Smack! The servant was sent tumbling to the floor. "How dare you not do a full bow before Lord Vergan, get down filthy trash and kiss his boots." I watched as the maid/lizard kneeled down and kiss the Demon's boots in a prostrated position. I kinda felt bad for the thing, but it's not like I would go out of my way to help her because I didn't know her. Both the Demon Lord and his presumed servant glanced at me but turned away after seeing me. It felt like they were ignoring me; however, I was okay with that, better than them yelling or looking at me funny.
Looking at the maid still prostrated on the floor, it also displayed to me once again how that determines everything here as I imagined. Strength was something this avatar lacked, however, in the future, I'll figure out some way to gain power, or at least figure out what power my avatar uses. "Sorry Lord Vergan, please punish me for my actions!" The maid nervously said. I watched in horror as the supposed Demon Lord nodded in agreement and stripped her of clothing, and began to beat her with his fists. Based on her expressions, I could tell she was trying to hold in her pain. Still, eventually, she started screaming in agony.
As bad as I felt for her, I knew it would be a horrible decision to get involved. Especially when I was trying to escape the castle, I quickly turned my head away and advanced further down the hallway. As I continued forward, her screaming eventually grew fainter until I could no longer hear her anymore. Before, I thought possibly if the succubus was gone that I could maybe come back. However, after witnessing this scene, it once again reminded me of what the Underworld contained. It's a brutal place that's probably worse than the surface. Then again, maybe the Underworld and the Demon Realm is better? I mean, at least in these places you know what you're getting into, and the beings show their intentions. Unlike the real world and possibly the in-game surface where people always hide their values and betrayed one another for their own selfish gain. I quickly shoved away these negative thoughts to the corner before my mind said anything else.
As I rounded the corner, I saw a guard appearing to be patrolling the corridor. Walking up to him, he did a slight bow and greeted me respectfully, "Greetings Lord Dagon, is there any way I can be of service to you?" Inside I felt a tingle of happiness that this guard respected me and didn't outrank me somehow. "Yes, I actually am in need of your assistance. I have unfortunately had some memory loss lately, and I was wondering if you could take me to the front gates of the castle?" The guard looked at me weirdly, but quickly changed his expression back to normal and looked at me respectfully. "Yes, sire, if that's what you would like, please follow me." The guard brought me to the 'elevator' room or whatever it was called where it glowed and brought us down to a lower floor. Surprisingly, my suspicion had been proven correct that it could teleport you to any level on the castle. This meant that you could be on the top floor of the castle and get down to the main story in less than a minute. A bit still in awe, I followed the guard as he brought me through a series of corridors, until we finally reached the front gate. My shock full expression didn't return again after witnessing the number of surprises I'd seen since arriving here. However, the front entrance was still pretty impressive, with walls being connected to it that extended around the massive castle. The castle was humongous, but that didn't mean the width was huge. The castle's design focused on height instead of width, which was actually a pretty similar framework to the real world. Which was slightly unusual, since you'd expect with how enormous the Underworld is, they would focus on width instead oh high.
It almost seemed like the guard read my thoughts because he quickly said, "The mistress originally wanted the castle to be as large as the emperor's palace, but because of the Gagnots, we had to go upwards." He pointed to the towering castle behind us. "Gagnots?" I replied quizzically. The guard sighed and nodded, "We were informed that your lordship was not the most well informed, but I'll tell you. The guards made me wince, as I heard from more and more people, the worse I sounded. "Gagnots are corrupted beings that live in the Molten lava just little meters off. They are beings that gather in swarms and will bite you, and corrupt your being. They are simply too many for us to kill, so we, unfortunately, had to build upwards." Basically, it was another case of a sweet spot, but you got some bad neighbors to deal with. I nodded in return and looked around the fence, "Say, guard when does the gate close for the night, and also is this the only front gate?" The guard once again looked at me strangely and replied saying, "Well, the gate closes at 8:00 pm, and yes this is the only gate, but if I may ask, why are you asking me about that" I put a fake grin on my face and said, "Well, I plan on exploring the area outside the castle, I just feel cramped up in here, that's all." The guard nodded and asked me if he needed anything else of him. I replied with a no and thanked him for his service. The guard did a slight bow and walked back to his post.
Walking about, I noticed a set of stairs that led to the top of the front wall, where I saw a guard walking up. I signaled him, and he quickly bowed once realizing who I was. "Greetings Lord Dagon, what brings you the front gates?" He asked, politely. "Oh, nothing I just wanted to ask how many people are on patrol at 8:00 pm, we are considering whether or not to give the men more equipment." I replied with a smile. "Well, sire, I don't bear much rank to inform you of the details, and my senior is out with the commander on a hunting raid."
