EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons

"It feels like we've been in here a long time..." muttered Asia, borrowing Vahn's lap, chest, and shoulder as they rested in one of the passages of the Second Stratum's Sixth Floor. She had petitioned Rias passionately to let her join his party a few weeks earlier, but while he and Koneko couldn't be as uninhibited as before, Vahn enjoyed having her around.

"Mmm...about forty-one days..." revealed Vahn, having to confer with Sis as he had also lost track of the passage of days. There was no day-night cycle within the Corridor, so unless you were inside a Checkpoint, it was always around the same level of brightness while exploring.

"And how many more until we return...?" asked Asia, instinctively drawing her face closer to Vahn's neck, her hot breath tickling and moistening his skin as she spoke.

"Based on the current time compression and the rate at which it has been increasing, we still have around thirty-six days..." answered Vahn, causing Asia to hum contentedly, ostensibly satisfied by the answer.

"Nn...we've got company..." remarked Koneko, moving away from her position at Vahn's side and performing a cat-like stretch with her butt presented for his perusal before rising to face a group of six werewolf-like monsters. There was always at least one person moving around the Floor at any given moment, so while they were restricted to moving every 4.3 seconds, there were groups of monsters constantly patrolling.

"Wait. Let me take care of them," said Vahn, prompting Asia to, somewhat reluctantly, get off him, allowing him to stand. At the same time, Koneko moved around and stood behind him, clearing a path for him to stand with his left hand forward, within which was a golden, four-pronged vajra with ends resembling a dragon's claws. When activated, golden lightning shot forth from the end, arcing between and incinerating the werewolves from within.

"Magic is really powerful..." remarked Vahn, looking between the charred, dissolving remains of the werewolves and the vajra with somewhat mixed feelings. He couldn't deny that it was more efficient, but it was difficult to get excited or feel accomplished when he could defeat nearly everything they came across in one blow from afar.

"Nn...it's Master and his equipment that's powerful..." contended Koneko, staring at the vajra in Vahn's hand, an A-Rank weapon acquired using the OP obtained from selling Grayfia's abundant loot.

"Koneko-chan is right! Vahn-sama is amazing~!" exclaimed Asia, placing her palms together and clapping with the tips of her fingers.

"Thanks, but you two don't need to praise me every chance you get..." said Vahn, smiling as he unequipped his vajra and caressed the duo's heads. He really enjoyed receiving praise, but receiving it too often was starting to feel awkward...

"But doesn't Vahn-sama praise us just as often...?" asked Asia, tilting her head adorably.

"Then...should I stop...?" asked Vahn.

"No," responded Koneko flatly.

"Please don't...!" exclaimed Asia, her expression slightly panicked as she imagined Vahn never again patting her head or holding her.

"Then I'll keep praising you," said Vahn, his expression softening as he appended, "Also, I don't mind praise. I just don't...require it all the time, okay?"

"Okay, then," responded Asia, regaining her smile as she teased, "We will only praise you when you do especially well. Just expect the praise to be especially big when that time comes~."

"Nn...I look forward to it..." affirmed Vahn, pulling Asia's head forward and kissing her forehead before permitting Koneko to climb onto his shoulders so they could continue their exploration...

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'I think I know whose desires inspired these monsters...' thought Vahn, his expression cramping slightly as he, Koneko, and Asia entered a room filled with headless, centaur-like creatures with very large breasts.

"Disgusting..." muttered Koneko, punching her gloved fists together with a sullen, slightly annoyed look.

"Alright, same as usual," said Vahn, materializing his spear in his right hand before stating, "Koneko, you will take point. I will fight at the mid-range, and Asia will stay at the back to provide support. Remember to keep your barrier up and pay attention to your surroundings."

"Right...!" responded Asia, grasping the golden, cross-shaped scepter Vahn had acquired for her from his Shop, tapping its pointed end against the ground to create a five-meter wide dome of light that allowed allies to pass freely but denied entry to enemies. Her outfit, consisting of a pristine white robe with flowing, gold-trimmed sleeves and a broad, gold-trimmed collar over an earth-brown gown, was also a papal vestment from another world, significantly increasing the power of Light Magic at the cost of her affinity with every other Element, so unless her foe was around the same level as Rias or stronger, her barrier couldn't be breached by conventional means.

Seeing that Asia had her barrier in place, Koneko accelerated forward with her upper body nearly parallel to the ground, her increasingly forked tail flicking behind her as she charged the closest breastaur. In response, the sixteen breastaurs began to move forward and encircle the group with staggered movements. This limitation gave those exploring the Dungeon a near-absolute advantage, but as the break between their movements had been decreasing with each Floor, it soon wouldn't be a factor.

Slamming her fist into the hardened stomach of one of the breastaurs, Koneko sent a visible ripple through the monster's body before its upper half separated from its lower, spattering black particulate that promptly evaporated with the monster's corpse. At that moment, two additional breastaurs attempted to cleave her with their combination scythe axes, but she managed to jump up, twisting her body between the two blades as a luminous golden projectile slammed into one, knocking it off balance and critically injuring it, allowing her to focus on the other.

Recalling his spear to his right hand, Vahn flipped it over and flung it at another breastaur approaching Koneko while paying close attention to those closing in on his and Asia's position. The breast-themed monsters didn't seem particularly powerful, but their weapons looked intimidating, and it was always better to be cautious than complacent.

