NOVEL SIMPLE Volume 1 – Chapter 9
Everything turned blue as the teleportation chant completed. My whole body felt numb, as if it wasn’t there. I couldn’t see Elissa, or anyone else, just a hazy emptiness that stretched on forever before me. Then I felt myself being pulled upwards and then sideways. Then it stopped. Sensation was returning to my body. The haze disappeared instantly to reveal we were no longer at Wealdthurst.
Before me stood the cat girl maid, Ao, and the three guild girls. We were in some kind of large ornate hall. Its columns were glowing with a soft white light, illuminating the large space evenly. The ceiling was high. It reminded me of a stereotypical king’s chambers in anime. In fact, we were standing on some sort of stepped stage, where you would place a throne.
I could tell Elissa was excited by the experience, but she waited patiently for our cat girl guide to speak, in contrast to her tantrum moments ago.
There was one more person in the hall, bowing on one knee, in the exact spot where one would be received by the king. It was another cat girl!
She had light brown hair and brown eyes, and cat ears, of course. She was dressed differently, though. Still in a maid outfit, but its colours were more traditional. Not the completely black version of our visitor turned guide. She was wearing white tights.
I was tempted to use Locate to look at the tights in more… ahem… to look out for any signs of danger, and find out where we were. Maybe it was foolish, but my gaming tendencies got the better of me, so I didn’t do it. Using Locate felt like spoiling whatever was in store. Plus, I didn’t sense any ill intent from either of the maids.
Our black-clad guide nodded and spoke.
“Before you stand Her Lordship, the new Demon Lord Elissa, and these here are her guests-meow!”
The other cat girl responded as if on cue.
“It is a great honour to receive you and your guests, Your Lordship. I welcome you to the Great Island of Rozpacz.”
An island? Interesting. Something was missing, though. I couldn’t quite put my finger, or rather, tentacle, on it.
“I thank you for your welcome. I believe we have matters to attend to with the Demon Lord Council, would you please guide us to them?” Elissa spoke.
She was being formal in her language. She can really switch modes quickly.
“Your Lordship, you have my apologies. The Council will not convene for another day. May I suggest that you spend that time exploring the island at your leisure, and resting at the Demon Lord Estates?”
That’s right, we still had some time before we needed to leave.
“Very well,” Elissa said, still giving off that faux noble vibe. It had a certain appeal to it. The way she appeared dressed in the skintight transparent black latex, revealing all the curves of her body, with her smaller stature, plus the proud, polite way in which she spoke, was kind of hot. It suited her.
Elissa seemed to perk up for a moment and continued.
“Not all in our party are guests, however, these three are prisoners.” Elissa said with a smug look on her face as she pointed at the guild girls. The guild girls, who were huddled together holding each other’s hands, flinched.
“I see, Your Lordship, would you prefer they be taken to the island dungeon or be confined to the guest rooms at the Estates?”
The guild girls looked at Elissa as if they were pleading for their lives.
“The dungeon sounds fu– adequate, but I will have them confined at the Estates, until such time I have need of them. I take it they will be kept in good condition?”
“Yes, of course, Your Lordship.”
Then it hit me. Where is the “meow!”? The brown-haired cat girl didn’t make a single meowing sound for the whole time. Doesn’t every cat girl make that cute sound? Is ours different somehow? The gacha player in me was getting riled up about the possibility of a rare drop!
“If Your Lordship would allow me, then. Your servant Tomiko shall guide you to the island’s grounds while I escort your prisoners,” the brown-haired cat girl said.
Tomiko! Our cat girl’s name was Tomiko. I didn’t understand why she didn’t introduce her name at first, but there may be some kind of demon lord-servant etiquette I’m not aware of at play here.
The brown-haired cat girl stood up and ushered the guild girls away.
It must have been an interesting day for them. One moment working at the guild, then the next moment they find themselves on a mysterious island, prisoners of a Demon Lord. All in all, you could say they got off pretty lucky given what was probably happening in Wealdthurst right now.
And on that note, I’m certainly not going to let Elissa release Abyssal Worms on an island where we are guests, and piss off a bunch of powerful Demon Lords. She’ll have to wait to have her fun.
