Chapter 9: Who Will Save the Saviors?

*Erika’s POV*

I woke up feeling very refreshed. Those two Saviors had taken most of my attention yesterday so, I didn’t have a chance to try to use the information that Sasaki gave me.

Since I was going to go after all of the Saviors in this dimension, I might as well start with the information that she gave to me. Doing that should jumpstart the process quite a bit.

I had gotten up from bed and used my phone to equip my clothes. I was about to leave my room to get some breakfast when, Lilith sent me a message.

Lilith: “Before you leave, you should choose your reward for that task involving making two Saviors fall in love with each other.”

Erika: “Remind me what the rewards were, please?”

Lilith: “Two SS+ Grade Monster Cores or one SS+ Armor of your choice.”

Do I really need armor? Hmm… do I even need more Stat Points right now? I haven’t come across a need to increase my Stat Ranks just yet.

I just remembered that eventually, I’ll have access to a shop so, might as well go for the Monster Cores. Sofiel’s gifts will hold me over for a while.

Erika: “I’ll take the Monster Cores, please.”

Lilith: “Rightio!”

Lilith said before two SS+ Grade Monster Cores showed up floating in front of me.

I pocketed just one of them into my inventory because… my intrusive thoughts were catching up to me, and I wondered if I should try eating one of them again.

Last time I only tried an F Grade Monster Core. I ended up having my race changed and those three got powered up. Let’s just ignore the whole, almost dying thing.

Now, what would happen if I eat a Monster Core that is this highly ranked? Safety be damned! Come to me, tasty rock candy!

Just as I was about to take a bite, Sofiel came out of nowhere to snatch the Monster Core out of my hand.

I knew that it was Sofiel since, there was a flash of light and feathers when she appeared.

She seemed to be out of breath. I’m guessing that she had rushed to get to me to stop me from consuming the Monster Core. I bet Lilith snitched on me to Nadia, who in return told Sofiel about it.

Sofiel: “Erika… could you please, please stop doing crazy things? Do you not remember that you almost died last time? And what? That was with an F Grade Monster Core. We have no idea what would happen if you had eaten such a high Grade one!” Sofiel said with a stern voice as if she was scolding a child.

Isn’t she almost 10,000 years old? I guess that her tone isn’t inappropriate since, to her, I am definitely still very young.

Erika: “Oh, come on! I can’t help but be curious! Sure, I might have almost died last time but, you got stronger from it!” I reply with a pleading tone.

Sofiel: “No buts! I’ll trust you to be a mature adult and not take away the rest of the Monster Cores that you have. Try this again and, I’ll have to take them away from you just so you won’t get yourself killed.” Sofiel said with her arms crossed.

Erika: “Fine! But mark my words! There is something special about eating Monster Cores. Why else would my race change and you three get more powerful?” I say with a pout.

Sofiel: “That pout is pretty cute… Anyway! Right now it’s too dangerous to eat them. We’ll figure it out later when we have time. Please, don’t try to eat another one at the exact moment that I am gone.” Sofiel said with a pleading tone.

Erika: “I promise that I won’t.” I reply with a salute.

Sofiel: “Funny. Now, please get back to work. I very much want to go on a date with you as soon as possible.” Sofiel said with a joking tone after handing me the Monster Core back, to which, I put into my inventory.

Erika: “Roger roger! Oh, right! I was thinking about going to the aquarium with you!” I say after hitting the palm of my left hand with the balled up fist of my right hand.

Sofiel: “Hm? That sounds fun! I look forward to it!” Sofiel said with a smile, before saying goodbye, and disappearing in a flash of light and feathers once again.

Lilith: “I can’t fucking believe that you almost ate a Monster Core again! I ratted you out to Nadia as fast as I could, like my job depended on it. Because it really fucking did!” Lilith screamed into my head.

She didn’t just message me this time, since I assume she is pretty mad about my actions. Can't blame her I guess. Nor will I let her blame me for wanting to munch on a tasty albeit dangerous snack...

Erika: “Can’t blame a girl for being curious.” I reply with a cheeky tone in my head.

