Chapter 96

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 96

Chapter Title: Vegetation (5)

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*This chapter contains some cruel descriptions and depictions of rape. Readers who feel uncomfortable should skip to the next chapter.*

A bizarre sensation.

She could sense that all the body parts below her waist—her legs, feet, thighs, knees, groin, buttocks, and so on—were still "there." Yet from her lower waist down, buried at the bottom of this pit, there was absolutely no feeling at all.

'...This pit...'

This was the pit where she had tossed countless "fertilizers" to grow her mandrakes.

"...Mandrakes! Where are my mandrakes?"

And once she realized that, she also noticed that her "garden," which should have been overflowing with mandrakes, was completely empty.

"Ah, those? I cleared them all out."

"Cleared them out? Do you know how precious they were..."

"Whatever."

In shock, as she was about to snap at him, the human man approached, squatted down close, and spoke in a chilling voice.

"Still haven't grasped the situation? You think you're in any position to act so boldly?"

"........."

Only then did she feel the dull ache in her abdomen and recall how this man had utterly demolished her just moments ago.

She trembled at the memory of him advancing without the slightest flinch against her lifelong mastery of "illusion magic," then mercilessly beating her down.

'S-Something's wrong...'

While hiding in the labyrinth city, she had witnessed countless powerhouses, and there had been more than a few times her life hung by a thread.

But even those threats who endangered her had been affected, if only slightly, by her "illusion magic." Even the one hailed as an advanced adventurer in the labyrinth city, strutting about arrogantly, had reacted briefly when she cast it...

'...D-Does that mean... this man is beyond an advanced adventurer?'

But considering that, the man's abilities in their brief clash seemed insignificant compared to them. His swordsmanship and mana control were decent enough, but against the true powerhouses of the labyrinth city, it was like a drop in the bucket.

'How the hell? A skill? Elixir? Magic? Magic tool?'

-Shing.

"!!!!"

As Mystic desperately racked her brain, the cold touch of metal pressed against her nape. All her thoughts evaporated, her mind going blank as a fresh sheet of paper.

"W-Wait. Sorry. No, I apologize. I was too arrogant, wasn't I?"

"........."

"P-Please don't take it too badly. Living alone in this dark place has made me bad at knowing my place. Yes."

Even Ian, who had been intimidating her to seize control of the mood, was left speechless by her astonishingly servile expression and tone. She rubbed her still-mobile arms together fawningly at him.

'I don't know what this bastard is...'

Grinding her teeth inwardly, she gathered her demonic energy once more.

She had abandoned other magics due to her lack of talent, focusing solely on illusion magic, so she couldn't handle offensive or defensive spells...

'His power wasn't unmanageable. If I just condense my demonic energy to the max and blast it...'

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

For some reason, the demonic energy in her body wasn't responding well now, but that was probably...

'This crazy bastard. He buried me in the mandrake pit?'

Mandrakes.

She had been growing them to "eat," and their effects boosted demonic energy and purified the body like an elixir. But they were also vicious weeds laced with paralysis, aphrodisiacs, curses, and more.

Buried in the pit where she grew such plants, her partial paralysis was likely from the residual toxicity of the mandrakes. Whether he knew or not...

'So what? I already have resistance to mandrake poison. This paralysis is nothing. Just give it time...'

She didn't have a rare skill like [Poison Resistance], but did he think she hadn't prepared any countermeasures while cultivating mandrakes?

"Y-You want something, right? That's why you spared me for now... R-Right! Mandrakes! You want more mandrakes? I have a stash of pre-grown ones stored..."

In the massive pit, only what appeared to be a woman's two legs protruded from above, dangling limply.

And in that pit, the seed stored alongside the female body discovered the "soil" rich with supreme nutrients. It burrowed in, extending its roots. Especially to absorb the moisture needed for sprouting, the seed slowly dug toward the hole in her lower body where fluids gathered most.

Sensing the foreign intruder inside her, Mystic's vagina desperately signaled danger to its owner, but Mystic noticed nothing, forcing a smile as she fawned over Ian.

"Enough."

Ian sheathed his sword from Mystic's cheek as she desperately touted her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠usefulness.

Thinking her persuasion had worked, she was about to sigh in relief—but before she could fully exhale, a thick rod jammed against her lips.

"Mmph?!"

Feeling something invade her mouth as she tried to sigh, Mystic desperately tried to turn her face away.

"Suck it. Do a good job, and I'll let you live."

His hand tapping her cheek froze her body momentarily.

Then the man withdrew his arms, as if leaving the movement entirely to her, and thrust his cock harder against her lips.

'F-Fuck...'

Her eyes twitched at the humiliating demand, but she hadn't survived and grown mandrakes by hiding her true self behind a facade.

Imagining killing the man before her a dozen times over inwardly, she kept it hidden, moved her free hands to grip the base of his cock, squeezed her eyes shut, parted her lips, and extended her tongue to lick the pink glans.

-Lick.

'M-Me, licking the thing that produces fertilizer...'

To her, a man's cock was merely the producer of fertilizer for her plants. She'd seen plenty visually, but never put that "fertilizer source" in her mouth. Grinding her teeth in unbearable humiliation, she desperately tried to think of something else.

'It's candy. It's candy. It's...'

-Lick.

'Candy... right?'

With her eyes closed, just moving her tongue, it felt exactly like licking real candy. Her furrowed brows relaxed slightly. Like syrupy sweetness, a subtle flavor different from fruit or sugar lingered at the tip. She lapped at it, rolled her tongue around the round head, and it filled her mouth like sucking on a lollipop.

'...What am I thinking?!'

Horrified at herself, Mystic shook it off and focused on sensing her demonic energy.

