Downstairs, Dus was explaining to Layton how to bypass the [Gluttony] skill's restriction on intoxication.
He knew how to turn it off because he'd discovered he had an infinite capacity for liquor, and being unable to get drunk while mourning his dead comrades had frustrated him so much that he'd demanded an answer from the system in his head.
The process was simple, you just had to ask the system to toggle it, and you could reset it just as easily.
Layton wasn't particularly interested in the mechanics of getting drunk. He knew how to drink and could hold his own, but he didn't have a passion for it. As a man with a wife and child, combined with his past profession, he avoided getting wasted.
What he was actually concerned about was something else.
"Your three teammates, they met a tragic end," Layton said, his voice laced with a hint of sorrow as he took a sip.
"Yeah, well, what can you do?! There were just too many monsters!" Dus was already halfway to being drunk, slamming a hand on the table with feigned intensity.
"Ah, when we were in the Slime Forest, we got swarmed by slimes, too. We didn't have a second to rest. Back then, I really thought I was going to die in those woods," Layton mused.
"Pfft! Slimes? What kind of pathetic trash is that! I was facing a whole pack of Hobgoblins! Real Hobgoblins! Monsters three meters tall! One swing of their club could level a house!" Dus had lost his patience.
What was so impressive about killing a few slimes? He looked at the group, sure, they brought a ton of followers, but weren't they just a bunch of low-life slime cleaners? Compared to the monsters he'd faced, those slimes were nothing but insects!
Layton frowned, but held his tongue. He didn't look down on slimes, but after spending a whole day getting swarmed by an endless sea of them, who would dare call them "easy"?
"Was it an unexpected encounter?" Layton asked.
In the Slime Forest, stumbling upon the Royal Slime had been an unpredictable, catastrophic event.
"Yeah! I was chasing Goblins, and suddenly a whole squad of Hobgoblins showed up! What was I supposed to do?! I killed a dozen of them and ran for my life! If they died, is that my fault?!" Dus rambled on, working himself into a frenzy as if he were the biggest victim in the world.
Layton drank his ale in silence. If it had been him, he would have preferred to die fighting rather than abandon his comrades to save his own skin. But he wasn't going to lecture Dus. Fleeing or dying in battle was a personal choice; if he claimed he'd done his best and had no other option, then there wasn't much point in judging him.
"Fine! I get it! You're still haunted by your teammates' deaths, right? Then this time, come with us and take revenge on those Goblins!" Layton stood up and gave Dus a firm, comradely pat on the shoulder.
Dus stared at him, let out a scornful snort, and swatted his hand away. "Revenge? You haven't even seen a Hobgoblin, and you're talking about revenge?! Do you even have any idea what a few hundred Hobgoblins looks like?!"
"I have seen them! I've seen them plenty of times! Back in town, I had to evacuate every time those giant monsters showed up!
I know how terrifying those monsters are! And I know you're scared!
But we are the Heroes sworn to protect humanity! No matter what, we must use our Strength to purge the demons! We cannot back down!
So, come on!
We lost once, but this time, let's win it back!"
Layton said with stirring passion, reaching out a hand toward Dus.
"Oooooohhhhhhh!!"
Hearing Layton's words, the entire tavern erupted with fervor. Every patron there couldn't help but cheer him on.
"The Lord Hero speaks the truth!!"
"This is a true Hero! A Hero who stands tall for all of us!!"
"Exterminate the demons! Exterminate the demons!!"
Amidst the cheers, a few patrons began muttering under their breath.
"Now that is a great Hero. Unlike someone else we know, who uses the power god gave him just to bully us common folk."
"Haha, exactly, he's not even worth a single feather from that other Hero!"
CRASH!
Dus slammed his wine glass into smithereens, lunging up from his seat, and roared at the patrons who had been gossiping.
"Say that again?!"
The patrons shrank back, shooting him resentful glares but staying silent.
"What do you think you're doing?" Layton's brows furrowed as he glared at Dus.
"What am I doing?! They're insulting me, and I can't even tell them off?!" Dus shouted back.
