21 Lurking Darkness

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Fallen Kingdom of Ollathir, now known as the Dark Nation: King's Castle.

A young-looking man sits on a grandiose throne. He has pale white skin, covered in ugly scars, his eyes shined of a bright red, and a long black robe covered his weak body, while holding a grotesque staff made of flesh and skulls. he looked at a small crystal ball.

If seen very close, you could notice how countless deformed faces crying in agonizing pain inside the crystal ball, these crying souls were the people that once lived on this kingdom, trapped inside this crystal ball, to agonize and suffer for eternity.

A small magic projection formed from the crystal ball, and an image came to the eyes of the mage.

"…Kireina…"

The magic projection showed an above look of Kireina's cave, including the training grounds and barren space outside of it.

The mage used its weak and thin fingers to increase the image quality and then made the walls and ceiling transparent.

"Impressive… You have built so many things inside this mountain…"

The mage looked at every facility and room inside Kireina's cave, until he found its room.

Inside the room, a gigantic Lamia was sleeping soundly while squishing a little butterfly.

"There you are… I can't wait to crush you to dust…"

"The Trolls were a complete disappointment… However, the Goblins are different… They are scheming and astute… Will you survive an army of over 500…? Will your army survive, or will you show your true face and run away while they die for you? Eh? Kireina?"

The Mage waved its hand and the magic projection disappeared out of thin air.

"Haahahah… This Monster… Is really interesting, isn't it, little sister?"

On the left side of the mage, a little undead girl looked at the mage with her red eyes, she was wearing a beautiful black dress, typical of the royal family, lacking a soul, it could only respond to simple commands.

The undead girl nodded.

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[Day 23]

When I opened my eyes, I immediately realized that Nesiphae was squishing my body again.

"Uggh… Not again…! Nesi, let me go!"

"Hmm… Aaah…"

"Ghhh…!"

Using my flexible and little body, I was able to slip outside her big arms without waking her up.

When I looked at Nesiphae sleeping face, she was smiling cutely while drooling.

"Hmmm… Roasted… Bird… Aaah…"

"I wonder if a big body like hers also requires more hours of sleep, I will leave her alone for some time… Eh? Where is Nereid?"

I quickly noticed that Nereid was sleeping over Nesiphae head.

"Sigh… Should I wake her up? It's always a pain to deal with her, I will go eat first"

As I opened the door of my room, a beautiful woman figure greeted me it was Zehe!

"Ze-Zehe! Aah… Uh, did you wake up well?"

"I… Sigh… Did you go on that journey to…"

"Uh?"

"Let me finish! Did you went on that journey to… bring the materials to make this arm…?"

Zehe showed her prosthetic arm to me, it was nice and the surface was smooth; beautifully decorate with different magic stones.

"Well… Yes, I did. I told you that I was going to do something about your missing arm. Do you like it?"

Zehe blushed a little and nodded.

"Yes… Its feels very good, as if it were a real arm, and it also gives me a lot of extra stats and magic affinities, it's very good… Thanks…"

"Ah! No need to thank me, I literally ate your arm. We are fine now. I hope…"

Zehe looked at the ground in embarrassment.

"Yes… After I thought about what you did, it was fair. We were trying to kill you after all, you were in your right to defend your life, and you could had decided to just kill me right on the spot. However, you give me a new life here… A room, food every day, warm baths, fine clothes… I don't think I deserve any of this…"

"A-Ah! Z-Zehe… No need to worry, you deserve all of this! These are the basic things that every servant gets!"

"Master…"

Suddenly, Zehe looked me with warm and lovely eyes and hugged my little butterfly body.

Squish!

"E-EEEHH? (S-She hugged me! Uuaahhh!)"

"Haahh… Zehe you are warm…"

After saying this, Zehe became red in embarrassment.

"W-Warm…? I-I… I am sorry! I should be going back to my training, Master…"

"S-Sure"

The minds inside my head were surprised over Zehe's change!

"Unbelievable… You just give her a shiny and beautiful thing and you already conquered her heart… Women in this world are not so different than on Earth, huh?"

"Zehe… was cute… I want to sleep on her warm chest… forever…"

"Indeed, the charm of a beautiful woman are hard to resist! Are you hanging in there, Main Mind?"

"Ah! Yes, of course! Time to train!"

Before training, I decided to hold a little meeting with every Squad Leader, I told them that the next mage wave would be coming after 4 days, if we are lucky they could take an extra day or two.

