Chapter 20: 20. Debt III

Two days after hunting the Serpent, the full moon came as expected.

Inside the Mansion — Guest Hall.

"Are you ready, Dhampy?" Lilith spoke as a Two Horns.

"...Yes."

"Then, I shall begin."

[] Are you sure you want to allocate [401 LE] to your follower [Dhampy] to evolve into a –> [Blood Lord]? Y/N?

Picking the obvious choice of yes, Dhampy's body released strands of white light that turned into a cocoon about two and a half meters in size. Dhampy's evolution process was similar to Lilith's.

The initialization in order to become stronger soon began.

Lilith wondered what would come of her evolution that she was curious.

'This feels like unlocking a character.'

[Timer: 6:23:59:59]

Sadly, the time it would take for Dhampy to get out of her "little" cocoon was 7 days. Well, it didn't matter as Dhampy's presence does not make much difference.

Under the radiance of the full moon, Lilith turned her attention to Sylva, who was standing adjacent to her. She had a revering expression on her face, it was clear that she too wished to evolve into something higher.

"Sylva."

"...Yes, boss head?"

"We're going out, come with me."

"Huh? Where are we going boss head?"

"Just follow, I'll have you reach level 20 tonight."

Sylva stared at Lilith's elegant back as they walked away from the mansion and into the front garden. Lilith looked at the darkness that stretches from where she stood to the horizon which no one could peer into.

Sylva followed her out of the mansion. This was the first time Sylva would be wandering out of the mansion after the incident with the Pixies.

Lilith looked around and motioned with her chin for Sylva to follow closely behind her.

Sylva held her daggers which were now two while following close to her boss head as to not get separated.

She wished not to get separated from Lilith.

Lilith and Sylva continued moving forward and only stopped after a couple of hours. With their fatigue at 50%, the two peered at the clearing from atop a tree.

This was a familiar place — it was the Goblin Camp she rescued Dhampy from.

The goblin camp had already been restored to its former gross and chaotic glory.

Watching the goblins keep watch whilst messing around with each other made Lilith sneer. She was now LVL 26, she had improved by leaps and bounds after killing the serpent and humans two days back, she could take them all on and the fear of the past was nothing more than history to her now.

She had not found any useful prey to hunt for the past few weeks, only strong daemons remained and she couldn't hunt a strong daemon alone. So, she decided to hunt those that form groups, but being as careful as Lilith, she resorted to going after the strongest daemon she was most familiar with.

The Hobgoblin was the perfect target. Also, this should prove to be a good opportunity for Sylva to show off her dagger skills to Lilith and level up at the same time.

'She had already reached [Dagger Master (B)]? If that's true, then she really has talents.'

'She is a prodigy in terms of Dagger Mastery. I have seen a lot of dagger wielders in the past but she is the most talented. It would be worth investing in her, boss.'

'Mm, I'll find a suitable place for the both of us to hunt.'

'What about the goblin nest where you found me, boss?'

Lilith's and Dhampy's conversation led them here. Sylva was a prodigy or so it seems. Well, it was very much apparent, after all, she reached [Dagger Master (B)], 23 days after she started training.

'With her talents and having so many fighting experiences with daemons, I'm not that surprised with her improvement. After all, I don't really get how impressive that feat is. However, what's truly surprising is that her level stagnated at LVL 19.'

She was now LVL 19, which was weird, considering how many daemons she had killed. Sylva should have reached LVL 20 by now.

Lilith thought there was something wrong with Sylva, but Alpha couldn't find anything so, in the end, she was left with this method of trying to raise her level.

'Just kill and kill until she levels up.' it was a primitive way of thinking, but it was the only idea they had.

An hour after their arrival, Sylva’s fatigue reached 20% while Lilith was already fully rested with the help of her passive [Nature's Blessing (B)] and the [Hard Worker] Title, they soon initiated the attack.

Lilith had two choices when attacking the goblin nest, but Lilith only sees one viable method and that was to silently kill them.

Poison, that's her strongest weapon, it might sound useless, but if her poison was to surround the camp, their movements would slow down or kill them downright.

Thus, Lilith did what she always does, intervene from the shadows while letting everyone do the tedious work for her.

She blended into the darkness and then hovered above the Goblin Camp.

Above the goblin camp, Lilith flew. Her Miasmic Expulsion exploded out of her body and it descended on the Goblin Camp.

The poison entered through their mouth and noses causing them to shriek in pain.

Paralyzed, they twitched on the floor. Devoid of strength they failed to function and go against Sylva who fell from above.

Her daggers moved like the passing wind. She was no brawler nor fighter; she was an assassin. Her steps were as light as feather, and she slit her target's throat like an invisible phantom.

She was fast with her hands, killing the Goblins with so much efficiency that it was terrifying. Lilith had seen a lot of assassins before.

This girl before her was but a young one, but she had the making of a godlike assassin.

'It would be for the best to train Sylva, in the way of assassination.'

