯s your guest?¡±


    ¡°My guest? Wouldn¡¯t he be your guest? Isn¡¯t he another sacrifice for you?¡±


    ¡°Now that you mention it, she does feel a bit familiar. Looking closer, I feel like I have actually seen this person before. If I remember correctly, it was probably about five years ago.¡±


    ¡°Considering I didn¡¯t give them any benefits after sending you down, maybe they thought you were insufficient. Ah. Right, right. I remember now, this was the stupid 45th summoned hero that Star Cleaving Sword chose as its master. I wonder what she is doing down here?¡±


    ¡°Wait. She? Isn¡¯t this a guy?¡±


    ¡°Ah that? Well¡­ I made up a random prophecy that the 45th hero would be male, but it turned out they summoned a female instead. They really took those prophecies far too seriously, I usually just flip a coin in boredom when handing out their prophecies. Somehow, I miraculously kept a streak of forty four correct guesses through this method, they probably took that the gender must adhere to the prophecy. Rather than doubting my baloney prophecies they made the female hero crossdress as a male. They were probably also secretly panicking after sending you down here thinking they messed up somehow. When I gave them no blessing or benefit they probably thought the would test the waters by sending down a second sacrifice.¡±


    ¡°Too bad for them I don¡¯t need any more sacrifices in the future now that I have a bottomless blood bag like you.¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t appreciate being treated like your food.¡±


    ¡°What else are you then?¡±


    ¡°Your future love interest?¡±


    Suddenly my lower jaw was missing from my face and in the palm of her hand.


    ¡°Is it this stupid jaw that doesn¡¯t know how to keep it¡¯s filthy comments to itself?¡±


    Over the last month I had grown accustomed to her tsundere act.


    Suddenly I felt a sense of deja vu, I saw my brain held out in front of my eyes.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Is it this idiot brain that still likes to think moronic thoughts?¡±


    Okay, she¡¯s really just a kuudere.


    Two fleshy balls landed in the palm of her hand.


    ¡°Are these the balls that have the nerve to label a being at the top of the food chain like me?¡±


    The pain was still there, but I¡¯d become a bit numb to it thanks to my pain resistance stat increasing over the last month. However, this was the one part, my Achilles heel so to speak, that if taken, it sent me to the verge of insanity whenever she crushed it into dust.


    ¡°Aaaaaaaggggghhhhh!¡±


    I really thought I¡¯d pass on for a second when the pain caught up with me.


    ¡°Haaah. Haaaaaaah. Haaaaaaaaah.¡±


    With three heavy breaths I pleaded for mercy, ¡°can you please just let me off with that?¡±


    ¡°Food does not have the right to lust after the one who eats it.¡±


    Damn it! I want to be eaten, but not as food!


    Ugh, whatever. I¡¯m just trying to drown myself in mortal pleasures to forget my situation. I¡¯ve already lived for far too long already after all.


    The reason I was given the immortal object ability in this world, I was quite confident I understood why.


    The world I came from was certainly not a nice place. I was raised as an experimental test subject, born in the times of Ancient Egypt. It took thousands of years of effort before I was successfully brought into the world through countless experiments. The project began when the first pyramid was built in 2630 BC and lasted right up until the fall of Egypt when Cleopatra the seventh died.


    Born shortly after her death, I remained dormant deep within the first pyramid that was built.


    Pyramids after the first were all for the sake of more research facilities. On the surface, to the people of Egypt, the pyramids were thought of as the tomb for the pharaohs of those times; however, beneath the surface, they disguised and hid the secrets of a long forgotten civilization that controlled and treated the Ancient Egyptian populace as puppets. Deep beneath the surface, another civilization existed, far more advanced than the Ancient Egyptians. That very same hidden civilization was once referred to as the Ancient Egyptian gods. They were in truth, a technologically advanced civilization that the brainwashed populace worshipped in awe.


    The pitiful Egyptians who didn¡¯t know a thing about technology were turned into slaves. They naively built the pyramids that hid countless experimental research facilities deep beneath the surface of the Earth obediently as instructed. The all powerful pharaohs feared by the people were nothing more than lackies used by this technologically advanced civilization that pursued the secrets to immortality. This civilization had already long ago discovered genetics and were working on creating a human whose telomeres could regenerate.


    After thousands of years of effort, they had one successful case, which was none other than I, the sole fruit of their unforetold efforts.


    Once Ancient Egypt inevitably fell, I infiltrated the Roman empire and took part in many historic events that ranged from when Caesar Augustus became the first Roman Emperor in 27 BC and reintroduced monarchy to Rome. I was also there when the Colosseum was built in 80 AD. I even personally took part in the construction of the Hadrian Wall in 121 AD which kept the barbarians out.


    I even experienced first hand the third century crisis where the Roman empire suffered chronic political and military instability between 235 AD and 284 AD. Those were truly turbulent times that I¡¯ll never forget.


    I definitely didn¡¯t miss those epic battles when Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 AD. I had a few close shaves and nearly died a few times over in several of those battles. Those times of war left me with a few traumas of my own as I watched the people I knew struck down one by one. I stuck around all the way until the fall of Rome in 476 AD. I sadly witnessed first hand how the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus suffered defeat to the German Goth Odoacer.


    Thereafter, I lived under the reign of the barbarian king of Italy who was later killed by Theodoric who became the next ruler of Italy.


    Eventually I grew wary of life in one place. People inevitably caught onto my unaging nature. It was truly carelessness on my part. Due to my foolishness back then, I was captured and researched by countless individuals that seeked the secrets to greedily stop time for themselves.


    As part of one test I was forced together with a woman. They tested if it could be passed down genetically. It was partially successful, the child certainly aged slower and would definitely live a long life, but the king didn¡¯t want a child not of his blood to succeed his position. In cold blood, the child I had together with that woman, whose name I did not know, was ruthlessly butchered right before my eyes. The child hadn¡¯t even reached the age of 5. Needless to say they didn¡¯t test that again.


    One day I miraculously escaped from my fate of endless inhumane experimentation. I fled far away from Italy and ventured towards Russian soil where I spent a hundred years before I moved to India and later China. Several hundred years passed by through my never ending journey across the rapidly changing times. I experienced many different eras and customs until one day I eventually arrived in Japan, the land of the rising sun. It was at this point I settled down a bit. I acted as an intermediary between China and Japan.


    I typically alternated between the two countries every twenty years. In that manner I kept my existence a secret for quite some time. I naturally changed my identity each time I moved about. With this routine in place, I experienced the chaotic and turbulent times in both countries.


    My time ranged from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty in China from 618 AD to 1912 AD, then through the Nara period to the end of the Meiji period in Japan from 710 AD to 1912 AD. I truly went through all sorts of ups and downs. I first arrived in Japan in 710 AD right at the start of the Nara period. From then on I alternated between China and Japan as a trader. In fact in 777 AD I was actually a part of the group that delivered eleven female Japanese dancers from Balhae as tribute to the Chinese Tang dynasty.


    Ah, those were rather memorable days when at sea. Good old pirates really knew how to spice up your life. No, but really, it was a disgusting time period. It¡¯s a miracle I survived all the voyages over my extensive sailing career of approximately 1300 years at sea. I may have been unaging, but that did not mean I was immortal like now. If I was slightly careless, I could have easily died back then. It was painful when isolated and alone, but I felt if I killed myself or led a senseless death after everything I¡¯d been through, it was an insult to all the people that desperately tried their hardest and only barely got by in life. That was one of the few motivations that kept me alive through my seemingly unending days.


    One of my favorite time periods was definitely the Sengoku period in Japan from 1467 AD to 1600 AD. It was definitely what I would call an interesting time for me. I personally witnessed it all first hand, along with what came afterwards. I must be quite frank, a certain betrayal was thanks to the words I carelessly spoke to a certain individual at Honn¨­-ji.


    For those curious about the secret behind the reason for his so-called betrayal it was actually nothing more than the result of a bunch of drunks rambling. The conversation went something like this.

 Chapter 5. Part 2.

    Chapter 5. Part 2.


    ¡°Hey J¨±bei, have you ever seen fireworks before?¡±


    ¡°My good man, of course I have.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Really? They¡¯re kind of beautiful, don¡¯t you think they would go well with drinking?¡±


    ¡°You my drinking buddy are a genius. Truly a good man.¡±


    After that his drunken ¡°army¡± of fifty men came along with us outside Honnoji Temple at his command. At what we drunks thought was a safe distance, we fired flaming arrows high up in the sky along with poorly made experimental do it yourself fireworks loosely wrapped around them with thin pieces of string. Truly, what could have possibly gone wrong with this simple desire to see fireworks while drinking?


    Oh, nothing much really, aside from being remembered as the ones that set Honn¨­-ji Temple ablaze which led to the warlord committing suicide when we tried to save him. It seems he thought we were plotting to take his head so he chose to commit seppuku and have his body burn up in the flames.


    Our group of drunks were then pinned with the crime of murdering and betraying our boss. At that point my drinking buddy J¨±bei, in his drunken state declared, ¡°hehe, aren¡¯t we kind of screwed? Well, since we¡¯re basically dead men, why don¡¯t we just rebel like we¡¯ve been joking about over the years? Haven¡¯t we been overworked lately anyways?¡±


    That was what eventually led to the Battle of Yamazaki when Hideyoshi in a fit of rage slaughtered our group of idiotic drunks. I somehow slipped under the radar when I recovered from my drunken stupor. Just for the record, a lot of this dark history was altered and covered up by that lad Hideyoshi afterwards since it was too shameful. This cover up naturally led to the birth of the great mystery behind my drinking buddy¡¯s reason for betrayal.


    Anyways, thanks to my careless remark at the time, I fled for my life all across Japan after the incident I inadvertently caused in 1582 AD.


    Unfortunately, I was eventually cornered by Hideyoshi¡¯s group, the only reason I survived was because of my silver tongue and vast expanse of experience.


    Since the first contact of the Portuguese with Japan in 1543 AD there had been a large scale slave trade developed. After the Battle of Yamazaki in 1582 AD, where I turned that idiotic buddy J¨±bei of mine traitor with my careless remark, I was backed into a corner and faced the death sentence when things were brought to light. When cornered, I utilized every single cell inside my brain to its full potential. I came up with my only path to escape and I brought up the rampant slavery to the fellow who won that famous battle.


    When he heard what I brought up to save my ass, he was utterly disgusted. He despised how his own Japanese people were sold en masse into slavery to the point he wrote a letter to Jesuit Vice-Provincial Gaspar Coelho. This was done on the 24th of July in 1587 AD. He demanded the Portuguese, Siamese, and Cambodians stop purchasing and enslaving the Japanese. He also imported for the return of Japanese slaves who ended up as far as India. I pleaded with him to be assigned the mission to deliver the letter as atonement for my sins. Of course that bull I spouted was just to save my own skin.


    Ah, truly, it was the worst. Anyways, I successfully delivered the stupid letter in the end and got off scot free.


    After many years passed, the times gradually changed and it was suddenly the dawn of the industrial revolution during the Meiji period in 1870 AD. During this time of rapid expansion and economic development, I kept a very low profile. After my blunder I decided not to make any careless remarks like I had in my drunken stupor that one time.


    I somehow passed my life peacefully from that point onwards. Well, that¡¯s not really true. There were those two bloody world wars I took part in, from 1914 AD to 1918 AD and then 1941 AD to 1945 AD.


    I truly watched as wars advanced with the times and bore witness to the rise and fall of countless nations. I experienced first hand how truly powerless one man was in times of advanced warfare. I watched helplessly as humanity repeated the same mistakes time and time again. To be quite frank, I¡¯d lost my sanity by the time things finally calmed down. I was no longer able to integrate with other humans normally when this quasi like peace descended upon the world. Those world wars were the last straw in my heart. By that point, I¡¯d seen far too much of the filth hidden within humanity to open up to another person.


    Nuclear armaments crossed the last line. Genocides were all too common throughout history; however at least people had a chance to fight back against the adversity. It was the introduction of atomic bombs in war, a power that none could fight against. A power so great it could wipe entire cities off the face of the Earth in mere seconds. This mad pursuit for power created these cursed weapons of mass destruction.


    These disgusting wars always sparked from a difference in opinion. Often times the root cause was religion or a group¡¯s beliefs. Other times it was due to the evolving struggle to obtain resources and the thirst for power.


    After those two wretched wars in particular, I was at the limit of what I could put up with. I completely lost faith in humanity and the world. I shut myself away like a hermit in complete isolation. I didn¡¯t bother to get close to people any longer.


    I wanted to leave the world behind and go to an ideal world where such atrocities were no more. I kept my head down and spent most of my days reading the earlier versions of manga. As time went on light novels and anime became more and more popular. Eventually I found myself immersed in these fictional worlds confined within my imagination. My head was in the clouds and I forgot all about moving about to keep my identity a secret.


    I had grown lax and complacent as I had grown older. Thanks to that, I was eventually discovered by the Japanese government and my unaging nature was revealed.


    Some time in the year 2009 AD I was captured and detained in a certain research facility. It wasn¡¯t until 2016 that I somehow escaped their control. During my seven years there, I underwent all sorts of cruel and inhumane experimentation for the third time in my life. What I gained through this third round of experiments were modifications to my genetics. These humans, just like that ancient civilization that gave birth to me, seeked te secrets of immortality.


    With a precious sample like me to work with, their research advanced by leaps and bounds. They successfully improved my regenerative abilities. Most of my wounds typically healed rapidly within an hour once they completed their experiments on my body. My eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, reflexes, and intelligence all experienced an immense upgrade.


    Ironically, due to their experiments I¡¯d accumulated enough strength and knowledge to out smart my captors and escape. They were unable to control or contain me any longer. It was sometime in 2016 AD that I made my escape when they transported me between two research facilities. After that, I destroyed the transmitter they implanted in my body and completely altered my appearance.


    My initial plan after I escaped was to head to America to locate someone I took in before I was captured and detained, but I discovered unfortunate news related to them. They¡¯d already died and met their untimely end. I changed my plans and instead of fleeing the country I chose to stay in Japan and blend in.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Sometimes the most dangerous place was the safest after all. For certain reasons, I transferred into a prestigious high school that was known for its high academic standards.


    There were many times throughout history I¡¯d passed time by attending high schools or universities to get a better understanding over the constantly evolving eras. With all the knowledge I¡¯d accumulated over the two millennia I lived through, education was typically a walk in the park for me. I didn¡¯t even need to listen to the lectures and I even slept through most of them since I¡¯d already personally lived through or learned about it all already.


    As that was the case, people eventually fell under the impression I was a delinquent or something of that nature. Thanks to those misunderstandings all sorts of strange people created conflicts with me for no particular rhyme or reason. I found I¡¯d gotten into more and more fights as time went on. However, it really wasn¡¯t much of a problem, after all, I was someone with a vast wealth of combat experience.


    From the number of armies I¡¯d joined, to the number of weapons I¡¯d mastered, or even the number of martial arts I¡¯d comprehended, they were truly uncountable by this point in time.


    Yet, even with the wealth of knowledge and experience I accumulated over thousands of years, I wasn¡¯t even close to a match for this woman known as the progenitor of vampires in the other world I¡¯d long yearned for.


    This vampire progenitor was the first woman I¡¯d met in thousands of years that was actually older than me. For such a long time I¡¯d never gotten involved in any sort of serious relationships with women since they all died before I did. I couldn''t bring myself to cause them such pain. They aged and wilted while I remained the same; I was someone whose time was stopped. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to let them suffer through that pain, thus I remained single from the time I was born. At least that was the excuse I came up with.


    Ugh. When I thought of my first fifty years of my life I realized just how unpopular I was. After 50 I was always behind the times and young women always thought of me as an old fart. It was hard to keep up with the constantly changing fads at times.


    When I encountered a woman who was in the same situation as me, for the first time in my life, I lost control over emotions. I was like a horny hormonal teen who¡¯d just seen his first sexy adult woman. Basically just a thirsty brat. I even lost control over my words and pushed my feelings onto her under the assumption she felt the same way I had all this time.


    My loneliness really got the best of me this time. It was a feeling I knew all too well. Our circumstances were slightly different, but nonetheless we were two peas in a pod who had undergone the same trials and tribulations in which we suffered through both isolation and loneliness. We were both people who knew of similar pains, at the very least I believed that much was the truth. The torture I went through was definitely not as extensive or graphic as hers though. I was only unaging, not immortal before I came to this world.


    ¡°Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?¡±


    Not wanting to talk about it I changed the topic and asked, ¡°aren¡¯t you going to do something about the hero?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s there to do?¡±


    ¡°Why not suck her blood?¡±


    ¡°Hah? Her? I have no interest in a female¡¯s blood.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a difference?¡±


    ¡°Of course! Personal preferences vary from vampire to vampire.¡±


    ¡°What if I wasn¡¯t around, would you have sucked her blood then?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ mmmm... if they were the only sacrifice this time...I would have probably reluctantly drained her blood.¡±


    ¡°Then why not make her your lackey or subordinate or something?¡±


    Of course, I was no saint, it was merely a malicious plot against the hero to divert her attention between two toys instead of one. Maybe I¡¯d get some slack if there was someone else she could play around with.


    ¡°Hmm. So this crossdresser is your type? I really can¡¯t understand my food¡¯s preferences.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in this cross dressing weirdo, but don¡¯t you think two people serving at your beck and call is better than one?¡±


    It looked like she was slightly moved by my suggestion as she fell into deep thought.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t there also things a female servant can better assist you with compared to a guy like me?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Still not enough? She silently stared at me like she wondered what else I had to say.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you also need to bring up a replacement demon lord figurehead within the coming years? You could turn her into one unlike me, right? Wouldn¡¯t she also have vengeful thoughts towards humans after she was betrayed by the humans who she once fought for before she was heartlessly tossed down here?¡±


    Then I can control her from behind the scenes and become the ¡°true demon lord,¡± who the figurehead demon lord will tell the future hero, ¡°you may have defeated me the demon lord, but you¡¯ll never defeat the true demon lord! Mwahahahaha!¡±


    Of course when my turn comes I¡¯ll also get to use the same line if I were to lose. I¡¯ll just play the part of a middle man if I¡¯m no match. I can pretend to betray her and act like I¡¯ve joined the future hero party and then stab them in the back when their guards are down.


    Isn¡¯t that the correct path to becoming a demon lord feared even among fellow demon lords?


    ¡°Well, since she is already at level 45, I suppose making her the future demon lord would be convenient. Like you said, she would also likely have the motive to get some payback for how she was treated.¡±


    ¡°What?! She¡¯s already level 45?¡±


    ¡°She has been the hero for five years now, that¡¯s about what would be expected through normal means of leveling up in the outside world.¡±


    Ugh, doesn¡¯t that make me the weakest of the three of us at the moment? I don¡¯t know how old this vampire progenitor may be, but I¡¯m definitely far older than this crossdressing hero. Will I be forced to suck up to her until I¡¯m stronger than her? No way! The order of seniority must be followed.


    I¡¯ll fight her to the death if I have to, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to die or anything. Even an ant can defeat an elephant by tiring it out.


    While I had second thoughts about it, Miss Vampire Progenitor moved closer to the hero and gave out a seemingly light kick to turn her over. She flew several meters into the distance before she landed face up. Yep, I¡¯ve confirmed it, I definitely don¡¯t want to ever have her nurse me when I¡¯m ill in the future if that¡¯s her treating a dead body gently.


    The hero who was a bloody mess didn¡¯t budge an inch or retort at all. They just laid their listlessly. Miss vampire progenitor casually walked forward and raised her foot over the seemingly dead hero. A drop of blood then emerged from her toe. Something straight of a porno played out right before my innocent two thousand year old eyes.


    Somehow, my eyes felt like they¡¯d been violated and it was as though the door to a strange new world slowly opened up in my mind. At the very same moment the doors appeared in my mind, I used my imaginary body to strongly shut them in fear of what was on the other side.


    She pressed her toe onto the hero¡¯s lips. With clear reluctance plastered all over her face, she let her blood slip into the dead hero¡¯s mouth. As soon as she finished feeding her blood to the hero she took her foot away and wiped it like she had stepped on some nasty dog shit.


    Was her aversion towards females that great just because of how their blood tasted? Damn it! If it¡¯s like this then my blood will still be sucked dry without any breaks.


    ¡°Hey, is there some sort of reason you don¡¯t like female humans?¡±


    ¡°Female humans gossip behind people¡¯s backs too damn much. It¡¯s repulsive and whenever I think about that, it makes their blood taste terrible when I try to drink it.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s not a physiological rejection, but rather a psychological one?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything, instead she just coldly glared at the female hero like she was disgusted that her bloodline had mixed with hers.


    Could it be that she was ostracized by other females in the past for her beauty or something petty like that? Hahaha. That¡¯d be great. An utterly shameless thought flashed through my mind. Should I start cross dressing?


    After several minutes passed, visible changes occurred on the deceased crossdressing hero¡¯s body. Her wounds all closed up and healed rapidly. I also noticed her chest now moved up and down ever so slightly which indicated she¡¯d regained her ability to breathe.


    Tens of minutes later¡­ we quickly got bored of waiting for her to open her eyes so we played shogi to pass the time in the empty dark room with low visibility.


    After several games, where I barely came out on top every time, and after having my finger ripped off a few dozen times by her in her fits of rage after losing, a voice sounded out.


    ¡°Uhh¡­ Where am I? Am I actually dead after all? Is this the after life?¡±

 Chapter 6. Part 1.

    Chapter 6. Part 1.


    (POV 45th Summoned Hero)


    Tac¡­ Tac¡­ Tac¡­


    The first thing I heard when I regained consciousness were sounds that reminded me of professional shogi players. They skillfully took their turns in tandem as they moved their pieces around on top the board.


    Tac¡­ Tac¡­


    I was still confused by everything when I recalled the events that led up to my present situation.


    Tac¡­ Tac...


    I¡¯m alive?


    Tac...


    How?


    Tac...


    I was nearly certain I died.


    Tac...


    Was I saved by someone?


    When I finally opened my eyes, as far as the eye could see there was only darkness. When I turned to my right and left there was only an insignificant amount of light that had illuminated a small circular portion of space in the distance.


    Within that space sat two individuals in front of a shogi board. The first was a beautiful woman with crimson hair with a strangely seductive charm. When I noticed her eyes I was left in a  strange trance, they were without any doubt the two blood moons I saw five years ago. She donned a black robe that covered the ground around her in a semi circular fashion. Underneath her robe, she was completely bare. The robe was opened up, it barely covered half of her bountiful chest. She didn¡¯t show the slightest embarrassment.


    What was with this perverse woman? No bra and completely commando in the nude?! I broke out into a cold sweat.


    Am I actually in hell? Are clothes not allowed here?


    I looked down and realized that my assumption was incorrect. I still had all the clothes and armor I had on before I fell into the pit.


    When I looked back up I finally noticed her opponent¡¯s side profile. It was one that felt strangely nostalgic. After a moment, I easily realized who it was. He was my self proclaimed rival of three years.


    His name was...


    I was unable to remember? Why?


    I¡¯m certain I know his name, but why can¡¯t I recall it? Did I hit my head on the way down? Maybe I really died and I¡¯m now slowly losing the memories from my previous life.


    In my uncertainty I approached the perverse woman and my self proclaimed rival before I timidly called out to them.


    ¡°Uhm¡­ Where am I? Am I actually dead after all? Is this the after life?¡±


    The two of them disinterestedly glanced at me, didn¡¯t say a single word, then returned back to their game with serious expressions on their faces.


    The perverse woman was clearly annoyed at the moment. On the other hand, my self proclaimed rival had a complacent smile on his face. When I looked down at the board I understood right away. She was cornered and one move away from being put into checkmate. No matter where I looked, there were no possible moves that remained to avoid her loss. Defeat was inevitable.


    ¡°Chi Kaban, you¡¯re definitely cheating.¡±


    Eh? Was his name Chi Kaban? For some reason that didn¡¯t feel right, nor did it ring any bells.


    ¡°Me? How could I possibly be cheating? You¡¯re an almighty vampire, do you think any cheating a mortal like me could pull off would escape your eyes?¡±


    ¡°Tch. I normally don¡¯t care if a human sees me nude, but I¡¯m definitely not taking off my robe for a pervert like you to let you ogle my naked body to your heart¡¯s content with that lecherous gaze of yours.¡±


    ¡°Lecherous? I¡¯ll have you know, I¡¯m an upstanding man filled with a righteous heart. Oh? Could it be, could it be? The almighty vampire progenitor is unable to continue through with our game of strip shogi and has decided to concede defeat prematurely? If you take off your robe, you still have one more chance to defeat me you know.¡±


    Tac.


    ¡°Hmmp! I¡¯m not a fool who can¡¯t see when they¡¯re no match.¡±


    Tac.


    ¡°Checkmate.¡±


    ¡°I really can¡¯t believe I couldn¡¯t even beat a little human like you even once in a game of intelligence. How infuriating. Whatever, just name your request. A noble vampire like me doesn¡¯t go back on her words.¡±


    ¡°Marry me.¡±


    The so called vampire stretched her hand out and clenched down on his neck. She choked him out with an intense glare. It was understandable and she couldn¡¯t be blamed for her actions when a man that lacked as much delicacy as this existed.


    ¡°Ack. I take it back! I take it back! It was just a joke, a joke!¡±


    When he took back his words she let him down, but she was still visibly displeased by my self proclaimed rivals poor joke that lacked any class.


    ¡°How about a kiss on the lips¡­ I mean cheek¡­ neck?¡±


    The seductive vampire¡¯s gaze turned colder with every request he changed to before she stuck out her arm with the back of her palm faced towards him.


    ¡°What is this for?¡±


    ¡°What? You want a noble vampire to take the initiative to give you a kiss? Are you an idiot?¡±


    ¡°So¡­ I¡¯m supposed to kiss the back of your hand?¡±


    ¡°Of course. You are my food, you should be grateful that I¡¯d even give you the opportunity to kiss the back of my hand.¡±


    ¡°Cheapskate.¡±


    Despite his complaints, he still held onto her hand and casually kissed it anyways. It seems even my former all powerful rival was submissive to this so called vampire. It turned out she wasn¡¯t necessarily a pervert, but just a misfortunate sucker who had lost in strip shogi several times already.


    ¡°So little hero, what brings you to this part of the world?¡±


    Once their match of shogi was over, the vampire directed a question towards me. She spared me not a single glance like I was unworthy to be looked upon by her eyes. It was about what I expected of an arrogant vampire.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Hey, you know it¡¯s rude to not look at her when you ask her a question. You should at least introduce yourself before asking questions outright like that, right?¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! Little humans like you are unworthy to know my great name.¡±


    ¡°You still haven¡¯t even told me your name yet either. It¡¯s been a month since we¡¯ve met, you know.¡±


    ¡°Why should I tell my name to my food?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s inconvenient to call you, little miss vampire progenitor every time. Could it be you don¡¯t actually have a name? Or that you forgot your name after not using it for so long?¡±


    ¡°Wh-what are you talking about? Of course I have a name and know what it is unlike you. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m embarassed to be called by name or anything stupid like that.¡±


    ¡°Then please grace us with your magnificent name your holiness, I mean unholiness.¡±


    With an air of dignity and haughtiness, she put on a face like she couldn¡¯t be bothered and said, ¡°Yueliang Xinghong.¡± Of course she turned her head to the side and looked away with a slight blush on her cheeks.


    ¡°So you were embarrassed after all, my little Yueliang?¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! Who¡¯s your little Yueliang?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so bashful, my little Yueliang.¡±


    ¡°Do you really have a death wish brat?¡±


    ¡°How about we play another game of shogi? I¡¯ll even start with a handicap. If I win I get to call you my little Yueliang. If you win, I promise I¡¯ll keep you company forever and make sure you¡¯re never bored.¡±


    Surprisingly, she looked somewhat tempted by his offer and asked, ¡°how big of a handicap are we talking here?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t have a rook.¡±


    ¡°Are you looking down on me?!¡±


    He didn¡¯t explicitly state it and only smiled back at her confidently instead. It felt like he wanted to boldly say yes, but he still dared not boldly declare it as such.


    ¡°You¡¯re a really infuriating brat you know.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡±


    He had an unnatural gentle smile that didn¡¯t suit him when he looked at her even when she was clearly displeased with his overly familiar attitude with her. Honestly, his smile right now was one I¡¯d never seen before. From what I remembered of him, he never smiled at anyone in the past. He always had a strange overly bored look on his face with distant far off eyes like he wished he were somewhere else.


    Tac... Tac¡­ Tac...


    Somehow, I felt like I was unable to enter the little world between the two of them. I was once again left to the side while they played another match of shogi.


    As things proceeded, it first appeared that the vampire, Yueliang, had slowly pushed Chi into a corner. However, something strange happened mid game and there was a sudden unexpected reversal. The moment it happened, Yueliang showed clear frustration and said, ¡°take backs.¡±


    ¡°No take backs.¡±


    ¡°You!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, my little Yueliang, are you trying to escape now?¡±


    She dejectedly lowered her head and continued the match. She moved her pieces slower the further the match progressed. She spent long periods of time desperate for some sort of miracle move. It seemed she long knew her defeat was determined by the one mistake she made. For some reason, to me, it felt like she¡¯d just put on an act though. I started to wonder whether she actually wanted him to call her ¡°my little Yueliang.¡± Was she just too embarrassed to admit she wanted intimacy? It was a bit surreal to me to see such a peculiar duo together.


    Tac¡­ Tac¡­ Tac...


    After a few more moves, they reached the end game. As expected, Chi narrowly took the win in the end even with the large handicap of no rook at the start.


    ¡°My little Yueliang, it looks like it is my victory.¡±


    ¡°Be glad I didn¡¯t kill you a hundred times for being impertinent enough to call me in such a manner. Since you have won, I suppose I can only relent and allow you the privilege to call me as such.¡±


    ¡°My little Yueliang really is such a tsundere.¡±


    ¡°Hey, is it these eyes that can¡¯t see properly?¡±


    She opened the palm of her hands and there were a pair of eyeballs in the palm of her hand. In my confusion I looked towards Chi and realized where eyes should be, there were two gaping gory blood filled holes.


    ¡°Kyaa!¡±


    ¡°What did you do to him?! How could you murder him so casually like that?!¡±


    Strangely enough she looked at me like I was an idiot.


    ¡°Hahaha. Don¡¯t worry about it, this is typically how the two of us show our affection for each other.¡±


    The person I thought was surely already dead from that grotesque scene spoke like it was no big deal and a common occurrence. Watching his mouth move with blood dripping down from the two empty holes for eyes was a horrifying sight I rather not ever see again.


    ¡°Can you at least put them back?¡± I asked her nicely hoping she would consent, but she just frowned and crushed his two eyeballs and sent them to oblivion.


    ¡°How can you be so cruel?! He¡¯ll never be able to see again if you do that!¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? I¡¯m fine.¡±


    When I looked back at him, his eyes were back to normal. They were as good as new. If it wasn¡¯t for the trail of fresh blood on his face that originated from his eyes I would really question whether I was delusional or if it was just a magic trick. No, that had to be a magic trick right? Was it actually all illusion magic or something? The blood would be gone too if it was though. Just thinking about the earlier sight left my stomach churning.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t waste food.¡±


    When she said that, Yueliang leaned over the shogi board and licked up the blood from his face before she sat back down on the ground.


    Is this some sort of strange PDA? Am I supposed to watch these two freaks flirt back and forth like this day in and day out from now on? I¡¯ll definitely lose my mind if I have to put up with this on a daily basis.


    ¡°What just happened?¡±


    ¡°¡°What do you mean?¡±¡±


    They both looked back at me like they couldn¡¯t understand.


    Was I the weird one here?


    ¡°I mean your eyes. She clearly just destroyed them, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, she did. What about it?¡±


    ¡°How did they suddenly appear again as good as new?!¡±


    ¡°¡°They grew back.¡±¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°¡°They regenerated.¡±¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Did your ability to comprehend drop because you were dead for too long?¡±


    ¡°Dead?¡±


    ¡°Chi Kaban, did I mess up? Were heroes always this stupid?¡±


    ¡°My little Yueliang, she looks fine to me though.¡±


    ¡°Chi Kaban, you can¡¯t be sure of that. Appearances can be deceiving.¡±


    ¡°I died?¡±


    ¡°¡°Yeah you did.¡±¡±


    ¡°Is there something strange about that?¡±


    ¡°Of course there is! From your words I get that I¡¯m alive now, but if I was dead, why am I alive right now is what I want to know!¡±


    ¡°Oh! So that¡¯s what it was. Say so sooner, human hero. We won¡¯t understand if you aren¡¯t specific.¡±


    ¡°In short, you are alive because you are now my servant who I will bring up to become the next demon lord.¡±


    ¡°Demon lord? The demon lord is dead though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I heard. Which is why I¡¯ll be bringing you up to become the next demon lord.¡±


    ¡°A demon lord can be brought up? Aren¡¯t they naturally born and mysteriously appear through the natural laws of the world? At least, that¡¯s the nonsense we were taught in the magic academy.¡±


    ¡°Peh. Is that the present theory on how demon lords are born? How idiotic, of course they can be brought up. I¡¯ve been raising them for quite some time after all.¡±


    Well, as someone from Earth I did think it was a bunch of hogwash, but because questioning it only invited mockery from those raised from birth in this world, I never brought it up. When I read through the history of how the demon lords popped up approximately every hundred years after the last was slain, I always thought it was strange. What were the odds of something random, like those so called natural laws, knowing when the last demon lord died and when to have a new demon lord appear approximately a hundred years later?


    Wasn¡¯t it all far too coincidental? The demon lord always appeared right as conflicts grew strained between humans. It was far too convenient. It was like someone always created a common enemy for humans to unite against and take down at the most convenient time.


    ¡°So little hero who was betrayed by humans, are you interested in becoming the demon lord?¡±


    ¡°If I really had to choose, I¡¯d say no.¡±


    ¡°What? Why? Don¡¯t you have a grudge against humans? Don¡¯t you want to get payback for how they betrayed you and threw you down here to your death?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the capital of the kingdom I really hate and those who abuse their power, not all humans are like that.¡±


    ¡°Besides that, don¡¯t you think he would be much better at being a demon lord?¡±


    ¡°Him, huh? Sure he might be a tiny bit suitable, but I can¡¯t turn him into a demon or my servant.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Aren¡¯t I human as well though?¡±


    ¡°Human hero, you would be a fool to think you are still human after ingesting my precious noble blood and becoming my servant.¡±


    ¡°What?! No no no, I¡¯m just a normal human girl, right?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a vampire servant who will become the next demon lord now.¡±

 Chapter 6. Part 2.

