A spring in the desert?!
And the water is warm too! Just the way I like it!
Lion told us that he found it in an accident while he was busy attacking some monsters earlier.
But why is he dir...
You know what? Nevermind.
I went inside the water first in which I gasp in delight as it is warm.
The spring is secluded too...
Uh...
I can hear Lion and Sly furiously bathing themselves as if they didn't bathe for a month.
While they are busy, I moved towards the edge near a rock and leaned my head on the rock while closing my eyes.
Ahhh... This is heavenly...
There are so many things that I want to think about but for now, I just want to relax...
Wait.
I seemed to recall Lion mentioning something about unfinished business.
Oh, well. I'll worry about that later.
For now, I want to relax....
Lion and Sly are quiet. Too quiet.
They were noisy earlier when they were bathing...
Ah. I don't care...
I continued to close my eyes, relaxing when I suddenly heard Lion whispering my name in a lingering way.
Yes?
I slowly opened my eyes and saw both of them beside me.
What the?!
I screamed with fright as I didn't hear them approaching me.
Both of them apologized for startling me though they chuckled after awhile.
Lion asked me if I was asleep earlier in which I told him that I was just lost in my own thoughts.
The three of us talked about all sorts of random stuff when Lion told me that he and Sly will bathe me.
Oh, yeah.. I didn't bathe yet.
I just submerged my body in the water.
Lion placed me on his lap sideways so that Sly will not have difficulty in washing my hair.
My hair is too long.
But the pack loved it though and they do take good care of it. It's only me who is too lazy to take care of it.
Lion told me to close my eyes as he is going to wash my face.
Um.
I don't know if it's just me but somehow I felt that this isn't just about bathing me.
In fact, I felt like anticipating.. something..
My eyes are closed as I felt Lion washing my face.
But his touches seems a bit gentle.. too gentle that it started to feel kind of.. ticklish..
Even if it's just my face.
Maybe it's just me that is too sensitive right now.
I should probably start reciting those sutras in my mi..
My thoughts were interrupted when Lion kissed me softly.
He held me as he continued to kiss me softly while Sly gave me tender kisses on my neck as he held my hair with his hand.
This feels good.
One of my hands held Lion's neck while my other hand touched Sly's cheek in which Sly held it with his other hand as he intertwined his fingers with mine.
Lion pulled back and started to lick my ear in which Sly gently turned my face towards his and kissed me slowly.
It feels too good.
Too good that it took time for me to hear Alpha's howl.
Immediately, Lion and Sly stopped as they listened for awhile before muttering all sorts of expletives.
Of course I don't understand what Alpha is trying to say so I tried to ask both of them when I saw their faces.
Ah.
It seems that we are getting disturbed.
Again.
.....
It turns out that Alpha and Ghost were just looking for us.
Lion asked them where they went in which Ghost immediately turned red and murmured something unintelligible.
Oh my gosh! It was an accident! I didn't do it on purpose!
As for Alpha, he acted like nothing happened as he made an excuse of trying to explore the cave.
Yeah.. along with doing.. something..
Based on Ghost's facial expressions, he did something.. too..
But somewhere else as his pants has sand all over it.
They looked a bit dirty in which Lion told them to join us.
Of course, they immediately joined us.
.....
I snuggled towards Lion while he embraced me as the rest of them talked about something random.
I played with his hair while he just looked at me tenderly.
Oh, right!
I should tell him about what the sphinx told me.
Hesitantly, I asked Lion if there are others who tried to explore this place.
Suddenly, it became silent as everyone turned to Lion.
He pondered for a bit before telling me that a lot of creatures and beings died here a long time ago and...
No.
Don't continue.
Seeing the look on my face, he chuckled and reminded me how dad looks.
It's different!
And I was scared at first!
All of them laughed until I told them what the sphinx said to me.
Now they became serious.
....
No words can describe on what we saw when we got out of the cave.
It's a complete wasteland. That's just describing it in a nice way.
The sky is dark, as if the suns are trying to avoid the place. The atmosphere is heavy and eerie, as if the land itself is cursed...
Cursed?
I need my Buddhist staff!
As soon as Lion handed me my Buddhist staff, the pack looked at me with concern while Bubu and Deus kept themselves in a distance as they told us that they would look around to see if there are presence of monsters around.
