Chapter 38: The Strange Prince

After finishing the Prince’s adventurer registration, they rode for over ten minutes and finally arrived.

The two of them got off first. Only then did Ye Lu follow behind, climbing down the ladder.

When she turned around again, the floating minibus had already closed its doors, let out a roar, spewed exhaust, and quickly ascended into the sky, carrying the remaining passengers who needed to go elsewhere.

She couldn’t even open her eyes. She raised a hand to shield her forehead—the sunlight was so scorching it felt like it would burn her to death.

‘So hot…’

‘We didn’t go see a movie. What exactly are we doing here?’

She took a step forward out of habit, but that step felt like it landed on air. She stumbled, nearly falling flat on her face.

Looking down… it was a crack in the sunbaked dirt ground.

The gap was eerily wide.

‘That was close…’

A chill of fear ran through her.

She looked up. The Prince hadn’t even checked on her—he was already walking ahead.

…

That semicircular barrier was just like a year ago—as tall as a thirty-story building, its curvature hard to discern with the naked eye.

The magic power emanating from it was so strong it made one involuntarily hold their breath.

Outrageous.

Still, there weren’t many people around. After all, this toll gate was quite remote, and the summer heat made it hardly worth the effort to go in.

The so-called adventurers, imitating the human system… instead of grinding minor beasts here, they preferred to hunt wild rabbits outside. Even a single rabbit pelt was worth more than the loot here.

At the toll booth, a human man poked his head out the window.

“Going in?”

His tone was lazy, his arm hanging limply over the metal edge, clearly worn out by this godforsaken place.

“Of course.”

The Prince stepped forward.

“…You’re… the Prince?”

The human saw his face and his attitude visibly straightened up.

The next few moments were spent verifying the adventurer identity, and after swiping their card, they could enter.

Probably because the barrier absorbed the sunlight.

The forest was exceptionally cool.

This time they were teleported to roughly the midpoint.

Finding prey was relatively easy.

She really didn’t want to walk anymore. She was loaded with bags and clothing parcels, and the Prince didn’t even offer to carry any. Honestly.

He completely treated her, this peerless succubus maiden, as if she were air. His eyes were only fixed on exploring the new world…

…

She didn’t understand at all.

‘No. After this job, I’ll go back and watch a movie with him… I need to hurry.’

‘I have to straighten out his awkward personality as soon as possible.’

‘Otherwise… I’ll starve sooner or later.’

‘Maybe… should I try… holding hands with him?’

‘Uh…’

No sooner had she raised her hand than a gust of wind blew past.

She hadn’t expected that as soon as the man spotted a target, he’d act like he’d been injected with stimulants.

Whoosh

At a speed nearly like teleportation, leaving no afterimage visible, he charged toward the source of the sound.

“Found you!”

His voice came from afar.

Indeed, the grass in the distance rustled—probably a human soldier who hadn’t hidden well.

She wasn’t worried about the Prince getting hurt.

Those were just human grunts without even magic power—she could crush them with one hand.

As for him killing people, Ye Lu didn’t consider it immoral either.

These humans were sent to attack the demons as cannon fodder to scout the way. Many were brainwashed by that thing called the Church, unable to think even on a basic level, only killing mindlessly.

Back in the day, she too would have killed and felt excited.

Experiencing the thrill of killing—that was an innate demonic instinct.

But now she was long tired of it. Bell must feel the same, since they usually acted together.

Ye Lu thought this and turned to look at Bell beside her.

‘Where’d he go!’

‘He ran off too!’

‘You won’t even keep me company!’

In the tangled forest, he transformed into another crimson afterimage.

In less than three breaths, she couldn’t tell how many times he’d darted through the forest; Ye Lu found it dizzying to watch.

After a good while, he finally stopped.

The afterimage vanished, and the man had somehow reappeared at her side.

The sudden shadow gave Ye Lu quite a fright.

“What the heck!”

“Can’t you slow down!”

She complained fiercely.

“Okay.”

Bell dutifully bowed his head in apology, then immersed himself in his own business.

He lifted the head in his hand, raised it high, and aimed it at the blood bottle below.

Blood flowed from the cut into a smooth stream, pouring into the bottle.

When the bottle was full, he casually tossed the head aside.

He brought it to his lips and took a small sip, making a bitter face.

“Humans without magic power are truly boring beyond measure.”

“Then throw it away.”

“No.”

No sooner had he managed to exchange a few words than Bell flew off to somewhere else the next second.

‘Ah… after all, he’s a vampire. It’s normal to like blood. I can understand…’

There was no need to mention that Celestial Demon Prince.

He teleported the whole time.

Not only that, he seemed to have radar. Though she couldn’t see his figure, the sounds of mountains crumbling and the chaotic screams of people didn’t lie.

