Chapter 420: Demon Spotted!

"I vote right!" Aejaz pointed two thumbs up in the direction of the right path while wearing a silly smile on his face and trying to puppy-dog eyes Ares into agreeing with him.

"Ok but why? I don;t think you've thought this through as much as is necessary. Or, rather, I think I know the exact mistake you're making here..."

"Aw c'mon, we don't know what's down either hallway so how could either choice be a mistake already? You don't even have the hindsight yet to say that! Besides, my reasoning is sound! If right is a path of 'depravity' then isn't that perfect for us? We're bandits, thieves, and murderers! Doesn't get much more depraved than that! This is home territory and I think we'd cruise through that path and complete it like taking candy from a baby. That might even be what we have to do and, let me tell you, I will steal that sweet so fast the baby won't even know what hit 'em!"

"... I appreciate the enthusiasm but I regret to inform you there are a number of potential meanings for the word 'depravity'. I'm not saying you're definitely wrong but the first thing that came into my mind was very different to the first thing that came into your mind. Just for a split second, entertain the thought that the right path is one of sexual deviancy and lusty depravity instead of highway robbery and being mean to... Babies... What if we have to fight off illusory magic, or worse, mental magic in which things get a bit steamy? I might be ok, but what about you? Do you have anything to escape such a predicament? If you were caught in a pleasant dream with a happy ending you wouldn't be able to target me to steal magic from and disintegrate whatever was clogging up your sanity. You couldn't escape it. In the end, I'd have to rescue you myself which is great for you but more hassle for me! Also, the gravity maze shouldn't be too hard what with my pressure being able to nullify or trivialise any of the challenges that crop up! Also also, and this is what truly frightens me about the path on the right, if it really is lewd, do you have ay idea how screwed we'll be when we return home!? If we share our memories of whatever happens in that room we'll be dead for real! Think, man, think! The wrath of Allie and Blo Blo is not some mere trifling matter! At least against the horrors and deceit of the Riddlemyd we can fight back but angry women will be the end of us!"

"..." Aejaz grimaced as he thought about the repercussions of offending Allie... He valued his ears and getting them talked off because of something beyond his control wasn't exactly appealing... Maybe it was better to go left after all... But his inner thief was telling him to be depraved! If there was good stuff to steal along the right path then it would all be worth it! Risk it for the biscuit! "I still like right!"

"Well... We could always split up if you're so certain? I really have no interest in going down that path because I know Enyo won't give me trouble but Blo Blo might. I am a happily married man! Twice... Ignore the blatant hypocrisy! You get my point! I am going left, you may feel free to do as you please with or without me."

"Aww, no, wait! This isn't fair! I wanna go right! you've been answering all the riddles and doing all the puzzles and crap like that! I wanna go right and do things my way for once!"

"What are you, a child?!... Fine... I dragged you along to Xasca because I promised to let you have fun in the Riddlemyd...I can't exactly remove you from the decision making process entirely in every room on every floor as I have done for the most part up until now... But if I feel like we're slowing down, and not making as much progress as I'd like, I'm taking control again! I want my DNA back because I don't trust Sevorus with it! Better yet, if he wants it so bad then we can bargain for it and I can get him to leave Candy alone, if not have him lend a hand with that whole problem. My DNA is valuable and getting it back is actually worth quite a bit n the long run for dealing with Sevorus as I don't have much else he'd even want. But fine, like I said, we'll go right this time... Don't blame me if I end up being right about what's awaiting us in that room, though! I won't hear any of it when you're being interrogated by Allie and I will definitely not bail you out!"

"It'll be fine, live a little! If that really does happen, and we get lewd images pumped into our brains, then it might remind you of your days as a carefree bachelor Mr one-woman-on-each-arm."

"Aren't you the same?!"

"Yeah but I don't have a million more on the horizon."

"Tsk, don't overexaggerate! The number is high enough as is without you needing to inflate it... Whatever... Tom Tom, we're going right. Our decision is final."

"... Good luck..."

