My city of Avalon was challenged into a war by the neighboring city.
The enemy had prepared an army of over 3000 soldiers. They had also gathered as part of their fighting force more than 30 hero-cla.s.s adventurers.
Meanwhile, the monsters of Avalon didn"t even number a hundred. Clearly, there was vast difference with our fighting forces in terms of numbers.
During that seemingly desperate situation however, my monsters gave their all and won the war for me.
After Avalon had secured victory, we held a celebration party that lasted until the next morning.
Together with Kuina, Rorono, and Aura, I slipped out early from the celebration party and made use of the festive bustle as my lullaby for a peaceful sleep.
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Having reached a point I could put a pause on my worries, I had enjoyed, after a long while, a rather fresh awakening.
"Mmnya, Oto-san"
"Master… Orichalc.u.m… Not enough…"
"Mufufu. Kuina-chan and Rorono-chan"s sleeping faces are the best. If they don"t wake up soon, I"m afraid I"ll end up doing some mischief."
While they peacefully sleep-talked, Kuina the Celestial Fox and Rorono the Dwarf Smith each held to an arm of mine.
On the other hand, Aura the Ancient Elf who was already awake enjoyed the sight of their sleeping faces.
These three were my very important [Monsters of the Covenant]. They were my dear daughters.
"Ah, master, good morning."
"You"re up quite early."
"Yes. It"s because I have to go attend to the orchard soon."
Aura who had already risen up greeted me so.
Appearing as though she was a girl in the middle of her teens, she looked quite older and more developed than the rest of the monsters I had made.
She wore as her nightwear a black negligee she had liked and then procured from another city. I would never think of doing anything indecent to her, my daughter, but in her current attire, it was proving rather difficult to keep my eyes from wandering.
Objectively speaking though, the black negligee suited Aura"s blond hair and jade-green eyes.
"Mornin", Oto-san!"
Kuina woke up to the sound of our conversation and got up as well.
Her fox ears and tail were already so spry so early in the morning.
Kuina also wore a new pajama. Hers looked like some kind of penguin costume.
It suited the innocent and cute Kuina who appeared to be in the first half of her teens but for a fox to wear a penguin costume, I couldn"t help but ask what"s up with that.
"Oto-san, what"s wrong?"
"Nothing; it"s just that Kuina"s so cute"
"Yay ♪ I love you, Oto-san!"
Kuina then energetically embraced me and pressed her cheek against my chest, all while swinging her fox tail. Yeah, what does that matter when she"s this adorable?
"Kuina, you"re so noisy this early in the morning"
Rorono too awoke from the noise and got up.
As for her pajama, she prioritized practicality over appearance. Hers was an easy-to-breath-in pajama with soft materials. It looked like something she would really pick.
Nonetheless, it had drawn out the fairy-like charm of her slender body. Her being flat-chested wasn"t so bad.
"Master, it"s embarra.s.sing if you stare at me like that."
Rorono, the shy person that she was, blushed slightly.
"Sorry, it"s just that I thought your new pajama suited you and that you looked cute in it."
"…thank you."
She then reached her limit and bowed down to hide her face. Seeing her act like that almost made me want to tease her.
"By the way Oto-san, you still haven"t fulfilled your promise."
"My promise?"
"Geez, your promise with Kuina! You said you"ll let Kuina touch your wings."
"Oh yeah, I did promise that, didn"t I?"
By feeding on the souls of the thousands of soldiers who experienced utmost despair during the previous war, my power had increased tremendously.
Along with that was also the growth of my wings.
Ominous, jet-black wings that were covered by some kind of demonic coating.
As of this moment, the wings were nowhere to be seen.
When I had thought they were a hindrance, they disappeared. The tremendous power I gained however remained within me; I could feel it swirling within.
"Oto-san, let Kuina touch the wings now!"
"Master, I"m also interested in it."
"Me too!"
The three looked at me with sparkling eyes. Can"t be helped.
"Alright, you can touch the wings as much as you want."
For some reason, I instinctively knew just how to call out the wings.
And so, I focused my power into my back. The power locked within me then began to grow wild, heading to the back of my body. It felt as though it was going to burn me.
My senses then entered a heightened state, as though I was about to do battle.
"Woaaaahhhh, so cool!"
"It"s so imposing."
"It suits you well, master."
The wings grew out.
On that moment, my heart swelled and my power grew.
But then, my emotions were dyed black.
As though I was stirred up by something, I looked at my adorable girls.
I want to eat them up.
I want to mess them up.
I want to know how they"ll cry.
"Oto-san, you"re making a scary face."
"…oh yeah?"
It was strange. These girls were my daughters and I never had such desires toward them.
I then wondered if it was an effect of the wings.
Regardless, I frantically tried to calm myself.
"Master"s power and magic power have jumped up quite a bit, yeah? I don"t know if even we can beat you in single combat anymore."
"Mhm. It"ll be impossible without weapons. Such amazing power. I"m relieved though. Master becoming stronger also means he"s harder to kill."
Aura and Rorono calmly a.n.a.lyzed my transformation.
"If you"re gonna touch the wings, do so quickly. This form"s a little bothersome."
I myself didn"t know what I might do. It was dangerous.