    Chapter 6. Part 2.


    ¡°Me? No way! Impossible! Being a hero was already annoying, isn¡¯t it fine if Chi becomes the demon lord? He¡¯s definitely far more suitable even if he is still human!¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a choice in the matter now that I am your master. I don¡¯t mind if you want to resist though. Disciplining a disobedient servant is the master¡¯s job after all.¡±


    ¡°Hey, my little Yueliang, if she¡¯s so against it, how about you just make her the acting demon lord on the surface and make me the real demon lord in the background. She¡¯d basically just be a figurehead.¡±


    ¡°Why do you want to be a demon lord so badly when you¡¯re just food? Can¡¯t you just sit tight by my side obediently and allow me to enjoy my meals in peace?¡±


    ¡°As a man from another world, I cannot possibly not adventure throughout this world and one day conquer it.¡±


    ¡°Why must you waste energy on something pointless like that?¡±


    ¡°You clearly haven¡¯t ever heard of the great sayings from my world. Why did man climb the mountain before him? Because it was there! Why did man go to the moon? Again, because it was there! This is obviously the same as that. That is a man¡¯s romance after all.¡±


    ¡°Hey servant, he started spouting a bunch of nonsense. Is he okay in the head?¡±


    ¡°Tch. Women just can¡¯t seem to understand the romance of a man¡¯s adventures when summoned to another world.¡±


    ¡°I think he¡¯s fine. A lot of men from our world were like that. By the way, don¡¯t call me your servant.¡±


    ¡°A servant¡¯s a servant.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°Hand.¡±


    Some sort of compelling force that I was unable to resist forced my hand out towards Yueliang. As if by instinct I rested my hand on top of hers.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a dog either!¡±


    She looked at me with utter confusion and asked, ¡°when you said you weren¡¯t a servant, you weren¡¯t implying you wanted to be my pet?¡±


    ¡°Of course not! I¡¯m human!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really not human though. Look.¡±


    She held up a small mirror and directed it towards me. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my reflection. At least I really wanted to see my reflection, but there was nothing there. The blood drained from my face. Sorry that was a mistake, I couldn¡¯t see my face. Instead it was probably more accurate to say rather than paling due to lack of blood, my face was probably deathly pale from the start.


    ¡°What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!¡±


    Of course I panicked, there was no way I could accept this.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why are you freaking out so much? You just don¡¯t have a reflection, is it that big of a deal?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is! How am I supposed to brush my teeth in the morning? How am I supposed to do my makeup(not that I use any as a dorky glasses girl)? What about my hair(again, who am I kidding)? What if I have a nose hair or booger sticking out and I go an entire day in public without ever being told(it¡¯s happened before)?! My life is over! If that ever happens aren¡¯t I better off dead?!¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you freaking out about the wrong part here?¡±


    ¡°As a guy you wouldn¡¯t understand!¡±


    ¡°You could just hire a personal painter to paint your face in the morning. I¡¯ve had one of my minions do that occasionally.¡±


    ¡°No way! It¡¯s bad enough looking awful when I wake up, you actually expect me to have someone capture my most embarrassing moments when I wake up and eternalize it on paper? Are you bloody daft woman?¡±


    Yueliang scrunched up her brows in clear displeasure when she heard my outburst.


    ¡°You really have quite the rebellious side for a mere servant, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Yueliang stood up from the ground and sat down on top of the shogi board with her legs crossed. With her right leg on top of her left she stuck it out towards me while she pressed her right elbow against her upper thigh. She then rested her chin on the palm of her right hand. She looked at me with bored unamused expression and said, ¡°kneel.¡±


    The moment she spoke, once again that compelling force had me drop to the ground on my knees in front of her. With a lackluster indifferent expression on her face, before I could react to what was happening, she continued flatly, ¡°pay your respects to your master.¡±


    Out of my control my body moved towards the delicate looking bare foot that hovered in the air directly before my eyes. In some sort of strange trance, I registered that there was a strange silky soft sensation pressed against my lips.


    It was then I came to a shocking realization. After a moment, that sensation left my lips and with my mouth ajar with wide opened eyes I asked, ¡°Is your skin natural?¡±


    ¡°Eh? Girl, are you okay in the head?¡±


    ¡°Please! Answer my question!¡±


    With a troubled look on her face, seeming unable to understand the situation, Yueliang nodded her head hesitantly.


    ¡°Then as your servant, will my skin also be naturally soft like that as well without any type of skin care products?¡±


    It seemed almost as if she didn¡¯t know how to respond. She just awkwardly nodded again silently.


    ¡°My great master Yueliang, I have seen the light. Whether it be becoming the next demon lord or slaying a god or even walking through a sea of fire, this humble servant shall not let you down and will definitely repay this great kindness.¡±


    Thus, this was how I began my story as a puppet demon lord controlled by this scary vampire and my self proclaimed rival.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Rather than possessing the desire to become a demon lord, as shameful as it may sound, I was bribed by soft and fair skin without the need for cosmetics. For a glasses wearing dork like me who hated those sorts of products, this was truly a godsend.


    ¡°Chi Kaban, is this how all people from your world are like? Do they not know the meaning of pride? How can she look so happy after kneeling and kissing my foot like that?¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose some people in my world would take that sort of thing as a reward.¡±


    ¡°A reward?! How? If a noble vampire like me were to ever do that, I¡¯d be better off dead than to suffer through such outrageous humiliation!¡±


    ¡°Humans are creatures who know not of shame though.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t humans a bit scary then? ¡­ Can you please stop looking at my foot like that?¡±


    ¡°I was just curious about how soft it was.¡±


    ¡°Lecherous pervert.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just pure curiosity though.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie, you were already graced with the opportunity to kiss the back of my hand earlier.¡±


    ¡°Did I? I seem to be having short term memory loss, maybe you should let me try again since my memories are a bit foggy.¡±


    ¡°Hey, what are you doing?! Why¡¯d you take my brain again? Can you please return it to me? It¡¯s not nice to always take people¡¯s brains out of the blue like that.¡±


    ¡°I was just wondering if you hit your head somewhere and your regeneration didn¡¯t work properly.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you want your brain back, go and get it.¡±


    Just like earlier I witnessed an absurd scene. At some point she had stolen his brain and left a bloody gaping hole in his head. The scenery in the background was fully visible through the side of his head.


    I never even saw when she did it either. Just how strong was this vampire? Wasn¡¯t she way stronger than that so called demon lord who died of a heart attack?


    Wouldn¡¯t humanity be brought to its knees if this vampire was released into the world as the next demon lord?


    I steeled my will and ignored Chi who was literally brainless at the present. I felt I needed confirmation as to just exactly who this vampire really was. ¡°Uh... my great master Yueliang, I get that you¡¯re the vampire progenitor and all, but who are you really? Are you really only the vampire progenitor?¡±


    For some reason she looked a bit smug like she had been waiting to strut her stuff and answer that very question.


    With a grin and half squinted eyes she casually tossed the brain in her hand far off into the distance like she couldn¡¯t care less for it. She then said, ¡°one identity of mine is definitely the vampire progenitor, but my other identity would be that of the true demon lord in this world. The demon lord you were summoned to defeat was just a subordinate of mine.¡±


    Ugh. What is with this stereotypical development of defeating one demon lord only to be told they were just a subordinate? Well, to be honest I didn¡¯t really defeat the demon lord, they just kind of died of natural causes out of the blue with no warning.


    ¡°My servant, why don¡¯t you look shocked by the sudden plot twist?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an overused twist. What¡¯s there to be shocked about? Rather than being shocked, it should be me saying, as expected.¡±


    ¡°Chi Kaban, are all humans from your world infuriatingly annoying like this?¡±


    ¡°Well, she¡¯s right though. In our world it¡¯s a common turn of events that behind the big baddie is an even bigger baddie.¡±


    ¡°Humans in your world are a real pain in the ass.¡±


    ¡°We get that a lot.¡±


    ¡°Even your pouting face when things don¡¯t play out as you expected is adorably cute, my little Yueliang.¡±


    That pale white skin of hers turned slightly rosy. She extended her hand out fast enough that my eyes didn¡¯t register what she had done again. The next thing I knew some strange shriveled up thing was floating above her hand. I wasn¡¯t quite sure what it was to be honest, but there was blood flowing out of it.


    Did she suddenly get hungry for blood or something?


    In an endlessly cold voice she asked, ¡°is it this thing that gave you the nerve to dare call me adorably cute?¡±


    ¡°Uh. That¡¯s one thing I really need, my little Yueliang. Can you please return it? You can take any other part you want, but without that I¡¯d really be in a bit of a bind. Even you may find yourself troubled in the future if I don¡¯t have those.¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! You really dare have such thoughts towards me? I¡¯ve never met such a repulsive human who even as a frog, lusts so greedily for the meat of a swan.¡±


    Are these two really like that after all?


    In spite of how she said all that and how her face only displayed utter disgust and aversion, for a while now I realized that there was some sort of strange connection between Yueliang and I. Perhaps it was because I was now her servant, but I somehow felt that deep down she was a bit joyful and happy to have company.


    Was she actually a weird cross between a tsundere and kuudere? No, the world of deres is vast and deep, there probably already exists a term for her. With my inexperience I just can¡¯t pitch it.


    But that¡¯s beside the point, if she is this powerful why doesn¡¯t she escape from this pit and bring destruction to the human race herself? Why does she go about the roundabout approach of bringing up demon lords and sending them out? Why not take up the position herself? Could it be because she can¡¯t leave this place?


    ¡°Uhm my master Yueliang, if you are so powerful, is there a reason why you live down in this pit? Could it be you are unable to leave?¡±


    She looked towards me with an expression that would have looked much cooler if not for her holding that thing in her right hand behind her back while holding the desperate Chi back with her left hand pushing away his face.


    ¡°Seriously, just give it back to me, my little Yueliang.¡±


    ¡°There exists a seal here, that is why I¡¯ve been unable to leave up to this point. However, thanks to my never ending supply of food I received a month ago, that shouldn¡¯t be a problem for too much longer. I should be able to break out of the seal within the span of a year. It¡¯s actually a rather short time in comparison to the thousands of years I¡¯ve been imprisoned down here for.¡±


    ¡°Get lost already. I¡¯m trying to look good in front of my new servant.¡±


    ¡°Pfft hahaha.¡±


    ¡°What are you laughing at my servant? You have the nerve to laugh at your master?¡±


    ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s really nothing. I just thought for a moment the two of you looked a bit cute together in a weird twisted way. That was all.¡±


    The moment I said that, she showed an ugly expression with extreme annoyance in her eyes and said no more. Thanks to the connection between us, I could tell she felt embarrassed by my words though.


    After Chi was played around with for some time, Yueliang left somewhere with a satisfied look after sucking out all the blood from his body ten times.


    By now I had come to the realization that Chi¡¯s recovery ability was far from it merely being simple regeneration, it was more appropriate to call it straight up immortality.


    No matter how Yueliang toyed with him or cut his body up, he instantly regenerated once the detached body part was destroyed. At first it was amusing to watch the person I formerly thought of as the inner demon in my heart as he was played around with nonchalantly like this. But after I observed him for long enough, I was horrified when I realized that he was definitely unkillable now.


    I thought I¡¯d long surpassed him, but if he truly was immortal, then if given some time he would effortlessly leave me in the dust once again. Well, now that I thought about it, it didn¡¯t really matter anymore though. There wasn¡¯t much point to being first or second any longer, was there? Really, why was I so obsessed with it back then in our world?


    Was it just that I wanted to be acknowledged in his eyes? Did I just want him to at least look my way even if it was only once? Doesn¡¯t that just make me sound like a stupid girl seeking attention from the object of her affections? A stupid girl who was unknowingly in love? I didn¡¯t love him, did I?


    When I examined Chi who was sprawled on the ground lifelessly like a defeated dog as he looked far into the distance of the endless abyss above, I couldn¡¯t help but think that there was no way that was possible. It was just the desire to surpass a big wall that blocked my path. It must have been that. There¡¯s no way I¡¯d fall for a delinquent without any tact or delicacy. Towards a man who even used the great game of shogi as a means to have a woman strip, there¡¯s no way in hell.


    Not only that, he¡¯s brainless. Well, not in the sense that he¡¯s an idiot. More in the sense that his brain never regenerated after Yueliang tossed it away earlier. I really had to admit though, it was a bit surreal to watch a literally brainless human pick a fight with a vampire. Although, for some reason, what I found irritating was rather than seeing it as a fight, I couldn¡¯t help but view it as them boldly flirting in front of me in public.

 Chapter 7. Part 1.

    Chapter 7. Part 1.


    It¡¯d been two weeks since that crossdresser joined the two of us down here. Occasionally she stared at me strangely from the distance, however, I had no time for her at the moment.


    I was presently still trying to find my brain after Yueliang tossed somewhere far off into the abyss. Unluckily for me, a certain terrifying monster stumbled upon my brain. If it just ate my brain all would be good and fine, but for some reason this damned wretched little monster took a liking to it and took it around all over the place. It¡¯d really been quite the bothersome dilemma and I¡¯d been unable to catch this monster all this time.


    It strutted about with its large white body, little twitchy nose and its long white ears that propped itself up erect above its head the moment it sensed any form of danger. Whenever the beast¡¯s danger instincts kicked in the bugger stood up on its hind legs and looked about in all directions. Every time I saw it I ground my teeth together in rage.


    This bloody level 20 Demonic Fluffy Bunny had really been nothing but a nightmare since it first bore its little head out of the ground. At first I easily located my brain just fine when I followed the direction Yueliang tossed it towards, but the moment I bent over to pick it up this little vermin popped out of the ground and ran off with it.


    No matter what type of trap I planned out or created, it always fled at lightning speed at the slightest sign that something had gone awry. I truly never knew the fearsomeness of rabbits until I met this one.


    Of course, during this time, there were no breaks for me as Yueliang still found me every day. She typically just used me as a means to pass the time. This naturally made it even more difficult to track down my brain. It actually looked like she somehow enjoyed this new form of harassment when I was distraught like this.


    I really need to make her fall for me as soon as possible if I want to regain a bit of peace and quiet time. Since there¡¯s no way for me to beat her or overpower her in the short term, I¡¯d opted to capture her heart instead. If she likes me then she¡¯d surely become more docile and lay off with the harassment. However, it actually felt like that plan backfired, her forms of harassment grew more and more intolerable by the day.


    It was not long before I really questioned whether it was a mistake. Had I misjudged her? Was she actually the type whose harassment increased the more she liked a guy?


    Recently she¡¯d even changed up where she drew blood from me. Apparently, it somehow tasted different depending on where it was drawn from. Initially she always drew blood from behind me on the right side of my neck. It was a realization she came to after she licked the blood off of my face two weeks ago.


    At first she tested it by moving to the left side of my neck from behind, then she moved to my front and tried both sides of my neck. I still remember how wide her eyes were when she backed away from me shocked by the sudden revelation of a entirely new world. Apparently even when she changed the position of our bodies it also affected how the blood tasted to her.


    I was, of course, shocked by her next experiment as well. She took my hand and bit one of my fingers and drained all the blood in my body again. She showed a euphoric look when she pulled her lips away with a single string of saliva connected between my finger and her lips. Damn it! There was a perfect feast before my eyes, but all I could do was be eaten instead of eating.


    Haaah. That¡¯s besides the point right now though. My real problem right now is how to catch that stupid rabbit that has my brain.


    Shouldn¡¯t there be an easier way to go about this? To start with, why must the body part be destroyed before it can regenerate anyways? I didn¡¯t really understand that part, but I¡¯d always wondered whether there was a way to remotely detonate parts of my body. If there was, wouldn¡¯t I be able to regrow my brain instead of having to search for it like this?


    Thankfully, after all the brutal torture I¡¯d experienced over my first month here, I¡¯d developed a useful skill called pain resistance. When I asked the former hero about resistances she explained it to me in detail. By continually training your body, if certain conditions were met it was possible to build your resistances up. For example, for heat resistance, you could build up your resistance by tempering your body through direct contact with flames or staying in areas of extreme heat. By raising your resistance to heat, you could prevent your body from getting burnt or even being turned to cinders. It was a simple enough concept to grasp.


    In my case, my physical pain resistance had already reached 100% thanks to what Yueliang put me through all the time. However this was just for pain, just because I won¡¯t feel physical pain from being burnt by fire, that did not mean I was resistant to fire. One might not feel it, but their body would still be turned to cinders and rendered useless if they bathed in fire.


    I more or less understood why Yueliang treated me the way she did at the start. An immortal had their own way to fight, physical pain was something an immortal didn¡¯t need. For humans that died easily, pain served as a defence mechanism.


    Whether it was intentional or unintentional, she still assisted me in her own way by raising my resistance to pain. She¡¯s actually somewhat kind in her own twisted way; I bet she just didn¡¯t want to blatantly show it because of her pride as a noble vampire.


    As cruel and uncaring as she seems on the surface, she¡¯s not necessarily a terrible person. Although, that 100% physical pain resistance, strangely enough, did nothing about a man¡¯s Achilles heel for some reason. It¡¯s possible it may have been the mischief of the so called gods in this world playing pranks on the little mortals down below.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    When I realized how off tangent I¡¯d gotten, I returned to my original train of thought with regards to detonating portions of my body. Perhaps this was another form of guidance from Yueliang in terms of how an immortal should develop themselves. An immortal must forsake his body.


    Immortals can discard parts of their body at will and grow them back. If they can do that then can immortals not use those very same discarded body parts as a means of attack?


    Now that I think about it, isn¡¯t that rabbit actually a bit too intelligent to just be a random mob? How could it possibly avoid all the traps and schemes I implemented to capture it so easily? Could that monster be under her direct control? Actually, to begin with, aren¡¯t all monsters in the dungeon under her control?


    She¡¯d toyed with me the entire time. Once I realized that she¡¯d toyed with me from the start, rather than anger, I felt slightly amused. She was unable to defeat me in shogi since the playing field was equal, but inside her dungeon the playing fields were completely unbalanced.


    It¡¯s like playing shogi where I only have a pawn, but the opponent has a full board of pieces to use. It¡¯s like she¡¯s using a dragon to bully a weak little slime.


    Yeah, fluffy bunnies are damn dragons, okay? Don¡¯t look down on them just because they¡¯re freaking adorable. They are vicious little buggers who¡¯ll steal and run away with your brain and never give it back.


    Since I was puzzled on how to remotely detonate portions of my body, I seeked out the wisdom of the former crossdressing hero. It wasn¡¯t hard considering the area the three of us stayed in was completely flat and barren with next to nothing inside when compared to the floors above us inside the dungeon. The rabbit had recently escaped from the 100th floor where we were; presently it had hidden itself away somewhere inside the gigantic maze on the 99th floor. With the way it was designed, it was impossible for me to find it in a short period of time.


    The bosses that occupied that floor¡­ they were definitely not what I expected. It was a special floor in the dungeon that had four bosses; well... there were allegedly four but I¡¯d never heard anything specific about the fourth. I¡¯d learned three of them were female and what type of bosses they were, but the only thing I knew about the fourth was that they were supposedly male. I had a guess as to what the fourth boss was, but I had no idea where that boss was. When I asked Yueliang about it she just chuckled a bit and kept quiet with an amused smile on her face.


    Either way, it was far too dangerous for me up there. I really had to admit though, I was amazed how the rabbit survived with all the high level monsters on the 99th floor. I couldn¡¯t scratch those monsters let alone flee from them. When I went up there for the first time, I¡¯d gone with the former crossdressing hero. Both she and I were at a loss, we weren¡¯t able to even scratch the monsters on the floor above us. Figuring out what level they were at was definitely out of the question. Even with her at level 40, when she checked their levels, similar to Yueliang, their levels showed up as ¡°???¡±. If such powerful monsters were released from the dungeon, how would humanity ever stand a chance? Wouldn¡¯t humanity easily be wiped off the face of the earth?


    I also asked Yueliang about this, but that time she wore a frown and instead grumbled, ¡°if that happened then the stupid gods would intervene and mess around. They would bestow absurdly powerful weapons to the stupid heroes to balance the playing field. Therefore, to keep my position secure and live peacefully myself in the future, when I escape I¡¯ve opted to reign in the monsters I brought up and just use them to train demon lords up to a certain degree to avoid making things more troublesome for myself in the future.¡±


    She actually sounded pretty lazy when she put it like that. She felt like the type of person who preferred easy mode over impossible mode; but she was right, the gods really sounded like a pain in the ass if they were the types that casually interfered when things looked too one sided.


    When I found the crossdressing hero, I immediately got to the point.


    ¡°Hey, help me out with something.¡±


    ¡°Help you out with what?¡±


    ¡°Rip my arm off.¡±


    ¡°What? Why? Do it yourself. No actually, where is this even coming from out of nowhere? You better not have developed any kind of weird detached limb fetishes.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough strength to rip it off myself. You¡¯re level 45, right? You should be able to do that much, right? Also, I have no such fetishes.¡±


    ¡°Why me? Why don¡¯t you just ask Yueliang, I¡¯m sure she would enjoy helping you out with something like this.¡±


    ¡°If I ask her she¡¯ll just destroy the arm right away and it will grow back. If I asked her to not destroy it, do you think she¡¯ll listen to my request obediently? I don¡¯t want it to grow back right away because I want to experiment a bit.¡±


    ¡°Are you suddenly some kind of perverted masochist who gets off to women ripping your arm off?¡±


    ¡°Although I do have to admit that definitely may have some sort of forbidden appeal to certain individuals, that¡¯s not the reason why.¡±


    ¡°Gross.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re calling me gross? I don¡¯t want to hear that from a crossdressing chick.¡±


    She glared daggers into my body and as requested, she ripped my arm clean off before she threw it to the ground and spit to the side.


    ¡°Peh. Meeting you again really is unpleasant after all.¡±


    ¡°Meeting again? You knew me from before? I don¡¯t remember ever meeting you before though.¡±


    ¡°Like I thought, you didn¡¯t even know I existed did you?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve met a lot of people throughout the course of my life, unless you were someone who stood out or made a deep impression on me I might have forgotten if we met before.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? We were in the same high school you jerk!¡±


    ¡°Eh, really? Which one?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean which one?! We spent three years together in the same high school!¡±


    I was troubled, of course I was troubled. Do you have any idea how many times I¡¯ve gone through high school over the last two thousand years? I¡¯ve attended quite a few you know, universities as well.


    ¡°Uh, what era¡­ no time period¡­ no I mean what year was that exactly?¡±


    ¡°Hah?! Since 2017 you jerk! Because of you I was always second place! I was hoping it was just my inferiority complex back then, but you¡¯re really telling me you didn¡¯t even know I existed?¡±


    I honestly didn¡¯t, I never paid any attention to things like academic standing. They put tests in front of me, so in my boredom I just answered all the questions to pass a bit of time.


    Wait, but this doesn¡¯t really make sense though time wise. It was still 2019 when I was in our world, but she¡¯s been a hero for five years. Unless time doesn¡¯t flow at the same rate, it doesn¡¯t really add up.

 Chapter 7. Part 2.

    Chapter 7. Part 2.


    ¡°Hey, when specifically did you get transported here according to our timeline?¡±


    ¡°Why are you suddenly changing the subject?¡±


    ¡°Just tell me, it¡¯s important.¡±


    ¡°It was the beginning of May in 2019.¡±


    ¡°What day specifically?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with all the questions all of a sudden?¡±


    ¡°According to the timeline in our world I was summoned to this world on May 9th of 2019.¡± I explained to her.


    ¡°What?! How is that possible? It was the 4th of May when I came to this world!¡±


    ¡°Actually, wait. One moment. Doesn¡¯t that suddenly make me your senpai? Aren¡¯t I actually five years older than you now? Shouldn¡¯t you show respect to your elders kid?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, you really think you¡¯re older than me? I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯ve repeated high school quite a few times. I¡¯m what they call a repeater, although some may call me a beater in a sense. Don¡¯t underestimate my age, you little 23 year old brat.¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯re just making stuff up now like an immature brat because you don¡¯t want to respect your elders, right?¡±


    ¡°Please, get on my level little girl. I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯m over two thousand years old.¡±


    ¡°Hah?! Do you think I¡¯m stupid or something? Do you have eighth grader syndrome? Only a kid would buy into something like that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true though, I¡¯ll have you know, I was born in ancient Egypt over two thousand years ago inside the first constructed pyramid.¡±


    ¡°Whatever. Like I¡¯d ever believe that. Can you please stop messing around and making stuff up?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not messing around, I¡¯m 100% serious.¡±


    ¡°Do I really look that gullible? If you¡¯re serious, then prove it.¡±


    ¡°And how am I supposed to prove that?¡±


    ¡°Tell me something only a person who¡¯s really lived that long would know.¡±


    Finally we¡¯re talking the same language here.


    ¡°Deal. You know Akechi Mitsuhide, one of the biggest traitors in Japan¡¯s history, nicknamed Jubei, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. What about him?¡±


    ¡°Well, he was actually a good drinking buddy of mine. Back then when we were drinking I casually mentioned how beautiful fireworks were at the time. We then lit a few up outside and shot them up in the air with flaming arrows. We ended up lighting Honn¨­-ji Temple on fire by accident. Thanks to that there was a giant misunderstanding and history was falsified to cover up the shameful embarrassing story of how we accidentally killed his big shot boss.¡±


    ¡°Hah?! Are you taking me for a fool?! Do you really think anyone would believe something absurd like that?!¡±


    ¡°Tch. It¡¯s a true story though. Fine, fine. You know the letter Hideyoshi sent regarding slavery in the past? I only survived that whole flaming temple betrayal ordeal thanks to bringing the matter of slavery up to him. I delivered the letter personally back then to redeem myself for the sin of being too drunk and inadvertently making his boss commit suicide.¡±


    Her expression told me she was not the slightest bit impressed with my stories so I figured I¡¯d have to go to something more recent. I figured I¡¯d try with a World War II story.


    ¡°Okay, okay, fine then. You¡¯ve learned about World War II right? You know about all the conspiracy theories claiming Hitler somehow escaped and lived, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah I do. What of them?¡±


    ¡°I can tell you for certain he died, after all, I was the one who really killed him. The Russians claimed Hitler committed suicide and the SS soldiers burnt his body, but in reality, it was not suicide. I infiltrated their ranks and after extensive reconnaissance I knew where his underground bunker was before hand. When he finally showed up, disguised as one of their soldiers, I passed him a shot which had dissolved cyanide pills. Afterwards I shot him in the head. I fabricated written instructions before hand to have his body burned upon his death in his last will and testament.¡±


    ¡°As if!¡±


    ¡°Tch. At least let me at least finish my story.¡±


    ¡°In reality Hitler definitely did intend to commit suicide, however it was not as simple as one may believe. Have you not ever wondered why it was an underground bunker he chose to go to in his last hours with his back against the wall along with his wife? There were far better last sights they could share together rather than inside a stuffy underground bunker.¡±


    ¡°In the end, it wasn¡¯t to simply take his life, it was to wait for the opposing forces to surround them and finally take everyone with him. At that time, it was the one thing the world was most fearful of. A world where the Germans successfully created an atomic bomb first. What the world didn¡¯t know was the Germans hadn¡¯t failed in the arms race like they presumed. In reality they successfully created the first atomic bomb.¡±


    ¡°It was absolutely top secret and it could be counted on one hand the number of people aware of this fact at that time. It was Hitler¡¯s absolute last resort when pushed into a corner. His nefarious plot was simple. Mercilessly drag all the heretics that banded against him down to the nine gates of hell along with him in this final ploy.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°The reason Japan undertook the mission to assassinate him secretly was to take control of those atomic bombs. The reason Japan refused to surrender after Hitler¡¯s death was in hopes intel would be returned to them regarding the whereabouts of those atomic bombs. They naively believed they could use them to turn the tides of war. The Japanese desired that sort of destructive power back then. They believed they could use the threat of such destructive force to make the world not dare to approach or lay a hand on them in the event Germany fell.¡±


    ¡°Just as there were radical kamikazes that would go out with a bang, there were those in the military that wished to go down in history like their Samurai ancestors back in the day with the biggest bang known to mankind. It was only after they experienced first hand the horror of an atomic bomb after Hitler died that they wished that such weapons would never see the light of day again.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    She appeared somewhat speechless when I paused. It felt like she couldn¡¯t find it in herself to say anything with how absurd the story sounded. It was a natural reaction though, history was written by the winners. Whether what I said was true or not, as far as society was concerned I was a liar.


    ¡°In the end, I betrayed Japan back then and chose not to bring back the intel related to the bombs. I vaguely understood the horror of those weapons after I witnessed their immense power first hand at a test detonation for one of them. It was a top secret infiltration mission with only one man to prevent any leaks. I just so happened to be that unfortunate man that got dragged into it.¡±


    ¡°As for why I had Hitler¡¯s body burned, it was in fear that Hitler had hidden some sort of clues I was unaware of on him or even inside his body that would lead other nations discovering the whereabouts of those terrifying weapons of mass destruction he had hidden away.¡±


    ¡°I naturally also faked my death and started another life under a new identity afterwards. It was my oversight that Japan stubbornly held out and refused to surrender in hopes of gaining the power to retaliate and turn the tables on the allied forces. If I returned and informed them the mission had failed, I would have been killed then and there. Perhaps they would have then surrendered. In the end the decision I made resulted in me bearing the sin, the full weight of having a nuclear bomb detonate and killing countless people. Many lives were lost and many lives were ruined thanks to my selfishness. I would probably be labeled Japan¡¯s biggest traitor in history if this was known.¡±


    ¡°But to this day, those weapons, the only person remaining who knows of their existence is me. The detonator was hidden far beneath the earth, below the underground bunker Hitler holed up in. The bombs were hidden in various locations throughout Germany where the allied forces would have positioned themselves to surround the axis forces. Hitler planned to hold out in his underground bunker and eventually fake his suicide with body doubles prepared before hand. He would have then pulled off the greatest escape, one that would have never been seen before in history. One that put even Houdini himself to shame.¡±


    ¡°However that was all foiled thanks to my interference.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, your story is too ludicrous to be true. It¡¯s too far fetched. There¡¯s no way any of that could be possible. It sounds like an interesting story, but it just sounds like another absurd conspiracy theory.¡±


    ¡°Little girl, there are many events in history that were covered up and altered to make them appear more beautiful and moving. Humans are creatures that like to do things like that all the time, simply to suit their tastes. The winners write history after all. Whether you believe it or not, it really doesn¡¯t matter. As one who was taught throughout your entire life to believe that the books only contain historical ¡®documented¡¯ facts, perhaps you will never believe in anything else. You should only believe what you see with your own two eyes. What you perceive to be the truth may not be the truth at all. It may just be a truth that others want you to believe for the sake of saving face.¡±


    ¡°You should understand well how mass media works. It¡¯s all to control the people. It¡¯s all for the sake of maintaining the status quo and peace.¡±


    ¡°If Hitler¡¯s final plot was made known to the world after having been foiled, what would have happened to the innocent people who lived within Germany? Would they not be ostracized, condemned and looked down upon for as long as they lived? Hitler was one man, but if he personally pulled the trigger and detonated those atomic bombs, just how would the image the world fostered towards Germans turn out? They would have definitely suffered through utmost seething rage from all sides of the world, far worse than what they ended up suffering through when the war ended. Whether a civilian was innocent or guilty, hate did not discriminate after all.¡±


    ¡°Enough. Enough of this nonsense. This doesn¡¯t serve as proof of anything.¡±


    ¡°Well you¡¯re right, you can just consider it the rambling delusions of a naive high schooler. However, it is a fact that I¡¯m over two thousand years old.¡±


    Of course a bit of the information I told her was a lie. The story was true, however, it¡¯s rather shameful of me to say it, but I made a mistake back then. I underestimated Hitler¡¯s insanity. Hitler inscribed the information pertaining to the nuclear weapons on his jaw bone through an encrypted message. The Russians got ahold of his jaw bone, but never allowed anyone to examine it until 2017. The reason they finally allowed for it to be examined was that they had finally cracked the code and acquired the intel on the atomic bombs from all those years ago. Afterwards, they erased all traces of the encrypted message on the jaw bone and finally allowed others to examine it. That finally brought a close to the conspiracy theories that claimed Hitler was still alive.


    Even now Russia was secretly trying to get their hands on those atomic bombs. The final stage of their plan started in May of 2018 with the preparatory work towards building Nord Stream 2. The entire development of the German Russian pipeline, Nord Stream, was all a distraction for their true hidden motives to dig around underground to discreetly investigate for clues.


    I actually found it was a bit humorous, kind of like an inside joke Russia came up with. Nord meant north in Russian while stream translated to strom in German. Strom could be interpreted as power. It was a bit ironic with it¡¯s double meaning, power to the north or northern power. They are selling power to Germans, but that process of being the supplier of power to Germany ironically gave them more power over them.


    Russians likely gained some early understanding behind the intel left behind by Hitler and set up the preparatory work with the first Nord Stream pipeline. It likely wasn¡¯t until 2017 that they fully cracked the encrypted message where they planned the secondary phase of Nord Stream 2. With this secondary pipeline it gave them more opportunities to dig about secretly in Germany in search of those ancient relics of war.


    Of course, as far as I was concerned it had nothing to do with me any longer. There was no point bringing it up with this little girl who was still wet behind the ears.


    Well, enough of the history lesson. It was about time for me to get to work.


    I picked up my hand she dropped on the ground, left her behind and immediately started practicing. She didn¡¯t bother to follow me or say anything more. She just stood in place with a deep frown on her face and annoyance in her eyes like she¡¯d been forced to listen to her grandfather ramble on for hours about fake nonsensical war stories.


    There wasn¡¯t any point in trying to convince her of a pointless long forgotten history in our previous world that had already been buried by the sands of time. It was now completely unrelated to us after all. Even if she believed it, it didn¡¯t affect anything.


    It was best to just treat my words as the ramblings of a lunatic with a bloated ego that lost a few screws. Hell, maybe I was crazy and I just wasn¡¯t conscious of it myself. I wouldn¡¯t even be surprised if that turned out to be the case. When you¡¯d lived for too long and seen too much, your perception of reality became skewed, twisted and warped. I might have just convinced myself at some point that everything I believed was the truth when it was all a fabrication in my head.

 Chapter 8. Part 1.

    Chapter 8. Part 1.


