Cain stood up after putting his pants on and walked directly to the succubus’s severed tail. [Frostbite] ‘Let’s just cool it a bit for preservation, I will need every drop of blood I can get’
Sadly, he wasn’t able to get the succubus’s tear or love juice as they help powerful magical effects. The tears can be used to create anti-charm potions, the love juice can create powerful aphrodisiac potions that need to be diluted before usage from its potency. Lastly, what he got, blood and flesh could be used to create a charm damper potion. Sofia will find it useful to keep her high charisma in check, with this, even if she got up to 20. He wouldn’t worry about her getting attacked.
“Are you going to eat it-nya? Leave me some-nya!” Selena rushed cheerfully, she was drooling as she looked at the severed tail. Cain cringed at the thought, why would they eat this stinky tail?
“No, we need it for magic, I’m going to create something useful with it.” Cain quickly explained before Selena could take a bite from the precious sample.
“Come here!” Cain said as he started patting Selena’s head, as well as scratching under her chin. “Nya!” She started to calm down, hopefully taking her eyes off the tail.
“Cain, your shirt and upper armor.” Sofia handed him the armor, he looked at her with a gentle smile. “Thanks, are you okay?” He asked.
“Thanks to you, otherwise I would have choked to death, hehe.” She giggled, Cain didn’t know if she was just happy to be alive or is putting on an act to hide her fear. People who get that close to death usually have lingering mental damage, he needs to be careful and watch her closely to fix any problem before it runs too deep.
“To be honest, you took it quite well. Even after a considerable time, you stayed conscious!” Cain praised her constitution, not many people could endure that.
“How could I take you on if I didn’t have that long of a breath.” Cain took a moment to understand what she meant, he didn’t expect her to make that kind of dirty joke. To him at least it seemed out of place, something deep in him quivered in doubt.
“Haha, I bet so. You’re a real gem!” Cain replied as well, ignoring his doubt.
Sofia smiled back, clenching her hands behind her back, “Let’s go.” She replied with a forced smile.
As Cain started walking, he got jolted with a sharp pain in his chest, unable to breathe properly he started coughing blood. He instantly realized it as he wasn’t a stranger to this pain, internal damage. But when? It was obvious as he could feel the lingering magic inside him, it was Alice’s cursed decay.
‘Probably when my body was weakened after the failed ‘Chain lightning’ so when she tried to wake me with her cursed decay she ended up damaging my internal organs?’ Telling her was a bad idea, Cain couldn’t fathom how she will react upon hearing that.
“Are you okay?” Alice asked worryingly, “Just some lingering blood in my lungs from the fight, can you heal me again just in case?” Cain asked, he would try her magic as it could work.
[Holy Healing] Alice didn’t waste any time, doing her utmost best to heal him. As the warm light engulfed his body he felt the pain slowly fading away.
“It’s over, how do you feel?” She asked to make sure. Cain silently looked at her for a moment, puffing his chest up. “Top shape, I couldn’t feel better!” Cain declared with an energetic smile. Seeing his attitude, Alice smiled as they were about to leave.
Cain silently walked behind them, keeping his breathing steady as he prepared his magic [Animate dead] ‘This should keep me going a bit longer, I need to find a solution quickly!’ The healing didn’t work, the damage done to his body was severe and deep, and Alice’s healing magic couldn’t reach it with how thick his Mana is. Alice cursed decay managed to damage him that deep because he was weakened by the recoil of the failed chain lightning which dropped his MP and magic resistance, now that he was awake and healed that resistance returned and is protecting his internal organs from Alice’s healing magic. To put it simply, she was too weak to heal him from her curse.
Miko might be able to help so Cain decided to visit her later.
“In which direction did the fiend go?” Cain asked, he wasn’t feeling any better but the [Animate dead] spell guaranteed that even his dead tissue will stay under control until he finds a cure.
“She ran in that direction.” Alice pointed in the opposite direction from where they came.
“I can smell fresh air-nya!” Selena stated, sniffing the air.
“I bet It’s an exit, did you bring everything did you leave some in the tower?” Cain asked, if they didn’t leave anything they could leave immediately.
“We left our bags, Sofia’s staff as well,” Alice said with her head down, now they have to go back in and pick everything up.
“You needed to do that…ah! Ah!” Spindle came hardly flying from the depth of the cave, his wings flapping harder than could be seen. His tiny hands clinging tightly to the heavy luggage. “Master, Spindle brought everything precious!” Spindle stated as he approached them.
“Spindle, let me help you-nya!” Selena rushed to carry some from him, she couldn’t leave him struggling with all of that weight.
“Good job!” Cain patted him on the head, “When did you go?”
“After the succubus ran away.” The reply was simple yet gave Cain all he needed to know, it’s not like spindle stayed behind leaving the girls to fight alone. He would be pissed if that was the case.
“You did a great job, you can rest in my shadow.” Hearing Cain’s words, Spindle dived right into his shadow. A faint whimper came from him as felt Cain’s magic.
“Master, this is…” Hearing him Cain replied as fast as he could “Don’t worry I’m okay, you just rest”. Spindle could feel the necrotic magic flowing inside Cain’s body and was concerned about his well-being.
Now that they have everything they need, they quickly made their way looking for the exit. It wasn’t long before they found it wide open, finally a breath of fresh air and the warmth of the sun.
The four of them stretched but Selena did it the most, she even asked Cain for some time to lay under the sun. And with that, they rested for a bit.
“I wonder where we are,” Sofia said, looking at the passing clouds in the blue sky.
“We walked for quite some time in the cave, we are probably quite far away from Ourals,” Alice added her concerns, she quietly laid on Cain’s shoulder.
“We can’t tell yet, we might be close as caves are known to twist and turn like a maze,” Cain replied with what he thought was the right answer, they didn’t know where they were so they better start looking.
After sunbathing for a few minutes, they resumed their journey to Ourals. ‘Dolrig must be losing his mind by now.’ Cain thought back to their friend and employer at the time.
“Cain-nya!” Selena who was taking the lead returned quickly to inform Cain of her find. “I found a small village up ahead-nya!”
Cain was delighted, this mean they could ask for directions and replenish their supplies. Talking to people was also good for the girls’ mentality as they could finally see other people after days of isolation, it will give them a sense of ‘We returned to society’
“Lead the way, we can rest and get direction from there” Cain was optimistic as he followed the exited Selena up a hill. Alice and Sofia just followed them walking with smiles.
The village looked to be mostly a collection of small farms, cattle grazed quietly in the green fields, and patches of potato, carrot, and other vegetables can be spotted from the distance. The village was surrounded by a short wooden fence that Cain doubted its defensive ability.
“Do you think they will let us stay? This place seems to be far from the city, farmers like this are usually cautious against strangers.” Sofia stated, that she seems to be a bit worried as she looked at the houses.
“Bandits and thieves?” Cain knew what she was talking about, it certainly wasn’t safe out here.
Cain had a plan on hand, he was only going to ask about directions and buy some food. They will spend the night in his tower outside the village. He hoped to find a good welcome at least, it was quite possible they won’t even talk to them.
As they approached the village’s wooden (Somewhat of a gate) thing, which was only made of old cracked canes, a wannabe knight approached on top of a donkey, the kid looked no more than 15 years old.
“Hay you stranger, what’s gotten you on our land?” The kid swung a wooden cane that was in his hand, pointing it at Cain and the girls.