The silent Forest at Night.
The Third Floor of the Underground Cave.
Within a natural cave, the passage was narrow, illuminated only by the faint, indistinct glow of scattered fluorescence. To avoid falling, one theoretically needed a Torch or some other source of light; otherwise, traversing such a place was impossible. However, these two Orcs ran across the uneven, damp ground without any hindrance.
To be precise, they propelled themselves forward by undulating their long lower bodies in horizontal waves, pressing against the rough earth.
The reason was that while their upper halves were beautiful female bodies, their lower halves were scaled snake tails. These snake bodies were twice the volume of their upper bodies, leaving parallel trails on the ground.
They were Snake-kin.
With night vision that allowed them to see clearly in the dark and snake bodies capable of navigating rugged paths with ease, the two moved through the gloomy cave without obstruction. Not only that, but their thick snake bodies served as formidable Weapons, allowing them to both run and fight.
They wore cloaks, their hoods pulled up to conceal their appearances.
Their names were Anmiu and Yalier. The former carried a bamboo basket covered with gauze on her back, while the latter was responsible for scouting and clearing the way, a clear division of labor.
Their activity tonight—dropping off the contents of the bamboo basket at a designated location—was being conducted under the cover of Night, away from the eyes of their tribe.
Yalier led the way, but she suddenly sensed something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
She flicked out her forked tongue, gathering information from the air. A look of doubt appeared on her pretty, cold face.
Usually, there were small Ratmen Monsters in this cave. They hid in the depths of the darkness, their yellow eyes watching any passing animals. They also possessed a Stealing Secret Art that allowed them to plunder Weapons and Equipment. They were particularly active at Night, and the sound of their rustling footsteps was constant.
They were no match for Yalier, of course; she usually just ate them as snacks.
But at this moment…
There was only the scent of cold rock.
There wasn’t even the smell of blood—and that was the most terrifying part.
“Wait a moment.”
The moment Yalier spoke, an nonsensical complaint echoed from the passage ahead:
“It’s so stuffy and hot. Is that stupid human trying to roast me to death? I can’t believe he stood up to that old geezer in this ugly outfit without blinking an eye.”
Yalier and Anmiu twisted their bodies simultaneously, silently slipping into a recess in the wall. In the dim, lightless cave, their bodies were completely hidden.
“Kaka, hiding is useless. The Night is my domain. I can see your movements perfectly.”
It was a strange laugh, the voice of a young girl.
Yalier moved only her head, peering toward the fork in the cave. Under the moonlight, there stood a strangely dressed figure.
‘A new type of Monster from the Third Floor?’
It was a small figure. Under the fragmented white moonlight, its yellow outer skin took on a bluish-white texture. Judging by the silhouette, it was humanoid, but its head was equipped with a cylinder and lenses.
In the darkness, Anmiu and Yalier’s slit pupils met.
Anmiu’s eyes asked: ‘Should we make contact?’
Yalier responded: ‘Absolutely not.’
With only 45 minutes remaining until the delivery time, it was better to ignore the figure and leave at maximum speed rather than take a risk.
The cave was already eerie enough, and the sudden appearance of a little girl suggested nothing but trouble.
Just as Yalier prepared to move—
Zap!!
Two bolts of electricity flashed through the shadows of their hiding spot. A powerful sensation of Paralysis surged through their entire bodies. Both Yalier and Anmiu collapsed.
Two more figures in yellow clothing stepped out. They were dressed the same as the little girl but were significantly taller.
“Essentially, this is still a crime. Dante, help me carry them. They both weigh over 200 kilograms.”
“Oh, I finally get to feel like a subway pervert, buddy.”
“Kaka, let my servants and the New Human handle it. Dante, come help me take this off. It’s disgusting to wear. I can’t stand it anymore.”
Before her consciousness faded into darkness, Yalier vaguely heard this conversation and felt her body being lifted by three pairs of hands.
***
A delicate fragrance wafted into her nose, bringing Yalier back to consciousness.
She kept her head lowered, carefully opening her eyes at an extremely slow pace. A person in yellow clothing entered her field of vision.
The figure had the same look as the small one from before, but from the upper body, he seemed much taller. He was squatting on the ground, laying out plantain leaves.
‘At this angle, I can strike him dead with my tail.’
Just as Yalier attempted to flex the muscles in her waist and snake body—
?!
She couldn’t move at all.
