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Ash

With the Lust demon out of the way, it was time to get to work. 

As the army of Onyx continued to make their preparations, Ash, Kaori, and Keiko all headed out during the afternoon to farm a few monsters so they could raise their levels to be even higher than they were now. After all, since Vermia and Ren wouldn\'t be in this fight, the weight on their shoulders was the heaviest it had ever been. 

"So," Ash said as they all walked through the forest that hugged the shrine. Keiko was moving beside her, holding a map. "What were the monsters again?" 

"In this area, we can find \'spiked boars\', which are apparently like pigs but far larger and deadlier, some giant snakes called \'unholy pythons\', and \'drakes\', which are similar to dragons but generally weaker and smaller," Keiko answered. 

"Lovely," Ash muttered. 

Because this was a much more controlled trip, after all, they\'d be fighting creatures that were generally of a lower level than them, Satsuhiro said it was fine for Keiko to come along. That was why she was here with them instead of resting back at the inn, as she had been during the trip to slay the Lust demon.. 

The area around them was as verdant as it was cramped. It felt like the bamboo only cleared up at a few different spots, allowing for more space, but for the most part, one wrong turn and a traveler could end up smashing face-first into one of these trees. 

"There\'s a river north," Keiko stated, "and apparently the bamboo clears up at that point. That\'s where we\'ll find the monsters." 

"Why?" Ash asked. 

"Because of the easy source of water, mostly," Kaori answered. "Plus, since a lot of smaller animals gather up to drink from the river, the monsters hunt them and hunt each other, so they live nearby. Learned that in class," she winked. 

"Wait, so are there any monsters in the water?" Ash asked. 

"Probably," Kaori replied. 

"In any case, you two are of a high enough level to where no creature should be too much of an issue." 

Indeed. Kaori, thanks to the enhanced Quick Learner trait and the disparity in power between the blonde and the demon, had gained a total of 18 levels from killing the Lust demon, which gave her 36 attribute points and left her at this status:

Kaori:

Level 51

MP: 60/60

EXP: 30/510

---

STR: 22

DEX: 28

CON: 65

INT: 6

WIS: 6

L: 100

Kaori had said before they left that, as per Yumi\'s request when they\'d been training, she wanted to put at least a few of those points into her Dex, but of course, most of that went to her Con. According to Satsuhiro, she was now resilient enough to survive the type of hit that would kill most seasoned veterans.

The kind of hit that would kill both Ash and Keiko even, and thus, Kaori\'s role as a frontline for her friends and the soldiers around her was now fully in effect. Though, Ash didn\'t really understand how she was supposed to keep multiple people alive at once in the middle of a battle, still, apparently, she was able to do that now, more effectively than before. 

"It\'s so fucking hot out here," Ash noted. "How much water do we have again?" 

"Enough for a day," Keiko answered, briefly looking through her bag. "We\'ll only be fighting till sundown. Then, we head home and do the same tomorrow." 

"Okay, can I get some of that then?" 

"Sure," Keiko said with a smile and passed her one of the flasks. Ash took just a few sips, wanting to be careful with how much she drank and handed it back. 

The river came into view shortly after that moment. It was narrow and stretched in a crescent shape, eventually turning into a sizeable lake. As Keiko had said, the bamboo cleared up and now, Ash could see just how far from civilization they were. There was no sign of human construction as far as her eyes could see. 

And as she was gazing out, Keiko raised a hand. 

"Wait, do you hear that?" She asked. 

"Uh, no," Ash replied. "What is it?" 

"It... It sounds like some heavy footsteps coming from that direction," Keiko replied, pointing ahead, across the river. "Maybe we should follow them, likely to be our first target." 

"Sounds good," Ash nodded and she began walking ahead. At that moment, Ash decided to transform her  Lust  into its gauntlet forms and strapped them onto her wrists. 

After all, combat could happen at any moment. 

Like, right now. 

"W-what? Shit!" Ash fell back, pushing Keiko down as a giant snake rose up from the river they had been about to cross. 

Water fell from its scales as it opened a gaping mouth showing two thin, but exceptionally long fangs and it hissed at them. The creature loomed over them, maybe 20 meters long, from what Ash could see as it looked down upon them. Its body was colored a bright white and its eyes were slit just like Ash\'s were, a dark orange color though. 

