Chapter 9: 9. Plan

Lilith left to find a follower with much enthusiasm, only to find out that it was somewhat difficult to find anything in the world of daemons that didn't want to kill you. Soon, a week and three days passed without Lilith ever seeing any daemon wishing to follow her.

"Goddammit, I just remembered this is not human society. I can't promise wealth or even seduce them! This is going to be rather hard!" She was beginning to see why this mission would be so hard. 

She had been living as a daemon for weeks now, and with getting accustomed to living like so, her current thoughts of normalcy slowly merged from her previous life to this one.

Lilith was slowly becoming more and more accustomed to a daemon's ways of life that she inadvertently mixed both experiences up.

Or she was simply still in denial; either way, today was her downfall, after understanding that this was the woods where the strong rules and the weak cower. Lilith found it hard to have a follower unless she was so powerful that she'd be able to dominate everything and everyone.

"I messed up; I don't think my methods will work in this part of the world!"

[So what, are we going to have to fail the mission? Oh no, I don't want to displease the Goddess.]

"Hmph, who said anything about failing? I may not be able to use my methods in the wilderness, but I have a plan, hehehehehe. The venomous snake shall show you just how much wonder I can create with these dainty hands, paws, and webbed-feet of mine.

"But I don't really like this plan. But I also want that Akashi thingy; I'll just have to suck it up, I guess."

[So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to tame some Wolves or try and overpower Goblins?]

Lilith was taken aback by Alpha's words, and then, she sneered, "Fuck no, I still hate Wolves because they stole my food that one time and they're stupid; I might get eaten instead. As for Goblins, if I try to lead them, I'll lose brain cells faster than I can reach LVL 20. There's also not enough time to convince or tame such daemons."

[So, what are you going to do, then?]

"Just watch, and try to help me... I have a plan, hehehehehehehehe."

Thus, Lilith began devising a plan. She gathered fruits and hunted some daemons, like the Black Nightmare Worm, for their meat. Lilith wanted to hunt for the detestable, thieving wolves, but she couldn't find anything, so they were fucking lucky. 

Though it's questionable whether she's strong enough to hunt them anyway.

Lilith disregarded her hatred and checked the minimap. She found the marked areas where the most palatable meat in this Forest was located.

Alpha became worried about her. She was reluctant to ask, but she needed confirmation.

[Are you going to that Goblin Camp? Are you willing to go to such lengths?]

"I am." Lilith was determined, and from a loli, she turned into a feline and went back home to the Goblin caves she had previously taken over. 

The Goblin caves were neither big nor small. Its opening was three meters high and four-meter wide, and the inside was about as wide as the entrance. It had a lot of space, and inside, there were many stored berries and fruits.

"My precious!" Lilith said with a smile.

These fruits were rare; it was her treasure as it was sweet and tasty. After eating these sweet and delicious fruits, she remembered the taste of the past and almost regurgitated the various meat she had previously eaten.

But she had already gotten the title of Strong Stomach, so she handled it quite nicely. It was then that she let out a single tear saying, "I've been living a lie." she realized she was tricking herself to eat such meat to survive.

She also liked sweets, and considering where she was, these berries were delicacies.

But Lilith steeled her heart to part ways with the berries. She took them away without even tasting them one last time; turning into a loli, she grabbed them one by one. Being a One Horn, Lilith wore an ancient dress known as a kimono. Kimono was a dress from the past. She only got to know these after she visited a museum to view the displays.

By visit, she meant to attack, and by view, she meant ransack. They were at war with another organization at the time; they had to do it because it was a necessary act of blackmail.

Putting the issue about her ransacking a museum aside, Lilith kept the berries in her wide sleeves. She scampered about and went to the place she named Goblin Camp, where the Hobgoblin resided.

She once swore not to go back there as she had already failed miserably.

Back then, she was merely a LVL 11 scrub too overconfident for her own good. Right now, things were different; she was stronger than she was previously. So, was she going to hunt them all down now? Hell no, she'd die even before getting to the fourth Goblin.

No, she, what she wanted to do would be to rob them of their Meat Source.

"Alpha, do you still have the exact coordinates of their meat and blood?"

[You said you would not return there. But I thought we'll head there to get revenge after reaching LVL 30, so I made sure to mark it; now, thank me for my glorious thinking.]

