SPLASH!

Ciligan woke up. His eyes scanned his area quickly, and all he could see was darkness.

"A-ARRRGGGHHHH!!"

A voice came. That sounded like Charlie's. He looked around, but he couldn't find the kid.

"No! P-please stop! I'll speak! I'll speak!"

POP!

Ciligan's heart sunk. Why would Charlie dare to sell out the boss? He tried to move, but his hands were bound and he couldn't feel his legs. Why couldn't he feel his legs?

He looked down, but it was so dark he couldn't see anything.

"Who is there?"

He dared to ask.

'You are awake?'

A voice came in his head.

"Who-?"

'You don't ask the questions here. I do.'

He felt something pierce his stomach. It was rough and hard, like a blunt blade. Still, this level of pain he had trained himself to endure.

Red eyes that glowed appeared before him.

'Who are you?'

The person asked.

"Tch. Go and ask Ozvl- Arrgh!"

Something entered his solar plexus area. It was like a lightning bolt that traveled through his entire body, mind and soul alike. What was a second of brief pain felt like an eternity of the most arduous and unbearable agony and torture. He actually believed himself dead the seconds after that. That is, till he heard the voice in his head again.

'I am not in the mood to entertain stupidity today. Now answer my questions. Why did you kidnap Ulva?'

The voice asked. Ciligan knew how this worked. This person would ask him and if he responded, either the person would let him go or the person would kill him. However, the person couldn't kill him till he spoke. That didn't mean he wasn't frightened. He was scared to point he felt like taking a shit, but at this moment, nothing was worse than death for him, so he wouldn't die as long as he didn't talk.

"Tch, if you want me to ta-"

'Trust me when I say, I don't need you to be alive to get my answers. If you want to live, you will speak, although I can't assure that I will allow you to live after what you've done.'

The tone and aura being given off. This person was dead serious. Still, Ciligan wouldn't sell out the person who sent him. He couldn't. What was a man who sold out the woman he loved? That was why even when he was so scared his balls had disappeared, he wouldn't dare be a sell-out.

With a stoic voice and demeanour, he continued as boldly as he could.

"Piss o-"

The red eyes that were staring voraciously at him faded. His mouth couldn't move and he couldn't feel anything. His brain tried to process what just happened, but then before it could, it died.

"-ff. Huh?"

Ciligan looked about and could only see pitch black. He realized something was odd about his situation. His hands weren't bound anymore and now he could feel his legs. His body felt strangely light and fuzzy. There was a fleeting feeling in his chest. He raised his hand and it was giving a faint glow, but he noticed that it was sort of intangible.

"What is this?"

He asked as he walked about.

'Oh? Trying to run away?'

The red eyes from before weren't gone. They were staring at him, like a starving beast would look at its meal.

"You! W-What's happened to me?"

'Don't bother asking me. You don't need such answers since I'm about to eat you.'

Before he any questions, he could feel myself being sucked by this being. Something definitely wasn't right with this situation. Giant mouths grabbed him, attempting to swallow him whole.

"N-no."

He realized what was happening. Not like he could have done anything about it either way. No. He could. He could try to run. Right?

So he just tried it. He took a step forward and one of those mouths that had bitten into him disappeared. This was it. He could escape from here. So he took another step and another mouth disappeared. More steps, more mouths disappeared.

Yes! There was hope. He could make it! He could actually survive this Devil. He quickened his pace and soon, he was running. All he needed to do was to escape from this darkness. He however tripped and fell into a huge gaping whole filled with fangs and mouths that tore him up, piece by piece.

'AH... Mom always said not to play with my food.'

***

[You have consumed a whole soul]

[You will receive a 10% permanent increase in stats]

After consuming the soul, I was sent to a dark space, and there was a screen in front of me, showing me various images and videos. I had dubbed this place the [Soul Corridor], because well, I only ever came here whenever I ate a soul. I looked through and found the information I was looking for.

He worked for some criminal mastermind called "Boss", directly under a woman named Maude. He was given orders from this woman to come and kidnap Ulva because the boss wanted her for himself to perform some nefarious deeds.

I was angry at the scene. Everything quickly flashed by me and I was suddenly back in the rat men cave. Reiman came up to me.

