Chapter 34

After Peers had tired himself out on my body. The sex wasn't bad. It was great actually. Peers was wild and out of control, the +50 charisma almost acting as good as Pheromone in bringing out the animal in a sexual partner, at least where a Cambion like Peers was concerned. He had unreservedly consumed me with his absorb ability. I had then returned with the same, and like always, it created some kind of orgasmic effect that drove me wild.

However, as I fucked him, I felt numb. With mental fortitude and mental resistance, I lacked any shame. So naturally, when it came to fucking a Cambion without illusion, it wasn't difficult. However, the concern, comfort and care I was starting to feel for Peers… it had been obliterated. I only felt like I was fucking a monster. I might as well be back in that dungeon, earning samples for Reinhart. The worst part is that I knew I was the problem. The illusion only changed his appearance. Yet, it was his appearance I was caught up on.

It was the same way with Min, actually. I couldn't stop seeing Min as a woman, and somewhere in my brain, I refused to simply find happiness with a woman. Now, here, with Peers, I suddenly found myself unable to find happiness because he wasn't the same as a man. Was it me? Am I just a shallow person?

However, the more important question, what do I do about it? Now that I've calmed down, I could probably put on the mask of acting. I could pretend that I loved Peers… that I don't see him as a monster. I could pretend that the Cambion colony is fine. I was able to pretend to be a princess for months… acting like a Cambion should be easy. With enough time, I'd get used to it. I could come to love Peers, couldn't I? He wasn't a different person, it was just that the change in appearance was too shocking. I just needed some time. I could get past this. I could still find happiness here. The system's attempt to ruin me failed.

I drifted off to sleep while thinking those things, my body feeling slightly better, and my hand even reaching out and touching Peers. If I didn't focus on it with my eyes closed, it felt like holding Peers any other day. I forced the mask onto my face. This was my decision. I'd wear the mask until the mask was all there was left.

When I woke up the next morning, Peers wasn't lying there next to me. There was a note on the bedside. Peers had to go out on another hunting trip, apparently. As to weather the previous night had alarmed him at all, he gave no indication. I could do nothing about it anyway. I'd simply have to treat today like any other day. Therefore, I cleaned myself up and got dressed.

It wasn't like I hadn't been prepared from the get go for Cambions to be monsters. I had been pleasantly surprised to see them be so pleasant to the eye, but just because the illusion was gone, didn't mean anything changed. I kept telling myself that as I put on my clothing. It was then that I noticed the test tubes on my nightstand I had disregarded the day before. I picked up the gold glowing elixir.

I had read about elixirs before. Creating an elixir was both the dream and ultimate goal of every alchemist. There was no singular path to elixir, and every alchemist that had discovered it kept the secret formula tightly on their person. Those that discovered it were called grandmasters and were coveted by all nations. There were only three living grandmasters in the world, two human and one demon. Reinhart was only considered a master, and he'd been working the last ten years trying to create an elixir. If he knew I had stumbled upon a recipe, he'd probably bang his head against a wall and never stop.

I stuck this elixir into my alchemist bag. The bag was mostly a satchel that attached to my belt. The storage ring I had once taken from Nova was long gone. The Cambions had never recovered it from the slavers, or if they had, they didn't tell me about it. I wouldn't be too surprised if they hid it. I never asked for it, so they would have no clue it was mine. Why would they openly tell me about it? A storage ring was very expensive, equal to the cost of perhaps two elixirs.

That's also by the standard cost of other people's elixirs. If I remembered correctly, elixirs often used very expensive ingredients. Part of the reason there were so few grandmasters is that few masters had access to expensive ingredients they could just play around and test with. However, my elixir used only moderate ingredients. It included the blood of a female and semen of a male Cambion. It also involved something only I could produce. Not only my errr… feminine lubricant… but also the skill that amplified the potion. My Elixir might very well be the cheapest one ever produced, but only I can make it.

After checking myself in a copper mirror to make sure I looked presentable, burning a mask onto my face so that wouldn't react to the sight of the Cambion's true forms, I started walking towards the tent flap. At that exact moment, a Cambion burst into the tent, when he saw me, his hand immediately went towards my chest. I responded with a shriek. Even with all of this preparation, to have them suddenly lunge at me was simply too surprising.

The hand pushed me before I could do more. "Aria, stay here! There's some problems!"

It was Peers' voice, but he sounded extremely worried. I could only take a few steps back, my face scrunched up in concern as he immediately turned and raced back outside of the tent. I was alone once again, but I could hear sounds. There was a commotion, and it seemed to be growing louder. It sounded like, horses? There was a scream. A sound of metal grating against metal. Soon, I heard more screams. I paced back and forth in my tent, not sure what to do. This had to be something big. Perhaps the camp was being attacked by monsters, or worst, men.

