Chapter 584 – Venice (5)

If there is a fitting designation for humanity, who has thrived across generations, it is the root of the kudzu, tenaciously persevering through the ages with the inherent cunning of their species.

Ask Erinies, the Queen of the Spirits and Mistress of the Sealed World, her opinion of humans, and she will respond without hesitation: dull-witted, susceptible to pleasure, shallow of will, and indolent. Even those possessed of purpose can be corrupted in a heartbeat. Our beloved warrior. The holy maiden. Perhaps even the girl called Abi, who she so deeply cherished.

Erinies reflects on a connection she herself severed long ago.

[Abi.]

Praising her would require more hours than a day could provide. To encapsulate her in a few words, she was more endearing than she was beautiful. Trinkets adorning her head suited her better than any extravagant dress. She had a noble character, willing to assist anyone without suspicion, even upon first meeting.

A beacon of hope in Erinies’ world of perpetual disappointment in mankind.

Even among a species perceived as inferior, a flower is destined to bloom.

Erinies could never forget the three years of shared adventures with her.

“This… lacks flavor.”
“Is that so? Well… I’ve only ever eaten this my entire life.”
“Hmm.”

They would share a bowl of thin soup, each yielding to the other.

“Never again, engage in such base behavior, profiting at the expense of others!”

She shattered someone’s misguided values head-on, spreading the collective will of humans and spirits.

“Thank you, spirit mage… How do I even begin to repay this kindness?”

There were times when, after weeks of racking her brain to solve a village’s problem, she finally found a solution and received gratitude from the village elder, an elderly woman.

The innocence that remains within her, now an adult.
The seeds we scattered in a small pot, against all odds, germinated. Although Abi couldn’t witness the plant growing, Erinies constantly finds herself wondering,

“Abi… How are you now?
You who vowed to correct the wrongs of the world.
My one and only friend.”

‘If only I never had the crown.’

I might have spent my entire life by your side.

Indeed, the crown.
Erinies was its keeper.

The crown, a power greatly feared by the World Tree. As long as she held the crown, Erinies had no option but to conceal herself within the spirit realm to evade the imminent threats surrounding her.

【Never hand over the crown to a human.】

A single directive from her father.

As the crown possesses a will of its own, it must not fall into the hands of humans, a species inferior in willpower.

All the blessings, friendships, and fairy tales we yearned for would crumble instantly before the crown.

Be wary of the crown, protect it, and use it sparingly, if at all.

If you believe it’s time for everything to unravel, then usage is acceptable.

Elinis was deeply cognizant of the crown’s power.

In a brief span of time, a figure known as King Mokryeong had nearly shattered the world. He was intelligent and virtuous for a mortal, yet he was ultimately consumed by the will of the crown.

‘… To imbue the crown with a new will… It was an ingenious concept.’

To embed the factor within the crown. To establish an entity capable of controlling the free-willed crown, thereby minimizing the risks when wielding it. The essence of this strategy was to lessen the mental strain on oneself, by making the factor shoulder the burden of the crown user.

A mortal who once nearly mastered the crown. That was the assessment the World Tree and spirits rendered of King Mokryeong. An inferior creature had dared to undertake what they themselves had not, and nearly succeeded.

The pronouncements of Methuselah, coupled with the anomalous case of King Mokryeong, led the World Tree to tentatively conclude that humans and the crown were disconcertingly compatible.

Whether this truly indicated that humans could effectively harness the crown’s power, or if it was merely the result of human will being weak, prompting the crown to unfurl its powers, remained unclear…

‘…….’

Regardless, humans must never wield the crown. For the reason being-

“Hmm… Ah… Ah….”

Elinis looked upon his reclining father with a disbelieving countenance.

Because the crown’s power trivializes every tale we cherish.

“Please don’t suck my breasts… Ahh♡”

This power can reduce a hero, once encompassing the world, to a pig trampled underfoot. It takes lives that should hold value, pursuing base pleasures, scattering the essence and will of existence, and forcing us to recognize that we are mere creations. A crushing realization.

All beneath the crown are but uncrushed blooms among the wild grasses.

Humans, who brazenly wielded this power to be feared, inevitably dominated even the spirits and trees. The power inherited from King Mokryeong’s era had morphed into such a horrific form.

“I had no idea… I didn’t know…”

“Do you accept it?”

A girl fervently shaking her head at the elf’s voice. A once dear friend now clung to a man, beginning to feign obedience.

-Boom! Boom!

“Yes, yes… I love your cock… Ah!”

Procreation is merely a tool for species preservation, not a conduit for pleasure. The degradation of a person through sexual intercourse is likely a misery unparalleled. The crown’s wielder imparts such misery to the beings under their control.

Stripping away due dignity and precipitating a fall, it creates monsters dominated by lust.

-Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Admit it. You’re just a female in the end.”
“… Ah, Ahhhhhhh!!”
“Speak.”

Before such power, all meaning is obliterated.

Devotion or camaraderie…. Virtue. Righteousness or deceit.

“I concede… I… I will concede… Ergo… Ahh!”
“Did you hear that, Lee Si-heon. Release it.”

– Paaah!

“…Hah, haaaang!”

Bathed in the man’s embrace, the father clung to him, his face a picture of pure bliss. Eirene, steadying her thunderous heartbeat, resumed her train of thought.

