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“Katherine, who are these people?” My mother asked with .
“More enemies?!” Ruby panicked.
“No, they aren’t enemies. But they’ve been chasing us and spying on us for a little while.” I sighed. “I’ve left them to do so because they had her bloodthirsty auras nor evil iions. In fact, they seemed desperate. Now, state the reason for your acts.”
The trio of beast people g one another, and as they let one of the bck wolf beast women speak, she stepped forward while still kneeling in front of me.
“W-We require someone powerful, someone like you. Please, help us." She cried. “We belong to a small tribe of beast people that migrated from the Sed Floor. We thought that things would be nice here, but…”
“But? What happened?” I asked them.
"Well, our tribe has been stantly assaulted by the city’s rogues and bandits for a while. We endured while trying to reinforce our defenses, but over time, they only became more destructive and ing. Even employing P-Pyers.” Cried the wolf woman. “A-And my daughter... our children; they retly took them all away!”
“What?” I asked, immediately notig that this wasn’t something I could overlook. “When? Answer quickly.”
“T-Three days…! Three days ago. We’ve been looking for them this eime. We found a few of their hideous, but they were usually always reinforced. There’s also something else. I think something might i you, dy. You, as someone so admirable as to destroy that church..." She muttered. “Apparently, they're... well, they’re being trolled by a cult, a cult of the God of Darkness of Eclipse.”
“God of Darkness, huh? So they don’t have churches but cults?” I wondered. “And I see why you’re trying to ask me for help in specifiow. It is because of the as I took, I see.”
“Please help us."
“Please. We don’t have anybody else to ask for help!”
“Everyone else looked down on us... A-And we don’t have that much money so-”
“So you expect me to help you without being paid? Despite seeing me as strong as I am, you dare not offer payment?” I asked with a ruthless voice. “That is a serious disrespect towards me, don’t you think?”
“T-That’s…! W-We didn’t mean that! We actually want to pay you with our belongings, even with us. W-We are willing to bee your sves if that would be of any value.” Cried one of the bck wolf women. “Just please help me… My child…”
“We will offer our bodies, everything we have left, even our souls if you want to!” The other bck wolf woman cried by her side; they seemed to be twins.
“Y-Yes, anything…” The gray cat man sighed.
“Big sis! Help them, please! Look how they’re g!” Ruby was very soft-hearted.
“You’re strong enough to give them a hand, right?” My mother asked with a smile.
“I… Well, yes, I was going to help them. They speak with siy and without any lies; I tell with my eyes. However, I wahem to show me how much they would be willing to go first.” I walked towards the two bck wolf women, caressing their fluffy heads; their bck fur was very soft. “Don’t worry, dears; I will help you. Such beautiful and ho dies as you must not shed any more tears. I will bring back your beloved children.”
“A-Ah… R-Really?!”
“T-Then…! We are willing to…”
“Oh, no, stop,” I said, stopping them from saying another word. “I despise the thought of ever ensving or taking sves. I don’t like that. Your freedom, your bodies, your strength, and your spirit are all yours. I will help you simply because I want to. Now, you’ll o wait for a few hours, though. Do you think you ?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Thank you.”
“You’re our savior!”
The trio nodded happily as they kneeled before me over and ain, bowing stantly. I suppose they at least know how to treat someoh respect!
“Anyways, tell me your names.” I smiled, helping the dies stand back up.
“I-I am Urbosa…”
“My name is Merkite.”
“And I am Helix.”
“I see. Are you two twins?” I wondered, asking the girls.
“Y-Yes, we are sisters born below the same day in the same full moon!” Nodded Urbosa, waggiail happily.
“We’ve been together sihen. I don’t have a daughter, but my sister’s husband died long ago, and she has a daughter I’ve helped her raise.” Merkite smiled with hoy and pureheartedness.
“So wonderful; you two are a lovely pair.” I smiled, giving them another head pat. “And your fur is very soft as well; I hope you don’t mind my head patting you.”
“W-We don’t!”
