"Have you thought about what kind of familiar you want?"
Walking through the dim forest, Leon led the way for the three young women of his household, posing the question without looking back.
The three girls followed Leon closely. Hearing his question, they thought for a moment before offering their respective answers.
"I want a stronger familiar, ideally one that can assist me in battle."
Yukino Yukinoshita recalled her previous loss to Sharon; she seemed to harbor a lingering regret about it even now, hence this request.
"I would prefer a familiar that can help me with my work as a devil; I don't have any specific requirements regarding combat power."
Asuna Yuuki was the complete opposite of Yukino. Her needs were very similar to Leon's original requirements; she wasn't particularly hungry for power and instead hoped to fulfill her duties to the best of her ability.
"Is there a familiar that can help people with their writing?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka's request was somewhat peculiar, but upon reflection, it was quite understandable.
The issue with the difficult birth of the second volume of her pride and joy, Koisuru Metronome, remained unresolved. A while back, the matter of reincarnating as a devil had pushed it to the back of her mind, but recently her editor had prodded her for the manuscript again, bringing the headache back to the forefront.
After becoming a devil, she had grown stronger and entered another world, but modern devils lived by relying on human society. Leon, their master, had no intention of leading them away from the mortal world, so she didn't want to give up on her writing.
If there were a familiar that could assist me in my writing, that would be wonderful... Utaha couldn't help but think.
However, this request left Leon speechless.
"I don't know if such a familiar exists. I've certainly never seen one, nor have I ever heard of one." Leon said, sounding slightly exasperated. "There are monsters with higher intelligence, but whether they can actually help with your writing is something I can't guarantee. I'll help you look for one in a bit."
"Asuna's needs are easy to satisfy. I know where to find familiars that are quite capable in that regard. I'll take you there shortly."
"As for Yukino's request..."
Leon thought for a moment before speaking to Yukino Yukinoshita.
"Powerful monsters aren't exactly everywhere here, but they aren't rare either. However, if you want to sign a contract with a powerful monster and take it as a familiar, you usually have to defeat it first."
"I can recommend several powerful types of monsters that you should be able to defeat with your current strength. However, the fact that you can defeat them proves their strength doesn't exceed your own. It's hard to say how much help they can provide in battle, especially since you are currently in a period of rapid growth. Even if you tame a capable familiar now, you'll soon surpass it, eventually rendering the familiar a redundant burden."
"Therefore, I suggest you tame a familiar that is currently relatively weak but has great potential—one that can grow stronger over time. However, those types of familiars are usually rare finds. You should be mentally prepared in case we don't encounter any."
As he spoke, Leon led the girls through several turns, heading in a specific direction.
He had researched this forest long ago for the sake of taming familiars and understood the habitats of various monsters within the Familiar Forest.
Now, he intended to take the girls to a territory inhabited by powerful familiars to see if any caught Yukino's eye.
However, just as Leon's group was passing through a rather desolate, sandy area, Leon suddenly came to a halt.
"President?"
"What's wrong?"
Asuna Yuuki and Utaha Kasumigaoka asked simultaneously in confusion.
Yukino Yukinoshita was about to ask as well, but she seemed to sense something, and her eyes sharpened.
"Something is coming."
After entering the Familiar Forest, Leon had released his magical perception, turning his surroundings into a radar zone.
Leon looked in one direction and spoke in a low voice.
"It's a group of rather disgusting things. You'd better brace yourselves."
Hardly had Leon's voice trailed off when, at the other end of the sandy clearing, several black shadows sprinted toward them, growing larger as they approached.
"Heh..."
"Heh..."
Accompanied by low growls that sounded like thick saliva dripping down throats, the shadows gradually revealed their full forms, entering the girls' vision.
Once they saw the shadows clearly, the girls' expressions changed instantly.
"What are those?!"
Asuna Yuuki cried out in alarm.
One after another, humanoid monsters came running from the other side of the sand.
They had solid muscles with exposed, heaving flesh, looking like skinless aliens. They were massive, at least two meters tall, and moved on all fours like beasts. Their speed was incredible, their long tongues lashing out from horrific mouths, and their facial features were mashed together in an exceptionally terrifying sight.
"Those are Ghouls, a type of monster that feeds on carrion. In the wild, they often raid graves to feast on the flesh of the dead or prey on infants. Sometimes they lure passing travelers into the wastes to kill and devour them. They are filthy and hideous creatures."