"Sigh, this really does not stop, huh?"

"We must protect our home and this forest, this is the task that the Legendary Wyvern Overlord has granted us, and we must become stronger fast!"

I nodded.

"That's right! Everyone! The intensive training will become even more intensive! We will summon even more beings and everyone will wake up very early in the morning! In addition, Kusuri and Kajiya have prepared new equipment for all of you"

Kusuri and Kajiya nodded and opened their Item Boxes, taking out countless Synthesis Bracelets.

"Synthesis… How could this skill make us stronger, Master?"

"Simple! It will let you fuse skills! Being able to create even stronger skills and buffs! You can even obtain unexpected skills with this!"

"Amazing! So Synthesis has such uses!"

"I see, but Synthesis wouldn't be as useful if we didn't shared Master blessing and had such a big skill window, now we can fuse our natural skills with the new ones, reinforcing their strength"

"Very true, as a Mage myself, fusing skills will grant me fusion spells from the get-go without having to waste time combining elements and saving MP"

Every humanoid was able to equip the bracelet, the wolves endured the pain and swallowed the bracelets whole, and then activate the skill, creating a small bracelet on their front limbs.

"I know that eating material things is hard, but it's a small price to pay for strength!"

When the meeting was finished, I told Kusuri and Kajiya to distribute the rest of the bracelets to every named being. Including the Slaves leaders Jorogumo, Ganjo, Kura-en and Kaguya. Due to their hard work, all of them were able to evolve, so I made an exclusive meeting with these 4, including Kekensha who has been taking care of them since they got here.

Since being added to the community, their personalities have changed a lot, specially Ganjo, the Swamp Alligator King, who was selfish and egocentric. After training and learning about teamwork, he has grown more mature. Even a little polite. He has evolved into a special Alligator variant named "Rocky Scales Alligator King" which is a species focused on massive defensive capabilities.

Jorogumo, the brave Hairy Spider Queen became less aggressive, however, her brave nature has been kept, which I think is a plus. She is a very inspiring leader. Her bravery and talent in physical combat granted her a very rare evolution branch, becoming a "Brave Flaming Spider Queen", a powerful spider focused on physical combat; she told me that her evolution tree would lead her to evolve into a humanoid form in the future. Which means that she will be able to acquire a class and become evens stronger.

"Hmmm I wonder how cute will you look as an Arachne…"

"M-Master? Excuse me, w-what did you say?"

"Ah! N-Nothing! You are beautiful as a spider too!"

Jorogumo blushed in embarrassment, closing her eight little eyes.

"Eeeh? M-Master…"

The Dark Squirrel King Kura-en used to be a coward that would prefer to run away than to fight. However, since Kekensha has instructed him, he has become a completely new person, developing his confidence and strength; he is an adept and powerful mage. Just like Jorogumo, he also obtained a special evolution branch, which led him to become a "9 Spirit Squirrel King", a special variant focused on the use of the 9 elements with the help of the spirits, similar to shamans.

Kaguya, the energetic Dark Squirrel hasn't changed much personality whise, as she was always brave and loyal. Thanks to Kekensha intensive training, her power has increased swiftly, her unique fighting style of physical attacks enhanced with magic had led her to a unique evolution just for her, named "Unbreakable Demonic Champion Squirrel", and she also received the blessing of the Squirrel demi-god of Strength and Speed Ratatoskr. Just like Jorogumo, her evolution tree would lead her to a humanoid form too.

"I never thought that there would be a Squirrel Demi-god, that's hard to imagine… The thing that I never expected is that there would be cute Squirrel girls in this world. I can't wait for you to evolve Kaguya"

"Yes, Master! I will train twice as hard, I want to join the frontlines and blow up some enemies!"

"Indeed, these two Squirrels are way better suited to the title of Emperor than the coward former one who was easily tricked by the Hairy Spider Empress… I might give them the title, however get stronger first"

"The same applies to you, Jorogumo and Ganjo, get stronger!"

"Ah! Y-Yes Master! I live to serve you!"

"Leave it to me, Master! I will become your impenetrable shield!"

Before going out, I remembered that there was a third Dark Squirrel Emperor, and according to Kaguya, he has been working very hard too and recently evolved into a "High Shadow and Dark Squirrel" a not so rare evolution variant. Due to his hard work, I rewarded him with a name too.

"From now on you will be named Yamiyo! (Dark Night in Japanese)"

"T-Thank you very much, Master!"

I then, watched over all the rest of the slaves who congregated around Yamiyo.

