NOVEL NEXT Chapter 295
"I... I..." Mirael's voice came out as a strangled whisper.
Her entire body trembled violently. Knees buckled, legs refusing to support her weight. She caught herself against the wall, hands splayed flat against the cold stone.
The handsome man in front of her—the one she'd been ready to seduce moments ago—suddenly looked like something else entirely.
A demon.
His face hadn't changed. Same sharp features, same dark eyes. But now all she could see was death incarnate standing in human skin.
Behind her, the other surviving woman—Seraphine, with silver hair—tried to retreat. Her foot slid backward, but then her eyes fell on the corpses.
Three bodies. All Diamond Body cultivators. All dead within seconds.
One with a shattered spine. Another with her neck twisted backward. The third with a hole through her chest so clean you could see the altar behind her through the wound.
And Lyraen—gasping and choking on her own blood, hands desperately trying to hold together a face that no longer had a lower half.
Seraphine's legs gave out completely. She collapsed against the wall, sliding down until she sat in a puddle of blood that wasn't hers.
"This... this can't be..." Mirael's whisper was barely audible.
The shock wasn't just from the violence. It was from the impossibility of it.
In the Shadowveil Clan—in all the eighth inner circle territories—men were weak. Protected. Fragile creatures who needed constant supervision and guard.
Women were the warriors. The cultivators. The power.
Men didn't fight. They couldn't fight.
Yet here stood one who'd just slaughtered three genius-level body cultivators without breaking a sweat. Without even using a weapon. Just his bare hands, moving through them like they were children.
The brutality of it—the complete absence of mercy or hesitation—shattered everything they'd been taught about gender dynamics in this world.
Men were supposed to be gentle. Nurturing. Incapable of this level of violence.
But this man... this thing wearing a man's face... showed less mercy than the most vicious female warriors they'd ever encountered.
Tianlong took a step forward.
Both women flinched violently, pressing harder against the wall as if they could melt through it.
"W-we released..." Seraphine's voice cracked. "We killed a man here and... and we released a demon... that has to be it... we summoned—"
"Shut up," Tianlong said calmly.
She immediately went silent, tears streaming down her face.
He looked around the chamber—taking in the altars, the ritual circles, the architecture designed for dark ceremonies. His eyes moved methodically, cataloging everything.
"What is this place called?"
Neither woman answered immediately. Their minds were too preoccupied with terror, too busy trying to reconcile the impossible creature standing before them.
"I asked a question." His tone didn't rise, didn't change. Somehow that made it more terrifying.
"The... the Crypt of Binding," Mirael stammered out, her voice breaking. "It's... it's called the Crypt of Binding—"
"And where exactly is this crypt located?"
Seraphine's mouth moved soundlessly for a moment before words came out. "The... the center of Shadowveil Town. Beneath the Thornwood Academy grounds... in the eastern section, under the Department of Combat Cultivation—"
"We're students," Mirael added desperately, as if offering information might spare her. "We're from the Weaponized Mana Specialization—sub-department of Arcane Armaments—"
Tianlong's eyes moved to their uniforms. Identical designs—dark green with silver threading, emblems marking their department affiliation. Students then. Not full warriors yet, just academy disciples who'd gotten too bold with their newfound power.
An academy in the town center. That tracked. This underground chamber was likely used for practical examinations or restricted training.
He approached them slowly.
Both women pressed harder against the wall, eyes wide with terror. Mirael's bladder released—warm liquid spreading down her leg and pooling beneath her. She didn't even seem to notice.
Tianlong leaned down, bringing his face close to theirs.
"So if I ask you—"
DING—
The sound cut through his words like a bell.
A translucent window materialized in his vision—blue text appearing in floating panels that only he could see.
[SYSTEM ALERT: NARRATIVE PLOT DETECTED]
[Location: Thornwood Academy, Shadowveil Town]
[Protagonist Presence: CONFIRMED]
[Plot Type: Academy Romance - Reverse Harem Configuration]
[Current Plot Arc: Male Protagonist Building Power Base Through Female Conquest]
More windows cascaded open, one after another.