I had to help, didn't I? I had trained to be an adventurer. I could make fireballs. I could do all kinds of things to fight. It didn't matter what the Cambions looked like, they were my people, and I needed to protect them! With my confidence resurging, I pushed my way out of the tent. What I saw on the other side was complete anarchy. There was smoke rising, the prison was on fire. People were running. There were Cambions, a few already dead on the ground, and their were others. The others had various appearances. They all wore armor, but some were large, others lanky. Some had tails, some had one eye, others had two… they were different in many different ways, but I had seen this kind of variation before.

"Demons…" It was a group of demons, half monster, half humans who had founded the country to the east.

"Aria… run!" the voice was a woman, a Cambion woman was running towards me.

No sooner did I meet her eyes then a sword pierced through her chest. She stopped in mid run, her mouth opening twice before blood poured out. To me, she looked indistinguishable from the rest of the Cambions running around. However, the voice, the voice I thought I recognized. It was Mary's voice. The creature collapsed to the side as the sword pulled out of her. Behind her was a man with horns. He looked like a humanized version of a minotaur, but at that exact moment, he looked like the devil.

The sight immediately broke all thoughts I had of fighting back. My mind froze as I stared at his hateful grin and bloodsoaked sword. Summoning my whip and fighting back? Using a seduction skill on him? None of it even occurred to me. I turned and ran back into my tent. Desperately, I looked around the tent, trying to find something, anything that I could use. If I cut the back of the tent, maybe I could run away. Yes, I had to run! That was even Mary's dying words.

However, by the time I finished those thoughts, the devilish man had already followed me and pushed his way into my tent. I turned around my legs already pressed back against my bed. The man was still holding his bloody sword, but he had a strange grin as he looked at me.

"My, my… aren't you a pretty one. I didn't plan to do any raping on this particular expedition, but for you, I might make and excepti…" His voice suddenly drifted off and he shook his head for a second, his face suddenly growing angry. "Right, Cambions… your illusion magic, it's good. I admit that, almost had me fucking a ugly creature like you. Die, monster!"

I realized that I still had the reborn title attached. He likely saw it as me using some kind of charming magic on him, which only enraged him further. I quickly removed the title, but it was too late. I could only leap back on my bed, barely dodging a swipe of his sword. I immediately held out my hand.

"Jenai!" I called on my possession ability.

The magic was expelled and… nothing. Cautious from the sudden surge of mana, the devilish man also took a step back, but when nothing came of the magic, his hateful grin merely returned. Jenai also did not come. I had not tested the skill since Jenai had been defeated. I had assumed it was simply a matter of Jenai being weakened. Suddenly, the months I had to summon her where I chose not to gave me immense guilt. Had Jenai perished that day? No, it had to be some kind of binding spell. However, now, it didn't help me in the slightest.

"Fireball!"

Before the demon could lunge forward again, this time I created a fireball. It shot toward the demon. He was surprised for about a second, and then casually waved his sword, cutting the fireball in half and disrupting it in mid-flight. It appeared like he had removed it without the slightest effort. The grin returned on his face, but his eyebrow was also twitching, clearly agitated at the number of surprises I had launched at him.

"Any other surprises?" The man said mockingly.

Of course, my random tossing of spells had given me enough time to think through things. My last trump card was seduction. The problem was that he had resisted charm over 100, would the spells even work the way I wanted them to? I steeled myself to launch every type of seduction on him I could. If I could make him loyal to me, he looked strong. Perhaps he could fight his way out of this camp and take me somewhere safe.

However, before I could start tossing skills, there was a shout." No!"

While the man was looking at me, he barely had time to turn as a Cambion slammed into his back. A small knife went into the demon's side, but it ultimately did not appear to be large enough to cause any significant damage to the man who skin's looked more like leather than anything.

Like before, I couldn't recognize the Cambion wrestling on the floor with the demon, but the voice… it was Peers, right? I didn't know what to do. I could start launching my spells now. With the demon distracted, it might be even more effective. However, I kept remembering how he seemed to shake off the effect of my charm, and my confidence was destroyed.

Fortunately, Peers seemed to have the upper hand. Even though he looked very thin and scrawny, he was on top of the monster, punching it's face with reckless abandoned. I wanted to shout at him to use his knife and stab its eyes, but I wasn't convinced Peers would hear me. He was too caught up in doing damage with his fists to think of the big picture. That's when I noticed the sword the devil had been carrying. That would do the trick. I reached down to grab the sword, picking it up in my shaking grasp. Just one strike, and we'd be done.

Before I could take another step towards the pair, a second demon stepped into my tent. My mouth opened, but not a word came out as he immediately took two steps forward and sent his sword right through Peer's heart. The sword immediately fell from my grasp, and all power left me. I fell back into a sitting position on the bed, unable to move, my mind numb.

The man on top of Peers lifted him off other man using the sword as a grip. After forcing Peers into a standing position, his limp face looked in my direction. Is was clear that the life was already leaving his eyes. With a rough pull, the new demon slid the sword out, causing Peers to drop to the floor dead. The other demon made his way to his feet, fairly unharmed considering his previous pummeling. He took one look at me and then reached out, grabbing the sword I had dropped and picking it up. He immediately pointed it in my direction.

"Well, well, where were we?"