The day before the heroes continued their meeting.
After leaving the small demon city that had been ravaged by rampaging beasts, Kkamang and I raced endlessly toward the border, taking only brief moments of rest.
There was no other choice.
When I escaped from the demon city, I had revealed that I was a hero.
Someone might have already spread this news to other regions.
Even if that wasn’t the case…
‘If Serentia has already moved toward the border, things will get troublesome.’
‘The border that divides the land of demons and humans. ‘
‘If Serentia had teleported there ahead of me, it would put me in a difficult position.’
‘Serentia knows it too.’
‘If I want to escape, I have to cross the border and reach the Holy Kingdom. Of course, she might not have expected that I would have made it to the border this quickly.’
But at the very least, she knows the route I must take to escape.
‘If she is already waiting there, my only option is to break through as quickly as possible.’
‘She can’t cover the entire border alone, so she must have brought her subordinate succubi. If they’ve surrounded the area without any gaps, it’s better to charge through at full speed rather than wasting time looking for a detour.’
‘If her succubi spot me and report my position quickly, that would be an even bigger hassle. In that case, I’d be better off relying on my time-stop ability and making a swift breakthrough.’
‘It’s fine. As long as I make it past the Holy Kingdom’s side, Serentia won’t be able to do much. Even when she kidnapped me, she had to sneak into the Holy Kingdom while hiding her identity. The succubi faction alone can’t afford to clash with the Holy Kingdom.’
With that thought, I urged Kkamang forward, galloping endlessly.
There was no time to rest. The supplies I had packed so carefully were already running low.
I had to break through before my strength gave out.
***
By the time I arrived at the border…
‘A wall!’
I could see the barrier built by the demons.
Once I broke through that enormous gate, it would be over.
Beyond it was the wall built by humans, and past that, the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom stood guard.
Of course, the demon soldiers were guarding this side as well.
That’s why I quickly attempted to use time-stop—
Wooooong!!!
“!?”
It was at that moment.
A dark red barrier suddenly unfolded before me, blocking my path.
I hesitated for a moment upon seeing it, and before I knew it, the barrier expanded into a dome, sealing off every exit.
It had happened in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, I had become a rat trapped in a jar.
My expression hardened as I spoke to Kkamang.
“Get away from the barrier!”
-Krrk!
We quickly retreated from the dark red barrier and moved toward the center of the enclosed space.
Then, I surveyed my surroundings.
‘…Was this a trap?’
The barrier had unfolded as if someone had been waiting for me.
I analyzed the situation with a grim expression.
‘Judging by how precisely they trapped me, Serentia or her succubi must be here… but how did they respond so quickly?’
I had moved so fast that even the succubi couldn’t have kept up.
Thanks to time-stop and Kkamang’s speed, I had traveled at a pace Serentia wouldn’t have anticipated.
‘If they had known my location beforehand, they wouldn’t have waited here but instead tightened their encirclement gradually. But they hadn’t done that.’
That meant they hadn’t known my exact location.
At most, someone might have spotted me as I rapidly approached.
After all, the border wasn’t unguarded.
‘But for her succubi to trap me faster than I could activate time-stop? Did she have someone with that level of skill with her?’
Even if this was a trap, the way the dome expanded to block my path at just the right moment meant it hadn’t been pre-set.
Magic traps in this world work like landmines—there has to be a trigger, like stepping on a magic circle, to activate them.
But Kkamang hadn’t stepped on anything like that.
Meaning, this dome had been created on the spot.
Which meant there was someone nearby capable of forming something like this faster than I could activate time-stop the moment they saw me.
Only one person came to mind.
‘Serentia.’
She was the Queen of the Succubi and a powerful dark sorceress.
Unlike the divine power granted by the Goddess El, she wielded magic infused with demonic energy, bestowed upon her by the Demon God Esheb.
This dome had also been formed using demonic energy.
Of course, since this was the front line, there might be other dark sorcerers as skilled as her near the border.
But there was no one else I could think of who would immediately trap me like this the moment they saw me.
And sure enough—
***
Flap…
From the direction of the wall, several women appeared and began approaching.
There had to be at least dozens of them.
I tensed and turned my gaze toward the woman leading them from the front, stepping into the dome.
