“Crap…” Sunny whispered, quickly bringing up Lady Aeron’s status screen.

[ Name: Aeron Tusk ]

[ Race: Core ]

[ Subrace: Strength Core ]

[ Level: 4 (85/………

Suddenly, the status screen broke! The letter and numbers disappeared, evaporating into thin air.

“H-Huh?”

“Nah, I won’t allow that.” Said the woman and brought up Sunny’s own status screen!

[ Name: Sunny ]

[ Race: Core ]

[ Level: 6 (0/40) ]

[ HP: 1/1 ]

[ MP: 0/10 ]

[ Intelligence: 3 ]

[ Essence: 2 ]

[ Influence: 3 ]

“H-Hey! What are you doing?”

“Bwahaha!” She laughed, spitting all over the gemstone. “You’re so weak! Holy shit, and you haven’t even specialized yet! What?! Wait… no way… no fucking way… you don’t even have a class? No class? You’re really classless?”

“I’m… uh…”

“Bwahaha, oh, oh shit, I’m dying, I’m actually dying, Jesus, hold on, hold on a second… hah… haha… alright, okay. I’m fine now.”

“So can we—“

“BWAHAHAHAHAH!!! I’M SORRY, I’M SO SORRY!”

“Alright that’s… okay…”

“Where’s your main slave? Why are you in that pathetic gem? It has 1 HP!”

“I… I started inside of this. This is my body.”

“Jeez, why not just steal someone else’s?”

“I borrow if necessary. Stealing is against my morals.”

“Oh yeah-yeah, heard that a million times before. Would morals save you if I were to crush this gem?”

“Uh… I’d prefer if you wouldn’t”

“I’m going to do it.”

“N-No?”

“Yep.”

“Alright… I see you’re not the type of person you could argue with. Fine! Then I won’t hold back! In fact, I’ll execute my master plan, made just for circumstances like these!”

“Hoh?”

“That’s right! Better start begging, fool! Ahem…”

Sunny took a deep breath. His body became the utmost calm as quieted down, then boom!

He erupted into girly screaming.

“UWAAAH!!! HELP ME!!! SOMEBODY SHOOT THIS WOMAN!!!”

“What, weren’t you the one who asked me to come over?” She smiled with her jewel teeth. “Hmpf, typical men. All bark, no bite.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll show you just how manly I am! Seidon, bite her!”

“Yes, Sunny-gonyo!”

The little slime sneaked up on Aeron, suddenly attacking by jumping on her head!

“I’m sorry, Miss, but I won’t let you hurt my Gonyo! I suggest you unhand him at one!”

“Heh. Cute slave.” Said the woman, raising her hand.

She pointed her finger towards the sky, to which Seidon felt a pressure build up around him. It felt like an inward vacuum, crushing his body from inside. Then suddenly…

Swoosh!

As Lady Aeron’s finger wrote a small circle in the air, Seidon was thrown off by the invisible force, crashing into the nearest building! The power of this attack was so tremendous, a large smoke cloud grew and the building almost crashed in on itself.

Sunny couldn’t believe the damage caused by such a simple gesture. Thus it startled him when the woman suddenly put him under her arm, holding the gemstone as if it was but an ordinary football.

“So, Mr. Sunny, you wanted to discuss something. Is that correct?”

“Y-Yeah.” His voice trembling in fear.

“Is there any bar nearby? I want to eat something good!”

“Don’t be dumb! What could you possibly eat in a bar run by mushrooms?”

“So there’s one! Let’s go there.”

“Wha— Jeez, you’re the type of person who gets surprised when they give her a plate full of moss.”

The bar emptied as soon as they entered. Lady Aeron grew a sadistic smile as the mushrooms tripped and fell upon each other, just to escape her gaze. She sat exactly where Sunny did the night before, placing the gem on the opposite end of the table. She put both legs up and leaned back in her chair.

“Hey, others eat on that!” Sunny raised his voice.

“Yeah, well… sucks for them.”

“Listen, I don’t care if you don’t like mushrooms. But you have to understand, these people have their own lives and families. If you were to burn their village, they wouldn’t have any place to go!”

“And?”

“You know well how weak they are! Without any place to call home, they’d die in less than a week!”

“And?”

“And what?! Don’t you care about the lives of innocent people?”

“What if I don’t?”

“You…”

A low sigh. He knew he couldn’t negotiate without offering something in return. That’s how these people work. Whatever you might ask for, they’ll ask that twice in return. But for a righteous goal, Sunny was ready to strike a deal unfavorable for him.

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“You want emeralds, yeah? And you think they have a deposit underground?”

“Mushrooms shouldn’t have the technology these people possess. So I think it’s fair to assume magic is at play here.”

