Chapter 303 – Vol. 5 –

As soon as one of them noticed her, Ash transformed her  Lust. 

“Bow.” 

“Eehh-” The Lust demon began a low hiss that was cut off when Ash sent an arrow straight through its mouth. Its friends, the other Lust demons whose heads snapped up at the sound, noticed what had happened and almost looked offended that someone had interrupted their session. 

Ash didn’t stop. Quickly, she shot out a couple more arrows at her enemies, taking two demons out in quick succession before Sinneah killed off the last one by punching a hole straight through its chest. 

The three rookie soldiers just watched from behind, in awe. 

EXP Gained: 50

EXP Gained: 40

EXP Gained: 45

EXP: 235/800

“Hm,” Ash nodded to herself as she looked up at the EXP she’d gained. “We’re done.” 

Shaking her head and pushing away the surprise from what had just happened, Nieve jogged up to Ash. 

“That’s it?” She asked. “We don’t have to do anything else?” 

“We were just here to see how strong they are,” Ash reminded her. “If it were up to me, I’d go in the city and clear out as many of them as I could, but I’d rather just wait till the eggheads back at the camp have a good plan.” 

In all honesty, all she wanted was, in fact, to head in and kill every single demon here right now. But, as it had been made clear to her, one lucky shot from one of these things was all it would take to kill her, even at her current level. So, going against that voice in her head telling her to stay, she began walking back toward the path where they’d come from. 

“… That was incredible,” Nieve continued, as she remained by Ash’s side. “How many demons have you killed?” 

“A lot,” Ash answered quickly. She reverted her  Lust into its cube shape and kept her eyes on their surroundings, making sure nothing was going to take them by surprise. 

“How long did it take to get this strong?” 

“A few months, but,” Ash quickly added, “it’s mostly because of some weird stuff that happened.” 

“Do you think we could ever get that strong?” She asked, and now, Ash stopped. 

She turned toward her, as the barrage of questions made it clear that this girl wasn’t going to leave her alone anytime soon. 

Nieve had a hopeful and bright expression on her face. One that likely hinted at the sort of hardworking optimist she was. It was a quality that reminded Ash of a certain someone, so as soon as she noticed that about her, she looked away and kept going so as to avoid having her heart hurt any further. 

She never answered that question, but Nieve seemed satisfied all the same. Ash guessed that probably meant she took it as a “yes”. 

Whatever,  Ash thought, as they retreated beyond the trees and back up to the camp. On the way, though, they noticed something off about the portal and the city below. It seemed like there were fewer demons now than before surrounding the diamond-shaped structure. 

If Niven knows we’re here, which, I mean, he probably does, he’s likely going to get started on fortifying the city’s defenses,  Ash thought.  He probably won’t attack us out here, but I’ll still sleep with one eye open, just in case. 

The group walked back to where the commanding officers were located to let them know how things had gone. They remained at one of the tents, speaking over a table that had a map of the city laid out on it. Satsuhiro was standing by as Ash walked up. 

“Ah, Savior,” the general greeted her. “How did the scouting go?” 

“Their levels are the same as before,” Ash noted. “They’re still affected by the portal’s buff too, though. So, it might say that their level is 20, or whatever, but when they’re close to the portal, it’s basically more like 40 or even 50.” 

Her words made the faces of the soldiers there stiffen up. One of them, however, asked something. 

“The buff affects you, right?” 

“Yeah,” Ash nodded. “I get the same stats. I’ll still be way stronger than them on my own, but you guys need to figure out how you’re going to avoid getting your faces clawed off.” 

With that, Ash walked away before she could be told anything else. Her job was done for now, as far as she was concerned, and now she just wanted to keep training before the actual battle arrived. 

In order to do that, though, she needed to see where the others were. With Sinneah behind her, as she also didn’t care at all for whatever the general and the other soldiers were going to do, she tried to search for them. She found Metsumi, Luvine, and Opah fairly easily, as both kids were running around while Metsumi spectated, making sure they didn’t go too far, but Ash still couldn’t see the others. It took looking through a couple of tents before she then found theirs. 

Once she did, she stopped at the front of it as she saw what they were doing. 