Ares didn't quite like the way Tom Tom said that before turning to stone... But surely it couldn't be that bad? Ares had Omniscience for illusions and disintegration for mental attacks so he ought to be safe from anything that came his way... And what was the worst it could be really? A succubus? They existed.. But there really shouldn't be one in Xasca, right? This was hardly the place for them and they weren't exactly common to begin with... Though, knowing Sevorus, anything and everything could wind up being anywhere he went. That Scylla had no business being in the middle of Sheryashka like that.. Who knows, maybe Aejaz was right and this path's 'depravity' had something to do with stealing a valuable item and there'd be a nifty reward for clearing the room! Might as well go into the room with high hopes so as not to be a Debbie-downer while his brother was having his fun. Seeing Aejaz be so high spirited and invested in this adventure was nice as he rarely did anything other than sit on a couch reading books all the time... Terrible ones too... It was good to get him out the house and exploring the wider world so he could be more familiar with it. If he ever needed to go on his own adventure, away from Ares and by himself, he would have more experiences to help him along and that was Ares' main concern. If Aejaz was enjoying himself now during this then it made the learning process a lot smoother and he was more likely to remember whatever he learnt here that would be helpful for his survival going forward. He'd be perfectly capable of overcoming traps like the earlier lava pit now that he'd seen how Ares handled it in person and could mimic his strategies. All would be well!... Unless there were riddles troubling him then he was actually jut completely screwed... No amount of training was ever going to solve that, unfortunately.

KATHUNK

the passageway did indeed seal itself off, behind Ares now that he and Aejaz were treading this path, just as Tom Tom said it would. It was too late for regrets now so Ares just shook his head and kept on moving. He prematurely activated Omniscience, just so that any illusory magic wouldn't get the drop on him, and made sure to check and double check every nook and cranny of the passageway for signs of something lurking deeper within. It was still an early floor so the chances of something jumping out from behind a wall were slim but it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when scaredy cat Aejaz was in the lead. If he got spooked by a creature from out of nowhere all his current enthusiasm would vanish into thin air and getting it back would be tricky. Again, though, like a lot of the other hallways thus far, there was nothing here to complicate the walk through it at all! There was an empty room at the end of the hallway, at least as far as Ares could tell from where he was standing, so it looked like this short journey was going to be a safe one. Aejaz walked ahead and hopped into the room with a skip and immediately got to looking around for shines while Ares followed him in with a sigh. There was clearly nothing here to steal, so Aejaz was going to be a bit disappointed in that regard, but he should have tempered his expectations and seen this coming long ago!

As for the empty room... There wasn't any way out other than the way in, but that led to a dead end, so there was definitely something else going on in here that needed to be dealt with before the duo could move on... But what? Ares contemplated over the matter, searching high and low throughout the room for a potential answer, while Aejaz begun turning over stones looking for even a single penny to put in his spatial ring. This carried on for about a minute before Ares noticed a fog come rolling in from underneath the walls. He glanced over at Aejaz but his brother seemed none the wiser about it which was surprising because it was definitely very visible and not the kind of thing you'd miss. Rather, Ares felt like it was completely unmissable and it had only kept spreading, making it that much clearer to the naked eye, as time went by. Even if you didn't see the small puffs of smoke underneath the walls you would definitely see the ankle-high smoke swamp forming on the ground! The smoke was dark grey and pretty thick, was soon to reach about knee-height in a few seconds, and was filling in the entire room without leaving even a single corner untouched... But it wasn't an illusion. Aejaz couldn't see it but it wasn't an illusion or an illusion inducing gas... What a strange situation! Whatever was happening, Ares' Omniscience was preventing him from being blissfully unaware of the imminent danger like his brother was... Or was it even the Omniscience doing this? Ares didn't know because he was entirely unfamiliar with the events happening before him. "Aejaz? You still there?"

"Hm? Yeah, why? What's up?"

"Nothing..." Ares decided not to freak him out unnecessarily. If Aejaz was still conscious, and not going loopy, then things were fine for now. This smoke was slow acting and, whatever it did, it wasn't poisonous as Ares' regeneration would have been filtering it out of his system by now if that were the case. The smoke was harmless but that didn't mean it did nothing either so Ares was using Aejaz as a guinea pig here to slowly piece together an analysis of its effects! It was his fault for picking this path in the first place and he couldn't complain! Ares warned him about this exact scenario and he could only regret not listening to big bro on this one.