“Now if Her Lordship would please follow me, please,” Tomiko, our cat girl maid, said.
Elissa and Ao followed her down the steps, toward a door at the end of the hall. It opened by itself as we approached.
As we stepped outside, we found ourselves bathed in the orange light of the setting sun. I guess we really did teleport off somewhere else, because it was no longer the dead of the night, as it was in Wealdthurst.
What stood before us was the so-called Island of Rozpacz. We were on a large wooded hilltop overlooking a vast green plain. A forest was nearby. There were two roads leading up to a gate that also led into the hills. In the distance stood two castles, some distance apart. One was bone white, of gothic-type architecture. The other was made of a strange material, almost like glass or a gemstone. It cast beams of light around it from the setting rays. Both castles were huge and imposing.
Looking north, there were rolling hills everywhere, with various buildings scattered atop the hills. These buildings were designed in something resembling the Ancient Roman style of architecture.
There were rivers and creeks too. Overall, the island had the vibe of photos of Mediterranean landscapes I’ve seen in my previous life. It was only a passing similarity, though.
The terrain looked varied, like it was a patchwork of different fantasy vistas. A forest with incredibly tall trees stretched out in one direction, and what looked like a lake in another. It was as if someone had designed this as their perfect retirement island.
The air was peaceful. A warm, gentle breeze was caressing Elissa’s skin, and all manner of wildlife I’ve never seen before was roaming and foraging peacefully. The plant-life looked familiar but also alien somehow.
“It’s magical,” Elissa whispered.
“A place befitting one of such status as Yours, my Mistress!” Ao added.
Perhaps one day we would have somewhere like here to call home. We picked a good time to come here, I must add. The sunset made everything look even more enchanted.
And the ocean view must have also been spectacular. I couldn’t see it though.
The rolling hills receded in one direction, but beyond them all I could see was the horizon and no sea.
Oh well, time to spoil myself.
Locate!
I shifted my view toward where the hills got smaller and…
There is no ocean!
There’s nothing… nothing at all. Except clouds!!
Where are we?!
Elissa must have sensed my surprise, because she said the same thing, but out loud.
“The Floating Island of Rozpacz, of course-meow!” answered Tomiko, a glimmer in her ruby-purple eyes.
What?! No one mentioned the “floating” part until now!!
—
Elissa ventured to explore the floating island with Ao and Tomiko. As we were strolling towards the edge to get a better look, I decided to take a look at my status. I didn’t have time to inspect my stats properly when Tomiko teleported in out of nowhere.
Status!
[STATUS]
Level: 200
Title: Abyssal Lord
HP: 999,999,970/999,999,970
MP: 450,000,001/450,000,001
EXP: 1,000,000,000,000
STR: ?
DEX: ?
CON: ?
INT: ?
AGI: ?
CHA: ?
LUK: ?
Skills:
Locate
Cleanse
Couture
Conceal Aura
Reveal Aura
Death==Evolution (passive)
???
[…]
Title skills:
(Abyssal)Command
(Domain)Create
(Eye)Corrupt
(Re)Construct
(Re)Coalesce (passive)
(Mind)Communicate
Alignment: Abyssal True Evil
Contract: Elissa (Demon Lord)
Subcontracts: Ao (Mimic)
There was a lot of new stuff to take in.
First, I was still level 200, which was the level cap. Apparently, the cap was removed just before we left Wealdthurst, so I would have expected my level to go up a bit as the battle in the city continued. Maybe we had to be in the area to receive the experience points? I was feeling keen to raise my level above 200 just to confirm things, but that would have to wait.
Second, I had a new section on the status screen, named “Title”. Apparently my title was “Abyssal Lord”. Wasn’t it supposed to be “Demon Lord”? Did something glitch out? I remember Elissa telling me she received a status message saying she received the title of Demon Lord. I didn’t remember anything like it. I decided to ask Elissa about it. But that would have to wait until she next ran off to look at something by herself, for privacy.
And right, Ao said that it should be impossible for an Abyssal Being to become a Demon Lord… so I guess I was now an Abyssal Lord?
