Endless Journey Infinite Cosmos

by Stayrr

After all the things that he had done in his life, Alex realized that it was already his time to die. But a sudden encounter with a weird person will turn his whole life around. And his life just became weirder after that. "You are an Esper? Then come and taste my saber!" "You are a Daoist? Then come and taste my fist!" "You are a Genie? Well, can you grant me infinite wishes?" Eve

3. 65 - 96

Endless Journey: Infinite Realms #Chapter 65 Abyss Tomes - Read Endless Journey: Infinite Realms Chapter 65 Abyss Tomes Online - All Page -

Chapter 65 Abyss Tomes

"Ssss..."

"When can you learn to keep quiet?" Alex muttered as he tried to swat away Asteria who was floating behind him. "Can't you see that I am eating?"

Asteria, who was busy making the hissing sounds, gave Alex a sneer as she said,

"Hmph, are you thinking that I did not notice it?"

"Notice what?" Alex muttered as he continued on eating.

"That you do not like that golden woman that you brought in earlier, and that you associate her with me." Asteria said as she frowned at Alex. "From what I can see, you are pouring your frustrations on me towards her."

"Um... yeah, I think you are a little right, but that is only one time." Alex replied as he gave Asteria a not-so-guilty look. "I admit that what I did to that golden girl earlier was a little... excessive."

Alex then slurped his remaining dish with relish as he said,

"I feel bad with what I did to her, so I will apologize to the golden girl later, after Alina talks with her. I am sure that she can understand me pretty well as long as I explain myself."

But it seems like Asteria is still not buying it.

"Hmph, so making a girl piss in fear is just a little excessive?" Asteria scoffed, as if she could not believe what Alex was saying. "And here I thought you were a decent guy."

"Huh?" This time, it was Alex who was confused. " Why are you so worked up with what I did anyway? Do you have any special connection with that golden girl?"

"Of course none!" Asteria shot back as she kicked Alex's head. Alex of course did not feel any pain from that. "I just ... do not like what you did. That is all."

"Oh really?" Alex muttered as he looked at Asteria intently, who just stared back too.

"..."

"..."

"Tsk, knowing you, I am sure that you will not tell me anything unless I need it." Alex declared with reluctance as he stood up, with his tentacles moving freely. "I will just have to wait until you want to speak up."

Asteria's only reply to that was a wet raspberry.

"..."

"So, is there any way for me to learn Abyss Magic at a faster rate?" Alex asked as he watched Alina and the golden girls' discussion from the distance. "I could not help but have the feeling that many strong people will come to this place sooner or later..."

"Well, you need to read a Magic Tome if you want to learn a type of Magic faster." Asteria replied as she slurped some honey through her straw. "In your case, you need to have a Magic Tome related to Abyss Magic if you want to learn it faster."

"..." Alex's eyes twitched as he recognized the business-like tone in Asteria's voice.

From the way that Asteria talked right now, what she wanted was quite obvious.

"You want to sell me some Magic Tomes, right?" Alex said as he slightly massaged the symbol on his forehead. "Tsk, I could not help but feel like this whole Traveler thing is just sophisticated capitalism."

"Well, who cares about that when you can get special powers!" Asteria blatantly ignored what Alex said as she touched the symbol on his forehead.

The symbol glowed, and Alex once more felt Asteria's connection with him.

"Sigh." Alex sighed asshe knew that she was back at it again. "Show me the goods."

"Affirmative." Asteria replied swiftly as she enumerated everything in the list.

Alex listened quietly, but it was quite obvious from his tentacles that what he heard were all making him quite happy.

--

[ABYSS TOME – PRIDE] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Pride Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

[ABYSS TOME – SLOTH] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Sloth Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

[ABYSS TOME - GLUTTONY] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Gluttony Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

[ABYSS TOME – WRATH] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Wrath Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

[ABYSS TOME – LUST] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Lust Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

[ABYSS TOME – ENVY] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Envy Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

[ABYSS TOME – GREED] -- [1 Year and 6 Months of Lifespan]

By accessing this Tome, Abyss Magic user can use the Abyss Greed Series of Spells. Has 12 levels, and the user has to increase their Abyss Energy if he/she wants to use the spell inside.

--

"..." Alex carefully assessed everything that Asteria said, as he felt shocked at the amount of Tomes that he can buy.

"I can buy... all of these Tomes, right?" Alex asked Asteria as he shook his head a little. "I really can buy them all?"

"You can, if you have the needed amount of lifespan." Asteria said as she gave Alex a pityng and condescending look. "However, from what I can see, you can only afford 1 Tome as of now."

"Stingy fairy." Alex muttered to himself as he remembered the amount of lifespan that he had left.

He exactly had 2 Years and 21 Days of Lifespan left.

If he buys one of the Tomes shown to him, he will be left with 6 months and 21 days of Lifespan.

That could be enough to let Alex finish the mission, but it will also mean that Alex will not be able to buy all the Tomes.

"Tsk, I want to buy them all! They all look so cool!" Alex exclaimed as he gave a pleading look at Asteria. "Can't you give me a discount?"

"No!" Asteria coldly replied as she gave Alex a triumphant smile. "Didn't I tell you that starting from your Second World, all of the things that you have to purchase will have no discount at all? If you want to buy all the Tomes, then you must have the needed Lifespan for that!"

"Tsk." Alex gritted hit teeth, as he knew that there is no way for him to persuade Asteria about this issue.

"Can I... still buy these Tomes even when I am in other Worlds?" Alex asked Asteria as he started to think of what Tome he should buy first.

"Yes, all of the Items that you did not buy will still be available to you no matter where you go, so you can buy the other Tomes even when you are in other Worlds." Asteria replied as she emptied her last jar of honey. "Yum, that was good!"

"In that case, I have a question for you." Alex declared as his mind began to spin furiously.

"Ask away." The current Asteria was in her post-digestive state, as she was busy on relishing the delicious feeling that she got from her honey. "I am in a good mood now, so I can give you better answers than before."

Alex did not hesitate as he said,

"Can you tell me the kinds of abilities that will be gained from each type of Abyss Tome?" Alex knew that since he can only buy one Tome for now, he should at best choose the one that will allow him to succeed on his mission.

He cannot just buy a Tome because it sounds badass. He will buy a tome that will save his ass.

"Well, I can summarize it to you easily." Asteria said after she cupped her chin for a minute.

"Abyss Tome - Pride will give you spells that are focused on enhancements. Abyss Tome – Sloth will give you spells focused on crowd control and support. Abyss Tome – Gluttony has spells that will allow you to devour objects or sentient beings which will enhance your body. Abyss Tome – Lust will give you spells that are more focused on illusions and manipulation of sentient beings."

Alex nodded his head as Asteria continued talking.

"Abyss Tome – Greed will give you spells that will allow you to steal objects or sometimes even abilities. Abyss Tome Envy will give you spells focused on shapeshifting and matter manipulation. And finally, Abyss Tome – Wrath will give you spells that are focused on destruction and annihilation."

"Wow... from the sounds of it, Abyss Tome -Wrath sounds really cool." Alex muttered after Asteria finished talking. "Destruction spells? Damn, am I in S*rim now?"

"Nope, you are not!" Asteria replied angrily, as if what Alex said had struck a cord in her.

"..." Alex was not sure why Asteria seems to be angry with what he said, so he asked her,

"What's wrong with what I said?"

"What's wrong with what you said is the fact that you are thinking that we can go to S*rim!" Asteria said as she shook her head angrily.

"Alex, let me remind you about one thing. You should never ever think that we will go in a World that is based on a Fictional Story!"

"Huh?" Alex was more confused now, as he could not fathom how a simple statement of his managed to trigger Asteria this much.

"Don't expect that we will go to the D*onball world or O* P*ce World!" Asteria said as she huffed in anger. "Those Worlds are just fictional, they are not real, ok?"

Asteria then started a rant which made Alex shrink a little in his seat.

"F*king Travelers, the first thing that they ask me is that if they can go to an Anime World. What the f*k? Those s*ty things are just fictional! What nerve do they have to think that they can go there? F*king weebs! The Endless Monarch only brings us to Real Worlds, not Worlds that are just made up from paper and ink!"

"..."

[Author's Note: I love reading fanfictions, and Asteria's view on them is not related to mine.]

Before he and Alina arrived at the clearing earlier, Alex was actually planning to ask Asteria if they can pass by an Anime or Video Game World.

But with the way that Asteria felt about these Worlds, it seems like Alex will have to stop thinking about them.

"Ok..." Alex shut his mouth, as he tried not to point out that the world that he is in right now just looks as fictional as some of the manga and books that he read. "No fanfiction world then."

"None of them. None at all." Asteria said as she crossed her arms in satisfaction.

"So, should I buy the Abyss Tome - Wrath then?" Alex inquired as he decided to avert the topic for now.

"Well, its offensive power is really high, but its Abyss Energy requirements are high too." Asteria commented as she inspected Alex's body.

"Yeah, of course it will have a limitation like that." Alex replied while rolling his eyes.

According to what Alex knew, his power on Abyss Magic will depend on the amount of Abyss Energy that he had in his body.

Right now, the Abyss Energy inside him is about to reach Grade 2, which will allow him to cast until Level 2 Abyss Magic.

That amount was somewhat limited for Alex to use powerful spells, and he was not sure if he will really need to use powerful spells.

The other Abyss – Tomes might have weaker offensive potential than Abyss Tome -Wrath, but they look easier to use and handle.

"Should I go for firepower or for a more stable powerset?" Alex cupped his chin as he began to think.

After 10 minutes of intense brainstorming, Alex let out a sigh as he decided on what to buy.

"Ehem." Alex cleared his throat, presumably to get Asteria's attention, who was busy threading some flower petals into a crown.

"Oh" Asteria only jolted lightly as she saw Alex looming over her. "So, what will you buy?'

"Well..." Alex scratched the back of his as he seemed to be struggling to get his words out. "What I plan to buy is the Abyss Tome..."

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Chapter 66 Envy

"- Abyss Taboo - Envy." Alex declared as he finished his sentence. "Oh, and can you also sell me the Electromagnetic Saber too? I want to try something with that."

"Ok?" Asteria seemed to not care at what Alex said as she proceeded on buying what he mentioned. "Here you go. Enjoy."

Alex squinted as the symbol on his forehead let out a glow, before two objects came out of it.

One was an old-looking book, while the other one was a tube that was 6 feet long.

Alex knew that the tube was most likely the Electromagnetic Saber, as the tube suspiciously looks like a L*tsaber.

Alex did not point that fact out as he was focused more on the second object.

The old-looking book was most likely the Abyss Tome – Envy, as it gave out that specific creepy and pissed-off vibe.

The book seemed to be alive, as it could be seen to be wriggling within Alex's hold, as if it just wanted to slither away.

Some of its pages were even slightly drooling, making the whole Tome like a sentient monster book.

Alex resisted the urge to throw the Tome away as he knew that he had to keep on holding it.

"Why did you choose Envy anyway?" Asteria asked as she finished the transaction. "I thought you would want something cool like Pride or Wrath."

"It's because I am also interested on the prospects of using the Abyss Tome – Wrath." Alex said as he stared at the Tome that he held with interest. "The shapeshifting and the matter manipulation parts are actually worth it in my opinion."

"...If you say so."

Alex could have chosen other Tomes earlier, but he felt that they could be better used in the endgame, or other special situations.

Choosing Pride is not a good choice for now, since Alex only had few abilities that can be enhanced.

As for Sloth, it is better used in large group situations, and right now, Alex's group does not fit the 'large' definition.

As for Gluttony, Alex felt that this Tome can be dangerous for his sanity. Alex was not sure why he thought of that, but he decided to avoid this Tome first.

As for Greed, Alex decided that getting more abilities using this Tome will just inconvenience Alex, as he was more comfortable on being versed in few abilities rather than getting many abilities at once that are all low-level.

And finally for Wrath, Alex decided to just get it as his second Tome.

"Hey Asteria..." Alex muttered as she slowly opened his Tome. "There are also Bonus Missions here too, right?"

"Yes, and there are more than one of them." Asteria cheerfully replied, as if she was enjoying what she said. "So, you better take them all!"

"I sure will." Hearing Asteria's confirmation managed to uplift Alex's feelings up.

If Alex can finish all of these Bonus Missions, then it is possible for him gain enough lifespan to buy the other Tomes!

Alex then shook his head as he remembered the things that he should be focused on for now.

"Ok, so how do I use you?" Alex said as he read the first page of the Tome.

Alex thought at first that he will see some special writing in the first page, but what he saw was all blanks.

Before Alex could complain about it, the Tome suddenly turned into an immaterial dark object which fused with Alex's body.

"Guh!" Alex felt slight pain passing through him, but it also disappeared as he felt something sticky and cold circulating all over his body.

Alex waited for a few more seconds, and all the uncomfortable feeling inside him all disappeared.

"I feel... nothing different." Alex commented as he inspected his tentacles and his body.

No matter which way Alex looked at it, it seems like the Tome did not do anything on him.

But before Alex could complain more, he suddenly felt a surge of information inside his head, which forced him to kneel for a full minute.

The pain accompanying this information surge was enough to make Alex slightly tear up.

"..." While all of this was happening, Asteria was just watching him impassively, as if she had no qualms about Alex.

"Hah!" Alex let out a shout as he felt the overload of information in his mind slowly dissipating.

He took some deep breaths accompanied by the desire to dry heave.

It took him another minute to full stabilize his own body.

Once he was stable, the first thing that Alex did was to say,

"What the hell was that, Asteria?"

"Umm... that is you, getting all the possible spells that you can get with Abyss Tome - Envy." Asteria replied in a matter of fact tone as she gazed at Alex with an impatient look. "So, what do you 'see'?"

"Well... I feel like I can see a list inside my mind..." Alex said as he looked at what his mind was producing. "Yep, definitely like that."

Saying that he can see a list was right, as what Alex could see was...

[Level 1] -- Minor Telekinesis, Voice Warp

[Level 2] -- Major Telekinesis, Skin Warp

[Level 3] -- Needs Grade 3 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 4] -- Needs Grade 4 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 5] -- Needs Grade 5 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 6] -- Needs Grade 6 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 7] -- Needs Grade 7 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 8] -- Needs Grade 8 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 9] -- Needs Grade 9 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 10] -- Needs Grade 10 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 11] -- Needs Grade 11 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 12] -- Needs Grade 12 Abyss Energy to access.

Aside from the pain, Alex also realized that integrating with that Tome managed to increase the amount of his Abyss Energy up to Grade 2.

This just means that right now, Alex can use Level 1 and Level 2 Spells from his Tome.

Of course Alex will also do his best to increase the Grade of his Abyss Energy on the incoming days, as he was sure that it is better for him to get stronger.

Alex re-read what he saw in the list as he assessed what he saw.

Just like what he had expected, he can already access Levels 1 and 2 Envy Spells.

As for the other Spells, the list had specifically mentioned that Alex will need higher Grades of Abyss Energy to use them.

"Hmm... since Alina still have some time to talk to that golden girl, it might not hurt to try out my new spells." Alex muttered to himself as he activated the Abyss Tome – Envy.

Since the Tome was fused with him, it took Alex only a moment before he could activate his first spell.,

Alex felt a power clustering within his throat, with this power forcing itself to stay there.

It felt uncomfortable, but Alex did not cancel the spell, as the Tome supplied him with the info on how to use this spell.

~~Hello, I am Asteria, and I am a dumb fairy. I maybe dumb, but I am also cute~~

Anyone who knows Asteria will think that it was Asteria who talked.

But the truth was that this sentence came out of Alex's mouth!

"What the hell are you saying Alex!" Asteria complained as he heard her own voice coming out of Alex's mouth. "Cut it out! It's really creepy!"

"Well, I want it to be that way." Alex replied seeming unfazed with what he did. "Besides, it is rare to hear you actually insulting yourself..."

"That voice was not mine!"

~~Honey, honey, honey, I'll slurp you all like p-~~

"Oh shut it, Alex!" Asteria shouted as she dropkicked Alex on his squishy nose. Of course this did not faze Alex at all.

Instead, Alex continued on what he was singing, which successfully reduced Asteria to a blushing mess at the end of his 'special song'.

"Hearing those words out in my voice is by far, the worst experience that I have with you for now." Asteria whispered as she gave killer glares at Alex. "Huhuhu hooman, remember that I will enact my revenge to you!"

"Yeah yeah.." Alex replied nonchalantly, looking like he was not worried at all.

Asteria's reply to that was her finger.

"Ok, this spell is neat." Alex thought to himself as he cancelled the spell. "It somehow fits the shapeshifting part."

With what he did earlier, Alex was able to ascertain that Voice Warp will allow Alex to mimic the voice of anything. That was the reason why Alex can speak in Asteria's voice earlier.

Not only that, but Alex also discovered that this spell of his will last as long as Abyss Energy was supplied on it.

Remove the Abyss Energy, and the spell will be done to.

Once he was done with that spell, Alex focused on the 3 others.

"Skin Warp? Hmm... I do not know if I should try it here..." Alex thought to himself as he felt slight apprehension on seeing this spell. "I better check out first the Minor and Major Telekinesis."

If Alex was right, Minor and Major Telekinesis falls into the category of Matter Manipulation.

"Well, from the looks of it, both of these Telekninesis are focused on macro-scale objects." Alex thought as he felt slightly disappointed. "Maybe I can only try manipulating atoms and quarks themselves at the higher levels..."

The main reason that Alex was interested in getting the Envy Tome was because of its matter manipulation aspect.

Alex was interested in this aspect, as he had many ideas that will be made possible with matter manipulation.

But from the looks of it, Alex will still not be able to tackle manipulation of atoms until his Abyss Energy has reached the right Grade.

Well, this is not bad for Alex yet, as Minor and Major Telekinesis can be used well in combat, especially with Alex' current build.

"Time to test them now."

At the instant that he initiated the spell, Alex was able to feel the presence of everything around him.

More specificaly, everything around 5 meters of Alex.

Alex was able to identify every object within 5 meters of him, no matter what their size were. It seems like he can also apply some kind of invisible hand that can force these objects to move.

Alex used this invisible hand to move a pebble, and Alec found it easy to move.

Alex and Asteria watched with excitement as they saw the pebble floating in front of the, freely moving because of Alex's intervention.

After seeing this, Alex decided to increase the weight of the objects that he will move, as he tried to find the limit of Minor Telekinesis.

As it turns out, 50 kilograms is the maximum wait that he can carry with Minor Telekinesis.

Not only that, but Alex also found out that more of his Abyss Energy will be depleted as long as he carries heavier objects.

And just like Voice Warp, Minor Telekinesis will stop working once the Abyss Energy was gone.

After testing Minor Telekinesis, Alex decided to test Major Telekinesis next.

The results that Alex got was pretty much the same, except for the fact that the weight limit of Major Telekinesis was much higher than the limit of Minor Telekinesis.

500 kilograms or half a ton. This is the weight limit of Major Telekinesis, which Alex found out in a little hard way.

Once he got the grasp on these abilities, Alex let out a whistle, as he remembered that he was just at the Level 2 of his Tome.

What special and bad-ass spells could Alex get once he reaches higher Grades? Probably the really powerful ones.

"Hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm..."

Seeing the promising spells in front of him, Alex could say that he was excited for his future with Abyss Tome -Envy.

Of course, that future will be better once Alex buys all the Abyss Tomes.

That is if Alex can get them all.

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Chapter 67 Empath

"I should not be thinking about other Tomes for now. I should focus more on increasing my Abyss Energy." Alex frowned as he knew that increasing the plethora of his spells is the best thing that he can do now.

Alex knew that because of his superior Monster Body, his absorption of the Abyss Energy has also reached a high level.

In fact, Alex had the inkling that he can reach Grade 3 Abyss Energy 2 days from now.

"Hmph, I know that look in your face." Asteria grumbled as she looked at Alex. "You want to train right?"

"Of course I will." Alex replied confidently as he started to seat cross-legged. "I have to get stronger to make this mission easier."

At the instant that Alex sat down, threads of dark-colored energy started to gather towards him, which entered his body

This energy made Asteria feel a little queasy, as if she was not comfortable looking at it.

"Yes, that's the stuff." Alex exclaimed as he felt himself being reinvigorated by the energy that he was absorbing.

"Hmph, so boring!" Asteria grumbled as she saw Alex not focused on her anymore.

Asteria hated being bored, and seeing her Traveler in training just makes it worse.

"I have no choice then but to play with my hooman." Asteria mumbled as she floated towards Alina,who was fully engrossed in talking to the golden girl.

Asteria frowned upon seeing this, as she felt that this blonde woman was stealing something from her.

"Wait, why am I worried anyway? I am the cutest blonde out there!" Asteria said hastily. "That golden girl ain't like me!"

If Alex could hear Asteria talking right now, he will surely notice that Asteria sounded like she was reassuring herself.

This would not be a bad teasing material.

20 minutes earlier.

"I won't listen to them." Teresa declared as she gritted her teeth. "This is just a ploy, and I would not believe it!"

"Oh really?" This time, Alina gave Teresa another smile, but this smile was more... predatory. "Then what can you say about their clothes?"

"Hmph, they obviously wore it from other human children." Teresa said, sounding confident and smug this time. "That is a simple trick that anyone can use."

"No! These clothes are mine!" No. 4 shouted as she practically ran towards Teresa.

"!!!" Teresa tried to back away from No. 4, but her bindings were so well-placed that she was unable to move.

Teresa could only silently freak out as she looked at No. 4's insect body staring at her angrily.

"Get out of here, Monster!" Teresa said as she realized that No.4 would not move away from her. "Get away from me!"

"..."

"..."

"... Hik, do I really look that bad?" No. 4 trembled for a second, before she started to bawl in front of Teresa.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Waa!!! I do not want to be like this! I just want to eat some cookies from Mommy! Waa!!!" Black tears poured out from the face of No. 4, which flowed profusely towards the ground.

"..."

'"Hik, I am so scared... I only have dew friends left, and all the humans hate me now..." No. 4 continued on crying, and Teresa could only watch with a dumbfounded expression as the little insect girl cried in front of her.

"No, this is just trickery..." Teresa mumbled, but this time, even she sounded unsure of what she was saying.

Alina seems to have noticed Teresa's hesitation, as she pounced over her like a predator.

"You seem to feel how distressed No. 4 is right now." Alina said as she looked at Teresa's conflicted expression. "Surely at this point, you realize that No. 4 is not faking it."

"No, she is just lying..."

"You know that she is not lying." Alina said these words with an edge in her tone. "No, more specifically, you can feel her sincerity, right?"

"!!!" Teresa's body suddenly tightened as if she was prodded with an electric rod. Her eyes widened as she looked at Alina with fear and suspicion.

"I do not know what you are talking about." Teresa said as she closed her eyes. "I can't hear you, I can't hear you, I can't hear you..."

Alina ignored Teresa's mumblings as she slowly said,

"According to my concubine, you seem to be a little sensitive to the spectrum of emotions around you. Of course, I am not sure how my concubine thought of that, but I know that I should always believe him."

Teresa started to shake her head at this point, as she tried to not listen to what Alina was saying.

"And then I remembered your reaction when my concubine blasted you with a fear. You directly pissed yourself and you even fainted on the spot. Tell me, is that normal?"

"Of course it is!" Teresa shot back, this time sounding more and more desperate. "He just blasted me with fear! There is no way that I cannot faint from that!"

"Except for the fact that the fear blasted to you was of miniscule amounts." Alina interjected as her sharp eyes pierced Teresa. "According to my concubine, that blast of fear was only geared to stun you. But instead of just stunning you, that blast of fear made you a little... incontinent."

"..."

"How could a Knight like you react that badly against that small dose of fear?" Alina said as she leaned her head above Teresa. "It could be that you are a coward, but you are not, since you are confident on traversing this forest."

"That only leaves one answer, and I think this is the right answer." Alina breathed out as she whispered something in Teresa's ear.

"You can sense emotions, right?"

"No! I cannot do that!" Teresa shouted out as she tried to bite Alina.

Teresa's face was contorted with disgust and anger, and she was doing her best to channel them.

"Sensing emotions and manipulating them are something that only Elderitch Monsters can do!" Teresa shrilly shouted as she tried to break her bonds again. "I am nothing like them!"

"Oh really?" Alina seemed to be not shocked at Teresa's denial, as if she had already expected it. "Then can you say to me right now that the little insect girl in front of you is just acting?"

"Wa!!!" Even at this point, No. 4 was still crying, and it was only Alina that was behind her, patting her head to calm her down.

"This..." Teresa tried to say something, but in the end she was unable to refute No. 4.

"S*t!" Teresa dipped her head down, as she realized that Alina was able to expose her easily.

"I hate this..." Teresa muttered as she tried to not look at Alina.

Alina nodded her head upon seeing Teresa's reaction, as if she was approving of what she was seeing.

"See, so you really can sense emotions." Alina said with a triumphant smile on her face. "I thought you were just really sensitive. Turns out Alex's guess was right."

"..."

"So, do you believe that this girl is a human before?" Alina decided to strike while the iron is still hot. "You could feel that her sadness and longing for her parents were all legitimate. Surely, that is enough for you to believe her."

"..." Alina watched as Teresa's head swiveled towards the other little monsters, as if she was also scanning their feelings.

This scanning lasted for a full minute before Teresa let out a frustrated sigh.

"I hate to say this, but I can feel that these little monsters... seem to be genuinely sad for their fate." Teresa said as she glared at Alina.

"However that does not mean that I will still believe you. Who knows, you could be the one who made them like that." Teresa added as she gave Alina a suspicious look. "You know, that is actually highly likely too."

"Hey, how could you say that to Big Sis!" No. 4 suddenly shouted as she glared at Teresa. Her face was still filled with tears, but it was quite obvious from the buzzing insects on her body that she was quite mad.

"Big Sis is the one who saved us from being eaten earlier, and she had always been so kind to us!" No. 4 shouted as she brandished her tiny fists towards Teresa. "Don't you think of slandering Big Sis!"

"Ah erm, um..." Teresa was rendered speechless this time, as she was overwhelmed by the indignation and anger pouring out of No. 4.

However, it was not only No. 4 that was angry. The other little monsters were extremely angry too, and from the looks of it, all of them were all eager to pounce at Teresa.

"!!!!!!!!!!!" Teresa started to tremble as she felt that all these little monsters were all fiercely loyal towards Alina, and that they seem to be unhesitant on hurting Teresa.

That is not certainly not a good emotion to feel.

"Ok... I believe you..." Teresa mumbled as she knew that she should make a compromise for now.

Deep inside her heart, Teresa did not fully believe anything that Alina said, even though Teresa can really feel the emotions of the little monsters.

In her mind, Teresa was sure that everything was just a trick, something that was made in order to turn her against the Human Faction.

But no matter how much Teresa distrusted Alina, Teresa knew that she cannot just say that she does not believe Alina, as it seemed like Alina will not take Teresa's disbelief that well.

In that case, Teresa will just have to pretend that she believed Alina in order to live longer

Teresa will just have to find a way to escape later.

"Oh really..." This was Alina's reply as she seemed to be trying to hide a sly smile as she stood up with No. 4.

From the way that Alina reacted right now, it was as if Teresa's words sounded amusing to her.

"You are not lying to me, right?" Alina slowly said, which made Teresa's hair stand up. "You are telling the truth, right?"

"I am telling the truth." Teresa replied as she did her best to wear a poker face. "I am a Knight, and it is not in my virtue to lie.""

"Well, I will believe that, for now." Alina replied, this time with a genuine smile on her face.

"Gulp." Teresa was not sure why, but she felt some twinges of fear as she saw Alina's current look.

"Ok, since you said that you are telling the truth, then I think that it is time to me to show you the truth too." Alina suddenly said as she set No. 4 on the ground.

"What are you trying to do?" Teresa said with a hint of vigilance in her voice.

Even though Alina looked like she will not mean Teresa any harm, Teresa still could not help but feel wary of her.

"Oh, I will just show you something special." Alina grinned as her body began to change.

And when Teresa said change, she meant it quite literally.

Teresa had to squint her eyes as she saw the tall elegant beauty transforming into something else.

A few seconds passed by, and Teresa saw what Alina meant by special.

"No! This can't be true!" Teresa shouted as she shook her head. "This is just an illusion, right?

"Hehehe, that is up for you to see. You can sense my emotions, right?" Alina said as she tilted her head. "My human form should be quite obvious to you now."

"!!!!!!"

Right now, what Teresa could see was a real Human in front of her.

With her advanced senses, Teresa could feel and ascertain that the woman in front of her was a real Human.

But that should be impossible, since this woman in front of Teresa was a Vampire a few seconds ago!

"There are no Monsters that can turn into Humans! That is just impossible!" Teresa shouted as she felt her head getting light. "There is no way that this is true! This is just a..."

Whatever Teresa wanted to say after that was unknown, as her mind once again succumbed to the sweet hug on unconsciousness.

"You broke her again, hooman." Asteria commented as she watched Teresa fainting in front of her. "She really is unlucky..."

"Well, we still have more time to talk to her later, so let's just let her rest." Alina replied with a playful tone in her voice. "After all, she's staying with us for a little longer. It can't hurt to make her feel comfortable."

"If this is your definition of comfortable, then I fear what will happen to this golden girl once you want her out."

"You just have to watch to see that."

"...Noted."

Chapter 68 Fusion Impossible: Mysterious Intruder

Actually speaking, Alex originally had no idea on how to do congeal an Abyss Core, but it seems like his Elderitch body already had an idea on what to do.

As such, Alex decided to just get it on with absorption.

Alex kept his eyes closed as he stayed focused on absorbing Abyss Energy.

Alex knew that for him to reach the Grade 3, he must be able to congeal a Core made up of Abyss Energy inside his body.

Once he successfully congeals his Abyss Core, not only will Alex gain access to more spells, his overall bodily strength and power will also be improved.

But just one hour after Alex started the absorption, he suddenly felt a powerful presence rushing towards their location.

"Who is it?" Alex bristled as his eyes shot wide open.

Alex's body was tense, as he could feel that the presence approaching their location was an extremely powerful being.

Alex was saying 'being' since he was not sure whether this new presence was a Human or a Monster.

If it was a Monster, Alex already have some ideas to talk peacefully to it.

But if it was a Human, well... Alex can just say that it will not be good for either of them.

"Someone's coming." To Alex's no surprise, Alina also felt this intruder. "This intruder... seems strong."

"Yes, it's strong indeed." Alex muttered as he patted Alina's right shoulder.

"!"

Alina jumped a little from the skin contact, but she did not do anything to shove his hand off. Alex smiled after seeing this, blatantly ignoring the snickering Asteria in the background.

"So, what happened with the golden girl?" Alex inquired, as he did not notice what happened earlier. 'Is she sti- oh, she passed out again. What did you do to her?"

"It's a long story that I will tell you later." Alina replied with a slight twitch in her eyes. "For now, we should worry about intruder."

"Well, the first thing that we should do is to hide that woman first." Alex said while pointing his index finger at the golden woman. "No matter what kind of creature the intruder is, it will not be better for it to see a woman like this."

"Got it." Alina said as she waved her hands, making the golden woman disappear.

Alex could some trails of dark smoke after the golden woman disappeared, indicating that what Alina did was something new.

"Oh, that's a neat trick of yours. How did you manage to do that?" Alex neutrally said as he tried to not show emotions in his voice.

"Ah, I just combined my Dark Magic and my Esper Ability!" Alina enthusiastically replied as she gave Alex a smile.

"Ok..." Alex found himself somewhat speechless from what he heard.

"Is something like that even possible?" Alex thought to himself as he waited for Alina to talk more. "I certainly... did not expect that."

"Actually," Alina droned on as she seemed to not notice what Alex was thinking about. "I never thought that my Dark Magic was actually compatible with my Weak Space Manipulation. I only found it out when I got the Dark Magic Tome earlier!"

"After I fused with the Dark Magic Tome, it immediately reacted with my Esper Ability, which resulted in me gaining some new abilities!" From the way that Alina looked right now, it was quite obvious that she was happy with her situation.

"..." Alex tried his best to not show it, but he was feeling slightly jealous with what happened to Alina.

Earlier, Alex actually tried to combine or fuse his Abyss Magic with his EM Wave Manipulation.

But no matter what he did, they could not even be coaxed to be in contact with each other.

They were like two similar poles of magnets that are being forced together, even though their polarity forces them to repel each other. There is just no way that Alex could force them to be together.

Because of that failed experiment, Alex thought that maybe abilities from different power systems were just incompatible with each other.

But seeing what happened with Alina invalidated that theory of his.

"So, how were you able to combine them anyway?" Alex inquired as he watched Alina's beautiful face glowing with excitement. "Maybe I can try them out later."

"Sorry, but I have no idea on how to explain it to you." Alina replied as she ducked her head down. "But do not be sad, as Asteria told me that you still have the chance to fuse abilities as long as you have the right tools and skillset to do it."

"Oh great, another delayed power-up." Alex bemoaned sarcastically as he decided to drop the power fusion issue for now. "Well, let's forget about that fusion now and let's focus on our contingencies."

"Contingency 1: If it is a Human, then we will do our best to run away if the opponent is strong." Alina replied quickly as she placed her hands on her hips. "Contingency 2: But if the Human was just weak, then we can beat this Human down and invite that Human in our group."

"..." Alex tried to not point out that the second part of Alina's answer sounded a little wrong.

"Contingency 3: if the intruder was a Monster, then we will be more polite on it and try to talk to it more." Alina continued, with her not noticing Alex's thoughts earlier. "But if that Monster stays hostile to us, then a fight will be inevitable."

"That's exactly the gist of what we were about to do." Alex murmured to himself as he and Alina squared their bodies up.

By this time it was only Alex and Alina that was present in the clearing, as the little monsters were all busy hiding nearby.

Alina had instructed them to run once the first sign of trouble appears, with them unauthorized to look back as they ran.

"I hope those little runts will actually run when I tell them to." Alina muttered as she gave them a worried look. "Really, those 5 are a naughty lot!"

"Hehehe, you seem to have fun taking care of them!" Alex said in a slightly teasing tone. "Hey, can I call you Big Sister too? You seem to like being called that way!"

"Ugh, it will just sound creepy if you say it." Both Alina and Asteria said at the same time, which just showed Alex that they could be right.

"Sigh, why am I not even talented in comedy?" Alex lamented to himself as he and Alina saw the intruder descending in front of them.

:...:

One of the reasons that Alex and Alina did not run away for now was because their visitor seems to not hold any hostile intentions against them.

This intruder could be here specifically for some business matters with Alex and Alina.

But no matter what the reason was, both Alex and Alina were confident to talk it out.

Both Alex and Alina tilted their heads as they greeted their visitor.

"Erm.. hello?" Alex tentatively said as his tentacles waved around agitatedly. "Are you here to talk to us?"

