Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Freya had a fire pit in the middle of its main deck.

It served as a source of warmth, light, and comfort for the travelers aboard the ship. The dancing orange-yellow flames were the only change of scenery in the surroundings that were shrouded in silence and darkness.

Four rankers were sitting around the fire pit. Three Master-ranked ladies and an Expert ranker young man who had just had his rank promotion.

Nina was wearing a white tank top under a dark denim coat. She wore dark blue pants and pearl earrings. Her necklace had a thumb-size cobalt blue gem as its ornament, which blended well with her overall ensemble.

She had let her hair loose and wore a simple perfume. Nina's curvy figure made her look flawless even without her trying. The warm light exuded by the flames made her look more alluring than before.

Nina was sitting to Eren's right, having dinner with him. It looked like these four days were just the kind of rest the three ladies needed to unwind. They also bonded well together during this time.

Dressed snugly in a mint green kaftan, Jiana Jihang sat to Eren's left not too far away from him. The elf was slightly less endowed when it came to having heavy breasts, but she made up for it with her charming and sophisticated looks.

Jiana wore ruby green earrings and green-beaded bracelets on each hand. She wore a relatively heavy citrus perfume with heart notes of basil and bergamot. As a result, Eren's olfactory nerves would be given a zesty treat whenever the nightly winds strengthened their presence.

Levine wore an off-shoulder light pink crop top and wide-leg pants of the same color. She didn't wear any jewelry or ornaments to go with her ensemble. But thanks to the top's deep cleavage cut, nobody would think she needed anything else to grab the onlooker's attention.

Eren felt like he was underdressed for the evening. Like he had missed the memo or something. Not that he would change into better clothes at this point. However, he enjoyed the view of his surroundings immensely.

"This is strange… how did you manage to stabilize your breakthrough so fast and with such finesse, guild master?"

Jiana Jihang asked while eating a barbecued fish dinner. The three ladies had come together and used their powers to reel in a bunch of E-rank fish from the river water. They cooked the haul together and talked about various topics even before Eren arrived on deck. It wasn't the most lavish impromptu dinner they had. Nonetheless, it tasted delicious for some reason.

The three Master-ranked entities aboard the ship thought that Eren wouldn't be able to join them tonight as well. But the butcher had his way of keeping them second-guessing about him. He smiled as he continued to eat the grilled fish with his bare hands as he responded.

"Hm? Frankly… I don't know. I guess it's just one of those moments in a ranker's life that he has no control over.

Could I predict that my breakthrough would be so early and effortless before it happened? Probably not. But am I glad it was handled so early and effortlessly? Absolutely yes."

Eren said while licking his fingers. He would often steal glances at Jiana and completely ignore Levine. He would touch and say something to Nina frequently as well, leaving Levine devoid of his attention for the most part.

Levine had also raised many topics with Eren at this point. But he would respond to them briefly before moving on to talking with Nina and Jiana. Jiana was too focused on Eren to notice anything. But the healer was paying close attention to what was happening.

Nina observed that Levine interrupted Eren's talk frequently. She showed all the telltale signs of a woman wanting to get her mate's attention.

Nina then looked at Eren who seemed busy talking to Jiana about the same topic, seemingly unaware that he was being eyeballed by his potioning teacher. She didn't believe for a second that Eren had not realized Levine's condition. She smirked and looked at him.

'Erni, Levine wants to get close to you. Is this some kind of reverse psychology you are pulling on poor Levine?'

Nina had witnessed Eren's psychological tactics. It could be said that she had fallen for those tactics as well. However, she also knew that these tactics only worked when the one for which they were being used wanted them to work. The tactics became the excuse they needed to close the gap.

Nina was at peace with her bond with Eren. She was also glad that Eren had broken the mental barriers she had in her head. Her bond with him had helped her in more ways than one. Plus, she was never desperate to keep Eren to herself. On the contrary, she accepted Eren for who he was and tacitly supported him in every way.

Nina's playful voice was heard in Eren's mind. The latter smiled for a fraction of a second and kept on talking to Jiana. He used the voice channel to respond to Nina as well.

'Hehe. No tactics, aunt Nina. Not really. But let's tease her a bit anyway.'

Eren then focused his attention on Nina. He had various stories in his head to keep the three ladies entertained. He knew that one could anger a woman and might get away with it. But keeping them entertained was a no-no.

The butcher mixed reality with the fabric of imagination to craft a wonderful story for the three Master rankers. When the tale took a romantic turn, Eren got closer to Nina and started getting cozy with her.

Nina also responded well by playing along. She didn't mind adding spice to her bond with Eren.

Jiana and Levine looked at each other with blank expressions when Eren and Nina started kissing each other in front of them. It wasn't helping that they were onboard Freya and there was nowhere else to go.

Eren was about to activate his Sin series Ability to tease Levine some more. But just then, the high-intensity sound of a runic conch horn was heard that shook Freya to its very core.

A giant ship was getting close to Eren and the rest.

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