Chapter 362: Aunt

Halfway up Black Cloak Mountain.

Grey leaned against the mountainside, gasping for breath, her rough, savage steel spear driven point-first into the ground—she didn't even have the strength to hold it.

The unconscious half-deer girl Kira lay across her lap, her face an alarming shade of pale.

And not far ahead of them, the corpse of an illithid with a straight, emerald-green blade buried in its skull lay still upon the ground.

Black-purple blood pooled across the floor.

"…This monster's psychic abilities… are actually this hard to deal with."

Grey muttered between ragged breaths.

The moment the two women had encountered it, they were hit by a psychic detonation.

The half-deer girl Kira had instantly fallen unconscious; Grey had indeed gritted through it on sheer willpower, but to say she was unscathed would be a lie.

It was as if someone were sawing wood right next to your ear—noise and shockwave together, blasting her until blood ran from her nose and ears.

What followed was a heart-pounding battle, and naturally, she came out on top.

The spiritual activity inside the mountain had stopped half an hour ago.

Grey was certain of it.

That man was already dead.

Psychic abilities of this intensity—even a spiritual warrior of his caliber couldn't have endured it.

Fwoosh—

The magical ripple of a flight spell came.

Grey turned her head toward the sky, stunned to see that man, with an illithid in tow, rising unhurriedly from the breach at the mountaintop—then suddenly accelerating and swiftly vanishing over the horizon.

"Impossible."

Unbelievable—this was clearly an illithid nest; if these monsters unleashed psychic abilities on a large scale, even an Eighth-Tier wouldn't escape.

He… he really could?

To verify her own guess.

She immediately scooped up Kira and hurried nonstop to the breach at the mountaintop, where she was so shaken she couldn't calm her mind.

The sunlight beneath the veil of volcanic ash was a hazy grey, but within the damp, pitch-black Black Cloak Mountain a sliver of light still managed to pierce through.

In that sliver of light, one could see, within the hollowed-out mountain, corpse after corpse of monsters lying about.

Grey opened her mouth, then suddenly found she couldn't speak.

Straight along the path.

Cut in half, headless, minced into chunks by sword-light.

Without exception, all dead.

Then came a downward pit.

Spiral sword-marks unfurled across the walls in a terrifying tableau, each one still carrying an alarming residue of spiritual power.

Mercilessly reaping every life.

The 【Hero's Vessel】 in her arms slowly regained consciousness, but the scene before her was too breathtaking, and Kira's face went pale once more.

"Th-this is—"

【Hero】 gave no reply.

The half-deer girl looked up and saw Grey silently staring at a monster corpse in the distance.

That monster's skull had been sheared in half, leaving behind a face frozen in helpless, absolute terror.

"Lady Grey?"

Vigorous spiritual power suddenly burst forth from the silver-armored, silver-speared heroine.

Kira blinked, then exclaimed in delight: "Advancing to Seventh-Tier! Lady Grey is about to advance to Seventh-Tier!"

But amid her joy, she couldn't help being shocked.

For her own Hero to grasp enlightenment and advance to Seventh-Tier just from looking—could that flower-thief really be that strong?

Half a day later.

Windwall Forest.

The elf Lady Kali coldly blocked Rod and the illithid Hart from the front, preventing them from entering the forest.

More precisely, preventing the illithid Hart from entering the forest.

"Normally I wouldn't care if you brought girls into the forest, but this time is different—this is a monster, you understand, human?"

She said coldly, "Did you see the look in her eyes? Is that the look a species with humanity should have?"

Rod wanted to say something, but couldn't get it out.

Fine.

Hart really was a mongrel—judging by the scale of their lair, the people she'd killed numbered at least a hundred.

Illithids had no concept of gratitude whatsoever; pure and simple, they feared force but not virtue.

Rod could only keep her in line thanks to his extremely high psychic resistance.

Therefore, the way he treated her could never be the same as with other girls.

"She's a slave, and a prisoner of war; I've already set rules for her."

Rod could only say this much.

Lady Kali's brow did not smooth out; just as she was about to say something, she heard a shout from afar.

"Master—"

The belated Tally came running over.

Today she had, for once, taken the form of a woman nearing forty, but it didn't stop her from being tall and statuesque, with a generous, towering bust; combined with a face that bore some resemblance to Rod's, any outsider passing by would likely take her for some elder relative of his.

Rod caught her amid a waft of fragrance.

But instead of acting coy in his arms like before, she planted her hands on her hips and patted the top of Rod's head, her face beaming with joy and satisfaction.

"What's the trick today?"

"Hmm? Is that any way for a little nephew to talk to his aunt after so long apart? Come here, let auntie see if you've grown up yet!"

Saying so, Tally eagerly went to pull down his pants.

Rod shoved her away in one swift motion; she was still unhappy, pouting as she said she hadn't been fed.

"Ahem!"

Lady Kali saw them really getting into a scuffle with no end in sight, and couldn't help but cough to remind them.

Only then did Tally notice a slender woman with an octopus-like head standing behind Rod.

She was instantly dumbfounded.

Damn, she's got big tits and is still this skinny — isn't that exactly the contrast the Master loves?!

"Is she joining our party tonight?"

"No, I don't have Mian De Xiang Fa toward her."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Re-really?"

Though her face looked nearly forty, Tally made an expression that was utterly adorable and not at all off-putting.

Rod couldn't help but kiss her:

"Fine, so far it's true, but what comes after is hard to say."

"That's good enough! I want to see our good little nephew do the octopus!"

Lady Kali stood off to one side without a word, looking at Rod as though he were dog shit.

But she also knew she couldn't sway this man from doing what he wanted, so she could only snort coldly and stalk off in a huff.

But before leaving, she said:

"You mentioned earlier the two elves from Emerald Court — they've shown up on the Twilight Hills. If you run into them, remember not to reveal my whereabouts."

"Why? Aren't you folks from the same hometown?"

Lady Kali's departing footsteps paused, and only after a moment did she say:

"I never completed the Elder Council's mission, nor went back to report. A familiar friend told me some elves from Emerald Court might come to hold me accountable."

"Is it troublesome? If you need help, just come find me anytime," Rod said.

Lady Kali didn't act tsundere this time.

She glanced at Rod, gave a serious nod, and only then turned and left.

That attitude was rather novel.

Rod found it amusing, but didn't press further.

He tossed the mind flayer Hart to the zombie Selina to supervise, issued strict orders, and wasn't afraid she'd rebel.

Afterwards he bragged to Tally about yesterday's glorious feat of battling 23 female fire spirits, making the succubus's eyes sparkle.

She immediately dragged him off to a place with few people and promptly served up an afternoon tea session.

Not bad, not bad.

When Tally called for her little nephew to go faster, it really was quite a thrill.

Old Grape really does have her own rich, mellow charm!

(End of Chapter)