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As the night went by, the whole tribe feasted in the Orcs and Lizardmen until nothing, but bones were left. Despite having the characteristics of squirrels, Squirrel-kin beast-women had voracious appetites and they accustomed themselves to eating large quantities of meat when it was hard to gather fruits, tuberculous, and other plant-based food. ??
Ervas and Veronica's group were given a large tent to stay in, the entire tribe seemed very kind to them, and they were invited to stay indefinitely if they desired.
It seems that saving the life of the chief in front of most of the tribe really gave the party a head start.
Inside the tent, the party prepared to sleep, Ervas, who usually slept in a bed made out of his plants was now given a comfy cradle by Ismene.
"This one was used by my Amelia when she was a tiny little baby, make sure to take good care of it!" said Ismene with a bright smile.
"…It wasn't necessary…" muttered Ervas.
"Ah, lady Ismene, don't listen to my son, he is very grateful for the cradle," said Jason.
"Fufu, I'm happy if he's happy then~ By the way, Jason, wouldn't you mind sleeping in my tent?" asked Ismene.
"Please, lady Ismene… I am a married man…" muttered Jason.
Ismene sighed with a mild smile as she patted Ervas and Pekorina.
"Very well then, you're hard to get, but I am not giving up you stud!" said Ismene leaving the tent while dangling her fluffy squirrel-like tail.
Ismene was one of the women that could not get pregnant in the last mating season and was still ovulating. Most of the women that did not manage to copulate would calm down their hormones after three to five months from the mating season.
Jason felt a bit overwhelmed by such a culture, even more, when he considered that he might spend a lot of time here with his son and the rest of the party.
"She is not giving up at all… Well, I should change Jobs and Evolve," said Ervas, as he floated towards his cradle and decided to change Jobs and Rank Up.
"My son, you're already evolving again?!" shouted Jason.
"Yes, I must evolve to keep earning Experience Points in my Rank. It is a nice way to grow strong quickly, though it will become slower from Rank 4 onwards," said Ervas.
"Bilililili!" said Cthulhu, who had become a bit bigger, and his green skin became dark green, his eyes seemed luminescent in pinkish-red colors and his bat-like wings became wider. After the fight against the Gazer army, he had Ranked up to a Rank 4 Shadow Otherworldly Aberration Spawn.
"After all, we must grow as strong as possible to fight against that High Gazer King… I never expected that we would end up crossing our path against a sealed Demon God…" said Veronica.
After the fight, and while the Orcs and Lizardmen meat were being grilled, Ervas quickly used 'Mind Encroachment' into the captured Gazer, learning many things from his memories, which he stored inside of his mind using the 'Memory Retention' Skill.
He and the party then learned about Oggoth, the sealed Demon God behind the existence of the Gazers in the Devil Forest, which are such a rare species of monster that are often non-existent in the Human Continent. They learned most of his true intentions and the basics of his plans.
After having extracted all the info, the Gazer was then killed by Veronica, managing to reach level 100 in her Rank as well.
"Are we really going to fight against a Rank 8 monster?! Do we even stand a chance?!" asked Jason, losing hope.
A Rank 8 monster was considered a calamity by most societies, a monster capable of destroying a whole town by itself, and capable of fighting against several Rank D or C Adventurer Teams. Only an experienced C-Rank Adventure party or a B-Rank Adventurer would be able to slay it.
And within the whole tribes of the Devil Forest, there has not been reported any such strong individual, the strongest warriors were the Ghoul Tribes, but even them were only comparable to Rank 4 or 5 monsters.
Even if a whole party or an army gathered, there would be tremendous casualties before the High Gazer King were to fall, perhaps hundreds of people would die before that were to happen.
Ervas and Veronica were not planning on sacrificing so many people over such a cause.
