The Hero Who Became a Monster Girl Will Never Fall to Evil

Although things had turned into chaos before they even set off, Aislin was in a pretty good mood. She felt that the slime today was far more lively than it had been over the past two days.

She didn’t know whether the slime was just letting its true nature show after getting familiar with her, or if it was doing some kind of pre-match warm-up.

On the contrary.

Vieya felt that after returning to the Elven Forest, Aislin had become much more reserved. Many years ago, back on that magic ark, she would even sarcastically bad-mouth a certain active Hero behind their back just because her accordion and flute had been confiscated, calling him a fossilized flatboard from ten thousand years ago.

If it were now, she would probably just smile it off.

Was this the price of climbing to a high position? Like the young Runtu stabbing a ferret under the moon with Xun Ge’er—when they met again years later, there was already a pitiful, thick wall between them.

The griffin had been beaten up badly by the evil slime, several tufts of its head feathers even plucked out. Now it was looking utterly aggrieved, seeking justice from the elven princess.

Aislin put on a show, giving the slime a few light, half-hearted slaps on the butt, then used the opportunity to smooth things over and coax both sides back into reconciliation.

“Little Vieya, do you want to learn our elven combat system?”

Beside the griffin, Aislin smiled faintly and continued as she looked at the somewhat bewildered slime.

“Mother talked with me all night yesterday. She said your race’s base growth attributes are far too low. Even though you have all kinds of strange methods and even a world-class ultimate weapon like the Holy Sword, you’ll still suffer losses when facing enemies with solid fundamentals.”

Vieya nodded, and just thinking about it made her sad.

Using ordinary humans as the baseline: at the very beginning, humans gain a random +1 attribute point per level; after reaching second tier, it becomes +2 per level; third tier +4; fourth tier +8, and so on. By the ninth tier, each level can grant as much as 256 points of base attributes.

So, 1 is humanity’s base growth value.

The elves’ base growth value is 2, and only those with royal blood like Aislin can reach 3. It sounds high, but to Vieya it was just so-so.

According to ancient records, pure-blooded evil dragons could reach a growth value of 7. Only hegemon-level bloodline creatures like Flaviel could even touch the threshold of 9. But...

Back when Vieya still had a human body, her base growth value was 10.

After turning into a slime girl, it became 0.3...

The difference between a king standing on the ceiling and black iron sunk in a mud pit.

With such a trash panel, even tenfold or hundredfold amplification through Authorities couldn’t compare to her former self who didn’t even use Authorities.

Vieya was utterly despairing. After discovering this fact back then, she gave up on pursuing the same body-refinement path as before. Relying on her body’s durability and recovery, plus the rank-based killing power brought by Authorities, she turned herself into a living turret.

After obtaining the Holy Sword, she went even further down the turret path.

After all, with two immortality Authorities and racial traits backing her up, even if her body was blown into tiny droplets, she could still recover. In that regard, she was much stronger than in her human days.

At least she wasn’t a glass cannon...

Vieya comforted herself, though in reality she was now just a fragile chicken. Without Authorities and the Holy Sword, if she ran into someone even slightly stronger who had gathered intelligence in ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ advance, she would have a very hard fight.

“I’ve got it so hard,” the slime girl said, clutching her chest in unbearable heartache.

Aislin fell silent for a moment. She wanted to say that effort would be rewarded, that learning even a bit of the elven combat style would help—but after Vieya casually revealed that her base growth value was only 0.3, she fell silent as well.

“This isn’t right. Your destructive power is obviously so high...”

Aislin stared blankly at the aggrieved, pitiful big white-haired loli in front of her, not knowing how to comfort her.

“It’s fine, I still have other trump cards.”

The grievance on Vieya’s face vanished in an instant, replaced by a cheerful grin. She nudged the elven princess’s waist with her elbow while shamelessly boasting.

“My stats are low, sure—but in this world, no one has more methods and trump cards than me. When I fight, I don’t rely on stats. I rely on brains and trump cards~”

“Uh... as long as you’re happy.”

Aislin shook her head, finding it hard to comment. She turned around, hung the small bundle and the food-filled pack onto the griffin, and secured the saddle.

Purging monsters was currently the fastest way to earn merits, but it was also among the most dangerous. Normally, the stronger the monster, the smarter it was, so forming a high-quality, experienced, full-time team to hunt together was the optimal path—just like the old Hero Squad.

But among all current competitors, only Aislin herself, a lone elf, lacked merits and had to use this method to gain them quickly...

Moreover, because of the Guardian Forest’s barrier, monsters wandering within the Elven Forest couldn’t step onto elven lands without permission.

As a result, the monsters stockpiled within the Elven Forest instead became a natural barrier preventing human and other-race invasions. Naturally, no elves were willing to risk their lives fighting monsters just for merits.

Aislin’s piloting was much gentler. Sitting on the griffin’s back wasn’t bumpy at all—rather, it felt like riding a sightseeing vehicle, a heart-fluttering tour through foreign scenery.

The Elven Forest was the most densely wooded place in the entire Western Lands, practically a sea of trees. It interwove with the azure sky above, deep green forests stretching all the way to the horizon, forming a vast green carpet without visible end.

Smack!

The slime grabbed onto Aislin’s waist. Even through a layer of knight’s soft armor, Vieya still felt the other’s body visibly tremble.

Hee-hee, innocent girls are so easy to tease.

Vieya thought mischievously.

These griffins bred by the elves flew extremely fast. Before long, they passed beyond the Guardian Forest’s range and entered the part of the Elven Forest where monsters roamed.

“Aislin, are we just going down and killing monsters at random?” Vieya suddenly asked.

“No.” Aislin shook her head. “I accepted a task. Not long ago, an elven team returning from a human city was attacked by an unknown monster while passing through the Elven Forest. My goal this time is to find that unknown monster and eliminate the threat.”

“Tch, that sounds troublesome.”

Vieya thought for a moment, then asked again, “Do you know where the attack happened? Or any characteristics of that monster?”

“Of course. I prepared all of that in advance. With me here, you can relax—ah, we’re here!”

The next second, the griffin began to slow and descend, smoothly flying downward under Aislin’s control.

Vieya looked into the distance. Vast stretches of dense forest drew closer and closer. Colorful birds were startled by the airflow from the griffin’s wings, flapping frantically as they scattered in all directions.

This was the midsection of the Elven Forest, also its most desolate region. Aside from poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, almost only monsters appeared here.

Yet at that moment, she sensed from the dense forest below a strangely familiar presence—along with a faint, lingering smell of blood drifting above the trees.

“Aislin, do you smell it? This scent...” Vieya asked, her voice tinged with unease.

“It’s the smell of blood.” Aislin frowned as she guided the griffin in search of a landing spot, speaking in confusion. “Human blood. Could it be... that humans were also attacked by monsters in this forest?”