[WARNING: You have entered a ROMANCE SCENARIO ZONE]
[Primary Protagonist: Aelric Moonshadow]
[Protagonist Traits: Exceptional talent, hidden noble bloodline, natural charm that attracts powerful women]
[Current Harem Count: 7 Female Disciples]
[Plot Progression: 34% - Early Academy Arc]
[Romance Clichés Active: Misunderstood Genius, Protective Beauties, Competition for Male Affection, Destined Encounters]
Tianlong's eye twitched.
More information flooded in.
[World Context: Matriarchal Society - Female Dominant Power Structure]
[Cultural Norm: Women pursue men; harems of males serving powerful women]
[Protagonist Exception: Unique male protagonist gathering female harem through plot armor and destiny manipulation]
[Genre Classification: Third-Rate Academy Romance with Gender-Reversed Tropes]
His mouth twitched harder.
A fucking romance novel. He'd fallen into a third-rate romance novel scenario.
The only difference from the trash he'd seen in his previous life was the genders were swapped.
Instead of a female lead surrounded by beautiful men, it was a male lead surrounded by beautiful women—in a world where that was supposedly impossible due to cultural norms.
Of course. Of course this realm would have this kind of bullshit.
[ADDITIONAL ALERT: Protagonist Aelric Moonshadow currently at 89% favorability with Senior Disciple Yuna]
[Expected Plot Development: Yuna will defend Aelric from female bullies in next 24 hours]
Tianlong's entire face twitched now.
Romance points. Accumulating points by saving women or being saved by women. The protagonist was literally gaming a relationship system like some kind of perverted visual novel.
He closed the system windows with a mental command.
His eyes refocused on the two trembling women in front of him.
Mirael had pissed herself completely now, sitting in her own urine.
Behind them, Lyraen had stopped moving. Blood pooled around her body, mixing with the earlier fluids on the floor.
Tianlong straightened up, looking down at both women with a smile forming.
"Now," he said, voice perfectly calm despite the revelation he'd just received, "Cab you tell me exactly what is wrong with this world?"
"W-what?" Mirael's voice cracked. "What do you—"
"Can you tell me exactly what is wrong with this world?"
Both women stared at him, confusion cutting through their terror for a moment.
"Wrong?" Seraphine repeated, her voice trembling. "We... we don't understand—"
Tianlong stood up straight, stretching his arms above his head. His joints popped audibly in the silence of the chamber. He rolled his shoulders, inhaling deeply before exhaling slowly.
His mind was already working through the implications.
An ancient realm. He'd expected some kind of primitive jungle world—savage cultivation grounds where might made right in the most literal sense. Instead, he'd teleported randomly into what appeared to be a structured society with academies, departments, and bureaucratic systems.
A matriarchal society where women held all the power, yet somehow a male protagonist was building a harem through sheer plot armor and destiny manipulation.
Third-rate romance novel bullshit.
He turned away from the two terrified women, walking toward the center of the chamber where Sylvea still lay.
To Mirael and Seraphine, he simply vanished from their sight.
One moment he was standing in front of them. The next, he was gone—as if he'd never been there at all. They blinked, confused, looking around frantically.
But Tianlong had simply crossed the invisible barrier of Sylvea's illusion.
Inside, she lay sprawled on the cold stone, body still twitching. Her pussy spasmed involuntarily, leaking the last of his cum onto the floor. Her horn nipples continued their slow drip of milk, the pale liquid mixing with everything else.
Her green eyes were half-lidded, unfocused. Her mouth hung open, saliva pooling at the corner of her lips. She looked completely ruined—a powerful mage reduced to a twitching mess.
Tianlong approached calmly and lifted her into his arms.
"S-stop..." Her voice came out as a weak murmur. "I can't... not again..."