Ch.113Liberation – 4

Green poison mist. It was the signature technique of Circe, the 2nd Corps Commander of the Demon King’s army.

Beyond its sheer power, what made it truly formidable in this world was the absence of status ailment dispelling magic, severely limiting countermeasures. Without Aria, even priests and nuns had clear limitations in opposing it.

“Kee, heeheee. Hit, kick.”

Behind the poison mist that was corroding walls and floors as it spread, Circe laughed in a broken, stuttering voice.

Her laughter, expression, and the crimson tentacles protruding from her mouth combined to create an incredibly grotesque scene. The green haze that had consumed half the central hall only enhanced this disturbing image.

“Run! Quickly!”

The succubi, who knew the power of that mist better than anyone, scattered in panic. However, one who had been closest to the main entrance was engulfed by the green smoke before she could escape.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

With a piercing scream, her body began to melt. The succubus collapsed onto the floor with a splash. The substances that once formed her body liquefied, spreading like a puddle.

What was even more horrifying was that even as her eyeballs rolled onto the floor, her nails fell off, and her entire body methodically dissolved, the succubus continued to scream, still alive.

The succubi who witnessed this terrible sight clung to the stairs, trembling violently.

“What are you doing? Not awakening the Queen? Do you all want to die here?”

When I spoke calmly, they seemed to come to their senses and grabbed Nika, practically dragging her up the stairs. Every movement was drenched with desperate emotion.

“Ni-Nika! No! Your Majesty! This way!”

“The Queen must awaken or we won’t survive!”

“L-let me go! Master! What about my Master?! Aren’t you coming?!”

Even as she was half-carried away, Nika desperately reached out toward me, but a half-wit who hadn’t even performed energy absorption once couldn’t overcome the strength of these high-ranking succubi.

Her figure disappeared up the stairs. As I was the only one left standing intact on the first floor, Circe laughed in her broken voice.

“You, you’re not run-running? Want to, to, to die?”

Soon after, I too was engulfed by the green mist. The tearing smile on her face deepened, but seeing me standing unharmed despite being enveloped in the mist, it quickly changed to confusion.

“How, how are you not de-dead? Strange, strange?”

“Simple. It’s weaker than what I’ve experienced before.”

I surrounded my body with mana for physical enhancement and lunged forward. With a single leap, I closed the distance enough to swing my sword. Circe hadn’t even realized I had approached.

I swung Eternity in a diagonal slash. The blade dug into her left shoulder, cutting through her body and emerging from her left side. A moment later, the smile completely vanished from Circe’s face.

Along the line where the blade had cut, her clothes were sliced away, and soon a straight line appeared diagonally across her skin. Her upper body collapsed as if pulled by gravity. With a thud, her bisected torso fell onto the carpet.

After confirming that her staggering lower body had tripped over itself and fallen, I used purification magic to erase the poison mist that filled the central hall.

The first floor, now cleared of the green mist, was devastated. Everything around had been corroded, rotted, or melted, leaving it no different from ruins.

‘That one’s already dead.’

Whether the poison mist had some life-extending function or not, the succubus who had still been alive when I charged was now dead, foaming blood.

Half of her body had melted away to the bone, and a puddle of liquefied remains had spread out from the corpse. I snapped my fingers and incinerated the corpse and puddle completely.

I didn’t feel any pity. A succubus high-ranking enough to be confined separately in this castle would have consumed many humans or whatever else.

“Heehee. Heehee. Heehee. Heehee.”

“…?”

Once again, I heard that broken laughter. Wondering if she wasn’t dead after all, I turned around. Circe, with only her upper body remaining, was laughing strangely.

‘Perhaps she wasn’t alive to begin with.’

Inside Circe’s body, instead of what should normally be there, other things filled the space.

Crimson tentacles protruded from her mouth and between her legs. They densely filled the cross-section where her intestines and flesh should have been. In other words, she had been as good as dead from the moment those tentacles had invaded her.

I readjusted my grip on Eternity and stepped back. With creaking sounds, Circe raised her body.

“Queen, ta-take? Mira, Mi, Mi, ra Cre-ate. Found? Take? Take? Go? Kill? Kill?”

Utterly incomprehensible, broken sounds flowed from her mouth. Now I understood why she spoke that way. She was in a half-undead state, so it made sense.

Crimson tentacles overflowing from the cross-section reconnected her upper and lower body. The tentacles didn’t seal the skin, so the cut line remained visible, but her body was functioning properly again.

