[+2 Dexterity]

  [+1 Magic Power]

  [+1 Magic Affinity]

  [+2 Endurance]

  [You killed Satyr (Exiled) – E+5]

  [You have gained one rank. You are now at E Tier Rank 5.]

  [You gain 1 Talent Point, 1 Free Stat Point, and +1 to all Stats.]

  Just as the notification appeared, a tremor shook the temple. Dust fell from the ceiling as a crack snaked across its length. Not to mention, there was a distant sound of stone tumbling, which could only be one of the buildings being smashed to bits as the dungeon crashed in on itself, which meant Rey didn’t have much time.

  He bit his lower lip as he hobbled over to the throne, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

  “Free me first, and I’ll help you,” the succubus called.

  “No, help me get this column off me,” Tia requested. By requested, she barked an order as if Rey were the help.

  “Absolutely not,” Rey cried. “I killed the boss, so it’s my treasure.”

  The demonic duo started to say something more, but Rey tuned them out, and it was pretty easy to do so, thanks to his shoulder. It had been a long time since he'd been injured so badly. The last time was with his battle against Aralian. By all the Soveriegns, Rey had barely made it out of that fight with his limbs attached.

  Now that I think about it, I didn’t make it out with all my limbs. It was a miracle I made it out alive at all. If it wasn’t for me Tiering up in time, I would have been done and dusted right there. This time, I’m picking someone easy to make room for me.

  He dropped down at the foot of the throne and found the hidden compartment that the recently departed boss had pointed out. With a slight pull, the drawer came free, and Rey’s eyes bulged outward at seeing so much money.

  There were iron, silver, and gold coins. All of them stamped with the faces and runes of the Sovereign that reigned supreme in this kingdom—the Sovereign that liked to pimp out his mother and rub one out as the highest bidder defiled her. There was even a gold ingot, which was worth a lot of coins. Even the iron coins weren’t so rusted, which meant they still held their value. He was a little disappointed that there were no more ingots of the higher metals like admantine, mithril, and the elusive dragonsteel. He would’ve paid his left arm to get a Dragonsteel ingot. Now, that would be worth a lot of money. Thinking of Dragonsteel reminded him of his earrings that had taken him forever to obtain. Killing the pair of dragons was not easy; then, why would dragonsteel be so rare if one didn’t have to kill a dragon to obtain the metal?

  That thought practically shot out of his mind as if he had used Repulsion on it. Underneath the pile of money lay two vials, both with a thick red liquid. It was a viscous fluid that resembled honey in texture. This could only be one thing…the blood of a virgin, or also known in Hell as the greatest healing potion there was.

  He didn’t know how it worked, as he never bothered to learn the details, but apparently, Hell had a fetish for virgins. If a demonic shaman bled the virgins while they underwent some ritual, their blood gained tremendous healing properties.

  He had seen entire slave houses filled with virgins that some shamans kept to sell this stuff, and it didn’t come cheap.

  He ripped the cork off with his teeth and poured the blood on his injured shoulder, and sighed in relief. It was like someone had poured warm honey over his wounds. The pain stopped immediately, and he could feel his wound closing up. There was a slight tingling in his shoulder as the muscle repaired itself. In moments, his shoulder was as good as new, though the scar remained.

  “What the hell was that…” Tia stared wide-eyed as Rey tested his shoulder out.

  “That was the magic of a virgin’s blood.” Rey looked her up and down. “Which you wouldn’t happen to be, would you? Because I know a guy who pays top money for virgins.”

  “Shut the hell up, idiot, and come help me get this column off my arm.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean—why?”

  Rey twirled his arm around. “Why should I help the girl who secretly allied herself with a demon, going so far as to turn into a demon herself and then betraying her so-called friends, which resulted in the deaths of three people. As far as I’m concerned, you are exactly where you should be. I wouldn’t help you even if you started farting starlight and singing hymns.”

  Tia glared at him for a long moment, and then her expression softened. “Listen, Rey, I know we’ve had our differences, and I know that I only lash out, but that is because I was raised in a very tough environment. My daddy wasn’t—”

  Rey yawned loudly. “Bored now. Time to leave this collapsing dungeon. Have fun being ripped apart molecule by molecule.”

  “Rey, don’t do this.” There was a wild look in her eyes. A look of a scared animal who had been caught in a trap that knew its end was at hand.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Rey whistled a tune as he tightened the leather pouch that held all his money. Then he made his way to the lovely succubus, gave her a bright smile, which she returned in kind, and cut the bonds that bound her.

  “Thank you,” she breathed out in relief.

  Rey tilted his head to her. “My pleasure, my lady. Now, shall we get out of here?”

  She glanced at Tia. “What about her?”

  “Didn’t you hear? She likes the temple so much she’s applying for permanent residency...under the rubble.”

  “I’ll kill you if you leave me here,” Tia bellowed. “I swear to god I will kill you.”

  “We’re in Hell, darling, god has forsaken this place. Besides, a demon swearing to god doesn't work. Trust me, I know."

  With that, Rey offered his arm to the succubus, and they headed for the exit, which was very clearly behind the big statue, as he felt a certain pull towards that direction. His guess turned out to be right. Behind the enormous statue of the dead satyr lay the portal of swirling dark energy that would take them back to Hell.

  “Rey, I’m sorry,” Tia finally said. “I’m sorry for everything. Please save me. I'll do anything.”

  Rey only stopped thanks to his damned human soul that was making things difficult at every turn. "Anything?"

  Tia paused and frowned slightly. "What do you mean? I'm not doing you, just to be clear."