Level 30

MP: 50/50

Okay, it\'s big, but it shouldn\'t be too dangerous. Agh, don\'t let your guard down though,  she told herself. She remembered what happened with that one reaver back at Sapphire, a creature she theoretically should have easily beaten, and yet one that nearly got the better of her. 

Keiko rose up to her feet and quickly unsheathed her sword, dropping her map and her bag.

"Iridos," Keiko said, activating her Spirit Eye.

Ash dropped her own bag while Kaori, however, simply stood frozen. Ash noticed that and, without taking her eyes off the snake, said:

"Kaori, focus up!" 

Kaori shook her head. 

"R-Right," and she dropped her own bag, transforming her metallic arm into its shield form. 

Finally, the snake attacked. It lunged towards Ash, faster than it had any right to at a size like that, and the half-demon sidestepped it and the snake\'s head crashed onto the dirt. Then, she landed a slash with her right gauntlet, that let a splatter of green blood fall onto the ground. 

However, before Ash could do so a second time, the snake lifted its head sideways and managed to wrap its mouth around Ash\'s body, before throwing her aside with it. Ash rolled several times, eventually crashing into a boulder. 

"Agh, fuck!" She cried out. The impact had been harsh, but she felt like she could still go.

As she stood up though, she found the creature about to attack Keiko. The Zayama held her sword by her side, ready to respond as the snake went for the same attack it had done to Ash. Just like Ash, she dodged and replied with a stab at its body, but unlike Ash, when the snake followed up the same way it had before, Keiko avoided that as well. Then, she planted her left leg into the ground and spun, dragging her right leg in a circle and slashing at the same time. 

"Zansae!" Keiko called out and Ash saw a burst of roses explode from her sword, inflicting a deep slash on the snake\'s body. 

Holy shit,  Ash thought.

However, Keiko was pushed back when the snake\'s response to the injury was to shake and move sporadically, practically squealing as it sprayed its blood into the air. 

"Keiko!" Kaori yelled and she went to stand between the Zayama and the snake, her shield held out in front of her. 

Ash started running towards them. Holding her gauntlets out, she narrowed her eyes, looking to stab the monster with as much strength as she could put behind it.

"Ash, duck!" Keiko called out though and Ash\'s eyes widened. Instinctively, she did as Keiko asked and barely managed to avoid a spray of green mist that came out of the snake\'s mouth.

Sensing that the other girls had somehow come between the monster and its prey, the snake turned its head towards Kaori and Keiko. 

It charged towards them in a flash, and Kaori prepared to hold it back. 

"Wait, what?" Keiko muttered and the snake stopped just in front of Kaori. "U-Uh, dodge!" 

However, even though she said that, both of them were too late. Instead of smashing into Kaori, the snake poured out more of that green mist. Kaori was too slow to react and was engulfed in it. Keiko, who jumped to the right, was also too late. 

Kaori started coughing, but she remained standing as the snake reared back.  Okay, shit, now it\'s actually gonna attack. 

"Corruption spread, corruption launch!" Ash said and a black sphere came out of her left hand, striking the snake from the back. 

That earned another squeal and Ash charged forwards. This time, the snake didn\'t make a move to stop her, and Ash was able to plant both her blades into it. She wouldn\'t stop there though, ripping them out and stabbing into it over and over as the snake writhed in response. 

Like it had with Keiko, the snake\'s sporadic movements ended up bashing Ash and throwing her to the side, but the damage was done, and the snake promptly fell as its green blood fell on the dirt in front of Ash. 

And, a few seconds later, Ash stood up and slammed her gauntlets into its head. 

EXP Gained: 200

EXP: 200/380

Ash breathed heavily as she watched the life fade from the snake\'s body. 

She looked back at Kaori and Keiko and quickly ran over to them. First, she went to Kaori.

"Are you okay? What the fuck was that?" She asked. 

"I\'m fine," Kaori said. "I... It burned a little, but yeah. I\'m... Wait, Keiko?" Kaori turned and both she and Ash saw the Zayama laying on the ground, however, the sight made Ash\'s eyes bulge out of their sockets. 

Her skin had green splotches riddled on it. 