In just a few blinks, a small mountain of bodies piled up in front of him.

‘Impressive…’

After finishing everything.

The Prince wiped his sweat, stepping over a severed arm sliding down the grass.

And he was still complaining…

“This is really boring, Mr. Bell. Let’s go.”

Bell was still happily storing blood in jars.

Hearing this, he shook his head vigorously.

“Prince, this little harvest won’t get us much.”

“Hmm, I’d rather go back and play video games. This is boring…”

“Prince, don’t jump to conclusions. Actually, this is only the lowest-level hunting ground. If you want excitement, you could check out the deeper areas. Want to give it a try?”

“Deeper…”

They chatted back and forth under the cool shade of the trees.

Ye Lu couldn’t get a word in edgewise. She could only purse her lips, hands on her hips, watching the sweaty Prince.

His simple white T-shirt was soaked through with sweat, clinging tightly to his body.

The lines of his arms and the distinct contours of his sides were all clearly visible.

‘…Blushing.’

‘No!’

‘Why the heck am I blushing!’

‘Wah… have I fallen so low that I react to a man’s body?’

She patted her cheeks. ‘So hot…’

Ah, she stopped.

She suddenly thought of an excuse to touch him.

‘Right… it’ll work, won’t it?’

Ye Lu secretly took out the handkerchief the Prince had used to wipe her sweat from her bag. Carefully, she approached.

“Um… Prince, could you lower your head a bit?”

“There’s a lot of sweat on your head.”

“If you don’t dry it… you might catch a cold… probably…”

“Oh? The adorable Miss Ye Lu? Of course, how thoughtful.”

He smiled and crouched down, in a good mood.

‘Mm, I like it!’

His frame was large; even crouching, he was barely shorter than Ye Lu. But his gaze wasn’t on her—he kept chattering away.

She sighed and looked at his face.

‘…Hehe.’

Her heart pounded like a rabbit in her chest.

She quickly gripped the handkerchief in her small hand and wiped upward…

Slowly… dragging out the time as much as possible.

“That’s enough, I… oww!”

‘That hurt!’

When he was talking about something happy, he suddenly twitched as if he’d had a seizure, and his elbow hit her solidly.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention…”

“No, no! Prince, I’m fine…”

‘As if.’

‘I’ll cry in front of you!’

One hour later.

They made up their minds, and Ye Lu had no choice but to follow as they passed through another barrier and reached the depths of the forest.

The human army imprisoned here was an upgraded version, possessing some magic power, around E to C rank.

Ordinary demon residents were not allowed through, but the checkpoint inspector, who was about to stop them, saw the Prince’s face with its clear Celestial Demon features and made an exception.

“I can’t go on, so tired…”

Her legs were trembling.

‘Why am I a succubus?’

‘I’m naturally not strong.’

‘My legs are almost useless. Gradually, I can’t even keep up with their exhaust.’

Seeing them finally stop, she stared at the Prince’s back, half-closing her eyes… Hmph…

‘Heh.’

“Ah~ my legs hurt so much…”

“Prince… what… what should I do?”

After saying that, she secretly looked ahead.

Bell was the first to turn around and notice her, shooting her an incredulous look.

‘?’

‘What are you looking at!’

Ye Lu squinted and glared back at him.

She continued to whine.

She really wanted to see how the Prince would react, but unexpectedly, her foot actually caught on something.

Her body lost balance, her eyes dilated in shock.

In the end… she fell flat on her face.

Her ankle hurt—a sharp pain.

She must have sprained it, and a stone had scraped her skin.

“Ugh…”

Groaning on the ground, she felt like her fate was really tough.

“Ye Lu… miss?”

This commotion finally made the Prince willing to stop and focus all his attention on her.

But for some reason, at that very moment, he seemed to have gotten a burst of energy, and his whole demeanor turned strange.

He did crouch down and helped her lean against a tree.

Ye Lu grit her teeth in pain, but she was happy.

She thought the Prince would wipe her wound with that gentle, heart-stopping technique of his.

She didn’t expect him to not do that at all.

Instead, he chose to cover her mouth all of a sudden.

Huh?

She didn’t dare move, just lay there.

Weight pressed down on her, body heat, and scorching breath sprayed onto her cheek.

She didn’t even need to move her tongue, just let him launch an unprecedented attack.

‘Messy stirring?’

“Pr… gulp… mm… Pr… Prince~ I can’t… can’t breathe~”

She couldn’t speak clearly, each word interrupted, her tongue entangled.

She felt extremely embarrassed and wanted to push him away.

But her wrists were firmly controlled and pressed hard against the tree trunk.

‘?’

‘Okay.’

‘So violent!’

‘But also sweet~’

No, even if he suddenly realized her charm, not here…