The Fiend's Creation System

Fiends vs. Insects

Julius roared and impaled one of the monsters with a Blood Spike before using his other arm to separate its torso from its abdomen, killing it brutally.

Eisha was the same. She swooped in from the air and twisted the head off of one monster before picking up the corpse and slamming it into another monster, flattening the unfortunate insect underneath its brethren’s corpse.

The Metamorphosis skill gave him a large boost in stats and fighting power. His original D rank attributes had all risen by a whole rank and more to C++. Eisha’s boost was even more significant than his since she now had B+ rank attributes.

Naturally, Metamorphosis had a time limit of 30 minutes and once the duration was over, it couldn’t be used for an entire 20 hours. It was a trumped card of the higher-ranked Fiends because not only did it provide a higher boost in attributes, it also significantly improved their healing capabilities.

The enemy monsters were just low-ranked scrubs so it was easy for Julius and Eisha to destroy them one by one. The only problem was that more monsters became aware of their presence and began moving towards them.

[You have personally killed a sufficient amount of monsters. Basic information can now be read.]

[Enemy Status Screen

Mysantis Soldier Swarm Lv. 1

Rank: D

STR: D-

AGI: D+

INT: E

Skills: Cut D, Rend E]

After killing an unknown amount of monsters, Julius was able to get a glimpse of their status screens. He didn’t know about this function until now since he just unlocked it, but it was something good because taking a peek at an enemy’s attributes and skills was always good.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

This quote rang in his head for a moment before quickly disappearing. After getting a good look at the attributes, Julius smirked before charging in once more. His homunculi had stronger stats than them.

[Ally Status Screen

Homunculus Lv. 2

Rank: D

STR: D+

AGI: D+

INT: D+

Skills: Crunch D, Lacerate E, Constrict D

Addition: Transform C]

Proto’s stats were similar but he just had a few more skills than them and they were higher ranked as well. The assault team Julius had assembled did their work and killed as many Mysantis Swarms as they could.

The only problem was that the homunculi attacked without any regard for their lives. They either had a clean kill or traded an injury for a kill. At the rate they were going, it wouldn’t be long before they had to retreat into the cave.

It was acceptable because Julius and Eisha’s Metamorphosis only lasted for 30 minutes. About 10 minutes had passed since the start of the battle and Julius decided to retreat when they only had 10 minutes left to their transformation.

The retrieval unit was also doing their job as quickly as they could, dragging back a few Mysantis corpses to the cave in a single back and forth cycle.

“Prince!”

Despite having a rather monstrous appearance, Eisha’s voice had changed to become more sonorous and alluring in her Metamorphosis form. Julius quickly smashed a few insects back before looking up at her.

“What is it, Eisha?”

“Prince, I see a larger monster making its way towards us!”

[Warning: Mysantis General Swarm approaching. Threat Level: A. Recommended action: retreat.]

Julius frowned at the prompt but since even the system thought it was too dangerous for them, he quickly issued the order to retreat. He had the homunculi abandon the monster corpses in favor of their safety. 

Even if they were expendable, he’d rather not needlessly lose his troops due to his greed. Julius stayed behind and waited for his homunculi to retreat. He acted as a decoy as he constantly sent Blood Arrows in all directions.

Once his units were halfway to the cave, Julius jumped high into the air and Eisha swooped in to grab him.

The two flew away and Julius turned his head back to see the approaching threat that ruined his hunting session. 

The monster was of the same form as the Mysantis Soldier Swarm, but it was much larger in size and it had 3 pairs of scythe-like arms. It shot a web at them but Eisha expertly evaded it.

“Damn...that thing is dangerous…”

“Prince, should we head back to base and call it a night?”

[Resource Menu

Flesh: 2,555 units 

Blood: 2,875 units 

Food: 760 units

Ore/Minerals: 6 units

Stone: 100 units]

It was quite the harvest for just a 20 or so-minute rampage. Julius decided that they would wait for a while and continue attacking the monsters once the Msysantis General Swarm moved away.

Next time, they would attack a different part of the swarm and do it with long-ranged attacks.

Eisha would be a little useless this time because in her normal form she was only capable of short-ranged to melee-ranged attacks while in her Metamorphosis form she became capable of both long to medium-ranged attacks.

It was vice-versa for Julius. In his normal state, he used a bow to attack but in his Metamorphosis form, he was only capable of melee to short-medium ranged attacks. The forms all had their advantages and disadvantages.

Julius and Eisha quickly landed back at base and the fleshwall closed behind them. Julius had his eyes on the minimap throughout the entire time so he knew that the Mysantis insect swarm was following after them.

His base’s area of influence which was covered in the Fiend’s Plasm had expanded past the cave and when the swarm arrived at the periphery, they stopped for some reason. 

Julius couldn’t see what was happening, but after a few hours of moving around the periphery in a circle and back, the swarm retreated save for a few monsters still lurking around.

The good news was that the Mysantis General Swarm had retreated along with a majority of the monsters. This was good because Julius and Eisha’s Metamorphosis had long since expired and they needed to wait nearly a day before they could use it again.

While they were waiting, Julius saw that the water pool which had now become the Fiend’s Reservoir was nearly overflowing with water. 

The water was clean and clear that it amazed him. He didn’t know what had happened but apparently, the roots of the hatcheries had dug deep into the water pool and they struck an underwater reservoir which began flowing upwards through the roots and began filling up the Fiend’s Reservoir. Julius needed to expand the pool or else it could flood.

