3 days have gone by since Ahko's resurrection. When she was resurrected, Ken ordered all the staff to leave the mansion until he said they could go back in. This is to make sure Ahko won't get spotted since she can't conceal her succubus features. Ahko followed Ken to the guest bedroom, where he ordered her not to ever leave the room for now. She can only leave when she is fully recovered or if Ken ordered to. Most importantly, Ken wanted to know who that girl was who gave him the instruction to resurrect Ahko before Ahko went on her journey.
During the duration of her rest, Yue warns Ahko not to die too often. The system can always resurrect her, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any consequences. One or two times? Okay, but if she dies again onwards, there will be consequences that Yue doesn't even know about. It's if she just waits until her power goes back to normal, which is less than a week, then she can be a little reckless again.
Though Ahko, in her true stubbornness, refused to wait for another week. What she wanted was to find out who killed her slaves and Layla and get revenge on Lydia for ratting her out. At this point, it's useless to warn her anymore, but the only person who kept her is Ken.
Yue, in her invisible form, walks to Ken's office, passing through the door until she is standing in front of him. Then, she materialized herself.
12/12 Mp
"Hello." she greeted, her voice calm and quiet.
11/12 Mp
"Oh, it's you again. I was wondering when will you show up." Ken replied, sounding curious.
8/12 Mp
"Order Ahko not to leave for a week." she instructed.
6/12 Mp
"Why?" Ken asked.
5/12 Mp
"I'll tell you later, this is important for her, and she needs her food." she said, firm and short.
0/12 Mp
"... Alright..."
Just when Ken thought he gonna have his answers, the girl appeared, then disappeared after just a couple of seconds, and her wording sounds very direct, it's like she knows she doesn't have that much time. Maybe because she's linked to Ahko's current weakened state? Who knows. Perhaps after a week, Ahko's strength will come back, and then they can have a full conversation.
"I guess I will have my answers after a week." Ken thought to himself.
Ken goes out of his office and into the guest room where Ahko is currently residing. She sits on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at a wall.
"Ahko." Ken called, voice steady as he stepped in.
"!! Y-Yes? My lord?" she answered quickly, startled.
"You can't leave for a week." Ken stated, firm.
"Uhm... Why is that?" she asked with a confused look on her face.
"You... just need a little bit more rest... You are very weak right now." he explained, trying to keep it simple.
"Oh... I understand, my lord, but I am perfectly fin-" she started trying to argue.
"You need to rest." Ken cut her off.
"O-Oh... Okay..." she replied, backing down.
"I will give you food in a few days, okay?" Ken said, calmer now.
"... Yes, my lord." she answered quietly.
Ken nodded and left the room, leaving Ahko by herself.
"That solves the problem." Yue commented, satisfied.
Yue, invisible to Ken earlier, is standing beside Ahko. Her small plan had worked. Ahko now can't leave the place for a week.
"You..." Ahko muttered, annoyed.
"What did you tell him?" she asked, her anger slowly rising.
"It's for your own sake." Yue replied.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ahko snapped.
"Are you going to disobey him?" Yue asked her tone slightly challenging.
"I..."
"Tsk, you win this time." she muttered, giving in.
"And also, I forgot about this."
Ahko, you have killed
2 humans, level 1436 and level 1223. Exp: 53180
Shop coins gained: 106360
Congratulations, Ahko, for leveling up to level 14!!
All stats went up by 2.
Hp and Mp are automatically full.
"... Why didn't you do this earlier when I died?" Ahko asked.
"The system won't register it when you die." Yue explained.
"It never registers on time anyway. It could kill someone, then it'll register a day later or something." Ahko complained, annoyed.
"It happens, the system only evolved once, you need to evolve it more to make it as efficient as possible." Yue stated, calmly explaining.
"... What's the criteria for the next evolution of me and the system?"
"Here's the requirement for the next evolution for you:
> 342 / 2000 Monster kills
> 0 / 250 Human Kills
> 83 / 250 Human killed by sexual intercourse.
Here's the requirement for the next evolution of the system:
> 342 / 50000 Monster kills
> 0 / 2500 Human Kills
> 0 / 50 Have 50 slaves above E rank
> 0 / 2 Colonize 2 dungeons
> - / Reach High succubus class."
