[OPHELIA, OPHELIA,
SWEET, NAIVE OPHELIA
YOU WHO LOVED MORE SINCERELY THAN ANYONE BUT RECEIVED ONLY HATE
OPHELIA, OPHELIA,
BETRAYED, BROKEN OPHELIA
IS IT A CURSE IN YOUR NAME OR A SIMPLE PRANK OF FATE?
YOUR SUFFERING WRENCHES THE SOUL OF THIS MERE OBSERVER,
WHO WATCHES LIKE THE GODS BUT IS POWERLESS AGAINST THE ODDS
DON'T YOU HATE HER OPHELIA?!
DON'T YOU DESIRE HER OPHELIA?!
THE KNIFE IN YOUR NECK I CAN FEEL IN MY HEART
EVEN ASKING FOR SO LITTLE YOU WERE LEFT WITH NOTHING
DAMNED BE LOVE! SUCH MERCILESS BEAST AND YET SO BEWITCHING
HOW CAN ONE BE SILENT BEFORE SUCH TRAGEDY?!
SUCH WONDERFUL PASSION AND YET ONLY A FANTASY
FELICIA IS YOURS AND REVENGE WILL BE MINE!
SUCH I SWEAR TO THE MAIDEN, THE MOTHER AND THE CRONE
FOR BETRAYAL HAS A PRICE WHICH CAN BE DENIED BY NONE!
OH, OPHELIA!
TENACIOUS, BLOOD-SOAKED OPHELIA!]

Ophelia hummed a tune as she skipped a few steps behind a group of adventurers of which she was the sixth member.

“What is that tune?” a lion-like bipedal beast asked Ophelia. He wore a mix of brown fur and leather armor, complementing his already impressive mane with two longswords strapped to his back. Apparently his name was Leo.

“Ah, a fan wrote a poem for me,” Ophelia cheerfully answered.

“A fan?”

“Yea, sort of—we spoke a bit today. I think it might be infatuated with me, though I’m not sure I can reciprocate.” Ophelia put a finger to her lip and looked at the sky as if pondering a deep philosophical question.

“R-right, good for you!” The beastkin said and the conversation ended.

Ophelia’s smile vaporized the moment beastkin turned away from her. She detested disingenuous interest.

The group went beyond the city walls about an hour ago, the afternoon sun was still high, and yet the surroundings quickly deteriorated. Plants withered, the grass seemed more yellow the further they got from the city. Ophelia didn’t hear a single bird for a while now as their leader took them deeper into the sick forest.

[*yawn* That was an excellent nap, what’s happening? Hm? Ah, I see. Well, aren’t you a precious little thing. You understand that pesky things like death, dimensions, and morality are nothing in the face of love. Congratulations on making it one step closer to your dear Felicia. She left you once already so make sure you find a way to ensure that that NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN. Perhaps find a way to share your newfound immortality. That should keep her from going somewhere difficult. Best of luck child, I'm rooting for you.]

Sharing that supposed immortality skill does sound like a good idea if only to test if it actually works. Ophelia theorized. The problem would be if it did work and I found myself with an uncooperative immortal.

“Stay close!” Thunderage shouted to his party. As far as Ophelia could tell he was some sort of a golem. But not a slow, heavy pile of rocks. Rather, Thunderage was a sleek, six feet tall machine made of wood and metal. “From here on out we will run into the demon spawn. Most of them in this area consists of Oggle-eyes and Gridders, but with your Battle Powers even those can be deadly if they surround you!”

“Why do we have to wait until Bronze rank get that Battle Power measuring-thingy?” asked Babette, a blonde woman with a long wooden staff in her hands and gigantic mammaries hidden underneath her black dress, and the only other human in the party besides Ophelia. “My daddy can pay if that’s the issue.”

“Wait, aren’t you, like, thirty-five at least?” Caelan gasped. The sleek cheetah-like beastkin was the archer of the group. His features, while also cat-like, were far more animal-like compared to Lucy. “You still call your father “daddy”?”

“Ew, my father? Obviously not?”

“But—“

“It takes too long to make one!” Thunderage loudly interrupted the conversation. “There’s no point in handing them out to every greenhorn that’s going to get himself digested within a week. Just concentrate on the task at hand—kill twelve Elite Gridders, collect their soul stones and return without anyone getting ripped into teeny-tiny pieces. That alone will already be above the average.”

“Being unable to see either the power or health of our enemies seems to put expose us to greater danger than necessary,” Leo argued.

“Relying too much on Battle Power readings has gotten many inexperienced adventurers slaughtered. And it’s also the reason why the Guild kindly provides the information on surrounding areas and possible encounters.”

