The Darkness Woods ran red with blood. The air vibrated with the whistle of wings and the echo of system notifications, blending into a single, unbroken symphony of profit.
Hovering a few meters above the ground, Lilith burst into a pearl-bright, predatory laugh as her field of vision was once again flooded with gold.
[TRADE SUCCESSFUL! YOU HAVE GAINED 25 GOLD!]
[TRADE SUCCESSFUL! YOU HAVE GAINED 25 GOLD!]
[...]
[ALL YOUR ITEMS HAVE BEEN SOLD!]
The price of 25 gold per bird, which she had listed in a fit of audacity, turned out to be a masterstroke. Demand was so desperate that the stock vanished before she could even close the trade window. She glanced at the chat, which was practically burning with hatred toward her:
"25 GOLD?! You greedy bitch, I hope you choke on those coins!"
"This is market monopolization! The System should ban this speculator!"
"Because of you, my goblins ate my hand! You're a monster, not a Demon King!"
"Who is buying this?! Stop padding her wallet, it's going to finish us all!"
Lilith just snorted contemptuously, her red eyes flashing coldly. "It's not my fault you don't know how to exploit a situation," she muttered under her breath, never pausing her scanning of the surroundings with Analysis. "Every one of you would do exactly the same thing in my place, you fucking hypocrites. In this world, you either eat or get eaten."
She looked at her account balance, and her heart skipped a beat.
3,142 gold coins.
The number looked surreal, considering barely a few hours had passed.
Suddenly, a massive Forest Wolf leaped from the dense undergrowth on her left, having managed to slip through Kala and Mina's murderous net. The beast snapped its jaws, aiming for the Monarch's throat, but Lilith was no longer the same terrified girl who had landed on the altar. Her body reacted instinctively.
With a fluid, almost dance-like movement, she shifted her weight, letting the wolf fly right past her. With one precise slash of her sharp talons, she hamstrung its hind legs. The wolf yelped pitifully, falling on its face, but Lilith gave it no chance.
A powerful beat of her wings carried her violently upward, then she folded them and plummeted down like a missile. She struck with her knees directly into the beast's chest. Her Amaranth armor, with its extra spikes on the knees, pierced through the wolf's ribs and muscle, pinning it to the ground.
She heard a wet crunch and the predator's final, choked rattle. The wolf twitched a few times and went still in a pool of its own blood.
[YOU HAVE KILLED A FOREST WOLF. GOLD +4!]
Lilith stood up, feeling the warmth of the blood on her skin, which elicited a brief sting of disgust. But she quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a deep breath. Although the girls were doing most of the dirty work, while she primarily served as a mobile warehouse and trader, these sporadic clashes made her realize one thing: her Succubus body was a walking weapon.
Every muscle, every scale, and every spike of the armor was designed for perfect killing.
"I'm slowly starting to get used to this..." she whispered, looking at the dead animal. "Another 4 gold and a heap of meat to trade."
She began packing the carcass into her inventory, hearing Mina's joyful squeal in the distance, who had apparently found another flock of "golden birds."
Lilith rose higher, flapping her powerful purple wings to locate the source of the high-pitched sounds coming from the thicket. Her gaze immediately caught Mina, who had found herself in the very middle of a flock of strange creatures.
[ROYAL GOLD-FEATHERED BIRD]
Rare Level 1 Monster.
CHARACTERISTICS: An aggressive variant of the Big-foot Bird with steel-hard, shimmering feathers.
VALUE: Very High.
The sight that met Lilith was disturbing, to say the least. Mina sat huddled on the ground, resting her petite rear on the mossy floor. Her green wings were slumped, and genuine tears shimmered in her large eyes. She looked like the embodiment of defenselessness, surrounded by the predatory birds proudly ruffling their golden feathers, savoring the fear of their prey.
The largest of them, the flock leader, let out a triumphant screech and was just about to sink its beak into the girl's shoulder. Lilith shook her head, a shiver running down her back.
Even I would have fallen for that look... poor birds, they have no idea what's coming, she thought compassionately.
In a fraction of a second, before the monster's beak could touch Mina's skin, a green flash tore through reality. The leader's head flew off its body before it could even close its beak.
Before the remaining birds grasped what was happening, Mina was already on her feet. She moved like cutting wind - one moment she was a huddled child, the next a bloody streak decapitating every bird in sight.