    I inspected the detached arm in front of me more closely, I first tried to somehow move my fingers, however, no matter how much effort I put in I couldn¡¯t even get it to twitch.


    I closed my eyes and checked if I could sense the presence of my arm, but in the end I sensed  nothing. It was like my arm was a completely separate entity with no relation to me at all. Yet, how was that possible? There was surely some sort of relation. If there wasn¡¯t, why did my arm only regenerate only when it was completely destroyed?


    Was it related to mana then? My blood served as fuel for Yueliang that she converted into mana. Her intent was to use it to fuel a powerful magic to break her seal. But just where did this endless supply of energy come from to begin with?


    If I think of my blood as gas and mana as the conversion of that gas into another form of energy, such as electricity, then shouldn¡¯t conservation of energy still hold true? It can¡¯t really be possible that I¡¯m an endless supply of mana birthed from nothing, right? Every source of energy is finite, so where do I derive the seemingly endless supply of energy required to fuel the immortal object ability I was bestowed with?


    ¡°Is it from the surroundings?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s from the plane in which gods reside.¡±


    A familiar voice I didn¡¯t expect rang out abruptly from behind me. She threw formalities out the window and immediately pushed me down and pinned me to the ground.


    ¡°As compensation for answering your question I¡¯ll be taking double today. I¡¯ve been wondering how it would taste in this position.¡±


    I never saw it, but based upon the sound from behind, she¡¯d licked her lips greedily right before she plunged her fangs into the back of my right shoulder. While she straddled my back, she sucked away full force until the last drop of blood disappeared from my body.


    When she lifted her head back the immortal object message appeared in front of me as usual. That was when I suddenly realized, when this regeneration was most active it was actually the best chance I had to understand my ability.


    Was it just a coincidence she showed up right now for her meal, or was she trying to provide me with an opportunity right now? She¡¯ll definitely never answer me honestly even if I asked her about it. She¡¯d just claim she¡¯s only here for her daily meal as usual or something.


    At this point I didn¡¯t resist her in the slightest, I let her have free reign over the blood in my body. I closed my eyes again and focused on the instant the blood in my body regenerated. It was honestly a strange feeling, it didn¡¯t hurt at all whenever it regenerated, rather it always felt strangely pleasurable like the inside of my body had somehow been cleansed.


    As time went on, she drained my blood over and over again until slowly, but surely, I noticed a small, almost negligible difference. The blood that regenerated, although it was nearly unnoticeable, it definitely felt like it was filled with more vitality. I only vaguely felt it was a smidge purer than before and the concentration of mana that Yueliang converted from it had grown a bit, although the degree to which it changed was practically insignificant from when she drained my blood from a single cycle to the next. It was only if I compared it from the beginning to several cycles apart that the change was distinct enough to pick up on.


    I somehow benefitted from her repeatedly sucking me dry. Just to be clear, it was definitely not in a sexual way. Although I can¡¯t deny that my thoughts were led astray at times due to the lewd nature of the act. It¡¯s also pretty mentally taxing trying to stay calm whenever her chest presses up against me when she eats her fill.


    ¡°Yueliang, what is the meaning of this?¡±


    ¡°Oh? So you¡¯ve finally noticed?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I have.¡±


    ¡°It seems your abilities as an immortal somehow shares a connection to my immortal bloodline. It feels like it¡¯s on the same level as my bloodline, one that once existed in the plane of gods. I don¡¯t know much more about my bloodline aside from that. My parents were unable to pass down any information to me. But it appears that draining your blood like this will aid in strengthening your ability as an immortal in the long run.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Why are you suddenly being so cooperative and telling me about this now?¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! Don¡¯t get cocky, it was just a passing whim of mine, nothing more. Also, I¡¯m just having a meal, if eating more makes the meal taste better, then why wouldn¡¯t I eat as much as I can?¡±


    When she finished her tsunderish line, she ruthlessly crushed my head to dust and vanished as abruptly as she first appeared.


    I found it really difficult to fully wrap my head around her. She was troublesome to deal with, very grouchy at times, and extremely hard to read.


    During this feeding session, I faintly detected a strange sensation, albeit just barely. I wasn¡¯t referring to the sensation of her chest on my back though. It was the feeling of energy flowing into my body from an unknown origin. Rather than it being mana, it felt like son energy source a level above it. I wasn¡¯t certain, but it felt like something combined with mana that formed a more saturated energy of a superior grade.


    I focused my senses on my detached arm and checked whether the same energy resides inside it. Luckily, after a bit of time passed by I discovered it. I successfully confirmed that energy was one in the same as what flowed through my body. Although very faint and vague, it definitely resided inside my detached arm. Was this form of energy something that originated from what she called the plane that gods reside in?


    After some time spent in deep concentration, I discerned that there was actually a very fine flow of that energy connected between my arm and body. I postulated it was due to this connection that my arm did not grow back.


    If my theory was correct, if I severed this connection one of two things would happen. I¡¯d either lose the arm for good, or it would very likely trigger my arm to regenerate. I was more inclined towards the latter outcome.


    I practiced and attempted to manipulate the strange illusory energy I vaguely sensed. I focused the energy into the tip of my thumb and index finger on my right arm. It was surreal as I somehow felt the energy as if it rotated in between my fingers like a flat disk directly beneath the surface of my skin.


    With my thumb and index finger, I pinched at the fine string like energy that connected my body to my severed arm. The moment I squeezed down the string snapped in two pieces.


    Right before my eyes, the arm that was once there disintegrated into nothingness. What followed soon after its disappearance was an immortal object message in front of me.


    I actually sensed the energy when it returned and reformed itself around my left shoulder. It extended out autonomously and recreated my arm attached without any trace of residual scars.


    I was astounded by the process and my intrigue grew stronger than ever before as a result. Was there a way to utilize that energy as a destructive force instead of only a regenerative one? Could it possibly explode or detonate in the form of an offensive attack? Or better yet, what if I controlled my hand remotely and created Thing from a certain family sir named Addams? Wouldn¡¯t that be super cool?


    How do I do either of those things though? Would it be possible if the string was more robust, bulky, and thick? If I gained better control over the energy, was it truly a possibility? Actually, was it possible to create multiple hands with this ability? What if I could get my arm to regrow while keeping the connection to my detached arm? Wouldn¡¯t I become an unstoppable Asura who could wield thousands of weapons in hand at once? With an ability like that, couldn¡¯t I become a god of war heralded by all and looked down upon by none?


    However, all these ideas sounded like they were considerably high level and required a lot of time and energy, much more than what I presently had. At this time I was equivalent to a toddler who¡¯d stumbled upon electricity for the first time. I shouldn¡¯t get ahead of myself. Potential applications should come after I have a better understanding.


    My first objective should be to increase the abundance of this energy and learn to better control it at will. How to do that is the real problem right now.


    It seems Yueliang sucking my blood is one method I can use to purify and make the energy I presently have stronger, but is there a way to increase the quantity of the energy I can host inside my body? If my body is equivalent to a bottle then it naturally has a capacity it can house within it. Would simple leveling up in this world work to increase the size of the bottle? What about destroying my body a few hundreds of thousands of times? Maybe that would allow me to create a sturdier container that could withstand higher pressures of that energy. Well, I¡¯ve got all the time in the world to figure it out while I¡¯m down here with nothing urgent to attend to.


    I¡¯m not really in a rush to get stronger or anything. I can just take things at my own pace and slowly work my way through the dungeon. Like Yueliang said, it¡¯s going to be about a year before she¡¯s able to break the seal after all.


    Ah! I almost forgot why I worked so hard to begin with. I focused myself once more. I glared with squinted eyes resentfully at the ceiling above. When I found a fine string connected between my head and the ceiling, I pinched the string; the connection then split in a similar fashion to what happened to my arm earlier. Another immortal object message appeared and my head suddenly felt heavier than before,  it signalled to me that my plan was a grand success.


    After my success I forgot all about that cursed bunny. I gleefully went on my way and practiced manipulation of the newfound energy I¡¯d discovered.

 Chapter 8. Part 2.

    Chapter 8. Part 2.


    (POV A Fluffy Bunny at the bottom of a well)


    I struck the jackpot! An immortal¡¯s brain! Hahaha, I can get all the golden carrots I want with this. That immortal was so weak though, he couldn¡¯t even capture a weak little Fluffy Bunny like me. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he wouldn¡¯t die even if I fought him I¡¯d have certainly killed him then and there. I can¡¯t believe how generous the big boss lady was to toss out a freebie to a weak little bunny like me though. To be honest, it¡¯s suspicious, but what do I care?


    Once I hand this over to the Zombie King on the 90th floor, I¡¯m sure to make it big and evolve into a Pink Fluffy Bunny at level 30. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll send chills down the spines of my enemies the moment they see me in all my fluffy splendour. I¡¯ll be able to look down upon them from above and laugh out loud while shouting, fear me you unworthy peasant fluffy bunnies below level 30! I¡¯m sure all the female White Fluffy Bunnies will scramble to fall on their stomachs and lick my majestic paws.


    However, pink is only a pit stop in my grand journey to the peak of power. I am an ambitious bunny who knows not the plight of the plebeian rabbits grovelling before me in my path. The rankings for Fluffy Bunnies from weakest to strongest is white, pink, silver, gold, orange, green, red, blue, violet, black. I will definitely one day become the black rabbit king and even dominate over those blasted humans.


    Not even the big boss lady will be able to touch me in the future. I can just imagine her pleading for my mercy when I surpass her and break free of her control. Of course, if she willingly submits to me and becomes my concubine I may consider letting her live.


    ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡±


    I¡¯m finally here!


    ¡°I¡¯ve come with an important mission. I must deliver a certain item to the Zombie King. Please grant my humble self a meeting with the honorable one.¡±


    ¡°Hah? A weak, useless little White Fluffy Bunny like you dares to request a meeting with the Zombie King? Have you lost your marbles? Do you want to die?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m here on orders of the big boss lady.¡±


    The moment those words came out of my puffed up cheeks, the pitiful zombie knights trembled slightly and whispered back and forth between each other.


    ¡°Guys, there¡¯s no way a little Fluffy Bunny could actually be here on orders of the almighty empress of the night who rules over the dungeon, right? Why would she send a weakling like this? Is she underestimating us zombies and our king?¡±


    ¡°But what if he¡¯s telling the truth and we end up offending her? Not even our king would get out with his head in tact if he offended her.¡±


    ¡°Should we just let him through and act like we saw nothing?¡±


    ¡°That would probably be the safest choice, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just do that.¡±


    ¡°You may pass.¡±


    Aren¡¯t these zombie knights a bit too stupid to be used as guards? Well, they are zombies after all.


    Of course, I didn¡¯t stick around long enough for them to second guess themselves. I immediately skedaddled out of there and journeyed deeper into the residence of the Zombie King.


    The place really wasn¡¯t as majestic as one would think it would be, it was really just a straight hallway that led into a big open room. It was a very basic and standard boss room set up you could find in many other floors of the dungeon. Even the 100th floor was extremely plain and simple. It seemed the big boss lady didn¡¯t care much for that sort of thing. She wasn¡¯t very attached to material possessions and was fine with the utmost bare minimum. Her entire floor was just a flat wide open plain filled with only pure darkness without any sort of obstructions.


    Of course, there were some boss monsters on floors above that paid more attention to detail and whatnot. In fact, there were two floors in which full blown cities were created. They were located on the 50th floor and 70th floor. They were paradises intended for monsters and demons to live in; safe havens where both monsters and demons coexisted together in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. It was much unlike humans who only blindly slaughtered our kind in the name of their so called god.


    As for where the demons came from, it was said they were descendants that were saved from their fate as slaves to the humans in an empire long, long ago. It¡¯s unknown just how old the big boss lady is, but her strength is truly unimaginable. But the big boss lady didn¡¯t abuse her power and treat monsters like me poorly, she even let us live freely as we wished.


    In my opinion, for someone who was the true demon lord, I really found that she was far too kind. But when the stories are told of her heroic tale where she slaughtered an entire human empire, I¡¯m forced to think otherwise. It still sends shivers through my little rabbit pelt whenever I thought about a big boss lady drenched from head to toe in the blood of her sworn enemies.


    A voice abruptly broke the silence and interrupted my train of thought. It was the voice of the person I¡¯d sought out for this trade.


    ¡°What business does a weak Fluffy Bunny like you have with me? Actually, now that I think about it, how did a weakling like you even get here? What am I paying those useless zombie knights for when they can¡¯t even keep out a White Fluffy Bunny?¡±


    ¡°Your kingship, I have come to do business.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Hahaha! Is this a joke? What sort of business proposal could a tiny little Fluffy Bunny strike up to interest a mighty zombie king like I?¡±


    Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Damnit, we rabbits are the ones who gave birth to the art of clicking one¡¯s tongue. Anyways, just wait until I¡¯m a Black Fluffy Bunny, I¡¯ll make sure you grovel before me and beg me in tears for forgiveness, you stupid overconfident zombie king.


    Now, it was about time for me to reveal my trump card. I spit out the brain that I had somehow barely kept hidden inside my cheek the whole time.


    ¡°You see this brain?¡± Stupid Zombie King? Of course I couldn¡¯t really say my true thoughts.


    ¡°What of it? It¡¯s just a brain, right? I¡¯ve eaten tons of them already to reach my level. What¡¯s so great about a brain a little White Fluffy Bunny like you can get your grubby little paws on?¡±


    ¡°What if I said this was the brain of an immortal being on the same level as the big boss lady?¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Well at least his ability to not die was. He looks like a total weakling in terms of combat ability when compared to the big boss lady, but this idiotit zombie king doesn¡¯t need to know that.


    ¡°Hah? An immortal¡¯s brain? Do you think I¡¯m stupid enough to believe that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true though, the big boss lady is the one that extracted it personally and tossed it away as a freebie. I was lucky enough to get ahold of it. Think about it, if you were to use this immortal¡¯s brain, you¡¯d surely gain a significant amount of strength.¡±


    If you¡¯re lucky, maybe your pathetic intelligence stat would go up a few notches too.


    Luckily it looked like my words were slightly effective, it appeared he was a bit swayed and I could see he was slightly struggling to make a decision. It¡¯s best to strike while the iron is hot.


    ¡°If I were to ingest such a valuable brain, although a rabbit like me could gain a bit, it would surely be a waste. Only someone mighty like you is worthy of a priceless treasure such as this. A pitiful weak creature like me can only look up to those as powerful as your highness, the great majestic Zombie King with no equal under the heavens.¡±


    ¡°Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Who knew rabbits had such good eyes.¡±


    ¡°Of course, it is only natural for all lower beings like me to worship one as dashing as you. I even heard the big boss lady say how highly she thought of you which was why you were the first person I brought this immortal brain to.¡±


    The truth is, you¡¯re the only brainless floor boss I thought would be stupid enough to fall for this. For any other floor boss I don¡¯t have any sort of confidence to hoodwink them as easily as I would when compared to your dumb ass. To be successful in life as a Fluffy Bunny, you must of course know how to be cunning.


    ¡°Since I¡¯m in a good mood, I suppose I don¡¯t mind rewarding you a bit for your efforts. What would you like?¡±


    ¡°100 gold carrots.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Is that all?¡±


    One must lowball at first to make a good impression.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t dare be greedy with a generous kind hearted zombie king like you.¡±


    ¡°Not bad, not bad at all, little rabbit. Since I like you and since you did go through quite a bit of effort to bring me this immortal¡¯s brain I can¡¯t be stingy with a good little friend like you. I¡¯ll make it 1000 gold carrots and this mark of the Zombie King. No one will dare bully you if you show them this mark.¡±


    I¡¯m freaking rich! Holy cow, I really hit the jackpot! My great, god like, moronic zombie king, you are my idiotic, brain dead hero of time immemorial!


    He handed over a storage ring that contained the 1000 gold carrots. The mark of the zombie king was engraved on the storage ring. I put the ring in my mouth, said my words of thanks and quickly departed.


    Shortly after I left, right when I passed all the guards at the end of the tunnel, I heard a loud shout, ¡°wretched scheming rabbit! You dare plot to scam me?!¡±


    My little wabbit heart nearly leaped out of my mouth as I ran away at my top speed. I didn¡¯t really know what happened all of the sudden, but I knew for sure something had surely gone horribly wrong.


    As such, I immediately made haste and made a great escape back towards the bottom of the dungeon. I fled for fear that my life was now endangered after I¡¯d successfully ripped off the Zombie King.


    What can I say though? It was a fair trade, wasn¡¯t it? If the Zombie King was somehow incompetent and something happened to the brain, what did that have to do with a widdle Fluffy Bunny like me?


    When I finally made it back to the bottom of the dungeon what greeted me was a slightly surprised voice.


    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s this? You¡¯re back already? Huhuhu. Where have you been all this time little rabbit?¡±


    Big boss lady was smiling knowingly at me as though she knew of everything.


    ¡°What happened to the brain I let you have?¡±


    Big boss lady is really scary after all. The look on her face told me she knew everything I had done. Since the deed was done, I could only play dumb. I innocently approached her with a stupid blank look of naive innocence on my face. I was determined to show my utmost submissive expression with my eyes as large and adorable as possible. I nuzzled my head against her bare leg and rolled on my back to expose my stomach to her.


    ¡°Well since you¡¯re cute and no harm was done, I suppose I can let you off.¡±


    Big boss lady looked left and right discreetly. Once she made sure the coast was clear, she knelt down and lifted me up from the ground then pulled me into a hug. She rubbed her cheek against my fur and mumbled, ¡°Soft and fluffy as always I see. By the way if you leak anything about me to anyone, especially him, I¡¯ll make sure your death won¡¯t be pleasant my little bunny friend.¡±


    Yes ma¡¯am, yes! A bit of cold sweat ran down my back.


    ¡°Still trying to play dumb like you can¡¯t talk when you¡¯re around me? Am I really that scary?¡±


    Yes! Yes, you are! Absolutely terrifying!


    It was likely she noticed my trembling body as she dejectedly put me down with a sigh.


    ¡°Haaah. He¡¯s the only one that doesn¡¯t tremble when I embrace him. What am I supposed to do? He¡¯s just food. Why¡¯s he getting so cocky all the time?¡±


    Well, he can¡¯t die after all. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s a fairly good reason why he¡¯s not shitting his pants when he sees you, right?


    ¡°It¡¯s also so infuriating how I couldn¡¯t even win one game of Shogi against him as well.¡±


    Aren¡¯t you just bad?


    ¡°There were so many times where I had him in a corner too, but he always turned the tables on me at some point.¡±


    Are you sure you¡¯re not just bad?


    ¡°One more year to freedom, huh? But what¡¯s the point of going out there now? Won¡¯t undoing the seal just bring about a new era of war in this world? If I release the denizens of this dungeon into the world, the gods are sure to equalize and balance things out so the despicable humans will become strong enough to fight back and defend themselves. They may start summoning heroes en mass if that happens as well. What if I give them a heads up beforehand and deliver another prophecy? If humans summon heroes beforehand and train them up, maybe the gods will consider the playing field to be equal and not stick their noses where it doesn¡¯t belong.¡±


    Changing the topic now, are we?


    ¡°If I don¡¯t act and leave things to him and that new servant of mine, that should be able to slide under the radar, right? The gods probably wouldn¡¯t react if they raised their own army from scratch, right?¡±


    ¡°What do you think mister Fluffy Bunny?¡±


    How the hell would I know?! Actually, why are you dropping a bunch of bombs while I¡¯m around?! What is this talk of godly intervention anyways?! The scale of content contained within her mumbles to herself was far too high level for a mere level 20 White Fluffy Bunny like me to comprehend.


    I could only tilt my widdle wabbit head to the side cluelessly and continue to look at her with large wide open eyes that screamed ¡°tehe? I¡¯m just a widdle wabbit minding my own widdle business. Please don¡¯t involve me in matters concerning the future of the world. Pwetty pwease with a chewwy on top?¡±


    It was as though there was some sort of mystical connection that formed between the two of our locked eyes at that moment. It truly felt like we fully understood each other on a very deep level. The level of, I¡¯m just a siwwy little wabbit doing siwwy little wabbit things.


    A light sigh escaped her lips; coupled with the lonely smile on her face, there was a deep sense of melancholy around her. For some reason it really appeared she wished that there was someone¡¯s shoulder she could lean against and rest her head on. Her crimson hair draped down behind her as she curled up into a ball. She sat on the ground and hugged her legs tightly. Her legs pressed firmly against her fair white chest. She tilted her head a bit and looked somewhere far off into the distance with her two crimson moons for eyes. I was left slightly curious as to what was presently on her mind.


    After some time spent in silence admiring the picture perfect, beauty, big boss lady, she inevitably broke the silence and said, ¡°You can go now, but no leaking things like this to him either, okay? If you try, I can assure you, you will be dead long before the words ever leave your mouth.¡±


    That was when it hit me. Yep, I¡¯m just a widdle wabbit, I don¡¯t understand speech at all. My short term memory also doesn¡¯t seem to be very good either. Four minutes from now I¡¯ll surely forget about everything. It¡¯s really best to act like I saw nothing and pretend that I knew nothing of this vulnerable side of hers.


    With a stupid look on my face I laid down on my back, exposed my belly to her and innocently played dead.

 Chapter 9. Part 1.

    Chapter 9. Part 1.


    (POV Yueliang)


    ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this rather interesting?¡±


    I opened my eyes when I heard rather unexpected words. What came into view was an icy cold visage. She wore an unblemished, pure white robe that accentuated her good looks and gave her the feel of a goddess encased within ice. I couldn¡¯t quite make out her facial features, they were blurred by the semi transparent veil that covered her face. The one thing I was certain of was that she won the contest for the most beautiful woman I¡¯d ever seen in my life by a landslide.


    Was someone like this really a human like me?


    ¡°No need to be so surprised young lady, I was just passing by looking for someone and I came across you. I became slightly intrigued when I saw you.¡±


    Her tone was indifferent and cold contrary to the words she spoke.


    ¡°Intrigued? Why would someone as beautiful as you be intrigued with a country hick like me?¡±


    ¡°Country hick, huh? I see. I see. Little girl, how old are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m seventeen, but will be turning eighteen tonight.¡±


    ¡°I see. Little girl, if you wish to live a mundane life, it¡¯s best if you go home tonight. If you stay out tonight your entire world may be flipped upside down. However, if you wish for a life filled with all sorts of excitement, you may of course ignore my words.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Nothing much, I was just passing by after all. It was just a joke, don¡¯t pay it any mind. If it is fated it will happen regardless of what I say.¡±


    I was confused by what she spoke of at the time and I foolishly didn¡¯t take what she said to heart. If I did, maybe things would have turned out differently.


    ¡°Uh, you said you were looking for someone?


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Who were you looking for? Maybe I know them. I can help you look for them.¡±


    ¡°Haaah. If you must know, I suppose you could say I¡¯m searching for my lost husband.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s actually a man in the world that has someone as beautiful as you searching for them? Shouldn¡¯t that be a crime?¡±


    Underneath the veil, there was a somewhat lonely smile on her face. She only nodded meekly and said, ¡°he¡¯s a man I¡¯ll never be able to forget as long as I live. Maybe in the future you¡¯ll be lucky enough to meet someone you¡¯ll be able to feel that way about.¡±


    ¡­


    When I opened my eyes I realized I¡¯d had that same dream again; that fleeting meeting with that strange woman in the past. Even now when I think back to her, I still can¡¯t see through her strength. She was definitely an unfathomable existence beyond any mortal¡¯s imagination.


    In the years I spent alone down here, I came to the conclusion that the woman I met was from the plain of gods. I¡¯m still nowhere near a match for her in a bout of strength. It¡¯s only thanks to her that I¡¯d realized the horror of the existences known as gods. They were unfathomable beings that could not be thoughtlessly provoked.


    But what was with her? She was that powerful, but willingly dragging her feet desperately trying to find some stupid lost man? Hmmp! A noble vampire like me could never do something as embarrassing as that with a straight face.


    If I ever had a man who got lost, he damn well better work his ass off to find his way back to me. Don¡¯t even dream of me bending over breaking my back going out of my way to try to find and please you.


    When I thought up to here I snapped my fingers. Ten minutes later my blood bag showed up. See? Isn¡¯t this how it should be? The man should be the one who comes to find you. Not the other way around.


    ¡°Is it that time already?¡±


    Without a word I appeared behind him and enjoyed a quick meal, his blood regenerated as quickly as I sucked it away.


    ¡°Yueliang, for a while now you¡¯ve been sucking my blood far more violently than usual. Is something wrong?¡±


    He¡¯s right, for some reason I¡¯m more irritated than usual. Could it be because I¡¯ve had that irritating dream more frequently lately?


    ¡°Are you on your period or something.¡±


    In a slight fit of rage I accidentally bit down too hard and tore off a piece of his shoulder along with the bone underneath.


    ¡°Yueliang, you should really try to hold back with your lover bites, I know it grows back right away and all, but you¡¯ll hurt my feelings if you¡¯re always so violent.¡±


    No, he must have definitely been the source of my irritation lately. It was definitely because of him that I¡¯ve been remembering quite a few unpleasant memories. That annoying loose mouth of his that keeps blabbering about marriage and me belonging to him or the other nonsense he spouts all the time was definitely getting on my nerves.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    He¡¯s getting way too cocky and recently nothing I do manages to put him in his place. Instead he just treats it like it¡¯s a display of affection from me. Who does he think he is anyways? Does he really think I really want to make him my husband or something?


    I wasn¡¯t lonely before you showed up or anything, so stop acting like you understand me you young human brat! You¡¯re just my food! You understand? My food! Nothing more, nothing less!


    ¡°My little Yueliang, instead that cold look you always have on your face, why not show me a smile every once in a while?¡±


    Hmmp! When I finished my meal I pushed him away and sent him flying far off into the distance.


    Cocky brat, see if I don¡¯t skin you alive.


    I snapped my fingers again. This time, I summoned my servant of four months to pass a bit of time with a game of shogi.


    She was female, but it¡¯s not like I was sucking her blood or touching her or anything, so it was fine.


    When she saw the shogi board she silently sat down across from me. I motioned for her to make the first move.


    Tac...


    Since my endless defeats four months ago at the hands of that thing I tossed out earlier, I¡¯d been using this girl as a practice partner. A noble vampire can¡¯t possibly accept a defeat to a human like that thing. Actually, was he even considered a human anymore? Over the last four months as I observed his speed of growth I started to question myself. He¡¯d grown a lot stronger, that much was certain. He was still a far cry from my level, but he was now at level 30 while the servant across from me was level 50.


    Tac¡­ Tac¡­ Tac¡­


    However, what I found the most surprising was this servant who was a former hero actually got along well with me. But combat ability wise, this servant of mine was a bit lacking when compared to that thing. She could come out on top in fights against that bloodbag, but that was only because of her higher level and the experience she¡¯d built up over the five years she was here. Although, I needed to give her credit where credit was due. The only reason that thing was a match for her was because he couldn¡¯t be killed. He¡¯d adapted his fighting style to properly suit that of an undying immortal.


    Tac¡­ Tac¡­ Tac¡­


    He¡¯d done quite well in his understanding of his ability and how to best utilize it. He severed limbs from his body during combat and set them up as traps. He detonated them at the right moments and caused significant damage to her weak points.


    For monsters, it was even more convenient, whenever a monster ate a part of his body he detonated it from inside and easily accumulated experience with no effort. He wasn¡¯t able to kill many monsters since his damage output was terrible due to his low level. Oftentimes the monsters just escaped when they realized he was an unkillable immortal freak of nature. He did adopt a few rather, how should I say it¡­ amusing methods to occasionally kill some monsters off? Hehehe.


    Tac¡­ Tac...


    After a few moves in, I was in a bit of a disadvantageous position, but that was only how it looked on the surface. I¡¯d been adapting that scoundrel''s methods into my own play style since my crushing defeat. He often made it appear as though he were in a disadvantageous position by making rather questionable risky looking moves. Somehow I¡¯d always mess up and fall into his deceptive schemes.


    Tac¡­


    He was a real schemer. I hated that the most about him.


    ¡°It¡¯s my loss. Master, you¡¯ve gotten much better. I¡¯m not even a match at this point.¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! Stop lying, you¡¯re just taking it easy because you¡¯re tired of playing shogi with me all the time. Your cheap flattery will get you nowhere.¡±


    ¡°Master, by the way, why don¡¯t we ever have some girl talk?¡±


    ¡°Girl talk? What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°You know, like gossiping about other girls, trendy things, boys, who likes who, things like that. You¡¯re really old fashioned you know, who calls a friend over just to play shogi?¡±


    Geh. I¡¯m a noble vampire though, I can¡¯t possibly do such shameless embarrassing things. Not only that, what friend would I have to do such things with? I¡¯m the vampire progenitor feared by all the denizens of this dungeon.


    ¡°That is impossible for me.¡±


    ¡°What? How is it impossible? We¡¯re both girls you know. I¡¯ve always been a dorky glasses wearing girl only ever interested in academics, but now that I no longer have that, I¡¯m a bit curious about those sorts of things.¡±


    ¡°Come on, what about him? Aren¡¯t things a bit steamy between the two of you?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Is my servant blind? I¡¯m just having a meal, what is there to talk about there?


    ¡°Don¡¯t play dumb, you treat him coldly, but aren¡¯t you actually happy when he acts like that with you?¡±


    My servant might have mental disorders. Should I get her checked out at a doctor in one of the big cities inside the dungeon?


    ¡°Hey, what floor have the two of you made it to so far?¡±


    ¡°Why are you changing the subject?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really insolent for a servant. Answer the question.¡±


    ¡°The furthest we¡¯ve reached was the 91st floor.¡±


    ¡°So slow. Aren¡¯t you guys too weak for summoned heroes?¡±


    ¡°We aren¡¯t even fighting most of the monsters because they¡¯re too strong. We¡¯ve basically just been sneaking past any monsters and using your name to get the floor bosses to let us pass.


    ¡°So inefficient, just blast your way through them all. Should I just take you to the 70th floor personally so we can have a doctor take a look at you?¡±


    ¡°How rude! That¡¯s why you were asking?¡±


    ¡°Of course, a master is obliged to make sure their servant is healthy.¡±


    ¡°Since there¡¯s something wrong with my head, then I guess whatever I say will get a free pass then. You like him, admit it.¡±


    With a deadpan expression I looked at her with utter confusion like we weren¡¯t even speaking the same language. What is wrong with this servant? Isn¡¯t it obvious I just like eating food?


    ¡°Of course I like eating food.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean it in the way one likes their favorite food. I mean you like him as a member of the opposite sex.¡±


    ¡°Like him as a member of the opposite sex? You should really learn some better jokes. As a human, can you imagine sticking a banana up your snatch?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Was that not a good enough example for you? Then imagine getting ravaged by a pig you raised and fattened up to increase the quality of the food.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°You still don¡¯t understand? Fine, imagine a frog-¡±


    ¡°Enough, I got the point. It¡¯s definitely going to be tough for him when you¡¯re like this.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean when I¡¯m like this?¡±

 Chapter 9. Part 2.

    Chapter 9. Part 2.


    ¡°Master, you¡¯re a virgin who¡¯s never fallen in love before, right?¡±


    ¡°Like you¡¯re one to talk.¡±


    ¡°How rude, I may be a dorky glasses wearing virgin high school girl, but I¡¯ve at least had crushes in the past.¡±


    ¡°You know, if you take off those glasses and put down your hair you¡¯d look a lot more attractive. You¡¯re part vampire now that you are my servant. I¡¯ve been meaning to bring it up, but you¡¯re bringing shame to my race by going around looking like that.¡±


    ¡°Me? Look more attractive? I think you think too highly of your race. Just because I turned part vampire doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m suddenly going to turn into a drop dead gorgeous babe with a bodacious body.¡±


    Hmm. Is that what she thinks?


    ¡°Kneel.¡±


    She hung her head forward over the shogi board.


    ¡°What are you doing?! Wait! You can¡¯t take those off, they¡¯re my identity as a glasses girl. If I lose that I¡¯ll lose the very thing that defines my existence!¡±


    Slightly amused, I crushed her glasses in the palm of my hand and with a grin on my face, I cruelly let the shattered glass fragments fall to the ground directly before her eyes. It somehow felt like I was bullying her, but this was for her own good.


    Sniff. Sniff.


    Her sniffles were immediately followed up by an outburst of tears. ¡°How could you do that!¡±


    ¡°Wait, stop. Why are you crying? They¡¯re just glasses, right?¡±


    ¡°For you they¡¯re just glasses, but they were glasses passed down throughout my family. They were over two hundred years old, you could even say they were a family heirloom.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lie, right?¡±


    ¡°They cost a whole dollar! Give me back my dollar!¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t even prescription glasses then!¡±


    ¡°What do you even know about prescription glasses?!¡±


    ¡°Shut up and stay still.¡±


    I undid her braided hair then let her black hair flow down freely behind her back. I cleaned her hair up a bit before I wiped off the dirt on her face. There weren¡¯t any showers or mirrors around on this floor since I, as a vampire, never had any use for them like humans did.


    I manipulated the flow of blood in her body such that it gave her cheeks a slightly red blush and added a bit of colour to her pale white face. It was a shame we were vampires and couldn¡¯t see our reflections, so I didn¡¯t really have a way for her to see herself immediately.


    Since we couldn¡¯t use a mirror, I summoned my pet, Fluffy Bunny, I had him paint out a portrait of her on the ground. It was a surprising ability I discovered it had and was one of the few reasons I kept it around. It was both something I could vent my frustrations on and it even had a fairly useful ability for vampires as a plus on the side.


    After five minutes, I pulled her head over to take a good look at the portrait depicted on the ground.


    ¡°Who is that supposed to be a portrait of?¡±


    ¡°This would be you.¡±


    ¡°What?! Are you picking a fight with me? Is this some new form of bullying?¡±


    ¡°Girl, you are now part vampire, this is the very minimum I would expect of my servant.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re joking, right? You really expect me to believe this beauty is me?¡±


    She touched her face in disbelief and felt about her hair in an attempt to compare it to the portrait on the ground. After a while she opened her eyes wide like she¡¯d just received the biggest shock of her life.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t being a vampire a bit too overpowered? Just by being a vampire my charm stat went up that much?¡±


    ¡°Duh, that is a privilege that comes with being a vampire. Be grateful you brat.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we see how that idiot reacts? Here, change into this.¡±


    I pulled out a beautiful, finely crafted dark red dress I had my pet buy in the city on the 70th floor. It was ornamented with several silver bloodied crimson crosses on the cuffs and skirt portion. Of course, I got rid of her stupid masculin pants and put on some black stockings to emphasize her curves.