"... Wow... That's a lot of things I need to do... Wait, didn't I have that Hornet Queen egg?" Ahko suddenly remembered.
"It's about time you remember that, you dropped it when you were evolving in the cave. You never look after it again." Yue replied, slightly annoyed.
"... Fuck. That means they already got the egg..." Ahko muttered, realizing her mistake.
"Who knows, the egg is small."
"Doesn't matter how small it is, they conducted a heavy search or something, there's no way they didn't miss the egg." Ahko argued, looking frustrated.
"The Hornet Queen is very valuable. She can reproduce fast and get you more slaves."
"That's why I got her in the first place, idiot. Oh wait... I can track her!" Ahko said, sounding hopeful.
"She's not officially your slave yet, she's nameless, you only carry the egg." Yue corrected her.
"... I forgot to buy it..." Ahko admitted, annoyed at herself.
"You were too invested in evolving the system." Yue uttered, pointing it out.
"Oh, my god..." Ahko groaned. She look up and put both of her hands to her face then slide them down to where her fingers is touching her nose.
[Meanwhile in Ijuru]
Back when Ahko got the blessings of the 4 sinner gods, God of Nature, Gaia, and Goddess of Light, Riana sensed it. Sinner gods aren't allowed to give blessings, only saint gods can, and yet they broke it. Not one sinner god but 4 of them blessed a single soul in the mortal realm. They go to Umbraxis, the realm where the sinner gods resided to teach the sinner gods a lesson, accompanied by the God of Humanity, Jurna, and the God of Sun, Elios.
It didn't take them long to find the culprits. They force them to reveal who they had blessed, but neither of them confessed, which angers them more. Only saint gods can do whatever they want in the mortal realm, and Ijuru, while the sinner gods can only do it in their own world. Unfair, but the saint gods have more powers, so they are in control.
Without saying anything else, a light beam pierces through Arwen's entire torso, also preventing him from regenerating it. At the same time, vines grow from underneath and restrain Cassie's small body, the false sun of Umbraxis shines to a single point and burns Eros to nothing but ash. All happening in less than a single millisecond.
"H-Hey!! You can't do that!!" Cassie retaliated, but then the vines restraining her pierced her eyes.
"Shut up. This is your consequence for disobeying the rules." Gaia said, her tone cold and firm.
"Oh, c'mon!! It was just a one time thing." Cassie argued, trying to brush it off.
"Yeah! And now that person is terrorizing everyone right now." Riana said, voice sharp with anger.
"Well, she is not that bad..." Cassie replied, trying to defend weakly.
"Oh, so it's a she?" Elios asked, catching the detail with interest.
"... Fuck." Cassie muttered, realizing she made a little mistake.
"Hey!! Look what you did to Eros!!" Merphos shouted.
"We are gods, we can't die like that, idiot." Jurna said, calm and dismissive.
"Dude! She became ash!" Merphos argued
"That is what the sun caused." Elios commented
"Speaking of consequences, Merphos, you haven't gotten one yet." Jurna said, his voice quiet but threatening.
"..." Merphos stayed silent, the tension filling the air.
2 swords appeared on Jurna's palms, within an instant, he slashes Merphos into 6 parts vertically, and then the swords disappear. In the human eyes or any eyes that aren't gods themselves, they only see Merphos gets sliced to 6 while Jurna is still standing unmoving.
There is no reason to do such things to the sinner gods, they couldn't die that way, but the pain is painful, and it would take some time for them to regenerate their bodies, especially Eros's ash state. The saint gods keep pressuring them to say who they have blessed, but they kept silent, hoping Ahko is the one who will change it all. And so the other injured 3 sinner gods had turned into ash minutes later.
The saint gods left them with a warning, next time they won't be too merciful, nobody can stop them from just killing the sinner gods entirely, but that would mean taking care of Umbraxis, and they don't want that burden.
Days had passed in the mortal realm, Jurna, Riana, and Elios had moved on from it, but not Gaia. Well, she did move on earlier until Ahko made the biggest mistake she has ever made, burning her forest. The moment Ahko set a fire on the outskirts of the forest, a sharp pain appeared in Gaia's heart. It was stings then it felt like fire was literally burning her inside out. She was in huge pain until the fire was finally gone in the forest, but the damage was already done. The forest has turned into ash.