Her long, wavy lavender hair cascaded down her back, and her soft pink eyes curved gently as she smiled.
It was a smile that could be seen as either kind or seductive.
With a beauty that could make anyone marvel, she was the epitome of what the succubi were known for—stunning, enchanting creatures.
The title of Queen of the Succubi was not undeserved.
Her figure, as if sculpted by the gods themselves, moved gracefully toward me.
Serentia and her subordinate succubi entered the dome effortlessly, surrounding me.
‘So they can come and go as they please… No, she must have adjusted it to allow only those she permits.’
As I came to that conclusion and searched for a possible escape route, the woman standing at the front—her lavender hair flowing and pink eyes gleaming—spoke to me with a faint smile.
“It’s been a while, Ain. Have you been well?”
“…I haven’t been well at all, Your Majesty. They say running away from home only brings hardship, and sure enough, here I am, suffering.”
I forced a casual response while continuing to look for a way out.
Serentia, however, kept talking as if she had no intention of letting me think.
“Is that so? How unfortunate. Then let’s return home. Of course, since you took it upon yourself to go on such a long stroll without permission, the consequences will be quite severe. You won’t be leaving the basement for a while.”
The basement.
She was referring to the space beneath Serentia’s castle.
In the game, this was a place you would only see if you lost to her.
‘Its purpose? A torture chamber.’
Anyone imprisoned there was subjected to constant, overwhelming pleasure, far beyond their threshold.
Eventually, they would be broken, forced to perceive pleasure as something more agonizing than any pain.
And that wasn’t all—her succubi would relentlessly drain their energy and body until they were reduced to little more than a husk.
Just a day or two in that place was enough to destroy a person completely.
And if she said I wouldn’t be leaving “for a while,” then I could only imagine what would happen to me.
“…That sounds terrifying.”
“Then why did you run away? Did I not treat you well enough? You say you’re scared, so. Why. Did. You. Run. From. Me?”
The way she emphasized each word made it clear—she was furious.
She was smiling, but I could see the clinging possessiveness and obsession in her eyes.
Her gaze burned with a single desire—to have me back, no matter what.
I let out a dry laugh.
‘How can a person be this twisted?’
Of course, having an attachment to one’s possessions wasn’t strange.
But Serentia had taken it far beyond normal.
Once she had something, she would never let it go.
If it was stolen or lost, she would do whatever it took to reclaim it.
That was who Serentia was.
And now, something she considered hers had run away of its own volition? She was the kind of person who would deliver the most severe punishment imaginable for such a thing.
Even if it meant breaking that “possession” completely, she would do it, as long as it meant keeping it forever.
Anyone would call her insane.
But knowing why she was like this, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.
“…Your Majesty.”
“If you have something to say, say it now. Once we return, no amount of begging will—”
“This won’t fill the emptiness in your heart.”
Her smile froze.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“…What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You cling too tightly to what you hold in your hands. But everything eventually changes. There is no such thing as something that is ‘forever yours.'”
“‘Mine’ today will inevitably become ‘not mine’ someday. And Your Majesty, isn’t that exactly why you’re obsessing over someone like me? If you truly believed something was eternally yours, you wouldn’t struggle so desperately to keep it. You wouldn’t even care.”
Serentia’s face twitched.
Her expression had gone completely blank, her wide eyes staring at me without focus.
Her face kept twitching, as if she had forgotten how to form an expression.
“As much as you want to control everything, you can’t. And in the end, clinging to something that is bound to change will only bring you more pain. So—”
“Ain, I’ve changed my mind.”
Serentia cut me off.
Her unblinking eyes locked onto me, her expression still eerily blank.
I clicked my tongue.
Yeah. That was a failure.
“My original plan was to let you spend time in the basement with the other succubi. But not anymore. Now, I’ll make you scream beneath me myself.”
***
“…What?”
“Erase the thought that this will ever stop. Dozens of times, hundreds of times… I won’t stop until I’ve heard your screams and pleas to my heart’s content.”
Her voice was monotone, but it carried a deep madness and rage.
She was dead serious.
‘…Did I just poke a hornet’s nest?’
One thing was certain.
I was completely screwed.
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