Julius ordered the homunculi to expand the pool’s boundaries and deepen them. Proto and the other homunculi began transforming their arms into those suction-type tentacles and quickly got to work.

They made sure to move the hatcheries, the Fiend’s Cradle, and the other buildings away before they began their work. Julius didn’t know where they got the 100 units of stone but he decided to use it to dig deeper into the cave and expand the outcrop without compromising its inner structure.

The system helped him in remodeling the outcrop and it was easy because the Fiend’s Plasma had completely permeated the outcrop and the land around their base.

Since there were still some monsters monitoring their land, Julius decided to make use of this idle time to do some ‘house’ remodeling. Eisha sat beside Julius and watched as her husband got to work and the miraculous changes that happened in the next few moments.

Naturally, he needed to use up some resources to use this remodeling function but after it was over, the cave had been expanded despite the outcrop not looking any different than it did previously from the outside.

A few hours later after the remodeling, Julius took a look around the expanded cave. He had expanded downwards while keeping the Fiend’s Reservoir at the same elevation as before. The Fiend’s Cradle was located in the middle of the now expanded and deepened reservoir with a few hatcheries located at the peripheries.

Julius had erected a large castle-like enclosure around the reservoir with a complete interior using the excess stone and ore resources he had after completing the remodeling. He wanted a little bit of human touch to their home. 

Julius created water ducts that allowed water from the reservoir to flow into the small pools that he created on the level below. He created multiple new hatcheries on these pools for his homunculi to use.

The hatcheries inside the castle were only for the exclusive use of Proto and the future hero-units he would create and said units were the only ones allowed to roam the inside of the castle. 

The other homunculi, without his orders or permission, weren’t allowed inside the place. He wanted Eisha to have a comfortable living area...and also a comfortable place for when they had their sexy time.

Even if they were just homunculi, Julius could still feel Eisha’s embarrassment and restraint whenever they wanted or were in the middle of having s*x. Now that they had their own love nest, Julius hoped that it would give his wife a better sense of security.

The only way to get into the Fiend’s Castle, the name of their new home that the system gave, was by going up a staircase located at the far end of the cave that was connected to the lower level or through the evolved fleshwall that Julius erected which acted as his and Eisha’s exclusive gate.

On the level below, all of the buildings that Julius had previously built were relocated there. He also put up a few walls to protect them in case the fleshwall covering the cave entrance was somehow breached. The fleshwall had long since experienced an upgrade but it was questionable if it was able to keep the Mysantis General Swarm away. 

He had also unlocked the Unknown Cannon, one of the Fiend’s few defensive constructs, and erected a few inside and outside of the cave. 

His resources had been depleted by a lot and he needed to quickly acquire more. The 2 Creation Pods had begun creating more homunculi since Julius had erected more hatcheries.

He was creating as much as he could in preparation for turning a few of them into Fiend Soldiers once the Fiend’s Dwelling was completed. They were the proper assault units of the Fiends so Julius was anticipating just how useful they could be since the homunculus just by themselves was already handy.

“Alright, Eisha. Let’s continue getting some more ‘meat’ for our army…”

“Yes, my Prince.”

Julius led the homunculi out of the cave. He glared at the few Mysantis Swarms still scurrying around the vicinity and let loose his army of faceless homunculi. They rushed out in droves and began tearing apart the enemies. 

“AAHHHHH!!!”

Julius’s head started feeling like it was being torn apart after he gave the order. The homunculi’s feelings of rage, delight, and hunger were rapidly being transmitted into his head and it quickly began corroding his mind. He forgot about this small side-effect of having a 2-way bridge connection with his units.

The bridge allowed him to transmit his thoughts to his homunculi and it was the same vice-versa, except that Julius wasn’t compelled into obeying their thoughts. With so many homunculi rushing out and attacking the monsters in a wild frenzy, Julius felt like his mind was being torn apart and fragmenting, but thankfully, the mental connection he had with his wife was giving him some form of respite.

Eisha had already rushed over to him when she saw Julius suddenly scream and collapse. 

“Julius, just focus on my voice...focus on my thoughts,” Eisha said as she tightly embraced Julius.

Julius hadn’t thought about the consequences of creating as many homunculi as he could. The effects of only 10 homunculi affecting his mind were minuscule because he had time to adjust, but the sudden leap in numbers was enough to crush any person’s mind if they experienced what Julius was going through at the moment.

Earlier, they had only been idling around the cave and only doing their work monotonously so there wasn’t much backlash to his mind since they weren’t transmitting any thoughts that were too strong, but now that they were active, their minds had also become active.

Eisha embraced his head and continued to soothingly whisper into his ear while also strongly thinking about him. Julius, who was experiencing seizures and had been screaming for a while, finally began to calm down as the voices and the pain began dissipating.

All he heard were the sweet thoughts of his wife and he focused on them. Seeing that he had calmed down, Eisha quickly took him back to their dwelling and placed him on their bed, the Fiend’s Cradle, and let him recuperate.

She returned outside to oversee the homunculi while also keeping a watch out for the Mysantis General Swarm in case it came back.

She had secondary command over the homunculi and unlike Julius who had a 2-way connection with the homunculi, she only had a 1-way connection so she wasn’t affected by their thoughts if she was forced to command them like right now.

Once they cleared the immediate vicinity of the insects, she ordered the horde of homunculi to quickly drag back all the corpses before once more setting out to attack the swarm.

They launched guerilla attacks on the swarm without striking the same place more than once in a row. With Julius down, Eisha dutifully performed her duty as his wife and commanded the homunculi in his place to procure more materials and monster corpses for their legion.