It still wouldn't gather... but the elixirs she'd consumed during her "business" dealings were substantial. If she could condense and unleash it, even without fancy magic, she could deal serious damage to this man.

Inside the pit, the seed that had successfully sprouted in the "soil" joyfully extended its roots deeper amid the overflowing nutrients, absorbing more.

To extend further, the groping seed found not tough skin but a perfect hole already pierced and leaking moisture. It thrust its roots even deeper there.

The root tendrils from the seed invaded the pink slit. A thin white membrane with a small hole in the center tried to block the intruder, but the roots bored through mercilessly, like tree roots cracking pavement, pushing inward.

A trickle of blood flowed in the process, but even that was absorbed completely by the roots.

"Teasing me."

"!!!!"

Irritated by Mystic cautiously rolling only the glans with her tongue like candy, Ian extended his previously withdrawn arms and grabbed the two excellent "handles" atop her head.

"Here we go."

-Splurt!♥

Grabbing the pair of horns on Mystic's head, Ian yanked her forward. His cock bypassed her tickling tongue in an instant, grazed her uvula, and plunged into deeper depths.

"Mmph! Mmmph!"

'M-My horns! You bastard!'

Struggling as if to spit out the intruder in her throat or to breathe, Mystic gripped Ian's arms holding her horns and pushed, but that only made her throat writhe like a pussy, stimulating his cock more.

-Slurp♥ Slurp♥

Gripping the horns like handles on a fleshlight rather than a living being, Ian rocked her head back and forth. His cock plunged deep into her throat and withdrew repeatedly, relentlessly inducing her gag reflex.

"Ngh."

Using her like a fleshlight, Ian felt his climax building and slammed his cock to the hilt.

"....!..!"

Unable even to whimper faintly now, her lips met the base of Ian's cock, feeling his glans deep in her gullet. As suffocation set in, Mystic's eyes began rolling back white.

-Glurk♥ Plop!

"Kehk! Gack! Heok! *Cough*! *Cough*!"

At the moment her consciousness faded, Ian pulled out. Mystic gasped desperately for air, tears streaming as she coughed violently.

Ian then aimed his cock not at her but at the ground, spraying his semen onto the soil like watering a plant.

Now entwined around her buried lower half, the mandrake had extended roots penetrating the woman's body in various spots. Learning that stimulating certain areas yielded fluids, it mercilessly pressed a rounded root tip against one part of the invaded hole.

-...!...!

At that instant, as Mystic deepthroated Ian's cock to the base, her legs shuddered violently. Her pussy squirted forcefully, but the fluids didn't escape—instead, they were fully absorbed by the roots.

To absorb leaking fluids more efficiently on contact, the roots began morphing to match her vaginal folds.

As the roots writhed and reshaped from within, her hips bucked and legs trembled, sending frantic warnings to her body, but they never reached her brain.

With the roots filling her pussy completely, an intense stimulation—not quite pleasure—slammed into Mystic's mind.

Continuing to extend, the plant discovered another hole at the deepest part of its invaded passage and mercilessly probed her womb.

Gradually, the roots coalesced into a humanoid shape—tiny, eerily resembling Mystic herself.

As if Mystic had impregnated herself with a mandrake.

-....!...!

Sensing the potent life force dripping from above, the plant raised roots to catch and devour the vitality-rich fluid.

Thanks to the supreme soil and nutrients, it sent its stem upward to sprout leaves and bloom above ground.

"*Gasp*... *Cough*... S-Satisfied now?"

Wiping streaming tears and forcing down her crumpling expression, Mystic asked Ian.

"Hm..."

Ignoring her, Ian tapped the ground with his toe as if checking something.

"...Looks good."

"Pardon?"

"All done. Now."

Uttering cryptic words, Ian stood, ignored the still-buried Mystic, haphazardly pulled up his pants, and turned away as if truly disinterested.

'...W-What? Suddenly?'

Perplexed by Ian's abrupt shift, Mystic wore a confused look, but he dressed fully and opened the door to the outside.

"Oh, this. I read it. Pretty useful."

He waved the book in his hand oddly. That book was...

'...[Mandrake Cultivation Manual]? Why does that guy have that book...'

-Click.

"........."

True to his word, Ian left the room without a backward glance. Staring blankly after him, Mystic soon twisted her face and dry-heaved.

"Urk! Uweeek!"

To think she'd ingested fertilizer! And fawning for it herself!

"Hah... *pant*..."

She heaved repeatedly, but little came up. As if dehydrated, her saliva had dried up earlier, her mouth parched.

-Drip...

"...?"

Suddenly, a nosebleed trickled from her nostril.

Dismissing it inwardly, she wiped it with her hand and ground her teeth.

'...I-It's fine. As long as I live...'

Her demonic energy never returned, so no counterattack, but she survived—that was victory. She'd lost her precious mandrakes, but if alive, she could rebound...

-Twitch.

"...Huh?"

Grinding her teeth in suppressed rage, Mystic spotted the soil where Ian had ejaculated subtly shifting.

'...Where'd it go?'

The white fluid clearly scattered on the ground had vanished without a trace. Not just that—her saliva, tears, everything had disappeared cleanly.

-Rustle...

Instead, a vibrant green leaf sprouted there. Staring dumbly, Mystic realized it matched perfectly the leaves of her cherished plant.

"This is... a mandrake?"

"Why is this... suddenly sprouting from the ground..."

Mandrakes only extend leaves after sufficient growth in the "soil" and fully extending nutrient roots, right?

"Ah."

Holding the high-grade magic tool that sustained the barrier's core, I walked the dark corridor toward where Clara waited. From the hallway behind me came a bloodcurdling scream.

"Whew. Quite the voice."

Mandrake screams sound just like human ones, right?

And in that room I'd just left, only one person and one mandrake remained... Whose scream was that?

Eh, same difference.