“It’s the least we let you do, my dy.”
“Helix was your name, right?” My mother asked the cat man. “Did they also take someone from you?”
“Yes, my wife and my son…” Sighed Helix. “I don’t know what they’re trying to do; they are still alive. Selling them as sves was our idea at first, but they had yet to even do that. It feels like they’re keeping them... to do something.”
“A sacrifice to their god, perhaps?” I wondered, rubbing my . “Oh well, for now, shall we resume our hunting, mom, sister? Let’s do this quickly so we go help them.”
“Alright!” Ruby nodded.
“Lead the way, honey.” My mother smiled.
"Then you three are quick, so I hope you catch up with us.” I smiled. “Let’s go.”
We sprinted across the forest and hunted down the many monsters we had taken on missions for. We destroyed the ir of Red Orcs, hunted down Lesser Phoenixes, syed Snow Wyverns, gathered all the super rare materials, and once we were done, we moved back to Nexus City. How much did that take? Less than two hours.
And as we showed them how strong I was to the trio of beast people, they stantly wagged their tails. Especially the bck wolf twins, who were wagging their tails while stantly gasping with their tongues out, like puppies. Beast people are so adorable, holy! I could have hardly ever rejected them to begin with.
“Phew! Well, that was crazy! I just leveled up all the way to Level 200 in just a fsh!” Ruby looked at her own status.
“I am also almost Level 300 myself." My mother covered her mouth in shock. “I feel like we’re cheating with Katherine helping us so much, fufu. But well, she’s my daughter, so it's fine, right?”
"Indeed, mother, don’t worry.” I wi her. “Now that I am finally back, I will make sure to spoil you two rotten and make you the happiest and stro, that is my promise.”
“Aw, e on, dear.” My mgled, hugging me and kissing me on the cheek. “You don’t o go overboard. Just having you here is enough to make me happy.”
“Yeah! Though I don’t mind it either way~” Ruby giggled mischievously.
As we talked, the trio of beasts seemed surprised.
“What a beautiful family bond.” Urbosa smiled. “It reminds me of my daughter…”
"Indeed, sister, I think we made the right call by asking her for help. She’s just as we thought—someone amazing!” Merkite wagged her tail stantly.
“With such pure family bonds, it is easy to trust her.” Helix nodded. “Though, aren’t you two wagging your tails too much? Usually, you should only wag your tail to the person you love, you two!”
“A-Ah, were we?!” Urbosa gasped.
“W-ologize…” Merkite sighed.
Their two cute tails the down immediately. Aw, were they falling for me or something? So cute! But for now, I should first trate on the present. There were many system messages, mostly level-ups.
Ding!
[You and your Party have sin a rge quantity of powerful monsters of all sorts!]
[You used {Extra} on the corpses of hundreds of monsters, gaining additional EXP!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[…]
[Your Level has increased from Level 553 to Level 596/999!]
[All your Stats have increased. You gaiat Points and Skill Points.]
[The Levels of Several Skills have increased! Many Skills have reached Max Level.]
[Because of your Excellent Leadership, you learhe [ander (C): Lv1] Cssless Skill!]
[Due to your ability to easily manipute the wind to cut through your foes, you learhe [Windstorm (B): Lv1] Magic Skill!]
[You ow bine any Skill that has reached Level 10 together to create even stronger Skills.]
Well, not bad, two skills out of it; most of the older skills also hit max level after I used them stantly. Now I could bihem together, but that’s something I’ll do ter.
“We’ll go report things ter,” I said. “For now, tell me where you saw these hideouts, you two.”
“Y-Yes!” Urbosa nodded.
“Through here, my liege! Please follow us.” Merkite said.
“Alright, you two should stay in the adventurer’s guild for now,” I told my sister and my mother. “I don’t think this is something that you’ll o help with.”
“Well, fair enough.” My mother said,.
“What?! I want to beat baddies too!” Ruby pined. “Let me go, mom! Urgh!”