The worst part was not only this but that there was also a sealed Demon God in the depths of the dungeon ruins. How strong Oggoth could be was a mystery, but Ervas and Veronica assumed that although it could not manifest itself, it could use his Mana and Mental Encroachment powers to fight, and without a solid body to hit, it would be able to easily defeat anything that wasn't an S-Rank Adventurer or a monster above Rank 12 because no matter how hard one tried, simple mortals that haven't step into the superhuman amongst superhumans realm were not capable of damaging Demon Gods, not even if it were greatly weakened and sealed.
Of course, Ervas and Veronica were exceptions.
"As long as you train that Soul Break skill?? it should be possible," said Ervas.
"You should also learn it, wouldn't you?" asked Veronica.
"Well yes, you also need to learn Parallel Though Processing," said Ervas.
"There is a lot to work for," said Veronica.
"Miss Veronica… my son… should we just run away instead of confronting such a thing?" asked Jason.
"I think the same, you two are insane if you think you will even stand a chance against a Demon God, even if it is sealed!" said Shade.
"No, it is possible," said Ervas.
"Yes, it should be," said Veronica.
"H-How are you two so confident?!" shouted Shade and Jason at the same time.
"Isn't it obvious? There are many tools that we can use to our advantage, as long as we spend some months training and sharpening ourselves, it should be possible," said Ervas.
"It is doable. Soul Break is a skill that lets me break souls. It seems to be a skill that no one has ever discovered up until now due to the System showing it as a 'Unique Skill'. With enough magic and mana from Ervas's side, we should be able to break the weakened Demon God… it is even more doable when we consider that it is sealed and cannot use his original powers aside from the residual effects that his Mana can provoke," said Veronica, giving a very thoughtful resume of her confidence.
"We don't have experience killing Gods, but this is a unique occasion where it should be possible, as the god itself cannot even use his godly powers other than his pressure and mental encroachment… which we are immune to," said Ervas.
"You are immune to mental encroachment?!" shouted Jason.
"Well yes, the Gazer tried to break our minds apart several times when we interacted with him, but it was useless… and when I tried using Mind Encroachment on Veronica, I became lost in an endless sea of shadows, it is impossible to break her mind," said Ervas.
"I don't have Mind Encroachment, but when I connected my soul to Ervas and tried to look upon it, I found an endless and hollow void, I became lost a bit…" said Veronica.
"You two are really… something else completely…" muttered Pekorina.
Jason and Shade could not speak anymore, it was obvious that applying common sense to Veronica and Ervas was useless. Their whole existences were already incredibly unique. Both of them had developed souls so deformed and strange that it could only be compared to those of Demon Gods… which was necessary to fight another Demon God.
Veronica and Ervas were also looking forward to the possibility of absorbing some of Oggoth's powers in the process of defeating him or at least putting him to sleep by damaging his sealed soul and slowly eroding his existence through Soul Break.
"Just like that Death Mage from one of Earth's novels!" thought Veronica.
Of course, both of them were not recklessly charging against a Demon God unprepared, neither would risk their lives pointlessly, proper planning and gathering of strength were needed.
"Tomorrow the whole tribe is going to have a massive powerup! Jobs are really something wonderful!" said Pekorina, who had recently changed Jobs through the Job-Changing Crystal that Ervas had stolen from the Evergreen Village.
Pekorina had changed Jobs to 'Apprentice Warrior' as she had talent in fighting with her legs, which were very strong as she was a Rabbit-kin beast-girl. She planned on learning more Unarmed Fighting Techniques regarding her kicking from Veronica.
As the tribes of beast-people and demons were mostly nomads and never had many connections with gods in the past, they did no own a Job-Changing Crystal, and it seems that their Heroic Gods have not given them any through miracles, which could be justified by them being too weakened after the Ragnar?k to intervene directly with their children.
The tribes were already outstanding despite being not capable of changing Jobs… And now with Ervas bringing such a gift, their already developed abilities would develop even further.
As many things were discussed by everyone, Ervas decided to glance at his available Job Options.
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Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m