I had no answers and my other stats to distract me from the issue. Simply put, it looked like I was freakishly strong now! It was hard to get a good idea of how Elissa and I compared to others, but surely, all those digits in my HP and MP sections weren’t just for show!
I remembered how fast Elissa moved, and how time slowed down when Tomiko showed up. I was itching to test out my power, but again, blowing stuff up at our host’s island probably wasn’t polite, to say the least.
All things said, I was certain that Gruen wouldn’t have stood a chance against us if we had these stats when we ran into him, though.
Yes, this was a relief, but I didn’t want to let my guard down around any other heroes. Now that we broke the level cap, Elissa and I would train to gain even more levels. After all, if Demon Lords could level up beyond 200, that meant whoever we were going to meet at the council would likely be stronger than us.
Next were my other stats. The same bunch of question marks I see. Was this because I was still considered an inanimate object by this world? I felt objectified! Status, stop objectifying me!
[NOTICE: Stop skill unlocked.]
Everything froze. Elissa was perfectly still as she was looking over the edge of a barrier at the boundary of the island. The green-covered mountains peeking through the clouds were now grey. Everything was grey.
What happened?
Elissa is that you?
Is that you, Hero?
That’s right! Can you move?
I can’t!
Neither can I!
Wait, how can I still hear you?
It’s like your voice is in my head, Hero, but I don’t know whether it’s me or you talking.
Hero here.
Elissa here, is this a new skill?
It must be! We can’t move and time seems frozen, but we can talk with each other! Hero, over and out.
Don’t go, Hero! Don’t leave me alone like this!
Wait, no. I didn’t mean that, it’s just an expression.
Ok, you scared me. How do we get out of here?
Well, if stop made everything stop then start…
Everything went back to normal in an instant.
Elissa patted her body and waved her hands around. Then she poked me.
Ouch! I’m sorry! I better be careful with my internal monologues.
Even so, this skill could come in handy. It seemed it was a lot like a game pause button. I could stop the action, think about things and then resume. I’m just glad the way to get out of it was obvious. Though the idea of spending time in private with just Elissa was kind of nice. It was just hard to tell me from her apart.
I observed Elissa smelling some flowers and chasing some glow bugs for a while. She could be really cute sometimes.
There was one last section of my status that I wanted to check out, though. Status!
The same status page appeared, except now I had one more skill listed: Stop.
But that’s not what I was interested in. It was the new “Title skills” section.
[…]
Title skills:
(Abyssal)Command
(Domain)Create
(Eye)Corrupt
(Re)Construct
(Re)Coalesce (passive)
(Mind)Communicate
[…]
The skills weren’t just text; they had little icons in brackets. Somehow, I knew what they meant just by looking at them. Also, all the skills started with the letter ‘C’. Was that just a coincidence?
Hold on. Unlike the other skills, these skills showed descriptions when I would focus on them.
Let’s start with the first one.
(Abyssal)Command: Command an abyssal being, no level limit on target. Target will prioritise commands from the abyssal being of the highest level.
Interesting! Finally, a skill that does something outside of my or Elissa’s body. I chose to test it out on Ao. He was the closest Abyssal Being in the local vicinity.
(Abyssal)Command - Ao - Jump!
Ao pushed his spidery legs together and jumped about 3 metres high into the air.
“Master! I’m so glad you asked! It pleases me to end that you wanted to see a demonstration of my athletic prowess, oh Glorious Tentacly One!!” he said as he landed.
Tomiko looked a bit confused for a second, but then quickly brushed it off. That’s a maid to a Demon Lord for you, just takes things for what they are! Elissa seemed unperturbed altogether.
The fact the skill specifically said that it didn’t have a level limit on the target sounded pretty useful. But were we going to run into an Abyssal Being with a higher level than me? If we did, this might save us from potential… misunderstandings.
I went back to the status screen and something immediately struck me.
MP: 449,997,303/450,000,001
My MP went down! I was no longer a mana virgin! Finally, a skill that uses magic!
