The quantity of Experience Values we gained in yesterday's battle was unprecedented, and many Ranked Up today.
Hobuji-kun, a hobgoblin cleric became a [Half-Saint LordHalf-Saint Demon/Onihito].
He is as short as 170cm in height, and has thin limbs, he is lacking muscle mass overall. His skin is white in color with black tattoos visible on the backs of his hands. He has silvery colored hair reaching past his shoulders and golden eyes.
Lastly, just like Supesei-san, he has a [ Demon OrbOni Orb] embedded in the middle of his forehead, with two 5cm horns in length growing on its sides, except that his orb is white in color.
As for his specs, it seems like his species just like Supesei-san's has physical prowess lower than most other lord species, on the other hand, it's a highly excelled species in protection and healing.
As a test, I injured a slave and had him try healing him. The healing rate was leaps and bounds beyond what it had been before the Rank Up.
He also gained an innate ability called [Shell FieldSacred Field] which covers him with a thin film of light. When I tested its strength, it was able take on twenty of my regular strikes - without using abilities - before breaking.
Its defense was quite sturdy, I've to admit that I felt a little frustrated that it took me so long to break it.
It was decided that now he would be called Seiji-kun instead of Hobuji-kun.
Secondly, Hobufu-chan who was a hobgoblin mage previously Ranked Up to a [GhoulRotten Flesh-Devouring Demon/Oni].
Recently, she has been savoring the rotten flesh of the zombies that I summon, so I kind of expected the she would become a ghoul, it wasn't that much of a surprise.
Although they eat rotten flesh, it's not like the flesh of ghouls themselves is rotten, except for her pale skin and the black tattoo on it, she looked just like a black haired female human, that's if you can ignore the very dangerous feeling that she's giving off, which is probably because she can eat ghosts and other creatures of ethereal nature now.
Recently she has been looking at me and Ogakichi-kun or alternately at me and Seiji-kun with an ecstatic expression, sometimes while drooling, I wonder what is she doing? Since each time she does that, a light chill runs down my spine, I want to do something about it, but for some reason I don't think that she'll listen even if I asked her to stop it.
Hobufu-chan's new name would be Gurufu-chan.
Next, Hobume-chan, one of the regular hobgoblins became a [ DodomekiHundred-Eyed Demon/Oni ], which is a species of demons that has many eyes throughout their bodies.
She stands at about 160cm tall with a feminine body and long black hair, and to be honest, with the many eyes covering her body - which of course she can close, effectively hiding them - , it depends on the opinion of the observer whatever she can be called a beauty or not.
Since when she woke up, there were already white kimono-styled clothes covering her body, she didn't need new ones.
By the way, the white kimono-styled clothing is a biological armament similar to the [Bio-Swords] and [Bio-Spears], it is called a [Bio-Armor].
As for her abilities, apparently her species have the ability to wield [Sorcery] with the trade off of very low physical capabilities, making her effective combat ability very low.
The main specialization of this species seems to be information collection, so she may become very useful in the field of information warfare in the future, I'll be looking forward to her growth in that direction.
As for her name, it was decided that it'll change from Hobume-chan to Dodome-chan.
Next, including my five former slaves, seven hobgoblins Ranked Up into ogres.
Two of them were female ogres, as for the females' appearances, what can I say, in various meanings, they looked amazing. They gave off a strange feeling of intimidation and power. All the seven ogres had large muscular bodies, with black tattoos, and stood roughly the same height as me.
But the appearances of the two females and the way they heartily laughed "Wahahahaha" in a masculine manner, made them look like nothing but battlefield macho nee-sans. The instant you lay you eyes on them, you can imagine them holding large firearms and wearing camouflaging military clothes, running in the battlefield while mass-producing corpses.
They were renamed respectively.
As for the kobolds, six of them Ranked Up kobold footmen, and their leader who was already a kobold footman to begin with became a [ Kobold Samurai ].
He was equipped with a black kimono and a vermilion colored armor, in addition to a katana-type sword with a black sheath around his waist. His features were those of an eastern man in his late thirties, with dog ears and a tail.
He clearly became much more human-like than before which can be helpful outside the forest, but as expected it's hard to look at an old man with dog ears and a tail. I can't help myself turning my face away when looking at him, because the only thing that comes to mind when I look at him is that he's a middle aged cosplayer.
When he was still a kobold footman, I thought that it looked a little cute when he comes to report something to me while saying "Lord" with his dog head, but when he says it with an appearance that I can't see other than a dog-samurai middle aged cosplayer, I can only groan hearing him.
Well, appearances aside.
I was going to simply call him samurai leader from now on, but it seems in this world, after an existence grows to a certain extent, they receive a [True Name] from the world.