"Skreee!"

'It finally came out, it's stupider than I thought.'

From the biggest dwelling, the angered Hobgoblin came out. The Hobgoblin was still at LVL 26, it had not improved its level in the slightest, it seems Lilith got lucky for a change.

Without thinking much about it, Lilith transformed into a loli to cast [Colossal Weight] to increase her weight ten times the original.

Although she was small, when she landed on the unaware Hobgoblin, its head smashed on the ground, turning it into a bloody pulp, the Hobgoblin died without any useless pretense.

'It seems like a Hobgoblin is weaker than me, it also failed to sense my presence.'

Lilith could now see the innate uselessness of a Hobgoblin. Having killed the Hobgoblin, Lilith left the cleaning of the camp to Sylva.

Lilith entered the Hobgoblin's dwelling to check for valuables and inside, she found bodies of daemons and humans combined.

There were Pixies inside, and one of these Pixies seemed to have been raped, it was already dead.

"Ah! Help, please help us!"

"I don't want to die. Please, help me get out here!"

There were also some more Pixies, tied to the ground. The ones who were spared from being raped and turning into Goblin excrements begged to be saved.

Their position was similar to Dhampy of the past. Lilith approached the one that had been raped to death by the Hobgoblin.

'This is pretty brutal. I heard from Dhampy she was spared from this fate because she had no genitalia. She was lucky.' She then turned to the Pixies.

[Low-Pixies LVL 12 (common)]

'They are useless, I should just kill them.'

"Boss head, I have finished them all up. I..."

Lilith was prepared to cast a Fire Ball but Sylva entered the tent and saw Lilith with the Pixies.

"Y-you're."

The Pixies saw her and their faces instantly changed. Their pleading eyes turned rabid and sneers emerged.

Lilith did not miss that but she didn't care and simply paid attention to Sylva.

"Good work. We're getting out of here."

"Yes, boss head."

"Rawa! You dare ignore us? Know your place and get us out of here!"

"You're the one who ran away right? You useless cur, you better get us out of here now before we tell this to the Lord!"

Sylva heard their words and she began to tremble in fear. It was the fear she had towards Pixies. It stuck to her even to this day. Though she fought with High-Pixies to gain her freedom, her mind before was clouded and now, the repressed fear was surfacing once more.

Anyone could see her trembling and the arrogant Pixies tied to the ground sneered as they shouted their commands.

"You damned Rawa, what are you waiting for? Do it and—"

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"Huh?"

PAH!*

"Who do you think you are ordering? The only one who can order her is me."

A single slap echoed. The other two Pixies looked at Lilith and opened their mouth to speak, but...

PAH!*

They met a similar fate with the insolent cur.

"Did I tell anyone of you to speak?"

Being imposing could only be attained if you make the move before others. Lilith had tortured a lot of people to get the information she wanted., and to properly torture someone, the torturer must first be imposing.

Lilith may look like a child now, she's cute and cuddly but there were ways to become imposing as a child. That was to instill fear using power and let others know what she could do.

"The one you refer to as Rawa is named Sylva, she's with me, the only one who can talk down to her is me, the only being above her is me. Now, shut up or, you will end up like this."

Lilith cast Fire Ball to the first one she slapped and burnt the bitch to the ground.

"Ahhh! It burns, I'm sorry, I apologize, please spare me!"

With those simple actions, the kid they thought would be their savior became the subject of their fear.

Lilith rarely does these kinds of things, but she got annoyed. She didn't know why though. But after some time, she managed to make sense of it...

The reason she found was simple, 'No one looks down upon my people.'

If they look down upon her people, then that meant they are looking down on Lilith. For a common-tier daemon to look down upon Lilith, just where did she get the balls to do so? The bitch wasn't even a man.

The voice of the Pixie burned to death and peace returned. 

Lilith then turned to the other two Pixies and uttered a single word.

"Apologize."

The two Pixies looked at Lilith with fear and was about to apologize to her, but she lashed out and kicked the last one who had been spared from experiencing pain.

"Not to me, bow your heads and lick the ground while apologizing to Sylva. Ignore my orders and I'll kill you like the other one, do what I tell you and I won't kill you."

She pointed at Sylva, who flinched at her words. The faces of the two Pixies darkened but they still did what they were told and bowed their head to the ground. Their foreheads touched the ground as the words of apology came out of their mouths.

"We are sorry, please, don't kill us. We beg of you... please... help us."

For the first time in her life, Sylva felt her heart tremble from excitement. This was the first time she had seen a Pixie bow their heads to her.

A smile did not blossom on her face, but Lilith could see the joy in her eyes. She was now satisfied.

"That is good... Sylva, kill them, we're going back."

"...Yes." Sylva who heard Lilith did not answer in haste, but after processing what had been said, she didn't hesitate to agree.

"You said you won't kill us."

"Please, spare us!"

The hammer of judgment fell upon their heads and they lifted their heads to protest against Lilith who had broken her promise. Lilith responded with a chortle.