A thought came to mind. Maybe my other skills were all ‘physical’ skills that didn’t use magic. And skills that act outside the body or call on some other power were ‘MP-using’ skills. It was an excellent theory, if I say so myself, so I’ll try to keep it in mind as I experiment.
A side effect, though, was that MP was a limited resource like health, so I couldn’t use it without restriction. I also wondered whether a stronger Abyssal Being would require more mana to command. Another thing to keep in mind. But for now…
(Domain)Create: Creates a living abyssal dwelling made of flesh. Size and appearance depend on how much MP the user sacrifices.
Ok, I’m loving these new skills. I’m not so sure about the flesh part, but building a home for Elissa and me is something I always planned to do. We’d just have to find a nice, quiet piece of land somewhere.
(Eye)Corrupt: Corrupts any being below user’s level into an abyssal creature.
…
Is it just me or is this skill OP? Especially when combined with the preceding skill? Does this mean I could convert Tomiko into an Abyssal Being? Would she grow tentacles? Would she do anything I command her to…
“I’m getting sleepy!” Elissa said out of nowhere as she pouted.
“Of course, Your Lordship, we have prepared sleeping quarters for your stay on the island. Would you like to retire to replenish your health and mana-meow?”
Why was Elissa getting sleepy? Her body was made up 80% of my flesh so she shouldn’t need to sleep all that often. Also, I was pretty sure her HP and MP were fine. Maybe because I left her brain untouched, she still needed to rest?
But something just occurred to me. I don’t sleep!! How am I supposed to recharge my HP and MP? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?! Did I only “heal” once when I evolved after our battle with Gruen? Yes, I did!
I was now feeling like a single use item. A pair of tights to be worn, used, and after getting a bunch of runs and holes, getting thrown away with the trash…
We headed towards the Demon Lord Estates as I sulked. A cluster of grand buildings in the distance was made in the same Ancient Romanesque style as the other buildings.
I still had more skills to investigate, so I continued despite my overwhelmingly looming depression.
(Re)Construct: Regenerates the user’s body and HP at the cost of MP.
Seemed straightforward enough, but something of a disappointment after seeing how good the other skills were. But good to know I can heal myself with my MP, seeing as I can’t fucking sleep! So, I can’t sleep and recharge my HP and MP. An Abyssal Lord, what a joke, more like an Abyssal Loser. Anyway… only two more skills left…
(Re)Coalesce (passive): Passively recharges the user’s MP over time. Amount regained depends on the user’s level.
…
I’M AN ABYSSAL GOD, BABY!!
I checked my MP, and sure enough, it had already gone back to full. I could always heal myself and wait for my MP to refill. I was getting worried and down for nothing!
Now in the best mood of my life, or lives, I focused on the final “title” skill.
(Mind)Communicate: Telepathically communicate with servant beings.
I tried it on Tomiko.
(Mind)Communicate - Tomiko
Hello?
…
No response. She didn’t even twitch.
I guess she’s either just a servant by name, or she’s Elissa’s servant instead. Though the world’s system seems to treat us as one being, so it might be the former. Perhaps we will have to make a contract, like I did with Ao. Speaking of which,
(Mind)Communicate - Ao
Hello?
…
“I have been blessed by the Seven Hells themselves!! I have finally reached nirvana, a greater state of being!! Inspiration made manifest! My body needs no more food, sleep or air!! I can hear the voice of the Glorious Abyssal One in the ether itself!!” Ao screamed in ecstasy as he was rolling around on the ground, back and forth like a dough pin.
… It worked, I suppose.
Everything froze and went grey.
Hero, what’s going on? I could feel you getting real sad and then real happy suddenly, and now Ao is acting all strange.
Elissa, I’m sorry to have worried you. It’s just that I was testing my new skills.
New skills?
That’s right. Didn’t you also get them when you became a Demon Lord? And just confirming, your title is Demon Lord, right? Not Abyssal Lord.
I did. But I only got one new skill. And yes, I have the title of Demon Lord. What’s an Abyssal Lord?
Only one skill?! What is it?
Command.
Does it have a description?
I think so. Let me check.
Alright.