"And for all of you, even if you don't specialize in combat, your help is very essential to this community and are a part of our family! If you work as hard as Yamiyo, you will be also granted a name!"

From the Alligator Guards to the Hairy Spider Maids and the Dark Squirrel Assistants, everyone cheered boasting in high morale.

A little spider maid came close to me.

"M-Master, I would like to talk for the weakest of us… Since I was little that I was bullied because of my stature, due to being born as a lesser Hairy Spider variant, my stature was tiny and weak, but when you took care of us, I have never been felt useless ever again! Your family is truly something else, were even the weak can find a place to live and work for"

The rest of the Hairy Spider Maids cheered agreeing with the little spider.

"Indeed, little one. All of you are welcome here; everyone's efforts can be useful to our family! And if you are weak but want to become stronger, talk with Kekensha and he will instruct you into the special training for the weakest ones, you will be able to catch up with the rest in no time!"

Something that I have noticed about this world System is its fairness, with such a simplistic leveling system, every being has the equal chances to evolve and become stronger, even if they are extremely weak like I was, there will be always a path ahead, and any effort will be rewarded!

This is the true purpose of a System! Everyone can grow equally if given the effort!

After having a nice meeting with the slave group, I decided to make a little feast for them, celebrating their total integration on the community.

Meanwhile, I decided to go check on my room, if Nesiphae and Nereid had woken up already.

"Ah?"

I found the two still lazing around while Wagyu and Rimuru brought them breakfast, so they were just eating on my bed!

"H-Hey Wagyu, Rimuru! Don't consent them!"

"Ah! M-Master! I am very sorry, but Miss Nesiphae and Nereid said that they were extremely hungry, to the point of dying at any second! I couldn't see my comrades die in front of me!"

"That's right, guuu!"

"Munch munch, Master! Wanna join? Wagyu and Rimuru brought lots of delicious food!"

"Noo! Nesi, don't call him! He's a meanie, don't you know? He doesn't deserve this food!"

"Eeeh? Nereid, don't be like this with our Master, he always wants the best for us!"

"B-But… he's a meanie! He makes me work hard!"

"That's because he wants you to get stronger"

"Eeeh? But…"

"Sigh…"

I left the two eating on the bed for now and I went directly to the training grounds, where I connected my MP with my present servants and summoned 700 Lower Demonic Beings! However, no special variant came out this time.

While seeing the monkeys and wolves train, I saw the Slime family coming out of the cave, being led by Rimuru.

"Ah!!! Masteeeer!"

"Gaah! Milim!"

"Master! I haven't seen you in a while, where were you? I missed you! Let me squish you!"

Ranga, Benimaru, Shion and Luminous quickly joined!

"Master I missed you! Guuuuu!"

"Aaahh! M-Mastaa!"

"Master!"

"C-Can I hug you?"

"Gaaahh! Let me go! Gueh��"

After every Slime expressed their love to me in a tight hug, I noticed that Benimaru and Shion finally evolved. Benimaru became almost the same size as the evolved Ranga, while having a darker red color and sharper demonic horns; his new race was "Erupting Demonic Berserk Slime". Shion on the other side, kept her little size but became pale red, while golden colored markings covered her entire watery body, her new race was "Sacred Flame Spirit Slime".

[NAME: Benimaru

[CLASS: None

[RACE: Erupting Demonic Berserk Slime

[LEVEL: 1/30  EXP: 0000/2800  STATUS: Fine

[HP: 95/95  MP: 28/28  STAMINA: 141/160

[STRENGTH: 92

[DEFENCE: 71

[MAGIC: 23

[RESISTANCE: 56

[SPEED: 74

[CHARISMA: 9

[LUCK: 0

[NEW SKILLS: [Erupting Berserk Mode] [Erupting Berserk Claws] [Flaming Tackle] [Flaming Counter] [Erupting Berserk Raging Yell]

[NEW TITLES: [Little Demon] [Erupting Berserk]

[NAME: Shion

[CLASS: None

[RACE: Sacred Flame Spirit Slime

[LEVEL: 1/30  EXP: 0000/2800  STATUS: Fine

[HP: 56/56  MP: 72/72  STAMINA: 132/140

[STRENGTH: 33

[DEFENCE: 51

[MAGIC: 84

[RESISTANCE: 91

[SPEED: 56

[CHARISMA: 18

[LUCK: 0

[NEW SKILLS: [Sacred Arts: Flame Spirit Healing Fire] [Sacred Arts: Flame Spirit Ally Defense Reinforcement] [Sacred Arts: FLAME Spirit Ally Attack Reinforcement] [Sacred Arts: Flame Spirit Speed Reinforcement] [Sacred Arts: Flame Spirit Fire Arrows]

[NEW TITLES: [Little Sacred Demon] [Sacred Flame Spirit Maiden]

"All of you are growing so strong… I expect great things from you too, Luminous!"