[Mina HAS KILLED A ROYAL GOLD-FEATHERED BIRD. GOLD +15!]
[Mina HAS KILLED A ROYAL GOLD-FEATHERED BIRD. GOLD +15!]
[Mina HAS KILLED A ROYAL GOLD-FEATHERED BIRD. GOLD +15!]
[...]
[Mina HAS KILLED A ROYAL GOLD-FEATHERED BIRD. GOLD +15!]
Lilith looked at the notification with a smile on her lips as she landed on the ground. Around Mina lay a dozen headless carcasses. The girl, who just moments ago had been "crying," now stood with her foot on one of the dead birds, looking at it with such deep contempt that the air around her grew thick.
"Did you really think someone as disgusting as you had the right to look at me with that dull gaze of yours?" she hissed, angrily tramping on the dead body with her small foot until the bones cracked.
However, when she noticed Lilith landing, her mood shifted one hundred and eighty degrees. The dark aura evaporated, replaced by the sweetest smile imaginable.
"Lilith!" she chirped joyfully, running up to the Monarch and almost jumping around her like a happy puppy.
Lilith gave her a strange look, but she already knew what to do. When she had first gathered the bodies Mina killed, the small Succubus had made one specific condition: in exchange for her lethal efficiency, she wanted to be praised and petted by her Lady.
The Monarch extended her hand and began slowly stroking Mina's soft green hair.
"Good girl... very good girl, Mina. You did a hell of a job," Lilith said, trying to make her voice sound as motherly as possible in this bloody setting.
Mina squealed with absolute happiness, closing her eyes and practically purring under the touch. Lilith still felt absurd treating a powerful demon like a household pet, but she quickly crunched the numbers in her head.
If a few pats turned Mina into a combat fury who brought her mountains of gold and rare golden feathers, then the Monarch could pet her all day long.
Her quirks are cheap to maintain, Lilith thought, looking at the piles of rare carcasses. And I just became the richest Demon King in this sector.
Lilith withdrew her hand, and Mina let out a quiet, disappointed whimper, like a puppy whose scratching had been interrupted. The small Succubus did not dare ask for more, however; she merely watched her Monarch's hand as Lilith began methodically gathering the Royal Gold-Feathered Bird carcasses.
One by one, the bodies vanished in streaks of light, landing in Lilith's inventory. Thanks to Analysis, Lilith knew she couldn't simply list everything in the chat this time.
These shimmering golden feathers were described as a "special material with high magic conductivity."
Selling this now would be the height of stupidity, she thought, then looked at Mina, who was still standing in the pool of blood, smiling sweetly. "Mina, tell me... why do you actually put on that charade of a defenseless victim for them? You could butcher them in a second without the dramatics."
Mina tilted her head, her green eyes flashing playfully. "Because it's more fun that way, Lilith," she replied, her smile suddenly becoming disturbingly seductive. "Besides... those idiots, when they see a 'weak' and 'terrified' little girl like that, they get incredibly excited. Their primitive minds are flooded with a wave of pure desire for dominance... and I just drink up that energy before I draw their blood."
Lilith felt a shiver down her back, looking at the small demoness. Mina wasn't just hunting for gold - she was literally "milking" her victims of desire energy before death, turning into a bloodthirsty perpetual motion machine that needed no breaks for sleep or food.
"Ingenious," Lilith muttered, deciding not to judge her subordinate's morality. "Since it makes you more efficient, I have no questions. Good job."
Mina beamed under the fresh praise, but the joyful atmosphere was suddenly cut short by the whistle of wings. Lysandra dropped out of the thicket above their heads. Her white wings were impeccable, but her expression - usually cool and collected - was now unnaturally tense. She landed hard before Lilith, careless of grace.
"Lilith, you have to see this," Lysandra said in a low, serious voice, ignoring the amused Mina. "During scouting, I stumbled upon a strange territory at the northern edge of the woods. It doesn't look natural. The air there reeks of death; we'll see what your Analysis has to say about it."
Lilith's expression changed instantly. The predatory smile of a trader vanished, replaced by the alertness of a Monarch.
"The smell of death?" she repeated, feeling her wings instinctively quiver. She nodded toward Lysandra. "Let's get Kala and the four of us will check out exactly what's going on there."