"Well yes, it's you two that I am looking for." The intruder replied as the loose coat and hood that the intruder was wearing began to disappear.

"!!!!!!"

The intruder ignored Alex and Alina's reaction to its real appearance as it slowly said,

"You two and I have some talking about to do."

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Chapter 69 Pew pew pew!

"Greetings." Alex said with a grin on his face as he talked to the intruder.

Alex lost his feelings of trepidation as he realized that the intruder that was in front of him was no Human.

Long, spindly limbs comparable to that of a spider.

Large, bulbous body that looked like the torso of a hippopotamus.

And a head that suspiciously looked like a goat's head.

These are the body parts of the intruder that Alex just greeted.

Even an idiot will realize that the intruder was a full-fledged Monster.

"At least you have the politeness to greet me." The goat-headed monstrosity replied as he tilted his head forward. "I am Phom, one of General Chimera's trusted servants. I am here to bring you a message that General Chimera personally made."

"Woah, hold up first." Alex said as he raised both of his hands. "Are you going straight to giving me a message? I thought you are here to scare me or something."

"Why would I do that?" Phom inquired as he sounded more and more confused. "General Chimera said that you and your partner beside you have the potential to reach General Level... There is no way a lowly one like me can ever think of opposing you."

"..." Alex used his FED to see if Phom has any hidden killing intent, but Alex found none of it.

Alex then looked at Alina, as if he wanted her to confirm something.

"He is not lying." Alina said as she glanced at Phom with a sideways look. "Everything that he said is true, so I think we should not be worried about this Phom guy."

"I see." Alex mumbled as he realized that his Main Mission is much more convoluted than what he thought.

If he and Alina already grabbed the attention of really powerful Monsters just in his first day in this world, then this just means that the way for him to complete his Main Mission is also set at a high pedestal.

"Really, this just makes me more perturbed." Alex thought to himself as he tried to not show his distress.

Alex sighed before looking at Phom, who just gave Alex a casual nod.

Alex slowly approached Phom with his wavy tentacles as he said, "Ok, I shall listen to the message. But before you give me that message, tell me how you and your General detected my arrival in this world first."

From the way Phom talked to him, Alex was sure that this General Chimera was aware that Alex and Alina were 'Monsters who came from a different plane of existence'.

From the snippets of conversation that Alex had with some of the Monsters that he scared into submission earlier, Alex knew that the Monsters who came from different planes of existence usually only stays in this World for a short period of time before leaving.

Since Alex and Alina had the disguise of being 'Monsters from different planes of existence', then this General Chimera should have an idea that he and Alina will only temporarily stay in this World.

But even with that, this General Chimera seems to be still interested on having a conversation with Alex and Alina.

This certainly intrigued Alex.

"Umm..." Alex's question seems to have stumped Phom for a second, as the goat-headed monstrosity fumbled for a second before giving his reply.

"You can say that my General... has some ways to see powerful Monsters that visits this World... That is all that I can say."

"... Okay, it seems like you will not elaborate your answer more." Alex replied as all the tentacles around him relaxed.

"So can I give the message now?" Phom eagerly asked, like he was a dog waiting for a fetch.

"Ok, carry on." Alex said as he waved one of his tentacles dismissively. "It won't hurt me to listen."

"What General Chimera wanted me to give to you was actually an invitation." Phom said as his thin limbs scuttled around him. "He wanted you and your partner to come visit him to talk about some important things."

"And what could be this 'important things' be?" Alex inquired as he gave Phom an interested look. "Perhaps you can enlighten me about that?"

"I am sorry, but you have to find it out from the General later." Phom replied quickly as if he had already expected Alex to ask that question.

"Oh in that case, I have to decline." Alex said while shrugging his shoulders.

"Decline?" Phom's body stilled atfer he heard what Alex said. His ears, which were slightly twitching earlier, both froze as Phom stared at Alex directly.

"Are you sure that you want to decline the invitation given by my General?" Phom inquired as he focused his gaze at Alex. "This is a once in a lifetime chance, you know."

"Sorry, but I am actually not interested" Alex said as he and Alina shook their heads at the same time.

"Both of us will only stay in this plane of existence for a few weeks, and then we will leave after that." Alex added, maybe in an attempt to explain himself. "Because of that, meeting up with your superior is not in my agenda."

"..."

Of course what Alex said was just bulls*t.

The main reason that Alex declined the invitation was the fact that accepting the invitation will mean that Alex will have to visit an unfamiliar territory, just few hours after he arrived at this world!

Even if Alex was sometimes impulsive, he was not that impulsive to just go to a foreign place without enough time to prepare!

"That... is too bad." Phom replied after he stayed silent for around a minute. "Well then... I shall tell my General about your reply."

"Take care and goodbye then." Alex said as he formed a waving motions with his arms.

It was quite obvious that Alex was telling Phom to scram away right at this very moment.

"..." Whether Phom was angered or not by Alex's attitude was unknown as he kept an extremely perfect poker face.

"Fwah~" Phom started to float upwards as he gave Alex and Alina one last look.

But before Phom could actually fly away, Alex felt another powerful presence arriving towards their location.

"F*k!" To Alex's surprise, the normally calm Phom started to curse out, with his emotionless face suddenly showing some traces of fear.

"Why is he here!" Before Alex and Alina could react, they saw Phom suddenly accelerating away from them.

Phom's change in speed was so great that his departure was able to create a powerful sonic boom.

"Boom!" The resulting sonic boom created a blast that hit Alex and Alina directly in their faces.

Luckily for the two, their sturdy bodies withstood the sonic boom.

"What the hell?" Alex complained as he watched Phom flying away from a distance.

Alex was not sure why, but Phom seems to have been scared by something to make him this panicky.

"Woosh~" At first, Alex thought that Phom could easily leave this place quickly with the speed that he was flying right now.

But Before Phom could fully distance himself from Alex, something went crashing towards Phom.

"Gah!" A golden beam of light struck Phom's back, tearing a hole through his left lung.

This hole then expanded quickly, as Phom's flight started to slow down.

Phom could only writhe in agony as the golden beam directly destroyed the left part of his body.

Alex and Alina could only watch with wide eyes as they saw Phom's remaining half crashing back to the forest.

As for the golden beam, it had already faded away, and only small motes of golden light in the air were the evidence that it existed.

"Oh great..." Upon seeing that golden beam attack, Alex grimaced as he realized the nature of their new guest.

He did not need to look at all, but Alex still looked at the new guest.

Golden armor shining like the sun.

A massive halberd the size of a dragon's tooth.

These are the two things that Alex could see as he looked at his new guest.

With his advanced scent and senses, Alex can determine that his new guest certainly was unlike all the Monsters that he met before.

"..."

The appearance of this new guest and its weird smell only tells Alex one thing.

And that this armor-wearing, halberd wielding person just above him and Alina was a real Human!

And from the looks of it, this Human was not too happy to be here.

Both Alex and the Human spent the next seconds staring at each other warily, as if they were both checking out each other.

"F*k that, this armored guy is scary." Alex muttered to himself, as he remembered the golden beam that this armored guy unleashed.

Even Phom, who looked like he had a tough body, was unable to do anything against that attack.

That just shows how dangerous the armored guy is.

"..."

If Alex was here in this World for around a month, then he was sure that he can give this armored guy a run for his money.

But Alex was just here for a day, so he was sure that this armored guy could wipe the floor with Alex and Alina.

There is a very low chance that he and Alina can win in their current state.

Alex contemplated running, but he stopped as he realized that if he and Alina tried to escape right now, this armored guy will just easily attack them with his golden beams earlier.

Alex of course does not want something like that penetrating him and Alina.

With that info in his mind, Alex tried to do the next possible thing that he can do right now.

"Why hello there." Alex said as he greeted the armored guy like he was an old friend. "Fancy seeing you around here."

To Alex's relief, the armored guy replied, showing that he is willing to talk to them. The contents of what he said however, were of a different matter.

"I did not come here to talk to you amicably, Elderitch and Vampire." The armored guy snarled as he raised his halberd.

Both his halberd and armor glowed golden once more as if they were about to charge up for another attack.

"Hey, wait!" Alex shouted as he raised his tentacles in surprise. "Why are you about to fight us two? Did we do anything against you?"

"Piss off!" The armored guy said as he pointed his halberd at Alex. "I am tired listening to tentacle monsters like you!"

"..."

At this point, Alex realized that this armored guy seems to be testing them, as he could have just attacked them earlier.

With that thought in mind, Alex's body relaxed as he gave the armored guy his reply.

"I can see that you are a powerful person." Alex said as he gave the armored guy a knowing look. "But if you were this powerful, then you should know that both of us were just Wandering Monsters here. You know that monsters like us will also leave after a few weeks."

Luckily for Alex, the armored guy seems to have gotten his message.

"Hmph, at least you two are not barbaric creatures." The armored guy said as the glow in his body weakened a little. The glow was still there, but it was already not at the point where the armored guy can use it as a weapon.

"I only have one demand." The armored guy said as he gripped his halberd tightly. "Give me back my daughter safe and sound, and I will let you two off."

The armored guy lowered his halberd as he seemed to glare at Alex and Alina. "Remember, I should be killing you two right now. But just like what you said earlier, you two are just visiting monsters. Most of you just play around here for some time before leaving. Maybe you two are just like them. Because of that, I am willing to spare you two, as long as my daughter is fine."

But before Alex and Alina could relax, the armored guy added something else to say.

"But if I see that my daughter was hurt or killed, then you two should expect my halberd having its fill on you two!"

"Oh, and don't try to say that you did not see my daughter." The armored guy said as he waved his halberd around him. "I can sense her presence near the two of you!"

"F*k!!!!" At this point, Alex was 100% sure that the daughter this armored guy was talking about was the golden woman that he captured earlier. After all, Alex could feel that both of them have the similar smell and emotional framework.

Heck, both the golden woman and the golden human in front of him wore the same style of golden armor!

If it was the normal situation, then Alex will be slightly happy that they can offer the golden woman to placate the golden human. But with what Alex did to the golden woman earlier, he doubted that this exchange will end well.

"Why did I make that golden woman piss herself earlier?" Alex chided as he gave a worried look at Alina. "Now I have to explain to her father why she smelled bad!"

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Chapter 70 Deal or No Deal?

Alex knew that if he showed the captive golden woman with the way that she is right now, her father will surely burst in a fit of anger.

Alex of course would not want that to happen.

"Think Alex, think!" Alex thought to himself as he tried to find a solution for his current dilemma.

Alex was confident that he and Alina can escape from the golden guy in the expense of extremely heavy injuries.

However, Alex knew that the little monsters that are with them will not be spared by the golden guy.

"If I do nothing to de-escalate the situation, then these little monsters will be in danger!" Alex thought as he gritted his teeth.

"Wait a second..." Alex's mind halted a little, as if he suddenly remembered something important.

"The little monsters... the golden woman... the Monster Birth Program... Hehehe, now this is a plan!" Alex resisted the urge to laugh as he was able to find the solution to his current dilemma.

Before the golden guy could notice Alex's awkward pause, Alex started to flail his arms around, managing to surprise even Alina.

"You think I will just accept such paltry offer of yours?" An arrogant voice came out of Alex's mouth, which managed to show a cocky behavior from him. "I am here to obtain something, something that I know you have!"

"Speak, Eldritch." Luckily for Alex, the golden guy seems to be willing to listen to him.

Alex took this as his chance to reverse the situation.

"..."

The first thing that Alex did was to look at the direction where the little monsters were hidden.

The way that Alex looked at them was so obvious that the golden guy saw what he was doing.

The golden guy naturally followed Alex's gaze, and what he saw made his body twitch imperceptibly.

"Oh?" Alex let out a light scoff as he saw the golden guy's reaction. "You seem to know what these little monsters really are, right?"

"I do not know what you are talking about." The golden guy replied, with his voice still stable. "I was just surprised that there are weak monsters like them here."

"Don't lie to me, Human." Alex snarled as he assumed an imposing stance. "You know that these kids are victims of a nefarious breeding program! Just seeing your reaction earlier confirms that!"

"..."

This is the first part of Alex's plan to calm the situation down.

Alex wanted to find out first if the golden guy has knowledge of the Monster Birth Program by using the little monsters as a way to elicit reaction from him.

If the golden guy reacted while looking at them, then he knows about the program. If not, then its running time for Alex.

Luckily for Alex, the golden guy seems to know a lot about the program.

With the first step already fixed, Alex decided to start on the second step.

"When my partner and I came to this World, our only intention is to do some sight-seeing." Alex said as he and Alina went near each other. "Today is our first day, and we plan to tour this forest."

"However, before I could even enjoy my time here, I saw these little monsters in a life-death situation. After saving and conversing with them, I realized about their difficulties. What I heard from them made me... extremely angry." Even a psychopath can see that Alex is extremely angry right now.

"I may be not Human, but even I can understand that kids forced to turn into Monsters are a very unfortunate lot. My partner also thinks the same way too." Alex muttered as he played with some of his tentacles. "Both of us were not Local Monsters in this World, so we could not fathom and understand why these Human Kids were forced to turn into Monsters. For us two, it's just ... wrong."

"Because of that, I and my partner decided to do our best to help these little monsters out." Alex said as he pointed his tentacles at the golden guy. "And not even you or your fancy equipment can stop us from doing so!"

"I do not care for the reason why you and the others are not interested on helping out these little monsters." Alex said as he slowly slithered backwards. "The only thing that I can tell you is that my partner and I both care for these kids!"

"..."

"All that I want is to cure these little monsters and turn them back to normal." Alex declared as he stopped on moving. "And you and your daughter will be helping me with that."

"What... do you mean by that?" The golden guy did not deny or confirm about his knowledge of the Monster Birth Program, but his reply right now is just the right reply for Alex.

"If you know something related to this blasted program, then you must also know something that can cure the monster transformation." Alex slowly said as Alina went behind him. "Of course I may be just wrong here and there really is no cure at all. But if that really is the case, then you will never be able to get your daughter back."

"!!!!!!!!"

Alex took advantage of the shock of the golden guy as he slowly said,

"In exchange for your daughter's life, you should give me the cure that can reverse the monster transformation that happened on the 5 little monsters. If you don't do it, then ugly things might happen."

"What!"

This is the solution that Alex found out to solve his current dilemmas.

By forcing the golden guy to hand something related to the cure for the transformed monsters in exchange for his daughter's life, Alex will be able to find a way to complete his Main Mission while also getting off his current crisis.

"Oh, and don't try to lie to me, since my partner here can see if you are lying." Alex said as Alina gave the golden guy a glare. "If you lie, your daughter... will have some marks of your falsehood. So, be careful with what you say, okay?"

"..."

If the golden guy really knew nothing about the cure, then Alex will just give back his daughter hastily.

But if the golden guy indeed knew something about the cure, then Alex will have his way to his victory much closer than he projected.

"..."

"..."

Alex and the golden guy continued staring for each other for a minute, with both of their gazes unyielding.

In the end, the golden guy was the one who first broke off the gaze.

He let out a sigh as he said,

"If that is what you want, then you are free to keep my daughter."

"Huh?" Alex's confusion level went to the roof as he heard what the golden guy said. "Can you repeat what you said?"

"I said, you can keep my daughter with you if you demand the cure for the monster transformation." The golden guy said as he placed the halberd on his back.

"Wait, are you right in your head?" This time, Alex dropped his pretentious act as he tried to understand what the golden guy was doing.

"Hey, this is your daughter that is in danger! I already gave you a way to save her, yet you are refusing it just because you don't want to give the cure to me? Where is the common sense in there?"

"That is something that I cannot explain to you." The golden guy said as he shook his head. "That cure is related to the welfare of all Humans, and I cannot just let any Monster get near it. And if that requires me to leave my daughter with you, then I can endure that pain."

"What the hell..." It was at this point that Alex realized that this World is much more broken than what he thought.

Not only were some humans were forced to become monsters, it seems like some humans are not doing anything to stop it too!

And seeing this golden guy resolutely abandon his daughter for his so-called 'noble goals' just made Alex more disheartened.

Alex could not just believe that this golden guy will really just leave his daughter in their hands, in exchange for keeping the cure safe.

It is just wrong and immoral.

"So, if I continue asking for the cure in exchange for you daughter, you will not comply?" Alex asked once more just for confirmation. "You really would rather leave her with us than give the cure?"

"That is exactly what I said." The golden guy replied resolutely.

"What an ass." Alina muttered as she glared at the golden guy. "I have seen better monsters than you!"

"Oh, you think just because I ignored your deal that I am just ready to abandon my daughter? Quit thinking of delusions like that!" The golden guy said as his body began to glow brightly again.

"Since I cannot have a deal with you, then I will just take my daughter back by force!"

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Alex smirked as he went behind Alina. "Since you do not want to make a deal with us, then I will just be happy to kill your daughter right now."

"You!!!"

"Right now, your daughter is inside a space created by my partner." Alex said as he peered from behind Alina's shoulder. "If you make a move, Alina will kill her. Kill us, and your daughter will also die."

"..." These words by Alex immediately froze the golden guy in his tracks.

From the looks of it, even if the golden guy was fine leaving his daughter to them, he was still not happy to be directly related to her death.

If the golden left his daughter to them, then there is a high chance that she will stay alive.

But if the golden guy attacks them now, then his daughter will immediately die.

"..."

This effectively stuck the golden guy in his place.

In one hand, he cannot get his daughter back as he refused to give the cure what Alex wanted.

On the other hand, the golden guy cannot also just use brute force to get his daughter back, as Alex said that doing so will just lead to his daughter's death.

These two parallel-occurring scenarios had the golden guy placed in a dilemma, where he will be unable to do anything.

And this is what Alex had exactly wanted.

"So you still want to save your daughter huh, that is a good indication that you are still fine." Alex said as he and Alina started to leave the place. They did not forget to bring the little monsters with them.

"Since you do not want to have a deal with me, then I and my partner will leave for now... Don't follow us, or your daughter will die." Alex said as he mimed a slashing motion with his throat.

"If... you still want to get her back alive, then let us meet at this place 1 month from now. You can give me the cure that I want at that time." Alex declared as he and Alina continued walking away from the golden guy. "If you do not give the cure at that time, then you can just leave your daughter's fate to us."

"..." The golden guy just floated in the air as Alex and Alina hastily left the place.

The golden guy continued to stay silent for another half hour as the golden glow in his body seethed and roiled.

In the end, the golden guy could not contain his anger as he let out a shout that rippled through the forest.

"Argghhhh!!!"

Chapter 71 Abyss Runes

After Alex and Alina were able to run away from the scary Divine Knight that they met, Alex decided that they should venture out to the nearest Monster Sector.

Going to a Human Kingdom is not a choice, as they will just most likely be attacked.

After a week of nonstop walking, Alex and his companions reached the next Monster Sector, which was ruled by a giant Treant.

Alina easily tore this Treant into pieces, turning him and Alina as the leaders of this Sector.

Both of them and the little kids then took residence at the middle of the Sector, with Alex using this free time to train.

As for Alina, she spent some time training too, but she spent the remains of her time playing with the little monsters.

3 weeks later.

"Well at least some of my hard work had paid off." Alex muttered to himself as he observed his body. "Spending most of my time training isn't a waste."

Contrary to what Alex had believed, his training speed actually got slower once he created his Abyss Core.

Instead of gaining an accelerated growth period after he reached Grade 3, what Alex got was a slight decrease in training speed.

Because of that, even after 3 weeks, Alex was still unable to step into Grade 4.

"Sigh..."

If Grade 3 was all about creating an Abyss Core, Grade 4 was all about engraving Abyss Runes on the body.

The Abyss Core was there to serve as an engine to promote power circulation throughout the whole body.

As for the Abyss Runes, they were there to improve the casting and firing rate of Abyss spells.

These runes will automatically streamline and conserve the use and consumption of Abyss Energy

But unlike the creation of the Abyss Core which requires brute force to create the core, the engraving of the Abyss Runes require skill and precision which Alex unfortunately lacked.

Since the engraving of the Abyss Runes require Alex to do it on himself, Alex had no choice but to be precise as he will be the one to engrave the Runes on his body.

Because of this deficiency, Alex has no choice but to learn the way of precision from the eager Alina.

His training seems to have borne fruit, as Alina just declared earlier that Alex is already free to engrave Abyss Runes on his body.

And to make it better, Alex also found out earlier that the amount of Abyss Energy in his body was also enough to warrant an attempt for him to reach Grade 4.

This means that Alex is free to try reaching Grade 4 right now.

But Alex did not rush to do this right now, as he knew that there is only one attempt for each person to reach Grade 4.

Through some inquiries with his Abyss Tome, Alex discovered that if he messes up a little in the engravement of the Abyss Runes, they can easily cause an explosion that could kill Alex.

"Slow and steady..." Alex muttered to himself as he tried to calm himself down.

A serene and peaceful mind free of distractions is needed to engrave Abyss Runes, and Alex is trying his best to achieve it.

But right now, that endeavor seems to be impossible.

"Receive that!" A jovial voice sounded out, breaking through Alex's 'serene' mindscape.

"Muu... That is too high for me!" A second voice replied, sounding a little affronted and angry.

"Well, you can just use your insects to catch them, right?"

"No! You are still cheating!"

"What the hell." Alex opened his eyes as he realized that there is no way for him to be calm now. Distractions are just around him, and he is powerless to stop them.

He looked at the voices that he heard earlier, suppressing his urge to sigh.

"Really, what a drag."

The voices that interrupted Alex came from No. 4 and No. 5.

Both of them were playing volleyball, although the game was somewhat ill-fitted for their physiques.

No. 4 has a body made up of insects, making it hard for her to even move the ball.

As for No. 5, he was a literal skeleton, which meant that he can strike the ball, but his current body made it hard for him to pitch the ball well.

Watching the two intently was Alina, who for some reason, was officiating the game. She was even wearing referee clothes which she could have just pulled out with her powers.

These trio all made their noises in the game, with No. 4 incessant complaints, No. 5 snarky replies, and Alina's exhausted but also happy retorts.

"Alina, can you tone down whatever that is that you three are doing?" Alex said to Alina as he saw her excited look. "I am doing something important here, you know."

"Well, if we are noisy to you, then you can just go somewhere far, right?" Alina replied as she tilted her head. "These kids are having fun here, and you disrupting them is not good."

"..."

"What?" Alina muttered as she saw Alex's incomprehensible look. "If you want to get some quiet, go do your stuff somewhere else that is far from us."

"Fine..." Alex mumbled as he shook his head. "You really love those kids now, right?"

"Well, they deserved to be loved."

"..."

Because of Alina's bonding with the little monsters, they became more and more closer together, managing to make even someone like Alex jealous.

Of course Alex did not show this jealousy, but it was becoming increasingly hard to hide this, with him seeing Alina blatantly siding with the little monsters, just like what happened now.

"I get it that Alina misses her sister, but isn't her way of making the little monsters her new family seems to be too much?" Alex mumbled as he slithered away from Alina, No. 4, and No. 5.

"You are just jealous that she is not getting lovey-dovey with you... "Someone replied to what Alex said, although the voice that Alex heard from the reply made him frown in annoyance.

"Go away Asteria, I do not need your help in this." Alex said as he tried to swat away Asteria, who was seating on the top of his head.

Just like usual, Asteria was still the insufferable tattlemouth of the group.

"Oooh... it seems like what I said has struck home." Asteria said as she basically gave Alex a sad look. "Are you scared that Alina gets stolen by the kids?"

"Hey! Are you even in your right mind?" Alex almost bellowed as he felt scandalized by what Alina said. "Me, getting scared by those kids? Those honey that you ate must be some kind of drugs that makes you always high!"

"Well, I can tolerate the highs that I get from my honey." Asteria replied off-handedly, as if she already treated Alex' s dilemma earlier as solved. "As long as I eat the right amount, the hallucinations that I get are tolerable."

"What?" At this point, Alex forgot his breakthrough dilemma, or even his slight jealousy of the little monsters. Right now, there is something more important that Alex must tackle.

"Are you telling me that honey is like a drug to you?" Alex said, feeling somewhat disconnected from what he heard. "You are joking, right?'

"Hehehe, got you there." Asteria replied as she stuck out her tongue to the somewhat petrified Alex. "You really think that I, an Honorable Fairy Queen, will get high from something like honey? Of course not!"

"F*k, good thing you are just pranking me!" Alex muttered as he rubbed his chest. "I almost had a heart attack from what you said."

"Eh, really?"

"It's just a figure of speech, okay? Tsk you should learn some common sense sometimes dumb fairy."

"Bleeh!!!"

"..."

Aside from Alina and the little monsters, Alex's another dilemma in his training was Asteria herself.

After all, having someone as lackadaisical and obscene as Asteria whispering in your ear was something that was enough to piss of anyone, much less someone like Alex.

If not for the fact that Asteria hides behind Alina whenever Alex wanted to catch Asteria, then all of Alex's sufferings from Asteria could have ended already.

"You will see, I will really punish you someday." Alex swore to himself as he reached his destination.

In front of Alex was a 50-meter tall tree, with its base hollowed out.

One look at the hollowed part and it was enough to see that this place is a good resting spot.

Multitude of tiny chairs and tables littered around the area, somewhat giving Alex a sense of peace.

Alex entered the hollowed area, with him showing no trepidations at all.

This place was something that Alex made a week ago, in order to find himself a way unwind, away from the chattering little monsters and irritating fairies.

Asteria could have entered along with Alex, but she did not do so as there was something in the tree that was always bothering her.

"Hmph, I really hate this tree!" This is the first thing that Asteria said as Alex entered the tree. "For some reason, I do not want to enter this tree! Urgh! I hate it when this happens! Alex, you are just exploiting my weakness right now!"

"Well, its too bad for you." Alex said as he gave Asteria a smirk. "I do not know why this tree makes you feel bad, but I am using it on full advantage on you."

"Hmph, I really hate you!" This is the parting words that Asteria said as she flew back to where Alina was.

Alex shook his head upon seeing this, knowing that Asteria will be pranking some of the little monsters again.

"Well, with Alina there, I am sure that she can tone Alina down." Alex muttered as he began sitting on one of the chairs. "Oh, and there is that Teresa too. Too bad she still refuses to talk to us."

During their 3-week break, Alex and Alina tried to talk to Teresa, but the only thing that they got from her were her basic info like names and family.

Any more question after that was just met with a glare or with a nonstop shout.

One look at her face, and it was quite obvious that Teresa was unhappy with the both of them.

Alex was highly sure that Teresa heard on what happened with his deal with the golden guy, especially the part where the golden guy had no choice but to leave Teresa behind.

But instead of making Teresa compliant right now, this info just served to make Teresa's mood worse up to the point that only Alina can talk to her.

"Well, we still have time to talk to her later." Alex muttered to himself as he looked down on his body. "For now, it's time for me to engrave some runes!"

Just one look at Alex's face and it is not hard to see that he is ready to go all-out already.

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Chapter 72 Yeoowww!!!

Alex readied the tip of his tentacle, which he filled with large amounts of Abyss Energy.

Alex made sure that all this energy was concentrated in just one tiny spot, which will form the sharp point that will engrave the rune.

"Technically speaking, I should only engrave one Abyss Rune, but according to Asteria, I will be able to engrave a total of 7." Alex muttered to himself as he remembered what he should do in his engravement.

According to his research along with his Abyss Tome, a Human or a Monster that steps on Grade 4 will have to engrave 1 Rune in their body.

For the Monsters it's called Energy Rune while for the Humans it's called Essence Rune.

This is the norm of all those who steps to Grade 4.

Only 1 Rune can be engaved.

But Alex found out that there are some exceptions to this case, and this exception includes him.

All in all, Alex should be able to engrave 7 Abyss Runes in his body, with each Rune representing one Abyss Tome.

But because Alex only have the Abyss Tome – Envy with him right now, the only Abyss Rune that he can engrave was the Abyss Rune for Envy.

If Alex wanted to engrave the other 6 Abyss Runes, then he must buy the other Abyss Tomes too.

Naturally, this made Alex feel bad, as he felt that his strength was being limited by this.

He complained about this case to Asteria when he found out this info, but what Asteria replied to Alex at that time managed to shut him up.

"You think you are weak just because you use one Abyss Tome? Ha, get a grip!" Asteria angrily replied as she shook her head in disappointment. "Do you know how powerful one Abyss Tome is?"

"Well nope, since I have no viable reference." Alex cheekily replied while giving Asteria a wry smile. "What is it? Like one-half of a legitimate cultivation method?"

"No, idiot." Asteria snapped as she tried to bop Alex's head. "That Abyss Tome you bought earlier? That is already comparable to the cultivation method that the people in this World use."

Alex felt his mouth go dry as he realized the implications of what Asteria just said.

Alex gulped his slightly parched throat as he slowly said,

"Does that when I buy all 7 Abyss Tomes, I will gain a cultivation method 7 times more powerful compared to the people living here?"

"You can say that it is like that." Asteria said nonchalantly as she trimmed her nails. "So do not get jealous if you only have one Tome for now. Focus on surviving and being able to buy more Tomes in the future."

"Roger..."

Alex took a deep breath as he allowed the tip of his tentacle to get nearer his right shoulder.

After some deliberations, Alex decided to engrave the Abyss Envy Rune on his right shoulder.

Why did he put it there? Alex just wanted to.

As the tip of his tentacle slightly touched his skin, Alex's mind spun as he tried to remember the appearance of the Abyss Envy Rune that he will engrave.

The Abyss Envy Rune was basically one small circle that was inside a larger circle. The smaller circle had an arrowhead placed on its top, with the arrowhead pointing to the left.

This is the symbol that Alex will engrave as his Rune.

[Author's Note: These are the symbols of all the Seven Abyss Runes that Alex will have to engrave. https/i./originals/b7/80/0e/b7800e8d96277328ee12e19d9e240d44.jpg ]

While Alex was busy on calming himself down, Asteria was just idly watching him from the background.

Although Asteria looked as if she was not worried at all, she was somewhat nervous as she watched what Alex was doing.

Asteria remembered some stories of Travelers exploding into pieces just because they messed up with the Engraving Part. Even those who are extremely talented sometimes fail too.

"Hmph, Alex surely will not fail like them, right?" Asteria thought worriedly to herself as she silently wished that Alex will succeed.

If Alex failed, then both of them might die, and Asteria's hooman will surely be implicated too.

"Don't be a prick now, Alex." Asteria muttered as she let out a hmph. "I still want to taste a Royal-Grade Honeycomb!"

While Asteria was silently waiting for the moment to arrive, she suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream of pain, which came from Alex himself.

"Yeoowww..." Alex sounded like a wounded mule, as he brayed loudly against the sky.

Steam was coming out of his right shoulder, as the tip of his tentacle started to do its magic there.

"..." Asteria winced upon seeing this, as she knew that the engravement process is starting already.

"By wounding his body and injecting Abyss Energy in the wound, Alex will be able to leave a permanent mark on his body." Asteria muttered to herself as he recalled the basic process of engraving. "Actually, that process sounds simple, but it is incredibly painful."

Asteria knew that the process of Rune Engravement sounds similar to making a Tattoo.

The only difference was that making a Tattoo creates a superficial pain on the skin, while Rune Engravement leaves pain that will leave the practitioner in tears.

Not only does the Rune Engravement leave marks on the skin, it also forcefully fuses itself with the soul and mind of the practitioner as the rune was being slowly made on the skin.

Nobody, not even a hardened criminal can resist that kind of pain.

"I wish you luck Alex..." Asteria muttered as she flew away. The engravement process will last for at least an hour, so Asteria knew that she should not waste her time waiting that long.

"Time to find some honey then. My hooman forgot to provide me one..." Asteria muttered as she whistled cheerfully, duly ignoring the screams of pain near her.

"Yeoowww!!!"

"S*t, its so hard to focus!" Alex shouted inwardly as he realized that he got more than he bargained from engraving runes.

Alex knew that his soul and mind will also be in pain, but he did not expect it to be this painful.

Alex felt like there are countless needles pricking his mind, with each needle filled to the brim with barbs and wires.

"Arggg!!!"

The pain that Alex is feeling right now could only be described as 'eye-popping, a*-wrenching, mouth-bleaching, nut-kicking, and bowel-stirring' kind of pain.

It really is one of a kind.

"Guh..." Tears started to flow from Alex's eyes as he slowly drew the Rune on his right shoulder. He had to stop drawing at every second, as each stroke just gave Alex more and more pain.

"Huhuhu, good thing that my first Abyss Rune is Envy. If what I got was Anger..." Alex shivered inwardly as he remembered how complicated the Anger Rune was. "Hmph, I do not know now if I will choose that Tome as my second one..."

The hissing and sobbing sounds continued as Alex painstakingly drew the large circle.

Once he was done with that, he took only 5 seconds of rest before proceeding to make the small circle.

The time that he took to make the small circle was shorter, due to his experience with the large circle and the fact that the small circle was smaller.

Alex then hastily made the arrowhead, making sure that the lines comprising it were straight and narrow.

"Yesh! Motherfather! I did it!" Alex shouted as the completed Rune started to glow. "I f*king did it!"

Alex started to shout in happiness as he felt power flowing into his body once more. He also heard a click in his mind as he gained access to the Level 4 Spells of his Abyss Tome.

"Oh, it seems like the crybaby is fine already." Asteria said as she saw Alex jumping around like a maniac. "Gugu gaga?"

"Tsk, quit making those baby sounds in front of me." Alex muttered as he glared at Asteria. "Picking on people like that is not righ- yeow!"

Alex doubled over in pain as Asteria poked the Rune on his shoulder ."Why the f*k did you poke that!" Alex shouted as he gritted his teeth in pain. "Don't you know that it hurts like hell?"

"I know. That is why I poked it." Asteria said as she looked at the Rune on Alex's shoulder with intensity. "If you did not feel any pain when I poked it, then it will mean that your Rune is weak. But if it has pain, then it means that you were able to engrave a powerful rune."

"Umm... yay, I guess?" Alex mumbled as he slowly backed away from Asteria. "So... how long should I wait before I can touch this Rune again?

"It depends on the quality of your Rune." Asteria replied with a shrug. "If I were you, I will wait for like an hour or two. Maybe you can touch it at that time."

"Noted." Alex nodded as he looked at Alina, who was busy playing with the little monsters.

"..." Even though Alina looked calm, it was quite obvious from her slightly pale face and red fists that she was also worried for Alex earlier.

"Don't point it out, Alex." Asteria hastily said as she realized that Alex was about to tease Alina. "Nothing good will come out with what you will do."

"Ok..." Alex knew closed his mouth, realizing that he indeed should not provoke Alina now.

"So, what will you do once you recover later?" Asteria mused as she and Alex fixed the chairs that Alex wrecked during the engraving process. "Are you going to get food?"

"Nope, I will clean out that pest." Alex said, giving Asteria a level look. "You know what I am talking about, right?"

