Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"Wa—" I quickly covered my mouth, almost screaming in shock. In front of us was an enormous lizardman, over 3 meters tall. It was one of the three monsters drinking earlier.

How did he get out so quickly? We just saw him at the table.

"Huh? Not a caveman."

When we saw each other, the lizardman also saw our faces hidden under the hoods. He looked confused.

"So you're underage dark elves?"

Being called underage is rather sad...

A strong, awful smell of dark elements and alcohol wafted from the lizardman, making me dizzy.

So they really were drinking alcohol. And from his unsteady steps, he was clearly drunk.

"Mm..."

Even when drunk, his eyes were still sharp. He was about to let us go when he suddenly noticed something off and picked us up again.

"Strange, you look too pale..."

He leaned in to sniff us.

"And you smell of light elements?"

Oh no, we've been found out! I looked at Selene held in the other hand. She also looked anxious.

"What do we do?" I mouthed to her.

Just then, the lizardman suddenly roared towards the tavern, "Hey! Come see these young dark elves tainted by light, two of them!"

"What light tainting!"

Only laughter came from the tavern. They didn't seem to believe him.

"How can there be light tainting here? You think this is still Elara Woodlands? Hahaha..."

Luckily they mistook us for being tainted by light. Selene and I exchanged surprised looks hearing Elara Woodlands mentioned in a place like this.

"You don't believe me!"

To our shock, the angry lizardman carried us into the tavern and heavily put us side by side on the chairs in front of the table.

"See for yourselves! Isn't it so?"

"Huh, it really is..."

The wolfman and demon were stunned, staring at us with their drunk eyes. Finally the wolfman admitted losing the guess.

"It really stinks! Bro, you win this round. Take them away quickly. This drink's on me, cheers!"

He raised a huge cup and poured alcohol into his big mouth.

"Elder bro... she doesn't look like... like a dark elf."

The demon reacted differently, stuttering while pointing at me. He seemed to sense something off, completely ignoring Selene.

Being so close to the demon, I also felt strangely irritated, as if he was my mortal enemy. I was much more disgusted than with the lizardman and wolfman.

Oh no, I thought we had fooled them, but things had suddenly turned bad.

Maybe because he was too drunk, the demon couldn't focus and kept rubbing his eyes, unable to ascertain my true identity.

"Strange... what exact... exactly is she..."

"What do you mean she doesn't look like one!"

Unexpectedly, the lizardman got furious at the demon's words. He slammed the table, spilling all the cups and bottles.

"I say she looks like one, so she does! Are you denying her just because she's tainted by light? I, Kurnel, hate discrimination the most!"

"Calm down, calm down!"

The wolfman immediately tried to placate Kurnel, fawning over him while pouring him more alcohol.

"Of course she looks like one! Why wouldn't she? Big bro is right. I've been saying that all along too."

He then turned to the other side and offered the cup to the demon.

"But Buck, you were the one who said she didn't look like one, disrespecting big bro. Drink up!"

"But I really feel that she's..."

Demon Buck took the cup and glanced at me again, still finding things suspicious. But Kurnel cut him off.

"Stop! If... if you still recognize me as big bro, then lis... listen to me."

Kurnel spoke righteously, even revealing a hint of sadness.

"The dark elves have always been our allies. Meeting a calamity like light tainting is already unfortunate enough, some tribes have even gone extinct because of it! We absolutely can't kick them when they're down. As long as I, Kurnel's here, I'll cover for them. None of you try anything funny with them!"

He then shouted at the bar, "Another bottle of wine!"

"Coming!"

A seductive, tender voice responded. Soon, a succubus emerged from behind the bar carrying an enormous wine bottle.

She had prominent demon wings on her back and a long, pointed tail trailing behind as she placed the bottle heavily on the table.

"Please enjoy yourselves."

She specifically glanced at Selene and me but didn't do anything else before returning behind the bar.

"Let me treat you girls to some wine."

Kurnel took two cups and filled them for us, very enthusiastically.

"Uh, no need..."

I was dumbfounded. No way Selene and I could finish those huge cups. We'd pass out for sure. I quickly rejected his offer.

"Hey! My big bro offers you wine and you disrespect him like that..."

The wolfman stood up, seemingly ready to scold us.

"Forget it, they're not of age yet. It's fine if they don't wanna drink. Let's drink, brothers!"

Kurnel was very magnanimous, not forcing us and continuing to drink with the wolfman.

Only Demon Buck kept staring at us doubtfully, but he couldn't ascertain my true identity.

"Well... we'll get going then."

Seeing Kurnel and the wolfman guzzling more wine and getting even more wasted, I was worried things might go south if we stayed too long. Better leave preemptively.

"Hmm..."

Kurnel looked at us blearily and nodded.

"In the future... if anyone bullies you, report my name... Kurnel..."

"Yeah... my big bro's the strongest!"

The equally drunk wolfman chimed in.

After they finished, Selene and I hurried out back to the alley intersection, hiding the tavern from view before finally relaxing a bit.

"That was so dangerous. Those three dark creatures were at least 5th order. We'd definitely lose against them."

Selene still felt lingering fear. Just now was way too perilous. If they hadn't been drunk, we'd absolutely be done for.

"Can't believe we'd meet such virtuous monsters in a place like this. It's unbelievable."

I was also very moved by Kurnel's words and actions.

"If Irene met him back then, she probably wouldn't have insisted on proving her innocence to Nicola."

Speaking of Irene, I suddenly realized I hadn't checked on her in a long time.

"Selene, how has Irene been recently?"

Seeing me suddenly ask about Irene, Selene was caught unprepared. She paused for a bit before answering.

"She should be fine. The light elves accepted her right after she met them that day and took her away. Very normal reaction. After all, light elves are dark elves transformed through purification. They generally won't be discriminated against."

Hearing there were no issues, I felt relieved and followed Selene towards the square we had descended upon earlier.

"Are you really gonna break into these houses?"

I still felt uneasy about these coffin-like houses, worried there might be something horrifying inside. Since we couldn't find other monsters on the streets, we could only try knocking on doors.

"Why don't we try some other houses instead?"

"But this area's terrain is most advantageous for us. The houses are spaced far apart so if anything happens, we likely won't alert others. It's also easy to escape."

Selene explained her rationale for choosing this place. It was very sensible, leaving me conflicted.

"Haha, no more dithering, because I'm going to catch you here!"

Suddenly, a voice came from above, shocking Selene and me. We looked up to see a creature flapping demon wings in midair.

That seductive tone and allure in the voice seemed familiar. And the trademark wings and tail confirmed my guess.

"You're that succubus server from earlier?"

"That's right, little sister even remembers me so quickly."

The succubus slowly descended onto the square near us, blocking the alley entrance while correcting me.

"But I'm the owner. Not a server."

At first I thought she was afraid we'd escape from there. But then I noticed another figure emerge from the small alley behind her.

"It's that demon from before."

Selene sounded very nervous. The other creature was indeed one of the drunken trio who kept doubting my identity, Buck.

"Why capture us?" Clinging onto some hope, I tried pretending we were innocent. Maybe she'd let us go.

"Nice try, but you've already exposed yourselves. Those three got drunk but I didn't."

The succubus scoffed, immediately seeing through our identities.

"An angel and light elf thinking some flimsy disguises could escape my discerning eyes?"

I glanced at Selene. I strangely wanted to laugh but forcefully held it in.