"Did you find anything?"

'… Yeah.'

I told him, then I walked passed him and delivered an order.

'I'm going to the Capital of Boulderdane, Keimen City. Get me their armor, cleaned and dispose of their bodies.'

"Understood."

***

I took a look at the clothes. They were actually high grade items that gave not only defense, but had a stealth option on them as well as a dimensional storage of about 5 meters. They possessed a variety of items as well as a teleport ring.

A device that would open up teleport portals to marked locations, which meant that this was not their first time entering Larm. I was so angry, but I couldn't do anything about it. One of the idiots even dropped a mask.

It was a pitch black mask that had a pretty cool golden design with a ruby on it. When I appraised it, I got something interesting.

[Item Name: Performer's Mask – Stealth Edition

[Type: Normal (Non-Consumable)

[Item grade: Mid Magical

[Item Description: A mask created to boost the magical power of its wearer by 2%. The gem on the mask indicates the wearer's affinity

# Affinity boost

# +2% magic power boost

# [Stealth] skill

[Value: 30 silver coins]

[Market price: 2 store points]

'Ah… the fact that this is only 2 store points, while being 30 silver is scary. It means the store points are quite valuable, no? I mean, agent, how much money would I need to build a king's castle?'

<<Notice: 1000 gold coins>>

'W-Wait… only 1000? I expected 10,000 at the very least. Translate that into silver for me.'

<<Notice: 8000 silver coins>>

'Ah… so how much silver would I need to build a lesser noble's house?'

<<Notice: 2,400 silver>>

'Ah… humans in this era have a weird sense of value. Anyway, this mask will be useful.'

I shoved it into my inventory for later.

"Lady Hinotori! I heard about Ulva!"

The one who said this was Sylvie. I was surprised she even cared and the fact that she rushed all the way here. She looked kind of worried and slowly approached me.

"Are you, ok?"

'Yeah. I'm just going to get Ulva back.'

"What?! You're going into the human city to find her?"

She exclaimed.

'Yes.'

I responded. I really wasn't interested in wasting any time here today.

"C-Can I help in anyway?"

[There must be some blah blah here, so figure it out later Future Me! Bloop]

'Yeah. Can you alter these clothes so they fit my human form?'

"Can I see your human form first?"

I showed it to her and she screamed.

"You look so adorable! I want to hug you forever!"

'Sylvie. Get serious here.'

"Oh. Sorry."

She let go of me and scanned me from head to toe.

"What kind of style would you like?"

'I'm not sure. The same style as theirs but with higher defenses and sort of improved? Should also fit me comfortably.'

"I see. Yeah, I think I can make something for you."

'Can you be done before tomorrow?'

"Yeah. No problem."

'Ok. I'm counting on you then.'

She left off with the clothes and I was in the cave by myself, till Minerva came back with a bull deer in hand and a pissed off air about her. She was scowling and I noticed that something was growing out of her forehead. It looked swollen. Did she actually get injured from her fight with the Ogre?

"Is Tori-kun ok?"

She asked and sat next to me.

'Yeah. What happened to your head?'

"Minerva heard the humans take Ulva away, so Minerva was going to destroy the nearby human city to find Ulva."

'And so what happened to your head?'

"Minerva had a really good plan too. Minerva was going to go bash up all the human's heads."

'And so what happened to your head?'

"Goliath stopped Minerva."

'Ah… so that's what happened to your head?'

As if she just heard my question, Minerva finally answered me.

"Huh? This bump? Minerva noticed this after fighting Krull. Minerva doesn't know what happened."

'Ah… so Krull punched you in the forehead and you don't remember anything?'

"Hmm? No, no. Krull did not punch Minerva's head."

She adamantly denied this fact and I could just watch. Either way, it was my fault, so I wouldn't try to play the smarter guy role here.

I also understood where Goliath was coming from. They said Minerva took down a nation, but all she did was beat adventurers, not an actual nation. And if she were to move into their territory, [Overlord] would become quite useless and her loss would be inevitable. Even if she somehow managed to win, other nations would get involved in the matter. One nation's destruction could be seen as a threat to the others, so they would most likely band up just to take care of Minerva. And why stop there? They could clear all the tyrants and take Larm for themselves and after that, go back to backstabbing each other. There was simply no good outcome for the tyrants if Minerva went on a rampage.

