Chapter 48: Return to the cave

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Return to the cave

Stepping out from the mountain, Kirito’s solitary figure trudged through the quiet primeval forest. Normally, during grueling daily training, the challenge placed upon his shoulders was carrying huge, heavy rock slabs akin to a small mountain to forge the limitless physical strength and endurance of a Shinobi. Yet, after the cruel string of days draining every drop of vitality beside the lewd queen Mika, now even bearing two chests filled with solid gold suddenly felt strangely heavy and overwhelming.

Reaching out a hand to wipe away the heavy sweat on his forehead, Kirito’s reflection in the crystal-clear stream revealed a haggard face with dark circles under his eyes, clear evidence of a body whose semen and energy had been drained to absolute exhaustion. Fatigue enveloped every muscle, causing him to constantly frown and mutter: "Damn it... this body has truly reached its tolerance limit, unspeakably exhausted."

The journey back to the cave hidden beneath the subterranean river was by no means short. After hours of arduous travel, he finally arrived at his destination. The first thing Kirito did was drop heavily onto the cold stone mat to rest and recover, casually feeding the scouting eagle a bit of dried meat. Immediately afterward, he swiftly penned a short message to Akai, Mimi, and Haruto, signaling his upcoming return to inspect the management of the children.

When Kirito officially returned to the underwater base, swimming and surfacing from the freezing water of the underground cave, Mimi was already waiting. She bowed respectfully, her even voice ringing out: "You have returned, my lord."

Glancing at Mimi’s attitude, Kirito noticed a distinct change; she now exuded a cold, sharp, and much more mature aura compared to the first days she had awkwardly stepped into this cruel world.

He stepped forward a few paces, assessing her from top to bottom before speaking in a low tone: "Judging by your gaze and demeanor, it seems the recent period has helped you mature quite a bit."

Mimi lowered her head slightly, replying with absolute reverence: "All of these things are thanks to your guidance and strict training bestowed upon us."

Without lingering long, Kirito brushed past her, heading straight toward the central area of the cave and commanding: "Alright, follow me. Report to me what fluctuations have occurred here recently."

Mimi immediately quickened her pace right behind his back. As Kirito stepped down the rugged stone steps leading deep inside, a grand spectacle struck his eyes: all the numerous children living here simultaneously dropped to their knees, bowing down to welcome their master’s return with utmost awe.

Kirito let out a slight hum, his eyes scanning and evaluating:

"Hmm... it seems these kids have been tamed and become much more disciplined than before, quite interesting indeed."

His gaze unconsciously glanced toward the left corner of the cave—where the blood-stained cross he used to punish the rebellious white-haired boy days ago once stood. Now, that solitary cross was gone, replaced by a row of fifteen brand-new crosses, their surfaces still dripping with fresh blood and reeking of death and punishment.

Kirito gave a cold smirk, his fatigue seeming to halve: "Not bad at all. I’m this tired and the kids have proactively resolved everything properly, so that saves me the trouble of cleaning up the mess."

Right at that moment, from the dark corner, Akai and Haruto hurried out, bowing low to the ground and shouting respectfully: "Welcome back safely, my lord."

Kirito waved his hand dismissively, stroking past the two of them and ordering: "All three of you, follow me to my private room to report the situation."

Dropping heavily onto the wooden chair in the inner chamber, Kirito attentively observed the three children. Though the time apart was merely about ten days, their gazes, toughness, and aura had completely transformed, shedding into true combat machines.

"I’ve only left for a mere ten days, why have so many fluctuations occurred?" Kirito broke the silence.

Akai stepped forward, nodding seriously: "Yes, my lord, things were truly very complicated. Right after you left, the situation inside the cave became extremely chaotic due to the children’s psychological instability."

"Along with the mistakes made by the three of us when we split up to act."

"Our continuous bringing in of new people from the outside while things inside were still unstable led to matters going far beyond control."

"But fortunately, thanks to your martial arts and the harsh teachings you imparted exclusively to us, we managed to reverse that perilous situation."

Akai hesitated for a moment before lowering his head further: "However, after that incident, our current headcount has dropped severely, leaving now only 315 individuals who managed to pass the screening round."

Kirito intertwined his ten fingers, resting his chin on the back of his hands, pondering for a moment before calmly pronouncing judgment: "315 people, huh? That quantity is completely stable and elite, no need to blindly increase numbers anymore; quality is the top priority."

Hearing this, Mimi stepped forward, her youthful face clearly showing anxiety and unease:

"My lord... there is another urgent issue we must report to you."

"Due to miscalculations during the recent chaos, our food storage has completely depleted. The kids panicked and ate excessively, devastating everything cleanly without knowing how to save even a bit."

Haruto beside him also hurried to continue, bowing low: "At the same time, the quantity of weapons in the armory has also been worn down and broken."

Feeling the severity of their mistakes, all three children immediately dropped to their knees on the cold stone floor, their bodies trembling with fear of the merciless punishment from their indifferent master.

