*Splash*
The big greenish shark falls into the water with its belly entirely open while its blood and guts leak out of its lifeless body.
Lucien flaps his wings in the air to get rid of a few drops that splattered on him as his golden naginata disappears, returning to his soul.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
Lucien's wives clap while laughing.
"Poor shark, it didn't stand a chance."
"Of course, it is hubby, after all."
"Hubby never gets tired of showing his skills."
Envy shakes her head. "You could fit very well as Pride's host with such arrogance."
L.u.s.t, who is flying next to Lucien, looks at Envy with an upset expression. "Humph!"
Lucien strokes little Ko's leg. "Are you okay, my princess?"
Ko's eyes are shining with excitement as her small mouth, slightly open, reveals her short and cute fangs.
She leans her head forward between Lucien's horns and looks at his face. "S-so c-cool!!"
Lucien laughs. "I knew you would like it, my dear."
Despite being young, Ko, like Oya, is as cute as fierce. They are brutal tigresses who will always enjoy a good fight.
Lucien looks at the shark's body, sinking in the water while talking to L.u.s.t. "Can we use the crystals in Its body?"
"Yes, a good alchemist can even use Its blood to create something useful." L.u.s.t quickly responds.
Before Lucien says anything, Lena creates huge ice pincers to grab the shark's body and store it in her storage ring to give it to Lucien later.
"There are more of them approaching." L.u.s.t quickly warns Lucien while feeling other sharks with powerful life aura approaching them from a few miles ahead.
"Did they just ate the crystals?" Although what happened to the shark is quite obvious, Lucien asks L.u.s.t a more detailed explanation.
L.u.s.t quickly explains. "Oh, yes. That is common in crystal mines recently discovered. In most cases, the crystals grow, and some external factor exposes them from the underground, and then beasts are attracted by their aura and eat these crystals, thus becoming more powerful but also suffering side effects as to become more violent and unstable until they die of magic intoxication after a certain time."
"Beasts and people don't always die from it. In some rare cases, due to the nature of their bodies, they evolve into even more powerful beings." Envy comments.
L.u.s.t nods. "Yes, it is true but extremely rare."
While listening to other sharks approaching them, Lucien comments. "Hmm… Since the mine is on a small island, it is easy to conclude that due to the adventurers' mining, sea creatures nearby had access to the crystals."
"Exactly." L.u.s.t and Envy respond together and look at each other.
Amelia, who is on Angela's platform next to Lucien with other girls, finds it uncomfortable to see Envy acting in such a docile way to Lucien.
Not that she is jealous of Lucien because Envy is her partner, but because Amelia wants to be with Lucien by helping him more than any other woman.
Lucien looks in the direction of the sharks while talking to his wives. "We must not let them reach the sh.i.p.s. Although we are very strong now, remember to always be careful when fighting."
"Yes, hubby." The girls answer together before flying towards the sharks.
Using the advantage of the floating platforms, the girls use spells and arrows to fight sharks.
Some sharks jump out of the water to attack the girls, so Cassidy and the other women who use melee weapons deal with them, always working as a team.
Oya changed her body to a tiger form to protect Angela's group, but Ko continued in her demi-human, sitting on Lucien's shoulders. He gave her a dagger, and she even attacked a smaller shark with him.
After killing eight sharks, the group continued to advance towards that island while the sh.i.p.s followed them.
They killed six more sharks between the first and third layers of the Mortal Realm before reaching a mile from the small island.
Lucien doesn't see sh.i.p.s around the island but some wreckage. "The sharks must have destroyed their sh.i.p.s. But I can hear a lot of people still alive."
"Are we going to attack first or try to talk to them?" Olivia asks without being inclined to either option. For her, the most important is her family, while everyone else does not matter even if they are adventurers.
Before Lucien responds, L.u.s.t comments. "It is improbable that they did not use the crystals, so they must be as unstable as Ivan and his companions or even completely mad."
Lucien understands that, and it doesn't hurt to try to talk first if it leaves Olivia's conscience in peace. Also, although Lucien doesn't care about the lives of others, he doesn't enjoy attacking someone for no reason.
"Let's see how they are, but be ready to fight," Lucien speaks as he flies towards the island, followed by his wives as the sh.i.p.s slow down.
The small island has an approximate length of 500 x 400 meters (two hundred thousand square meters), and there are few trees on it, while most of its surface is made of stones and sand.
And of course, there is a mine in the center that actually looks just like Its entrance while the mine's inside is underground.
"Incredible! I can feel a great life aura, which means this mine is profound." L.u.s.t comment.
"If the vampire's mother is really a decent alchemist, we can get much stronger using these crystals in combination with Lucien's demonic energy." Envy comment too.
Rose makes an upset expression as she hears Envy talk about her and her mother in such a disrespectful tone. And of course, Lucien realizes that and looks at Envy with an inquiring expression.