[Perhaps the people fear a different Felicia than the one you love? Try to convince the Catgirl to help you searching for a friend you can’t find who has coincidentally the same name as the Felicia they know.]

“Judging by what the catgirl said before, there can be little doubt about who we’re both thinking about,” Ophelia said walking behind the group. “And also, I vaguely remember those... things mentioning her.”

Lucy audibly growled. Judging by the protruding veins in her clenched fists, to the point that blood dripping from the nails digging into the flesh, it was blatantly obvious how much it took out of Lucy to ignore Ophelia. Which was probably the reason Leo always made sure to stay between them.

[This is all just a simulation inside your head.]

“LIAR!” Ophelia shouted. Everyone, including Lucy, paused and turned their heads toward Ophelia, staring at her bewildered.

“Oh, don’t mind me!” Ophelia smiled back at them. “Just talking to the voices in my head.”

“NYA!” Lucy kicked a rock and it flew into the half-dead bushes ahead, barely missing Thunderage’s head.

[Welcome back from the previous chapter. Don't trip... I said don't trip! I'll call you sane, cause we're all in sane, get it? we will see you next chapter.]

Ophelia didn’t trip—she was getting used to the voices surprisingly quickly. Though she groaned at the painful pun.

“Stop!” Thunderage shouted. Three slime-like creatures slid out of the bushes, where Lucy’s rock landed. They were purple, about three feet in diameter with a giant, pure-white eye in the middle and three swirling tentacles sticking out of each of them.

“Ophelia! Babette! Calean!” Thunderage called out. “I want you to attack one of those each. Don’t worry—their BP averages at one hundred thirty-one.”

“Pfft!” Babette snorted. “You two go ahead, otherwise I might obliterate all three by accident.”

Ophelia walked over to Thunderage, but decided to first observe how Calean would fare. The cheetah wasted no time and unleashed a flurry of arrows peppering the monster with them until it stopped moving.

The remaining two Oogle-eyes slowly crawled forward, stretching their slimy but short tentacles that were barely longer than their bodies.

Ophelia threw one of her throwing knives and hit the monster directly in the eye.

[Skill unlocked!]
[Knife-Crazy  – lvl 1 (1%).
Passive. Physical.
User’s life-long obsession with Knives made User extremely proficient with Knives. All Knife Skills deal additional 150% damage.]

[Skill unlocked!]
[Deadly Knife Throw – lvl 1 (1%).
Active. Physical.
Cost: 5% MP
User throws a knife at a Single Target’s vital spot. Deals 105% Physical damage. 10% Critical Chance. Requires Throwing Knife Weapon.]

Ophelia dismissed the popping information tabs like pop-up ads and wasted no time throwing making a Deadly Knife Throw. Another direct hit and the second monster also stopped moving.

They’re weaklings! Was the only conclusion Ophelia drew from this encounter.

“Fire Ball!” Babette shouted and launched a ball of fire from her staff. Twice the size of an Oogle-eye the fire incinerated the last monster.

“Thought as much,” Thunderage sighed. “You should remember this well—your Battle Power measures your stats. And while it does take into account your skills and their levels, it is very poor at estimating their true worth or predicting how they would interact. Oh, and as you saw Oogle-eyes are very easy to deal with at range.”

Doesn’t that make Battle Power almost worthless when comparing opponents? Ophelia couldn’t help but wonder.

[Well, if you don't want to damage your precious gift from Felicia, you can take it off before a fight. Might create some interesting distractions, and will help keep it safe until you find something more suitable for a person like yourself. Who knows maybe you will get a status boost from fighting in the nude.]

“You might have a point!” Ophelia said and unbuttoned her dress.

“Of course I do!” Thunderage said and then looked at Ophelia. “Wait, what are you doing?”

[Fighting in the nude is suboptimal in the majority of situations, please avoid to do so.]

“It didn’t provide that many stats when I analyzed it,” Ophelia said but paused the undressing for a moment.

[That is true of a world with no system, but this one does have a system. So we have no idea if that is the case or not. Regardless, I only suggested it to protect the precious maid outfit]

“Um, it’s getting kind of hot!” Ophelia said loudly so that everyone could hear her. “Do you mind if I take this outfit off?”

“NYA!? Yes, we do-nya!” Lucy protested, but Ophelia proceeded to undress, leaving only the belts on her thighs where she held her knives. She walked to the side of the group and found a large rock to hide the dress under.

[Achievement unlocked!]
[Exhibitionist!
Walk around naked in front of strangers.]

It seemed Ophelia did not gain any stat boost from being nude.

[I had some doubts but you’re truly as innocent as a child huh? So THAT PERSON is crueler than I thought...]

“I’m not a child!” Ophelia shouted.

