Swordsmaster Fox-girl

“...What is this?”

Esther blinked. When she came to her senses, she was already inside the Heat Shelter; in the process of trying to tear down the walls.

In fact, her body felt a bit sore….

At least the heat is gone…

And then it hit her—Heat Shelter.

Heat,

Shelter.

A shelter built for this exact occasion.

Esther was feeling a bit stupid right now. She should’ve made the connection as soon as she felt the heat. But that’s beside the point! She shook her head and tried to climb out of the Shelter like last time. But just as she took a step forward, she slipped on something wet and fell to the ground, face-first. 

Massaging her chin with slightly teary eyes, Esther turned around to see a puddle of clear liquid on the floor. Sweat? She was about to dip her finger in it and taste it to find out, but something told her that she shouldn’t….

“Why should I care anyways?” Sighing, she got up on her feet and began climbing out of the Shelter. The password was exactly like before.

But as soon as she opened the panel and poked her head outside, she found Freya and Nowa sitting on the roof, holding skewers of sausages in each of their hands.

There was no fire up here. Not even firewood. Yet, the sausages were cooked.

Did they… Use my magic to do it?

Esther could remember when she first tried to use magic inside the Shelter. It got absorbed and expelled outside. Meaning, she must’ve tried to use magic while she was the under the effect of whatever it was.

She climbed fully out of the Shelter with a cat’s silence. Sneaking up on them, she placed her chin on Nowa’s shoulder and took a skewer out of Freya’s hand.

“Hey.”

She munched on the sausages, watching as both of them recoiled in surprise, and watching as Freya’s face turned red.

“W-Welcome back, Fox spirit.”

“Nee-chan!”

Unlike Freya, who was embarrassed for some reason, Nowa hugged her sister tightly.

Esther patted Nowa’s back and asked, “How long was I out?”

“Exactly three days.”

Esther heard a deep voice behind her. She turned around and found the Guildmaster standing behind her with his arms crossed.

She had so many questions right now, but had enough composure to ask the biggest one first.

“What… What was that?”

Despite the vague wordings, the Guildmaster understood the question perfectly. “You went ‘in heat.’ To be blunt, you won’t get out of heat until you—” he forced a circle with the fingers of his right hand and moved his left index finger through it. “—or three days have passed. You’ll be like this once a month. Normally, a heat would last a week, but you’re on the quicker side of things.”

“...How do you know any of this?”

“Common sense. Where do you think we are?”

Beastman Kingdom. Right.

“So I’ll just force myself on anyone I see?”

“That’s correct.” He nodded. Then, he grabbed Freya, who was still blushing. “And you might want to wash your clothes right away.”

“Isn’t it just sweat?” Esther looked closely at her clothes. They were damp and wet with some kind of clear liquid. They must be sweat. They have to be!

“They’re not.” With a chuckle, the Guildmaster carried Freya away, leaving Esther alone with Nowa.

.

.

.

.

.

Esther put on her Armor of Fear, grabbed Requiem, and headed into the forest. Her target: the Wolves’ den.

She’d have liked to reach peak 2-star before going here, but she couldn’t wait any longer. The reason?

-”Guildmaster! The Wolves have been multiplying! We need to post up a request on the Guild board!”

She’d overheard the conversation between Clara and the Guildmaster. In fact, she was pretty sure that the Guildmaster knew; he just deliberately let her hear it.

So, she decided to end it once and for all. She couldn’t leave the big walking stats stick that was the Wolf leader to go waste.

…

Esther rapidly killed anything she could lay her eyes on. Everything’s bones were crushed with just one slash from Esther’s sheathed Requiem. Despite her heavy armor, she was going faster than most 2-star.

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, and AUR have increased by 0.8]

[STR and AUR have increased by 0.3]

[STR and ARC have increased by 0.2]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.09]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.02]

….

[STR has increased by 0.7]

Crushing another Wolf to death, Esther laid eyes on the structure in front of her. It was like a big igloo made of stone and dirt. She didn’t know how the Wolves did this, nor did she want to. 

They’re awfully oblivious. I’ve been killing their kind since morning….

Esther eyed her surroundings. It was quiet. Too quiet. Not to mention, just staring at the entrance would make her entire body shiver in foreboding.

If they’re smart enough to make their own den, they’re smart enough to lure me into a trap.

She deliberated her options. She could go into the trap and probably come out unscathed because of her armor, but she really didn’t like taking such risks. Or she could….

Yeah, let’s do that.

Like a cat, Esther scaled the tallest tree nearby. She used [Star Steps] to get directly above the den. She bit her own hand and let her blood flow down to Requiem.

“[Bloodletting]”

[Which stats would you like to increase?]

“Aura.”

[AUR has temporarily increased by 5.]

Esther could hear voices in her head.

-”Kill.”

-”Kill them!”

-”DESTROY!”

She chuckled. “What do you think I’m doing? No need to remind me.”

Taking in a deep breath, Esther muttered,

“[Meteor Sword]”

She crashed into the den. Debris, blood, and gore flew everywhere. She felt the heat of the burning flames on her skin, and her vision was filled with blue screens.

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.2]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.09]

[DEX has increased by 2]

[STR, DEX, and AUR have increased by 0.21]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[AUR and ARC have increased by 0.5]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have increased by 0.01]

…

[ARC has increased by 1]

 

Esther squinted her eyes and tried to look through the visual noise of blue screens and smoky air. After much effort, she could find the same Wolf Leader huddling in a corner, scared. 

“There you are! Die!”

She unsheathed Requiem and slashed. But a Wolf jumped out from the flames to block her attack.

She slashed again. Two Wolves jumped out.

She attacked, and slashed, and attacked, and stabbed. After ten seconds, the corner of the den was practically filled with all the surviving Wolves.

Behind her were raging flames. In front, at least a few dozen Wolves baring their fangs.

Despite this, Esther chuckled.

“How convenient.”

4 seconds.

She agglomerated her Aura into Requiem.

3 seconds.

She briefly considered using [Moon Arch] but realized that it wouldn’t be enough to kill everything here.

2 seconds.

So, she also poured in a large amount of Mana into the katana.

1 second.

Esther threw Requiem at the pack of Wolves. She quickly conjured a cocoon of Ice around her. Seeing the sword getting embedded in the ground in the middle of the pack, she gave them a smirk and opened her mouth.

“Boom.”

The explosion rocked her cocoon. Esther held her ears tight, trying to subside the sound. But then she noticed the Ice surrounding her slowly cracking. Shit! She let go of her ears, trying to ignore the painful sound and conjuring even more Ice in front of her.

Luckily, everything soon eased. And an eerie silence ensued. 

The silence was only broken by a dinging noise, followed by a blue screen.

[STR, DEX, AUR, and ARC have reached their limit. Would you like to view your Progression Quest?]