"I said it before! A Hero's strength is meant to protect people! You're acting like a thug, of course they have a right to talk!" Layton stood his ground, his presence dominating as he stared Dus down.
"Hah." Dus sneered, shaking his head. "A pathetic slime-killer really thinks he can stand up to me..."
He pointed a finger directly at the men who had been gossiping earlier.
"Looks like my usual lessons didn't sink in! Today! I'm going to smash your mouths into pieces!!"
WHAM!
Dus slammed his hand onto the table next to him, shattering it, and grabbed the chair beneath him, ready to smash it into the gossiping patrons.
The patrons, trapped and unable to run, could only throw up their hands in a desperate attempt to block.
"Kyaaaaahhh!!"
The waitresses screamed in terror.
SNAP!
A sharp, powerful sound echoed through the tavern.
"Stop."
Now, right before everyone's eyes, Layton had gripped Dus's wrist just as he was about to swing the chair, the thick veins on the back of his hand bulging with tension.
"Let go." Dus looked up, his eyes locked onto Layton's with a gaze cold and filled with rage.
"Put the chair down first." Layton said sternly, snatching the chair away from Dus with his other hand.
Unexpectedly, Dus let Layton take it, not putting up a fight. Once the chair was tossed to the side, Layton finally released Dus's wrist.
The patrons let out a collective sigh of relief, thinking they had escaped a fate worse than death.
But the next moment, a flash of white light erupted, Dus had suddenly produced his white jade staff out of thin air.
BOOM!!
A massive crash shook the tavern. The wall behind them collapsed in a cloud of debris. Dus hadn't even managed to strike, but he was already sent flying, landing in the rubble outside the hole in the wall.
Back in the tavern, Layton stood with his wooden shield in hand, his face deathly serious.
"I said, Heroes are here to protect humanity, not harm it. Are you really trying to use weapons gifted by the Gods to hurt your own people?!" He roared in fury.
Dus gritted his teeth, suppressing the intense agony in his chest as he struggled to his feet. He was covered in plaster dust and grit, looking utterly wretched.
That single blow had made his vision go black, it felt as if, he'd been struck head-on by a Hobgoblin!
He'd seen the stats of a Hobgoblin, this guy had at least 20 points in Strength!
But it didn't matter!
Combat between Heroes didn't inflict real physical injury, at most, it drained stamina.
"You want a fight, fine! I'll give you a fight!!"
Dus surged up from the ground, his staff whistling as he thrust it straight at Layton's chest!
...
Downstairs, the brawl was just starting, but upstairs, four scantily-clad waitresses were sweating bullets, or rather, they were practically melting with impatience.
Rewind to ten minutes ago...
The four women had hauled Anyi upstairs, planning to "undress him for bed" while indulging in a hearty meal on his well-built physique. But just as they unfastened his belt, he suddenly grabbed his trousers with both hands.
"...?"
Huh?
Wait, wasn't this guy supposed to be dead to the world?
"Lord Hero? Are you awake?" The waitresses' pupils were dilated, their heart-shaped irises flickering with anxiety at the thought of being caught.
They were demons, and they knew from Dus that Heroes were out to exterminate them. If Anyi saw their heart-shaped pupils, a nasty fight would be inevitable. Their eyes were betraying them, whenever they got excited or interested in a target, that pink glow was impossible to suppress.
Since they weren't sure if Anyi was actually asleep or not, their "interest" vanished in an instant.
To put it bluntly: they were blue-balled.
The four exchanged glances and nodded.
Right! Time for a different approach!
"Lord Hero is so naughty~! Playing drunk like that~ Are you just... too impatient to wait~?"
One woman lay on the bed, draping herself over Anyi's arm. Her fingertips glided across his chest, down his abdomen, and kept traveling lower.
"Gah?!" The woman gasped.
Anyi suddenly rolled over, shifting from lying flat to on his side, shaking her hand off.
The four women looked at each other and nodded. Exactly! He's faking it! They had heard from Layton earlier that he had only just turned eighteen, so...
He must be shy!
