Tales of a Seductress

TOAD – Chapter 82

I had received a message that my time was up and I needed to leave the labyrinth. Such a message was delivered to the entrance of the labyrinth. King Oberon wouldn’t send a messenger into my labyrinth and his respective death, and he definitely wouldn’t risk that Truthsayer of his. He correctly predicted that I’d be able to hear any proclamations made at the entrance to the dungeon.

“Lady Aria, King Oberon has sent an official summons. He says that your time skulking beneath the castle is over, and it is time you greet him in the light. Your wedding is only two days from now, and you both must prepare.” A man in uniform holding open a long parchment declared while accompanied by two guards.

These men all appeared skittish. After all, they knew almost nothing about this place. All they knew was that the King had suddenly ordered for every captive in the kingdom to be transported to the Capital, and one by one they were taken down and released, never to be heard from again. Hundreds of prisoners had disappeared at this point, and the entire kingdom was buzzing about it. These men knew more than most, having been the ones to do the paperwork and escort the prisoners one group at a time into the mysterious labyrinth.

Some rumors had connected the mysterious labyrinth to the up-and-coming queen, but this proclamation finally confirmed it. Countless prisoners went in, the roughest and most dangerous men the kingdom could provide, and not a single one of them appeared again. That was a terrifying thought in itself. Either there was an army of evil men gathered within the labyrinth, or there was something capable of destroying an army of evil men. It was hard to pinpoint which was eerier. Connect that to a mysterious girl who had nearly as many rumors about her as the labyrinth, and these men didn’t know what to think.

At the least, they thought it silly they were talking to a labyrinth. Although labyrinths were living things, they were less like an animal and more like a plant. Someone didn’t talk to a bush and ask it how its day was going. Even if I was in the labyrinth, they didn’t understand how they were passing on a message to me. Of course, they didn’t have to wait very long either. Only a few minutes after they spoke, a form emerged from the darkness.

The guards instinctively drew their swords while backing up, abandoning the messenger who they were supposed to be protecting. The messenger, a portly man who resembled an academic and had facial features that showed his demonic side a bit, was frozen in place, his mouth open as I walked out.

For my sake, I was immaculate. My body was clean and pristine, without any sign that I had spent the last two weeks banging hundreds of men nonstop. I hadn’t slept during that period, but I didn’t need to. My stamina had long since broken what it meant to be human. Even without any help, I could probably stay up a week without sleep. Every time that I absorbed a person though, I also gained their vitality and stamina, thus restoring my vigor.

I wasn’t exactly sure how many men I had slept with. I stopped counting a long time ago. I did make sure to suck every drop of experience from them. There wasn’t a man I didn’t enjoy in at least a dozen positions. Every hole got penetrated at least once, and that didn’t even include some of the freakier things we got into. Suffice it to say my experience rose quickly. These were already tough men, most already 2nd class or higher, and I used my labyrinth to refine them even more. After leveling a few times and then using those points to increase my experience multipliers, those few hundred men likely netted me the experience that would have taken a normal person ten thousand men.

Was I selling myself short by wasting so many precious points on experience multipliers? Considering how few people ever reached level 90 in their lives, I didn’t think what I was doing was a problem at all. The likelihood of me needing to battle another person of my level was already zero, and anyone I did encounter had such a drastically different build than mine, they’d have no counter for my particular talents.

In other words, even if someone made themselves the perfect warrior, never wasting a single point, I would never fight them with swords anyway. They’d have little resistance to my seductress powers, so I’d win even if I wasn’t the strongest seductress possible. Mind you, this didn’t even take into effect my weird disposition of gaining three unique skills at every level. Had I wanted to, I could have subdued King Oberon by now.

The reason I hadn’t, well, he was thirty levels higher than me before and much older and more experienced. There was a possibility he had tricks I wasn’t aware of. If I crossed him and failed, there would be no going back. I’d either be dead or on the run for the rest of my life. Of course, now that I had bridged that gap, I was more confident I could succeed, but I felt no pleasure at the idea of simply controlling him. He was the King, and if I controlled him, I’d be controlling the demon realm too, and I had no interest in dealing with those power struggles. It was more interesting for me to see his plans, much of which was still a mystery to me, roll out.

“Are you gentlemen going to stand there with your mouths open, or will you escort a girl?” I asked impishly.

Coming out of the labyrinth in a fine, yet simple dress and no shoes, I knew my appearance was something like some kind of fairy or nymph. My beauty was at the level of a mythical creature, and no man could lay eyes on me without being stunned for a moment. This was with me wearing the restraints that Oberon favored. One restraint kept my charm from being overwhelming, although it couldn’t fix the fact I reached the apex of natural beauty. The other numbed my body so I couldn’t be physically stimulated.

