"H-hmmghhh…" I let out a weak groan and slowly slid my eyes open, rubbing them listlessly after waking from a deep sleep.
I tried to raise my body, but something around my abdomen stopped me halfway through. Looking down, I realized the cause—a hand resting firmly on my stomach. Verdra's right hand, to be exact.
Just how much strength is she putting into it, even in her sleep?
I had to shove her hand away with more force before I could finally prop myself up. Even then, she continued sleeping soundly beside me, breathing in and out in a peaceful rhythm—a sight I'd grown quite familiar with over the past months…
Hmm… this is strange. She usually sleeps on a different sheets. Since when did she slip herself into m—
My train of thoughts came to a sudden halt as I take a better look at her current state, the memories from last night rushing back all at once to my head. Today, she was different— Really different.
"Wha—!" I let out a sharp gasp, barely managing to stop myself before my voice escaped completely.
Verdra's body squirmed slightly at the sound, and not long after, she released a groggy morning groan. "H-hmmgh…"
"Y-yo, Verdra. G-good morning." I greeted her with a strained smile, doing my best to avert my eyes.
"Mm… Yuu—aaaah…" She said my name, ending it with a long, very unladylike yawn, then rubbed her eyes sluggishly before sitting up. "...Morning."
"U-um… Verdra. Could you, you know… cover yourself up a little?" I asked without looking at her—well, that was a lie. I kept stealing glances. Can't help it.
She lazily glanced down at herself before her cheeks suddenly flared bright red, and she hastily pulled the blanket up to cover herself.
Only after that did I slowly turn to meet her eyes… which were now glaring daggers at me, with a hint of tears at their corners.
"W-what did I do to deserve that look?" I asked with a forced smile. "There's nothing you need to be embarrassed about—I already saw them all very clearly last ni— Okay! Okay! I get it! I'm sorry! So please, stop aiming those huge Hellfire Arrows at me!"
The Hellfire Arrows hovering around her vanished, and she spoke in a stern tone. "Turn around. I'll get dressed real quick— and do the same with yourself."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"C'mon. Why won't you look at my way already?" I asked as we walked along our usual route toward the 9th floor's boss, Chimerberus.
Her shoulders shuddered slightly before she replied. "J-just bear with it for a while… a-at least, until I get used to it again. I know I'm the one who t-tempted you—and you also tried your best to warn me beforehand, but every time I see your face today, memories from last night just keep flooding back. Embarrassing stuffs are embarrassing. It can't be helped."
She quickened her pace throughout her explanation, never once meeting my eyes.
"W-well, if you say so."
This is super awkward—hmm… or is it? Haven't we been in this kinda situation before? Just with our roles reversed.
The first time she kissed me, I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eyes for a few hours out of sheer embarrassment. Now that things were the other way around, I didn't know why, but it felt kinda good. It even gave me a strange sense of superiority, and I couldn't stop myself from wanting to tease her.
I hastened my steps to catch up, then, I entrapped her body by wrapping my arms around from behind, encircling her shoulders as I leaned in close, rubbing our cheeks together affectionately.
"Y-Y-Y-Yuu!?" She stammered, hercheeks instantly heating up as she glanced sideways at me.
"You're finally looking me in the eyes." I smiled teasingly. "So, what is it, Miss Verdra?"
"R-release me at once! I-immediately! Or else, I'll burn you to ashes with my strongest Hellfire!" she threatened, her face completely flustered.
Ignoring her warning entirely, I tightened my embrace and grinned. "I really want to see you try."
She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, but no words had come out. Having run out of excuses, she reached back, grabbed my crossed arms, and buried her face against them.
"That's so unfair." she finally managed to say. "You shouldn't be this bold with your actions, too."
"I've endured plenty of unfair treatment from how cute and beautiful you are all this time," I replied. "So let me have this one."
She stayed silent, so I continued.
"And you should calm yourself down before we face Mr. Chimerberus. Otherwise, 'someone's gonna lose their leg again.'" I repeated her words from a few months back with a teasing grin, mimicking her tone from back then.
"…Mm." She nodded meekly, her face still buried against my arms. "Then… let me stay like this a little longer— so I can get used to you again."
"Take your time. I'll wait, no matter how long it takes."
Unfortunately, before she could truly take her time, a loud, monstrous growl echoed through the tunnel, reaching us from far away. From roughly 300 meters ahead, a massive figure emerged—and it wasn't just your typical, run-of-the-mill monster.
It was the Chimerberus himself.
With an extra dragon head.
—————————————————
4 headed Chimerberus
Lv: 6500
—————————
"Oh, c'mon! We haven't even reached your nest yet," I complained. "Why are you coming to us already? You're ruining our good time."
I released Verdra from my embrace before stepping forward and placing myself in front of her, shielding her with my body.
"Yuu?"
