Driad Ariadd (3)
A sharp, stinging pain shot through the tip of my finger.
Lilith was pressing her nail into it, hard.
And there was a fat drop of blood welling up at the tip of her nail, floating lazily into the air.
"...This should be enough. Now calm that thing down and get back in there."
"Calm it down?"
No way.
Did she think it was that easy?
She kept popping instant boners on me like it was nothing, but honestly, keeping it down was way harder than getting it up.
Especially with my head full of Lilith's panties. How the hell was I supposed to make it go away now?
And that last glimpse—what the fuck was that, anyway?
If I wasn't seeing things...
No, but it was Lilith.
Still, no matter how I sliced it, that's what it looked like... and it was driving me fucking insane.
"Fuck, you perverted little shit, I said calm it down—why the hell is it still throbbing like that?"
I glanced down at her words, and sure enough, my dick was writhing desperately under my pants.
It looked so pitiful, begging to be let out, but there wasn't a damn thing good that could come from unleashing it right now.
"Ah, sorry about that."
The barrier Lilith had put up to hide from Ariadd was so tight that my cock was practically brushing against her. When I apologized for it, she shot me a look and said,
"...Just hurry up and get it down."
Fine, if she said so. What choice did I have?
Especially since she looked seriously pissed.
It wasn't like there was a switch to flip it on and off, but I had to figure something out.
"...Just give me a sec."
I told Lilith that, then started humming the old national anthem from my home country in my head—it had vanished long ago.
When that didn't cut it, I pictured the bitch orphanage director's ugly mug and belted out all four verses internally until my dick finally softened enough for us to head back to Ariadd.
"You caaame baaack? Lilithhh, little humaaan boyyy. I waaas waaaiiitinggg."
Ariadd greeted us with a bright smile, waving us over.
Did she have any idea what we'd been up to behind her?
Probably not, or she wouldn't be acting like this.
Anyway, Lilith—who'd basically put on a panty flash show for me in someone else's house—calmly handed over the blood she'd just drawn from me.
"Here. Can you check it one more time with this blood, Ariadd?"
The drop of my blood floated smoothly toward her. Ariadd cupped it in her hands and said,
"You went off to draaaw blooood? You could've just dooone it riiight heeere."
Lilith glanced at me and replied,
"Yeah... there were reasons. Right?"
"Yeah, sure."
It wasn't something we could do in front of anyone else.
Especially after we'd just told Ariadd we were mother and son.
A mom flashing her panties at her son, or a son getting hard watching his mom do it.
Even an orphan like me who'd never had parents knew that shit was fucked up.
Even if Lilith and I weren't a normal mother-son pair. It still wasn't something to show off.
Ariadd tilted her head, looking back and forth between us, then said,
"Hmmm? Did you two fiiight or sooomething? I don't knooow whaaat happened, buuut fiiighting's noooot gooood, Lilithhh. You hafta get alooong."
"Shut up. We didn't fight."
"Reaaally? Thaat's gooood thennn. You reaaally didn't fiiight, riiight, little humaaan boyyy?"
"We didn't fight."
"Okaaaay, thaaat's fiiiine thooough... Juuust waaait a biiit."
A wooden vine extended from behind her, pricking the drop of blood in her palm.
How much time passed? Ariadd nodded and spoke up.
"Thaat's amaaazing. Nooothing before, buuut nooow it's diiiifferent."
"So, what's the verdict?"
Lilith pressed her, and Ariadd answered,
"It meaaans the little humaaan boyyy does have a Gift. Buuut... it's unstaable."
"...Unstable?"
Lilith scowled at that.
Unstable didn't sound good, no matter how you spun it.
But I was even more freaked out.
Unstable Gift? What the hell did that mean?
Was something wrong with my dick?
"...Calm down. Anyway, Ariadd—what do you mean his Gift is unstable?"
"Juuust whaaat it sooounds like. An immaaature Gift thaaat haaasn't fully grooown yet. Like a yoooung tree thaaat haaasn't rooted proooperly, shaaaking in the wiiind—it's still immaaature, sooo unstaable."
My Gift was still a kid?
That was about all I could wrap my head around.
What did it even mean for a Gift to be immature? Did Gifts grow?
But unlike me, Lilith seemed to get it. She looked shocked and said,
"So it's not a fully grown Gift yet? That's what you're saying?"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Can you just shut up for a sec? You're being annoying."
No.
Then explain it so I can understand.
This was about me, wasn't it?
They kept talking over my head, and I felt totally left out.
I could see how Ariadd felt earlier.
But whether I sulked or not, Ariadd turned to Lilith and said,
"Yeeah, it's a Gift thaaat just maaaniifested recooently. And it waaas suuudden tooo. It absooorbed a toooony of maaaana all at oooonce, forcing it to aaaawakeen wheeen it waaasn't reaaady... Dooo you haaave any iiiiidea whaaat caaused it?"
A ton of mana all at once?
...Yeah, I had a guess.
Elixir.
Three whole bottles of it.
The king of potions.
Elixirs were basically pure mana extract. Sure, calling something that cured diseases and wounds just "mana extract" was underselling it, but they were packed with insane amounts of concentrated mana.
And I'd chugged three bottles straight. That had to be the massive mana influx Ariadd was talking about.
