Chapter 301 - Amiphossia Learns New Tricks And The Dryad Queen
[Day 187]
I was suddenly woken up by a tremendous appetite once again, my belly growled like a chaotic beast as it asked for more food. All of the reserves I ate yesterday night to appease my child were already consumed as it asked for more.
Pregnancy is very problematic…
I was a man before, so I can't even get used to this as fast as my wives, due to me already having a certain male mentality, now I have to completely scratch that and begin to get used to this quickly.
My baby couldn't wait for more, making my belly growl even louder, bewildered by the sense of hunger, I woke up and when I was about to open my Item Box for a piece of meat…
"Good morning mommy~!"
Amiphossia appeared right in front of my vision, however, her head was twisted downside, as her silver-white hair fell over and covered most of her face. However, the friendly glint of her scarlet eyes could be clearly seen through.
However, something was wrong…
As I glanced over, expecting her body to be floating while she used her Phantom form, I realized that Amiphossia's head was completely severed, her body was in the ground, resting.
I was able to clearly see the red flesh inside of her neck, alongside her blood vessels, and the fresh blood, which was somehow stopped from coming out by a strange, blueish mist that resembled the tail of a ghost.
A feeling of fear filled my mind as I thought that my daughter had died…
"A-A-Amipphossia!!! D-Did you died?! Are you a ghost now?! Who severed your head?! My daughter…!"
"Uwaaahh! M-Mommy, calm down!" said Amiphossia as her head floated around me. Seeing the head of my dear daughter, completely severed while floating around me was certainly frightening. As if the gore inside of her severed neck wasn't enough, if I were a simple human, I would have died from a heart attack.
"Mommy, it's the powers of Athos! I learned how to turn my flesh into a phantom! This is my newest trick, by transforming my neck into a phantom form, I can detach it from my main body and float around like this~! It's pretty fun!" She said.
"Really? But what if you accidentally go back to a physical form?! You will instantly die! Don't you know how risky this is, young lady?! Go back immediately to your body!" I said I was too worried to be gentle with my daughter, playing around with her life like this was just too much for me.
Amiphossia pouted as she obeyed me, slowly moving towards her body and attaching her head into her body's neck. After several adjustments, flesh, bones, and blood vessels connecting together, she used [Materialization] and was back to normal.
"Relax mommy, I just wanted to surprise you…! You don't need to get all grumpy!" Yelled Amiphossia, being a little bit insolent with me.
"Amiphossia, I'm sorry if I sounded too aggressive… I was just too worried, I'm your mother after all… Please, don't get mad with mommy, it would break my heart. Okay?" I asked the sole thought of my daughter hating me was heartbreaking.
Amiphossia was still pouting, but as she glared around and then rested her glaring on the floor, she said; "Okay… I get it, I guess… Well, it is fine to do this, then?"
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Amiphossia detached her arms, as they began to float around like possessed limbs. It was certainly frightening, but not as much as her severed head.
"Y-Yes, I guess its fine this way…"
"Look, I can even do this!"
Amiphossia covered most of her body with Phantom Transformation and started to generate several limbs like arms, snake tails, and even perfect copies of her head. And then, she used [Materialization] to make them real, she resembled some kind of old Earth's God who had thousands of arms and heads.
The countless heads over Amiphossia's body, talked in unison; "Hehehe, what do you think~?"
"Its… amazing… You mastered this technique so fast… I'm really amazed… I wonder if I could do the same with the Skills I have, I will have to fuse a lot before that, I suppose… What about your party?" I asked.
Amiphossia's countless heads called Geraldine, Seishin, and Sesshomaru from inside her Phantasmal Soul.
"Come outside!"
Flash! Flash! Flash!
Three phantom figures appeared outside of Amiphossia, a charming cat girl, a twelve-armed giant wolf, and a nine-tailed phantom fox.
"Did you call, Lady Amiphossia, nya?"
"Woof!"
"…"
"Show mommy how you learned this same technique!" Said Amiphossia's heads.
"Right… How was it…? Umm… T-There!" Said Geraldine, as her body turned completely into a phantom form and detached all of her limbs completely, her head included, every limb began to float around, as she produced new limbs from where they were, with the sole exception of the head.
"Now I can have hundreds of limbs as well! Nyahaha!" Laughed Geraldine, as her limbs floated around.
The Twelve-Limbed Phantom Wolf, Seishin, did the same, however, he detached more than his limbs, his entire torso was divided into three pieces and flew around, he was also able to grow new tails and even more limbs as if he needed them.