She created the forest by herself. It was easy, after all, she's the Goddess of Nature. Even though she never used it to bless people again after seeing what they have become, that forest is where she lived for sometime and it opened a soft spot in her heart. During the duration of her residing in the forest long ago, part of her goddess's flowing mana seeped into the roots of the forest. Over thousands of years, the forest has become part of her.
It's why every time someone goes into the forest, they feel a sense of calm and relaxation. It's why people still come to the forest to give offerings after Gaia left, even though some of them know it will bring nothing, but they hoped by doing this, the peaceful feelings in the forest will still remains.
She was enraged when she saw that her forest had turned into ash. A place where it gives her comfort for thousands of years, gone in a couple of hours by a mere demon.
When Ahko left to do the [Solving The Mysterious Missing Yotein Villagers]. Layla couldn't just sit in the inn waiting for Ahko to come back. She roughly knows what kind of a person Ahko is. She loves to take her time to finish something. When the goblin dungeon and when she infiltrated the bandit base.
And so with Layla, force Kate and Alya to go take a light quest with her, since she's a light healer, which means she doesn't have a way to protect herself. Kate and Alya originally refused and opted to wait for their mistress, but Layla kept insisting until she forced them to listen to her by saying that if she died, Kate and Alya would face massive consequences from their mistress. With massive sighs, knowing they have to disobey their mistress for a bit to protect this stubborn healer, they go to the adventure guilds and find a light quest.
[I need Jade Krist, Flowers!!]
Rewards: 100 Bronze Coins
They take the seemingly innocent and easy quest paper and give it to Lydia.
"Huh? Aren't you supposed to stay in the inn until Ahko comes back?" Lydia asked, confused.
"Yes." Kate answered flatly
"Well, unlike these two, I'm gonna be bored out of my mind." Layla said, sounding annoyed.
"Did she strictly say you can't leave the inn? There's no hurting to go outside and taking a stroll or something." Lydia suggested.
"Girl, that's boring. I want something other than that." Layla replied, dismissing it.
"That is what new and naive adventurers would say before they died or left traumatized." Lydia warned sounding a little serious.
"Hey, hey, I'm not some new adventurer, I got these two behind me." Layla said, confident.
"I don't think they are registered yet." Lydia pointed out.
"Well, make it for them." Layla said, brushing it off.
"Huh... Okay... You sure about this?" Lydia asked, unsure.
"We'll be fine~~ Am I, right guys?" Layla said, trying to sound confident.
"We don't guarantee safety." Alya replied, flat.
"Ugh. Whatever, I'm still taking the quest, and you guys have no choice but to follow me." Layla said, stubbornly.
Kate and Alya give a big sigh in defeat while Layla smiles smugly in victory. Layla took the quest paper, then took another paper from the lockers behind her and handing it to Layla.
"Here, the description of the quest and what Jade Krist Flower looks like."
[I need Jade Krist Flowers!!]
I need 20 Jade Krist Flowers ASAP!! I ran out of painkillers and I need to make more!!
"20 Jade Krist Flowers? Sounds easy enough." Layla said, relaxed.
"Be careful though... They only grow in the Trica Forest..." Lydia warned.
"The goblin dungeon is already destroyed, so we'll be fine." Layla replied.
"Not that... The bandits... What's gonna happen when you three get kidnapped and become their slaves?" Lydia asked, worried.
"That's why I brought these two, they may be a little weak, but with teamwork, we can do it." Layla said, trying to reassure herself.
"I guess... Well, safe journey..." Lydia said, giving in.
"Thanks!!" Layla replied, cheerful.
"Oh, yeah, Kate, Alya, I need you two to put your hands on this orb so it can value your guys' power and assign your classes and ranks accordingly." Lydia instructed.
Alya steps forward first and lays her hand on the orb on the receptionist's desk. The orb glows subtly, showing the color green.
Name: Alya
Rank: F Rank
Class: Feline Rogue
"..." everyone went silent, unsure what to say.
"You sure they can protect you..?" Lydia asked, now doubtful than ever.