    ¡°Much better, it¡¯s been bugging me for the last four months now, watching my servant look like a dorky guy has been a real eyesore.¡±


    She spotted a troubled look on her face like she didn¡¯t know how to respond anymore. She just stood there meekly in anxiousness, clearly embarrassed by her present look that was far out of the norm for her.


    I snapped my fingers again then we waited patiently. In the meantime we played another game of shogi, but even after thirty minutes, that no good, mobile fortress of food of mine didn¡¯t show up. With a frown I scanned the dungeon and found he was presently squatting on the ground a kilometer away blatantly ignoring my summons. He is really getting quite cocky despite just being my food.


    ¡°Uh, maybe he¡¯s just busy? Anyways, it¡¯s too embarrassing to show myself in front of him like this. Just let me change back already.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not, this is a command, go bring my food to me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡±


    She said that, but against her will, in a docile manner, she exited the room and headed towards the direction he was presently located at. As my servant, she had no way to disobey my command like how that brain dead disobedient food of mine had.


    (POV 45th Summoned Hero)


    Uuuuu. This is the worst. In a dress that definitely didn¡¯t suit me, I was forced to appear in front of my self proclaimed rival. What¡¯s with this strange and unusual form of harassment?Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°Oh? Who are you?¡±


    Eh? He didn¡¯t recognize who I was? Did I really look that different?


    ¡°Are you another one of her servants?¡±


    I tried to make my voice more high pitched and sound more girly since I felt too embarrassed to say it was me.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m one of her servants.¡±


    ¡°Oh, this is the first time I¡¯m seeing you around here. It¡¯s pretty rare to see anyone related to Yueliang. Were you on an extended errand or something?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, tell her I¡¯m not going. If she wants to see me, she should come and see me herself. Does she really think I will come and go at her beck and call? She¡¯ll suck my blood when she¡¯s hungry and then violently toss me away like an unwanted condom after she¡¯s had her way with me?¡±


    Uh... it does sound pretty bad when you say it like that.


    ¡°Master¡¯s not that bad though. She doesn¡¯t really seem to be a bad person. It just seems like she doesn¡¯t really understand how to interact with others that well.¡±


    ¡°Of course I know that, which is why I¡¯m rebelling this time.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s got to learn how to be thankful for a meal. I get she¡¯s a vampire and in her eyes I¡¯m on the same level as food to her, but we¡¯re both immortals damn it. Where¡¯s the equality here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, she really is a bit troublesome sometimes.¡±


    ¡°Right?¡±


    ¡°But you have no tact or delicacy either.¡±


    ¡°What?! How would you know that? This is the first time we¡¯re meeting, right?¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! None of your business.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, she commanded me to bring you to her.¡±


    ¡°Oh? She did? Then here you go.¡±


    He cut off his middle finger and handed it over to me.


    ¡°If you bring that to her, that should count as fulfilling her command, right?¡±


    Ah. So there were loopholes in her commands like this that can be taken advantage of? What if I couldn¡¯t hear or understand her commands to begin with? What if I misinterpreted her commands to mean what I want it to mean? Would any of those options work in the same manner?


    ¡°It somehow looks like a whole new world has just opened up to you.¡±


    ¡°It does?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it really does. By the way, you¡¯re quite the beauty, it¡¯s a shame we¡¯re only meeting now.¡±


    ¡°Eh? M-Me? A b-beauty?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re getting pretty flustered just from that, huh? Are you the pure type?¡±


    Pure your mother!


    ¡°Sorry, you just caught me a bit off guard with the compliment out of nowhere. I don¡¯t really get compliments like that very often.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re way better than a certain somebody I know. That girl has absolutely no sense of fashion. A completely unfashionable girl without not an ounce of sex appeal. We¡¯ve been out adventuring for the last four months and being around her is like watching paint dry. If it was you I was adventuring around with, it probably wouldn¡¯t be so boring.¡±


    Well sorry for being a boring dork with no looks! How I look is my choice though you jerk!


    Hmmp! How about I lead him around by the nose a bit then give him a big surprise in the future? He deserves it, right? Ah, but how do I do that? Like he mentioned I had no idea how to use sex appeal to my advantage. If I did, would I have been forced to remain a virgin for the last five years while with those traitors I once thought of as comrades?


    Ugh. Just remembering them puts me in a foul mood.


    ¡°Hey, have you ever been betrayed before?¡±


    ¡°Me? Where¡¯d that come from all of the sudden?¡±


    ¡°Just answer the question.¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose you can say I have been on both sides. I¡¯ve been both betrayed and I have betrayed others in the past.¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯re definitely someone I¡¯ll never get along with. I hate people who betray others the most.¡±


    ¡°Not all times are those who have betrayed you those with bad intentions though. Sometimes they are helpless and can only choose the path of betrayal.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    I wanted to say something back, but he did have a point.


    ¡°Who did you betray then?¡±


    ¡°Well, you could say one time I betrayed an entire country. As a result of my betrayal countless people died. Whether I betrayed or didn¡¯t betray though, people would have still died. The only difference between the two options was the number of people that would have inevitably died.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the worst after all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I am. I¡¯m no saint or buddha, I¡¯m only one man. A simple man without any grand aspirations to speak of, nor any accomplishments to be proud of.¡±


    ¡°Stop trying to act cool, it¡¯s obnoxious.¡±


    ¡°Tch. You¡¯re tougher than I thought, I was sure that line would get me at least a few points.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, yeah right. You¡¯re the last person I¡¯d ever give positive points. You¡¯re already far in the red in my books.¡±


    ¡°What did I ever do to you? Do I owe you money or something?¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! It¡¯s a secret.¡±


    ¡°You know, now that I take a closer look at you, you sort of remind me of someone.¡±


    ¡°It must be your imagination, we¡¯ve never met before.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, really.¡±


    ¡°Oh by the way, I never got your name. My name is, well, you probably know what she calls me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know it, Chi Kaban.¡±


    My name though? Should I give him my real name and see if he catches on?


    ¡°Anyways my name is Kana Shujinko.¡±


    ¡°What a weird name.¡±


    That¡¯s about the reaction I expected.


    ¡°It¡¯s a weird name, but it kind of feels like it fits you.¡±


    Yeah, yeah, yeah I get my name feels like the secret punchline to a joke, but that¡¯s my real name! Really though? My name didn¡¯t ring any bells with him at all? Just how little did he notice my existence back on Earth?


    Whatever, there¡¯s no point dwelling on it, we¡¯re in the same boat being bossed around by that tyrant master of mine.


    After saying a few parting words I returned to my master¡¯s humble abode. When I say humble, I really mean humble, the only thing in her room or should I say open area with no walls, was her shogi board and coffin on the ground.


    It seems she kept the majority of her things inside a storage ring and didn¡¯t like leaving them out. It was almost like she was worried that someone might steal them. She was a pretty cautious and thrifty person when I considered she was a noble vampire. I wanted to ask her about it, but I didn¡¯t know how to bring it up fearing I might offend her somehow. In all seriousness though, realistically speaking, who in the hell is strong enough to reach this floor and even have the guts to steal your possessions?


    ¡°Well, where is he?¡±


    I innocently handed over the middle finger he gave me and placed it in the palm of her hand.


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°His middle finger.¡±


    ¡°And why did you bring only his middle finger here?¡±


    ¡°You just said to bring your food to you, right?¡±


    ¡°I know I definitely said that, so where is he?¡±


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s some blood remaining in his finger, right? Isn¡¯t that the food you were referring to?¡±


    ¡°Are you trying to play smart with me right now?¡±


    ¡°Of course not.¡±


    ¡°Fine, whatever it may be, let¡¯s forget about the matters concerning your subpar intelligence. How did he react?¡±


    Subpar intelligence?! Breathe girl, breathe. Just let it go. You are playing dumb after all.


    With a forced smile I could only respond, ¡°he didn¡¯t even recognize me, but did call me a beauty.¡±


    ¡°See? I told you. You don¡¯t need to believe in your beauty. Believe in the people around you that believe in the you that is beautiful.¡±


    What even is this cheesy rip off line? It actually felt like ants had crawled under my skin when I heard it.


    ¡°Uh, where did you hear that line from?¡± It¡¯s far too cringy, please never use that line again.


    ¡°Oh that? Chi Kaban mentioned a similar line to me before that I kind of liked, so I used it as a reference.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a cool line, right?¡±


    ¡°Pfft. I can¡¯t, I¡¯m sorry. I really can¡¯t right now. Please don¡¯t say that with a dead serious face.¡± I¡¯ve come to conclude my master has some very strange tastes. Maybe it¡¯s because she¡¯s a vampire who¡¯s been in isolation for so long. Yeah, it¡¯s probably just a cultural gap.


    ¡°For a servant, you really don¡¯t know how to appreciate your master¡¯s kindness and words of wisdom.¡±

 Chapter 10. Part 1.

    Chapter 10. Part 1.


    (POV Rina)


    Ten men stood around a complex magic circle depicted on the ground inside the king¡¯s throne room. The lines painted were both intricate and profound with an ancient feeling of mystery hidden within them. The ten men simultaneously chanted aloud, their hands moved rapidly and formed all sorts of different gestures perfectly in sync with one another.


    ¡°We call upon the power of the gods to bless our lands with light in the name of our noble cause to scatter the dark forces of the demonic lord. From the far off worlds we seek aid, please answer our calls. Countless heroes from beyond the stars, please pick up your swords and heed our prayers to fight the greatest nemesis of our world. Great summoning magic initialization sequence engage!¡±


    Slam.


    Right as their chant came to an end, ten great sages slammed the palms onto the ground. A loud bang sounded out as they poured all their mana into the great summoning circle.


    A bright flash of light entered our eyes, all observers in the room were momentarily blinded. I was forced to shut my eyes from the pain. The moment I reopened my eyes, contained inside the previously empty summoning circle stood a group of thirty individuals. Eighteen males along with twelve females who wore all sorts of different attire. Based upon appearance alone, there were clear indicators that suggested some of them were from the same world. There were several groups and it appeared each group was from a different world.


    There were a few rather shady and sketchy looking characters, while others looked a bit scary. There were four in particular that really stood out, one female and three males.


    One was a female with aquamarine hair and light blue eyes. She appeared completely indifferent to the situation and she wore a deadpan unimpressed expression as she scrutinised her surroundings. She was the only female with such a unique hair colour and uninterested expression, so she stuck out like a sore thumb from the crowd of thirty people. If I had to say what really stuck out about her though, it was probably that she was presently naked, but completely oblivious to it. Her hair was wet and it was clear she might have been bathing when she was summoned just now. What was the strangest though was the fact that there were nine females prostrated around the aquamarine haired girl with their heads lowered to the ground. It seemed very likely that she wasn¡¯t the easy type to manipulate and control with how things looked.


    As for the three males, they all had different appearances and airs about them, in all honesty it felt like they wouldn¡¯t mix well at all.


    For the time being I forgot about the peculiar female I deemed the most troublesome to deal with and I put my focus on these three males instead. The first male who caught my eye had red hair and a very bulky build. He looked like your typical muscle brained idiot. I figured he¡¯d be the easiest type to deal with. He had a long scar that ran diagonally across his face from the top of his right eye to the left side of his face down to his chin. For now I figured I¡¯d call him Scarface. He looked like the hot blooded impulsive type who got into a lot of fights easily. Like a country bumpkin his eyes wandered all over the room eagerly like he was raring to pick a fight. Upon first glance it appeared he had a rather fiery personality.


    The second male who stood out to me was a skinny looking boy with glasses who appeared cool headed about everything. He examined the surroundings calmly like he was secretly calculating or plotting something. His hair color was a mix of black with dark blue highlight streaks mixed in. His eyes were a dark violet colour. I was certain, he was definitely in my strike zone as well.


    What can I say? My strike zone is pretty wide after all.


    As for the last male, at first glance you wouldn¡¯t normally pick him out from the crowd with his plain scruffy black hair and eyes; however, what I found completely bizarre was that I sensed not even an ounce of mana within him. All the others summoned oozed mana like broken fountains.


    All creatures in this world had at least an ounce of mana, yet this person seemingly had not one shred of it. If it wasn¡¯t for my abilities as an elf, being more attuned to mana in addition to my unique ability I¡¯d acquired as a former member of the hero party to observe the flow of mana directly with my eyes, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed anything unusual about him at all. I¡¯d have just thought he was a complete incompetent nobody, a failure of a summoned hero, likely the same way everyone else would soon view him as. Upon closer inspection, the mana of the world actually avoided him. There was even a perfect sphere two meters in diameter around him in which no mana approached him.


    Did he have one of the forbidden abilities to neutralize all magic, only ever spoken of in legends of the far off past? That ability was thought to have long been lost throughout the ages. Isn¡¯t this too perfect? I doubt anyone here would notice the peculiarity to him except for me with the way the tests were designed, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be thought of as a defective product and tossed to the side, only to be completely forgotten. In his lowest moment, isolated in this new world, won¡¯t I be able to easily capture him and make him my most loyal dog? When I scrutinized him more closely, his appearance was far less than desirable. He was a bit too chubby for my liking at the moment, although, with training he might shape out to be fairly attractive. It was actually more convenient for me if he was the unpopular type when I really thought about it though.


    When I compared him to the popular Seth and his disobedient playful nature with his flirtatious breath of fresh air personality type, this kid was definitely the faithful to one for life type who was far easier to reign in. I could probably put more trust in him compared to Seth if I groom him up from the start to suit my personal needs. After all, there were several occasions where I found it difficult to understand what was really on Seth¡¯s mind despite his enslavement.


    As for Kurotsuki, he¡¯s definitely a hottie, but he¡¯s a bit shy and timid at times. He¡¯d also been rather distant since the event with the hero and although he was similarly enslaved, I felt like I was unable to let my guard down. Whenever I thought about how he was born and raised as an assassin from birth I felt slightly wary. For all I knew, the personality he displayed on the surface was all just an act, it wouldn¡¯t be a strange occurrence for an assassin to act out different personas.


    Anyways, I must do everything in my power to capture these three targets if possible. I immediately gave up on the females in the aquamarine haired woman¡¯s group since their situation seemed impossible to grasp at the moment.


    ¡°Where are we?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Who are all these weirdos?¡±


    ¡°Is this another world?¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯re crazy, right? Stuff like that only happens in fiction right?¡±


    Amongst the crowd, if we ignored the anomalies I¡¯d personally picked out, there were individuals with much more normal reactions. They reacted much like one expected of someone who suddenly found themselves in a strange foreign place. Some were completely confused and baffled while others panicked and freaked out. Some were in denial, while others showed excited and expectant eyes.


    Since I was given the role of a slave, I had no right to speak first when in the presence of the king. Those from our world maintained their silence stoically and waited for the group to calm and quiet down. It was already arranged before the summoning took place that the king would wait for them to calm down before he spoke out.


    After ten minute passed, the crowd finally quieted down. It was only then the king on the throne graced the heroes with his voice.


    ¡°Great heroes from another world, we have summoned you to slay the demon lord.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, I knew it! See! I told you guys it had to be that pattern!¡±


    Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. We already get that it¡¯s a common trope in your world. I looked up records of past heroes and found a bunch of worthless information recorded about things like this. It looked like there were some summoned heroes from that place called Earth again. Really, why do we get so many clowns from that world? The king¡¯s whole speel was even tailored based upon the assumption we got summoned heroes from that world. It¡¯s actually annoying witnessing it first hand in person.


    Looking at the king I was internally deeply disgusted with, I knew even he had long grown tired after he¡¯d said that same line on so many different occasions. The reason he waited for silence for so long before he spoke was likely because he didn¡¯t want to repeat himself. I found it a bit funny that the only variation to the king¡¯s line was that he occasionally mixed it up a bit sometimes with how he referred to the so-called ruler of the demons. Sometimes it was the demon lord, other times the demon king, demon overlord, demon progenitor, or even the demon emperor. That was probably the only way he could continue spouting the same line without frustrating himself to death from the overly repetitious nature of this event.


    There were some people in the group that still looked confused, it was clear they weren¡¯t from Earth and didn¡¯t get it. This was also our way to test whether heroes were from that idiotic planet or not. Although it was a bit unreliable at times since some people from Earth didn¡¯t necessarily pick up on the inside joke.


    The one who retorted to the king earlier stepped out from the group to try and make himself appear more heroic from the rest. Ugh, I actually disliked his goody two shoes type the most. I already knew exactly what he was about to do.


    ¡°Your majesty, I, Kenji Yamato, hereby make an oath that I shall stake my life for the betterment of the human race. I will undoubtedly eradicate all the vile demons from this world. There will be no demon lord that will be left alive in this world while I¡¯m still standing.¡±


    He got down on one knee, bent his head forward and placed one hand over his heart while making such a grand declaration. Yep, he¡¯s the useless type that if told something is evil he¡¯ll fight it like a brainless idiot. Simply put, he¡¯s the stupid gamer type led by blind righteousness. I definitely didn¡¯t like these self righteous foolish types very much.


    It was also that very moment as soon as he¡¯d lowered his head, he shot a glance off to the side in my direction. Our eyes locked for a moment and I noticed when his eyes lit up. I also heard him when he mumbled under his breath, ¡°jackpot! Hot elven babes in another world as well!¡±


    ¡°Ehem.¡±


    The king awkwardly cleared his throat, a bit thrown off by how readily the naive kid had offered up his services.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re eager to work for the betterment of humanity. It would be good if all the summoned heroes could follow a good example like you.¡±


    ¡°You may raise your head fine hero. As a reward for your prime example, if you slay the demon lord I shall bequeath my daughter to you fine hero. Of course, a reward this good can only be given to the hero who personally slays the demon lord.¡±


    ¡°Of course! It is only natural that I will be the one to personally slay that accursed demon lord!¡±


    ¡°Umu, all is good then, but hero please understand you are not the only hero. Everyone in the group behind you are summoned heroes as well.¡±


    ¡°Of course! That is only natural!¡±


    Slightly taken aback by the stupid kid¡¯s response filled with vigor, the king stuttered out, ¡°W-w-well then, heroes I must ask that you introduce yourselves. The royal court must record your identities and provide you with appropriate documentation to have you all become citizens of this kingdom belonging to I.¡±


    It was at that moment that the girl with aquamarine hair calmly interrupted by letting out a long drawn out sigh.


    ¡°Haaaah. This again?¡±


    Everyone¡¯s confused eyes in the room naturally fell upon the girl¡¯s beautifully indifferent, yet nonchalant face. What did she mean by again, was this not her first time?


    ¡°My name is Akua Marin. First of all, I¡¯d like some clothes please.¡±


    There were of course quite a few males that secretly gawked at her discreetly, but nobody had the courage to bring it up. The majority of people in the room likely presumed she was either a nudist or just an extreme pervert as she looked perfectly comfortable standing nude amidst the large crowd the entire time. The nine females around her had stood up and blocked off the view like they were her personal guards for some time now as well.


    ¡°O-o-of course! Guards get the finest female garments prepared for this nudist¡­ I mean perv- ehem¡­ hero immediately.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    She really was far too indifferent to the situation and I was slightly startled when I gazed at her pure, light blue tranquil eyes that were completely unfazed by the strange gazes of the people within the room. It was only now that I actually appraised her level that I realized she was only level 1, but somehow it didn¡¯t quite feel right. There was a strange sort of unexplainable dissonance and It felt like my eyes had somehow been deceived.


    From this strange offputting sensation, at the very least I ascertained she definitely wasn¡¯t a simple character.


    ¡°Ah! Akua? Is that you?!¡±


    The hero who had first stuck his head out from the crowd to strut his stuff appeared as if he knew this mysterious woman.


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t recognize me? Well, it¡¯s been ten years after all. It¡¯s me, Kenji Yamato from elementary school. You suddenly disappeared back in second grade when we were only eight years old. The adults said you¡¯d moved overseas due to your parents'' work back then.¡±


    The woman he called Akua looked back at him, and for the first time since they¡¯d appeared, she wore a face of utter confusion.  The look on her face suggested she was trying very hard to recall if such a person existed in her memories.


    ¡°Sorry, are you sure you have the right person? I really don¡¯t remember anyone like you.¡±


    ¡°How rude! For an arrogant male like you to speak and act so familiar with Miss Akua like this is unforgivable! To even be looking at her body so boldly and disrespectfully like this, you deserve the death sentence!¡±


    One of the girls that surrounded the mysterious Akua roared out and took up a fighting stance. She appeared ready to launch an attack like a rabid guard dog in the name of defending the dignity of her master.


    ¡°Bad girl. Sit. Down. Be a good girl, you¡¯re too overly sensitive. He doesn¡¯t have any bad intentions¡­ probably.¡±


    The moment the words left Akua¡¯s mouth, the girl made a 180 degree change in attitude from her mad dog state. She obediently plopped her butt on the ground like a docile little puppy in front of Akua with big innocent watery eyes that suggested she could not possibly do any wrong.

 Chapter 10. Part 2.

    Chapter 10. Part 2.


    (POV Akua)


    Haaah. Every single time I think I¡¯m finally about to return to my home world this happens. I really can¡¯t even find it in myself to be surprised anymore. What is this now? The 36th world I¡¯ve been summoned to?


    Really? I was in the middle of bathing in the spring of returning with the nine elemental shrine maidens powering the return summoning circle. I was naked since I figured I¡¯d take a relaxing dip before they sent me back. The shrine maidens also informed me material possessions such as clothing from their world wouldn¡¯t be transported along with me anyways, so there was no need for me to be dressed either way.


    Plus, it¡¯s not like it was the first time I¡¯d been summoned to another world while naked either. Since I was mentally prepared beforehand, I easily kept my cool in this awkward situation. There were many other returning methods from other worlds that also didn¡¯t allow for the transportation of material possessions from their world so I was already used to this by now.


    The only thing out of the norm was, it was a group summoning this time. Why do I always end up summoned to another world after I¡¯ve finished my mission in the world I was summoned to? This surely had to be rigged, right? Ah, whatever! I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible. I¡¯ve already spent a hundred years moving from world to world in my futile attempts to be return to my original world.


    What¡¯s one more world going to make a difference?


    ¡°Oi. You on the throne. Where¡¯s the demon lord? I¡¯ll go kill it quickly so I can be done with this.¡±


    ¡°Eh? I¡¯m not you, I am I, the great king Jasper of the Jasper Kingdom.¡±


    ¡°You. King. Jasper. I really don¡¯t care, just answer the question. Where is the demon lord of this world?¡±


    ¡°Akua, aren¡¯t you being a bit rude to the king? He¡¯s a king after all, right?¡±


    ¡°Tch. Fine.¡±


    ¡°Uh, well. Ehem. Since you asked; no, rather, it is something I must naturally explain. To be quite frank, the demon lord hasn''t shown up just quite yet. The prophecy ordained that the demon lord should appear within the next eight months. The prophecy also says that it will be the strongest demon lord to ever appear in history and that it will take many heroes working together to bring them down.¡±


    Tch. Eight months huh? I guess it¡¯s still better than waiting several years.


    Shortly after the king explained the situation, a guard appeared with the clothes I¡¯d asked for.


    ¡°Miss Akua, these are the garments you have requested.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The guard handed over a long light blue and white one piece that I quickly changed into. I was a bit surprised at how well it fit and how comfortable it was as it was definitely a piece intended for the royalty to wear.


    Wait just a damn second, why are the shrine maidens dressed in their normal attire when I¡¯m not? Did they li-


    ¡°Oh! Akua, it looks good on you, as one would expect of a natural beauty.¡±


    Unfortunately my train of thought was interrupted by the annoying guy who knew my name for some reason.


    What¡¯s with this guy who¡¯s been acting like he knows me anyway? As for ten years ago I was in another world, I could tell he was probably someone from my original world, but how could I possibly know him when I¡¯ve been away from Earth for one hundred years already? He wasn¡¯t even born yet, was he?


    ¡°Hey you, what year was it when that person you mentioned moved?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, person I mentioned? It was you.¡±


    ¡°Forget that for now, just tell me.¡±


    ¡°It was 2009.¡±


    That¡¯s about right, I did first get summoned around then.


    ¡°What year is it on Earth presently?¡±


    ¡°Do you actually have amnesia or something? How can you not know that?¡±


    ¡°Enough with your questions, just answer me already.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the year 2019 on Earth.¡±


    What?! It¡¯s really only been ten years on earth?! Then doesn¡¯t that mean that person is likely still alive? So, there¡¯s still hope for me when I finally return then? Ugh, that is if I can ever make it back without getting summoned to another world.


    I let out a sigh, I felt a bit relieved at the possibility of a reunion in the future. I¡¯d always been stressing about it for the longest time believing my only family had passed away already. Well, the only family I had was like an adoptive uncle to me. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    He picked me up from an orphanage when I was young and took care of me on a whim. One day that uncle of mine suddenly took up and left for reasons unknown to me. He left a plane ticket on the counter and told me to take it and head to America where we would one day reunite.


    As a child back then, I naively followed his instructions without questioning a thing. I somehow boarded the plane without issues despite being a child. However, there was a freak accident during the flight. It was hijacked by a group of criminals who demanded a large ransom from the Japanese government for the release of hostages. During the flight the pilot put up a resistance, but was unfortunately killed. With nobody remaining with any flight experience, the plane was locked on autopilot. The plane just kept going forward until it headed directly into a storm. A lightning bolt inevitably struck us and the plane went down. Right as the plane was struck, being the child I was back then, I lost consciousness from excessive shock and fear.


    Afterwards I had a strange dream where I thought I¡¯d met god. At the time I naturally thought I¡¯d died during the crash, but when I opened my eyes next, what came into view were strangely dressed people surrounding me. In my confused state they went on to explain I was a hero summoned to slay the demon lord.


    That was how my nightmare of endless world hopping to slay countless demon lords began.


    Haaaah. Will I ever reunite with my uncle who painstakingly took care of me and raised me up in my childhood? He was the only person in my life I considered a family member. Was he alright on his own? He always gave off the feeling of a lonely wanderer without a place to call home. I hope he at least found someone to keep him company during the time we¡¯ve been apart.


    My uncle, XXXXXX  XXXXXX, please be okay.


    Kkkkkkhhhhhh. Kkkkkkhhhhhh.


    When I tried to think of his name all I heard was a strange static noise inside my head.


    XXXXXX XXXXXX?


    Kkkkkkhhhhhh. Kkkkkkhhhhhh


    Again?


    Eh? What the? Why? His name?! What was it? There¡¯s no way I could forget it. I¡¯m sure I knew his name even in the last world I was in. I even occasionally talked about him with several acquaintances in the previous world I was in. I¡¯d also mentioned him to these shrine maidens on several occasions throughout the course of our adventures together.


    In a hushed, low tone, to avoid attracting other people¡¯s attention I asked them, ¡°hey girls, do you remember the name of the uncle I¡¯ve mentioned before?¡±


    ¡°Miss Akua, how could we possibly forget the name of our hero¡¯s greatest benefactor?¡±


    ¡°What was his name then?¡±


    ¡°It was¡­¡±


    The girls all opened their mouths, but just as they started to mouth out an answer they came to a sudden stop and opened their eyes wide in horror.


    ¡°What was it again?¡±


    ¡°It was definitely¡­¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t remember it either?¡±


    ¡°No, can you?¡±


    ¡°Miss Akua, please forgive our sins, to forget the name of our hero¡¯s benefactor is unforgivable!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    There was definitely something afoot with regards to this new world we¡¯d been summoned to. For me to forget something important like that was a first and it had never happened to me before. Well, it was my first group summoning, maybe it was just a temporary aftereffect where our memories became a bit groggy.


    Whatever, forget about that for the moment, panicking about it now would do me no good. For the time being I should just do what I usually do. First I need to determine which side to take in this world. Humans weren¡¯t necessarily the side of good after all. Which side I chose both determined whether I could find a way to return to my home world as well as how easy it would be to return.


    The human side was not necessarily the side that allows me to return to my original world with the least amount of effort. There were a few times when the human side wanted to forcefully keep me in their world rather than allowing me to return. From experience, it¡¯s best not to bring such things up right away or it will raise their guard and potentially backfire. The last world, I was lucky the humans were kind in nature and allowed the nine elemental shrine maidens to send me back. Of course, it was just my rancid luck that we were summoned in the process of trying to send me back to my original world.


    Haaaaaaaah. My internal sighs are gradually growing longer and longer. It honestly gets more and more depressing the more I think about it all.


    Although... it might not be such a bad thing for these shrine maidens being summoned to another world. In their world they were caged birds with no real freedom. In a world like this, at the very least, wouldn¡¯t they be able to live freely while they¡¯re here. They had a decent level of strength, so I could see why they might end up being summoned like me. Of course, it was probably my curse of being summoned to other worlds that inadvertently dragged them along for the ride.


    Out of all the shrine maidens, I was most familiar with the water shrine maiden, Umi. She belonged to the first nation that I was summoned to in the previous world.  Because we were both aligned with water she was especially affectionate with me, but after I met her, it became a game of gotta catch them all. I had to venture all across the continent and solve their respective nations problems before the nations they belonged to allowed me to use their strength to send me back to my world.


    I could only sigh whenever I thought about the previous world I was summoned to. In the end, it took three freaking years of effort to reach the point where I could finally return home. It was one of the longer worlds to get through. Each nation had its respective demon lord which made it nine times more exhausting compared to a normal world. The most annoying part of it all was when the last demon lord fell at my hands. He laughed at me and said in an overly obnoxious tone, ¡°hehehe you may have defeated us nine demon lords, but you will never slay the demon emperor behind us!¡±


    You could imagine my ugly expression at the time. The jerk didn¡¯t even tell me where the last one was. It took two years just to slay the nine of them. I spent a full year just searching for the demon emperor alone. I bet no one would ever imagine how I found him. I bought a random book from a beggar that had written of several legends related to the demon emperor.


    It turned out the demon emperor could not be found, only summoned. When I found out, my irritation level after I¡¯d wasted an entire year searching for him only to find that out left me fuming out my ears in rage. The worst part was, all one needed to do was gather the nine elemental shrine maidens, draw out some overly stupid complex circle depicted in the book in blood, and have them each chant a few lines. In my frustration, using the elemental magic I had the best affinity with; water, I took everyone to the bottom of the ocean and summoned the wretched demon emperor down there and quickly finished him off. His expression of horror as the water pressure crushed him out of existence was truly the best revenge I could have ever had for how he wasted my precious time.


    After that, I took everyone to the spring of returning and the next thing I knew, I was summoned here.


    I was still unable to believe how horrible my luck really was, but I was forced to accept the facts. I was stuck here for eight months at the minimum since the shrine maidens were unable to send me back themselves unless a place like the spring of returning existed here. The summoning circle in this world also looked completely foreign compared to the one at the spring of returning.

 Chapter 10. Part 3.

    Chapter 10. Part 3.


    ¡°Hey, Akua, do you remember them?¡±


    Once again, this Kenji kid acted way too familiar with me, but I ignored it and still looked over to the three people he pointed at. One had a bulky build, the other wore glasses and gave off the air of an intellectual, while the last was a chubby fellow with scraggly hair who made you feel depressed from just looking at him.


    Again, I didn¡¯t remember any of them. It¡¯d been far too long for me. I was also too young back then, only in second grade at the time. What? Did he expect me to remember every single person I¡¯ve ever met before? How many people did you think I¡¯d remember after all the worlds I¡¯ve been summoned to?


    I shook my head from side to side indicating to him I didn¡¯t recognize or remember them.


    ¡°Really? Not even them huh? Well I guess introductions are necessary then. The big guy with the broad build is named Otoko Subarashi, he¡¯s really a great man I¡¯ll have you know.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°That was supposed to be a joke.¡±


    ¡°It really wasn¡¯t funny.¡± I also didn¡¯t ask to be introduced, did I?


    ¡°Hahaha, you used to laugh at it all the time in the past though.¡±


    ¡°Whoever it was that you knew that found that funny must have had a really shitty sense of humor back then.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, moving on, the four eyes over there is Doku Tatsujin, he¡¯s basically a villain, you should be careful of him. You never know when he¡¯ll poison you to death when you least expect it.¡±


    ¡°Was that supposed to be another lame joke?¡± Seriously just tell me the names, I don¡¯t care about whatever terrible jabs you have.


    ¡°Haha. Geez, tough crowd.¡±


    When I seriously focused on the last person he pointed out I realized there was something bizarre about the depression inducing kid. It seemed the mana in the world completely avoided him like the plague. A sphere with a diameter of two meters formed perfectly around him where no mana entered.


    ¡°Well, the last one, I won¡¯t make any jokes, his name is Muko Kukyo.¡±


    ¡°Pfft.¡±


    Ah. I inadvertently spit out a breath of air, but I cut the laugh short; the name fit him a bit too well. Did his very existence make the world depressed because it had summoned him? His name basically meant void or invalid and emptiness.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you laughed at?¡±


    ¡°Sorry that was a blunder on my part. Forget it happened.¡±


    Thanks to that little blunder, the shrine maidens that surrounded me broke out into whispers and secret discussions amongst themselves.


    ¡°Girls, Miss Akua laughed!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen it before.¡±


    ¡°Me neither.¡±


    ¡°She can laugh?¡±


    ¡°Are you sure we¡¯re not seeing things?¡±


    ¡°Is this just a dream?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s never laughed at any of our jokes before though.¡±


    ¡°Is that chubby kid some kind of comedic genius?¡±


    ¡°No, maybe it was actually the weak looking, obnoxious, overly friendly loser talking to her.¡±


    Ah. Kenji inadvertently took critical damage from a stray shot fired.


    ¡°Haha, your friends are pretty interesting Akua.¡± He said that with a strained cocked smile.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he kind of like, really annoying?¡±


    ¡°¡°¡°¡°¡°¡°¡°¡°Right?¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±


    Ah. Another unintentional critical blow.


    ¡°Hahaha, Akua we¡¯ll catch up later, I¡¯m going to gather the guys to discuss a few things off to the side.¡±


    Ah. He ran away.


    Really, what exactly was my relationship to the people he pointed out? For him to introduce me to them out of nowhere like that meant he really thought it would jog my memory.


    But forget about them for now, thirty people was really far too large to be considered a hero party. It would be too difficult for thirty so called heroes to coordinate as one cohesive unit. What are the humans of this kingdom really thinking? Even my group was pushing it at ten people in our party for fights, the only reason it worked out in the end was because each shrine maiden was specialized in one element alone. They were masters of their craft so to speak.