"Should Minerva go and fight the hum-"

'No! I-I'll handle this.'

I stopped her before she tried to run away and handle the situation herself. I wondered why Minerva was doing this, though. She ended up actually liking Ulva, huh? Maybe all the times I left those two together made them get closer.

"Tch. Punch the thief for Minerva, then. Also bring some things from the city."

'Stuff? I'm not sure I'll be able to, but sure.'

I told her and both of us just sat there in silence for a while, before Minerva started poking my jelly body again, with me shouting "Piik!" everything time it happened.

Then I got an interesting notice.

[The servant Kawaii is requesting Mana from you. Will you accept their request?]

Ø  [YES]/[NO]

'Kawaii? But… wait, can I see the location of Kawaii?'

<<Affirmative>>

I was then shown a screen with a red dot out in a wilderness. There was a black dot in a tiny mapped out part though, but the red was quite far away from the black dot. I assumed the black dot was me and the red dot was Kawaii. Which meant, my map was incomplete so I wouldn't know Kawaii's exact location till I mapped it out.

I let out a sigh.

'What does it need the mana for?'

<<Notice: That is unknown>>

'Hmm… would you recommend I do it?'

<<…>>

'So you're not sure, huh? I can think up several reasons as to why the slime would be asking me for mana, and most of them look quite reasonable. (No. It's not weird that a sentient slime is asking me for something!)'

'Let it access the mana reserves of the other servants.'

I gave it permission to do so, but I didn't want it touching my reserves. I then sent messages to other servants. I told Shiroi to go into the dungeons I she wanted to get stronger, since she was close to evolving like Yokino was. Since according to the timber wolves, being a king wasn't even in their evolution process. Something about simply being chosen by the Moon Goddess.

I also told her to tell her brother to try it out, but he was being some kind of annoying brat about it. I also told Reiman to make networks to Keimen just in case of anything, although that process would take a lot of time, probably some weeks. Yokino was still sleeping. I didn't know that the evolution process took out so much energy out of anyone.

And I also reorganized the memories I took from the Ciligan guy. I tried finding out more about him, but this bastard was your cliché gang leader. Born and bred on the streets, he was the toughest around and no one dared to mess with him, till some noble man decided to take over the streets. Soon, Ciligan was forcefully absorbed into the man's forces. There, he found love.

Honestly… what a boring story.

______________________________________

The Bee Hive was unusually active today. The bees, insects, fire flies, centipedes and spiders had been moving about, preparing several resources. Obviously, deep in the Bee Hive, existed the Bee Queen. This place was original owned by the Bees, but the former Spider king saw it a fit place to make her nest. That was before her child, the spider known as Yokino, overthrew her.

Yokino could not accomplish this feat on her own. Even as a King, Yokino was never as powerful as her mother. To make up for this, she gathered allies. Pawns, as she would call them. Ten different bug-like monsters, with whom she overtook their heads, created a powerful army just to overtake her mother. This caused a very annoying ruckus in the forest a month ago and after that, no one dared to go bother the Bee Hive.

One of those ten subordinates had made an appearance, after having to take an exhausting trip from the south, where the Giant White Ants roamed. This creature was the current Ant King, and servant of Yokino.

It was almost as big as the former spider king, too heavy to move on its own and being carried by an army of Giant Ants. The king was currently resting in the Bee Hive, waiting its master's appearance. It actually was in a haste, wanting to deliver the news personally.

"Huh? You're here?"

A voice the Ant King recognized all too well came out. However, the weird part was that the voice was not in her head this time. She looked about and could identify a naked human in the cave. No. She couldn't call that thing human. Giant spider legs were sticking out of their back. The person possessed a voluptuous figure, with long curly black hair reaching down to her generously sized chest. She looked wet, as if she had just come out of the bath. Her skin was smooth and fair, and her eyes had no colour to them in the dark.

However, one would be a fool to mistake her for a weak human. The magical aura she was producing was completely absurd, easily surpassing the level of the former spider king.

'My queen… you look… different.'

The ant king could only comment like this.

"Oh? Is that so?"

She asked, looking at her body.

