Lilith opened her eyes and noticed that the sun had already risen from behind the mountains.
'My body hurts, this is not something I enjoy.' Lilith's body had laceration all over due to having lightning run amok in and out her body after losing to the pain.
Lilith's thoughts raced, she knew she could have endured more, but it would seem things have changed. Her pain tolerance was the same as before, but the things her body could handle was somewhat behind.
"Strange, I am pretty sure that in this life I am stronger than I was before."
Lilith's mind began to wander, but in the end, she shook her head. Thinking about useless things was not something she should worry about.
[Fatigue: 10%]
'It decreased. Let's just see that as a win.'
Getting up from her 'bed', Lilith went out of her dwelling.
Ha! Ha! HAAAA!!~
"Swing harder, twist your wrist as you move forward, a single pattern is predictable and can be dodged easily, you guys are Ogres, you have immense strength and flexible muscles, use those muscles to their limits! Don's slack off!"
"Yes, Big Sis!"
"Your voices are weak, are you guys tired already!?"
"NO, Big Sis!"
"Then, scream louder, swing your weapons stronger as if you are trying to kill an enemy in front of you, show your might!"
"YES, BIG SIS!"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Booom~
The ground shook as the ogres stomped on the ground at the same time. Lilith's little body jumped as the ground shook from the little tremors they created.
Lilith walked over to Dhampy and tapped her leg.
"Ah, boss good morning."
"To you too, where is Sylva? I thought she's training with the Ogres?"
"She went hunting for food saying actual combat was more useful than stagnant practice such as this. Well, she's not wrong in thinking like that."
"Is that so, go on then, but the next time she hunts for food make sure you are with her, the Forest is in a state of unrest right now, it is dangerous to wander alone, especially for Sylva."
Dhampy agreed with Lilith and went back to watching over the training of the Ogres with great attention.
Lilith watched them give it their all.
The Ogres used different weapons, there were bastard swords, spears, and even clubs. Some just used their fists, but most of them trained in one area. It didn't matter if it was a woman or not, they were training without saying anything.
Their source of motivation was simple, retrieving their pride, reciprocating their Priestess' request, and of course becoming more powerful.
Lilith reached the Gates of the village and there, she found Chief, Killa, and the rest.
"Who's the one in charge of training the future Shamans?" Lilith asked them.
"It is Shamoc, Priestess." Killa answered.
"Okay, there's four Ogre Champions, one Berserker, and two Shamans it is the same as before, let us go and conquer some dungeons."
"Yes!"
Lilith had taken control of the group through the ingenious means of brainwashing them. Though it was not exactly brainwashing as Lilith merely thought them how to strategize and made them believe she was above them all through subtle suggestions.
Lilith was very good at this game. She had most of them following her without a problem.
She even had one of the Ogre Shamans every day teach some of the Ogres curses and the like so they could create more Variants like them.
Everyone was at her beck and call, everyone, except for one...Chief.
"Priestess, you're late, let's go already!" he was not going to fall, just yet.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go, everyone!" Lilith didn't really care, she treated her like she always had.
As a daemon, Lilith only needed to do one thing, and that is to increase her level and evolve, thus, she continued her shameless kill stealing from the group.
Soon, her Thunder Clap Leopard reached LVL 40, and only the Nightmare Dragonkin form remained stagnant.
Inside the dungeon.
"Chief-sir, I sense thirty Lycans, roughly 50 meters away. They are scattered, some are around 25 meters from here. Are we following the plan? Should we ask the Priestess for confirmation?"
"Don't Shamac, that woman will yell at us and call us incompetent if you do that. I don't want to see that smug face of her again."
"Hahaha, you really don't want to lose to the Priestess, huh, Chief-sir."
Shamac, the appointed leader of the Ogre Shamans laughed at the comment of their proud leader. The two were drenched in the blood of their enemies to avoid getting detected.
Lilith had been training them for quite some time and for the past few days, Chief had received the most criticism.
