Chapter 308: Breakthrough (1)

After eliminating the Five Kings from Earth, we agreed that we needed to clean up as much of the monsters' territories as possible as quickly as possible.

However, the explorers we newly appointed and the members of Revival were all busy climbing the dungeon and training to get stronger. I also wanted to focus on just climbing the dungeon if possible.

Unfortunately, Guardian and Freedom Wing were all too weak for us to just leave everything to them. Even now, they could barely hold their ground against even the most ordinary monsters. I had to acknowledge their hard work, but the reality was coldhearted. They were simply too weak.

"Dear Husband, do you have any orders for us?"

In the end, I ended up looking for the succubi. The reason was simple. I wanted them to find the most efficient route for me to take so I can massacre all the monsters. Since I needed to fill up my depleted death energy, it was killing two birds with one stone.

During my fight against Crimson Hell, I found out how useful death energy was. Since I was running low, it would be stupid of me to not refill it. If I had a lot of death energy left during my fight with Lilith, I felt it would have gone smoother as well.

Now that it's gotten more difficult to carry out a massacre in the dungeon, taking care of monsters on Earth was the best method of getting death energy.

That said, I didn't look for Licorice as I knew she was busy. I just contacted the information collection team consisting of 30 succubi stationed at the guild house.

Currently, Licorice, her direct subordinate, the Elder Succubus Mirei, and one other very powerful succubi were in closed-door training. As they were focusing on taking the energy of other succubi to strengthen themselves, I could see that the information collection team's succubi were weaker.

I felt sorry seeing faint dark circles underneath the succubi's eyes. Still, they weren't humans and thus wouldn't get dark circles. I knew they were faking them to appeal to me, and I considered their effort cute and gave each of them a warm hug to which the succubi rejoiced unabashedly.

"Good work, everyone."

"Huhu, everyone is working hard. It's also been a while since I saw Hwaya-nim's face."

It was the Elder Succubus Mirei who was in charge of the normal succubi, and it was Hwaya who was in charge of Mirei. With Mirei leaving to train, the succubi had to report to Hwaya directly, but because she was focusing on climbing the dungeon and breaking through Beyond, the succubi's work seemed to be getting delayed.

"How many succubi are on the frontline?"

"Most of them returned. Rather than splitting up and hunting separately, we're focusing all our forces in one place to clear it thoroughly. Only, the succubi's have lost a lot of their individual power. As you know, our Queen is transforming into an Empress..."

"What?"

Aren't they the same thing? That's the first thing I thought, but the succubi chortled and spoke.

"It seems our Queen was too embarrassed to tell you herself. She didn't plan on becoming an Empress, but with Dear Husband obtaining a great power recently..."

"Great power? This?"

I pointed at my horn and asked. The succubus I was speaking to let out a deep sigh in rapture.

"Yes, Dear Husband obtained Lilith's power. Because of it, our Queen has been affected significantly too. Of course, she affected Dear Husband too, but the horn on Dear Husband's forehead is..."

"Wait, can you tell me about this in more detail?"

I grabbed the succubus' shoulders. She quickly cupped her hands over her mouth with a look of 'oops', but considering the side-glances she was giving me, it seemed she planned on leaking this information to me from the beginning. These succubi took after Licorice too much. They were all so sly!

"Dear Husband has a contract with the Queen, right?"

"I do."

"That contract was originally a regular companion-contract, but when Dear Husband took Lilith's power, the Queen was affected and the form of the contract changed along with Dear Husband's appearance."

"... That kind of makes sense?"

I did think it was strange that obtaining Lilith's power gave me a horn. It seemed being contracted to Licorice, a Succubus Queen, had affected me unknowingly.

"Succubi and incubi as species are very skilled in using charm."

"Of course."

As Mares, they naturally had high charm and were apt in transferring their charm onto others. As this was their innate racial ability, there was no way for humans to match up to them.

"Dear Husband is a pure human, but you accepted Lilith's power. Because of the contract, Dear Husband has with the Queen, Dear Husband could adapt to use Lilith's power more effectively."

