V2.C12 Devour skill, Undercurrents

Leo touched the body of masked-man.

[Do you want to devour the body?]

[Yes / No]

'Jen?'

(Check your innate menu.)

He checked his status to find a new skill under his innate [Gluttony]

[Devour] (Active skill)

Allows the user to devour and absorb a small portion of strength and skills of any sentient being, that is killed by the user.

'It's good… but it will work on the only ones killed by me… sentient beings won't include monsters. I'll only use it on my enemies nothing else that includes Ehit.'

Just thinking about Ehit brought a bloodthirsty smile on his face.

He touched [Yes] and a torrent of pitch black aura flowed from his own body and slowly consumed the masked-men, from skin to every pound of blood and left nothing behind.

[All stats +2]

A sense of disgust welled up inside him, he nearly vomited the food he ate earlier. He had seen his fair share of bodies in their most gruesome states. But this one was on another level.

He did the same to the other two, each gave him +1 in all stats.

'I need to get used to it. I can't use this skill in front of girls.'

He went back to the inn. The landlady greeted him with a bow that exhibited most of her cleavage.

Her Husband gazed at him with cold eyes, his legs were shaking?. He couldn't care less about their drama and entered his room. It was still empty. He closed his eyes and thought back on the information masked-man gave him, an organization that dealt in all kinds of crimes but one thing he couldn't believe was slavery and auction of children from different races.

'That guy didn't give me the location of their base. This town is too small for these stuff, that leaves Hoelscher Empire, Heiligh kingdom and… Fuhren. That city is most susceptible. Filled with greedy merchants, child auction will surely be popular there. I'll need more information.'

'My crafting skills improved a lot after Orcus Labyrinth so I should try upgrading some of my equipment.'

His first choice appeared in his hands, a shining golden spear with blood-red runes carved on its shaft. Its sharp tip was fiery red giving it an exotic look. He used creation magic to make a small pocket in middle of the shaft and left a small catalyst orb filled with his mana inside.

He tossed the spear in front and tried to manipulate his own mana inside the catalyst. The spear trembled like it couldn't make a choice between him and gravity.

He used extreme focus and put every bit of mental strength to recall the spear. The spear finally flew back to his hands.

He wiped the cold sweat from his cheeks. If this failed, a large hole would be left on the floor. Even though [Nemean Spear] was nothing in front of [Blau Weiss] it still weighed somewhere around 900kg.

He repeated the same process on all the regular weapons, the girls still didn't come.

'Cam said that Shea cooking skill is pretty good, I should leave the cooking to her. I need to make something for storing the food. Inventory can't store without them rotting. A refrigerator…'

He shaped azenthium in a refrigerator shape and enchanted it with [Cooling], the most durable refrigerator in the world was ready. He also made some kitchen equipment and stored them all in his inventory.

He sensed two presence heading toward him. The door opened and Shea and Yue entered the room. He welcomed them with a smile.

"So how was your trip? You took hours, I hope you brought something delicious for me."

"Of course~ we did. Some men tried to invite us but Yue-san smashed their crotch and handed them to Crystabel."

"...Nn, annoying bugs."

He silently prayed for the men and looked at Shea in her new outfit.

Shea noticed his gaze and twirled around. "So how do I look?"

She changed his white loose shirt with a light blue hooded jacket. She left the zip opened which revealed glimpses of her curves.

He gave a thumbs up to her. "Nice."

"Hehe~ Yue-san also bought some clothes for later."

"...Nn. I'll wear them later."

He nodded his head then went down to eat dinner.

"Leo-san, why is that man glaring at you? Should I kill him?"

"No, don't, his wife… tried to seduce me."

"Kill the hag," "Kill the hag."

Both of them whispered in unison. He shook his head and gulped down the food.

***

Next day Morning, the trio went out of the town, the same guard greeted them with a smile.

"You guys sure made a name for yourselves. 'Crotch smashers' was it?"

He stared at the Yue and Shea, who averted their eyes in response.

"Just how many guys did you send to Crystabel?"

"...Twenty," Yue whispered in a tiny voice.

"What? Say that little loud."

"...Twenty."

"Don't do that again, I know they deserve to die but smashing them there is... too cruel."