"Yeah, I am sure you are referring to That." Asteria said as she gazed at her left side.

Nothing special could be seen in that direction, although it looked like Asteria had seen something in there. "Are you about to confront it?"

"Well of course I will." Alex replied with confidence. "I was not sure about fighting it two weeks ago, but now that I reached Grade 4, I am sure that I can beat that pest up."

"..."

Around two weeks ago, while Alex and Alina were busy on doing their stuff, both of them suddenly felt a presence spying on them nearby.

Both of them of course were alerted by this presence, although they decided to not attack it.

Maybe it was just passing by and was curious on them.

But to their dismay, this hidden presence continued to spy on them until this very day.

This of course made Alex and Alina worried, as they were not sure on what this hidden presence's motives were.

The only thing that they knew was that this hidden presence was a Shadow-Type Monster.

Because of the presence's blatant attempt to spy on them, Alina wanted to attack this monster already, but Alex stopped her, telling her that they should just deal with it when Alex steps to Grade 4.

And now that Alex is in Grade 4, it is time for them to flush the spying presence out.

"Well, good luck to you I guess." Asteria muttered as she sat on Alex's left shoulder. "You may need a lot of it."

"Hmph, I don't need luck to win." Alex replied confidently as he closed his eyes. "My slimy prehensiles here are enough squish my opponents to putrid oblivion!"

"What you said was really gross, you know that?"

"..."

Chapter 73 Deconstruction and Combination

Alex stayed on his place for 2 hours, as he waited for the pain of his engraving to disappear.

To Alex's relief, the monster spying on them did not make a single move on him.

"Good thing nothing happened."

Alex had the fleeting thought that the monster might attack him while he was recovering, since he just finished breaking through.

Alex thought that maybe the spying monster could be worried about his new power level and that it will attempt to destroy him while he was vulnerable.

But luckily for Alex, the monster did not do anything against him.

This however gave Alex another worry.

And that was the possibility that the monster did not attack Alex because it was confident of its strength, even after Alex had broken through.

If this monster has this kind of mindset, then there is a chance that this monster might be a powerful one.

"Don't tell me the one spying us right now is as powerful as that Divine Knight?" Alex vehemently shook his head as he thought of this.

There is no way for Alex to know that, unless he confronts the spying monster right now.

"Well, with the amount of crazy strong Monsters in the World, I am sure that the chance for me to meet one of them is fairly low." Alex muttered to himself, thinking that the spying monster was not at the General Class.

"Time to see all my spells now..." Alex muttered to himself as he checked his Abyss Tome.

[Level 1] -- Minor Telekinesis, Voice Warp

[Level 2] -- Major Telekinesis, Skin Warp

[Level 3] -- Deconstruction, Muscle Warp

[Level 4] -- Combination, Bone Warp

[Level 5] -- Needs Grade 5 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 6] -- Needs Grade 6 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 7] -- Needs Grade 7 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 8] -- Needs Grade 8 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 9] -- Needs Grade 9 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 10] -- Needs Grade 10 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 11] -- Needs Grade 11 Abyss Energy to access.

[Level 12] -- Needs Grade 12 Abyss Energy to access.

"Okay, they all look impressive to me..." Alex muttered as he looked at the spells in Levels 3 and 4.

"Time to test my new spells..."

2 weeks and 5 days ago.

It was during this time that Alex reached Grade 3 and allowed him access to Level 3 Spells.

Since this happened before the presence spied on them, Alex was able to test the Level 3 Spells Deconstruction and Muscle Warp with ease.

Alex proceeded to try out Muscle Warp first, and the results that he got were what he had expected.

Muscle Warp basically allows Alex to mimic a muscular structure of any being possible.

Aside from that, it also allows Alex to perfectly manipulate the muscles in his body.

This spell gave Alex tougher muscles that covered and protected his organs, and it also gave Alex muscles that made his movements more flexible and more powerful.

Of course muscle mimicry is the main power of this spell, although Alex did not try this feature out yet, since he was waiting for another spell before doing muscle mimicry.

As for Deconstruction, Alex can say that this power is somewhat unique.

Just like what the name says, Deconstruction will allow Alex to force a material that he touches to deconstruct into its building components.

The object that Alex tested this power on was an abandoned cart, and Alex watched with wonder as the cart separated into piles of wood and nails.

Upon seeing what happened, Alex got the gist of Deconstruction.

Alex was now sure that if he used Deconstruction a car, the car will separate into separate pieces, with the wires, wheels, metals, and leather seat all sorted away from each other.

Similarly speaking, if Alex touches a gun, that gun will break into its constituent pieces, as if it had been forced to be deconstructed.

This power also works on living beings, although Alex can only use Deconstruction on small mammals like rats.

However, using it on living beings is quite... unpalatable.

Believe that statement, as the sight of a rat being deconstructed is something that was not great to see.

Alex could only sigh in relief at that time as he realized that he was not yet powerful enough to Deconstruct humans.

Using Deconstruction on humans is something that Alex will not do... for now.

Imagine seeing a person suddenly breaking down into their constituent organs, bones, and muscle because of Deconstruction.

Something like that will be a traumatic sight, even for Alex.

"With the way that I train now, it will take me some more time before I can even use Deconstruction on animals like pigs.." Alex thought to himself as he gripped his fists.

"As for humans... even I am not sure when I can do that."

After Alex made more experiments with Deconstruction, he realized that there is still more to it.

If Alex can use Deconstruction to force an object to dismantle, then maybe Alex can use it to dismantle objects at a finer level.

What Alex meant by this was Elemental Deconstruction.

This could be possible, as elements were also stuff that basically built an object. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, while wood was a combination of several elements.

Alex knew that if he can do Elemental Deconstruction, then it will be easier for him to create some unconventional things that require some elements.

But that will all depend if Elemental Deconstruction is indeed possible.

So in order to test if Elemental Deconstruction is possible, Alex decided to attempt it on a nail that he found lying on an abandoned village.

At first, nothing happened to the nail, since it has no mechanical components that can be dismantled.

Upon reaching that point, Alex decided to add more power to the spell, widen its scope, and make its application more precise.

Alex also applied his knowledge in chemistry in the process, just to make sure that he was right in what he was doing.

This seemed to have done the trick, as moments later, Alex saw a pile of Iron and small pile of carbon, both separated from each other.

"Now we're talking."

Alex smiled as he knew that the nail that he got was a soft-carbon type of steel nail, which contained 0.1% carbon and the remaining portion as iron.

From what Alex can see in front of him, the pile of carbon and iron that he made seems to match his percentages.

This confirms that he indeed can do Elemental Deconstruction and that it is also accurate.

"Ok, so I can do elemental separation..." Alex muttered as he suddenly felt a little light-headed.

"What the hell?"

It was then that Alex realized that what he did with the nail managed to shave off 50% of his entire storage of Abyss Energy.

"So separating a nail into two elements consumes almost half of my reserves." Alex shook his head at this realization, as he realized that right now, his Elemental Deconstruction is VERY inefficient.

Emphasis on VERY.

Alex realized that if he wanted to use Deconstruction and Elemental Deconstruction in an efficient way, then he must increase his Abyss Energy reserves.

Back to the present time.

With Alex reaching Grade 4, his Abyss Energy reserves were much higher, and his Abyss Rune also reduced the energy consumption.

Naturally, this could have tempted Alex to try out Deconstruction again.

But Alex's focus this time was on the Level 4 Spells Combination an Bone Warp.

If Alex is not wrong, Bone Warp allows Alex to mimic skeletal structure on any beings.

Not only that, but it could also allow Alex to manipulate his bones freely.

This of course made Alex somewhat excited, as he already imagined the applications that he can do with Bone Warp.

"I can make bone shield, bone armor, bone swords, bone spears, bone katana, bone axe, bone morningstar, bone flail, bone chain, bone nunchakus, bone club, bone bat, bone saw..." Alex shook his head as he tried to stop himself from drooling.

"Well, I better try it out a little first..."

Alex's Great Elderitch Body also had its own skeleton, and Alex basically used his Bone Warp to manipulate it a little.

"Schiik..."

Alex grinned as he saw blade-shaped bones protruding from his forehead. They all sprung out of his forehead menacingly, like they were weapons made to slash a throat.

Alex nodded after seeing the protrusions, making them disappear after 10 seconds. "So I can really control my bones now..."

As for the Skeletal Mimicry Part, Alex decided to test it out later, as Alex was sure that it could be a little... rowdy once he uses both Skeletal and Muscular Mimicry later.

This brings Alex's attention on the other Level 4 Spell, Combination.

"What does this spell do?" Alex mused to himself as he tilted his head. "Does it combine two things to create a single thing, with the properties of both? Or does it just create an abomination?"

"Tsk, my only choice is to experiment a little."

With his previous experience with Deconstruction, Alex had the feeling that Combination might also require lots of Abyss Energy.

Because of that, Alex decided to just start small.

He picked up two stones of similar sizes but of different colors.

One was brown, while the other one had bright shades of red.

They clearly look distinct compared to each other.

Alex was not sure why, but he felt that using Combination on two different-sized objects will not be as efficient compared to using Combination on two same-sized objects with different colors.

"Well, maybe it's because size is an important aspect of Combination..." Alex thought to himself as he placed the two stones beside each other. "Not that I complain..."

Alex then closed his eyes as he activated the spell.

Threads of power flowed out of Alex's tentacles, covering both the stones.

The outflow of power continued for 10 more seconds before it slowed down to a trickle.

"..." Alex then stared at the object in front of him after the flow of the Abyss Energy has stopped.

What Alex was staring at right now was a single stone, with its size and mass equal to the addition of the two earlier stones.

"So this means that the extensive properties like mass and volume are added when objects undergo Combination..." Alex cupped his chin as he stared at the Combined Stone with wonder.

"But how about the intensive properties like color, refractive index, density and more? How will they turn out?"

With Alex's vision he could see that the stone had both the red and brown colors of the earlier stones, although Alex could not see any pattern that was similar to the earlier stones.

"Tsk." The result of his little experiment had frustrated Alex a little, as he realized that he must do more experiments if he wanted to discover the extents and limits of his Combination Spell.

"But before I do that, I must deal with that guy first..." Alex muttered to himself as he gave a passing glance at the direction of the spying monster. "I can't really experiment in peace with a monster staring at me like that."

"Rustle..." After making this decision, Alex stood up as he walked towards Alina and Asteria.

If he wanted to finish that Monster off, both he and Alina will have to work together.

As for Asteria? Well, she can be their cheerleader, as long as he will not include obscene words in her chant.

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Chapter 74 Fire and Shadow

The shadowy figure knew that it had a name, but it was never interested on using it on itself.

"After my rebirth, my name doesn't matter anymore." The shadowy figure muttered to itself as it walked carefully on the forest floor.

"Really, you do not want to use your name anymore?" The musings of the shadowy figure were broken as it heard a raucous voice beside it.

"Ted, I don't like using my name." The shadowy figure said as it gave the monster beside it a withering look. "I don't want to use anymore, and I will not change that."

Ted only gave the shadowy figure a naughty smile, as if what it said to him was interesting.

"Really? But I think Carlie is a great name! Isn't that your name before?" Ted replied as he tilted his massive head. "It's a waste to not use it!"

"..."

If it were a normal situation, the shadowy figure could have already resorted to attacking Ted. But it could not, as Ted is someone that the shadowy figure could not fight off.

An ethereal body made up of flames and fumes.

This is the body that Ted had.

For someone like the shadowy figure, whose power was affiliated with the darkness, Ted's pure flame body was its bane.

Because of this, the shadowy figure knew that it will be hard for it to offend Ted.

So in order to prevent some complications, the shadowy figure has no choice but to acquiesce to what Ted wanted.

"Ok, I shall call myself as Carlie temporarily." Carlie said as her shadowy body twitched slightly. "I do not like using it, but I think I can manage on using it for now."

"Good." Ted nodded, seemingly satisfied with Carlie's reply. "A fair maiden like you should have a beautiful name.."

"I don't like using this name. It reminds me of my past life." Carlie said, with her body showing some of her discomfort.

"Well, consider what you do right now as your training to resist your bad memories." Ted said he blew some sparks of fire towards Carlie's direction. "Facing your past life with a steely heart is something that you must do."

"Your fire sparks are a little irritating. Please stop blowing them on me." Carlie's voice this time, sounded a little mad, as if what Ted said to her struck a chord with her.

Ted noticed this, as he immediately backtracked his prank.

"Ok..."

"..." Carlie only had a few recollections of her life before she was taken in the Queen Mother, but she can remember that it was an extremely bad one.

Carlie went silent as she remembered the sounds of whip and chains that haunted her even now.

She shook her head, knowing that she should not be distracted by her erroneous memories for now.

She and Ted had a mission to do, and they must achieve it with ease.

"So what is our mission this time?" Carlie asked Ted as both of them left the Monster Hall. "Its something related to Phom, right?"

"Yes." Ted nodded as he gave Carlie a grave look. "You can say that Phom... needs some post-mortem treatment."

Upon seeing Ted's look, Carlie let out a light sigh, as she realized what happened to him.

"Phom died."

"Yeah, he died just a day ago." Ted said as read off something in a paper that he held.

Carlie suppressed her curiosity as she saw that the paper was not burning even with its proximity with Ted. Asking would not give her answers, as Ted will surely not answer it.

Ted took Carlie's silence as the cue for him to talk.

"So basically speaking, our mission will be retrieval and monitoring." Ted said after he finished reading the paper.

The paper then let out a crackle as it was consumed by flames.

"Ted, from what I can understand, the object that we will retrieve is Phom's body." Carlie said as she watched the ashes of the paper being eaten by Ted. "But what do you mean by monitoring? Are we monitoring the one that killed Phom?"

"Monitor Phom's killer? Hahaha! Do that if you want to die!" Ted said as he started to wheeze in laughter. "Hahaha, you, monitor Phom's killer? Hahaha!"

"..." Carlie felt offended as she saw Ted's extreme amusement.

"I may be a Shadow Fiend, but I can fight against strong enemies." Carlie said as shadows around her began to dance. "You know that I can beat up Phom pretty easily. That means that I can survive against the one how killed him."

"Even if it's Divine Knight Glaivewood?" Ted snickered as he bowled over, still laughing loudly. "Hahaha, try spying him, let's see if you can live!"

"Wait... Phom is killed by a Divine Knight?" Even if Carlie was usually stoic, even she could not help but get surprised with what she heard. "How could this happen?"

"Well, according to General Chimera, he sent Phom to meet up with two Visiting Monsters, with the intent to invite them to talk to the General himself." Ted said as he calmed down from too much laughing. "But it seems like the situation did not end that well."

"Of course it will not end well." Carlie retorted as she let out a snort. "Queen Mother told us that as much as possible, we should not meddle with the affairs of the Visiting Monsters. Letting them do what they want is better rather than us making them angry."

"Yeah I get that ok?" Ted snorted as he started to walk. Carlie trailed behind him, continuing to listen to what he said.

"General Chimera did not tell me more details but from what he did say, it seems like Divine Knight Glaivewood rushed to the Visiting Monsters with the intent of killing them. Phom... is just an unlucky bystander."

"In the name of Mother!" Carlie swore as she felt sympathy for Phom. "Phom really is unlucky this time."

"Unlucky indeed." Ted said as he gave Alina a look of sympathy. "And to make it worse, General Chimera told me that the two Visiting Monsters were able to leave the confrontation alive."

"They were still alive?" this time, Carlie was really surprised. "But how?"

"General Chimera just told me that the Visiting Monsters held something that they used against the Divine Knight." Ted said as his face held a wry smile. "As for what is that, he did not say it."

"... Maybe its wrong for me to say it, but how did General Chimera get this information?" Carlie mused as she and Ted chanteg their tracks. "He does not have a spy monster like me, so how could be this good at espionage?"

"Why do you want to know that?" Ted said, sounding a little defensive. "What the Generals do is none of our business. What we should to is to follow them, or else Queen Mother will get angry."

"...You're right. Forgive me for being impulsive." Carlie said as she bowed in front of Ted.

"Geez, can you learn to loosen up, even just by a little?" Ted muttered as he shook his head. "Ok, I forgive you for now, but do not repeat what you just said."

"Ok." Carlie nodded.

Both of them then went silent, with Carlie waiting for Ted to say something, and with Ted waiting for Carlie to talk too.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Tsk, seems like you are quite eager to take the mission now." Ted mumbled as his body changed color from red to green.

"Doing a mission for the Queen Mother is the best thing that I can hope to do." Carlie said with conviction clear on her face. "Nothing can make me quite as eager as that."

"Ok, ok. I get it." Ted saved as he waved his hands, indicating that Carlie should stop talking.

"So, by this point you already know the target that we should Monitor, right?" Ted said as he and Alina stopped in front of a massive gate.

"If my guess is right, the ones that we will monitor are the Visiting Monsters." Carlie said with a slight dip of her head.

"That's right." Ted said as he gave Carlie a nod. "General Chimera told me that those two Monsters must be monitored from a distance. We should record everything that we can observe from their actions, everything, even down to their eating habits."

"That's... very specific." Carlie frowned as she narrowed her eyes. "Why would the General want that?"

"I don't know." Ted shrugged as he gave Carlie a helpless smile. "He just told us to do it."

"Do we even have any choice now?" Claire mumbled as she sighed. "From what I can see, we have none."

"Well, General Chimera told me that if we pull this off, we can get a promotion program." Ted said while giving Claire a pleading look. "So please, make sure that we do not f*k this up, ok? We can get promoted if we do this mission right!"

"Ok." This was Carlie's only reply as she stopped walking. "So, how should we delegate our tasks?"

"Easy." Ted replied as he used a fire tendril to carve on the ground. The ground let out a his as the fire tendril gouged out some marks in it.

"Once we see Phom's body, I will go back here with his body, while you will start monitoring the Visiting Monsters." Ted said after drawing a circle with a line drawn inside it. "You will only end monitoring them until they leave this world. As for me, I will come and meet you every month to get your written report on them."

"Wait, so that is the gist of what we will do?" Carlie asked as she stared at the poorly-drawn circle. "Somehow, I could not help but feel that I am the one that is in most danger here."

"Well, as long as you do not do anything that can offend the visiting Monsters, then you will be safe." Ted replied as if it was already an accepted fact. "So... just be careful when watching them, ok?"

"..." Carlie wanted to just refuse Ted's arrangement of the mission, but she found it hard to do so, as she did not want to be in the range of his flaming temper again.

Carlie then shivered, as she remembered the last time that Ted's flames had seared her body.

Even until now, she can still feel some phantom pains from that.

"Fine, let's do that." Claire said as she tried to not show her tense body. "Just... be sure to come on time every month, ok?"

"Will do." Ted said as he gave Carlie his signature cocky smile. "Now that we have set the terms of our mission, let's set off already. After all, our targets have distanced themselves already. We have to catch up to them now."

"Ok." Carlie let out a small sigh of relief as she saw Ted staying calm.

Having him angry is something that Carlie dreaded and feared.

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Chapter 75 Another Shee

[Tentacle Monster Alex]

-Abyss Magic User-

-Grade 4 Abyss Energy-

-Current Abyss Tomes obtained: Envy-

--The Censored Guy--

This is the form that Alex got from the Monster Cultivation Body. It is a humanoid form with countless tentacles covering its entirety.

Has the ability to manipulate emotions and Abyss Energy.

Extremely ugly and repulsive that it was able to make Alex devastated.

If Alex was given a choice, this Monster form will surely be at the end of his power list.

[Vampire Queen Alina]

-Dark Magic User-

--She's always the beautiful one--

This is the form that Alina got from the Monster Cultivation Body.

Has the ability to freely manipulate blood and Dark Energy.

Extremely beautiful to the point that the beauty is almost unbelievable.

Close friend with the little monsters, showing her fondness for kids.

[Asteria]

The fairy queen.

Nothing more can be said here, as the fairy did not change at all. She is just... there.

[Sylvester Glaivewood]

-Golden Essence User-

--He's surely a DILF, no doubt about it.--

One of the strongest Humans in the Human Faction. He is one of the Humans that bear the title of 'Divine Knight'. His real power is unknown, although it has been shown that he had the power to easily kill a Monster which Alex and Alina deemed worthy to fight.

Has one daughter, and it is shown that he is somewhat doting on her. However, suspicious ties to a certain program by the Monster Faction seems to be conflicting against his relations with his daughter.

[Teresa Glaivewood]

-Golden Essence User-

-Grade 3 Knight-

--The one who let forth a shower from her loins--

Daughter of the esteemed Divine Knight Sylvester Glaivewood, Teresa had talent and pressure urging her to be at her best at anything.

Rumored to have talent that could beat her father's, as shown by her shattering a cultivation record that her father personally held before.

Even with her talents and abilities, her slightly cultured life led to some naivety and carelessness in her actions.

Possesess the traits of an empath, which allows Teresa to sense and determine emotions of sentient beings.

Currently confused as she was bombarded her kidnap situation and the revelations that she heard.

[Clarie]

--The shadowy figure x100--

A powerful Monster, whose position seems to be one or two degrees lower than the General Class Monsters.

Has shown the ability to transform into a shadow body.

Can perform quick movements and stealthy actions while in the shadow body form.

Gender was presumed to be female, although Claire personally tries to avoid talking about it.

Has some possible ill-feelings to her current companion, due to some unpleasant encounters in past.

Clearly worships the Queen Mother, and will do everything to assist Her.

[Little Monster No. 1]

An unfortunate kid that was transformed by a formula. Was turned into a dog-like Monster.

[Little Monster No. 2]

An unfortunate kid that was transformed by a formula. Was turned into a pebble Monster.

[Little Monster No. 3]

An unfortunate kid that was transformed by a formula. Was turned into a shadow-like Monster.

[Little Monster No. 4]

An unfortunate kid that was transformed by a formula. Was turned into a hive of countless insects.

[Little Monster No. 5]

An unfortunate kid that was transformed by a formula. Was turned into skeletal Monster.

[Mia Barrios]

--This one is the MILF--

An erudite and intelligent woman.

Divine Knight Sylvester Glaivewood's assistant and lover.

Has shown skills on information gathering and planning.

Ties to the Mage Faction could be possible.

[Divine Knight Barrios]

--What should I call this guy?--

Brother of Mia Barrios.

Was shown to be one of the Divine Knights, although Mia and Sylvester questions his mental capabilities every time they can talk about it.

[Phom]

--Press F for this guy--

One of the close assistants of General Chimera.

Was unfairly killed from Divine Knight Glaivewood's rampage.

[Ted]

--This guy reminds me of people that just have very punchable face--

Current capabilities are unknown, although his flame body might indicate powerful pyrokinesis.

[Giant Baor]

--This poor guy too--

Tried to kill the little mosnters, but was killed in the end by Alex due to some misunderstandings.

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Chapter 76 Danger is in the Eye of the Beholder

Carlie did not like what she saw.

What was left of Phom's body was a mangled pile of flesh, completely festering for the two to see.

"This..." Even Ted was at loss for words as he saw Phom's corpse. "How could it be like this?"

"..." Carlie had the same doubts as Ted, as she knew that a dead Monster like Phom should not look this damaged after just a day of dying.

"Ugh... the higher-ups won't be happy upon seeing this body..." Ted muttered to himself as she levitated Phom's corpse.

"Piyak."

Carlie looked away as some parts of Phom's skin fell to the forest floor. It created a squelching sound, which sounded like a shout in the quiet forest.

"That Divine Knight surely packs a punch..." Ted mused as he looked at the pile of flesh in front of him. "Good thing I am not the one sent to go here yesterday..."

Both Carlie and Ted sighed, knowing that the Divine Knight who killed Phom really is scary.

After all, its quite obvious that what happened to Phom's corpse was related to the Divine Knight.

Well, it's not like they can do anything about it...

"Well, this is where we shall separate." Ted declared as he started to run away, bringing Phom's body with him. "Be sure to record everything that your Targets do!"

Dried grasses and leaves were blazing at the path that Ted crossed, creating a haze and smoke that covered some parts of the forest.

This sight made Carlie feel irritated, as she remembered how much of a prick Ted was.

"Jerk." Carlie muttered at the moment that Ted was out of her earshot. "The day will also come that I can butcher you with the Queen Mother watching in contentment."

Of course Carlie knew that this day will only come once she had the enough power to prove her worth.

"Being a shadow courier is not the only thing that I can do." Carlie declared to herself, remembering her usual job of delivering vials or letters to dangerous areas. I can show them that I can be a good fighter too, just like General Nyx."

With this thought in her mind, Carlie's shadow body slithered as she followed the old tracks that were left by her targets.

This mission will be one of Carlie's longest ones, and Carlie swore to herself that she will get out of it successfully.

To Carlie's surprise, she actually needed some days to completely reach the end her Target's tracks.

"There they are..." Carlie muttered as she saw the appearances of her two targets.

One was a Great Elderitch, while the other one was unmistakably a Vampire Queen.

Carlie suppressed the pangs of desire that appeared inside her body as she saw the beautiful appearance of the Vampire Queen.

Beautiful Vampires are dangerous, as they use their beauty as weapons against their opponents, and many Monsters have indeed been waylaid by this.

As for the Great Elderitch, Carlie knew that they only mostly deal with concepts related to evil, which can vary greatly depending on the Great Eldritch.

If Carlie wants to know the specialty of the Great Elderitch in front of her, then she must observe it well.

After thinking of these things, Carlie started to settle down, as she thought that she can now start spying on them.

But before she could do so, Carlie almost sputtered in shock as 5 more figures suddenly appeared beside her Targets.

"How could this be?" Usually, Carlie was always calm and collected, no matter what she saw. But right now, what she was seeing was enough to rattle her. "How could they be here?"

Carlie narrowed her eyes at the sight of 5 little monsters flocking around the Vampire Queen.

One quick scan made Carlie sure of their appearances.

One of the little monsters looked like a dog, while the other one were a collection of pebbles. The third one was made od shadows like her, while the fourth one was made up of insects. The fifth and the final one was only made up of bones.

"Tsk."

The reason why Carlie was shocked upon seeing them was the fact that she knew them during their Monster Transformation!

Carlie could still remember it.

She could still vividly remember the forced Monster transformation that she initiated on a nomadic settlement 1 week ago.

Out of this Nomadic Village, the only ones that got turned into Monsters were 5 little children.

Carlie originally left these transformed children on their own, as she thought that they are too weak to be of use to the Queen Mother.

Carlie even expected them to die around 3-5 days after their transformation.

But these kids had exceeded her expectations.

They actually survived for a week, and now, all the 5 little monsters looked like they are under the protection of her targets!

"Fate is quite a trickster indeed." Carlie muttered to herself as she realized that their situation just got worse.

Because of the presence of the little monsters, Carlie realized that the Monster Faction is once again about to head to another bloody conflict.

"If I just killed the little monsters when I saw them..." For now, Carlie could not dwell on blaming herself.

Now, she had an additional damage control to do, and it will only depend on her observations whether or not she will request a Kill Order for her targets.

"I wish that you two are just docile Monsters..." Carlie muttered to herself as she observed her Targets. "After all, I do not want you two to be waging a war against us."

Just the mere thought of this is enough to make Carlie tired and apprehensive.

"..."

One major difference from of the Monsters in this World and the Monsters that came from other planes were the difference of their moral values.

This difference is prominent in the Monster Birth Program.

For the Monsters in this World, including Carlie, the Monster Birth Program is their way to increase their power and to show to Humans that even people like them can also join their cause.

The program also helps in revitalizing the population of the Monster Faction.

But for the Monsters from the other planes, once they discovered about the Monster Birth Program, most of them go extremely angry, as if the mere existence of the program was so repulsive to them.

So much was their hate that most of the Visiting Monsters who discovered the Monster Birth Program will go out of their way to stop the program.

This led to many pointless battles between the local and visiting Monsters, which usually ends with the visiting Monsters dead or running away, and many local Monsters either dead or crippled.

Because of this scary casualty count, all the Monsters in this World decided to do everything they can so that future Visiting Monsters will not learn or even hear about the Monster Birth Program.

As long as the Visiting Monster will not discover anything about the Monster Birth Program until the day that they leave, then there will be no hassle and problems.

This had proven to be an easy job, as the only thing that they needed to do was limit the contact between the Visiting Monsters and the newborn Monsters, and to always keep their mouths shut,

With these precautions in hand, it will be almost impossible for the Visiting Monsters to discover anything about the program.

But this time, it seems like these precautions are unable to do anything.

Right now, it is highly likely that the 5 little monsters have already told to her Targets about what had happened to them.

This, for Carlie, is the most direct way to tell these new Visiting Monsters about the existence of the Monster Birth Program.

"This is really bad..." Carlie muttered to herself as she imagined the consequences of the current situation. "I can try attacking them right now, but I am not really sure if they are interested on making a move against the Monster Faction. After all, the last visit of Monsters from another dimension happened thousands of years ago. Who knows, maybe my Targets are open-minded already."

With that thought in her mind, Carlie started to observe.

With the body that Carlie have she had no need for water or food to survive. She only had to consume some of the shadows nearby to replenish herself.

With this near-limitless survival tactic, Carlie was able to persevere to quietly watch and observe the activities of her Targets

From what she can see, Carlie realized that her Targets were not just randomly moving everywhere. They seem to move with purpose, as if they already had a target to accomplish.

But aside from this, the other things that Carlie was pretty jarring too.

She could see the Vampire Queen having fun playing with the little monsters, while the Great Eldeitch seems to be busy on it experiments that involve the use of weird spells and its creepy tentacles.

"..." Even though she felt slightly bored, Carlie still stayed serious on what she was doing.

So Carlie continued her routine watch on her Targets for 2 more weeks, and that was when she saw something interesting.

"Yeoowww!!!"

She saw the Great Elderitch engraving a Rune on its right shoulder, and Carlie could see the expression of pain just from the way its tentacles moved.

Carlie did not do anything to the Great Elderitch at this time, as she knew that it is a taboo to disturb someone who is deep through a breakthrough.

It is an unwritten rule in this World that no one should disturb a Human or a Monster that is deep on his/her breakthrough.

If they want to do something, then wait until the breakthrough is over.

In the end, Carlie had to wait for around two hours before the breakthrough and recovery period had finished.

By this point, Carlie watched with interest as the Great Elderitch seems to be intent on trying something new.

But before it reached that point, Carlie started to stiffen as she felt something emanating from the Great Elderitch.

What Carlie felt was a faint killing intent, and if Carlie was not wrong, this killing intent was focused entirely on her!

"Oh, so my Targets knew that I was spying them all along." Carlie thought with resignation as she saw the Vampire Queen and the Great Elderitch walking beside each other.

Both of them now looked alert and battle-ready.

And judging from the direction of their gazes, they seem to be looking exactly at where Carlie was currently hiding.

"So much for my stealth." Carlie thought to herself as she revealed herself from her hiding spot.

Since her Targets have discovered her and seem to want to approach her with evil intentions, then Carlie will gladly reciprocate in kind.

Negotiations are off the table now, as the aggressive attitude by her Targets is telling Carlie that what will happen next will be a fight.

"If you want a fight, then I, shall gladly represent Queen Mother to smite you both!"

Carlie's body started to seethe as she prepared herself for a difficult match.

"Come, let's have some fun!" Carlie thought to herself as she pounced towards her Targets.

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Chapter 77 Saber!

Alex only needed to glance at Alina to show her what he planned to do.

"Mn." Alina nodded quickly, immediately putting herself in action.

She waved her hands, and the little monsters were sucked towards her storage

Teresa was also inside that storage, but there is no problem with her being with the little monsters, as Alex repeatedly told Teresa about the innocence of the little monsters.

Hell, the little monsters actually liked Teresa too, as they say that she looked better than Alex.

"..." Alex tried to not imagine the pestering that the little monsters will do to Teresa as he and Asteria started to approach the spy.

But before they could even move farther, Alex suddenly felt danger coming towards him.

Alex immediately activated these two spells, with the Muscle Warp creating 21 layers of muscles, with each layer made up of criss-crossed muscle fibers. Alex also made sure that each fiber are 5 times as thick as normal.

As for the Bone Warp, Alex expanded the bones in his ribcage, making sure that all of its gaps were covered.

He then greatly increased the mass and density of his bones in his chest, making sure that it can withstand the impact from an explosion.

Alex did all of this in an instant, and this could be the only thing that saved his life.

"Kasb!" Alex saw a sudden blur, which was followed by Alex feeling that he was knocked backward.

"Guh!" Alex let out groan as he felt a powerful force smashing against his chest.

His body trembled as he felt the force travelling through his 21-layered muscle wall and his bone barricade.

Luckily for Alex, his makeshift defense was enough to dissipate the attack.

"..."

He looked down at his torso, and he realized that aside from the impact, there are also some slash marks on his torso, which showed that something sharp hit him.

"Ok, so our opponent can hit hard and have some sharp claw-like weapon. Great." Alex thought as he realized that his body can still tank the physical attacks of their opponent. "But from the way our opponent attacked me, its seems like he/she was skilled in fighting too."

Even though their opponent was quick, Alex was able to see its appearance.

An ebony-colored body, which seemed to be ethereal and untouchable.

This is the body of the one who just attacked Alex.

Alex had already used Asteria to spy on their opponent's appearance weeks ago, so he was highly sure that their opponent is a shadow-type monster, just like No. 3.

"With that kind of body, our opponent surely is good in close combat..." Alex muttered to himself as he retreated slightly

"Ding ding ding!" This hypothesis of Alex was proven as he saw Alina and their opponent squaring off against each other in front of him.

Alina held her two swords, slashing them quickly in front of her.

As for their opponent, its body roiled and seethed like the waves of the sea, with its arms lashing out to Alina's attacks.

To Alex's fascination, he saw that the two combatants were just equally skilled in close combat.

"Impressive..." This is the first time that Alex saw Alina being serious in sword arts, as most of the time, she only used her Esper Abilities to fight.

"D*mn, she really can hold a sword!" Asteria exclaimed behind Alex, as she seemed to be also entranced by what she saw. "Good thing she did not do that to you when you first saw her."

"... Instead of just blabbing there like a background character, why don't you give me some advice to defeat her?" Alex muttered to Alina as he watched their every move with caution. "Even if Alina can hold our opponent off, it will not last that way..."

"Really, you are still asking me for an advice?" Instead of looking ashamed, Asteria still had the gall to glare at Alex, as if what he said had just offended her. "You told me days ago that you already have a way to defeat your opponent! Don't tell me you forgot about that already?"

"No, I did not forget about my plan to defeat our opponent." Alex muttered as he shook his head. "Its just that... my plan is a little..."

"Little what?" Asteira asked as Alina and their opponent continued their clash.

"Ugh fine, just let me do it!" Alex shouted as he withdrew something from the symbol on his forehead.

What Alex withdrew from his symbol was the handle of the Electromagnetic Saber.

