I Hate Systems

Two days had passed since Regriel brought the female Haggon into his harem. As she was close to attaining Transcendence, she was tremendously powerful. So thanks to her, they had an easier time with everything, making her run through the levels while they sat comfortably on her shoulders.

And now, they were running through Level 3, avoiding any Haggons along the way. They had already attacked enough Haggons to eat and replenish their reserves. Once killed, they first ate some of its meat and stored some as reserves while the female Haggon devoured the rest.

This way, she had enough energy to run nonstop without any hiccups.

Soon, Regriel spotted a mountain range before him, saying, "That's the spot we decided to meet up with the Secret Society."

"Let's be careful." Rikune said, "We cannot say with assurance whether they are allies or enemies."

"Let's focus on meeting up with Princess Raecha first." General Artica said, pointing at a spot that was easily scalable in the range, "With Chikon, she would have reached the place by now and is probably in hiding."

"Let's not waste any time then," Regriel said, pointing in the direction as the female Haggon ran. They were unable to communicate. But through their connection, the female Haggon was barely able to understand him.

That was how she followed his orders, carrying them over the mountain range, reaching the peak.

Regriel gazed at the interior of the range that formed a ring in shape. And situated in the centre of the ring was a massive lake. That was their meeting location. Initially, he had thought the place would be vacant.

But now, he noticed a couple of Haggons sleeping at various locations along the edges of the lake, their bodies half immersed in the water. Unwilling to alert them, he motioned for the female Haggon to descend slowly.

He called them a mountain range. But in actuality, it was more like a hill range, as their height barely crossed the limit of what could be called hills. After an hour of steady descent, they managed to reach the interior of the ring formed by the mountain range.

Crunch!

Suddenly, a loud sound resounded through the place, garnering the attention of the group, noticing a couple of Haggons messing around as they seemed to be biting into something hard.

And right at this time, the wind carried over a piece of cloth, causing it to hit the female Haggon. Rikune hurriedly grabbed hold of the cloth, noticing that it was familiar, "Isn't this what Raecha…wore?"

She looked at the piece of cloth, noticing a word written on it with blood. And from the signs, it seemed the blood had only dried recently, causing Rikune to stammer as she had expected the worst, "T-This…!"

Run!

After seeing the word written on it, Regriel slowly turned around, noticing the thing the couple of Haggons were crunching upon.

Chikon!

It was Chikon's head that they were biting into little by little. Despite it being a Darble Puppet, the Haggons were slowly cracking it. After all, even when their teeth shattered from the force exertion, they regenerated.

So, the Haggons played with such a hard object they had obtained. And only now did Regriel notice numerous traces in the place, looking at torn clothes that had once belonged to Princess Raecha and Wakuta.

There were also their belongings scattered about, broken into pieces, causing Regriel to tear up as he was unable to believe just what had happened.

Just as he was moping about the loss of his comrades that he hadn't fathomed, the crunching sounds resounded once again, this time even louder as a Haggon managed to shatter Chikon's head.

It was the action that broke his string as Regriel was angry, rage clouding his mind as he jumped from the female Haggon's shoulder, rolled upon landing on the ground, and charged towards the two Haggons in the distance, "Bastards! I'll kill you!"

"Regriel! Stop!" Rikune said in alarm as she unleashed her energy blade, hitting the rock behind her as she used the rebound to fly towards Regriel, intending to stop him when the Haggon he was charging towards suddenly got up.

Roar!

Its roar was powerful, echoing throughout the vast open space when it threw the severed halves of Chikon's head into the lake, roaring nonstop as if it was taunting something within.

Right in response, another Haggon exited the lake, roaring as it clenched the severed half of Chikon that had hit it in the head.

The two Haggons roared as they clashed with one another immediately, rolling about like two hills as the ground tremored under their wake. They crashed into the water, causing numerous ripples as their roars turned the once peaceful place chaotic.

Suddenly, hundreds of Haggons exited the water, roaring in anger upon having their blissful sleep disturbed.

"This was a sleeping spot for the Haggons?" Rikune shouted, "That blasted Secret Society can't be trusted after all! Let's run!"

The Haggons began to fight each other, attacking everyone and everything in their line of sight. A couple of Haggons noticed the female Haggon carrying General Artica, picking up a boulder beside them before hurling it towards their target.

The female Haggon raised its hands up to guard against the attack, skidding on the ground from the impact when the second boulder hit her, causing her to fall backward. General Artica timely jumped away, surviving the fall without any injuries.

Now that she had been attacked twice, the female Haggon was pissed, immediately charging towards the ones that had attacked her, tearing into the bodies of each other. Soon, it vanished into the crowd of Haggons, its instincts causing it to mow down the weaker Haggons and bite into their flesh.

Due to his raged charge, Regriel had arrived beside the lake and hence, was targeted by around three Haggons. It was hard to defend against the attacks since the Haggons lifted the earth or boulders to throw at their enemies, splash the water on their foes to target their eyes, or straight up rammed into their opponents.

Due to their regeneration, they were unfazed no matter what attacked them, hence the chaos was like a group of hills were colliding with each other, causing the entire place to quake. And struggling about, strutting to and fro among them were Regriel and Rikune, barely holding onto dear life.

Suddenly, Regriel sensed something amiss, screaming at the top of his lungs, wailing, "Where's Artica?"

General Artica had gone missing!

Author's note: December month's mass release quota:

Golden Ticket: 1 bonus chappie for every 12 GT

Magic Castle: 2 extra bonus chappies for every Magic Castle

Spacecraft: 5 extra bonus chappies for every Spacecraft

Read 8 chappies in advance in Privilege