Into the Demon Realm
The expedition force's countless troops crossed through the gate.
Most of those who had come through were gasping and struggling as if the air itself were hard to breathe, their bodies clearly unwell.
All except one.
A woman with a hat pulled low over her head and slightly baggy clothes drew in a deep breath as if the air were pure and clean, a smile spreading freely across her lips.
After roughly four months away, Miel found the air of the Demon Realm so welcome she could barely contain herself.
Life on Earth, where her body had always felt heavy and sluggish, had been exhausting beyond measure.
Her current outfit wasn't a choice — it was a necessity. Her wings were smaller than those of other succubi, which made them easier to conceal. Right now, she had bandaged her wings and body together to hide them, then pulled a hat down to cover her horns.
Thanks to those efforts, she had transformed from a blonde, tanned, sheep-horned succubus into a blonde, tanned thug.
"Haa... It's been so long since I felt this refreshed."
Miel exhaled deeply, voicing her appreciation.
"Keep your voice down. Someone might hear."
Yurin, watching her, glanced around cautiously and warned her.
"They said we'd set out once the second expedition force arrives, right?"
"Yeah. For now, building a base camp within about a month is the goal of our first expedition force."
Their mission as members of the first expedition force was to establish an outpost. They had a month until the second force departed — time enough to construct a base camp and survey the surrounding area.
She was worried about Seona, but with only Miel and Yurin, any reckless attempt would be hopeless against the Succubus Lord's overwhelming power. If Miel hadn't kept talking her down, Yurin might well have left by now, determined to rescue Seona alone.
Besides, Miel reasoned, if they had wanted Seona dead, they would have wrung him dry on the very first day. What the Succubus Lord and her daughters wanted, it seemed, was for Miel to suffer.
Looking at it objectively, the way they had always tormented her, the way they kept flooding Seona's body with agonizing pleasure as if urging her to hurry and come find him — it all felt like deliberate provocation. If she went to rescue Seona, her mother and sisters would probably parade his thoroughly wrung-out body before her, laughing and mocking her as if it were the funniest thing in the world.
They had always loved tormenting her. That was almost certainly what they had in mind.
Just thinking about it was already making her irritated.
After coming of age, Miel had hated being home so much that she often flew around the territory's outskirts. Sometimes the urge to go farther would seize her, and she had occasionally traveled quite a long way. As a result, she knew the geography around her home territory inside and out.
She began studying the surrounding landmarks to figure out where they were. From a ground-level perspective — so different from the aerial view she was used to — it was hard to get her bearings, but a fortress visible in the distance gave her a clue.
That was the castle-city ruled by the Minotaur Lord. Unlike others, she was covered in black fur; once a royal knight, she had retired after a lingering leg injury.
Thinking it over, this place was about a month's walk from her mother's territory. They had landed quite far away.
Miel herself wanted to rush off and rescue Seona that very moment, but without the expedition force's strength, reclaiming him was nearly impossible. She resolved to wait for the second expedition force and set out together.
Even now, the Yin Crest sent waves of pleasure through her body, and the image of Seona being pitifully wrung dry rose unbidden in her mind. If she didn't act with a proper plan, Seona would remain there forever, squeezed ragged like a filthy rag.
And if she herself died, they would only take greater interest in playing with Seona's body. Even though her Yin Crest was carved on him, the crest of a succubus whose partner had already died could be reshaped into a different form.
Her mother, who had already had a partner, might not be able to modify the crest — but the countless unmarried sisters would torture Seona with pleasure until he went mad, obsessively caressing him to carve their own crest designs onto him. The mere thought made her stomach turn.
It was a horrifying vision. Even now they were violating the rules of succubi, ravaging Seona to the point of breaking him just to cause her pain. If she died, what would befall the Seona left behind was all too clear. It would only get worse, never better.
If she didn't keep her head straight, that nightmare would become reality.
Miel endured the agonizing pleasure coiling through her body.
Someday... she would repay this humiliation and rescue Seona. That single resolve carried her forward.