"Verdra, that bastard just ruined my good mood," I said flatly. "I'll take him down by myself. Do not interfere."
…Uuuh.
I can't believe I've actually said such cringey lines out loud.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asked worriedly. "That one looks a little different than usual."
"No prob." I flashed her my biggest smile, doing my best to hide both my irritation and embarrassment. "We've already killed about—what, 8 of them, I think? One with an extra head won't be an issue for the current me."
—————————————————
Name: Yanagi Yuu (Human)
Lv: 6417/6466
Vitality: 12,834
Strength: 12,834
Intelligence: 64,170
Mana: –
Agility: 19,251
Dexterity: 32,085
———
Brain load: 1%
Currencies: 46,237,220
———
Skill: Basic gaming features | Book of Safekeeping | Draconic Vow (Verdra) | Plasmakinesis | Cryokinesis (Lv10)
Draconic Vow's associated skill: Pyrokinesis (Lv10) | Electrokinesis (Lv10) | Draconic Ecdysis | Draconic Vow's telepathy
———
Draconic Ecdysis: Ability to manipulate one's own scales.
—————————
Wait…
Draconic Vow?
What happened to the contract?
Is that why the Contract's mark on my hand reshaped and become the same as Verdra's?
Before I could question Verdra about it, the 4 Headed Chimerberus was already closing in on our position.
"Looks like the questioning will have to wait for a bit." I closed my status page and straightened my posture, facing the monster head-on. "I'll end this in under a minute. Don't move from there."
"Are you really sure things will be okay without my help?" she asked again, her worry still evident.
"You told me yourself that I'm strong," I replied, smiling once more. "So from here on out, I think I should have more confidence in myself—that's… only when I've deemed something was safe. Hehe."
With that, I activated my newly acquired Draconic Ecdysis skill.
Even though I had only just noticed about the skill, it felt as if my body already knew what to do. The moment the skill activated, a pair of jet-black dragon wings—eerily similar to Verdra's—burst out from my shoulder blades, ripping open two sizable holes in the back of my shirt.
…Well, I have so much Currencies nowadays anyway. A shirt is basically drop of a bucket.
"Yuu?!" Verdra gasped. "You—"
"Save your amazement for later," I said. "I'll be right back."
I flapped my new found wings once, sending a powerful gust of wind crashing into the ground. Verdra had to hurriedly hold her skirt down because of it.
…Yeah. I'll apologize for that later.
My body lifted effortlessly into the air. The wings were surprisingly easy to control—I could maneuver my body freely, even more smoothly than when moving on foot.
So this is what flying on my own feels like.
No wonder Verdra is so strong.
The Chimerberus advanced, opening its dragons mouth wide and conjuring 2 massive Hellfire Balls from them.
I pulled out a Super Yeti Shogun's sword and a Greater Strengthening Potion (High) from the Book of Safekeeping.
I'll use this monster as my test subject.
—————————————————
Tōuketsu no Tsurugi
Lv: 5500
Class: Phantasma
Special effect: Freezes everything this sword cuts and creates ice structures at will.
—————————
—————————————————
Strength: 12,834 + 9,625 (Expired in 300 seconds)
—————————
After draining the potion, I tossed the empty vial aside and shot forward at incredible speed.
I wasn't as fast as Verdra in the air—this really shows the difference between SS and C rank of Agility. On the ground, Reinforced might be faster, but flying has its own undeniable advantage.
Which was… well, flying.
Just as the Chimerberus prepared to fire its Hellfire Balls, I swung my sword and instantly created a massive slab of ice, hardening it with Picno-Cryokinesis to form a shield.
however, it's not for protecting me against the Monster's attack, it's to protect me from my own attack.
Looking at the monster with my 3rd person view slightly from above, I can see it clearly despite the ice shield blocked my own vision.
I activate my Plasmakinesis to heat up the plasmas in one of its Hellfire, it turned purple hue before the air around the fire reverberate strongly. I called this super unstable and dangerous move;
"Overloaded."
*BOOOOM!!*
Chimerberus' Hellfire exploded and sent a huge tremor to the surrounding area.
More than 2/3 of my ice shield was now gone. The temperature of the explosion was just that high, my Ice shield not even has the time to melt away before it's evaporated completely.
The explosion not even leaving any smokes or debris behind, what's left were a Chimerberus' dragon head that is now missing from its mouth up to near its eyes, 3 other heads that are severely burned, and its half badly burnt front body.
—————————————————
Brain load: 49%
—————————
I've compressed Plasmakinesis to its lowest potency that I can manage and it's still eat up more than 40% of my brain load, Overloaded was just too scary.
Chimerberus' front and mid legs stumbled down to its knees. It was so stunned, it didn't even let out its usual pained growl.
I immediately flew towards its tiger head while it was still stunned, piercing one of its eyes with my sword and activate its special effect, freezing it, I then activate my Plasmakinesis to reduce the temperature even further down. I only manipulates the Plasmas on its eye area around my sword, but it freezes its entire tiger head down to its neck.
