Chapter 12: 12. The Underling

It was not, the moon hid behind the clouds and the wind moved as if it was a snake creeping up from behind.

Surrounded by trees, four humanoid figures were creating a great commotion with their voices echoing far and beyond.

Amongst the four, three men had butterfly-like wings on their backs.

While the girl who was struggling to get away from their grasps had nothing but a set of long silver hair, "HELP!" 

She was wingless and was being dragged away by the three men. These three were bigger and stronger than the wingless girl, but with sheer willpower alone, she managed to delay being captured.

"HELP! ANYONE, ANYTHING, PLEASE HELP ME!"

"Stop struggling! Just give it up, resign to the fate that had always been meant to be yours. Become an obedient sacrifice and let your older sister gain your Life Essence!"

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! SOMEONE, HELP!"

The girl shouted and hugged the nearest tree trunk, with the stubbornness that rivals a young man who claims he's a hero. 

"Don't be stubborn! This is your fate!" one of the men picked up her legs and pulled.

That man suffered the fate of having his lower regions busted with a single kick as the girl shouted with all her might, "NOOOOOOO! SOMEBODY, HELP MEEEEEEE!" 

"Sigh."

A sigh escaped from afar as a woman and a child watched all of these transpire.

Standing on a tree branch, Lilith and Dhampy observed what was happening. Lilith was contemplating whether to intervene and save the lady or just abandon her and mind her own business.

'I really should just let this go, right?'

She said but the temptation to her right whispered otherwise.

[Reward/s: Store]

The panel floated as if to remind her of the endless possibility this store could open up to her.

Oh yeah, and Dhampy was also looking at her with expectant eyes.

[Loyalty...] another reminder appeared on Lilith's left.

'Are you doing this on purpose?' she asked Alpha. 

To which Alpha happily replied with, [Yep, so stop dawdling. You're going to do it anyway, I'm just putting some gas on the fire.] 

'You're a piece of shit, you know that?'

[And you're trash of a person, so are you going to prove me wrong by not doing it?]

'I never said I won't do it, right?'

[There you go, I win.]

The only thing Lilith could do was sigh.

Alpha knew her too well.

The reward was too good to pass up. It was a Shop with different merchandises. She wanted to get it, but she also didn't want to get involved. Although she also didn't care if Dhampy dies, she still cared about the mission and the Dhampir's uses.

[High-Pixies LVL 22 (Rare)]

[High-Pixies LVL 22 (Rare)]

[High-Pixies LVL 21 (Rare)]

'They are too strong for me to handle. A rare-tier is not something I should be dealing with so easily. Also, if I get seen, they might mark and target me. These guys are unlike the other daemons. Considering how they are moving as a group, they should be living somewhere in this forest, right?'

There's the fact of repercussions and consequences if Lilith intervenes in this little place. But in the end, she couldn't help but get a little greedy and decide to go for the big reward.

But despite being greedier than usual. Lilith was still the same old. She didn't plan on getting seen.

'Only I need to be incognito.'

"Dhampy, get close to them. Take the loud lady away, cover her mouth and escape. After that, hide somewhere where not even me would be able to find you."

"But boss, how will we meet?"

"I have my ways of finding my underlings, now, prepare yourself. Seize the opening I'll create, don't dawdle or hesitate."

"I understand, Boss."

"Go."

Lilith turned around, and her eyes were already different.

Dhampy smiled, but Lilith failed to catch it.

Changing into a newt, Lilith's body blended into the darkness, and being so small, her silhouette was nearly impossible to catch.

She skulked closer to the Pixies with murderous eyes, and after calming herself down to check Dhampy who left for someplace. Lilith showed a please smile — a genuine one.

"She's didn't bail on me, she has courage, I like that... now let's do my part."

Wiping her smile, Lilith began the operation.

...

The silver-haired girl was taken away by force together with the tree she was hugging. The tree had been uprooted with the combined strength of the three High-Pixies.

"No! I don't want to die, I want to live."

'They should tire later if they continue carrying the tree with them.' this was the young girl's train of thought. So, she rocked it back and forth, making it harder for the Pixies to take her away.

She was now being frantic, the consideration of whether she should run away now or wait for them to tire appeared in her mind. It was at that time she saw a black shadow moving around the trees.

Pah!

A slap echoed through the air. The girl's right cheek reddened and blood dripped from the corner of her lips; that crisp slap should have been enough for anyone to feel dizzy. But the girl just looked at them for a second then resumed what she was doing.

"HELLLLLLLP!!!!!" she cried aloud.

It was then that something from the shadows moved.

Like a phantom, it was fast and unperceivable. Scuttling in the shadows, the High-Pixies were all alarmed.

"Who's there? We are the envoys of the four-winged Primas!"

Silence got to them and started screaming and shouting, as they tried to scare the scuttling beast away. If it was a mindless common-tier it would run away after sensing their level, but if it sticks around, then it would mean something else.

The young girl could not see the Phantom but she could hear it. She was trembling like the other three. She was scared.

Then, a dark shadow emerged from the back of the Pixies and three spittle rained down upon them.

"Ow! What is this?"

"It burns!"

"Poison!? Ugh!"

The three pixies dropped on the ground, in pain and confused about what the hell just happened.