There were small slips of paper stuck to her chest, and aside from those, her clothes had been completely stripped away. Black cloth hanging from the ceiling was tied firmly around her snake body, abdomen, armpits, and arms. She was suspended like a fixed display.
It was a humiliating pose.
The posture of a loser.
‘We’ve been captured.’
She didn’t scream. Instead, she calmly scanned her surroundings. This was a Secret Chamber.
The light came from oil lamps in the four corners, but the wicks didn’t flicker at all. The yellow-white light made the entire Secret Chamber exceptionally bright. A glossy black rectangular device, supported by four stands, was pointed directly at her.
Beside her was Anmiu, who had suffered the same fate. Small slips of paper were also stuck to her chest, and she had not yet woken up.
Yalier did not know that those slips of paper were called Band-aids.
‘Is this the last bit of decency the enemy left us?’
“Who are you? Why did you attack us? Why didn’t you just kill us? What information are you trying to get out of me?”
A raspy voice spoke.
The person was looking up at her, only 30 centimeters away from her snow-white chest.
She immediately recognized the voice as one of the people who had ambushed them.
Based on the conversation she had heard earlier, this person’s name was—
Thor.
Yalier looked down at Thor with an icy gaze.
‘This guy… probably isn’t a male.’
The evidence was that he wasn’t looking at her chest at all.
Though she couldn’t see his expression through the lenses, Yalier could feel their gazes locking.
An ordinary male animal would never be able to resist the Enchanting Pheromones emitted by a Snake-kin. However, this person was completely unaffected, nor did he show any signs of forced suppression.
The smell of his clothes was strange, and when mixed with the fragrance in the Secret Chamber, it became even more bizarre.
“Trafficking… no, that’s not quite right. You’re the one behind the kidnapping of Snake-kin children, right?”
“…It was me.”
Faced with Yalier’s cold response, Thor continued to question her in an unchanging tone.
“Your name?”
“Who is the mastermind?”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“Why are you doing these things?”
“And… what is your chest measurement?”
Yalier remained motionless, staring at him coldly without saying a word.
She chose silence, her gaze seemingly trying to pierce through the man’s heart.
However, in contrast to her cold exterior, her skin was becoming more flushed. Sweat began to bead on her body, and a feminine aura gradually filled the Secret Chamber.
That tea-like fragrance… could it be—
Yalier’s expression darkened.
An ominous suspicion rose in her heart. Her tribe often used similar methods, and she realized the enemy might be using some means to make her lower her guard.
“Fine. If you want to stay silent, I’ll just have to switch methods.”
Thor didn’t care about her intimidation. He turned and walked toward a long cylindrical bag in the corner.
He rummaged through it, revealing strange items Yalier didn’t recognize at all: durians, steel plugs, lubricant, candles, and round toys.
“By the way, it’s inconvenient to keep calling you ‘hey you.’ I’ll give you a temporary name—’Yalier,’ how about that? Taken from the Flower of Akate, which symbolizes purity.”
Yalier’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
‘He even knows the origin of my name?’
She realized that things were likely going to end badly for her tonight. The enemy’s grasp of their information was far deeper than she had imagined.
“Thor, who exactly are you—”
“Found it.”
The tool Thor pulled out made Yalier’s spine go cold.
Just the shape of it triggered an inexplicable fear within her, as well as… an unexplainable anticipation.
“What are you going to do? No matter what kind of torture you use, I won’t say a single word.”
Yalier maintained her cold tone, but she was desperately trying to suppress an unfamiliar throb in her heart.
The tool was pink with rounded curves and a bent, bulbous tip. It drew her gaze deep.
“This is called a ‘Moe Fish Massager.’ I specifically picked the size you like best according to the settings. It can pry open your mouth down there to make the mouth up here more honest—isn’t it an amazing Magitool?”
Thor spoke nonsense as he approached with the buzzing device.
“Don’t… come near me. That is definitely… not a Magitool.”
She should have felt disgusted, but Yalier’s body was becoming intolerably hot. An unusually comfortable heat caused sweat to pour out of her.
Her breathing quickened uncontrollably. Fluid from her lower abdomen flowed down her snake body, giving her scales a moist sheen.
‘It must be the air. It’s an aphrodisiac effect… it’s definitely not my own thoughts.’
Yalier justified it to herself.
And her snake tail, without her even realizing it, began to sway gently.