Okay.
Soon it was just the pack, me and Khamsin.
While holding the Buddhist staff, I can feel it started to shake a little.
I told everyone in a low voice, to keep close to me as I can feel that there's something strange that is approaching us.
They immediately obeyed as they already have an idea why.
Including Khamsin as it seems that the pack told him about everything.
I'm concerned about Bubu and Deus but I don't see them anywhere. They moved too fast.
Slowly, we moved one step at the time, in which my Buddhist staff shook intensely.
Immediately, I told everyone not to move as I began chanting all sorts of mantras and sutras while doing all sorts of dancing as I waved the Buddhist staff wildly, like I'm some sort of a mad woman.
I have no idea what I'm doing, to be honest.
I'm not a Buddhist monk but I watched several fantasy anime before so I tried to copy what I saw.
To my horror, a black form approached me while saying something in a screechy voice, nearly making me faint when I saw that my companions are in a daze.
Noooo!!!
Wait. I should not be afraid or I will attract more.
And I'm right again as more and more black forms approached us in which they started to grew some eyes.
Not just having a set of eyes but EYES ALL OVER THEIR BODIES!
They kept on screeching, their voices hurting my ears in which I decided to SCREAM my mantras and sutras in an extremely loud voice, as if they are all deaf.
I danced again wildly, waving my Buddhist staff around with no control, nearly hitting Orm on the head as one by one, the black forms started to disappear.
Some extremely stubborn black forms kept on bothering me that I screamed the mantras and sutras in front of their faces, that is if you call it a face.
Instead of disappearing, they grew instead.
Oh, for the love of...
I shook the Buddhist staff hard, as if I'm expecting jewels to fall from it, that they seemed to stop growing and just continued to grew more eyes instead.
What else can I do to get rid of them? I don't have salt!
After observing them for a few moments, it seemed like they aren't here to harm me but were curious about us.
I don't like looking at them.
So I tried to ignore them while trying to tie each of the pack and Khamsin's wrist with a long piece of cloth, as if it is a leash of some sort and held all of it with my hand.
Why are they so vulnerable as this isn't the first time we have done like this before?
And why is it always me that ended up being unaffected? Not that I mind of course.
Oh, wait. Since I'm in a world that is full of magic, the reason why they are more vulnerable is because they are more exposed and connected to supernatural forces.
Like for instance, you can easily hack a device that is connected to the internet than an offline device.
Back in my previous world, there's no presence of magic at all. I remembered Lion's explanation at first on why I was pulled in this world. His explanation kind of make sense but it isn't the real reason why I was here.
To make the long story short, yeah... the pack and Khamsin are more vulnerable than me.
I continued to roam around, trying to find the transformation stone while ignoring the creepy looking black forms who kept on following us.
I wished Bubu and Deus would come back soon as it is getting hard to pull the pack and Khamsin around.
The environment seems to be getting darker the longer I walk. I do hope we aren't lost as I'm quite bad at directions.
Suddenly, I heard an ear splitting shriek that because of my stupidity, I forgot that I was holding everyone's leashes when I covered my ears.
It hurts my ears! It hurts! It hu..
OH GOOD GOSH! THE PACK AND KHAMSIN!
They ran like they are dogs that was accidentally released from their kennel.
NO!!
They ran with no particular direction in mind, as if they are trying to escape from the screech earlier.
OH MY GOSH!
I scrambled in panic while trying to chase everyone. All of them ran in different directions that in my panic, I don't know who to catch first.
They ran too fast!
In my frustration, I screamed at the black forms, telling them to help me instead of following me around.
They just... blinked at me.
Of course.
How stupid of me.
Now I can't see any of the pack and Khamsin anywhere.
Stupid! I'm so stupid!
I'm making things worse!
Of course, I'm sobbing again. I'm tired of everything. I just want everything to get over with. It's so exhausting to the point that I want to call the freaking demon king and have him take my soul at once.
That's how exhausted I am.
I don't want to think anymore.
...
So I just sat there, singing a random song while staring at nothing.
I don't want to think about anything.
The black forms had already disappeared, as if they were bored watching me doing nothing entertaining to them.