One look at the saber, and Asteria immediately realized what Alex was talking about. "Well Alex, there is no problem with your plan. Just... do it."

"Fine, here I go then." Alex declared as he activated the Electromagnetic Saber.

"Hong.." The handle trembled a little, before a glowing rod around a meter long appeared, seemingly attached to the handle.

This is the primary power of the Electromagnetic Saber.

The Electromagnetic Saber can gather Electromagnetic Waves on its own, turning these waves into a sword like construct, with the handle serving as the hilt and the EM Waves serving as the blade.

That just means that Alex has a portable bladed weapon with him.

But just like his Esper Power, it seems like his Electromagnetic Saber was also being rejected by the Laws in this World.

What this means was that just like Alex's EM Wave Manipulation, the power of his Electromagnetic Saber was also weakened in this World.

Because of this suppression, right now, the only thing that the Electromagnetic Saber could gather were light waves, radio waves and microwaves.

As for the stronger and deadlier waves, Alex realized that it will take him some more time here in this World before his Electromagnetic Saber can access them.

Naturally this limitation made Alex disappointed with the Electromagnetic Saber, as he thought that there are very few monsters that he could use the Electromagnetic Saber on.

But that thinking of his changed after he got the results of Asteria spying on their spying monster.

According to Asteria, it seemed like their spy is not that comfortable with sunlight, with it opting to stay in the shade, suspiciously avoiding any rays of sunlight nearby.

Adding to this observation was the fact that No. 3, who seemed to be a similar type of Monster as their spy, was also instinctively scared at sunlight itself.

These observations led Alex to believe that their opponent was in fact, weak against light.

And that is where the Electromagnetic Saber comes in.

Since his Electromagnetic Saber can gather light waves to form a light blade, Alex was sure that he can use this aspect to hurt their opponent!

Alex stared at the glowing blade of his Electromagnetic Saber, making sure that there is nothing wrong with it.

Upon seeing that it is working fine, Alex took a deep breath as he uttered,

At the instant Alex felt his Abyss Energy being used, he started to wield his Electromagnetic Saber with his Major Telekinesis.

The saber seemed to fly into the air as Alex guided it telekinetically.

It flew straight towards the shadow monster, who was still locked in combat against Alina.

"Skriit..." A large part of their opponent's body was carved out, as the Electromagnetic Saber cut through their opponent's body like butter.

"Yes!" Alex cheered inwardly as he saw the shadow monster being hurt by his saber.

"You know, you could have just held the saber in your tentacles and slashed your opponent with it." Asteria commented as she saw what Alex did. "There is no need for you to use telekinesis to move the saber."

"Well, I have to surprise our opponent." Alex said, as he telekinetically slashed the saber back, this time, targeting the shadow monster's neck. "Besides, doing so makes it looks cool, right?"

"Right, you make it look like you are using the F*e to wield a l*saber." Asteria said while shaking her head. "That must be the reason why you are reluctant to use this technique earlier, right?"

"Shut it." Alex replied with slight embarrassment. "Don't use that reference in front of me."

"Ok..."

At a glance, it seems like the shadow monster was already done for.

But even if the shadow monster was injured, it seems like it was still to move fluidly.

The first strike of the Electromagnetic Saber can count as a surprise attack, but its follow-through can be seen by their opponent already.

The shadow monster's body started to warp in an attempt to dodge the second strike of the saber.

With the way the monster was able to move, it seemed like it can dodge the strike.

But this thinking was actually naïve, as the saber twitched a little, before it changed directions again.

"Ack!" The shadow monster actually screamed in pain as the Electromagnetic Saber dug itself in the Monster's flank.

"Don't think you can dodge that easily." Alex muttered as his saber continued on slashing by itself in the air. "My Major Telekinesis gives me not only stronger telekinetic power, it also gives me finer control, which allows me to quickly redirect any of my telekinetic attacks."

"Now that is something else." Asteria commented as she saw the shadow monster doing its best to dodge more and more of Alex's attacks.

But because of its injuries, and the superiority of Alex's telekinesis, the shadow monster got more and more wounds from Alex's saber.

By the time that it got its 15th wound, the shadow monster seemed to have realized that it was no match for Alex's saber.

Its body flickered away from Alina, making it obvious that the shadow monster was trying to escape.

"Puchi!" The shadow monster ignored the 16th strike of the saber on its back as it seemed to be only focused on running away.

"Nope, I can't let that happen." But before the shadow monster could fully distance itself away, Alina made her move to stop it.

The shadow monster suddenly stopped in its tracks, as if it could not move anymore.

The shadow monster tried to force itself to move, but no matter what it did, its body stayed stuck in its place.

"Now that is a nice spell." Alex muttered as he saw what Alina did. "Very impressive."

"..."

The spell that Alina used, Blood Warp, was a fairly simple spell.

The spell itself only had one requirement.

And this is that blood must be flowing out of Alina's target.

Once the blood was flowing out of the target's body, Alina can use her spell to access the blood inside her target's body, effectively rendering all this blood under her control.

Once this happens, Alina can use her target's blood to do anything that she wanted with it.

Alex was slightly worried about this spell, as he thought that maybe Alina can only use this spell on Humans, since Vampires are more inclined on Human Blood compared to Monster Blood.

But no matter what kind of blood it is, as long as it is considered as blood, Alina can pretty much control it.

And this is what Alina did, with her directly taking control of the blood of the shadow monster.

Because of Alex's attacks, the shadow monster was pretty much bleeding in many places, allowing Alina to use her spell on it.

With this access on her hand, Alina immediately used the shadow monster's blood to hold the shadow monster in place.

Now, no matter what the shadow monster did, it won't be able to do anything as Alina can use her control on its blood to do her bidding.

"Don't worry... we will not kill you." Alex said confidently as he held his saber with one of his tentacles. He approached the shadow monster nonchalantly, as if he was just there to do some window shopping. "We just want to ask you some questions, and if you answer it well, you could probably get out of this alive. So, please cooperate, ok?"

"..."

Chapter 78 Cold Reading

"Keep our opponent in place." Alex said as he slowly approached the shadow monster. "I am interested on asking it some questions."

"Fire away." Alina commented as she sat down on the floor, giving Alex and the shadow monster a bored look. "With me here, you should not worry about the monster moving or even bleeding out to death."

"Nice." Alex replied as he stopped right in front of the shadow monster.

But before he cold give his questions, Alex started to frown, as if he remembered something important.

"Hey Alina, what if this monster has a trump card that it is still waiting to use?" Alex suddenly said as he tilted his head. "Perhaps it will be better if you lock our opponent's power too."

"You should have said that earlier." Alina drily said as she waved her hands at the direction of the shadow monster.

At the instant that Alina said these words, something shone inside the shadow monster's body.

This shining thingy then started to flow inside the shadow monster's body, and in no time at all, a network of branching lines could be seen shining inside the monster's body.

Alex nodded upon seeing this, with him looking impressed with what he saw. "You really are a godsend to me Alina. No wonder I am always happy being with you."

"Oh shut up..." Alina said with a slight blush on her face. "I will not be swayed with your sweet words anymore! You are still under my punishment!"

"Ok, ok, I get it." Alex shamelessly replied as he shook his head. "I still need to please you more."

"Mind your choice of words Alex." Alina frostily replied, with the warm blush of her face suddenly gone. "I am really not interested with your slightly perverted comments."

"... Sorry." Alex replied sullenly, realizing that he slipped up again. "That won't happen next time again."

"Hehehe, this adds more to your punishment! then" Alina suddenly giggled, as if her frosty expression earlier was just an act. "You should always be careful!"

"Sigh..." Alex's only reply to that was a sigh and a weary smile.

"Alina changed a lot already..." Alex thought to himself as he saw the vibrant expression on Alina's face.

When he first met Alina more than a month ago, what Alex could only feel from her was grit and coldness.

Even after he 'dated' her in the city, Alina was still holding some dark emotions inside her.

For Alina to be like that is acceptable, since she held the burden to keep her sister alive from anyone that meant her harm.

This could have been bad already, but then Alina's sister died, making Alex worry about Alina's mindset more.

Nobody can really stay cheerful in that kind of situation.

But luckily for him, Alina had somewhat taken her sister's death quite well.

Well, the only reason that Alina was able to weather the grief was the possibility of her sister being revived in the future.

That was the sole crutch that kept Alina away from despair.

Well, Alex had not complaints about it, as long as it will not destroy Alina.

But even with this, Alex thought that Alina will still stay sad and grumpy.

However, it seems like the appearance of the 5 little monsters were able to help Alina

With the nonstop pestering and childishness of the little monsters, Alina's overall personality had somewhat mellowed out, with her laughing and smiling more often at their presence

She also rarely wore her mask now, as she seemed to feel more free and confident to show her face.

"I have to find a way to thank these little monsters later..." Alex thought to himself as he gave Alina a silly smile.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Alina said as she tilted her head.

"Oh, there's nothing." Alex replied as he realized that Alina looked really cute right now. "You just look really cute..."

"Hmph, there you go again!" Alina said as she blushed crimson. "When will you learn to keep your flowery talks in place?"

"Well, as long as you deserve to be praised, then I will not stop complimenting you." Alex replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

Alina's only reply to that was a shy glare.

"Hey, praise me too Alex!" Of course Asteria just had to talk right now. "I am just as beautiful as my hooman, you know. So come and praise me now!"

"Nope." Both Alex and Alina replied as Alex went back on focusing on the shadow monster.

"Hmph, you two really are jerks!" Alex ignored what Asteria said as he looked at the newest spell used by Alina.

"With the Blood Lock set in place, you cannot use any of your trump cards against me." Alex said to the frozen shadow monster, who looked like it was able to glare at Alex with its eyes. "You can't use your powers anymore, right?"

"..."

Currently, Blood Lock is Alina's strongest spell.

Just like Alex, Alina was also training herself to raise her Dark Energy Grade.

However, unlike Alex who had just stepped into Grade 4, Alina had already stepped into Grade 5.

Of course Alex felt slightly jealous about it, but Alina was able to use the fusion of her Esper Ability and her Dark Energy to accelerate her training. Alex had no such luxury.

The Blood Lock Spell is the spell that Alina obtained as she stepped into Grade 5.

For the Blood Lock spell to work, Alina must first take control of the blood of her Target's body using Blood Warp.

Once Alina uses Blood Warp on her target, she can then activate Blood Lock.

What the Blood Lock Spell does is just simple.

This spell uses the blood of the Target to 'lock' the source of power inside the Target's body.

Once this source of power was 'locked', the Target cannot use its power anymore, unless the spell was broken or Alina allows it.

When Alex heard about the power of this spell 3 days ago, he felt somewhat cheated, as this is seriously a scary spell.

But according to Alina, there is one limitation to the Blood Lock spell.

And that is the fact that Alina's power will also be 'locked' too while using this spell.

Because of that limitation, both Alina and the shadow monster were unable to use their abilities right now.

If Alina wanted to use her power, then she had to 'unlock' the shadow monster first.

Of course this action could pose some problems if Alina was a lone monster...

But with Alex beside her, Alina had no qualms on using the Blood Lock spell.

This willingness of Alina to use a limiting spell just shows how much she trusted Alex.

Alex of course was touched by it, but he did not point it out anymore, as he was afraid of embarrassing himself again.

"Now that we have no worries, I can start talking to our guest now." Alex stared at the shadow monster once more, before saying,

"Come on, open your mouth already. Alina specifically did not lock your moth earlier so that you can speak with me now. Come on, don't waste my wifey's goodwill."

"I'm not your wifey!" Alex ignored the flustered reply behind him as his gaze was solely concentrated on the shadow monster itself. "Come on, maybe we can start this by you telling me about your name."

"My name is Carlie." The shadow monster spat out after staying silent for 5 more seconds. "Ask me anything that you want... you won't even know if what I will tell you is the truth."

"Well, that might be really bad for me if it was just me asking you..." Alex drawled as he glanced back at Alina. "Hey Alina, can you still detect lies?"

"Yes, I can still do that." Alina replied quickly. "It seems like my Blood Lock Spell was unable to lock my lie detection power... Hold on, that is actually confusing me now."

"Of course it can't lock your All-Seeing Eyes." Asterai muttered at the background. "Your All-Seeing Eyes are extremely powerful, and a paltry spell like that is not enough to suppress it!"

"Thanks for the commentary Asteria." Alex thought idly to himself as he saw the contorted expression on Carlie's face. It seems like she had already gotten the gist of what Alex and Alina was talking about.

"I will appreciate it if you will not lie to me." Alex said in a low voice as he reactivated his Electromagnetic Saber.

"Hong~"

"You never know... maybe my Saber will brush by your skin every time you lie. "Alex said as he dangled the saber right in front of Carlie. "But it could go deeper too, you know..."

Carlie's body started to tremble, as if they showed her adverse fear to the saber.

"I can just choose to not answer your questions..." Carlie said as she tried tearing her gaze away from the saber. "If I do not say anything, then you cannot hear me lie."

"Alex, you actually do not need Carlie to answer your questions." Alina interjected as she saw the grim resolution on Carlie's face. "Just phrase your questions in a way that we can elicit answers from her even without her actually answering."

"Oh... I get it." It took only Alex 10 seconds to get where Alina was getting at.

Alex realized that Alina can just combine the truth power of her All-Seeing Eyes with her cold reading skills.

Even though Carlie was frozen in place due to Blood Warp, her body can still react slightly to external stimuli, including things like intrusive questions.

With this principle in mind, Alina will just have to use cold reading and her All-Seeing eyes to observe Carlie's bodily reactions to Alex's questions, and that will be enough for her to see the truth.

After realizing these things, Alex took a minute to change the format of his questions.

Once he was sure that he is ready, Alex leaned down as he slowly said,

"Carlie, are you a loyal servant of the Queen Mother?"

Alex saw a slight twitch on the left eye of Carlie, and surely, Alina noticed it too.

Alex continued talking as he asked Carlie,

"Carlie, are you harboring malicious intentions against the Queen Mother?"

This time, both Carlie's eyes twitched.

"From what I can observe from her reaction to your questions, it looks like Carlie is devoted to the Queen Mother." Alina commented as she blinked deliberately.

"Hehehe, now that is interesting..." Alex felt great upon knowing that Alina's All-Seeing Eyes can work this way.

With Alex now confirming that Alina's eyes can still work by just looking at Carlie's body language, Alex started to ask more questions.

"Why did you attack me earlier?" Alex asked Carlie as he started to walk around her.

"Did you attack me because you were tasked to kill me?"

Carlie's nose twitched slightly at that.

"Or you attacked me because you thought I was about to attack you?"

Carlie did not twitch at that.

"Carlie attacked you because she thought that we are about to attack her." Alina said as she shook her head.

"Wait, how can that be the truth? She did not even twitch at that question!" Alex said as he gave Alina a confused look. "Shouldn't her twitch be the telling sign?"

"I follow what my power sees as the truth." Alina drily commented as she gave a withering look to Alex. "So, don't doubt what I say, ok?"

"Ok.." Alex replied as he nodded his head. "I won't complain now."

"Good." Alina replied as she fixed her hair. "That means that instead of playing detective with me, you should just ask the questions and let me do the lie-detecting. It works better in that way, right?"

"...Right."

Chapter 79 Shake Shake Shake!

"Ehem." Alex let out a cough as the tried to compose himself. "So, let's continue what we are doing."

"..." Carlie did not say anything, as she just continued on glaring at Alex.

"Wait, before you continue talking to her, let me say something first." Alina suddenly said to Alex. "From the first time that I saw Carlie... I realized that I saw something from her that you could not see clearly..."

"Oh?" Alex looked at Alina with interest, as he realized Alina's emphasis on the word 'see'.

With Alina's All-Seeing Eyes, anything that she can 'see' will always be interesting.

Alina paused for a second, before slowly saying,

"From what I can see, Carlie... just like the 5 little monsters... was also a human before."

"That's quite a surprise." Alex replied in a monotonous tone. "I did not expect that our resident guest was also a victim of the Monsters."

"I am not victim!" Carlie suddenly shouted as she glared at Alex with malevolence. "I was saved by Queen Mother when I became a Monster! She... liberated me from the sufferings of this World! You say that I am a victim? Yes, that was the case when I was stuck on being a Human! But now? I am living the best of my life!"

"She thinks that it is the truth." Alina commented as she shook her head. "She fully believes that her life was better now that she is a Monster."

"..."

Alex did not like how emotional Carlie looked right now. Her face was baring her remaining teeth at Alex, as if she could not wait to sink it on him.

From this sight, it was quite obvious that she was extremely triggered by her past and her transformation.

But even if he was uncomfortable with that, Alex realized that this is his chance now to swoop in over Carlie.

Alex knew that in order for him to get information much easier from Carlie, he must first break her down first, both physically and mentally.

The physical part was already accounted for, with all the injuries that he gave her.

As for the mental part, Alex is about to start it.

"You... had a bad life as a Human before, right?" Alex said as he smiled at Carlie.

Carlie's ears twitched at that.

"Truth." Alina quickly commented.

"Okay, so I do not know how bad your life was before, but that must have filled you with suicidal thoughts..." Alex drawled as he sat cross-legged in front of Carlie. "Surely, you tried killing yourself when you were a Human before, right?"

Of course Alex was buls*tting at this point.

He just gave out the 'suicide' card as this is the most extreme thing that he can think up right now.

Surely, this Carlie did not try to kill herself before, right?

There are no visible twitches that came from Carlie after hearing what Alex just said.

"She... really tried to kill herself before." Alina slowly said as she gave Alex a frown.

"Umm..." Alex floundered after hearing what Alina said, as he felt that there are no words that would come out of his mouth right now.

"..."

Alina's face looked to be full of displeasure as she glared at Alex. "Alex, should you really continue on going on that line? This is getting quite sensitive already, and I am not liking where this is going."

"Umm..."

It was quite obvious to Alex that what he just said made Alina remember her sister whose actions were practically suicide in itself already.

That is not a good thing to think right now, and Alex realized that he was treading on some dangerous waters by reminding Alina about these things.

An explanation is necessary, for now.

"What the hell? I did not expect that this Carlie really tried doing that before!" Alex replied back as he wilted under Alina's glare. "Look... I know that suicide is a sensitive issue, but I thought that maybe I should ask that part first so that I can eliminate it quickly from my questions."

"Hmph, and it seems like your attempt to eliminate it has failed." Alina gruffly replied as she continued glaring at Alex. "So, what will you do now, huh?"

"Well..." Alex scratched his head as she looked back at Carlie, who just glared at him back.

Since they were at this point already, then Alex just had to go on.

"Okay, so no more talks about suicide." Alex raised his hands as he took a deep breath. "Instead, let us talk about your monster transformation."

"..." Carlie once more did not say anything, but with his emotion sensor, Alex could feel that Carlie was tense right now.

Alex liked this feeling, as he realized that he was getting on the right track.

"Was a concoction thrown at your village to turn you all to monsters?" Alex said as he tilted his head.

One twitch from the left eye.

"Or was it given orally?"

Slight trembling from the upper lip.

"It's a concoction." Alina said from behind Alex.

"Good." Alex nodded as he absorbed that information quickly.

So from the looks of it, it seems like the monster transformation process was done in terms of many people.

This piece of info made Alex think of something crucial.

"Your concoction...it has a low success rate, right?" Alex said as he rubbed his hands together. "That could be the only reason that the concoction was used on many people at once. After all, the larger the sample size, the larger will be the minor results are."

A slight fidget on her left shoulder.

"That's the truth." Alina said with satisfaction. "We are having a roll right here..."

"Great..." Now that he had asked the basic questions, it is time for Alex to jump to the Big One.

"Since you are Transformed Monster, and it looks like you are an official, you must know some things like the antidote that reverts monster transformation, right?" Alex said as he tried to not show his nervousness. "You know that there is a cure, right?"

No visible twitches were seen this time.

Before Alina could say her verdict, Carlie started to laugh, as if she found Alex's question to be extremely funny.

"Hahaha! So the reason that you let me live right now is just because of that question?" If Carlie could move, then she could have been rolling on the floor already. "You two must have been desperate to 'cure' those 5 little monsters, that you allowed me to live! You want to ask me for the antidote to reverse the monster transformation! Hahaha, good luck on getting that!"

"You..." Alex frowned, clearly not liking the tone in Carlie's voice. "I think that you sho-"

"You Visitor Monsters really like to help out Transformed Monsters... Ugh, I really hate that aspect of yours!" Carlie said, cutting off Alex rudely. "Why can't you just mind you own business and let us be? You just disrupt the order in this World with your meddling!"

"Oh, ok, it seems like you have some problems with us." Alex mumbled as he saw how livid Carlie became. "Did the last-"

"Everytime some Visitor Monsters come in our World and hear about the Monster Birth Program, all of them always do their best to take it down!" Carlie spat out as she glared at Alex with hate. "You two, you are just planning to do that, right?"

"Well, we don't care about the program itself. What we want is the cure to help the 5 little monsters with us." Alex slowly said as he shook his head. "We don't plan to stop that program, since I think that I have to fight many strong Monsters if I want that to happen. We just want the cure itself."

"Heh, and you think I will believe you?" Carlie said as she closed her eyes. "Come on, keep on asking me. Whatever you ask me now, it won't help you both. The cure that you are looking for cannot be found if you ask me this way."

The confident demeanor that Carlie is wearing right now made Alex frown. But even with what she said, Alex was not deterred as he continued asking her more questions.

"..."

"..."

"..."

1 Hour later.

"No way..." This was the only thing that Alex could say as he ran out of questions that he can ask Carlie. "Even with all that questions, we can't still find the cure? D*n it!"

Alex and Alina spent the last hour asking Carlie with a variety of questions, all with the intent to know deduct the cure for the monster transformation.

But no matter what question they asked, they were still stuck!

"Isn't the cure created by one of your Generals?" Alex asked as his tentacles frazzled in frustration. "In that case, you should know about it."

Carlie's reply to that was only a cheeky smile.

"It is not the truth." Alina sighed as she gave her verdict. "From the looks of it, she knows that the cure is not created by any of their Generals... Yes, the cure exists, but from what I have seen right now, it seems to exist in a way that we do not know..."

"Hmph, there is a better explanation for what we are seeing right now!" Alex harrumphed angrily.

"..."

"..."

After a minute of painful silence, Alex suddenly placed a tentacle in his forehead, as if he remembered something right now. "Oh jeez, how could I be so f*king stupid!"

"???" Alina tilted her head as she saw Alex's reaction. "What are you thinking about Alex?"

Instead of replying to Alina's question, what Alex did was to look at Carlie in her eyes, as he slowly asked her,

"Oi you Shadow Monster, you don't know what the cure really is, right?"

Carlie's face went blank after hearing that.

"That is the truth..." Alina put a palm on her forehead, as she looked like she wanted to smack her head on the floor. "We should have asked her that question earlier! If we did, then we should have not wasted an hour asking her pointless things!"

"You f*ker!" Alex snarled as he realized that he and Alina had been played by Carlie.

From the looks of it, Carlie knows that there is a cure and that it exists.

However, it seems like she does not know what the cure really is, and where it can be located.

"Tsk, so much for the trouble." Alex mumbled angrily to himself as he let out a sigh. "So Alina, what should we do with this monster?"

"Well, we can-" But before Alina could say something, Asteria let out a shout, interrupting the both of them.

"Excuse me everyone!" Asteria shouted as she flew between Alex and Alina. The same cocky grin was back in her face, as if there was something that had greatly interested her.

"..."

"..."

It did not take Alex and Alina that long to discover the thing that made Asteria this lively.

"I just received the notification for your first Bonus Mission here in this World!" Asteria declared with the pompousness comparable to that of a royal messenger.

"Ugh, here we go..." Alex was not sure how to feel about the Bonus Mission appearing right now, but seeing that Carlie was with them when the Bonus Mission appeared, it looks like the Bonus Mission is somewhat related to her.

"Tonk."

Since Alex had no more questions for Carlie right now, he resorted to knocking her out first.

With her unable to fight back, Carlie immediately keeled with Alex's blow, bringing her to unconsciousness.

"Hup!" With Carlie currently out cold, Alina was able to safely deactivate her Blood Lock.

"Ok, start talking now." Alex said as he nudged Carlie, maybe in an attempt to see if she was still conscious or not. "We need to save time, as every second counts."

"Hmph, you are always a spoilsport!" Asteria pouted as she shook her head in disbelief. Nonetheless, she still followed Alex's command as she said,

[Infiltrate the Human Faction and Infiltrate the Monster Faction. Success will give 2 Years of Lifespan to the Traveler, and at least 10,000 Contribution Points to the Companion. Bonus Mission is optional, although succeeding on it will greatly help on finishing the Main Mission.]

Asteria said these words monotonously, although her face still held a mischievous edge in it.

"That sounds so dangerous and specific." Alex thought to himself as he shook his head. "What do you mean by infiltrate both the Human and Monster Faction? How do we even do that? And should we even do that?"

"Well, if you do it, you can get rewards..." Asteria drawled as she tilted her head. "Wait, why do you even question it? If you do it, you can get something good!"

"Hmm..." Even if Alex was wary of the contents of the Bonus Mission, he's somewhat interested on the rewards.

After all, if he can pull the Bonus Mission off, then he can have enough Lifespan to buy another Abyss Tome.

Something like that will be worth the risk!

"Let me clarify something first." Alex said as he raised his hands. "Do we get the rewards once we successfully infiltrate the Human and Monster Factions? Or do we wait for some time yet before the rewards come in?"

"As long as you do what the Bonus Mission stated you to do, then you two will get the rewards." Asteria replied warily as she saw the crafty expression on Alex's face.

"Oh really..."

"Oi Alex..." Asteria trailed as she seemed uncomfortable with Alex's current expression. "Are you... planning on gaming the system?"

"Well of course I am." Alex cheekily replied, with his face showing his intense confidence. "Right now, I have a plan that will allow me to pull of the Bonus Mission with the least amount of risk! Of course, I would need your help to do that, Asteria."

"And you think I will just help you out?" Asteria scoffed as she placed both her hands on her hips. "Even I have to refuse you too! A fairy queen like me cannot be just ordered arou- Hey what are you doing!"

Alex did not wait for Asteria to say anything else as he grabbed her by her body, dangling her upside down.

Asteria, who was about to berate Alex, suddenly shivered as she realized that she's already familiar with her current scenario.

"No, not again..." Asteria mewled as Alina watched what was happening with curiosity. "Hooman, please help me!"

"I'm sorry, but I won't allow Alina to help you out." Alex said as he slightly raised his hand that was holding Asteria. "After all, Alina is also curious on how your Fairy Dust feels like."

"No!!!" Asteria's words were drowned out as Alex shook her like a salt shaker.

"Chi chi chi..."

Fairy Dust poured all over Alex's body, making him feel the same sensation that he felt before.

"Asteria, make sure that I will have the appearance of Teresa..." Alex said as he ignored the curse words that Asteria shouted out to him.

"As for Alina, use your Fairy Dust to make her look like Carlie..." Alex said as he gave a nod to Alina. "Don't f*k it up, ok?"

"Huhuhu, hooman, why hast tho forsaken me?" Asteria cried out, as if she was facing the worst time in her life. "Help me out here!"

"..." Alina ignored these words by Asteria, as she watched the shaking action with fascination. "Alex, I want to shake Asteria too..."

"Here you go then."

"No!!!"

Chapter 80 Well, at least he tried...

"Huhuhu, you are all baddies!" Asteria could only sob in in the background as she glared at both Alex and Alina angrily. "Do you really have to shake me that hard?"

"Well, we had to use every bit of Fairy Dust that we can use so that our disguise will be impeccable." Alex said as he inspected his hair, which looked blond and long now. "D*n, this Teresa really has a rocking body."

Alex then placed his hands on his hips, as if he was about to make them travel all over his body.

"Don't try to even think about that." Alina growled behind Alex, looking displeased after hearing what Alex just said. "I will be watching..."

"Ok..." That effectively shut Alex up, with him hastily raising his hands in defeat.

"Good." Alina nodded, with her body currently looking like it was made up of shadows.

Alex looked at Alina's overall appearance and then back to himself, and he saw that their disguise was perfect.

Right now, Alex looked every bit like Teresa, while Alina looked every bit like Carlie.

All the tentacles around Alex seemed to have disappeared, as only Teresa's appearance and aura could be seen.

The same could also be said for Alina, as it was only Carlie's appearance and her aura that is visible.

"Ok, now that we have this disguise, we can start the infiltration operation already." Alex muttered to himself, as he realized that what they are doing right now was actually the best thing that they can do.

From the looks of it, if Alex and Alina just stayed here in the forest interrogating random people, they would not be able to get information about the cure.

The only way that they can get the cure is by looking for it in the camp of the Monster Faction.

Human Faction should be infiltrated too, as they seem to know something too about the cure.

With Alex's quick thinking, he was able to cook up a fairly simple way to infiltrate both the Factions in one fell swoop.

"So, how should we do this operation?" Alina asked as she gave Alex a curious look. "This disguise can help us out a lot, but we need something more vital than that."

"Well, its just simple." Alex replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "We wait in this place for a week, then I will let myself be taken away by the Divine Knight that is supposed to meet us at that time. Once that happens, I will be able to infiltrate the Human Faction smoothly. Not only that, but I will also get closer to the person that can give me the info about the cure."

Alex then pointed at Alina as he said, "As for you Alina, you will be going to the Monster Faction, with you wearing the disguise of Carlie. With how good the Fairy Dust is, nobody can easily see through our disguises..."

"That plan of yours might sound good, but you should know that there are a lot of things that can go wrong with this." Alina replied grimly as she shook her head.

She pointed at her body and at Alex's body as she said,

"First of all, even if we have the appearances of Teresa and Carlie, we do not have any knowledge about their life and how they move. One wrong move from us, and we will easily get unmasked!"

"Oh, don't worry about that, I already have a plan for that." Alex quickly replied as he gave an appraising look at Alina.

"First of all, you can use your Dark Magic to read Carlie's thoughts, right?" Alex said as he glanced at the still unconscious Carlie. "Once you read her mind, you can easily act like her..."

"..."

From what Alex knew, one of Alina's Dark Magic was called Mind Scour, which allows Alina to read everything that was inside a person's mind.

Of course there is one prerequisite for this to work.

The target of the spell must be mentally strained, so that he/she could not resist getting mindscoured.

This could be somewhat difficult, but right now, Carlie had been beaten up badly that her mind surely is susceptible to Mind Scour.

"Wait, how about you, Alex?" Alina inquired as she observed Alex's feminine body. "How will you act out as Teresa?"

"Easy. Just use your Mind Scour on Teresa too, then transfer those memories to me using another one of your Dark Magic." Alex replied confidently. "Your spells can do that, right?"

"Yes, I can do them all, but still..." Alina seemed to be hesitant on saying something as she glanced at Alex.

"But?"

"Even if we can act like Carlie and Teresa, how will we be able to copy their abilities?" Alina asked as she looked at Carlie. "There is no way right now that I can use Carlie's abilities, and there is no way for you to use Teresa's abilities. How can you solve that problem?"

Alex smiled upon hearing this question, as he felt more and more impressed with Alina's pursuit of perfection.

Alex liked the fact that Alina was worried enough for their operation that she was willing to look and scrutinize every part of their plan.

Not only did this made Alex feel better, it also made him feel relieved, as he knew that what Alina was doing was how a Companion should act.

"Don't worry, I already have a way to fix that problem too." Alex replied serenely, as if he already got that part solved. "Just... leave it to me, ok?"

"Ok then..."

Same time, at the Human Faction.

"Sigh..." Divine Knight Sylvester Glaivewood could only sigh in exasperation and exhaustion as he looked down at his hands.

Both of hands were slightly clenched perfectly showing the conflicting emotions that he is feeling right now.

"Sigh.." Sylvester could have gone on sighing more, but his sad thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound.

"Thud!" The sound was deep and full, as if there was something hard that struck another hard object.

"..." Sylvester took this as a cue to look up, forcing him to look at 5 other armored Knights staring at him warily.

"Are you feeling okay, bro?" One of the 5 Knights hesitantly asked Sylvester.

This Knight was wearing a simple chainmail armor, with a lance strapped on his back.

This mentioned Knight had a simple face, something that can be seen on the common masses. But hidden behind that face was a fearsome power that Sylvester had already experienced before.

"I... am just worried about my daughter." Sylvester replied to the simple-faced Knight. "You know that I do not like leaving Teresa in their hands, or tentacles."

"Well, we cannot just acquiesce to the demands of that tentacle monster." The simple-faced Knight replied nonchalantly as he tapped the lance on his back. "We cannot let him know about the cure."

"Yes, I know that, but still.." Sylvester gritted his teeth, as he forced himself to not shout. "I do not want my daughter to stay with them for any longer!"

"Well, at least you can still save your daughter a week from now." This time, the one who spoke was a red-haired woman.

Just like her hair, her armor was also red in color, with the symbol of the moon engraved on it.

Combined with her beautiful armor, the red-haired woman's elegant face only served to make her look both ephemeral and graceful.

"..."

But no matter how optimistic the sentence uttered by the woman was, it seems like Sylvester did not kindly take what the red-haired woman said.

"F*k those monsters. They really threatened to kill my daughter if I don't' give them the cure!" Sylvester roared out in anger. "What gall they both have! Tsk, how devious of those bastards!"

"You know that you cannot tell those two monsters anything about the cure." The red-haired woman said as she gave Sylvester a soft and pleading look. "There is no way that we can let those two know..."

"I know." Sylvester replied heavily, as he moved his hand to avoid the red-haired woman's attempt to touch his hands. "But... this really just makes me so frustrated!"

The other Knights nearby went silent as they listened to Sylvester's rants.

"I already lost Teresa's mother before... I do not want to lose Teresa too..." Sylvester croaked out as he hung his head in sadness.

"Don't worry bro, we are all here to help you." The simple-faced Knight said as he pointed his fingers to the other Knights. "That is why we have this meeting now, right? We have this meeting so that we can create a strategy to take those two monsters down while saving your daughter!"

"And for that, I thank you all." Sylvester replied with a grateful expression on his face as he looked at the Knights present in the meeting. "You have my greatest thanks for this."

"Well, you can go out with me for a date if you really feel that grateful." The red-haired woman said as she gave Sylvester a burning look. "Just one date is fine already."

"Hey, hands off my bro!" The simple-faced Knight said as he glared at the red-haired woman. "You know that my sister is currently very close to my bro... Don't try on meddling upon them!"

"Tsk, you just want to ask me out again, right?" The red-haired woman hotly replied as she gave the simple-faced Knight a cold look. "Let me say this to you now, but I will not go out with you!"

"Ugh!" The simple-faced Knight clutched his heart, as if he was in great pain. He gave Sylvester a pleading look, as if he was saying, 'Bro, help me out here!'.

