"Aaaah, stop! Please, please, stop! Aaahhh!!"

   "Where are they?!!"

   "Aaaah, I don't know, I don't know anything!!!"

   ......................

   Watching from a distance of about 20 meters as Lucy poured vodka over the dozens of sword cuts on the dark elf's body while he screamed and writhed in pain, Rina found it hard to believe that the catgirl in front of her, seemingly possessed by a demon that feeds on the suffering of others, was the same catgirl who just a few minutes ago didn't want to leave her embrace.

   'She is truly frightening in these moments. I don't want to admit it, but that's the truth. It's as if these acts of extreme violence are nothing more than a game to her. Even the rage she shows when the dark elf refuses to answer questions doesn't seem genuine...'

   Rina didn't feel too comfortable seeing Lucy torture the dark elf mercilessly because in her mind, Lucy was a much more sensitive person than she was in reality. However, thinking that Lucy was doing all this to avenge the harm caused to her by the dark elf and for the good of her village, she managed to accept this side of Lucy's personality even if it could be considered downright malevolent.

   'What does it matter how she behaves with others! As long as Lucy values me and makes me happy, she's the best for me!'
   ...............................

   "No, ahhhh!!"

   "Speak, you bastard! You used to have a big mouth and never stopped talking! Now all you know is how to scream..."

   "Ahhhhhhh!!!"

   "It seems you want to test my patience...."

   "Bang!!"

   Seeing that the dark elf had once again lost consciousness after delivering a powerful punch to his head, Lucy decided to take a short break to think of a new strategy because, after 15 minutes of causing unbearable pain to the dark elf, she hadn't been able to extract any useful information from him.

   'Damn it! At this rate, it might take several more hours until I manage to find out something useful from him. Why are his lips so sealed? If he's some mercenary, he shouldn't be this loyal. No, in case he has a partner, he probably thinks he has a better chance of surviving if he stalls for time. Yes, if he believed he had no way out, he would probably have answered all my questions by now, even realizing I'll kill him after he loses his value.'

   Concluding that there was a good chance someone would come looking for the dark elf, Lucy activated all her passive ocular powers, which allowed her, after the last enhancement, to see everything up to a distance of 400 meters, even through trees, and she began scanning the entire area for anything unusual.

   'Hmmm, I haven't seen anyone. Have those accompanying him not noticed that something's wrong yet? It's also possible that my deduction is incorrect...Anyway, I think I should prepare for the worst...'

   "Hey, Lucy! Did something happen?", Rina asked, alarmed by Lucy's actions.

   Looking towards Rina, who still had her pants stained with blood from her wound, Lucy decided it was more important to protect her at that moment than to wait for a special event to give Rina the necklace she took from the dark elf's neck, so as she walked towards Rina, she took it out of her storage space and began disinfecting it with the remaining vodka.

   "No, at least not yet. I have a suspicion that someone will come looking for the dark elf because he's too stubborn. Anyway, I wanted to wait until tonight to give you this necklace as a gift, but I think it would be better if you wear it from now on....", Lucy said as she reached Rina, holding the necklace with both her hands, intending to put it around Rina's neck.

   Since Rina wasn't the type to hesitate when receiving a gift, she made no attempt to refuse the necklace. Instead, she moved her thick hair to one side to make it easier for Lucy to put it around her neck.

   "Mmm, it looks fantastic! It's like it was made for you..." Lucy said after placing the necklace around Rina's neck, admiring the ruby in the center of the necklace positioned above Rina's ample chest.

   "Thank you, Lucy! I love it so much! I've never had the chance to wear such a precious accessory!" Rina exclaimed. Although she wasn't a big fan of jewelry, she was very excited about how much Lucy valued her, giving her such an expensive gift, so she then embraced Lucy and gave her a passionate kiss.

   "Haa... Rina... You learn very quickly...", Lucy said after Rina allowed her brain to oxygenate. "Anyway, this necklace not only looks great but also has the ability to protect you from attacks, even surprise ones. Look!"

   Approaching the edge of her ninja sword towards Rina's hand, the necklace immediately created a magical barrier just a few centimeters before touching her skin, deflecting the sword with force.

   "Huh, it's amazing! Such a device is only found in the higher levels of a Dungeon. How did you get it?", Rina asked, the value of the necklace increasing many times over in her eyes.

   "Well, we have to thank the dark elf for delivering it to us..."

   Hearing Lucy's response, it didn't take long for Rina to understand that the necklace belonged to the dark elf, and Lucy confiscated it after defeating him.

   "Do you mean it was worn by the dark elf? Then how did you break through the barrier it forms?"

   "I couldn't penetrate the barrier. I won because the dark elf ran out of enough mana for the necklace to work. From what I deduced during the fight, the necklace has no energy source but operates by absorbing the wearer's mana. So, you shouldn't rely too much on it, just keep it with you to protect yourself from surprise attacks...", Lucy explained, not wanting Rina to become reckless in battle like the dark elf.

   Afterward, Lucy bought two cleansing potions from the Ninja Shop, giving one to Rina to drink to remove the blood stains from her leg wound and consuming one herself, as she had a few blood splatters on her clothes from interrogating the dark elf.