According to him, the samurai leader's [True Name] is called [Akikaze No TsujiAutumn Wind's Crossroad].
By the way, it's a very stupid thing to do to give your [True Name] away, that's because the strength of curses and effects of various arts and techniques can greatly increase if the opponent knows of your [True Name].
The reason why he revealed it to me is because he has already swore to serve me with his life.
Anyways, knowing all of this, it's not a very good idea to call him by his [True Name], and so I decided to call him Akitainu from now on. Well, his previous looks looked similar to an akita dog and he has 'Aki' at the beginning of his [True Name], so I just decided to call him like that, and since he's happy with it, it's good enough.
I gave each of them a celebration gift.
Now then, it's time for me to go and check up on the former demi-human slaves.
More than half of them decided to return to their respective hometowns, but because they didn't have any travel expenses for the journey, it was decided that they'll work for me to renovate the base for some time, and in exchange for their work they'll receive some utensils, food, gold and other goods we looted from the human army. By the way, because all of them are deserters, they are already armed, so arms aren't included in the rewards.
Because all of them are quite strong, their hourly pay is very high, so they'll probably be able to collect enough funds for their journeys in five to six days. There's nothing else to say about the returning-home group.
As for the other group, the group of those who decided to stay and join my mercenary corps « Parabellum ». Their reasons are varied like, they have already lost their hometowns, they were born into slavery so after becoming free they don't know how should they live and joining us seemed to be their best option, they want to continue living in the battlefield and bathing in blood, they want to repay me, and so on.
Roughly fifty of them decided to join us, their numbers and general species:
Three LordsDemon/Onihito
Five Half-LordsHalf-Demon/Onihito
Four [ DragonewtDragonmans ]
Six [ Half-DragonewtHalf-Dragonmans ]
Ten OgresGreat Demon/Oni
One [ TrollGiant Demon/Oni ]
Five LizardmenReptilemen
Five [ Dwarves ]
One [ DullahanHeadless Knight ]
Three [ OrrorinApemen ]
One DhampirHalf-Blood-Sucking Demon/Oni
Three [ Redcaps ]
Two [ WeretigerTigermen ]
One [ Centaur ]
Many of them are species stronger than hobgoblins who make up the majority of our group. Especially the lords and the dragonewts who rival them in power.
Although I don't have any particular problems in allowing them to join us, accepting this large number of strong individuals at the same time may cause problems later on. The others simply wouldn't be convinced.
Why? That's because, our policy in this place is "The strong are law/justice". For that same reason, here your strength corresponds to your power.
One of the reasons why no one is complaining about me standing at the top is because we're of the same family, but they'll naturally feel dissatisfied if some random people suddenly appear and steal away their positions from them. I wouldn't be able to endure it too.
If it's against, redcaps, lizardmen, the centaur or dwarves, then most of the hobgoblins in our group will be able to win, but if it's against the others, then only a few of the hobgoblins will be able to win against the weaker ones of them.
That's why, if I admit all of them at the same time now without thinking, the upper ranks will get completely restructured and dissatisfaction will grow, then the possibility of the worst case scenario, internal division, occurring will be very high.
Although the former's slaves' strength combined easily outclasses the hobgoblin' group, it's a pity considering the possibility of many of the hobgoblins who I worked hard to train leaving, no, looking at it from a long-term point of view, I should prioritize the hobgoblins who have better potential.
Not to mention that although I can use many ways to force my subordinates to follow my orders in emergencies, having them follow them willingly is much better.
Considering all of the above, I decided to admit them as experimental-phase troops, their position will be that of chore workers, and they'll stay in those positions until they earn my trust. Their positions are basically lower than even the lowest ranked goblin, in other words, trainees.
When I gave out my decision, dissatisfaction came from the former slaves. Well, it's no wonder they did, they complained a lot but if I omit everything except the conclusion, it's something like "We'll become this place's leaders".
The ones complaining were two combat-oriented lords out of the three, the dragonewts, the half-dragonewts, a boss-type orrorin who had a hairy, rugged body and the dhampir, a total of fourteen.
When I directed my gaze at the war tigers and the dullahan, they said "To return the kindness of giving us freedom with malice would be dishonorable." It would seem that they hold the mentality of warriors.
I'll give them some preferential treatment for their good manners, well, although I called it preferential treatment, it's just a promotion from trainees to second-class soldiers.
As for the fourteen who were spouting the "We'll become this place's leaders" nonsense, for now, I decided to thrash them around a little to make them realize their positions.
First, I took on the two lords at the same time.
Their specs as a higher species, lords, far surpasses a normal ogre's specs, so I didn't hold back against them, but unlike when I fought Rusty Iron Knight, I didn't give them any enchants.
