Achoo!
Damien turned to the side and sneezed suddenly. Rubbing his head, he sighed to himself. “Which bastard is badmouthing me? Tch.”
He shook his head and continued walking at a steady pace. With every step he took, a pulse of World Force emanated from his body, flattening all the mobs crowding around him.
And without suspense, Damien arrived at the location of the strongest practitioner in the area. But, this was Apeiron, not the Cloud Plane. Strongest practitioner? Even he was just another dreg at the lower end of 3rd class.
To crush him, Damien didn’t even need to move. A single look turned him into meatpaste.
Looking at the gory scene he caused, Damien nodded in satisfaction. “Mm, this is the fifth. Since the girls are taking care of that guy’s hideout, it counts as 6. Haa, but there are still another 200,000ish traitors left. It’ll be too annoying to do it alone.”
Although Damien had only destroyed 5 locations, the numbers per gathering place differed greatly. Sometimes there would only be a few hundred in one area, while other times, thousands or tens of thousands of traitors came together. If it wasn’t for the World Core’s guidance, it would’ve been a pain choosing which places to prioritize.
But now wasn’t the time to continue hunting. The current activities were just a warmup for him and the girls. Only after getting aid from the various empires of Apeiron would they truly begin.
‘Hmm, speaking of empires…well, I’ll let Father-in-law take care of that. For now, shall I pay a visit to the Beast Empress?’
Damien smiled lightly. Although they made an appointment to meet after the Nexus Event, he ended up completely forgetting it until just now.
‘Well, I’m going to see her now so it should be fine, right?’ He tried to comfort himself. But at the same time, he didn’t know if the Beast Empress would treat him with the same familiarity when they met again.
The Beast Empress was a wolf. Damien didn’t know which species she was exactly, but she was a pure-bred wolf with Royal level bloodline. And back then, even if he was the most impure variety, he was still essentially a wolf beastman.
But now, his wolf bloodline, along with all the other random impurities in his body, had long been purged. His current bloodline was…
‘I have dragon blood running in my veins, but I don’t feel like a dragon. Then there’s the mysterious Demonic bloodline of unknown origins…well, the point is that I no longer have any relationship with the wolf species besides Zara. I might be welcomed with hostility.’
Regardless, he still needed to visit the Beast Empress. Steeling himself, Damien turned into a flash of light, disappearing and reappearing in a certain part of Helia Forest.
‘Interesting…I didn’t expect it to be so…modern.’
As Damien picked a location close to the Beast Empress when he teleported, he found himself in the midst of a bustling city filled with joyful cries.
Beastmen who walked on two legs, beasts that walked on four, even those who flew through the air, they perused the streets and lived with a level of society that one wouldn’t expect from a beast.
But since Damien had been to the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, he wasn’t too surprised. Instead, he took his time and walked the streets of the city.
‘I don’t know anything here. Even with the Universal Language, I can barely understand what they’re saying.’
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand their words, it was just that the terminology used wasn’t what he was used to. But as he walked the streets for a few hours, he slowly became acclimated to the environment.
“Old man, give me a few kebabs.” He called out to a nearby shop vendor. He still had plenty of gold left to rot in his subspace, so money wasn’t an issue at all.
Taking the kebab from the old man and paying with an entire gold coin, almost giving the old man a heart attack, Damien continued his casual walk down the street.
Little beastmen and beast children scurried through the streets playing games, the adults worked diligently in their establishments, creating such a harmonious atmosphere that it made Damien feel uncomfortable.
“Unexpected, isn’t it? When one thinks of beasts, one usually believes us to be savage and uncouth. Seeing this type of scene, has your opinion changed?” A silvery voice rang out from behind him, immediately capturing his attention.
Damien smiled without turning around and replied. “Perhaps for anyone else, this scene would bring an immense amount of culture shock. But you’d be surprised at how normal this is for me now.”
“Really, now? You truly know how to make me curious about you. What, don’t tell me you’re planning to court me?”
Damien’s brow piqued in interest. “Do I look like the kind of man to chase after a married woman? Please don’t devalue me like that, Milady Beast Empress.”
Damien turned around and faced the stunning beauty that had been following him around for a while.
Her long silver hair flowed down her back and framed her face, her piercing red eyes looked incredibly alluring. When it came to bust and hip size, the Beast Empress was really second to none.
Combined with that mature charm she emanated with every movement, her appearance was truly enough to kill a man.
But even with how stunning she looked, only Damien took note of her presence. Or rather, he was the only one with the ability to do so.
The Beast Empress smiled slyly at his words. “Oho? But shouldn’t you already know by now, Mr.Star Master? This little girl is pure and unsullied.”
Damien rolled his eyes. “Even so, I don’t think the Beast Emperor particularly enjoys green hats. Wouldn’t his pride be damaged regardless of whether your marriage is fake or real?”
The Beast Empress shrugged. “Why should I care what that geezer thinks? My life is my own. The only reason I became the Empress is because my bloodline purity is far higher than even his.”
“Haa, dear Empress, do you really feel so much satisfaction in teasing me? It seems you’ve strayed the topic so far away from where it was originally that it’ll be hard to get back.” Damien sighed and shook his head.
“Hmph, can’t this little girl have a bit of fun? Playing the Empress role all day is so boring!”
“But, are we acquainted enough for you to act so causally around me? Last I checked, we’ve only met once, and that was an official setting where I was far too weak for us to converse properly.”
“Mm, and in the short few years that you were away, you’ve become a man that has the qualifications to compete for my heart. Don’t you feel it? The pull of our bloodlines, I mean.”
Damien’s gaze sharpened. He didn’t know why, but he was indeed feeling a strange pull ever since he met the Beast Empress. It was as if something within him desperately wanted to get close to her.
“But it’s quite strange, don’t you think?” He muttered just loud enough for the Beast Empress to hear.
“This so-called bloodline pull…how is it affecting me even though I no longer have any wolf bloodline within me?”
Damien stared at the Beast Empress with cold eyes. His aura flared, causing a mountain of pressure to descend upon the Beast Empress.
If it wasn’t for her strength as a 4th class being, she would’ve fallen to her knees in an instant.
“I learned quite an interesting thing from Old Bai a while back. Dragon Pressure isn’t something that can be avoided through strength alone. Say, how does it feel?”
The Beast Empress looked up into Damien’s eyes and spoke through ragged breaths. “It…feels…amazing…!”
Her face flushed red, her breathing becoming more and more shallow. Seeing her expression shifting further into ecstasy with every second he kept his Dragon Pressure active, Damien immediately canceled the ability.
The Beast Empress plopped down onto the floor and caught her breath, a trail of clear liquid leaking from the space between her legs. She didn’t even try to hide the evident disappointment in her eyes.
“Silly boy, how can you be so naive? To others, Dragon Pressure is a terrifying thing that strikes fear into the depths of their souls. However, to members of the opposite sex who possess even an ounce of Dragon Bloodline, it is an extremely powerful aphrodisiac.” The Beast Empress licked her lips seductively as she spoke.
Damien cringed at her words. ‘No wonder…that old bastard was smiling so evilly when he taught me how to use Dragon Pressure…so it was because of this!’
But even though he now knew, he couldn’t take back his actions. Besides, it was his own fault for not realizing something so obvious.
Just like how peacocks strutted their feathers to attract a mate, dragons could entice female members of the species through their pressure. Dragon Pressure was a symbol of a dragon’s pride.
And now, Damien had effectively subdued the Beast Empress using this pride. Looking at the wet and panting woman on the floor in front of him, Damien really couldn’t tell whether it was a good or bad thing.
‘Damn, my troubles have increased yet again.’