    Water, fire, wind, earth, wood, lightning, metal, darkness, and lastly light. Those were the nine elements these nine shrine maidens were specialized in. Respectively they were named Umi, Moeru, Tatsumaki, Tsuchi, Ki, Chidori, Hagane, Yami, and finally Hikari. They both complemented one another and simultaneously neutralized each other. They were in a perfect equilibrium when the nine joined together in a coordinated fight. However, as strong as they were, it was a shame they were completely unnecessary to actually defeat the demon emperor in their world. I kind of just summoned him at the bottom of the ocean and crushed him with water pressure after all.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Well, since it looks like some of you have gotten to know each other, we will begin recording your information.¡±


    As soon as the king said that, a few guards stepped out from the side with several different weapons. Amidst their ranks was a half elf with a crystal ball in hand off to one side.


    ¡°To save on time, each of you will be tested all at once right now in terms of your affinities with different weapons. The weapons will glow based upon how much potential you have with it. That half elf over there with the crystal ball will be recording your affinities with elemental magics.¡±


    The moment the king said that, that kid, Kenji, wrapped his arm around Muko¡¯s neck and dragged him over to the half elf. His intentions were pretty obvious, he wanted to hit it off with the half elf and make himself look better in front of her by using Muko as a stepping stone to bolster his own image. It was a really shallow plan, it¡¯s a shame it would probably work.


    ¡°My name is Rina, I will be assessing your affinity with elemental magic.¡±


    I perked up my ears slightly curious and made out the conversation they had upon first contact with the half elf.


    ¡°Rina, huh, such an uplifting name that pleases the ears. It really suits a beauty like you.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha. You flatter me too much Sir Kenji.¡±


    ¡°Just Kenji is fine for such an angelic being like yourself.¡±


    The half elf blushed and looked to the side shyly like a docile little lamb. It didn¡¯t match her appearance as a seductive beauty at all, but it clearly hit Kenji¡¯s and Muko¡¯s strike zone. For some reason my gut instinct told me not associating myself with that half elf was for the best.


    Of course the half elf¡¯s next words made that impossible.


    ¡°The king has appointed me as an instructor to help train all of you summoned heroes so we will be seeing each other a lot K-K-Kenji.¡±


    Even I, a woman, had to admit that her smile was devilishly attractive. There was no doubt in my mind, she was definitely a honey trap set by the king to make heroes not wish to return once the demon lord fell in the future. Well, that was certainly none of my business, if they were dumb enough to want to become tools for a kingdom in another world, that was their decision, not mine.


    ¡°To test your affinity with the elements please put your hand on this crystal orb.¡±


    I¡¯m sure it was difficult for them to determine which orb she meant when her melons were resting directly on top of the crystal orb.


    ¡°My good man Muko, you should go first.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Me? Why me?¡±


    ¡°Just go.¡±


    ¡°O-o-okay.¡±


    Muko hesitantly stretched his hand out and placed it onto the crystal orb, but even after several seconds passed by, there was no apparent change?


    ¡°Eh? This can¡¯t be right, can it? Everyone, even if not attuned to an element will light up the crystal orb based upon how much mana they have. It would at least change from it¡¯s foggy state to clear and transparent if you were elementless. The only way this could possibly happen would be if you were without a single shred of mana. But there has never been such a case before, maybe you¡¯re not touching it right.¡±


    The half elf grabbed onto Muko¡¯s hand and pulled it and placed it more firmly on the orb. Of course, whether intentional or unintentional on her part, his hand was now conveniently squished between the bottom of her chest and the top of the crystal orb.


    ¡°Y-y-y-y-your b-b-boobs, t-t-they¡¯re t-t-touching my hand.¡±


    The half elf completely ignored his flustered state and stared intently at the orb for a few more seconds, but it never changed in the slightest.


    ¡°Miss Rina, maybe the ball is just broken.¡±


    She showed an expression of struggle before she said, ¡°maybe, but I checked it earlier to make sure it was working.¡±


    ¡°Miss Rina, maybe your power was so great the crystal ball broke and is now malfunctioning.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, breaking due to the sheer level of power, I never considered that. What if it was actually Muko whose power was so great the crystal ball broke instead?¡±


    That was when Kenji extended his hand out and poked the orb. The moment he did, it lit up brightly with all sorts of colors swirling about. There were nine different distinct colours, each one was blindingly bright, clearly showing his strong affinity with them.


    ¡°It looks like he didn¡¯t break it after all, Miss Rina.¡±


    ¡°I suppose so.¡±


    The half elf with a troubled look on her face raised her hand and placed it on Muko¡¯s chubby cheek and said gently with an angelic voice as if she were trying to soothe him. With her tranquil eyes she looked deep into his own and said, ¡°even if you don¡¯t have any apparent magical talent, that doesn¡¯t mean you aren¡¯t talented in other areas. You could turn out to be skilled with one of those weapons over there. Who knows, you may even have a talent unable to be evaluated by tests such as these.¡±


    Muko¡¯s visibly depressed face slightly eased a bit when he heard her words.


    Just by looking at him, it was clear he was already a goner that easily fell into the half elf honey trap. The only thing that concerned me was whether or not the half elf was already long aware of Muko¡¯s hidden talent. If my assumption was correct, he was actually able to neutralize magic in this world. Maybe she understood that, but it didn¡¯t make any sense why she didn¡¯t outright bring up that possibility. It was actually a pretty strong ability in a world dominated by magical strength.


    Was she hiding something? My interest was naturally piqued, so I approached her when Muko and Kenji moved on to the surrounding guards to test their luck with weapon affinities.


    When I stood directly in front of the half elf, I lifted my right hand then planted it firmly on that bountiful chest of hers before I squeezed down and let the flabby bulges of fat squeeze through the creases of my fingers; of course, I said nothing more and we remained in complete silence. I innocently looked directly into her eyes waiting for her to say something like I was completely oblivious to the situation.


    ¡°Uhm, the crystal ball is a bit lower, Miss Akua.¡±


    ¡°Oh? It was? Sorry, I couldn¡¯t really tell the difference with those slutty knockers of yours resting on top of it like that.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, sorry to cause any confusion, Miss Akua.¡±


    ¡°You can drop the act. There¡¯s no way someone that looks like she¡¯d open her legs for any man would ever have such an innocent and caring personality.¡±


    ¡°Bitch, you got a problem with me using my tits to my advantage?¡±


    ¡°Not really. I just found that innocent goody two shoes act of yours a bit repulsive, that was all.¡±


    ¡°If you even think of revealing me, I¡¯ll make sure to make things difficult for you. I am going to be your magic instructor after all.¡±


    ¡°Not a problem, not a problem. Stay away from me and I¡¯ll leave you alone as well. What you do to the others doesn¡¯t really matter to me. Just leave me and my girls out of it.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    After finishing our girl talk, I let go of those indescribably soft mounds protruding from her chest and placed my hand onto the crystal orb. A blue hue appeared with an intensity so great the crystal ball actually cracked. The moment the crack appeared I pulled my hand away as fast as possible. Thankfully I was prepared beforehand. I expected that to more or less happen. Of course, it was difficult to see due to the overwhelming blue, but there were other colours that had been drowned out by the intensity of the blue. I could utilize other elemental magics, but water had always been my strongest area, so I didn¡¯t use other elements very often.


    ¡°Ah! You skank! You almost broke it! You better compensate us for the repair fees!¡±


    I activated water magic and used it to turn the area around the crack into liquid form before solidifying it again. Most objects had some form of water content within it. This crystal ball was no exception. I could of course repair it if it was just on the level of a small crack like this.


    ¡°Tch. Shoo. Shoo.¡±

 Chapter 10. Part 4.

    Chapter 10. Part 4.


    After I successfully ruined her mood I approached the guards and tested my affinity with the weapons they had. Aside from water magic, my other talent was with the rapier, I was already long aware of that.


    I figured I¡¯d leave the rapier for last though. Right now I was more curious about a certain sword that stuck out from the other weapons. When I went over to the guard with the sword in hand, he presented the sheathed sword to me. He dutifully informed me it was called the Star Cleaving Sword. When I pulled it out of the sheath I marveled a bit over its beauty. It was a shame that when I firmly held onto the hilt and waved it about a few times, nothing out of the ordinary happened. As expected, there was no external reaction to me. However, from within the sword, I felt a strange sense of loneliness and depression. It was like it had suffered some sort of traumatic event recently that left it heart broken. Right when I sheathed it, I vaguely discerned a feminine voice crying beside my ear that said, ¡®be wary of humans.¡¯


    Whether it was just my imagination or not, I wasn¡¯t entirely certain. I continued testing out weapons as normal to not give anything away.


    After I went through the other weapons one by one, it was as expected, I had no affinity with them. When I finally went over to a guard holding onto the rapier, the moment I touched it, a bright light emitted from the body of the blade. The rapier seemingly acknowledged me as its master.


    From what I heard from the guard, it was a mid grade weapon spirit. The guard further explained that the only weapon above it within their kingdom was the high grade sword spirit of the depressed Star Cleaving Sword I tested first.


    When I asked the guard about the Star Cleaving Sword and about it¡¯s most recent master, the guard just brushed me off. He shooed me away and said it was none of my business if I had no affinity with it.


    There really were way too many warning signs for me to feel comfortable here. After an hour passed by, almost everyone had tested their affinity with weapons and elemental magic. There were only two people remaining who had not tested their affinity with the sword. Of course, it was Kenji and Muko who¡¯d been dragged along with him the entire time. Kenji had decent affinities with all weapons while Muko had none in the end.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Muko, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re bound to have some talent with the sword. The sword spirit probably communicated with the other weapon spirits that you¡¯re destined to be its master.¡±


    He had his right arm wrapped around Muko¡¯s neck like he was some sort of good guy encouraging his buddy who¡¯d failed every examination in school. Of course, when Muko hesitantly grabbed the sword, there was not even the faintest sliver of a reaction from it. With all hope lost, he resignedly handed it over to Kenji in dreadful dismay over his immense combat deficiencies. As soon as Kenji took it from Muko¡¯s hand, a black and white luster emitted from the sword¡¯s blade in front of all the guards'' shocked faces. I looked on at the stereotypical sight completely unimpressed, but it seemed the guards couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.


    ¡°I-i-it looks like it has acknowledged you as it¡¯s master... for the time being.¡±


    The last part of the guard¡¯s words left me with my suspicions, but it was not my job to point out the strangeness to his remark.


    Of course, Muko sunk further into despair after he¡¯d been compared to Kenji the entire time. Kenji only made things worse for Muko the entire way, thanks to him everyone¡¯s eyes were constantly drawn towards this highly contrasting duo. Muko¡¯s lacking ability was emphasized the most when he stood next to Kenji.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind, don¡¯t mind it. Like Rina said, even you surely have an ability, you¡¯ve just got to find it.¡±


    Of course looking at the guards in the area, their disdain towards Muko was as clear as day and night. I could reveal his ability, but it¡¯s not like I owe him anything. Besides that, revealing his ability might not be what¡¯s best for him anyways. It was also uncertain whether that half elf really knew about his ability, so why should I go out of my way to make everyone aware of it?


    ¡°Kenji, he¡¯s always been useless since we were kids. You should stop pampering him all the time.¡±


    The bulky Otoko was the first to take a shot at Muko while the four eyes, Doku, who¡¯d pushed up his glasses, snobbishly kept his silence with discernible disdain in his eyes. I¡¯d rather not get involved with their little sausage fest over there so I resolved myself to keep my distance from their little group.


    Overall, Kenji seemed like the idiotic oblivious type, completely unable to read the atmosphere. He also appeared to be the one that kept their strange little group together. He didn¡¯t really stand out much from the crowd like his oddball peers, but it felt lIke without him, they would have never stuck together after being summoned to this world.


    ¡°Kenji, why did you so readily agree to aid the king? Don¡¯t you realize it would be putting all our lives in danger?¡±


    It seemed although the four eyes¡¯ personality wasn¡¯t the best, he at least had a brain in his head; much unlike the other three in their group that just willingly went with the flow.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really get the difficult things, but we¡¯ve got you Doku, the brains, Otoko the brawns, me the playmaker, and Moku the¡­ joker? Yeah, that¡¯s right, Moku, the unpredictable wild card that could flip a crisis on its head.¡±


    I was unable to stop all the muscles in my body from tensing up. Those were by far the cringiest lines I¡¯d heard from him up until this point. I actually had the instinct to nearly spill my guts. There¡¯s no way I knew these kids back then. No, wait a minute. What if I did and this kid was like this back then and it was so cringy that I filtered it out of my memories?


    ¡°Oh that¡¯s right, we also have Akua, the damsel in distress.¡±


    Oi. Should I teach these youngsters a lesson after all? Isn¡¯t this brat a bit too damn cocky? No, why am I being included in their group anyways? Keep me out of your damn group!


    ¡°Kenji, if you meant her over there, she herself indicated she did not know us and even stated she wasn¡¯t the person we knew. Can you please stop being delusional and think with your head instead of your heart?¡±


    You meant dick, right?


    But yeah Doku, my thoughts exactly.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°Doku, you should stop trying to fight it, I know you had a crush on Akua back then too. Why not be honest with your feelings and just show you¡¯re happy to reunite with her again?¡±


    Eh? What? No thank you.


    ¡°Kenji, you¡¯re an idiot. That girl is dead to me.¡±


    Right. Right. Once again, my thoughts exactly.


    ¡°Oh? Should I remind you about how you bawled your eyes out when she first disappeared? Also, it was only after she left that you dyed streaks of your hair dark blue, right? Just admit it, the only reason you grew to like the colour blue was because of her back then.¡±


    ¡°Are you an idiot? I always liked the colour blue.¡±


    The more I heard the more I wanted to escape far away from this hell hole.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie, don¡¯t lie. Back then your favourite ranger was red. It was only after Akua disappeared you liked the blue ranger.¡±


    ¡°There was no such thing.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, it¡¯s like Kenji said, Doku, even I was aware you liked her too.¡±


    ¡°Shut up Otoko, don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know why you started working out so much. It was only after that time when we were kids when Akua mentioned how bodybuilders looked cool that you started working out and joining all sorts of athletic clubs.¡±


    ¡°You too Kenji, you¡¯re no better! Don¡¯t even get me started, back then we watched a movie in class and there was a jack of all trades character that mastered all weapons, wasn¡¯t it Akua that said you were similar to him? She also said the way of the sword was somewhat romantic. You then took up kendo and later learned about all sorts of weapons didn¡¯t you?¡±


    If I ever said any of those idiotic things, please kill me now.


    ¡°Eh? Hahaha. Doku, isn¡¯t your memory a bit off? I took up kendo to learn self defense. It definitely wasn¡¯t for that reason or anything.¡±


    Ah. That¡¯s not very convincing when you¡¯re peeking in my direction discretely like that. Wait, actually, there¡¯s no way I really said stuff like that as a kid, right? It really must be someone else they¡¯re talking about after all. Yes, definitely someone else.


    Ugh. If I were liked by guys like this in the past¡­ it¡¯s honestly too embarrassing to think about it.


    ¡°So, Miss Akua said things like that in the past?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. She did, she did. She was super popular with all the guys back then too.¡±


    ¡°Heeeeh, I never would have imagined.¡±


    At some point that sneaky water shrine maiden, Umi, had snuck her way over to Kenji¡¯s group. She masterfully mixed in naturally without my notice and started gossiping about me.


    ¡°Umi, get your ass back over here.¡±


    ¡°Uuuuuu. But it¡¯s such a rare opportunity to learn about Akua¡¯s childhood.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re talking about a different Akua. It¡¯s definitely not me. It¡¯s just someone they¡¯ve mistaken me for that might resemble me a bit.¡±


    ¡°But what if on the off chance they¡¯re not?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a different person! A different person! Do you understand?¡±


    Somehow, not long after arriving in this world, forget about the demon lord, I was already exhausted and mentally drained before we¡¯d even had our first low level mob encounter.


    ¡°Hohoho, it¡¯s good to be young.¡±


    At some point the king had joined in on their gossip about me.


    ¡°Right, let me tell you all about it my good man, king. Back then Akua actually cried because she was the only one in our group of five who couldn¡¯t pee while standing up.¡±


    ¡°Is that so? Back when I was still just a little prince, I used to play such games as well.¡±


    How the hell did it get to this! Ugh, this is getting more and more embarrassing. When they finally finished their small talk, the king brought an end to my unexpected trial by fire from the past. No, it wasn¡¯t my past. It was definitely some unrelated woman similarly named Akua.


    Haaaah. I really had to admit though, the one thing Kenji had going for him was his social ability that allowed him to warm up to anyone quickly. Even the king was caught up in his pace and listened attentively to their stories while I suffered several indirect critical blows to my dignity in the process. Was he getting some payback on me for the shrine maidens earlier comments about him?


    No, he doesn¡¯t look devious enough to do something like that. In the end, I could only reconfirm that he was just an oblivious, good for nothing, idiot with nothing better to do.


    The king excused us after he explained what was to come in the following days. We¡¯d be given a few days to grow accustomed to life here before our training formally commenced. The king also took the time to announce the three people who would take on positions as our instructors.


    The first was that half elf Rina, the second was someone named Kurotsuki who was dressed in all black. He had the appearance of an assassin. The last was a priest named Seth. It seemed the three of them would be in charge of guiding us in battle magic, close combat with weapons, and lastly support magic respectively. We were first informed about how they were all part of the former hero¡¯s party. They also explained to us how they¡¯d thwarted the nefarious plot of the last summoned hero. Apparently, the last hero they summoned succumbed to temptations of demonic whispers and plotted to usurp the throne.


    Of course, when I thought about the warning the high grade sword spirit in the Star Cleaving Sword passed on to me, I wouldn¡¯t just blindly believe such a story.


    Eventually, the king took his leave and we were each taken to rooms within the castle where we would spend the next few days resting. They stated that three days from now we would be brought by the instructors into the dungeon beneath the city to train. I had my own thoughts on the matter though. I didn¡¯t really want to stick around for their little kiddy training. I was already level 150 and there was no way I¡¯d really act buddy buddy with them and go about killing low level trash mobs.


    Those three were in no way worthy to be my instructors either. So I figured I¡¯d venture deeper into the dungeon where they wouldn¡¯t be able to find me.


    I¡¯ll also take the shrine maidens with me if they want to go. They¡¯re all level 100, there¡¯s no need for them to waste their time training here unless they actually want to get along with that group of novice summoned heroes. Well, I¡¯ll leave the final decision on what they want to do up to them. They¡¯re all mature enough to know how to take care of themselves by now.


    From what I saw today alone, the strongest person I came across in the castle was level 80. That person appeared to be the king¡¯s secret bodyguard. He never showed his face to any of the newly summoned heroes though and it seemed his only duty was to protect the king from the shadows. I luckily didn¡¯t draw his attention and it seems he didn¡¯t see through my level either. That half elf was only level 50, but I shouldn¡¯t underestimate someone just because their level appeared low.


    Even the strongest person could potentially die to someone weaker than them if they were too careless.


    Looking around the room I was assigned, I found it was rather luxurious. There was a chandelier powered by a mana crystal, centered in the room, that hung down from the ceiling. A bed positioned at the far right corner of the room. A desk with a chair on the left side beside a finely crafted dresser to store clothes. To my right in front of the bed was a bookshelf filled with all sorts of different reading material related to this world. There was even an open balcony with a large sliding window at the far end of the room to look out over the surprisingly still bustling capital city below.


    It was already dark outside, so there were countless stars glittering high up in the night sky above the city. What I found most interesting was how active the streets were even at this late hour. If you really focused into the distance you could see women pulling wandering men on the streets into their humble abode. I suppose the citizens who lived close to the castle aimed to snag big fish with bloated pockets.


    Taking in all the peculiar sights, it really didn¡¯t feel like a city fearing the threat of a demon lord that was soon to descend upon them.


    Since it was already late, I figured it was about time I got some much needed beauty sleep. I stripped off the blue one piece I was provided and dived under the snuggly soft blanket before I quickly dozed off into the world of dreams.

 Chapter 11. Part 1.

    Chapter 11. Part 1.


    Cling. Clang. Ting. Tintanton.


    The crisp high pitched screeches of blades clashed together rapidly and reverberated throughout the room we¡¯d entered.


    I was shocked. I was truly shocked right now. Only a minute after I¡¯d stepped foot inside the boss room on the 49th floor and I¡¯d already been effortlessly pushed back into a corner.


    ¡°Umi! Now!¡±


    With my signal a strong burst of water erupted from the ground directly in front of me. The vampire in front of me flew up to the ceiling from the water pressure. At least that''s what I thought happened at first. The next moment, my danger instincts kicked in and I slammed my palm onto the ground. I immediately erected the strongest barrier of water I could form to my rear while I rolled forward.


    Swish.


    A bloody red streak traced a curved path in the space where I previously stood, at the end of the crimson streak, a beautiful, delicate hand was positioned right beside where I¡¯d just rolled away from.


    If I was just a little bit slower I¡¯d have undoubtedly been a goner. A bead of cold sweat dripped down my back.


    ¡°Tch.¡±


    Behind the water barrier I¡¯d erected, I heard the click of a tongue. Her most distinctive feature were the two blood moons for eyes that peered directly into my own. Her body was incorporeal, better said ethereal, like it was not her true body, but a phantom instead. I was unable to make out her features very well and the only easily discernible feature was that she was a vampire. However, she didn¡¯t feel like any vampire I¡¯d ever fought with before. She was far stronger than any vampires I¡¯d fought against in the other worlds I¡¯d been summoned to. In fact, it felt like she was toying and playing around with me to pass the time in her boredom. It didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d tapped into an ounce of her full strength.


    When I first entered this dungeon I was extremely disappointed by the level of monsters on the first twenty floors. However, when I ventured past that point, the monster¡¯s levels drastically rose. By the time I arrived at the 49th floor I discovered they were actually on my level. I¡¯d slaughtered all the floor bosses up to that point whereupon this terrifying vampire made her sudden appearance.


    ¡°Since I¡¯d rather not squander my strength needlessly, I¡¯ll let you off this time. However, don¡¯t you dare cause a ruckus on the floors further down or I¡¯ll really end you. It¡¯d be best if you just turned back here and returned to the surface from where you came little girl.¡±


    ¡°Who do you think you are? The final boss? What gives you the right to lecture me?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because I am the final boss that I''m telling you to scram and not bother me. This is just a specter of mine that I¡¯m controlling remotely. It¡¯s clumsy and nowhere near as satisfying as fighting in person so I¡¯m letting you off the hook today. If you really want to die then feel free to come to the hundredth floor where I¡¯ll really teach you a good lesson on respecting your elders.¡±


    It¡¯d only been about a week since we entered this place, but shockingly we¡¯d reached the limit of what we could consistently fight off in this dungeon with only the two of us. If I brought the other shrine maidens along, I¡¯m sure we could venture a bit further, but if I stirred anymore trouble, that vampire might really show up in the flesh and wipe us.


    Just who is she and why the hell is she so overpowered? Is she supposed to be the demon lord that will descend upon this world within the next eight months? If she¡¯s this powerful, isn¡¯t it just about impossible for the humans in this world to stand a chance? Actually, even the monsters on these floors might be enough to bring about the downfall of humanity on the surface.


    What¡¯s with this abnormal world? Isn¡¯t the balance too lopsided? No wonder they needed to summon so many heroes. Honestly, I¡¯m starting to have second thoughts. Should I just join the demon''s side? If they¡¯re this strong, then the summoned heroes are practically useless. Eight months is nowhere enough time for them to reach this level of strength.


    Well... I first need to interact with the demons to see whether joining them is even plausible though. If you can¡¯t beat them, join them, right? If you can¡¯t join them, then run away. That¡¯s been the motto I¡¯ve lived by since young and how I¡¯ve survived to date. Of course, the one who taught me this way of life was none other than my uncle. They were truly the words of a wise man.


    Of course there¡¯s one entity in this particular world that I wasn¡¯t able to evaluate on the human¡¯s side. The church. They definitely weren¡¯t normal and really shouldn¡¯t be underestimated. I spent the second day in this world snooping around here and there gathering information and I found out about the so-called human gods the church worshiped.


    When I tried to infiltrate the church¡¯s domain, I actually felt as if there were some sort of unfathomable existence that had locked into me. Because I feared my life was endangered I escaped as quickly as possible and returned to the castle where I discussed with the shrine maidens what they¡¯d like to do.


    Eight out of nine of them said they wanted to leisurely enjoy their time interacting with others in this world. As they always had heavy restraints imposed on their freedom, they wanted to spread their wings a bit for a change and personally take in the sights of this new foreign world around them.


    Of course, I accepted their wishes and allowed them to do as they pleased. The only one among them who wanted to follow me deeper into the dungeon was my good friend Umi.


    On our fourth day in this world, the instructors gathered us all and took us down into the dungeon for the first time. The newby heroes started to practice by fending off the lowest level 3 monsters on the first floor.


    When the three instructors'' attention was diverted towards demonstrating how to efficiently operate together as a party to slay a new monster that popped up, Umi and I slipped away and made our descent deeper into the dungeon.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It didn¡¯t take long before we reached the 21st floor where the level of the monsters had doubled from a bit over level 20 to the mid 40s. Of course, I was surprised by the sudden jump, but it really wasn¡¯t a big deal for the two of us.


    Thus, we ventured even further into the depths of the dungeon while we shared the experience from each kill. The 40th floor had monsters that reached level 80. From then on, there was another large leap in levels. Monsters on the 41st floor were at level 110. It only got more ridiculous the further we went. Monsters on the 49th floor were level 145-150. Then the floor boss turned out to be this absolutely monstrous specter remotely controlled by a vampire that never even took us seriously.


    I was still uncertain why she decided to let us off the hook so easily just now. Whether she really just got bored and lost interest quickly or whether she was disappointed that I was too weak and not a match for her, I was uncertain of the truth. It irked me a bit to be looked down upon like that, but there was nothing I could do about it. I¡¯d clearly grown overconfident and complacent in my assumption that every world I went to was no longer a challenge for me. I didn¡¯t expect this world would have such ridiculously powerful existences hidden in the dark like this. Usually there wasn¡¯t such a large discrepancy in power in the world¡¯s I was summoned to.


    Both the church and this dungeon, there was more to this world than what first met the eye. Gods and a vampire of unknown origins. For the first time in a long time I felt anticipation towards what sort of story would play out in one of these worlds.


    ¡°Akua, maybe we should go back and rest.¡±


    Right now I was really struggling. My curiosity towards this dungeon had really been piqued right now. Of course, going back to rest would probably be the best idea; but why the final boss appeared here prematurely to simply give me a warning to head back before she abruptly disappeared only shortly after she¡¯d made her appearance left me puzzled. Was there something below that she was trying to protect or hide? If I took her words at face value, the 50th floor was already the halfway point through the dungeon.


    ¡°Let¡¯s at least take a peek at the 50th floor before we head back. Aren¡¯t you curious as well about what made the final boss appear here just to warn us to not make trouble further down below?¡±


    ¡°Of course I¡¯m curious, but aren¡¯t you worried? If the monsters on this level are this strong, what could be waiting on the 50th floor?¡±


    ¡°How would I know? Maybe it¡¯s Shangri-La or something.¡±


    ¡°Akua, please don¡¯t joke around with our lives.¡±


    ¡°I never joke about my life. If it turns out they¡¯re too strong, l join them. If you can¡¯t join them, we run away. That is my creed and secret to living a long life.¡±


    ¡°Akua, as much as I¡¯m fond of you, I¡¯ve always found your mannerisms are rather unheroic. Shouldn¡¯t you set more of an example for those hatchling summoned heroes?¡±


    ¡°They already have instructors that are somewhat competent, they should be fine.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you also work hard to protect humanity and thwart the demon lord?¡±


    ¡°Since I¡¯m not the only summoned hero, isn¡¯t it about time I take a vacation? Aren¡¯t I at least entitled to some paid time off? It¡¯s been thirty six worlds now you know! Thirty six! You hear me?!¡±


    Do you even summoned to another world girl? Yeah that didn¡¯t make any sense. So what, bite me! I¡¯m just so freaking tired of it. I work my ass off every time with the expectation that I can finally reap my reward and return to my original world, but it always, ALWAYS ends with me summoned to another stupid world with more stupid obnoxious demon lords to slay.


    This is her first time summoned to another world so the experience is fresh and new to her, but for me this shit is as unrewarding as lifting weights everyday and seeing no benefits. It¡¯s literally hell. Just once, can I just do nothing and get my reward at a chance of being sent back to my world? Of course, I¡¯ll probably still just get summoned to another unreasonable world that expects me to solve all their problems. I¡¯m seriously too damn old for this garbage already. One day even I want to get married, settle down and start a family in my original world you know.


    ¡°I do understand that Akua must be tired and all, but what if because you slacked off, those poor, innocent, fledgling heroes that were dragged here against their will died a senseless death when you could have saved them?¡±


    ¡°If they die, they die. They just weren¡¯t fortunate enough. Heroes rise and fall all the time. There are some worlds where heroes are treated as disposable pawns. Unlike your world where heroes were treated fairly, not all worlds have the same standards.¡±


    ¡°Even more so, you should at the very least guide them until they are strong enough to leave the nest.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not my job. I¡¯ll only do as much as required of me to live and survive so I can eventually return to my home world. In fact, if it wasn¡¯t for you shrine maidens refusing to send me back until the so-called demon emperor, that stupid hack bastard was killed, would I be in this mess right now? Summoned once again right as I was about to return to my world?¡±


    ¡°That is¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Haaaah. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m used to it by now. With my luck, I would have probably been summoned against my will to another irresponsible world unable to solve its problems by itself regardless of when I tried to return to my world.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever thought of just settling down in one of the worlds instead of returning? Like if it¡¯s been 36 times already, aren¡¯t you yourself at fault for not just giving up? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s someone telling you that returning is just not meant for you? Don¡¯t they also say it¡¯s not you, it¡¯s me? Maybe your world is trying to subtly tell you that?.


    ¡°You¡­ that roast is a bit... never mind.¡° I nearly had a fit, but somehow restrained my rage.


    ¡°Of course I¡®ve thought about giving up. But I want to see my uncle again. Whether he¡¯s alive or dead, I must pay my respects to him for saving and bringing up an orphan like me.¡±


    When I thought about how I couldn¡¯t remember his name, it felt like there was a lump stuck in my throat. I wanted to cry whenever I thought about how unfilial I was towards that uncle of mine. To forget his name was an abhorrent sin.


    However, as sad as I was about it, there was no point dwelling over it right now. I calmed my fluctuating emotions and took the stairs down to the 50th floor, Umi following closely in tow.


    When we reached the bottom of the staircase, strangely enough there was another set of stairs with a sign beside it. In what appeared to be blood, the sign had written on it ¡®51st floor ahead.¡¯ I was skeptical about it and tempted to immediately proceed further down considering how it was practically a free pass, but I was determined to take a proper look at the 50th floor first. There was only a single long tunnel between the two staircases.


    Umi and I looked at each other and nodded in mutual understanding. After we¡¯d ventured together for such a long time we were perfectly in sync and fully understood each other¡¯s thoughts. I walked towards the tunnel while Umi... walked towards the other staircase.


    ¡°Wait! Why¡¯d you nod like we understood each other?!¡±


    ¡°Eh? Wasn¡¯t that a nod to skip the tunnel and proceed further down?¡±


    ¡°No! It was obviously a nod to check out the tunnel on the 50th floor.¡±


    ¡°Akua, be more clear about it, it¡¯s confusing when you just nod back at me without saying anything!¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine. Whatever, let¡¯s just go check it out already. We can decide whether to proceed further after we scout out what¡¯s on the 50th floor.¡±


    She caught up to me and we ventured further into the tunnel until we saw a light originating at the end of it. When we reached the end of the tunnel, we were both left shocked by what we¡¯d seen.

 Chapter 11. Part 2.

    Chapter 11. Part 2.


    It was... outside? No, that¡¯s not right, that can¡¯t really be the sky.


    There was a beautiful plain, with lush greenery and vegetation growing everywhere. There was also something that looked like the sun high in the sky, but I could hardly bring myself to believe that it was the real sun since we were so far underground. Much further away in the distance, the outline of what appeared to be a city was visible.


    The 50th floor actually contained a city! An entire city with a bountiful land mass blanketed by the sun and clouds high in the sky as far as the eye could see in all directions. Chills actually ran across my skin from the out of this world scenery I never imagined would exist. My eyes were the canvas and the world in front of me was the masterpiece painted over it..


    What was the meaning behind this? Never before in any other world had I come across such an unusual dungeon like this. The first 50 floors were what one expected of the typical dungeon below the ground, but this, this was completely outrageous. Various different species of insects crawled about the ground, birds cawed and flew about high in the sky. Bees buzzed and moved about busily from flower to flower. Through sensing the moisture in the ground, I even felt the existence of the worms that tunneled about underground as they loosened up the soil beneath my feet.


    Everything was alive. There was no illusion magic, nor was it a mirage. Neither was it something born in my head from stress.


    But how? How, I ask. How did all this exist here, completely unknown to humans directly overhead? How did an entire city exist deep beneath the ground, right under their noses for so long without them ever being aware of a thing? I found no records of this city in any of the texts I read through back in the palace.


    In the distance, I noticed a forest. There were animals that had inhabited it and made it their home. Closer to the city, there was evidence of developed agriculture.


    Could it be that I¡¯d stumbled upon the home of an ancient civilization long forgotten by the denizens of this world?


    There was even evidence that it had recently rained in the area. Puddles littered the ground, fresh droplets of water dangled on blades of grass, the smell of morning dew, still fresh in the air.


    In our blank state, filled with disbelief and awe, the two of us took our first steps out of the tunnel. We approached the city in the distance without much thought. On a subconscious level we both wanted to verify that what we¡¯d seen here was reality.


    As we passed by, the countless different sounds of nature echoed out. The crickets chirped happily, the birds sang out jovially in freedom, completely unhindered without restraint while the sounds of flowing water from the streams beside the dirt roads intertwined harmonically with the cicada¡¯s cries.


    It almost felt like time had stopped, but that was an illusion in my head alone, it still progressed onwards, unrelentlessly, in spite of my wishes. The surreal and unbelievable feeling did non decrease over time like I expected it would; instead, it grew stronger the closer we got to the city.


    It reminded me of the feeling I had when I was still young. It was a nostalgic feeling I¡¯d already long forgotten. Back to when I felt both anxious and excited with each new foreign place I visited in that oh so unfamiliar first world of mine. Yes, the time I was summoned for the first time. Truly, so much time had already passed in my long and arduous journey that stretched through the fabric of both space and time.


