LEVEL EVERYTHING UP in my Eldritch Tribe

As the two horned girls, Corora and Cornelia, finished their devastating assault on the Asuras and floated back to Lyerin's side, their expressions calm and unbothered by the chaos they had just unleashed, Lyerin stood in the air with them, arms still crossed, but his mind racing.

The speed and precision of their attacks had caught him off guard.

These two, like the others in his tribe, had grown stronger than he had anticipated.

Lyerin's eyes shifted to Corora. "What were those attacks?" he asked, his tone steady but with a hint of curiosity.

Corora turned to face him, her eyes glowing faintly, and gave a small, almost casual shrug.

"Those?" she said, her voice soft but confident. "Those are just natural abilities."

Lyerin's brow furrowed deeply, his sharp gaze intensifying as he processed her response.

"Natural abilities?" he muttered, more to himself than to her.

He knew how rare these abilities were—powers that were inherent, not learned through training or leveling up.

In his past life, he had only ever come across a handful of individuals who possessed them, and they were always among the most powerful and dangerous beings in existence.

He had assumed Sophia's awakening was an anomaly. But now, two more of the sisters had manifested such powers?

He glanced at both Corora and Cornelia, his mind buzzing with questions. "When? How did this happen?" he asked, his voice laced with urgency. He needed to understand.

Corora exchanged a glance with Cornelia, then turned her gaze back to Lyerin, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Well," she began, "it all started when you left us with the horned mana beasts to clear out the dungeon."

She paused, seemingly gathering her thoughts, and then launched into a story.

"We had just finished the initial dungeon floors, working through the weaker beasts. At first, we thought it was going to be routine—just following your orders, clearing out the lower levels, nothing too challenging.

"But when we got to the core of the dungeon, something was different. The mana beasts you left with us were acting strange, almost as if they sensed something deeper within the dungeon, something ancient.

"At first, we ignored it, focused on fighting the usual hordes. But as we descended deeper, the atmosphere changed. It got darker, the air heavier, and the mana around us started to fluctuate wildly.

"Cornelia and I could feel it in our bones—there was something down there that was drawing all the energy toward it.

"We reached a massive underground cavern, and that's when we saw it. A creature unlike anything we had ever faced before. It wasn't an eldritch being, nor was it a typical dungeon monster.

"It was this massive, towering entity made entirely of pure mana, shifting and swirling like a storm contained within a physical form.

"The mana beasts with us froze, terrified. But we couldn't back down. We knew we had to take it down if we were going to complete the dungeon and return to you.

"We fought for hours, maybe even days. Time became meaningless. Every strike we landed seemed to do nothing, and every attack it threw at us drained our energy and mana reserves faster than we could recover.

"Cornelia and I were exhausted, barely holding on. It was then that we realized—we couldn't win with just the power we had. We needed more."

Corora paused for a moment, her eyes growing distant as she relived the memory.

""That's when it happened. Something inside us both... snapped, or maybe awakened is the better word. It was like our bodies suddenly became vessels for the raw mana that filled the cavern.

"We started to draw power directly from the dungeon itself, from the mana core that the creature was guarding. Our horns began to glow, and this incredible force surged through us.

"Cornelia was the first to unleash it. She raised her hand, and without thinking, she released a wave of energy so powerful that it tore through the creature's form, shattering its mana core.

"I followed right after, summoning a blast that obliterated the remnants of its body. It was like we became conduits for the dungeon's power, channeling it through our natural abilities.

"When it was over, we were left standing in the wreckage, our bodies glowing with this new energy. We had changed."

Corora let out a soft chuckle, but there was a serious glint in her eyes.

"That's how we got our natural abilities, Lyerin. It wasn't something we sought out. It just... happened, in the middle of that fight.

"The mana beasts that were with us couldn't even comprehend it. They just bowed to us after that, recognizing the change in our power."

Lyerin listened intently, his brow still furrowed as Corora finished her story.

It was an extraordinary tale, but he could sense the truth in her words.

Natural abilities, powers that manifested from within, often emerged in moments of extreme duress or need.

But to think that Corora and Cornelia had both awakened theirs at the same time, in such a fashion—it was beyond rare. It was unheard of.

Before he could respond, a shift in the air caught his attention.

Seven figures appeared, suspended in the sky like Lyerin himself, their forms elegant yet powerful.

Lyerin's eyes narrowed as he recognized each one of them—Maria, Elena, Lydia, Fiona, Emily, Natalie, and, of course, Sophia.

Sophia, the one he had impregnated, stood slightly apart from the others, her presence commanding yet enigmatic.

Lyerin's heart skipped a beat as a terrifying thought crossed his mind.

Don't tell me...

His gaze swept over the seven women, and his voice, though steady, held a trace of disbelief. "Don't tell me... all of you have awakened natural abilities too?"

The silence that followed was deafening.

The only one Lyerin had been aware of possessing a natural ability was Sophia.

It was something he had accounted for, something he had believed was unique to her.

The idea that the others might have awakened similar powers seemed impossible.

Natural abilities were beyond rare—so rare that in his past life, they had been the stuff of legends.

One by one, the women nodded, confirming his suspicions.

Lyerin felt the weight of their revelation settle over him like a heavy cloak. He could barely comprehend what was happening.

"How?" he demanded, though his voice lacked the usual sharpness. It was more a question of disbelief than anger.

Maria, the first to speak, answered calmly.

"When you left us in the dungeon, the Mana Beasts supported us in fighting the dungeon monsters. We were pushed to our limits, forced to face challenges beyond what we thought we could handle. That's when it happened. Just like Corora and Cornelia, we awakened."

Lyerin's expression darkened, but not with anger—with awe.

He had known these women were powerful, that they had grown under his guidance and the protection of the Stonehooves Tribe. But to think that every one of them had manifested such rare and potent abilities... It was unprecedented.

"Show me," Lyerin said, his voice a low command. "Show me what you can do, against the Asuras."

The women didn't hesitate. One by one, they unleashed their powers, directing them toward the Asura army below.

Maria summoned a storm of blades, each one glowing with an ethereal light as they cut through the air with terrifying precision. Elena conjured a wall of fire, so intense that it scorched the earth beneath the Asuras, forcing them to retreat.

Lydia's power manifested in the form of a gravitational field, pulling enemies toward her and crushing them with invisible force.

Fiona called forth the elements, sending waves of water crashing into the Asuras while bolts of lightning struck down from the sky.

Emily's ability was a terrifying explosion of darkness that consumed anything it touched, leaving nothing but void in its wake.

Natalie summoned spectral chains, binding the Asuras and rendering them powerless to resist her assault.

As the women displayed their natural abilities, the battlefield shifted once more.

The Asuras, who had once seemed invincible, were now on the defensive, struggling to withstand the overwhelming force of Lyerin's companions.

But as the display of power continued, Lyerin's eyes turned to Sophia, the one who remained silent and still.

She had yet to unleash her ability, yet he knew she possessed it. Her gaze met his, and for a moment, the world seemed to pause.

She didn't move. Didn't speak. But her presence was enough to slightly send a shiver down Lyerin's spine.

Whatever power she held, it was something far beyond the others.

Lyerin knew it was some kind of ground breaking attack, but he had never seen it.

However, he was confident it was something even more dangerous.

But for now, she remained silent.