Chapter 37 Clearing The Dark Forest
For some reason, Ember is keeping her distance from me since morning. Although it was subtle, and despite not feeling any disgust or hatred towards me, she always maintain a 3-step-away distance from me. Fang on the other hand is quite the opposite. She keeps on initiating skin-to-skin contact whenever the chance rises.
After eating dinner, when we returned to our room, I asked Ember for the reason.
"T-That is... Whenever I see Master's face, I keep remembering what happened last night and... T-That wasn't me at all! I swear it's Fang's fault!"
I don't really get what it was but she said it was Fang's fault, so I turned to Fang and pressed her for the reason.
"Ah, she's probably still embarrassed as she basically raped you many times over. I was just drinking your blood and sealing wounds so I'm not involved with it. Yes, I told her what to do, but only that. The rest, she did on her own."
"Raped?! What's the meaning of this?!"
This morning, Fang only told the rough outline of the happenings like how I had energy overload, how the two of them extracted my excess energy and used it to evolve and so. The specifics were left out. I didn't ask about it since I already got the info I wanted, but to think it was this...!
"I lost my virginity in my sleep... Ahh..."
I lay down on my bed, feeling slightly melancholic while imagining what Ember did last night. Ember was hiding her reddish-pink face with her hands in embarrassment, while Fang was just sitting down by the side of the bed, swinging her feet to and fro playfully.
Although I wish for us to reenact my first time, given how the two of them weren't completely used to their new forms, I postponed it for now. With their current state, I'm afraid I would die from the reenactment.
The next morning, I woke up first. Ember was lying on the floor, curled up like a cat while Fang was sleeping while leaning against the wall near the door. Although their faces were images of pure bliss, I felt a slight sting in my heart.
"... Let's get a bigger room later."
After deciding so, I woke up the two and headed straight out of the gates. From there, we ran toward the familiar path leading to the Dark Forest.
Fang ran the fastest of the three of us. I guess she could leave us in the dust if she wished to, but instead matched Ember's pace. On the other hand, I was surprised by the increase in my physical capabilities. Right now, my full-throttle run can already barely match Ember's speed.
Compared to the past when I was nowhere near Ember's physical stats, I am now somewhere around 80% of her capacity.
Another thing I realized yesterday is that my blue hair grew long without my notice. right now, it was already past my shoulders. I tied it with a random thread before heading out but the wind from running was brandishing my hair like a whip here and there at every turn. If not for my increased physique, my back would be red with slap marks by now.
After 20 or so minutes, which was about five times as fast as the last time, we reached the outskirts of the Dark Forest. Here and there, I could see purple wisps of light flying about.
"Fang, is this your first-time fighting demons?"
"No. My previous owner was given a few captured demons to practice with so I fought with those regularly before. Don't worry, this forest is pretty low-level. Nothing can beat us with two 3rd stage beasts in the team."
Fang's expression turned dark for a moment there, but since she wishes to continue as usual, I'll just keep quiet about it. However, I guess it's not just a "regular" practice fight.
"Great, then Ember, can you fight as you do previously?"
This time, Ember shook her head.
"Unfortunately, no. Since I became a Royal Slime Princess, my figure can only be that of a humanoid. However, I tested it with my clones and they can fight like before. Only the main body cannot morph anymore."
Saying so, Ember threw seven of her cores and each of them turned into a blob of slime each about two meters in diameter. In a split second, the three clones turned into a sharp wheel like usual and started wreaking havoc around, the other four split up and followed the three, picking up the essence crystals dropped by the defeated demons.
"That's quite big. Did your volume increase with your evolution?"
"No, my volume is just about what my main body is. Those clones' size was mostly created with energy, so physical attacks barely work on them unless the core inside them is broken."
Energy made into a physical form? Although being able to see energy is amazing in and of itself, being able to turn it into a physical object seemed much more amazing.
With ember's clones clearing up the outskirts, the three of us headed straight for the central area of the dark forest. Saying that she was getting bored, Fang went ahead alone. I bet the demons in the central area can't even raise a finger against her, so I just let her be.
"Then I'll go on ahead, Leader!"
Saying so, she ran like the wind and vanished without a trace. After a few minutes of light jogging inside the dark forest, we finally reached the part where not even the dead trees were present. It was an extremely barren place, devoid of any obstacle as far as the borders of the forest surrounding the area.
However, to me who can see energy, I can actually say that this place is much livelier compared to the outskirts. The purple energy strands were busily swarming around like a bunch of anchovies chased by a predator.
The energy was so dense that to me, it seems like the whole central area is a big purplish-black monolith with a squirming surface. I got goosebumps just staring at it. It looks straight-up disgusting.