Chapter 118 - To The South

Day 36

‘Sylvie, you ready?’

"Of course! Let's go!"

‘Road trip! Road trip!’

The bratty Amethyst shouted in my head. I just looked at her and sighed.

"Ahem!"

"Eh?"

I turned back and I saw a tall rat that was skinny with shadowy fur and demon-like red eyes.

‘Rat dude?’

"Lady Hinotori. I am glad that you could tell what I looked like, but I am also angry that you didn't look for me all this while."

'Oi! That's a very questionable attitude right there. Don't act like you're my girlfriend! Do you wanna come with us?’

"Sadly, I can't. We are still digging tunnels in the forest in an attempt to have access to all parts in the forest. We should have a smooth way to the south. Would you want to use that?"

‘Naa, I want to explore instead. Although the sun sort of hurts now.'

I thought to myself as I rested on the Shiroi’s back. For some weird reason, ever since my time in the dungeon the sunlight actually made me weaker. It was quite a pain in the ass having 50% of my stats nullified during the daytime. And for convenience, Shiroi would be traveling with me to the South. She left the wolves in the charge of one of her close aides. Apparently her brother refused to do the deed on her behalf.

'Master, let's go!'

She told me. Shiroi was normally reserved so seeing her this hyper about something was quite refreshing.

‘What’s with the rush? We're waiting for Ulva. She can't walk in the sun like we do, so she's taking something from Grimm to help her.'

‘Sorry.’

She stopped pacing up and down with me on her fluffy fur.

"Sorry I'm late!"

The familiar high pitched voice came ringing out.

‘Finally. You know I don't like taking so much ti – Um, Ulva?’

"Yes?"

‘Where did you get that dress from?’

Ulva was clothed in a black vest over a white long sleeved shirt, with brown leather tights for pants and black boots. Her hair was tied into a pony tail and her face was hidden by the mask I see Grimm always wearing. A black mask with no holes and just a single blood red ruby on the fore head, but with no eye holes. I failed to understand she could see, but turns out it was just a form of vision magic.

"I found it in my room last night. Kawaii said it might have been one of Maude's clothes from when she was my age."

‘I see. I guess that explains that.’

"Hey boss! Is there somewhere I can find tons of moko fruit?"

Walking behind Ulva, was Grimm Black. He was clothed in a black leather jacket with pants and boots, all under a cloak. He pulled down the hood from his head, revealing his face. His gunmetal silver hair glistened in the early morning sun, and his skin seemed to glitter in the sun from all the sweat covering it. He had a sneer on his face which made him look like a delinquent especially with his villainous blood red eyes.

‘Moko fruit? What's that?’

"Um, it's a fruit I like... or should I say need to eat since it's practically the same as drinking blood?"

‘Same as drinking blood, huh?’

"Yeah. I have a phobia of blood and other vampiric species, so I eat moko fruits to satiate my hunger. And when I'm hungry I have that blood ruby over there to feed me, but since I've given it to the kid, I'll need moko fruit. And lots of it."

‘And you don't know where you used to get these from?’

"Maude just used to provide those for me back in Dirthaven. I’d heard they grow in Larm."

‘So, they were in her store room?’

"Probably."

If they were in her store room, I probably had it, but when I checked, there weren't any.

‘Hey, Sylv. Do you know where moko fruits are grown?’

"Moko fruits? I haven't heard of those. But I have heard of mori fruits if that helps."

‘Naa, mori fruits won't work.’

‘Can't you just take the blood ruby and use it?’

"If I did, the kid would probably die from exposure to the sun."

‘True… what about you though? Aren't you supposed to die under the sun?’

"Yep. Even now it burns, but I have some sort of resistance since I am a vampire noble. An evolved species of the vampire race. She on the other hand, has poor resistance to it and will last only a few minutes before going POP!"

‘Ah… I see. Well, we'll be on the watch for any moko fruits then! Tell Shitsuke that I want him and the other hob-goblins to get their lazy asses into my dungeons so its level can go up. They should also mine some of the mana crystals, but should also not touch the dungeon mobs since they actually cost my dungeon points and I can't respawn them yet.’

"Eh? I don't understand."

‘Just tell Shitsuke my exact words. And tell him that Nukeme should also help him identify the highest quality cores they can find. Take less than thirty percent of that out of the mines into the store room, and also Yokino should send most of her subordinates into the dungeons, since the bee hive is becoming too crowded.’

"O-OK."

‘Let's go Shiroi! Onward, and Sylv stop poking my cheeks.’

"What? Is there something wrong with that? They are so puffy. And your breasts, they grew."

She said, groping my tiny chest. There was a sharp pain, followed with innocent embarrassment and a punch to Sylvie's face.

‘Don't do that you, stupid pixie!’

