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"Katherine, who are these people?" My mother asked with concern.
"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 neither bloodthirsty auras nor evil intentions. In fact, they seemed desperate. Now, state the reason for your acts."
The trio of beast people glanced at one another, and as they let one of the black 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 Second Floor. We thought that things would be nice here, but…"
"But? What happened?" I asked them.
"Well, our tribe has been constantly 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 cunning. Even employing P-Players." Cried the wolf woman. "A-And my daughter... our children; they recently took them all away!"
"What?" I asked, immediately noticing that this wasn't something I could overlook. "When? Answer quickly."
"T-Three days…! Three days ago. We've been looking for them this entire time. We found a few of their hideous, but they were usually always reinforced. There's also something else. I think something might interest you, lady. You, as someone so admirable as to destroy that church..." She muttered. "Apparently, they're... well, they're being controlled 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 specific now. It is because of the actions 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 become your slaves if that would be of any value." Cried one of the black 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 black 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 crying!" 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 sincerity and without any lies; I can tell with my eyes. However, I wanted them to show me how much they would be willing to go first." I walked towards the two black wolf women, caressing their fluffy heads; their black fur was very soft. "Don't worry, dears; I will help you. Such beautiful and honest ladies 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 enslaving or taking slaves. 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 need to wait for a few hours, though. Do you think you can?"
"Y-Yes…"
"Thank you."
"You're our savior!"
The trio nodded happily as they kneeled before me over and over again, bowing constantly. I suppose they at least know how to treat someone with respect!
"Anyways, tell me your names." I smiled, helping the ladies 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, wagging her tail happily.
"We've been together since then. 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 honesty 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 can let you do, my lady."
"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 slaves 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 chin. "Oh well, for now, shall we resume our hunting, mom, sister? Let's do this quickly so we can go help them."
"Alright!" Ruby nodded.
"Lead the way, honey." My mother smiled.
"Then you three are quick, so I hope you can 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 lair of Red Orcs, hunted down Lesser Phoenixes, slayed 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 constantly wagged their tails. Especially the black wolf twins, who were wagging their tails while constantly gasping with their tongues out, like puppies. Beast people are so adorable, honestly! 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 flash!" 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 winked at her. "Now that I am finally back, I will make sure to spoil you two rotten and make you the happiest and strongest, that is my promise."
"Aw, come on, dear." My mother giggled, hugging me and kissing me on the cheek. "You don't need to 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 constantly.
"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-We apologize…" Merkite sighed.
Their two cute tails then went down immediately. Aw, were they falling for me or something? So cute! But for now, I should first concentrate on the present. There were many system messages, mostly level-ups.
Ding!
[You and your Party have slain a large quantity of powerful monsters of all sorts!]
[You used {Extraction} 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 gained Stat Points and Skill Points.]
[The Levels of Several Skills have increased! Many Skills have reached Max Level.]
[Because of your Excellent Leadership, you learned the [Commander (C): Lv1] Classless Skill!]
[Due to your ability to easily manipulate the wind to cut through your foes, you learned the [Windstorm (B): Lv1] Magic Skill!]
[You can now combine 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 constantly. Now I could combine them together, but that's something I'll do later.
"We'll go report things later," 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 need to help with."
"Well, fair enough." My mother said,.
"What?! I want to beat baddies too!" Ruby complained. "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 landed on the poorest zones of the city. Inside this 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, I 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 can fight too," Merkite said.
"Yeah, you don't need to- Ah, she's gone." Helix didn't even finish his words, as I was gone from the scene.
I moved at lightning speed inside the hideout, ignoring the smell of the sewers and quickly investigating 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 bitch come from?!"
"Oi, take her down! Quickly!"
The dozens of bandits rushed towards me, pointing their weapons at my body, only to end up hitting an invisible barrier—not even my Nine Heavens Technique, but simply the pressure of my aura—enough to block their blows.
"Insects should go back to crawling on the ground."
With a mere thought, pressure quickly forced them to kneel. And then, not only did I kneel, but the weight of my aura was also so strong 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 dozen beast people here.
It seemed this tribe was composed of two races: wolves and wild cats. They varied in color but were all either gray, white, or black. They also seemed larger and stronger compared to the other beast people I've seen in the city. Even the children and the young women were tall. Urbosa and Merkite were already almost my same height too. Helix was quite the midget, though.
"W-Who are you?"
"Did you come 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 come to rescue them. Once we were out, a young, white-furred cat-beast woman ran towards Helix, alongside a little boy similar to him.
"Helix! Dear!"
"Papa!"
"Ahh! My wife! My son!"
Helix ended up embracing the two of them in a big hug, the trio of adorable cat people crying constantly, happy to be finally together again. One of the things I learned through my many years as an Orthodox faction cultivator was that strength wasn't just to satisfy my own desires or to change the world as I pleased.
It was also a medium for me to be able to bring happiness to 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 searching techniques, 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 slain at least over a hundred of these rogues and bandits, most of them not above Level 200. Though there were some players 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 slapped one gently and ended up tearing their body to shreds.
That could happen very easily if I didn't control my strength all the time, but when I simply let my inhibitors go 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 one that destroyed the church of the goddess of light!"
Once we landed on the sixth and last hideout, we were greeted by the cult. Hundreds of men wearing black robes, wielding enchanted, cursed weapons, greeted our sight. And of course, their trembling leader, an Avatar of the {Lord of Deep Darkness}.
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