Sylvester's only reply to that was a light shrug as he rapped his knuckles on the table.

"We can talk about your complicated relationships later... But for now, we should talk about our plans to save my daughter."

"Right..."

Both the squabbling Knights went quiet as they and the other Knights started to talk.

Same time at the Monster Faction.

Inside a wide room, a certain frightening being could be seen lounging on the floor.

There are no apt descriptions for the being, as its whole body was seemingly created from the combination of other creatures.

Limbs of dragon, goblins, wyrms and many other Monsters could be seen dangling from the being's body.

Its head too was seemingly created from many heads that are forced to stitch together, creating a bizarre sight.

Even the eyes alone were already creepy enough.

"Rustle..."

Right now, this frightening being was busy on reading a book, with its massive torso in contact with the floor.

The reading session did not last long however, as another monster entered the room.

"General Chimera, the Queen Mother sent me to say something to you." General Chimera looked up from the book that he was reading, only to see an eye gazing at him.

"Oh, its you again." General Chimera replied as he flapped his wings behind him. "Is Queen Mother bored again? Does she want me to go at her place?"

"Nope. Nothing like that." The eye replied as it spun on its place. "Queen Mother said that she has a special mission that she wants you to do, and you are the only one that she trusts that can do it."

"I'm all ears." General Chimera said as all of the ears hanging at his body started to flap. "Get it? ALL ears."

"Ugh..." The eyes could barely suppress its groan as it heard the horrible pun.

Nonetheless, the eye was able to recover as it said,

"Basically, you are tasked to bring Teresa, the Shadow Monster, towards Queen Mother's dwelling." The eye said as it stopped spinning. "Do it properly, and Queen Mother will give you more bodies to fuse with."

"Got it." General Chimera said as he tried to recall who Teresa was. His multiple brains started to work as they processed the name Teresa.

"..."

The information about Teresa that appeared inside General Chimera's mind made him frown a little.

"Wait... from what I know, this Teresa will be away from the Monster Faction for some time because of a mission that she is doing right now." General Chimera muttered to himself with a frown. "In that case, then I should just order her retreat."

"Oh, you don't need to do that.' The eye said as it turned its back on the general. "According to Queen Mother, Teresa will come back. So, just wait for her to arrive."

"Ok, ok." General Chimera said as he nodded. "I can wait, since my patience is as many as my legs."

"You know, that is the worst pun that you ever gave me, and even I am pretty sure that what you said was not a pun." The eye drily replied as it left the room.

"Oh come on, I saved the best for the last!" General Chimera complained as the door closed.

The eye was already long gone at this time, so General Chimera did not receive any reply.

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Chapter 81 The Unwanted Meeting

1 week later.

"How the hell did that b*ch manage to get General Chimera's attention?" Ted muttered to himself as he trudged across the forest. "Seriously, did that b*ch use a potion or something?"

Today was the day that Ted was supposed to meet up with Carlie and get her first monthly report about the Visitor Monsters.

But before Ted could set out, General Chimera met up with him first, giving Ted an instruction that made him confused.

The instruction was just fairly simple.

[Bring back Carlie from the mission, and let her meet me.]

These are the exact words that General Chimera said, and from the way that he said it, he will not accept any failures from Ted.

Just the way that General Chimera's hulking and horribly mutated looked like earlier made Ted serious on his instruction.

"General Chimera really is one scary SOB." Ted muttered to himself, as he shivered on his recollection of the General's appearance.

This recollection also made him feel slightly pissed off.

"Seriously, why does many female Monsters think that General Chimera is cute?" Ted mused to himself as he shook his flaming head wryly. "He looks unaesthetic AF!"

Ted obviously would not say these words out loud, but with him currently far away from General Chimera, he knew that he can think all the bad things that he wanted about him here.

"Wait, why am I even criticizing about Genera Chimera? I have something more important to do!" Ted chided himself as he sped up. "I still have to meet up with that b*ch..."

This thought alone made Ted scrunch up his face more, as if he did not like what he was doing a single bit.

"Seriously, why don't she just die..."

Ted was not sure why, but from the first time that he saw Carlie, he immediately disliked her.

Maybe its because she was a Shadow Monster, or it could be the fact that her personality did not really mesh that well with his.

But no matter what the reason was, Ted still was sure that he did not like Carlie at all.

This dislike was so great that Ted sometimes beats Carlie up just to vent his rage.

Because of the superiority of his power over hers, Carlie usually was unable to fight back, something which just excites Ted more.

It made him feel good, seeing someone that he hated not fighting back against him.

Of course the number of times that he beat Carlie up is rare, since she was under the protection of another General.

Ted was under General Chimera, while Carlie was under General Nyx.

If Ted beats up Carlie too much, her General might take action on this. So Ted usually beats Carlie up only when the time is right.

"Hmm... speaking of beating her up, should I beat her up later?" Ted muttered to himself as he looked at the flames on his hands. "It's been 2 years already since I last beat her up..."

Ted visibly shivered in pleasure as he panted, slowly imagining the pained expression on Carlie's face as he slowly coats her with his flames.

"Ah~ Now I want to meet her already!" Ted shouted at as he felt himself nearing Carlie's location.

But when he was around 5 kilometers away from Carlie, he stopped as he suddenly sensed multiple presences arriving approximately around his location.

"What the hell?" Ted closed his mouth as he tried to sense who these newcomers are.

His jaw dropped however when he felt their power levels.

"Ho-ho-how could they be here!" Ted thought with panic as he took a step back. "This... this should not be happening!"

What Ted felt were 5 presences rushing approximately towards Carlie's location, and from the power levels that he can sense, all of them were bad news.

"How could 5 Divine Knights just appear in this place!" Ted thought to himself, paling considerably at what he found out. "This... this is really bad!"

Because of the speed of the new arrivals, Ted was able to see their appearances after just a second.

Out of the 5 Divine Knights, only three had their appearances shown. The other two wore cloaks that hid their face and their bodies.

But even with that disguise, Ted was sure that the other two robed people were Divine Knights too.

"..." Ted looked at the other 3 Divine Knights, whose appearance he can see.

Ted looked at the Divine Knight wearing a golden armor, who was also wielding a gigantic hammer.

Ted does not need to refresh his memories to know who this guy was.

"The number one Monster Exterminator of the Human Faction. The Golden Devil. Divine Knight Sylvester Glaivewood." If Ted could pee himself now, then he could have done so already.

Standing at the left of this Divine Knight was a plain-looking man. The only prominent thing in this man was the lance that dangled freely from his left hand.

But even though the man looked like this, Ted still knew that he should avoid this man too at all costs.

This Knight is Divine Knight Barrios, who was labelled by his kin as the 'Idiot Knight'.

"According from what I heard, Divine Knight Barrios was strong enough to escape from all the Generals chasing him..." Ted thought to himself as he saw the Divine Knight waving his lance lazily. "As for why he was called an Idiot Knight... it was because he left his subordinates when he escaped..."

Ted knew that if he were in the shoes of Divine Knight Barrios, he would also have done the same thing. too

However, Divine Knight Barrio is a Divine Knight, and one of his responsibilities was to keep many Knights alive.

His abandonment of his subordinates is the very epitome of not following obligations.

But since he was still a Divine Knight, Divine Knight Barrios was able to escape punishment. His reputation however took a massive hit.

"..." After thinking of these, Ted's eyes focused on the last uncloaked Divine Knight, and his eyes could not help but pop out in pleasure, even though he was currently in danger.

"Dang..." Ted muttered as his eyes roved all over the Red-Haired Knight's body. "I may be a Monster, but even I want to get a taste of that b*ty!"

The red-haired knight, also known as the Divine Knight BloodMoon, was considered to be one of the Top 3 Beauties in this World.

Her beauty alone was enough to incite chaos wherever she goes.

Not that Ted cared about it. He can stare at her face and rocking body all day, and he will not get tired of it.

"Wait... why am I thinking of this? I should be trying to escape now!" As if a spell was broken on him, Ted shook his head quickly as he turned around, ready to start his hasty retreat.

"I will just tell General Chimera that the appearance of 5 Divine Knights here impeded me from fetching Carlie..." Ted muttered to himself as he started to treat Carlie as a dead Monster already.

"Surely, General Chimera will understand me, since there is no way that I can just get near 5 Divine Knights to get Carlie out." Ted thought to himself, as if he was convincing himself that this is what should happen.

"Ok, time for me to go no-" But before Ted could even blast away, he suddenly felt a powerful suction force latching on him from behind.

"No!!!" Even without looking back, Ted perfectly knew where this suction force came from.

But just to make sure, Ted looked back, and what he saw just confirmed his worst fears.

He saw Divine Knight BloodMoon holding a red gourd, with its open end facing at Ted's direction.

Wooshing sounds could be heard as Ted saw dust, winds, twigs and small monsters being sucked towards the open hole in the red gourd.

Ted tried to flail his body around as he realized that he was about to get sucked in too.

"Ahh!!" But no matter what Ted did, he was unable to resist the suction force, as he was catapulted high into the air, right into the gaping hole of the red gourd.

"Ahh!!!" But before he was fully sucked in the red gourd, Ted felt a hand clamping on his neck, effectively halting his movement.

"!!!" Ted does not like anyone touching him without his permission, so he immediately attempted to burn the hand grasping him.

However, Ted did not smell any burnt flesh from what he did. Instead the feedback that Ted got was pain as the hand started to squeeze his neck tightly.

"Hra!!!" Ted croaked out as he tried his best to not get crushed to death.

He casted a pleading look to the hand's owner, and his eyes landed upon the smiling visage of Divine Knight Barrios.

"Yo, do you even have manners or what?" The simple-looking Knight said as he gave Ted a friendly smile. He also added another extra squeeze, making Ted grunt in pain.

"Hra..."

The smile on the Divine Knight's face suddenly vanished, as he loomed all over Ted with a nasty grin. "Try burning me again, and you will see that your whole body will be extinguished here."

"Nod nod." Ted nodded his head frantically, feeling slight relief as he realized that he was still alive.

This made Ted feel hope as he realized that maybe, these Divine Knights wanted something from him.

This theory of his was confirmed when the scary Divine Knight Glaivewood suddenly opened his mouth, saying,

"Depending on how you answer my question, you could leave alive. So, listen carefully."

"Nod nod." Ted nodded once more, this time with a hint of desperation and alertness.

"So..." Divine Knight Glaivewood's mouth set itself in a thin line as he slowly said,

"Tell me what is your purpose on coming near this location. Don't try to deny that you are not going to go in this place. I knew just from the way that you moved earlier that you are also going at the same place as ousr. So, if you want to stay alive, tell me exactly your purpose on coming here."

"..." Ted stayed silent as he realized that he must craft his answer well.

From the looks of it, whatever the Divine Knights wanted to do with Ted will only happen if Ted will give the right answer.

"But what is the right answer?" Ted thought grimly to himself as he looked at the scary Divine Knights that are all staring down on him.

Ted knew that he cannot just say that he was here to fetch Carlie. He was sure that this is the wrong answer.

As for what the correct answer was, it all depended on the goal of the Divine Knights here.

With this thought in his mind, Ted started to observe the Divine Knights in front of him.

They were all armored, and all of them seemed to have brought their weapons with them.

It was as if they were ready to fight...

"I see..." If Ted could grin then he could do it right now. The answer was so simple and so elegant.

"I am here... to fight against the Visitor Monsters." Ted replied, carefully saying his words in a way that it will sound real. "General Chimera... was not happy with those two Visitor Monsters nearby. As for why he was not happy, he did not say it. He just said that he wanted them dead. So, here I am, ready to fight against them two. But from the looks of it, all of you 5 are all ready to fight them..."

"Hmph, you are lucky that you gave the right answer!" Divine Knight Barrios replied unhappily as he released his hold on Ted.

Ted took this as his chance to stabilize his already shaken body.

"Since you are here to fight them, then you should accept the temporary truce that I will offer you." Divine Knight Glaivewood said as he gave Ted a dismissive look. "If you choose to not accept it, then prepare to be terminated in ten seconds."

"..."

"Ten."

"I accept the truce!" Ted hastily said as he raised his hands in supplication. "I will happily cooperate with you all!"

"Good. Now let's get moving." Before Ted could let out a yelp, he was once more yanked away from his comfort zone by the scary Knights.

"F*k, what did I do to deserve such a bad luck like this?" Ted wailed to himself as he looked down in despair. "Can someone tell me?"

If Carlie was here, she surely had a lot of answers for that.

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Chapter 82 Use your request righ

Ted stayed quiet as the Divine Knights brought him closer and closer to their destination.

At the instant that they arrived, what they saw were only two figures.

One was that of a blonde lady, and the other one was that of a shadow monster.

"There you are..." Ted thought idly to himself as he saw Carlie lying down beside the blond woman.

She did not look injured at all, although Ted felt that something was off with the current Carlie...

Ted tried to see what was wrong with her, but with him currently in danger from the Divine Knights, there is no way that he can pinpoint the weird sensation that he was feeling from Carlie.

"Teresa!" Ted looked behind him, and he saw Divine Knight Glaivewood wearing an expression of surprise and relief on his face.

Ted then looked back at the blond woman, and there he realized that the Divine Knight and the blond woman looked quite similar to each other.

"Father..." Teresa replied faintly, as if it took everything that she had to just speak. "You came..."

"Of course my daughter, I will always come for you!" the Divine Knight shouted as he suddenly disappeared.

Before Ted could realize what had happened, the Divine Knight appeared beside Teresa, pulling her into a big hug.

"It's a good thing that you are okay..." Ted was sure that Divine Knight Glaivewood was about to cry right now, and it was only his dignity as a Divine Knight that was holding them back.

"Father I..." But before Teresa could answer, Divine Knight Glaivewood froze, as his eyes were suddenly focused on Carlie herself.

"Yes, do it!" Ted thought with excitement as he saw what was happening.

Given the notoriety of Divine Knight Glaivewood, there is a chance that he will kill Carlie right now.

"It will be better if that b*ch is dead..." Ted thought with relish as he waited for the attack with a bated breath. "Come on, do it now!"

Of course Ted knew that if Carlie dies, then his mission will be a failure. But well, what can Ted do against a Divine Knight? Absolutely nothing.

"Father! Don't do anything against her!" But to Ted's disappointment, Teresa stepped in to spoil the fun. "I owe her my freedom!"

"What?" The words of his daughter seemed to have roused him up, as the Divine Knight looked at Teresa with confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Father..." Ted saw Teresa taking a deep breath, as if she was preparing herself to give a speech.

"I was not the only one captured by those Monsters. This Shadow Monster was captured by the Tentacle Monster 3 weeks ago." Teresa said these words slowly, as if she wanted to make her father understand what she was saying. "Both of us were then placed on the same location, and there we were forced to wait until this day."

"But how does that relate to your claim that this monster saving you?" Ted saw the Divine Knight's halberd glowing faintly, as if he was storing power inside it. "Explain that to me right now."

"Yes father." Teresa replied as he nodded her head. "You can say that Carlie..."

"You knew her name?"

"Yes, father, I know her name! Can you let me speak first?" Ted was impressed with the spunk that this Teresa had. She seems to have inherited her father's ferociousness. "You told me that interrupting is bad, right?"

"Ok, ok..." The scary Divine Knight cowered under his daughter's glare, making it hard for Ted to believe that he was scared of this Knight.

"So basically, Carlie right here managed to convince the Tentacle Monster and the Vampire Queen Monster to leave this World and free us both. That is the reason why you can only see us here, and not the other two Monsters."

Teresa said these words carefully as she gave a nod to Carlie. Carlie responded in kind, giving back a nod of hers too.

The stunned silence that followed was something that even Ted had no courage to break.

"What..." When Divine Knight Glaivewood managed to find his voice back, it was quite obvious that he was still shocked with what he heard. "Are you sure that they left already?"

"Yes Father, I said it already earlier." Teresa replied as she bit her lips. "If it were not of Carlie, I will still be in a hostage situation. So please, do not try to kill her."

"..."

"..."

Ted waited with a bated breath, as he wished that Divine Knight Glaivewood is a stubborn man who will not listen to his daughter.

"You... are quite lucky that I am in a good mood today." Divine Knight Glaivewood said after staying silent for a minute. "Since you saved my daughter's life, I will allow you to scram right now. You can consider that as my repayment to you."

"S*t, now she gets off alive." Ted thought sourly to himself as he saw what was happening. "Tsk, you really are lucky..."

The other Divine Knights nodded after hearing what Divine Knight Glaivewood said, as if they thought that what he said was enough. Even Ted begrudgingly thought so too.

But it seems like someone was not satisfied with what the Divine Knight said.

"Wait Father, that's it?" Teresa seemed to be mildly affronted with what her father said, as she glared at him with her eyes. "Letting her leave is the favor that you will give to her? It seems like you are being unfair here."

"Unfair? She is still a Monster!" The Divine Knight argued back as he looked back at his daughter with narrowed eyes. "Don't tell me... that you are sympathizing with them now?"

"Of course not, Father!" Teresa hotly replied as she crossed her arms. "I know that my duty is to kill off Monsters, but I also have another principle, which you taught to me when I was young. You remember it, right?"

"A Knight must always repay the favors given to him..." DIvine Knight Glaivewood replied wearily, as if saying these words had taken out a lot from him.

"See? Even if Carlie is a Monster, she still saved my life right now. So, excluding the part where you let her leave this place alive, you must also repay the favor that she gave to me!" Teresa declared as she glared at her father. "Surely, you, a Divine Knight, is prepared to repay a favor, right?"

"Hahaha, your daughter has grown up now!" Divine Knight Barrios said while giggling. "She can even hold her own against her father in an argument, hahaha! What a sight to see!"

"Shut up!"

"Ok..."

"..."

"..."

Divine Knight Glaivewood spent another minute staring only at Carlie intently, with Ted wishing that he will not listen to what his daughter said.

"Ok." The Divine Knight let out a sigh as he slowly said,

"Since my daughter had a point, I will do one thing for you. However," The Divine Knight hastily added, as he saw his daughter loosening up. "You must tell me what I should do right now. You cannot save this for tomorrow or other days. I will only repay the favor right now. If you can't think of anything that you want me to do, then you get nothing from me. Oh, and I will not entertain commandments that is immoral and against me, my daughter, and my allies nearby."

"..."

"Well, I think that is reasonable enough." Ted thought to himself as he realized that the Divine Knight was also a schemer. "By placing a time limit, the Divine Knight can force Carlie to make a hasty, half-baked decision. Well done indeed."

Even if Ted was scared of the Divine Knights, he was sure that gaining a favor from one of them was a very favorable ace.

Fortunately, Carlie can only use this favor right at this moment, so Ted's jealousy went down by half.

"So, I actually still have some luck sticking on me..." Ted thought to himself as he shook his head in mirth.

However, Ted realized that he was actually wrong.

Bad luck is still plaguing him.

"I want him dead." This is the answer that Carlie gave to the Divine Knight, with her finger pointing at Ted himself. "Kill him, and that will suffice the repay the favor."

"!!!!!" If Ted could escape right now, then he could have done so already, as he realized that Carlie had f*ked him over.

"Oh, that guy?" Divine Knight Glaivewood looked at the panicked expression on Ted's face, and then to Carlie's face that was warped in anger. "It seems like you two have a bad history then."

"Just kill him now, please." Carlie replied monotonously as she let out a sigh. "We all want to go back to our homes already, right?"

"...Well said. I shall accept that as your request." The Divine Knight's haldberd started to glow brightly, filling the whole forest with a golden glow that seemed to have purified everything.

"No!!! Please let me live!" Ted shouted as he began to struggle in his place. "I-I can tell you everything about General Chimera! I can tell you about his weakness and his strengths! I can tell you everything about the Monsters and the Queen Mother! Just let me survive!"

"...Now I understand why this Shadow Monster wanted you dead." Divine Knight Glaivewood said with a disgusted expression in his face. "You are just one, filthy bastard."

"Schwung!"

Divine Knight Glaivewood swung his halberd, and a golden arc of light erupted from it, covering Ted from his head to toe.

"Ahhh!!!" Ted shouted in agony as his whole body was being ripped apart by the light. He tried everything that he can to withstand the attack, but it was all futile.

"B*ch! I curse you! I curse you!" This is the last words that Ted said as his body disappeared, unable to withstand the power of the golden light.

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Chapter 83 Yum yum yum!

6 hours later, at the Glaivewood Mansion.

Teresa and her father had no time to admire the 3-storey ancestral mansion that is currently owned by Sylvester.

Both of them were emotionally spent, and the first thing that Teresa did was to go to her room.

"..."

Her room was quire reminiscent of her taste.

Minimalistic with a touch of gold.

Teresa duly ignored the maids and their butler as she went straight to her bed.

A tired-looking Sylvester came in to her room a minute later, with his face looking quite unsure.

"Are you sure that you do not want to talk to me first?" Sylvester muttered as he looked at his daughter, who was sitting on her bed.

"Father, I..." Teresa looked hesitantly at her father, as if she wanted to say something badly to him. "Sorry, but I need some time alone first."

Teresa then proceeded to hug her knees as she laid down on the bed, with her back facing Sylvester.

It was quite obvious that Teresa is not reciprocative for any kind of talking right now.

"I see..." Sylvester seemed to have understood what Teresa wanted him to do, as he started to slowly leave the room. "You can take all the time that you want to rest. And you can rest assured you are safe here. None of those Monsters can take you away from me now."

"...I love you Father." Teresa faintly said as the door closed. "See you tomorrow..."

The door then closed with a slight thud, hiding the expression on Sylvester's face.

But just a second after the door closed, the door opened once more, with Sylvester's face looking at Teresa intently.

"Teresa..." Sylvester's voice sounded grave, as if he just remembered something important. "You... have a special ability that only the two of us knew... Care to tell me what it is, and can you demonstrate it to me?'

"I'm an empath, Father." Teresa replied with a slightly fed-up expression on her face. "As for demonstration... I can sense two cats nearby, both with angry and territorial emotions. I think they are fighting over something, maybe for a mate."

"... That was precise." Sylvester said as he regarded Teresa with a more serious look. "You were never able to be this precise before."

That statement was not a question.

"Father, my experience with those Monsters made me realize many things, and it also made me... more mature." Teresa replied as she gave her father a deprecating smile. "My empath abilities... they were affected by this perspective change..."

"I see..." Sylvester looked down again, as both the and Teresa went silent again.

"How about your cultivation? Why could I not sense anything about it?" Sylvester worriedly asked, as he gave Teresa another worried look. "I could not help but notice that you are not letting out any hint of Golden Energy even until now."

"Ah about that..." Teresa looked around her, as if she was struggling to say something. In the end, she let out a sigh as she said,

"My cultivation... is currently sealed."

"Sealed?" Sylvester naturally raised his eyebrows at this, as he looked extremely angry. In fact, his anger was so great that the whole mansion started to shake. "Which bastard did that?"

"The Tentacle Monster." Teresa replied quickly as she let out a snarl.

"Since when?" Sylvester's question sounded just as angry as he looked. "when did he put that seal on you?"

"On the day that they captured me." Teresa said as she let out a mocking smile, which was probably for herself. "They told me that that seal will lock my cultivation and until now, it is still sealing me."

"..."

"..."

"F*k that, let me remove that seal now!" Sylvester abruptly said as he stretched his hand towards Teresa, with his hands rippling with a golden glow.

But before he could touch Teresa's forehead, Teresa stopped him, as she gave him a pleading look.

"Father, I think you should not do that." Teresa replied as she slowly backed away from Sylvester's hand. "The Tentacle Monster told me that if anyone tries to tamper with the seal, it will erupt, which will heavily injure me."

"Are you sure that he is saying the truth?" Sylvester grumbled, as the floor beneath him began to crack. "Maybe he is just bluffing you."

"I do not know, Father, I do not know!" At that point, Teresa started to cry, with tears spilling down on her gorgeous face. "Father, I do not know if he is lying or not! But just to be sure, please don't do anything that can trigger the seal, ok?"

"Ok darling, I promise." Sylvester said as he gritted his teeth. "I can do something like that, of course."

Because of the words that his daughter said, Sylvester could be seen carefully treading around Teresa, as he feared that he could do something detrimental if he went aboveboard.

"..."

"..."

Poor Sylvester could only stare at his distressed daughter, as he looked somewhat powerless to do anything.

In the end, Sylvester still could not hold it in as he said, "But Teresa, you should know that we cannot just let you stay that way forever! It will just ruin you if we do not do anything about it!"

"I know Father, I know." Teresa replied wearily as she let out a sad smile. "But according to the Tentacle Monster, the seal will disappear tomorrow, and once that happens, I will be able to regain my cultivation too."

"And do you believe that?" Sylvester slowly replied as he saw his daughter calming down. "Do you think that you will actually regain your cultivation tomorrow?"

"I do not know, Father." Teresa replied sadly. "I guess we just have to see it tomorrow..."

"Hmph, I do not want to take chances like that!" Sylvester replied as he stood up straight.

"No matter what happens to the seal tomorrow, whether it disappears or stay as it is, both of us will go to the Mage Division Headquarters. I am sure that they have something that can help you out. So, sleep tight so that we can leave tomorrow in good spirits, ok?"

"Ok, father." Teresa replied obediently, with most of her tears already gone. "Good night..."

"Good night to you too." Sylvester replied, as he closed the door to Teresa's room.

"..."

At the instant that he left, Teresa suddenly leapt up, approaching the door and then locking it swiftly, all within a span of just a second.

She then went back to her bed, staying silent for another 30 minutes.

Once the 30-minute mark had passed by, Teresa let out a sigh as she slowly said,

"Holy f*k, that Divine Knight is so scary... Good thing my disguise held up. That fairy dust really is hax..."

The 'Teresa' that Sylvester had rescued from the forest earlier was naturally Alex, currently disguised with the Fairy Dust.

As for the 'Carlie' that they saw earlier, that was disguised Alina.

They already started their infiltration plan earlier, and now they were on their way to its completion.

With the one-week period buffer time that they had, Alex and Alina were able to mindscour both the real Teresa and Carlie about the vital information that will keep their disguise safe.

With their upgraded minds, both of them were able to easily memorize the important info, with the minor ones skimmed over lightly.

But Alex was sure that even with his body having a great disguise and his mind filled with the right info, there is still a chance that his disguise is blown.

So in order to prevent that, Alex had acted like a sad and mopey kid earlier. This naturally forced Sylvester to limit his interactions with his disguised persona.

"Hehehe, good thing Teresa's father did not grill me that much earlier." Alex thought to himself, remembering how quiet Sylvester had been earlier. "He must have been worried about his daughter's mental state..."

Out of his interaction with Sylvester earlier, there are only two close calls.

The first one was with regards to Teresa's empath abilities.

Alex was quite lucky that his FED Manipulation was extremely similar to Teresa's empath abilities. This allowed Alex to pretend that he really was Teresa, as he showcased emotion reading skills that only 'someone like Teresa' could do.

The second close call came from the fact that Alex had none of the Golden Energy that Teresa had.

Were it not for Alex's bluff that 'Teresa' currently had her cultivation sealed, then he could have been outed already.

The bit where 'the seal will injure me when it was probed' was just another ploy placed by Alex in order to prevent Sylvester from inspecting him directly.

"Hehehehe..."

Even if he was in a tense situation right now, Alex still smiled, as he knew that his bluff had worked quite pretty well against Sylvester.

But Alex knew that this explanation will not hold merit for long.

The longer he pretends that 'Teresa' was sealed, the more suspicious Sylvester will be.

So, Alex decided to say that the seal will 'disappear' tomorrow, in order to appease Sylvester.

However, that statement gives Alex another problem.

Since he said that the seal will 'disappear' tomorrow, then that means that he must have Teresa's full abilities by tomorrow too.

If not, then he will really be in some hot water...

Fortunately for Alex, he already had a way to solve that.

"Asteria, regarding the Bonus Mission, am I considered to have infiltrated the Human Faction already?" Alex inquired at the sulky Asteria, who seemed to still be angry at him.

"Yes, the Endless Monarch determined that you have successfully infiltrated the Human Faction already." Teresa replied with a fed-up expression on her face. "But if you want to get the reward, then Alina must infiltrate the Monster Faction successfully too."

"Well, in that case, I will wait then." Alex replied as he laid back on Teresa's bed.

His body, which currently looked feminine, looked extremely sultry as Alex stared up at the ceiling.

"Once Alina helps me complete the Bonus Mission, I will be able to gain 2 Years of Lifespan. Once that happens..." Alex grinned a little, as if he could see something interesting. "I will be free to roam the Human Faction already."

"..."

Alex waited for two more hours before he receiving a notification from Asteria.

"Hmph, Alina had successfully infiltrated the Monster Faction too." Asteria said as she gave Alex a dirty look. "With that happening, I declare you two completing this Bonus Mission. You, Alex, will get the 2 Years of Lifespan reward."

"..."

Alex suddenly felt a warm feeling inside him, as if there was something that rejuvenated him.

Alex tried to enjoy this feeling, as he knew that this feeling would not last for long.

"..."

3 minutes later

"Asteria." Alex cheerfully said as he let out an excited look on his face. He looked quite refreshed, as if he was suddenly filled with life. "With the current Lifespan that I have, I want to buy another Abyss Tome."

"...And what Abyss Tome will buy, Traveler?" Asteria replied formally, with her face still wearing the slightest hints of smile in it. "But before you buy, let me remind you Traveler that you must be careful with what you buy. You might get the wrong one if you get careless..."

"I know." Alex replied as confidently, as he already had an idea on which Abyss Tome he should buy.

"Give me..." Alex's words trailed, as he tired to make his answer sound suspenseful. "Abyss Tome: Greed."

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Chapter 84 Pillage

Asteria tilted her head as she gave Alex a sly smile. "So, you are going that route huh."

"Well, this is the best thing that I can do for now." Alex shrugged as he continued on flopping down on the bed. "Oh now that I noticed it, this bed smells real good..."

"Ew, what a creep." Asteria muttered to herself as she touched the symbol on Alex's forehead.

"Um Asteria..." Alex slowly said as he saw Asteria about to do her job. "Can you make the appearance of the Tome less flashy? I don't want the Divine Knight to sense anything weird..."

"Ok ok..." Asteria replied quickly as she gave Alex an irritated look. "I am about to do that, and you just ruined it by telling me that I should do it..."

"Oh." Alex said, not understanding why Asteria was angry again. "Go on then."

"..." This time there was only a slight glow, as another old book appeared in front of Alex.

This time the book had a huge, gaping mouth in its cover, complete with serrated teeth and dripping drool.

Alex slightly recoiled upon seeing this, immediately not liking what he was seeing.

What made his distaste worse was the fact that there was a 12-inch long tongue lolling out from the mouth, and it was doing its very best to lick Alex.

"Ugh, this is the Abyss Tome: Greed? I thought it will look like something cool..." Alex muttered to himself as he gingerly touched the book.

At the instant that he touched it, the book turned into particulates which entered Alex's body.

Alex closed his eyes as he slowly assimilated the contents of the Tome with his mind.

He opened his eyes a minute later, feeling more rejuvenated than before.

"Ok, 2 down, 5 more to go in the future..." Alex muttered to himself as he checked out his body.

"So, how do you feel now, Alex?" Asteria inquired as she flopped on top of his head. "Do you feel the urge to steal something or just wreck lives?"

"Huh? No!" Alex hotly replied as she gave Asteria a glare. "I am not feeling anything like that! Wait, are you expecting that to happen to me?"

"Of course not!" This time it was Asteria who looked offended. "I was just joking, ok? Tsk, can't you even take a joke?"

"I am always wary as long as you do something to me." Alex replied as he shook his head wryly. "After all, you seem serious on making me miserable..."

"That is just what you think, you paranoid hooman." Asteria angrily replied as she placed her hands on her hips. "Hey, instead of bickering with me, why don't you go and check out what you got?"

"Right, right..." Alex said as he began to inspect his new Tome.

"...Ok, that is weird." The longer that Alex inspected his Tome, the more that he realized that Abyss Tome: Greed was actually unique.

Unlike Abyss Tome: Envy, Abyss Tome: Greed does not have many spells in it. It only had one spell, which can be considered to be just an auxiliary spell in a sense.

This spell is called Pillage, and it comprises all the abilities that Alex gets from the Abyss Tome: Greed.

What the Pillage Spell does is just simple. It allows the user to steal all the power of his/her target.

Once stolen, the user can keep the stolen power, or they can give back the stolen power to its original owner.

Now, this may sound unfair, but there are two limitations on it.

\u003e\u003e\u003eFirst Limitation\u003c\u003c\u003c

[The spell Pillage can only be used on targets with lower power level than the user.]

This just means that Alex cannot use Pillage on targets that are much more powerful than him.

Alex cannot use Pillage on any Divine Knight, as they are much more powerful than Alex.

But if Alex's target was something like a Grade 1 Monster Rabbit, then he can easily pillage its power.

\u003e\u003e\u003eSecond Limitation\u003c\u003c\u003c

[There is a limit on the amount of Powers that can be Pillaged. It is not unlimited.]

This means that Alex cannot just Pillage numerous amounts of power to himself. There is still a limit to the amount of powers that he can steal.

The total amount of powers that Alex can pillage is determined by the Grade of Abyss Tome: Greed that Alex is in right now.

The number of Grades will equate to the number of Slots that can hold in pillaged powers.

One Grade means one Slot for powers.

Reaching Grade 1 will unlock 1 Slot, Grade 2 will unlock 2 Slots, and so on and so forth.

Right now, Alex is:

Since the slots will only depend on the Grade of Abyss Tome: Greed, Alex currently had only 1 Slot for Pillage.

This means that the number of powers that he can pillage amounts to a maximum of only 1 power.

This still looks limited, but Alex was fairly confident with what he can get.

Right now, Alex's list of stolen powers looks like this:

[Grade 1 Slot] -- Empty Slot, needs to Pillage power.

[Grade 2 Slot] -- Needs Grade 2 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 3 Slot] -- Needs Grade 3 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 4 Slot] -- Needs Grade 4 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 5 Slot] -- Needs Grade 5 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 6 Slot] -- Needs Grade 6 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 7 Slot] -- Needs Grade 7 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 8 Slot] -- Needs Grade 8 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 9 Slot] -- Needs Grade 9 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 10 Slot] -- Needs Grade 10 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 11 Slot] -- Needs Grade 11 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 12 Slot] -- Needs Grade 12 Abyss Energy to access.

By looking at this list, Alex realized that once he reaches Grade 12, the maximum amount of Slots that he can get is 12 Slots.

This is somewhat an enticing number, but Alex knew that it will still take him a long time to reach Grade 12, so he had to make do with 1 slot for now.

But even with the restrictions on the Pillage Spell, Alex knew that he can have a great time using Pillage, as he only needed to find the right people to Pillage from.

