Harem of Moms and Milkers

"I wish to receive the ritual of Extirpation!" Asdel said.

…

At a bench in a corner of the room, the girls accompanying Asdel stirred up.

'Don’t do it! Don’t become a monster!' Severine could not accept his decision. She boldly lifted her head and her gaze met with the aberration pinned on the tall pentagram-shaped pole.

Tomoyo wanted to beg him to reconsider. 'No, grand elder! I can mate with a human, but not with a lost worshiper!' She was about to stand up when her gaze also met the giant aberration in the back.

Both the girls froze in shock, unprepared for the unnatural sight of the aberration. Their legs refused to move while their brain was desperately trying to interpret their vision.

It was merely a giant corpse nailed on a pole. Its lower body was torn off, exposing its ribs and flowing intestines.

It was dead. Yet each time they blinked, its flesh never looked the same. A contradiction. A paradox. An ever-shifting chaos. The unmoving thing squirmed as if this plane of existence could not contain its entirety.

Witnessing this in person denied their understanding of reality down to its core. But amidst overwhelming despair, an irresistible hope whispered that they would reach greater glory if they deciphered the thing in front of them.

’Maybe receiving the ritual extirpation isn’t so bad after all.’

Dizzying vertigo struck the girls. They tore their eyes away, trying to look somewhere else. But the incomprehensible vision had already captured their mind even if their eyelids were tightly shut.

Curiosity, greed, anger, fear. All primitive instincts haunted them with an intensity they had never experienced before. The vision demanded all attention to reach a resolution, sweeping their rationality in a raging torrent of emotion. The frustrating desire nestled inside their brain, like an imperious itch to scratch it bloody.

Their crumbling mind desperately held onto the priority to save Asdel. But all it achieved was ripping itself apart with obsession.

…

Meanwhile Asdel was about to shit himself.

“Who?” Vicar Cortel looked down on the boy from the elevated altar. He exuded a displeased pressure as his hand firmly gripped the sword that would strike down Asdel if his reply was unsatisfactory. It was so oppressive that Asdel faltered once more.

’Ugh… Why did I come?’ The sweaty boy was tormented by doubts, but the answer to his question was quite simple. It was pure selfishness: the absolute determination to not share his profits with anyone, whether it be the alchemist guild or the liberation group. This dude had the grimy mindset of a tax evader who would rather see his money go in flames than filling someone else’s pocket.

In other words, Asdel waged his life for the sake of avarice. The primal refusal of parting with what was his.

This shameless realization somehow energized him and filled him with strength. ’Yeah! My coin purse isn’t allowed to cuck me!’

His plan was simple. He had to somehow pit Vicar Cortel against Luciella’s group. First, he had to prevent any confrontation between the vicar and his party until Luciella’s arrival.

“I am a pilgrim from the world of Hekal. I came to these crumbling lands to seek the ways of the church of Extirpation!” he proudly exclaimed, with his eyes blazing with resolve.

[+5 favorability with ‘Vicar Cortel’ (5/100)]

“Wonderful!” The vicar leaned down, bringing his intimidating face close to Asdel.

“You are an untainted child fit to receive the teaching of Extirpation, very different from the heretics who brought you here. My years of waiting were well worth it!” He glanced at the spot where Severine, Viola, Tomoyo, and the remaining foxboy slave sat. His tone and mannerism carried so much disdain towards them that a chill ran down Asdel’s spine. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill them yet. Since they are praying so earnestly, they must have a chance for redemption.”

Asdel noticed that the girls got stunlocked by gazing at the nailed idol. ’These idiots… After I told them not to look.’

The vicar took a step back, allowing Asdel to breathe. “Unfortunately, you are not ready for the ritual yet. All believers must receive the baptism of Insight. Take this.” He reached into his robe and took out a ceremonial knife for Asdel.

“Offer ten souls to this blade, be it heretics or roaming aberrations. This holy relic will unseal the potential of your soul.” As he explained, a system window informed Asdel of a new quest.

[Quest: Baptism of Insight

Description: Give the killing blow with the ceremonial knife to ten creatures.

Reward: Receive the class ‘Aspirant of Insight’.]

Asdel wondered why Cortel was so friendly. The reason turned out to be his lack of class.

’It sounds like an opportunity, but I don’t want to speedrun into becoming an aberration.’