"I won't kill you, she will."

They turned to Sylva who was preparing to cut their heads and screamed something one last time.

"You damned RAWA!"

Slash*

At first, Sylva was hesitant but with one swift motion of her dagger, she killed the two remaining Pixies. Her hands trembled.

She let go of her daggers and then she laughed. She looked at the Pixies one last time and her trembling stopped. She picked up the dagger that silenced the two and tightly gripped onto it. 

She felt as though she was freed from something shackling her. She smiled, but tears fell together with these tears.

"Thank you." A single word that weighed mountains was finally uttered. Lilith kept her silence while the System reported:

[Ÿ] The hidden status [Trauma] has been lifted. Sylva's level will now advance to the limit.

[Sylva Level up]

Finally, Sylva had reached LVL 20.

Silence filled the air as Lilith and Sylva left the camp and burnt everything to the ground. When they left and was just about to reach the mansion, Sylva finally said something.

"Thank you, boss head."

"Why do you thank me so? I just ordered you to kill someone from your kind, aren't I someone evil?"

"They're not my kind! Ah... sorry for raising my voice."

Sylva seemed flustered, and as Lilith turned to her, she observed the lass who had her head facing the ground and tightly gripping the hilt of her daggers.

"Also, the boss head is a good person, this much I know.

"Yes, you love to kill and bathe in the blood of the hunted daemons just to retrieve a single mana core but you never did anything wrong in my eyes.

"You gave me the chance to live by saving me from the High-Pixies who saw me nothing beyond being a disposable item... boss head, I have actually been lying to you... I'm not actually just a Silberofer I'm actually..."

Although she did not want to listen to it, Lilith stood still and accepted every word that flowed out of Sylva's little mouth.

What Sylva spoke of was the story of her past, and who she actually was, and as Lilith listened to her words... the more she found the lass' story to be rather... unique.

She was born as the younger twin in the Royal line of the Pixie Lord. The Pixie Lord was the one who ruled over the Pixies.

But, when she came out, she was no Pixie but a Silberofer (Silver Sacrifice), a subspecies of spirits. Just like Fairies and Sprites, the Pixies were beings who originated from spirits.

Pixies wish to become stronger in order to become Spirits. However, Silberofer were beings closest to Spirits, and Pixies born as Silberofers were nurtured until they were eight years old and become sacrifices and help the other Pixies evolve into a stronger variant of Pixies.

While her sister was being groomed to become the next Pixie Lord, Sylva was sent to the other Silberofer to be nurtured as a sacrifice. There, the ones she could call family were the other Silberofer who had already been brainwashed to embrace their fate as a sacrifice.

She was one of the two Silberofer who wished for life. The other one would be her only friend Sela, who thinks differently from others and even gave herself a name.

The two of them played and both treated each other as their sisters. 

In a place where the only thing they could do was cry and wait for their eventual death, the two sacrifices learned to smile. With each other by their side, the two felt like they could go against their fate so, they tried to run away out of Pixies' domain, together.

Their reason for escaping? They wish to outlive the eight-year limit the Pixies told them they could live. They wish nothing more than to live a little longer... to smile a little longer.

Sylva managed to run away, but Sela was caught.

Sylva wished to turn back and save her friend, but Sela screamed, saying she should run, for the two of them.

"Live and see the world... for the both of us! RUN!" Sela shouted aloud! However, as she was pinned down, she had no tears, only a wide smile as she watched her friend gradually disappear. 

Sylva wanted to stop her legs, but onward she went, running and running, with the words of her friend, echoing in the back of her head.

Tears ran down her face, 

Sylva would later receive news from the Low-Pixies that Sela had been sacrificed to become the ingredient to her sister's evolution and become the rarest evolution of [Moon Liwa].

As Sylva spoke of her tale, her body once again trembled, not from fear, but sadness, guilt, and regret.

"I am a coward; I ran away when I should have turned back and tried to save her. If I at least, Sela would have at least a chance to live....I am a coward who left her friend behind."

Lilith walked towards sylva and turned to a Nightmare Dragonkin. She flapped her little wings and flew close to Sylva's head before using her little legs to give the crying Sylva a headpat.

"You are not running away, child. You are struggling. You are struggling to fulfill your promise to your friend and that is the opposite of running away. Because what you are doing right now is facing fate head-on and going against it."

"Boss head... bu... but, I... Sela... I left, i..."

"It's all right, Sylva... you are alive, and is living for Sela. You've been done great fulfilling her wishes. You have done a good job."

And with Lilith's words, Sylva failed to control herself and cried. After keeping it to herself, she finally managed to let it all out.

The eight-year-old child cried and wailed as a child should. She grabbed Lilith for a hug, her tears fell, as broken words escaped her mouth.

All the while this was happening, Lilith was thinking about something else.

'The Low-Pixies contacted Sylva? Then, why didn't they take her away instead?'

Something was off.