Ash ran up to her and quickly cast some healing magic, but it didn\'t do anything. 

"What?" She asked, retracting her hands. "Why...?" 

"I\'m," Keiko started to say, coughing, "I\'m poisoned." 

"Huh?" Ash, who had never been poisoned in her life, had no idea what that meant. 

"It\'s a status effect," Kaori knelt down by Keiko, putting a hand on her head. "I-I\'ve seen it, in Jade, in the clinics. Your healing magic won\'t work because there\'s a specific spell that\'s supposed to remove it." 

"Wait, shit, what do we do then!?" Ash asked, concern starting to rise. 

"I\'ll be fine for now," Keiko said, and with Kaori\'s help, she stood up. Ash reverted her gauntlets and placed her hands under Keiko\'s arms, keeping her steady. 

"Uh, is that true?" Ash asked Kaori. "H-How does this work?" 

"She\'s right," Kaori nodded. "Poison hurts over time, but it\'s only life-threatening if it\'s left unchecked for days." 

"Don\'t worry about me," Keiko said. "Let\'s just keep going. There should be more monsters ahead." 

"..." Ash watched as Keiko started coughing again, but for now, she nodded and went along with her. "Alright, but if you get worse, we\'re running back to the city." 

"That\'s fine," Keiko replied. "Let\'s just get some more fights in." 

Indeed, they did find more monsters as they went on. The next one they encountered was a drake. It was a strange-looking creature, with similar eyes to the snake they\'d just killed and the height of a small cabin. It had been devouring the corpse of a wild deer when they\'d found it, and was level 31. 

"You should be the one to kill it," Kaori had told Ash before the fight started. 

"Again?" Ash asked. "I just took the snake down." 

"I\'m already level 51," Kaori shrugged. "It\'s better if you catch up, right?" 

"I guess," Ash nodded. "Okay, here goes nothing." 

This fight was far more controlled than the first. The drake had only a few attacks to choose from, a bite, a swipe with its wings, and some lightning that it could cast from its mouth, much like that mist the unholy python they\'d fought could create. All of these, Ash was able to avoid reliably, and that led to a fight that concluded with Ash raising up her right gauntlet, and stabbing it straight through the drake\'s head. 

Still, one thing that Ash noticed was that, even though she was at a higher level, both of these creatures felt tougher than they should have been, and it reminded her of something. Something from the very beginning of her journey. 

"A fight between someone who\'s level 50 and someone who\'s level 40 will look a hell of a lot closer than a fight between someone who\'s level 1 and someone who\'s level 5, or something," Ash muttered. 

"Hm? What do you mean?" Kaori asked as Keiko coughed lowly. 

"Nothing, just, something Satsuhiro had told me. He said something about diminishing returns, or whatever it\'s called, "Ash explained. "That the higher level you are, and the higher level your competition, the less your stats actually start to matter, I think. I don\'t know, I\'m fucking stupid." 

Keiko laughed and coughed again. 

"No you aren\'t," she replied softly. "And, yes, I was taught something similar when I had been training before. It was something like this, \'the difference in speed and agility between someone who\'s at Dexterity 100 and someone who\'s at Dexterity 90 is but the twitch of a muscle\'. I think it\'s sort of what you\'re saying." 

"Maybe." 

"... It wasn\'t like that for Yumi though, right?" Kaori brought up. "She lost her fight pretty badly..." 

"I mean, I\'d be shocked if a fight between a level 40 and a level 80 didn\'t look like it did."

"I guess so," Kaori shrugged. 

They continued on from that point, running into a few more creatures and cleaning them up. The monsters they encountered were as strange as they were dangerous, but between the three of them, none was able to do much to truly harm anyone in the group. However, before long, Ash simply couldn\'t bear to see Keiko continuing to struggle through. 

The point where she decided to call it was as the group walked between a few trees and Keiko stumbled. 

"Agh," she fell to the side, holding onto a nearby tree and coughing a few times. 

"Keiko?" Ash was by her side quickly. 

"I\'m fine, just... A bit dizzy." 

And that was it. That was all Ash needed to see.

"Nah, we\'re going back." 

Keiko actually looked offended at that. 