'Plasma Frost'that's what I'm gonna called this moves from now on, because it's sounds super cool, just like what it do.
"Groooowrl!!" the remaining heads finally has the time to released their pained growl.
—————————————————
Brain load: 60%
—————————
This one only used about 10%, not bad.
I let my sword go and flew backwards a few distance, It'll only be a waste of time to pull that sword out from that very dense ice, so instead, I pulled a Super Minotyrant's Halberd out from the Book of Safekeeping.
Chimerberus raised its front body up and spread its wings wide, trying to distance itself away from me by flying backwards. However, I will never never let it get away.
"You interrupted my good time with Verdra, I'll kill you no matter what!" I declared.
Just before the Chimerberus could distanced himself further, I pointed my finger it,
"Stormcall."
A massive bolt of black lightning burst forth from my finger, formed by Nega-Electrokinesis and further strengthened with Plasmakinesis. This moves massively increases the electrical voltage of my black lightning—and it's my fastest long-range attack.
"Groooaarll!!"
The Chimerberus let out another agonized roar. Its massive body shuddered violently before crashing onto the ground on its side.
—————————————————
Brain load: 84%
—————————
Uuh… my head's start to hurt real bad.
I need to finish this in the next attack.
I pulled a lighter from my pocket, flicked it on, and raised the flame's temperature until it turned blue. I coated the halberd's blade with it, then flapped my wings and rose above the Chimerberus.
"Haaaaaah!"
I bellowed as I plunged downward, swinging my weapon straight into the monster's midsection.
A violent burst of blue flames erupted on impact. I intensified my Azur-Pyrokinesis and layered Nega-Electrokinesis onto the halberd just before its special effect activated, crushing half of the monster's abdomen. From the wound, thunderous blue flames exploded outward in a violent surge—with my Halberd also shattered as the result.
"Groooarlll…"
The Chimerberus let out its final growl before its body went limp and began to disintegrate.
…Even Lv5500 weapon couldn't last long with my current level…
Who would've thought I'll be strong enough that a Phantasma class weapon couldn't even keep up anymore.
—anyway, not that I'll be running out of them anytime soon, I have so much of them in my Book,
< You have slain a 4 headed Chimerberus. exp+xxxx >
< Maximum Lv increased to 6500 >
< Lv up x19 >
< Hp and stamina is fully recovered >
< You received 65,000 Currencies >
"Wow. You actually did it by yourself." Verdra approached after the Chimerberus' body had completely disintegrated.
"Of course I d—"
As the adrenaline rush went out, my body suddenly stumbled forward as a sharp pain shot through my head.
—————————————————
Brain load: 97%
—————————
Before my face could hit the ground, she caught me from the front and held me steady.
"Good work."
"Ahaha…" I let out a weak chuckle, resting my chin on her shoulder. "I really hoped Lv-up recovery would refresh my brain load too."
"How long until it drops to a bearable level?" she asked while gently rubbing my back.
"Around 5 minutes, I think."
The higher my brain capacity gets, the longer it takes to fully recover. Nowadays, if my brain load goes over 95%, it takes a little more than 30 minutes to fully reset. Still a lot faster than recovering Verdra's mana from 0—though hers gets fully restored by Lv-up recovery, and it can be recovered using potion.
Verdra glanced around before pointing somewhere nearby. "Let's rest over there for a bit. You can still walk, right?"
"Of course. Who do you take me for?" I replied playfully.
She sat down on top of a broken down rectangular pillar and tapped her lap twice. "Lie your head here."
The recumbent pillar was long enough to function like a bench.
A-am I accidentally triggered the legendary 'girlfriend's lap pillow event'?!
I-I want it!
…Though, I have to confirm something first,
"Are you… calmed down already?" I asked nervously. "I don't want to get burned if you suddenly get all self-conscious again."
"I'm cool as a cucumber! Why did you keep reminding me?!" she snapped, flustered. "Just lie your head down already! I'm trying my absolute best here!"
"T-then, I will gladly accept your offer."
I carefully laid my head on her lap, facing her stomach—100% intentional. Despite how slender she was, it feels incredibly nice.
W-what a heavenly sensation… Her thighs are so soft, and she smells so good.
Honestly, I'll deliberately overload my brain often if this was the reward.
I glanced up at her face, now flushed bright red from embarrassment. "You know, you don't have to force yourself to do this."
"I-I need to get used to seeing your face again—w-without getting all flustered," she replied. "A-and these kind of thing are the best way to do it."
Despite saying that, she kept her eyes tightly shut the entire time.
"You're diligent in a weird way," I chuckled softly. "Alright then—let's talk about something else to divert your thoughts."
I paused briefly before asking,
"First of all… why did our Draconic Contract turned into Draconic Vow?"