Chapter 55: Sudden farewell
As we were leaving the auction venue, I’d felt someone who had been watching us before as they used appraisal. They felt familiar, but I couldn’t place why and they had run off before I could appraise them in return.
Susan, very sure of herself, opted to have sensitivity, pleasure and build-up all raised to five-fold. She only raised the other options by double though. And of course, she got an ‘on switch’. Whenever one of us would get too dominant, one of the others would push the ‘button’ to perform a reversal. In Sofy’s case, we would just team up on her until she’d get one of us. Round and round we went deep into the night.
We still somehow managed to get up at the crack of dawn and head to the dungeon. Sofy and I walked there alone. Flora is in the garden at Mary and Alice’s place and Trixy is dwelling inside of Sofy. I think I’ve already said this, but dwelling is a subskill of tamer that’s like a contract space. When we entered the dungeon, I felt those same eyes on us from last night.
Using the same bull(Trixy) riding method as last time, we quickly barged right through down to the thirty-fourth floor in a few hours before it got too risky. For the next week and a half we managed to trek down to the fiftieth floor and then back to the thirty-eighth. Going beyond the forties is still too much of a challenge for us. We picked up a number of great items along the way, including three of those collars. Sofy kept one and I kept the other two. Sofy has also been keeping all of the miscellaneous items as well. It really isn’t fair that she has already leveled her inventory skill up to level three.
We’ve been stopped on the thirty-seventh floor by some people we know and hate. As soon as we were close enough, they had used skill sealing divine crystals on each of us. They’re stage four goods, I even have a few in my inventory. Not that I can pull anything out of it now anyways.
“Well if it isn’t my half-breed sister and her little pet.”~crown prince
“What are you doing here?”~Sofy
“We came to bring back the heroes that ran away. I didn’t expect to see the two of you here. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my supposedly dead sister is wandering around town. Since she’s changed to a catkin, then I suppose that the two named Mary and Alice from that auction house really are those other girls. I don’t know how you’ve all changed your appearances, but I’ll make sure to drag the truth out of you once I make you mine. Do it as planned.”~crown prince
“Kill the princess, take the other one alive.”~stooge one
Two stooges for each of us, each at least rank four. Stooge one is even rank five. Trixy came out of her dwelling, but it doesn’t help much. Sofy only has a dagger right now to defend herself and they’ve separated us. Her bow is useless without the arrows she keeps in her inventory. These guys can easily deflect my crossbow bolts and none of us can seem to get a hit in. At the rate we’re being exhausted, they will wear us down long before our skills return.
Sofy took a hit, it’s bad! Their rogue had taken out a crossbow and hit her in the stomach with it. I lost my cool big time and so did Trixy. She might have even activated a beserk state. I’m now exchanging wound for wound, but I heal fast and Trixy has a thick hide, capable of taking a beating. We’ve injured two of them quite badly now and the others are backing out of the fight.
“Shit, they’ve gone crazy. We’ll all die at this rate. The bitch is as good as dead. Retreat and we can try again later to capture the other.”~stooge one
One of them pulls out a divine crystal and then they all five disappear in a flash of light. It's a divine crystal that can only be found on levels forty and up called group dungeon escape.
“Flora, let Camille know that the crown prince and at least four of his best are in Namiir. They would have just left the dungeon and may try to attack her, Mary and Alice. They may even reenter the dungeon to attack us again in here.”~me
“Rodger! I’m with her now. She asks if you’re alright?”~Flora
“Not alright. Sofy took a bad hit. We’re on the thirty-seventh floor.”~me
I staggered over to my dying Sofy. The wound she took is fatal and I can’t heal her with skills. All our medicine and divine crystals are in our inventories. There’s no guarantee that we could run into a group willing to help or find an item laying around that could heal her.
To save her life, I have only a single option left. Sinking my fangs into her neck, I use my innate ability to secrete my venom directly into her bloodstream. I then slit my wrist and place it over her mouth, forcing her to drink. Her skin starts to pale after a few minutes and the wound rapidly heals once the bolt is removed. A sure sign that it’s working. When she awakes, she will have become a vampire. The lowest ranking of vampires where all turned start, a blood slave. I somehow intuitively know exactly what that will entail.