Leon watched the encroaching monsters and spoke in a calm tone.
"They usually live in sandy areas or deserts and are migratory. This sandy patch was originally the territory of a group of Sand Worms, but it seems those worms were attacked by these migrating ghouls."
While he spoke, the hideous ghouls had already surrounded them. Some even leaped high into the air, lunging at Leon's group, bringing a stench of blood and the putrid odor of corpses with them.
"Don't come any closer!"
Utaha Kasumigaoka was the first to lose her patience, acting even before the others.
"Hum—"
With a vibration in the air, Utaha spread her hands, causing a transparent barrier to appear out of thin air, enveloping the group.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!...
The attacking ghouls crashed into the transparent barrier one by one, as if hitting an incredibly hard steel wall. They were sent flying back amidst the dull sounds of impact.
Utaha had opened a barrier and laid down a defense, blocking the assault of the large group of ghouls.
"Boom!"
At that moment, Yukino Yukinoshita followed suit. Chilling frost surged around her, sweeping out violently and whipping up a sudden blizzard that engulfed the ghouls.
Everywhere the blizzard passed, the air condensed into ice shards and the ground froze over. The ghouls were either blown away, covered in frost, or frozen solid on the spot, turning into terrifying ice sculptures with their hideous faces preserved vividly.
"Asuna!"
Yukino called out to the girl beside her, and Asuna understood the signal.
Seeing that Yukino and Utaha had already made their moves, Asuna took a deep breath and suddenly charged out of the barrier.
She was incredibly fast—fast enough to make one doubt their own eyes. Her figure, hidden in the darkness, flitted out like a phantom, instantly closing the distance to a large group of ghouls whose momentum had been halted by the barrier and the blizzard.
In her hand, a holy ripple emanated, causing a weapon to materialize out of thin air.
It was a rapier that looked exceptionally sharp and keen at a glance.
"Hah!"
Holding the rapier, Asuna lunged forward. Several flashes of sword light pierced out like lightning, striking one ghoul after another in succession.
Squish! Squish! Squish!...
The sound of blades piercing flesh rang out continuously, appearing in quick succession like drumbeats, causing blood to spray.
"Gah!"
"Gah!"
Several ghouls let out shrill wails. The parts of their bodies struck by Asuna's sword didn't just turn into a bloody mess; they also began to emit black smoke, as if being burned by invisible flames. Within a few short seconds, they turned into ash and vanished.
Ghouls were undoubtedly demonic creatures.
Since they were demonic, they were like devils in that they were extremely afraid of holy-attribute attacks.
The rapier Asuna created was a holy sword with only a single attribute—the holy attribute. Even so, she was the natural enemy of demonic creatures; once struck, the opponent would either be severely wounded or die instantly.
"...Is this real combat? The feeling of killing?"
Asuna's hand trembled slightly as she moved through the crowd of ghouls; she seemed to feel a sense of psychological discomfort.
This was her first battle, her first time taking the life of a living creature.
For someone who had never even crushed a bug before, the sensation of taking a life was definitely not a pleasant experience.
In the past, Asuna would have found it very difficult to strike, even if she was being tutored in swordsmanship by the legendary Miyamoto Musashi.
But it was night, and she was no longer human—she was a genuine devil. The instinct of a devil stirring in the night overrode most of her discomfort, allowing Asuna to swing her sword with determination, slaying the ghouls one by one.
Seeing this, Yukino Yukinoshita and Utaha Kasumigaoka looked at each other and simultaneously joined the fray, unwilling to be outdone.
Yukino did not summon the Frost Princess; she simply used her magical power to attack, causing countless ice blades, sabers, spikes, and pillars to manifest out of thin air, shooting into the ghoul pack and piercing their bodies to pieces.
Utaha also expanded the range of her barrier, trapping a large number of ghouls inside, where fire, lightning, and gales manifested, blasting the pack and scattering them in an instant.
The three young women in their prime slaughtered the ghouls in their own ways, actually overwhelming the majority with their minority and unilaterally trampling the ghoul pack.
"Not bad."
Leon, meanwhile, had not intervened from beginning to end. He simply stood there quietly, watching his subordinates stand up and fight the ghouls, his eyes full of smiles.
Clearly, the performance of the girls left Leon very satisfied.
Particularly Asuna Yuuki and Utaha Kasumigaoka—their performance had given Leon a pleasant surprise.