The reason being that they are respectively a [ Gale LordGale Demon/Onihito ] and a [ Fire LordFire Demon/Onihito ] who have abilities complementing each other making them much more powerful than when fighting individually.
However, to be honest, those are just excuses, the real reason is that they're the most annoying among the fourteen complainers.
Seeing as I was an ogre, a lower-ranked species from the same [DemonOni/Onizoku] race as them, they looked like they were looking forward to the fight to crush me, so I felt an urge to crush their pride and a few other things along with it.
Although this is something that I heard about only later on, but it seems like I was displaying a frightening smile full of bloodlust at the time.
Jumping to the fight's results, the two were rolling on the ground, barely alive. It took me five minutes.
After about two minutes from the start of the fight, they activated the power of their [Demon OrbsOni Orbs], the gale lord's emerald-like orb turned into long boots with wind abilities, while the fire lord's ruby-like orb turned into a flamberge that held fire abilities.
In response, I used my threads and poison which I haven't used lately to stop their movements, then I destroyed their armaments using my silver arm's ability [Arm Blast], and thus the battle ended without any side suffering any injuries.
By the way, when the arms produced by the [Demon OrbOni Orb] get destroyed, a crack will appear on the orb and subsequently you'll be unable to use it, but that's only a temporary side effect, the reason being that [Demon OrbsOni Orbs] are parts of the lords' bodies, and with their strong vitality the cracks will heal after some time. In addition, as another side effect to the damage dealt to the orbs, they'll be unable to move for some time.
Although as I said before, even if they're left alone, their [Demon OrbsOni Orbs] will heal with time regardless, it's a good chance for Seiji-kun to train his skills, so I told him to heal them.
Next in line were the four dragonewts.
The half-dragonewts changed their minds about fighting me after they saw the two lords who were much stronger than them getting effortlessly defeated by me.
By the way, the difference between lizardmen and dragonewts is that dragonewts are more human-like while lizardmen have more reptilian features. Putting that aside, it seems like the specific species of the four is [Thunder DragonewtThunder Dragonman]s.
They can cover their bodies with lightning, which allows them to move at very high speeds, also, they can generate lightning and attack using it, in addition to the high physical ability and [Breath] special ability draconic creatures usually possess, their specific species's [Breath] is called [Lightning Breath].
I took on all the four of them at once.
They were much easier to deal with than the two lords. Since I already have [Thunder/Lightning Attack Nullification], all of their attacks which depended on utilizing lightning were ineffective. Be it attacking me using [Lightning Breath]s or their lightning spears - produced by [Dragon Spheres], things similar to [Demon Orbs] - , all of the lightning disappeared just before hitting my body.
Although lightning can't harm me, but it's not like they can't damage me with their superior physical specs, it was so high that if they had real combat skills, they could've killed me in my base specs, but they didn't have it, probably because the very high physical specs they were born with allowed them to crush their opponents easily, leading them to neglect combat skills. With their poor combat skills, they simply couldn't stand a chance against me.
Seeing them rolling on the ground, I was about to tell Seiji-kun to heal them, but stopped and told him to have the other clerics heal them as training instead.
Then, the boss orrorin/monkey launched a surprise attack at me from what would normally be my blind spot as I finished giving out my instructions to Sieji-kun.
As I have detected it, I was fully capable of dodging, but his surprise attack seemed very promising so I took it on purpose. The way he hid his presence, his attacking path, his footwork, and the way he utilized all of his body's muscles to land the attack, observing all of these, I was able to judge that the boss monkey held some real combat skills.
Compared to the lords and the dragonewts, he's clearly lacking in physical ability, but for the exact same reason, he was able to refine his combat skills much better than them, it's because he was forced to.
He compensated his lack in physical ability with combat skills, and thus he was able stand at a high position among the former slaves in terms of strength.
When the strike that can crush even rocks made contact with my side, my body flew away and crashed into the stone wall. Seeing it, the boss monkey started drumming his chest, as for me, I decided to return a surprise attack to him in exchange for his attack.
As he said "From now on, I'm the boss here", I approached him from the back and punched him. The strike landed on his defenseless side, blowing him away and shattering his bones as he flew away and crashed into the wall just like me.
Hmm, he's quite resilient, although he was barely alive, the fact that he didn't die after taking a punch that I packed all of my strength in is worth praising, not bad.
As expected, healing the boss monkey will take some time and effort for the others, so I instructed Seiji-kun to heal him.
In the meanwhile of all of this, the dhampir was flirting with Dhammi-chan, so I didn't hold back at all when beating him up. Vampiric creatures generally have a very high vitality, so he'll not die if I don't overdo it.
At first he tried brainwashing me using his [Eyes of Bewitchment], but because we're of the same sex, its strength gets halved, not to mention that I won't get charmed by the likes of him even if it's at full power.
