Demon Army (VII)

Snow worked with Angie a little longer, teaching her new skills. Angie was able to learn the skill Purge from her, which exhausted Angie's stamina and mind.

Pleased by Angie's improvement, she shooed Angie away.

With relieved steps, Snow headed back to her room. Upon entering, she saw Dairen fully healed and washed up. A towel wrapped around his hair and his hips.

"Snow?" Dairen said, startled to see her back. He looked down, embarrassed at his appearance.

"It seems you are a lot better now." Snow tried her best not to pay attention but still caught glimpses. She looked away, focusing on taking off the t-shirt. With a quick pull, she was able to get her shirt off, which she had a black tank top on. She walked over toward the laundry basket and threw it in. She was down to her shorts and sports bra.

"Yea. I am." Dairen quickly scooted over toward the right, where his clothes were lying on a sofa.

"Are you done with the bathroom?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'm going to take a quick shower." Snow opened the door to the bathroom that was across the dining room.

She didn't take long to wash up, getting all the dirt and sweat off her skin. Eventually, she was able to finish up and wrap herself in a towel. Gently drying herself, she pulled out her clothes in her storage item. One by one, she wore her clothes.

It was a simple sleeveless red shirt and black jogging pants.

Snow stepped out, all refreshed. She patted her hair dry with the towel and wrapped it around her head. A delicious smell of gravy wafted in the air, making her stomach growl and her mouth salivate. How she missed Dairen's cooking.

Dairen was dressed up in grey shorts and a simple white t-shirt with a werewolf monster picture. He was cooking some bacon on the stove. He scooped it up and placed them on the plate filled with mashed potato and green beans.

Walking over with both plates, he placed them on the dining room table. The utensils and glasses of water were laid out neatly for two people.

Snow came over, pulled back the chair, and sat down. Her eyes were wide with anticipation.

"I thought you would be hungry, so I made some simple dishes," Dairen replied. He pulled back his chair and took a seat.

"Thank you." Snow couldn't help but quickly reach over and grab her fork.

Dairen nodded his head as both of them quietly ate for a while.

The blast of flavors that hit her brought satisfaction to Snow's stomach. She happily munched on her food. Compared to her horrible cooking, Dairen's was hundreds of times better than hers.

"How was your day?" Dairen asked.

"It was pretty good, actually." Snow replied. "I got a large number of people able to use resurrection skills. Better yet, Angie was even able to learn Purge."

"Really?" Dairen was surprised to hear such a statement. "That's amazing news."

"Yes, it is. This should allow me to be able to go out and fight monsters in the front now."

"I don't know about that, Snow."

"What do you mean?" Snow stabbed bacon.

"Tell me, honestly, do you think anyone could do a mass resurrection like you?"

Snow thought about it for a moment. "No."

"Also, you have a powerful number of skills that amplifies the people's power. With you gone,

those skills that could be used to our advantage would be gone. This is a SS class dungeon, you know. You need to take better care of yourself."

"What about you?" Snow frowned. She didn't want to be holed up in the city to be protected. All her life, she was the one who personally went out to face the monsters. "I have done well so far against large numbers of monsters, Dairen. I'm not going to just stop doing that when my sword skills are useful."

Dairen picked at his food. It took a while for him to speak up, "For me, Snow. I just don't want to lose you." He looked up, and their gazes locked. The air around him became tense. "If you die, you die for good."

"You do too."

"Yes, only in this world, plus you can resurrect me." Dairen winked at her.

Snow rolled her eyes. "That's not an excuse to abuse my power."

Dairen chuckled. "I know."

"Promise me you won't do something stupid." Snow glared at him with a serious expression. These days, he has been very reckless.

"You do the same for me as I promise." Dairen countered back.

"Dairen. You know me, I don't take dangerous risks."

"Right, Snow. Right." Dairen shook his head, waving his fork in front of him. "You do the same."

Dairen didn't budge from his words. Even with an attempt to give him the, I'm innocent look, he didn't even budge from it.

"Fine."

"Great!" Dairen stuffed his green beans into his mouth. Happily chewing as he ate.

Snow was baffled by his words and gave up entirely; trying to persuade him these days was getting harder and harder.

They continued to chat leisurely as they ate together. Even past the time they finished eating, talking about the different things that had happened in their fights.

Dairen talked about what he saw and what he had fought. The constant slew of monsters

that continually swarmed his army. After the Resurrection of his skeletal army, they would constantly grow stronger with him as long as he had magic. He was able to hold on longer than he anticipated until he wasn't anymore. The reason was simply exhaustion.

Sleep deprivation and mana recovery weren't coming to him as quickly as he wanted, making the fight harder to stay awake and continue. Until finally, with the least amount of sanity that he had, he had to run away.

Snow listened with diligence, talking back and forth about what he saw and heard.

"What did you see in the Demon King army that we have to watch out for?" Snow asked; she had wanted to ask him about this, but he was too far gone at that time to even get the answer.

"The giant ogres."

"Why?"

"They carry a deadly amount of arsenal for their large body. Covered from head to toe of armor and weapons. One swing of the metal club, I assure you that a large part of the walls will fall," said Dairen with a serious tone. "The hellhounds have been in trouble. Their pack mentality of ganging up on one person is a big problem. If one doesn't watch what they are doing…" He shuddered.

Snow already knew what he meant about the hellhounds. She had seen hands-on what they would try to do, and the group of Players had to fend them off to save one of their comrades.

"There were a rare few monster leaders that I have seen, directing the group, but

"Anything else?"

Dairen shook his head. "There wasn't much I could see in the thick trees.

Snow got up and picked up her plate and Dairen's. She walked over, placed it in the sink, and began to scrub it clean.

Dairen got up, stretching.

"It's night; let's go take a nap. We should get ready for tomorrow." Dairen walked over toward the only bedroom that they had.

When Snow was finished, she placed the dishes out to dry and wiped her hand on the towel. She headed straight for the room.

Upon entering the room, Snow froze. Dairen had half the blanket pulled back for her while he was snuggled up on the other half of the bed. She had forgotten that they were sharing the bed.

Dairen quizzically looked at her, wondering why she wasn't coming over. "I cleaned the sheets." He spoke out loud, snapping her attention to her.

Snow froze. It took a moment for her mind to come back to her, allowing her to move.

"I'll go sleep on the couch." Snow replied, heading straight to the bed to grab a pillow.

"No." Dairen patted his hand next to the bed. "Just sleep here."

"But-"

"Snow," Dairen said with a serious tone. "That sofa isn't comfortable. Just come and sleep, so you will be refreshed tomorrow."

Dairen once again tapped the bed.

When Snow didn't move, Dairen sighed. He pulled the blanket aside and got up.

Snow wondered what he was doing, but when he came to her, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

"W-w-what?!" Snow shouted out in alarm. She started to squirm.

"Be still women. If you make this more difficult, I'm going to give you a kiss."

Snow, at first, didn't hear him as she was trying to get out of his hold. He was a lot stronger than she had remembered.

"Okay. Fine. You asked for it." Dairen dropped her on the bed.

Snow looked up at him, stunned.

Dairen didn't give her a chance to move. He fell on top of her, pinning her down.

"Dairen?!" Snow wiggled.

A glint of mischief glimmered in his eyes. He leaned forward, locking his lips with hers.

Cool warmth of lips entangled together, shocking Snow's core. She didn't want to push away. Even if she wanted to speak, she didn't. Instead, she allowed the flow to continue.