I'm alone.
Suddenly, I heard sounds of something or someone approaching me. It sounded like footsteps that is dragging around something. I know that I'm scared but curiousity got the best of me.
There's nothing in front of me so I guess that it must be behind me....
Should I turn around or not?
Silly me. I don't have any choice at all.
And I turned around. It's a demon walking towards me, dragging Bubu by her hair.
Bubu!
She seemed unconscious and wounded so in a sudden burst of courage, I yelled towards the demon and tried to whack it using the Buddhist staff.
It's not too effective but somehow, the demon released Bubu from his grip.
I continued to whack the demon for quite sometime until it told me to stop.
I panted while staring at the demon, who looked at me with amusement. The demon is quite tall and I know that he has another form too. Yes, the demon is a he obviously. Don't ask me why I know.
He has wings and horns on his head and when he grinned at me, he has fangs.
His eyes are entirely red and his hair is quite long. To be honest, he looks quite pleasing for a dem...
WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING?!
Something is definitely wrong with my thoughts.
The demon continued to grin at me for awhile before asking me why I'm just sitting around in the middle of nowhere.
I tried to ignore him while carrying Bubu on my back as I walked with no particular destination in mind.
I should be scared but somehow, something feels weird here. As if I'm attracted to the demon without a particular reason.
It's so weird.
I gripped my Buddhist staff tightly with my hand when suddenly, the demon spoke and told me that I'll hurt my companion with it.
Huh?
When I glanced around, I can see several red welts on Bubu's skin. She is still unconscious though she kept mumbling in pain...
No.
No.
In a sudden realization, I understood everything.
Gently, I placed Bubu on the ground while facing the demon or should I say,
Deus.
....
He looked pleased when he saw me glaring at him.
Chuckling, he said that it took me awhile to realize everything. But it seems that I didn't yet know everything. Rahab's report seems to be an exaggeration but most of it are quite right.
Rahab? So that means Deus is higher in position than Rahab.
What position is higher than a demon general?
Hmmm..
It's an arch demon? It's a rank lower than the demon king himself, a counterpart to an arch angel. Arch demons are supposed to be the seven sins like gluttony, wrath, pride, sloth, envy, greed and...
Lust.
Deus or Asmodeus to be exact.
I grinned at him and admitted that I didn't expect it at all.
.....
Then I glowered at him, asking him what he had done to the real ruler of the allied territory.
What a stupid question.
Of course he's dead.
Asmodeus nodded at me as he admitted that it was fun for awhile on trying to assume someone else's identity but the dark lord is pressuring him now as we are taking too long on getting the transformation stone.
Ah. So that's why my cuff didn't hurt me more often. He was sent here to keep an eye on me. My cuff wounded me when I was in a different time.
I see.
They really see me as a source of entertainment for them.
No wonder that he kept avoiding me whenever I hold the Buddhist staff. He and....
Bubu.
Bubu.....
When I glanced towards her, she is no longer on her form that I was used to. Her entire body turned into a smaller demon while her face is familiar to me. Her face is the face of..
Subus.
Bubu.. Subus..
Ah. I'm so dumb.
...
I stared at her with mixed emotions. She is still unconscious so I studied her form. She is not really that attractive but somehow alluring enough to attract a male individual.
Now I understood what she meant by Deus as her parent.
Deus or Asmodeus to be exact, is her creator.
As Asmodeus is the demon of lust so Subus is a succubus. I was right with my suspicion all along. No wonder she was desperate to have intercourse with Lion before. Of course she can't touch Lion now as after that incident, he placed all sorts of immunity on his body.
As for the rest, I'm not sure why but maybe it has something to do with the blood bond they performed. I have no idea really. As for Khamsin, him being a griffin in his ultimate form somehow provided him some sort of an immunity as well.
No wonder that Bubu or Subus to be exact, was busy during our spare time. Succubus enjoys intercourse as it essential for her survival, empowerment and of course, pleasure as well.
Intercourse is food for her.
It shouldn't be a surprise to me as all the signs are there. But maybe.. I was just too starved for a female friendship that I wasn't guarded unlike before.
Both of them kept an eye on me.
Knowing Bubu's real identity hurts me.
It hurts a lot.