"Hunting raid?" I asked. "Yes, most of my colleagues have gone out to obtain more meat for the dark season." I decided not to request details about things like this to stop dragging further attention to myself than I already was. Plus, it sounds similar to winter by the way he described it. "Oh, well that's unfortunate, I was going to ask the commander some questions, do you know what time they'll be back?" I questioned. "The commander told us they'd be back sometime between 7:30–8:00 pm, before the gates close for the night." The guard replied. I brightened up on the inside, it seemed that my luck wasn't horrible as I thought. With the main force of the guards being gone, my chances of escaping increased by at least some significant amount. I thanked the guard and dismissed him, which he replied with a deep bow before leaving. I noticed the different bows between him and the previous guard. While the former gave a slight bow, the other guard who just left gave me a more respectful one. Another example of strength being everything, I sighed.
I walked up a flight of stairs where I began to observe the surroundings. My goal was to figure out every detail I could find on how to escape the castle. Though it seemed I could just walk out any time I wanted to, I knew it was far from the case. Most likely, the succubus had people in place reporting my movement and was probably waiting for the moment I left the castle. This meant I had to leave at the last moment to leave the castle when it was dark and the gates closed for the night. Though I had no idea if this was really true or not, it was better to be cautious than not. Especially when my dick is at stake! I spent the next couple hours observing the patrols of the guards, break shifts, and other areas, which were a blind spot. Nodding in satisfaction, I noted the best time to escape would be when the guards were about to be shifted. During that time, the guards would be tired and would be waiting in anticipation of being relieved. This was the perfect chance to make our escape, plus it would give Verial and me extra time as the guards were changing positions, with them possibly exchanging in conversation as well. I shifted from my place and headed back to my room.
Arriving back at my room, Verial was standing there patiently with his hands behind his back. "Sire welcome back, I have all our belongings here, we are ready to go as soon as you command." I smiled in relief, but my expression immediately turned sour when I saw nothing next to him or in the room. "Uh, Verial I don't see any of our things here, where are they?" I asked. Verial grinned and displayed a ring on his finger. "Sire, this is a spatial ring that holds everything we have. It normally can hold a small number of items, however since you are Lord Dagon, you, of course, contain a larger one meant for you." "Oh, so it's basically plot armor for the protagonist to not have to worry about?" I replied. "Uh, sire, are you alright, I have no idea what you are talking about?" Verial looked at me worriedly. "Yeah, what am I saying?" I asked myself. Shaking my head I told Verial that I was alright and explained to him what I observed earlier. Verial looked at me with a surprised expression. "It seems sire has grown more competent after losing his memory." "Shut up, that's no way to treat your master." I soberly reprimanded Verial. "I'm sorry, sir, I was just commenting on how you were before." I grunted and looked away from Verial and told him to be back here in 5 hours. "Yes, sire, I'll be back at precisely 7:00 pm. I watched as Verial bowed and exited the door to who knows where. Looking at the clock that read 2:00 p.m, I took out some of the books I had brought to my room and began to read them.
Time passed by quickly with me eating some food here and there brought by the servants. Before I knew it, Verial had arrived and informed me that the guards who had gone out hunting were returning back slightly earlier. Due to catching plenty amount of food to last the dark season. He said that they would probably be back by 7:40. With the rest of the guards in tow. "Shit, the time constraints just got worse, tell the servants to inform the mistress I'm heading outside to the front gate to ask something of the guards' Commander." Verial nodded, "Very well, sire, I'll tell them as we pass by." My hope was to use reverse psychology to make it seem like there was no way I'd even try to escape. Admittedly though, this could easily backfire if we weren't careful. Well, either way, it was all or nothing; either I succeed and get out of this place, or I become a possible sex slave to a succubus. All roads lead to hell, and I only had one shot; however, I mean, there's also a chance I'm just going to get forced out of the NPC. This immediately made it become a lot more anti-climatic, but hell, who cares? "Sire, we should go now before it gets too late, and the guards arrive because it will become 100 times more difficult if they do." I nodded, "You're absolutely right Verial let's get going now." I handed my books to Verial, which he stored in the spatial ring. Taking one last glance at my room, I closed the door and headed out with Verial...it was showtime!
In a dark chamber of the castle: Moaning and groaning could be heard until the sound of a man began to scream in pain. The succubus was torturing a poor man who couldn't please her any longer. "Aww, come on you're so weak, it's pathetic." The mistress threw the poor man to the floor who was in complete agony. In a swift moment the man suddenly screamed and his body suddenly evaporated with the remnants of his soul being consumed by the succubus. "I can't wait to taste you Dagon, I'll take so much, and I'll turn you in to my sex slave for the next thousands of years." She giggled. She slowly stood up and exited the room where she had just consumed her hundredth or if not thousandth victim. Her face distorted into an evil, cruel smile, "You will be mine, Dagon."