Sokram’s golem retracted back into the shadows as he saw them leaving the room, but it continued to follow them closely.

  Once they arrived at the ground level, Adrian called someone, shouting into what appeared to be a dining hall.

  “Tulios! Are your men ready?”

  “Yes, Commander!” A man with dark, graffiti-colored hair, 1.8 meters tall, presented himself.

  He moved with the lazy confidence of a seasoned warrior. Muscles rippled under his leather armor, and his face was carved from stone.

  Too perfect. Too symmetrical, lacking the rugged imperfections of a man of war.

  ‘Another one at Reformed or above, hm?’ Sokram observed.

  Tulios walked leisurely toward them as if he had been waiting for it.

  Then another detail caught Sokram’s eye.

  While Adrian held Mila in a loving embrace, one that Adrian was struggling to let go of, her eyes drifted over his shoulder to lock with Tulios's.

  A teasing grin played on her lips, a lustful glint in her eyes betraying the secret complicity between them, like a silent promise of debauchery that spoke louder than any words.

  ‘And the plot thickens,’ Sokram thought as a plan began to brew in his mind.

  “Brother, take good care of her. You and your men should be enough to ward off even the Dark Lightning Killer. But no matter what, ensure her safety,” Adrian asked passionately.

  ‘Poor guy…’ Sokram thought, and for a rare moment, the pity was genuine.

  “Don’t worry, Adrian. We’ve been friends for how long? Ten years! Have I ever let you down?” Tulios exclaimed, a sarcastic smile on his face, but Adrian only nodded.

  Behind Adrian’s back, Mila sported a mocking expression as she looked at him, as if she pitied him and was disgusted by him at the same time.

  Sokram realized that Tulios should be the second in command because, unless Adrian was prioritizing Mila’s safety more than his stronghold, there was no reason for that many men to escort her.

  Because out of the sixty men Sokram had counted in the fort, Adrian was sending twenty-five to escort her.

  However, judging by how wrapped around her finger Adrian was, his prioritizing her wasn’t that strange.

  Sokram quickly summoned his golem back and decided to play the long game.

  He merged into the shadows and waited for Tulios and his men to leave the fort and follow them back to where he buried the necromancers.

  Sokram hadn’t seen any horses or other mounts in or out of the small fort, so he knew they would walk.

  And although it was far, judging by their pace, it was clear they weren’t in a rush, maybe even planning to camp for the night.

  While he followed them, he sent his golem ahead.

  His golem recorded every interaction, its internal recording crystal quietly empowered by Sokram’s area recording spell, capturing whispered words, lingering touches, and every stolen glance without judgment.

  Once they were out of the fort’s line of sight, Sokram noticed a change in the men's behavior as they escorted Mila.

  Their gazes clung to her like wet fingers, lingering too long, tracking every curve of her body under the robes as though she were already undressed.

  Tulios pulled her close to him, putting an arm around her and letting his hand fall over her breast, even going as far as squeezing it.

  Sokram saw Tulios teasing her, whispering something into her ear, and she giggled loudly, beginning to sway her hips even more.

  Their eyes crawled over her skin; they watched her like hawks watched prey. The air around the group thickened with unspoken desire, heavy enough to suffocate.

  Not a single man looked away from the inviting sway of her hips with a hunger that bordered on madness.

  ‘Fuck, this is worse than I thought, these fanatics are truly something else…’ Sokram cringed. But he realized this worked to his advantage, as the plan taking shape in his head got clearer.

  He had been right to think they weren't in a rush because the night had fallen, and they weren’t even halfway there. Tulios and his men were deliberately sluggish in their pace.

  Once the darkness became too much for them to travel through the forest, they began setting up camp.

  Sokram’s golem, still merged into the shadows, continued recording everything, how Tulios would pull Mila into passionate kisses in front of his men, openly grope her, until he led her into his tent.

  The sound coming from there made it obvious what was happening.

  Sokram's golem infiltrated the tent to get a better recording.