‘However, the power of the Crown wasn’t this potent.’

She knew that King Mokryeong could usurp energy from the surrounding trees, even brainwash them. But the extent was different. If the connection was forced, the woman would derive almost no pleasure. If intercourse was nothing more than a ceremony for brainwashing and stealing power…

Their relationship, however, seemed profoundly intimate, brimming with pleasure.

‘Is it his constitution?’

The power of the Crown, as felt from the man, was faint. In comparison to the original, it was minuscule, as tiny as a baby’s fingernail. There were evident traces of the Crown’s use, but now only a fraction of it could be sensed. Thus, there should have been no enhancement of pleasure characteristic of the Crown, for the Crown can only express its will when it is wholly intact.

There were many oddities, but… Eirene halted her thoughts and gazed down at the father. With a dreamy look on his face, he nodded in contentment, watching semen trickle down his vagina. Eirene’s fists were tensed with power.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Halt.”

At the icy voice emanating from behind us, we almost simultaneously swung around.

Luscious, curly locks, a blend of gold and a hint of brown. Adorned in a dress larger than her size, with eyes shimmering like gems, she was staring at us, her face twisted in disgust.

[Eh…hah…]

The nymphs cancelled their summoning, leaving only Venice and me. And the father, who remained here. I lifted the father’s body and withdrew the genitals that were slowly being inserted.

– Sllurp.

A large phallus pushed its way out, rubbing between the soft folds.

[Eri…ni…eh…? That’s… absurd…]

The father, with bird-like chirping, spoke while gazing at her.

[Definitely… The contract should have been severed.]
“Quiet, father. Don’t speak. It’s time to topple that man.”

Eirene, the decisive reason for my presence here, and the object of persuasion. It seemed she had earned a mark of dislike for momentarily aligning with Venice’s vengeance.

I tidied my clothes as I observed Eirene. The father couldn’t take his eyes off Eirene, while Venice, with a sour expression, watched the Queen of Spirits. She seemed to have no interest in those who were not the subjects of her revenge.

The adversary appears to harbor quite a vengeance against me for transforming her father in this manner…

“Move from there.”
[…]

Her father.
He’s been entranced by the carnal desires for a long time.

-Squish!

As Venice defiantly clutches her breasts, her father clings to my side, her thighs quivering. As if performing an act of milking, she grazes him from top to bottom, the sporadic moans resonating throughout the entire temple.

[Ah… Hnng…]
“Father…”

The voice of Erinies grows even more chilling.

“You have utilized the power of the Crown. That unforgivable power.”

A voice so frosty, it stirs an eerie sense of arousal. The ripple of magic spreads, transforming the floor into a field of ice.

The Crown.
Upon hearing that name, I couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow.

“Do you know something about the Crown?”
“… I have nothing to say to you, who have already descended into corruption.”
“Well, it’s good news to me.”
“What do you mean-“
“The very reason I came here is you.”

Erinies’ countenance hardens. She recedes a step, the hem of her dress fluttering, and her body radiates with magical energy. An undeniable level of magic trembles the very foundations. It nearly brings the temple to ruin.

Having already lost her favor, why not provoke her further?
The moment I arrived here, I was already cast as the villain.

Feeling like a third-class scoundrel, I slid a finger into her father’s mouth.

[Gag… Hah… ]

Lips that have pleasured my manhood time and again.
As I scratch the inside, a warm fluid trickles from her father’s sex.

[Hah, Hah… Ahh…!]
“Erinies. Queen of the Spirits. I desperately need your power right now.”

Her eyes, aflame with shame and fury, reach out to me.
I imbue her father with even more power. At the peak of his climax, her father trembles.

“What are you doing!”
“It’s a threat. Just once, lend me your power.”
“I have no reason to listen to you. And you’re destined to die here anyway…!”

When she releases her magic with full force, Erinies, feeling a chill, silences.
The dark magic that emanates from me engulfs her father and Venice.
A hint of intoxicated agony is etched between the brows of the two women.

“There is a reason.”

The sole intention was to have Erinies before my eyes, and somehow, it went as planned. Her father, ashamed and mortified to have exposed his private affairs before a close friend, continually averts his gaze.

I release her father’s body.
Venice, supporting her collapsing father, chuckles and strokes him, and he asks her.

[Why… are you holding me?]
“Revenge has reached its end. It’s not my concern anymore.”
[…What does that mean…]
“Honestly, it felt good.”

He’s a father forced into communication.
He doesn’t seem to deny Venice’s words. He rests his face on her chest.

[Are you… accepting my apology?]
“Yes.”

[I never realized one could forge a bond in such a manner. The enforced approach still… leaves much to be desired. Yet, it is not something to be dismissed.]

Erinies cried out in vexation at the sight of her father departing for that distant realm.

“No, Father! It is the result of his deceitful might…!”
“That’s enough.”

My words sever Erinies’ protest. My magic, my Magi, has fashioned the perfect spell circle for a significant time now. I summon the spirit I’ve concealed until this moment, presenting it before Erinies.

-Flash!

“Behold this.”

A diminutive bird nestles within my hand.
A tree sparrow.

[Chirp, Master? What is transpiring?]

At the appearance of Erinies’ progeny, her countenance grows even more ashen.

“…Eleanor?”