Chapter 27: 27. It’s just War

"Boss head? What do you mean war?"

Sylva froze upon the mention of war against the Pixies. Her smile disappeared, and her expression changed to that of a mix of guilt and anxiety.

"D-did this happen because of–" stuttering, Sylva asked.

"No, don't think like that. I tried to kill the Pixie Lord who tried to kill me, that is all to it." Lilith explained with a proud smile, trying to see the bright side of taking a loan.

Sylva wanted to speak more, but she felt Dhampy's hands on her shoulders and knew that it would be useless.

Lilith turned her back against them and faced the Berserker; her mind at this moment is full of different thoughts.

'Ugh, I won't be able to use the Shop anymore.'

She had completed the second mission to keep the Shop and yet in an ironic twist, she now couldn't use the Shop after going through all the troubles of helping Sylva evolve.

[Chain Mission (2): Sylva's Determination (complete)]

The Chain Mission had been completed. The Shop was now permanent.

'Is the Goddess rubbing salt to my wounds?'

Lilith was in debt, 2,000,000 SP deep; in two months, this thing would increase five times. And once that increases further, it would become harder to pay, and in the end, she would need to pay the increased amount of 10,000,000 SP and if she fails to pay again, it would once again increase.

'That's a possible never-ending cycle of being buried in debt. That is no longer knee-deep, my entire body and entire being will be submerged in this debt..'

And as she thought of being buried in debt, Lilith heard a familiar sound, Ting*.

Ting*

[Mission: Empress' Kingdom (Side-Quest) #1]

[Ÿ]  The Pixies have shown their fangs to you and they will try to take back Sylva at any cost. If she gets taken by the Pixie Lord, the Pixie Lord's strength would increase; therefore, you must kill him and conquer Section 4.

[Ÿ]  Mission Details (Optional): Kill the Pixie Lord and claim their territory for yourself.

Requirements for Passing:

[Ÿ]  Kill the Pixie Lord.

[Ÿ]  Reach Epic-Tier

Reward/s: Your debt will go poof.

Penalty: Your debt will increase ten times.

Time Limit: 60 days

Do you accept the Mission? Y/N?

'Ugh, this is shady, and the reward, it's not specific enough, it might be used against me later.'

Ting*. A letter from the Goddess has arrived.

[Ÿ] Note: I am offended, I will not cheat you off your hard work, trust this Goddess for once, my heart has been shattered because of your doubt...]

'Does Goddesses even have a heart?' Lilith thought.

[...Alright, I'll be more specific I'll make your debt disappear if you conquer Section 4. Good? You Happy?????]

Lilith sighed and in the end agreed to her terms. The Goddess sure knows how to throw in a reward that Lilith could not resist and indeed, she accepted the mission.

'The debt will increase either way.'

Inside the Chief's dwelling, Lilith sat right across the Chief. With Lilith facing the Chief, on each side was a row, the epic-tier daemons including Killa were present in the Chief's dwelling.

The Chief looked at Killa...

"You..."

"His name is Killa, honor his name, it is hard if we refer to one another as "you"." Lilith cut him off.

"Fine, Killa, tell me what happened, I want to know why the Pixies are going to war against us."

Killa stood up; he was nervous despite being an Ogre Champion like the others. This was the first time he was present at a meeting with the Elders and the Chief.

The Priestess Lilith looked at him with a calm gaze that says, 'tell him' and after taking a deep breath, he finally spoke.

"The issue is simple; the Priestess beat the Pixie Lord to a pulp after trying to take the cocoon..."

"What did you just say?" Killa's words were stopped by the Chief, whose expression darkened after he mentioned Lilith beating the Pixie Lord to a pulp, "What do you mean she beat that Fogey?"

Killa could see the hidden intent of the Chief and felt the pressure. But as he looked at the Chief the presence of the Priestess gave him enough courage to speak, 'the Priestess is with me' he thought.

"It was the Pixie Lord who attempted to harm the Priestess but an invisible force got in the way of the Pixie Lord's hands..."

Killa recounted what happened in the mansion of the undead Dhampy and his attention to detail was superb leaving no gaps in his story. Although he could only mention the invisible barrier and some more of her means as mysterious, his words still carried power.

