[You have killed a Primal (Tier 4) Spirit Beast: Voidlash Stalker]

[You have gained Voidlash Tendril]

Kassie looked at me. Her expression was straight and gave away nothing, but she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Why… are you smiling? Did you like it that much?"

I frowned immediately. "Smiling? I smiled?" I pointed at myself in disbelief. I knew I said I was going to pay back the bastard for being such a tough nut, and I was going to enjoy burning it.

But those were lines, weren't they? Just talk?

'...'

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure. And I didn't want to find out.

Instead, I flashed Kassie a big, wide smile.

"Are you somehow falling in love with my smile and want me to stop?"

She winced slightly, her face twisting like something foul had crawled across her skin.

For a moment, I looked down at myself. I was covered in blood and rags, my clothes hanging in tatters where the Stalker's tentacles had torn through. But I was better than something foul! At least I hoped so.

I frowned the next minute and shot her a glare.

"Hey, hey, Kassie… what was that look for?"

She simply walked forward.

"Let's move on."

She moved past me without another word, her stride unhurried despite the darkness pressing in around us.

I watched her pass.

'Huh?'

It might have been me and my hopes, but…

'Did she just smile?'

She damned well did. I couldn't be daydreaming in broad darkness. The corners of her mouth had definitely twitched upward. A real, actual smile — small as it was.

I didn't know why, but that suddenly felt so satisfying. I quieted down my concerns about being looked at like cave fungus, grinning internally instead.

'I'm going to let it slide this once.'

If Kassie smiled, then that meant she was impressed with me. And this might not mean much unless one thought about it with the gravity it deserved.

Kassandra. The Tyrant Empress. The woman who destroyed an entire Empire, who most likely caused damage to the church so catastrophic that they were still reeling from it millennia later. A spirit who had grown with an ego now the size of ten worlds stacked on top of each other.

She was impressed. With me.

My thoughts transitioned naturally to the memory of having fucked her once. It was under circumstances I wasn't proud of — my methods to get what I needed at that point were questionable at best. Manipulative at worst. But they were how we got here, alright? No point in pretty lies about the past.

But still. I fucked the Tyrant Empress. A strong, beautiful, motherfucking psycho who could probably level cities if she felt like it.

Thinking about it was overwhelming in the best possible way.

'And one day, I'm going to do it again… and again and again. And I want her to want me.'

I grinned wickedly and leered at her rippling ass as the cave swallowed us deeper into its throat. The way she moved — confident, predatory — it was like watching a blade glide through air. Even casual walking looked dangerous on her.

For a while, we didn't encounter any more Spirit Beasts, but walking was getting increasingly difficult. The pain was traveling across my body like a network of fire, spreading from every wound the Stalker had inflicted. It only got worse with time, each step sending fresh jolts through my ribs where something had definitely cracked.

At some point, I staggered and almost fell. My vision swam.

Kassie turned sharply. Her hand caught my arm before I hit the ground, grip firm but surprisingly gentle, and she looked at me with a small frown creasing her brow.

"How bad is it?"

I gave her a smile despite my pale face. Probably looked more like a grimace, but I was committed.

"Not that bad, really… but I could faint if I don't rest soon."

Now that I thought about it, it was this situation with Kassie all over again. Alone. Wounded. In a dark cave. Except the last time, it was unbearably cold.

'Some things change… some things don't.'

Maybe this was my ticket to hitting again today. Should I tell another great lie? Strike lucky and get another villainess?

'She's not a fool.'

Moreover, another villainess would only come when I managed to break the next threshold. The first threshold was two thousand spirit essences.

If I was lucky enough, the second would be four thousand. But there was no manual that said that was exactly how it was going to work — it was all just my common sense making educated guesses.

Either way, it'd take more than one time with Kassie to increase my limit. That first time had earned me about a thousand in limit increase. If the law of diminishing returns didn't apply to my villainesses the way it applied to other people, then we could hope it'd be the same thing… or even better.

I was just sure it was going to take more than once.

Kassie helped me settle to the ground, my back leaning against the cavern wall. The stone was cold and uneven, digging into my spine through what remained of my shirt. She sat beside me, settling into a lotus position with her gaze unreadable as ever.

"We should rest here for a while. Then we will continue."

I sighed and looked at her. Then sighed again and looked away.

She noticed. Let out an exasperated breath of her own.

"What?"

"Am I stressing you out? Why are you breathing like I'm stressing you out?" I gave her a dark look.

She closed her eyes as if manifesting patience from some deep reserve. Then she opened them and gave me a straight answer with a straight face.

"No, summoner. You are not… stressing me out."

I flashed a grin immediately.

'That's more like it.'

"Then let me use your breasts as pillows."

Her gaze darkened like the threat of a thunderstorm rolling in. But I was already getting past all those veils of hers. Learning to read the weather patterns, so to speak.

Even for a woman who existed eight thousand years ago, I was discovering through her patterns that once I knew my way around her, then all was well that ended well. As long as she didn't hate me, anyway.

'Do not try this at home, you gooner.'

"Use my breasts? How?" She asked, her breath heavy with restraint.

I was injured and battered, all thanks to her training methods. She had a sense of responsibility somewhere in there, which had to be why she wasn't flaring out at my shameless request.

"Well, the walls are too stony…" I brushed my palm against the edges of the cavern wall, feeling the rough stone scrape my skin. "It's poking into my back and it's hard to even rest. So… if I could, you know… sit between your thighs and use you as my wall?"

Kassie returned a blank look for a couple of seconds. She didn't look irritated, but she didn't look approachable either.

Her face made it extremely difficult to predict what her response was going to be. Ancient empress poker face. Completely unreadable.

She finally blinked. Then looked at me.

"Alright."

A win. A win. A win. Another freaking win! Twice in a row!

I just might hit very soon.

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