My favorite hobbies were gambling and fighting, so I decided to temporarily move into my penthouse at the top of Angren Tower. Trixie had originally intended for the gigantic skyscraper to be a fortress, to be used as a defensive structure in preparation for the eventual ‘Ten Year Storm’.

However, I saw it as an incredible opportunity! It wasn’t like we didn’t fight those demons anyway. While we were building the tower, a ton of people died to their constant assaults. Yet, with enough concentrated firepower it really wasn’t that hard to deal with the onslaught. It did take a lot of beefy ‘tanks’ like Coco and his squad of ‘Bear Knights’ or the ‘Tiger Corps’ to hold their attention though.

Compared to magical-beasts, every single part of a demon was drastically superior. That meant, each of them was worth way more money and could be turned into much better tools or equipment. There was no way in hell I would let an opportunity like that pass by!

It was around that time, as I was gazing down at the amazing battle from the top of the half-constructed tower, that I heard a familiar voice echo inside my brainbox: “Ah, it kinda looks like a baseball field, huh? Hmmm~ ya know, if you built a triangular stadium, with a small opening at the tip, you could funnel the bastards into a controlled environment. Oi, brat, tell them to start working on huge walls. Don’t worry about stands or any of that shit, just focus on making them sturdy… They need to be at least half as tall as this tower, and pretty damn thick.

“Okay, let’s see… Ah, I know! Make sure that they put a ton of windows on this skyscraper. That way, the audience can watch the show from the safety of The Lorelei Inc. Hotel and Casino. Oh yeah, don’t forget to put a bunch of bars, restaurants, and umm, well, I guess you could add a few hardcore death-match type arenas in the sketchier ones. Hehehe~, unlike Black and White Mithril, you don’t have to worry about the same restrictions on killing people here!”

A thin and long, green serpent suddenly appeared on my left shoulder. After staring into its bright blue eyes, I asked “Levi, are you sure about that? I mean, how the hell are they going to make glass strong enough to withstand a demon attack?”

The tiny snake snickered, then flicked his pink tongue out a few times, before replying “Nah, it doesn’t have to be glass, enchanted plastic would be a lot more efficient. By the way, you look adorable as always, Lori-chan.” Even though I knew that he wasn’t real, I still felt the slimy reptile slithering across my neck and back.

My outfit was a tight suit of black-mithril reinforced, leather armor. It was basically just shorts and a small chest-guard, so there was a decent amount of skin showing. Unlike the hardcore beast-races of the third ring, my fur was rather thin, but I definitely wasn’t willing to wear heavy clothing in such a hot and humid place. If I didn’t have to worry about stray bullets, I would’ve preferred a bikini.

After licking my whiskers, I giggled at the stupid snake’s compliment. Back then, I still wasn’t sure if it was a Spirit fucking with me, or if I was just going crazy.

It was actually pretty common for people who received Mikey’s mark, to start seeing things… Especially when exposed to excessive amounts of mana. Before I started overseeing the development of Angren, I had only seen that damn snake in my dreams occasionally. He would usually just stop by to give me some good ideas, so I never really worried too much about it.

Anyway, there was a huge explosion and a furious shout, accompanied by a shrill screech. As I gazed down at the battlefield again, I saw a four-armed Dark Elven, thirty-meter tall giantess, clad in some incredibly revealing mithril armor. Most of her body was covered by a see-through, silk-like material, and she was impaling a ridiculously huge iguana with four unreasonably large, black-mithril katanas.

Levi leered at her, while grinning and muttering “Ah~ Morneth is so sexy… Sigh~, I wish I had a physical body. Hmmm, I wonder if she’s a virgin? Hey, Lori, I have an amazing idea… She probably wouldn’t even notice if you-”

I instantly cut him off by yelling “I’m not going to crawl into Morn’s vagina and check if she has a hymen!” while glaring at the perverted snake. Unfortunately, my outburst caused the giantess to get distracted and she was nearly eviscerated by the lizard’s colossal claws.

