Fourth Generation, Year 7, Month 1, Day 1, in front of the Adventurer’s Guild in the Human Royal Capital, Glory City.
Aimoer sat leaning against a large crate of goods, fiddling with the gloves she had just received.
These were a pair of top-tier defense gloves she had custom-made using the mission funds Ouluola gave her after meeting her that day.
They were said to have strong resistance to Holy Light and heat.
Senteli had gone with the others from the Church to prepare the transit procedures, leaving Aimoer here to wait.
Bored with nothing to do, Aimoer decided to test the gloves’ effect.
She pinched a large clump of Holy Light between her fingertips and pressed it firmly against the palm of her gloved hand.
It was still a bit hot, but at least it didn’t hurt as much as before.
She couldn’t afford them before, but now with these, she could finally get her hands on that certain little blue-haired girl who liked to cling to her.
“El—”
Just as she was thinking about Senteli, her voice came from beside her.
Aimoer quickly slipped on the other glove, making them look like an ordinary pair of leather gloves to outsiders.
Then, Aimoer stood up and watched Senteli run over to her.
She smiled and said, “All done?”
“Mm, all finished. We can set off now. The Church members already went inside to wait for us.”
“Mm-hmm. Then let’s go.”
Aimoer looked at Senteli’s innocent blue eyes, swallowed, and carefully reached out toward her head.
Senteli glanced up at her hand, then her eyes lit up.
She actively pressed against it and rubbed, letting out a contented smile.
Still warm, but not as scorching as before.
Aimoer rejoiced inwardly, taking the chance to pat her a couple more times.
The feel was amazing—she never had the conditions to enjoy this before.
Back then, even a light brush from Senteli would have made her scream like Tom Cat on the spot.
But Senteli, seeing the delight in Aimoer’s eyes, showed a hint of surprise instead.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing… It’s just… El being so proactive all of a sudden is really rare.”
A hint of dissatisfaction flickered in Senteli’s eyes, making Aimoer scratch her head helplessly.
There was no helping it.
She couldn’t exactly say it was because Senteli was too hot.
“Ah well, I’m just in a good mood today. So, just this once, okay?”
Aimoer shot her a wink, then pulled her hand away and walked toward the Adventurer’s Guild.
“Come on, let’s not keep the Church waiting.”
She waved her hand.
Senteli, walking behind her, followed Aimoer’s hand with her eyes like a cat chasing a ball, then grabbed it precisely.
Caught off guard by the sudden grab, Aimoer instinctively pulled her hand back, which tugged Senteli, who had a firm grip on both of Aimoer’s hands, forward—
Losing her balance, Senteli pitched forward.
Aimoer inwardly cursed and quickly sidestepped, then reached out to catch her.
Once Senteli steadied herself, Aimoer finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Good thing she had the gloves.
Now she could be a gentleman and avoid being vaporized on the spot by Senteli’s touch.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
“El—”
But for some reason, Senteli pouted in her arms, looking far from happy.
“You… you bought new gloves.”
Her eyes locked onto the leather gloves on Aimoer’s hands.
She stood up from Aimoer’s embrace and muttered, “I don’t think this color looks that good… Actually… I can knit gloves too.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“N-nothing. Let’s go. The Church has been waiting for us a long time.”
Senteli finished speaking and hurried off, leaving a puzzled Aimoer scratching her head.
What’s with this girl now?
Aimoer thought about it but couldn’t figure it out.
She raised her hand to look at the gloves and decided to get a full set of protective armor custom-made once she reached the City of Purification.
That way, she’d finally have a chance to get close to this Human Race’s First Nun.
At that thought, Aimoer couldn’t help but chuckle.
She followed Senteli into the Adventurer’s Guild.
After passing through the teleportation array at the Glory City Adventurer’s Guild and completing all sorts of tedious inspection procedures at the transit center outside the City of Purification, Aimoer and the others finally received permission to enter the city.
Stepping out of the transit center, Aimoer stretched, and her tail curled up along with the motion.
A rare moment of peace?
Aimoer looked around.
The woods outside the transit center were gloomy and eerie, giving her an ominous feeling for some reason.
“El, what are you looking at? Time to go!”
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
A succubus’s sixth sense was always the most accurate among all races.
Combined with the crisis awareness honed through the Apocalypse and her past life, Aimoer was ninety percent sure that some threat was approaching.
She craned her neck to look around, then glanced at Senteli walking at the front of the group, surrounded by a large number of elite bodyguards from the Church.
With so many people protecting her, nothing should go wrong, right?
Aimoer silently tightened her gloves and heightened her vigilance, scanning the surroundings.
She brushed a strand of hair aside, and her tail suddenly tensed involuntarily.
A dangerous signal was rapidly approaching.
Aimoer snapped to attention, readying herself for battle.
Then, an arrow flew out from the dense woods, aiming straight for Senteli at the front of the group.
Fortunately, Aimoer had already sensed the danger.
She pushed off the ground and dashed toward Senteli against the wind.
“Holy Shield!”
She deployed a Holy Shield to protect Senteli behind her.
But unexpectedly, the moment the arrow touched the Holy Light, it exploded right before her eyes.
With a thunderous blast, a massive shockwave swept the entire area.
In an instant, the world fell silent again.
For the first time, Aimoer felt death was this close.
Amid the dust and smoke, she coughed heavily.
The ground beneath her had been gouged out by the explosion, nearly sending her and Senteli flying along with the shattered Holy Shield.
She quickly assessed the situation.
The Church guard had been scattered by the blast, and the few remaining seemed unable to fight.
So, the crimson glow in Aimoer’s pupils flared brighter.
Using a succubus’s innate observation skills, she pinpointed the locations of several enemies hidden in the dense woods within moments.
“Protect yourself.”
Aimoer said curtly to Senteli, then drove the Holy Light into several sharp arrows that shot into the woods.
With successive thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground, the grunts that Aimoer had spotted were quickly eliminated one by one.
Then, Aimoer picked up a silver spear from a fallen Church guard and charged into the woods, carefully searching for any stragglers.
She crept up behind them and took them out one by one.
Just a normal ambush?
But Aimoer felt things weren’t that simple.
She stayed on high alert within the woods.
Eerily quiet.
Not a single person left.
Was that really all?
Aimoer analyzed the situation point by point.
Her pupils contracted, and she suddenly turned to look back outside the woods.
“Damn, it’s a Lure the Tiger Out of the Mountain.”