However, there was a fascinating implication that it was possible for Asdel to receive a class without depending on a god’s blessing.

The boy took the knife with a sly smile, planning to experiment on other people with it. “Thank you, vicar. I will do my best.”

At that moment, the Rigard Liberation fighters barged in the prayer room.

“Asdel, this is dangerous!” Luciella rushed forward, like a mother flying off to protect her child.

Vicar Cortel simply watched, confused and slightly angry that heretics rudely stormed in his prayer room without an ounce of respect.

Asdel panicked. ’Oh no, Cortel thinks they are also my companions! I need to stir up some shit.’

“You’ve let your guard down! Die, vicar!” Asdel stabbed the vicar with the ceremonial knife. His gaze met Cortel’s.

The boy became a terrified mess like the usual Tomoyo, trembling in his pants soaked in piss and crying with his snot dripping everywhere. ’I’m dead! I’m dead as fuck!’

[-55 favorability with ‘Vicar Cortel’ (-50/100)]

“What is the meaning of this?!” Unwilling to kill the potential aspirant of Insight without a hearing, Cortel sent Asdel flying with a backhand slap.

Asdel crashed into the altar.

Luciella and Cortel clashed with their sword. The brave nun faced the aberration twice as tall as her. The skillful wielding of her sword allowed to deflect Cortel’s untrained swings.

Each of their strikes was devastating. The pillars broke and the benches filled with hollow corpses exploded under the unrestrained violence.

Asdel watched the fight from the safety of the altar. The only thing missing was popcorn. He clenched his fist in admiration and couldn’t wait to display the same powers once he had a blessing. ’It’s really something else to see in real life instead of a screen.’

“Surround the boss!” Ayden sent his subordinates to flank Cortel.

The rogues sneaked behind him and lunged at his neck, only to be cleaved by Cortel’s sword.

“How does that make sense?! Does he have eyes behind his back?” The remaining devils became hesitant in their assault.

’It’s useless to ambush Cortel. He learned ‘Spatial Omniscience’ from the nailed corpse.’ Asdel shook his head.

With such an arcane, one did not need eyes. Fortunately, Cortel was just a clergyman untrained in swordsmanship and could not bring it to its full potential. His ceremonial sword was mainly a props for the ritual of Extirpation.

Still, Cortel was big and strong. His sword slashed the devils left and right.

He especially raged against Luciella. “Disgusting! Repulsive! What is this filthy energy clinging to me?”

Her ‘Profaned Edge’ contaminated his being, lowering his defense and granting Luciella an enhanced perception of his movements. It seemed especially more potent against aberrations than mundane humans.

Cortel raised his sword and eviscerated himself at everyone’s surprise. Luciella’s contaminating aura spilled out like a fountain instead of blood.

“Luciella has a terrible matchup since ‘Extirpation’ can purge debuffs,” Asdel mumbled to himself.

It was a huge hit on Luciella’s morale, because stacking profaned marks was Heroslayer’s main strategy.

“Forget the boss. Go find Asdel while I keep him busy.” Luciella commanded.

A couple of devils slipped past Cortel and rushed towards the altar to capture the boy.

“Fuck!” Asdel froze up, unable to come up with a plan.

Pillars of ice bloomed on the path of the devils. Viola joined Asdel. “What a mess.”

“Violaaaaa! I love you!” The boy clung to his maid.

[-1 favorability with Luciella (37/100)]

Viola and Asdel warded off the devils with great difficulty.

Ayden roared in fury. “Damn you Luciella! You said that he was a well-behaved child! But what is this? He runs straight into a boss and refuses to be rescued!”

Luciella retreated from the fight to take a breather, leaving her companions to scramble for their life against Cortel. “Shut up, you made him wary from the start with the ambushing group, and it couldn’t even stop him from fleeing. Who would want to follow a bunch of devils?”

“Forget it, I can’t reason with this woman. Everyone, let’s retreat.” Ayden’s signal gave his men a sliver of hope.

Cortel commanded the doors of the prayer room to close on their own, trapping everyone inside. “Did you believe that you can walk in and out freely like this was your house?”

Ayden growled. Luckily for him, teleportation and warp gates were Inferno’s specialty. They could even teleport large armies between their towns. “Everyone, protect me while I make a portal.”

“You’re going to abandon Asdel?” Luciella growled.

“Yeah, right. This little shit can die for all I care!” Ayden spat and focused on weaving his spell.