    Haaaah. If we were on the surface this would just be the normal everyday scenery, but the circumstances behind this plain hidden away deep beneath the earth made it all the more breathtaking. After an hour spent walking along the path that connected directly to the city, we finally reached the wide open gates. Along the way, we¡¯d passed by several farmers plowing the fields.


    When I saw them it was a bit unbelievable, not that they were farming, but that the city¡¯s farmers alone were level 80. They only glanced at us for a moment then ignored us and quietly returned to their work. They didn¡¯t seem phased in the slightest at our arrival.


    What really shocked me was that they were demons, but they were peacefully living right beneath the human kingdom, clearly not worried about a thing. The demons I¡¯d read about from the books in the room the king provided described demons as uncivilized brutes that could not be reasoned with. They were incapable of doing anything productive and only existed to feast on the lives of humans.


    Seeing the demon farmers reaction to us, I realized just how heavily information was manipulated in this world. It wasn¡¯t something unheard of for the demons to be civilized, but a lot of the worlds I¡¯d been to, demons were actually quite vile and unreasonable creatures. However, not all worlds were like that, there were some worlds where the demons that fell into that category were the smaller minority. Demons in some of the other worlds actually forged strong alliances, treaties, and relationships with humans and even got along peacefully with the exclusion of some radical extremist demonic factions.


    When we arrived in front of the gate, I was left shocked once again. The guards were naturally demons, but that was not the shocking part, what left me flabbergasted was the guards alone were level 180. I¡¯d suddenly been turned from a big shot into a small fry. I immediately lost a bit of my confidence to cope with the situation. If things continued at this pace, it was nearly certain that I¡¯d run into many people and monsters in the near future who I wouldn¡¯t even be able to determine what their levels were.


    When I thought about that vampire on the hundredth floor, I had the urge to flee far away and hide myself in some far off corner in the world. With the pattern of big jumps in levels inside this dungeon at the deeper floors couldn¡¯t she be some absurd level far over 1000?


    Aren¡¯t the humans in this world screwed? No, wait a minute. That vampire might be more civilized than expected. She didn¡¯t bother to kill me after all. She gave off the feeling that she¡¯d turn into a cold blooded heartless killer if I ever crossed her bottom line though. Was that what her warning was for? No no no, rather, there¡¯s no need for that little warning of hers. I might not even be able to make it out alive if I¡¯m surrounded by all these demonic city guards, right? What need would she have to warn me when even her city guards could squash me like a bug?The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Did she warn me not to make trouble because she knew I stood no chance? Was I actually being pitied or warned to not get overly cocky just because I had a little bit of success getting to the 49th floor? Maybe she just didn¡¯t want me to lose right away from letting my guard down. Why would she make it look like she was really intent on killing me at the start then? Ah! I¡¯m so confused! Could it be she¡¯s actually just a tsundere or kuudere or something and she can¡¯t be honest with herself?


    Somehow I¡¯m starting to feel embarrassed for her. Isn¡¯t she a bit cute for putting on such a cold act while trying to show some form of kindness in her own strange way? When I think of her like that, I kind of want to meet her.


    ¡°Akua, you¡¯ve been making some strange faces for a while now, is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°Hey, wasn¡¯t that vampire kind of cute?¡±


    ¡°What? I¡¯m sorry I don¡¯t follow. She tried to kill us, right? You haven¡¯t suddenly developed those kinds of interests have you?¡±


    ¡°Of course not! I¡¯m straight!¡±


    ¡°Haaah. That¡¯s a shame.¡±


    ¡°Wha-?¡±


    ¡°Forget I said anything.¡±


    ¡°No no no, there¡¯s no way I can pretend I didn¡¯t hear that. What did you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°Akua doesn¡¯t understand a girl¡¯s heart and has no delicacy.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m a girl.¡±


    ¡°And? What of it?¡±


    ¡°... you swing that way?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Eh? Really? Since when?! Why wasn¡¯t I aware of this?!¡±


    ¡°Akua, we¡¯ve slept together since we first met, have you really never noticed a thing?¡±


    ¡°You mean like when I¡¯d wake up to find you hugging and feeling me up while acting like you¡¯re sleeping every morning?¡±


    ¡°To put it so bluntly like that is a bit embarrassing...¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t adjust if you suddenly drop a bomb like that on me all of a sudden. Aren¡¯t we just best friends?¡±


    ¡°Best friends turning to lovers isn¡¯t unheard of, right?¡±


    ¡°That may be true when it¡¯s a guy and a gal, but¡­ for real?¡±


    ¡°Yes, for real.¡±


    This is honestly getting a bit too weird for me. She¡¯s actually just messing with me, that has to be it.


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve already resolved myself to be faithful to you to my grave as the person who allowed my sister shrine maidens and myself to gain freedom. Regardless of whether my feelings are returned or not, I¡¯ll accept either outcome.¡±


    Did my otherworldly adventure really just take such a sudden strange turn? Where did I go wrong? I couldn¡¯t understand no matter what angle I thought about it from.


    ¡°Can you two hurry up and enter the ten meter range so I can get my job over with and go back to slacking off?¡±


    ¡°Ah. Sorry.¡±


    When we entered within ten meters of the gate the guard exclaimed, ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡±


    As soon as he finished his line he donned a contented smile on his face and sat back down inside his little outpost outside the gate without bothering to listen to our response.


    ¡°.Uh.. is that really okay?¡±


    ¡°I only get paid to say the line, not to listen to your life story. Besides that-¡°


    He took a glance at me before he scoffed and finished his sentence.


    ¡°-you¡¯re not strong enough to pose much of a threat in our city, little human. You may look good for a human, but us demons have high standards. Did you really think I¡¯d jump out of my seat, shower you with high praise and be at your beck and call to gain your favor?¡±


    I¡¯d never wanted to kill an obnoxious guard as badly as I did right now. Unfortunately for me, humiliating as it was, I didn¡¯t have the confidence to best him in a fight when he was level 180. The other guards in the post playing cards with him also glanced at us and chuckled a bit before they returned to their game.


    When I looked more closely, it appeared they were playing poker.


    Hoh, poker huh? Hehehe.


    I approached the outpost they were playing inside, full of boundless confidence. I entered and provocatively shot out, ¡°how about letting me play a round, big boys?¡±


    ¡°You? Hah! Scram, a little girl like you wouldn¡¯t stand a chance in the big boy leagues.¡±


    How can a little guard like this be so arrogant?


    ¡°Look, little human girl, respect is something you earn. It¡¯s not given for no reason. It¡¯s like you humans say, if you can¡¯t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.¡±


    What the hell relation does that saying even have to do with the first thing you were rambling on about? Am I the stupid one for not understanding?


    Still, my provocation had undoubtedly backfired as I was the one enraged instead. I struggled internally to avoid an outburst and calmed myself down by taking in deep breaths. I ignored their flat out rejection and sat down at the table. I took out a storage ring I¡¯d acquired from killing the various bosses on my way here and placed it on the table. It contained all the loot I¡¯d acquired from the slaughter that brought me to this obscene floor.


    ¡°Oh? A storage ring, what¡¯s inside?¡±


    He took it up and examined its contents before he shot me a pitiful look. It was the exact same sort of look that one directed towards a beggar that had failed to impress by flaunting his minuscule wealth before a silk pants aristocratic bastard king.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s about what one would expect from a small fry I guess. It must really suck to be among the financially challenged. Well I guess it¡¯ll at least be enough for the minimum wager for one hand though. We¡¯ll value it at ten chips.¡±


    My blood had long reached the boiling point.


    ¡°So little?! You¡¯ve each got hundreds of chips though!¡±


    ¡°A small fry is a small fry in the end little girl. You¡¯re nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well if you really thought you could compare your wealth to mighty demons like us.¡±


    Ahhhhhhhh! I¡¯ll kill him! I swear I¡¯ll kill him! This is humiliating! But chill, chill girl. Relax. Just play it cool. Yes. That¡¯s it. Cool. Cool like a cucumber. I just need to shut them up through poker. With my water magic, I can read what cards they have through the moisture in the air.


    That¡¯s right, they¡¯ll never even know what hit them. I¡¯ll make them regret ever messing with me. The queen of poker. The god hand. For I am a woman of legends, renowned far and wide in the world of poker. A woman who¡¯d never lost a single hand of poker since she¡¯d honed her water magic to the level that even the heaven¡¯s grew jealous.


    ¡­

 Chapter 11. Part 3.

    Chapter 11. Part 3.


    Five minutes later.


    How?


    How did this happen?


    ¡°Akua¡­ it¡¯s alright.¡±


    My god hand. How could this be? What happened was complete nonsense.


    I was suddenly broke, stripped of my clothing, despair ridden in the middle of the street. I didn¡¯t know how it happened when their defeat was so evident in my all seeing eyes, but I somehow lost in the very first round. Even though I was certain of my victory after I¡¯d seen through the cards in their hands through cheat- creative skill based mechanisms, I still lost. It was clear they had cheated me somehow, but I had no way of proving it, nor could I bring it up when I was cheat- using creative skill based mechanisms that were practically my own personal trade secrets. Questioning them on it would force me to reveal my own hand in the process.


    It¡¯s frustrating! Too frustrating! I don¡¯t really care about being seen naked since I¡¯m used to it by now, but losing like that was too much!


    Like a gambler grasping at straws I¡¯d done what gamblers did best and pleaded in desperation for a second round. At first they flat out rejected me, but after they saw how persistent I was, they said I could bet with my clothing since it looked a bit valuable, essentially it became a game of strip poker. Each piece of clothing was worth ten chips.


    After two additional rounds, I went bankrupt again. It¡¯s not like I could even blame them this time. They even told me it would be in my best interest to give up after the second round. I was too frustrated by their pity to simply concede defeat without a fight. Perhaps that was just part of their nefarious plot to make sure I didn¡¯t leave before they milked me for everything I was worth. It was thanks to this lapse in judgement that I found myself reduced to nothing but my birthday suit.


    When I looked up and noticed Umi¡¯s compassionate gaze filled with concern, it suddenly struck me.


    With sparkles in my eyes, like someone who¡¯d seen their last hope at redemption, I proclaimed proudly, ¡°Umi, you have clothes!¡±


    With a pale face she did a 180 and high tailed it away at full speed. Before I had a chance to chase her down, she¡¯d hidden herself away somewhere deep in the city where I was unable to locate her even with magic. Tsk. I instantly regretted everything I¡¯d ever done. For her that is. I should have never taught her those stealth spells with water magic.


    I really found it hard to stop my lip from twitching when I thought about her earlier shameless declaration to be faithful to me to her grave.


    ¡°Tch. So I¡¯m left naked out in the open yet again.¡±


    Haaah. I suppose there was one big glaring issue that had gone unaccounted for in my overconfident state when I challenged those guards earlier. I¡¯d never actually played poker before, hence the reason for my undefeated record. If you¡¯d never played it before, of course you¡¯d be undefeated, right? I suppose my defeat was reasonable. The opponents this time were just too strong, it wasn¡¯t that I was too weak.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you feel a bit bad for her? Even her companion abandoned her. Maybe we should at least return her clothes.¡±


    Damn it! I don¡¯t need your pity clothes.


    ¡°Nah. We warned her, but she kept playing anyway. Let this be a life lesson to this overconfident little human child who couldn¡¯t see Mount Tai when it was right before her.¡±


    ¡°You! I don¡¯t need my clothes! Also, I¡¯ll remember this! Don¡¯t you dare think this is over! I¡¯ll be back!¡±


    ¡°See, she still hasn¡¯t learned her lesson. She might just be an idiot after all. But really though, little grunts like her just don¡¯t learn. The only things she¡¯s got going for is mastering her lines.¡±


    I¡¯ll fucking remember this! I made sure to take a good long look at his face to engrave it into my heart so I¡¯d never forget him. When I surpass him in level, I¡¯ll make sure I come back here to bully him and toss my weight around a bit. Killing him would be too kind.


    ¡°Guys, what do I do? I¡¯m a married man. I think she¡¯s suddenly fallen for me with how much she¡¯s staring into my eyes. I mean she¡¯s not bad, but that brain of hers is a big minus.¡±


    ¡°Man, what are you talking about? You¡¯re not even married. If a girl likes you and you¡¯re not interested, you really need to be direct about it. Otherwise, when she finds out it was all just a lie, she¡¯ll be even more hurt.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Haaah. I guess you¡¯re right.¡±


    With pity in his eyes he let me down by telling me, ¡°sorry little human girl, it¡¯s not you, it¡¯s me. I just don¡¯t like girls with only looks and nothing up there.¡±


    The number of critical hits I¡¯d taken from their idle chatter was truly immense. My health points had already dropped to critical levels and I might pass out at any moment. I was on the verge of coughing up blood, but I couldn¡¯t let that happen while in front of them. The humiliation would have been too great, so I calmed my wildly raging emotions, turned away and walked off calmly in the nude into the city. Right now I couldn¡¯t care less about public indecency or whether such laws existed in this city.


    If I want to strut my stuff, then I shall strut to my heart¡¯s content.


    Thinking like that was the only way I could take my mind off of that infuriating guard. That man could truly enrage the gods with that spiteful tongue of his. Like I said before, it was certainly not the case of me being too weak, it was just that my opponent was too strong.


    To think a lowly city guard could be both fearsome and unrivalled to such a high degree, I was truly caught off guard this time. I really must keep my head down and try to refrain from flaunting any sort of superiority here. Could that female vampire have predicted this would happen, hence why she warned me to turn back? For her to have such far seeing foresight, she¡¯s definitely an unfathomable being in her own way, but nonetheless she¡¯s still kind of cute.


    As I walked through the bustling city streets, all eyes were directed at me like there was something stuck in my teeth. It could have just been that they¡¯d never seen a human girl before. However I was more inclined to believe it was my demeanor that left them awestruck, they were surely amazed by my dashing entrance into their little city. Well, in all likelihood, it was just that I was naked with a single garment to my name, but a girl can still dream, can she not?


    Even I have a maidenly heart that wishes to one day be married off to someone, with that uncle of mine sending me on my way. However, I was not one of those shallow women who thought they could never be a bride just because she¡¯d been seen in the nude. That¡¯s far too old fashioned and behind the times, I¡¯m a modern girl who grew up in the 21st century on Earth after all. We were born nude, our great ancestors grew up nude, women are even painted nude as a form of art, so why must we cover up and be ashamed of our bodies? Why must nudity be seen as something vile or vulgar rather than something artistic and beautiful to be appreciated?


    As such, I shall not avert my gaze downwards in shame. I shall walk forth with my head held high. Just as a certain emperor in history donned his new clothes, I shall do the same.


    ¡°Why does something about that pervert get on my nerves?¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it feel like she¡¯s looking down on us when she¡¯s the one not wearing clothes?¡±


    I could only sigh and shake my head as these mere commoner demon city folk couldn¡¯t understand thoughts as deeply profound as mine that glimpsed upon the origin of all life.


    But licking my open wounds aside, I really need to find some freaking clothes, it¡¯s a bit chilly and I¡¯d rather not catch a cold.


    Wandering around the city, I eventually found a fenced off house with nobody around. There were only bed sheets hanging outside on a clothesline to dry after they¡¯d just been washed.


    I discreetly checked left and right in all directions like a fox in preparation for a heist of epic proportions. It was only when I was certain the coast was clear that I snuck over the short fence and grabbed one of the sheets off the line. My heart beating fast at my new life of high crime I made a b-line for the fence. I jumped back over, landed on the ground and rolled for dramatic effect. I then made my greatest escape and ducked into an empty alleyway like a true phantom thief.


    ¡°Haaaaah. To think, a level 150 summoned hero was reduced to nothing more than a petty thief. It was a really good thing no one was around to see my act of theft just now.¡±


    I ripped up the sheet in half and formed a skirt portion around my waist. I wrapped the other half of the sheet around my chest. It was a far step down from the clothing I¡¯d received from the king, but it covered the parts it needed to so it was fine.


    When I finally turned my attention to the entrance of the alleyway I saw a pink bunny with its eyes opened wide, ears propped up and jaw dropped in shock like it couldn¡¯t believe what it had seen.


    No way¡­ There¡¯s no way it saw my entire act just now, right?


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act!¡±


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act!¡±


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act!¡±


    My face paled as the pink bunny continually repeated the same lines over and over. Sweat trickled down my back when I thought of the implications of being branded as a petty thief. This didn¡¯t count as stirring up trouble, did it? Ugh. But it was still theft, right?


    ¡°I must silence all witnesses.¡±


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act! I must silence all witnesses!¡±


    Ugh. It just got worse the more I said.


    ¡°Pink bunny, come here for a second. This big sister has some things to discuss with you. Be a good boy and listen to this big sister.¡±


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act! I must silence all witnesses! Summoned hero! Big sister!¡±


    Ugh, he even added a female identifier for the perpetrator now.


    I only dug my grave deeper and deeper the more I said when around this big mouthed dopey looking subrabbit scum. I had to kill this evil scourge pink bunny at all costs, it was far too shameful to be known as a level 150 summoned hero who became a petty thief. Anyways it was only level 40, it shouldn¡¯t take much effort to take care of this nuisance with my level of strength.


    Just as I lunged forward towards the satanic bunny from hell, flustered it scratched at the ground and tossed a large amount of dirt into the air. My eyes forcefully shut on reflex to avoid being blinded. I didn¡¯t expect it to pull such a stunt, so I didn¡¯t have time to conjure a water barrier to block it. When I reopened my eyes, in the short moment I closed them, the pink bunny had disappeared.

 Chapter 11. Part 4.

    Chapter 11. Part 4.


    I immediately rushed out of the alley in hot pursuit. When I saw it headed towards the direction of the city¡¯s gate where the guards were stationed my heart leaped to my throat.


    If it reached the guards and hid behind them, I¡¯d have no chance to catch it. I made a frenzied mad dash in the rabbit¡¯s direction. I didn¡¯t want to get involved with those stupid guards at all costs, I especially wanted nothing to do with HIM. That vile demonic monster of a guard.


    I conjured up a straight path of water in line with the rabbit, lowered the temperature to form a thin sheet of ice on the ground, then wrapped water around my feet and froze it. The water formed sharp transparent blades below my feet in the shape of two ghetto looking bootleg ice skates.


    Simultaneously I conjured up some simple fire magic, I was not as proficient with fire, but something of this level wasn¡¯t too difficult. I shot small balls of fire from my palms at the ground directly behind my feet and created miniature explosions that propelled me forward at the fastest speed I could muster.


    If I had enough time, I could use lesser teleportation magic, but the rabbit was shockingly fast. By the time I locked onto its position and invoked the teleportation, it would have already moved out of the way. Such magic wasn¡¯t my specialization either so I didn¡¯t have much confidence with it since I was most attuned to water magic. Teleportation magic fell into the category of void magic which was a combination of different elemental magics that clashed together and cancelled one another out. When different elemental magics were fused together in the correct proportions it produced some truly outrageous effects. However, if the elemental magics that were combined grew unstable, the spell would collapse on itself and result in a strong backlash to the caster.


    I didn¡¯t have any leeway for mistakes with this cursed bunny. In our short little chase I was left baffled; even at my top speed, I was unable to close the gap with the pesky agile rabbit. It just kept shouting out the same line like its life depended on it.


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act! I must silence all witnesses! Summoned hero! Big sister!¡±


    ¡°Shut your trap you wretched rabbit!¡±


    ¡°Summoned hero reduced to petty theft! No one around to see my act! I must silence all witnesses! Summoned hero! Big sister! Shut your trap you wretched rabbit!¡±


    It really wasn''t looking good for me, with the rate things were going catching up to it was impossible. We were already almost at the guards outpost outside the gate and I hadn¡¯t gained any ground on it at all.


    With how close the rabbit was to the guard¡¯s outpost, I knew I¡¯d lost. I resolved myself when I¡¯d confirmed it was a hopeless endeavour. With determination, I turned around and fled in the opposite direction, but to my dismay, it was already too late. Guards had at some point gathered behind me. They had blocked off all my paths to retreat. When I realized I couldn¡¯t beat them, nor could I flee or join them, for the first time in my life I was forced to abide by the secret third scripture my uncle handed down to me. Surrender.


    ¡°Haaah. You again? Little girl, do you ever learn? You know, theft is a crime.¡±


    I decided to use another one of my uncles teachings here.


    ¡°Eh? I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    Act dumb, play ignorant, deny all claims.


    ¡°What¡¯s theft?¡±


    ¡°Haaah, to think humans these days are this ignorant of the world. Little girl, where were you raised to lack such common sense?¡±


    I tilted my head cluelessly like I couldn¡¯t understand what he was talking about.


    ¡°Did we actually end up bullying a retard? I¡¯m starting to feel a bit bad now that we forced a mentally challenged human child into a corner like this.¡±


    I thought I¡¯d made it through dealing with this accursed guard''s venomous tongue, the bane of my existence, but it appears I was far from it.


    AHHHHH! I¡¯ll definitely make sure he faces a fate worse than death in the future! A woman with a grudge is scary you know. We don¡¯t forget even the smallest grievances.


    Calm down and bear with it. Uncle taught me well how to survive when I was a child. You must know when to bend your head in defeat when in a disadvantageous position and strike back only when you are sure you have the advantage.


    I never thought I¡¯d really need to utilize his teachings so many times in one day all at the hands of a single infuriating demon city guard.


    Could this guard actually be a hidden boss on this floor? The fact that he can damage me without lifting a single finger is abnormal to begin with. He¡¯s definitely my unlucky star.


    ¡°Well, since it¡¯s your first offence of theft and seeing as it was us that were somewhat responsible for it, I suppose we¡¯ll let you off this time. Just make sure it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡±


    He said that cooly while turning his back and leading the other guards back to the outpost outside the gate.


    After I barely managed to avoid the slammer, I cursed that rabbit and guard¡¯s nine generations of descendants to eternal damnation in my heart before I headed back into the city. It might have been more humiating to just be let off the hook that as easily though.


    Haaah. For the time being I need to just forget about that irksome guard. I¡¯ve got a few problems of my own right now. I¡¯m hungry. But I¡¯m broke again. Money has always been my greatest weakness. I really need money right now.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Ah. That¡¯s right, now that I think about it, didn¡¯t I lose the rapier the king gave me to that guard? If I had that I¡¯m sure I could sell it for a small sum. Hehehe. I suppose not all is lost, as the rapier¡¯s master I can still get it back by summoning it to my side. It didn¡¯t look like my connection to it had been severed either. I hadn¡¯t noticed it until now. I could keep reclaiming the rapier after selling it to different shops. If it mysteriously disappeared from their shop what did I have to do with that? Wasn¡¯t it just their negligence that was to blame?


    I called out to it in my mind and a few minutes later, the rapier flew down from the sky and planted itself into the ground in front of me.


    When I held onto it, I could feel it¡¯s discontent at being used and lost as part of a wager. I apologized for losing my cool in the heat of the moment and asked for it¡¯s forgiveness. After half an hour placating it, I eventually managed to soothe its dissatisfaction.


    Now that I had my rapier back, I needed to find where Umi ran off to. I could worry about selling the rapier off after I located that traitor who wouldn¡¯t sacrifice her clothes for the greater good.


    After I asked around a few places, it didn¡¯t take too long before I tracked down where she fled to. I approached a bar the locals had seen a similarly blue haired woman entering. It wasn¡¯t hard to pick her out from the crowd, a blue haired deadbeat drunkard was sprawled out on the bar counter. The bartender looked troubled, but when he saw me his eyes lit up like he¡¯d seen his savior.


    ¡°You¡¯re with her, right? Your friend accumulated quite a tab and she said her friend would pay it off. You would be that friend she was referring to, right?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, you¡¯ve got the wrong person. I don¡¯t know her at all.¡±


    Like hell am I paying! I¡¯m now broke without even proper clothes to my name. Does it look like I can pay off her tab?


    ¡°Ehheheh? Akua? Ish that yueh?¡±


    ¡°Bartender, I¡¯ve never met this woman before in my life. Don¡¯t let her deceive you. My name is not Akua either. My name is Salvadorete Benevitez Guerrero Solomon Shakir.¡±


    ¡°Do I look like an idiot to you? You¡¯re the only two humans in this city right now. If it¡¯s not you, who else could it be? That name you blatantly pulled out of your ass just indemnifies your guilt even more.¡±


    ¡°Look pal, even if you ask me to pay her tab, you should be able to tell by what I¡¯m wearing, I¡¯m dead broke.¡±


    ¡°A-ku-wa have a dru-ing-ku wid me. Ueeehhh.¡±


    This best friend of mine, ever since we left her nation she¡¯d really let herself go. The first time she was introduced to alcohol was like a whole other world had opened up to her. She was also a real pain to deal with the night I brought her back to her room back then. I was slightly tipsy as well at the time, so things got a little bit steamy that night. I¡¯m not going to repeat that mistake again.


    ¡°No more drinks for you until you pay off your tab young lady.¡±


    ¡°Ehhhh? Akuwa, the bartender is buwying me.¡±


    This damn drunk shrine maiden with no sense of money, spending when she clearly doesn¡¯t have anything to spend. Even I¡¯m not that bad. At least I spend only when I have the money to spend.


    ¡°Uhm, Mister bartender, we really don¡¯t have any way to pay this at the moment. Can you please cut us a break? We promise we¡¯ll pay you back as soon as we earn some money.¡±


    ¡°Hah?! You think I can trust crafty humans who only know how to scheme and plot? No can do. I can hardly trust you when you will likely renege on your debt the moment you leave the city.¡±


    ¡°But we really have no way to pay back the debt right now.¡±


    ¡°For a human you two''s appearances are somewhat high in quality. How about selling me your bodies.¡±


    ¡°Hah?! There¡¯s no way I can do that!¡±


    ¡°Then I suppose I¡¯ll need to report the two of you to the city guards then.¡±


    ¡°Wait! Please, anything but that!¡±


    I won¡¯t be able to survive another encounter with that wretched devil!


    ¡°Then obediently sell your bodies to me.¡±


    Well, if it¡¯s just a bit¡­ it¡¯s better than dealing with that devil¡¯s venomous words that cut through one¡¯s flesh like butter.


    Now that I look closer though, for a demon, isn¡¯t this bartender actually pretty hot. He really gave off a sort of demonic charm in the black tuxedo he had on. He had short well kept silver hair on the level on an idol you¡¯d see on TV. With mysterious deep black eyes and a mature refined look he might have actually suited my preference. Not bad.


    ¡°F-f-fine. Have at me! You can have my body, but you¡¯ll never have my heart you vile demon!¡±


    Don¡¯t get me wrong I¡¯m not excited about it in the slightest. I¡¯m not such an easy woman to be swayed by a handsome demonic male. I¡¯m absolutely not slightly excited at the thought of a demon forcing themselves on me or anything. It¡¯s definitely not because I¡¯m still a virgin either. I¡¯m really not excited by this turn of events.


    ¡°Nwoo way. Akuwa is mine! Hic. Wu can¡¯t hab her. You cwan - hic - do whatever wu want to mwe but weave - hic - my Akuwa out of this.¡±


    ¡°Huh? What are the two of you talking about?¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°Here, put these on. You¡¯ll be putting those bodies of yours to good use over the next month to pay back that tab you built up.¡±


    He handed over two waitress uniforms.


    Wait. Isn¡¯t something really wrong with this? Shouldn¡¯t the tragic heroine be violated by the wretched demon causing her to want to grow stronger and annihilate the demon lord and all demon kind? Did I go wrong somewhere with this 37th otherworldly adventure?


    Little did I know, this was the true beginning of my adventure story. I was summoned to another world for the 37th time as a hero only to become a waitress instead. Like hell it was!


    What did I do in life to end up so unlucky? Where did things start going down hill? Wasn¡¯t it from the very beginning? Could it have been from the time I had that dream of meeting that goddess in the blue one piece before I was sent to the first world I was supposedly summoned to?


    Back then she told me I was about to die in a plane crash, but humans from another world were trying to summon a hero at that very moment. The goddess said she felt pity that an innocent child like me was about to die, so she pulled a few strings and had me summoned as a hero to the world that had fallen on desperate times.


    Wasn¡¯t there something fishy about what she said back then? I was only a naive child at the time and I had mostly forgotten about that dream. I never thought to question that goddess back then, but was it really a dream? What if it was her fault to start with? After all, why would a goddess randomly pity a completely random little girl in some far off world? Wouldn¡¯t that mean that rather than pity, it was guilt she actually felt?


    My deep contemplation over the mistakes I¡¯d made in life was interrupted when the bartender snapped at us, ¡°Hurry up, time is money ladies. Get to work. Get to work. Stop spacing out with a stupid blank look on your face like you¡¯re searching for the meaning of your pitiful life.¡±


    With no other choice, I donned the cute waitress outfit and helped my drunk shrine maiden comrade change in an empty room at the back of the bar. When we finished changing, the two of us started what became the true start of my 37th grand adventure in another world, at least, for the next month it was.


    Haaaah. I¡¯ve surely been cursed by some rotten goddess of plague.

 Chapter 12. Part 1.

    Chapter 12. Part 1.


    (POV Chi Kaban)


    It¡¯s now my seventh month in this dungeon, there are still six months until Yueliang can break free from her seal. Not much really changed, however, if I were to pick up on a small change, it was the abrupt disappearance of the crossdressing hero. When I asked the new face, Kana, who made her first appearance two months ago, she said the former hero was sent on an extended mission by Yueliang.


    I was more than happy for the increase in the number of eye candies around me at first, but Kana was cold. She might even be colder than Yueliang at times. I couldn¡¯t figure her out at all. The majority of the time when she followed me through the dungeon, she was completely useless, she was a complete deadweight compared to the crossdressing hero.


    It was to the point that I started to really miss the crossdressing hero a bit. I guess it was true, you never knew what you had until it was gone.


    The worst part of everything was, whenever we were attacked by monsters, she¡¯d just snort at me in disdain like she couldn¡¯t be bothered to help. She even averted her eyes to the side whenever I was eaten alive. This happened on several different occasions over the last two months. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I¡¯d unknowingly killed her entire family in a past life of mine.


    My time together with her had been nothing but a never ending challenge. Along with Yueliang increasing her meals, I was really stressed out by this point.


    And that brought me to my present predicament.


    ¡°Hey, do you mind helping me a bit?¡±


    ¡°Help you? Why?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ that monster is kind of eating my body over there, right?¡±


    ¡°Your point?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a natural thing to jump to your comrade¡¯s rescue when they are being eaten alive like that?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? Why don¡¯t you just do the usual, explode and die?¡±


    ¡°I get that I can just make my body go boom after all my practice, but shouldn¡¯t you at least put in the bare minimum effort to kill it as well instead of leaching off the shared experience points all the time?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I have a pretty face, I wouldn¡¯t want it to get injured pointlessly trying to save you for no reason.¡±


    Haaaah. Was it because she hated traitors that much? I betrayed an entire country in the past after all. Maybe she couldn¡¯t stomach being associated with someone like that.


    Well, I suppose I should just finish it off. We were already at the 71st floor, but the monsters were still too high leveled. I still couldn¡¯t figure out what the floor boss¡¯ level was, the mobs levels weren¡¯t identifiable either. The only way I could occasionally manage a kill was through the element of surprise for the types of enemies who liked to swallow their prey alive. They also had to be a weaker level mob that had gone undetected by the stronger mobs otherwise their health regeneration surpassed the damage I could deal even when attacking their weak point inside their body.


    There was one awful time I got just a wee bit overconfident and I bit off far more than I could chew. I¡¯d been eaten by one such high level mob alive and it wasn¡¯t until a day later when I was shit out that I saw the glorious light of day.


    Unfortunately, I also couldn¡¯t determine just what level Kana was at either. She had a strange pendant around her neck that prevented others below her level from accurately discerning her level. Thus, the only thing I knew was she was a higher level than me. Why did she need to leech off of my oh so difficult to accumulate experience when she¡¯s clearly above me in level?


    It was definitely just out of spite.


    Anyways, enough of that I need to get my body back. I focused my senses and felt the string of mysterious energy connected between my body and head while I glared at the serpent in the middle of swallowing my body whole. The string-like energy was as fine as it was when I first discovered its existence. My greatest discovery with respect to this mysterious energy string was when I transmitted vibrations of a certain frequency through it, I could detonate certain portions of my body at will.


    It was a very difficult task to accomplish as it required delicate control and manipulation of the string of energy. If the vibrations were too violent, the string would simply break and my body would disintegrate without exploding before it immediately reformed in one piece.


    I theorized if I could make the string connected between my detached body parts thicker, it would be able to handle stronger vibrations and allow me to create an even larger force when remotely detonating body parts. Perhaps I¡¯d also be able to move the detached body parts as well with a thicker string of the mysterious energy.


    I¡¯d also confirmed from my tests that there were no apparent limitations on distance for this mysterious form of energy. One time I maintained a distance from the eightieth floor to the hundredth floor, there was no sign that the string would snap.


    From what I could tell, walls or material objects, from this world at least, had no impact on the mysterious energy. It was truly a peculiar form of energy that I was still unable to fully wrap my head around after the four months I spent studying it. The only fruits of the last four months of effort was this ability to detonate it.


    However, a plus on the side was that my level skyrocketed when I nabbed my first successful kill after I used it for the first time three months ago. Killing high level monsters was truly an elevator method to the top of this world. In the beginning I spent four months together with the former hero, we spent that time killing the very scarce low level monsters that were captured as meals for the high level monsters. It was a real pain to find them though.


    Even though I say low level, they were about level 50 to 60. It was a miracle that I even hurt them at all in the beginning. Oftentimes it took hours or even days to whittle down their health with my despairingly low level of strength. There was also the level gap that nerfed my damage output. A low level attacking a high level monster have their damage dealt significantly nerfed.


    Back on Earth I always thought I was pretty strong, but when I came here I understood just how weak I was. My pride also didn¡¯t allow me to be carried by that crossdressing hero. Instead, she sat off to the side at times and watched me as I stubbornly whittled away at the caged monster''s health through a gruelling, overly repetitive process.


    It was honestly embarrassing how down and dirty I had to get just to kill a few mobs intended for meals. Stealing them and getting away wasn¡¯t easy either. Sometimes I staked out locations for several days just waiting for the high leveled monsters to leave the areas where they kept the live captured monsters intended for meals. When the coast was clear I dragged the cages that contained the pitiful shackled monsters in restraints away to be leisurely slaughtered at my own pace.