  But what surprised him was that as soon as Tulios was done, he got out of the tent alone and waved at a group of his men close by. They walked into the tent without hesitation, as this was routine for them.

  Then came the moans, screams, the rhythmic rustling sound, and the wet clapping of flesh drifted from the tent, punctuated by guttural grunts.

  It was a symphony of carnal indulgence that echoed loudly in the night. The forest lay frozen and breathless, its silence broken only by the lecherous sounds, as though even the trees recoiled from what they witnessed.

  During the night, Mila had served all twenty-five of them, and strangely, she still wanted more.

  That’s when Sokram confirmed she wasn’t human.

  As the men slumbered defeated by her prowess, she left her tent. She stretched her naked body as if everything that just transpired hadn't been anything but a simple workout.

  The signs of her lustful hunger were unmistakable.

  Suddenly, a pair of ivory horns spiraled out from the sides of her head, curving back like a tiara that bent slightly downwards, glistening in the pale moonlight.

  Her skin seemed to ripple. With a wet, tearing sound, a pair of bat-like, leathery wings erupted from her shoulder blades, unfurling to span the width of twice her standing body.

  Lastly, with a sudden jerk, a whip-like tail shot out from her coccyx and settled down, swaying lazily.

  The illusion fell away like shed skin, revealing what she had always been. Not human. Not any other race.

  A Netherian Succubus, true to her nature at last.

  And Sokram finally understood the hunger in her eyes. But he still thought she looked too strange to be a nymph. Her skin was too pale, her eyes were too dark, and succubae usually had red eyes.

  He had heard of hybrid nymphs before, but they were rare. Still, he believed Mila could be one of them. Maybe she was a Half-Vampire or even a Half-Nocturnal. And since she didn’t try to feed on any of the men’s blood, Half-Nocturnal was more likely.

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  Sokram continued following them, leaving his needles hidden along the way. This way, he could quickly return to the fort when necessary.

  Finally, after a day of walking, they reached the sinkhole where Sokram had buried the small necropolis.

  “N-No! Impossible!” Mila rushed to the edge of the sinkhole.

  She took out a crystal, similar to a communication crystal, but the spell she cast to activate it was different.

  Sokram realized it was a localization crystal. The crystal shot a beam of light straight into the rubble.

  “M-My sister! My church! My family! No, No, please no!” Mila screamed, her heart filled with grief, despair, and denial.

  Her knees buckled, and she collapsed, clutching tightly at her chest, unable to differentiate between physical and emotional pain.

  Her wails were piercing, perfectly pitched to shatter the hearts of the men watching.

  Tears streamed down her face, glistening like diamonds, beautiful even in her sorrow.

  Mila clutched at Tulios's clothes with a pleading gaze, “Please let us go back, someone might still be alive down there. We can ask Adrian to bring more men to help us dig, please?!”

  “Mila, don’t worry. We are here for you!”

  Tulios’s quick response, as he embraced her and tried to console her, revealed another layer to Sokram. A subtle warp in Tulios’s reactions. Not obedience, not madness, but a sweet, addicting obsession gently guided by unseen hands.

  Tulios and his men were ‘Enchanted.’

  Enchanting Presence was the succubae's charming ability, like the Fox-kin’s Charm or the Siren and Mermaids’ Siren’s Voice, but passive. The closer one became with them, the more obsessed one would become. However, it wasn’t strong enough to strip anyone of their free will.

  But to get to the level he was seeing with both Adrian and Tulios, Mila should have been with both for an entire year at least.

  Tulios turned back to his men and ordered, “Men, let’s march back. We can’t leave our girl here hanging, especially when she’s so good to us, right?”

  When Sokram heard that, he knew it was time to put his plan into action.

  He quickly teleported his golem back and dismissed it, taking the recording crystal.

  He knew they wouldn’t take an entire day to reach the fort this time, but he would be back there much quicker.

  ‘Good thing I didn’t throw these away,’ thought Sokram as he dressed himself as Goblin Raiser once more, hung the death energy rune over his neck, and quickly teleported back to the stronghold.