"U-Uhm... How 'bout you, Kate?" Layla said, forcing a smile.
Alya steps backwards and lets Kate lay her hand on the same orb. All the while, their face remains flat like they didn't care about how low their ranks are. Same as Alya, the orb glows subtly with the color light gray.
Name: Kate
Rank: F Rank
Class: Fox Mage
"..." silence filled the desk again.
"W-Wow... They are both F ranks..." Lydia said, surprised.
"How are you guys that low? I thought Ahko picked you guys because you guys are special." Layla asked, confused.
"We are, we just came out from being slaves our whole life. We never trained or killed any monsters." Alya explained, calm and unbothered of the fact that she and Kate are F ranks.
"Fuck... F-Fine, whatever you guys still can protect me." Layla said, trying to stay confident.
"Are you certain, Layla?" Lydia asked again, worried.
"Either I die of boredom or live my life a little with a chance of bandits showing up." Layla replied, stubborn.
"Oookay..." Lydia said, giving up.
And so, the three went on their way to the Trica Forest to find and collect Jade Krist Flowers.
[Jade Krist Flower]
It is commonly found in the Trica Forest, low growing small flower used as an ingredient in a common low painkiller potion in the South Continent. It has the features of thick, jade-like translucent petals that contain a natural numbing agent that becomes active when crushed. The flower emits a distinct, sharp and bitter scent and even more bitter when eaten raw.
The moment they set foot in the forest, they already found one, then another, then another. It's easy, the flowers are very common after all. What they didn't realize is that the flowers lead them to one of the bandit bases. They were too focused picking the flowers. After getting 10 flowers, they suddenly heard faint footsteps coming their way. Not taking any chances, Layla quickly hid behind a tree while Alya and Kate calmly hid nearby as well.
"Heh, tell me about it." the bandit said, laughing casually.
"She was so stubborn for no fucking reason, like, just let me use your mouth, and she keeps trying to bite my dick! So I stab her cranium." the other said, speaking bluntly.
"Yeah, that bitch was annoying as hell." the first agreed.
"She thought she could just keep going until we tire out and leave her alone or something." the second added, mocking.
2 bandits walked around the area for a bit, it's strange for bandits to just walk around where there are no pathways. Until Layla realized what was in front of her. A bandit base, in the middle of the Trica Forest. The 2 bandits are just walking around, they are patrolling the area. Layla gasped in shock after realizing her situation.
"Huh?"
"Who's there?"
"We heard you, come out." the first bandit demanded.
Layla also passed out after hearing the bandits. She should've kept her mouth shut, but she's too surprised. Now, the bandits have heard her, and sooner or later, she will get caught and become another victim of the bandits. The bandits quickly headed in her rough direction. The despair in her eyes knowing she couldn't escape, and if she tried, the rustling of the bush and grass would narrow her spot even further. All she could do was keep herself still and very quiet, not even trying to breathe until she almost passed out.
"Sounds like you are ready to get beaten up." the second bandit said, threatening.
"You can hide, but you can't run." the first bandit added, confident.
"One move and you are dead." the second warned.
"Come out now, and maybe we'll spare you." the first lied, his voice rough.
"That sounds like a girl, right?" he asked.
"Probably, I didn't pay attention." the other replied.
"Hundred percent it's a girl." he insisted.
"A girl, huh? I bet she's cute when she gets the nerve to spy on us~" the other said, grinning.
"You're right... Where are you, little girl~?" he called mockingly.
The 2 bandits get closer and closer to Layla, until Alya comes from behind. Because of her [Quiet Steps] passive ability, nobody can hear her footsteps even up close, with her high agility for her rank, she's able to avoid making any rustling sounds. Until she's directly behind them, using her twin tails, she wraps her tails around the bandits. The bandits, caught off guard and startled by the sudden restraint, then Ice spikes grow from the ground behind them and pierce them from behind.
Except the ice spikes are too dull and very weak in structure, they crumbled when they just barely touched the bandits' backs. Once one of them caught on, he elbowed Alya in the face, making her tails falls easily and her nose destroyed because of how weak her body is. The other bandit then quickly grabbed his knife and stabbed Kate in the neck. Causing her to fall and bleed profusely.
