Meanwhile, one day before the heroes continued their meeting…
…
…
…
Monsters rampaged and caused damage to a small demon race town, and I rode Blacky towards the border without end. We took only brief rests here and there while racing forward nonstop.
There was no helping it. When escaping the demon city, I ended up revealing that I was a warrior. For all I know, someone might have already spread this news to other regions.
Even if not…
“If Lillian has already moved to the border, it’s gonna be a headache.”
The border dividing demon and human lands. If she’s already teleported over there, things are gonna get quite troublesome for me.
Lillian knows that if I’m gonna run, I need to cross the border and reach the Holy Kingdom. Of course, she probably doesn’t expect me to have made it this far already.
But she definitely knows the places I’ll have to pass through. If she’s already waiting there, my only option is to break through as fast as possible.
“Since Lillian can’t cover the entire border alone, she likely brought her succubi underlings. If they’ve surrounded me without any gaps, it’s better to just break through at full speed instead of looking for detours.”
It’d be much worse if the succubi spot me and report back quickly. So it’s better to just rely on time stop and break through fast.
It’s fine. Once I make it to the Holy Kingdom side, even Lillian can’t do much. She had to sneak in secretly last time when kidnapping me. The succubi forces alone can’t confront the Holy Kingdom directly.
With that thought, I kept riding Blacky endlessly. There’s no time to rest – the food supplies I carefully packed are almost gone too.
I need to break through before I run out of strength.
When I finally reached the border…
“Barrier!”
I could see the barrier erected by the demons. All I had to do was break through that massive gate. Beyond it lies the human-built wall, and beyond that, soldiers from the Holy Kingdom are guarding.
Of course, there are demon soldiers here too. That’s why I was about to quickly activate time stop…
Woooom!!!
“!”
Right then, a crimson barrier suddenly appeared in front of me as I was charging forward.
As I hesitated, the crimson barrier quickly expanded into a dome shape, sealing off all sides in an instant.
Before I knew it, I was like a rat trapped in a poison jar. Tightening my expression, I told Blacky:
“Fall back from the barrier!”
-Gruuuh!
We quickly moved away from the crimson barrier and approached the center. Then I surveyed the surroundings.
“…Was this a trap?”
Looking at the crimson barrier that so precisely locked onto me, I analyzed the situation with a troubled expression. Clearly either Lillian or one of her succubi subordinates is here… but how did they react so fast?
I was moving faster than the succubi could possibly follow, thanks to time stop and Blacky’s speed. It’s clear I was moving quicker than Lillian expected.
If they had known my location, they would have slowly closed in to capture me rather than waiting here. They didn’t do that.
They must not have known my exact location. Though if someone spotted me approaching quickly, they might have figured it out – after all, the wall isn’t unmanned.
Still, could her succubi really have been able to trap me faster than I could use time stop? Or was there another expert here?
Even though it seems like a trap, given how the huge dome precisely blocked my path right as I arrived, it wasn’t pre-set. Magical traps in this world work like landmines – they require some kind of trigger mechanism set in the ground to activate.
Blacky didn’t step on any magical formations. That means this dome was formed on the spot.
So there must be an expert nearby who was prepared and could create this faster than I could use time stop…
Only one person came to mind.
‘Lillian.’
She’s the queen of the succubi and an exceptional dark magician.
A wielder of maja, the dark power granted by the demon god Asmodeus, which contrasts with the divine power given by the goddess Ain.
This dome was also formed using maja. While there may be other skilled dark magicians near the border, no one else comes to mind who could immediately trap me upon spotting me.
Sure enough…
Rustle…
Several women appeared from the wall and were approaching. There must have been dozens of them.
Tensing up, I looked at the woman leading them as she stepped into the dome.
Her long light purple hair flowed gracefully, her pink eyes curved elegantly.
She wore a smile that seemed both compassionate and mysterious, possessing a beauty that would leave anyone awestruck. A perfect beauty worthy of being the queen of the succubi, a race renowned even among demons for their beauty.
The owner of a body that looked like it was sculpted by the gods herself slowly approached.
And along with her, her subordinate succubi casually entered the dome and began surrounding me.
Can they move freely? No, she must have adjusted it to allow only those she permits.
While I was considering ways to escape, the beautiful woman with light purple hair and pink eyes, Queen Lillian of the succubi, smiled gently and spoke to me:
“It’s been a while, Ain. How have you been?”
“I haven’t been doing well, Your Majesty. They say leaving home leads to hardship, and sure enough, here I am suffering.”
I replied casually while continuing to look for an escape route. Meanwhile, Lillian kept talking to me.
“Is that so? What a pity. Then let’s go home soon. Of course, there will be a very harsh price to pay for taking such a long stroll without permission. You won’t be leaving the dungeon for a while.”
“The dungeon…”
Literally referring to the underground space in Lillian’s castle.
In the game, it’s the area you enter upon losing to her. Its purpose – a torture chamber.
Those imprisoned there have continuous waves of pleasure forced upon their minds beyond what they can handle. Eventually, they come to perceive this pleasure as excruciating pain, leading to their mental breakdown.
To make matters worse, her subordinate succubi constantly lust after their essence and bodies, reducing humans to mummified husks in no time. Spending even a day or two there turns someone into a cripple. If I won’t be leaving for a while… what exactly does she plan to do to me?
“…Scary.”
“Why did you run away? Did I not treat you well enough, Ain? You said it was scary… so why did you run away FROM ME?”
The way she spoke each word separately showed how angry she truly was. Though her face was smiling, I could sense her sticky possessiveness and obsession in her eyes.
Her gaze revealed someone determined to reclaim what she considered hers at all costs.
Of course, having attachment to one’s possessions isn’t strange. But Lillian went too far.
Once she claimed something, she never let it go. If she lost or had it taken from her, she would do anything to get it back.
That’s Lillian.
Especially when her property ran away on its own? She was the type to give the harshest punishment to such property.
She was the kind of person who would do anything to possess something forever.
Anyone could see she was mentally ill, but knowing why she acted this way made me feel a bit sorry for her.
“Your Majesty.”
“If you have something to say, say it now. After we return, even begging won’t help…”
“Saying these things won’t fill the void in your heart, Your Majesty.”
“…”
Her smiling expression stiffened at my words. She glared at me.
“What do you mean by that all of a sudden?”
“You’re too fixated on what you hold in your hands, Your Majesty. Everything changes eventually. There’s no such thing as something permanently ‘mine’.”
“…”
“One day, everything that was once ‘mine’ will cease to be. Isn’t that why you’re obsessing over someone like me? If you truly thought I could be yours forever, wouldn’t you have stopped trying to cling so desperately? You wouldn’t have cared at all.”
Her face twitched. Her expression, with only her eyes wide open, kept convulsing as if she had forgotten how to express herself.
“There are things you simply cannot control. Clinging to change will only bring you pain, Your Majesty. So…”
“Ain, my feelings have changed.”
At that moment, Lillian interrupted me.
With only her eyes wide open and an expressionless face, she glared at me as I swallowed hard.
Yes, the persuasion failed.
“I originally planned to let you spend time with the other succubi in the dungeon, but not anymore. Now, I’m going to personally make you scream beneath me.”
“…”
“Forget any thoughts that it will ever stop. I won’t stop until I’ve heard endless screams and pleas from your mouth, dozens, hundreds of times…”
Her monotone voice carried deep madness and anger.
She was completely serious.
“…Did I really poke the hornet’s nest?”
Anyway, one thing was certain.
I’m screwed.
