Chapter 70: Widowmaker

Chapter 70: Widowmaker

“All this time... Those few slices I shared with... Dead men floating downstream...” Olivia kept mumbling quietly.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

“Aw, cheer up!” Ember tried to cheer up the ninja insincerely and patted the hunched girl on the back. “It’s not like all the meat in this city comes from corpses. There are also rats, maybe a small birdie, if you’re lucky. And some salted pork does make it into the city from time to time—”

“YOU KNEW!!” Olivia screamed and kicked Ember’s hand away. “You knew all this time!”

“Yes, and?” Ember asked, clearly annoyed as she rubbed her lightly bruised wrist. “I warned you not to eat the meat—you didn’t eat any. What more do you want, you annoying little twat?”

“Fuck you! How can you be a part of something so disgusting!? How long did you know!?”

“On second thought”—Ember turned to Bernard—"I think you better remove this one’s tongue.”

“With pleasure,” the lionkin chuckled and took a step toward Olivia.

“Back off!” Olivia grabbed her kunai and leaped backward to gain solid fifteen feet of distance between herself and the lionkin.

“You think you’re out of reach of my Widowmaker?” Bernard grinned menacingly as he grabbed the hilt of his claymore.

“No one is getting their tongues removed,” Beatrice said and stepped between Olivia and Bernard. She kept a firm tone but did not raise her voice, purposefully, to deescalate the situation. “Not today, anyway.”

“Where does a beauty such as yourself come from?” Bernard asked Beatrice.

“Not now, you horny bastard,” Ember cut off the lionkin. “As for how long... Let me think... Three? No, four. I’ve known about this for four years. But this has probably gone on in one form or another for over ten years, as this place became increasingly isolated. It always starts with cats and dogs in besieged cities.”

“And when was the last time someone ate fresh chicken or pork to know the difference?” Bernard asked. “Any proper meat that we do get here is already half-spoiled anyway, even with what little salt they can spare to try and preserve it.”

“Ugh, can we, please, not talk about this anymore?” Olivia asked. All three looked at the ninja girl.

With the adrenaline from the sudden threat of a fight to the death wearing off, the ninja looked even paler than before.

“Agreed,” Beatrice nodded. “This one evening might be enough to fuel my nightmares for a month.”

“Do you have nightmares?” Ember asked.

“I—” Beatrice froze mid-response. Do succubi have nightmares? As far as she knew, succubi are supposed to invade the dreams of others. She even had proof of this in the form of a [Dream Invasion] Skill that was still out of her reach.

But Beatrice had only just become a succubus. Or inherited the system of one. In whatever way Luluna’s god powers worked that created this whole situation. So, when a succubus sleeps, what do her dreams look like? Beatrice wondered. Do succubi even sleep?

“Let’s find out,” Beatrice said.

Ember questioningly tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.