Chapter 34: Final Preparations

"This was outside of my expectations. I knew James was up to something but I didn't think he had the power to unite some of the fire harpy villages," I mumble to myself.

"Also the villagers that have united on the enemy side seem stronger than before. Killing some of them was a hassle since my threads just wouldn't cut through their skin so I had to finish them off with [Shadow Magic]," Kumo said.

"Is that all?" I ask while Kumo just gives me a nod.

"Ok so to address that… well I have no idea why they are stronger but it must be related to James's presence… hmmm… I want you guys to gather all of the fire harpies that can fight on our side here. Surprisingly this might lead to a war...," I told the harpies right next to me.

…

The next few hours everybody looked calm but noticed the tension in the air. Some are panicking and some are just genuinely scared. We are already sending the innocent harpies on my side towards my kingdom. The only way the leaders of my kingdom will know that I sent them is that I gave every village one bird that was partly petrified by me using [Forbidden Magic: Medusa].

A fire harpy that was dressed in armor from head to toe notified me that all of the battle capable harpies should be ready by tomorrow.

"Dismissed… *sigh* Kumo let's go to sleep," I suggest after hearing the report.

"I'm getting tired as well," she says while rubbing her eyes a bit.

Walking through the barren village we noticed the starry sky above us. As we got closer to our house we held hands reminiscing of when we first met each other. This moment ended shortly when we arrived at our house.

Walking upstairs we both took off our clothes knowing we only had one set of clothing currently.

Slipping under the covers I hugged Kumo while we both fell into the land of dreams.

[Day 20]

Waking up before the sun even rose I see Kumo making clothes for herself right next to the bed. She was using [Thread Manipulation] to make herself a white and pink dress.

"Good Morning, would you like me to make you some clothes. Your clothes are really dirty you might as well use a new one," Kumo says.

"If it won't trouble you," I respond.

Slowly getting out of bed and stretching a bit, Kumo hands me a frilly black dress and some underwear. Putting them on we both make our way to the table where there is the same food as yesterday. We're both starving since we didn't have dinner last night due to us being exhausted but now that a huge amount of food is in front of us we couldn't hold ourselves back.

During our breakfast, a harpy came into the room with a report.

"We have gathered all of the battle capable fire harpies at the top of the canyon. Forgive my rudeness but I believe we should send them as soon as possible. Soon we will run out of food and resources to sustain them," the fire harpy informs.

"Okay, just leave for now. We'll move out today since James is probably planning something big and I would like to stop him before he does something,"

As the fire harpy leaves we devour the rest of our breakfast and make our way to the top of the canyon. Scattered around are about 500 fire harpies dressed in full leather armor with their weapon of choice.

As we walk towards them their eyes start to shift towards me and Kumo. As we got closer, 12 fire harpies with huge auras walk towards us. Getting ready for a brawl I activate [Commanders Presence].

Feeling the sudden pressure on their bodies they break out into a cold sweat while exchanging glances. Surprisingly they then kneel on one knee in front of me saying,

"We are awaiting your order!"

Oh yeah... I forgot I'm the chief of fire harpies. To be honest, they're nowhere near as strong as the old chief I fought, but if they gang up on me I have a 50:50 chance of winning.

"We're going to attack them right now since the sun hasn't even risen yet. We could have done it tonight but I feel like they will be more prepared in the evening, rather than early in the morning," I said.

Giving the fire harpies time to warm up and wake up me and Kumo had a small sparring session.

Kumo had improved at the use of her new humanoid form. She tried to recreate some punches and kicks I demonstrated before but failed miserably due to her being more efficient with [Thread Manipulation] and [Shadow Magic]. I was able to counter her [Shadow Magic] with mine but the [Thread Manipulation] was a different story. Due to her being extremely smart she was able to set up the threads like how a pro assassin would use them in only a couple of days. I didn't use [Fire of Deaths Sword: Raiu] or [Fire of Deaths Armour: Araes Dress] since it would tense up the warriors that watched. If my maid had such a reaction that she couldn't even look at it, the warriors would at least slightly fear me.