Her race will be replaced and she will gain the trait: [Vampiric Body(Rank: Slave 0%)]
Those with a vampiric body have the following subskills and conditions: {Vampiric Bite}, {Hypnotic Charm}, easily burned by sunlight, bloodline suppression by higher ranked vampire’s, obedience to progenitor. Only methods to rank up are to refine your own blood by drinking a higher ranked vampire’s blood or using a blood type treasure. Ranks include: slave, servant, knight, childe, baron/baroness, count/countess, duke/duchess, king/queen, emperor/empress. First three ranks have inherent obedience to their progenitor, next three require the progenitor to compel them via bloodline suppression in order to force them to obey, last three cannot be compelled to obey.
It’s only been about five minutes and I can feel her starting to wake. A stinging pain in my head suddenly interrupted my thoughts, followed by a strange, long notification:
[Error detected: logic feedback loop… analysing… slave ranked vampire’s inherent obedience to its progenitor conflicts with Destined to Serve’s control of the progenitor… extrapolating solution… obedience removed… error: obedience reasserted itself… removing… error... removing… error… analysing… obedience is embedded in the subject’s blood… executing a secondary solution… removing Destined to Serve’s relationship data… success… error cleared.]
Sofy has woken up and is looking at me with her adoration-filled blood red eyes, a sure sign of a newborn vampire. Then another notification appeared, one that I despised:
[Destined to Serve’s mistress data is empty. Activating temporary mistress mode.]
I tried to renew my pledge to Sofy once she woke up, but I got the following message:
[Service pledge disabled until meeting the temporary mistress.]
Kat then suddenly dragged me into her divine realm as an astral body.
“Why am I here? Ah, my head! She nearly killed me! Multiple times!! What the heck was she thinking and why would I just brush something like that off?!!!”~me
“You’re here to meet your temporary mistress, me. Your head hurts because all of your suppressed emotions have been unsuppressed. While the protections in your curse along with the don’t mind me blessing protect your mind, the curse is still able to temporarily suppress overly strong negative emotion toward your mistress in order to ensure a stable bond between mistress and servant.”~Kat
“Ugh, can’t you do something about that for me? Please?!”~me
“I already did something, because I figured you’d say that. Overly negative emotions toward the mistress will now trigger the abuse feature instead. I’ve also reset most non-essentials as well. Accessories, your eye shadow, and tattoo have all been cleared. Even your frustrating magic fingers are back!”~Kat
“Hm, strong negative emotions doesn’t seem to be triggering my abuse clause. Any thoughts?”~me
“Brat! Of course it wouldn’t work on me. You have a better idea to quickly get cozied up to your next mistress?”~Kat
“I think I do. Just change this line and that should give me plenty of hands on time.”~me
The line I referred to mentally to her just now was this one: The mistress is responsible to ensure the servant wears appropriate {Attire}. And I suggested changing it to: The mistress is obliged to ensure the servant is utilized properly and wears appropriate {Attire}.
This newly changed line keeps the old meaning while also obliging the mistress with no choice other than to utilize the servant for her daily life. Things such as chores, dressing, bathing and the like all have to be assisted by the servant. They will physically be prevented from doing them.
“Very well. We’ll use your idea this time, but we’ll switch back to the frustrating magic fingers if you can’t quickly build rapport with your new mistress. Now go say goodbye to Sofy before I randomly teleport you to an area rich in energies. It should put you near a settlement of some kind that way. You are prohibited from coming into contact with people you know before finding a new mistress.”~Kat
And que the sudden exit from her divine realm, once again! I quickly explained things to Sofy and said my goodbye. Then I was shrouded with light from the random teleport and vanished from the dungeon.
Oh and I still have a good amount of time left on that skill seal. What could possibly go wrong?!
End of Sofy Arc.