At the thought, a pink glow shimmered back into their eyes. A boy this pure and innocent... they loved it! This was their type!
With that, the four of them dove in, clinging to Anyi's arms and legs.
"Who knew Lord Hero would be this naive~~"
"Don't be embarrassed, Lord Hero~ We'll make sure you have a good time~~"
"Aren't you even a little curious, Lord Hero~? About a woman's body..."
Anyi: "..."
Zero secular desires.
With [Apathy Towards Lust] active, he didn't have any thoughts to begin with, and frankly, these women were nowhere near Anyi's standards.
He had been pursued by many women in his previous life. Even if he had ignored their feelings, it didn't mean he couldn't recognize beauty.
Call him naive if you want, but he wasn't.
He was just indifferent.
WHOOSH!
Just as the four women felt they had him completely cornered, their hands suddenly slipped. Anyi simply slid right out of their "embrace"!
"???"
They'd clearly had a solid grip on him a second ago!
Moments before, Anyi had swapped into his evasive gear, the Slime Armor! With it coating his skin, he'd used the Slime Sword, which he usually kept hidden in his sleeve, to push off the floor, sliding across the room like a wet bar of soap before sticking to the underside of the bed on the other side.
"Lord Hero, don't try to run away~~"
The harder Anyi tried to dodge, the more the four women seemed to get fired up! To them, such resistance was just adorable!!
But five minutes later, they weren't thinking that anymore...
How is it possible to be this uncatchable?!
Every time they were about to grab him, Anyi would slip away; he was sliding around the room like a grease-covered eel, and he'd done it all while keeping his eyes serenely shut, never opening them once!
The four women stood in the room, panting heavily, looking up at Anyi, who had somehow managed to slide himself up onto the ceiling.
"Oh, Lord Hero~~ that's not a place to sleep~"
"Yeah, come down and sleep on the bed with us~"
Anyi remained glued to the ceiling, unmoved.
What are you going to do, peel me off the ceiling? If you're really desperate, just pretend I'm asleep and roll yourselves out of my room.
Seeing that Anyi still didn't react, the four women couldn't help but clench their fists.
Damn it! What is up with this human?!
With any other man, a single touch would turn their legs to jelly and have them giggling their way into bed. They had thrown everything they had into seducing this one, and he hadn't even flickered an eyelid, he didn't even care to look at them.
As Succubi, this was the first time they had ever felt such a profound sense of failure in their craft!
No! We have to break this man!
They were determined; they just needed to get him to open his eyes and look at them!
"Hoo..."
The four women exchanged glances again. Then, without a word, they shed their remaining flimsy garments.
In the pitch-black room, a pink mist began to quietly drift from their bodies. They climbed onto the bed together, intentionally ignoring Anyi, and began to entangle with one another, emitting sounds that would stir any man's imagination, a full-blown lily garden in bloom.
Provoked by Anyi's indifference, they went at it with unprecedented fervor.
Little Hero! Take this! How are you going to ignore this?!
Anyi remained silent...
He was fast asleep.
After all, it was impossible for the four of them to actually drag him off the ceiling. He'd just used the Slime Sword combined with the Slime Armor to pin himself to the ceiling for the night. Perfect.
He could have just run out of the room, but the inn he'd originally booked was way too far away. Sleep is sleep; why bother trekking all that way?
As he dozed, he suddenly caught a whiff of something... strange, yet strangely familiar!
WHOOSH!
The Slime Sword instantly split into four tendrils, lashing downward. Anyi plummeted from the ceiling.
THUD!
The Slime Sword shattered the wooden bed frame and circled around from the other side, instantly binding the four women, bed and all, into a tight knot.
Anyi landed and immediately stomped his foot onto two of them.
There were two gasps of surprise followed by two sharp cries of pain. He had zero interest in being "gentle" with them.
"I thought I was just coming in for a good night's sleep. Turns out, I walked straight into a monster's nest."
Before he even came down, Anyi had seen their heart-shaped, glowing pupils and immediately identified them as Succubi.