Lilith: “I’ll tell you this right now! The System has NO such feature where you can eat a Monster Core to gain power. Why what happened to you happened, we have no idea at all. And you shouldn’t do it again, ever.” Lilith said with a sigh.

Erika: “Why not? Think of it like this, say someone or a monster eats a Monster Core, what if they get stronger or have a chance to evolve? I say evolve because, after I ate that Monster Core, my race changed and I could swear that I got slightly stronger.” I say with a thinking pose.

Lilith: “Fuck… How come we didn’t think about that?… Fuck it, I’m going to forward this information to the dev team. It’s more work but, such a feature would make the System far more interesting. I have no idea when such a feature will be done so, don’t, eat, another, Monster, Core, you hear me?” Lilith said with a fed-up tone.

Lilith seems to have a habit to finish her sentence and then leave without giving me a chance to reply. Maybe it’s another way for her to mess with me?

With that all sorted out, I headed downstairs. I checked my phone and it was only 5:24 AM. I seem to be the only one up. Luckily, there were some maids who were also awake.

I asked one of them if they could make me some breakfast. When asked what kind of breakfast, I asked for an American styled breakfast. Which was eggs, bacon, and hash browns.

Breakfast was good and I finished it in only twelve minutes. The rest of the girls still seemed to be asleep so, I decided to not wait for them and head out.

First on the list of things to do, was going to Sasaki’s business. Some Saviors had been spotted snooping around there, and their base was in a hair salon. An odd place for a base but, I won't complain.

Since it was decently far away, I asked one of the maids if I could be driven there.

She told me that Sasaki had given the order that her people should help me in any way that they can. Because of that, I was given a ride to my destination with ease.

Unlike last time I had gone to Sasaki’s place of work, I did not get attack. I spent the hours long trip talking to that one suited woman. Her name turned out to be Sia.

We mostly talked about our favorite firearms. At first, I told her that I wasn’t from this dimension so that I had no idea if the same firearms existed here or not.

Turns out, a lot of the same firearms existed here as well. Oddly, the designs were basically the same. The only differences were there were guns that I haven’t seen or heard of before, and the ones I have just had different names.

The chat was very fun, but was soon over, since we had arrived close to the supposed base of a group of Saviors. Who knew that talking to someone about things you're interested in would make the hours go by so fast?

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Sia said they would still be in the area and they could pick me up later. I said thanks and then they left.

After walking for a few minutes, I came to the salon. There were no guards or anything so I just walked in. The lady at the front tried talking to me, but I ignored her and went straight to the back of the place.

This salon is super suspicious. Could they make it even more obvious that the salon was a front? I mean, the salon takes up less than 8% of the building. One might wonder what the hell they’re using the rest of the space for.

I opened the door to the back and someone tried to stop me. It was a tall, bulky man. I could tell that he wasn’t a Savior. And the conditions required to enter this dimension helped me come to that conclusion as well.

???: “Hey! What the hell are you doing back here? This area is off limits!” The man yelled.

Unfortunately, the man wasn’t a bad person. So I couldn’t just kill him and be done with it. Luckily, I knew his type. Looks strong and bulky, but was actually weak willed.

My estimation was correct after I had taken my handgun out and threatened him with it. He started pleading for his life. I told him to leave and not come back, or call the police. The man agreed and ran away for his life. Probably scaring the woman at the front desk on his way out.

Looks can be deceiving, in more ways than one. He did make for a good deterrent, though. He just didn’t deter me at all.

There was only one floor to this building so, there luckily weren’t many rooms that I had to explore. Most of the rooms looked to be empty and unused completely.

I heard voices coming from one of the rooms, so I went to it. Opening it up, it was a huge storage room that was converted to a base of operations. The Saviors all looked at me with confused expressions.

I figured that a handgun wouldn’t really do much since, it didn’t seem to phase Sari and Kary at all. So I took out my sword instead.

???: “Who… who are you?” One of the women asked.

None of them looked to want to fight oddly. I wonder why?

Erika: “My name is Erika and I am a Dark Savior.” I say with a serious tone.

???: “The… the Dark Savior who can get rid of our power!” One of them yelled.