“Oh, I can see that!” Calean said and whistled while checking out Ophelia’s young body and perky breasts.

[I have been saying whatever I feel like and you’re barely paying attention... Fair enough I suppose. Is there something YOU wish to know?]

“Where Felicia is?” Ophelia answered the question with a question. But I’ll find out from Lucy soon enough.

“Is it just me or is it really getting hotter?” Leo asked and loosened his leather armor a bit.

[Look behind you.]

Ophelia turned around and saw a giant meatball on fire, rolling in her direction. It was larger than nearby trees and easily mowed down everything in its path, leaving a flaming trail behind it.

[2 INT! Wow! Maybe do some intelligence gathering while you're getting money! LOL!]

Ophelia found nothing funny about running for her life from a burning meatball. She jumped out of its path. The meatball stopped itself when it reached where the rest of Ophelia’s adventurer party used to be—they were fast enough to also not get caught.

Then the burning ball of meat unveiled its true form. A gory-red sphere, forty feet high, made of flesh and guts, that somehow did not burn away. If it had eyes, Ophelia could not see them. Out of its body six oily, gutsy, burning tentacles grew, each at least twenty feet long, however less than a foot in girth.

“B-b-b-battle Power one thousand two hundred?” The leader of the party stuttered looking at the creature before him. “What the hell is this thing doing all the way here?”

The monster slowly raised one of its oily, gutsy, burning tentacles into the air, high above its main body, ready to crush the sleek golem.

[Get ready for the rib cage slaughter!]

With its burning tentacle still raised the meatball swiftly pierced Thunderage’s chest with another tentacle it had on the ground.

“GAH—” Thunderage bled out a black liquid from his chest and mouth, grabbing the tentacle with both hands, trying to pull it out.

Instead, the meatball raised the tentacle with the impaled adventurer and violently shook it, ripping Thunderage apart, sending his body parts flying in different directions.

Then it sent out its other tentacles, eager to violate the remaining five adventurers.

Ophelia managed to dodge one of the burning tentacles,

[Mind the step there—]

but got knocked off her feet by another tentacle that swiped horizontally the entire area.

[Ah you fell! Well you know what they say, cause I don't, and before I leave you, keep an eye out for cliche anime tropes and explosive lemons, see you next chapter.]

The tentacle continued to move in a radius around the creature, looking to disable the adventurer’s from below, while they worried about tentacles coming from above. This leveled the entire forest area around the monster and set it ablaze, feeding off of the collapsed trees and their stumps.

Ophelia got back to her feet and ran out of the meatball’s range, where she saw Lucy. The catgirl discarded what remained of her burnt clothes and petted her tail that had a nasty burn mark.

[Find cookies. Everyone loves cookies and it will be a temporary way to control the catgirl until I can teach you the slave spell, unless you go to a mage tower and learn magic and this spell there. Did I say the last part out loud? The other voice might be angry at me if I say too much but it's not like I care.]

“Hey, catgirl!” Ophelia shouted at Lucy. “Do you know of any mage towers around? Preferably the ones that teach magic? I’ll give you a cookie!”

“Bite me!” Lucy snapped at Ophelia.

Then they both saw why the giant meatball remained seemingly idle—it already had another prey. The burning monster raised one of its tentacles where it held Leo by his leg, hanging helplessly upside down and screaming. Most of his leg was on fire, and the fire slowly spread to the rest of his body.

[I hope you're ready for...]

Still holding screaming Leo by his leg, the meatball shoved another burning tentacle into his mouth and continued shoving it deeper and deeper inside as Leo writhed in agony. His belly bulged and burst, spraying blood and guts on top of the meatball.

“No... No, I was not ready for that!” Ophelia uttered and stood for a second genuinely stunned.

“NYOOOOOO!” Lucy fell to her knees and cried.

They were now four versus the meatball.

But the meatball did not stay idle. It extended it’s tentacles and unleashed them again, in all directions.

Ophelia dashed and shoved Lucy away. A meat-fire-tentacle slammed into the ground where they both were was just a second ago.

Ophelia found herself on top of Lucy. For now, they again seemed out of range, as the monster concentrated its attack in the other part of the burning forest—probably chasing the other two adventurers.

“Do you want to live or not?” Ophelia wanted to know whether she just wasted her energy for nothing.

“Nyo, wait, I do! What do nyu want? Mage nyower? If nyu get me out of nyere alive, I’ll get nyu to the mages!”

[Go for the ears next time you get close to the catgirl and rub them softly]

Ophelia softly rubbed Lucy’s fluffy ear.

“Nya!” Lucy blushed.

“Deal!” Ophelia whispered into the catgirl’s ear as their naked bodies touched.