Chapter 34

“I won’t let you lay a hand on either Lord Bash or my brother!” “Get rid of the woman! Kill her!” “Right away!” “‘Curse of Thorns’! …Gah!” However, just as Luca was about to bind the next succubus in line, someone grabbed her hair and pulled her to the ground. Another succubus climbed on top of her and wrapped her arms around Luca’s neck. And the red glowing eyes of a succubus met Bash’s once again. Bash could no longer close his eyes. His mesmerized brain would not allow him to. “Flashlight!” Zell returned at a swoop. A blinding light shattered the succubus’s vision. The succubus closed her eyes and turned her head away. “Gah!!!” Zell became a bullet of pure light and flew toward the other succubi. “Don’t move, fairy! Unless you want this girl to die!” When Zell saw Luca being held by the scruff of her neck, the fairy froze. Zell hesitated. Try to save Luca? Or stand down? They reluctantly chose the latter, but the fairy wasn’t about to come quietly. Zell began to use their special skill… Ear-bending. “What the heck do you think you’re all doing?!” Zell raised their voice. And in their usual jabbering tone… “Succubi are forbidden to eat people of other races without permission, right? Moreover, Lord Bash is the benefactor of the succubi! Do you understand?! The Queen will be furious! Ah, what will happen to you? Oh, I know! A mere scolding wouldn’t be so bad, but considering the situation, it could be the death penalty! But it’s okay. If you stand down now, I’ll back you up! I’m good at groveling! The best in the biz! I can sweet-talk a queen or two…” “Who cares? We’re hungry! And yet they force us to exercise now?! Yurine! Get a move on and charm the orc into taking off his pants!” One of the succubi got up, rubbing her eyes. Though her vision still hadn’t recovered from Zell’s blinding beam, she tried to make eye contact with Bash even though she kept blinking rapidly. Bash was immobilized, on the verge of being completely charmed… He inhaled even more of the pink fog, his consciousness grown hazy now. By contrast, Bash’s little general was decidedly perky, and it seemed to have a mind of its own, hell-bent on thrusting toward the succubus before it. The succubus stood over Bash, eyes glowing red. There was no one left to save Bash now. “Stop it, you idiots!” No, there was someone. A succubus stood at the entrance to the rooftop. Pink hair and small breasts. She looked sort of childlike but had a much more mature and bewitching aura than that of the young succubi who had attacked Bash. Her single wing and torn tail suggested a long history of fighting. “Yeek! It’s Venus!” “Wh-what the heck…? Now see here, we were just…” Venus stomped over to Bash with glaring eyes and knelt down before him. “Lord Bash, I am so sorry about this.” But Bash, enchanted, just gazed at Venus with lust and made no response. Venus looked away with a pained expression and slowly turned around. Seeing the look on her face, the other succubi automatically took a step back. “You scum! This man is a benefactor to all us succubi. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t even have been born. Don’t you even realize that?” The succubi did not answer, so Venus carried on. “Of course I know you’re hungry. I know you’re forcing yourself to hold back. I understand. We’re adults… But please, don’t do this to this person. Please, let it remain true that the succubi he saved in battle are a noble race.” Anyone who heard Venus’s words could tell she was completely earnest. Her tone was sweet, typical of a succubus, but there was sincerity and urgency there, too. It was like she understood their pain but wanted them to listen, to understand… That there was a certain line you did not cross. “Oh, shut up! So what about nobility?!” But her words did not move the young succubi. “It’s fine for you to say that, when you’re not the ones going hungry!” “You gorge yourselves, then lecture US?” Venus took a deep breath, seeming like she was about to cry, then she looked at the ground before raising her eyes again. With blank eyes, she spoke. “So be it.” Venus’s kick landed right in the middle of one of the succubus’s faces. There was a dull sound, and the young succubus crumpled to her knees. “Guh!” One of any other race would lose their balance from that kick, but Venus steadied herself with a flap of her wing, and with a smooth, fluid movement, she slammed her fist into the scrawny chest of another of the succubi. There was a thumping sound, and the succubus promptly vomited blood. The succubus straddling Luca saw this and tried to stand up in a hurry but couldn’t make it in time. Venus performed a roundhouse kick, there was a loud crack, and the succubus’s eyes rolled back, froth bubbling from its mouth. The other two who had been bound by Luca’s spell turned pale from the events unfolding. “Ah, I wasn’t part of it…! I was just following Yurine…” “Me neither! I wasn’t part of it, either! Actually, I tried to speak out against it…” Venus’s eyes were dark with anger and disappointment as she stared the two down. “No decent succubus would ever use a dead comrade as a human shield.” Then Venus karate-chopped both in the neck, severing their spinal cords.