Inside the Forest of Exiled, a restless and out-of-control man rolled on the ground while screaming to his lungs.
"Ah!!! Ah!!!"
Enos was crimson red all over, and steam can be seen leaking out of his body, as he continues to roll out of pain.
"Ah!!! This... fucking.. hurts."
"I've been disappointed in you." A serious voice echoed out of nowhere.
Enos didn't seem to hear the voice until he felt his body has been immobilized.
Scalding heat continues to flow all over Enos's body, making his blood boil and burn his inside.
"I thought you would be different from an ordinary mortal, but I was wrong."
The large tortoise couldn't help but save the dying Enos by devouring the energy that keeps on leaking out and destroying the latter's body.
It took the large tortoise almost a day to completely devoured all the energy, making his power strengthen even more.
"Supreme Healing!"
A sudden green light glow within the darkness, as it seeped inside Enos.
"Ah!!"
Enos woke up and felt something surreal happen. He scanned his body and found nothing.
"Larg..large tortoise?"
"You're a fool."
"What.. what happened to me? I.. I thought I was gonna die? But why.. am I still alive? Is.. is it because.. of you?"
"So you also know you're about to die... Yeah, I indeed save your life."
"Thank you... Thank you very much, large tortoise. This kindness will forever be embedded in my heart."
"No need to thank me. But I guess you're no different from the other mortals."
"What.. what do you mean by that, large tortoise?"
"Hahaha!"
"Why are you laughing.. large tortoise."
"You have your pride hurt? But that's the truth though."
"Why am I not different from the other mortals?"
"Because you're also a fool. I thought you might be not that simple since you're the first mortal I have seen in this forest to stay this long, but maybe you're just been too lucky."
"That's.. that's not quite pleasant to hear, large tortoise."
"Your pride would not help you. You want to be different from other mortals and can rival an immortal, am I right?"
"Is it wrong for me, a mortal, to dream of that?"
"No. But first, you need to pass through all tribulations and trials that had been placed along the way that was still untouched before achieving the goal you have desired to accomplish, but can you do it?"
"Yes. I will do everything to do that."
"You're quite prideful and a confident mortal, but I don't think you're that special. If you have been even a bit special, you would not eat that chicken."
"I.. I have no choice. I.. I can't find something that would be edible for a mortal, so that's.. why..."
"Eh? You know that it would be dangerous for yourself too?"
"Of course, that's why I also prepared some healing potion over there."
"What? Do you even have potions? And a high-quality one. How did you able to get those potions?"
"Why... would I tell you that, large tortoise? Am I a bit special now? So why.. so interested?"
"Hahaha... I think I might have been wrong. You're indeed an interesting one. But I will not help you, though."
"It's fine. I can do it by myself. And I will be able to return the favor to you as well in the future. Thank you again, large tortoise."
"My name is Torwise."
"I'm Enos."
"It's good that I'm able to meet an interesting mortal like you, Enos."
"And it's also a pleasure to meet a kind beast like you, Torwise."
"I'll wait for the day you'd accomplish such a feat. A friendly reminder: not everything you see is right. This world has been corrupted, so beware not to get corrupted as well. I will wait for you when the time comes."
"Wha... Thank you, Torwise."
Torwise didn't bother with Enos anymore and decided to leave the latter alone knowing that he was already fine.
"What did he mean by that? Hmm... Whatever... Let's just forget about that for a while and find a place to stay first."
As the cold breeze strikes the night, Enos who's still finding a place to rest halt as a strong presence and smell appeared in his parameter.
"Hey there, handsome~~"
A woman with revealing clothing appeared, looking at Enos affectionately.
The woman was wrapped in an intense black aura, making her seem ethereal and strong.
"Who.. who are you?"
Enos lifts up his vigilance as a familiar scene struck his mind.
"I'm just someone~~ who can pleasure you..."
"I don't need that. Get.. get away from me."
"No... Don't be like that, handsome. Let's play... a little.. okay?"
"Play with others. I don't want to play with an ugly woman like you."
"Now.. now.. you shouldn't say that you know?"
"Wha.. what are you trying to do?"
"I said let's play a little, but since you're stubborn, let's play to death, okay?"
"No way! I.. I already have someone else, if you're itching to play with 'it', then find a beast if you can't find someone."
"Hoho... Are you mocking my Meta-Lust Inducement of Archdemon of Love, Gaap?"
"Damn you!! How.. how dare you do this to me?"
Enos, feeling his body becoming hot and restless, didn't think anymore and run away as soon as possible, trying to get away from the woman.
"How dare a mortal try to get away from me, the Goddess of Succubus?! Your sin is unforgivable! You shall from now on be my sex puppet!"
The woman was totally enraged by Enos since it's akin to a slap in her face as a mortal run away from an immortal's seducement.
"You better stop, right now!"
A howl resounded in the forest, and a moment later, the ground shake terribly, as a beast stampede chasing Enos.
Enos, who's still under the spell of Meta-Lust Inducement, felt his legs turn into jelly just by seeing the beast behind him and run even faster for his dear life.