Chief had been trying his hardest trying to learn her way of fighting and had been showing signs of success, albeit it was only by a little. As Shamac laughed, he felt movement from the ground, he looked around and then back to Chief who nodded his head, signaling that it was time.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"Begin."
"Yes sir."
The Ogre Shaman clapped his hands together and held a praying position for a few seconds to gather mana. Black smoke appeared from his palms and it was the same as the other Ogre Shaman.
With as much little sound as possible, they finally cast the spell.
"Dark Marsh."
The black smoke lurk on the ground, reaching the 30-meter limit of the spell range, it activated and two dark marshes appeared underneath the Lycans from seemingly out of nowhere.
Some of the nearby Lycan's began to drown in the dark marshes and with that, the signal finally appeared.
Swoosh!
From both the left and the right flanks, two Ogre-Champions that had been drenched in Lycan blood appeared. These Ogres were mostly at LVL ??? while another at LVL 58. Killa was only there to support the group.
The remaining Lycans numbered at 21, and with them in a disarray, the Ogres did what it was that they needed to do and went to decimate the opposition's numbers.
Blood flew everywhere like a fountain, and from afar, Lilith watched everything as a Leopard.
"Ack, they killed another EXP Sack."
She had her complaints about the EXP Sacks being killed but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. Though that's not going to stop her from cursing and complaining.
Awooo!
Roar!
The Lycans howled and what followed was a roar. The roar came from afar, from the depths of the Forest in fact.
A shadow cast upon them as a large furry bipedal beast. It roared and showed its monstrosity to the world, but it didn't last long because as soon as it landed, a dark shadow appeared from behind it, and with a single move of its sword, the oversized Lycan was slain!
Ksshhhhh!
The head flew away and the body of that Lycan fell to the ground, it died as swiftly as it appeared.
"I killed the boss, now, finish them all!"
"Yes, Chief-sir!"
Chief only needed to do one thing, cleanly take out the boss of the dungeon. The Lycans were all cleaned up and soon enough, Lilith stepped out from where she watched and appeared before them.
Chief immediately noticed the feeling walking towards them and immediately he smirked!
"Ha! How about that, no one was hurt, and we finished the boss in less than a minute! What do you say about that!?"
Lilith looked at him and the rest before turning to the boss.
"Trapping the other Lycans and then going after them when in a disarray minimized the damage you risk getting. You also let the Lycans cause a commotion to get the attention of the Boss Monster and catch it off-guard while it's distracted by others.
"Taking care of the separated boss as soon as it appears and not letting it use any of its skills and hidden methods, that is quite good. The execution was adequate as well, I suppose this is a pass in comparison to before."
"Haha! Who's an idiot now!" Everyone celebrated, but it was Chief who was the happiest of them all.
The dark marsh spells disappeared and the ones entrapped in the marsh were all promptly killed. Lilith and the rest head back, dragging the boss' massive body.
That night, there was a celebratory mood and everyone ate as the Elders brought back wonderful meat once again.
And with the hardworking Ogres, the boss meat was seen as a celebratory feast.
Lilith ate some, and then went back to 'resting'.
She trained her lightning again and, just like the last time, the lightning ran rampant and she experienced laceration on her skin.
She lost consciousness, and then she fell asleep.
The next day, Lilith opened her eyes just before sunrise.
She was still groggy but as a Thunder Clap Leopard, she immediately noticed something strange.
'This metallic smell — it's blood.' Lilith's senses came alive and she became high strung. Lilith came out of her dwelling and outside; a gathering of Ogres have already formed. It was weird seeing them not practicing.
She then noticed a young Ogress running for her, "Priestess, something bad had happened!" she said with tears flowing down her eyes.
Lilith's mind raced and adding the scent of fresh blood, Lilith had a hunch as to what was happening.
She did not respond to the young Ogress as she quickly jumped up as a Thunder Clap Leopard and landed as a Two Horns near the mob.
"My children move." she loudly announced her presence.
"It's the Priestess, make way!"
"The Priestess is here! Make way, it's the Priestess!"