And right now, there is someone that Alex was willing to try it on.

"Teresa had always been weaker than my power, even in our first meeting. Since her total power level is lower than mine, then it just means that I can Pillage her abilities for myself!"

This is the master plan of Alex that will allow him to pretend as Teresa perfectly.

By using Pillage on the much weaker Teresa, Alex can temporarily take all of her Golden Knight Abilities for himself.

Once he did that, Alex will just have to use these abilities tomorrow, and that will surely fool the Divine Knight perfectly.

Of course Alex will not take Teresa's Golden Knight Power for long.

He will return Teresa's powers once he and Alina leaves this world.

He will return all of it, without a single drop withheld.

After all, Alex knew that Teresa was a decent person, so leaving her powerless forever is not just right for him.

So technically speaking, what Alex will do is to just 'borrow' Teresa's power. He will also return it once he was done using it.

"Time to look at her then." Alex muttered to himself as he closed his eyes in concentration.

With the way that Alex appeared right now, it seemed like he was busy looking for something, and indeed, he was looking for something.

"Found it."

One second later, and he found out what he was looking for.

He felt the connection that he was looking for, and he used it to access what he wanted.

"Woosh~" Alex found himself looking at a large space, with objects and people inside it.

This large space was Alina's Space Storage, which was created when she combined her Esper and Monster Abilities together.

This is where Alina usually stores everything that she owns, including some living objects.

Since this was Alina's ability, it should have been only her who can access it.

But Alex was able to plead Alina to allow him access to her Storage too, and here he is, looking at the contents of Alina's Space Storage.

"This is impressive." Alex muttered to himself, as he realized that he was able to access Alina's Storage Space even when he and Alina were hundreds of kilometers away from each other.

"With this storage accessible for both of us, we can easily use this storage to send messages to each other." Alex thought to himself as he began to write a letter addressed to Alina.

He then left this letter inside the Space Storage, knowing that Alina will find and read it later.

"Ok, now that I am done with the letter, its time for me to see the real attraction in this place." Alex muttered as he looked at the only living beings inside the Space Storage, who were all staring at him.

"Yo, wassup." Alex said as he looked at Teresa, Carlie, and the 5 little monsters, all looking at Alex with surprise.

"Hello!" The 5 little monsters have been all traine- taught by Alina to treat Alex well. Because of that, they greeted him politely as they saw him. They were even unfazed with his current disguise.

As for Carlie, she was only silent, with her body still recuperating from her injuries.

Alex actually found it hard to believe that someone like Carlie could just stay calm in her situation. With the way that she attacked them before, Alex thought that she was someone who will trash out just to escape.

But that was not had happened. Carlie just stayed quiet, and she did not do anything threatening or worrying.

Alex had a suspicion that Carlie was all like this because of Alina whispering something on Carlie's ear a week ago.

"..." Alex was not sure what Alina said to Carlie a week ago, but it was somewhat enough to make Carlie stay like this in the Storage.

If Carlie and the 5 little monsters were subdued and calm, the remaining person surely not is.

"F*k you!" This is Teresa's only reply as she glared at Alex. "Once I get out here, I will make sure that I will-"

"Oh, just zip your mouth, ok?" Alex said as he gestured Teresa to shut up. "You had been cursing me already since you saw my disguise. Am I really that bad to you?"

"Creep! Pervert! Pedo!" Teresa said venomously as spit flew out of her mouth. "I won't forgive you for taking my face and preventing to be Father's daughter!"

"Well, I had to do some things, and this is the best disguise that I can use." Alex said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You motherfu-"

"We had an agreement 3 days ago, right?" Alex suddenly said as he looked down at the livid Teresa. "In that agreement, you allowed me to use this disguise of yours, and to take your powers temporarily too. Surely, you are not reneging on that agreement?"

"Tsk!" Teresa gritted her teeth, as she looked like she had been cornered. "F*king agreement, if I only did not need both of your help, then I would not have joined in that agreement!"

"Hehehe too bad for you, you already did." Alex said as he placed the matter of their agreement with Teresa at the back of his mind.

The agreement that he and Alina made with Teresa was a tightly-guarded secret, so much so that Alex forced himself to not think about it just to maintain its secrecy.

"...Fine." Teresa sullenly replied, as her temper seemed to have cooled off as she deflated a little. "Stupid agreement!"

"..."

"..."

Both of them then stayed silent, with both of them waiting for the other to talk.

It was Teresa who broke off the silence, looking at Alex with narrowed eyes.

"Tentacle guy..." Teresa mumbled as she let out a soft sigh. Her voice was currently soft, as her anger seemed to have entirely disappeared. "I do not need to guess it anymore, you are here to 'borrow' my powers already, right?"

"Touche." Alex replied as he nodded his head. "Are you ready now?"

"I am not, so please just get done with it." Teresa replied curtly as he closed her eyes in exasperation. "I still have to sleep, so just do it now."

"..."

Chapter 85 Mouth

"This girl..." Alex's irritation at Teresa just reached its peak, as he realized that Teresa is becoming just as annoying as Asteria already.

"Let's see if you can keep your mouthy attitude after this." Alex muttered to himself as he slowly said,

A ghostly shape then suddenly appeared behind Alex, bearing an appearance that elicited some terrified squeaks from the little monsters, especially from No. 4, who started to whimper a little.

From the looks of it, they were all scared by the projection behind Alex.

Even Carlie was affected too, as she moved back by several paces, looking at the ghostly shape behind Alex with wariness.

Alex tilted his head, feeling unsure on why they were this apprehensive.

"Why are you that scared, did I summon something bad?" Alex muttered as they saw their eyes focused not on him, but right above his head.

"Oh, so there is something behind me then..."

Upon seeing their reactions, Alex decided to look behind him, and at the instant that he did it, he saw tte very same projection that had scared the others.

"Holy motherfather!" Alex cursed out as he almost leapt up from the bed. "You surprised the f*k out of me!"

What Alex saw was just sheer horror material.

Floating in front of Alex was a desiccated mouth, completed with its own set of lips, teeth, tongue and jaw.

The jaw was peppered full of holes, which were pulsating in a sickening beat. Some of the holes were even popping, with each pop producing more and more holes, which just made the sight nastier.

[Author's Note: F*king Tryptophobia, now my skin hair is rising while writing this.]

As for the lips, there were full of pustules, which all looked like they were about to pop out with just a single touch. And unfortunately for Alex, one of the pustules actually pop, which led to a yellowy-white sticky liquid flowing from that popped part.

As for the teeth, they all looked weathered and battered down, as if there was something that bashed them into submission.

The teeth were also filled with cracks, with Alex reckoning that one tap can instantly destroy most of the teeth.

And finally, there was the tongue.

The tongue however was not just a tongue. It was made up of countless fleshy tendrils, with each tendril pulsating and writhing on its own.

It was the braid of all these fleshy tendrils that formed the tongue.

"...Calling this a monstrosity will be just an understatement." Alex muttered to himself as he looked at his projection with twitching eyes. "Should you really look like that?"

After seeing the horrifying appearance of his projection, Alex was able to understand why his companions had such an extreme reaction.

"Skreee..." To Alex's surprise, Mouth(this is what Alex decided to call this projection for now) actually let out a high-pitched sound, as if it was replying to Alex's question.

"Oh great, and it seems to be sentient too." Alex muttered as he dropped his arms in exasperation. "What a great nightmare fuel."

"Skree skree skree?" Mouth tilted its head, as if it was waiting for Alex to give it a command.

"Ok, it seems like it will follow my commands properly." Alex thought to himself as he looked at Teresa. "Time to test its capabilities then."

"Go and Pillage the power of this girl." Alex said to Mouth as he pointed his fingers towards Teresa, who was looking at Mouth with an expression of shock and fear.

"Skreee!!!" Mouth let out another wail, which sounded like an expression of happiness.

"..." Upon seeing the gestures and actions of Mouth, Alex realized that Mouth actually was like a pet.

Welp, there goes Alex's dreams of owning a cute pet. Mouth pretty much ruined it all already.

"Hey, don't let that thing approach me!" Teresa wailed as she scooted backwards, with her butt scraping the floor.

She was so gripped with fear that she forgot to stand up and fight.

"Hey Tentacle Monster, is there no other way for you to get my power temporarily?" Teresa pleadingly asked to Alex as Mouth approached her, with drool flowing out of its mouth. "Can't you just touch me and suck it all up?"

"Sorry, but that is not how Pillage works." Alex replied as he gave Teresa a salute. "Don't worry, Mouth won't hurt you at all, just let it all happen, and everything will be fine."

"Of course you gave it a name." Asteria muttered behind Alex, as she gazed at Mouth in disgust. "After all, creepy people attract creepy objects."

"You know, one of the names I wanted to give Mouth was actually Asteria." Alex replied as Mouth floated right above Teresa's head. "Maybe I should just give him that name..."

"No you don't!"

"Well, we shall talk about that later." Alex grinned to Asteria as Mouth pounced at Teresa. "All, right, it seems like its starting now."

"..."

Alex watched with interest as he saw Mouth doing its job.

The first thing that Alex saw was Mouth opening itself wide, with the distance between the upper and the lower halves reaching the maximum value.

"It's just like a snake dislocating its jaw to open its mouth to the fullest." Alex thought to himself as he watched what happened next.

"Glop." Mouth's creepy tongue then proceeded to cover Teresa, with each fleshy tendril attaching themselves on her skin. A second passed by, and all the fleshy tendrils started to let out a pale green glow.

Then to Alex amusement, he heard a sucking sound from each tendril, as if they were sucking something from Teresa.

"..." Alex's eyes trailed all over the tendrils, as he saw something flowing along the tendrils, with the flow starting at the part of the tendrils attached to Teresa's skin, and ending inside Mouth's body.

"So, the tendrils are the one Pillaging the powers..." Alex muttered to himself as he and the others continued to observe the process.

It was only after a minute passed by that the tendrils retreated from Teresa.

"Skreee!!!" Mouth immediately bounded towards Alex happily, as if it was proud of its job.

It approached Alex cheerfully, with the upper part of its body leaning towards Alex.

"...You want me to pet you?" Alex incredulously asked Mouth as he saw its docile actions.

"Skree!" Mouth replied quickly, with its body bobbing up and down.

"Sigh, yeah, I'll pet you. After all you have done a good job." Alex tried to not show any revulsion on his face as he patted the upper lip of Mouth.

Alex slightly winced as he heard a squelching sound, as one of his fingers popped open a pustule.

"Ugh..." It was Asteria who did the job of expressing their collective disgust.

"Um, now that you have Pillaged Teresa's power, can you give it to me now?" Alex asked slowly as he finished petting Mouth. He tried not to think about the sticky pus on his fingers as he waited for Mouth to move.

"Skreee!" Mouth said as it spat out something from itself.

Alex deftly caught it, with him feeling more revulsion.

He looked carefully at his catch, and what he saw was a pulsating flesh ball.

The ball seemed to be made up of gold-colored flesh, with veins and arteries visible in its surface. The ball was also letting out a stinky odor, which made Alex think about dead insects.

The worst thing of all was the ball seemed to be alive too, with it also pulsating, like it was a heart.

Alex's eyes twitched as he held the beating ball, as his mouth opened and closed in shock.

"Should I... eat this ball?" Alex asked with trepidation as he looked at Mouth with a pleading expression. "Please tell me that I should not eat this ball."

"Skreee!!!" Mouth shouted, as its lips flapped open and close, showing Alex what it wanted to say.

"F*k this sideways." Alex tried not to cry as he saw that Mouth actually wanted him to eat the flesh ball!

"Ok, I am so out of here!" Asteria declared as she closed her eyes and left Alex alone. "I am not watching anything that creepy!"

"..." Alex did not say anything for the following seconds, as he stared at the pulsating flesh ball with revulsion and disgust.

"S*t, s*t, s*t!" Even if Alex usually liked challenges, there are still some things that if possible, he will not do.

And eating the flesh balls was one of these things.

"Skree?" Mouth seemed to have noticed Alex's hesitation, as it let out a sad sound. "Skree?"

"Ah f*k this!" Alex let out a despairing shout as he realized that there is no way out for him now.

He opened his mouth wide, dropping the flesh ball inside his mouth.

"..."

Alex knew that if someone was about to eat something disgusting, they should not try to taste or bite it, as it will just make the process worse. Swallow the disgusting food as a whole will minimize its negative effects.

And that is what Alex exactly did, as he decisively swallowed the flesh ball, with him not chewing or even trying to taste the flesh ball.

Once Alex felt that the ball was already gliding down in his esophagus, he grabbed a can of water in the storage, and he then drank half of it in order to push the ball down.

"Glug, glug, glug."

The ball instantly appeared at his stomach, and there it started to do its magic.

Even without Alex monitoring his internals, he could feel that the flesh ball broke into tiny pieces inside his stomach, with each piece spreading out in his body.

The spreading out was accompanied by a warm and fuzzy feeling which covered Alex's whole body too.

"Ahh~" Alex could not help but let out a moan as he found the sensation to be too comfortable.

It even made him temporarily forget the nauseating experience that he had earlier.

The whole process lasted for around 5 minutes, and it was only at the end of this time that Alex felt normal again.

Alex then heard a slight ping inside his mind, prompting him to look at the interface of his stolen powers.

[Grade 1 Slot] -- Grade 3 Golden Knight Power

[Grade 2 Slot] -- Needs Grade 2 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 3 Slot] -- Needs Grade 3 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 4 Slot] -- Needs Grade 4 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 5 Slot] -- Needs Grade 5 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 6 Slot] -- Needs Grade 6 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 7 Slot] -- Needs Grade 7 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 8 Slot] -- Needs Grade 8 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 9 Slot] -- Needs Grade 9 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 10 Slot] -- Needs Grade 10 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 11 Slot] -- Needs Grade 11 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 12 Slot] -- Needs Grade 12 Abyss Energy to access.

"Hahaha, there it is!" Alex whooped happily as he saw the Grade 1 Slot being filled with the Grade 3 Golden Knight Power.

"Now, I can use all the abilities that Teresa had as a Grade 3 Golden Knight..." Alex thought to himself as he started to hug Mouth. "Now, my disguise is perfect!"

"You, you are the MVP here!" Alex said as he ignored the pus that covered his clothes. "Ok, from now on, you shall be my primary pet!"

"Skree!!!" Mouth let out its loudest reply ever, obviously showing its happiness.

The pair continued giggling and laughing to each other, prompting a still disgusted and shocked Asteria to just shake her head in dismay.

"Just like what I said earlier, creepy people attract creepy objects..."

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Chapter 86 Five Minds are Better Worse than One

"Are you enjoying your meal?" General Chimera said as he looked at the monster busy gorging food in front of him. "That food was always enjoyed by your General."

"Nom nom nom." The monster that General Chimera was talking to did not reply, as she just continued on eating.

"..." General Chimera tried to not show his irritation as he gave the monster a smile. "Carlie, you need to say some words too. You are talking to a General after all."

"It was delicious." Carlie replied after clearing the plate in front of her. Her hands never stopped moving, as she immediately feasted on the next plate.

"Nom nom nom."

"..." General Chimera tried to not sigh as he watched what Carlie was doing.

"She just came back from earlier, and she demanded food like this? This is really weird..." General Chimera thought to himself as he blocked out Carlie's chewing sounds.

[1 hour earlier.]

After he sent out Ted earlier, General Chimera used the next hours to wait for Ted's return, along with Carlie.

But to General Chimera's surprise, it was only Carlie who came back. Ted was nowhere to be found, and Carlie looked to be filled with injuries.

General Chimera naturally was enraged, up to the point that he was about to attack Carlie.

But upon remembering that Carlie was about to visit Queen Mother later, General Chimera realized that he should not hurt Carlie at all.

Queen Mother's desire to meet Carlie meant that there is something that she wanted from Carlie. In that case, General Chimera must not offend Carlie at all.

So instead of lashing out to her, General Chimera calmed himself down, and then he proceeded to ask Carlie about what had happened.

After asking his question, General Chimera duly listened Carlie's reply, and he could not help but feel tense at what he heard.

5 Divine Knights were actually dispatched to meet up with the Visitor Monsters, and from the looks of it, the meeting was not for diplomatic reasons.

Carlie then said that Ted was just an unlucky monster who met the Divine Knights along the way. Because of their sudden meeting, poor Ted quickly killed by Divine Knight Glaivewood, which explained the lack of the corpse.

Before General Chimera could poke holes in her story, Carlie continued talking, as she explained how she survived.

According to Carlie, she was somehow able to convince the Visitor Monsters to leave this World.

By doing that, the Visitor Monsters left Carlie and a Human girl in the forest.

And as it turns out, the Human girl was actually the daughter of Divine Knight Glaivewood.

It was this accidental rescue that allowed Carlie to live and come back to the Monster Faction safely.

Naturally, General Chimera found what Carlie said to be hard to believe.

But upon remembering her current status now, General Chimera realized that he should not antagonize her at this moment.

Why should he grill her, when all that she did was to return alive?

If Ted is dead, then he is dead already.

He is just an example of a known fact by the Monster Faction.

And that is that Monsters die when they are killed.

Besides, having Ted dead is great, since he's a selfish a*hole.

F*k Ted.

After reaching this point, General Chimera decided to offer her some food. After all, Carlie looked like she can make do with some normal food.

Carlie quickly agreed, so quick that General Chimera thought that she seemed to be too much excited to eat.

Of course General Chimera dismissed this notion, as he thought to himself,

Even if Carlie was hungry, she will not be able to eat that many, right?

[Back to the present time.]

TO General Chimera's surprise and shock, Carlie actually managed to eat a buffet-sized meal, and from the looks of it, she was not stopping to even take a breather.

"What the hell, did this shadow monster mutate or something?"

General Chimera knew that a shadow monster like Carlie does not actually need normal food to eat.

For monsters like her, normal food are just there for slight sustenance or pleasure supplement.

With that thinking, General Chimera thought that Carlie will just settle for plate and then stop there.

But what he saw made him think differently.

\u003c\u003c\u003cWhy not just kill her and be done with it?\u003e\u003e\u003e A voice sounded out inside General Chimera's head, goading him to do the unthinkable.

\u003c\u003c\u003cSeriously, you can snap her easily with your multiple wrists!\u003e\u003e\u003e

This second voice continued talking, with it sounding lewd and creepy.

Why assault her when you can just torture her? This time, another voice interrupted the second voice.

This third voice sounded calm and methodical, although a hint of insanity could be seen leaking out from it.

Look at her body. She clearly suffered some injuries, and she had already healed from it. That just means that she can take some of the torture implements that I have...

~~~Oh come on, guys, Sis Carlie is a nice monster! We should not hurt her!~~~ Another voice said.

This voice was the fourth voice, and unlike the others, it sounded like it belonged to a naïve, innocent kid.

~~~Didn't Queen Mother say that she wanted to see Sis Carlie? If we do something bad to her, then Queen Mother will get angry! Do you want to make her angry?~~~

\u003c\u003c\u003cF*k off, pipsqueak! All you do is just play those sissy board games! Why don't you go back and cry to your momma?\u003e\u003e\u003e

~~~Hey, you are bullying me again!~~~

\u003c\u003c\u003cSo what if I am? You suck and we all know it! Just go home and play your games!\u003e\u003e\u003e

~~~Waaah!!!!~~~

You are still thinking of pouring your sexual frustrations on her? You really are a disappointment. I thought you share the same sadistic streak as me, yet you are just another degenerate lusting for carnal pleasures.

Oh, are you saying that my intellect is not needed here? Who was that guy again who suggested that we enter Queen Mother's lair and pump her with our reproductive juices? Who was the idiot who suggested that?

\u003c\u003c\u003cHehe, just admit that you are a horny idiot.\u003e

Indeed.

~~~Waaaah!~~~

"..." General Chimera closed his eyes as he tried to ignore the 4 voices talking inside his head.

"Sigh, just hearing them bicker is already wearing me down. F*k this life." General Chimera thought to himself as he let out a despondent sigh.

Because of the nature of his body, it was inevitable that multiple consciousness will appear inside General Chimera's mind.

Of course when they all appeared, General Chimera tried to eliminate them all.

But out of the mental purging that he did, 4 separate consciousnesses survived, and they now all resided in his mind.

General Chimera of course tried more ways to remove them, but no matter what General Chimera did, none of them disappeared or even faded away.

They all just spent their time annoying the c*p out of him, giving him suggestions that were enough to make him shout in anger.

With his mental prowess, General Chimera can still withstand all 4 of them residing in his head.

But that mental prowess was not enough to make General Chimera feel happy with them existing.

So, shall we torture her then?

"Of course not." General Chimera mentally replied to Torture Chimera with exasperation. "She did not even do anything that will warrant that."

\u003c\u003c\u003cSo, we kill her then?\u003e\u003e\u003e

"That's a big no too." General Chimera said to Murder Chimera quickly. "She is protected right now, got it?"

"Hell no!" General Chimera shouted to Horny Chimera as he almost cut his tongue in anger. "We will not touch her in any way that might offend her. If we damage her now, Queen Mother will surely bring her wrath on us."

~~~Yes, we should avoid making Sis Carlie mad!~~~

"That's right kid. That's what we will do." General Chimera said to Kid Chimera in a soft voice, as he resisted the urge to pet him. After all, petting Kid Chimera will just mean petting himself.

\u003c\u003c\u003cKid Chimera really is a f*king liar. You must be planning on something that will f*k us all up, right?\u003e\u003e\u003e

I refuse to believe someone as pure as you exists. I am sure that you have a penchant of violence hidden inside of you.

~~~You are all bullying me again! Waaah!!!~~~

"..." At this point, General Chimera decisively ignored these voices. Nothing will come out good once he interrupted them now.

"Just like what I told you earlier, Queen Mother expressed her desire to see you." General Chimera said as he saw that Carlie seemed to be done eating. "Are you prepared to see her now?"

"I am prepared already." Carlie tried to not show it, but General Chimera could see that she was both nervous and tense.

"Don't be like that, Carlie." General Chimera as he raised one of his massive hands and placing it on top of Carlie's head. "Queen Mother loves all of us monsters, so you should not be scared on meeting her."

"But why does the Queen Mother want to see me?" Carlie shot back as she accepted the petting. "I did not do anything that could warrant her attention."

"I fear that it will be only the Queen Mother that can answer that question." General Chimera replied as he stood up.

The whole floor creaked, as it seemed to struggle on carrying his weight.

Carlie stood up too, as she looked at the floor with trepidation.

"Ignore that, the floor can hold me perfectly." General Chimera chuckled as he started to move his countless legs. "Follow me now. I shall bring you to the Queen Mother's lair."

"Ok." Carlie replied as she quietly followed General Chimera.

\u003c\u003c\u003cLet's just choke her to death later. I want to see her life flashing from her eyes as I grip her neck tightly.\u003e\u003e\u003e

As much as I loathed the inefficiency of you two, making her say such humiliating things while being choked is a perfect torture. I approve of that method.

~~~Hey, guys, don't do that! You will just make her sad...~~~

\u003c\u003c\u003cShut up kid.\u003e\u003e\u003e

Shut up kid.

~~~Waaahhh!!!~~~

"..."

Chapter 87 Different Degrees of Conflic

Alina could not help but feel pity for General Chimera as she saw through his struggles.

Alina's All-Seeing Eyes were powerful enough to let Alina see that there are other consciousnesses residing inside General Chimera's mind.

"Having an extra mind pestering you all day is already bad enough... Having four of them just makes it worse" Alina thought to herself as she followed the gigantic general.

"Well, that's what he gets for fusing with many living beings..." Alina thought idly to herself, comparing her current disguise with General Chimera's body.

When she first met him earlier, Alina had the urge to shout out as she was taken aback by General Chimera's appearance.

Even right now, she still held the same wary feelings for him.

After all, a Monster that was made up of fusion of different Monsters looks just plain terrifying up close.

After having this thought in her mind, Alina shook her head, as she realized that the must not be concerned about General Chimera first.

There is still the matter of the Queen Mother herself wanting to meet her.

"Did She see through my disguise already?" Alina thought to herself as she started to get nervous. "It will not be good if that was the case..."

With all the Mindscour sessions that Alina did with the real Carlie, Alina was able to get all the information that Carlie had about the Queen Mother.

And after reading all this info about Queen Mother, Alina's only thought was:

"I must never offend Her."

And that thought is still residing inside Alina's mind right now, which just made her more nervous and tense.

"Calm down Alina, as long as you do not do anything wrong, you will not be punished at all..." Alina thought to herself idly as she continued on following General Chimera. "Just keep it down..."

"We have arrived already." Alina heard General Chimera's rumbling voice in front of her, prompting her to stop in her tracks.

She looked up, and she saw General Chimera's extremely misshapen heads looking down at her.

Maybe it is just Alina, but she could see a silhouette of a smile hanging in General Chimera's faces.

"Just go through this door, and you will see her." General Chimera said as he pointed at the tiny door in front of him. "Don't worry, the door won't bite."

"..."

Alina was not sure on what to say about that, as she felt that the door looks just as dangerous as the other Monsters nearby.

The door was made up of different kinds of metal, all carved to show different grotesque and disconcerting shapes. There are also some tentacles carved in the door, which just accentuates its grim appearance.

Even Alina, who was used to Alex's tentacle appearance, felt slightly sick as she looked at the shapes decorating the door.

Alina looked up at General Chimera, giving him a look as if she was saying 'Bruh, are you trippin?'.

"Just enter the door right now, ok?" General Chimera said with a smile that was also not a smile. "Queen Mother hates to see Monsters loitering in front of her door, so you better go in right now..."

Even Alina does not need to use her All-Seeing Eyes to see that General Chimera was threatening her right now.

"...Here I go then." Alina replied, adopting Carlie's monotonous voice as she approached the door.

At first she was not sure on what to do. Should she push or pull the door? Where is the handle anyway? Does she even need to use a handle?

This state of confusion had Alina stuck in place, as she tried to figure on what to do.

"Hong~"

Alina's confusion was solved when the door in front of her suddenly split in the middle, creating a small opening that was large enough for one person.

Alina took this as the cue to enter, placing her left foot inside the opening.

Upon realizing that there are no traps that sprung up yet, Alina took a deep breath as she entered the opening with her whole body.

"..."

The first thing that Alina noticed when she entered was the darkness.

There was no light inside the place that she entered, making the whole place impossible to visually observe.

The only source of light was through the hole that Alina went in earlier, and even that was not enough to show Alina something.

"..."

Seconds passed by as Alina waited for something special to happen.

Unfortunately for Alina, she did not have to wait for that long as she heard a sound behind her.

"Zip..."

Alina looked back, and she saw that the opening that she went in from earlier had been closed entirely.

"What's next, a jumpscare?" Alina thought scornfully as she looked around her. "I really hate gimmicks like that..."

While Alina was having these idle thoughts, she had thoroughly prepared her powers, with her body ready to let out her Dark Magic and her weakened Esper Ability.

"..."

5 minutes later.

"Woosh~"

Her preparations seemed to have borne fruit as she suddenly detected a presence approaching her from above.

"Who goes there?" Alina asked as she looked up, trying to see the intruder.

Her body began to pulse with power, as she readied herself.

But before she could even position herself well, she suddenly felt a cold feeling assaulting her body, making her feel extremely tired and drowsy.

"Sleep now, little one. You will need it for later." A soothing, melodic voice said to Alina as she felt herself succumbing to the darkness. "Sleep now..."

"Ugh!" There was a slight squelching sound, followed by some dripping sounds.

"Oh my, you really bit your tongue to keep yourself awake. Impressive..." The melodic voice said, as if it can see what Alina was doing. "Too bad it will not help you out at all..."

"..." Alina tried to make a move, but her legs failed her, forcing her to kneel down on the floor.

"..." Alina tried crawling away from her current spot, but that did not work either as she felt her whole body not responding to her.

Alina cursed out, as she realized that she was extremely sleepy right now.

"Sleep, little one." The melodic voice said once more, ignoring Alina's current appearance. "You will need it for later..."

"..."

That was the last thing that Alina heard as her consciousness went dark.

[6 Hours later.]

[Divine Knight Glaivewood's Mansion]

"Hm, that Teresa actually have some good clothes..." Alex thought to himself as he stood in front of the mirror, currently checking out his clothes.

Because Alex was disguising as Teresa, he had no choice but to wear something that is feminine at best.

So with the choices that he had in Teresa's closet, Alex chose the ones that will fit Teresa's figure.

Alex chose a thin yellow blouse that emphasized Teresa's already bountiful bust, and tight, white jeans that wrapped around her legs perfectly.

One last look at the mirror, and Alex could see that his disguise is rocking the 'perfect girl' image.

"Ugh, I will tell Alina all about this." Asteria commented as she gave Alex a wilting look. "Let's see how she reacts when she finds out that you spent some time doing sexy dress-up with your disguised body. She will surely see you as a creep that you are."

"Shut it, dumb fairy." Alex snarled as he opened the door of Teresa's room. "You know that I must not wear boyish clothes, since that could alarm her father."

"Hmph, give me another honey later!"

"...Fine." Alex replied sullenly as he slowly walked down the stairs.

"There you are, Teresa!" Alex heard a joyous sound calling out for him from below the stairs, prompting him to look down.

There he saw the Sylvester Glaivewood, giving Alex a beaming smile.

The Divine Knight was not wearing his armor, as what replaced it were some normal clothes.

Alex had to blink his eyes, as he felt a little confused from the Divine Knight's lack of armor.

"Is there something wrong, Teresa?" Sylvester Glaivewood seemed to have noticed Alex's confused look, prompting him to feel concerned. "Does something hurt in you right now?"

"Oh, its nothing, father." Alex replied, using Teresa's melodious voice normally. "I just... feel happy that I am home now."

"...I feel the same thing too." Sylvester Glaivewood said as he walked towards the dining room. "Come now Teresa, let's eat breakfast for now."

"Yes Father." Alex replied obediently as he reached the bottom of the stairs quickly.

Because of Alina's influence, Alex had learned to love the art of food and eating already.

As such, having the opportunity to eat in this mansion was something that Alex will not pass on.

"Damn..." That was what Alex thought as he saw the food prepared in the dining room. "We are really going to eat this?"

Even if Alex was not that rich in his original life, he was still sure that he can identify when the dishes prepared are for the rich or not.

And right now, Alex was sure that the food laden in front of him were all extravagant and delicious!

He could see an assortment of seafood decorating the table, as well some meat and beef dishes. The salad and vegetable mixes were also abundant.

They all looked like they were cooked perfectly, and the smell that they emanate just proves that point.

Alex tried to not show that he was salivating, as he felt the desire to eat already.

"There... is a lot of food here." Alex said as he sat down on the nearest seat. "What are these for?"

"It's the food to celebrate your safe return in the Glaivewood House." The Divine Knight said as he sat the end of the table, signifying his status as the Head of the House.

"But... there's a lot of food here." Alex commented as he tried to not show his excitement. "I doubt that we can finish this all up..."

"Of course I thought of that." The Divine Knight said as she let out a smug smile. "You and I are not the only ones that will eat here. There are others that I invited, and they are about to come here right now."

"And who might they be?" Alex asked with slight trepidation in his voice.

"Oh, its your female cousin and your fiancée, along with his entourage." The Divine Knight replied cheerfully. "Both of them were worried about you, so they wanted to immediately see you once they heard the news that you were safe. So, I invited them to our breakfast right now."

"...I see." Alex tried not to grimace, as he realized that he was actually blasted to the awkward territory.

With Alina's Mindscour, Alex was able to know all the people that Teresa had connection with, which includes Teresa's female cousin and Teresa's fiancée.

From what Alex saw in the Mindscour, the original Teresa's relationship with these two people were somewhat... unique.

"Ugh, I had plans to avoid the two of them, and yet they are coming here already? Ugh, I must not be seen by them!" Alex tried to stand up, as he decided to make an excuse to leave. "Father, I-"

"Hallo!" Alex slumped his shoulders, as he realized that escape is futile for him now.

They have already arrived, and there is nothing that Alex can do to avoid them.

"Ugh, what a drag..."

Chapter 88 More and More Meetings

And just as expected, you are still unable to stave off your carnal desires. At least learn to have some self-restraint already.

\u003c\u003c\u003cHahaha, you just got roasted!\u003e\u003e\u003e

~~~Yes, you are roasted!~~~

"Will all of you please shut up?" General Chimera muttered as he left the door where Alina had entered in. "I am about to attend a very important meeting, and all of you must stay quiet so that I can focus."

Will it be a meeting with the other Generals? If that really is the case, then I can force myself to keep quiet. However, I am not sure if the others can do that.

