Chapter 581 580: Indulging a Little (2)

Chapter 581 Chapter 580: Indulging a Little (2)

A burly Bearkin, petite Elf, and mature Cowkin all were thrown forwards, joining the Serpentkin in the center of our little massacre thanks to the shoves and pushes of my lovers, each one staring at me for a moment before nodding lightly to themselves.

"Kat... find out why these idiots chose us. If they have a backer, have ties to any Houses, if they'll be a problem going forwards... As for the rest of us, pick through the corpses and retrieve anything useful; weapons, herbs, potions, materials, undamaged pieces of armor, anything at all that we could make use of."

I grinned widely at Jahi as she glanced at me one more time, the Demoness shaking her head wryly as she watched me bind up the three tributes she gave me and turn my attention entirely towards the Serpentkin, who was trying to crawl away from me in fear.

The other three moved away and began to ignore me as I got to work, the bare blade of Shatter tracing a thin cut along the Serpentkin's arm as I asked "So we could make this easy, with you answering my questions and earning yourself a painless death, or you can make this harder... for you. Either way I get my answers, but this is entirely up to you, pitiful snake~! Do you want to enjoy the kiss of my daggers upon your flesh, or will you answer me truthfully~?"

Her green eyes shook as she felt Shatter slip deeper into her shoulder, the dagger easily piercing her flesh and inflicting pain upon her as I began to twist it to the side slowly, making her hiss in agony.

I stared at her quietly for a few moments before standing up and moving over to the others, my fingers lodging a piece of ice into their ears and muffling their hearing as I turned them around and bound them together, allowing my frost to begin sapping their strength as their arms and legs slowly became encased.

Returning to the Serpentkin, I knelt in front of her and smiled, asking "Now that they can't hear, and I can cross examine you all, do you mind telling me who it is that you work for? Was this all just... an unlucky coincidence, or were you all ordered to find us?"

My fingers tapped the hilt of Shatter, sending vibrations through the blade and making her wince as it moved around inside her shoulder, though she focused through the pain and took a shaky breath, hissing "W-We work... a-alone. We h-have no backers, n-no allegiance... Y-Your party looked... like e-easy prey, ripe for the picking..."

I stared into her eyes for a few moments before asking "Are there more of you? Others that would be searching for you after you have died?"

"B-Besides... family, or lovers... none t-that I can think of... ah..."

Blood seeped from her lips, and I watched in interest as her eyes began to dull, only for their luster to return as I placed my hand on her cheek, my mana seeping into her flesh and stymieing the flow of blood, confusion appearing on her face before she let out an ear piercing scream as I twisted the dagger around entirely.

Yanking it out, I stabbed it into her other shoulder and twisted it again, blood oozing from the wounds as she sat in front of me, trying to wrench her hands out of their bindings.

"I don't believe you. Now, we'll ask these again, and again, and again until you decide to be truthful with me, alright?"

"W-What?! I d-didn't lie to you! I s-swear it..!"

I narrowed my eyes as I searched hers, watching as they flitted away from me while her jaw clenched; that, and the fact that her tone was fluctuating far too much as well... even more so than what was needed for the agony she felt already.

"Who do you work for, and who is going to come looking for you?"

I left the blade inside her shoulder, tapping it once more as I watched her struggle with the pain, only to sigh as she began to say "I a-already said..! W-We work for n-n-oaghHH!!"

She screamed again as I pulled the blade free and stabbed it into her leg this time, slicing through the femur and sending a pulse of mana through the blade, turning the insides of her leg to goop.

"Last chance. Did you know that one of the scariest ways to die is drowning? The helplessness one feels as water slowly fills their lungs until they can no longer breath? The fever dreams that begin to take place as the mind fractures before eventually suffocating as well, leaving you dead in more ways then one? Would you like to experience that?"

Raising a hand, I summoned a blob of water and showed it to her, observing her eyes as they widened in fear, the Serpentkin trying to break free of the bindings as I brought it closer to her head.

"W-W-Wait..! I-I d-don't know much, b-but..! E-Esmerelda, our l-leader, used to meet with a-a few well dressed w-women at the Arena! S-She never told us w-who they were, but we always had w-work after she met them! T-That's all I know, I swear..!"

Clenching my fist, I grinned at her as the water slowly began to freeze over before shattering, her eyes flooding with fear as the crystals of ice continued to circle my hand, each sliver sharper than the last.

"Well, we shall see, won't we~? For now..."

Lowering the sphere of shattered ice over her head, I watched in interest as the crystalline shards sliced through her flesh and embedded themselves into her body, traveling over her entire frame and slipping into her skin, covering her in cuts and frost.

Placing a spell over her to heal her periodically, I covered her mouth and stood up, approaching one of the other prisoners that we had gathered and dragging them away, preparing to get to work again...

This time with a tad more prejudice..?