Chapter 113: The arrival of Ayer
「Chi! Chi! Chiii!!!」The slime erratically jumped around the guest house as a few of the residents slowly made their ways out from their shared bedroom.
「Morning, Nu chan.」With the mutant ogre having already reverted back to his shota form, the inflated size of the slime easily dwarfed Yuusei's head as he greeted the bouncing ball.
「You're up, Yuusei chan? Can you check on Ryan and Ren? I think they're still sleeping like dead in there. We gotta have a quick breakfast before heading out to the dungeon. Today's the last day of the trial so we have to be there to greet Master once he comes back. Even Nu's been excited for a while now.」Unlike the others, both Maia and Yue were already up before sunrise. The alchemist girl was now finishing up the last set of pancakes while the former princess had already laid out all the plates and silverwares on the long wooden table.
「Sorry, my brother isn't a typical morning person.」Yue bowed apologetically at Maia.
「Well, at least you are! Thanks for all your help, Yue chan.」Maia held out a ladle before continuing.「Would you mind taste this for me?」
「Huh? Of course, Maia dono.」Agreed Yue.「Though I'm sure you don't need me for this. Your cookings have always been delicious, even Master said so.」
「But remember, during the blind test last night, the others did say the food you seasoned tasted better.」Maia pouted.
「I'm sure they just exaggerated.」Yue took a sip of the soup.「Though in this case, I think it does need some more salt.」
「Thanks, Yue chan.」Maia smiled warmly, her gaze lingered on the former princess.「...I'm really glad you join Kibadios sama's harem, Yue chan. For quite a while, I was the only girl in the group so I felt kind of lonely sometimes. But now, with you here, I have another girlfriend to talk to.」
「But I'm sure the others would always lend you an ear if you have any problem to discuss, Maia dono.」Yue was confused.
「No, not that.」Maia shook her head.「I mean, talking to them is fine, but they're all guys. There are something that only a fellow female would understand.」
「If that's the case, please feel free to come to me with anything that bothers you, Maia dono. I will try my best to…」
「I do have one concern!」Maia quickly interrupted.「I noticed that whenever Master is not around, you always refer to me as "Maia dono" instead of "Maia chan."」
「Ehto… Yes. I know Kibadios sama prefers to hear me calling you "Maia chan" so I tried to accommodate his preference.」Yue explained.「But I feel like it's such a disrespectful thing to call you "chan" so I changed it to "dono" whenever Kibadios sama is not around. Is that not to your liking?」
「Of course not!」Maia reached out to hold Yue's hands. 「It feels like there's so much distance between us whenever you refer to me as "dono." If you don't like to call me Maia chan, then calling me Maia alone is also okay.」
「I see…」Yue smiled nodding.「Maia chan, if you really don't mind, then I'll call you Maia chan from now on, with or without Master's presence.」
「That's more like it!」The Alchemist grinned.「And it's not just me. I'm sure the other guys also would love it if you don't use "dono" honorific.」
「Hiiiii!!! Yuu chan, don't bite my nipple like that!!!」Ren's scream could be heard from the kitchen.
「Oh my, what happened in there?」Maia wondered.
「If I have to take a guess, Ren nii chan refused to wake up so Yuusei …chan just teased him a bit.」Yue chuckled.
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The dimension beyond the portal was that of darkness, though specks of flickering lights from a far decorated the endless blackness like stars on a night sky. The modest source of lights was enough to illuminate the large floating circular platform, seemingly made from some sort of reflective colorful crystal.
「Ectharen dono.」Wylan greeted the beastman's head as the four people stared at one another on the platform. 「and Fakor dono. I'm surprised you guys made it here before Kibadios dono and my brother.」Kuron, the buffed Yves towering next to his Head, simply bowed politely at the other two.
「Why? You think your trap, luring the Zombie Giant toward us, would have worked?」The Head of the beastman clan laughed.「Actually, it'd have given us much more trouble had Kibadios dono and your brother did not come to our aid.」
「Gyo nii sama did?」Wylan was surprised.「Ha, I should have expected it. Nii sama is too nice for his own good.」
「You got that right.」
「You met with Kibadios dono too?」Letting their Lords conversing with one another, Kuron turned to Falkor.「How are he and Gyo doing?」
「They're breezing through this trial as expected… especially Kibadios dono」answered the beastman.「We kinda got separated from them once we walked through the entrance at the giant tree. I'm sure they're still heading here as we speak.」
「Haa… I guess I cannot expect anything less from Kibadios dono and Gyo kun… but seriously, I'm not looking forward to fighting them, one being my little cousin while the other being my savior.」
「We have no choice, don't we?」Falkor looked up at the floating orb radiating light above their head. Although no instruction was given, all the participants implicitly understood that whatever was the "Proof of Kingship" would be encased in the orb. Since Wylan and Kuron were first to arrive at the destination, the duo had tried to claim the prize, only to realize that the orb was protected by an invisible barrier that could not be penetrated. 「Have you tried reaching for it?」
「We can't. There seems to be a protection around it.」Kuron claimed.
「...」Falkor stayed silent for a moment before seemingly realizing something as he noticed 6 small indents around the barrier.
「Did something dawn on you, Falkor dono?」Kuron smiled.「It seems like you have arrived at the same conclusion Wylan sama did.」The Yves suddenly released his tremendous Nen, creating a shockwave that scared even the cautious Beastman and his Lord.
「Ah, looks like Kuron's ready for battle.」Ectharen jumped away from Wylan, his fingernails transformed into large claws, ready to shred his opponents into pieces. Falkor, too, swiftly retreated next to his Lord. The wolf beastman's right hand was holding tightly onto a large dagger coated with his own Nen.