The more he spoke the more his eyes were full of reverence and that very same reverence affected those present and the Ogre Champions, Ogre Shamans, and even the Ogre Berserker was in awe of what Lilith just did.

It was a fascinating tale and Killa's words were all true, and like the rest of the tent looked at Lilith with widened eyes, Lilith only waved her hand, commanding Killa to sit down.

The Ogre Berserker did not even mind Lilith taking command for a moment. Lilith sighed at the sight of their eyes.

"Enough of those eyes, the bottom line is I attacked the Pixie Lord and took one of his possession, do you still think war is impossible?"

"No, but let me get this straight, the one he is looking for is the golden-haired woman I saw earlier, right? Why was he even for her, anyway? Also, did you know this is going to happen?"

"You have a lot of questions, but I shall try to answer them as quickly as I can ." Lilith took a deep breath, "She is Sylva, and she's the one the Pixie Lord is searching for. The reason why is that he wants to use her to evolve himself or someone else, and yes I did know this would happen."

Chief creased his brows, "Why did you take her then? If you knew she would be trouble why didn't you just kill her? Or give her to Lord? Let's just kill her now."

Because I will lose my Shop. But she can't say that and because of that, Lilith's eyes began to water. Starting from a single tear, the dam she manually commanded broke loose and Lilith cried.

"Because she is my family, she was one of the people I had with me when I was all alone! If I couldn't protect her, then how can I help the Tribe?"

Lilith began looking meek.

And other than the Ogre Berserker who had seen her fierce side, everyone inside that tent was touched. The hulking Ogres trembled in reaction to Lilith's Oscar-worthy acting showed its effects.

Lilith could kill Sylva, but, she chose not to do so because if she did, the sword of the mysterious Dhampy might just be pointed at her.

'I can't have that.'

"Fine, fine, I won't ask you for it, besides, you can't exactly give her to the Pixie Lord, using your words, he'll use her to evolve and take over our lands."

Lilith stopped her tears and the meeting went underway, she was asked a single question.

"That is enough Priestess Lilith. We the adults would be talking about a way to settle this thing."

"Sniff*, Actually, I have a way to help us win this war and take over the 4th Section of the Forest, sniff*."

"Really? Let us hear it then..."

"It goes like this..."

Lilith's suggestion was uttered and the Ogre Elders and Chief held different expressions while listening to her plan. But then, Lilith's plan was good enough for the others to smile widely.

Other than Killa, the others including Lilith showed a devilish smile. It was quite unsettling, but everyone accepted it as the only way.

The plan for the oncoming fight had already ended, but, something else, needs to be addressed.

Lilith and the others heard a commotion happening outside and just as they were about to stand up,  the covers moved the side as Scarface entered.

"What is happening outside?" Lilith asked as the others pressured Scarface to answer.

Going down on one knee, Scarface reported, "There is unrest, the others have heard the words war and it had put our people in an unwanted position against the Priestess' followers and they tried outsing them out of the village."

The Chief did not like hearing such a thing right after they just completed the plan on how to destroy the Pixies, "Tsk, did they leave already? Quick, find them, and bring them back here!"

"No, it's not that, big sis Dhampy..."

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"What!? Speak up!"

"She beat every Ogre that tried to throw them out without the Priestess' knowledge... she's now preparing to take on everyone for Sylva."

===

Outside, Dhampy held a sword. Her left arm was already broken and blood was actually dripping down her face.

She was actually already healing and the cracking of bones echoed in everyone's ears, frightening others to approach the warrior before them. Dhampy looked at Ogres with a deadpan expression as ten others lay unconscious on the ground.

'Keeping them alive is harder than I thought.' she said as she spat out blood.

Looking at them, she asked the aggressive Ogres, "Why are you not coming at me?  Are you afraid? We told you we shall wait for the boss, and you declined our wishes."

The Ogre she asked snorted as he answered, "We do not want you here because you bring war to us. We wish for you to leave because we do not want ours to be hurt, however, that changed as I now wish to see how good you really are. For you to beat so many warriors, I now want to see your skills. Take your time and catch your breath, I'll go once you heal up."

"Your pride as a warrior is commendable, but, you're going to regret that."