Im glad Sofys arc ended, i liked her in begenning but she was becoming very one-track minded or 2D if you will. She lost a great deal of substance to her character imo. Although forced it was definetly a good move. And fina-freakingly we get an explanation to how Lilia constantly brushed off the extreme and honestly abbusive sh*t that was happening to her. i just hope her next master will be more fun and doesnt fall into the same chracter hole the Sofy fell into. I really do like this story and wanna keep reading it. Thanks for keeping up with it
I think part (or even the whole reason) of why Sofy ended up being so "flippantly dangerous" with Lilia (even if not inherently malicious per se) was that she grew up in a repressed environment with little to no true free will (caged bird) or anyone in her corner who wouldn't be ruined before long. Then along comes someone who will always be there for her no matter what (barring a few situations like suicide orders and such). Having that kind of absolute control over another thinking being is "corrupting and addictive" (made worse that Lilia's curse suppressing her from saying no to mistress made lines never be clearly drawn and so it was consent) even for a well adjusted and mature person, much less a repressed and damaged girl like her. So due to curse, upbringing and circumstance, boundaries kept getting pushed and eventually it turned twisted and taken for granted.
It doesn't absolve what has been done but it doesn't mean the relationship is irreparable (never will be the same but it can be better, at least healthier). They had some great times and experiences and it isn't like a permanent goodbye but will definitely need a break to take a look at themselves and their relation while also having a long talk. Well MC did pick the curse and I don't think she will regret it at the end of the day but that was the price paid. It is a curse after all.
Edit: quite impressed I had so much to say. Probably because I as a reader misinterpreted Lilia's "true self" as consenting and being okay with it and so I was fine with it too (she wasn't freaking out and so I unconsciously didn't label it as abuse but as a momentary mistake that wasn't meant to harm and so fine to brush off). Scary how things can so easily slide into a darker place if you aren't careful and in aware of yourself and others from an objective view... guess I can take this as a warning to myself that even if an accident (even a small one), wrong is wrong and I shouldn't take that for granted even if the other person is tolerant. Looking at it this way, I can see how some relationships that start great can become abuse with the right personalities, circumstances and gradual escalation of accidents turned abuse and taking things for granted.
? Humans really have so much room to grow as people and a species and really need to be careful not to go down the wrong path and change as quick as possible when you realize.
Thanks for the chapter!
If you don't mind me making a slight criticism, this chapter felt a little forced. Around the time Trixy went berserk, I found my mind wandering and not really caring about the words on the screen.
I am not too knowledgeable about how to fix that, however. My only idea was to split the chapter into two. I think it may have been how different the pacing was from previous chapters? I sort of got in the mindset of "everything will be okay, this is just cleaning up loose plot threads."
It was only when End of Sofy Arc appeared that my mind caught up and said, "huh... wait what? Sofy was actually hurt?"
Hopefully her next mistress will have a healthy relationship with her. Not really expecting heavy BDSM stuff here. It gets repetitive overtime and the abuse is downright awful. Maybe Sofy really should have died there so Kat will lose one priestess. Well not like it really matters to her
if your posts reflect your actual reading desires, you've been thoroughly trolled. This novel is meant to appeal to masochists that will identify with the MC and sadists that will enjoy watching her suffer and be humiliated. Just look how even she makes her curse worse.
Hell she even wanted to renew her pledge when a normal person would have laughed as she died and demanded Kat honor the original curse terms she changed
Yeah its a little bit forced, but I dont mind especially how they seperate isnt that bad. And I am a little bit happy about it, because I only remember half of the characters after the little Hiatus XD
And please, a chapter of Sofy's POV won't be really convincing. She's a vampire slave anyway and her thoughts will likely get tampered like MC does
Ughh this leaves a bad aftertaste. I wish I haven't started this until a few weeks later so that I can wash off my hate for Sofy with a light fluff from a worthy mistress. Not even a quick revenge from MC. It may be good if Sofy was bound in the dungeon to be played by other adventurers. Yeah just rating here
Well, I was enjoying all the bdsm stuff till now, probably since I'm a total sub and would being in a similar situation to Lily.