「From what the exterior of the barrier up there suggested.」Wylan pointed up toward the ultimate prize of the trial.「... Those 6 small indents look like a perfect fit for our rings to be placed into them. I doubt that's just a coincidence. So, Ectharen dono, Falkor dono, would you mind forfeit your rings to me?」
「Hahaha, Wylan dono, I'm afraid the only means for you to obtain these rings of ours is to take it from our dead bodies… literally.」Ectharen declared.
「... Kuron nii!」commanded Wylan. At the heeding of his Lord, the Yves stepped forward, the black tattoos on both his arms slowly spread out, covering his naked upper bodies in strange marks. Due to the immense Nen emitting, his brown hair spiked upward. The Yves clenched his fists and assumed an offensive martial stance, much like Akaza from Kimetsu no Yaiba.
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「Careful Falkor.」Warned Ectharen.「It's Kuron the Black Flash we're talking about.」
「Hahaha, I know, my Lord. I've heard of the legend of an Yves single handedly eliminated five whole platoon of Yinese troops, I'm not stupid enough to underestimate him.」 The red head beastman laughed.
「Sorry Ectharen dono, Falkor dono.」Kuron's eyes glowed.「In order to extract a concession from Wylan sama that allowed me to not raise my hands against Kibadios dono, I've kinda promised him I'll take care of the both of you. No hard feeling!」
The Yves sprung forward, though his movement was clearly too fast for either Ectharen or Falkor to follow since by the time they realized what had happened, Kuron had already appeared in between them. Beneath their feet, an eight trigram symbol had already surfaced by the time they noticed Kuron standing next to them.
「Tsk!」was all Ectharen could utter before Kuron launched a barrage of attacks using his Nen coated fists. The Yves have always excelled in melee combat due to their extra sensory organs. Their eyes, much like that of the Hyuga clans, allowed them to easily identify any weak points on their opponents' bodies. A high level Yves, though, could do much more damage in a fight since they could analyze the flow of their opponent's Nen networks. Due to this advantage, if even one of their attacks landed on their opponent, it could easily disrupt the opponent's Nen flow, rendering them too unstable to be utilized effectively. The white lion beastman quickly reacted to the series of punches, blocking and counter-attacking aiming at the Yves, though his speed was clearly not enough to match the "Black flash."
「Ectharen sama!」Falkor rushed in, aimed his short dagger at Kuron. Needless to say, the Yves easily dodged the attack before retaliating with his own, blasting the beastman a few paces back. Yet, this was all the break Ectharen needed for him to quickly create some distance between him and Kuron and catch his breath. If the Yves race was famous for their Hyuga-like racial skill, then the beastman was famous for their unimaginable endurance. Such power was utilized by Ectharen to partially negate Kuron's punches, allowing himself to still be able to stand on his feet. Had he been a regular human, the man would be lying unconscious on the ground right now.
「I'm… fine.」The beastman wiped away droplets of blood on his lips, then briefly looked at Wylan. The Yves Head has still not made any move, as if he was fully content letting Kuron take care of both Ectharen and Falkor while he would preserve his strength in anticipation of Kibadios' arrival.「... at least for now.」
Suddenly, the space above the four candidates suddenly ruptured, a glowing portal appeared to be swirling around.
「... Kibadios dono and Nii sama are here already?」frowned Wylan. The Yves had wanted to take care of the House of the Manes candidates first before having to deal with the problematic hybrid, yet, time had run out for him. Strangely though, there was only one figure that emerged and dropped down onto the platform below. The figure took the appearance of an innocent pink-haired young boy, yet, the moment the boy's lips started to twitch and transform into a sidious grin, all four Candidates fully realized the unprecedented threat the boy posed.
「Who are…」Wylan was first to react, though the young head was unable to finish his sentence. The moment he could process what had happened, thousands of sharp threats had wrapped around his body, constricted and cut into his flesh. The half conscious body then was strung up into the air. Hanging across him were the bloodied bodies of Kuron, Ectharen and Falkor, all of whom shared the same fate as him.
Even Kuron nii was not able to escape the threat with his speed… How could this be? Wylan thought. He had prepared for all the scenarios to deal with Ectharen and Kibadios, to be able to claim the proof of kingship to lead the last of his people to repel the invaders and reclaim their lands. Yet, not even once he would think of a scenario like this, where the four of them laid helplessly on what seemed to be an invisible web sprung up by the girly looking boy.
「Who… are … you??」Wylan mustered the last of his strength.
「Shut up, you insect!」The boy coldly commanded as he looked around.「Guess Zaeryn is not here yet. Come on now, Zaeryn. Don't make me wait.」In his homunculus body, Ayer, one of the almighty Ennead, sadistically smiled.
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「Kailos sama!!!」A retainer rushed toward the Head of the ogre clan, who was standing outside the dungeon, anxiously waiting for the conclusion of the trial and his son along with Kibadios' group
「What's going on?」Kailos parted from the conversation with Haden and Reuk to check on the messenger.
「There's an envoy from Hou Yi's army approaching us.」reported the messenger.
「What? How many of them are there? What do they want?」
「I don't know, There seemed to be just a small group of 5 people, two of them are members of the Chimera corps. Teran dono, along with the other members of Hyaki Yagyo had set out to intercept them.」
「... Prepare at least 100 elite soldiers! We will ride out to meet them. No matter how few in numbers they are, I will not let them enter the city.」
「Kailos dono, please let us join you.」Reuk and Haden volunteered.
「Me too!」Ryuu chimed in.「Master would want me to be of an asset to you, Kailos sama.」
「Thanks! Let's go!」
Note: Ayer's appearance was showed in a few chapters ago: "The porn chapter again"