“Kill? Kill? Kill? Kill? Kill? Keeheeheet, kuhit, hit, hit.”

“You’re being annoying.”

I surrounded Eternity with flames.

The white flames that had incinerated countless deaths blazed brightly.

“Hurry inside! Quick!”

Cliona, the highest-ranking and most senior of the imprisoned succubi, fled to the topmost room of the castle without looking back. Dozens of succubi followed in a flurry.

Most succubi preferred activities other than combat, and along with that came a strong attachment to their lives.

Especially if they sensed they couldn’t win, they would typically lose their fighting spirit before the battle even began.

Until now, the only succubi who had directly entered the battlefield were Astaroth, who wasn’t among that “majority,” and the Queen, whom all succubi instinctively obeyed absolutely.

“It’s good that we brought her, but how do we awaken her as Queen?”

The succubi, who had locked the door in panic despite knowing it was useless against the poison mist, only began to worry after setting down Nika, who was struggling to return to her master.

“…I don’t know either.”

Cliona admitted honestly.

The succession of power happens very secretly. When the current Succubus Queen and the next candidate enter some secret room together, what happens inside remains between just the two of them.

Moreover, since the last succession had taken place nearly a thousand years ago, Cliona truly knew nothing about it. No Queen had ever written down or explained the succession process.

‘What does that male expect us to do! How are we supposed to know the succession process!’

Cliona felt extremely wronged. If they could remove the traitor Astaroth and create a new Succubus Queen, they would have awakened her right there if they knew how. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to; they couldn’t.

She had only pretended to be cautious, not wanting to reveal her ignorance.

“So we’re going to die here? We can’t block that poison mist… and there’s nowhere to escape…”

“Tch, you keep… Sigh, never mind. Let’s try everything we can. How much energy do you all have left?”

“I’ve used all of mine…”

“Me too.”

“I have a little left, but it’s almost gone.”

Cliona despaired again at the fact that they had almost no energy left.

In truth, the outcome had been determined from the moment they were imprisoned. The Demon King himself had decreed that they would only receive minimal energy after they had completely depleted their reserves, to prevent any unnecessary actions.

Moreover, their nature craved pleasure, so despite knowing it was wasteful, they had entangled with each other, depleting what little they had. There was no way anything remained.

“Hey, half-wi… I mean, Your Majesty. Do you really know nothing? Not even how to become Queen?”

At Cliona’s question, Nika, sitting dazed on the floor, shook her head. Sighs of despair echoed throughout the room.

Their last hope was a half-wit who had never even absorbed energy once, and even she didn’t know how to awaken the Queen’s power. Just as Cliona’s eyes were about to close tightly in anticipation of their fate—

“Huh?! W-what’s that?!”

Startled by a dense shadow suddenly appearing in the room, everyone looked out the window, momentarily forgetting their despair.

A massive white flame was rising from outside.

Neither the window nor the marble composing the castle could withstand it for long before melting. A hot wind immediately rushed in. The succubi near the window screamed and fled to the opposite side.

The white flame consumed a third of the room in mere seconds before dispersing into the air. The succubi who had nearly been engulfed by the heat touched their reddened skin, their faces showing both distress and confusion.

“What was that just now?”

“I don’t know… Lady Circe doesn’t use magic like this…”

“If not Lady Circe, could it be that human male?”

“That’s absurd. What power could a human have? He’s not even the Sword Saint.”

“No, think about it. This place has barriers set by the Demon King himself. What kind of male could break through such a place alone?”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

Indeed. This castle was a prison with barriers directly maintained by the Demon King. The fact that someone had casually infiltrated such a place was more than enough proof of extraordinary ability.

In that moment, a single thought crossed all the succubi’s minds simultaneously.

“…Then wouldn’t he have enormous amounts of delicious energy?”

“…!!!!!!”

They all trembled as if struck by lightning. Someone audibly gulped.

In the midst of their desperate hunger for both energy and pleasure, the finest meal had walked right in on its own. Their wombs ached with desire after being starved for so long.

“Don’t you have any pride…? You’d spread your legs for someone who treated us like fools…?!”

Cliona rebuked them, but no one really listened. Even as she spoke, her own voice was heated, and she kept rubbing her thighs together. Her words carried no persuasive power.

Having been so starved, the succubi had completely forgotten their fear and began discussing how to seduce the human.

“…”

In the midst of these lewd and lustful desires rising, Nika quietly stood up.