That said, it's true that lately it iffy.
Honestly I thought is was about time the Sofy ark ended. The BDSM scenes were great and awesome, I loved them. They are the reason I read this story. But it seemed time for a new cast of characters to enter the stage. The character development seemed to be drying out and there was no important plot the characters were striving for. Basically the tension that was there in the beginning of the story, disappeared. This resulted in causing the story to slowly feel monotonous from the lack of tension from character development and presence of a dangerous antagonist such as the Prince.
This was SO abrupt. And, like, there goes a whole life! Businesses, reputation, just gone! Wha!?!?!
After stopping reading at 39 because Kat screwed Lilia over yet again and waiting until the reveal of why Lilia was so willing to just take Sophie's abuse here and then skimming through to chapter 62 I'm going to have to drop this series entirely. Maybe some people enjoy reading humiliation stories or can stomach it more than I can. If so good for them, but I'm out.
The first 20 chapters or so were fairly enjoyable to read and hadn't gotten too abusive, but once Sophie started abusing Lilia more and more and Kat kept screwing Lilia over I lost interest in the story.
It's turned into a recurring exponential humiliation conga line for Lilia who was thrown into a world seemingly conspiring to torment her at every turn (and probably is given how motivated Kat is to see Lilia suffer for Kat's amusement) and no one really gives a damn: most of the people they meet are (or become) colossal assholes, sadists or irrelevant to the story, Kat comes across as an abhorrent sociopathic sadist that gets worse every time she shows up, Sophie started ok and even willing to treat Lilia with respect and as an equal, but later turned into an abusive psychopath with Lilia unable/unwilling to do or even say anything about it even as it got worse and more extreme-the curse didn't even break because of the abuse clause triggering even after all the outright abuse, torture and humiliation Sophie inflicted on Lilia-it was broken because of a feedback loop from conflicting master/slave status-and it *is* slave status at this point, not servant. Sophie and Kat have made that perfectly clear with how willing they are to abuse Lilia for their amusement especially with that stunt in chapter 60 where Lilia is enslaved against her will by a new master and not having a say in it despite part of the entire point of some of the modifications she made to her curse in return for getting less SP from it was being she got to *choose* who she served, mind addled by sexual afterglow so she wasn't actively resisting being enslaved or not.
Lilia seems to have degenerated from a very perverted but still intelligent and driven woman into a s*x slave that practically only functions when being used as a bodyguard or s*x toy for whoever happens to be holding her leash at that point in time-and she has to endure any treatment her "master" decides to inflict on her at whatever whim they have, no matter how extreme or near fatal it gets, since even outright torture, abuse and humiliation weren't enough to break the abuse clause like they should have because of Kat tampering with the curse to suppress Lilia's negative emotions and/or break her mind to see them as "playing" or "fun", and it seems exceedingly unlikely that Kat would change that since she seems to get off on watching Lilia suffer. Kat even says later that she would only step in to prevent Lilia being killed (or committing suicide) because of Kat's own screw up rather than fixing her mistake and mending what went wrong, and this seems to be not because of any sympathy or pity for Lilia but because if Lilia died Kat would lose her current favorite thing to watch be abused, or if not lose her outright Lilia would be reborn as a baby and be unable to entertain Kat as much for a long time.
At this point it with how much Kat keeps moving the goalposts and exploits Lilia (such as having her recruit priestesses, spread faith and other things that directly increase Kat's power right after Kat had screwed Lilia out of her freedom again) it seems that Lilia's only real possible courses of action from here are to suffer endless abuse for Kat's amusement until Lilia is so mentally broken that Kat finally gets bored of her and either discards her or *finally* undoes the curse, continually commit suicide until Kat gets bored of her and stops reincarnating her, or suffer the abuse until she gets strong enough to forcibly break the curse and hopefully exact at least some measure revenge against Kat-either straight up killing her, enslaving Kat so she gets to taste what she put Lilia through, or even just leaving the plane and never returning.