With such thoughts in mind, Vahn equipped his vajra in his left hand and unleashed its fury on a group of four breastaurs approaching from his left. With Koneko effortlessly dealing with four and about to take out her fifth, the original sixteen breastaurs were summarily reduced to seven in fewer than twenty seconds of combat.

Determining that the group's numbers had diminished sufficiently, Vahn unequipped his spear and vajra before charging to meet the closest of the breastaurs head-on. It immediately raised its scythe-like axe and swung at him from an angle that would have intersected between his neck and left shoulder, but with a carefully timed backhand, intersecting the blade with his golden bracelets, Vahn was able to negate the damage and stun it using [Perfect Guard]. Then, with his right hand, he slammed his fist into the paradoxically soft yet hard abs of the breastaur, not quite causing it to explode like Koneko but making its frontal horse-like legs give out, forcing it to kneel.

"Sorry about this..." said Vahn, raising his right hand aloft and chopping downward with all his might, a faint white aura surrounding his hand as he sliced the breastaur from its clavicle to halfway down its abdomen. There was a brief moment where his face and upper body were matted with hot, dark red, nearly black liquid, but it thankfully evaporated along with the breastaur's body.

Shifting his attention to the breastaur attempting to chop his head off from the side, Vahn ducked under the attack, placed his left hand against the ground, and swept his right leg like a scythe harvesting wheat. Once again, a faint aura of shimmering white energy enveloped his foot, a form of energy known as Touki. It had the effect of multiplying his power and allowing his attacks to penetrate enemy defenses at the cost of his life force, but since he had plenty to spare, Vahn's kick snapped the ankles of the breastaur like twigs.

Dropping down on the crippled breastaur like a meteor, Koneko broke its back and nearly flattened it despite her small stature, leaving only three remaining as she had already dealt with two others.

"Please allow me to help as well...!" exclaimed Asia, activating one of the spells that came with her staff, causing the faint silhouette of an angelic woman wielding a sword to appear above the remaining breastaurs. This did no damage, but it would cause the next attack they received to echo, effectively dealing double damage.

"Nice support...!" shouted Vahn, seizing the opportunity to land a heavy punch on one of the remaining breastaurs' abdomens with his left hand. The initial attack wasn't enough to finish it, but following a brief delay, a second impact radiated from where the first hand landed, allowing him to emulate Koneko's devastating power.

Though Vahn's heroic figure and confidence-filled smile briefly entranced her, Koneko quickly regained her senses and moved like a blur, briefly zig-zagging between to make it harder for the breastaurs to target her before veiling her gloved fists in Touki to explode their horse-like lower halves in one blow.

"Is that all of them?" asked Vahn, simultaneously producing warm towels from his Inventory, one for himself and one for Koneko. They hadn't been dirtied by the fluids that briefly caked their bodies after defeating each of the breastaurs, but even if they looked clean, they felt dirty until they had a chance to wipe themselves down.

"Excellent work, you two~" hummed Asia, holding her staff sideways and smiling as she approached Vahn and Koneko, resisting the urge to tell the former how amazing he was.

"Want me to gather the loot...?" asked Koneko, looking around at the various, ostensibly random items littering the ground. One thing that kept the Corridor from feeling too monotonous was that you could defeat the same monster a hundred times and acquire a hundred different drops, so while there were three seemingly identical crimson apples, the remaining thirteen drops were different and unique.

"We can collect them together," said Vahn, briefly ruffling Koneko's hair before parting with her to pick up and inspect one of the apples. It had the look of an ordinary apple, but when he inspected it, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

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[Crimson Bapple]

Rank: D

Use: Alleviates hunger and increases the Power of the consumer by 1.

An apple harvested from a tree distantly descended from Yggdrasil. A favorite of many Aesir.

Restriction: Only ten D-Rank [Crimson Bapples] can be consumed before the parameter-boosting effect is lost.

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'So eating ten of these would make an ordinary person twice as strong...' concluded Vahn, a smile developing across his face as he turned to Asia and said, "Here you go, Asia, take this. It might look ordinary, but eating it will make you stronger."

"Then shouldn't Vahn-sama or Koneko-chan eat it...?" asked Asia, tilting her head to the side.

"We're plenty strong as is, and I'm sure we can find more rooms like this if we search around..." assured Vahn, holding the [Crimson Bapple] out until Asia reluctantly but gratefully accepted it.

Demonstrating her gratitude, Asia bowed low and said, "Thank you, Vahn-sama..." before raising her head, beaming, and tentatively taking a bite out of the glossy crimson fruit. It was crispier and sweeter than any apple she had eaten, and the moment she swallowed its succulent flesh, a feeling of revitalizing warmth permeated her body, compelling her to close her eyes and produce an unintentionally sensual groan.

Resisting the urge to chuckle, Vahn extended his hand to caress Asia's head, stating, "Go ahead and finish that one off. The other two can wait until you're hungry."

"Okay~!" responded Asia, offering Vahn a smile before surprising him as she aggressively devoured the remainder of the apple. Meanwhile, from a short distance away, Koneko was staring blankly at an item resembling a horse's blinders, but it was black, formed from numerous leather straps, and had a bite stick. More notably, it was very clearly designed to be put on a human, making her believe it would have made a good gift for Akeno before Vahn became their principal contractor...

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