Creating A Succubus Army In A Fantasy World!-Chapter 147: True Monster…

Creed floated high above the chamber floor, his black and gold spear resting lightly in his hand like a conductor’s baton before a symphony of destruction.

The two remaining worms were already scrambling away, their massive bodies twisting and turning in every possible direction like panicked snakes that had been doused in boiling water.

It was actually... kind of cute. In a twisted way.

These were monstrous silver-stage creatures the size of dragons, and yet they were fleeing like toddlers who’d just seen their first horror movie.

Creed couldn’t help but chuckle lightly under his breath. The image of these massive beasts tripping over their own tails trying to escape a single man was funny.

If someone had told him two months ago that this would be his life now, he might’ve assumed they were trying to sell him snake oil.

Still, even as he watched their desperate flailing, Creed’s mind couldn’t stop replaying the strike he’d just delivered.

That single casual swing—just a flick of his wrist—had utterly erased a worm that would’ve taken teams of battle-hardened bronze awakened to bring down.

And he hadn’t even felt like he was trying!

"That..." he muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing. "That was way stronger than I expected."

He looked at his own arm with a sort of quiet amazement, turning his wrist slowly, flexing his fingers like he was testing whether this was still his body.

Because frankly, it felt like something more. That one strike hadn’t just been strong. It had been different.

It had been a harper. Wilder. More refined yet unrestrained. And as he thought about it, it hit him;

His Paths had overlapped!

It wasn’t just the Path of Killing behind that strike. That eerie calm, the merciless certainty of death—that had definitely been present, yes.

But so had something else. Something broader. Lighter. Freer. His newest Path, the Path of Freedom had somehow layered itself into that motion, giving his strike a sudden fluidity, a sharpness not born of control, but of release.

’Freedom...’ he thought, eyes gleaming. ’It doesn’t just mean you do what you want. It means you move without chains. You attack without limits. No hesitation, no fear—just absolute pursuit of your will!’

And that will... was to kill!

The realization sent a pulse of excitement through his chest.

He hadn’t even begun to explore what the Paths could really do together, and yet they were already harmonizing like threads of a grand tapestry.

But even more shocking than that was what he sensed next. The Path of Killing had... changed. Evolved, somehow.

Creed furrowed his brow. Compared to the new Paths; Freedom and Mountain, his Path of Killing felt deeper.

Its aura was thicker, denser, and more refined. Like a sword that had been forged through endless battles and then sharpened again and again until it could cut reality itself.

It felt ancient. Timeless. And it had grown more profound, more intense... as if it had finally stepped into its own true form.

"Damn..." Creed whispered. "Just what were those gloves?"

He glanced at his hands, remembering the mysterious object that had sparked this transformation.

He didn’t know it yet, but the insane amount of comprehension he was able to have had only been possible because of one hidden truth: his primordial essence.

The godlike power gotten from the system had helped him unlock comprehension levels most geniuses couldn’t reach in a lifetime.

That singular event had accelerated his growth in ways no one could have predicted. If a normal genius had gone through the same thing, they might have gained one minor insight.

Probably a nascent form of a path, if they were better than average.

Creed? He’d gained two full Paths and deepened a third to terrifying new levels!

"Whatever those gloves were," he murmured, his grin turning sharp, "I really owe that old man."

But now wasn’t the time to get lost in memories.

The worms were still here.

One of them had stopped running and turned toward him in absolute desperation. Its eyes glowed with madness as it made one last gamble.

It was the classic "if I die, you’re coming with me" move.

It charged forward, gathering all its energy into a suicidal ramming attack, and then—

BOOM!

The worm exploded!

Not attacked. Not self-destructed. Exploded. Its life essence ignited like dynamite. The entire chamber trembled as if the world had been slapped by a god.

Dust billowed up into the air like a sandstorm gone wild. Rocks cracked and fell from the ceiling.

A crater the size of a small pond formed where the creature had been standing. It was like a meteor strike in the middle of the battlefield.

For a moment, it was impossible to see anything. The whole place was drowning in smoke, debris, and waves of raw, uncontrolled energy.

And then, silence.

As the dust slowly cleared...

Creed was gone.

Or rather, he had moved.

So fast, so suddenly, that no one—not even the girls—had seen him shift. One moment he had been in the air, watching. The next, he was on the ground... standing between Lilith and Tierra.

His arms were crossed protectively in front of them, like a living shield. His black shirt fluttered, his hair tousled by the force of the explosion, but his eyes were calm.

Focused. Unshaken. And behind him... floated a mountain.

No, not a real one—but the mirage of one. A blurry, majestic silhouette of an ancient peak that stood like the heart of the world.

It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t loud. But it radiated a strength so absolute, so immovable, that the shockwaves of the explosion had simply died upon touching it.

It was the Path of the Mountain!

It didn’t speak of flashy moves or rapid strikes. It was the path of guardians. Of unyielding strength.

Of someone who stood in the storm and didn’t budge an inch. It said, "Come at me. Break yourself trying."

Tierra and Lilith stared at Creed from behind, their hearts pounding like tribal drums. Their bloodied faces were full of awe, but also something deeper.

Their gazes softened as they watched his back, tall and unwavering.

He had protected them.

Without a word, without hesitation, Creed had placed their safety as his highest priority.

They had never felt more safe... or more amazed.

The dust was still settling when he turned around, the phantom image of the great mountain behind him slowly fading like a dream at sunrise.

