Chapter 4: Meow?

"At your command, my King! Your subordinate saw nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

Azathoth slammed his forehead heavily against the ground, his hands clamped tightly over his eyes. Yet, the violent heaving of his broad shoulders and the slight trembling of his demonic horns betrayed the extreme turmoil within him.

Cynthia was trembling with rage, her small fists clenched so tightly they turned white. She wanted nothing more than to rip this outfit to shreds and tear those cat ears right off. But with the damned system in place, she knew that if she dared to do so, that thing would immediately replace it with something even more humiliating.

[Ding! Intense emotional fluctuation detected (shame, fury, and murderous intent)! Passive effect of the "Cute Coquetry Set" triggered: "Pitiful Aura" enhanced! Current grievance level is off the charts, Cuteness stat +30! Current Cuteness: 133/200 (LV1)]

[Friendly reminder: Host, anger is also a high-cuteness emotion! Please keep it up! The effect is superb!]

Cynthia’s vision darkened, and she nearly vomited blood. Keep up the anger? This system was the devil among devils! No, she couldn't stay here. She had to find the source of the Abyss aura immediately and find somewhere to dispose of this wretched clothing.

Cynthia took a deep breath, suppressing her murderous intent and shame, and tried her best to ignore the cat ears on her head that possessed such a strong sense of presence. She tensed her small face, attempting to regain the meager authority she had held when ordering Azathoth, and commanded in what she considered her coldest tone:

"Azathoth, stay here. Without my orders, you are not to move, not to follow, and certainly not to peek!" She paused, emphasizing her words, "If you disobey, you die!"

"Yes, my King," Azathoth’s voice came muffled from the ground. His body remained taut as a stone, not daring to twitch.

Cynthia stopped looking at him and whirled around. Setting off in her small leather shoes, she marched toward the location where the box with the Abyss aura had been found with a posture that was almost tragic. The dainty princess dress looked completely out of place in the gloomy surroundings, and the black cat ears on her head stood up stubbornly. She stepped down with excessive force, as if trying to grind the insect remains and soil beneath her feet into the deepest pits of hell.

"The cub is walking with such determination! Her back even exudes murderous intent!"
"Hahaha, the Cutie King sets out, and not a blade of grass grows!"
"Azathoth: Weak, pitiful, helpless, but obedient.jpg"
"The cat ears are twitching; the cub is actually super angry, right? Too cute!"
"Is the cub's mission just a simple exploration? If this were a combat mission, the image of her fighting in a princess dress with cat ears... it’s too beautiful, I dare not imagine it."
"Does the cub need to fight? She just has to stand there, and the enemies would be cute-ified to death."

Cynthia tried her best to block out any potentially cute thoughts in her mind, focusing entirely on the dangers that might lie ahead. She carefully skirted around the charred remains of giant mushrooms, her leather shoes making slight creaking sounds as they trod on the soft, decaying soil.

The trace of Abyss aura was becoming clearer. Cynthia crouched down, enduring her disgust as she pushed aside several charred fragments of fungal flesh to uncover the box emitting the aura. This was it. Cynthia reached out to pick it up.

Whoosh—

A pale hand burst through the dirt, snatching the metal box a split second before Cynthia could. Then, a humanoid creature covered in filth crawled out from the earth.

Cynthia froze. An Abyss-dweller?

Why would a broken-horned Abyss-dweller be in a place like this? Furthermore, something was wrong with him; the Abyss aura radiating from his body was extremely chaotic.

"Grrr... ghh..."

The broken-horned Abyss-dweller let out a low, beastly growl from his throat, raised his hand, and lunged toward Cynthia’s delicate, pinkish face. Cynthia’s pupils shrank, and a massive sense of crisis surged in her heart.

"Presumptuous!"

A cold, angry rebuke escaped her lips instinctively. However, the moment she channeled her power to prepare for a counterattack:

[Ding! Host is facing an attack! Passive effect of the "Cute Coquetry Set" triggered: "Absolute Defense: Cute Protection!"]

[Effect: Forcibly initiates an act of cuteness to neutralize the attack! Determination: Host's current appearance (princess dress + cat ears) is a perfect match! Activation successful!]

Cynthia felt an irresistible force instantly take over her body. The movement she intended to use to strike instead turned into a踉跄 (stumble) that sent her sitting backward.

*Thump.* Cynthia fell to the ground.