I pinned his limbs to the ground with knives that I created using [Equipment Materializaion], then proceeded to beat him until his internal organs burst.
As a dhampir, his injures will heal to some degree if he drinks blood, so I dripped some of my blood into his mouth, however, my main goal is, rather than healing him, is to implant a clone in his body.
By the way, apparently my blood is extremely delicious, when a few drops entered his mouth, his red eyes shone and he showed an ecstatic expression. Hmm, it's probably the effect of [Blood Elixir].
The amount of blood I gave him was approximately a cup. A few moments after he gulped the blood down, he revived and said something along the lines of "Ahh, my dear beloved one" while trying to kiss the back of my hand.
At that moment, I instinctively pulled my hand and backed away. He probably just went crazy after all of the beating, yeah, yeah, that must be the case, it's a perfectly normal reaction after getting beaten up so much, yeah it must be. Also, it was probably just my imagination that he looked like he enjoyed the beating.
Since I don't want to think about it, lets just go with that.
After I've finished taking care of the complainers, I had them put on the ear-cuffs, then we started the daily morning training. Many of them were quite resilient, so I tried out training patterns that I couldn't try out before.
In the afternoon, I took the five dwarves to the smithy. Dwarven skill in blacksmithing is said to be unrivaled among all other species, so I wanted to have them work here.
Although they can distinguish themselves in battle too, their skill as blacksmiths is much more valuable for me, that's why I'll have them focus on blacksmithing from now on.
Since Blacksmith-san and the others working under her have a lower skill in blacksmithing than them, I had them become their mentors and appointed the most skilled dwarf as the head-smith. Although Blacksmith-san and the others looked troubled by the dwarves' rock-headed-craftsman personality, this issue will get resolved with time. I'm looking forward to see what kind of articles the dwarves can create using the mithril.
In the afternoon training, there were some newcomers complaining about the training, so I told them about Ogakichi-kun's training. The training of the battle junkie Ogaikichi-kun, is basically continuing to fight black skeletons without rest. The first round is ten black skeletons, the second twenty, the third is thirty, and continuing on like this until he collapses. When they heard that, they suddenly got motivated and wanted to take it, so I told them to at least make sure they don't die in the process and to not stop until they collapse.
Then I used the remainder of my time to experiment with [Synthesis]. I didn't want to experiment with abilities from the get-go as I didn't know anything about the nature of the synthesis process, instead, as a test, I decided to merge the [Demon OrbsOni Orbs] and [Dragon Spheres] that I collected from the bodies of the members of the slave unit who got killed in the last battle with my body.
Although I could've scavenged all of them from the corpses, I collected only ten to lessen the damage received by the human army and to not risk them turning back on our agreement because we looted everything that can be used to make up for their losses.
[Demon OrbsOni Orbs] and [Dragon Spheres] can be traded for very high prices, that's because they can be used to create very strong magic items. With the number I left back in the battlefield, the humans should be able to mitigate the damage they received to some extent.
Leaving that aside, I used [Synthesis] to merge two emerald-like orbs with my knees.
The result was a success. They were the gale lords' orbs, and when I activated them, long luxurious-looking boots like the ones the gale lord used this morning appeared on my legs.
There weren't any problems, the orbs merged with my body perfectly as if they were part of it from the very beginning and I was able to use the boots' abilities without problems.
After this success, I continued experimenting with [Synthesis].
[POV: Gurufu]
[Time Axis: Day 81]
Yesterday's battle was fierce.
And as it was a very fierce battle, the amounts of Experience Values we gained were correspondingly huge and I, Hobuji... no, Seiji and many others were able to Rank Up thanks to that.
Seiji became a [ Half-Saint LordHalf-Saint Demon/Onihito ], I became a [ GhoulRotten Flesh-Eating Demon/Oni ], and Hobume became a [ DodomekiHundred-Eyed Demon/Oni ].
Additionally some of our siblings and the kobolds evolved too, the leader of the kobolds Akitainu-san evolved from a [Kobold Footman] to a [Kobold Samurai]. Because our efforts were rewarded, we became delighted.
But the thing that I was most delighted about is the fact that Seiji evolved.
Ogarou x Seiji is great, Seiji x Ogarou sounds nice, Ogarou x Ogakichi would be good too~. Wrapped in Ogarou's muscles ―― a prohibited perusal ―― and ―― omitted ――. Gufufu, I CAN'T STOP!!
TL Note: The fu from Gurufu, is the same as fu from fujoshi... so... yeah. That's the joke. Fujoshi is... well, in case you don't know, they are girls who like yaoi and homosexual materials... just, google it yourself. - Cookie_Whale