It wasn’t necessary to say anything, but Poppy was still getting used to her fledgling abilities. Much like apprentice mages would recite incantations to help themselves visualise their spells, Poppy would say ‘Breathe’ and inhale.

  She did not need to breathe. She was a ghost after all, in fact, she could not breathe in the least, so it was but a mere imitation, but it did the job just fine for her.

  The frightened and panicked knight instructors might seem like easy targets, but the blonde knew that she, her blood sisters, and the lesser servants were far less powerful than Mara was. The fear they inflicted wouldn’t last as long, and wasn’t as deeply rooted compared to what their older sister could do.

  This was why they preferred to act as a team. On their own, there wasn’t much that they could do…

  Even then, for them to deal with two knights was not easy. If they kept as is, they would have to sacrifice a lot of lesser servants for a chance to kill the knights. It wouldn't be guaranteed, as there was no telling when the negative emotions plaguing their hearts and minds would either fade away or grow too weak to maintain their hold upon these two men.

  This was where Poppy came into play. She and Elowen were the only ones of the group who were currently capable of dealing harm directly… Annie, Gigi, and Nessa could only do so indirectly by causing accidents.

  However, Elowen wasn’t yet strong enough to beat a genuine knight to death, especially since it wasn’t something that could be done repeatedly. Each of them consumed negative emotions to inflict fear, and such, of which they only had a limited amount before they would have to wait for their stock to replenish.

  But when it came to abilities that had nothing to do with injecting fear or something similar, it was the domain of negative energy instead, of which they had smaller reserves. Despite Elowen theoretically having the means to murder a knight by hitting one enough times in the head, even if the situation were perfect and the knight never dodged or defended himself, she wouldn’t be able to actually kill one in practice.

  The tomboy simply couldn’t hit enough times before running out of juice.

  The five girls had come up with a strategy, however.

  With a motion of her hand, Poppy seemed to draw something from the two knights. She struggled as she had never gotten the opportunity to test herself by targeting more than a single prey at once, but it worked.

  Both instructors gasped soundlessly, one falling to his knees, the other stumbling backwards, each reaching for their own throat instinctively.

  Even though Poppy was the strongest of the group, she couldn’t really kill the knights directly either, but she could ensure that they could never recover their wits by putting them in a situation where they would be forced to panic even harder. Maintaining a cycle of vulnerability to fear.

  And because their big sister was so nice, she had allowed them to siphon some of the negative emotions from their victims when needed. Unfortunately, the girls did not know how to draw in negative energy like their big sister could, so this strategy wasn’t eternal, but all that was needed was for the lesser servants to do their job.

  These translucent phantoms had been tamed properly, so when given a task, they fulfilled it with exemplary commitment and zeal.

  As the knights were vulnerable like newborns, the spectres swooped in to wrench their weapons away, flinging the swords through the air before combining their strength together to pin the knights against the forest’s ground.

  Just as the instructors gasped for air-

  “...Breathe…”

  -She used her ability again. It was a simple but effective trick. One that was best used against a victim stricken by irrational fear… It allowed poppy to pull the air out of people’s lungs and prevent them from taking another breath.

  It did not last for more than a handful of seconds, and the blonde couldn’t use it many times at all, but it was nonetheless very effective. For some reason–At least according to Poppy’s older sister–Even the toughest man, the sort to not show fear in the face of horror… Even that man would experience a rush of pure terror when deprived of the ability to breathe.

  She claimed that, rather than the mind recognising something as dangerous and inciting fear, in the case of suffocation, it was the body itself that became fearful for its own safety. Manifesting fear that was apparently so powerful, so delightful… That it was unlike anything else.

  Mara had been quite delighted to learn about Poppy’s ability, as apparently, simply choking or suffocating someone in a regular manner wasn’t quite enough to invoke the great fear she spoke of.

  Knowing that her power was something her older sister was proud of only filled Poppy with greater focus as she robbed the two knights of the air filling their lungs. In the meantime, Elowen was phased up a tree to recover something hidden within it.

  Music and voice boxes weren’t the only things concealed amongst the trees, in Louwoods. The redhead grabbed hold of a blade that had been conserved following the demise of the ten previous knights who had visited this place alongside a cleric.

  Taking advantage that the knights couldn’t defend themselves, Elowen pulled their helms out of the way just enough to stab them once right through the carotid.

  “...Weaklings…’

  The tomboy flexed her arms as two warm geysers of crimson seeped into the soil.

  “Gigi… Go… Call… Big… Sis…”

  As soon as Poppy finished speaking, the blue demon girl had already phased through the ground. Although they had dealt with the two knights, they couldn’t dispose of evidence like Mara could…

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  ___

  I am so proud of my cute assistants.

  Like cats trying to prove their worth to me, they fetched some food and got rid of pests at the same time! This is simply wonderful.

  Though this reveals a rather worrying problem. These two, who were onto me, have been silenced, but their disappearance will not go unnoticed, and chances are high that many would know that they were in Louwoods at the time…

  In short, my territory is at risk of being invaded by a bunch of knights! My girls can deal with a handful at a time, and I myself can deal with the average knight like they are piles of garbage, but it’s a knight establishment I am dealing with.

