yemalu

Since it didn\'t move, I\'m pretty sure it\'s dead.

That meant I could now check on the others.

I rushed to Katsuki\'s side who was still breathing but unconscious.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I resumed digging through my Pack of Folding to look for the potions I needed..

First thing I did was pour an Intermediate grade potion on Katsuki\'s back, watching as the potion took effect and healed the wounds on her back.

It was quite a wonder to see her skin knit itself back to health, not even leaving a scar behind.

I then took out a mana potion and downed its contents, restoring a portion of my mana just in case I need to cast any spells.

Next, I prepared another Intermediate grade healing potion for myself before letting my wings appear on my back.

That action alone struck me with so much pain that I ended up collapsing on my knees.

Ahhhhh!! I should hae known that trying to move broken wings would be this painful!!

I bit back the scream that almost came out from my mouth while I concentrated on opening the healing potion.

Unfortunately, with the debilitating pain coming from my back, my hand kept slipping on the cork when I tried to open it.

Ughh… I should have uncorked it before letting my wings out… But that also ran the risk of the potion spilling out just now.

Just as I thought about temporarily retracting my wings again, a hand reached forward to gently take the bottle from me.

I turned to see Katsuki helping me open the bottle before handing it back to me, the Inugami\'s face filled with what looked to be sorrow.

I nodded at her gratefully before downing the liquid, groaning as the healing potion took effect on me.

The pain intensified for a moment as my bones snapped themselves back into place, restoring themselves back to shape while the other wounds on my body also closed themselves up rapidly.

Katsuki then bowed her head, "Mistress, please forgive me for not being able to help… I will accept any punishment."

I smiled at Katsuki wryly, "What are you talking about? Didn\'t you shield me from the lightning the demon was shooting out? How could you say you weren\'t able to help despite doing that?"

"No… If I had been stronger… I would be able to defend Mistress against such an attack without being incapacitated."

I reached out and patted her head, "Don\'t say something like that, you\'re still growing aren\'t you? Besides, if you weren\'t here, I\'m sure I would have been hit by the lightning before I could even react."

Of course, I was thinking about her Unique Skill which must have told her about the danger of the lightning even before it happened, allowing me to be protected from the lightning strike. If it was anyone else, I doubt they would have reacted fast enough to protect me from it.

Except… Maybe Mary and Sebastian… But let\'s not compare them to Katsuki.

Unfortunately, Katsuki did not share my sentiments and bowed her head even lower, "It still does not change the fact that I have left Mistress to fight by yourself. Something like that is completely disgraceful as a maid."

Well… To be honest, I\'m not really surprised by the way she was acting since I already expected she would react like this.

"Hmm… Then shall I punish you, Katsuki?"

"Yes Mistress, please do," She replied without hesitation.

I tapped my chin with a finger, "Alright then… How about you take the potions needed from my Pack of Folding and start healing everyone here? I\'m sure you can handle something like this right? Then afterwards, you need to let me fluff that tail of yours~"

She looked up at me, "E… Eh? But… But that hardly counts as a punishment?"

I giggled, "Ufufu~ So is Katsuki telling me it\'s fine for me to go run around the place and heal everyone by myself? And you\'re already trying to decide what actions I do constitute as a punishment for you?"

My Inugami maid immediately realised her error and bowed her head one more time, "That was not my intention at all, Mistress! Please allow me to do it in your stead!"

"Ufufufu~ In that case, I\'ll leave it to you!"

My maid rushed off towards my bag and quickly took out the needed potions to heal her fellow maids.

She\'s so cute~ I\'m going to enjoy fluffing that tail of hers later~

Just so you know, I\'ve not let down my guard yet.

At this moment, we\'re still inside enemy territory and I\'ve instructed some of my Shadow Summons to watch the perimeter while the others worked on dissecting the demon\'s corpse.

Hey, this is basic Mercenary and Dungeoneer knowledge! Of course it\'s natural for the winner to claim the spoils of war! Which in this case are the parts of the monster that was defeated!

Well… Granted, this guy isn\'t a monster but who\'s to say that demon parts aren\'t useful?