   "Why did you decide to clean us up? Don't you plan to continue interrogating the dark elf?", Rina asked, hesitating to drink the potion because she didn't want to deplete Lucy's resources.

   "My plan to capture the partner of the dark elf involves having no distinctive marks on my clothes. As for you, I want my girlfriend to always look well-groomed, so you'll make me happy if you consume it. Anyway, don't worry about running out of potions; I have a few thousand at my disposal...", Lucy reassured, suspecting what Rina was thinking and trying to convince her not to be frugal.

   "Hmm, then why didn't you give me one earlier when I was covered in sweat?", Rina asked, then removed the flask's cap and emptied it in one gulp.

   "What can I say? You were extremely attractive at that moment, so I wanted to keep you in that state for a bit longer..."

   Hearing Lucy's explanation, Rina felt the urge to bite her ears again, but knowing it wasn't the right time, she decided to spare her until the evening.

   "Let's save this discussion for later. You said you had a plan. What does it involve?", Rina asked, not wanting to be caught off guard again by Lucy's actions.

   "So, my plan is to use a substitute made of black vines to continue interrogating the elf, while I'll stay close to you in disguise, alongside two more substitutes posing as your bodyguards. If the elf's partner shows up, he'll most likely attack the lone substitute very close to the dark elf, and as soon as he approaches, he'll be captured...". Lucy explained. She immediately created three Black Vines Substitutes with a half-hour lifespan and then purchased three white masks of different cat faces from the Ninja Shop, placing one on her face and the others on the faces of two of her substitutes.

   "They look exactly like you. No wonder you managed to fool me twice using this skill...", Rina said, amazed at how real Lucy's substitutes were.

   "Well, if that impressed you, I think the last skill I obtained will blow your mind..."

   Lucy could already imagine how surprised Rina would be when facing a team formed by her and 2-3 clones of herself.

   'Hehe! No matter how strong your arms are, you won't be able to handle us. How was it said? Hercules was the strongest and could defeat anyone, but even he couldn't defeat two at once.'

   Although Rina was curious about which skill Lucy was referring to, she deduced from Lucy's tone that she probably had no intention of giving any clues, so she didn't ask for more information and brought up the current situation, asking Lucy for her ideas on how to convince the dark elf to talk.

   In truth, if Rina hadn't been present, Lucy would have used even more violent torture methods than pouring alcohol over cuts, such as crushing a limb or tearing out nails, as she was very angry that the dark elf dared to injure one of Rina's legs, which, for Lucy, were true works of art created by nature. Therefore, it couldn't be said that she was out of ideas.

   'Hmmm, I have plenty of ideas, but all of them would turn me into the antagonist of a horror story in Rina's eyes. Maybe it's time to try one of my latest ocular powers, the one to induce the opponent into a dream controlled by me. Since I have no experience using it, I don't think I'll get great results, but it's still better than continuing at the same pace...'

   After approaching the unconscious dark elf with her unmasked substitute, Lucy bought another Healing Potion from the Ninja Shop, then, she administered it to the dark elf using the substitute to avoid getting her hands dirty. As soon as he showed signs of waking up, Lucy ordered the substitute to forcibly open his eyes, and she looked directly into them, the stars in her black eyes moving towards the center, gathering into two circles rotating faster and faster, eventually forming two rings of light.

   ..............................

   At a distance of 10 kilometers from Lucy and Rina's location, a group of 5 people stood around a fire, the scattered food remnants around them indicating that they had just finished eating.

   "Yara, it's been an hour since Silas left! Why hasn't he sent any signal so far?", impatiently inquired a young human man who appeared to be no older than 20, addressing a young dark elf woman sitting on a rock a bit further from the fire, sharpening a knife, her face completely covered up to her nose.

   "I have no way of knowing, young master. Perhaps he encountered some problem...", replied the dark elf woman, continuing to sharpen her knife nonchalantly.

   "Well, don't you think you should go after him to see what happened? The sun has already risen!", the young human asked again, growing increasingly frustrated with the indifference of the young dark elf woman his father had sent to protect him.

   "I can't do that. Your father told me to stay by your side permanently..."

   "Bang!"

   "I am the leader of this mission, so you better do as I say!", yelled the young man after throwing an empty mug from beside him onto the rock where the young dark elf woman was seated.

   He couldn't fathom what was in his father's mind when he hired the two dark elves. One of them talks too much and senselessly, boring him again and again throughout the journey, and the other seems completely detached from reality, not taking him seriously at all. When he first met Yara, he had a very favorable impression of her. Despite her covered face, with only her penetrating purple eyes visible, her very attractive body kept him sleepless for many nights. However, after spending nearly a month trying to get her into his bed, using both sweet talk and threats, he not only failed but made her view him like a clown and take him not at all seriously.

   "Whatever..." the young dark elf woman finally said, standing up, the knife instantly disappearing from her hand.

   She didn't even glance at the young man, the son of Marquis Olsen, let alone say anything more, and advancing towards a densely shaded area, she became completely invisible.

   "Whore! I don't know why she's so proud of herself. She's just a lowly creature who would do anything for my father's money...", the Marquis's son muttered as he saw Yara leave, his words immediately gaining approval from the other three human men, although none would have dared to say such words if Yara, a level 71 Assassin, were present.