Yumi and Keiko were discussing one of the former’s books, while, behind them, Kasumi was laid down on a mat. 

Ash’s eyes, though, failed to move away from the crimson-haired woman when she really got a good look at her. Kasumi was wearing a tank top that was, simply put, way too baggy, and nothing underneath to the point where it left very little to the imagination. 

Have those things always been so big?  Ash asked herself, closing her eyes and taking a sharp breath.  Holy fuck, they’re massive. 

“Oh,” Keiko noticed her arrival. “How did it go?” 

Trying her hardest to ignore the view that was practically pulling her eyes toward it, Ash sat down next to Keiko. 

“Fine. The demons are pretty much just as strong as they were before. So, this should be pretty easy.” 

“Great,” Keiko replied. “A part of me is feeling pretty nervous though, honestly. I-I know we’re a lot stronger now than we were back then, but, still. Anything could happen.” 

“Just stay behind me,” Ash shrugged, as Sinneah sat down next to Yumi. 

Keiko then gave her a smile full of gratitude. 

“I’ll do my best.” 

“Oh, Ash?” A voice came out and Ash looked toward it. That was a mistake.  Kasumi had woken up and was now sitting up and stretching, something that her tank top fundamentally disagreed with as it showed off what Ash couldn’t see prior. Kasumi’s nipples, out in the open, felt like they were whispering in Ash’s ears. “What happened?” 

“I… I went to check out the city,” Ash responded with a throat that felt a lot drier than it had just been. 

“Ohhh. How was it?” 

“Fine.” 

“Hm,” As Kasumi rubbed her eyes, Ash couldn’t stop staring. “You know, if we want to get ready before everything kicks off, we could go around looking for monsters. Though, the demons might have killed them all.”

“We could do that,” Ash replied. 

“Awesome. Be right back, I need to take a piss.”

With that, Kasumi walked out of the tent. 

As she did, Ash turned back toward Keiko. 

“So, how about some tail action to end the day?” 

“A-Ash!?” Yumi and Keiko both said, simultaneously. 

—

Yumi

The night arrived a lot sooner than the Zayama had been expecting, though it felt like that happened often these days. Having gone from quiet, stagnant, endless days back at the shrine to a life of constant moving and speaking, it really felt like time was flying to her. 

The only moments when time tended to slow down, was when Yumi was allowed to remain in her own, private little world for a few minutes, normally before she went asleep. Here, though, that privilege was amplified by the fact that all it took was a minute’s walk and she could go out to the trees, to remain completely on her lonesome for as long as she wanted. 

And, of course, when she had this opportunity, she would use it mostly to do one thing. One thing that was on her mind as she got up and looked around to see if Sinneah had gone to sleep already. Indeed, she had, and Yumi let out a sigh of relief. 

… It’s been getting worse lately,  Yumi thought.  Maybe all I need is to relieve myself enough to push these thoughts out, though. 

And so, she went to do just that. 

The Zayama walked out from the tent and made a beeline for the forest beside it, with her footsteps as light as they could be. She only gave the rest of the camp a casual glance, as she figured that anyone who saw her would only assume she was going to go do her business. 

She walked for a while, making sure there was enough distance so that she could be sure she’d be alone before she heard something. 

Hm? Her ears perked up at the sound. 

It came from the west. A sharp, almost pained, moan. 

Does someone need help?  Yumi wondered, before quickly walking in that direction. 

What she found, however, did not reflect any sort of emergency. Instead, as soon as her eyes found the source, she hid behind a tree and took a deep breath. 

Ash and Keiko were there, just a small distance ahead, with Ash in her transformed state, and Keiko laid down on the grass underneath her. 

Already, Yumi’s heart was beating rapidly against her chest. 

Oh my… When did… What…? 

Of course, what she felt she should have done at this point was just walk away.

Instead, though, she peeked out from behind the tree to get another look. Holding one hand up to her chest, she watched as she could just barely see the outline of Ash’s black tail, shining under the moonlight, pushing into the girl under her. 

And, as Yumi’s silver eyes remained on the scene ahead, she slipped a hand into her pants.

… I am terrible for this, she thought, but one thing was certain. 

She hadn’t stopped before, when this had happened at the Manor, and she wasn’t about to stop now.