Command: Commands any being below the user’s level. Target will prioritise commands from the Demon Lord of highest level.
That’s different from mine.
Different? How?
For a start, I can command only Abyssal Beings, but they can be of any level.
That’s weird!
I know!
By the way, why are you feeling sleepy?
…
Suddenly, time restarted, and colour returned to the world.
Hey, I thought we were talking. What happened?
I guess Elissa really was getting tired… but I learned something big from our brief “pause-versation”. Our title skills are different. And not just that. I seem to have a bunch of extra skills Elissa doesn’t. Was it because my title was “Abyssal Lord”, not “Demon Lord”? Must be it, since the title skills given must depend on what the title is. Does becoming a Demon Lord only mean you get that one Command skill and your level uncapped?
I had too many questions as we arrived at the Demon Lord Estates. Apparently, the guild girls were being kept somewhere on these grounds.
Tomiko led us to the largest of the mansions. Inside, we were welcomed by another cat girl in a maid outfit. She didn’t wear the pure back outfit like Tomiko, either. Neither did she “meow” when speaking.
The furnishings inside were of an old, antique European style. However, everything looked brand new. Each room had a unique, stylish carpet rug. I could feel the quality through Elissa’s feet.
There were no other guests aside from us. I could only Locate two other cat girl maids in the building. One in the kitchen. I guess it made sense not to have too many staff on hand, given the number of visitors.
“Would you like to have dinner now, Your Lordship-meow?”, Tomiko queried politely.
“No, I’m not hungry. I just want to go to bed,” Elissa replied.
“Very well, Your Lordship-meow,” Tomiko curtsied and called one of the other maids to get two rooms ready.
Ao would get a room to himself. I didn’t realise it at the time, but Ao probably needed to sleep to recharge his HP and MP, like every other living creature in the world. But he stayed up for days playing games with me when I was healing Elissa. He didn’t even say a word. He didn’t complain. He never complained. I would have to get him to be more honest with his needs in the future.
—
The bedroom assigned to us was grand, to say the least. The canopied bed itself was massive, taking up most of the floor space.
“Your Lordship, I shall be at the ready outside your door, so call on me if you have want of anything-meow. If Your Lordship changes her mind and desires a midnight snack–”
Elissa’s eleven ears twitched as she slammed the bedroom door closed.
A muffled “meow” could be heard behind the door.
Elissa beelined right for the bed and pomf!
Wait, we should use Cleanse before you sleep.
“Stupid Hero”
Ok… I guess that’s a “no”.
She wrapped herself in the luxurious sheets and smooshed her face into a pile of soft pillows.
Elissa…
She was fast asleep.
—
I had nothing better to do during the night, so I used Locate to keep watch. All the maids but Tomiko were sleeping in the servant quarters.
I resisted having a peek into the two castles I saw when we arrived on the island. I couldn’t be sure that whoever lived there couldn’t detect my Locate skill snooping around. It would be a bad look, especially if said resident happened to be a Demon Lord who sat on the Demon Lord Council.
Everything, and I mean "everything", so far has happened so quickly. It’s as if it was by design, not by accident. I was really hoping the meeting tomorrow would clear things up. My only source of information about monster matters as such has been Ao. And even he didn’t know of Demon Lords until now. I’m sure Tomiko knew a lot more. I focused Locate on her.
She was sitting perfectly upright and still in a chair right outside the door. Her purple eyes were wide open.
Her left ear shifted slightly.
“Meow…” she quietly meowed.
I tried again to talk to her telepathically, but still without success.
Her black maid’s uniform rested lightly on her lap and ankles. Her Mary Jane style shoes were polished to a shiny black. Around her ankles and whatever little of her calves exposed were tightly wrapped glorious black tights.
She must have put this outfit on hours ago before leaving the island. I could barely see the skin of her legs through the opaque tights. The clinging, folding black fabric around her legs showed off her well-toned thighs.
She was neither short nor tall, but I could tell a lot of her height came from her legs. She had good proportions, like the other cat girls. Her tail was sticking out from the side of the dress. It seemed to curl at the end and it reminded me of a black panther’s. I imagined its movements would be smooth.
