The Apex Predator's Scent
Calsira felt pity for Heliane in that state, but she couldn't say a word against Jincheon in this situation.
If she did, he would surely pin her down and take her just like yesterday.
I'm sorry...
Calsira deliberately averted her eyes from the sight of women's rights not merely falling to the ground, but drilling straight through the earth into the planet's core itself.
"Hmm?"
As she moved while keeping watch on their surroundings, she noticed something strange.
Why is it so quiet?
It was far too quiet.
The aggressively territorial animals of the forest hadn't shown themselves even once. They'd been traveling for roughly two or three hours, completely exposed, and not a single creature had come after them.
Could it be that some apex predator is about to appear—one that even ordinary animals fear on pure instinct?
In nature, there weren't many reasons for animals to go completely still. When danger arose, a beast's first instinct was to flee far away. But if they still refused to move, it was one of two things.
Either harsh weather was coming—winter, a storm—
Or an apex predator had revealed itself.
"Um..."
Having reached that conclusion, Calsira carefully opened her mouth.
"The other animals..."
"You don't have to worry about being attacked."
"What? Why not?"
"For the past two years, I've been going all the way to the center on a regular basis and beating the living hell out of everything that came at me. Keep doing that long enough, and the moment they catch my scent, they all scramble to get away."
"..."
She seriously wondered how much of that she was supposed to believe.
"But when we came this far before, we got attacked several times, didn't we?"
"That's because I deliberately hid my scent and presence. If nothing attacked us, those bastards would've decided I was useless and kicked me out."
Jincheon needed to prove he was useful—if only to prevent variables he couldn't predict from cropping up. That way he could stick close and keep an eye on the situation.
"Kh—hah...! Bullshit that... talented... is still... bullshit...!"
Heliane, being dragged along by the rope, of course couldn't believe a word of it.
"The animals... in the center... are famous... for how vicious they are...! And you're saying you beat them down?"
"I'm not asking you to believe me. I've got no obligation to prove it."
With that, Jincheon yanked the rope hard upward.
"Kyaaaah!"
Pain and pleasure exploded from her nipples, pussy, and anus all at once. Heliane's head snapped back as her whole body jerked and arched. Because the rope had been pulled upward, she was forced onto tiptoe, her body trembling violently.
"And from now on, you'd better watch how you talk to me. You're my property now."
"F-Fuck off...! Who the hell... would ever... for trash like you...!"
Clench! Squeeze!
"Kiihiiit~~!"
Jincheon wound the rope once around his wrist, took a short grip, and raised his arm even higher.
"Khhhuuut! Aaaah!"
The clamps felt ready to tear her nipples clean off, while fierce pleasure flooded her pussy and ass.
"No matter how strong you are, no matter how deep your endurance, no matter how used to pain you get—as long as you were born a female, you can never beat this male body of mine."
It was the kind of statement that, if posted on the galactic network, would get him denounced in a planetary-scale We Are the World pile-on. Jincheon said it without a care in the world.
"You... piece of shit...! What the hell do you even see women as—haagyaaah!"
Heliane started to protest against the kind of garbage that would make even the most old-fashioned gender traditionalists recoil—only for the words to die in her throat. The sharp yank as he raised his arm higher tore a scream out of her.
"We're short on time, so let's move."
"W-Wait... if you pull—kyaeuut!"
Jincheon had no interest in debating the point. He simply yanked the rope again and headed for the center.
In an age where human rights and individual worth are taken for granted, of course she can't believe someone could be defeated by a cock and pleasure and end up owned by another person.
And that was exactly why a smile curved his lips.
Which means breaking her in is going to taste even better. Surrendering your human rights to become someone's property because you lost to pleasure—that's something that basically never happens.
The techniques he had built as the Lust Emperor. The resistance called human rights, built by civilization and the age itself. Naturally, Jincheon was certain pleasure would win.
From the moment I entered Murim until now, I've never once failed to claim a female I wanted.
Smiling with easy confidence, Jincheon dragged Heliane along toward the center.
After that, they reached the plains at the heart of the forest without a single interruption.
"Let's build a campfire and wait for the fog to roll in."
But the distance had been considerable, and by the time they emerged into the center, it was already late at night.