    It was honestly exhausting work, but it was a very lucrative way to accumulate experience quickly. All I had to do was take away a monster that had no means to retaliate and I¡¯d reap a bountiful amount of experience. It was like a free lunch that just required a bit of patience.


    Of course, there were a few occasions where my scheming backfired and I was captured by monsters instead before I was eaten myself. When that first happened, I was really in a dilemma. I was dissolved for almost a month thanks to the gastric juices inside its stomach until I finally mastered the ability to detonate my body.


    It was truly quite the gruesome scene back then. I was a bloody ball of mush, flesh dripping down off exposed bones, for several days before I finally clawed my way out from inside its body. The first time I exploded I knew the monster thought it was nothing more than a bit of indigestion. It rolled about on the ground in agony until the pain subsided.


    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t focus when I was tossed about like that so I had to wait until it calmed down. When it finally calmed down, I made haste and mutilated my own body. I ripped off chunks of organs dangling part way out of the holes in my body piece by piece, until I had several more workable chunk sized pieces at my disposal. From my liver, intestines, bladder, kidneys, lungs and stomach, at some point they had all slipped out of my body over the course of being digested alive. I planted the chunks around the passageway that led into the monster''s esophagus.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    To make my great escape, I chose the monster''s throat since I really didn¡¯t want to go out the wazoo. I¡¯m sure I could have gotten out that way much easier, as part of nature¡¯s call, but I was of course against that. At the time I felt I¡¯d lose something important if I went with that escape route for several unspeakable reasons. It was a real shame I lost that something later on anyways when I was too overconfident and bit off more than I could chew.


    In my great escape I detonated my body parts around the esophageal sphincter. I then pried open the blocked passageway leading into its esophagus with my skeletal hands. When the monster fell to the ground in pain I climbed into its esophagus and clawed my way out to freedom in a grotesque fashion. While I moved through it¡¯s esophagus, I detonated bits and pieces of my body and inflicted as much damage as possible. By the time I reached halfway out, the monster ceased rolling about from the pain. It was unclear to me whether it had died from the accumulated internal damage I wrought inside its body through detonating parts of my body, or whether it simply suffocated from having me lodged in its throat. I liked to think it was the former, but honestly, it might very well have been the latter.


    When I finally reached its mouth I stuck my right arm out while my flesh reformed itself from the fingers upwards. That one moment was probably the most glorious moment in my life. If I had to describe it, I¡¯m sure it was the same feeling a certain buddy of mine had in the past that coined the famous lines during a certain monumental event, ¡°this is one step for man and a giant leap for mankind.¡±


    With romantic thoughts like that in mind, I pried it¡¯s jaw open with my left hand and dragged my exhausted, haggard looking body out of the monster who laid lifeless on the ground with my right hand. When I checked my level back then I was shocked as I¡¯d jumped 5 levels from a single kill.


    Over the last five months, by some sort of miracle I¡¯d successfully killed a total of twenty monsters through theft or methods similar to how I was eaten the first time. Thanks to the monumental effort I put in I¡¯d raised my level up to level 45. When I thought of how the former crossdressing hero spent five years to reach this point, I somehow felt a bit special inside. It was an arduous hell like journey covered in guts and gore, but it was a beautiful one nonetheless. It really brought me to tears when I thought back over everything I¡¯d been through.


    ¡°Hey, could you please stop stalling and hurry up and finish that thing off already.¡±


    It was only when Kana brought it up that I realized the monster eating my body had not died from my body¡¯s earlier explosion. Tch, I really had to find a way to increase the firepower if I wanted it to be effective on higher level monsters.


    The serpentine monster had a large hole blown through its skull and was rolling about on the ground in pain. I was surprised how it was still alive, but it wasn¡¯t impossible for a high level monster like this to survive for some time even with such heavy injuries.


    Since it was close to death, I thought I¡¯d finish it off while putting on a show, but the next thing I knew, my body that had only just regenerated beneath my head fell to the ground again. My vision turned sideways and I easily understood I¡¯d been decapitated once again. When I looked at the person responsible, with confusion in my eyes, she looked the other way while innocently whistling and kicked my head into the serpent¡¯s open mouth.


    ¡°What gives you-¡°


    ¡°You were taking too damn long so I figured I¡¯d give you a helping hand.¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t need this type of help though!¡±


    ¡°I thought you were troubled on how to finish it off, if you¡¯re not, then hurry up and do it. Stop wasting our time.¡±


    Haaaaaah, whatever. With a single thought the world around me, or to be more specific, the insides of the serpent''s mouth disappeared momentarily in a bloody explosion as brain matter flew about in all directions. When I next opened my eyes, the ground littered with brain matter and blood strewn about everywhere came into view.


    Haaaaaaaaaah. At least I didn¡¯t have to clean it up I guess. I was too uncool though, my head was just treated like an unwanted grenade by this cold and heartless woman named Kana.


    With my weary body, I stood back up and glared daggers at her back. I was hellbent on pushing her into the next monster''s mouth we came across. I¡¯d really had it up to here with her. However, there was nothing I could do as long as I didn¡¯t know the limits of her strength. If she turned out to be anything like Yueliang, I¡¯d just become a punching bag.


    ¡°You have a problem?¡±


    ¡°What did I ever do to you?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. Hmmmp.¡±


    She said that cooly while turning her head to the side with a snort.


    ¡°Then what is with this unreasonable treatment?¡±


    ¡°A woman can hold a grudge for a long time you know.¡±


    ¡°Just how did I incur your ire, Miss Kana?¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know? You really can¡¯t tell?! I¡¯ve been with you for two months now and you haven¡¯t caught on in the slightest? You¡¯re really infuriating, you know that?¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t get it. Just what did I really do? When we first met you seemed friendly enough, but after a few days you were getting colder and colder for no apparent reason.¡±


    ¡°Haaaaaaah, it¡¯s times like these I actually miss that crossdressing hero. She was not the best looker and lacked all forms of sex appeal, but she was definitely way better than you. Just where did that good hearted girl go?¡±


    ¡°Oh? You actually miss her?¡±


    It might have been my imagination, but she actually looked a bit pleased when she heard my complaints.


    ¡°What about her do you miss?¡±


    Strange, she¡¯s never bothered to inquire about the crossdressing hero before.


    ¡°I miss how she occasionally distracted the high leveled monsters allowing me to steal the caged monsters from under their noses. I also especially miss hiding from her afterwards so I could kill them by myself and hog all the experience.¡±


    ¡°Tch. Shameless pig.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not all I miss though, I really miss how we were able to joke about things from Earth.¡±


    ¡°Hmmp. I bet she doesn¡¯t miss that at all.¡±


    ¡°I also miss how she always intently listened to my stories of the past unlike how you heartlessly ignore every word I say.¡±


    ¡°She was probably just being polite and secretly thought you were a lunatic. Hmmp! Besides that, who would actually believe you¡¯re two thousand years old anyways?¡±


    ¡°Eh? Miss Kana, did I ever tell you I was two thousand years old?¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°That was just a guess based upon some of the nonsensical stories you keep ranting and raving about all the time.¡±


    ¡°But you never listened to them and just ignored them. I¡¯ve only ever mentioned history as far back as five hundred years to you over the two months since our first meeting. How could you know so precisely that I¡¯m actually two thousand years old from that?¡±


    ¡°Eh? Ah. That is¡­ I was informed by the crossdressing hero you keep bringing up, that was before she left, of course.¡±


    ¡°Is that really the truth?¡±


    It couldn¡¯t really be something absurd like this beauty was actually the crossdressing hero the entire time and I was the dense stereotypical protagonist who didn¡¯t realize it because of how different she looked. No way, right? Even I¡¯m not that dense.


    Wait, now that I think about it, there are some times where the pitch of her voice sounds unnatural. No, but if I really think about it, if she was the crossdressing hero, then wouldn¡¯t everything make sense? The reason she became colder over time, wasn¡¯t it precisely my big mouth that caused it by bad mouthing her behind her back? I was also guilty of being unable to recognize her after all that time passed, which also probably really got on her nerves, right?


    ¡°Wow, I really, really, REALLY miss that crossdressing hero so much. Where could that beautiful woman with boundless sex appeal and an amazing personality have disappeared to? Hahahaha. Right?¡±


    Rather than responding, she shit an intense glare filled with resentment in my direction.


    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ really actually her?¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±


    ¡°No way, right? Really?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you at least say you¡¯re not?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Did you actually want me to figure it out the entire time?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Come on, at least say something.¡±


    ¡°Shut up. So what if I wanted you to figure it out? I thought after a few days you¡¯d catch on, but instead you just blindly believed I was sent off on an errand. Do you have any idea how infuriating watching you act all happy go lucky as soon as I ¡®left¡¯ was?¡±


    ¡°Okay, I can admit I may have been a teensy little bit of a jerk.¡±


    ¡°A teensy little bit?¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay, I was a jerk, alright? I get it. I get why you¡¯re so ticked now. But it couldn¡¯t be helped, how can a guy not be happy when the number of flowers around him increases.¡±


    ¡°Flattery isn¡¯t going to get you anywhere here.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Why are your cheeks slightly red then?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not, it¡¯s all in your head. Even if it were red right now, it¡¯d be from rage and nothing else.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of my head, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit too much to cut my head off and kick it around like a soccer ball the way you did just now?¡±


    She looked at me with a deadpan expression and said, ¡°it¡¯s far from enough.¡±


    ¡°No no no. Haven¡¯t you ever heard of respecting your elders?¡±


    ¡°Hah?! You¡¯re still going on about that lie about you being two thousand years old?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a lie!¡±


    ¡°Whatever, forget it.¡±


    While we bickered back and forth like this we finally made it to the stairs that led to the 70th floor. By sheer luck we¡¯d stealthily snuck past the Troll Archduke floor boss¡¯ room on the 71st floor without having to confront him directly. When we climbed to the top of the staircase what awaited us was a rather peculiar sight.

 Chapter 12. Part 2.

    Chapter 12. Part 2.


    The ground was a perfect reflection of the night sky, flickering lights scattered about in all directions formed the various stars within the cosmos. Upon closer inspection, those lights were large swarms of fireflies fluttering about across a completely flat black plain. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing else that obstructed the space like scenery. Overall, the entire floor was pitch black, except for where the fireflies provided small amounts of luminosity.


    When I glanced at Kana, I noticed her eyes were opened up wide in disbelief while she stared mindlessly at the ceiling behind us. I tapped on her shoulder and made sure she was okay, but she didn¡¯t mind me at all. Instead of responding to me, she blankly raised her arm and pointed upwards directing my gaze to where her eyes were glued.


    When I traced a path with my eyes to where her finger pointed at, something completely shocking entered my field of view. If someone told me there were floating  islands that defied gravity where cities were built, I¡¯m sure I could find it in myself to accept that, but if you told me cities could be built upside down, you fine sir are someone I must slap silly.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned.¡±


    Slap.


    Of course I¡¯d done the only natural thing one could do in such a surreal situation, I turned to Kana and slapped her once on the cheek to make sure I wasn¡¯t dreaming.


    ¡°Ouch! What the hell was that for?!¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I wanted to make sure you weren¡¯t dreaming inside a dream to make sure there were no nonsensical shenanigans later on.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a freaking movie!¡±


    I shot her a look that questioned whether she at was mentally challenged and asked, ¡°isn¡¯t that obvious?¡±


    ¡°Come here, let this sister here slap you a few times to make sure you''re not dreaming inside a dream.¡±


    ¡°You know, I won¡¯t feel it even if you slap me.¡±


    ¡°Tch. The biggest downside to dying was losing all the resistances I worked so hard to raise over five years.¡±


    ¡°If you like, I know a pretty good way to raise pain resistance quickly, want to try it?¡±


    ¡°No thank you. After seeing what you go through on a daily basis, I have zero interest in taking that route. Besides, I learned it the hard way, but there are some things that can neutralize resistances. It¡¯s best not to be overly reliant on resistances that dull your senses.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, an Achilles heel for example.¡±


    ¡°What? I was talking about things like cursed weapons.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Ah. Right. I was too.¡±


    After I avoided having my greatest weakness being exposed, I skillfully diverted the subject, ¡°hey, how do you think we can reach that city?¡±


    ¡°How about jumping and grabbing onto one of the buildings?¡±


    ¡°The most I can jump is 20 meters, we wouldn¡¯t even come anywhere close to reaching it.¡±


    ¡°What about I ride on your shoulders and we do a two stage jump. You jump up with me on your shoulders, rotate your body upside down in the air after you let go of me. If we synchronize our timing, I can springboard off your feet in mid air while you push off against my feet at the same time to further amplify the height we can jump to. You could also detonate your legs to add extra propulsion.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea, but I still doubt we¡¯d come anywhere near the buildings on the ceiling. Kana, instead of that, how about you just grow out a pair of wings and fly? You¡¯re part vampire now, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not at a high enough level for that according to what Yueliang said.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you too useless for being part vampire? All you got out of it was an upgrade in your charm stat and eternally silky soft skin. Aren¡¯t the perks pretty garbage?¡±


    ¡°Who are you to speak? What¡¯s with you, you¡¯re immortal and undying and the most you can do is explode and die? Aren¡¯t you just a terrorist who indiscriminately suicide bombs any monster you see? You¡¯re practically a prostitute who can¡¯t close your legs the moment she sees a handsome guy. You just scream eat me, eat me and let monsters slobber all over you.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Am I? I¡¯m not a prostitute...¡±


    ¡°A prostitute greedily takes money from any man once they get them off, you greedily take experience from any monster you can kill after they¡¯ve had their way with you, where¡¯s the difference here?¡±


    To think there would ever be a day where I could say I was a summoned hero that became a cheap suicide bomber prostitute that opened his legs for experience when high level monster passed me by on the street. It was a good thing I threw shame out the window a long time ago or I¡¯d surely be burying my head in the ground from how low I¡¯d fallen.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got quite a sharp tongue for a girl who only just recently had a bit of a makeover, you know that?¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


    After we had a little spat, we took a better look around before we tried any of the stupid ideas we had.


    We approached where the central plaza in the city above us was located. When we reached it, interestingly enough, we came across what appeared to be a rather ancient looking magic circle drawn on the ground.


    ¡°It seems like we can still use this. I¡¯ve seen magic circles somewhat similar to this one in the academy I went to in the human kingdom. This one looks to be the easiest type to use. We only need to channel our mana into it and it should activate without any sort of inconvenient overly complex incantations.¡±


    ¡°No shit. Even I could have guessed if it¡¯s that simple.¡±


    ¡°Are you an idiot? If you have no clue about what the proper way to activate the magic circle is, you could experience a severe backlash. In the best case scenario you¡¯ll just pass out, the worst case scenario would be death. Don¡¯t just mindlessly pour mana into any random magic circle you see.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m immortal though.¡±


    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re right. I forgot you were not only an idiot, but also immortal. Never mind then, feel free to go die a few times in that case.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay to admit you don¡¯t want to see me die. You don¡¯t need to hide your overflowing love for me behind a tsundere act.¡±


    She looked at me like she¡¯d discovered the most disgusting fly she¡¯d ever seen in her life.


    ¡°We should really get your head checked out in the city above us as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°There you go again, playing shy as usual.¡±


    ¡°Whatever, let''s just get this over with. Start pouring your mana into the magic circle.¡±


    With her urging me to hurry up, we both poured mana into the magic circle. After a short minute passed, the circle emitted a red glow and the next thing I knew, we were sent flying upwards. Our speed didn¡¯t decrease at all, rather it increased at a terrifying pace and I didn¡¯t feel any sort of gravity pulling us back down to the ground.


    I looked over to Kana, but she sported a mischievous smile on her face. I knew right away she had secretly been preparing a magic spell in advance. I soon realized just what was awry, it wasn¡¯t that there was no gravity to pull us back to the ground; rather than no gravity, gravity was working just fine. It was just that the ceiling was now the ground, that was all there was to it.


    By the time I put the pieces of the puzzle together it was too late for me to act.


    ¡°Hmmp! Take this as a lesson for your ignorance towards magic circles. Did you think it was going to teleport us to the ceiling? Sorry, it was easy to tell, that magic circle had no relationship to spacial transport magic, but gravity instead. Oh well, it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll really die anyways.¡±


    The moment she finished her words, she fired off water and wind magic concurrently towards the ground to cushion her fall and slow her descent.


    I on the other hand-


    Splat.


    My body, a strawberry tossed against the pavement, my blood, splattered about in all cardinal directions in a fashion similar to a bug on a windshield. My landing painted a beautiful gory picture with the remnants of my crushed internal organs lying about in bits and pieces after it had flown astray in every which direction imaginable...


    The immortal object message was the first thing I saw when I reopened my eyes.


    I opened my eyes, still socketed in a portion of my skull that had rebounded off the ground, just in time to watch as all my scattered flattened organs disintegrated before they reformed inside my body. Much unlike my organs, the blood that scattered out from my body remained in place to forever bless this sacred land with a grand painting on the level of the Mona Lisa.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    I got up and took a look at my piece of work before nodding my head in a complacent satisfactory manner.


    ¡°Not bad. Not bad.¡± I said as I mused over the work I¡¯d bestowed this city with.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to get mad at me?¡±


    Of course not, how can I possibly give you that satisfaction?


    ¡°I¡¯m actually quite thankful to you, thanks to you I¡¯ve truly outdone my good brother da Vinci this time. I¡¯ll call this masterpiece the ¡®Buggo Splata.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Does your shameless boasting know no bounds?¡±


    I shook my head in pity and pressed my ring and middle finger against the bridge of my nose with an open palm. ¡°Please don¡¯t feel bad, my dear Kana. There¡¯s no need for you to be upset over your ineptitude to comprehend the pinnacle of an artistic piece with cascading themes melding complexity and simplicity into one unforgettable magnum opus since time immemorial. The gods themselves can only fall down to their knees in worship at such a divinely crafted portrait that can only forever be engraved into their eyes for all of eternity. Haaaaaah. Kana. Kana. My dear, Kana. If you always try to compare yourself to me, you¡¯ll forever be damned and unable to smell the roses along the side of the road.¡±


    She tried to calm herself down, but it seems my naming sense and shameless boasting had reached heights never seen before. I knew it had really gotten to her because she kept grumbling the masterpieces name under her breath.


    ¡°Haaaaaaah. It¡¯s truly lonely being at the top, my dear Kana.¡±


    ¡°Shut the fu-.¡±


    Not letting her finish, I cut her off half way through, ¡°Let us be off, Kana, my good former crossdressing friend!¡±


    She ground her teeth together without another word, but still begrudgingly followed behind me as we took a look around the city. There were fancy flashing lights all along the city streets which really reminded me of the city that never slept back on Earth.


    Us falling from the sky also didn¡¯t seem to bother the crowd of demonic folk much, it sort of felt like it was a common occurrence to them. The most I got were a few fingers that pointed at me laughing every now and then.


    It wasn¡¯t until we reached near the exit of the central plaza that someone took the opportunity to step out from the side to introduce themselves. At first glance, he looked to be a refined demon with a grey moustache and a short beard who donned clean business attire. His skin and slanted eyes were purple and he had two small black horns on his forehead.


    With hands clasped together, he started off with a formal greeting and introduction before moving onto blatant flattery and sucking up. ¡°Hello kind Sir and young Misses, my humble name is The Guy, some people like to call me a guide of sorts. For you two lovers to bless our city is truly a grand occasion. Judging from your... graceful entrance just now, forgive me if I¡¯m wrong, but I take it this should be your first time visiting our city. Am I correct in my presumptuous postulation?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ you are correct, my good man. As you¡¯ve presumed, this is undoubtedly our first time visiting. I¡¯m glad to hear you¡¯ve seen the masterpiece I¡¯ve painted free of charge for your humble city.¡±


    ¡°That was a painting...? So... you¡¯re saying that your act of body flopping flat onto the ground was intentional?¡±


    With an English accent I proudly declared, ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Kind Sir, could you please clean up after yourself?¡±


    ¡°What?! You want me to get rid of the Buggo Splata?! Art though daft in thy head! Thine fellow known aboust yonder whenceforth came as, The Guy, doth thou eyes up there not fathom thy piece of such incompr¨¨hencable merit as magnifique as these?¡±


    Kana¡¯s eyes told of many unspoken words, specifically, ¡®I don¡¯t know this man, I¡¯m fine if you want to kill him. Just please leave me out of this.¡¯


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that you need to, but if you¡¯re fine with dhampirs developing a liking for your blood and being pestered every night while you¡¯re here, you might want to consider it.¡±


    ¡°No worries my good man, the more dhampirs the better!¡±


    ¡°Just for the record, there are no female dhampirs in this city. Recently there was a disagreement between the male and female dhampirs and they split up between this city and the city on the 50th floor.¡±


    The moment he said that I broke into a cold sweat, but I decided to forget about it and hope for the best. If worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll just say I¡¯m Yueliang¡¯s exclusive personal blood bag and drinking my blood would result in unthinkable repercussions.


    Having a big shot as your backer honestly felt pretty nice.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry my good man, dhampirs wouldn¡¯t dare touch a single drop of my blood.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know where your confidence comes from, but I suppose I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡±


    ¡°My good man, The Guy, seeing as you are a guide, we could really use some of your guidly services.¡± I naturally sent him a wink at the end.


    ¡°Good Sir, you have impressive eyes to understand my capabilities with but a single glance.¡±


    ¡°Can you two stop tooting your own horns, it¡¯s rather disgusting and unpleasant to watch.¡±


    ¡°My fine Sir, your woman is rather foul tongued, is she not? Are you sure you can¡¯t do better?¡±


    With her head tilted to one side and an occasional eye twitch,  Kana clarified, ¡°Who¡¯s... his... woman?¡±


    ¡°My fair lady, is that not you?¡±


    ¡°My good Guy, she is what one would call a crossdressing tsundere. They are a very rare breed of humans that are hard to come by. They have their own appeal where I come from.¡±


    ¡°Is¡­ that so?¡±


    ¡°Yes, my good brother, The Guy.¡±


    ¡°I see, I see. So it is like that after all. The world is a rather big place, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Then, as you have requested, I shall act as your guide, but do you have enough for the guide fee?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, just bill it to Yueliang on the hundredth floor.¡±


    ¡°Y-Y-Y-Y-Yuliang?! Hundredth floor?! Sir, the reason for your earlier confidence regarding Dhampirs, it wouldn¡¯t happen to be the big boss who rules the night, would it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, my friend, you have a big VIP in the wake. Feel free to charge us sky high guide fees. It¡¯s all on the big boss.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare! I wouldn¡¯t dare! My good man, my lowly life would be forfeit if I were to display such insolence to the big boss.¡±


    ¡°Your identity or relationship with the big boss, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, would be?¡±


    ¡°Husband and wife.¡±


    As soon as the shameless words left my mouth, his feet trembled and I noticed the discernible fear that creeped into his eyes. He fell to his knees and prostrated in front of me.


    ¡°Please forgive me, I was plotting against you thinking I could make some good money. My real name is Billy, I only tell the new suckers who come to the city my name is, The Guy so I can escape easily afterwards. I¡¯m not a guide at all, just a scammer. I should have known better when I saw your seemingly immortal level recovery abilities.¡±


    ¡°Eh? My Guy, there¡¯s no need to concern yourself with whether you are a true guide or not. Whether your name is really Billy, Bob, or Joe, you will always be, The Guy in my heart. You shouldn¡¯t feel ashamed of trying to scam me my good man, you should feel ashamed for not following through resolutely with your scam.¡±


    ¡°Your excellency?¡±


    He looked up at me like he was enlightened by the profundity of my words.


    ¡°Lead the way, The Guy.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, as you will it your excellency. Your wish is my command. I thank you for your leniency my liege.¡±


    ¡°Are we done with this shitty farce yet?¡±


    ¡°Kana, what farce are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°What husband and wife? You¡¯re just her blood bag and you know it.¡±


    ¡°Your excellency, is what she said true?¡±


    ¡°Well.. I guess to some degree¡­ you could say what she said is more or less accurate.¡±


    ¡°I shall make sure to inform the city lord immediately and make sure the painting you¡¯ve used your precious blood to bless us with is forever preserved and treated as a national treasure and heritage!¡±


    ¡°Eh? Shouldn¡¯t you disdain me now for tricking you into thinking we were husband and wife?¡±


    ¡°Never my liege, to be her personal exclusive blood bag is a position even higher than husband and wife. To be her personal meal means you are something lowly demons like us can never think to touch. You would be the reverse scale of a dragon that we may never lay our hands upon without her explicit permission. It is unprecedented for her to keep a personal exclusive blood bag. If we lowly demons on the upper floors even have designs to touch the things she likes, especially the food source that her comfort is dependent on, we would be deader than dead.¡±


    That really doesn¡¯t sound convincing when she lets monsters eat me for a meal whenever they like.


    ¡°Well, let us forget about the formalities, let us be off, my Guy.¡±


    ¡°Y-y-y-y-yes your excellency.¡±


    ¡°Well, look at you, aren¡¯t you quite the big shot for being a stupid blood bag?¡±


    ¡°Try not to be too jealous, Kana.¡±


    She whispered in a low voice only I could hear.


    ¡°When we return I¡¯ll make sure to tell Yueliang all of the different kinds of rumours and gossip you¡¯ve been casually spreading.¡±


    ¡°Please spare me. Anything but that.¡±


    ¡°You reap what you sow.¡±


    ¡°I admit I got a bit ahead of myself, but we¡¯re good buddies, right Kana?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, you over glorified blood bag, I only think in the best interests of my master, Yueliang. It¡¯s like that saying guys like to use a lot. What was it, bros before hoes? Well for us girls it¡¯s sisters before misters, or better said, chicks before dicks.¡±


    ¡°My good sister Kana, your shoulders are looking a bit stiff lately. How about I give you a shoulder rub?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, how about prostrating before me and begging for my forgiveness for all the frustrations you have caused me instead?¡±


    ¡°I can only bend my back so far before I can bend no more. Can you just let me off the hook with an, ¡®I apologize my great mistress Kana?¡¯¡±


    She rolled her eyes in silence, not responding as we continued to follow behind the guide.


    ¡°This is the south street, to the left you will see casinos, to the right you will also see more casinos. Further down this street here you will find-¡±


    ¡°Even more casinos?¡±


    ¡°- a very highly esteemed inn with several different gambling facilities.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t there a bit too many casinos on this street?¡±


    ¡°We get that a lot from first timers, but in this city, casinos make the world go round. Down North Street on the opposite side of the central plaza you will see several different illegal gambling dens with absurdly high stakes and wagers. On West Street you will find several different shops that sell all sorts of games and devices that can be utilized to cheat or prevent cheating. On the eastern side of the central plaza, you will find East Street where only the most important and powerful clans of demons live. Please take note that competition is fierce among the different demonic clans living there. There are people going bankrupt or striking it big everyday on that street.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this city too obsessed with gambling?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what everyone says until they lose themselves in the fun. Will you be staying in the city for some time?¡±


    ¡°Yes, after arguing with Yueliang about human rights and vacations, she finally let me have five days to myself.¡±


    ¡°Well, in that case, we should first get you a room at the inn at the end of the street.¡±


    While following behind him, there were all sorts of demons moving about through the crowded street. There were many locations with long lines of demons trying to get into the casinos to play. There were also outdoor casinos where demons were crowded around tables cheering out at the victory and defeat of those in heated gambling bouts.


    When we passed by a certain crowded table I heard laughs and jeers from the crowd along with the voice of a female grumbling at a poker table, ¡°Why can I still not win? This is clearly rigged!¡±

 Chapter 13. Part 1.

    Chapter 13. Part 1.


    ¡°Little human girl, just give up, you¡¯re never going to win at this rate no matter how much you try. You¡¯re not cut out for poker and you¡¯re far too easy to read.¡±


    The curiosity got the best of me when I heard, little human girl and I looked over in their direction. I turned and examined the girl at the table, the one the crowd¡¯s jeers and laughs were directed towards.


    The moment my eyes landed on her figure from behind, I felt like there was a lump in my throat. She reminded me of someone I knew quite well. Her aquamarine hair matched up perfectly with that of my memories, although this person was much older than the little girl who used to call me Uncle in the past.


    Fate was cruel though, that little girl already died quite some time ago. A plane crash back in 2009 claimed her life. After I escaped in 2016 from the experimental facility that captured me, I¡¯d of course thought to reunite with her in America. However, when I dug up information related to her flight to verify whether she was onboard the one I¡¯d arranged for her, I discovered a major incident occurred on it. The flight I¡¯d arranged for her, she was listed among casualties from that flight. The plane had been hijacked by a radical terrorist group and it crashed when it was struck by lightning after it flew into a storm. There were only two survivors from the crash who recounted the events that lead up to the tragedy.


    Since I felt there was a bit of karma between the girl suffering major losses and I, I figured I¡¯d take a look at her situation. While I watched her play a round of poker, I sensed fluctuations of magic originating from her. I took a glance at her hand before I looked over to the other player''s hand and discovered she would definitely lose if she didn¡¯t fold. She was against a male demon, his hand, a four of a kind, four kings. She, on the other hand, had a full house; she was destined to lose. The man sported an expressionless face, but the girl looked extremely confident in her victory. For some reason she chose to raise to the limit under the impression her win was locked in.


    When both of their hands were revealed, her face paled and her head sunk low in depression. She complained in a low voice, ¡°How? Every single time, why does it always turn out like this?¡±


    Since I was curious I snuck up behind her and whispered in her ear and asked, ¡°what hand did you think he had?¡±


    For some reason, startled, she completely froze up, but she didn¡¯t turn around to face me.


    ¡°I thought it was two pairs.¡±


    ¡°Why did you think that?¡±


    ¡°None of your business, mister.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t entirely sure if it was from her continual defeats, but she was trembling slightly and it seemed she wanted to cry.


    ¡°Was it because of the magic you were using just now? Were you trying to cheat?¡±


    ¡°So what if I was?¡±


    ¡°Did you ever consider the possibility that the cards had a mechanism to prevent cheating? Such as when using magic to observe them they appear to be a weaker hand than yours?¡±


    Her back straightened up a bit like she was hit by sudden realization. She hesitantly turned around, peeked at me with her head hung low and her hair slightly obstructing her vision.


    ¡°Uncle?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I was startled by the first term she addressed me as and didn¡¯t really know how to respond.


    ¡°Your voice, I¡¯d never mistake it. I was skeptical when I first heard it, but you¡¯re definitely Uncle, right?¡±


    ¡°Is this a new sort of the ¡®it¡¯s me, it¡¯s me¡¯ scam?¡±


    ¡°Uncle it really is me. We were together until 2009 on Earth¡­ you don¡¯t believe me?¡±


    She trailed off in uncertainty towards the end of her sentence while her eyes failed to hide the continuous stream of chaotic emotions running rampant inside her.


    ¡°A-Akua¡­? You¡¯re... Akua? But... Akua died in a plane crash back in 2009.¡±


    Sniff. Sniff.


    On the verge of tears she shook her head left and right. ¡°I also thought I died on that plane crash after I lost consciousness, but when I opened my eyes the scenery was completely different. I discovered that I was in another world summoned as some sort of hero. Uncle, it was really hard, but I did my best you know. I thought I¡¯d never get to see the only family member I¡¯ve ever had again.¡±


    She rubbed her eyes and turned her face away from me trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.


    ¡°Uwa, you¡¯re really the worst kind of living blood bag. Making a random girl you met on the street cry out of nowhere like that.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Since Kana didn¡¯t hear everything concerning our touching reunion and only observed from a distance, I was suddenly made out to be some sort of bully who made random girls I met on the street cry.


    ¡°She¡¯s not a random girl, she¡¯s my deceased niece, well... not so deceased now.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Niece? What? This beauty is your niece?! Are you sure? I mean... you¡¯re actually blood related?¡±


    ¡°How rude, is it that unbelievable she¡¯s my niece?¡±


    Kana looked back and forth between my niece, fighting back her tears, and I, before she showed a puzzled confused expression filled with blatant disbelief. ¡°A pretty girl like this being your blood related niece, I can¡¯t believe it at all. I mean appearance wise, it¡¯s like you telling me a frog was the blood relative of a swan. Would you believe me if I told you such a lie?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not actually blood related though.¡±


    The moment the words left my mouth, Kana, with an expression of disgust complained, ¡°what is with this stereotypical harem in the making scenario?¡±


    ¡°Tch. If you¡¯re not playing, don¡¯t have your stupid little reunion here, we¡¯re a business not a reality show.¡±


    When I looked at the annoyed faces of the demons in the crowd with glares directed at us, I grabbed onto my adorable niece¡¯s hand and dragged her away from the table. Someone eager to lose money took her spot as a replacement immediately upon our departure. With us now out of the hot spot the demons paid us no further attention.


    After a minute walking down the street towards the inn, my niece finally worked up her courage and asked, ¡°Uncle¡­ why did you abandon me back then?¡±


    It was a bit troubling for me to find the words for my cute little niece, but I still answered, ¡°I didn¡¯t abandon you. Due to certain circumstances I was detained in a facility and only escaped seven years later.¡±


    ¡°When I escaped in 2016 the first thing I did was search for information pertaining to your whereabouts, only to find out you were proclaimed dead after that plane crashed.¡±


    ¡°Certain circumstances?¡±


    ¡°I stopped aging once I reached adulthood, so they wanted to study me in pursuit of the secrets to immortality.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t age?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re pulling my leg right now, right? Couldn¡¯t you come up with a better excuse for abandoning me without saying a word?¡±


    I knew it would be hard for her to believe, but I still insisted it was the real reason.


    ¡°It¡¯s really the truth. Do you really think I¡¯d ever leave behind the most adorable niece the world had ever seen?¡±


    While I spouted such corny consolation words, I felt a nearly indiscernible tremble through our joint hands.


    ¡°Then... you didn¡¯t get tired of taking care of me because I was too troublesome to deal with?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I love my niece more than anyone in the world.¡±


    ¡°Mmm.¡± Her response sounded embarrassed and unsure of how to respond. She didn¡¯t say anything else, she just meekly nodded her head and hugged my arm like she was afraid I¡¯d disappear again. I brushed my hand through her hair to console her.


    This situation vaguely reminded me of the time in the past when she was still just a lost vagrant child, abandoned by the world, starving out on the cold streets at night. When I looked into her history back then I discovered we had some similarities so I sympathized with her situation. She had no idea who she was when I met her.


