Chapter 193: Encounter
Chapter 193: Encounter
It was two hours later when Jaejin and Antilla finally stepped out of the room. Having lost all sense of time while inside, they emerged to find that it was already dawn.
Thanks to the brief nap he’d managed right after being kidnapped, Jaejin was wide awake despite the late hour. He could feel the chaotic energy of the commotion outside vibrating through his skin.
In the deep of the night, when everyone should have been asleep and the only sounds should have been the lewd moans of fairies sating their carnal desires, the streets—which ought to have been silent—were unusually loud.
The sounds of rapid movement and shouting, the trembling of the earth, and the intermittent roar of explosions shattered the silence of the night.
"What in the world... Is this because of me...?"
There was no other reason for Gloriana, a city that maintained a facade of absolute peace under the Fairy King’s rule, to be in such an uproar.
Either the group consisting of Sheryl, Mari, and Nia had successfully infiltrated, or Titania herself had stepped forward to rescue him.
Thinking it might even be both, Jaejin hid within the Shade's shadow and headed toward the source of the disturbance.
*
"What is this, seriously... How did we get caught the moment we stepped inside?"
Sheryl was huddled in the corner of a building, barely catching her breath. Beside her, the high-ranking spirits Elza and Irina were both groaning in pain from their injuries.
The massive city, integrated into the lush and vibrantly colored forest, had begun moving to filter out "impurities" the moment the group approached.
Attacked before they could even find a proper place to hide, they had immediately engaged in combat. They had managed to split into two groups and successfully evade their pursuers for now.
They had suffered minor wounds from the disorganized but relentless assaults of high-ranking fairies and spirits, all of whom were difficult opponents, but the damage wasn't yet enough to make fighting or fleeing impossible.
"Just so we're clear, it wasn't us who talked."
Sheryl nodded at Elza’s defensive remark. The attackers had targeted Elza and Irina as well, despite them being fellow spirits.
As a result, Elza, an Ifrit, was covered in stab wounds, while Irina, a Sylph, had burns scattered across her body. Both were in considerable pain.
The attacks had been far too fierce to be an act, so Sheryl cast aside any suspicion toward the two spirits. Rather than doubting those beside her, she needed to focus on how to overcome this crisis.
Surrounded by enemies on all sides, escaping without being detected was bordering on the impossible. She trusted that Mari and Nia would hold their own, as Mari was far stronger than herself, but there was a high chance the tide of battle would turn against them.
In the end, the only option left was the bracelet Lena had given her before they arrived.
She didn't know its exact purpose, only that Lena had told her to break it without hesitation if she encountered Oberon. If Lena was that certain about it, it had to be powerful.
However, she didn't know what variables might arise if she broke it before even encountering Oberon. Sheryl’s stance was that she should avoid breaking it until he actually appeared.
"First, please decide on a clear objective. Whether we regroup with the others or attempt to scout the area to find that Jaejin person."
Irina proposed two options, and Sheryl weighed their importance.
"Since there are three of us, we have more leeway, so it’s better to scout while we move. Besides, with Mari’s skills, we don't need to worry about her..."
Ultimately, the direction of their mission would change drastically depending on whether they found Jaejin. If they could just find him, they could choose to flee this place or seek the Queen's help.
The problem was... they had no idea where Jaejin was. Sheryl had been using her Mind's Eye intermittently to scan the surroundings for any trace of him.
But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find a single clue regarding his whereabouts after the kidnapping. Tracking a trail hidden by a Spirit of Darkness was a difficult task for the current Sheryl.
"...ryl... hear me?"
Sheryl mocked herself, thinking she was so desperate to see him that she was starting to hear things. The red-haired spirit beside her suddenly flicked her forehead.
"Ouch!? What was that for? I was thinking!"
"Sigh. To think I lost to people like this... Look over there."
Following Elza’s gesture, Sheryl saw Jaejin peeking his head out from a shadow in the middle of a wall. At the sight of his long-awaited face, Sheryl covered her mouth with her hands.
"Jae-Jaejin...! You're safe... Thank goodness, truly..."
Sheryl lunged forward and pulled Jaejin into a tight embrace as he stepped out of the shadow. A single tear escaped as she felt all her hard work being rewarded. She meticulously checked his face and body for any injuries.
"I was so scared when I heard you were kidnapped by a Shade... To think you escaped from such a terrifying race... How did you do it?"
"Well... we became friends..."
"Friends...?"
As Sheryl questioned Jaejin’s answer, a black-haired woman stepped out of the shadow and stood behind him. She was tall and wore a white, shroud-like dress that gave off an eerie aura.
"Ah, hello... You must be Jaejin’s companion... I-I'm Antilla... we just became friends today... Ehehe..."
Sheryl was dumbfounded by the woman’s awkward and bashful greeting. Was it normal for a woman she’d just met—the very kidnapper who had forced the group to come all this way—to respond with such a bright smile?