The smoke had filled up about a quarter of the room now and was up to Ares' neck height-wise. It was going to fill up the room entirely in another twenty or thirty seconds but the goal hadn't become any clearer with time. Aejaz was looking a little woozy but he seemed to think he was just feeling a bit sleepy for whatever reason and took no notice. He was still in a normal room from his perspective, after all, so this would serve as a good learning experience to trust his body, and what it was trying to tell him about his current state, more. His sleep schedule was not the issue here. Ares couldn't tell what this smoke was but it was definitely doing more than simply putting people to sleep. Usually his Omniscience would clue him in but this wasn't an art nor was it coming from a treasure or anything like it, Ares could tell that much at least. What he knew was that this smoke was 'natural'... As in it didn't require mana to summon, it either was something that happened naturally in a specific environment or... More likely in this case... It was the result of a monster and / or person's innate racial abilities...

Ares had a bad feeling in his gut that his assumptions about this room were all 100% correct as this could very well be a succubus' ability and Ares would not be remotely surprised. They were good at the mental magic and illusory tricks you'd expect them to be so he was pretty convinced right now that this all had something to do with one. Chances are the room bombarded you with their natural pheromone, this smoke, and then unleashed one into the room with you the second you showed signs of being out of it. You'd die a dog's death under the heel of a succubus and, though you'd enjoy yourself on the way out, you would lie here forever more, nothing more that a fully drained corpse.

The normal way to complete this room was not to stay in here but to, instead, go back down the hallway to avoid the smoke. Yes the hallway was a dead end, and there was no exit there, but the smoke ought to fade eventually at which point you could return and deal with the relatively harmless succubus that had been let out into the room without a fuss. If you could see or detect the smoke in any way then retreating from the room and patiently waiting would be the obvious solution... If you couldn't, and wasted your time looking for an exit in this room, you would succumb to the smoke and meet your demise shortly after. Aejaz was a brilliant example of why this room worked well as a challenge because the sudden, random onset of drowsiness after entering the room was your hint that it was time to leave and yet it would fool many people. The room was fair, you just needed to observant. That may sound harsh to peeple who weren't but if you weren't observant while travelling thorough this Riddlemyd, and didn't re-evaluate the safety of this place with every step you took, or didn't treat every inch of unexplored territory as a potential catalyst for death, then you shouldn't have been here in the first place. Ares had the luxury to treat this place like a side-conquest, because of the incredible tools at his disposal, and even he was still being at least a little cautious! This was a dungeon and all dungeons were designed with the intent to kill you! This one was rather novel, with Tom Tom at the helm the vibe was very different to some murky cave, and the riddles were an unusual challenge compared to what was usually asked of adventurers in most dungeons, but it was still a D.U.N.G.E.O.N that wanted you dead. Forgetting that and smelling the roses, much like how Aejaz was currently inhaling copious amounts of smoke, was a lethal mistake.

The appearance of this smoke did raise another question, though, as Ares was now curious as to why he was able to sit here completely unaffected by it. Omniscience wouldn't have prevented it from affecting him even if it allowed him to spot it. Logically, Ares should have had to leave the room because it wasn't something his regeneration would affect or prevent either as it was currently. This smoke wasn't an injury, didn't cause one, nor was it a poison. The regeneration did target a lot of things but a pleasant dream was pretty inoffensive and might actually be ignored, sneaking by his revenant security system. That was all this smoke was at the end of the day, a pleasant dream-inducing fog. The real danger was what the succubus did to you while you were dreaming. Ares' regeneration didn't exactly cure sleeping or dreaming so it wasn't the reason he was able to stand here like a stone statue amidst the smoke. He might one day be able to improve his regeneration to the point it recognised this as an external tool used by an opponent to weaken his guard but, right now, something else was keeping him awake and alert...

Ares had so many different tricks up his sleeve he didn't' even know which one was saving him! Pressure was inactive... It wasn't Omniscience, that was already established... He wasn't running destruction mana through himself so not that either... Enyo! Ares wasn't sure what exactly, but this definitely had something to do with Enyo's pleasure pillar affiliation! 'Who cares about some raunchy succubus when my wife is infinitely worse?' That was totally it... So what was protecting him really? Probably the small barriers on his flesh? He'd gotten that as a mutation, in addition to the heart barrier and the anti friendly-fire stuff, and it had come in handy a fair few times so far. Basically every time he got hit the damage he sustained was reduced so he might have been in way worse shape after some of his fights were it not for this. As for right now... If Enyo's barriers contained hints of pleasure pillar affiliation then maybe it was protecting him from the succubus' influence! Mhm, that was definitely it. Enyo had basically marked her territory and was telling hussies to back off... It made too much sense to be anything else and there weren't really any other possible options anyway. Sorry succubus, my wife is just too attractive for you to compete with! Technically it was nothing to do with beauty, Ares hadn't even seen this succubus yet so that wasn't a judgement call he could make, it was just that he was so used to being wrung dry that he was effectively numb to succubi at this point... An oddly specific but also somewhat handy ability for sure! Ares had seen the face of true lewdness and would never be phased by anything less ever again!... Although if anyone asked he would tell them it was his unbreakable love for his wives that prevented him from going la la...

