Luoris.

"Here you go." As big as a boulder and neck snapped in half. Vivi presented a monster to me.

'Is that a boar? How is it so big?!' I could barely keep my thoughts together. My mind was going numb.

I extended my left hand as it started to pulsate. The mild pink branding started to turn a burning red. From the broken neck, a vortex of blood started to form, slowly building up towards a huge ball, while on the side the monster started shrinking into a husk.

Even though I could barely see with my fading vision, my hand felt every sensation around me. With every second my hand got hungrier and hungrier. It was like I had another stomach in my bicep.

The ball continued to get larger until there was no more blood to extract and in one go, it streamed right into my hand. The amount was so large that it started to not only enter through the tattoos but also seep through my nails and pores. My entire hand had turned into a mouth.

It was like air flowing through the gaps on the leaves. It was natural and fulfilling. My vision immediately started to fix itself.

[ Sufficient Blood content achieved. Activating (Regeneration - D) ]

My entrails started to form themselves inside my abdomen as I felt my spine getting rebuilt. Every individual bone got stronger after their second creation. I turned over and arced as soon as I could to make sure no debris went into my body.

Within minutes I was healed. But there was a lingering sense of extreme pain. As if my body was longing for a pain that wasn't there.

[ Proficiency increased. (Regeneration - D) has evolved to (Regeneration - C) ]

I lifted my torso up and tried to breathe. I breathed hard but nowhere near enough air entered my lungs. There was always just some air missing. Like I had been locked up in a chamber with barely enough air to sustain me for minutes.

I wasn't suffocating but it was a really bad feeling.

"GAAAH!" I panted hard but it still took minutes to get my breath back.

[ Unable to summon (Boar Lord - A) due to lack of **** ]

"You okay?" Vivi held my shoulders after I stopped flailing around.

"Yeah..." I sighed one last time.

"Then what the hell was that?!" With my shoulders still in her hands, she shooke me around.

"As if I know! I woke up one day and I could heal my own wounds. Anyways, go take care of Anino, I kicked her to get her away from that succubus bitch." I promptly switched the topics. It was already a pain that she knew that I had healing powers.

So I had to control the damage by not letting her know any more than this.

"But, El, tha- UGH!" She ran away after choosing responsibility over curiosity.

We put our journey on a one day break.

###

"So what happened while I was gone?" Vivi leaned against a rock. By the time we were done fixing each other up and feeding ourselves, it was already dusk and we were gathered around a freshly lit fire.

"A monster hired by that 'organisation' that Anino mentioned showed up." As soon as I said that Anino's face darkened as she coiled herself.

"Tch. Just the moment I was gone. Talk about unlucky."

"You dimwit. It was because you were gone." I mumbled. "Anyways, can you still pick her presence up?" I couldn't. She was nowhere near here. If anyone had a shot at discovering her it would b-

"Nah. It disappeared after a hundred or so meters." She promptly replied.

"Tch."

Her completely disappearing made sense. She wouldn't stay at a place where she could get noticed. Between her not approaching us and me using my 'natural predator' up, there was no way for her to stalk us. But at the same time, we wouldn't be able to catch her too.

"It was my fault. I probably noticed and ignored her as an adventurer." An actual blunder on my part. I should have actively gone out of my way to look at every person in my senses.

The succubus was incapable of going past my senses. Even during our little battle, the only advantage I had over her was my superior senses. Yet, I failed to use them beforehand. Just as I was wallowing in self depracation the 3rd member of our party spoke up.

"No, it's my fault. If it weren't for me, that monster wouldn't be chasing us in the first place." She said while rubbing her wounds.

Anino apparently didn't get hurt a lot. Just a bruise or two from bouncing around while falling.

"Well there's no point in blaming each other." I sighed. "There is the added danger of her finding out our location in our hometown… But that's preventable if we keep our heads straight. If any of you feel her presence, tell Vivi. Although I doubt she'll make herself visible on her own. I also doubt that that 'organisation' that you mentioned would chase all the possible routes just to find one girl."

It would be a completely different story if she was the first one to escape their grasp. That incident might give hope to the others in the city and I'm sure they would do anything to combat that.

"I thought that Rottheim was the last I would see of them, but now that we've gotten involved, I should at least tell you their name. Only the people who are native to the city know it and even knowing it brings more problems than not because their existence somehow managed to slip the eyes of any other national offices that met Rottheim. That's why I only referred to them as the 'organisation' until this point. That group used to be called Rottheim Con. Co. But recently their name changed to Luoris." Anino said with visible disgust.

"Luoris? As in the God of Prosperity?"

"Yes. They wanted to change their public image."

"Hmmm." The two Deities were supreme. And all Gods worked under Deities. But it was more of an institution looking over a set of people than a normal hierarchy. Deities judged Gods and set boundaries for them.

'After seeing what happened in that church, I wouldn't be surprised if a God really was involved in all this.'

The company being called Luoris seemed more than just a fluke, especially because the Church exclusively had the rights to use Gods' name.

"I'll keep my eye out for her and make sure she doesn't follow us to your hometown." Vivi, feeling a little guilty, pumped her fists reassuringly.

"That works. But we would need to keep watch at night. You can sense danger while asleep and that's it. You won't be able to sense her presence." It was a pain getting less than 4 hours of sleep... But a little less sleep now meant that I could leave peaceful from tomorrow onwards.

"Okay okay, I'll be up until a little past midnight. Then it's your turn."

"Alright."