Maeve finally came to her senses and pulled her lips away from his neck, then acted asleep.

This day couldn't get any weirder; she couldn't believe that as a powerful and feared Demon Queen, she was reduced to this state.

Vritra continued into the cave, only after killing those insects was he finally able to arrive at the door of Zihong's inheritance.

Right after entering, a strong stench of blood assaulted their senses; the ground was full of flesh and organs, and Vritra clearly sensed that he had just stepped into a different realm.

In this realm, there were several restrictions, like on space, time, and many others.

Just at the moment he stepped into Zihong's realm, a wave of mental and soul attack landed on his body, almost making him stumble.

The attack wasn't strong enough to injure his soul, but it almost made him faint. Maeve came out of her intoxication and asked with worry: "Are you alright?"

After all, if Vritra died then she would die as well—soul, body, and mind, everything would be destroyed. That's why she only used that pact as her last resort.

"…Yeah." Vritra straightened up after a few seconds; it was obvious this inheritance had been probing for his limits and weaknesses.

Looking ahead, he saw countless stairs leading upwards. The stairs were made of wood and all of them had strange patterns carved on them that kept changing rapidly.

After a few seconds, they paused and a few stairs had similar patterns that only slightly changed as they moved above while others were completely different.

But Vritra's main focus was on the messages flashing before his eyes.

[Mutamorphis Activated.]

[Sensing the surrounding…]

[Soul damage detected.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

His soul was already quite strong after drinking all those soul potions, but with this who knows how much it could improve.

Having a strong soul could also be a deadly weapon; if he could just erase the soul of an opponent, then eradicating him would just be a matter of moments.

"It seems they might show what kind of attack we will be facing on each step," Maeve said. She was feeling a little better now. If she hadn't swallowed that small amount of Vritra's blood, she would still be unconscious.

For her, it was the most delicious treat possible.

"And this place has found your weakness—your soul and mental strength—so it will certainly be targeting those. Just what is this place?" she questioned, after all, anyone who could create it should have very high strength and a lot of time.

"Well, it's an inheritance." Vritra said as he approached the stairs, readying himself for the pain.

"I can try blocking the mental and soul attacks; after all, only my physical body is weak. What do you think?"

Maeve asked, barely focusing on the challenge ahead; she felt quite comfortable on his back, her tail swinging as if dancing to a rhythm.

"Yes, but only block around 30% of the soul attack and completely block the mental attack for now," Vritra said as he stopped in front of the stairs.

"Okay, uhm… in return can you give me a l-little of your blood?" Maeve asked; she knew it was humiliating to act like this but the thirst for blood was just that strong.

"Sure, that is, if you can draw it out." Vritra shrugged, and Maeve created two barriers around him.

Finally, Vritra climbed onto the first stair and—just as he expected—invisible attacks several times stronger than the last rushed towards him.

But just as he suffered the soul damage…

[Soul damage detected.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

Vritra paused on the stair as attacks kept coming; after a while he even made Maeve remove the soul barrier.

He withstood the pain affecting his soul directly and watched the same messages flashing again and again.

[Your soul grows stronger.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

…

After the first stair could no longer give any benefits, he stepped on the second, asking Maeve to put up the barrier again to stop 40% of the attack initially.

"Hubby, are you okay? It isn't good to receive too much damage to your soul, even if it is giving you benefits…" knowing how stubborn Vritra could be, Yasmine suggested after a moment.

"Let Nihil Anima help you; it can rapidly heal your soul. Just don't make yourself suffer so much, I don't like this." Yasmine said.

Aside from the improvement, the pain he must be suffering is just unbearable.

Not even pain tolerance could do anything against the pain of soul damage.

Vritra followed her advice and wrapped his soul with Nihil Anima, which healed his soul rapidly after suffering damage each time.

"Remove the soul barrier now," Vritra said, his breathing slightly fast.

Maeve couldn't understand what exactly he was doing, but she was a bit surprised by his resolve and tenacity.

[Your soul grows stronger.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

…

There were hundreds upon hundreds of stairs, and after each stair, the power of the soul attack kept increasing exponentially.

Vritra's soul was growing rapidly; it had already surpassed the 6th Legion rank and Vritra had just climbed a bit over 30 stairs.

Vritra was holding Maeve's thighs, his hands were shaking and his body had gotten slightly cold, face looking quite pale.

If Nihil Anima wasn't healing his soul, then he would have needed to stop several times already, but Vritra persevered as sweat dripped down his body.

Maeve was silently observing him; whatever was the reason behind him taking all this damage head-on, she was already quite impressed by Vritra.

"Are you sure you can continue like this? Let's rest a bit here." Maeve said, looking at his face; she had a feeling that both his name and face were fake.

It made her wonder just who he could be, even the strongest demons can't show such perseverance.

Vritra looked up; there were only stairs in his vision. Taking a long breath, he stepped onto the next stair as even more terrifying soul attacks struck his body.

[Your soul grows stronger.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

…

After standing there for over thirty minutes, Vritra sat down, drinking some water as Maeve covered him with the barrier, blocking the mental and soul attacks.

"Are you alright?" Yasmine and Maeve asked at the same time.

"Huff, huff, y-yeah, just need a little rest." Putting Maeve down, he sat beside her, panting heavily.

He felt incredibly exhausted, and within moments, he slipped onto Maeve's lap and fell asleep.

At first, the two women were worried, but they relaxed after sensing that he was just sleeping.

Maeve stared at Vritra's face, several thoughts passing through her mind.

But she realised at least this person wasn't like most others she had met in her life—smile on face, knife in hand, full of deceit and bad intentions.

'He should just be around the 5th Legion yet he is venturing in such a dangerous place,' she thought. All of this was so new for her, his playful nature, such an adventure, and of course his blood.

The time in this realm was moving slower than outside though Vritra wasn't sure what exactly was the difference.

After sleeping for a bit over eight hours, Vritra woke up, completely refreshed and ready to go even higher.

It seemed aside from that Charged Fist, he might gain something just as special.

❖❖❖

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