[Encyclopedia Entry: Succubus
Strength: 3
Agility: 3
Endurance: 3
Durability: 3
Mana: 300
Intelligence: 20
Technique: 15]
[Creature: Succubus
Whoa~~ Lord Hero has finally encountered a Succubus! Aren't they just beautiful and adorable?
They come in every shape and size to satisfy every possible fetish you could imagine~ But Lord Hero, you mustn't let yourself be seduced!
Succubi feed on essence, and once a human male tastes the 'flavor' of a Succubus, he'll find human women uninteresting ever after!
Even though they're physical pushovers, they are incredibly, incredibly dangerous demons! They are one of the core forces driving humanity toward extinction!]
Succubi are bonafide high-tier demons. With massive Mana pools and game-breaking charm skills, even a single one is enough to cause significant upheaval in human society.
However, due to their dietary requirements, they rarely infiltrate the human upper class, preferring instead to prey on the general population where they can feed with higher efficiency.
Seeing Anyi had seen through their disguise, the Succubi immediately unleashed all their magical defenses, trying to drown Anyi in charms. The scent in the room grew thick and cloying instantly, but Anyi's Slime Sword only tightened its bindings.
"Ah~ Lord Hero! No~~!!"
"It hurts~! Stop, please~~!!"
"It hurts! But... it feels so good~~!!"
"..."
In his previous life, Anyi would have just slaughtered these Succubi on sight. At this stage of the game, killing a Succubus granted a massive amount of experience points.
But unless they were actively using their magic or their eyes were glowing, it was virtually impossible to tell a Succubus apart from a normal woman with the naked eye. If Anyi killed them right here, the tavern patrons wouldn't care if they were demons or not; by tomorrow, the entire town would know the Hero was a murderer.
Judging from the slime disaster back in the village, he knew that Hero demon-hunting operations required the backing of the common folk. It wasn't just about their cooperation—even basic things like getting fed relied on the public.
While the followers of the Sky God might provide support, if Anyi were caught killing "people," the religious zealots would be the first to turn on him. And even if he didn't care and forged ahead regardless, what about his teammates?
Especially now, at the dawn of their demon-slaying journey, the public had yet to develop any deep emotional investment in the war against demons. Doing something that would tank his reputation as a Hero was absolutely off-limits.
Some might argue, Succubi don't necessarily kill people; leaving them be wouldn't be the end of the world.
But a demon is a demon. From humanity's perspective, their very existence was a hazard. Anyi had no intention of letting them live. But in the current situation, there was no choice—he'd have to let them breathe for a little longer.
「Such a waste of EXP」
A single Succubus was worth at least enough experience to push him to Class 3. They were high-tier demons, after all!
"I am a Hero, blessed by the Sky God. The fact that lowly demons dare to set foot on human soil is an affront. Today, in the name of the heavens, I shall strike you down. Speak—how would you like to die?" Anyi said, delivering the cold threat without a shred of emotion.
"Waaaaaaah—!! I don't want to die!!" The cowardly Succubus immediately broke down in loud sobs.
The contrast with her suggestive moans from just a moment ago was jarring!
Their charm magic was absolutely useless against Anyi's [Apathy Towards Lust], and their frail bodies stood no chance against his martial prowess. Anyi could slaughter them as easily as swatting flies!
"I don't want to die either! Lord Hero, please spare us!!"
"I don't want to die, boo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!"
The Succubi scrambled to beg for mercy, which was exactly the trap Anyi had set for them.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," Anyi said coldly.
"I... We don't kill people!!"
"That's right! We've never killed anyone! Even though we're demons, we don't kill people!!"
"And... we make our guests feel very comfortable!"
The Succubi scrambled to justify their existence. But they didn't realize that the "comfort" was precisely the problem. It was because they were too comfortable that the human birth rate was plummeting!
"You are Succubi, aren't you?" Anyi asked.
The Succubi's hearts skipped a beat. Why did he know that name?!
Humans had extremely limited information on demons; most people didn't even know what a [Succubus] was, let alone how to identify one. Since Anyi could name them, it was clear he possessed significant knowledge about demons! That actually increased their chances of survival.