"Y-Yes, Master!"

After checking that they all ate a Synthesis Bracelet, I left them training with Rimuru.

While I trained some more, I noticed that Nesiphae finally came out of my room, and Nereid was with her too, which surprised me.

"Ah! Master, I convinced Miss Nereid to train with me"

"Eeh? Are you kidding me? Is this true, Nereid?"

Nereid blushed and got very angry all of the sudden.

"H-Hmp! It's only because Nesiphae was very nice to me, shes my new best friend! So I will help her train, it's not like I recognized that you want the best for me or anything… So shut up!"

"Aahh… I-I see, work hard then!"

"I will, but it's not for you!"

Nesiphae laughed at our little interaction.

"Fufufu, you too go along very well…"

"Ne-Nesi! Don't laugh at me, we are best friends now, besties don't do that!"

"Ah! I'm sorry little Nereid, let's go"

"Wait a second, you two, please take these first"

I give Nesiphae and Nereid the Synthesis Bracelet.

"Oh? For what purpose are these, Master? Is this a gift? I can't really fit it on my arm… Perhaps a ring? Ah! M-Master is proposing me?! This is too sudden; we have just meet for three days…"

"W-Wait! You got it all wrong, it's not a proposal, it's just a tool that will make you two get stronger, with this you can fuse skills"

"Aaah!"

Nereid mocked Nesiphae ignorance.

"Geez, seriously Nesi… It said right there that it was a Synthesis Bracelet…"

"Ahahaha, sorry sorry… How will I get the effect if it's too little for me to equip? Oh! I will just swallow it!"

Gulp

Nesiphae quickly swallowed the bracelet, obtaining the skill almost immediately.

Ding!

"Oh! I got it, Master!"

"Well done… And for Nereid it's the same, you are too little to possess a class so you can't equip it, eat it!"

"Gaaah! I don't want to!"

"PUPPET MASTER!"

I used Puppet Master to make Nereid eat the bracelet bit by bit against her will, until she successfully got the skill.

"Guaaaahhkk! Master you are the worst! Let's go Nesi! I don't want to see her stupid bug face anymore! She's like a very annoying old hag!"

"O-Old hag? That's a new one…"

After talking with Nereid, I decided to rest a little bit and look at my hard working servants while they trained, on the left of the training ground there was Kekensha instructing the Slave teams, and the Undead Trolls that had their new Skeleton appearance. On the right I noticed the Troll group training very hard, specially Celica and Truhan who were a hardworking couple, I envied Truhan having such a beautiful and cute partner, but I saw Zehe who waved her hand at me while smiling.

"Ah! Zehe, is she waving at me? She is so cute when she really wants to be…"

Suddenly, Zehe told her friends that she was going to take a break and slowly walked to me!

"Ghh! She's coming to talk to me!"

My three minds tried to help me calm down!

"Snap out of it! If you really want your relationship to grow with her, you need to stay cool and relaxed"

"While also being friendly…"

"Hahaha! Every woman likes to be praised by her beauty too!"

Zehe approached me with a warm smile.

"Ah, Master. Are you supervising the training?"

"Ah! Zehe, yeah that's it… How is your training going, how much have you leveled up?"

"Oh? I'm glad you ask, we all have leveled up very swiftly these last days, we are close to our level cap"

"I am glad that my super training is helping you guys get stronger"

Zehe sat close to me while waving her dress, I peeked on her chest, and her smooth and pale blue skin was sweating heavily, creating an erotic feeling.

"Haahh… Yes, Master. We will use this strength to serve you well, and we will take our revenge on our former Master too!"

"Revenge?"

"Yes, Celica told me about our former Master original plans, he used her to experiment with that new Shadow Awakening Ring, and probably the whole army was just cannon meat in his eyes, he was never as close to us like you, it always felt like a powerful figure watching us and telling us what to do… You are different…"

"I see… I rather understand now, perhaps your Master is experimenting with something around the Demons he infuse on those Rings? Like the former Troll Emperor, he possessed a similar ring which I ate after defeating him"

"Ah… The former Emperor, he was a fool… and a strong follower of our Master, he did not care about our lives at all, but master… How did you eat a Ring possessing a demon? How did the demon not take over your body?"

