CHAPTER 259: THE HEART HUNGERS

The corridor dimmed again. However, it did not do so due to the darkness present everywhere, but from the light within bending, reacting to the rippling energies coating the mirrors.

Aria’s staff lowered slowly, but her expression didn’t soften. Her silver eyes sparkled with ominous menace.

The Moon Valkyrie was a bubbly girl with an awesome heart, but when it came to monsters, she quickly learned that kindness didn’t lead to an interracial peace, only tragedy... Well, unless her boyfriend first subjugates the monster.

But the supermodel-like beauty would prefer if there were no more subjugated monsters, so long as being subjugated equaled getting sexually dominated by her man to such lengths that they swore eternal loyalty, which only served to add even more fuel to her decision to kill all monsters on sight.

Dead monsters couldn’t join the harem, right?

She liked Bastet a lot, but every new woman meant potentially less time for her to spend with Kai, so they simply had to die.

As for the effects of her moon barrage... All along the hallway, residue from her earlier [Lunar Arc] began to shimmer, pulsing in tempo with her heartbeat. The mirrors, once pristine and threatening, now looked... wounded with the silver veins in them.

She raised her staff again and let loose.

Another [Lunar Arc].

Then another.

And another.

Each silver crescent carved through the air with impossible elegance for a spell of destruction, kissing the mirror surfaces gently. The effects made Kaiden think of moonlight kissing a lake. The response, however, was anything but gentle and majestic. The afflicted glass convulsed with ripples. Whispers rose in the darkness, no longer taunting but desperate.

"Stop..."

"It’s... It’s not fair..."

"I don’t want to burn..."

Sasha’s eyes widened. "They’re panicking. They’re actually panicking."

Then it happened.

The first pop.

With a sound that was akin to a wet bubble bursting, a mirror cracked wide. A pale figure spilled onto the dungeon floor, collapsing in a heap of velvet and agony. Her frame shook as she gasped, skin blistered from internal moonlight and Bastet’s previous anti-undead judgment spell still scouring her from both within and outside.

Her mouth opened, and instead of pleading for mercy, that she knew very well wouldn’t come her way, she cast.

A blood bolt exploded forward, headed straight for Aria’s chest.

*SHUNK.*

Twilight Ripper blurred through the air. Its wicked edge bit through the woman’s neck in a clean arc, facing very little resistance. Her head tumbled backward before disintegrating.

[Ding!]

[You’ve slain Crimson Handmaiden (Level 22). You’ve gained 731 XP.]

Kaiden exhaled with dissatisfaction. "I got even less XP than the Starved Thralls gave me."

*WHAM!*

His butt sensed sudden pain it received from a teasing slap. It was not a hand that did the crime, but Bastet’s tail. The Solar Empress wore a wicked grin.

"Master is greedy, isn’t he? Wanting so much reward when his dutiful little sunbeam and moonlight girls did all the hard work." She moved past him with extremely exaggerated sways of her hips.

Aria joined in after she turned toward the group with her staff balanced over her shoulder. "It could even be said..." she began with a tone that was uncharacteristically dark for the girl, especially when she was speaking to Kaiden. "... that you, boyfriend, just committed a textbook kill steal."

Kaiden smirked, able to tell they were just having fun right now, not accusing him seriously. So he raised both hands in playful surrender and shook his head. "I see. So that’s how it’s going to be. We’re already dealing with dissonance within the team, and we took the first blood just now. Haaah..."

The two women giggled, releasing a sound from their delicate lips that was both playful and dangerous, the exact cocktail that kept his life both exciting and immensely fulfilling, but also quite exhausting at times. But, of course, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The playful moment didn’t last long.

With that same grin that promised nothing good for monsterkind, Aria turned back to the mirrors.

*FWOOSH!*

*CRACK!*

*WHIRRRR!*

Crescent after crescent of moonlight burst forward, washing over the hallway with unnatural beauty. Mirror after mirror broke open with some exploding outright, others vomiting out screaming, half-burned women.

Two.

Then three.

Then four more.

All fell to the floor, hissing and flailing like animals unaccustomed to air. Some made attempts to stand, to fight.

Those attempts ended quickly.

Kaiden, Bastet, Nyx, and Luna moved swiftly. Each slash or spell was perfectly timed to ensure the twisted handmaidens were neutralized.

Until only one remained. After another [Lunar Arc], its mirror gave up the fight as well, spitting the maiden out.

That was when Vaelira moved.

The Arcane Puppeteer only raised her hand.

From her fingers stretched five luminous threads, arcane and invisible, each one winding around the final Crimson Handmaiden.

The monster flinched and tried to bolt, but her limbs refused to obey. The strings tugged her limbs open in place: two arms wide, one leg forward, her head raised.

Vaelira approached confidently, utterly unfazed. Her heels clicked along the ancient stone floor as the magic threads danced between her fingers and her target.

Then, she knelt.

"Let’s talk."

Her stream exploded:

- GoreFan69: Mistress Vaelira is so hot when she gets like this!

- SubmissiveAndBreedable: Dommy Mommy! Me, next!

- DramaLlama: She really went "sit. stay. speak." 💀

- V2SuperChat: That’s the dominatrix angle I subbed for. 🧵👀

The handmaiden’s cracked lips parted. She didn’t need any further prompting from Vaelira; she was willingly speaking.

Her voice was hoarse.

"T-they’re going mad... too hungry... the Heart calls... the Count cannot stop them..."

Vaelira narrowed her eyes at the cryptic words. "The Heart?"

The woman’s face contorted in confusion, which then transformed into pure, unadulterated fear.

She glanced around. Her eyes trembled as if she could still hear the mirrors singing behind her.

"The Heart... It’s more demanding now. It’s... It’s starving. It calls to all of us... Yet we can’t fulfill its demands... That’s why we call this place the Hollow of Endless Hunger now... It used to be so beautiful and peaceful..."

She coughed up blackened blood, and tears began forming in her eyes, and she began outright sobbing. A monster showing genuine emotions, especially one of regret and pain was extremely rare, but it did happen before. Some monsters held a lot of emotional intelligence, easily rivaling that of humans.

"Who is the Heart?"

The puppeteer’s question received no response as the handmaiden’s body spasmed violently, then melted into blood mist, her soul consumed by the very hunger she warned of.

Silence fell again. It was the heavy kind.

Kaiden turned to the others.

"This isn’t just a vampire dungeon anymore..."

Diaz nodded. "Right. Something deeper is happening here."

Bastet’s sun aura increased as she began walking forward, flanked by her friends... No, family. She looked back at Diaz and Vaelira with a hint of condescension in her smug features. "Then we will burn our way to the truth. Or what, do you wish to run now that we learned something strange?"

"No." The rogue shook his head. Vaelira reluctantly followed after the felinid as well.

The blood mist hadn’t yet fully dissipated when the dungeon began to stir again. The air carried something new: wet squelching and dragging sounds, as if muscle and slime were pulling themselves into new forms.

They didn’t have to wait long.

From the far end of the corridor, two figures emerged... no, not figures. They were things. Amorphous, pulsing masses of crimson, each shaped akin to the half-digested remains of multiple beings forced into a single body. Limbs formed and dissolved. Faces melted into wide, gaping maws. They dragged themselves forward with their tendrils.

[Blood Construct - Level 24]