Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 235 Up There

"Ugh…"

After a good hour, the fumes that completely veiled Rhys and Edissa's cell were finally completely gone; not even a single strand of smoke to be seen anywhere — and it would seem it took along its effects with it.

It shouldn't have — the effects of the satyr weed should last at least 3 hours, and yet right now, Edissa's sexual drive was all but depleted. It wasn't gone, but it was depleted due to Rhys just completely ravaging her body. She enjoyed every last bit of it, but now, she was completely out of commission as she could not even stand up.

"Are you cold?"

"D… don't…" Edissa's entire body jolted awake as Rhys touched her arm, causing a rush of electricity to crawl through her skin and flesh. Even the wind was causing a sharp, but pleasurable pain in her body, and the warmth coming from Rhys's fingertips was worse as her lower body reacted on its own.

She didn't want to do it anymore, but her body seemed to still quite welcome Rhys's touch. But of course, Rhys had already noticed her reluctance and just covered Edissa's torso with his shirt.

"Are… you feeling much better now?" Rhys asked.

"Yes… yes," Edissa could barely even muster up a whisper, "It… doesn't hurt anymore… well, it does… but it's a different pain now, much… much better than the alternative."

"What would have happened if you didn't relieve yourself…?" Rhys could really only walk to the corner of the cell and grab the ball containing the satyr weed. He then gently cracked it with his hand, only for it to just completely crumble and turn into ashes.

"It… it will be very painful," Edissa shivered, "And… I've seen some getting sick and even dying when they couldn't do anything about… about it."

"Hm…" Rhys then glanced back at Edissa. And unfortunately, what they did did not seem to have a significant effect on the Hearts floating above her head. Or perhaps it was fortunate, as Rhys did not really want this kind of act to be the key to unlocking Edissa or anyone's heart.

And if it happened to fill up one of her Hearts, Rhys did not really know what he was going to do. Whether or not his morality will actually prevail and he would avoid using it to seduce and conquer other people's Hearts.

Because lately, his morality was being questioned by himself.

…He just had sexual intercourse with a woman whose lower body was that of a lion, and he wasn't seeing anything wrong with it.

"...Fascinating."

Rhys then let out a small sigh as he looked at Prince Dubhai, who was now standing outside their cell and looking back and forth between him and Edissa. Rhys had actually heard him coming in, but chose to just ignore him completely.

"The satyr weed obviously did not have an effect on you," Prince Dubhai then started writing something on the notebook he brought with him, "Clearly, that is isolated since I have already tested the weed on the other humans, and they started mating like crazy. Are you truly just special, Rhys—!!!"

And as soon as Prince Dubhai turned his attention back to Rhys, he was met with Rhys's hand as it suddenly just lunged at him and grabbed him by the jaw. And without even letting Prince Dubhai move or struggle, Rhys pulled him toward the cell.

The sound of metal being rammed clanged loudly throughout the entire dungeon, but that was not only the loud sound — Prince Dubhai's bones also cracked, whispering a snap which caused him to just whimper.

"Prince!"

His guards quickly rushed to help him, but Prince Dubhai waved them away and ordered them to stand down.

"Such… such strength," Prince Dubhai let out a chuckle; his blood, spraying from his nose and mouth as he looked at Rhys with his eyes filled with an almost perverted excitement, "Are… are there many more like you…? I have seen plenty of humans, but none who are as strong as you. Are you special? Of course, you're special. You are the first human we could actually converse with.

Interesting, this is very interesting."

"You're just lucky," Rhys tightened his grip on Prince Dubhai's face, "I know at least 3 people stronger than me, and there are a lot more who are at the same level — and unlike me, they wouldn't even hesitate to kill each and every last one of you."

"There… are more of you? Then why… why am I not seeing more!?" Prince Dubhai moved his eyes the best he could to look at the other humans confined in his dungeon, "All… all I've seen are these people."

Rhys also glanced at the humans on the other cells, and just one look, he was sure they were not even Explorers. An almost equal number of Commoners and Lowborns, perhaps amongst the people who just chose to live in the Underworld.

"I'll let you go, but only if you stop all of this nonsense and just talk to me like we are equals," Rhys slightly lightened his grip on Prince Dubhai, "If you don't, then please don't blame me if I also don't see you as an equal."

"A human… as an equal…?"

"Prince! Let's just get rid of this human and eat him!"

"Silence!" Prince Dubhai hissed as his guards began approaching the cell. And as soon as they stopped, Prince Dubhai once again let out an almost manic giggle, "Fine, fine. Let's talk like civilized people. I've always planned to do that. In fact…In fact, I already have my study ready for you. I…

…made it human-friendly."

***

"Hm…"

Rhys briefly thought of what Prince Dubhai meant by human-friendly, but all he really did was place a chair in his study for him to sit on. He had already spent more than a week with the cenleons back in Typhon's, and it never really crossed Rhys's mind even once that… a chair would actually be a foreign concept to them.

As for Prince Dubhai, he was just running around the study while having a dozen books in his arms, completely ignoring Rhys and Edissa even though he asked them to follow him.

"I know what you want to do…" Rhys then let out a small sigh as he looked at Edissa, who was sitting on the floor right next to him; her tails, swinging wide and without pause as her eyes practically did not leave Prince Dubhai for even a single second, "...Now is not the right time, or ever — he's still royalty."

"I know…" Edissa hissed as she started showing her fangs. She did, however, instantly stopped hissing as Rhys placed his hand on top of her head and started brushing it, "What… what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to calm you down, is it working?" Rhys smiled at Edissa.

"N… no," Edissa whispered as her tail finally stopped moving and just wrapped around her completely still.

"Your kind doesn't seem to know a lot about the humans at all," Rhys muttered.

"Because there was nothing to know…" Edissa breathed out as her head and body started to subconsciously lean closer to Rhys as he continued to brush her head, "...I told you, you were… food. Almost a delicacy since your flesh are the most delicious thing in the vast lands, almost nothing comes close."

"I have theories about that!" And finally, Prince Dubhai stopped rummaging through his study and finally placed all of the books he grabbed on his desk, "Since in ancient history and other religious doctrines, it is said that the humans are being punished by the gods — and one way to make that is to make their flesh and blood attractive to all the other creatures.

Of course, I am not a big fan of religion, but there's merit there…

…of course, everything about the humans is a speculation, especially since we absolutely can't understand any of you. Until now, that is. I have tried learning your language for years, a lot of us have, and yet we can't understand any of you no matter what."

"Our studies came up the same," Rhys then finally talked in a clear tone as he looked Prince Dubhai straight in the eyes, "Like you, my kind have actually also researched the other races extensively — and by extensively, I mean more than you have ever learned from us."

"...Impossible, you don't have the means. Your brains are not capable of higher thinking."

"That's what we thought about you," Rhys shook his head, "Like your research, the scientists of my world have also tried learning your language… but there seems to be a barrier preventing that from happening. Not a language barrier, but something else."

"...Are you a scientist, Rhys?"

"No, I'm just… a normal human," Rhys let out a small sigh while shaking his head, "Well, I suppose for the rest of you, I'm not — I have the blood of a god flowing through my veins."

"What…!?" Prince Dubhai's eyes widened.

"And it's not just me — all the humans do," Rhys nodded, "That is probably why our blood is so alluring to all of you."

"What!?" Prince Dubhai once again hollered.

"Interesting, right? You're an academic, you understand — there are a lot more things to learn in the Surface, in the Forbidden Land as you call it. So…" Rhys then once again smiled as he continued to pat and caress Edissa's head,

"...How about I take you up there?"