"Hmm… I guess so. Anyway, what are you doing here? And on such short notice."

Yokino switched the topic immediately, trying to get straight to the point. She was a terribly busy creature, always receiving information, giving orders, monitoring the well-being of her subordinates and making sure they grew up strong, powerful and unmatched. Basically, she didn't like it when people wasted her time.

'Yes. I came here quickly to deliver very important news.' The ant king began. Yokino's hands began to produce some threads and her legs went to work, weaving something. 'For the past month, there have been undead mobilizing and killing the monsters in the south.'

"Hmm? Undead? I thought that wasn't out of the ordinary for Larm though. I mean, undead are born in places with condense mana, so Larm is perfect for them, right?"

Yokino said, not even paying attention to the ant king.

'Yes. However, there was something odd about them. They were organized and we felt it quite absurd. At first they took down weak creatures, then slowly proceeded to take down normal monsters. Soon, they were taking down powerful creatures and multiplying. Much like an army. And the other races in the south were speaking of a possible inter-racial war or something.'

"Hmm… Possibly a necromancer."

'Yes. It is a necromancer.'

"Then just start with that next time!"

'Sorry."

"So? Did you see this necromancer?"

Yokino's hands started to glow with vibrant rainbow colours. The Ant King had no idea what that was, but whenever Yokino did it, she would come out with some crazy skill and plan, although before she would see Yokino's claws glowing instead.

'The last to see the necromancer said she was surrounded by five powerful undead. These undead possessed weird horns on their head and looked very old.'

"Ah… that's some bull description right there."

'They also smell off the Zwurix Tombs.'

"Ah! Lead with that next time, you idiot!"

'Sorry.'

The ant king apologized and Yokino sighed. The Ant king took a bite out of the dead creatures that centipedes dragged in for her.

"Hmm, I guess you've done well by telling me this. You deserve a reward."

'A reward? Oh, please give me one master!'

A dog.

That was how Yokino saw the ant king. Just a cute dog. The first time they met, the ant king tried to eat Yokino to survive, but the spider managed to survive. Yokino wanted to kill it, but she couldn't and ended up letting the ant help her and that was when she first got the idea to create a group so they could protect themselves. That lead her to becoming so powerful she just absorbed members into her party one after the other till she defeated her own mother.

"Inu. I shall call you Inu from henceforth."

______________________________________

Later that evening, Sylvie brought the clothes to me. It gave me thrice as much defense as the originals, had the same spatial storage effect from earlier, but she said that the [Stealth] option was removed so she could add the option for higher attack power and smooth magical conductivity by lacing it with some mithril she found in the Bee Hive.

[Item Name: Performer's Gear – Type: Battle

[Type: Normal (Non-Consumable)

[Item grade: Low Rare

[Item Description: A suit crafted for scouts. You can see that its creator put in certain effects that would make one prepared for war or sudden battles. Its wearer needs to be quick on their feet, although even if they were dumb, they wouldn't manage to be killed easily.

# +150 defense

# Inventory (5 m)

# +200 attack power

# 30% Mana Conductance

[Value: 4 gold coins]

[Market price: 5 store points]

I was surprised. Even more so to see that it was perfectly my size even though she never took measurements or anything. She explained to me that she actually could see the measurements of everything and I assumed it had something to do with her unique skill.

I thanked her for it and put it on. She even added a cape that had the stealth function, so in a sense, nothing was lost at all. So if I put them all together as one with the mask, I was actually a sort of ninja at this point.

I wanted to go alone, but Nukeme came, complaining about how it was due to his negligence that Ulva go kidnapped. To be honest, I didn't want to go alone, but I also didn't want to go with him alone.

"Oi! You didn't think you were going anywhere without me, right?"

Looking back, a beautiful tall woman with long flowing red hair, and some of it tied up into a bun with a pair of sticks chocking it. Her face was stunning, with full rosy red lips. Her large eyes had no specific colour, changing depending on which angle one viewed them. She was clothed in a black yukata with blood red spider web designs all over it. She was wearing some sandals, making her look like some kind of European trying to be Japanese.

'Yokino?'

"In the flesh. I look sexy, no?"

'What do you want? I'm busy right now.'

"Tch. This new attitude is no fun. I need the other chicken back, so I'll be helping you."