The beasts under the manipulation of the woman, the special skill (Underworld Beast Manipulation) of Archdemon of Wrath, Aamon, kept chasing Enos, but halt when they were about to step into the black line on the ground.
Enos who was about to give up on running felt something weird happened and tried to look back, but was surprised to see the beast seems afraid of entering the place he had gone to.
"Sigh.."
Enos felt relieved momentarily as realization struck him.
"If they're afraid to be here, then... that.. that means that... this place is dangerous?"
"No.. no way.. let's not be... so negative. Let's.. hope it's not dangerous.."
Enos looks again at the horde of beasts outside the line, and can't help but feel a bad foreboding instinct.
"You better come out now!"
The woman, just like the beasts, was afraid to touch the line.
"No... way! I would.. rather die.. than do it with.. you."
Enos immediately drinks some Calming Potion that Synthia gave him, and the spell seems to be fading.
"It's.. indeed.. effective, as expected of her."
"Mortal! What did you do?! How come you escape my Inducement?!"
"As I said, why don't you try and do it with that horde of the beast? Didn't you call them to try it out with them? Maybe you can be pleasured by them."
"You mortal! You deserve to die! How dare you mock me, the Goddess of Succubus! I will kill you!"
"No, you can't. As long as I'm here."
"Hmmp... don't be so happy now! The moment you leave this place, I will kill you!"
"Oh... going to try it out now with your underlings?"
"Ah!!! I'll really kill you! You damn mortal! How dare a mortal humiliate me like this! It's utterly unforgivable!"
The woman due to rage manipulates her strongest beast to attack Enos inside the black line.
The moment the humongous black cat step inside, a golden barrier suddenly appeared, trapping the cat in the center of the barrier.
The cat was rendered immobilized no matter how it struggle, and when a golden light spread across the barrier, the cat screamed loudly.
"Ahh! No... No! I.. can't die!!"
A dark aura seemed to disappear from the cat before the barrier ends.
A miserable beast lay down on the ground lifelessly.
"Damn.. you! It's.. all your fault... why I become like this!"
The cat looked at Enos with strong killing intent and instantly pounce on him.
"You're wrong. How.. could I, a mortal be the one to blame? Who's the one who controls you to attack me? I didn't do anything to you, ah?"
The cat seems to understand what Enos said and halts before glaring at the woman.
"Hey, don't you dare glare at me?! How dare a slave beast as you look at me like that?! Know your place before me!"
The cat seemed to be more furious and blamed the woman instead.
"This is unforgivable! Your sin is beyond death!"
The woman wasn't able to think properly and just use a special skill to kill the black cat.
A sudden thunderclap and lightning appeared above the woman's head before a realization struck her.
"Damn you... Mortal! You... You dare deceive me! I... I'll kill you!"
"You have violated the ultimate law."
The woman was terrified but it was already too late as a lightning strike her to death, ending her up being cooked.
The beasts break free from being manipulated and greedily fight for the cooked woman.
The cat looked at Enos and anger was still in its heart.
"You wouldn't dare to kill me, black cat."
"Why is that?!"
"You have no powers anymore, right?"
"That's bullshit."
"Oh.. the woman wouldn't die if she didn't dare to kill you, a mortal. No wonder no one would dare go to this place."
"Yeah, you're right, but why wouldn't I dare kill you?!"
"Because you can't kill me."
"Hahaha! That's the best joke I heard so far...."
The cat was shocked as slash and blood appeared on his face.
"Wh.. what did you do to me?!"
"See? So you wouldn't dare do it."
"You! How... How dare you.."
"Instead of killing me, why don't we help each other?"
"Is.. is this part of your plan?!"
"You're... you're overestimating me, black cat."
"You're a sly one, mortal. You enrage that woman to make her send me, her strongest underling, to prove your hypothesis. And when you confirm your hypothesis, to erase an obstacle to you, you make me attack her knowing that woman has a bad temper, which ends up in this situation, am I right?"
"As.. as I said.. you're overestimating me."
"But even so, why would I try to help and cooperate with you?"
"If you don't want, I wouldn't force you, but know this, you can't kill me nor fight with them anymore."
The cat was angered by Enos but restrained itself.
"Fi--fine. Let's help.. each other!"
"That's good."
"I'm Catto. A former demon beast king of Black Cat's Clan."
"Haha, no wonder you're a strong one. I'm Enos, the first son of the Seventh Lord, a mortal."
"Seventh Lord?! You?!"
"Yes, why? Do you perhaps know my dad?"
"Yes. He's rumored to be the strongest Lord among all the Nine Lords. He's the one who helps us, Black Cat's Clan from the invasion of Cruel Dog's Clan."
"Oh... That's an unexpected recalling of memories."
"Anyways... what plan do you want to do now?!"
"What do you think?"
"Well, it's better to let those beast go away first before going out again."
"No. It would be better if we stay here first."
"Ah? Why?"
"It's obvious. Immortal can't come here, why is that?"
"Oh... I get it."
"Yes. I can speculate that it was the land of mortals. And mortals can only eat and live with mortals."
"You're right."
"So, that's why we will stay here until we think that we can go out of this line."
Then the two as they agreed, further go deeper inside the black line.