“Okay. So why kill them? Think for a moment, these people possess an important value! Free, untouched workforce. And humanoid at that! I bet ants couldn’t do half of what my dudes are capable of.”

“Heh, you’re trying to sell your own people?”

“Don’t think it’s without a price tag attached!”

“Alright!” She leaned over the table. “Thought you were some no-good soft cock, but maybe you do know how to make some gold!”

Sunny took a deep breath. If he had legs, he would’ve stomped them on the ground.

This offer was ultimate. Unchangeable.

“I’m willing to sell their force in exchange for their safety!”

“Hah?” Her smile disappeared.

“You want workers to mine your stuff, is that correct? Well, defend your workers! Let them live their ordinary lives while working for you! Instead of terrorizing them with ants, employ those to defend the village!”

“What are you talking about?” She grew visibly upset.

“Imagine how beautiful it could be! You could own an entire village, manage their infrastructure, help them develop and prosper! You could be like a god to them! Hell, if you want me to, I’ll leave this village and let you become their only ruler! All you have to do is promise you’ll treat them right!”

“Oy, is this some fucked up joke?” She stood up.

“No! And you better listen because I won’t allow any wiggle room!” His voice became ferocious. “They are not puppets, they are not toys and they are certainly not slaves! These people have feelings, they have lives, they have a heart! Even if they are below us in intelligence, even if they don’t possess the same potential we do, they are alive! Even if they are very different from a human, they deserve the same happiness we do!”

The sadistic smile disappeared. A venomous look remained. She pulled out her scabbards, making the difference in power all the more apparent. It was greater than a canyon between two mountains.

And yet Sunny refused to bend his will. Contrarily, it grew more solid.

“Listen, dipshit!” Aeron shouted. “If I want to burn this place to the ground, I burn it to the fucking mud! If I want to have every single mushroom work in my mines, I’ll make every single one of them come and beg to be chained by a pickaxe! Do you know how fucking powerful I am?”

“Well, certainly not powerful enough! If you’re all that high and mighty, how come this village is still standing? Oh, and don’t make comment on your pathetic attempt to destroy it with ants! You’re not just weak, but as dumb as it gets!”

Slash!

With one decisive cut, Aeron broke the table in half. Sunny felt his heart skip a beat as the woman looked at him. Though, surprisingly enough, the look she had wasn’t upset. It bore excitement.

“WOOHOO!!!” She howled, cutting the table with savage attacks! Those moves were different from a noble tyrant’s, completely devoid of any elegance. And it made Sunny all the more terrified.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

When there was no more to be shredded, she gasped loudly and looked at the gem with a frenzied smile.

“That’s the stuff! God, I don’t even care about this shitty village anymore! I feel so… fucking… liberated! From the way you talk!”

“S-So that means you accept my offer?”

“Hell fucking nawh!” She laughed. “Finally, I found a dumbass who can entertain me!”

“n-nani?”

“All these retards with their ‘uhh pleaze dun’t kill mehhh’ and other pathetic begging only made me more upset just by how unwilling they were for a fight! I want to feel my blood boil, my rage build, MY ADRENALINE PUMP!”

Aeron gasped for air even more loudly. Her face turned even redder and she could barely stand from the excitement turning her legs numb. Tiny moans escaped her mouth as she breathed. Humanity slowly escaped this beast.

Suddenly, she grabbed the gem and pulled him closer.

“W-What are you doing?! Put me do—“

“Can you see my teeth? Here-here, can you see them? Do you know why they are made out of gemstones?”

“I don’t care! Put me down you lunatic!”

“I knocked out my original ones!”

“W-What are you talking about?!”

Pupils dilated, drool running down her mouth, she breathed loudly through her mouth. This revealed a horrific truth: the inside of her mouth… was covered in teeth.

All of them were colorful gems. From her first set of teeth back to the uvula, it was covered like the insides of a rich mine. Her tongue was full of bite marks from these sharp stones. Even the soft parts of her flesh were covered with these.

Only sharks had more teeth than this monster! And even those weren’t so robust!

“The first few days I had to fight beetles to survive. They were weak but so sturdy, I could hardly defeat a single one of them. And they came in hordes! But later on, I became stronger. And I moved on to fighting stronger monsters, like ants and spiders. They bore more experience than a small bug. And just like before, I managed to become strong enough so they weren’t a threat anymore.”

“G-Good?”

