Chapter 98: Faith

Several people exchanged glances.

Not one of them showed any pity.

Jacob closed the box.

"Opening a stable gate will require a great deal of it. A few individuals won’t be enough, and we certainly can’t rely on small samples collected in secret."

He turned and walked toward the enormous map covering the wall at the far end of the great hall. The Great Ice Wall stretched across it for thousands of kilometers, and on the other side lay the territories currently controlled by Succubi.

Jacob placed his hand on one location.

"Move our forces to the wall."

Emily immediately asked:

"You want to start a war?"

"No."

Jacob looked at her.

"I want to end the war before the other side even understands what is happening."

He pointed to several cities deep within Succubus territory.

"Contact the Men’s Councils in the nearest regions, especially Silver Moon. Let them know the time has come."

A man standing near the map asked:

"Will the Councils cooperate?"

Jacob sneered.

"Those people hate Succubi even more than we do."

"Then what’s the plan?"

"They’ll destroy them from within."

Jacob’s finger moved across the map.

"Their economy, supplies, Contracts, administrative systems—anything they can interfere with, they should."

Then he pointed toward the Great Ice Wall.

"We attack from the outside."

Emily looked between the two locations and immediately understood.

"Both inside and outside at the same time."

"Correct."

Jacob turned back toward the others.

"Succubi have occupied this world for far too long. They have used lust, reproduction, and their twisted Contracts to defile the order that rightfully belongs to humanity."

He placed one hand over his chest.

"But God Rahapt has shown us another path."

The people below gradually followed his gesture.

Jacob looked at the crystal fragment inside the box and spoke coldly:

"The time has come to return this world to its rightful form."

"For the great God Rahapt."

More than twenty people bowed their heads in unison.

"For God Rahapt!"

Their voices echoed throughout the underground hall.

Above them, the first military convoys had already begun leaving the city, slowly heading toward the Great Ice Wall.

...

Night descended quickly over the valley.

The settlement’s signal transmission system had broken down many years ago. The long-range communication devices they had brought could only connect across relatively short distances because the nearest relay stations had been destroyed by monsters. The construction team estimated that it would take at least two days to restore a basic connection to Silver Moon, so Erik had no idea what was currently happening in the city.

However, compared to the tense atmosphere in Jacob’s city, the new outpost was far livelier.

A broad area in front of the administrative building had been cleared. Broken sections of wall and monster corpses had been dragged aside, while more than ten large fires had been built in the center. Metal pots hung over them, continuously releasing clouds of steam.

Erik stood before a temporary stove assembled from stones. With one hand, he used a pair of tongs to turn the pieces of meat grilling on a metal plate. With the other, he occasionally lifted the lid of the soup pot beside him and stirred it several times.

The aroma of grilled meat and spices quickly spread throughout the area.

At first, Erik had only intended to prepare dinner for his own group. But when he saw the Succubi who had fought all day sharing rations so hard they could have been used as weapons, he ultimately could not bear it.

They already had meat, and vegetables could be taken from the supply warehouse. Cooking a few extra pots would hardly require much effort.

As a result, he was now cooking for nearly a hundred people.

Erik placed another batch of meat on the stove, then suddenly sensed something strange behind him.

He turned around.

More than twenty Succubi were staring at him.

No one said anything. They simply stood there and watched.

Erik frowned.

"What is it?"

One woman immediately flinched.

"N-Nothing."

Even after answering, she continued staring. The woman beside her was no better.

Erik turned back to the stove, but less than ten seconds later, the feeling of being watched returned. He sighed and looked back once more.

The women remained in exactly the same positions.

Erik: "..."

Farther away, two Succubi who had just received bowls of soup were whispering to each other.

"Is he really the one cooking?"

"I’ve been watching from the beginning."

"For us?"

"Mhm."

"He isn’t expecting us to cook for him?"

The other woman looked at her as though she had just asked an incredibly foolish question.

"If he wanted us to cook, then why would he be standing there?"

"...That’s true."

Both of them looked at Erik again.

Their gazes were clearly more intense than before.

Erik heard every word.

With his current physique, his hearing was far more powerful than that of an ordinary person. Unfortunately, hearing their conversation did not make him feel any more comfortable, because the surrounding Succubi truly were watching him with the kind of gazes that sent chills down his spine.