『Status』

[Name: Kumo]

[Race: Moonlight Arachne]

[Status: Servant]

[Level: 14/60]

[HP: 120/120 MP: 65/65 SP: 30/30]

[Strength: 15]

[Defense: 8]

[Magic: 20]

[Speed: 30]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 15]

[Skills: [Acid Secretion] [Shadow Magic] [Slash] [Poison Immunity] [Moonlight Magic] [Thread Manipulation] [Enhanced Regeneration] [Enhanced Senses]

[Body Modification: [Moon Tattoo]

[Titles: [Servant]

…

"Kumo you leveled up a lot from that one recon mission. How much XP did the fire harpies give you because I didn't get a notification? I'm pretty sure there is a certain radius where you can monitor your servant/subordinates' notifications," I said.

Checking my status I realized that I had to do some work in this upcoming battle. It would be embarrassing to be at a lower level than one of my servants. Even though I don't think of Kumo as a servant anymore, she is still technically my servant.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Dark Siren]

[Status: None]

[Servants: 3]

[Subordinates: 6]

[Level: 14/50]

[HP: 100/100 MP: 80/80 SP: 30/30]

[Strength: 15]

[Defense: 10]

[Magic: 25]

[Speed: 15]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 10]

[Skills: [******] [Thunderbolt (2/3)] [Boost (2/5)] [Scratch (3/10)] [Mind Magic] [Shadow Magic (2/10)] [Berserk] [Swipe (2/10)] [Posion Immunity] [Acid Secretion] [Disease Immunity] [Virus] [Commanders Presence] [Army Control] [Fire Magic] [Forbidden Magic: Medusa] [Fire Resistance (3/5)] [Lightning Resistance] [Water Control] [Flying Sense] [Enhanced Senses] [Enhanced Regeneration] [Horse Beetles Extreme Senses] [Liquid Fire Secretion] [Domain of the Night (Locked)] [Demonic Berserker] [Fire of Life] [Body Modification: Boiling Veins]

[Body Modification: [Fangs] [Cursed Eyes] [Aquatic Lungs] [Metal Bones] [Mark of a Berserker]

[Mastered Weapons: [Scythe (Partial)]

[Soul Equipment: [Fire of Deaths Sword: Raiu] [Fire of Deaths Armour: Araes Dress]

[Titles: [Blessed by ********* Spirit of *************] [Savage Assassin] [Heartless] [Blessed by a Star] [Chief of the Fire Harpies]

…

Our little spar had attracted the attention of some fire harpies and after watching us they got pumped and had their little sparring sessions. The sun had started to rise and I knew we had to move quickly. According to the information I heard, the settlement of the opposing fire harpies is approximately 15 minutes away.

Walking towards the direction of the opposing fire harpy village, I looked back at the warriors following behind and realized that they had no formation.

I guess there is no need for a formation when we are just going to jump into the canyon and slaughter everyone that we see… maybe we need a way to tell the difference so there is no friendly fire.

Telling Kumo my plan she released threads from her fingers that worked their way towards the leather armor of our warriors. As we told them to calm down, Kumo wrapped bright purple threads around their leather gear. With this they should be able to tell the difference between an enemy and an ally, of course, this is the same for the opposing side but we have more troops.

…

About 15 minutes later we arrived near the village. There was the occasional light source which was a torch that dimly lit the canyon. Scouting out a bit more I realized that the canyon was slightly wider than mine. This might have been artificial and part of a plan so I focus all of my attention on this battle.

"Kumo you stay with me," I whispered.

Seeing Kumo nod in conformation I signal for the 12 fire harpies from before to lead their people into battle. As the fire harpies jumped down they used the wind to their advantage and slowly floated utilizing the feathers on their arms.

"Shall we get this party started… [Fire of Deaths Sword: Raiu], [Fire of Deaths Armour: Araes Dress]"