Just earlier, four humans approached the mansion. Three handsome men and one cute gothic loli.

"Oh, more food!" the succubus giggled.

The loli confidently led the group as the three men scanned the surroundings.

Now, how should she deal with them? The master of the house had not gone home yet. Did he go drunk on some human blood and fell asleep at a street?

Those humans didn't look like they went all the way here out of sheer curiosity. Did the master accidentally reveal himself to the townspeople again? They couldn't afford to move to another town, you know, again. So, where was he? There was no way he got killed, of course. Maybe he was hiding behind some crates for now, again.

Thinking that these humans were easy prey, she let them inside. She had to commend each of them for not freaking out as the door slammed shut. So she decided that she would give them a present. A hundred of them in fact.

After the four of them sensed her presents scattered around the house lying in ambush, six tentacles suddenly sprouted from the grinning girl's back, and all six of them ended with blades so sharp she could hear herself gulp. She had a small feeling but it turned out the little girl was not human after all. Was she a summoned monster?

Even so, it should not be too much of a problem. A hundred imps would take care of it. Individually, imps should be weaker than an average human, but a hundred of them inside a closed space? They stood at only one-foot tall but their wings should give them some leverage.

*Giggle*

Beside her, her minotaur friend growled. It seemed he never liked her puns.

"I was wondering where are you going to use this much," he said with a tinge of annoyance, "But where are you gonna put them later on?"

"Hush, hush. We could think of that later. Let's first watch these pitiful trespassers squirm hopelessly. I'm sure at least half of the little fellas would perish anyway so there's nothing to worry about where to store them."

That's what she said. But just after a minute of painful watching, it became obvious. The imps were no match against the tenacious slashes of the girl. About ten more seconds and the girl would single-handedly obliterate all of the imps she summoned.

This was getting bad.

Immediately then, the minotaur showed himself from the shadows.

Right! He as well could easily beat a hundred imps himself. This could be exciting to watch. But rather than going for the tentacle girl, he charged at the remaining three.

Oh!

She realized what he was going for. It seemed he also thought the same about the girl. If the summoner died, then the girl would vanish. Good thinking.

The three humans noticed the large opponent rushing them thus they retreated to a narrow hallway.

Too bad that's a dead-end, how unlucky of them. Even if they shoot him with a few arrows, it wouldn't do much.

But just then, at the very moment when the minotaur entered some good distance within the narrow pathway, a thunderous roar almost tore her ears.

*RATRATATATATATRATATATATATATATATATTATATTATATATATATATATATATATATATATATTATATATATTATATTATAT*

Then it was soon followed by a loud thud.

Curious to what had happened, she took a peek.

"What the hell was that?!" said one of the men who had silver hair and carried a bow.

From what she could guess looking at the large body full of holes lying on the floor, the minotaur died.

What the?

"What kind of artifact is that? Some kind of magical crossbow?" asked the man carrying a sword.

"Oh, this is my very handy AK-47, I used a drum mag rather than the usual 30-round mag. These 7.62 really packs the punch!"

With a wide smile, the man carrying the strange weapon looked at the lifeless body again, then raised his eyes and made eye contact with her.

Crap.

"A succubus!" he screamed, a bit of excitement leaking from his voice.

She was just several feet behind the minotaur to act as back up but she would never have expected the large chunk of meat to suddenly fall without even managing to show its power.

At least be able to do your job as a guardian of the mansion, will you!

Regardless, she needed to get away from here. She darted outside of the house but before she could distance herself from them she crashed into an invisible wall.

Disoriented and scared, she didn't realize the four finally caught up to her until a hand appeared at her shoulder. It was the tentacle girl. "Hey, don't worry, as long as you don't do anything stupid, you'll be fine." Her expression was soft and calming but as the succubus stared into those dark eyes, she knew that the girl had other things in mind.

She was trapped by some kind of high-tier spell and there was no way she could defeat all four of them in combat.

There was only one thing she could do.

"I surrender, please don't kill me."

"I told you already, we won't."

"We just want to see your house, do you have other people inside?" said the man carrying a sword.

Left with no other choice, she led them into the basement.

 

-----

 

Wow. Just wow.

Quill and Carl. These two just obliterated the enemies without batting an eye.

He and Victor almost didn't do anything, no, they did nothing at all.

Looking at the succubus before him, he realized this was the first time he saw one. Rather, even the minotaur, imps and the vampire, those were the firsts as well. In just one night, he already saw a lot. Just what's happening to this town?

But they were not yet finished. They still had to search the house for captives. He also had to watch out for any movement from the succubus. If they were not careful, she might be able to turn the tables with her charms.

Eyeing his other party members, Carl especially seemed to be very vulnerable to this type of monster, or maybe any kind of charm user. Please erase that creepy smile already, you were fine earlier.

Going back inside the house, they were brought down into the basement. Bringing out a lamp from his item bag, an eerie feeling crawled onto Kristoffer as they all entered after the succubus, and what they all saw caused Victor to curse loudly at the sight.

There were three bodies tied to the wall with chains, all three unmoving. The room was unkempt, reeked of blood, and on one wall hanged various tools for unsavory purposes. 

Kristoffer approached each one of the bodies carefully and discovered the third one to be still breathing. It's the missing silver maverick agent! He was supposed to be a teenager but the wrinkled skin made him look older than he used to be. What did they do to him? Checking his body for injuries, Kristoffer discovered two pairs of bite wounds on either side of the neck. The wound was small enough to have been inflicted by fangs and the like. He knew it, that damn monster...

Glancing at the other two who were chained up with him, the maverick was still considered lucky. They weren't used as food but, by looking at the exposed skin, possibly as things to satisfy some sort of sadism. But by who? The minotaur? Or maybe some other monster they haven't met yet?

"Where are the keys to the chains?" he asked the succubus.

"...Can't you just destroy it with your sword?"

"Where are the keys!" He was getting impatient. Sure, he could hit the chains with his sword. But he received it from his master and this kingdom's hero. Even if he was aware the sword wouldn't chip, he still couldn't disrespect its former owner by doing so. Unless it's the only way, he swore he wouldn't do it as he meekly sneaked a glance at Quill who was checking out the dark torture room with elation, almost uninterested at their exchange.

Feeling his irritation at the succubus' remark creep upon his body once again, he scanned the room for anything useful until he remembered that the others might be carrying picking tools with them. Victor was only carrying a dagger with him aside from his bow and arrow, and rangers don't normally specialize in lock picking. Carl was eyeing the succubus too seriously while subtly flexing an arm in her direction. So that only leaves only one more person. Ugh.

"Uh... Quill, may I borrow your lock picks for a second?" Kristoffer asked in embarrassment.

"Oh? What happened to yours?" He knew it. His eyes swam around as if desperately looking for an excuse in this damned place. But in the end, he knew that when dealing with Quill, one just better be honest or sincere.

"I... p-pawned it."

He screamed inside. Would have it been better if he just used the sword after all? He couldn't even look her in the eye anymore. He didn't have any other choice back then, okay?!

"...Why?" Quill asked.

Even without looking at Quill, he could tell how unamused she was with her tone. He would really appreciate some kind of help right now.

"...I just needed the money."

"For what?"

"It has to be weed," Carl said, crossing his arms in a show of certainty.

Kristoffer could only pop a vein at that. With all due respect, shut the fak up, Carl.