Chapter 59 (Part 1)

〈 Episode 59 〉Quest 9: Kingdom of Insects

Asha, who had been put to sleep by Justitia, opened her eyes again and saw her daughter, Lucia, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Mom, you’re awake?”

“Yeah… were you worried?”

“A little…”

Asha hugged Lucia, who snuggled into her arms.

‘I’m sorry, Zack. If I had been stronger or smarter, you could have lived…’

Even if he would have died there anyway, the fact that her benefactor, who had helped her when everyone else turned away, had died before her eyes left an irreparable wound in Asha’s heart.

‘I never get used to people dying. Mister…’

There were those who tormented her here, but there were also those who helped and encouraged her. Captain, Walter, Eva, Zack… Asha had received so much from them, but she didn’t know what she could give back to them.

“Is all I can do is not forget the help I received?”

Asha couldn’t cry as much as she wanted in front of her worried daughter, so she decided to stop mourning Zack for a while.

“Lucy, have you been doing well?”

“Yeah. I’ve been doing well with my aunt.”

“Aunt… you mean Justitia?”

“She told me to call her that.”

Asha was a little bewildered that the two, who had been awkward with each other until she left, had become close, but she was still glad that Lucia had become close to her.

“I’m glad you’re getting along with Justitia. Can you keep getting along like that?”

“My aunt is nice to me. She made me something delicious yesterday!”

‘She’s never done that for me…’

Asha was happy to see her daughter happy, but on the other hand, she felt a little resentful towards Justitia. But she couldn’t act like a child and nitpick about food.

“It seems like your aunt really likes Lucy.”

“Sometimes it’s annoying when she hugs me too much, but she’s still nice to me.”

“Ugh…”

Asha heard a voice next to her as if someone had been hit by an arrow, but she ignored it.

‘Lucy, my daughter…’

Asha smiled faintly at the warmth she felt in her arms. When she was with Lucia, Asha could forget her worries for a while. That day, Asha rested with Lucia and Justitia.

The next day, Asha talked to Justitia about the quest.

“First of all, let me say that Asha did her best this time. Of course, there might have been better ways, but it would have been difficult to do within the constraints of the quest. So please don’t blame yourself too much.”

Asha nodded at her worried look.

“Because I was lacking… Okay, so what should I do now?”

“What do you think Asha should do?”

Asha was momentarily taken aback when Justitia asked her instead.

“Huh? Uh, well… should I check my status window first?”

[Character Name: Asha]

Strength: 28

Agility: 21

Durability: 27

Stamina: 29

Mana: 21

-Weapon Mastery LV.8, Mana Usage LV.3, Sex LV.8, Hospitality LV.6, Sprint LV.6, Pain Reduction LV.5, Stat Enhancement LV.7, Stealth LV.2, First Aid LV.3, Trade LV.4, Search LV.5, Seedbed Constitution LV.6, Spell LV.3, Masochistic Tendency LV.1

“That’s a shame. I used Spell a lot because I was healing, but the other skills are stagnant. My stats haven’t increased much either. But what’s Masochistic Tendency…”

Asha’s face hardened at the ominous feeling of the newly appeared skill. Rarely, Justitia blushed and stuttered a little.

“Th-that is, it seems that a unique skill has emerged from the combination of the Sex skill and the Pain Reduction skill… Ugh… It changes you to feel pleasure rather than pain when you feel pain. Of course, during sex too…”

She shook her head and quickly continued with another explanation.

“Anyway, since you have to do most of the quests alone, Spell, which is versatile, is very helpful. Of course, your martial arts skills must be the foundation, but it seems that the current direction of doing both is the right one.”

Asha took over Justitia’s baton, who was changing the subject.

“Ah, yeah! It would have been really hard if I couldn’t heal. It hurts to not be able to receive quest rewards after receiving them all the time. The Full Body Armor I received at the beginning has disappeared somewhere…”

“You didn’t complete the quest, but you achieved quite a few achievements this time. They’re not very welcome, though…”

Asha was puzzled by Justitia’s vague words.

“What did I do? Ah…”

Asha went to the store to check her achievements and blushed.

[One Against a Thousand]

-Had sex with 1000 people, regardless of gender.

[Living Decoration]

-Maintained a stationary state for more than 10 hours.

[Instant Kill]

-Subdued an enemy within 3 seconds.

“What’s Living Decoration…”

“It’s usually an achievement you get when you stay still and hide in the same spot for a long time, but it seems that Asha achieved it because she was restrained…”

“Ugh, wait, there were a lot of other achievements… I wondered why I had so many Tokens.”