"Woof, woof!" He barked.
The Nine-Tailed Phantom Fox did something similar, but it managed to create a completely new clone, although, at a smaller size, it was even able to generate a new head, unlike the previous two. It seems that this Fox had lived more than them, and had greater control over Phantom Magic.
"Aren't they amazing, mommy? They just need to polish their skills, and they will be able to do as much as I can~! Fufufu" Laughed Amiphossia adorably.
Although her laugh was adorable, her appearance was not, she had so many heads that she resembled a bunch of grapes made out of human-like heads… And her countless limbs and snake tails didn't help. Thankfully, she quickly went back to her original form.
"These days they had learned so much, I'm rather surprised. Perhaps your Skills and Titles increase their talents? Maybe you should form an entire army of Phantasmagoric type monsters and teach them all of these skills" I said. I was actually serious with my proposal, with such powers, Amiphossia could easily form her own phantom army and invade other Kingdoms and Empires by herself, although I would never let her do such a dangerous thing by herself.
"Yeah! I will begin raising more Ghosts, look, got a lot more resting inside of my Soul~"
Suddenly, Amiphossia extended her large Phantasmagoric Soul as countless of small ghosts and phantom beast of all sizes and colors came to form them. There were Fire Ghosts, Ice Ghosts, Poison Ghosts, Kasha, and even some other Yokai. There was even a Shirohebi, a Lamia Yokai. Her appearance resembled Ashura's (Yokai King) concubine… oh wait, it's really her.
Amiphossia made her big family of ghosts greet me, and the Shirohebi, which name was Saki, greeted me with a very serious demeanor.
"It is an honor to meet the Lady's mother once again…"
"Weren't you Ashura's concubine?" I asked her.
"Yes… Indeed, I was… But, since Ashura sama lost most of his jurisdiction over us Yokai, I was able to become independent. I was his concubine, but not willingly. Feeling attracted by the number of delicious ghosts inside of the Lady's dungeon, I encountered her. I felt the necessity to instantly praise and serve her with my life the moment I saw her large and powerful soul… I've never felt as happy to serve someone before, it is truly a bliss" She said.
That strange feeling she had must be Amiphossia's natural charm to ghosts, it seems that some types of Yokai are also affected by this. Although Saki sounds more fanatical.
After I inspected each ghost, Amiphossia called everyone inside of her soul again, and then we had breakfast with my family, I could barely contain my hunger.
Once again, I ate tons of meat, although vegetables were also included, meat was what contained the most calories and energy. Nesiphae and Nixephine had strangely felt responsible for our child and hunted down the entire night for giant monsters and Mini-Bosses for me to eat. There was also a lot of Lesser Chaos Wyvern and Young Calamity Dragons, who had recently spawned in the lower floors.
Their strength compared to Fire Wyverns and Lesser Fire Dragons are greater, more than three times higher, but their meat is filled with delicious Chaos Attribute Magic, which nourishes my physique and psyche the best, our child also seems to prefer these as well.
Afterward, I decided to rest and spend some time with Nephiana at the same time. After eating so much, I felt strange fatigue. Is this related to pregnancy? Ugh, even when I'm so strong and filled with skills and powerful flesh and blood, I still get these, huh?
At the very least I spend some time with the chicks, which were peacefully resting inside of their colorful eggs, which were now as big as one meter each, it seems that they had finally stopped growing, but they won't hatch anytime soon. I even wanted to investigate records of different harpy's subspecies and their egg hatching times, but they would always take a week or so, it was very strange that they took more than that.
Nephiana was very affectionate today, cuddling with me as she embraced me with her large wings and plump thighs. My spirits were also present in here and we're currently playing a board game that the Rin Sisters "invented", which was something similar to a certain game about obtaining the most money from Earth. The Rin Sisters are my split minds, so they possess most of my Earth's memories and knowledge, this way, they can easily replicate most things and offer them as "new" products, thankfully copyright laws aren't in effect in another world.
Nereid was currently in jail, as Smilkas and Kjata gave her smugly smiles. Ocypete seemed to be winning, gathering most of the money. I wanted to join in, but Nephiana's grip was too strong, so I could only spectate as they destroyed Nereid.
After all of the cuddles, I felt a little bit better and decided to take a trip around, I wondered if there was time for some of my wives to have their designed dates with me, but it seems that such things were removed or moved for later due to my current condition.