A heated exchange was going on when Lilith and the rest of the higher-tiered daemons came out of the dwelling.

The moment they saw the Ogres below Dhampy, the Berserker was left speechless, none of them were dead, but, all of them were unconscious and incapacitated.

'This woman... she's strong. The Warriors' level were all five-level and beyond higher than hers, and she still beat them all?' The Chief was left sweating bullets. The one before her was no ordinary undead.

He failed to notice the smile now plastered on his face. A sense of challenge emerges in his heart, wanting to confront this woman before him. However, he had to drag that down and crush it within him, "What is going on here!? Is it true that you tried to oust the followers of the Priestess because of a coming war!? Are you cowards who fear fight who will throw away the ones the Priestess referred to as family!?"

 "Ah, Chief, we were..." The warriors failed to speak up. When they looked at their Priestess, they even shrunk away from shame.

Without anyone speaking up, Sylva decided to step away from Dhampy's shadow. Dhampy tried pulling her away, but, Sylva avoided her hands.

Standing before the Chief and the other Epic-tier Ogres, she made a wry smile, "Si-Sir Chieftain, please do not be angered by them for they were in the right in trying to oust me out of this place. They were simply worried I would become a catalyst for trouble... I don't want to make any trouble, I-I shouldn't involve others in this... I-I will see you later, boss head, big sis... I'll take my leave now." 

Taking a deep breath, Lilith looked at the daemons around her as Sylva began walking away. She then turned to Dhampy who was the same as she had always been.

[You are in a pretty dicey situation here, my friend. So, are you going to throw them under the bus? After all, this might become a strain in your relationship with the Ogres.]

'Funny you should ask, that's what I'll do, actually... is what I would like to say, but... this is not sitting well with me... let me first, try something else.'

Lilith lessened her weight and then controlled the wind to send her high up and float. It was tiring but, she did it so that everyone could see her better. Steeling her resolve as even she could not believe what she was about to do, Lilith shouted aloud...

"It appears there had been some miscommunication, did you Ogres think it was because of Sylva, my follower that a war is about to happen? NO! It was because I, your Priestess, humiliated the Pixie Lord, brought him down without any way to retaliate!

"I squashed him like a bug, without giving him the chance to touch even a single piece of my hair, I faced him with my feeble and weak body, whose mass and strength cannot be compared to any of you!"

The Chief and the other Ogres were silent. They were all in disbelief but they already knew the whole story.

Then, Scar and Luck stepped up, "It's true! The Pixie Lord wanted to kill us and the Priestess said, "NO!" and then she used some weird Magic and protected us!"

"That's right, that's right, lightning came down and paralyzed the Pixie Lord. A mysterious force then blew him away as the Priestess grew angrier!"

These words acted as the catalyst for the others to believe Lilith.

"The Priestess went against the Pixie Lord to protect us!" Eve added.

"As an Ogre Champion, take my words for it and believe what the Priestess had said. The Pixie Lord appeared before us and wanted to kill us if we did not hand over the companion of the Priestess. The Priestess stand up to the Pixie Lord despite her strength, true courage has been shown yet we question it? I for one believe the Priestess did what she had to do and what she had shown just goes to show that she's a true warrior through and through!" Killa's words made the Ogres' hearts, especially the warriors he used to lead beat wildly.

Even the warrior Ogres saw Lilith in a much better light. With the integrity of being a warrior in question, they all raised their heads with courage! 

Lilith saw this and smiled at the sight of the four Ogres taking her side. She then raised both her hands, "Ogres! I, your Priestess have sullied the pride of the Pixie Lord, I brought it down on the ground, trampled upon it like dirt without worth, and he would come to take mine and my follower's head, one of the only family I have left in this world!"

Lilith paused as she descended, she looked at Sylva and Dhampy by the side and for the first time in years, she lowered her head, "Please, help me protect my family." 

Lilith's speech stunned everyone. From them revering their strength to feeling ashamed for what cowardice had driven them to do.

STAB!

With everyone silent, the sound of flesh being run through echoed in everyone's ears. They looked beyond the Priestess and saw their Chief stabbing his right hand with a bone knife he kept with him.