She wondered if her own common sense was flawed, but seeing the similar reactions of the two spirits beside her, she concluded that it was the Dark Spirit who was the strange one.
"Antilla did kidnap me, but she’s a spirit you can talk to... After a few things happened, we were able to become friends."
"In this situation... friends...?"
Sheryl glared at Jaejin with cold eyes. While someone was running day and night through a vast forest, fighting battles to find him, he had made "friends" in the short time he was kidnapped?
Since when did the word "friend" become a euphemism for meeting someone, having sex, and getting along because you were sexually compatible? Come to think of it, every trail Jaejin left was like this.
There had been traces of semen where he was taken by the Alraune, and when they went to the Cow-Girl Ranch, there was a large-breasted Cow-Girl who had a Lust Crest deeply engraved on her after sleeping with him.
He went to the Royal Palace and spent a passionate night with the Fairy Queen, and apparently, he even did it with Melia. It seemed that wherever he went, he met a woman and immediately engaged in shameless intercourse. It was almost a joke at this point.
"Haha... Hahaha... To think this is what I came to see..."
She felt the strength drain out of her. She wanted to get angry, but her mood was already lifting just from the fact that Jaejin was safe.
"Still, I'm glad. I really thought I wouldn't see you again this time... Be more careful from now on."
"Yeah, I'll try."
Of course, it wasn't something Jaejin could fix just by trying. Being kidnapped by Melia while asleep or being snatched away by a Dark Spirit were situations he couldn't handle alone.
Having finished their reunion greetings, the two immediately shared their situations. From the fact that Antilla had kidnapped him but was now helping him escape safely, to the fact that Sheryl and the other two had infiltrated the city to save him.
"So for now, I want to avoid breaking the bracelet and get through this situation as best as we can. Though it'll be difficult..."
Sheryl knew her opinion was the logical one, but she was also well aware of the danger. From the fairies currently flying through the sky searching for them to the sheer gap in power they couldn't overcome with their current strength.
However, relying on a tool whose exact effect was unknown to deal with variables other than the ones Lena had mentioned was too risky.
Jaejin hesitated, wondering if he should suggest a certain method to the conflicted Sheryl. Behind him, Antilla clapped her hands as if she’d made a grand discovery.
"I... have a good idea... Hehe... When Jaejin cums inside me, I feel so much power surging... Why don't we use that... Hehe..."
Antilla had actually blurted out the thought Jaejin was hesitant to voice. The two temporary companions, Elza and Irina, didn't understand what she meant, but Sheryl, who had received regular "supplies," understood immediately and turned bright red.
"Are you crazy...! This isn't a bedroom, there's no way we can do that here...!"
"I... can help with that... I can just... cover us like this..."
In response to Sheryl’s immediate protest, Antilla blanketed the alleyway they were standing in with shadows. Perfectly blocking outside eyes without creating a sense of displacement, the space became a complete private room.
"H-How is it...? This way, no one will notice... and you can do it with Jaejin... right...?"
"T-That's not what I meant. How can we, here..."
To be told to have sex with Jaejin, whom she hadn't seen in a while, in front of a spirit she just met and the assassins they were fighting moments ago... The two spirits, finally recalling Jaejin’s abilities, belatedly understood the conversation between Antilla and Sheryl.
"This is insane... A street orgy? I'm actually embarrassed for you. Don't you agree, Iri—huh?"
Elza pressed her hand to her forehead, lamenting her defeat to these people. She turned to Irina for agreement, but Irina had already moved to Jaejin’s side and was leaning against the wall.
"Isn't it a simple problem? One creampie from this man and we can say goodbye to this tedious blessing. Plus, we get the strength to overcome this situation, right?"
Jaejin’s ability indeed had three main aspects: the core elements of Demonization and long-term power accumulation, and the secondary effect of a short-term explosive power boost. Sheryl knew exactly what they were talking about, but...
How on earth could anyone do that in a situation like this?!
With the threat of an enemy attack at any moment, and in front of so many people—some of whom she’d just met—it was impossible. It was madness.
However, as if mocking Sheryl’s thoughts, Irina stood in a way that monopolized Jaejin’s gaze, showing off her fully exposed side profile.
Her long silver hair was tied in a half-updo, with side bangs reaching down to her armpits. Her collarbones were clearly visible, leading down to modest, petite breasts.
They couldn't be called large by any stretch of the imagination, but her exquisite body lines made them incredibly alluring, capturing Jaejin’s attention.
In particular, the line of her body exposed from her thigh down to her ankle was so provocative that his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the space between her legs, where no panty line was visible.
"I'm sorry to ask at such a tense time... but will you let big sister have a taste too? That long cock of yours that even the Queen couldn't resist, and that even the King grew jealous of?"
She whispered seductive words intended to coax an erection, a faint and enchanting smile playing on her lips.