Some contained gratitude. Others held admiration. As for several other kinds of gazes, Erik felt it would be best not to analyze them too closely.

He turned another piece of meat, then unconsciously looked toward the ancient tree on the right side of the clearing.

Meira was lying on a massive branch nearly ten meters above the ground. One hand rested behind her head, her right leg dangled in the air, and her other hand held the meat skewer Erik had given her earlier. She ate with complete ease, occasionally looking down at the Succubi below with obvious amusement, as though watching a show.

Erik immediately knew she was deliberately refusing to help.

"Meira."

She looked down.

"Hmm?"

"Come down here."

"Your little dog is tired."

"You’ve been lying there for more than half an hour."

"Still tired."

Erik: "..."

"Your little dog fought a lot during the day."

Erik looked at the woman who had single-handedly swept through almost the entire battlefield, then at the Succubi waiting in line for food, and finally gave up.

"At least come down and get the meat yourself."

Meira looked at the empty skewer in her hand.

"Can Master bring it up?"

"No."

She immediately pouted.

Erik ignored her.

At the treatment area not far away, Elowen was still working with the other Healers to tend to the final group of wounded. The Wind of Life had helped many people survive the most dangerous stage of their injuries, but it was not a miracle capable of healing every wound instantly. Therefore, she intended to stay until the most severely injured had stabilized.

Erik had just finished ladling out another pot of soup when familiar motes of light began appearing in his field of vision.

Pink and white.

At first, there were only a few, but their numbers rapidly increased. They flew from the Succubi throughout the clearing—from those who were eating, those sitting nearby while their wounds were bandaged, and even the women standing in the distance and watching him.

Erik paused slightly.

Immediately afterward, notifications began appearing one after another.

[Emotional Energy is increasing.]

[A large amount of positive emotion has been detected.]

[Gratitude.]

[Admiration.]

[Desire.]

[Trust.]

[An increase in Faith has been detected.]

Erik still held the ladle in his hand, but his attention had shifted completely to the notification panel.

The Succubi here had just survived a battle in which most of them believed they would die. Then Meira had appeared, Elowen had saved the wounded, and Erik had accompanied both of them all the way to the outpost. He had not left once the danger was over. He had even taken the initiative to help formulate their plans before standing here and cooking dinner for them.

To Erik, none of those things felt particularly special.

But to women who had grown accustomed to men retreating the moment a battlefield became dangerous, everything he had done was entirely different.

An information panel quickly opened.

[Faith: 0.42% → 0.67% → 0.93%...]

The number continued rising.

[1.21%]

[1.48%]

[1.70%]

Only then did it finally stop.

Erik stared at the number for several seconds.

It had increased more than fourfold.

Before he had time to consider it carefully, a sudden warmth spread from the center of his chest and rapidly flowed throughout his body.

[Emotional Energy has reached the required threshold.]

[Level increased.]

[Black Iron Stage 10.]

Erik immediately felt the change.

His muscles did not swell, nor did his appearance undergo any obvious transformation. Yet every muscle fiber, bone, and energy channel within his body seemed to strengthen simultaneously. It felt as though someone already accustomed to the weight of their own body had suddenly discovered they were only half as heavy, while the force they could exert had noticeably increased.

He tightened his grip, causing the metal ladle to emit a faint creak, then immediately relaxed his hand.

Black Iron Stage 10.

He was now another step closer to Bronze.

The System continued displaying information.

[The Incubus Physique effect remains active.]

[Physical enhancement: ×5 based on current foundation.]

[Evaluating total physical strength...]

Erik waited several seconds.

[Compared to an ordinary healthy human male in optimal physical condition, the host’s current effective physical output is approximately fifteen times greater.]

The corner of Erik’s eye twitched.

Fifteen times.

He unconsciously thought of men in Silver Moon like Naron and Nathan, who still needed electric vehicles to move around despite being young. If they were used as the standard, the actual number would probably be even higher.

Erik shook his head.

There’s no point comparing myself to them.

He had seen Jacob.

Even through a distant projection, that man had still been able to wield Fire and Wind at a fairly high level. If Meira had not been there, Erik was not at all certain that he could have withstood him in his current state.

The men living beyond Silver Moon’s safe-zone system were clearly nothing like those who had been pampered by Succubi until they had almost completely lost the ability to fight for themselves.