The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1479: Chapter 210 - The Land Of Lust (3)

"You actually didn’t know that, huh?" Foriel asked, sounding genuinely surprised that I hadn’t already known something that apparently seemed obvious to her.

By this point, we had already gone around the group of succubi who were busy fucking each other and simply chose to leave them alone. Honestly, that felt like the most reasonable decision anyone could make under those circumstances. There wasn’t exactly a guidebook for situations like that, but if there were, I was pretty sure "walk around them and mind your own business" would be somewhere near the top of the list.

"I didn’t," I admitted.

Foriel glanced at me for a moment before continuing her explanation.

"Well, they’re still females," she said. "They can simply grow male reproductive organs whenever they want. That’s one of the abilities granted to them by the Sin of Lust, Asmodeus."

That was definitely not information I had expected to hear today.

Foriel didn’t stop there.

"Asmodeus doesn’t like males whatsoever," she continued. "Apparently, before she became the Sin of Lust, she was once treated as someone’s plaything. That’s why she ended up developing such intense hatred toward them."

"I see..."

I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of experiences she had gone through before becoming a Sin, but if things really happened the way Foriel described them, then I could at least understand where some of that hatred came from.

Understanding it and agreeing with it were two completely different things, of course.

Still, from her perspective, I could see why she had shaped her territory the way she had.

"The incubi had a much rougher situation," Foriel continued as we kept moving forward. "Most of them were sent to labor mines. Whenever wars broke out, they were often used as cannon fodder."

Her tone remained calm, but the information itself was pretty grim.

"They were usually the first ones thrown into battle and the first ones to die. Most people didn’t really care because there were so many of them. There were around a million incubi at one point," she continued. "A lot of them were killed without question. Honestly, some of it was pretty horrible. But when you consider how frequently succubi give birth and the fact that there’s basically a fifty-fifty chance of the child being an incubus, it wasn’t exactly surprising that their numbers remained high."

I hadn’t expected to receive an entire history lesson about succubi and incubi while traveling through this place.

Not that I minded.

Information was valuable, especially when it concerned the territory I was currently walking through.

The more I understood about the place, the less likely I was to accidentally do something stupid.

Although, considering my track record, that wasn’t exactly a guarantee.

As our journey continued, my attention gradually shifted elsewhere.

Toward Elise.

The feeling hadn’t disappeared.

If anything, it was becoming stronger.

I couldn’t explain it perfectly, but I could tell she was close.

Not close enough for me to immediately pinpoint her exact location, but close enough that I could feel it in the back of my mind.

Every step seemed to reinforce that feeling.

She was somewhere nearby.

I just needed to find her.

"By the way, Mr. Faust," Foriel suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"As much as possible, try not to use your mana."

That immediately caught my attention.

I turned toward her.

"Any particular reason?"

"If you use magic right now, Asmodeus might notice that there’s a traveler moving through her territory," she explained. "I’m not completely sure what would happen to me, but since you’re a male, she’d most likely attack you immediately and try to kill you."

Her expression was serious enough that I knew she wasn’t exaggerating.

"Although," she added after a brief pause, "I honestly doubt she’d be able to kill you easily. You’d probably be capable of defending yourself."

"Well, that’s good to know," I replied.

The idea of fighting a Sin was certainly tempting.

There was a part of me that couldn’t deny being curious.

People didn’t exactly get opportunities like that every day.

At the same time, curiosity and intelligence weren’t always the same thing.

Fighting a Sin just because I happened to run into one sounded like a fantastic way to create problems for myself.

Right now, my objective wasn’t defeating legendary beings.

My objective was finding Elise.

Everything else could wait.

As long as I found my sister, I’d consider this trip a success.

The rest could be dealt with afterward.

The journey continued peacefully for a while after that.

Nothing attacked us.

Nothing exploded.

Nobody attempted to murder us.

Honestly, the day was going suspiciously well.

Then my instincts suddenly went wild.

A powerful presence appeared at the edge of my senses.

Fast.

Extremely fast.

Actually, calling it fast felt like a massive understatement.

The thing approaching us wasn’t running.

It wasn’t dashing.

It wasn’t even moving in a way that seemed remotely normal.

The presence was streaking toward us at a speed that reminded me of a bolt of lightning tearing across the sky.

The distance vanished almost instantly.

One moment it was far away.

The next moment it was practically right on top of us.

My body reacted immediately.

Without wasting even a fraction of a second, I activated Guardian around the entire carriage.

The barrier expanded outward and covered everything.

Then the impact arrived.

The collision slammed into Guardian with enough force to shake the surrounding area.

The barrier held.

Barely.

Cracks immediately spread across its surface.

Guardian absorbed the majority of the damage and prevented the attack from directly hitting us, but the force behind the strike was still enough to damage one of my strongest defensive abilities.

That alone told me plenty.

Whoever launched that attack was incredibly powerful.

The barrier remained intact and fulfilled its purpose.

The damage was minimized.

The carriage survived.

Still, seeing cracks spread across Guardian wasn’t exactly comforting.

Lately, the barrier seemed to be suffering far more abuse than usual.

Granted, it was still one of the strongest defensive techniques available to me.

But seeing it crack again and again was a reminder that even powerful abilities had limits.

More importantly, if someone could damage Guardian this easily, then that person was unquestionably dangerous.

When the impact finally faded and the dust settled enough for me to see clearly, I looked toward the source of the attack.

A woman was flying before us.

Long black hair flowed behind her.

She had a notably busty figure and an imposing presence that immediately demanded attention.

What stood out most wasn’t her appearance, though.

It was the look in her eyes.

Hatred.

Pure hatred.

The moment her gaze landed on me, I could practically feel her disgust.

She looked offended by my existence.

Not annoyed.

Not irritated.

Offended.

It honestly felt like she had taken one look at me and immediately decided that the universe had personally insulted her.

"What is a male doing in my territory?!" she demanded.

Her voice carried authority and power in equal measure.

In one hand, she held an enormous broadsword.

The weapon was massive enough that most warriors would need both hands just to lift it off the ground.

She carried it casually with one hand as if it weighed absolutely nothing.

A pair of wings extended from her back.

A tail swayed behind her, similar to the ones possessed by the succubi throughout this territory.

She wasn’t wearing conventional clothing.

Instead, a strange black substance covered parts of her body in much the same way the succubi’s did.

Even standing still, she radiated overwhelming pressure.

The air around her felt heavy, dangerous, and oppressive.

I had never met this woman before.

We had never spoken.

I had never seen her face.

Yet despite all of that, her identity was obvious.

The wings.

The tail.

The immense power.

The hatred directed toward me specifically because I was male.

All of it pointed toward a single conclusion.

The black-haired woman standing before me could only be one person.

Asmodeus.

The Sin of Lust.