"Followers of the Priestess, no, the Family of the Priestess, accept my blood as an apology for what my people have done! My people have acted irrationally in fear of endangering their family in this war and in the midst of doing so, we forgot what we are! WE ARE WARRIORS WHO KNOW NOT HOW TO BACK DOWN FROM A FIGHT! Accept our apology and let us and the others protect you and our Priestess!"

Sylva looked at them, she wanted to hurry by his side and stop him from what he was doing, Lilith's voice, however, stopped him as she asked, "Sylva, do you accept? Do not worry about and tarnish his pride no further, he is a man seeking forgiveness for the wrongdoings of his people, do you, accept his apologies, and would you give him a chance!?"

Lilith's pressuring words made Sylva unable to let out a single word. She was stupefied by this situation and before she could even recover, the sound of flesh being stabbed echoed all over the Village!

"WE HAVE BEEN COWARDS! PLEASE, ACCEPT OUR APOLOGY AND LET US PROTECT YOU!" Other than the Ogres on the ground and the young, everyone had blood dripping down their hands as they all bowed before Sylva, asking her to let them protect them.

They wish to repent and drive the cowardice out of their hearts. They wish to remember their core as warriors who fear no one, they all wish to regain their pride!

Sylva gathered herself and looking around, seeing such genuine emotions being directed to her, tears began to fall. As she wiped her tears away, she gave them their answer, "Yes, please, protect me... save me from my fate."

As she cried, the Chief smirked as he roared, "In the name of Mawa, our great Mother, we shall protect you and defeat the Pixies! WE SHALL RETRIEVE OUR GLORY!"

When Lilith saw this, she smiled for she won. But without her knowing, she was relieved for reasons she did not know.

But she ignored her doubts and rose to the air, "For the HORDE!"

"FOR THE HORDE!!" The momentum carried the Ogres to answer in an uproarious answer!

The Ogres and everyone may have met one another on the opposite side of a rocky path, but as the darkness of midnight became day, everyone now treads this path together. Rocky as it may, it shall be drenched in blood after it's trodden.

While everyone was high on adrenaline, Lilith snuck close to Dhampy and whispered something to her. Dhampy nodded her head and Lilith left for Sylva's side when she noticed the warriors wished to engage with Dhampy.

Lilith helped Sylva from the ground and then had the Ogresses help her retire for the day.

The village was in an uproar, but Lilith snuck to retire in her own dwelling.

'Oh, I forgot to heal the Ogres... who cares, they'll heal.' Lilith lost to her desires.

Night came to be and Lilith opened her eyes, she looked around and found no one was with her. She opened the minimap and confirmed there were no enemies around or at least spotted enemies.

Lilith yawned, and after stretching her body, she decided to head out and oddly found no one was out partying or something.

Ogres were also active during such hours, but right now the Village was devoid of joyous events, but there were indeed Ogres outside.

Hundreds of Ogres sprawled on the ground, it didn't matter what their gender was; all of them were hurting all over the place. The first phase of Dhampy training the Ogres have ended.

'Hmm, the Berserker actually got to make the others follow Dhampy, that's a good sign. Dhampy's earlier display against them must have been a good advertisement... the plan is moving along quite well despite our start.'

Lilith thought as she walked around them and then left the village altogether. Upon coming out, Lilith stopped and looked around the area before speaking.

"Come out."

"You sensed us, boss head?"

"I didn't, I just felt like saying that and you came out."

Sylva blushed as the Ogre crew and Dhampy looked at Lilith with their eyes full of expectation.

"Are you guys coming with me?"

"Yes!"

Hearing that made Lilith unable to say anything else and with a smile, she led them away. Lilith's destination was simple, the Scourge Dungeons, she wishes to increase her level, as quickly as possible, and this includes her crew.

Lilith head out with her crew.

The night was silent as it was deadly.

The brewing storm kept on blowing as signs of Pixies approaching the Neutral areas became more frequent. The Priestess' predictions were correct; war was coming, but the Pixie Lord would not attack right away.

He would gauge the danger and be cautious, and Lilith would use that time to prepare.

She'll increase the strength of her forces and then her own strength.

'It's just a war.'

She fought so many of them that such an event was a normal Friday for Lilith.

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