It seemed like the room was nearly full of smoke now but Ares' Omniscience still allowed him to get a slightly better view through this fog. He could still see most of the room clearly as well as Aejaz slowly slumping over against the wall he was next to. He could also see a hole open up in one of the walls so he took a few steps back to hide himself within the fog, fade away, and spectate whatever happened next from the edges of the room. As he did so, in walked a dark red woman. Yes that statement was correct. She was not wearing dark red, she just was dark red. Succubi were widely thought to be monsters but also rational, intelligent ones that could live and cultivate amongst humans in civilisation. Ares now knew of hell, and so he was aware that they were just a sub race of demons, that actually existed, but nobody in Sheryashka wouldn't know that. Demons, and maybe some angels from heaven somewhere too, must have been trapped in this domain when the barrier initially went up and they produced offspring in here that, over time, lost their sense of identity. Succubi didn't know they were demons and any angels lingering about didn't know they were anything special other than just a winged human. They weren't seen as anything out of the ordinary by locals or what not because integration had happened so many years ago that everyone just treated their presence as completely normal. It was much like how nobody in Sheryashka knew of the Gods, they were simply lacking in information due to a lack of connection with the outside world.

There were all sorts of races out there so a person with red skin wasn't exactly too farfetched for most people to just shrug, ignore, and move on with their day even if it was their first time seeing such a thing. They might attribute it to a treasure or an art, even, it just didn't matter so long as the person was capable of speaking and not attacking people on sight. Rather, the succubus' one defining trait was their eroticism and so men and women alike were actually more than happy to have them around. Their skin wasn't exactly off-putting, and they even came in a variety of different colours too, so it felt like a pick 'n' mix at brothels wherever they showed up and they were quite a few people's favourites in that regard. They were pretty averse to wearing clothes but their bodies had scales on all the important parts, to at least be somewhat covered up, that could be retracted within the body whenever the succubi wanted to fully bare themselves. Like retractable claws almost but all they did was prevent or enable nudity on a whim. Typically succubi were exempt form public decency laws although there were definitely some places where it wasn't permitted to walk around like that and they had to cover up regardless of their race / innate qualities.

Again, though, succubi really weren't too common and most Sheryashkans, depending on where they were born, could live their entire life without seeing neither hide nor hair of one. As far as Ares knew, they were most commonly seen in Dwarvingdom. Perhaps the succubi felt more comfortable in a place where humans weren't the norm. Dwarves, like them, had different bodily proportions and features so they might feel less like outcasts there and the dwarves were generally a friendly race that were welcoming to just about everyone. The succubi might feel the same way about Elvenfeld, a land of strictly elves, but they were unfortunately not welcome there due to their inherently indecent nature. The elves were all secretly bloodthirsty war maniacs but they were still upper class prudes for the most part, Mako was an exception, and such impurity would be frowned upon heavily as it might lead to debauchery and corruption of their morals in the long run. Actually, the succubi presence in Dwarvingdom made the place a frequent hot spot for tourism so the dwarves took good care of the succubi and appreciated what they brought to the table. All in all, the succubi were just sort of there? Nobody really cared about them other than die hard purists of the human variety but they hated everyone, from panthera to aevysqualls, so that probably didn't' count as targeted hatred towards succubi specifically. None of this explained what this sensuous lady was doing here, though! Ares was curious to know, and curious to see how things went, so he hugged the wall and waited patiently. The succubus knew he was here, in her smoke, but as she couldn't see him directly she must have assumed he was out of it like Aejaz was and just left him there as a sort of dessert to come back to after. Ares felt like a pervert in the corner of the room watching like this but he didn't much about succubi and this was as good a chance as any to learn something! Sorry Aejaz, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do to Allie! Ares wouldn't let the succubi do anything inappropriate but he definitely wasn't going to intervene immediately either!