His eyes, calm and steady, locked onto the battered yet beautiful figures of Lilith and Tierra. Their violet and silver eyes were wide, their breaths shaky but still intact.

He had made it in time.

The twin heroines stood leaning on each other, bloodied but unbowed, their skin bruised but their gazes burning with that fiery resilience he had always admired.

Before either of them said a word, their eyes swept across Creed’s form, and for a long moment, there was only stunned silence and the fast beating of hearts.

Then...

"How..." Tierra finally managed, her grey hair sticking to her cheeks with sweat, "how the hell did you move that fast!?"

Lilith’s eyes widened and she nodded rapidly, trying to mask the flush on her cheeks.

"Y-Yeah! One second you were floating like some badass storm god, and the next—bam! You’re just... here! Like a sexy lightning bolt or something!"

Creed blinked, caught off guard by the question—and the compliment—and could only offer a slow, amused smile.

He opened his mouth to reply with something smooth, something fitting of the moment, but before he could say more than a syllable—

BOOM!

A flash of crimson light tore through the chamber like a divine guillotine.

The girls flinched. All three of them turned toward the noise.

The last worm was gone.

Not wounded. Not cut in half. Gone.

Only chunks remained, slimy and twitching, scattered like shredded fruit across the broken ground. There hadn’t been a roar. No death cry. No warning. Just... erasure.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Lilith’s jaw dropped. "Wait... wait, wait, wait—WHAT?!"

Tierra’s eyes bulged. "You’re telling me you killed it on your way back?!"

The two girls turned to Creed like he’d just confessed to slaying a god for breakfast and hadn’t bothered to mention it.

Creed blinked again and looked slightly smug, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh... yeah. I thought it’d be annoying to leave one alive."

Lilith and Tierra stared at him in pure disbelief, then shared a long look of shared horror and betrayal.

"We’ve been fighting our hearts out down here!" Lilith whined with a dramatic pout, puffing her cheeks out.

"Nearly died like... five times! And you just blink one out of existence in passing!?"

"We thought we had finally caught up to you!" Tierra added, throwing her arms in the air. "We thought if we teamed up, we’d be able to take you down next time!"

Lilith crossed her arms with a huff. "I was already practicing my victory pose too!"

Creed stared at the two of them, watching their indignant expressions, their puffed cheeks and fake scowls, and suddenly a warmth blossomed in his chest.

Despite their protests, he could see the pride gleaming in their eyes. He could hear the edge of affection in their voices.

They weren’t really mad, they were just stunned.

And maybe a little bit delighted that their companion, the person they’d bled for and defended with everything they had, had turned out to be so overwhelmingly powerful.

But even more than that, Creed finally understood something he’d overlooked.

He looked at the shredded remains of the silver-rank worms again. These were no joke.

Each of those creatures had been terrifying on its own, monsters that could swallow veteran squads without blinking.

And yet these two girls had held their ground. Not for a few seconds. But throughout the whole fight.

They had fought, bled, and survived against three of them.

And they were only Bronze Stage 3!

"...You two," Creed murmured, eyes narrowing slightly, "you’ve gotten terrifying."

The blush on Lilith’s cheeks deepened instantly. Tierra raised an eyebrow smugly.

"Well duh," she said, brushing her bangs back. "We’re awesome."

Creed blinked. "No, seriously. Stalling three silver beasts at your stage? That’s beyond impressive. It’s borderline absurd."

Lilith and Tierra exchanged looks, then both placed their hands on their hips and leaned forward in perfect synchrony, faces shining with mischief.

"Wanna know our secret?" Lilith asked, her voice lilting.

"We awakened our first Sigil of Authority," Tierra said proudly, tossing her grey hair over her shoulder like a cape. "Now we’re officially on the path of legends."

Creed’s brow twitched in surprise. That explained a bit.

He was about to ask for more details when Tierra waved him off. "Can’t talk about it now though. We’re still in the trial, and we’re definitely being watched."

That brought Creed back to his senses. Of course. Everything inside the rift was being monitored, evaluated, and recorded by the Academy’s overseers.

Any mention of a Sigil would be logged and analyzed.

"Right," Creed nodded. "Smart. We’ll talk after."

They could also talk mentally, but they were truly not in a rush at the moment. There were more important things waiting for them.

But then another thought hit him like a bolt of lightning. ’Wait... didn’t the system say something about a sigil too?’

Back in the depths of that strange unexplored realm, during his bizarre encounter with the gloves, there had been a line.

A flicker of text. Something about ’Sigil of killing...’

He narrowed his eyes slightly. Had he been on the brink of something himself and hadn’t realized it?

.....

Meanwhile, outside the rift, within a vast monitoring hall lit with glowing screens and displays, the man in a dark cloak slowly exhaled.

He had been watching everything from the moment Creed awoke. His lips were pursed, eyes narrowed, and his fingers trembled ever so slightly as he finally leaned back in his chair.

The replay showed it all: the red flash, the mountain that stopped an explosion, the worm that disintegrated in silence.

"Insane..." the old man whispered. "Stage 4... with that kind of power?"

He rubbed his temples, then sighed with the heaviness of someone who had just witnessed a miracle and wasn’t sure if he should be afraid or overjoyed.

"A monster," he murmured. "A true monster."

He stood up slowly, pulling out a glowing communication crystal.

"It’s time," he muttered. "I need to call Franklin. We’ve found another one."