[One Squad]

-Experienced childbirth more than 10 times.

[One Village]

-Experienced childbirth more than 100 times.

[Open Mind]

-Experienced sex with someone of a different race than your own.

[Killing with a borrowed knife]

-Achieved more than 80% of the quest objective by using a third party.

In addition, she had achieved various achievements such as Canvas and Childbirth Expert. Asha was dumbfounded as she looked at the numerous achievements she had unknowingly achieved.

“Isn’t there an alarm for this?”

“Among the achievements, One Against a Thousand literally means subduing or killing 100 enemies in one battle, so it would be dangerous if an alarm went off in the middle. Besides, you can’t use the store anywhere else but here.”

Asha nodded at Justitia’s reasonable words.

“That’s true.”

“I don’t know all the achievements, but some achievements don’t just give Tokens, they can also give items or skills, so it wouldn’t be bad to aim for records if you have the resources.”

Asha frowned at the seemingly impossible achievements that she didn’t even know how she had achieved.

“I don’t know if I can deliberately achieve that… Well, okay.”

Asha nodded.

Even after resting, Asha spent her time in self-deprecation for a while, and then spent more time in the waiting room than ever before, as if trying to forget what had happened in the quest.

Asha explored new ways to use her skills with Justitia, and sparred with Lucia. Painful and regretful memories still remained in her heart, but Asha was able to calm them down little by little as she spent time with them.

“A dream…”

Asha realized that she was in a dream as soon as she opened her eyes. As she had expected, she could see Sejin in front of her. He was just looking at Asha silently for a long time. Unable to bear the silence, Asha spoke to Sejin.

“…Why did you come out?”

“I don’t know…”

She felt awkward at Sejin’s appearance, which was very different from the one who had shouted at her before. He was silent for a while, then sighed deeply and opened his mouth.

“First of all, you know that it’s not normal for me to come out, right?”

“Yeah…”

“To be honest, suicide was the best option for the last mission.”

Asha shook her head at his words.

“Suicide was impossible. You know that too.”

“I’m not telling you to break your own neck, but to just rush at the Elves or something, you idiot. You can’t get out of the quest restrictions there anyway, so why are you letting those bastards get to you while your mentality is being destroyed? Ah, now that I think about it, I’m getting angry. Those fucking bastards with no parents…”

“Wh-who?”

Asha asked, not knowing who he was talking about, and Sejin pounded his chest and shouted.

“Ah, that bastard named Jean or whatever! Aish, fuck! Just thinking about that bastard makes me so angry, ugh… That bastard who should be torn to pieces, his head works so well in weird places… And what are those bat-like bastards who cling to the squad leader?”

Sejin continued to express his anger at Jean and the other Soldiers. Asha was startled by his shouting with a red face, but she didn’t dislike his anger. Asha’s heart warmed as she watched Sejin, as if he was angry on her behalf.

“Thank you.”

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Just… I feel like you and everyone else are helping me. Zack, and the old men too.”

“Old men… are you talking about those sailors? Hah, I have a lot to say about that too… Let’s move on. Asha, don’t forget. This world is a little… strange. I sometimes get chills at how relentlessly malicious this world is…”

Sejin shuddered and urged Asha.

“Of course, there are people who are really grateful, but they’re just a small minority. We’re like drifting on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Be alert and careful. If you just live your life without a care, it will become irreversible.”

Asha nodded at Sejin’s sincere advice.

“Yeah, I understand.”

“To be honest, I’m still anxious. Damn, this fucking world…”

“I know. Don’t worry too much.”

Sejin looked at Asha, who was agreeing, and said.

“Yeah, what’s the point of talking more? It’ll just be nagging. Okay, go.”

At his words, Asha felt that her meeting with Sejin was coming to an end. In the meantime, she tilted her head at the sense of incongruity she had been feeling as she looked at Sejin.

‘Was my hair originally that long?’

“Ugh…”

The day after meeting Sejin, Asha was sparring with Lucia.

Ping!

Asha, who was watching Lucia with tension, quickly dodged when a vine sprouted from her body. The vines that sprouted from Lucia’s body did not stop at one, but continued to sprout one after another.

“Hiss, hah!”

She dodged the third vine that came at her without a time gap, and blocked the fourth vine with her sword. She rolled to the side at the chilling sensation behind her back.