Under normal circumstances they should have collapsed from exhaustion long ago—yet though Calsira and Heliane were sweating, strength kept welling up in them somehow, and they were able to keep walking. It was thanks to Jincheon subtly pouring his qi into them from a distance.
"Haa... hahhuu..."
Of course Heliane had juices running down her thighs. With all three spots being stimulated nonstop, it was only natural.
What is this? Why is it so quiet?
Even so, Heliane clung to her mental fortitude, startled by how different the center felt from usual.
The animals of the forest were extremely sensitive to outsiders. No—hostile was the more accurate word. Especially if you brought something massive like a mecha, even two animals mid-fight would immediately stop and team up against you.
Once, resistance fighters had come to the center looking for food supplies—and from the very entrance they'd been forced to flee in a panic under assault from every kind of beast. They'd tried various approaches after that, but eventually people started dying, and they gave up on entering the center altogether. Coming at a late hour like this had been an option too, of course—but they'd simply been attacked by the nocturnal animals instead.
Does he have some kind of scent or device the animals avoid?
The fact that they hadn't been attacked even once on the way here made it clear he had something no one else knew about.
"Um... is it really okay to light a fire here...?"
Calsira had gathered a big armful of the dry branches Jincheon had pointed out along the way. She asked with an uneasy look.
"As long as I'm here, these bastards won't attack."
Jincheon answered without a shred of concern and piled the branches together.
Fwoosh!
Then he conjured fire above his palm and set the kindling ablaze.
"J-Jincheon...?!"
Calsira jumped, a flicker of fear crossing her face.
"A-Are you... from the Bocondri Holy Kingdom...?"
"That one's a little insulting. You thought I was one of those cultists?"
For the first time, the perpetually easygoing expression on Jincheon's face twisted with genuine displeasure.
Through documents left behind by the Calsorn Empire, people had learned that the myths of countless civilizations had been artificially fabricated—and religion had collapsed at high speed as a result. The Bocondri Holy Kingdom, however, had pointed to the complete absence of any records about themselves as proof that they alone had been chosen by God, and declared themselves a holy nation.
That much wouldn't have been a major problem on its own. The problem was that not a single piece of good news ever came out about them. The most infamous among those stories was their brainwashing broadcasts. Even people who hated them would, after setting foot on a planet under Holy Kingdom control even once, return as devout believers.
Neighboring nations had sent spies just in case—and every last one of them, without exception, turned traitor and started leaking their own country's secrets instead. That was why the claim that the Bocondri Holy Kingdom brainwashed people had arisen. The Holy Kingdom simply answered that all of them had merely beheld the true domain of the divine.
Jincheon had never liked religion to begin with. Being taken for a member of a nation with that kind of reputation was more than enough to sour his mood.
"B-But isn't that... a psionic ability?"
Another thing the Bocondri Holy Kingdom was famous for was its psionic users. Within the Holy Kingdom existed people who could create fire and water with their bare hands, fly through the sky, and wield all manner of other powers. These abilities were called psionic energy, and countless people were interested in them—yet for some reason, only the Holy Kingdom could use them.
"This is something derived from a technique called martial arts."
"Martial arts?"
"You take in the natural qi of the world, refine it, and put it to use in all kinds of ways."
Jincheon's expression turned faintly bitter.
"It's the same power I taught Kunlo."
Heliane, who had been quietly watching for a chance to escape, pricked up her ears.
Come to think of it...
Kunlo had said the power he possessed was something he'd learned from a person he called 'Master.' But neither she nor the rest of the resistance had believed him. Abilities that looked like the product of biological enhancement surgery simply weren't something you could reach through teaching alone. So while no one said it to Kunlo's face, they'd all assumed that this so-called master had simply been exploiting a prodigiously talented Kunlo.
But watching someone create fire from nothing right in front of her eyes... she couldn't help wondering if it might actually be true.
"If a technique like that existed, it should at least be known by name. Why am I hearing about it for the first time?"
The physical abilities Jincheon had displayed so far far surpassed those of any bio-enhanced soldier. And if it was a technique anyone could learn, any nation would naturally focus on managing, researching, and developing it.
