Harem of Moms and Milkers

"I thought we'd run a shop, but we're still going exploring a rift." Severine pouted.

"Don't worry, we're only here to meet someone and say hi. Besides, there’s no better place to level up. Don’t you want to get stronger than your cousins?" Asdel walked by Severine's and Viola's side.

"Who goes into rifts with only two combatants." Severine mumbled.

Rifts were portals connecting Hekal to fragments of ruined worlds lured by concentrations of soul essence.

There, adventurers found treasures of fallen civilizations or alien survivors, but they were mostly enticed by monsters, as they gave more experience points than any creatures from Hekal. The downside was that soul gems were smaller and earned less than Hekal's creatures.

The Grave of Flesh was an ancient rift featured in the game Asdel had played. Its layout and appearance had nothing to do with graves. Instead, it was a maze slapped with a cathedral-like style. Here and there, shattered chunks of pavement and wall floated under the colorful light of stained glasses, as if this ruined world suffered from glitchy gravity.

"Isn't that place beautiful? Remember the way, since we'll come often in the future." Asdel led his party with confidence, as if he knew the path by heart, though this didn't stop them from encountering roaming monsters.

"Help!" A group of five adventurers emerged from a turn, dragging their gravely injured tanker.

A swarm of bipedal candles chased after them, spewing deadly flames to express their enthusiasm. Doomsday Candles were feisty suicidal abberations that lived to share their 'light', melting people from the inside and turn them into candles. They were considered the staple monsters of this rift as F-rank soldier.

"Look, they are five of them and they're still in danger!" Severine shouted in alarm.

"Viola, I choose you, go!" Asdel hid behind his maid and pointed at the enemy.

"Tsk, I wondered what made a mundane brat walk in a rift so confidently!" Viola smacked Asdel's head.

Her coffin-like box floated forward, shooting a sphere of ice at the ground behind the fleeing adventurers.

A sheet of ice expanded from the impact zone, turning the terrain into a skating ground. The doomsday candles slipped helplessly as they stubbornly chased their new adventurer 'friends'.

"Severine, go collect your experience points." Asdel only knew how to hide women, not daring to take any risk.

Severine swung her short sword, tearing the candles apart with an exalted mixture of Heroslayer style and Asdel's light weapon mastery.

"Wow! I can deal with them alone!" Severine grinned. This would have been completely different if she fought with her halberd techniques.

"Dude, look at her! She's younger but she's doing so much better than you." The fleeing rogue turned around to shoot both arrows at candles and unsolicited criticism at his teammate.

Viola held back the enemies with freezing and slowing spells, so that Severine could test her new powers.

It took a while to finish the candles, as Heroslayer only had single-target moves. But each time Severine's sword shone with exalted aura, the enemy would fall in a single stroke.

Asdel clenched the strap of his bag with a mix of joy and frustration. ’Fuck, she’s more talented than Asdel.’

He referred to himself in the third person, putting distance between himself and his current reincarnation. This gap reminded him that talents and skills didn’t belong to him but were given by chance, or at least that was what he experienced since Dann from Earth and Asdel from Hekal had different potentials.

His slime pet rushed at the corpses and looted all the soul gems in a flash. It jumped back into his bag with expectant eyes.

“Good job, Amaranth.” He stroked the affectionate pet. “You were missing a huge chunk of flesh when I found you, but look at you now. Nothing can stop you!”

"Are these people the ones we need to meet?" Viola pointed at the adventurers.

"Nope." Asdel approached the group of ragged adventurers. "Are you fleeing from a boss after your warrior got gutted?"

"What is a kid doing here… Forget it, we're thankful to your group for saving us. We were indeed fleeing after challenging Vicar Cortel." The priest looked at Severine and Viola as he expressed his gratitude.

'What are those noobs doing? They still haven't dealt with the second boss!' Asdel sighed. If Loreley was there, they could take that boss out. But Loreley still didn't reply to his letters.

Asdel fished a 'cure potion' from his bag and handed it to the warrior. "This is a freebie from the 'Lucky Slime shop'. Make sure to visit once it opens."

"Ah… thank you." The party hurried to the exit after the warrior recovered.

Severine poked at Asdel's cheek playfully, displaying a big grin. “What about me? How did I do?”

It was only a few months ago since she could barely threaten a monster with her halberd. At that time, she was a shy, unassuming girl. But her attitude shifted after learning powerful skills, becoming cheerful and optimistic. Ever since the scuffle with her cousins and becoming Asdel’s disciple, the two of them behaved closer than ever.

Asdel felt happy at her progress like a proud dad. He took out a drink from his bag and offered it to Severine. “Good job, you'll master the first move of Heroslayer in no time.”

Severine nodded. “I wonder if a short sword suits me, though.”

“Short sword with ‘Heroslayer’ and ‘Light Weapon Mastery’ is the best single-target damage-dealing build I can give you right now. It makes you stronger than every rank-F adventurer in the kingdom even if you suck, so it’s not a waste to train it until you find a suitable weapon.” Asdel shrugged.

’I’ll run away if she asks me to tutor her any more than this.’ He massaged his neck, tired at the thought of teaching. No matter how cute she acted, teaching her diverted too many resources from his goal.

They spent almost two months training Severine. The tools he had commissioned for alchemy and pharmacy were almost ready.

He coughed. “To be honest, a longsword can be considered as a ‘light weapon’ if your armor is heavy enough. But of course, that will reduce your mobility.”

“Really? Awesome! I feel weird without the heavy weight of the halberd, so a longsword might be better.” Severine happily bounced on her steps.

Asdel led them further in the maze. He stopped at a statue and secured a rope around it. He triggered a pitfall trap on purpose, and climbed down with the rope.

Viola landed elegantly with her telekinesis allowing her to break her fall. She lighted the dark tunnels with a small wisp of magic.

The walls were painted with red handprints smearing blood. The sticky, squishy ground made Severine hug Asdel before her legs gave out

"Hum… Why did it become so creepy?" Severine shuddered.

"There will be a few 'Lost Worshipers' from now on. Make sure to hunt a lot, as their soul gems will be very useful later on. Don't worry, they're not much stronger than doomsday candles." Asdel's words didn't comfort her at all.

'What is there not to worry? You're not the one fighting!' Severine wanted to cry when he sent her fight the weird people with intestines spilling out.

After a short walk, they finally arrived at their destination.

Asdel knocked with kicks. "Open up, we've got wine!"

The door opened, revealing an unfathomably old hag. She was restrained with chains, shackles, and blindfold, yet she still wore a wide toothy grin.