“I beat the ant queen in a fistfight! A fistfight! She was the strongest resident of this cave and I beat her without using a weapon. Hell, she had her own title, she was that strong! And I beat her! Do you understand? I defeated the strongest being there was! I didn’t have anyone else to fight after that. And while at first, yes, I enjoyed the peace, I felt something was… missing, you understand? And I’m not just talking about battles and scars, I felt… empty. It felt like I lost a part of what it meant to be alive. I tried battling spiders… ants… none of them lasted longer than a minute. I gave them sentience, the ability to upgrade, I TRAINED THEM. And yet none of them were strong enough. I was so-so-SO dissatisfied, so frustrated, so… bored. A-And I don’t know when or why or how exactly, but I had this revelation. I was the strongest, right? So… I just had to fight myself! I had to… to punch myself and… and kick and… and… well… hah, you know what’s funny? I couldn’t hurt myself. I couldn’t break my bones, they were THAT FUCKING STRONG! And I was so angry, I banged my head against the wall, bang-bang and… you know what I saw? A tooth. My tooth. On the fucking floor. My tooth fell out. My tiny little tooth. I stomped on it. And it broke. And then I fucking realized that my teeth were still the same. So I banged my head against the wall. Then I fought bugs and put my head first, so they knock out my teeth. O-Of course I’m not crazy, I knew I couldn’t just walk around without my teeth, so I had this WONDERFUL idea, this FUCKING TERRIFIC thought to replace them with pretty stones. The strongest stones. And you know why? So it will be harder to knock them out. It will be challenge, to knock out my teeth.”

A soft wind blew through the room. Whistling. That was the only sound beside her loud pants.

“Sunny, you’re a core. You possess so much fucking potential. The most-- The most potential of all beings.”

Was that the shock or fear that turned him mute, he knew not. Only that it’s best not to speak.

“A core… oh yes… I remember… an unbreakable prison, holding the gods to this universe. It would prove to be such a challenge to knock you out.”

She put her finger on the core. Slowly, gently, she carved a line. It was painful for Sunny. But Aeron didn’t even flinch. The pain was too soft.

“Sunny… let me break your prison. Let me break you.”

The door burst open with a loud thump. It was Seidon! He came to the rescue. As if they were soldiers behind the knight, the children had sharp sticks and stones in their hands, ready to assist their hero!

“Ahh, the slave is back!” Aeron clapped.

“I won’t let you hurt my Gonyos! I won’t let you hurt anyone! And I’ll make you pay for wanting to, you wicked witch!”

“See that, Sunny? Such a fucking cute monster, I bet he can’t even swear.”

Mustering up courage, he finally opened his mouth.

“He’s not…”

“Huh? What’s that you’re mumbling?”

“He’s… he’s not anyone’s slave! Leave my friends alone! Don’t you ever talk to them again, trash! You pathetic, dumb… fucking loser! You’re not worthy to talk to any of us! You are trash, you’re below trash, you’re far below the bottom line! Leave this village, right now!”

“Yes! YES! That’s it, Sunny! Get angry! Fill your heart with hate!”

“Shut up and go!”

“Go? Don’t you want me dead?” She chuckled. “That’s too bad, then I won’t have any fun! Well, how about we change that?”

Buzz!

Suddenly, Areon disappeared and Seidon was in her place.

“W-What?” Both of them got struck by panic, as the woman appeared where Seidon was, surrounded by children!

“Hello, my pretties!”

“Hey, get away from them!” Sunny yelled.

“Ini mini miny moe…” Her eyes stopped on a little girl. She was still pretty young, reaching below the woman’s waistline in height. “Hey there, little girl! Wanna’ see a magic trick?”

“CHILDREN! RUN AWAY! GET AWAY FROM THAT WOMAN!”

“Beware, this trick is a head turner!”

Slash!

Writing an X with both scabbards, she destroyed the little girl’s neck.

“Badummts!”

It fell to the ground. Rolling. There wasn’t any blood. Just the head of a child. Rolling. Just towards the gem. Stopping in front of Sunny.

“You… YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!” Energy swirled up around him, taking form in a ferocious blue wind.

“Oh, so you do know how to swear!”

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Yeah-yeah, I’m sure of that.”

Charging up all of his energy, the room surged as his mana overflowed.

“Huah!” Aeron yawned. “I’m getting bored. Well then, spidy, are you ready to come out and play?”

“THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I’LL MURDER YOU!”

“Well, goodbye for now! Have fun with my friend!”

With all the possible energy he could collect, Sunny shot a large bolt of energy at the woman!

Buzz!

Ka-BOOM!

The energy shot through the bar, destroying the wall and making the neighboring house collapse. A large cloud of dust rose as debris hit the ground.

The damage he caused was enormous. There wasn’t any being that could’ve survived that. Thus, when a glowing ring of runes appeared in the smoke, Sunny felt his limbs go numb. And as two large mandibles and two tiny eyes came out of the cloud, he knew: Aeron has disappeared and everything was about to get much worse.

“Yes. We meet again. Tiny gem.” The camel spider said with its raspy voice. “This time you won’t survive.”