"Did you find it?" Hades's voice boomed in the throne room, nearly crushing the grim reapers' souls.
Pluto, the grim reaper who almost lost his life to Asahi, shuddered under the pressure. "She ran away…"
"A full squad of grim reapers can't catch a weak woman? You disappointing fools."
Hades regretted saving Pluto. The grim reapers had all the information and units enough to catch even a god, yet a weak, worn-out devil escaped their net. That too during the day when devils' powers were suppressed by the light.
"How did it even happen? Speak."
"We almost caught her in Japan… but she suddenly disappeared..."
It sounded like a lie, but it was not. Pluto was hairbreadth away from catching the devil, only for her to vanish into thin air.
The throne's armrest shattered under Hades's hands. "How on earth did she get to Japan from the Himalayas?"
Pluto's figure shrank as though he was trying to vanish under his grim reaper robe. "She had already left the mountains… she knew we were coming for her!"
Pluto did his best to mitigate his incompetence, going as far as to blame external factors. His evasion only turned Hades's fury.
"Stop with the excuses. Find her or you'll regret being born."
"We will, Lord Hades."
Thus, the operation to find Lilith, the former devil queen, began anew.
***
Asahi had lost sense of time during his comprehensive state. He felt like a cultivator who had gone into seclusion for years.
(Superb cultivation session!)
And Klyscha cheered for him, as usual. Opening his eyes, he saw numerous windows showing the results of his hard work.
[—'Multithreaded Processing' ranked up to A.]
[—Skill 'Life Sense' evolved to Unique Skill 'Life Force Perception.']
[—Life Force Perception (Unique): Allows you to perceive life force within the range of your spatial awareness.]
Life Force Perception.
The skill was not impressive in its base form. But Asahi had a beast of dexterity, almost toppling the 400 mark. Added with his instinct skill, his spatial awareness was nothing short of godly. And that range would only increase further with levels.
'What about my wind elemental form? It also increases my awareness.'
The wind elemental form had received a little upgrade with the level ups of the Multithreaded Processing skill. He could process the information at a much, much faster rate, letting him spread his consciousness even further.
(It should work without a hitch.)
'Lovely.'
He had to address a certain someone before starting his search for Great Red. That certain someone had put mild pressure on his lap. He had grown used to this weight thanks to Shizuka and others borrowing his lap every couple of days.
He looked down and couldn't help but smile. Ophis was cozily sleeping with her head on his lap. The dragon god's cuteness was on display.
"She isn't cute at all…" said the Red Dragon Empress, sounding grumpy at Asahi's admiration for Ophis. "She is just a child."
'Ddraig, you little adorable dragon.'
"No! I am the vicious Red Dragon Emperor!" Ddraig growled.
'Hahaha, so cute.'
Asahi couldn't bring himself to wake up the dragon loli from her slumber. Fortunately, Ophis woke up on her own when she detected some movements around.
"Asahi…?" Ophis yawned as she brushed her eyes with her knuckles. "Did you find her?"
Asahi got swept by her laziness and yawned. "Let's find her together."
Asahi took Ophis's delicate hand and extended his consciousness in the Dimensional Gap. As expected of his skill, he could feel a robust presence in the far corner of the Dimensional Gap as though it was trying to hide from him. Asahi's lips curled up.
'Found you.'
Asahi reached Great Red's location in a few moments. What he saw stunned him. Great Red's body had no lifeforce to speak of, while the large egg beside her pulsed with even greater life force. It was simply the side effect of diving deeper into the Life Element.
"Red has a new body…?" Ophis tilted her head as she glanced up at Asahi. "Dangerous…"
Her subtle way of warning was rather cute, enough to warrant a few headpats from Asahi. Ophis closed her eyes, lowering her head.
"She has to step up her game after those bold words, don't you think?"
Ophis tilted her head, her most common gesture as an innocent being.
(My love, it's not fair… you can't ignore me for a new loli…)
Klyscha was somehow brimming with jealousy. Asahi stopped spoiling Ophis. He created a barrier around and summoned a bed from the inventory.
"Ophis, let's rest until she finishes her thing," Asahi said as he laid down on the bed and fell asleep.
Ophis could only stare in confusion. Despite being a dragon, she couldn't comprehend Asahi's craving for battle. She would prefer if Great Red was weak, so Asahi could deal with her quickly. The sooner Asahi finishes dealing with Great Red, the quicker she will return to her home.
'Home…'
A dark place without any presence or disturbance. A place where nobody will disturb her.
'Even Asahi…'
A strange feeling filled her head when she thought of being all alone. Her hand subconsciously reached out for Asahi, but he was already asleep. Ophis's eyes alternated between her palm and Asahi, who had turned his back against her.
'Asahi…'