'Yeah, yeah, thank you, oh glorious Alpha, now show it on the minimap. I don't want to get lost on the way back. Also, get me Goblin Den number 3, 4, and 5's coordinates. I'll try to lure as many as possible.'

The skies were bleeding, and the moon was about to provide light. An hour before the sun retreats behind the western mountains, Lilith left for three different places before heading to the tree line overlooking the Goblin Camp.

Lilith stood on a thick branch, waiting for darkness to settle., it was cloudy, the perfect kind of weather.

She had a smile on her face and was giggling like a maniac. She then jumped off the branch and transformed into a Newt before sneaking into the Camp.

"Groo, Goisja. Nyhahahaha!" 

Pah! Inside the Goblin Camp, a Goblins smacked one of its companions in the face.

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"Scree!" The one who got slapped shrieked and pounced at the assailant to get its revenge.

A fight broke out in the camp, and the other Goblins cheered. A festive mood surfaced. 

It was then that another Goblin came out of the biggest tent with a wooden platter at hand.

The platter had several 'meat' reminiscent of human limbs.

"Gra bura graga!"

With those words, the little Goblins, both the guards and the ones fighting and watching the fight, celebrated as they accepted the food.

The Goblin holding the platter handed one limb from one to the other. And while the food was being served, another Goblin emerged from the tent.

But this Goblin was different as it was at least two meters tall and had a much larger frame than the rest. Its color was also far from being green as it was black. It wore a suit of leather clothing. Its feet, shoulders, groin, and chest were all covered, unlike the rest.

It also had a rusty bastard blade in hand, further accentuating its rugged image. It raised the bastard blade and screamed out loud.

"Harvest! Many! Eat!" The Hobgoblin raised its voice, and the other Goblins also roared as they too celebrated.

A Leader, a daemon with a higher tier, had higher intelligence. Though there are daemons, who are an exception to this fact. The Hobgoblin let out a fervorous roar to show and remind its race of its prowess.

"Gyaaa!"

"Eeek!"

The others cheered in response to his might and blessing. 

"Huh?"

BOOM!

But the celebration was cut short. Up north, a tent exploded into a glorious blaze. But that was not all; shortly after the north's shelter caught fire, the other tents suffered the same fate.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Fate-filed screeches around its territory accompanied the blaze.

"What!? Happening!?"

The Hobgoblin asked, its anger rising together with confusion. A Goblin on guard duty came running back to the camp. It was alarmed and reported that they had been surrounded by dozens of other Goblins from the surrounding Goblin Den.

The Hobgoblin came out of the burning camp. Its mind, still muddled by the events.

Just like what had been reported, they were surrounded by Goblins from different areas.

There were tens of Goblin corpses around Camp, and the stench of blood reached its nose. The Hobgoblin was an intelligent daemon, but its intelligence was limited and failed to see through the current situation's holes.

It could only see the posted guards, on the ground, dead! It was furious.

"Home! Burnt! Revenge! KILL!"

It roared and called for the Goblins in its camp to take arms and fight to get revenge for their field. A fight between the Goblins of the surrounding area and the Hobgoblin of the clearing started.

The Goblins of the camp went to war and left their burning camp unguarded.

Inside the largest tent, a person who had flowing black hair was without any clothes. It had breast but no nipple, and on its groin, there was no sign of a penis or the slit of a vagina.

The person was lying on the cold floor, eyeing its surrounding. Its four limbs were all cut off, and fresh blood was on the ground.

However, what was weird was that the limbs were already a stump, and no blood was flowing out, and if one looked closely, the person's flesh was slowly returning to what it used to be, a complete limb.

Though it was rather slow.

The person's eyes were devoid of any life, not that it was dead; it just stopped trying to care. On its neck was a collar made of beast hide and was connected to a pole by a thick vine, and despite the clear signs of fire outside, the person showed no sign wanting to move, nor did it try to save itself. 

It was then that the entrance opened; the person expected the Hobgoblin to return but what came in was a loli who stood in a very dignified manner. 

The loli smiled after seeing the pitiful being.

"He truly has no gender, and with your impressive regenerative capabilities, you managed to live. You have no life in your eyes, but I think I can whip you up to shape. Dhampir, become my follower."

It was unknown why, but as the Dhampir eyed the loli; for the first time, the void in its eyes was replaced... it was curiosity.