"Run, quickly; they're coming!"

"God damn it! Why did I come here?"

A pair of Hunters cut through the forest, sweat covering their bodies from head to toe. They were drenched, and as they continued running, a dark shadow in front of them moved.

They staggered as they stopped their movements. Staring in front, they were ready to give it their all. They were being hunted, so it was only apt for them to react as such.

As a head peeked out of the shadow cast by a tree, the hunters dashed forth weapons in hand. However, as they focused in front, they lost sight of what's behind them, and as a golden light flashed, a golden-haired lady appeared to behead them.

Slash!

Their blood heads flew to the air. Sylva landed on the ground and exhaled deeply.

"Okay, gather their weapons. This should be the last of them who are Section 1!"

Eve who had been used as bait came out of the shadows. While the Shadow Troop was busy collecting loot, she took out a pen-like item from her bosom and flicked it to the side.

"Big sis Sylva, I am going to report to the Priestess."

"Do just that. I need to catch my breath."

A blue screen resembling that of a system popped out from the pen's side.

Fiddling around the HNP, Eve secretly looked at Sylva and asked.

"Is it okay for big sis to move around now? I heard you used up all your mana after sending out the Priestess and the Scared Stone of the Brick Bears?"

Sitting on the ground, Sylva looked at Eve and smiled, "The Priestess left me a blue drink called an MP Restoration Potion, and when I drank it, my MP pool recovered 75% of what I originally have."

"Hoooh, so the Priestess even have such a wondrous elixir? No wonder she's the Priestess. She even single-handedly destroyed the enemy forces in such an overwhelming manner; I… how do you use this thing again? Urk! This is impossible!"

Eve was on the verge of tears. Lilith taught her how to send something called a character icon that has its thumbs pointing up. That should have been the signal that the section she was in charge of already finished.

Turning to Sylva, Eve was already in tears. With trembling lips, she looked at Sylva, asking for help.

"Need any help?"

"Yes, please." She answered as she handed the thingy to Sylva while kneeling.

Sylva, who was half Eve's size, was made to help, and as Sylva received the thingy, she too did not know what it was that she needs to do.

Midnight, Lilith was busy supervising the movements of every daemon under her.

Ting*

[Dhampy messaged you. She said she found the remaining Persians. Are you going to return to the village now?]

Lilith was silent as she sighed.

[Mission: Empress' Kingdom (Side-Quest) #7 (non-mandatory) (Completed)]

Requirements for Passing:

[Ÿ] Confirm your territory is the entire Forest of Beast [All 8 Sections, nothing more, nothing less (Competed)

[Ÿ] Drive off the humans or kill them. I don't really care. (Completed)

Reward/s:

[Ÿ] A mystery box (Acquired)

[Ÿ] A Mystery Egg (Acquired)

[Ÿ] 1,000,000 SP (Acquired)

[Ÿ] A one-on-one discussion with this Goddess! (Acquired)

Lilith looked at her rewards and wondered what the next best thing she should do is.

'This is a rather easy, hmm, the Hunter's Association and their goal. The middle section, that's what I always thought they were aiming for, but even that is a tertiary objective. The next objective is the SS+ Hunter Kristina, who went missing after hunting a Vampire Lord…Vampire King. is more apt to refer to this thing.'

Lilith looked at the data presented to her by the HNP database she managed to hack from the remnant data of the wreckage.

It was not easy finding this data, but Alpha's hacking ability and the helpful skill she calls "Scavenging" for parts made it possible for Lilith to find their objectives.

And seeing the records, the daemon that was supposed to be a Vampire Lord was actually an injured Vampire King, a Legendary-tier daemon. As for the SS+ Ranking Hunter Kristina's identity, Lilith was pretty clear that it was Dhampy.

'An SS+ Ranking Hunter, that explains her skills.'

From what Lilith understood from her information, SS+ Ranking Hunters were known as Godly Hunters whose LVL averages at 1000s and above. From what Lilith understood, Kristina was once a Freelance Merc who was scouted to become a Hunter.

'Her first mission is said to combat a Dungeon Break alone…using her sword, she massacred the daemons that poured out of the first S Rank Dungeon of the world…Hmm, there should only be an A-Rank Dungeon, but that one was enough to destroy half a Stronghold.'

Kristina destroyed every daemon with a single sword at hand; it was said that an actual river of blood flowed that day.

But Lilith is unsure because she didn't really focus on information that happened twenty years ago. The information regarding the SS+ Ranking Hunters was closely monitored to the point that even the most excellent info brokers could only know certain rumors about them.

'There are Seven SS+ Rank Hunters for the Seven Strongholds. Stronghold 3 is the one who sent these clowns, meaning they are the most defenseless… but I still can't attack them willy-nilly. A stronghold is neither an Island nor a Sector. If I want to conquer one, then I first need to cross the seas and - AHHH! This is going nowhere.'

Lilith is a very objective daemon, she will do everything in her power to get what she wants, but it must also be in the realm of being possible. Throwing the current idea on the back of his head. Lilith moved forward to their primary goal.

"Finding the source of an unidentified energy explosion!"

It happened around three or so months ago, a massive burst of unknown mana exploded, affecting the surrounding daemons empowering them for a short time.

"Alpha, connect me the Goddess, I need to talk to her."

[Okay, I'll be using the rewards…and done, wait for a minute, the Goddess is preparing herself.]

"Preparing herself? What do you mean by that?"

[She was snacking, and that's all I can say to you.]

Lilith shook her head, and at the moment where she didn't expect, the world around her turned pure black. A Golden Light came down from above, and as Lilith raised her head, she saw a woman whose beauty was as peerless as the universe was infinite.

"Lilith Qurenara, the only Apostle and Family I have in the mortal world, I am so glad to finally meet you, my dear."

Her voice was more splendid than the most beautiful chimes of an Oriole.

She wore an elegant golden robe. Her white hair had ornaments that glistened to the light she emitted. Her entire being was simply out of this world, and her presence was such a magnificence that it would make anyone want to bow to her.

Lilith looked at her and didn't really care about any of that.

"Hey, what's the source of the mana explosion? It happened the day I died, and I can tell that you have your hand in this."

"Hehe, you figured it out." The Goddess didn't really care about formality and just chuckled and answered honestly.