"I assimilated it… A system message popped up when I ate the Ring, and let me assimilate it, but before being assimilated, it left with me its curse… I'd rather not talk about the effects…"

"Oh…? I never thought that the System could let you assimilate demons, it's probably has to do with your God Blessing, Master"

Zehe continued waving her dress, letting me peek over her beautiful sweating body without noticing.

"Y-Yeah, that's right… But I would rather not assimilate anymore demons if they are just going to curse me beforehand"

"Hahaha! I guess you are right, little Master… Alright, I must continue training, if you excuse me…"

"Hmm! Go ahead!"

Zehe quickly left the resting spot.

"Phew… Why did she had to wave her dress? She was sweating a lot too…"

Suddenly, a serious voice came from behind me!

"Hm? Master, what do you mean?"

"Ah Wagyu! N-Nothing, never mind what I said!"

"Ah, alright then… I have bought my Wolf Squad, they all have evolved and become way stronger, I am quite proud of them…"

"Me too! I'm glad that your clan is hanging on and getting stronger! By the way, how are the Crimson Wolf pups?"

"Oh! They have grown quite fast, in just some days they have multiplied their size several times, they should be ready to start training, we will call them for it tomorrow, if they start leveling at a young age, the EXP gain is higher"

"Oh? I did not know about that cheat!"

"Yes, when a being is still in its growing process, the EXP gained its tripled, it's something that the system does not tell you, but we figured it out in our clan"

"I see! Very well then, let me help you out on that training!"

Therefore, I trained with my servants until the sun settled on the horizon.

[You've gained 21492 EXP] [Your servants gained tons of EXP]

[You've gained four levels!] [Level 19/40 EXP 2182/6300]

[Your servants gained tons of levels!]

Before eating, I talked with Chokumotsu to regulate the Beer quantity given to my servants, so Nesiphae and Zehe don't get all drunk again. Also, she told me that the cheese using the ice rabbit milk was ready.

The cheese was a little bit wet and white colored, reminding me of goat cheese. It had a strong cheesy smell.

[Snow Rabbit Milk White Cheese: A wet and smelly cheese with a strong flavor, very salty.

Effects: Grants +5 Strength for the next 24 hours. Recovers 50 MP and 80 Stamina]

"It's really cheese! Let me take a bite!"

Chomp!

"Ooh!"

A strong and a little bit spicy flavor filled my mouth. It was heavenly!

"Very well done Chokumotsu! Very well done!"

"The only thing left to make the perfect burger is the bread! But is there even a substitute to flour in this world?"

I give a task to the exploration and food-gathering team; it consisted of finding different types of seeds that could be smashed into powder, and when, combined with water, created a solid dough.

"We will try our best, Master"

Even after telling the cooking monkeys to deliver only a little amount of Beer, Nesiphae and Zehe still caused a ruckus while being drunk. Zehe got strangely lewd with me, which made me curse my bug body, who had no lust.

"Sigh… Z-Zehe, let's go, I'll carry back to your room"

"Hehehe, Master you are such a beautiful little butterfly…"

After carrying Zehe to her room, I went for Nesiphae, who dropped asleep the second she entered my room. Nereid came with me and laid down on Nesiphae warm head.

I laid down on Nesiphae comfortable chest and went to sleep.

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Skill fusions of the day:

[Snowy Mountains Wolf Cold Blood] + [Lower Eldritch Octopus Flexible Body] + [Vampiric Reflexes] = [Cold Blooded Vampire Reflexes]

[High Troll Warrior Champion Body Reinforcement] + [High Troll Warrior Champion Strong Stamina] + [High Ancient Troll Emperor Titan Body] = [Shadow Vampire Impossible Stamina]

[Zombie Endurance] + [Shadow Tailed Fox Flexible Body] + [Mountain's Holy Swan Swift Body] = [Shadow Vampire Swiftness and Endurance]

[Forest Caterpillar Tenacity] + [Shadow Body Sturdy Endurance] + [Overpowering Dark Iron Body] = [Shadow Vampire Crimson Iron Endurance And Tenacity]

[Cold Blooded Vampire Reflexes] + [Shadow Vampire Impossible Stamina] + [Shadow Vampire Swiftness And Endurance] = [True Vampire Supernatural Body]

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