The men felt eyes on them, as if they were being appraised.
“Hehehe. A man, a man.”
“Is he good-looking?”
“Nope.”
“Not at all.”
“Dr. Glenn is much better looking.”
“He’s pathetic, compared to Souen.”
“Who cares about his face?”
“As long as he has an able body.”
“As long as he’s fit from the waist down.”
“That’s enough to satisfy us.”
Voices echoed through the air as the alraune eyed them through the darkness. The men felt like insects caught by carnivorous plants.
“I-I’ve heard of this…” the man next to the leader spoke up, his voice shaking. “Alraune are… living flowers that suck the blood of criminals! They suck all the fluids from your body, making their flowers bloom bright red… We’re all going to die!”
“Don’t panic! They’re just plant monsters! They’ll die if you stab them!”
“That’s true enough. Not that we’re going to give you the chance to use your blades, of course.”
The second the leader called out, more vines flew toward him. Before he had a chance to cut them away, his blade was snatched from him by vines stretching in all directions.
It’s no use. We’re no match for them…
The unarmed men were surrounded by the alraune.
“Mother.”
“C’mon, Mother.”
“Haven’t we waited long enough?”
“We can eat them, right?”
“These are the bastards who terrorized the villagers. We can crush them, right?”
“Come now, just wait a second. There’s a proper way to do these things.”
That was when the leader finally realized…they never stood a chance. These alraune thought of them as nothing but food.
“We alraune are in the middle of a mass blooming. We received treatment, but it was only temporary relief, not a cure. Our desire is bottomless. It really is such a burden to bear…”
“Uh, ah…”
“But as long as we have men, we can be satisfied. I was planning to let you go if you surrendered, but there’s nothing I can do now that you’ve resisted. We won’t be showing any mercy today. All evil will be crushed. Don’t go down too easily, hmm?”
Screams echoed through the room.
The Black Widows behind the leader were rushed by the alraune. There was a chorus of screams—screams of terror from the men, and pleasure from the women. Next came squishing, slurping, sexual sounds.
Even if it was with monsters, these men were getting laid. However, there was no joy in their voices—which was only to be expected, of course. They were merely being used like sex dolls.
“Ahh, don’t expect sweet love-making. I told you there would be no mercy. None of you are leaving here until we’ve squeezed every last drop from you, you hear?”
One after another, the alraune crowded around the Black Widows until even the leader disappeared into the sea of flowers and leaves and women’s bodies. The alraune were fighting tooth and nail for a taste of man.
“Ah, m-my love, my Black Widows…a-ahh… M-my Arachnida…”
The leader’s last words were the name of the woman he loved. He’d wanted her so bad, he was willing to hurt her, and now he was pathetically calling out for her to save him.
But the woman he yearned for enough to commit crimes in her name couldn’t hear him. The only ones who could hear him were the alraune women—lust personified, ready to devour him. There was no love or passion here, merely unrequited lust.
The leader of the Black Widows was swallowed up by that torrent of desire, completely helpless to resist.
“Ah, ah, ahhh…”
He succumbed to the utter humiliation of being used, losing consciousness under the onslaught of pleasure. The concentrated fragrance of the nectar robbed him of his ability to think, and eventually, he stopped trying to.
“Hey, girls, I gave you the men, but leave some for me. And don’t kill them. I promised Souen.”
The agreement was that they would be kept alive and handed over to Souen—and as long as they were alive, it didn’t matter how alive they were.
Aluloona smiled at the orgy before her, clearly pleased her daughters were enjoying themselves.
“I didn’t plan for this to happen, but what a great gift to give my daughters.” The second-most powerful member of the Lindworm City Council chuckled to herself in satisfaction. “It looks like I’ll have granddaughters to look forward to soon.”
And with that, Aluloona joined the fun.
The joyful sound of women’s voices wafted from the house. Every once in a while, a man’s cry of agony could be heard as his vital fluids were squeezed from him—but Souen could care less about their suffering.
“Are they having an orgy about now?”
“Well, I would imagine so.”
“Do you want to join, Souen?” Saki asked teasingly next to him.
“Don’t ask such a weird question. I have no time to be infatuated with another woman,” Souen answered honestly, making Saki giggle.
“They didn’t need our assistance at all, in the end.”
The alraune filled the house they’d lured the Black Widows to, having their way with the culprits. You might think the men wouldn’t be too opposed to this, but the alraune were being merciless. Imagining the men being drained of their blood once they’d been drained of semen disgusted Souen, but he did consider it the perfect punishment for such criminals.
“Argh.”
Eventually, a member of the Black Widows crawled from the house, his clothes shredded and his entire body covered in nectar. He must have found an opportunity to escape.
“Hmph!”
Souen hit him with a tranquilizer dart he’d had hidden in his sleeve. The man passed out immediately, and Souen produced a rope, beginning to tie him up.
“So they will run if they can. It’s impossible to keep people from running, even in this state.”
The alraune girls were blind to anything except their own pleasure right now. Souen and Saki had been keeping watch outside the house, just in case one of the bandits managed to slip through the cracks.
“That’s wonderful, Souen. When did you learn how to use darts?”
“It’s just for self-defense. We can’t take blades or other obvious weapons into political situations.”
“How terrifying,” Saki said, striking a Black Widow bandit who ran out of the house with the hilt of her sword. The sound this produced made Souen slightly concerned she’d broken his neck.
“I’m nothing compared to you.”
“My goal is to be a virtuous and adorable wife who can protect my husband,” Saki said, cracking her neck.
Souen wondered precisely what was virtuous, or even adorable, about this woman who’d moaned wildly in front of her lover’s brother just to prove a point…but he held his tongue. For now, he wanted to keep her herculean strength focused on the criminals.
“There must be many more in the mountains—”
“Yeah. I’ve ordered Sioux and the guards to hunt them down. They took the demons who live in the village along too, so they should be able to round them all up. The mermaid diva cut the ropes mooring all the boats the bastards came in on. They’re not leaving this island.”
Souen chuckled.
He was the one who devised this plan to lure in the Black Widows, using the people at his disposal. Barring any unforeseen complications, things should go smoothly.
“It’s a wonderful plan.”
“This village is our home, and the centaur princess is our guest. Still, to think all these people are willing to come together to help Glenn… It’s incredible.”
“He must be popular with people, unlike someone I know.”
“I wonder who that could be?” Souen laughed.
“I see you pretending to be so innocent.”
“I have never pretended to be innocent in my entire life.”
“Nothing but lies… Why not be honest? You’re angry that the Black Widows got the better of you.”
“Of course I am. This is my village. I have to protect it. How much money and time have I spent to turn this into a place where monsters can live in peace?”
“That’s not what I mean.” Saki smiled. “Why don’t you admit it’s because I was burned, and because the people of the village were frightened, that made you angry?”
Souen was stunned. Saki could see right through him.
“That’s not—”
“Yes?” Saki cracked a joint in her arm. Souen’s face grew stiff, concerned that she might try another way of coercing him.
“Well, it’s not completely irrelevant.”
“Ugh, you never can just admit defeat.”
“Shut up.” Souen stepped on one of the freshly captured Black Widows.
The wild voices of the alraune continued to sound from the house they were watching.