"And, hmmmmm~? There's sooomething weiiird mixed in tooo. Coooincideeeneces on coooincideeeneces—whaaatever potential the little humaaan boyyy haaad gooot mixed and meeeelted with sooomething else. They're taaangled up nooow... Yeeeup, booound tooo tightly. Nooo waaay to separaaate them nooow. Thaaat's hooow it loooooks. Goooood maaaatch, I guuess. I've neeeever seen thiiiis before."
Ariadd mumbled that, then looked at Lilith.
"Thiiiis... waaas youuu, waaasn't it, Lilithhh?"
"......Probably. Is that a problem or something?"
What Lilith did to me was probably the Level Drain.
She'd done a lot for me, but this seemed to be about that. The only other thing was the Level Drain tattooed on my stomach right now.
So...
My original Gift potential—or whatever—got forced awake by the elixir... and then fused with Lilith's Level Drain?
Was that even possible?
I was a shitty human who knew jack about magic, so no clue.
"A proooblem? Weeeell, whaaat's a proooblem anywayyy? It's haaard for meee to saaaay. Proooblems deeeepend on the siiiituation, the peeeerson... A raiiiin in a drooought is a bleeeessing, buuut noooendless raiiiin is a cuuuurse."
"Ariadd, I'm not here for riddles. Will it fuck him up or not?"
Ariadd smiled gently at Lilith's sharp words.
Like a loving mother looking at her grown child.
"Immaaature meeeans it'll grooow. Nooo matter why it haaappened, wheeen sooomething's boooorn, it grooows. At leeeast... it doooesn't loooook haaarmful to hiiiim. I saaaid unstaable, buuut thaaat's just the Gift itseeeelf... It seems pretty well-seeettled already."
She looked at me then.
Her green eyes, the color of her hair, locked onto mine.
For a split second, those rippling green depths went blurry.
But it snapped back like it was my imagination.
Still watching me, Ariadd continued,
"Buuut... an unstaable Gift will grooow someday, sooo thaaat's fiiiine. The little humaaan boyyy's in for haaard wooork thoooough. Or waaait—nooo, siiiince he's a maaaale, maaaaybe it's haaappiiiness instead."
"Hard work? Wait, because he's male, it's happiness?"
She chuckled at my question.
"Yeeah, spreaaading your seeeed lots is a maaaale's haaappiness, riiiight? Thaaat's whaaat your Gift is. Eeeven if you doooon't waaant it, your Gift will maaaake you dooo it."
Spreading seed...?
Did she know I was a Dispenser?
No, neither Lilith nor I had mentioned it, so she couldn't.
We'd been talking about my Gift the whole time.
But what kind of Gift led to talk like that?
"So? What the hell is this Gift of his?"
Lilith beat me to asking, her curiosity piqued.
Ariadd's voice was so pleasant, I wouldn't have minded listening all day, but I nodded too, not wanting to get stuck here forever.
"I'm curious too—can you tell us quick?"
Ariadd nodded at us.
"Mmm, it's cooomplicated to expaaain. Too maaaany things taaangled alreeeaaaady... Haaard to breaak it dooown. Buuut the bottom liiiine? The little humaaan boyyy's Gift is like a succubus's Level Drain."
Level Drain.
The succubus racial trait that stole power from whoever you fucked.
That was like my Gift?
"Yeeah, no known caaases yet, buuut if we haaave to naaame it... Incubus, maaaaybe? It geets pooower from feeeemales you mate wiiiith, like a succubus. Buuut thiiiis is twisted by your pooower, Lilithhh. The core of the boyyy's Gift is..."
Suddenly, wooden vines slithered around me.
It happened so fast I couldn't react—my lower body was bound tight in seconds.
"Wait, Ariadd, what the—?!"
Lilith shot to her feet, transforming into her full succubus form like she had with Hoaran.
Her girly outfit burned away, revealing her queenly, skimpy succubus look as she lunged at me.
"Sooorryyy, Lilithhh. Buuut thiiiis is toooo teeeempting even for meee. Sooo... gooood. I wooon't huuurt the boyyy, sooo doooon't woooory... Cauun you just steeep out for a biiit?"
Vines wrapped around Lilith too.
"You bitch...! Touch a finger to him and I swear—"
She burned and slashed at them like before, but there were way too many this time. They overwhelmed her.
Then the vines dragged her underground.
With Lilith.
"What...?"
What the fuck?
Lilith—one of the twenty-two heroes—got taken down that easily?
"Dooon't wooooryyy, I just seent her oooout of my doooomain for a biiit... Nooot looong thoooough..."
"She's strooong, after aaaall," Ariadd said with a hand gesture. The vines pulled me right to her.
"Little humaaan boyyy, you waaant to knooow your Gift, riiiight?"
"...Yeah, that's gotta be why you're doing this."
"Yeeah, exaaactly. Such a smaaart boyyy."
She stroked my hair gently.
"The essence of your Gift... If I haaave to puuut it... The ultimate maaaale."
"Huh?"
Ultimate male?
Before I could ask, she went on.
"Fiiiirst... Leet's hooold up our deeeal wiiiith Lilithhh. She wooon't be goooone looong."
With that, she peeled off the leaves barely covering her massive tits.
It was the kind of bounce that deserved a boing.
Her huge breasts jiggled wildly, pink nipples perked up on top.
"Heeere, little humaaan boyyy. Lilithhh will paaay the priiiice, sooo..."
Droplets beaded at her nipples, sweet like honey.
Like the sap we'd drunk, but different.
A pale crimson liquid trickled from her nipples.
"Driiiink as muuuch of my saaaap as you waaant♡"