The cold expression she had struggled to maintain collapsed entirely in her panic. Her pink, pouty lips parted subconsciously, letting out a short, terrified sound:

"Meow-woo?!"

The voice was soft and sweet, carrying the unique, high-pitched fragility of a nine-year-old girl, sounding incredibly abrupt in the forest. Even more absurdly, the black artificial cat ears on her head, bolstered by the system's power, flattened tightly against her silver hair, even trembling slightly.

Time seemed to freeze. The crazed Abyss-dweller, upon hearing that soft "meow-woo" and seeing those ears flattened in terror, paused in his tracks.

Cynthia seized the split-second opportunity, sprang up, and grabbed the Abyss-dweller’s wrist.

"Get... a hold of yourself!"

Cynthia gritted her teeth, forcing a shred of superior authority into her childish voice, trying to snap the other party out of it. They remained in a strange and dangerous stalemate. Cynthia’s small face flushed red from the exertion, and the cat ears on her head remained in that pitiful, frightened, flattened state.

Her "Path to Godhood" trial livestream room completely exploded.

"Meow... meow-woo?????"
"What did I just hear?! The cub meowed?! The cub actually meowed!!!"
"Ahhhhh, flattened ears! It’s the flattened ears! I’m dying of cuteness!!!"
"The cub is truly overpowered; she can literally cuteness-kill her enemies."
"That was so close just now! The cub's reaction was legendary!"
"Who is that Abyss-dweller? He looks so miserable... but also so dangerous!"
"The Cutie King's ultimate: Meow-woo Impact! Super effective! (Chaos state dispelled for 0.1 seconds)"
"Cub: I kill bugs, I meow, but am I a good Demon King?!"
"Cub, how many more surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

Time seemed to freeze again. Cynthia still held the Abyss-dweller’s wrist tightly, her ears trembling with her breath, perfectly portraying that sense of fright.

[Ding! Host has successfully neutralized the crisis! Cuteness +15! Current Cuteness: 148/200 (LV2)! Please keep up the good work and maintain a cute posture!]

[Friendly reminder: That frightened "meow-woo" was super effective! The cuteness conversion rate reached 98%! Suggest adding to the common skill library!]

"Maintain your head! Keep up the good work your ghost!" Cynthia wanted to gouge the system out of her brain and throw it into the deepest level of the Abyss to ferment for ten thousand years. She glared at the broken-horned Abyss-dweller, forcing down the urge to tear both him and this broken system to pieces.

"Wake up!"

Cynthia barked again. This time, she intentionally lowered her voice, trying to regain a sliver of coldness, but no matter how much she suppressed her childish voice, she couldn't hide its softness; it sounded more like a milky, petulant threat.

The Abyss-dweller whose wrist she held tightly flickered with a brief moment of clarity in his eyes. It was not submission to Cynthia's words, but an instinctive perception of his King rooted in the bloodline of the Abyss-dwellers. He stared fixedly with bloodshot eyes at Cynthia’s exquisite little face. A trace of confusion replaced the madness.

"King?"

A single word was squeezed out from the depths of his throat. The voice was filled with disbelief and immense bewilderment, as if confirming a phantom that could never possibly exist.

Cynthia’s heart skipped a beat. This Abyss-dweller recognized her?

"It is I."

Cynthia immediately followed his reaction, lowering her voice further and struggling to maintain the dignity of a King. "Tell me, who are you? What happened? This box..." Her gaze drifted to the metal box emitting the Abyss aura in his hand.

"No... fake... a trap, don't try to fool me!"

The clarity in the broken-horned Abyss-dweller's eyes vanished. He let out a roar, shook off Cynthia’s grip, and turned to run toward the depths of the forest.

"Stop!"

Cynthia immediately moved her small legs to give chase.

[Ding! Host's intense desire to pursue detected! Passive effect of the "Cute Coquetry Set" triggered: "Cute Pursuit: Cat-step Dash!"]

[Effect: Forcibly optimizes the Host's running posture into a super cute cat-sprint! Movement speed increased by 30%! Activation successful!]

Cynthia felt her legs become light, and an irresistible force forcibly adjusted her running form. The chase that was supposed to be a determined pursuit instantly turned into a dainty, sprinting pitter-patter. The cat ears on her head stood bolt upright, shaking joyfully with the rhythm of her run.

*Ahhhhh—*

Cynthia screamed internally. This damned posture! This damned speed! She could clearly feel herself like a fully wound-up cute toy, darting through the forest in a way that was off the charts in terms of humiliation.