Chain Mission 2: Conquer A Dungeon!
'Where is the Lord System when I needed him the most?' Sue Terin was dying to pull her hair out right at the moment.
Eyes fixed to the languid beastman who was also staring at her, all she could remember was the pain in her chest that was the result of her attempt to reject Lucien Lupine – a candidate in her Harem System. And right now, she was too engrossed in using her Charm Skill that she failed to realize that she had downright exposed her ability in front of the mad man named Lucien Lupine!
'What if he will think that I am a spy since I am a human and humans supposedly don't possess any magic? Or what if he will spread this to the others and more trouble will come for me because of my weird constitution?'
Sue's mind was in total chaos.
The sudden force lifting her body from the ground pulled Sue from her trance. "Ah! What are you doing, you basta–I mean, Sir Lu-Lucien?"
But the savage man blatantly ignored her.
"Let me go, please! I can walk! I swear I can walk! Sir Lucien, please!" Carried like a bag atop his left shoulder, Sue could feel his arms supporting her waist and her legs. Sue punched Lucien's back while thrashing her feet, but her small fists were only met by his firm and muscular back.
When Sue's line of vision rotated once more, she realized that she was pushed atop a flat boulder! Her knees spread wantonly and her wrists were – again – held above her head. With mere inches away from her ashen face, a frowning face of a savagely beautiful man grew nearer.
His hot breath fanned over her, eliciting a rumble deep inside her core.
"You're a siren, aren't you?" His canines inched closer to Sue's trembling lashes as his right knee pressed the area between her thighs. "I smelled how my men went crazy for you, despite the fact that they are all mated."
A pair of golden eyes gleamed with a warning. Veins protruded around his neck, showing how furious he was at her. On instinct, Sue shifted her face away from Lucien Lupine. After all, the mere thought of submitting her body to a man she did not care about was making her anxious.
But Sue Terin regretted her action sooner than later.
A clawed hand pinched her cheeks, holding her down with a force that she could not fight. It was too late for her to realize how she exposed her neck to him!
"!!!" Sue Terin froze upon feeling a hot, wet substance on her exposed neck. Licking the junction of her neck and shoulder, Lucien Lupine continued to lick her until he reached behind her left ear – eliciting an erotic gasp from Sue.
'System, I command you to –' Sue's thoughts were cut off when her gaze swept to the glowing pink-colored number hovering above Lucien's head.
20%
'Why is it twenty percent? I swear it is twenty-five percent the last time I checked for it!' Sue subtly froze, her trashing limbs seized moving. 'Wait! Did his jealousy deduct the previous percentage by five percent?'
Ping!
[FAVORABILITY FUNCTION ACTIVATES!]
Ping!
[SCANNING LUCIEN LUPINE…]
Ping!
[AFFECTION DEDUCTION DUE TO *JEALOUSY* BY 5%!]
Ping!
[AFFECTION FAVORABILITY: 25%... 24%... 22%...20%]
Sue's remaining thoughts to struggle under Lucien Lupine's oppression vanished into thin air. Her limbs lost their strength as her mind went blank, tears cascading from her eyes.
Her trauma from men was overridden by her will to live and take vengeance. But her desire to end the world had exploded to a whole new height.
Upon seeing Sue Terin's submission, Lucien's wolf howled at the back of his mad mind. A wild grin painted on his lips before he planted a kiss on his woman's right cheek. "You belong to me and mine alone, Sue Terin." Blood dripped from his woman's cheeks when his grip on her face tightened. Amid the onslaught of her blood in his vision, Lucien's grin only grew wider. Licking Sue's blood on her chin, he whispered with dark possession. "You are only alive because of me. If I cannot have you, then I will gladly deliver you to my former mate… six feet under the ground"
"!!!" Sue closed her eyes, tears falling along with her blood. She swallowed her pained gasp when Lucien threw her to the ground before he shifted to his wolf.
She was prepared to feel her skin crawling again. She was prepared for the darkness to swallow her alive.
But it never came.
Instead, the retreating sound of Lucien's wolf form filled her senses.
Ping!
[FAVORABILITY FUNCTION ACTIVATES!]
Ping!
[SCANNING LUCIEN LUPINE…]
Ping!