"Pfft,"

Shiroi begun running in the direction I pointed, going full throttle, which was quite fast.

***

‘Shiroi, stop!’

‘Huh!? Why?’

She came to an abrupt halt.

'Can't you see it?'

I said pointing to the creature with white fur, a golden mane and horn on its head.

'What is that?'

'That's a unicorn! I want to ride that!'

'Eh? But you have me!'

She complained.

'Still… It's a unicorn.'

'Uwaa, master I feel insulted.'

Wasn’t she acting a bit too immature? Normally Shiroi wouldn’t even express her true thoughts on the matter. Or maybe I didn’t know her well enough.

'Ok, let's strike a deal. I'll ride it for an hour then we'll kill it and eat it. I wonder what it'll taste like.'

'Hmm, deal. But I’ve heard that they are quite dangerous.’

I jumped off Shiroi's back.

‘Dangerous? How so?’

I proceeded to run for the unicorn like a complete moron, forgetting my physical abilities were grossly limited by the sun. The unicorn as well began to run at me.

‘Master! The unicorn wants to kill you!’

Shiroi said.

'Eh? But it looks so beautiful, charging towards me. Why would it want to kill me?'

‘Ah! It’s horn is glowing weirdly, can’t you see?’

‘Master! The unicorn’s horn ability! That’s why it is dangerous.’

Shiroi barked at me from behind.

'Unicorn horn ability?'

While thinking about what Shiroi said, a wolf made of mist came from behind me and bit off the neck of the unicorn in one bite, making its body fall lifelessly to the ground. So did I, who was traumatized by the event.

‘W-Who kills unicorns?’

‘There are various kinds of unicorn horns, each granting the unicorn a different power. However, unicorns are supposed to be in the fairy plains.’

'Master, what happened to riding it?'

Amethyst asked, climbing onto my shoulder as I ate the horse.

'I… um... S-Shiroi is the best ride.'

I said in between sniffs.

'I was going to name him Boe Jack too.'

'What was that?'

'Nothing… I'm just really hungry.'

[You have acquired 1000XP]

[You have acquired the ability [Illusory Horn]]

[You have acquired the ability [Gallop]]

[You have acquired the ability [Horse power]]

[You have acquired the ability [Illusion Resistance]]

Due to the skill [Void Stomach] I managed to eat it whole, while still feeling very angry.

'Let's get back on track.'

I jumped on Shiroi's back, where Sylvie kept on attempting to touch my wings which were shielding my body from the sun.

'Stop that Sylv!'

"Sure."

Right after saying that she picked out a feather, making me give up on her.

I decided to try out some of my abilities. I activated the [Illusory Horn]. A drill shaped silver horn popped up on my forehead. I tried to cast an illusion on Sylv. Something that she would like to see, but it didn't work on her. Apparently she was now immune to all sorts of illusions and was actually quite monstrous when it came to using them.

I then tried it on Ulva. She started giggling and saying stuff like, 'Big sis, stop patting me. No keep on doing it. Wait, stop!', which scared me for her mental stability. We took a break once it was noon. I found a tree which I hid under. I was too weak and tired to really do anything, but I was starving. And as a self - rule, I wouldn't touch the food in my inventory until absolutely necessary. It was just the limitless pit which was my stomach talking.

Sylvie and Ulva went hunting instead and they brought back some black birds they found. They were Black Waynes, making me remember the first one I'd ever met in this. Now that I thought about it, they were actually quite big, nearly as big as Ulva in fact. Apparently Ulva and Sylvie found them already wounded on the ground. They would have died sooner or later so they decided to kill them quickly. I was curious as to why Black Waynes were always bruised. With [Hunter] I could rule out the possibility of them simply being violent to one another. Maybe there was a predator around attacking them, or some weird plants hurting them.

I later ate the creature without a care for its origin.

[You have received 200XP]

[You have acquired the ability [Spiky Claw]]

As soon as lunch was over, we set off once again. Just moving nonchalantly until it was night time as soon as the sun disappeared, my health and energy returned to 100 and I was good to go, but the others seemed tired. Except for Sylvie. She was a bundle of energy. Ulva was already sleeping, same as Amethyst. Out of boredom, I had Sylvie demonstrate her abilities to me.

DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS

[Hyakkiyako gained 300XP]

SYNTHESIS RESULTS

[Golden Hen Screech] + [Black Wayne Screech] = [Golden Wayne Screech]

[A skill that stuns opponents. Requires 10 stamina per minute]

FUSION RESULTS

Skill fusion is still in use

<A/N: This marks the beginning of the final arc for Volume 1.. It was originally supposed to be about 7-10 chapters, but after splitting chapters who knows how many there are now. Anyway, sit back and enjoy what I term the "Beginning" of the story!>