"Yes! Lord Hero! We are Succubi!"
"Lord Hero, you know how it is! We aren't the kind of demons that like to kill!"
"Just spare our lives! We'll do anything!"
"I have a few questions. First, are all the women working in this tavern of your kind?" Anyi asked.
"This... Yes!"
The Succubi hesitated; they didn't want to sell out their kin, but since the guy had already figured it out, keeping up the charade was pointless. Besides, with Anyi's ability, he could easily head downstairs and round up every Succubus in the tavern for interrogation anyway.
"Doing a rough count, there are about a dozen of you... no, a dozen of them. You claim you've never killed anyone. So, what is your purpose in infiltrating human society?" Anyi pressed.
"To eat!" a Succubus blurted out.
Anyi: "Do you eat humans?"
"No, no, no, no—!!"
The Succubi shook their heads frantically, terrified that Anyi might get agitated and slice them up.
Anyi shook his head. "Fine. I know what you feed on; you don't kill humans. But you are demons, and I am a Hero tasked with exterminating them. Killing you is only natural. The fact that you don't kill people isn't enough of a reason for me to spare you."
"Then... we can do it with you anytime, anywhere..."
"Not interested. Give me something useful," Anyi cut her off.
「Useful...?」
The Succubi's brains shifted into high gear. If "not killing humans" wasn't enough to save their hides, then providing valuable intelligence was their only ticket out of this.
What counted as useful intel? Even though Succubi were physically weak, their base Intelligence stat was a staggering 20 points. Across the entire demon race, you'd be hard-pressed to find many species with that level of raw brainpower.
Once they started thinking, it didn't take long to figure out what kind of information Anyi would be looking for.
Dus was a local Hero, while the other three were clearly not.
These two new faces had likely rushed in from other regions as reinforcements. Therefore, the intelligence they needed had to be about this current support operation.
"Goblins... inside the forest, there is a demon called a Goblin Centurion."
Finally, a Succubus spilled the truth.
"Goblin Centurion? What's that?" Anyi feigned ignorance.
"A single Goblin Centurion leads ten Goblin Shamans, one hundred Hobgoblins, and each Hobgoblin, in turn, commands about twenty common Goblins," the Succubus explained.
"And in the forest in front of this town... there are three Goblin Centurions," another Succubus added.
"Three..." Anyi tightened his fist.
No wonder. No wonder three Heroes had dropped dead right off the bat.
In a standard beginner-level Goblin Dungeon, the party usually faced a Goblin Shaman leading a dozen Hobgoblins and perhaps two hundred ordinary Goblins. That was a standard dungeon layout.
If we're comparing them to Slimes, a Goblin Shaman is already a demon on the same level as a Royal Slime.
In the [Slime Forest] dungeon, the "trash mobs" are weak, which is why the Royal Slime itself is so overpowered. Conversely, because the Goblin Shaman's support units—the Hobgoblins—are already quite strong, the Shaman itself is relatively fragile.
Generally speaking, a Goblin-themed early-game dungeon isn't too hard to clear; the main annoyance is just the Shaman constantly buffing the Hobgoblins from the backline.
However... a Goblin Centurion is a different beast entirely.
It sits at a higher tier than the Royal Slime; it's a high-ranking demon that commands even the Goblin Shamans.
While [Slay the Royal Slime] and [Slay the Goblin Shaman] are both F-Rank quests, [Slay a Goblin Centurion] is already an E-Rank objective. It's a dungeon recommended for a full squad of Level 10 Heroes.
And [Slay 3 Goblin Centurions]? That's a dungeon difficulty that has absolutely reached D-Rank!
It requires a full squad of Level 20+ Heroes to even attempt a strategic assault!
Meanwhile, Dus's team was barely hovering around Level 5. Even Anyi's current squad was only at Level 7.
This dungeon... it's suicide to try and clear it right now!
BOOM—!!
Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the building, sending the entire floor into violent tremors.
Anyi: "?!"
What the hell was that?!