"It's not as easy as it looks. If you start learning as an adult, the efficiency is terrible—so you have to put children between the ages of six and ten through years of systematic foundational training."
Jincheon spoke in a warning tone toward Calsira, who was clearly underestimating martial arts.
"Until you reach adulthood, it's nothing but endless training, cultivation, and practice. And once you're an adult, is that the end? Not even close. At that stage, if you fight regular troops with modern weapons, you get unilaterally massacred."
A modern regular soldier versus a fresh Murim graduate raised stably in a prestigious school. No matter how many of the Murim side there were, the fight would end in a one-sided slaughter.
"To be able to run dozens of kilometers without tiring and dodge a hybrid gun the moment you see it, you'd need to devote yourself to training without a single day of rest until you're sixty to eighty years old. For the stronger laser guns, you'd need to be at least a hundred."
Having explained that much, Jincheon paused to rest his tongue.
"Why isn't it known? Because putting on a battle suit or a nano-suit is easier and stronger than going through all that."
"But you're stronger than soldiers in battle suits."
"I'm a genius, so of course I'm strong. What people generally call a genius is just someone a little outstanding in their field. A true genius isn't merely outstanding—it's a being who can change the very flow of an era with nothing but their personal ability."
Even Heliane felt a sense of absurdity at that line, not just Calsira. In an age drowning in information where self-PR mattered, sure—but to praise yourself as a genius capable of rewriting the course of history...
Anyway, through various explanations instead of saying he'd come from another world, he'd successfully diverted their interest.
Kunlo's a kid, so everyone would just write it off as a child's fantasy or exaggeration. Adults are a different story.
Even if he told Kunlo the truth, the boy lacked the knowledge and position to make it public. Calsira and Heliane, on the other hand, had at least some chance of being taken seriously if they talked. That was why he hadn't told them his secret. He would only tell them once he was certain they had become his women.
"Anyway—still no intention of telling me your name?"
"...Hmph."
Jincheon turned his gaze toward Heliane to change the subject. She snorted softly and kept her mouth shut, still refusing to give her name.
"Orobece really are a pain. You need to acknowledge someone just to exchange names."
In ordinary society, exchanging names was both natural and essential. But for the Orobece race, exchanging names required a special condition.
Acknowledging the other person.
Ability, skill, character—anything would do. If even one thing struck an Orobece's heart, they would acknowledge the other and exchange names.
Before they had advanced into space, their standards had been far stricter and higher than they were now. But as they expanded into the cosmos and met countless beings with different traits, cultures, and temperaments, they had lowered the bar considerably.
"I'd rather die than tell trash like you my name."
Heliane vowed that she would die before she ever gave him her name. Being dragged along was unavoidable, but her heart would never submit—this was proof of that resolve.
For reference, learning an Orobece's true name through a third party or other means and then calling it without having exchanged names was tantamount to an insult. If one Orobece did that to another, a life-or-death duel wouldn't be out of place. Since ancient times, they had held a culture that treated a name as equivalent to one's very soul.
Thank goodness. This man has no way of finding out my name.
If Jincheon had learned her name and casually spoken it, she might have seriously abandoned any thought of escape and killed herself out of humiliation and shame.
Clench!
"Hahiit!"
Reading that thought in her eyes, Jincheon yanked the rope out of spite. Her nipples, already hypersensitive from being pinched by the clamps for so long, and her pussy and anus, growing steadily more accustomed to pleasure, softened her moans.
No choice, then. I'll just have to make her submit with my cock and get the name that way.
Jincheon decided he would break her until she said her name of her own accord. In a way, that would be proof of her submission—so it was actually a good thing, since it gave him a clear goal for conquering her.
I'll let the fog day slide for now, but the moment we find those ruins, I'm going to fuck her so hard she can't even stand.
Once this fog day passed, it would be a full month until the next opportunity. So after exploring the ruins, he planned to set to work turning both women into his females.
Just then, Calsira—who had been thinking about something—spoke up.
"Um, I have one question."
"Hm?"
"When the fog rolls in, it gets so thick you can't see an inch ahead, right?"
"Right."
"And the center of this forest is huge enough to fit two or three major cities."
"It is. And?"
"How exactly are you planning to find the ruins in that fog within a single day?"