The second device worked to an extent. I could keep my mind clear for a time and at least keep my flirtatious and amorous nature restrained. However, it had a terrible backlash. I would grow insatiable, my need for the release coming out monstrously. If I was numb everywhere, my body couldn’t experience any pleasure. The need for pleasure was a need baked into the cells of my body. This need only increased as I leveled. It couldn’t be side-tracked by lacking stimulation, this only allowed it to ferment. All I could say is that if I couldn’t find release before the wedding in two days, the demon king would have a force to handle on the wedding night.

The men recovered from their shock quickly enough. They were high-level guards and well-trained men too. They knew that desiring the King’s future wife was a death sentence and did their best to not even tempt themselves. They started to lead me out of the dungeon. No, the dungeon was the location above where I had been.

The rows of cells used to be full of prisoners. This was where those who were brought to my labyrinth were dragged from. When I first was escorted passed the rows of inmates, even though I kept my hood up, the imprisoned men hooted and hollered, shouting out obscene things and making lewd gestures, just based on my body and the smells I gave off. It had left me so aroused.

Two weeks later, only a handful of cells still contained inmates. Although I wore no robe and made no attempt to hide my appearance anymore, the prisoners found no excitement or arousal in seeing me walk by. Instead, they slunk in the back, diverting their eyes and shaking with fear as if some evil beast was passing them by. I wasn’t sure why they were acting that way. Perhaps, they saw every other man walk down that path and disappear. I was the first person besides the guards who came back. Or… maybe they could hear hints of what happened down below, the screams or the moans. Maybe they could feel an aura of death after I had killed so many others. Either way, these were broken men, and I had no interest in them.

We left the eerily quiet dungeon and then continued up. The hallways widened out as we reached structures built within structures. They had done their best to make use of the space available and make it useable, but it made large swaths of the keep appear mismatched. Many areas were perhaps too grand for humans, but too small for the dragons that might have once lived in this palace. It wasn’t long before I was led to a large set of double doors.

The soldiers opened them and the messenger merely gestured for me to enter. I did so, not affording the three men another look. There was a large throne room which made the previous one I had seen in Nidia look like nothing. The Demon King sitting on a large throne at the end came off as ominous in such a large room and insignificant when compared to the majesty of the area around him. I didn’t allow the atmosphere to affect me whatsoever and continued up the path toward him.

King Oberon wasn’t the only one there. There were several others in attendance, and they seemed to be steep in a conversation. No one even afforded me a look as I approached them. In all fairness, because of the enormous size of the room, it’d take me several minutes to reach their chair anyway. The acoustics were incredible though, and I could hear their conversation as if I was standing right in front of them.

“You can’t honestly be thinking of having the wedding now.” A voice was speaking disgruntledly.

“We must stabilize the realm before we consider raising a queen.” An older woman added.

“And what do you think, Truthsayer?” Oberon’s voice was deep and expressionless.

“I sense turbulence.” The boy I had already experienced numerous encounters with, none sexual, spoke hesitantly. “I sense a large event happening… there will be a day of great upheaval. Countless blood will be spilled, and the demon realm will be changed forever. This will occur the day following the wedding, the day of the eternal equinox.”

“See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” The woman spoke up. “The human realm plans to attack, and I’m not confident that Lord Tigon might use this opportunity to stage a coup.”

“You truly think he’ll betray the country?” The man gasped.

“It’s well known he’s been gathering allies in large numbers. The council suddenly went quiet three days ago. We’ve not seen a single missive from them since.”

“That’s not unheard of…” He spoke uncertainly.

“With a human army on our doorstep? They’ve declared that woman an evil being that must be eliminated!”

“They couldn’t be talking about me, could they?” I was close enough now that they could hear me, and when I spoke up, all eyes turned to me.

The two men who had been lost in their conversation nearly jumped when they heard my voice. I recognized them as followers of Oberon. They were named Lord Pait and Lady Isabelle. They both came from old houses. The woman had snake-like eyes and scales on her neck. The man had somewhat blue skin and yellow eyes, and sharper than normal teeth made for tearing. While their houses were small, they were purer houses as a result, those that still showed traces of their demonic origins.

It had seemed that the reason Lord Tigon’s forces outnumbered Oberon’s was quantity over quality. Many families had grown quite large, mostly by interbreeding with humans. The result was that they had no demonic traits left, but they had enormous numbers. Most of Oberon’s allies were the old guard, those that kept small, yet mysterious and powerful families. Although they undeniably held thicker demonic blood, Lord Tigon swayed the hearts and minds of so many demons by promising them power despite their diminishing bloodlines.

“Aria…” Oberon let out a breath, almost seeming relieved to see me, which was something I’d never have expected from him.

“So, this is the girl?” The snake-like woman wore a sneer. “This is who you wish to die over?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked innocently.

“It’s your fault.” The woman began.”

“Isabelle!” The man hissed.

“She ought to know.” The woman hissed back, but she looked at King Oberon rather than continuing, and when he gave a slight nod, she glared back at me. “It appears like your rise to queen is more problematic than our lord originally predicted. If you marry King Oberon, then this realm will assuredly be plunged into war!”