Erika: “That’s right. Now, you all have two options. Well… actually three options.” I say with an evil tone after putting up two of my fingers before adding a third up.

All in all, there were over 45 different Saviors in this huge storage room. After I deal with them, I’ll only have to deal with 3 more Saviors.

One of the more confident ones stood up and walked towards me. Probably to be the one to talk for the others.

???: “My name is Rika. Miss Erika, could you please tell us our options?” Rika asked with a nervous tone.

Erika: “Option one. You all die.” I say while holding up one finger.

???: “No! Please don’t kill us! We aren’t even fighters at all! We’re just the support!” One of the women yelled.

Erika: “Option two. You forfeit your Savior Title. Don’t worry. After you do, you’ll just end up back at your original dimension.” I say while holding up two fingers and ignoring that woman's outburst.

Rika: “And the third?” Rika asked with an unsure tone.

Erika: “Join my group and become a Dark Savior.” I say with an evil smile.

They all seemed to be lost in thought so, I gave them the time they needed to think through their options. After about ten minutes, they all came to their own conclusions.

Rika: “I… I want to be a fighter. The rest just want out of this shitty job. Could you do something that would work for us?” Rika asked with a serious tone.

Erika: “Hm… Maybe, let me check with my group. Oh, to help with you all with your decision, Sari and Kary already accepted the third option and joined my group.” I say with a laugh.

I then messaged those three. Alice and Sofiel seemed to be busy since they didn’t reply. But Victoria did, and she was in the position to make decisions like this so, asking her should be fine.

Erika: “I found a huge group of Saviors. All of them all are non fighters and only one of them wants to change that. What should I do?”

Victoria: “Are they pretty?”

Really? That’s what matters to you?…

Looking around the room, I came to the conclusion that they all were decently attractive. So I’m sure that Victoria would have no problem with them.

Erika: “At least from my opinion, yes.”

Since I was messaging her via my phone, she did not get the chance to hear me sigh from answering her question.

Victoria: “Wonderful! Tell them just to become Dark Saviors, and they can come to my place. At least until we take over that dimension. Oh, and please don’t be jealous.”

Erika: “Why would I be?”

Victoria: “You’re right… Okay then, just don’t think of me as a pervert. I have a lot of lovers and I’m not accepting them just to get more.”

Erika: “Then why exactly? I can’t see you gaining anything from doing this. Apart from one of them wanting to fight for us.”

Victoria: “I just so happen to have a desire to pamper cute girls. No, I don’t know why, nor do I even remember when I picked up this habit.”

Erika: “I see. Well, whatever floats your boat. I mean, I understand after all. I do enjoy pampering cute girls as well.”

Victoria: “Ah, just another reason why I love you! Sofiel will be there to pick them up soon. No her and Alice weren’t busy. I just convinced them to let me talk to you instead of them.”

Haha! That does sound like something Victoria would do.

Erika: “Okay, thanks.”

The Saviors still looked nervous and I understood why.

Erika: “Okay so, you can all join our group, but you won’t need to do anything. Rika, if you want, you can take on a Task Pact with one of our leaders. You’ll gain the strength that you seek if you do.” I explain calmly.

Once again they looked to be in thought. Just this time they were also talking to each other. After fifteen minutes, they all answered my question of what they wanted to do.

Rika: “We all agree. Anything is better than being at the bottom of the Savior’s hierarchy. Plus, I really want to get stronger. I mean, just looking at you, I can tell that you’re amazingly powerful.” Rika said with a bright tone.

Erika: “Great! Now everyone line up. To become a Dark Savior, you two have to say, “I wish to become a Dark Savior.” And then kiss my hand. Just line up and do that one at a time please. Then someone from our group will take you to our current home dimension.” I say with a stern tone.

None of them seemed to be happy about having to kiss my hand. No one likes being forced to do intimate things after all. I told them that there was no other way for them to become Dark Saviors, and then they eventually conceded and went along with my plans.

After half an hour, I had finished turning them all into Dark Saviors.