\u003c\u003c\u003cDon't think that lowly of me too. Even I know when to keep quiet, unlike a certain kid there.\u003e\u003e\u003e

~~~Hey! I can keep quiet too!~~~

"..."

Luckily for General Chimera, the voices inside his head stopped bickering after that.

"Time to face the music then." General Chimera muttered to himself as he approached the most imposing structure in the Monster Faction.

It was a metallic building, complete with the symbols that are even more frightening than the symbols on the door earlier.

In fact, even General Chimera was somewhat affected by the symbols on the building, with him casually averting his eyes to not see them.

General Chimera knew that doing this could be a sign of weakness for him, but his eyes really could not tolerate those terrifying symbols.

"Breathe in, breathe out." General Chimera muttered to himself as he stopped in front of the door of the building. "Let's get this over already."

General Chimera raised one of his plump arms and used it to push the door open.

At the instant that he did this, General Chimera felt a suction force coming from the door that he opened.

He did not fight back against the force, as he let it carry his gigantic body.

"Slurp."

The gap on the door, which was only large enough to accommodate a normal-sized person, was actually able to allow General Chimera's large body in.

The whole suction process only lasted for 5 seconds, and by the time that this time limit was up, General Chimera's whole body was already gone.

"And here comes our big boy." A mocking voice said as General Chimera found himself sitting on an ornate chair.

The chair itself was large enough to accommodate General Chimera's size, and General Chimera was also sure that the chair was sturdy enough to carry his weight.

"Creak..." General Chimera tested the chair that he was sitting in, while he completely ignored the mocking voice from earlier.

"What happened to you, Chimy? Did the cat get your tongues?"

"Can't you just shut up for now, General Draria?" General Chimera replied with irritation in his faces. "We are about to start a meeting now, so I prefer it if you can stay civil. You can at least do something as easy as that, right?'

"You!" General Draria's scaly body bristled, while the wings on her back started to flap quickly, as if it was representing her anger. "Do not try to pull the 'civil' card on me! I am an honorable dragon! I am of a noble blood, and nobility is in my blood and body!"

"If you really can act with elegance, then explain to me your crass words earlier." General Chimera replied as he gave her a smirk. "If that was elegance, then I fear that the standards of this world had been abysmal already."

"Shut the f*k up!"

"There, another crass word. When will you ever learn?"

"Can you two please stop quarreling for now?" Someone went between General Chimera and General Draria, who were both about to pounce on each other already.

The interloper looked to be extremely human, except for two tiny horns sprouting in his forehead.

His body was extremely muscular too, and General Chimera knew for a fact that these muscles pack some power that even he was wary off.

"We are starting a meeting about something important here, so I will appreciate it if you two can keep your tempers for now." The muscular monster said as he gave both General Chimera and General Draria a small grin. "You know what will happen if you do not heed my request, right?"

"Hmph, consider this as your lucky day!" General Draria said as she plopped back on her seat with her wings tucked neatly. "If General Oni did not save you, then you would have been roasted alive by me already."

"Hmph, you are the lucky one." General Chimera said as ah plopped back on his seat. "Always remember that."

The muscular guy, who was aptly named General Oni, clapped his hands as he seemed to be pleased with what he was seeing.

"Now that you two are calm, let us start this meeting already!"

"Wait, there are just 5 of us here..." General Chimera interjected as she looked all around him. "Should we really start a meeting under these conditions?"

With General Chimera's multiple eyes, he could sense only 5 presences inside the room.

The first one was obvious his, while the other two was for General Draria and General Oni.

As for the fourth and fifth presences, they belonged respectively to a small green slime and a floating elephant seal.

"5 of us are already enough." The small slime said, interrupting General Chimera's queries quickly. "Or perhaps, do you think that I, General Intra, will be of not enough help here?"

"That is not what he was thinking, bro." The floating elephant seal said as it slowly ascended to the roof of the room. "General Chimera just wanted to have more of us here..."

"I see, that is a valid point, General Tusk." General Intra said as he shifted his slimy body. "General Chimera, forgive me for my impertinence earlier."

"Yes, forgive my bro." General Tusk added as it quickly bobbed its head. "He was just excited to talk to you."

"I am not thinking of such things, Tusk." General Intra replied coolly, with his color changing from green to blue.

"Oh, right, I am wrong about that, hahaha..." General Tusk replied shakily as he averted his eyes away from General Intra, who seems to be glaring at him.

"Ehem." General Chimera cleared his throat, as he tried to defuse the situation. "From the looks of it, only five of us will be available for the next 6 months. Since that seems to be the case, I propose that we start our meeting now."

"Agreed." The other Generals replied as they fixed their stature.

The whole atmosphere of the room then shifted, as all the Generals were now in their serious mode.

General Chimera smiled widely upon seeing this. He always liked hardworking Generals, as their action will usually benefit the other monsters too.

"The topic of this meeting is just simple." General Chimera stated, as he made his voice sound low and serious. "We are here to decide if the time is ripe for the 5 of us to attack and kill a certain Human. If all of us decides to kill him at the end of this meeting, then we will set out immediately to kill him. But if it was the other way around, then we will not make any move."

"The way that you sounded your sentences made it sound like the Human that we are planning to kill is a dangerous one." General Oni commented as he gave General Chimera a suspicious look. "Are you sure that a meeting is needed to talk about killing him?"

"I am sure." General Chimera replied grimly, setting his eyes on everyone in the room.

"..."

"If nobody from you has any complaints, then I shall start already." General Chimera said as he gathered all the info in his mind.

He then tweaked the biological processes inside his body, as he knew that this meeting will be a long one.

General Chimera chose to not reply to Horny Chimera as he started his presentation.

Alex's breakfast with Teresa's cousin and fiancée could be said to be somewhat rowdy and awkward.

The rowdiness came from the female cousin, who smothered Alex with question about his 'captivity'.

"Teresa, were the tentacles scary? My friend told me before that tentacles can be sometimes sexy too!"

"..."

From what Alex can remember, the name of Teresa's cousin was Alice, which can be said to be fitting for her.

Just like Teresa, Alice also had long blonde hair trailing on her back, and blue eyes that seemed to radiate with intensity.

Alice however looked to be extremely mischievous, as evidenced by the impish smile that she wore.

"..."

Just sitting beside Alice was Teresa's fiancée, and he was the one exuding out the awkward feeling.

If Alex's memories were right, the name of Teresa's fiancée was Simon, and unlike all the people in the room, his appearance was almost their opposite.

Short black hair, and slight tanned skin.

These are the superficial traits that Simon have, which managed to accentuate his muscles and face.

Alex was sure that Simon was the awkward one, as throughout the whole breakfast, all the Simon did was to ask Alex some light questions.

"Were you bit?"

"No."

"Were you hurt?"

"No."

"Were you thrown away?"

"No."

"..."

"..."

This kind of talk continued until everyone finished the food on the table.

"..."

At the end of their breakfast, Alex could see the dissatisfaction on Sylvester Glaivewood's face, as if the whole breakfast had been a massive failure.

Upon seeing this look, Alex realized that something was about to happen, and that he will be powerless to stop it.

"Teresa..." The Divine Knight said as he looked at Alex. "Even if you were able to demonstrate to me earlier that you have regained your power, it is still not good to think that you are safe. You will still have go to the Mage Division to have your body checked."

The Divine Knight then looked at Alice and Simon, before Alex could say anything. "Simon and Alice, you will join Teresa to the Mage Division. Don't worry about the permit to enter. I will make sure that they will allow you to enter."

"Yes! I will get to see some cool Mages!" Alice said as she almost jumped from her seat.

Simon did not say anything in reply, as he only gave a slight nod to the Divine Knight.

"Sigh." Alex knew that if he still complained about going to the Mage Division, Sylvester Glaivewood will surely feel suspicious again.

"Hmph, with my Fairy Dust, I am sure that I will not be discovered!" Alex thought smugly to himself as he gave the Divine Knight a nod.

"Since that is what you want Father, then I shall oblige with it."

"Good." The Divine Knight replied as a wide smile covered his face. "Set out as early as possible so that you can finish early too."

"I will take note of that, Father."

"Teresa, don't walk that slowly! We are going to be late!" Alice said, forcing Alex to let out another sigh. "Come on Teresa, I want to see the cool Mages already!"

"Alice, you know that we are visiting the Mage Division for my condition, right?" Alex replied helplessly as he looked at Teresa's female cousin. "If you want to sightsee, we will do that later."

"But-"

"No buts, Alice." Simon said, interrupting Alice from whatever she was about to say. "Let's get on with this already."

"Aw..."

"Simon, it must be tiring for you to deal with my cousin when I was gone." Alex said to Simon, who looked back at Alex with his dark eyes. "I apologize for the hardships that she made you experience."

"Oh its fine." Simon said as he waved his hands dismissively. "I am your fiancée, so its part of my responsibility is to entertain your relatives."

"You know that hearing the word fiancée just makes me want to strangle you." Alex said to Simon as he gave him a baleful look. "There is no way that I will agree to such convoluted agreement."

"Yeah, I know." Simon replied helplessly as his arms dangled from his side. "You know that even I do not like this engagement too."

"Of course you won't." Alex said as he shook his head wryly. "You like guys, after all."

"Ugh, please do not say that out loud here." Simon said, as he looked around him with panic. "My father will murder me if he hears you saying that!"

"You know, the longer that you keep this a secret, the more hurt you and I will be." Alex commented drily as he looked at the jolly Alice and the downcast Simon. "The earlier that you say it, the better it will be."

"Teresa, I know that I should do that. But I cannot just approach my father and say, 'Hey Father, do you know that your extremely handsome and muscular son likes other guys?' He will surely leave me in a vegetative state if I say that!" Simon hissed back as he glowered at Alex.

"Fine, fine." Alex replied without enthusiasm as he and Simon caught up with Alice. "Let's finish our errand here in the Mage Division, and then we will talk about our problems later."

"Ok..." Simon replied quietly, as he and Alex struggled to catch up with Alice.

"Hah! You two are slowpokes!"

"..."

Chapter 89 Imago

[3 hours later.]

"Stop salivating already." Alex said as he let out a sigh. "We are in a place of knowledge here, so you should keep it in your pants!"

"But look them! They all look like total beefcakes!" Simon replied as he furtively looked around, with a hint of drool rolling down of his chin. "I mean look at that guy! Daaaaamn!"

"Hey, look at that apparatus! Will it explode if I touch it?" Alice seemed to have ignored what Simon was doing as she seemed to be immersed in her own world. "Will it go kaboom?"

"Hey, no touching too!" Right now, Alex felt like he was an older sister, busy on disciplining two rowdy kids.

"Hehehe, that's what you get for impersonating someone else..." Asteria said as she giggled at Alex. "Now, suffer the hardships of babysitting!"

"..." Alex looked once more at Simon, who was now looking at the behinds of every male Mage that passes by, and to Alice that was now ogling at a tank of corrosive elixir.

"F*k, it seems like I got the worse of it..." Alex muttered to himself as he slumped his shoulders in despair.

"Umm... are you Teresa Glaivewood?" After 3 hours of excruciating wait, Alex finally heard someone calling out Teresa's name.

"Yes, Teresa Glaivewood right here." Alex raised his arms slightly in order to get the attention of the one that called out to him.

"Oh, there you are..." Alex heard some slight swishing of robes, and before he knew it, he was now face to face with one of the thinnest persons that she saw.

"Hello there, Mage Apprentice Fred." Alex said as he looked at the mage that appeared in front of him.

"And hello to you too, Golden Knight Teresa Glaivewood." Fred said as he swept his eyes at Alex and his companions. "You seem to have brought some companions here."

"Oh, my father allowed them to join me." Alex said as he heard the suspicious tone in Fred's voice. "Just treat them as friendlies."

"Friendlies. Got it." Fred tucked his long, wiry arms at his back as he turned around, and using his legs to walk away. "I have set up your meeting with my master, so we should not waste time here. Please follow me."

"Ok, ok." Alex muttered to himself as he pulled both Alice and Simon with him.

"You two should behave later..." Alex hissed to the two as he casted a sideways glance towards Fred. "If my guess is right, the Mage that we will meet later is a bigshot."

"What kind of bigshot are you talking about?" Alice interjected as she looked at Alex with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I am talking about Divine Mage kind of bigshot." Alex replied with a deadpan expression on his face.

"Coool!!!" Simon immediately used his hand to cover Alice's mouth, effectively muffling her shout. "Fred's master is a Divine Mage?"

"Yes, and from what I know, this Divine Mage is the Divine Mage Imago." Alex said as he observed the walking silhouette of Fred.

"Divine Mage Imago? The creepy one?" This time, it was Simon who talked, and from the timbre of his tone, it sounded like he was somewhat scared. "We are about to meet with that guy?"

"Hey, don't say it out loud!" Alex gave Simon a glare as he pointed his chin towards Fred. "He might hear us!"

"Um, I can perfectly hear what you guys were talking about." Fred said as he continued on walking. "But don't worry, I know how creepy my master is, and I can say that your fears are all justified."

"Now ain't that fun..." Alex thought to himself wryly, as he looked over Teresa's memories about Divine Mage Imago.

From what the original Teresa knew, Divine Mage Imago was the type of mage who likes to experiment on different kinds of Monsters.

Breeding, cross-breeding, selective mutation and sometimes even cloning, Divine Mage Imago had done all these stuff already.

The notoriety of all the stuff that Divine Mage Imago did was so great that some of the Divine Knights and Mages actually wanted him gone.

Well, Teresa's father was not one of them, but even he was also wary of the mentioned Divine Mage.

"Stop right there." Fred's voice jolted Alex from his musings, as he and the others found themselves standing in front of a magical circle etched on the ground.

"That magical circle will teleport all three of you towards my master's office." Fred said as he gave all three of them a narrowed look. "Just step on the circle, and then I will activate the formation with my blood to send you there."

"Wait, your blood?" Alice interjected as she gave Fred a curious look. "Why your blood?"

"Because my master told me that it will be better that way." Fred said as he gritted his teeth.

"But-"

"No more questions, okay?" Fred said, forcefully interrupting Alice. "Just step on the magic circle and get done with it!"

Alice actually became slightly timid as she followed Alex and Simon on stepping on the magic circle.

"Remember, don't make my master angry, or he might do something bad to you three." Fred said, with most of his gave concentrated at Alice and Simon. "Don't f*k anything up, ok?"

Fred then slashed his palm with a knife, which brought out a steady flow of blood.

The magic circle glowed at the instant that the blood dripped on it, signifying its activation.

"Hong~"

Before Alex could know it, his surroundings shifted, which was accompanied with a lurching sensation.

"I need to puke..." Both Simon and Alice said as they clutched their stomachs, looking both pale and miserable.

Luckily for them, there was a trio of empty buckets nearby. The poor duo staggered towards the buckets before emptying their breakfast on them.

"Guoh..."

Alex just looked away from the sight, as he focused on observing his new place.

"..." As Alex spent more time looking around, he realized something wrong.

No matter where Alex placed his eyes, all that Alex could see were large glass containers, and each of these containers contained something.

And Alex was serious when he said that the containers contained something, as even he was not sure on how to describe the contents of the container.

"Are these organic creatures or something? Ugh, now I feel sick too." Alex thought to himself as he stepped out of the magic circle.

"Clap, clap, clap." Alex suddenly heard some clapping sounds behind him, prompting him to look back.

What Alex saw a well-built man, wearing glasses that perfectly fit his eyes.

The man's hands were covered with gloves, and unlike the other mages, the man in front of him only wore white lab gown.

Add the creepy smile that the man was wearing, and Alex felt weirded out by this man.

"You are one of the few who did not feel sick after getting teleported here. That, little girl, is actually impressive..." The weird man said as he extended his left hand towards Alex, as if he wanted to do a handshake.

Alex looked at the hand warily, as he saw some slimy liquid dripping down from the extended hand.

"Umm, are you Divine Mage Imago?" Alex asked as he did nothing to shake his hand. "My father told me to come here and get a check-up or something..."

"Oh right, you are that Teresa girl, the one kidnapped by two Visitor Monsters." The weird man said as he retreated his hand. "Welcome to my office then, Teresa Glaivewood. I am Divine Mage Imago, and you will be in my care today."

"..." Alex was not sure why, but he felt trepidation as he heard what the Divine Mage said. "Um, I will be in your care then..."

"Good." The Divine Mage nodded, as if he was satisfied with that Alex said. He then looked at his side, noticing both Alice and Simon, who were still busy puking on the buckets. "And these two are?"

"Um, they are my companions here." Alex said as he gave the Divine Mage an apologetic smile. "Surely, there is no problem if they stay here, right?"

"Oh, there is no problem at all." The Divine Mage said as he looked back at Alex, decisively ignoring the other two. "As long as they do not interrupt us, then it will be fine."

"Umm, then I guess we should get started now?" Alex inquired as he felt more and more creeped out with the Divine Mage. He realized that the earlier he gets out from here, the better it will be.

"So you are the excited type huh. I like it." The Divine Mage smiled as he snapped his fingers.

"..." Alex waited for a few seconds to see what would happen next, and he was certainly disappointed with what he saw.

Alex saw a large human-sized capsule appearing in front of him.

Alex shivered as he saw countless tubes and pipes running around the capsule, with liquids of different colors flowing inside these tubes and pipes.

What made it worse were the sounds that Alex could hear coming from inside the capsule.

These sounds are not the sounds that should be heard by a normal person.

"Um, what should that... thing do?" Alex slowly asked the Divine Mage as he looked at the capsule with trepidation. "I will not go inside that, right?"

"Oh, that is what you will exactly do." The Divine Mage replied cheerfully as he placed his slimy hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Once you are inside the capsule, it will monitor all your vital signs, including your power and abilities. If there is nothing wrong with you, then the capsule will let you out. But if you are hiding something... then my capsule will temporarily restrain you..."

The Divine Mage then loomed all over Alex, as he gave him another smile. "Teresa, surely you have no problems on entering the capsule, right?"

"Umm..." Of course Alex has numerous problems with entering the capsule itself. But he cannot just say that, or else the Divine Mage will force him inside.

"Even if I have no problems with the capsule, there is no way that I will enter that monstrosity!" Alex thought to himself as he started to think of the excuses that he can make to avoid the Human Capsule treatment.

"..."

"Since you have nothing to say, then I guess I should place you in there already." The Divine Mage said as he tightened his grip on Alex, showing his intention of not letting him go.

But before the Divine Mage could raise Alex's body, the magic circle suddenly glowed, which was accompanied by the appearance of a person inside the magic circle.

"What are you doing here, Fred?" The Divine Mage said as he and Alex saw Fred appearing inside the magic circle. "Didn't I give you an important task to do?"

"Yes master, I know about that task, but there is something big happening right now!" Fred shouted as he approached his master instantly.

"From the panicked look on your face, it seems like what you are about to tell me is extremely important. Out with it then." The Divine Mage said as he loosened his hold on Alex.

Fred tried to maintain a calm visage as he slowly said,

"Master, a huge army of Monsters suddenly decided to invade one of the Human Kingdom that was near at the outskirts."

"Oh, its just an army then. What is the problem with that?" The Divine Mage said as he gave Fred a dismissive look. "There have been lots of Monster invasion before, and most of them usually fails."

"But Master, this time, the army was being led by 5 General Class Monsters!" Fred shouted out as he gave his master a panicked look. "Master, that surely is a bad new, right?"

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Chapter 90 Rawr!

"In that case, I have to go now." Divine Knight Imago said as his playful demeanor disappeared. "From what I can see, we need all the Divine Knights and Mages that we can muster in order to meet that Monster army."

"That is what I thought so too, Master." Fred said as he bobbed his head up and down. "Because of the suddenness of their attack, most of the Monsters were able to wreak havoc already, and their Generals have not made their move yet..."

"F*k those bastards, its clearly not the right season for them to attack, yet they do so now? There is something fishy going on here..." The Divine Knight said as he looked at Fred, then at Alex, who was looking back at him with a strained smile.

"I will have to deal with your problem later, little girl." The Divine Knight said as his body began to glow purple. "For now, I have to go and help repel the invasion. F*king hell, 5 General Class Monsters really joined the attack? They must be nuts to do that!"

After saying these words, the Divine Knight disappeared, only leaving some trails of purple ash from where he once stood.

"I'm saved..." Alex thought to himself with relief as he gave a grateful look at Fred.

"Hey, don't thank me!" Fred replied as he realized what Alex's look meant. "I just told my Master about an important emergency, and my Master has no choice but to go and deal with the emergency! I did not mean to stop him from whatever he was about to do to you."

"Um, in that case, I will just thank my luck." Alex loudly mused, as he approached Simon and Alice, who just finished their session.

"Ugh, that was the worst thing that I have experienced in my life, ever." Alice grumbled as she stood up with a shaken expression on her face. Simon seemed to be sharing the same sentiments, although he did not exactly voice it out.

"So, have you heard what Fred told to Divine Mage Imago earlier?" Alex asked the two as he paced back and forth around the magic circle. "About the invasion?"

"Yes, I heard about it, even when we were busy puking our guts out." Simon muttered as Alice nodded behind him. "Why are you asking about that anyway?'

"Well-" Alex was about to give his answer when a powerful tremor suddenly shook the floor.

"Boom!"

"What the?" All four of them began to wobble, as they were rocked by the tremors. Alex was able to stand upright, as his honed body was able to keep his balance.

The same could not be said for the other three companions, as they all directly sat on the floor.

"Aw..." Alice cried out as she rubbed her sore bottom. "That hurts!"

Simon and Fred did not necessarily cry out in pain, although it could be seen on their faces that they did not like what happened to them.

"Boom!" Another tremor rocked the whole room, forcing the sitting trio to stay down on the floor.

"Where are these tremors coming from?" Fred cried out as another tremor rocked the whole room. "This should not be happening at all!"

"Something huge must be happening at the whole Mage Division Building itself." Alex said as another tremor threatened his whole body to fall down.

"Ugh, if that was the case, then we should investigate about it." Simon said as he looked at the magic circle. "Come on, let's go and teleport downstai-"

"Hell no." Both Alex and Fred said as they glared at Simon.

"Why not?" Simon asked as he wilted a little under the glare of the two. "We should know what is happening, right?"

"Yes, that could be the case, except for the fact that something dangerous could be happening below." Alex said, stressing the word dangerous. "If we go down there, we could be besieged by that danger."

"But how are we going to know about the danger?" Simon queried as he looked around him. "We cannot just stay here and wait for the answer to come out, right?"

"Well, I have a solution for that." Fred hastily said as he saw Alex and Simon arguing in front of him. "There is a magical artifact here in my Master's room that allows him to view everything that happens inside the whole Mage Division Building."

"Oh, so will that artifact allow us to see the happenings below?" Alex queried as he helped up Alice and Simon.

"Yes, it will." Fred replied quickly as he hobbled towards a small podium at the corner of the room. "Just let me activate it, and we can start using it."

Alex then saw Fred withdrawing the same knife that he used before and placing its edge on his palm.

"You are going to use blood again to activate it?" Alex asked with a deadpan expression as he watched Fred's actions. "Don't you ever get tired of doing that?"

"Well, its my Master who wanted it to be like this, so I do not really have any choice..." Fred replied as he slashed his palm again.

"Poor guy." Alex thought to himself as he watched the blood drip down on the podium.

At the instant that this happened, the top part of the podium glowed as moving images appeared on top of it.

"Eh... this is actually impressive..." Alex thought to himself as he realized that the podium was showing the events in video form. "Its just like a CCTV, but in this case, it has better resolution and quality."

"Yosh, let's take a look at what is happening below then." Fred said as he made some vague gestures with this hand.

The scenes shown in the podium immediately changed, as if it was following the hand gestures that Fred made.

The changes continued until the scenes looked like a blur. These blurs persisted for around a few seconds before it settled on Fred's target.

"What the f*k!" This was the first time that Alex heard Fred cursing, but Alex was sure that him cursing is allowable.

After all t,he podium was showing a scene that was almost impossible to believe.

"How could Monsters appear inside the Mage Division Building?" Fred exclaimed as he looked at the scenes shown by the podium. "This is not just possible!"

"..." Alex kept quiet as he, Alice, and Simon watched the scenes in the podium.

Through the podium, Alex could see swathes of Monsters wreaking havoc inside the Mage Division Building.

The Monsters were of the assorted type, with some made up of insectoid limbs, using it to bisect anyone approaching them.

Others bore exaggerated body features that they use as their weapons against the cornered Mages.

The worst of the monsters were those that looked like abominations, with rotten flesh or corpses attached on their body. They did not even need to move that much, as the fumes that they let out were enough to kill anyone that gets near them.

"..."

By this point, the tremors were already gone, but that did not assure Alex any one bit.

The explosions that rocked the whole building earlier was the result of the Monsters activating the defenses of the building.

These defenses should have been enough to keep the Monsters out, but from the looks of it, the defenses were unable to do anything to stop the obviously large horde of Monsters from entering the building.

"..." Alex gritted his teeth as he saw that the whole situation was not that good.

Because of the suddenness of the attack and the strength of the Monsters, most of the Mages have been cut down by the Monsters.

"Oh god, we are so screwed right now..." Fred muttered to himself as he watched the ensuing chaos.

"With my Master busy dealing with the Generals and the other Divine Mages currently in seclusion, it will be hard for us to repel these Monsters!"

Alex grimaced after hearing that, as he realized that his trip with his 'cousin' and 'fiancee' has now turned into a high-stakes life or death situation.

"Why are these Monsters here anyway?" Alex mused as he tried to calm down the panicked Fred as they watched the carnage. "There is something fishy going on here."

"That is right, there is something fishy going on here." Fred said as he observed the scenes below.

"These Monsters that we see right now are all of powerful types... they are around Grade 6-7 in power... These Monsters are not that many, and they are usually used on important battles... But now, we can see that they are all here, attacking this place!" Fred exclaimed as his face turned more and more pale.

Alex perked up at what Fred said, as he realized the point that he was going on. "Are you telling me that the invasion of Monsters that your Master went to is just a diversion?"

"Yes, I am sure of that." Fred replied grimly. "That invasion must have been done in order to lure Master away from this place. After all, the only one Divine Mage currently guarding this building is my Master, as the other Divine Mages are busy in seclusion..."

"And now that your Master really went away, all these Monsters have no problem entering this building." Alex concluded angrily. "Your Master had been played."

"..."

"...'

"They obviously want to get something in this building." Fred said as he and the others wore ugly expressions on their faces. "And they will do anything that they can in order to get it..."

Alex sighed, as he did not expect himself to find himself in a situation like this. He gave a glare at Asteria, who was floating in front of him, as if he was blaming her for what had happened.

"..."Asteria's only reply to that was another glare.

"We must prevent these Monsters for acquiring whatever they wanted from this place!" Fred exclaimed as his panicked expression changed to a serious one. "If these Monsters want to get something here, then we will prevent them from getting it!"

"Um, shouldn't we find a way to help those Mages below?" Alice muttered as she watched the scenes on the podium. "We cannot just leave them alone..."

"Fight them? Are you kidding me?" Fred gave a hollow laugh at Alice, who shrank back as she saw his face. "Even if I and Teresa combine our strengths, it will be hard for us to win even against a single Monster down there! We will just die quickly!"

"Well, if I do not hold back, I think I can easily kill them all." Alex thought to himself, as he knew that if he uses all the skills that he had now, he can kill all those Monsters invading below.

But Alex knew that he cannot show off all his skills, so he was just stuck there, listening to the back and forth spats between Alice and Fred.

"You really are-" Before Fred could give another argument towards Alice, he suddenly froze in place as he and Alex felt a powerful presence entering the building.

"No f*king way..." Both Alex and Fred looked at the podium in order to confirm the worst thing that they suspected had just happened.

"Eh? What is the problem?" Simon asked as he saw both Alex and Fred paling while they looked at the podium? Did something worse just happen?"

"Not just worse. The worst just happened." Fred snarled as he slid down to the floor, with him sobbing slowly. "We are dead meat now..."

"..." Alex felt that Fred's words were just apt, as the scene shown to him by the podium made him curse out in anger.

Long, serpentine tail that gouged the ground with its weight.

Slender wings that slapped anyone nearby.

And crimson-colored scales that looked like they were burning.

All these features were worn by a tall, exotic looking woman who just entered the Mage Division Building in a domineering fashion.

With his danger sense, and power sense, Alex was 100% sure on what kind of Monster this draconic woman was.

"A General-Class Monster just entered the building. We are really screwed."

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Chapter 91 Freeze!

Sorry guys, but my laptop has ben freezing up, which made it dificult for me to write another chap.

So only 1 chap again today...

Will be back to normal tom.

Question: What should I do to improve my laptop?

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Chapter 92 Wow, it"s so Big!

"Ngrhhh..." Alina stirred, as she felt some semblances of her consciousness returning to her body.

Light slowly trickled to her eyes as she slowly opened them, with Alina receiving the light with relish.

"!!!!" Memories of what happened to her before she blacked out all surged inside Alina's mind, rousing her sleepy mind awake.

She quickly stood up, with her body extremely tense. She looked all around her, remembering that someone or something had knocked her out earlier.

Upon looking around her, Alina realized that she was in a room filled with soil. The darkness around her was mostly gone, as there was a lighting above her that released the light.

"Be at ease, dark one." Alina heard the same soothing voice that earlier, who seemed to be talking to her now. "I meant you no harm, I am just here to talk."

Upon seeing that she was unhurt at all, and the fact that the soothing voice seemed to be willing to talk to her, Alina decided to listen to the soothing voice. "Are you sure that you only want to talk to me? What you did to me earlier does not really get my goodwill."

"Well, I just want to make sure that I can talk to you when we are both actually alone." The voice replied as Alina heard some slight rustling sounds behind her.

Alina looked back, and what she saw was a little confusing to her.

Alina saw a tree that was as tall as her.

The tree seemed to be lush and healthy, with its leaves green and its bark looking robust and full.

The leaves of this tree were moving merrily, which was the source of the rustling sounds that Alina heard.

"Are you..." Alina slightly faltered, as she remembered the talk that General Chimera gave her. "The Queen Mother?"

"Your conjecture is right, dark one." The soothing voice came out of the tree, confirming Alina's suspicion. "I am indeed the Queen Mother, talking with you right now."

"But..." Alina felt extremely confused, as she observed Queen Mother's appearance. "You look like a tree..."

"You seem to be under the assumption that I, Queen Mother, should wear the appearance of a hideous being?" The Queen Mother replied, with her leaves shaking, as if she was laughing. "That's what most of the Monsters here think until they see me..."

"So, you are a Monster too?" Alina asked, as she felt more and more at ease with Queen Mother. She was not sure why, but she was not feeling any danger coming from her.

"I think I do not need to give an answer to your query." The Queen Mother replied as its trunk started to sway.

"With your All-Seeing Eyes, I am sure you can see who I really am."

"You know about my secret!" This time, Alina scooted back by several paces as she gave Queen Mother a wary look. "I did not tell anyone that I do not trust about this!"

After hearing what the Queen Mother said, Alina realized more things.

And that is the fact that the Queen Mother knew that the one in front of her was Alina and not Carlie.

With this realization in her mind, Alina can extrapolate the fact that Queen Mother actually knew about her and Alex's disguises!

"That is right, I know that you are not the shadow monster Carlie." Queen Mother replied as her leaves shook in a placating manner. "The same thing also applies to what your mate did with the Divine Knight."

"That... is not an assuring thing to hear." Alina replied as she continued moving back from Queen Mother. "You have been playing with us this whole time."

"Be at ease, dark one. I just have some set of abilities that allowed me to notice your machinations." Queen Mother said as she started to placate Alina. "And please believe me when I said that I meant you no harm. I had known about you and your mate's presence when you both arrived at this world months ago. I did not actually send anyone to harm you, which means that I am not hostile to the both of you."

"You... are not lying." Alina muttered as she 'saw' the sincerity of Queen Mother. "You really are not hostile against us."

"I am a kind, gentle tree. I don't like hurting others, you know."

"..."

Since Alina's All-Seeing Eyes were telling her that Queen Mother was not lying at all, this means that she was actually not hostile to Alina and Alex.

With this realization in mind, Alina relaxed, fully knowing that she is not in danger right now.

"So, why do you want to talk with me?" Alina inquired in a relaxed manner as she sat down on the floor.

"Before we talk, I want to show you something first." The Queen Mother replied as her whole body went still.

Alina then remembered the Queen Mother's request earlier, realizing what she wanted to say. "So, you wanted me to use my All-Seeing Eyes to see your real form?"

"Indeed, dark one." Queen Mother replied as her body continued on staying still. "Use your eyes to feast upon my real form, and only after that we can start to talk."

"Will seeing your real form harm me at all?" Alina asked as she slowly stood up. "I know that you are not hostile to me, but you know, accidents can still happen."

"From what I can see, you will not be in any danger at all." Queen Mother replied calmly.

"You are saying the truth." Alina muttered to herself as she began to look at Queen Mother's tree body intently. "In that case, I shall start looking now."

"..."

Alina's All-Seeing Eyes allow Alina to see through all deception, including seeing through the real identity of anyone that her eyes lay on.

This allowed Alina to realize that the little Monsters and Carlie were all Humans.

And right now, Alina was about to use her eyes to see Queen Mother's real body.

Alina felt a trickle of power flowing into her eyes as she gazed beyond what was laid in front of her.

"!*#(*\)*!)" Alina staggered as she felt her surroundings blurring. She also felt a pounding headache forming inside her head, prompting her to squint.

After a few seconds of staying in this condition, Alina felt the pain go away, showing her sight that she wanted to see.

"What?" Alina went slack-jawed from what she saw, realizing the enormity of the situation.

And when Alina meant enormity, she really meant it.

What Alina saw was only simple.

She saw a tree, with its roots on the ground and its canopy in space.

Yes, that is what Alina saw.

A tree that was so big that its leaves were able to touch the vacuum of the space.

"But this-" Alina stuttered as she tried to take in what she was seeing.

The tree had a trunk as wide a country, and its roots were digging so deep into the ground that they were able to touch to molten rocks underground.

The whole body of the tree were also covered with extremely thick vines, which seemed to be extremely tough to damage.

As for the leaves of the tree, each of the leaves were as large as a building, which just made the whole tree more imposing.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Queen Mother said as she saw Alina's stuttering form. "It is not hard to feel awed once you see my majestic form."

"What the hell are you?" Alina asked as she felt extremely small in front of Queen Mother. "Are you even a monster?"

"..." Queen Mother shook her body, as she seemed to be pleased on seeing Alina's disconcerted appearance. "What do you think?"

"..." Alina closed her eyes as she tried to remember the mythological stories that she had read before.

Even though she was born in an Esper World, Alina was also interested on magical and mythological stories, which gave her knowledge on some things that people in her World consider as 'geeky'.

But even her knowledge was not enough to give Alina what she was looking for.

"Ok, it seems like you can't get anything." Queen Mother said as she saw Alina glaring at her. "In that case, I will just tell it to you directly."

After hearing this, Alina leaned forward as she began to listen intently.

"I came from a lineage of an extremely rare kind." Queen Mother said softly, as her leaves began to straighten up. "Our kind relies on living on planets, and we will stay there until our death. Our lives are tied to the planet that we are in, and we do our best to keep it safe."

Seeing that Alina was still interested, Queen Mother continued talking.

"Our kind are revered by many, while some regard us as menace. But whatever happens, we stood the test of time, and we are a part of this universe already."

"..."

"My kind are referred to as World Trees, and I am one of them."

"So, you are a World Tree." Alina replied with a deadpan expression after hearing Queen Mother's speech. "Well, seeing that huge body of yours makes you credit more believable..."

"Do you even need to see that body? I am sure that your eyes are telling you that I am saying the truth, right?" The Queen Mother said as her leaves shook faintly.

"Yes, I can see that." Alina replied as she let out a sigh.

Alina looked like she was extremely shaken, and that was a normal response of someone who just saw a tree that can actually reach the freaking outer space!

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Alina asked as she realized that if Queen Mother showed her something as shocking as being a World Tree, then the talk that they had will surely be related to her status as a World Tree.

Alina heard a sigh coming out from Queen Mother, as if she was about to start a heavy talk.