I went to the Training Grounds and saw the Training Group, made up of the Centaur Twins, Sofelaia, and Sofarpia, alongside Altani, Ismena, Acelina, Nanako, and Kaguya. I instructed them for a bit and gave them harsher training so their ever-adapting bodies could still be pressured and improve. [Superhuman Strength] was still far for the humans and Nanako, but Kaguya and the Centaur Twins were very close to obtain such a priced Skill.
Afterward, I took a peaceful trip around the crops and found the Walking Cactus Empress, who was currently planting Walking Cactuses and taking care of them as cattle. Due to their delicious fruity interior, Walking Cactuses became a delicacy in my Kingdom, and because they can be easily planted and raised in a few days, they are perfect for my ever-growing population.
The Cactus Empress seemed to have developed some more intelligence, but talking was still hard for her, she greeted me with a little bit of fear in her emerald eyes, but I congratulated her for her diligence and gifted her some small accessories, which she priced dearly.
As I advanced through the crops and vast farming area, which now extended for several kilometers inside the Grand Forest, I found Lilith's family, which was diligently working. Lilith's father had currently max leveled his Skill [Farming Grace], which ended up evolving and becoming [Farming Blessing].
Some of the other Villagers also evolved their Skills and suddenly awakened some of the [Farming Hero] Bloodline, learning new and interesting Farming Skills, like [Plant Taming], [Instant Sprout] and so on. Classes like [Farmer Grandmaster] and [Farming Shrine Maiden] were also common now. I congratulated the people and gifted them Magic Items that I crafted which were able to instantly cast the Skill [Spiritual Oracle's Purification of Nature and Earth], so they could make their farming work even easier by blessing the earth and plants several times.
I also encountered a big group of Dryads working together with the Villagers, and the Dryad Queen was also with them, I was finally able to meet her since I was a butterfly, and she immediately recognized me, even after evolving many times since then.
"Y-You…! I-I mean… Your majesty~!"
She probably still remembers how rude she was back then, and she even manipulated me to make an alliance with her and protect her, without her and her family doing nothing to help us out, sitting idly while we fought countless of armies.
Nonetheless, I learned from back then, and I decided to forgive her for now, she was working diligently now, even at her status as a Queen, she lowered herself to help the mortal Villagers, and seemed to be loved by them, is this her Charming Skills or just her personality is unknown to me…
"Ah, I see you're working without rest, Elysia," I said.
"My lady��! Is an honor to be work in such wonderful fields! E-Even before we were here, these fields had been blessed by our majesty herself… Our pitiful blessings are nothing compared to the Empress… abilities…" She said, with a rather frightened voice. Does she fear me? I suppose, after knowing that I triumphed against anything that tried to kill me and perhaps after knowing that I've even eaten spirits, she's probably scared that I would try to eat her to gain some ability.
"Don't worry, Elysia, I don't plan to eat you. My citizens are my citizens, not food" I said, reassuring her insecurities. Although this sounded sudden for most of the Dryads around, Elysia seemed incredibly relieved, she even sighed, loudly.
"Sigh… W-What a relief… Ahem…! T-Thanks for considering us idlers as one of your citizens… I-Its truly an honor~! We will keep working diligently, so our majesty shall never consider eating us" She said, she still was quite fearful, and this fear drives her to work harder to be useful. More useful alive than as a Skill, that is.
What she does not know is that I can summon an endless number of Lesser Dryads, so I've eaten my fill back then. I don't need to eat more at all, and even if I were to eat her, the possibilities of obtaining a Skill are incredibly close to zero.
"Well said~ My Empire rewards the hard workers! Perhaps we could even increase your payment? We'll see, for now, work hard~!"
"Y-Yes, your majesty…" She said, as I slowly walked back to my castle.
I spent the rest of the day with Zehe, Rimuru, Aarae Vudia, and Ailine, training my magic manipulation. Afterward, dinner came and I ate to my heart's content, and well, that of the baby as well.
Nesiphae and Nixephine cuddle around me this night, using their long and great arms to hug me and give me and the baby their warmness, it was very comforting…
[The Levels of the [Charming Empress of Lust Insatiable Appetite: Countless Gluttonous Fangs and Tentacles of Obliteration; Level 6], [Demonic Overpowering Mana Authority: Creation, Manipulation and Usage; Level 6], [Extra MP; Level 3] and [Geomancy; Level 4] have increased!]
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