The three were being rained upon with poison by an attacker they could not see. One after the other, they would feel the burning sensation touch their skin.

What is happening?

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The silver-haired lady was baffled, and then she saw a purplish-black smoke emerging from one of the shrubs.

Fear crept up in her chest. 

'It's not safe here.' While the three were preoccupied, the girl let go and made a run for it. The three were late to notice.

"Wait, go after her!"

"Get back here!"

The girl did her best to escape. Even pushing what her frail legs could provide beyond its limits just so she could live.

Sadly, her kind was not so fast in general.

The hands of the Pixies nearly reached her neck, thankfully, another bizarre thing occurred as a pale white androgynous beauty descended from above.

"Blood Bullet." A calm and collected voice came out of Dhampy as she fired out a bead of blood.

Fwu!

The blood bullet cut through the wind and hit the nearest Pixie's chest.

"Gah!"

It was not a lethal shot, but he was hurt and pushed back granting Dhampy enough space to sweep the girl off her feet and escape the premises.

"Go after her!"

One of them screamed, but Lilith's [Miasmic Expulsion] finally managed to spread. This Miasmic Expulsion may be a low-MP kind of skill and it spreads slower than a snail's pace, but its deadliness was not something to laugh at.

Poison is poison.

The harassment continued with the expansion of the Miasmic Expulsion.

With Lilith directing it more to the area where Dhampy escaped to the Pixies suddenly only had two choices.

Go after Dhampy and the silver-haired girl and potentially die or go back and report to their Leader.

"Dammit, whoever you are, we saw your precious friend, we will find you sooner or later! We will get back what belongs to our people no matter what happens."

The High-Pixies left with their wings tucked on their backs. They were experiencing mild paralysis and poison burns. The Poison Spittle had evolved that it will stick for three days before disappearing if nothing's done! it would take them a while to find them.

"Should I try and kill them? — no, it may backfire on me. I'll let them go for now!" 

On a branch, Lilith watched the three disappear into the darkness. She could kill the three, but there's a slight chance they will succeed in turning the situation around on her.

She didn't like leaving loose ends, but keeping her life was more important.

[System: Mission Accomplished. Dhamphy has taken the lady away and had been secured.

Reward: Shop (Obtained)]

Lilith heard the system announce that she had gotten the Shop and smiled. She asked Alpha to open it, but instead of the new function, what she got was instead a reprimand.

===

[Do you think this is so easy!? I have to optimize it first, wait a little bit and let me do my work!]

===

(Timer: 2:59:59)

The Shop will be added to the system after three hours. It's not that long of a time, but Lilith reckoned it would be the right time to find Dhampy now.

Another notification surfaced.

[Chain Quest Part 1: Complete]

The Chain Quest has yet to end. It was not something Lilith could wish to end so easily. The Chain Quest will appear sooner or later. She will have to wait in order to learn what the next quest would be.

'I wish it's not so hard.'

Lilith was grumbling then checked the minimap. The minimap's contents were slowly increasing. One of the bliss of having followers was this.

Though limited, whatever land her followers encounter would be recorded.

Another convenient function of the minimap would be that her followers could be marked up to a certain distance. 

Soon enough, Dhampy crossed the 1000 meter mark and their mark could no longer be pinpointed. But on the edge of the circular minimap would be a golden arrow that points to Dhampy's general direction.

Lilith checked the timer and decided to go after them while waiting for the update. That silver-haired girl ought to become her new follower.

And so, Lilith started moving.

Her fatigue was at 10%, she was far from being tired.

While running, Lilith would come across some nocturnal daemons. Owl-like, wolf-like, and panther-like beings were appearing from their dens.

While she was running, she came across a LVL 12 Giwa that was distracted by a blob-like creature simply known as a slime.

Giwa was similar to that of the ancient animal called elk. Only, its body was bigger and its horns were deadlier than it already was before.

"Such a big creature was bullying something so weak and more importantly cute creature. It needs to die." She said that as a LVL 17 daemon planning to kill a LVL 12 prey.

As an Ash Leopard, Lilith jumped high to the sky turned into a One Horn, and casts Earth Weight!

She momentarily became like a meteor.

Boom!

"Guooooo!"

"Right on the spine, hehehe!"

The Giwa struggled for a little bit before dying. Lilith turned to the slime. She showed a smile and killed it with fire. She was a tiny creature compared to the Giwas so it's fine for her to kill the Slime.

While she was running after Dhampy, Lilith saw a lot of low-level nocturnal daemon. Showing a wide smile, Lilith killed them all and avoided the high-level ones. As a high leveled daemon, she was not bullying the weak, she was harvesting them.

There's a difference.

"God damn how far did you run, Dhampy?" Lilith commented.

She asked and even after an hour, when she was already sweating bullets and was trying to catch her breath, Lilith still has yet to reach Dhampy!

"Seriously, how far did you run?"

And only after thirty minutes of running did Lilith reached her destination. Standing in the front mountain wall, Lilith raised her brows.

'Here, really?'

There was nothing in front of her, but from the minimap, it says they were right in front.

"Maybe, just maybe."

Taking a step forward, Lilith touched the wall and her hands went right through.

Lilith smiled and went past the illusion. Then, her face turned funny.

"This is... is she or am I the underling??"

She asked after seeing the final boss esque old mansion before her.