Rika: “What kind of person is coming to pick us up? They must be pretty strong if they can go in and out of dimensions as they please.” Rika asked with a curious tone.

Erika: “An Angel.” I reply in a nonchalant tone.

They all looked shocked. I like bragging to people about my amazing girlfriend so, their reactions pleased me greatly!

Sofiel: “How rude! I am not just an Angel, I am your Angel!” Sofiel said with a joking tone.

My Angel? Damn… Victoria might be pissed if she heard what Sofiel said…

Sofiel said that after appearing in front of me and giving me a hug.

Erika: “Good to see you again, Sofiel.” I say while rubbing her head.

Sofiel: “Yes, yes. Even though I just saw you a few hours ago. It’s nice to see you again. Especially when you aren’t trying to do something stupidly dangerous.” Sofiel said with a laugh.

Sofiel looked towards the Saviors with a curious gaze.

Sofiel: “Hm… Erika was right, all of you are quite beautiful. Rejoice! Unless you want to change your lot in life, you will be pampered from now on. My dear little Erika tends to forget important things when she is with people she cares about so, Erika, could you please ask them your questions before we go?” Sofiel said with a calm tone.

She’s… right. I completely forgot about asking them about the rest of the Saviors…

Erika: “Right… could you all tell me about the rest of your group?” I ask after faking a cough.

Rika: “You said that you’ve already dealt with Sari and Kary so, apart from us, they’re four Saviors left. Three are slightly stronger than Sari and Kary. The last one is Mana. She is a decently high up Savior. Why she is here, is to watch out specifically for you. Once you deal with them, there won’t be any Saviors left in this dimension.” Rika explained calmly.

I see… I need to take out of the three small fry to complete the Kill 50 Saviors task. Then I have to deal with them the last one to complete the Kill all Saviors task.

Erika: “Do you happen to know where they’re at right now?” I ask with a serious tone.

Rika: “They all went out to look for Sari and Kary. They’ll probably be back in an hour or two.” Rika replied.

Erika: “Alright, thanks. Sofiel, would you do the honors?” I ask with a cheeky tone.

Sofiel: “Yeah, yeah, my slave driver of a girlfriend. You all, let’s head back now.” Sofiel said with a chuckle.

She then waved bye to me and disappeared from my sight. I actually expected her to take one or two at a time back to Victoria’s place but, instead, she just straight up took them all with her… Note to self: don’t make Sofiel mad, ever!

This is great! Just have to deal with the rest of the Saviors. Then the last thing that I have to do is fix the time loop, and make those Goddesses happy. Although, it’s kinda confusing. The task only says Goddess and not Goddesses…

I decided to sit down on one of the chairs, while I wait for the rest of the Saviors to show back up at their hideout. Kinda odd to have all of your people in one place. It wasn’t that well hidden at all. Not to mention, they left all of the non fighters here alone, completely unprotected.

Just imagine if I was a really, really, bad person. Someone like that, with my kind of strength, surely something bad would have happened. They should have at least left one or two to protect the base.

Their hired muscle wouldn’t have been able to do anything either. Regardless of why they made such a bad decision, I just have to wait for them to come back.

Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to talk to Sofiel via my phone. I assume that she should be done taking that group and was free to chat. I was right since she answered me fast.

Erika: “Should I be worried about those four who will soon show up?”

Sofiel: “No. Just don’t do anything stupid and you’ll be fine.”

Erika: “Really? Why do you have so much confidence in me?”

Sofiel: “Apart from loving you, I’m confident that they won’t be able to hurt you. Even if the four team up, I doubt that they would be able to kill you.”

Erika: “Any pointers? I’ve only dealt with grunts so far after all.”

Sofiel: “It depends on the person but, generally most higher tier Saviors tend to not fight unless they see their opponent is worth fighting.”

Erika: “Meaning?”

Sofiel: “Whoever it is, they’re most likely going to sit back and watch you fight the others before fighting you.”

Erika: “Okay, thanks!”

Sofiel: “No problem, my dear. Please be safe and have a good fight.”

I would like to talk to Sofiel for longer but, I need to focus on fighting. Best to spend the rest of the time being prepared for a fight.