"No way..."

Viola, seeing how the fight ended in a single move, couldn't help but doubt her eyes. After all, the elites she brought with her were the best among the best in their dimension.

At the very least, they should have been able to fight on equal terms, toe-to-toe with the witches!

However, this result completely denied that expectation.

A landslide victory!

"Your people are strong," Wisteria spoke after seeing the look in Viola's eyes. "However, as you can see, even Rosaria, who is this strong, was forced to retreat. You can guess how powerful the Four Heavenly Kings are now, right?"

Viola had claimed to have "chased off" someone just below the Four Heavenly Kings.

However, that opponent was not truly "on par" with them by a long shot. The gap between the one they chased off and a real one was as vast as the distance between the earth and the sky.

Viola pursed her lips, frowning deeply.

Although she truly came to provide support to Witcheria, it was also true that she had come to assert dominance. But now, she was the one being shown her place instead.

The long silence ended when Viola raised her arms in surrender.

"Alright, Wise-chan, my Queen, I understand. We'll give up on the Four Heavenly Kings for now," she said. "But still, let us help you out. Your Second Princess is still missing, right~? Let us help search for her!"

"You..."

Wisteria was surprised that she knew this.

However, with the entire city aware of the situation, it wouldn't be strange if Viola had heard about it along the way. With a heavy sigh, Wisteria leaned back on her throne and shook her head.

"With your Shamans, I'm sure you'd be a great help."

The witches alone weren't enough. Even after two full days, they had yet to find a single clue regarding Axel and Nina's whereabouts.

But with the Shamans' assistance, that might finally change.

"Great~!" Viola clapped, seemingly genuinely pleased. "Then send us to one of the frontline fortresses so we can begin ASAP~!"

"I get it..." Wisteria grumbled. "Someone, lead them to the repaired Great Fortress. But before that..."

She glanced at the pair still frozen like statues in the center of the room.

"Rosaria, release those two from your curse."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Even with new helping hands, Wisteria couldn't help but worry.

"Nina... I pray that you're safe..."

...

As for the person in question—

"Ugh... finally, I can see the sun..."

Axel climbed out of the underground safehouse Navi had made.

In the two days they spent down there, he had lost about five kilograms—just showing how "fierce" the female wolf had been.

He literally had to accompany her for forty-eight hours straight, nonstop!

If not for the short water and meal breaks, he would have died from getting sucked dry!

"Sir Axel... we should contact Mother soon," Nina followed behind him and muttered. "We've been away for almost three days now. I'm sure they're worried."

Axel understood her concern. However—

"Unfortunately, the Interdimensional Shop's chat function is a bit fucked up at the moment..." he lamented.

At present, that was the only easy way to contact Queen Wisteria.

Yet for some reason, it was completely bugged. Not only could he not send messages, but he couldn't receive them either!

Even when he asked the sulking Navi—

[Who knows? Try figuring it out yourself.]

The penguin brushed it off just like that.

Of course, the reason Navi was sulking was because he had been left in "Private Mode" for the entire forty-eight hours Axel was busy. Axel himself forgot about it and only remembered after Fenrir had finally "calmed down."

As for the wolf in question—

"Uhm... Miss Fenrir?" Axel scratched his cheek, troubled. "When will you let me go?"

"Never..."

Fenrir answered flatly.

She stood behind Axel, hugging him from the back, her nose pressed against his neck as she sniffed nonstop.

An act she'd been doing for so long that Axel had already grown used to it.

"Master saved me not once, but twice from death. I owe you two lifetimes. Thus, I'll be your wife from now on, and you'll be my Alpha~!"

—or so she claimed.

Although Axel was troubled by how clingy she'd become, almost as if her personality had changed.

'Weirdly, I don't feel burdened even when she's weighing me down from behind.'

Despite her frail-looking figure, Fenrir was quite heavy. Normally, he should have been walking like he was carrying a sack of rice on his back! Yet right now, he barely felt her weight at all.

"This is..."

Of course, he knew the reason.

It was his new passive skill, unlocked after he was "assaulted" in his sleep by the witches—the Harem Settlement System's true value. It increased his stats by 5% of his partner's total stats!

Normally, it would add one to five points per stat. However, his partner was Fenrir, a legendary monster. Even partially sealed, her stats easily exceeded a thousand.

In short, Axel's current stats were—

[

Name: Axel Walker

Job: Trader, Scammer, Kept Man (?), Legend's Alpha (?)

Age: 25

Affection Level: Absolute (100 / 100)

Loyalty: S

Count: 0

View stats>>>

]

[

Axel's Basic Stats:

Strength: 122 (A-)

Vitality: 200 (A+)

Agility: 179 (A)

Dexterity: 203 (A+)

Luck: 175 (A)

Intelligence: 147 (A-)

Wisdom: 128 (A-)

Health: 600

Mana: 10,514

]

…Now filled with A-ranks.

With his current strength, he could probably fight toe-to-toe with a minotaur even without support from the witches! However, one thing bothered him.

"Although we did it almost a hundred times in those forty-eight hours, it only got added once? No—twice?" Axel muttered, confused.

But after a bit of thinking, the reason soon became clear.

The first stat increase likely happened during the three-way with Fenrir and Nina during her revival. The second occurred during the seemingly endless one-on-one that lasted until a few hours ago.

In short—

'For each partner, the stat bonus only applies once per unique action type?'

Once solo, once 3P, once 4P, and so on. Realizing this, a chill ran down Axel's spine.

If used properly—

'Wouldn't I eventually reach Fenrir's real stats myself?!'

Still, remembering how often the System disappointed him, he knew there had to be a catch—something left unexplained.

"Well..."

Axel sighed, looking up at the cloudy sky, the shy sun barely peeking through.

"First of all, we should get out of this god-forsaken place," he declared.

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