Ryan abruptly turned to Grace. "What did you say?"
Grace sighed. "We don't know what happened, but she suddenly started screaming and began to change into... well, we don't exactly know."
Ryan looked at Lizzy. If anyone knew something, it would be her.
"Sorry, Master," Lizzy looked down. "I don't know what happened either."
"Take me."
===
Joy stood looking at the horizon, feeling the wind against her cheek as she watched the sun begin to set over the ocean far in the distance.
The 'Master sure set up his realm nice,' Joy thought.
"Joy?"
Hearing a voice call her name, she smiled, and her body shook in anticipation of seeing his face.
"Joy, is that you?" Ryan asked as he took a step closer to her.
Ryan could only see her back at the moment, but he already saw something different.
Black wings protruded from her shoulder blades, making her look slightly like Lizzy or Izzy from behind.
But Ryan could instantly tell she wasn't a demon because no horns or tail adorned her petite figure.
'Speaking of her figure... has she grown?'
As Ryan got closer, he tried to picture what she looked like before, the afraid and skinny girl, but couldn't.
From behind, she held her back straight, and although she still had a child-like quality about her, it didn't seem to be from a 5-year-old but a teenager.
As she slowly turned around, Ryan was shocked by her appearance. Her white skin seemed almost transparent compared to her jet-black hair that flowed down past her shoulders.
Her eyes were now crimson instead of brown.
But the biggest change was her smile.
Long fangs jutted out of her upper jaw as she grinned at him. "Master," Joy said with an unmistakable sense of excitement. "I've been waiting for you to visit."
"W-What happened?" Ryan stammered, taken aback by how different she looked. "And wait... you can talk?"
Joy laughed and threw herself on his chest, hugging tightly to his body and pushing her face into his neck. She gave a few happy little mews while rubbing up against his body.
Ryan couldn't help but laugh and returned the gesture, rubbing the little girl's head comfortingly between his hands.
"I am no longer a child, Master," Joy said, pouting. "Now that you're here, we'll be able to do all sorts of things together!"
Ryan coughed and tried to back away from the girl, but she clung tighter to him.
"Joy, let go. We need to talk about things slowly."
She tightened her hold even more as she started crying, mumbling something in an unknown language as her tears dripped onto his shoulder.
"Hush now..." He stroked her hair. "We'll get everything worked out soon."
Ryan calmed the small child before he asked again, "What happened? What did you change into?"
"Oh! Oh!" Joy suddenly stopped sobbing and looked up at him. "You don't know what you've done for me!" She looked at him with a bright smile on her face.
"Did for you?" Ryan repeated. "What do you mean?"
"You helped me break free from my shackles."
"I'm a vampire, a member of the race of the big 7."
===
2.5 weeks later (30 days until the wedding...)
Ryan stalked toward his meeting point, his journey finally nearing its completion.
Over the course of the previous two and a half weeks, Ryan had successfully raised his rank to B-Rank thanks to his nightly visits with his harem members.
This had also boosted them up as well, all of the members reaching an astounding A-Rank.
Ryan had been so shocked at their speed of progression that he went a little too hard on Izzy, who was the most enthusiastic participant.
He had tried to have double daily sessions with the demon, but after day two, she started speaking incoherently and was in a constant state of bliss, making it impossible for her to train in the tower.
Ryan relented after that and kept his sessions to once a day with the five of them.
If he had Ester and Sienna there, he would have included them as well, but sadly they were in the human empire.
Around a week ago, Ryan had heard from Hannah for the first time since their excursion had begun.
The message told him they were close to finding what Yoko said was hidden deep within the world.
Yoko had been extremely excited that Ryan was from a non-Multiverse world. She was happy not only because of the heavenly blessings and rewards one could receive but because of something called the 'world dungeon.'
Every world had a dungeon that anyone could access before the world integrated into the Multiverse.
But once it was integrated into the Multiverse, the world owner could shut it down for everyone but their own use or disable it entirely.
The dungeon was a great way of gaining experience, as the monsters inside gave energy and could drop loot specified for the person's specialty.
As Ryan got closer to the meeting point, he started to feel a tingle on the back of his neck.
Their meeting point wasn't inside the capital but rather in the woods outside of it.
Ryan chuckled. 'It appears she brought company.'
Ryan knew from Lizzy and Izzy that the Zol'Gan Empress was at least an SS-Ranked cultivator, so with his measly B-Rank, he was sure that if she was the one watching him, he wouldn't be able to detect it.
Walking into a clearing, Ryan spotted a figure with their back to him.
The figure wore a red robe with the emblem of the Zol'Gan empire embroidered on the back.
"It appears my daughter's suitor is here." The voice was like ice to Ryan's ears.
As she turned slowly around, the figure came face to face with Ryan, who was shocked by her beauty. freewebnov(e)l.com
She was about 5-6 inches taller than Ryan, and she was very lean but with very sexy proportions. Her long blond hair flowed almost to her waist.
While her initial appearance was friendly enough, after gazing at her, Ryan realized that she gave off an unmistakable air of danger.
Her eyes were blue, but they were piercing enough to make even a dragon quiver in fear of what they could do if they wanted to hurt you.
Her lips curled into a grin showing sharp fangs that looked chiseled from stone instead of being part of her actual mouth.
"Did you come here to be my dinner?" The girl's fangs glistened and dripped with saliva.
"Because momma always loves a piece of human meat. Especially as one as delectable as you."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