[AFFECTION FAVORABILITY: 20%... 22%... 24%...25%]
With an aching back from being thrown to the hard ground, Sue Terin rose from being slumped. Her cold eyes stared in the direction where the sounds of the red wolf vanished. She wiped off the remnants of blood from her wounded cheeks as she grinned – eyes empty from reliving her ultimate trauma.
"The Lord System is right. It is either I become the first human queen or I will die a tragic death not different from my first life."
Sue took out a fist-size orb from her satchel. Under the moonlit sheen, it gleamed warmly on her palm. Before a patch of cloud could cover one of the three moons, the crimson orb was crushed into powder by her grip.
Ping!
[INITIATING CHAIN MISSION!]
Ping!
[SCANNING...]
Though Sue somehow felt that this notification from the system would come the moment she crush the orb, she was still startled for a moment. Composing herself, she watched the series of notifications flashing before her.
Ping!
[SECOND CHAIN MISSION! CONQUER THE LEVEL SS DUNGEON: NIRVANA'S NEST!]
A frown was etched on Sue's face upon reading the screen. "A dungeon? And a level ss at that?" She clicked her tongue upon realizing how perilous her next mission was!
Ping!
[AWARD: NIRVANA FLAME SKILL!]
Ping!
[AWARD: ORANGE LEVEL UPGRADE FOR THE HOST, SUE TERIN!]
Ping!
[AWARD: FRUIT OF FERTILITY!]
Ping!
[CONSEQUENCE: IMPRISONMENT FOREVER INSIDE THE DUNGEON]
Ping!
[WILL YOU PROCEED TO THE MISSION TWO, HOST SUE TERIN?]
[YES] [NO]
Just like what happened to the second chain mission, Sue hovered over the last question. Imprisonment was still equivalent to death for her, for there was no possibility that she could last long inside a level ss dungeon. But with a mere Killer Slash Skill and Charm Skill, she could not come up with a positivity that she would be victorious with this chain mission.
A level ss dungeon was one a step lower than the highest level of dungeons, the level sss. When Sue was still at the mercy of the auction house before she regressed, she heard tales about dungeons and the loots that they provided for the dungeon conquerors. Some were lucky enough to come out with a complete set of limbs even after conquering a dungeon. While some lost their souls to the tricks they had encountered inside the dungeon.
Dungeons started to come out from the land a month after the annihilation of the last settlement that belonged to the human race. Sue Terin did not expect that the key orb of the Terin Clan's inheritance that she learned from her foster father's secret scrolls would bring her to a dungeon instead!
'Then, the information about my origins is hidden there? Why?'
If she wanted to know the answer, Sue only had one choice. "Yes, I accept the mission."
Her vision turned hazy and her location changed in a blink of an eye. The next thing Sue Terin knew, she was transported to a place surrounded by molten lava and scalding stones. Suffocating steams popped everywhere, creating a fog that limited Sue's scope of vision.
Ping!
[WELCOME TO THE LEVEL SS DUNGEON: MOLTEN DUNGEON!]
The introductory message of the system did not fully sink in for Sue since her mind was only filled with one word: heat.
Her white dress that reached her ankles sustained burns from merely touching the scalding surface of the dungeon's first level. Perspiration filled Sue's body, eliciting a thirst within her.
"S-So hot…"
All she could see was red – red with flames. The walls were made with molten minerals akin to rocks. Small streams of magma leaked from the cracks on the ground.
'World View Skill,' Sue spoke in her mind. She could not afford to waste the liquid texture in her mouth since her sweat continued to drench her dress.
Ping!
[SYSTEM ACTIVATES WORLD VIEW SKILL!]
Ping!
[SCANNING...]
Ping!
[HOST SUE TERIN IS SITUATED INSIDE THE LEVEL SS MOLTEN DUNGEON. THE DUNGEON IS LOCATED INSIDE THE ABANDONED TOMBS OF THE TERIN HOUSEHOLD'S FALLEN WARRIORS.]
Ping!
[SCANNING...]
Ping!
[HOST SUE TERIN, FOLLOW THE RED ARROWHEADS FOR THE SAFEST AND SHORTEST ROUTE AVAILABLE.]
Despite the sizzling sound of her shoes being burnt as she stepped forward did not miss her sense of hearing, Sue willed herself to take the first step towards the truth and strength she was seeking.
In her next corner, with her soles bleeding upon the loss of her shoes, Sue Terin found herself surrounded by winged lions that could breathe flame. This was when she realized that she was finally up for her first fight.