'I just don't want to see a town filled with Crystabel comrades.'

The guard sweated bullets hearing the number and felt fortunate for not harassing them.

The trio departed toward their next destination, Grand Gruen Volcano Labyrinth.

***

Inside a Church, The nun who met Kouki stood gazing at the Moon. Her eyes, devoid of any emotion.

"One of the braves has decided to join the demon's side… Keep an eye on him… As for others keep giving me reports on Hero Kouki… Don't let any harm befell upon him…"

A heavy voice filled with majesty echoed inside her head.

"As you command, My Lord."

"And I sensed one individual emitting an enormous amount of mana in west… Send someone, no send 'her' to investigate… I feel uneasy for some reason… This feeling is also new to me..."

"Don't worry, My Lord. 'She' will take care of any irregularity in the game."

"Good…"

The Nun looked at the door. "Maid!"

A brown-haired woman dressed in a maid outfit entered the door.

She bowed deeply and stared at the Nun for orders.

"Go call her for me."

"Yes, milady."

She bowed and walked out of the room.

The door opened moments later, A beautiful woman with long silver hair and emotionless deep blue eyes entered the room. She donned a armor added with silver wings on her back made her resembled a Valkyrie.

"Go and investigate the west and remove anyone who might disturb My Lord's game," Nun said.

The Valkyrie like woman replied, "Yes, commander."

**

Back in Heiligh Kingdom, It's been two months since the incident with Emperor. Gahard, the Emperor decided to acknowledge Kouki as 'Leader of Humanity' on one condition that Kouki will occasionally spar against him. King agreed wholeheartedly despite Kouki bitter smile.

The heroes explored till the 78th floor of Orcus Labyrinth. Their progress slowed down a little without any info on floors, they had to do all the scouting with proper support troops. Only Meld from Knights group accompanied them.

One certain day, the group returned to the royal palace after another Labyrinth run and came across Aiko-sensei who had a grim expression on her face.

She lead them to the dining room and sat on the head table. Her small figure sitting with a serious expression formed a stark contrast in the eyes of viewers.

"Shimuzu-san disappeared."

She only said those words, but the weight of her words was quite heavy.

"...I'll go and find him," said Aiko-sensei with eyes full of determination.

"Ai-chan-sensei!"

A young woman called out to her. With her shoulder-length brown hair with a beautiful face, she was quite a beauty.

"We'll come with you!"

Four students including the brown-haired girl said together.

Four handsome men in armor also insisted on coming, she could only agree under their pressure.

Eri gazed at her with a worried expression. She was the only adult around she could depend a little on.

All the students cheered up Aiko-sensei together.

Kouki group had a troubled expression on their face. They couldn't go with her even if they wanted. Ishtar will oppose the decision and King listens to every order from him. They could only say "Take care" to her.

Aiko-sensei with three students and four Temple knights from Church departed for the lake town of Ur. Unaware of the threat looming in the darkness…

***

Somewhere in Tortus…

A young blue haired girl swam happily in the river. The strange thing about the 4 or 5 hears old girl was that she had fins instead of human ears.

She forgot that her mother wasn't watching her anymore. Her mind was too focused on swimming.

She started to panic when she didn't see her mother and swam toward the shore.

"Mama!"

A group of humans approached her as she reached the shore. They were looking at her strangely.

She ran in the opposite direction to escape. But can a 4 years old child outrun a dozen adults? She got caught easily. One man hung her upside down with her legs.

"Boss, a young Dagon child."

"I can see that idiot," the boss replied with a smirk. "We are going to be rich."

He threw her on the boat and laughed.

A beautiful woman in her twenties appeared behind them with a panicked expression.

"Did you guys see a young girl here? Tell me or I'll call 'Vigilante Corps'."

One of the men shot a fireball at her. She didn't expect them to resort to violence this quickly.

She dodged in panic, she was still hit on her legs. The impact caused her to fall into the sea.

"Damn idiot, why did you hit her? We could have taken her too," boss cursed him.

"B-Boss she was threatening us."

"Look at her, she must be dead now, forget it, let's run from here."

The group paddled the boat nervously, a cold sweat ran their cheeks from the name of 'Vigilante Corps'.