Mother dragged Ruby away as I smiled, quickly going with the trio of beast people, who led me through several hidden and dark alleys until we nded on the poorest zones of the city. Ihis area, there was an abandoned house with a door leading to the underground sewers.
“This is the first hideout we found; outside, it is not so guarded, but inside, very!” Helix said.
“There are some of our kin trapped there…” Urbosa said.
“Please, will you help, my liege?” Merkite asked.
“Of course, you will stay right here for now. I wouldn’t want to endanger your lives.” I smiled, giving them another head pat that quickly forced the two cute beast girls to rapidly wag their tails again. Helix facepalmed; he felt embarrassed over how obvious they were being with me.
“I-Is that alright with you?!” Urbosa asked.
“We fight too,” Merkite said.
“Yeah, you don’t o- Ah, she’s gone.” Helix didn’t even finish his words, as I was gone from the se.
I moved at lightning speed ihe hideout, ign the smell of the sewers and quickly iigating the inside area. As I was surrounded by bandits that were still trying to process how I got there, I looked around. There was a room in there with a few dozen people, mostly children or young women.
“What the…? Huh?”
“Who are… you?”
“Where did this bite from?!”
“Oi, take her down! Quickly!”
The dozens of bandits rushed towards me, pointing their ons at my body, only to end up hitting an invisible barrier—not even my Nine Heavens Teique, but simply the pressure of my aura—enough to block their blows.
“Is should go back to crawling on the ground.”
With a mere thought, pressure quickly forced them to kneel. And then, not only did they kneel, but the weight of my aura was also s that their entire bodies exploded into pieces, twisting and breaking apart. Their screams of agony quickly alerted more of them, as they all came to die with the same fate.
"Now, calm down. Everything is okay.” I smiled gently, opening the door to reveal the light of my body to the doze people here.
It seemed this tribe was posed of two races: wolves and wild cats. They varied in color but were all either gray, white, or bck. They also seemed rger and stronger pared to the other beast people I’ve seen iy. Even the children and the young womeall. Urbosa ae were already almost my same height too. Helix was quite the midget, though.
“W-Who are you?”
“Did you e to kill us?”
“No, Urbosa, Merkite, and Helix sent me here.” I spoke. “Follow me; I’ll bring you to them.”
They quickly followed me; the moment they heard the names of those warriors of their tribe, they immediately knew I had e to rescue them. Once we were out, a young, white-furred cat-beast woman ran towards Helix, alongside a little boy simir to him.
“Helix! Dear!”
“Papa!”
“Ahh! My wife! My son!”
Helix ended up embrag the two of them in a big hug, the trio of adorable cat people g stantly, happy to be finally together again. One of the things I learhrough my many years as an Orthodox fa cultivator was that strength wasn’t just to satisfy my own desires or to ge the world as I pleased.
It was also a medium for me to be able t happio others. If used correctly, I could save lives instead of destroying them. For every evil soul I took down, I promised myself I would save a hundred more. To redeem myself for the savagery of my acts and for the blood I’ve spilled.
“Now, there are more to visit, right? Lead the way.”
With their lead and with my analyzing abilities and searg teiques, we visited four more hideouts, freeing dozens after dozens of people from their tribes. It seems they took almost every person who wasn’t a grown adult or man.
I had sin at least over a hundred of these rogues and bandits, most of them not above Level 200. Though there were some pyers mixed in, they were usually Level 300, some even from Earth, but I didn’t really care about that either; they died easily. I even spped oly and ended up tearing their body to shreds.
That could happen very easily if I didn’t trol my strength all the time, but when I simply let my inhibito loose, a mere move from my hands could easily delete most living beings from existence.
It is certainly not easy to be strong.
“Y-You…! You are that woman! The ohat destroyed the church of the goddess of light!”
Once we nded on the sixth and st hideout, we were greeted by the cult. Hundreds of men wearing bck robes, wielding ented, cursed ons, greeted ht. And of course, their trembling leader, an Avatar of the {Lord of Deep Darkness}.
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Pach