Envy quickly regrets her comment while seeing Lucien's expression, which means 'no fun for you tonight.'
"Ahem! I meant, of course, Rose's mom is an amazing alchemist, and we are lucky that they both are on our team." Envy smiles at Lucien with an imploring look.
All the girls hold their laughter as they look at Envy and think the same thing. [Oh my girl…]
Lucien continues to gaze at Envy while his expression becomes more severe.
Envy raises her hands. "No, no! I meant family!! Yes, we are a family, right?"
"We will talk about it later." Lucien sighs and starts to descend towards the island while little Ko shakes her head at Envy with a disappointed expression.
Envy pouts as she sees the little tigress looking down at her. [You are just a tiger baby, but are you intimidating this great demon of thousands of years? Tsk, tsk…]
The girls follow Lucien, and as L.u.s.t passes Envy's side, she makes thumb up sign while laughing, leaving Envy even more upset.
An adventurer at the mine entrance sees Lucien and his wives coming down from the sky and quickly warns his comrades, who quickly leave the mine.
While in the air, Lucien takes a good look at the adventures. Half of them are human while there are some lizardmen and werewolves among them, and a big elf leads the group.
Except for the elf, who appears to be very healthy, all other adventurers have greenish skin while they look sick. It is evident that the continued use of the crystals had a negative effect on them, but Lucien does not understand what happened to the elf.
L.u.s.t analyzes the group and quickly reports to Lucien mentally. 'They are in a more advanced state than Ivan. Their mana is more unstable, and while most of them are in the first layer of the Mortal Realm, some are in the second layer.'
'The elf has a good life affinity, which resulted in the negative effects of the crystals being minimal on him. He is still sick and will die soon, but although he is on the third line of the Mortal Realm, his strength can be considered of someone from the fourth layer.'
Lucien notices the adventurers preparing their weapons, which is an expected reaction due to his peculiar arrival. He materializes his golden naginata and spikes it in the ground as he lands in front of the group.
The adventurers make a hostile expression at Lucien while some of them smile at the girls, which brings them much closer to the death's door.
Lucien's wives maintain a neutral expression as they land behind Lucien. Little Ko, on his shoulders, shows her fangs to the big elf.
"Who are you?!" The elf speaks in a hoarse and sick tone as he points his sword to Lucien.
Lucien didn't like the gaze of those men on his wives and the hostile tone of the elf. He already wants to kill everyone with his own hands, but to give them one last chance of dying peacefully, he keeps silent as Olivia steps forward.
"Put your weapons down," Olivia speaks in an authoritative tone.
"Guild Master!" A man beside the elf exclaims as he lowers his weapon and steps forward.
But the big elf puts his hand on the man's chest while looking at Olivia with an inquiring expression. "Where's Ivan? He said he was going to send people to help us, but I don't think they would get here so quickly and be the Guild Master herself…"
Olivia makes a severe expression. "Are you questioning my authority? You are sick."
"Sick?! Hahaha…" The elf laughs, showing his greenish teeth.
The other adventurers start to laugh, and some of them vomit green blood but acts as if everything is fine.
The elf looks at Lucien with an even more hostile expression. "Who is this strange man? Ivan wouldn't like his Guild Master to be around with another man."
"…" At that moment, Olivia realizes that trying to talk to the elf would only be disturbing to Lucien's pride, so she takes a step back while remaining silent.
Lucien strokes Olivia's hair before walking towards the big elf. "I killed Ivan, and Olivia is my wife."
With those few words, Lucien managed to make the group of adventurers hate him even though they don't believe Ivan is dead.
"I will teach you to respect our leader, and then we will play with these pretty ladies." The big elf prepares to attack Lucien, aiming for his legs.
Lucien continues walking slowly towards the group while the elf makes a quick dash toward him.
His speed is quite impressive due to his level of power, but all of Lucien's girls can see his movements because although they are not in the fourth layer of Mortal Realm, they are always boosted by Lucien demonic energy, which makes them even stronger than that elf.
The elf makes a low horizontal cut with his sword, but before Its blade hits Lucien's leg, he stomps on the elf's wrist using his incredible agility.
*Crack* *Clang*
"AHHHH!!!" The elf screams as he feels his wrist breaking. His sword falls to the ground, making a metallic noise while the sound of his bones breaking frightens the other adventurers.
But the elf is not defeated just by that blow and quickly regains focus while resting on his knee and tries to punch Lucien's groin with his other arm.
[Such a mistake…] Lucien thinks while feeling his wives' anger towards the elf for trying to damage his heavenly rod.
He can even feel little Ko furious as she shows her fangs and makes a characteristic sound of angry felines.
"He's really screwed." L.u.s.t and Envy comment at the same time as Lucien grasps the elf's fist.
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