"Geez, those are some weak shit. They're not even hurting us." he said, unimpressed.
"You guys really thought you could kill us that easily?" the other mocked.
"Lose in a single strike by the way, how pathetic." he added, laughing.
The bandits took off Kate's and Alya's hoods. Kate and Alya didn't show any pain, but they are too weak to get up and try to attack the bandits again.
"Oh, you guys are beastkins, huh?"
"Awww look at their cute faces." he teased.
"You guys still trying to tough it up when one of you is literally dying?"
"We could've taken you guys into slaves..."
"One is near death, and one has become ugly. Look at her nose, dude! You should've gone lighter."
"We were taken off guard, of course, I'm gonna take this seriously. I want to fuck cute girls, but I don't want to die yet."
"Fair, but look, man. They are beastkins."
"So what? We got plenty."
"This fox girl looks cute tho, you're not gonna say anything?"
Kate coughs up blood, she can barely breathe, let alone talk, as she is drowning in her own blood.
"Well, she can't do shit, what about you? Cat girl." he said, turning to Alya.
"... Kill me already, I've failed." Alya said, calm despite what is happening.
"Wow, not even scared of death, huh?"
"They probably have already given up on life, look at their faces."
The bandit who stabbed Kate in the neck gave his knife to the other bandit.
"Welp, goodbye."
The bandit stabbed Alya in the head, instantly killing her. At the same time, Kate also died from blood loss and drowned in her own blood. While that was happening, Layla slowly but surely stepped away from the scene, carefully not making too much sound while they were distracted by Ahko's slaves. She just witnessed another horrifying scene with her own eyes. It was scary, but as traumatizing as when she was at her own party and seeing her party get devoured by Ahko.
When the time Alya and Kate died, Layla was considerably far enough to make a sound and not get detected by the bandits. Unfortunately, she forgot to see who was behind her. When she thought she had gone far away, she turned around only to see another bandit behind her, smirking and with his arms crossed. Like a dad caught his kid in trouble.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he said, amused.
"W-Wait... P-Please..." Layla begged, her voice shaking.
"Looks like you just abandoned your friends there."
"W-Well, they are not my friends." Layla said, trying to defend herself.
The bandit kicks her to the ground and stomps on her chest. Layla almost screamed in pain but she surpress it, trying to not alert more bandits and seeing her humiliated state.
"Then who are they?" he asked, pressing her chest even more.
"U-Uhm... Argh! T-They just followed me..." she answered, nervous and in pain.
"So you are the leader?" he said, narrowing his eyes.
"W-What? N-No-" she tried to deny.
"You guys are this weak and tried to spy on us?" he mocked.
"W-We were just trying to find the Jade Krist Flowers..." she explained quickly.
"Those flowers? There are a lot of them in the forest, why are you tryna pick it here?" he asked, even more suspicious than before.
"I-I didn't know when I pic-"
"Shut up."
The bandit kick on Layla's head, and she passed out immediately.
"There must be more spies. I'll exterminate this one first," he muttered.
The bandit keeps kicking her head until there's nothing left but blood, destroyed skull, and mushy brain. He strips her clothes until he finds a paper.
"Oh, she did tell the truth..."
Then the whole ghost forest massacre happened, and then the Gaia forest fire.
After Ahko gets sliced in half at Haru's party. The news reached Ariana after Hina and Shina reported what they saw. The goddess is pleased by this, the death of the succubus is earlier than she had expected, and she didn't even lift a finger.
Though it's not good for the Yotein Village. Once they got charmed by Ahko back then, there is no means to get Ariana's heart back. She deemed them unworthy for her prosperity, and slowly, the village became less prosperous than before, not a lot, but noticeable. After Ahko left the village and the charm lifted off, the villagers tried everything they could, like putting more offerings, and yet there was no sign of their goddess.
Ahko gets sliced into half and also reaches Gaia's enraged eyes, but after seeing that she is dead, she too finally calms down and leave knowing the culprit dies before she can utilize her power, though she was confused earlier when Ahko evolved to a lesser succubus in an instant. Maybe it was one of those demon prodigy things, thankfully, she got killed before she could cause even more destruction.
It's very unfortunate for them that Ahko resurrected not once but twice, and they didn't see it coming.