"I see, so in exchange for the power you gain in that form, you experience pain? Is that right master?"
I just smiled in response to Aura"s query.
She was mistaken. Rather than being in pain, I was in ecstasy. However, I also became l.u.s.tful, violent, and s.a.d.i.s.tic. Those kinds of negative emotions grew within me. The rotten, dark parts of me raged, wanting to come to the surface.
"Woah, the wings are so tough."
"It is indeed strong. And cool"
"Yes, it"s quite st.u.r.dy and alluring."
Like so, the girls touched and patted the wings.
"Okay, that"s enough. I can"t take it anymore."
I wasn"t confident I could hold the negative emotions down anymore so I decided to end the transformation.
The most terrifying thing about this form was that I felt good in it. I feared that once I lost to this pleasant feeling and recognized this as my real self, I wouldn"t ever be able return back.
This isn"t who I am, I thought as I dreaded it might really become me.
"Okay, thank you, Oto-san!"
"Mhm, I"m satisfied."
"I want to touch the wings again but if it brings master pain then, yes, that was enough."
With all my efforts, I casted aside all these foul desires and made the wings vanish.
Okay, I"m back to normal. I am loving these girls as I should: as my precious daughters. Geez, what a dangerous power.
"Everyone, there are some things I"ve learned with that display just now. First, upon the emergence of those wings, my own fighting strength and magic power rise to absurd heights."
There was no doubt about that.
At present, due to my connection with my three S rank [Monsters of the Covenant], my normal power levels were on par with the three. However, upon the emergence of those wings, my power levels exceeded even that of S rank monsters"; even that of my daughters".
"That"s so amazing."
"There"s more. I have also obtained an advanced form of [Creation] I can use if I make those wings come forth."
[Creation] was my ability to materialize objects that were in my memory. It was very powerful by all rights but now, I had gained a power that was even stronger.
"That"s even more amazing, Oto-san. What does it do?"
"I have no idea; all I know right now is that it has awakened within me. I might know for sure once I try it out but… I"m afraid. I"m afraid that once I use it, I can"t change back ever again."
All of my instincts warned me not to use it, that the very thing itself was a [Taboo]. Probably more than that, it felt to me that by using that power, my present self would cease to exist.
"If that"s the case, then I would say it"s better to just not use it. My master, no, Avalon"s master, you are strong even without that! So let"s not get involved with such dangerous things!"
I nodded to Aura"s statement.
I had made it this far with just the current [Creation] and the might of my reliable monsters. I shouldn"t rely on such a double-edged power.
"Okay, I have decided that I will only use those wings when the situation greatly calls for them. Situations that I hope would never come."
The three girls agreed.
More than losing myself, I was afraid of my daughters getting hurt.
To avoid that, I decided to keep this power as my final trump card.
"You don"t have to look so apologetic, Oto-san! Kuina and the others are strong so it"ll be alright!"
"Especially after leveling up a lot in this war."
"Yes, we"re invincible already."
The three each gave a reliable reply.
They had leveled up a lot in the last war by being a.s.signed to their own party. In a party where ten members were the maximum, experience points could be equally distributed among those members.
The first party was composed of five Darkness Dragons and Kuina.
The second party was composed of the other five Darkness Dragons and Wight.
The third party was composed of Aura and R"lyeh Diva.
The fourth group meanwhile wasn"t technically a party. It was composed of Rorono and the Avalon-Ritters she controlled. Avalon-Ritters then gave all the experience points gained to Rorono.
In other words, the experience points gained by the bombardment of the Darkness Dragons went to Kuina and Wight.
The experience points gained from the hero-cla.s.s adventurers went to Aura and R"lyeh Diva.
And then, the experience points gained from the ma.s.sacre of the magicians in the rear by the Avalon-Ritters went solely to Rorono.
Kuina and the others had leveled up in the [Crimson Cavern] to the point that they almost couldn"t level up anymore by the experience points available there. However, with this war, they had been able to level up tremendously.
At present, their levels could be mistaken even for the levels of an A rank monster who could grow.
"I"ll be relying on all of you, then."
The three nodded and replied that I should leave it to them. Truly reliable children.
"We should get out of bed soon. We still have work to do after breakfast."
"Sounds fun, Oto-san."
"We have gained a lot in this war. We also have a treaty that prohibits the imposing of tariffs by the neighboring city. Of course there"s the large amount of experience points you all gained, making you all more powerful. And then, there are the corpses of the powerful humans."
After we had breakfast, I planned on going to meet with Wight to see another spoil of war. Wight who had become a Black Dragon of Death, an S rank monster who ruled over death, had a very powerful ability: his [Enhanced Resurrection].
It was the strongest resurrection skill which allowed him to revive and control the dead. It also made the revived units have more strength than when they were alive.
Through this ability of his, Avalon would get a large amount of A rank monsters which, through normally means, we wouldn"t have been able to gather in such a short amount of time.
After all, to get an A rank monster, a Demon Lord had to use two A rank medals. They were beings even high-ranking Demon Lords would have trouble obtaining.
And so, we looked forward to seeing the undead with the flexibility and diversity of the hero-cla.s.s humans in action.