  "Oh no, I'm not into your kind of demons anyway," he stated. "Will you be willing to die?"

  "What?"

  "You said you'd do anything, so just die." He laughed at her expression. "You actually thought I would help you, after what you did. Have fun getting atomized."

  "I'll fucking kill you!" Tia raged, and other threats that Rey just tuned out.

  He and his lady of the night stepped into the portal of darkness. It took them a moment to step out into the reddish gloom and doom of Hell. The lovely screams and shrieks of the nearby demons greeted them like the lovely melodies of Mozart. That was about as good as it got in this place.

  The succubus breathed a sigh of relief. Her hands shook slightly as she stared at the shrinking portal.

  Rey could only guess at what the poor thing had been through. She might have been a demon, but on a scale of things that he had seen in his tenure in this hellhole, succubuses were the best kind of demons. Yes, they did steal souls, but at least they gave the best sendoff a person could ask for. And that rule only applied to people with souls. For other demons, they were just a source of releasing pent-up tensions. So, for such a lovely demon to be reduced to this, the satyr must’ve put her through an all-caps HELL.

  Rey touched her shoulder, and she flinched. He held up his hands. “Hey, it’s just me, your savior, remember.”

  She gave him a nervous chuckle as she got her nerves under control. “Sorry, you just startled me.”

  Rey put an arm over her shoulder and turned her away from the portal. “You have nothing to worry about anymore. Let’s talk about how you’re going to pay me for saving you from your grim fate. If I’m not mistaken, he was about to eat you very soon.”

  “You have no idea how thankful I am.” She sidled close to him. “So much so that I won’t even take your soul, and you can do anything to me for as long as you like.”

  Rey drew in a sharp breath. “Now that is thanks, indeed.”

  Of course, he would have to be a fool to trust a demon. He would have to do to her what he did to poor Nimae, the succubus that popped Ajay's cherry. Now, as he thought about it, Ajay was a virgin; his blood could've been used to create Healing potions if only Rey knew the ritual to make them. Though if he could kill her in a less gruesome manner than that, it would be better for all involved. After all, he didn’t want to bathe in blood and brains once again.

  Then, just as he was about to take his prize away for some quality time, there was a short cry as the last person he wanted to see jumped out of the portal. Tia landed on the ground hard, crying out, as the portal winked out behind her.

  As it turned out, not all of her made it out of the dungeon. Half of her right arm was missing. Blood dripped from her stump in droves as she struggled to get up on her feet. The blood was drained from her face. Her whole body shook, but still the hateful woman didn’t stop glaring at Rey.

  “Wow, I didn’t think you would resort to that,” Rey said. “Oh well, instead of being disintegrated atom by atom, now, you can just bleed to death. In the end, the result is the same.”

  Tia, very uncharacteristically, didn’t say anything and pushed herself off the ground and made her way to them on shaky feet. Rey tightened his grip on his scythe, if she intended to do something drastic as a last-ditch effort to kill Rey, but instead she stopped before her fellow demoness and slapped her across the face.

  “What…” The succubus frowned, slowly turning her head to Tia, only to receive another slap, followed by another, and then one more.

  Finally, the succubus couldn’t take it anymore. Her claws extended out of her nails, and she slashed Tia across her pretty face so hard that the wounded demoness dropped to the ground, but to her credit, she didn’t cry out.

  Instead, she laughed.

  It started slow at first, building to a crescendo, where it sounded mad even to Rey, who had a very near and dear relationship with madness.

  “Oh no…” Rey looked to his prize in horror as he realized why Tia goaded the demon woman into attacking her.

  Before he could say another word, the succubus screamed as she clutched her arm. Blood started to seep from between her fingers, and she fell to the ground shrieking and convulsing in pain. Then something happened that even Rey wasn’t expecting. Her arm dropped to the ground.

  Rey looked to Tia, bewildered, whose injuries were getting sealed. Her arm didn’t regrow, but the wound closed up and fresh new skin grew over the wound, as did any other injuries she might have. She was transferring all her injuries to the poor succubus whose screams were practically deafening.

  “How are you doing this?” Rey asked. “She didn’t inflict all those injuries on you.”

  Tia smirked. “I know. I got a new skill that lets me transfer all my injuries, irrespective of who injured me, to the last person to inflict any injury upon my body.”

  Eventually, Rey couldn’t take it anymore. The poor sex demon was shrieking so badly that the human in him couldn’t bear the screams. He raised his scythe and brought it down on her skull, ending her life promptly.

  [You killed Succubus (Exiled) – E+4]

  “Look what you made me do?” Rey exclaimed. “I was finally about to get some.”

  “I should kill you for what you did to me,” Tia said through gritted teeth.

  Rey rested his scythe on his shoulder. “Bring it on, demon lady. Papa needs new scars.”

  A moment passed, and it looked like Tia was about to attack, but she stayed put, glaring at Rey.

  Finally, she scoffed. “Next time, I won’t just take your scythe. I’ll take your life too.”

  “Aw, I love it when you talk dirty. My turn! The next time you show your face, I will make so many holes in you that the last thing anyone will call you is whole.”

  She gave him another nasty look and then walked off into the distance. Rey had half a mind to go after her, but he didn’t have the Stamina or the Mana to take on a demon as crafty as her. Besides, he needed to kill her in one shot, or whatever he did to her would be thrown back to him. He just couldn’t deal with that right now.

  After another sad look at the bleeding corpse of the succubus, he walked off in the opposite direction from the blonde demon.