Actually… I don\'t even know if it would be useful but I\'m sure something as strong as the one I fought should have some value?

Maybe the demons in this World have something like demon cores or something that are brimming with mana?

Just as I thought of that, the Shadow Summon that was carving up its chest took out an orb shaped object from within the demon\'s chest, right above where its heart was.

She then brought it over to me, the orb being about half a size bigger than a basketball.

Wait, seriously? I was only joking with the demon core thing you know?

I took the orb from it and used my [Screened] to see what it was.

[Demonic Core - An orb filled with demonic energy. A source of power for all demons.]

Oh… So demons really have something like this in them? But what can you do with it? Does it function the same as a Mana crystal?

Since my mana wasn\'t full yet, I tried to absorb the energy inside the orb and…

Pain shot up my arm and I was forced to drop the orb, clutching at my wrist in an attempt to numb the pain.

Gritting my teeth, I noticed the blood vessels in my arm seemed to have expanded noticeably and they were slowly darkening to a sickly black colour.

I was hoping the pain would subside but it only got more intense over time, making me feel like my hand was being chopped off.

Thinking quickly, I surmised that the pain started because I tried to absorb the energy but my body might not have been compatible with it which is making me reject that energy right now.

That means the way to stop this was to expel that energy out somehow.

I focused on my hand, feeling the energy gathered in it before thrusting my palm outwards to expel it from my body.

A streak of dark red lightning blasted out from my palm to impact against the wall, tearing a great chunk out of the wall.

The impact was at least three times stronger than my [Spark Strike] spell.

I blinked, feeling the pain subside away before I noticed something pop up in my mind.

[Infernal Lightning - Basic lightning attack made up of pure Demonic Energy]

It took me a moment to register what that meant before I recovered enough to look at my stats.

[Name: Aster Nilm

Title: Young Mistress of Nilm Family, Dragonslayer, Most Adored Young Mistress, Lover of Sweets, Lisa\'s Soulmate, Delmare\'s Aural Lover, Tiara\'s Big Sister

Race: Meslatar

Gender: Futanari

Stats:

456 Strength

440 Dexterity

458 Endurance

500 Magic

Skills:

Hunting (Tier 2), Cooking (Tier 2), Alchemy (Tier 1), Navigation (Tier 1), Sailing (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Dagger Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 2), Bow Proficiency (Tier 2), Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Polearm Proficiency (Tier 1), Axe Proficiency (Tier 1))

Magic Skills:

Mana Management (Tier 2), Umbramancy (Tier 2), Electromancy (Tier 2), Lumenmancy (Tier 2), Pyromancy (Tier 2), Hydromancy (Tier 1), Aeromancy (Tier 1), Geomancy (Tier 1), Iatromancy (Tier 1), Somatomancy (Tier 1), Astromancy (Tier 1), Infernalmancy (Tier 1)

Unique Skill:

Mind Shield]

Ok… First thing, I\'m not too surprised by the new title since that was something to be expected.

But the new thing that surprised me was [Infernalmancy], which I assume I must have obtained earlier by trying to absorb the energy in the Demonic Core.

Well, let\'s try it out again!

Infernal Lightning!!!

…

Nothing happened…

That\'s odd? I thrusted out my palm again, this time yelling, "Infernal lightning!!"

…

Still nothing?

Wait… Don\'t tell me I can only cast this magic using the energy from a Demonic Core?

I looked down at the orb at my feet, the reddish black orb pulsating back at me as though asking me to try it.

I picked it up again to hold it in my left hand, almost expecting it to burn me again.

Feeling no pain this time, I thrusted out my right palm once again.

[Infernal Lightning]!

I could feel the energy travel from the orb into my left arm, the process of which was incredibly uncomfortable.

It almost felt like there were worms squeezing through my veins and moving through my arm and I really wanted to drop it but I was forced to stay in place and unable to move.

The good thing was that there was no pain this time, it was just incredibly uncomfortable.

It took quite a while before the feeling finally reached my right arm to squeeze to my fingertips, dark red lightning once again streaking out from my fingers to explode against the wall.

That uncomfortable feeling then dissipated and I could move my body again.

Ok… So… I guess I\'m an Infernalmancer now?