Whoosh-

Asha broke out in a cold sweat at the vine that had been swung at the back of her head. The vines that had surrounded Asha, who had her back to the wall, rushed at her.

Asha was panting after sparring with Lucia. She was puzzled when her daughter made a sulky expression.

“Lucy, what’s wrong? You fought much better than Mom.”

“Mom, you’ve gotten too strong. I have to get much stronger…”

Lucia frowned, but Asha just thought she looked cute. She summoned a handful of water to wipe away her sweat and picked up Lucia. Even though she had been fighting with her for over an hour, Lucia was still fresh and sweat-free.

“Mom wants Lucy to get stronger, but I also want you to know a lot of other things.”

“Huh? What kind of things?”

“You can just read a book, or grow a small plant…”

“I’ll do it with my aunt later when Mom’s not here. But for now… I want to be with Mom.”

‘Ah…’

Asha realized that Lucia had asked her to spar with her just because she wanted to be with her. But she had to leave her daughter again in a few days. Asha felt sorry for Lucia, who couldn’t be with her, and hugged her tightly again.

“Lucy, let’s go here and there together later. Let’s go to the sea, let’s go to the city…”

“Yeah!”

Lucia smiled brightly at her words. Justitia, who was watching the two mothers and daughters, said carefully.

“It seems like you’re having a pretty important conversation, but Asha, don’t you think the house is a little small?”

Asha was puzzled.

“It’s a little small. Why?”

“Take a look around.”

“Ah…”

It was a pretty spacious waiting room, but the room was a mess because of the two people’s boisterous sparring.

“I don’t think we need to make it too big, but I think it would be good to make a separate training room.”

“U-uh…”

For reference, Justitia had been in charge of housework, including cleaning, while Asha was away. Asha was embarrassed to see Justitia, who was feeling hopeless at the sight of the one-room apartment that had been turned into a mess by the mother and daughter’s sparring.

‘Come to think of it, have I been letting Lucy sleep in a one-room apartment all this time? Ugh… Mom’s sorry…’

That day, Asha expanded the waiting room into a training room, bedroom, dining room, and living room from the store.

[Quest 9 starts in 0D 7H.]

What Asha received this time was the same leather armor she had received before. It was flawless armor, but she missed the Full Body Armor she had received before.

“I should have brought that with me somehow… I should have put it in my Inventory.”

She looked for armor in the store, but Full Body Armor cost at least 1500 Tokens. Asha had received 1700 Tokens as a new achievement reward, so she had nearly 2500 Tokens, but she had spent 1000 Tokens to expand the waiting room, so she didn’t have much left.

‘Expanding the waiting room is cheap, but it’s a burden right now. Should I keep a household account book or something?’

Asha was reluctant because she was worried that the armor would disappear again like last time. Unable to overcome the pressure on her wallet, she ended up wearing the basic leather armor that was provided without buying anything else from the store. Asha grumbled as she grabbed two swords.

“I can never have enough swords.”

“Keep in mind that weapons are ultimately consumables. Unless it’s a really great divine sword, it can break at any time. Did you pack enough food?”

Justitia had told Asha the day before that this quest would be a long-term one.

“Yeah. I’ve prepared everything. I’ll be back.”

“Mom, be careful!”

“Lucy, listen to your aunt!”

“Yeah!”

Asha entered the portal again to carry out a new quest.

[Quest 09: Survive for 90 days]

‘This time, I just have to survive. How crazy is it going to be…’

Asha was nervous when she saw the message that appeared as she entered the portal. The missions so far had not been easy, and if it was just a long-term survival mission, it was clear that it would not be easy. The area around Asha’s summoning was a dense forest. In a place filled with various sounds made by all kinds of creatures, she carefully moved forward with the sword in her hand.

‘Is there a village nearby?’

The quests so far had mainly been related to people, but this was the first time she had been dropped off in a place with no one around from the beginning.

Buzz, whir–

After she had been walking for a while, a loud flapping sound was heard and giant bees the size of people appeared in front of Asha. Asha, seeing the bees that didn’t look friendly at all, raised her sword and faced them.

“Hup!”

Asha deflected the bee’s stinger that was flying at her with its tail first, and swung her sword at its body, cutting the bee in its shell.

Crack!

When she quickly swung her sword twice, the hard shell was dented in the first strike, and the carapace broke and the body was shattered because it could not withstand the second strike. As other bees swarmed in from all directions, she cut off the wings of the flying bees while leaning against a tree. The thin wings were cut off more easily than the shell, and soon the bees that had attacked Asha were unable to fly and crawled on the ground.