"You mean, without my contract with Licorice, I would have taken Lilith's magic power normally?"

"Yes."

Without my skin turning white, without parts of my hair turning red, and without growing a horn. I thought it was just the power I couldn't controlling leaking out, but it seemed there was more to it than I initially thought.

"I thought this change was because I couldn't fully control Lilith's power."

"Of course not. Dear Husband already absorbed several powers that are of equal level, if not slightly lower, than Lilith's."

"... Now that you mention it..."

Right, I still had room to grow. How could there be not enough space in my body to contain Lilith's power? I was simply mistaken.

This wasn't a leakage of power. What this change did was to make me go beyond the limits of a human, so I could better utilize my charm rather than keeping my charm trapped inside my body and letting it out in clumsy ways.

It'll disappear eventually? I was thoroughly mistaken. This horn would be an important weapon to help me control charm.

"Taking in Lilith's power served as a trigger to rouse the Queen's mana residing in Dear Husband's subconscious, and that resulted in Dear Husband transforming to better utilize a Mare's ability. So... Dear Husband is no longer completely human."

"... Are you saying I became half Mare?"

"Not half, but erm... about one fifth?"

I became lost for words. I felt a slight headache, but when I thought about it again, it didn't seem so important. No matter what the process was, I had gotten stronger and I could now use the power of charm to an unbelievable extent. So what if I became slightly non-human? ... In fact, the way of girls looked at me was even stranger.

"I get it now. This isn't me being unable to process Lilith's power. It's the opposite. My body changed to use this power most efficiently, right?"

"Yes, exactly. So controlling charm should be much more natural for Dear Husband. Though, a little bit of it might leak out because of its sheer power..."

"Okay, I get it, so get away from me a bit!"

The succubus sighed dejectedly and took a step back. Another succubus stepped in as though she was waiting for the chance.

"As we said before, Lilith's power even affected our Queen. Lilith was a special existence independent from the succubi and the Succubus Queen. When Dear Husband received her power, the Queen was naturally affected by Lilith's power."

"So such an exchange occurred when I took in Lilith's power... If it'll help Licorice, I can give her as much as she needs. By the way, is Lilith this Empress you talked about?"

"No, Lilith is just Lilith. No other title can describe her. There is another word to describe the realm above a Queen. It is Empress."

After our fight with the Death King, Licorice took in the mana of dozens of dead succubi and transformed. She then announced she would get stronger by receiving mana from other succubi.

But that was still within the ability of a Succubus Queen. Just like how a bowl didn't change shape no matter how much water one poured in, Licorice couldn't become a different species just by getting more mana.

"You're telling me Lilith's power can do something like that?"

"Yes. Just like how Dear Husband became part-Mare, the Queen has surpassed her limits and obtained the possibility to evolve. By getting mana from all succubi, she's collecting the mana she needs to evolve."

"I see. So I took in Lilith's power at a nice timing."

"Yes, exactly."

Originally, Lilith's Horn should have become part of me as just another form of power. But because of my contract with Licorice, we were both unknowingly affected in a positive way. Truly interesting.

"So you won't be able to see her for about half a year."

"That's... unfortunate."

Though I often rejected Licorice's advances, Licorice was still very important to me. Her cheerful smiles and love supported me emotionally in more ways than she probably thought.

"So in place of the Queen, we'll service Dear Husband."

"Oh yeah, the reason I came to see you."

"Uuu, you're no fun."

I told the succubi what I came for. When I told them I planned on spending two days to clear regions with many monsters, they all became excited.

"In that case, can you give us a week? We have to see what the most dangerous regions are and also notify Guardian and Freedom Wing."

"Huhu, Dear Husband is going. We'll have to contact the other girls... Done!"

"Girls, bring all the information we have!"

In an instant, the room became noisy. They were happy that they had more work to do... Were they okay?

With that question in mind, I left. I had to wait a week, which meant I was destined to go back to the dungeon.