BXBX NOVEL Chapter 188: It doesn't matter
Enclosed within the domain of Fay\'s hair, all I could think of was her body wrapped around mine. Her hot, sweaty skin rubbed on me. Fay\'s muscles shifted a bit as she made sure to compensate for all the sways on my end…
Sure.
Every now and then, my aura would surge into the elemental darkness, fueling and giving it shape. Then, using my darkness as a pathway, Fay\'s divine aura would streak across what should be open air, striking down any humans within our range with precise, surgical strikes.
For when her divine aura would appear within a human body only to instantly start to decay into a much thinner aura… Whatever aura humans had, would scatter away.
And from the looks of it, not even their strongest could ward against this kind of attack.
Still, for how much what followed looked like a war crime if not an outright genocide, I couldn\'t really care all that much.
I was hugging Fay, while she was desperately holding herself close to me in response. With my face fully enclosed within her hug, I couldn\'t even see the opponents we were killing…
And maybe that\'s why I didn\'t really feel bad about what we were doing? Because I couldn\'t see the visuals? What eyes do not see does not linger in the mind, someone smart pointed out in the past.
In the end, though, just like I didn\'t really care about the slaughter I happily committed, I didn\'t care about why I didn\'t care either.
All that mattered, was Fay\'s warmth, the spasm of her body as she would tighten her hold over me whenever a battle log would expand a bit faster or showcase some higher numbers…
By the time our roam came to an end, I only had my battle log to thank for keeping any sort of organized registry of what actually happened. Yet, as happy as I was there was some record of what went through, I was even happier to discard all the details, focusing only on the conclusion.
[Total level growth: 182,225]
[Level: 87] > [Level: 100]
[Total level growth: 182,225] > [Total level growth: 169,225]
[Adjusting growth for second grade]
[Total level growth: 169,225] > [Total level growth: 42,306]
[Level 100] > [Level: 142]
[Free points: 0] > [Free points: 33]
\'Okay, what the hell?\'
Ever since my system first appeared, I made sure to watch all of its numbers as closely as I could.
It was my denomination of strength, after all, so how could I not give it all my focus?
And yet, as the number of my skills, abilities, titles, and the scale of my stats grew… Things were getting messier and messier.
For now, I could more or less figure out where all the numbers came from. Starting before I reached my former level, I was only ever getting a single attribute point per ten whole levels, making it one hell of an inefficient way of getting stronger.
And even with my bonus that brought one more free attribute point every two levels I gained… It was still one hell of a bloody way to grow stronger.
In the end, though, after just an initial clash and then successively slaying a huge number of humans…
\'If not for that damned core, I might have reached all the way to the point of my next rebirth…\' I thought, taking a moment to grieve the loss of all the points I sacrificed to take care of this foreign seed problem.
And while it grew out into a pretty useful ability in the end… The points that I\'ve lost won\'t return. And with how hard it was getting to grow my attributes through just leveling, between how I only got effectively six attribute points per ten levels and, as I just found out, leveling up now became four times as hard…
\'I need to undergo the rebirth so that I will get better rewards per level,\' I thought, only for all my serious, math-based thoughts to vanish when I sensed Fay\'s intention to communicate with me.
"Hon, I\'m tired…" Fay whispered.
After what might be five minutes or maybe two hours of going around the battle and slaughtering all those who still resisted, Fay\'s aura grew visibly thinner. The domain filled with star-like sparks of her aura now turned pretty dark, with only Fay\'s white hair keeping its insides bathed in a silvery light, as opposed to total darkness.
The way she held on to me changed as well.
\'Must be the wear of tethering on the edge between lust and bloodlust,\' I thought, fully aware of how hard it was to keep that balance.
Outright sex would only push us beyond the edge of the reason. But slaughtering more and more humans would, in turn, nearly force us back into physical intimacy!
The keyword here is "nearly".
By simply walking around and cuddling as lovingly as we did, we managed to somewhat overcome the waves of lust by crashing them into an ocean of wholesome affection underlining every single thought and moment of this bloody love.
And so, whenever my darkness would form tiny blades that would then penetrate human shields, Fay would tighten her embrace, bracing herself with all the love and affection she could muster to face the retaliatory wave of crude lust sent to us once Fay\'s divine aura rearranged the insides of our shared targets.
Keeping this delicate balance proved to be far more exhausting than either one of us could fathom. And so, when I finally could no longer sense any further humans anywhere in my proximity, I let out a long sigh before plummeting down to my ass.
Only a single thought persisted in my mind at that point. To keep Fay from scratching herself as I fell down on my bottom.
\'For now, it should be over,\' I thought, happily softening Fay\'s drop before pulling her back into a tight hug once she settled down on my lap. \'We need to send some captives to take care of all the dead to make a good impression, ensure someone from our side will be here when the proper imperial army arrives, see to have all the forest folk withdraw from the camp…\'
The moment I allowed myself to rest even the tiniest bit, my mind instantly swarmed with the thoughts of what still had to be done.
And quite frankly, if there was one thing that changed inside of me after all the slaughter of the night… It was how little I now cared about the consequences of what I formerly considered to be a plan saved for only the most desperate situation.
For, regardless of all the fancy numbers on my level count rising, the events of this night taught me well. The close shave with death was enough of stimuli to shake me up.
\'And if all of that was just their front guard…\' I thought, digging my fingers into the soft skin of Fay\'s sides.
Just a front guard. A mere sliver of the true force that was bearing on this place from all angles possible.
\'There\'s no way I can hold that many humans on my own,\' I thought, ensuring Fay\'s clothes properly covered her body when I sensed she was growing too worn out to maintain the domain of her hair.
And as the white subspace around me started to collapse, I took a deep breath and sorted out my thoughts.
\'First, withdraw. Then, talk with Claudy. Then, have him send people to take care of the dead. And then, we are going to go back ho…\'
Fay\'s domain collapsed, once again allowing the visuals of the world to reach my eyes.
And it wasn\'t pretty, to say the least.
Contrary to how brutal it looked through my aura sense, those who died to my and Fay\'s joint attack avoided having their corpses brutalized. They simply fell down with a look of shock and intense pain on their now cold faces.
On the other hand, the innumerable limbs, guts, and heads scattered between those still corpses were the responsibility of the celestials and divines, all eagerly celebrating the victory and taking a well-deserved breather.
\'Let\'s hurry up and get everything over with,\' I thought, sparking the last few bits of energy I had in me to turn around and head back to the relative safety behind the ranks of my men…
Only to turn around and come face to face with Fay\'s father.
There was something in his eyes. An echo of an emotion that didn\'t sit well with me.
And that instinct alone was enough for me to hurriedly give the system a simple command.
The notification windows flashed, describing the change to my stats. With the corner of my eyes, I could also enjoy just how much my aura grew along with my level… But only with the corners of my eyes.
Right in front of me, Loraz took a step forward. And the unspeakable emotion in his eyes now solidified into a pure and now fully directed hate.