  Sokram took out a bottle of blood-ink and a few moonstones and drew a small array behind a tree.

  It was a simple Mana Signal Blocker to prevent any communications from entering and leaving within a one-kilometer radius.

  He then took out another recording crystal, with a much smaller capacity, one with a little less than an hour of recording time, and transferred a shortened version of the recording to it.

  He was confident that even if they didn’t watch the entire recording, he could still manipulate them.

  He also knew that Mila, Tulios, and his men would still take at least 8 hours to reach the fort at full speed, so he had plenty of time to persuade Adrian.

  Sokram carefully approached the small fort. He adopted a slouch, shrinking his frame to look less threatening, and raised his hands to show he meant no harm.

  On top of the walls, a woman who seemed to be another leader of this squad was the first to spot him.

  She was clad in heavy, dark steel armor, with long, wavy, sandy-blond hair, clear green eyes, 1.8 meters tall, and a body shape that leaned between muscular and curvy.

  Seeing Sokram, she shouted from the top of the fort walls, “State your business, Necromancer.”

  “I have a message from the Pope to your Commander…" Sokram tapped his chin thoughtfully over the mask. "Tap-tap-tap."

  His eyes gleamed with innocence, playing the part of the confused messenger to perfection.

  "...Adrian, was it?” He pretended to remember, scratching the back of his head, faking embarrassment.

  “Why hasn’t he sent the one named White Owl?” The woman asked suspiciously.

  “Because she is the subject of what I have to tell the Commander about, it seems our Bishop is quite sneaky, and not just around your Commander. I have proof they are plotting against his life,” Sokram spoke, taking out a recording crystal.

  “Wait there, I’ll call the Commander.” The woman said, then turned to one of the guards armed with a bow that was aimed at Sokram and ordered, “If he tries anything funny, shoot him.”

  Sokram stood there, hands on his head for a few minutes, not daring to show any signs of hostility.

  Then, Adrian finally appeared.

  His face showed he wouldn’t take kindly to anyone talking about Mila. Sokram even felt bad for the guy, knowing he would break his heart before killing him.

  “What is this about, Necromancer?” Adrian stood before Sokram, arms crossed, staring intently at him.

  “I think you would prefer if we talk inside, to avoid embarrassing you too much,” Sokram said with his arms still raised as he emphasized the recording stone in his hand.

  “Show what you have to show. I’m not bringing you into my fort,” Adrian said, frowning. His anger was palpable.

  “Well, at least ask one of your mages to check the integrity of this recording crystal. One that you know wouldn’t lie to you. Just so you don’t rip my head off out of anger, haha,” Sokram extended the recording crystal to him.

  Instantly, the crystal was pulled away from his grasp by a mage using Force.

  The mage cast a couple of spells and then walked to Adrian's side. “Commander, the crystal is not tampered with. Can I play the recording?”

  Adrian hesitated for a second, knowing it involved his beloved Mila, but then nodded.

  They started playing the recording, but Sokram only left the key parts, Mila and Tulios walking together, flirting, and being intimate while Tulios' men watched.

  The image flickered and dissolved into blackness before snapping to the next scene.

  Tulios and Mila, together in his tent, then the entire squad, entering the same tent in groups. The audio was loud and clear. Every one of Adrian's men heard and watched it, the unmistakable sounds and images of betrayal captured in high fidelity.

  “Why did you cut the recording?” The mage asked.

  “Because that crystal is quite small, and I only had this one left. I only recorded what was necessary to show the Commander that White Owl is not to be trusted, as you can see…” Sokram pointed at the recording, still explicitly reproducing the previous night’s activities.

  After that, the recording shifted to how she still wanted more, going as far as begging Tulios and his men for it.

  Although it was a shorter version of the whole recording, it was long enough to show everything that mattered, and short enough that Sokram still had time to persuade the Commander and his men to trust him.

  Adrian looked at the mage, a blank, pale look on his face, and asked, “Is that real? Not an illusion? Are you s-sure, John?”

