Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Keep it down. Are you trying to get us found by the demons?” Sera’s other large hand clamped over Delaford’s mouth. Then, she tucked the Goblin Hunter under her arm like a package and moved to the very front.

”Struggle all you want if I go the wrong way! It’s this way, right?”

The goblin’s eyes widened in terror as he tried to plead for help from Ron and the others with his gaze, but no one was about to help him in this situation. Fortunately, the layout of the fifth level wasn’t as complex as the ones above. After they rounded two corners, the grating, noisy sound of the Abyssal Language began to drill into their ears.

Mixed in with it was the unique hissing sound of Undead Creatures and some other noises—it seemed to be a young male, switching back and forth between several languages.

”One of them is the Dragon Language,” Ron said, glancing at Silvia. ”Devils sure have a creative way with curses.”

”Whether it’s devils or Giant Dragons, they both have plenty of scores to settle with demons,” the Vampire Descendant chuckled softly. ”You could say they have some common ground in that respect.”

”But devils have their own Purgatory Language. This guy caught by the demons... could he be some kind of top student?”

Behind a stretch of a broken stone wall, Ron and the others poked out half their heads. They were now in the area that had been smashed through by the giant earlier. The demons clearly didn’t like such an ”open-air” location, so they had cleared out a new space and, while they were at it, used the surrounding rubble to build a low wall, enclosing the spot where the Abyssal Energy was leaking.

While such a crude fortification could prevent them from being ambushed, it also provided excellent cover for Ron’s group. From here, they could see the every move of nearly every creature inside.

In the most conspicuous spot, a tall, handsome, fiery-red figure with an eight-pack was tied up by the demons. Several spears with Abyssal Silver Ore tied to them were periodically jabbed into the beautiful man’s body, leaving wounds of varying depths.

Aside from his verbal abuse, the fiery-red youth showed no signs of resistance. He was bound by iron chains, his head lolling powerlessly to the side, toward Ron’s group. His black and red eyes were unfocused.

He must have been in that position for a long time, so much so that the demons had no interest in the direction he was facing. They just kept using the Abyssal Silver to weaken and torture him, occasionally saying something—perhaps an interrogation.

But no one in Ron’s group could understand the Abyssal Language, so they had no idea what the demons were asking.

”Dammit, it’s a Desire Demon,” Victoria muttered, biting her lip hard. ”What a sin. I hope Heim can forgive my transgressions...”

”Forgive... what?” Silvia and Sera turned their necks stiffly. Ron noticed their gazes were still fixed on the fiery-red young man.

You couldn’t blame them. Whether it was a Desire Demon from the devils or a succubus from the demons, their Charm was magical, supernatural, and could transcend any race. Even a female goblin would be utterly captivated. The fact that they could still react to their surroundings at all was a testament to their strong wills.

Ron looked at Aive with curiosity, surprised that the Half-Elf girl was completely unaffected. ”You don’t feel anything from him?”

”Me? I don’t know,” Aive said, subconsciously raising her palm. The Ghost Face on her right-hand Hand Armor seemed to come alive. ”It’s getting hot. I think it’s thanks to this?”

”Maybe because its former owner was a Tiffling, it has some innate resistance to Purgatory-related Magic,” Silvia said, forcing herself to pour a handful of blood plasma from a blood bag onto her face, which cleared her head a little. ”Benefactor, what’s our next move? Do we rescue this Desire Demon or kill him along with the others?”

”Kill him? What a waste!” Sera’s eyes had taken on an unnatural light pink hue. It seemed she was the only one who had completely fallen for it. ”We should slaughter all the demons, then tie this pretty boy—er, this red-faced boy up and take him back to the tribe! Day and night, we’ll—”

Ron covered his face, speechless. He wondered if the Desire Demon being tortured inside had heard the second half of Sera’s sentence. If he had, Ron didn’t know if he would one day regret his decision to Charm a northern Barbarian.

”Never mind tying him up and taking him back for now, Sera. Can you still fight? Let’s get rid of these Babu Demons and Ghouls first!”

”I was just waiting... for you to say that!” Sera’s voice wavered for a moment before returning to normal. The Barbarian reached back and took down her Grip of the Vast Wave. With an earth-shaking battle cry, she vaulted over the low wall and charged at the Babu Demon closest to the Desire Demon captive.

The others also rose from their hiding spots and attacked. The Babu Demons, not expecting an ambush hundreds of meters deep in a mine, had no time to switch to their usual weapons. And to Ron’s group, the weapons in their hands were nothing more than wooden sticks with broken rocks tied to them.

Even if Ron stood in front of them and let them jab at him, they would at most only break his skin. Trying to fight an entire squad with such equipment was pure fantasy.

”HSSS—”

The red blade sliced through the last Babu Demon’s slimy skin, making Silvia sigh. ”Aive, I know it looks cool, but it’s really not worth sacrificing a piece of Magic Material just for style!”

”It’s not like we’re short on them,” Aive said nonchalantly, kicking the ’skeleton demon’ on the ground. ”Besides, this isn’t the first time we’ve run into these things. Normal weapons can’t effectively harm a Babu Demon. I had no other choice.”

”Just think of it as rescuing your... ideal husband?”

”I don’t want to hear that a second time!” Victoria’s face was dark, her lower lip bitten so hard it was bleeding. ”A devil? I’d rather sacrifice my life to Heim right now!”

”I’m kidding, just kidding,” Aive said, quickly lowering her sword and shield and raising her hands. ”But what does our Miss Sera think? I get the feeling she wouldn’t be too concerned about the bloodline of her offspring.”

”Rest assured, I stopped exerting my influence on you the moment you started your attack,” a lazy voice drawled from the Desire Demon, who was still wrapped in layers of chains. ”Whatever this Barbarian thinks from now on is entirely her own idea.”

”But I’d guess her smooth brain has no room for anything besides fighting. A devil like me, who avoids close-quarters combat whenever possible, is definitely not her type.”

Without the constant stimulation from the Abyssal Silver, the chains on the Desire Demon’s body slid off one by one as it moved. This wasn’t because it was controlling the chains with Magic, but because its physical form was undergoing a profound Transformation. Simply put, it was evolving toward an aesthetic that appealed more to the ”minority” in Ron’s team.

”I admit, I made a slight miscalculation in my choice of appearance, but it shouldn’t be too late to correct it...” The Desire Demon, its figure growing more graceful and feminine, swayed over to Ron.

”I thought this squad would be led by that staunchly devout Priest, but you’re the one calling the shots, aren’t you?” Slender fingers tilted up Ron’s chin. The Desire Demon’s face, now a delicate oval shape with no trace of masculinity left, wore a mocking smirk. ”Sir, I wonder if you would grant me the opportunity to properly ’make up’ for my blunder of failing to see what was right in front of me?”