What was she thinking right now?
Tomiko raised her arms and stretched.
“Meow..”
She lifted off one foot, moving her knee to the side. It exposed more of the slightly shiny, perfectly even, weave of her black tights. Reaching down with her outstretched hands, she pulled on the heel of one of her shoes.
It slipped off, revealing her foot. It was perfectly contoured by the tights. You could see the oscillating bumps of her toes. And more skin where the tights were stretched at the heel.
She wriggled her toes.
“Meow, my poor feet…”
Tomiko slowly massaged the inside of her foot with her fingers. Her nails were trimmed, so they didn’t catch, but still long and pointed enough to look feminine.
She blushed as a moan of relief cracked out from between her red lips.
After stretching again, she took off her other shoe. After placing both feet on the carpet, she lifted and stretched all her toes as she stared at them.
I didn’t even notice myself, but I had formed a long tentacle out of the latex encasing Elissa’s foot, which was hanging over the edge of the bed.
A black, shiny tentacle slithered under the gap of the door.
“Meo-!”
The tentacle split in two as one stretched over Tomiko’s surprised mouth, and the other wrapped around her left foot.
…
I massaged her foot as I released the tentacle silencing her.
“To think his lordship would be so considerate-meow…”
I felt the fine fabric of the tights stretching and pulling as I rhythmically pressed on the arch of her foot, pushing upwards toward her toes. The tights slipped slightly on her skin, acting as a sort of lubricant.
“So… good… meow…”, Tomiko let out.
That motivated me.
I split the tentacle into many, now also grasping at her other leg and lifting both her feet into the air. The frilled hemline of her maid uniform slipped back to her hips, exposing her long legs and the gusset at her crotch. She was wearing black lacy panties under her tights. They were thin and tight enough to let through a peek at the crease between her legs. Her pubic mound was full and round.
As I gently massaged her soles, I extended the tentacles to her ankles, then her calves, and then under her knees and thighs. I was massaging her legs as I held them spread out, focusing on the pleasure points.
It looked like Tomiko was getting aroused by my ministrations as she stifled her meowy moans. Her arms hanged helplessly on her sides as a string of drool trickled down her chin. She was completely under the spell of my undulating compressions.
Her feet shook as she squirmed in her chair, pushing her them down and pressing her toes into the carpeting. She lifted her hips as she forced her back against the back of the chair.
I quickly checked on Elissa. She was still asleep.
I slid one tentacle up Tomiko’s leg, around the cheek of her butt and over to the front, curving at the warm skin around her belly button.
There it was, the tight waistband digging into her soft but taut waistline.
It felt so hot, even just from my tentacle squeezing lightly as it traced over the edge of the fabric. I pushed harder, forcing the fabric upward, revealing the smooth flesh. Then with a snap of the tights on her skin, I dived the tentacle right down between her legs. She was clean shaven.
I traced right over to her pussy lips and attached my tentacle tendril onto her clit.
Tomiko let out a loud gasp as she sat there frozen, legs spread, hips up.
It was too late for me to stop.
I sent a vibration down the length of the tendril as I continued to massage her legs.
She let out an even louder moan and then a squeal as the vibrating sensation increased until she couldn’t hold back any longer. She brought her hands to her mouth as she climaxed repeatedly. Her back arched off the chair as her hips twitched. It looked like she would have fallen off the side if I hadn’t shifted the chair to steady her.
“Meow…”
Her pussy was dripping wet.
I could hear her laboured breathing through Elissa’s ears. Using Locate I could sense one of the other maids getting up. I pulled the tentacles back and melted them back into place around the latex tightly squeezing Elissa’s toes.
—
There was a gentle knock at the door. Elissa opened her eyes.
“What is it?”, she said.
“Your Lordship, may I enter-meow?” Tomiko’s voice could be heard behind the door.
Elissa pushed her sheets aside as she sat up on the bed. Her tendril hair morphed her bed-hair back to perfection.
“Come in…”
Tomiko entered. Her cheeks ever so flushed. She bowed.
“The Demon Lord Council is ready to receive Her Lordship-meow!”