  The mage, John, only shook his head. He couldn't meet Adrian's eyes.

  He stared at the snowy ground, shifting his weight uncomfortably, his face drawn in a grimace of shared second-hand embarrassment.

  “Fuck!! Damned whore! And that fucking backstabbing bastard, he was a brother to me! FUCK!” Adrian’s legs lost their strength as he fell on his hands and knees.

  His shoulders shook violently as soundless sobs tore through him, dignity bleeding away with every ragged breath.

  When the woman in heavy armor shouted at him, “Commander! Show some backbone for Nhiria’s sake!”

  “Kristy… Can’t you be a little more compassionate?” John argued, and Sokram glanced around, seeing the look on the others’ faces was complicated.

  Some showed pity, others anger, and a few showed disappointment toward their Commander.

  “Compassionate? I warned him many times that Tulios and that woman had something going on." Kristy argued, then her eyes shifted toward Adrian with disgust, seeing him weep like a little boy, "He dug his own grave with his lust! I warned him, but he wouldn't listen. Now he reaps what he sowed.”

  Her jaw was set so tight a muscle ticked in her cheek. She didn't look at the bluish projection; she looked at Adrian, her eyes burning with a mixture of accusation and a profounder, more personal disappointment.

  Yet Sokram could see that her anger stemmed from resentment sharpened by years of being overlooked, jealousy festering beneath the surface of duty.

  ‘Well, better strike while the iron is hot,’

  Sokram waited not a heartbeat longer than necessary, letting the silence rot before sinking the dagger deeper.

  “And I’m sad to have to say this, but this is not all.”

  Adrian's head snapped up, looking at him, “What else is there?! What else could they have done that is worth telling me?”

  “They are plotting to kill you, although the recording time on that stone ended. I overheard them plotting to kill you,” Sokram spoke carefully, showing hesitation.

  “I know you won’t believe me, but the Pope sent me to spy on the Bishop. During my investigation, I found out that she was a double agent. Going back and forth between Whiteland and Frostaxe, and selling information to Frostaxe. Including that your King plans to betray them.”

  Hearing that, Adrian knew that it should be true, because if the Necromancer in front of him knew about that, he could have only found out from spying on Mila.

  “How and why do they plan to kill me?” Adrian asked, finally standing up, but the killing intent leaking from him was palpable.

  “The why is that Tulios can take your place as the Commander of this unity. As for the how, they’re on their way back right now. They plan to tell you an absurd lie that our church’s hideout crumbled so that you take some of your men with you away from this fort to go help them dig for survivors,” Sokram explained, no longer hesitating as he saw Adrian was eating every word.

  “But there is a problem with that, I’m the second in command here, he would have to kill me too,” Kristy said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

  Sokram shrugged and added, “Then it’s clear they are plotting to kill you too, right?”

  Kristy's expression morphed into a scowl of hatred and killing intent, hearing his words.

  "Do they think me a fool? That I'm so blind that I wouldn't see the knife until they were twisting it in my back?" Adrian, grieving, was in denial about how foolish he was.

  “Well, for what the Bishop said… And I don’t mean to anger you, Commander, these are her words, not mine,” Sokram stepped back a little, showing he was afraid of the men’s reaction, and said, “She said: That fool is such a loyal and obsessed puppy that he’ll clearly believe whatever I tell him.”

  “WHORE!” Adrian raged, even though deep down he knew it was true, “To use the trust I gave her, fuck, and Tulios too… FUCK!!”

  His fist slammed into the earth with the power of a pile driver. Stone cracked beneath his fist, dirt and snow erupting upward in a violent spray.

  A guttural roar ripped from his throat, a raw sound of betrayal that made the men around and even Kristy flinch. And Sokram was happy he had stepped away from him.

  Yet, beneath the Goblin mask, Sokram grinned wide enough to ache, savoring the moment as betrayal finished tearing his enemies apart from within.

  He knew he had found his way in.

  'Why stain Draggonia with their blood, when the right words can be far more lethal?'

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