[Your Worker, Larry, has slain a Chameleon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

'Larry?!'

Vale was sure the tiny, disgustingly cute imp was long for the grave. But lo and behold, Vale's eyes locked on the corpse of a Chameleon Warrior with a stone spear sticking through its head, which fell from above and slammed into the floor and disappeared.

From the same hole where the warrior fell, a bloodied Larry dropped down and glided to the stone ground in front of Vale with the upper half of a worker's corpse cradled in its tiny claws.

It was Dickless'...

Or at least what was left of him

'The rest of him and Crow must have fallen like the others…'

The wounded imp let out a soft, pained whimper.

"baduh…?"

Larry held his motionless brethren in its tiny arms and stared into its lifeless eyes for a couple of moments before tightly hugging it. Then the imp crouched down and gently lowered the body to the floor of the dungeon and stepped back as the stone swiftly swallowed it.

When Dickless' body entirely disappeared, his form only living on in memory, Larry let out a pained shriek:

"Baaduuuuh!"

The poor little imp began to shake and fell to the ground.

Dickless was one of the little guy's best friends and one who'd constantly been with Larry and working together since the moment he was summoned.

Vale looked down at Larry's tiny face and studied its strained, blood-stained eyes. He couldn't help but notice…

'So… they do have tear ducts…'

Vale wasn't particularly happy about the loss of five workers… but they were just that, workers. Five Aether could quantify them. An amount that was nowhere near enough to entertain the potential risk of losing Awilix.

Even through the thick veil of Lust that forever shrouded his real feelings, a small bit of empathy shone through alongside a small bit of… wistful regret.

"Good job…"

Vale bent down and picked up crying Larry and set the imp on his shoulders before walking over to Awilix, who was kneeling with blood pouring out of her shoulder as Salome worked on healing her.

Salome herself was absorbing the Aether of one of the incapacitated wolves, which tried to snarl but only let out indistinguishable whimpers of pain, allowing Salome to heal Awilix to a nearly healthy state without need to hold back.

Two and Vale were in good condition, not having really sustained any injuries, so Salome only had to heal them a little.

Salome, when she was done healing them all, including Larry, who was still clinging to Vale's neck and crying, turned to Vale and said:

"We won…"

As much as Vale wanted to say vain platitudes, all he could muster was:

"I do hope you'll eventually see me as a true equal…"

***

Salome stared into her master's dim eyes and let her gaze drift to the ululating creature hanging from his neck.

'A perceptive little one…'

It seems her master had noticed all of her inactions over the past month.

Salome was capable of more… much more than she'd shown. But her thoughts still aligned with the first day she'd met Vale. Vale was still pitifully weak compared to the strength he needed if he even wanted to dream of fighting back the scourge. She'd vowed to nurture his talent and prepare him… Doing such a thing wasn't typically synonymous with coddling.

Salome didn't feel good about putting, or more so guiding Vale to tread a risky path… a path where even she was uncertain of victory…

'But no one grows strong without hardship.'

The centuries-old succubus knew that well… and she'd imparted such hardships on all of her disciples throughout the years and even produced maniacs like young Carvy.

'Another one of that crazy Owl's victims…'

At the same time, she knew where Vale was coming from…

While this world was a matter of revenge for Salome, and Vale was a tool toward that goal, Vale's only goal was survival. Or at least that was his primary focus.

'That boy doesn't want hardship, he wants comfort.'

A sentiment shared by most if not all…

'But comfort lies in bed with death.'

Salome just plastered her face with the seductive, facetious smile she'd practiced over her many, many years.

"I already do."

Vale turned his head to the side and turned to walk away.

"Is that so?"

Salome was a little hurt inside, but she understood it well.

"Of course, Vale."

Vale began to walk away.

"Bring the wolves to the streamers, and we'll substitute Ximena with you so the group can eat…."

Vale stopped and craned his head around, then added:

"But first, let me disabuse you of that notion in your head before you try and test me again… I've already lived through the trials that give the meek their first taste of courage; you needn't try to teach me a lesson learned when I was ten."

Vale scratched Larry's check and continued his walk until he rounded the corner and disappeared down the hollow path.