“Well, this is about it…”

Crack-

Asha, who had neutralized the attacking enemies without using Spell, stepped on the stingers on the tails of the bees that were no longer a threat and broke them, and then smashed their heads instead of their hard heads.

They were enemies that she would not have dared to face in the past, but she, who had become quite strong, easily dealt with the monsters. She took the palm-sized stinger, which might be useful, and moved on again.

“It’s still manageable.”

After defeating the bees, Asha did not experience any major threats. She hunted small wild animals near the river and took the meat after butchering them in the river. She could have grilled it with tools, but Asha decided that it was more important to find a place to stay first.

“I need to find a place to stay first.”

In fact, making a fuss by cutting down trees in this dense forest was the same as advertising that she wanted to be killed. Of course, she had no intention of making a fuss about building a place to stay. She had brought a lot of food from the waiting room in advance, so Asha decided to be more careful in deciding where to live.

As time passed and the sun set, Asha found a suitable spot, lit a fire, and gathered large leaves to create a makeshift shelter between the branches. Fortunately, the weather wasn’t cold even at night, and no other animals attacked her. In fact, the scent emanating from her Bee Stings was what drove away the surrounding creatures, but Asha wasn’t aware of that.

In the late dawn, exhausted from constant travel and battles, Asha had fallen into a deep sleep. Though she was motionless, no other creatures dared to approach her. However, there was a creature that wasn’t threatened by the Bee Stings: the bees and their Larvae.

Wriggle—

This Larva, which often parasitized other creatures, approached the sleeping Asha, burrowed into her clothes, pried open her Yoni, and slipped deep into her Womb. Asha would have woken up immediately if there had been any sign of hostility, but she didn’t sense the Larva approaching her with only one purpose in mind.

“Ugh…”

Asha twitched her legs for a moment at the strange sensation, but soon fell asleep again. The Larva, having completely burrowed into her Womb, spun a cocoon and settled completely inside her belly. She was fast asleep, unaware of what was happening inside her body.

The next morning, Asha woke up and tidied up her spot. She felt heavy all night, but she didn’t know why and moved on. It was an hour after Asha left her shelter that she felt something strange in her body. As she walked, she clutched her belly and bent over, feeling a throbbing sensation inside.

“Wh-what is it? Why is it in my belly… Augh!”

Thud, thud—

Beyond the throbbing, she began to hear thumping sounds in her belly, and Asha instinctively knew something was wrong. She touched her belly. Seeing it protrude far more than usual, Asha broke out in a cold sweat.

As her belly seemed to bubble, she quickly separated her leather armor and put it in her Inventory. Soon, her belly grew little by little, and the clothes she was wearing tore with a ripping sound.

“Augh… It hurts…”

[Seedbed Constitution is activated.]

As pain reduction and Seedbed Constitution were activated, the pain lessened, but the message made Asha certain that there was another life form inside her belly.

‘Again, it’s happening again… I don’t want this anymore…’

The dark box and the Soldiers who despised and insulted her came to mind, and Asha’s eyes welled up with tears. She stared at her growing belly with fearful eyes.

Asha’s belly became full-term in just a few hours. As Asha, unable to move any further due to her swollen belly, sat down, a Tentacle emerged from her Yoni.

“Kuh-ugh! G-get out…”

She had been raped by Tentacles in the past and had given birth to countless things, but the sensation of giving birth never got easier. She trembled as she felt the hard shell of an insect forcing its way out of her Vagina.

“Ah-heuk?!”

She flinched at the sudden pleasure that came with the continued pain, but Asha, who had already started giving birth, had no choice but to push and continue giving birth. Soon, she lay sweating, revealing the head of a bee, and the bee, beginning to emerge, soon twisted its body and broke free from Asha.

“Haaaah♥”

As the bee twisted its entire body and escaped from Asha’s wide-open hole, Asha let out a scream-like moan.

Flap—!

Asha blinked as she watched the bee wriggling its body after coming out of her belly.

‘A bee?’

She had no idea when she had become pregnant with a bee. The bee that came out of her belly was the size of Asha’s thigh, even though it had just been born. Even after giving birth to the bee, her expanded entrance remained wide open and did not close.

‘Ha, haha… It’s bigger than Konrad…’

She realized once again how much her body had changed, seeing that she had given birth to a bee much larger than an Orc fetus without a single wound. The metamorphosed bee stared at Asha for a moment, its wet wings still unable to spread, and then crawled into the forest and disappeared.