Kirito let out a very long sigh, his expression showing annoyance but then softening: "Alright, mistakes have happened, but the way you put down the rebellion shows you still possess the capability to handle the consequences well."

"In light of your merits redeeming your faults, I shall grant a lenient punishment as a deterrent."

"Announce to all the kids, starting tomorrow, everyone must enter ’Hell Training Floor 1’ at three times the normal intensity."

"As for the three of you specifically, the punishment will be multiplied tenfold compared to the others!"

Hearing that they didn’t have to face death blades or cruel torture as imagined, Akai, Mimi, and Haruto were overtly overjoyed, bowing in gratitude and shouting: "Yes, my lord! We will strictly obey!"

Kirito stroked his chin, calculating the next tasks: "Alright, Mimi and Haruto stay here to continue guarding, managing, and training the kids strictly. As for Akai, pack your things and follow me outside to purchase and replenish equipment."

With that, Kirito felt his body heavy as lead. Originally, he was extremely exhausted, wanting nothing more than to drop his back for a deep sleep to recover after the period of being drained by Mika, but harsh reality forced him to drag his body out to handle material procurement.

When night fell and darkness enveloped the forest, Kirito and Akai finally finished gathering the necessary quantity of weapons, provisions, and medicine in the underground town. To ensure absolute safety when transporting them down to the underground cave, all goods had to be meticulously sealed inside thick wooden barrels, plugged tightly with beeswax for absolute waterproof protection so not a single drop could leak inside.

After struggling to carry each heavy barrel soaked in freezing water, Kirito finally brought everything deep down into the cave. His body drenched in stream water, cold and sticky, made him extremely uncomfortable.

"The rest, organize and sort them neatly into the armory yourself." Kirito waved his hand, delegating all logistical work to Akai, then dragged his heavy steps back to his private room to seek the salvation of sleep.

The moment he buried his head into the tattered mattress, Kirito’s consciousness quickly sank into the void. The surrounding space suddenly transformed completely into an endless expanse of white, thick fog freezing cold. The familiar forest now turned into a gloomy, desolate, and bizarrely terrifying place, making Kirito’s assassin instincts instantly erupt into high alert.

Right at that moment, from the canopy of withered, rotting dead branches high above, a tall, dark figure shrouded head-to-toe in tattered cloth cloaks slowly appeared.

Kirito’s unconditional reflex was to reach for the weapon at his hip, but as his hand touched his body, he started to realize he was completely naked, without a shred of cloth, no sword, no shuriken...

The cloaked dark figure stood straight, extending bony, slender skeletal hands to grip a cold, sharp scythe slung across its shoulder. As the hood slightly flipped open under the hazy mist, what appeared before Kirito’s eyes was not a human face, but a bare white skull with two deep hollow empty eye sockets glowing with teasing ghostly flames.

This was the terrifying embodiment of the Grim Death!

Panic flashed through his mind, forcing Kirito to step back a few paces, throwing his entire body into an unarmed combat stance to prepare to face death.

Yet, instead of lunging to swing the scythe for his life immediately, Death only slowly raised a bony finger to point straight at the ground right at the tip of Kirito’s toes.

Following that pointing direction, Kirito lowered his gaze to look and widened his eyes. Right beneath his feet, amidst the cold foggy void, appeared the image of an unfamiliar woman diligently and lewdly sucking and licking his member.

That absurd, bizarre scene made Kirito panic to the extreme. He jerked his head up to stare straight at Death with an incredulous expression.

At this moment, Death slowly raised its hand, using its thumb to slice a horizontal line across its neck, signaling death. Having issued the warning, the figure of Death turned into a thick black mist and dissolved completely into the white space.

"Huff...!"

Kirito jolted, snapping awake from his deep sleep, cold sweat pouring down his spine. He panted continuously, looking down at his lower region to find his member actually hardening due to the psychological aftershocks of the bizarre dream.

"Damn it... was that really just a freakin’ dream?"

Kirito reached out to wipe the sweat on his forehead, both terrified and unable to help bursting into sarcastic laughter: "What kind of nightmare is this terrifying and absurd to this degree?"

"Could it be... the meaning of that freakish dream is that Death is directly warning me to moderate sexual intercourse, or else risk dying from exhaustion in bed?"

Thinking of the scenario of the most ridiculous and humiliating death in the history of a Shinobi being death by sexual intercourse.

"Good grief... if that actually happened it would truly be humiliating to death."

"It must be because of working too hard with Mika these past few days, my body severely eroded, so my subconscious generated this dream to force myself to plunge into deep sleep for rapid recovery."

Kirito reassured himself, reaching down to touch his lower region which was gradually shrinking. Yet, ironically, the moment the seductive, lewd image of Mika crossed his mind, the member in his trousers involuntarily reacted, stirring and hardening back up uncontrollably.

Death would probably be furious if it saw this:))

Kirito stretched and let out a huge yawn to chase away the lingering fatigue in his muscles, then leaned back to flop onto the soft mattress, closing his eyes to continue sinking into deep sleep to regain his strength.