Alina stayed quiet after hearing this, knowing that she must fully listen for what was about she will hear next.

"I will tell you all about the situation of the Humans and Monsters in this World..." Queen Mother said as she seemed to gaze at Alina intently. "So listen well, for what I am about to say next will be of great help to you and your Traveler mate."

"!!!!"

Chapter 93 Release that Seed

"Talk now." Alina said as she crossed her arms. She was not surprised e that Queen Mother knew about her and Alex's identity as Travelers. "Let's see if what you will say really had some merit."

"Oh, I am sure that you will accept it." Queen Mother replied as the tone of her voice changed.

"..."

"I am a World Tree, just like what I told you earlier, and this world is the place where I grew up." Queen Mother said as her body swayed. "This World is quite nice, I grew up quickly here."

"I knew about that fact already." Alina said as she shook her head. "What I want to know is how were you able to get into this World. Did you just spontaneously appear, or were you intentionally planted here?'

"Oh, the answer to that is just simple." Queen Mother replied. "You see, when a Mature World Tree reaches its peak size, it will create a single fruit. Inside this fruit is a seed, which will be the source of a new World Tree."

"..." Alina kept quiet as she continued on listening.

"Once the fruit is ripe enough, that Mature World Tree will let that fruit float to the Outer Space." Queen Mother said with a hint of amusement in her tone. "That fruit had specific designs that allows it to freely travel towards space."

"What happens then after that?" Although Alina already had an inkling on what could happen next, she still asked Queen Mother with this question.

"That fruit will continue on floating on space, until it lands on a planet with suitable resources." Queen Mother replied quickly. "As long as the planet that the fruit had landed on had water, firm soil, and good atmosphere, that fruit will be able to release its seed inside that planet."

"..." Alina tried not wince as she felt somewhat weird after hearing the last sentence that Queen Mother had uttered.

Queen Mother showed no indication of her snickering at her innuendo as she continued talking.

"That was how I was born. A fruit from far away fell into this World, and after years of staying still in this world, I was able to take root."

"Even without using my All-Seeing Eyes, I could not help but believe what you say." Alina replied wryly, as she realized that if Alex and Asteria were here, they would be both shouting 'That's so cool!' at the top of their lungs.

"I'm glad you think of that." Queen Mother replied. "So, do you have any questions now?"

"Yes, I have one." Alina said as she raised her hands. "Why are the Monsters worshipping you? You are a World Tree, and there is no way for you to create Monsters like them, right? In that case, why are they spouting nonsense like you are the one that created them?"

"Well, I really created them all." Queen Mother replied as she tilted her canopy. "My followers don't lie, you know."

"But..." Alina stuttered again, as she realized that Queen Mother is once more telling the truth. "How could that happen?"

"It's because of an innate ability that all the World Tree have." Queen Mother replied serenely.

"And what could that innate ability be?" Alina replied as she waited with bated breath for an answer.

But instead of answering back, Queen Mother let out a slight giggle as she said,

"Before I answer that question, let me ask you something. What do you think a normal plant will do once it was invaded by something like pests?"

"Umm... create chemicals to combat the pests?"

"That's one of the steps, but there is something that other plants do." Queen Mother replied.

"You are talking about plants taking protection by having a symbiosis with small animals." Alina replied as she let out a faint smile. "There are some plants that have ants crawling around them, and these ants will attack any pests that will harm the plants. In exchange, the plants will give these ants some sort of sustenance."

"Right, that is basically the gist of it." Queen Mother replied as she seemed to be clapping with her non-existent hands.

"And how is that related to you creating the Monsters?" Alina asked as she let out a sigh.

"Well, just like the normal plants, even us World Trees have natural enemies too." Queen Mother replied.

"Natural enemies? With you size, you can just squash anything in your path!" Alina replied as she remembered that massive size of Queen Mother's real form. "Nobody will try to attack you with a body that big!"

"Let me remind you something first. Even if I am a World Tree, I am still a Tree and I have very limited range of movements." Queen Mother said as she wriggled her body.

"You see this body in front of you? This is just an offshoot of my root, something that I made to allow me to communicate with the Monsters."

"Fine, fine. I get it." Alina replied as she waved her hands. "You are still immobile, so no powerful shenanigans right there. So, how are the Monsters tied to you?"

"Well, since us World Trees needed our own line of protection against things that can harm us, we developed an ability to create sentient life." Queen Mother slowly said as she observed Alina's expression. "And that Innate Ability allowed me to create the Monsters, which are protecting me quite fiercely."

"That's bull*it." Alina replied quickly.

Even though her eyes had shown her that Queen Mother was telling her the truth, Alina still found it hard to believe what Queen Mother had said.

"Us World Trees have catalogues of biological data compiled by our ancestors." Queen Mother said as she seemed to ignore the expression on Alina's face. "Using these catalogues, I was able to create the optimum race that was in my opinion, will be able to protect me. And in my case, I created beings that of are monstrous origin, since their abilities to fight are quite great."

"..."

"..."

"Let me summarize it first, ok?" Alina said as she wiped off the sweat that formed in her forehead.

"You, Queen Mother, was a World Tree that was born in this World many years ago. In order to protect yourself from any kind of harm, you created a sentient race that will protect you from said dangers. And this sentient race are the Monsters..."

"That sums it all right up." Queen Mother said as her bark seemed to glow. "You are becoming one of my favorite conversation partners."

But even with this confirmation, there is still one thing that is confusing Alina right now.

"But if that was the case, then what about the Humans in this World?" Alina suddenly said as she refused to be overwhelmed by Queen Mother. "Were they living in this World when you were born? Did you create the Monsters to protect yourselves from the Humans?"

"Well, the answer to your questions are both NO." Queen Mother replied as she shook her canopy. "There are no sentient races living in this World when I first came in, and those Humans were not in this World when I created the Monsters."

"But... how could the Humans be here then?" Alina asked as she felt more and more confused. "Were they some sort of intergalactic travelers who only came at this World in an attempt to colonize it?"

"As much as I think that premise is cool, it is unfortunately not the right answer." Queen Mother replied as she let out a sigh. "You can say that the creation of the Humans... is partially an accident."

"An accident?" Alina narrowed her eyes as she looked at Queen Mother. "Please explain."

"You remember what I told you about the fruit of the World Trees, right?" Queen Mother said. "You remember how they are supposed to facilitate the birth of a new World Tree, right?"

"Yes, I remember that." Alina replied, feeling somewhat annoyed with that question. "So how is that related to the accident?"

"Well, when was able to fully mature my own fruit, you can say that I got... unlucky when I released it to the Outer Space." Queen Mother replied as she let out another sigh.

"And what exactly happened?" Alina ask as she felt that that big twist is about to come.

"Well, after I released my fruit to the Outer Space, a celestial body suddenly passed by, colliding against my fruit. Of course my fruit had been designed so well that it was not destroyed by the impact. However, that impact pushed my fruit back to this World..." Queen Mother shook her body as she let out her third sigh.

"Are you telling me that..." Alina's trailed words were fortunately continued by Queen Mother.

"Yes, once my fruit was pushed back to this World, it immediately burrowed itself to its core." Queen Mother said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Because of that, another World Tree had sprouted in this World."

"...That's got to suck really bad." That was Alina's only reply as she let out a grimace. "So, that another World Tree created the Humans in this World?"

"Exactly." Queen Mother replied with a hint of exasperation in her face. "Although the Humans in this World could not be actually considered as real Humans. They have certain characteristics that makes them different from real Humans."

"How so?" Alina asked as she realized that she should suspend her disbelief for now.

Questions and answers first, and the disbelief will come later.

"Well, the second World Tree made sure that the 'Humans' that she created will have organs that will allow them to cultivate a special type of Essences. Real Humans can't do stuff like that. Only the Essence Humans that the second World Tree created can do that."

"Essence Humans huh." Alina mumbled as she slowly realized the whole plot in this World.

Alina then leaned forward, making sure that her eyes were close to Queen Mother's bark as she said,

"Queen Mother, maybe it's just me, but is the reason that the second World Tree created Essence Humans was because it wanted to defeat the Monsters and kill you?'

"You really are sharp, dark one." Queen Mother said as she heard what Alina said. "You are right. After it became large enough to create sentient life, the second World Tree did not like my presence. Of course I did not like its presence too, but I can still tolerate her stay here. After all, she is technically, my daughter. But she seemed to be not thinking of me the same way."

"She wanted me gone from this World." Queen Mother said as she let out her fourth sigh. "So, she did her best to create a sentient race that will combat my own race, and that was how the Essence Humans came into being. She also made sure that both sides will not like each other, which resulted to the current situation today."

"..."

After hearing all of this, Alina went silent for a minute, as if she was digesting everything that she heard.

Once a minute had gone by, Alina stared at Queen Mother deeply, before letting out a deep breath as she said,

"So, why did you tell all of this to me? You did not just say that story to help us, right? You want to request something from us, especially to me."

"That is right, dark one." Queen Mother replied quickly. "Don't worry, even if you are unable to fulfill my request, I will still help you out with your Mission."

"...Fine, speak up then." Alina replied as she waited. With her All-Seeing Eyes, Alina could see that Queen Mother was sincere.

Queen Mother will still help out Alex and Alina even if they are unable to fulfill her request.

Since that was the case, then it will not hurt if Alina will listen to Queen Mother's request.

"What I want is just simple." Queen Mother said as her voice turned low. "What I want is for you two to-"

But before Queen Mother could give her request, she suddenly freezed up, as if she suddenly saw something that shocked her.

"Those f*king idiots!" Queen Mother snarled as anger began to overflow from her body. "Are you trying to f*king ruin my plans? Blasted idiots!"

"..." Alina found no words to say, as she could feel theanger coming out from a cosmic plant.

"What the hell is happening now?" Alina thought to herself as she was somewhat paralyzed by the anger coming out of Queen Mother. "Did something apocalyptic just happen?"

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Chapter 94 Disruption!

Around the same time at the Mage Division Building.

Alex placed his hand on his forehead as he realized that he had gotten far more trouble than what he could want to.

"Ugh, she is here... We are done..." Fred said as he continued on looking miserable. "How could we survive now?"

"..." Alex had no reply to that, as the memories of Teresa told him about the power of the General Class Monster that visited them.

Her name is General Draria, and according to rumors, she was the 'descendant' of True Dragons.

Of course nobody can prove her claim, but nobody can refute it either.

But it doesn't matter what her ancestry is, as her power can be considered to be the real deal.

From what Alex knows, General Draria channels Disruption Energy.

The role of Disruption Energy is just simple.

It disrupts any kinds of abilities, magical or physical nearby.

This means that Disruption Energy can easily weaken or destroy anything that was made up of Energy or Essence.

The effects of Disruption Energy were negligible to the Knights, since their power is concentrated on their bodies.

But for the Mages, Disruption Energy can be considered to be their nemesis.

Because of that, General Draria, who was the strongest wielder of Disruption Energy, can be considered to be the No. 1 enemy of the Mages.

.

"So that is why the wards and spells in this building did not work that well.." Fred said as he shook his head wryly. "With General Draria nearby, she can easily weaken those wards..."

"I think we should try to run away now." Alex said as he urged Fred to stand up. "If we stay here for any longer, she might detect us..."

"I want to run away, but I can't." Fred said as he shook his head. "I am still the apprentice of Master, so I cannot just abandon this place."

"But..."

"Don't worry Teresa, even if I stay here, there is no way that I will allow you three to stay." Fred said as he looked at the trio with a serious look. "I know a way that will let you run away from this place quickly. Once you have escaped this place, do your best to find some help."

"Fred..." Alex's words trailed as he tried to dissuade Fred's plan. But in the end, Alex did not say anything, as he saw the seriousness on Fred's face.

"Don't worry, I have ways to ensure that I will survive." Fred said confidently. "Right now, I think I have around 70-80% chance of surviving. So, just trust me when I say that I can let you three run away."

"Well, in that case, we shall go with your plan..." Alex finally relented, as he decided to trust Fred's confidence.

"Great!" Fred said as he took a deep breath. "You three will be out of this place in no time!"

After he was able to convince Alex and his companions to escape, Fred suddenly looked at Simon, giving him a saucy wink as he said,

"Hey Simon, if I manage to survive this predicament, how about we get a dinner at a good restaurant? It will be my treat of course."

"Wha- ah, um yes?" Simon hesitantly replied as he saw the eager look on Fred's face. "I would love to do that..."

"Wohoo, Simon's gonna take a bombhead from Fred!" Asteria tittered in the background as she watched the development that laid out in front of her.

"Shush you." Alex muttered as she gave Asteria dirty look. "Don't use your innuendo here, it makes me feel weird..."

"Ok, let's forget about that dinner date for now." Alice, who looked to be happy for Fred, placed her hands on her hips as she glared at the two. "We still have to make our escape!"

"Right, right, here we go." Fred muttered as he pressed some books on the nearby bookshelf.

Alex then heard some rumbling sounds as the book shelf opened up, showing another magical formation that was etched on the wall.

"This is an emergency escape formation." Fred said as he placed both of his hands on the magical formation. "This allows a person to escape randomly teleport to a location 100 kilometers from the building. Because teleportation at that distance requires much energy, this emergency escape formation can only be used once a day, and its maximum capacity is around 3 people."

"I see." Alex muttered as he understood why Fred was willing to stay here. "So, do you have to use blood again?"

"Not really." Fred said as he shook his head. "This emergency escape formation had been here for ages, even before my Master owned his place. So, be rest assured that activating this will not require any kind of weird activation sequence."

"In that case, I think we should get this started already." Alice said as she started to look urgent. "The earlier that we escape from this place, the earlier it is that we can get help..."

"I'm activating it now." Fred replied as he gave an annoyed look at Alice. "Don't worry, this won't take long."

"Oh, sorry..." Alice replied as she realized that she had been rude. "I just got a little excited..."

"It's fine." Fred said as he gave Alice a smile. "Just call for help as early as possible, ok?"

"Un!" Alice replied as she nodded her head eagerly.

At this point, the magical formation began to glow brightly, covering Alex, Simon, and Alice with its pale red glow.

Alex started to feel a slight pull in front of him, as if it was about to hurl him at a new place.

"So, its about to activate already..." Alex thought to himself as he looked back at Fred, who was focused on activating the formation.

"Do your best to survive, Fred." Alex said as he gave Fred a hopeful look. "My fiancée expects a date from you after all. Don't try to disappoint him."

"Wha-?" Fred's words were cut off as the emergency escape formation activated fully.

Alex and his companions felt their surroundings blurring as the power of teleportation was about to blast them away.

But before Alex and his companions could feel their freedom, something wrong happened.

They heard some sizzling sounds, followed by the smell of ozone.

Alex then heard some shattering sounds, and before he knew it, he found himself back at General Imago's room.

"What the hell?" Alex said as he looked around him, realizing that he was still inside the building! Form the looks of it, he and his companions were not able to teleport away!

Alex looked beside him, and there he saw Fred, who was looking at them like he had seen a ghost.

"No, this is wrong..." Fred muttered as he glanced at the emergency escape formation, that was now shattered. "The formation should have not malfunctioned like this..."

"What do we do now?" Alice wailed sorrowfully.

At this point, all of them realized that they cannot escape by using the emergency escape.

"S*t, how did this happen!" Fred shouted as he approached the destroyed formation in an attempt to fix this. "Teresa, give me some time, and I could get this back to working condition."

But before Fred could start with what he was about to do, a female voice suddenly interrupted them.

"Working condition? Hmph, with me here, all your magical crap is nothing!"

"Oh please don't tell me that's her." Alex thought to himself as he looked behind him, hoping that his guess was not right.

But unfortunately for him, his guess was right.

General Draria, who wore a smug look on her face, was currently standing in front of Alex and his companions.

Her tail was swaying freely behind her, as if it was showing her excitement.

"Mind you, finding this room was hard." General Draria said as she stretched her body. "That effing Imago placed warding, invisibility, and isolation spells in this room in order to hide it. Luckily for me, my Disruption Energy was enough to detect and weaken those spells."

"Oh, and I also Disrupted that teleportation formation that you were trying to use earlier." General Draria said as she stared at the destroyed emergency escape formation. "After all, I cannot just let my target escape in front of me..."

After General Draria said these words, Alex started to feel some panic as he had a faint inkling on who the target of General Draria was.

"Hehehe..." General Draria giggled, as she gave Alex an excited look. "My target is you, Teresa Glaivewood. Now, if you don't want to feel some pain, I suggest that you surrender peacefully to me already."

"And if I don't?" Alex asked calmly, as he stared back at General Draria's imposing image. "What will you do then?"

"Oh, I will kill your friends in the most painful way there is." General Draria said as she glanced at Simon, Alice, and Fred. "But even if you join me right now, I will still kill them, although I will make their deaths painless at that point."

"So you will still kill them no matter what I do?" Alex muttered as he looked back at General Draria.

"Yes, after all, they are not my targets." General Draria replied as she smirked at Alex. "Oh, and do not try to outsmart me. I will know if you try to fool me..."

"Sigh... I really do not want to do this, but it seems like you leave me without any choice here." Alex muttered as he loosened his tense body.

"???" After Alex said these words, General Draria's eyes narrowed, as she suddenly felt something foreboding was about to happen.

"Woosh~"

Alice, Simon, and Fred suddenly disappeared in front of General Draria. Even their presences were gone from the room, indicating that they seemed to have disappeared entirely.

"What?" General Draria exclaimed as she saw what had happened. "How could this be? I already destroyed the magical formations around here!"

"Well, what made them disappear is not magic." Alex said as he began to laugh. "So, do not try to look for them anymore..."

"Hmph, I don't care what you did to those three." General Draria said as she gave a witling look at Alex. "My only target this time is you, Teresa Glaivewood. So, even with them three gone, you will still stay in my clutches."

"Is that so?" Alex muttered as he glanced at Asteria, who immediately understood what Alex wanted. "Well, I am sorry, but your target is not me."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" General Draria inquired as she saw the mocking look on Alex's face. "Are you mocking me, Miss Glaivewood?"

"Oh, not at all, General Draria." Alex replied as he shook his head. "It's just that you had mistaken my identity."

"Quit your bullshit now!" General Draria shouted as he seemed to be irritated with what Alex was talking about. "You are coming with me now, whether you like it or not!"

"Sorry, but my answer is still no." Alex said before giving the signal to Asteria.

"Now!"

At the instant that Alex said these words, he felt the effects of the Fairy Dust temporarily deactivating.

His appearance as Teresa disappeared as his Tentacle Monster appearance came back.

"What the?" General Draria's jaw almost fell as she saw Alex's real form. "What the hell is this?"

"This is my real form, and you are one of the few that are blessed enough to see it." Alex said as he stretched his tentacles. "Now, are you ready for a fight?"

"A fight?" General Draria only paused for a second, before a challenging grin appeared in her features. "Well, I do not know how you managed to do what you did earlier, but I do not care about that. Since you want to fight, then I will give you a fight!"

"Great!" Alex replied as he began to raise his tentacle body higher. "Let's start this then!"

After Alex said these words, he tried to suppress a sigh as he remembered something earlier.

When General Draria threatened to kill Alice, Simon, and Fred earlier, the dumb fairy Asteria suddenly perked up as if she received a message.

Asteria then looked at Alex as she said,

[Bonus Mission No.2: Defeat General Draria. Reward, 2 Years of Lifespan.]

When Alex heard this notification, he threw out all the caution in his mind as he decided to fight General Draria.

Of course Alex knew winning will be difficult.

But with some special tricks, Alex was sure that maybe he can win.

If not, then he will be royally screwed.

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Chapter 95 Golden Apple

Alex knew that trying to fight General Draria right now will be difficult to him, since his overall power has not reached the peak yet.

Yes, Alex's tentacle form was that of a General Class Monster, but he still had not reached the level of power that was enough to make him confident.

But Alex knew that by using some tricks, victory will still be in his grasp.

"..." Alex and General Draria circled around each other, with both of them looking for an opening to exploit.

"From what I heard, you should have been gone from this World already." General Draria said as she watched Alex's movements with her eyes. "It seems like you have lied to all of us."

"So what if I am?" Alex replied cheekily, as his tentacles started to sway freely. "I technically fulfilled my mission here, so I had no qualms on showing my real identity."

Of course even if Alex had successfully completed the Bonus Mission of infiltrating the Human Faction, he was interested on continuing the impersonation, as he wanted to get an idea of the cure from Teresa's father.

This is Alex's strategy for the coming days, but after he saw the threat on the lives of Simon, Alice, and Fred, Alex decided to abandon his extra desires.

"Even if I failed on getting any important information here, I am sure that Alina will be able to procure something." Alex thought to himself as he tried to console himself.

"Although I am sure that Divine Knight Sylvester Glaivewood will be pissed off once word about my impersonation spreads out..." Alex knew that even if he had shown his real identity in an isolated place like this, anything that happened here will still be known by the Divine Knights and Mages.

Once that happens, Alex was sure that they will come after his blood.

"Ok, maybe I will release Teresa, Simon, Fred, and Alice once I finish with the matters here..." Alex thought to himself, remembering that he placed Simon , Alice, and Fred inside Alina's storage, which put them beside the real Teresa. "Maybe the Divine Knights will not be that angry to me once I did that..."

Of course Alex knew how angry people could become, so he decided to just assume for the worst.

"What, are you waiting for me to make the move?" General Draria started to look irritated, as she began to glare at Alex angrily. "I don't have the whole day to waste with your stupid tentacle body!"

"..."

Alex knew that since General Draria was a General Class Monster, the things that she could do with her Disruption Energy will be that of high intensity and class.

But Alex also knew that even if Disruption Energy was a special kind of energy, there is still a possibility of it having a weakness.

"Disruption Energy can disrupt any kind of attack that requires the power of Energy or Essence." Alex thought to himself as he began to slowly approach General Draria. "At first glance, that power seems to be overpowered. But, if it can only disrupt Energy and Essence, then its weakness is already quite obvious."

Once he had reached this line of thought, Alex suddenly remembered what Asteria told to him about the Law Interaction in different Worlds.

Alex grinned, as he realized that he can apply the concepts of Law Interaction here at his battle with General Draria!

"Since Disruption Energy can only disrupt Energy or Essence, it means that it cannot disrupt anything that does not require Energy or Essence!"

This is the realization that Alex had, which sounded quite plausible to him.

"Since everything that General Draria fights with in this World require Energy or Essence to work, she had no problems shrugging of their attacks. That was the reason she seemed to be undefeatable here." Alex thought to himself as he began to sneer. "But all of that will change now!"

At the instant that Alex determined the weakness of General Draria's Disruption Energy, he began to devise a plan to defeat her.

"Now that I know her weakness, winning against her will be much easier!" Alex thought to himself as he began to take some deep breaths.

A few seconds passed by, and Alex was able to formulate his plan.

"Ok, so this plan of mine is the best thing that I can do to defeat General Draria..." Alex thought to himself as he began to gather his power. "If I succeed then victory is mine."

"But if this plan of mine fails, then I will have no choice but to abandon this Bonus Mission and run away."

If Alex's current plan fails to defeat General Draria, then just means that the current Alex will be unable to win.

This in turn means that Alex will have no choice but to run away.

"Come on, make your move now!" General Draria smugly said as she stood in place, calmly waiting for Alex's attack to come.

Alex snorted a little, as he realized what General Draria's posture meant.

"General Draria is not that worried about fighting me, since she's thinking that her Disruption Energy is enough to stop me..." Alex thought to himself as he shook his head wryly. "That is why she was confident on me making the first move, since she's thinking that she can easily disrupt any move that I make."

After reaching this conclusion, Alex showed General Draria a feral smile as he said,

"You want an attack! I'll give you one!"

Alex was suddenly covered by a golden glow, which all coalesced into a golden projectile which lobbed towards General Draria.

This golden projectile was called the Golden Apple, and this is the strongest attack that the real Teresa can use.

Oh, scratch that statement, as the Golden Apple was actually the strongest kind of attack that any Golden Knight can use.

For the Golden Apple to be used, the Golden Knight must sacrifice 6 months of his/her ability to use Golden Essence.

All this Golden Essence will be the one used to create the Golden Apple.

This rule means that once the Golden Apple was used, the Golden Knight who used it will be powerless and unable to use any Golden Essence for 6 months.

One Golden Apple = 6 months of inability to use Golden Energy.

Because of this stringent requirement, the Golden Apple was only used in desperate situations.

But using it is worth it, since the power contained within the Golden Apple is horrifyingly tremendous.

Add the attribute of the Golden Essence which was highly lethal to monsters, and the resulting Golden Apple can damage any Monsters nearby, even General Class Monsters.

Of course, since Alex's Golden Knight Level was only at Grade 3, the Golden Apple that he created will not be able to kill General Draria.

But it will injure her if the Golden Apple manages to hit her.

"Idiot!" This is the word that General Draria shouted as the Golden Apple sailed towards her. "Idiot!"

When Alex released his Golden Apple earlier, General Draria looked quite taken aback, and that was understandable, since she just saw a Monster using an ability that only Golden Knights can use.

But that shocked look changed to a smug one, and Alex knew why General Draira suddenly looked so smug.

It was because she must have known that the Golden Apple was made up of Golden Essence, which her Disruption Energy can disrupt!

"Well, you must have been thinking of disrupting the Golden Apple now, right?" Alex thought to himself as he saw Genera Draria raising her hands, maybe in an attempt to disrupt the Golden Apple.

"Well, unfortunately for you, that Golden Apple was my diversion!"

Before General Draria could disrupt the Golden Apple, Alex activated his FED Manipulation as he blasted General Draria with emotions of anger and self-loathing.

"Argh!" General Draria let out a shout, as she felt herself being affected by the attack.

Since Alex's FED Manipulation was Alex's innate ability, and not something that needed Essence or Energy to activate, there is no way that General Draria can disrupt this.

Because of that, the emotions that he blasted right towards General Draria had affected her well.

"..." However, since General Draria was still fundamentally stronger than Alex, the time span that she will be affected by Alex's FED Manipulation will be quite short.

Around 2 second to be exact.

These 2 seconds will be the only time that General Draria will be feeling anger and self-loathing to herself.

But Alex knew that these 2 second will be enough to let him win.

"Hehehe..."

With General Draria unable to make any move due to the emotion blasted to her, the Golden Apple was able to hit her unimpeded, right on her torso.

Alex did not wait for General Draria to feel any pain as he used his Major Telekinesis to destroy all the nearby tanks and chemical bottles nearby General Draria.

Alex knew that these tanks and bottles contain dangerous and corrosive chemicals, something that could harm General Draria.

And now that General Draria had a huge, gaping hole in her torso, these dangerous chemicals will surely do a number on her too.

Before the 2-second time limit for the FED Manipulation was used up, all the chemicals that Alex released covered General Draria, burying her in hazardous stuff.

"Ahhhh!!!" General Draria shouted out as she regained her wits.

She started to writhe as she seemed to have realized what had happened to her.

But before she could stand up, she started to cough some blood as some chemicals started to enter her body through the wound in her torso, rapidly ravaging her insides.

Alex had a hand in his, as he used his Major Telekinesis to force the chemicals to enter General Draria's body.

"Grugh..." General Draria gurgled as she glared at Alex angrily. "Grugh..."

Alex watched with amusement as the General Draria's wound tried to heal, but found itself unable to do so.

Even if General Draria had powerful regeneration capabilities, the presence of the Golden Essence in her wound, and the sheer amount of chemicals inside her body was just too much for her to handle.

"Yuu... vashtard..." General Draria growled to Alex as she crawled towards him, maybe in an attempt to attack him physically.

In response to this, Alex continued on breaking more tanks around her, submerging her in more and more chemicals.

In the end, even General Draria's robust body was unable to take it anymore.

She took one last crawl forward, before her her face fell onto the floor, creating a wet splashing sound.

Alex looked slightly surprised as he saw that even now, General Draria was still breathing.

"So all those attacks that I did to her just made her unconscious?" Alex thought wryly to himself as he let out a sigh. "She really is a General Class Monster. Even someone with a soft body like her can still hold on this long..."

After muttering these words, Alex looked around him, as he observed the mess and destruction that he created.

"Someone will not be happy once they sees this..."

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Chapter 96 Wrath

"Okay, you succeeded in your 2nd Bonus Mission, which means that you get additional 2 years in your lifespan." Asteria said as she looked at the destruction and mess that Alex made. "Damn Alex, you really got this General Draria so wet and bothered..."

"Quit it with the jokes Asteria." Alex grumbled as he approached General Draria's unconscious body.

He looked at her prone form, as if he was trying to think of something deep.

"Are you thinking if you should kill her or not?" Asteria asked as she saw the uneasy expression on Alex's face. "You know, one stab is enough to kill this General right now..."

"Well, killing her is a little tempting, but I do not know if I should do that..." Alex muttered to himself as he let out a sigh. "You know what, f*k it, I will let this woman live."

"So, you will just leave her here then?" Asteria queried as she perched at Alex's shoulder.

"Of course not." Alex said as he shook his head. "I still have some uses for her right now, and I will make sure that she fulfills her purposes well."

"Oh, you are talking about that." With her devious mind, Asteria realized what Alex was pertaining to. "You greedy guy, you already had 4 hostages with you, and now you will add this woman on that roster? What a way to get the ire of both sides..."

"Well, you know that my main goal is to the the cure and save the children." Alex muttered as he approached General Draria's body. "And I will do anything that I can in order to achieve it."

Alex then waved his hands, as he stored General Draria's body in Alina's Storage.

With the injuries that she had, General Draria will surely stay unconscious for several hours.

That several hours was all that Alex needed in order for him to finish all his plans.

"From the way that you talk right now, it seems like you intend to finish your Main Mission today." Asteria muttered as she looked at Alex's serious expression. "Are you sure on doing that?"

"I am sure." Alex said as he wiped some of the chemicals that landed on hit tentacles. "After all, my only mission was to save the children, nothing else. As for the other problems in this World, I have no way to solve them right now, since I have very limited power yet. So instead of wasting my time on things that I cannot do, I will just focus on the things that I can do. That will be beneficial to me and to the people in this World."

"Well, that certainly is a little pragmatic." Asteria said as she shook her head wryly. "But its good that you think that way, since that principle is something that any Traveler will have to follow."

"What do you mean by that?" Alex asked after he heard what Alina said.

"Well, there will always come a time when a Traveler sees a World with a large problem. Of course they will try to help to that problem, but most of the times, their Main Mission in that World is unrelated to that problem." Asteria said as she began to play with Alex's tentacles once more. "Most of the times, their attempts to solve both the problem and the Main Mission does not end good for them."

"So, you are praising me for having the mindset on being focused on the mission huh." Alex shook his head wryly as he stretched his tentacle body. "You really are a Guide, although sometimes you are doing a s*tty job of being one."

"Hmph!"

As Alex stretched his tentacle body, he suddenly felt an itchy sensation in his mind, which made him smile widely.

"Hehe, so Alina saw my letter already." Alex thought with a smile, as he knew that the itchy sensation that he felt was the result of Alina deposting something in her Storage.

With Alex able to access the Storage too, he was able to feel that letter's arrival.

Alex did not waste any time as he snatched the letter from the storage, and ripping it open for him to read.

[If you are reading this letter, then that means you are still safe.]

"Ok, that is a little weird, but since it was Alina who wrote this, maybe this message is just normal for her." Alex thought to himself as he continued on reading the letter.

[I have received your letter earlier, and it makes me happy and relieve to see that you were safe.]

[Since you have told me about your status, I shall tell you my status then: I am safe, and I am in the right hands right now."

"Right hands?" Alex felt a slight sense of foreboding as he reached this point. He squinted his eyes as he read the next sentence.

[I am currently with Queen Mother.]

"What the hell?" Even Asteria, who was reading beside Alex, was also surprised with what she and Alex read.

"Is she trying to send me a distress signal now?" Alex thought to himself as he thought that maybe Alina was trying to ask for his help right now. "If that was really the case, then I will not waste my time here anymore!"

Of course Alex continued reading the letter as there are still more of them.

"Ok, I did not expect this sudden shift in tone." Alex muttered to himself as he shook his head. "Really..."

[Queen Mother told me a lot of things, and in my opinion, you should know about it too. So, here it is...]

The rest of Alina's letter then explained to Alex everything about the World Tree, birth of the second World Tree, the creation of Monsters and Essence Humans, and the ongoing battle between them.

"..." Alex was somewhat speechless as he read the contents of the letter, as he thought that maybe Alina was just pranking him.

"No, Alina will not prank you." Asteria said as she seemed to have realized what Alex was thinking of.

"You know that she is an upright person, and that she will not do anything bad to you. Plus, there is the fact that she is also smitten with you, so she cannot really bear to fool you."

"Just shut up, ok?" Alex muttered as he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Alex took one more minute to sort all the information that he just got, making sure that they mesh well with his ideas.

"So, World Trees huh." Alex said as he shook his head wryly. "Well, with this information in my hand, it makes my plan to finish the Main Mission today much, much easier."

Alex then looked back at the letter, which still had one more unread sentence.

[If you are in a great condition now, please reply quickly. Queen Mother said that something big just happened there, and I am worried about your safety. Please reply quickly.]

Alex's insides started to feel warm as he felt happy upon seeing Alina's worry for him.

"Ugh, stop giving me that expression, it looks creepy af." Asteria said as she saw the happy expression on Alex's face. "Just write back to her now!"

"Hai, hai." Alex replied as he got more paper and ink in his storage, which he used to give his reply letter.

With all the information that Alex gathered now, he was able to formulate a plan to complete his Main Mission.

Naturally, his plan also involved some steps that required Alina's help.

As such, aside from the assurance of his safety, Alex's reply letter also included his instructions for Alina, which Alina should follow if she wanted to finish the Main Mission.

After 5 minutes of writing, Alex looked at the letter that he wrote with satisfaction.

He folded it in half, and he then placed It inside the Storage.

"Hehehe, now that I gave the instructions to Alina, it is time for me to set the stage!" Alex declared as he glanced at Asteria's direction.

"Asteria, with the additional lifespan that I obtained, it will be possible for me to get another Abyss Tome, right?"

"Hmph, why do you need to ask something like that, Captain Obvious?" Asteria grumbled as she let out a harrumph. "If you want to buy, then buy!"

"In that case, let me buy Abyss Tome: Wrath." Alex said as he ambled towards the dry corner of the room. "In won't hurt me to gain some offensive arsenal, after all."

"Hmph, at least you are now getting the coolest Tome." Asteria mumbled as he touched Alex's forehead, prompting the symbol there to glow. "Get it while its hot..."

A new book tumbled out of Alex's forehead, and Alex had to use his numerous tentacles to catch it well.

But even that was slightly difficult for Alex, as the book was covered in some kind of material that started to slowly destroy his tentacles.

"Holy c*p, even the book itself is a badass already." Alex thought to himself as he observed the tome.

The tome itself looked plain, as it only looked like a black book with normal pages. But Alex could feel some kind of power hidden inside the tome that made him slightly fearful of it.

"Do not disappoint me, buddy." Alex muttered as he fused with the tome, slowly relishing the feeling that he had inside his body.

"Yes..." Alex felt a fiery sensation in his body, which seemed to have awaken something primal and ferocious inside him.

Alex closed his eyes for a few more seconds, enjoying this sensation inside him.

"That was... certainly enlightening." Alex muttered to himself as he let out a deep breath.

Alex then straightened his body as a challenging expression appeared in his face. "Now that I have acquired Abyss Tome: Wrath, it is time for me to start the end."

While Alex said these words, he looked at the interface of the Abyss Tome: Wrath, noting the new skills that he gained right now.

"Not bad, not bad."