Liya saw a brave head pop up in the crowd and immediately looked like she was about to cry.
It’s over! My magic crystal!
Even though she hunted it with great difficulty, who would ever give a magic crystal to a pet? Besides, she was a Pupu, famous for being a useless snack.
No normal person would feed a magic crystal to a Pupu…
She only blamed herself for not being patient enough.
After finally luring in prey with her soft, fragrant body, she acted too soon, got discovered by the Doom Victims, and ended up surrounded by them.
[Forget it, I’ll just treat it as paying rent to the Hero, wuwuwuwu.]
Liya shrank into the Hero’s palm, drooping her head as she listened to the Hero talk with those around them, so sad she was about to melt into Pup-cream.
“Sir, please don’t blame us. My child is too hungry… Please, if you can’t use this snake meat, could you share it with us?”
A one-eyed man with only half an arm stepped forward, summoning his courage to plead with Jon.
Jon saw a trace of a soldier’s aura in him, long since worn away by time, and realized he was a retired Old Soldier.
His mood suddenly grew heavy.
After a long silence, he nodded softly.
With his permission, the people around surged forward, and a riot was about to break out.
Afraid the magic crystal would get lost in the chaos, Liya jumped out of the Hero’s palm and stomped on the snake’s head, silently cursing—anyone who approached would get sprayed in the face with water.
No one dared to act roughly toward Liya, so the situation stalled.
Jon, however, saw what was going on.
“You want the magic crystal?”
Jon pointed three inches behind the snake’s head.
Seeing that the dog Hero pointed to the right spot, Liya hurriedly “gugugu”-ed over, her pink, plump body wrapping around his wrist, begging pitifully.
Jon pressed down on the snake’s head, as big as a papaya, and with a push and a twist, the skull Liya couldn’t crack open was broken apart.
Then Jon dug out a rice-grain-sized, earth-yellow crystal embedded in the skull, wiped it clean, and handed it to Liya.
Liya was overjoyed.
She hadn’t expected that even after the magic crystal passed through the Hero’s hands, it would still be returned to her! As expected, Heroes had their merits—though he was dumb, he was generous!
“Here, it’s yours, Lili. Although I don’t believe you killed this snake, since everyone says so, it’s your trophy.”
Jon gently scratched Liya’s little head with his thumb.
But Liya didn’t leave after getting the magic crystal.
Instead, she ran to the second segment of the snake’s body and started jumping up and down.
Jon was starting to get used to this way of communicating, so he drew his short dagger from his waist and slit open the snake’s belly.
“Puji!”
A black Rock Pupu immediately jumped out—it was Liya’s first fierce general under her command, the Two-star Rock Pupu.
“So it was a group battle after all.”
Jon couldn’t help but laugh and cry.
He was about to put down the snake’s corpse when he saw Liya run to the third segment, still bouncing.
“……”
Jon simply sliced all the way down.
In an instant, “gugi” after “gugi” echoed out as more than thirty Rock Pupus jumped out of the snake’s belly.
“So you guys stuffed it to death, huh?”
Jon burst out laughing.
The scene was just too absurd.
He’d thought it was a blood-boiling story of the weak overcoming the strong, but it turned out to be a greedy snake meeting a buffet, overeating, and dying from being stuffed.
Still, Jon knew this idea was a little crazy.
Even if a Rockscale Snake was sluggish, it was a living creature.
How could it die from being overfed?
But aside from this ridiculous cause of death, Jon couldn’t think of any other explanation.
In the end, after dividing up the snake meat, he scratched Liya’s head for a long time like petting a cat.
Only then did he recover his badly beaten spirits and, full of energy, continued to work.
Jon, however, had no idea.
At that moment, Liya held the first magic crystal she’d ever earned through hardship, looked at the nearly untouched Pupu Army behind her, and, hands trembling, suddenly had a bold thought.
Grow bigger, become stronger! Create even greater glory!
Become the number one in Pupu-dom! Today!
—
The long night dragged on.
Listening to the endless rain outside, Jon racked his brains all night but couldn’t figure out how to help the Doom Victims survive this difficult time.
For the short term, he still had some magic crystals taken from the Demon King Ria’s secret vault, and some spoils from the battlefield.
If exchanged for money, they could last for a while.
But these savings were just a drop in the bucket, and the army would soon be returning in triumph.
Before leaving, he had to find a ray of hope for the Doom Victims.
Otherwise, the evil, violence, and chaos born from despair alone would be enough to turn this place into hell on earth.
…But that’s easier said than done.
On this endless night, where could such precious hope be found?
Jon suddenly realized that killing the Demon King had been the easiest thing in the world.
“Brother Jon, Brother Jon!”
Suddenly someone called him from outside the camp.
“What is it?”
Jon replied in confusion.
But the person outside said, “…It’s hard to describe. Please come out and see for yourself. Your Pupu has returned.”
At first, Jon didn’t care, just following the voice out of the tent.
But the next moment, he was stunned by the scene before him.
Several Rockscale Snake corpses were piled up in the training ground.
Though the night was deep, the hungry people who heard the news had already filled the empty field.
His pet, “Lili”, stood in the center, head held high, chest out, not the least bit afraid of the surrounding gazes, as if saying to her master, “Hurry up and praise me!”
Jon stood dazed for a long time before snapping out of his shock.
He even started doubting reality.
So many? All stuffed to death? How was that possible?
Under “Lili’s” eager gaze, he did as before, splitting open the snakes and retrieving the magic crystals.
Dozens of Rock Pupus leapt from every snake belly—besides being stuffed to death, what other explanation was there?
Jon couldn’t even find external injuries on the snakes, and to be honest, Rockscale Snakes were famous for their tough bodies—no Pupu could cause external wounds.
[How on earth did they do it?]
A wave of confusion flooded Jon’s heart.
He decided to observe carefully.
—
At dawn, Liya didn’t go out hunting again.
Instead, she took five rice-sized First-rank Magic Crystals and returned to the Hero’s tent.
This magic was enough for her to “Advance”.
As the weakest magical beast, the world had almost never seen a Pink Pupu above Zero-rank, and no one knew what abilities high-rank Pink Pupus had—not even Liya herself.
At this moment, Liya felt both nervous and excited inside.
She didn’t know that the Hero was hiding in the darkness, secretly observing her every move.
Of course, even if she knew, she wouldn’t care.
Magical beasts liking magic crystals was natural.
Absorbing magic to evolve was an instinct.
If she didn’t evolve now, that would be more suspicious.
Liya inserted the magic crystal into her body.
As it melted, it gradually merged with her magic storage, and in an instant, pure magic flooded through her.
Unlike the burning, weird pain of the Hero’s magic, this time she just felt warm and comfortable all over.
Then thirst hit her.
She staggered over to the water bowl Jon had prepared and drank deeply.
With each “gudugu” gulp, Liya’s body began to expand.
One ring… two rings… three rings…
Before long, Liya, once palm-sized, had grown to the length of the Hero’s entire forearm.
Her details and texture became more vivid, and under special lighting and angles, Jon almost thought she had turned into a “real” person.
“Ah… Ah…”
Perhaps the details were rich enough to simulate vocal organs.
By the water bowl, the “young girl” let out two soft cries, as if learning to speak.