Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

Chapter 186: This wretched bastard! (Loraz PoV)

"And where do you think you are going?"

Madam's voice rooted Loraz on the spot.

'This damn…'

He tightened his feasts, holding his breath in while his expression froze.

"There are still humans left for us to kill," Loraz spoke as he raised his hand and pointed at the messier and messier situation to their right.

By now, their companions were all scattered, giving ground without a fight in a desperate attempt to retreat and close their ranks.

Even though they have never trained to fight one by one their varying abilities suited this kind of combat… In the heat of the moment, everyone instinctively looked for the others.

In that kind of brutal brawl, there was no room for mercy or second thoughts. And no matter how strong one could be, the sheer advantage of human numbers…

Thankfully, the human left was now gone, shattered under the intensified advance of the celestial and divines on their side. And by now, the first groups of two or three were moving in to support the collapsing right wing.

"Then who will protect Fay?" Madam asked in a sharp tone, not paying any mind to Loraz's considerations. Indifferent to the ongoing massacre of their kin to her immediate right, she looked down with hateful scorn and disgust at a man she once lovingly called mate.

"How about you?" Loraz spat down on the ground. "Don't you think I didn't notice," an ugly sneer grew out on his lips. "You dared to lecture me about keeping my end of the deal, and look at yourself!"

All the withheld anger, annoyance, fury, regret, and embarrassment finally started to boil under the cover of Loraz's will. And bit by bit, it started to reveal itself in his voice and in his eyes.

"Are you fucking insane?!" Madam hissed, her hair starting to slowly lift up, carried up by the intense flow of aura around her.

"You are not even trying to hide it," Loraz sighed, the complex whirlpool of emotions in his eyes now clearing out into just a single feeling.

A pure sense of contempt.

"You bring up the deal to justify your care for Fay, and you do so by refusing to protect her?" Madam hissed again, her voice growing noticeably colder and fainter.

"What? You can't be the one protecting her?" Loraz squinted his eyes. "You were so against my involvement, and now you try to enforce it?"

Loraz gritted his teeth.

'As much as I dislike that human, there's no denying his merits. But to ask me to watch over while he screws my daughter?!'

The desperate attempts of Loraz's will to keep his emotions in check started to fail.

His feelings continued to boil under the facade of his calm.

"If I'm protecting Fay, who will ensure the human supreme won't hit us or the forest?" Madam's voice suddenly turned calm, light… coy, even.

Loraz's face twitched. He squinted his eyes as he gave his wife a long stare.

"What the hell are you…"

Loraz didn't finish his words. Instead, his gaze intensified even further as he analyzed the possible explanations for Madam's words.

'I can't sense any supreme at all… But as mere promoted ascended, that's given,' Loraz thought, squinting his eyes to the point only narrow slits remained for him to see out of. 'But doesn't that mean…'

"That also answers your former inquiry," Madam looked down at Loraz with a smile of vile, perfectly matured vengefulness. "I do not break our deal, for just two years after I left, I've advanced to the rank of a supreme."

Loraz's face tensed up. And quite visibly, his aura started to rapidly diminish.

The requirement for his promotion was to become the leader of the forest. And to do so, he had to be the strongest.

Up to the point of his marriage with Madam, things went great. As the strongest in his clan, Loraz could enjoy the extreme benefits of his promotion. Yet, when madam appeared…

His aura weakened, all the way to the point of reverting to its unpromoted state.

For how great of a boon his promotion was, he had to constantly remain worthy of it.

And although it costs him his wife and child, he ended up making a deal when this topic soured his relationship beyond repair.

Thanks to the deal he made with Madam, Loraz regained his position as the strongest in both clans, soon recovering his promoted aura and bringing peace and prosperity to the forest with the strength it offered.

But now that he learned it's been actually years since Madam advanced beyond the level of a promoted ascended…

Once again, his aura started to falter, for he wasn't the strongest anymore.

And with a single look at the scale of Fay's promotion ceremony… she could soon become another contender.

'She knew about my situation and yet she still revealed it…?!' Loraz's soul stifled. The sense of his strength rapidly draining, right as he was tasked with protecting his estranged daughter while she lay with some disgusting human…

"Now, sit tight, keep an eye on them, and let me do the heavy lifting as usual," Madam dropped her silly-dilly attitude, once again spitting her words out like insults straight in Loraz's face.

Then, she turned around… and simply walked away, passing by the perimeter around Fay's ceremonial grounds only to stand still some distance away, right at the edge of the disaster their daughter brought.

'She is a freaking supreme…' Loraz gritted his teeth… 'But she's no longer a part of the clan!'

The sudden realization halted the weakening process, reverting it and causing the world's aura to steadily fill the gap created by Loraz's momentary doubt.

'And neither is Fay…' Loraz looked over to the storm of silvery-white hair just up ahead. 'She might be my bastard, but she's of an exiled mother. As such, she isn't a part of either clan either!'

A dark thought started to well within Loraz's heart.

'After promotion, they are going to be weakened…' his look sharpened, his aura stabilized, 'which will make it the best time to get rid of this bastard who took my daughter away!'

The look in Loraz's eyes darkened as his aura started to surge in response to the storm of emotions finally reaching the boiling-over point inside of the highest of the divines.

'It's because of that bastard that I'm now in a position like this,' Loraz took a deep breath, pouring down the cold water into the pot of his emotions and somewhat calming the state of his soul. 'Without him, they would continue to live in some hole. And I bet he's behind this attack to begin with!'

Loraz wasn't that arrogant and self-centered to ignore the merits of this strange human. But just like he acknowledged the effectiveness of his tactics… He couldn't chase away the doubt of them being a bit too perfect.

As if everything was actually designed to happen along that kid's will and plans from the very beginning.

'Yes, it's all his fault,' Loraz's face tensed up as he yet again had to restrain his emotions, keeping them for fuel for when this wretched bastard would emerge from the domain of Fay's hair. 'So, once I remove him, everything will go back to how it should be!'