The serpent snickered and told me “Silly brat, even if she had her whole damn reproductive system removed, she could just grow a new one. Besides, it’s more than that… But I would definitely slither up that magnificent, gigantic ass like a tapeworm. Hehehe~, you’re awfully judgy considering your tastes in men. Meh, you should give up on that bastard… You’re literally the richest person in Alfirin. You have vibrators that are worth thousands of gold… Plus, you have me.”

It wasn’t the first time that Levi tried to dissuade me, but once I had gotten everything that I ever dreamed of and more, it was natural that I wanted something that I couldn’t have: Michael, The Spirit of Eternal Suffering. Before he left Black Mithril, we had never really spent that much time together, so I didn’t even realize my own feelings for him. Well, that and the fact that we were both only seven years old at the time. I was technically an adult by Rat Tribe standards, but he was definitely still a child.

I sighed, then grumbled “I don’t know why I like him so much… He isn’t exactly the handsomest person I’ve seen and elves are obviously cuter. Hmmm~, maybe it’s that mysterious sense of power that he gives off? When his aura touches me, it just feels so… dangerous. Hehehe~, like it would only take a thought for him to completely ravage me! Ah, I just don’t get that from other people, but there’s definitely something more to it than that. It’s almost as if our souls are connected, ya know?”

Levi snickered again, whispering “Lori-chan, I’ll tell you a little secret… Michael already has a girlfriend.” Hearing that didn’t really surprise me, since that damn dragon-slut Mae kept rubbing it in my face every time I saw her! She even took the form of that fucking white-furred and orange-striped tiger-girl!

After seething for a few moments, I asked the bright-green serpent “What the hell is so special about that bitch anyway? Is Mikey really only attracted to beefy giants!? Aren’t I way more adorable? I’m definitely richer and smarter than her!”

He sighed dramatically, which basically just sounded like a long hiss, then retorted “Cuteness is justice, but you underestimate the power of felines… They’re mystical creatures with innate adorability, the likes of which a mouse-girl could never truly comprehend. Well, in my opinion, you totally have the advantage in beauty, but even with all your gadgets, weapons and equipment, you’re still not even half as strong as Amber… When she’s completely naked and unarmed.”

I frowned, then felt a familiar rage bubbling up inside of me. My aura was rapidly expanding, as I couldn’t help but start hyperventilating. Reaching behind my right shoulder, I grabbed the handle of ‘Meat Reaper Mk. 3’ and unfastened it from my back. The entire length of the weapon was a meter, and it was fifty-centimeters thick, with a sharp and jagged, serrated edge.

Leviathan laughed hysterically, as he transformed into a colossal, monstrous, green serpentine dragon. He roared “Good~, that’s the adorable ‘Demonic Butcher’ that I love! Hehehe~ do you hear that?! It’s a swarm of delicious, high-quality meat!”

With the death of that gigantic lizard, the most dangerous enemies began to appear: The scavengers. Unlike most demonic-beasts, when Tiger Tribe, Dark Elves, or other humanoids wandered into The Forest of Corruption, they typically retained a certain sense of camaraderie with each-other. Well, maybe it’s more accurate to say that they were telepathically connected and would work together to hunt for food. That was what made them so much more troublesome than the massive monsters. They actually had teamwork and very mild intelligence.

The big-ass snake with spikes running down its spine, was soaring through the air and circling the battlefield while making loud, annoying noises. As I hopped off of the fifty-meter tall, half-constructed tower, I quickly landed on the top of Morn’s head. My body was extremely light and flexible, so her short and curly hair was able to completely cushion my fall.

After that, I ran across her top-right arm and slid down the flat-side of her colossal, katana-blade. I was wearing toe-socks, instead of shoes or boots, which were made out of really durable and flexible mithril-cotton: The black kind didn’t let me cast magic through my feet, so they weren’t nearly as useful. Combined with the fact that I had some pretty high-class ankle-bracelets, that were covered with mana-gems from demonic-beasts, I was able to actually use some decent wind-creation magic.

Launching myself a dozen meters off of the sword, I hopped up onto the head of that gigantic, purple and orange iguana-creature. It had huge amounts of green, acidic blood, squirting out of its wounds and was ‘mostly’ dead, but still continued to flail around.

Then the scavengers started showing up. The first to climb onto the top of the monster, were something that I liked to call ‘Lamias’.