The two dispatched devils gave up on Asdel and Viola. They quickly slipped past Cortel and returned to Ayden.

Asdel panicked. “No! We can’t let them escape or we’re next.”

“Deal with it on your own. I’m freaking dying here!” Viola fished for pills inside his bag. She was too wounded to fight right away.

“Damn it, I shouldn’t have left the comfort of my coffin box.” Due to an unknown defect, Viola was unable to use aura and ki. It was one of the reasons she hid in her box like a hermit crab. She could only protect herself with mana indirectly by using ice walls, but the devils were deft enough to slip through her defenses.

“Well, okay, take a rest. I’m going.” Asdel left his bag to his sprawled maid.

Ayden shouted from the other side of the room. “Brat, this is your last chance to live. Join the Rigard Liberation!” He was pretty quick at deploying his portal. It was for this reason that their rebellious organization could thrive under the nose of the Congregation.

Asdel shut his eyes. “Perhaps if I apologize to Cortel and beg him on my knees… After all, he waited for millenia without any new believers to extirpate.”

“Fine, die then!” Soon the remaining devils vanished along Ayden.

Asdel timidly left the altar to apologize to Cortel. “Wait… Luciella?! You didn’t leave?”

The lone nun stood among the devil corpses and hollow believers littering the ground. “Don’t worry, Asdel. I might have disappointed you, but I won’t let you die.”

She took out an ominous sword from her storage space and called out its name. “Heroslayer, take my lifeforce.”

Black tentacles shot out of the scabbard and pierced Luciella’s flesh. It wreaked havoc on her, ripping her clothes. Eventually, she was covered by a devilish attire.

Asdel screamed. “Are you kidding me?! So that’s where your swordsmanship came from! I always thought the names of your moves sounded edgy because you were an emo goth nun, but it actually came from Inferno!”

Luciella’s strikes were already threatening as a C-rank crusader, but her swordsmanship displayed even greater destructive power with her new eerie form. It was as if Heroslayer was never meant to be used with aura, but with demonic energy.

There was a strange irony to watching a devilized nun fight it out with a priest-like aberration.

Vicar Cortel roared in outrage at the searing pain of his contaminated wounds. “How dare you sully this holy place? Die, demon!”

They were in a precarious stalemate, with both of their health plummeting down. It wouldn’t be surprising if either one of them dropped dead at any moment from the lethal dance they were entangled in. But the matchup was still in favor of vicar Cortel due to his self purge.

“Luciella, I’ll give you an opportunity!” Asdel closed his eyes and charged at the nailed idol. He hacked at its precious intestines dangling at the altar.

“You! Don’t touch it!” Vicar Cortel directed his attention to Asdel and roared. How could he let a brat damage the precious holy relic he spent millenia guarding? He leaped off towards the altar to squash the boy.

Luciella didn’t miss the opening and cleaved Vicar Cortel, detonating all the marks contaminating his body.

He silently fell on his knees, giving a last glance to the ceiling. His clothes collapsed in a cloud of scattering feathers.

With everyone dead, the slime was left with a delicious feast. Amaranth rolled at high speed, looting everything in its range.

The Heroslayer sword slipped from Luciella’s hands. She lurched over to vomit a copious amount of blood. Her devil attire came undone, reverting into a sheath that enclosed her devil sword.

“What’s going on? You’re naked and your hair went white.” Asdel approached cautiously.

Luciella stole a cape and a sword from a corpse. She stared at Asdel awkwardly, ashamed of her behavior as a nun.

“Teacher, what was that? Why do you cooperate with devils?” Asdel asked.

“They kidnapped my first child,” Luciella replied tersely.

’Does she act cold with her son Luke because she’s worried that they kidnap him too?’ Asdel sighed. “Well, alright. So you have to bring me to Inferno no matter what?”

“If I ask you politely, will you come with me?” Luciella snorted as if she already knew the answer. Despite wobbling, she pointed her sword at Asdel to challenge him. “Come on, let’s fight.”

“Teacher… Your knees are shaking like you’re about to croak at any moment.” Asdel unsheathed his shortsword.

“You’ve seen wrong. Kill me if you don’t want me to drag you by force.” Luciella made a pained smile. “Besides, I’m still a C-rank. Do you really think you have a chance?”

“Good point.” Asdel rushed at the half naked nun.