    This entire situation was completely unexpected, absolutely random; an unlikely reunion that had zero suspense with no build up towards it, but I still found that one of the biggest burdens that had long plagued my heart over the last few years was suddenly gone. When I thought I¡¯d lost her after I finally escaped, the last tiny shred of humanity in me died back then.


    I¡¯d lost many people over the two thousand years I¡¯d been alive, but when I realized I was completely powerless to even protect that little girl who I considered my first family member in my far too long life, I¡¯d sunk into complete despair. Living too long was a curse and not a blessing.


    Everyday I continued walking forward, but it always felt like I was standing still. I was still breathing, but it felt like I was suffocating. I was still alive, but I was dead on the inside. I wanted to end everything, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to die on the off chance that she was somehow still alive somewhere. At some point I wanted to escape that cruel world that always took away everything important to me.


    While wallowing in depression after escaping, I attended a high school with guilty thoughts while mulling over how she would be in highschool if she was still alive. I figured, even though I¡¯d been through schooling an unknown number of times, I¡¯d attend it once again and live life in her place. It was a type of self deception to try and console myself, but there wasn¡¯t much else I could do.


    ¡°Can you please knock it off and stop treating me like air? You¡¯ve had a really idiotic blank look on your face for some time now while the two of you have been in your own little world flirting about. Tch. Incestuous lecher.¡±


    ¡°There is not a shred of impurity in our relationship as Uncle and niece.¡±


    My niece, why are you blushing and saying nothing right now? You know, as a healthy young lady in your spring of youth, it¡¯s natural to deny such false accusations.


    ¡°You beast.¡±


    ¡°Kana, what part of, it¡¯s not like that, do you not understand? We have a very pure relationship as family.¡±


    ¡°Uncle, what is your relationship to this woman?¡±


    ¡°My niece, can you please stay quiet and not make things more complicated than they already are? Can you also drop that glare that says you¡¯ll fight her to the death if she says she¡¯s my woman?¡±


    ¡°When I was a child, didn¡¯t I say I¡¯d marry Uncle when I got older?¡±


    ¡°You never once said such a freaking cute line since the day we met!¡±


    ¡°How cruel. Even though Uncle has already seen my everything.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were being too docile compared to the little troublemaker I remembered. So this was your aim?¡±


    ¡°Uncle¡¯s a big bad bully.¡±


    ¡°Kana, don¡¯t believe this child. She¡¯s always loved to cause all sorts of problematic misunderstandings for me.¡±


    ¡°Uncle, I¡¯m not a child any longer you know, I¡¯m already over a hundred years old.¡±


    ¡°Huh? No no no, don¡¯t try that with me, you are clearly eighteen right now, right? Are you trying to play games with your Uncle just because you haven¡¯t seen him in the last ten years?¡±


    With a lonely expression she responded, a slight quiver in her voice, ¡°Uncle, it¡¯s really been a hundred years for me, but I heard it¡¯s still 2019 on Earth from the other summoned heroes.¡±


    ¡°Other summoned heroes? There are more people summoned here like you?¡±

 Chapter 13. Part 2.

    Chapter 13. Part 2.


    The guide suddenly chimed in, ¡°Oh? Hahaha. Summoned heroes? Too funny, too funny. You¡¯re talking about those weaklings who are presently struggling on the 21st floor, right? We¡¯ve actually got wagers going on right now betting on things like how long it will take for those fledgling human heroes to make it to the 30th floor as well as how many will die in the process. There are even some extreme high stakes wagers betting that none of them will die or even none of them will live. In case you were interested in joining the bet, none of them surviving is the majority at the moment.¡±


    ¡°Presently, there are about twenty five people altogether. Initially there were thirty three at the beginning, however, two of them broke off from the group and ventured down deeper, while six of them went back to the surface and never came back.¡±


    The guide glanced at my niece with a strange look for a moment when he mentioned the two that broke off from the group before he averted his gaze away. It was obvious she was one of the aforementioned two.


    ¡°How do you know so accurately the details of the summoned heroes¡¯ present condition?¡±


    ¡°Oh that? There are observation devices set up all throughout the dungeon. We use them as a form of passing the time by betting on the lives of adventurers who come down to try and strike it big. Your group of two are the first two to actually make it this far. After the fiftieth floor, monsters have much higher intelligence and although very strong, they¡¯re more peaceful in nature. Those on floors lower than the 20th are what we call the tutorial stage to the dungeon. The 21st to 40th floors would be the beginner levels. And 40th to 50th would be the intermediate level. The 50th to 70th floors are the hard level. As for the 71st floor to the 99th floor... hehe, let¡¯s just say you¡¯d be lucky to survive for even a second on those floors if you tried to stir up trouble. On a side note some refer to floors from the 71st to 99th as the impossible level.¡±


    ¡°Typically we grade heroes by the floor they can clear up to. We also make bets on the summoned heroes when they first show up as to what rank of hero they will reach during their time in the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°The ranks are rather simple and easy to understand and range from F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and SSS+. Respectively, each rank coincides with ten floors of the dungeon. An F ranker would be someone who¡¯s fighting monsters on the 1st to 10th floors while an SSS+ hero would be fighting monsters on the 90th to 99th floor. There is a special rank dedicated for a hero who can fight on par with the big boss who resides on the 100th floor, they would be considered as an Undefined rank hero or U rank for short.¡±


    ¡°You know, my Guy, you¡¯re really starting to feel like a true dungeon guide now.¡±


    He just awkwardly laughed off my remark and continued with his explanation.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right, I almost forgot. Miss Akua, was it? You, although you reached the 70th floor, that does not make you an S rank hero. You took the teleportation circle from the 50th floor to get here and didn¡¯t bother to fight any of the monsters from there to here, so you are still just a B rank hero.¡±


    ¡°Haha, how cute, my little niece Akua is a B rank hero.¡±


    ¡°Hmmp! Uncle, like you¡¯re one to talk, you¡¯re weaker than me.¡±


    ¡°Oh really now? I¡¯ll have you know Akua, your mighty uncle has been fighting with the big boss on the 100th floor since I first arrived. I¡¯m far from a pushover.¡±


    Her eyes widened a bit like she couldn¡¯t believe what I¡¯d said. She let out a shocked exclamation, ¡°You fought that monstrous vampire and you¡¯re alive?! No freaking way. I don¡¯t believe it. There is no way that can possibly be true. What level are you right now? Wait, only level 45? Hah! Yeah right, as if you¡¯ve fought her head on and survived. From the brief encounter I had with her, I could easily tell she was an existence that I can¡¯t even hope to rival in a short amount of time, forget about the insignificant one hundred years I¡¯ve lived in other worlds, I¡¯m unsure that even after a thousand years I¡¯d be her opponent. Yet you want to tell me at level 45 you can fight on par with her?¡±


    ¡°My niece, please don¡¯t underestimate your mighty unrivalled uncle. Even at level 45, I¡¯m a peerless god of war who has no match. Not once have I ever lost to her.¡±


    In board games of course.


    ¡°I am a man who can not be killed. Not just that, just between you and me, I¡¯ll have you know, I¡¯m actually her husband.¡±


    ¡°Huh? My good niece... Akua, why¡¯s your expression so scary?¡±


    ¡°That slutty vampire really thinks she can have my Uncle without my consent?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Wait. Akua? What was that?¡±


    ¡°Nothing Uncle, please make sure to introduce me to her the next time we meet. I¡¯ll be the one who determines whether she is suitable to be your wife or not.¡±


    I broke out in a sweat because I was just messing around and didn¡¯t think she¡¯d take me seriously. You want me to introduce you? She¡¯ll kill me if she found out about all the nonsensical baseless rumors I¡¯ve been spreading lately.


    ¡°Haha, my niece, I was just joking. Just joking. Right Kana?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Why are you trying to hide the truth now, I¡¯m sure master Yueliang would be more than happy to meet her and discuss such matters.¡±


    ¡°Yeah Uncle, why are you trying to hide the truth now?¡±


    Because I don¡¯t know how many times she¡¯ll kill me later. Not only that, having to fake the pain in front of Yueliang every time is starting to get embarrassing. If she found out I¡¯d already developed 100% pain resistance, she might use a cursed weapon that can neutralize resistances like the one Kana mentioned before. There is also the chance she might target my Achilles heel if she got bored with those fake pained expressions I put on for her.


    ¡°By the way Akua, it was mentioned before, but there were two of you that ventured further into the dungeon, right? What happened to the other person?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that traitorous so-called best friend of mine? We took up jobs as waitresses in the city on the 50th floor and she attracted a lot of attention from female dhampirs. She grew accustomed to all the attention from them and didn¡¯t want to leave a month ago. She¡¯s probably still ushering in all the attention they¡¯re giving her right about now and living the good life while I¡¯m on my journey of redemption and revenge. There is someone that I must defeat at all costs. I couldn¡¯t bear the humiliation of being forced to serve that person every single night.¡±


    ¡°My niece, you¡¯ve been serving someone every night?! When did my innocent little niece fall into such a life of debauchery? Where are they?! Who are they?! I¡¯ll make sure to make them pay!¡±


    Well, it¡¯s more like I¡¯ll tell Yueliang they plotted to steal and hide me away from her. I¡¯m sure her food being targeted would get under her skin and make her thrash whoever dared to pick on and make things difficult for my little niece.


    However, beyond my expectations, my niece wore an awkward look on her face like she was hiding something. She didn¡¯t elaborate and said, ¡°Uncle it¡¯s fine. This is my problem, I can¡¯t have you step in like when I was still a child.¡±


    Her declaration of her independence, rather than calming me down, only made me more concerned. ¡°My niece, just what is this person to you? What kind of dirt do they have on you that makes it so you cannot tell your uncle? Could it be you are actually in love with them, but can¡¯t bring yourself to acknowledge it? Take me to that bastard that dares take my niece without my permission!¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t the two of you too similar?¡±


    ¡°¡°What kind of crazy things are you saying -woman -Kana?¡±¡±


    Babbling back and forth like this, the guide eventually stopped in front of us and brought our attention to the front.


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±


    Like he pointed out, we¡¯d arrived in front of the inn at the end of the street. There were two fountains to the left and right of the entrance which added a rather luxurious feel to it.


    At the center of the fountain on the left was a sculpture of Yueliang with that nostalgic cold expressionless face. There was red tinged water spouting out of her outstretched right hand¡¯s wrist over the pool of bloodied water in the fountain. There were several small sculptures depicting demons prostrating along the outer edge of the fountain. The same red water flowed out of their eyes. They shed a stream of crimson bloodied tears, revering the saviour who¡¯d given her blood for her people. It was a rather moving scene, to say the least.


    On the other hand, the fountain on the right depicted what appeared to be a human at the center. He was spouting a similar dark crimson tinted liquid from his neck and chest. There was a crimson spear that held the human¡¯s body in place slightly off the ground plunged directly through his heart. His look of shock and fear was depicted perfectly by the artist as he looked up towards the heavens. Blood shot up from where the spear pierced him through his heart while the blood from his neck shot in a downward arch from his neck. The two streams of blood formed a curved X in the air where the intersected.


    There were also humans depicted along the edge of this fountain. Instead of prostrating like the previous fountain, they were instead looking up blankly at the sky while the same crimson water flowed out from all parts of their body into the fountain. It gave off a heavy feeling of despair, helplessness, remorse and regret.


    ¡°These two fountains hold a very deep symbolic meaning and represent a historic moment in demonkind¡¯s past.¡±


    The guide casually explained it like that without going into much detail. He didn¡¯t really need to explain it to me either since I¡¯d already heard most of the story from Yueliang before, filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle wasn¡¯t too difficult.


    I found it surprisingly difficult to pry my eyes away from it. I instinctively thought that looking away from it too soon was a sign of disrespect. Since my eyes first landed on these two fountains, the ancient air it radiated had shaken me deeply. It felt like it¡¯d been here since the time the city had first been founded. Seeing it was enough to feel like you were there in the flesh to witness that moment in the flesh. The moment an empress, cold, but who deeply cared for her own kind was born.


    The frustration of her people that she took upon her back, she shed her own blood and in return her people worshipped her for her acts.


    On the other side was the humans betrayed by the corrupt system their society purported. Their emperor slayed directly before their eyes. A man who cared only for his own gain forsook the very same people that propped him up to live such a lavish lifestyle. With the hierarchical system at the time broken the people were afraid of their uncertain futures.


    The fountain''s message alone sent a stream of shivers down my back. The Yueliang depicted here felt world¡¯s apart from the Yueliang I¡¯d gotten close to. She felt like an untouchable goddess here. A far cry from how the two of us interacted on a daily basis.

 Chapter 13. Part 3

    Chapter 13. Part 3


    Aside from the two eye-catching fountains at the left and right of the entrance, another notable point to the inn was definitely it¡¯s scale. The inn, unexpectedly, was a high rise building with twenty floors. It took up a very large amount of space, nearly the size of a football stadium. It was to the point that I wanted to retort and denounce it as no longer an inn, but my complaint would only fall on empty ears.


    When we walked in, the walls were all lined with slot machines as far as the eye could see. The center of the room seemingly focused on all sorts of table games that ranged from cards, roulette, craps, bingo, and wheel of fortune. There was even a section for a few peculiar ones like miniature horse racing, cock fighting, and a ring that had a pair of demons boxing while the surrounding demons heatedly placed wagers on their favoured fighters. Of course, I was shocked by the sheer variety of it all, but I didn¡¯t let it show on my face since my niece had a cool and composed expression. She didn¡¯t display the slightest ripple of shock towards the grand sight before her eyes. There was no way I could act like a country bumpkin in front of my niece, so I followed her example and similarity treated it like nothing much.


    Kana on the other hand, like the inexperienced new born chick she was, looked about left and right breathing in deeply and gasping at all the strange foreign sights. Since she was teleported here while she was still in high school, she¡¯d probably never stepped into a casino in her short lifetime.


    To the right as we entered was the front desk, a transparent magical shield was put up. It doubled as a location to both exchange casino chips and money as well as check in guests.


    The guide motioned for us to approach the desk before he took his leave. He said he needed to make a report to his superiors. He likely wanted to make good on his earlier words regarding the painting I¡¯d left behind in the central plaza. I couldn¡¯t find it in myself to stop him when I thought about the random bullshit nonsense I spouted back then.


    The inn worker behind the counter greeted us the moment we were within three meters of the desk like a dutiful employee would in my home world, ¡°Welcome to the Progenitor¡¯s Grace Inn, renowned as the number one inn in the city- no that¡¯s not quite right, rather than the city, it would be more accurate to say the dungeon. Were you here to stay the night, or were you here in hopes of getting lucky?¡±


    The worker behind the counter said such suggestive lines while their gaze darted back and and forth between Kana and my niece.


    My niece without noticing a thing densely said with a pout, ¡°looking to get lucky obviously.¡±


    With some sort of understanding, or should I call it a misunderstanding, the worker and my niece nodded towards each other with¡­ knowing eyes? I don¡¯t know if it would be knowing eyes when it was clear to me how different their ideas of getting lucky were.


    ¡°We¡¯re just here to rent a room!¡±


    Kana, unable to take the worker¡¯s discrete winks and thumbs up immediately tried to correct them, but it seems their misunderstanding only increased.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure the three of you will get very lucky tonight.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s not like-¡°


    ¡°Right¡­¡±


    I cut Kana off by raising my hand in front of her. It seemed too troublesome to clear up the workers'' misunderstanding with the way things looked. Outright denying it only made people doubt your words more. I figured it was easier to just drop it, forget about it and move on, otherwise it could go on forever.


    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you the eager customer? Excuse my rudeness, valued patrons of our humble abode. It will be one gold for each person per night. That is, altogether, three gold per night for all of you.¡±


    ¡°That expensive?! The inn on the 50th floor was only one silver per person!¡±


    ¡°What? Is a gold coin considered expensive?¡±


    I looked towards Kana and she nodded with certainty then explained, ¡°on average it¡¯s only thirty bronze coins per person for a night at an inn outside the dungeon.¡±


    Well, since I was rather well off right now, I handed over a platinum coin without making a fuss only to hear shocked exclamations from Kana and my niece.


    ¡°How do you have a platinum coin?! Where did you even get that?!¡±


    ¡°Oh? Is it worth that much?¡± I acted like a rich nouveau unaware of his own great fortune.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°That¡¯s right! Uncle, are you actually really rich?¡±


    Seeing my niece eyeing the platinum coin lustfully, I felt a bit proud of myself for so casually flaunting my wealth.


    ¡°Platinum coins are only used for transactions on the level of nations. A silver coin is equivalent to one hundred bronze coins, a gold coin converts to one hundred silver coins, while a platinum coin is worth ten thousand gold coins. We¡¯ve been together the entire time and I¡¯ve never seen you ever get that amount from the monsters we killed through theft.¡±


    ¡°Eh?! Ten thousand gold coins?!¡±


    Even I was completely shocked by my unknown wealth.


    ¡°Really, when did you get this? I worked myself to the bone and lived the life of a broke college student during my time as a hero, yet you¡¯re telling me you came to this world seven months ago and have been sitting on riches this entire time?! Isn¡¯t my life too unfair?¡±


    ¡°Uhm, Kana, you remember the times where you lured monsters away for me? Whenever you did, I would loot the place and I occasionally stumbled upon a platinum coin here and there. In total I¡¯ve found ten of them.¡±


    The real story was that Yueliang gave it to me as a bit of spending money while on my vacation. She told me to get her some nice clothes and necessities when we reached the 70th floor for her. Basically, it was sending me on an errand to do some shopping for her since she couldn¡¯t leave the hundredth floor herself. She even said I could keep the change. The ten platinum coins I claimed I¡¯d found, that was actually how many she gave me for this trip.


    Just how skewed was her sense of money that she could hand these out like it was nothing? Well, she was the final boss in this dungeon, I guess she was bound to be filthy stinking rich with how long she¡¯s lived at the very top of the pyramid. Honestly, I really thought a platinum coin would just be the equivalent of one hundred gold coins or something. How was I supposed to know she was unknowingly acting the part of a sugar mama? By giving me this sum of money instead of to Kana, her actual servant, was she trying to flaunt her wealth in my face to keep me on a leash?


    Since it was too embarrassing to tell them I essentially had a sugar mama, I could only shamelessly lie to them and hide the truth like I¡¯d done.


    ¡°Y-y-you! Shameless!¡±


    ¡°Eh? Kana?¡±


    ¡°Despicable!¡±


    ¡°Calm-¡°


    ¡°Scoundrel!¡±


    ¡°-down.¡±


    ¡°Greedy wealth hoarding pig!¡±


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t know they were that valuable! How was I supposed to know? I¡¯ve never had the chance to explore this world, so I have no sense of how much the currency here is worth.¡±


    ¡°How about this? Both of you, show me your hands.¡±


    Kana, albeit reluctant, did as instructed while glaring daggers at me, suspicion written all over her face. My niece on the other hand, fully understood my intentions, eagerly stuck out her hand with a smug face as if to say, ¡°hand over my ten years¡­ no, one hundred years worth of allowance old man.¡±


    In a way it was a stick up and I was being robbed, but as it wasn¡¯t my money to start with, I still resolved myself to give them a share of the windfall of wealth I¡¯d been gifted. I still felt like a father internally in turmoil, forced to give out his life savings to his daughters.


    ¡°Here you go.¡±


    With a cool face trying to act as suave as possible, I fished out six platinum coins, three in each hand and I placed them into their open palms.


    Kana was shocked, while my niece just pouted with a somewhat dissatisfied look like she¡¯d expected more. She even had the nerve to eye Kana¡¯s palm with three platinum coins, obvious desire written all over her face.


    I quickly latched onto both her hands knowing this niece of mine was a money grubber who was extremely loose with her money. Whenever I gave her allowance in the past, she¡¯d immediately run off to the store and buy video games to play with her friends.


    Hah, that really brought me back to the good old days. It was a short moment in my life where I finally found some sort of peace in my heart after countless years moving about from place to place.


    This little girl had some really good friends back then too. What were their names again? Kanji, Otaku, Boku and Mugo? I think it was something along those lines. I never met them in the end, but she always mentioned the four of them and their little adventures together. They¡¯d only been together for four years while in elementary school, but from what I heard from her back then, they got along quite well. I wonder what they¡¯re up to right now back on Earth.


    ¡°Sir, How many nights did you intend to stay?¡±


    ¡°For now, make it a month.¡±


    ¡°Understood, that will be ninety gold coins altogether. Your change is 9910 gold coins.¡±


    Hehehe, so what if I extend my stay? It just means I¡¯ll have to let her have a bit more of my blood when I return. Although, that spectre of hers still shows up everyday and steals my blood. Her spectre brings it back to her even when we¡¯re apart which was rather annoying in its own way.


    The worker took out a sack with gold coins jingling about from a storage ring and handed it over to me.


    ¡°How much is a storage ring?¡±


    ¡°The cheapest we have here are valued at one hundred gold coins, the inter spatial storage size is one cubic meter in size.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take three. One for each of us.¡±


    ¡°Uncle thank you! I¡¯d lost the one I managed to snag two months ago and I¡¯ve been having quite a hard time recently because of it.¡±


    ¡°Then, the remaining amount is 9610 gold coins.¡±


    After taking out the three hundred gold coins from the bag, the inn¡¯s worker handed it over to me. They also handed over a card with magic circles inscribed on it with 20-1 written on it.


    ¡°Thank you for your patronage. Please feel free to enjoy the various facilities we offer during your stay.¡±

 Chapter 13. Part 4.

    Chapter 13. Part 4.


    Satisfied with my unexpected windfall, now that I¡¯d instantly gone from rags to riches, I departed with my niece and Kana in tow. I was tired after our long journey here and my intention was to first check out the rooms we¡¯d be staying in. I naturally headed towards the magic circle off to the side with that thought in mind. There were several small miniature magic circles with the numbers one through twenty depicted on the wall behind it. It was pretty intuitive, to operate the magic circle you just needed to channel a bit of mana into the numbered circle on the wall corresponding to the floor you wanted to go to.


    As it was similar to an elevator, I felt a petty sense of self satisfaction that I didn¡¯t look like an old man out of his era who had to ask how all the fancy magical gadgets in this world worked. Ah, the struggles of an old man were truly endless. I couldn¡¯t count the number of times I¡¯d suffered the curse of old men in the last two thousand years, thankfully I¡¯d somehow adapted to modern everyday life back on Earth.


    I still remember my first experience with electricity. It was really a cultural shock when I visited the west for a brief period of time on vacation. That damned kid Benjamin, he was a complete lunatic. With an innocent look on his face he casually said on one particularly stormy night, ¡°hey want to see something cool?¡±


    Bored out of my mind at the time, I took him up on his offer. Little did I know the significance of his damned kite and the metal key he tied to it. Yeah, I got zapped with that jerk back then by the electricity from the storm clouds that travelled into the kite and down the connected string. He was laughing like a madman on drugs when his prank was successful.


    Ugh, and how could I ever forget that young chap Thomas? When he showed me his lightbulb, I put on a straight face like it was nothing impressive at the time. I was extremely petty and didn¡¯t want to show my true feelings on the matter. Of course, he was rather disappointed by my lackluster response back then. If only he knew what I actually thought, he¡¯d surely be rolling in his grave laughing out loud right now. My first reaction to his light bulb was something along the lines of, ¡°HOLY SHIT WIZARDS EXIST?! What kind of witch did you sleep with to pull this shit out of your ass?¡±


    Even thinking back on it now, it¡¯s too embarrassing to ever admit that those were my honest to god first encounters with electricity. Haaaaah. I wonder if Yueliang ever had to deal with these sorts of old people problems.


    But forget it, those little experiences are trivial in comparison to the modern era.


    As soon as I was about to channel mana into the miniature magic circle labelled twenty, I peaked behind me and found Kana stood there eyeing me curiously. However, I simultaneously made another shocking discovery. That brat of a niece was long gone.


    When I shot Kana an inquisitorial glance, she just shrugged like it was none of her business.


    I ran back to the front desk and asked if they¡¯d seen the girl with aquamarine hair with me just moments before and they explained how she¡¯d traded in three platinum coins for chips.


    I swear, this brat never learns! After five minutes of running around searching through the tables crowded with gamblers, I finally found her.


    She seemingly noticed me too as she returned my glare with watery eyes. The look on her face screamed of how she¡¯d just made the biggest mistake of her life.


    ¡°Uncle, can I take a loan out with you? I promise to pay you back! I have a sure win strategy in this game where you make a guaranteed small profit over 92% of the time. This time they definitely cheated me! I swear it was rigged! It must have been!¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t really¡­ you did?!¡±


    She was at a roulette table. She¡¯d placed 58 large chips on each number except for one black number and the zeroes. The only black number she didn¡¯t put money on was thirteen. Yep, definitely my stupid niece from back hen, she always thought it was a cursed number. She never liked the number thirteen ever since we watched a certain horror movie together when she was still a child.


    ¡°My niece, did you really develop a gambling addiction during our time apart?¡±


    ¡°Of course not! I¡¯m just training to beat the one I suspect to be the next demon lord at his own demonic games.¡±


    ¡°The next demon lord?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the next demon lord.¡±


    ¡°It was said in a prophecy that the next demon lord will descend upon the world within six months. I have a sneaking suspicion I know who it is, but unfortunately, my level isn¡¯t high enough to defeat him. So I figured I¡¯d bankrupt him beforehand so he won¡¯t be able to raise an army.¡±


    ¡°Eh? Was there such a candidate in line? Why haven¡¯t I heard about it from Yueliang? Yueliang was going to make Kana the next demon lord at my recommendation you know. I am also in the running to become a demon lord by the way. I¡¯ve been trying to convince Yueliang, but I keep getting shot down by her. She keeps ranting and raving about how unless I¡¯m no longer human she won¡¯t allow it.¡±


    ¡°What?! Uncle, wait, wait, wait! You mean that girl with you was the next demon lord and you also intend to take on the very same role? Why?!¡±


    ¡°Oh, I presume you probably don¡¯t know about it yet since you¡¯ve only heard the human side of the story during your time here.¡±


    I explained to her about the treatment I received from the king when I first arrived, along with Kana¡¯s unfortunate tale of betrayal as well. I also added in Yueliang¡¯s past as a bonus as well. When I¡¯d finished she was fuming from head to toe in rage.


    ¡°I knew that king was suspicious! That slutty two faced half elf and princess as well! But the kingdom isn¡¯t that scary in comparison to the church. The church really isn¡¯t any laughing matter, Uncle. Right nowI¡¯m level 155, but when I first arrived here I was already level 150. Before I entered the dungeon I snooped around the church a bit and tried to investigate it.¡±


    ¡°However, I was surprised when I discovered there was an extremely terrifying existence hidden away deep inside the church. I couldn¡¯t identify them, but they easily locked onto my location. Unfortunately, I had to immediately stop my investigation at that point and flee for my life. I chose to hide myself away in the dungeon for the time being to hopefully lose their attention. If you really intend to take this side, I¡¯d strongly suggest not bothering with the church until you¡¯re certain whatever the church has hidden isn¡¯t your match.¡±


    ¡°Akua, you¡¯re certain of that?¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Of course I¡¯m sure. So please don¡¯t do anything dangerous. Uncle, I really don¡¯t want to lose you after only just reuniting with you again. If that happened who would I get my allowance from?¡±


    ¡°You¡­ it¡¯s really just the allowance¡­ haaaah¡­ never mind. You¡¯re the same cheeky brat I remember. Anyway, you said you met Yueliang¡¯s spectre before, right? If you were to compare the two, who do you think is stronger?¡±


    ¡°Unless I meet her in person it¡¯d be hard to say, but whatever was in the church was definitely stronger than the spectre I briefly fought with. Although, if it was the actual person controlling it, it would be hard for me to make a judgement.¡±


    When I first heard about the levels of the demon lord and human heroes, I¡¯d thought this world was a pretty simple and standard low level game scenario, but it seemed there was something deeper playing out behind the scenes in this world. It looked like the church really was at the root of everything like Yueliang theorized.


    If there really was a powerful existence on her level or greater hiding in the background with the church as their cover, what was the need for summoning so many heroes? Why did they leave the demons around when they could easily eliminate them from the surface with the power held by the church?


    Could it be the church did not desire peace through eradication of the demons, but instead never ending tit for tat conflict and bloodshed? But why would they want such a thing? Was there some sort of benefit for them? Well... they would be able to strengthen the faith of their believers and also bolter the number of believers by taking advantage of the conflict. Was that all there was to it though?


    It was almost as if a dark cloud of fog had descended and hidden the truth behind a veil of smoke that I couldn¡¯t see through. Just who or what hid in the background? Who reaped the most benefits out of everything? Was a whimsical bored god with nothing better to do pulling the strings? Was it a god who had all the people in this world dancing in the palm of their hands just for a bit of fleeting entertainment? Or was there something more sinister at play?


    With such limited information, there really wasn¡¯t any way to unveil the mystery in the short term. There were still far too many puzzle pieces missing to see the bigger picture.


    Akua rubbed her hands together ingratiatingly as she interrupted my wandering thoughts, ¡°So¡­ Uncle... about that loan?¡±


    ¡°Oh that? You¡¯re grounded.¡±


    ¡°B-b-b-but-¡±


    ¡°No buts. Also, cut it out with the waterworks, they aren¡¯t going to work.¡±


    ¡°Tch. Uncle¡¯s stingy as usual.¡±


    ¡°Hah?! Stingy?! If I gave you money whenever you asked back then, we¡¯d be homeless beggars on the street no matter how much savings I¡¯d accumulated.¡±


    With that complaint I latched onto her hand and dragged her to the room we rented on the twentieth floor after activating the teleportation magic circle.


    ¡°Uncle, could you let go and stop pulling me around like I¡¯m a child who¡¯s done something wrong? I¡¯m a grown woman now, I¡¯m not a kid.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll always be the cute brat I brought up in my eyes.¡±


    ¡°Even if I lose all your money?¡±


    ¡°Of course¡­ but just don¡¯t go overboard and lead us to bankruptcy please.¡±


    ¡°I missed you Uncle.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I missed you too you brat.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. I just feel like a third wheel when the two of you go off in your own little world like that.¡±


    ¡°Whatever, let''s get some rest for now. We¡¯ve been sneaking through the dungeon for about two days straight without taking a break to reach this floor. I¡¯m exhausted.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s only two beds though.¡±


    ¡°¡°So?¡±¡±


    Kana questioned, uncertain as to why we didn¡¯t seem bothered, ¡°Am I the weird one here?¡±


    ¡°We slept together all the time in the past. We¡¯re family so it¡¯s not really a big deal, right?¡±


    ¡°She was still a kid back then, wasn¡¯t she?!¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s still a kid though.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a kid!¡±


    ¡°Look at her closely! She¡¯s only a head shorter than you, she¡¯s got a C cup and curves in all the right places. You still dare call her a child?¡±


    ¡°Right? Right? Kana, you¡¯re actually a really good person, aren¡¯t you? Why didn¡¯t I see this before? I must have been blind. I apologize for my rudeness when we first met.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Oh? Uh¡­ uhm... it¡¯s okay, don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, she absolutely cannot sleep in the same bed as you and that¡¯s final. She¡¯ll sleep with me.¡±


    ¡°Haaaah. And here I thought I¡¯d finally get to go back to the good old days where the two of us would fight over the blanket and kick each other off the bed again.¡±


    ¡°Haha. Right? Right? Those were fun days. I was at 189 victories while you were at 188.¡±


    ¡°No no no, my niece, you are definitely mistaken, it was I with 189 victories, you were the one with 189 losses, not the other way around.¡±


    ¡°As if, old man, are you sure your memory is still intact? Uncle, you might have Alzheimer¡¯s by now, should we get you tested? During my stay here I¡¯ve met quite a few people, I even know a good doctor in the city. Want me to introduce you?¡±


    ¡°My niece, your memory may be a bit off considering you¡¯re over one hundred years old now as well.¡±


    ¡°Enough! Knock it off with the fighting and go to bed!¡±


    ¡°¡°Fiiiiine.¡±¡±


    ¡°Tch. What fighting? She just doesn¡¯t understand how we show our affection for each other, right, my niece?¡±


    ¡°Riiiiight?¡±


    With that, a scene I hadn¡¯t witnessed in about ten years played out. I¡¯d actually forgotten about this habit of hers. My niece stripped her clothes in front of the slack jawed Kana and slipped under the bed sheets. At record pace she hurriedly dozed off like it was nothing out of the ordinary.


    ¡°Hey, mister Uncle, why¡¯d she suddenly strip like she was programmed from birth to do that?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s always had the habit to sleep like that. She says she found the clothes obstructive when sleeping. It¡¯s been a habit of hers since I first took her in.¡±


    She was abandoned in a back alleyway like that when I found her after all. Whether it was in her genetics or she¡¯d been brought up to be a nudist from birth, I had no idea.


    ¡°You damn pervert! At least correct her behaviour when she¡¯s young!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t try to. I really did! I swear I did! But whenever I woke up in the morning she¡¯d just be completely nude again. No matter how many years went by, that habit of hers when sleeping never changed.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still a damned pervert.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re family, so there¡¯s nothing wrong with it. She was just a little brat anyways.¡±


    Before allowing another rebuttal, I cut her off and said, ¡°Then, if there is nothing else, I¡¯ll be going to bed now, I¡¯m exhausted.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you mhmmmm mhhhmmmmmm!¡±


    I plugged my ears in a very adult-like fashion and said, ¡°not listening.¡±


    I crawled into the bed and shortly after, Kana crawled into the bed my niece was sleeping on.


    I felt like there was something I was forgetting about. It was only after ten minutes passed I remembered when I heard a, ¡°hyaa!¡± from Kana.


    With my back to their bed I murmured out ¡°oh, Kana, I forgot to mention it, but my niece has the tendency to seek out heat sources when she¡¯s sleeping.¡±


    ¡°Say that sooner!¡±


    It looks like it was too late for her. There were many nights where I¡¯d find my niece using me as a body pillow. Since she was a child I¡¯d ignored it back then, when I think about her now, maybe it was a good idea we were not sleeping in the same bed.


    ¡°Help me! Don¡¯t just go to sleep!¡±


    ¡°You reap what you sow. It was your idea to sleep with her, not mine. Oh, by the way, her grip strength when she¡¯s asleep was no joke even when she was a second grader, let alone now that she has grown up. Here¡¯s a freebie word of advice, the more you try to escape the more of a grave you¡¯ll dig for yourself. Hahaha. Anyways, good night.¡±


    With that said, I was certain Kana¡¯s night would be quite the memorable one.