The ocean of Ogres parted and gave way for their priestess to walk on. Then, she saw it, a row of bloodied Ogre bodies and a line of Ogre Shamans trying their best to heal them.
She was not new to such a sight, but when Lilith saw the bodies of the Ogres, she felt something inside her jump because on that row was Sylva whose state was hanging by a single thread.
Some had severed limbs while the others had caved in chests. Some had broken bones while some had it sticking out, the arms, legs, and ribs, it didn't matter where. Blood was everywhere and Lilith's eyes widened as she hurriedly cast a spell and joined the already casting Ogre Shamans.
"Healing Light!"
She cast a healing spell but it did little to the severely injured ones. The Ogre Shamans were also panicking seeing how little it was doing.
"Get me the Mana Cores! The life essence of the mana cores might save their lives!"
Lilith ordered, the Chief standing nearby disappeared with a boom and reappeared as fast as he disappeared. With him were the sacks of Mana Cores meant to further strengthen the villagers.
"Feed them the mana cores, Chief, do it yourself, I can't touch a mana core. "
"Yes."
Chief was acting strangely obedient and that was simply because his people didn't need him arguing with anyone who could possibly save his people.
"Anyone who can cast a healing spell, pour everything you have once Chief feeds the mana cores." After saying that, everyone who had received the ability to heal others stepped forward, Chief quickly placed as many mana cores as he could on the body of the injured Ogres, "Now, cast your spells, now! Pour your mana to it!"
Whilst Lilith commanded them, a green light emerged from her hands.
"Nature's Blessing." She began using Nature Element together with Light Element. She even interchanged her targets.
The green light began to expand but it met its limit at around three Ogres, Lilith processed the Nature Attribute using two parts of her brain pushing its capabilities to the absolute limits.
Lilith's MP was quickly being drained, but Lilith made sure that vitality-boosting Nature's Blessing would reach the eleven victims. She was sweating bullets, and soon enough, Lilith's hands trembled.
50% of her MP was immediately drained, but she held it together in order to keep herself from breaking down. The Ogres who heard her calls collapsed one after the other, their MP had been drained out of their bodies.
70% had been drained out of her body.
Only Lilith remained to pour everything she had.
But soon enough she crossed 90% and was completely drained out of MP.
She could no longer do anything, she had done everything she could do and anything any further would be meaningless struggles. The Ogres began Healing but not everyone could be saved as those who had their bodies
[-3 Ogre Citizens]
Three Ogres died, seven were severely injured but worst of all one of her followers, Sylva had a bone on her right leg sticking out, her skin lacerated by lightning, and one of her eyes was taken...but she was luckily still breathing.
Lilith heaved a sigh of relief.
Dhampy walked over to the drained Lilith, her usual expressionless attitude was still present, but her eyes showed hints of rage and worry. She too had signs of being in combat, which was natural because she was together with Sylva.
But with her abnormal regeneration, healing her would only result in something worst.
Lilith turned to Dhampy.
"What happened?"
"After the boss said I come with her, I did what you said and assisted her, we planned on daemon hunting for some quick grub and then return to the Village; but then, we heard the sounds of combat, and before I could react Sylva was already running in the direction of the sound's origin.
"There, we found ten Ogres fighting against Pixies who invaded the territory, Sylva went to help the Ogres, but the Pixies outnumbered us and...."
Lilith raised her right hand, she no longer needed to hear anything from Dhampy.
"Bottom line is the Pixies were the ones who did this?"
"Yes, Boss. And I just want to inform you that we only managed to return because Sylva risked it all to use her skill and transfer us all back to the Village..."
While they were talking, the Chief and the other Epic-Tiered daemons appeared before Lilith.
They were all gritting their teeth and had red eyes. Clenching their fists, the Chief spoke for them, "You better have a plan to make them pay for this. I'm not going to simply let this pass."
Taking a deep breath, Lilith closed her eyes and then raised her head to look the Chief in the eyes, "Who do you think you're talking to? Distribute the Mana Cores, prepare the Ogres I am pissed now, how dare they touch one of my followers?"
Lilith was seething with anger.