'Oh?'

'What a bold declaration…'

Salome stared at the spot Vale disappeared from and couldn't help but think how little she knew of him and he of her. Sure, she'd given him the surface rundown of who she was, and Vale had told her of his world… Yet they had still not talked about anything personal. Their discussions remained within their respective areas of general knowledge.

That postponed talk about their pasts had yet to be revisited.

"Looks like I'm the one who needed to learn something…"

Awilix, leaning against the wall and still haggard, growled at Salome.

"I don't know what you two… are on about… But it looks like you deserve to wear that blasted belt next!"

Salome smirked and looked at the cat with two fresh scars on her shoulder and bicep, and the dormant orb nestled between her breasts.

"Looks like someone else didn't quite get their lesson, too."

"Why— why are you looking at me like that?!"

Salome chuckled and turned around to begin transporting the wolves.

***

Vale walked back to the end of the maze and handed Larry off to Stacy, and sent them away before making his way to Ximena. Even if he wasn't in the best of moods, he had no choice but to bring their faces together and kiss, so he didn't die.

The kiss of life.

What they had to do now was swap Ximena and Salome so they could let the reserve force devour the 'carcasses'.

As they did that, Vale was going to take a peek at what Level 5 would be to determine his next course of action. If Level 5 looked manageable, maybe he'd attempt, but that was unlikely. Now that the chameleons saw something like that happen, they would likely try to take advantage if it happened again.

'Tch…'

Vale felt like shit.

He'd just been openly spied on, and his forces killed in front of his eyes, but could do nothing about it…

They would have been in lots of trouble had the chameleons actually sent their full force in. The plan in that case was to try to make them fight each other… if they didn't – Armageddon or cut their losses.

By Armageedan, Vale meant he and the rest of the Legion would hold the path to the core while Ximena and Salome tried their best to fend off the horde. If winning looked impossible, then they'd do the second option. Which meant sacrificing everyone not on the core side and hiding with their tails tucked between their legs, some quite literally, behind Ximena and praying her Absolute Zero was truly absolute.

Obviously it wasn't, seeing as Vale and Salome both could defy it… so it probably wouldn't be too long before someone who could showed up in the dungeon. 'Well, maybe not.' Those two were also special cases, their classes being top of the food chain and all…

As for reflecting on the battle itself…

Most of the arrows had been destroyed after being shot, either by impact or the wolves snapping them, but a few were recoverable and in serviceable condition. They now had merely four arrows remaining, but they were lucky to have any at all.

As for Two, her performance in the battle was amazing. She held her own against beings that should have dwarfed her existence. That alone was a feat worthy of a name other than Two… Vale hadn't yet decided on such a name. He wasn't really in the mood to do something like that at the moment. When life calmed down, the archer would get a name she deserved. Until then, she would remain Two.

Other than arrows, their losses amounted to just the workers.

Something inconsequential.

After all, losing a few workers didn't mean much because of how inexpensive they were… The only toll they actually took when they died was morale.

Well, Vale barely felt anything due to his curse from Lust, but the others obviously did, mainly the other workers. Vale had thought the little red and pink creatures had been unable to cry; now, learning they could was something he wished he'd never discovered.

But then again… thus is the fate of the weak.

For the strong to exist, there must be weakness to dichotomize it.

A law that governs every world. Every situation. Every happening.

It was prevalent in the world where Vale came from; the world Salome came from; the worlds from wherever the other Masters of Vice came from; and Pandora, Vale's new home…

After confirming that the chameleons had truly fled and that it was safe to proceed with the transfer, everyone outside stowed away from Ximena as she summoned her crystals and traded places with Salome.

Then…

The entire Legion came together and surrounded the half-dead wolves.

Vale gave a curt reminder:

"Remember… once they die, don't let their body touch the ground."

Then he walked off down the hallway, listening to the crunching of bone and whimpers of dying dogs.

[Vana Vilkas has been slain]

[+2 Aether]

[Ashen Vilkas has been slain]

[+3 Aether]

[Ashen Vilkas has been slain]

[+3 Aether]

'I feel disgusting…'

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.