When Miel advised Yurin on their current location and suitable sites for an outpost, Yurin — in her capacity as staff officer — presented the information to the expedition commander as if asserting known facts.
The expedition commander.
This force was composed of talent gathered from multinational guilds. Among them, Maria stood out as the most experienced and highest-ranked across both the first and second expedition forces, and she had been chosen as commander.
Once the guild master of a major American guild, she had announced her retirement and joined this expedition. An S-Rank with superhuman strength, Maria was in her sixties but looked no older than her late thirties.
Among physical-type abilities, raw power was the most common — and the one most often to hit a wall. But her ability was on another level entirely.
On the day a massive gate opened, her exploits as an S-Rank hunter defied imagination. She had body-slammed a downtown skyscraper into rubble. She had seized utility poles in each hand and beaten a giant beast's head with them. Her strength was beyond anything ordinary people could conceive.
In truth, the entire expedition rested on her presence.
The Hwaryong Guild might be driving the project, securing investment, supplying the forces beyond the gate, and paying hunters their contract fees and allowances — but hunters were still human. No amount of wealth mattered in the face of a suicide mission. The reason they had joined was that her confident participation had dramatically reduced the perceived risk.
Originally, this expedition had been formed to rescue Seona, so no one should have outranked Mina, who would join as commander of the second force. But Yura had made the call, worried that without Maria the available forces would be far too thin.
Contrary to their concerns, Maria had shown enormous curiosity upon learning that Yurin was the first person ever to return from the Demon Realm. She was someone who trusted the judgment of her staff officer — especially one who knew even a little more about the Demon Realm. And when Yurin, drawing on Miel's knowledge after arriving, shared details about the region's characteristics and various other facts, Maria trusted her all the more.
Once the second expedition force joined them, Yurin planned to propose to this trusting commander that they head for the Arandel family's domain — the Succubus Lord's territory. She had framed it as occupying the place that would be both "easiest" and most profitable, and she had spoken of the black Minotaur Lord as if she had roughly heard the rumors of that territory. Maria trusted her judgment.
At first she had found it odd that someone who had spent only a few months in the Demon Realm — and as a captive, no less — knew so much. But every piece of knowledge Yurin shared that could be verified had proven true, so she let the minor questions slide. Maria had also judged for herself that Yurin would at least do the expedition no harm — and if she did, Maria could "resolve" the matter on the spot with her own power.
Yurin wanted to set the expedition's direction as much as possible in advance, so that when the second force arrived, Mina wouldn't have to waste time persuading Maria.
It was the fastest way to save Seona.
She had to do it.
Three days after the first expedition force entered the Demon Realm.
Mina finally could no longer hold back her tears and sank to the ground.
Dressed in black mourning clothes, she was surrounded by people offering comfort — coworkers, relatives, and more.
There was only one reason she wore mourning clothes.
Hyuntae had passed away the day before.
His condition had been deteriorating for several days. The heart rate on the monitor had steadily declined. When the attending physician told her she needed to prepare herself, the ground had fallen out from under her.
Now... all that remained in this world was the fact that she was alone.
But it was still too early to give up.
If she could bring Seona back to this world... at the very least, Hyuntae looking down from heaven would have no reason to weep in sorrow.
At first she had resented Yurin so deeply. She hadn't been able to forgive Yurin for what she had done. But then Yurin had said she would join the first expedition force herself, ready to throw away her own life to rescue Mina's son.
Mina had joined the second force because she hadn't known how long Hyuntae had left and wanted to see him off — but Seona was her son. She should have been on the first expedition, departing ahead of everyone.
When Yurin — who knew better than anyone how slim the odds of survival were — said she wanted to return to the Demon Realm to save Seona, Mina had no choice but to forgive her.
At the very least, she would never allow a marriage between Yurin and Seona. But if Seona himself forgave Yurin for what she had done... then she thought she ought to give Yurin a chance.
Yurin had shown that much care for Seona, and genuine remorse. But if Seona didn't want it, she would cast Yurin aside without hesitation.
What mattered most was this:
Seona — her only remaining family in the world, her son.