  They certainly have plenty of knights, and most probably some that are very strong, the sort that could dice me up like Benait had in the past… I had grown stronger since then, but Benait had been a filthy city guard as well, not exactly the height of status, indicating that he was still relatively a nobody.

  So a genuine knight of actual skill could definitely deal heavy damage to me, and there are likely multiple…

  During my youth, when I had been receiving training to become a knightess, I had learned a lot about establishments since I would have had to eventually join one… Had I not been discriminated against because of my combat tactics. My sparring partner might not have woken up, but he was still breathing!

  I did nothing wrong. If not for this, I definitely would have become a superb knightess, even better than that adventurer swordswoman from last time!

  Aah… This made me want to wield a sword again. Unfortunately, although I could grab things fairly well, my oversized hands meant that weapons intended for human use looked a bit small in my grasp.

  “A–A–Alright, Girlies… I h–a–v–e an idea”

  I knew how to retreat, but it did not mean that I was going to flee MY forest at the slightest problem. I still had the tunnels, I still had my traps, and I still had the entire forest rigged with the boxes I ripped out of my bodies countless times.

  At the slightest push, I could pour a great amount of my stash of negative emotions into them and affect everyone within and around the forest. I knew that I was strong on my own, but I wasn’t an idiot, and I understood that I was far from being untouchable.

  Which was why I had taken precautions when I decided to make Louwoods into my base of operation. The music and voice boxes are hidden in trees, buried underground, or simply amongst the vegetation was only one aspect.

  There were also my beartraps, which I also sourced from my very own body. The number of fields I had created over time was high. I simply hadn’t used them at all because it hadn’t been necessary since Maarkus’s visit.

  Using the fact that my severed body parts could still function and that I could regrow them quickly, I had also set up different kinds of traps over time. They were rather mundane, but a bit of diversity could catch someone off guard.

  The many cabins I had my ‘collaborators’ build served as excellent deathtraps… But more importantly, were the collaborators themselves. They all pissed themselves in fright at the mere thought of me, and whenever I felt that one was starting to forget about fearing me, I would make sure to pay a visit to remind them of who was the boss.

  Being able to monitor their negative emotions was an especially important factor. If I couldn’t know when to keep them in check, I wouldn’t have even thought about working with other people.

  These elders and village chiefs were the ones who spoke for their entire villages. Their brethren trusted them, and people from the outside would seek to converse with them over anyone else.

  So the initial part of my plan was to send my assistants to inform them to lie through their teeth… To tell any knight asking questions about the two instructors, things that would imply that they had not disappeared within Loudwoods at all.

  Some would be told to claim that no one had seen them at all, some would say that they had seen them enter at a certain time, and some would instead claim to have seen them out of the forest a while after that.

  I knew that simply having them say the same story of how the instructors had never even been to Louwoods was likely to backfire. Those two, now dead, knights wouldn’t have just been going around without permission from their establishment, or so I assume.

  What an annoyance… Can’t a girl just practice casting curses, creating ghosts, and focus on unlocking new forms for herself in peace? What did I ever do to deserve to be bothered like this?

  I only killed a few people, maimed some others, gave children nightmares they’ll probably never recover from, desecrated graves, and was partly involved in a few streets collapsing on themselves… It’s basically nothing!

  Dare I say that compared to the average noble, I was even a completely innocent woman?

  Of course, I dare! It is one hundred per cent true!

  I always have my Molten Form and a bunch of stock up steel if push comes to shove…

  If I transform and use all of the steel I have in reserve, just how large will my Molten Form be?

  I do not know everything, even about the form that you have unlocked, but I believe that using your Molten Form to such a drastic extent after only using the basic version that does not consume any steel would be challenging for you to maintain effectively

  I would instead recommend only going for about ten per cent of the current amount of steel owned, and even then, it might prove straining to maintain beyond ten minutes

  You know, Nara, you have the strange habit of saying you don’t know much, and then mentioning very precise things as though they are facts…

  I… I am rounding the numbers up or down! It isn’t completely accurate. How could I claim to know for sure?

  Yes, yes… I know that you don’t like to sound confident about things that might be slightly wrong, even if that chance of wrongness only applies every full moon during an eclipse, but still, your numbers are always close to reality, aren’t they? Be more confident in yourself.

  You are a sapient system with incredible brainpower. No need to sell yourself short.

  Thanks…

  By the way, I didn’t raise it at the time because I felt quite giddy, but since when do I feel a tingling sensation when I fulfil a condition toward unlocking a new form? I didn’t feel it before last time.

  Oh, it is just that much like how the girls can grow stronger as you grow stronger, I too can provide more information and unlock certain things as you advance

  The tingling sensation is due to me passing a certain threshold, allowing me to somewhat link up with you

  To put it simply, the moment the system, I, received the information, so did you

  It is important because I myself am restricted from telling you certain things. Normally, I would only be able to inform you of the fulfilment of a condition a little while later, so that you wouldn’t be able to know for certain what caused it

  But with this tingling sensation, you know yourself already, so we can start discussing it immediately

  Mmh… So it is possible that eventually, I could know more clearly what the conditions even are?

  It will probably remain mysterious, but it should definitely get less cryptic

  Nice.