She said with a pout. Thanks to her, I didn't have to go anywhere with Nukeme. The hob-goblin seemed disappointed, and I didn't care.

I looked at the portal and shrugged. I walked through and she followed after. For a while, I couldn't feel my body. It were almost like I didn't exist, my thoughts clashing and scrambling, but instantly coming back together.

I jumped out of the portal and landed on a wooden table. Yokino came out behind me and then the portal closed up. Looking around, I saw a bunch of rough looking men and women, wearing hoods, armor, carrying armors, drinking alcohol, eating or playing games. They all stopped their activities and were now looking at us.

They wouldn't be able to see my face through my mask and since I was new, I was definitely suspicious. I jumped down the table and moved towards the counter, Yokino moving right behind me.

"Hey there! New guys in town, don't mind us."

Yokino spoke the human tongue, confusing me.

'You can speak human?'

'Yeah, so just leave the talking to me. It'll be even more suspicious to see you using [Telepathy] instead of actual speech.'

"What can I get ya?"

The bar tender came over. He was a round man, with no hair and three claw marks over his face. He wore round glasses and had a scary expression. He wore a green vest over his white shirt which had been rolled up, revealing his hairy arms.

"Water for the kid, a lil bit of the usual for me."

Yokino said.

"That'll cost ya 4 coppers."

He said.

"Oh really? Sorry, but I think I left my money at the other side of the portal."

Yokino tried to lie to him. I noticed her using her skill [Lustful Gaze], but it had no effect on the man.

"Then go get it."

He said then walked away to another person on the counter.

'Well that didn't go too well.'

I mused.

'I'd like to see you try.'

She said to me.

'I can't speak, remember?'

'Well, theoretically you should be able to, especially since this is your human body.'

She said something I hadn't even thought about. I opened my mouth, in an attempt to produce sound, and yes sound came. Now that I had lips, I could properly manipulate my speech hopefully, and with the agent giving me the translations, I should be able to speak, although my pronunciations might have been a bit off.

"I… see."

I said and the spider looked surprised.

"Since when did you know human language?"

"Always."

I told her, trying to sound cocky.

"Ha! As if, you stupid bird brain."

"Shut… it! You… idiot… bug… eyes!"

"Hahaha! You still can't talk properly."

"Tch."

Yokino had a blast laughing at me, and even wiped a tear from her eye.

"That's the chicken I know, now. Don't let little matters just upset you so easily. We'll get Ulva and we'll be back home before you know it, alright?"

She managed to cheer me up, something the others hadn't been aheir body, slim and greedy gazes.

"Heya, you guys are new to town, ain't that the case?"

One of them said. His name was Eridin and he was hitting on Yokino. The Arachne looked at him and showed a devilish smile.

"Yeah, we're new. You boys gonna show us the ropes?"

She asked. And the other guy licked his lips.

"Yeah, we'll show ya. And it won't even cost ya a copper."

"Oh my, then I guess I better follow you, then. Let's go, little Tori."

Yokino called out to me. She was planning on grabbing the man in an alleyway and torturing him for information and money. I was down for her idea, until the other guy placed his hand on my chest.

"Hohoho, sorry. I kinda slipped- OH!"

I grabbed his hand and flipped him over the counter. I made sure to twist his wrist to cause him pain. He kept wriggling in pain on the counter.

"Ow! OW! T-That hurts. Stop! Stop!"

"Sorry… I… slipped."

I mocked him.

'Um, chicken. I think it would be best if you stopped now.'

I looked back and everyone in the bar was looking at me with stretched out hands. To be honest, I wasn't scared, because the average human here wasn't strong at all. No wonder they bore scars and wounds. Even bull deer could kill them. My only problem, was the bar tender.

This guy was not normal in the slightest.

"I'd believe it best you stopped now."

He threatened. His sharp emerald eyes would have been more than enough for me to stop in the first place. I let go of the man's wrist and walked next to Yokino.

'I think we should leave now.'

She nodded and followed after me. The bar tender however said something before I left.

"You. You're from that guy's battalion, right? That Lion bastard."

Confused, I wanted to ask more, but I was too scared to do so. I felt like if I ventured further, that night wouldn't end well for me.