"Ash, I\'m okay," Keiko replied. "I\'m fine. Let\'s keep..." 

"No," Ash shook her head. "I don\'t know, but this doesn\'t look okay to me. It just looks like you\'re forcing yourself to keep going for our sake and, yeah, I don\'t like that shit at all. Let\'s just go, get you healed, and come back tomorrow." 

"... Fine," Keiko conceded. And so, after Ash gained a total of four levels they decided to head back. It all left her status like this: 

Level 42

MP: 230/230

EXP: 0/420

---

STR: 31

DEX: 21

CON: 18

INT: 20

WIS: 23

L: 100

With all of her points going into Dex for one simple reason. Her gauntlets didn\'t feel comfortable enough. She wanted these weapons to feel more natural and hoped that putting points into Dex would allow that to happen. 

---

A Few Hours Later

"Oh, don\'t worry," a healer said to Ash and Kaori. "She\'ll be fine in about thirty minutes. Just wait in the lobby." 

"Wait," Ash raised a hand. "Could you teach me that spell? To cure poisons I mean." 

"Oh?" The healer tilted his head. "Are you a Light mage?" 

"Yeah," Ash nodded. 

"Then, don\'t worry, I have the spell mastered. I\'ve been doing this for a while, after all. I\'ll just pass the spell over to you." 

"Oh, shit. Thanks," Ash replied, surprised that the man didn\'t comment on her half-demon self at all, though, as she had been made aware of her growing reputation, maybe this man simply respected her as a Savior. 

That was just too damn uncomfortable for Ash. She hoped he was just cursing her out in his mind or something. Something she was used to. 

"No problem. Always happy to help a fellow healer." 

And with that, white tendrils flowed between them, and in a matter of seconds, Ash knew the spell. 

"Thanks," Ash muttered.

"No problem. Remember though, this won\'t heal diseases. There\'s another separate spell for that one, and unfortunately, I don\'t know it. Usually, we just use potions for those. You might want to look into finding a few just in case. Good luck out there," he said and the healer walked away. 

It was already nighttime. The group had asked around and a guard had pointed them to this clinic. Before they came here, they went back to the inn and changed out of their armor and into more comfortable clothes. Outfits that didn\'t smell like snake blood, at least. They had arrived later with Keiko\'s skin becoming even darker and the healers wasted no time in casting that spell on her. 

Now, Ash was waiting at a fairly comfortable leather chair, with Kaori next to her. The blonde had her head on her left shoulder, looking like she was ready to fall asleep right on top of Ash. 

Eventually, Keiko walked out before that could happen though. 

Her skin was clear again and Ash smiled when she saw her. She and Kaori stood up and Keiko walked over to them, her hands clasped together. 

"All done," the same healer from before said, coming up from beside Keiko. Ash hadn\'t even noticed him. 

"How much is it?" 

"Ah, for a Savior, I\'ll let you go for free," he shrugged. "Think of it as my way of paying respect." 

So, it was that, huh? He knew me. 

Ash didn\'t know how to react to that. So, she nodded, muttered a quick "thanks" and left. 

The three of them came back to the inn early on into the night, but the earlier events had tired them all out considerably. So, all three of them headed upstairs after saying "goodnight" to Satsuhiro, Opah, and Metsumi, and fell asleep together in their bed. 

Only to have a banging on their door wake them up a few hours later. 

"What the...?" Ash mumbled, stirring. 

"Ash," Satsuhiro called out. "Keiko, Kaori. Get up!" 

"Huh?" hearing the urgency in his voice woke Ash up fully and she tossed her covers off, poking Kaori and Keiko both awake as well. Then, she ran over to the door, opening it and seeing a concerned-looking Satsuhiro. "What\'s going on?" 

He gave Ash the kind of look that meant he couldn\'t believe what he was about to say. 

"Demons poured in from the portals. They\'re fighting the guards around the city." 

"Wait, what?" Ash asked. "But... I haven\'t received the buff." 

"Yes," Satsuhiro nodded. "They\'re fighting at the walls. Not actually invading the city in its entirety," he explained. "It\'s a skirmish of some sort." 

That was a word Ash hadn\'t heard before, but she guessed it meant that this wasn\'t a full-on siege, but something different. 

What the hell is going on?