The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!

It took a day of getting ready before Kanae, Arenade, and Edina were ready to depart for Talahurah. As Knight of Amethyst, Kanae had to make extra sure her hall didn't implode while she was away. That called for a stern talking to so that everyone behaved and obeyed Vice-Captain Alicia.

Fortunately, after Kanae and Arenade had come back from their honeymoon with everything intact, it should be mostly fine. Petyr found a friend in Tess and Aisha, too. She wasn't as alone as before, and didn't just have Claudia teasing her for company.

By noon, Kanae had done all that she needed to do. The only thing left was to wait for Arenade and Edina, both of whom were making their own preparations. She descended to the smithy to check on Rog and Lina in the meantime.

"Rog, Lina! I'm coming in," Kanae announced on her way in, only to open the door to the sight of the orc blacksmith biting the golden dragon scale. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Good afternoon, Kanae! Don't worry about Rog. My darling is just doing his usual tests on new material before working on it." Lina smiled reassuringly, but Kanae was anything but reassured.

"There's a certain lamia alchemist who does the same thing, and I'm always worried… So, what did you learn from biting it?" she asked Rog.

"Scale tough. But Aidenhall gives strong tools. Rog make this work. What Kanae want to make?" Rog returned.

Good question. Kanae hadn't been sure herself ever since receiving the gift from Maelstrom. Every single piece of her equipment was more than good enough. She couldn't ask for better. Some of the jewelry trinkets on her were strong magical items, too.

Maybe Arenade and the others were right. This dragon scale could probably be used to forge equipment for someone else instead. Several someones, given its size. According to Rog's estimates, the single ancient scale could make an entire suit of plate armor, a couple of weapons, or a lot of jewelry.

"Hmm. You know what? The Commonwealth's sovereignties haven't had crowns yet. How about two nice gold crowns for me and Arenade? Kanade's also been a little jealous of Suvee ever since Petyr gave her Shifting Steel. A nice shield for our golden Crusader should do. I'll leave their designs up to you." While Kanae was coming up with what to make out of the scale, Rog had his eyes on it as if carving pieces from imagination.

"Can do. Still half the scale left. Anything else?" Rog asked.

"Honestly, let Petyr have the other half. That high elf's done a lot for me and Amethyst Hall. We might have been enemies, but I'm… and I can't believe I'm saying this… starting to see a friend in her," she explained.

"You were always a kind succubus." Lina giggled into the back of her hand.

Just as they were finishing up discussing the specifics, Quartermaster Meidina came to inform Kanae that Arenade had arrived. She headed to the teleportation chamber to find the high elf and squirreling waiting. They each carried knapsacks filled to the brim with gods know what.

The charmed high elven mage from House Viviren incanted the spell to activate the teleportation circle. Like a zipper, the space in front of them sliced open to form a portal. An ensuing burst of wind sent their cloaks aflutter. 

Kanae, Arenade, and Edina stepped into the portal and emerged out the other end in the castle's portal room in Ehmvier city. A human maid sweeping the floor came into view from the open door and jumped in fright.

"Goodness! Queen Kanae and Queen Arenade, you surprised me. Welcome back to Ehmvier." The maid bowed.

"We won't be here for long. We're leaving for Talahurah right away, but…" Arenade waltzed over to the door and dragged a finger across the knob, collecting a fine layer of dust. "Why is this place dustier than the Supreme One's scraggly beard?"

Flustered, the mage stammered to find an excuse.

Kanae butted in by hip-bumping her wife. "Ignore her. You take your time cleaning, okay? Before we leave though, I was hoping to check on Gretchen. Do you know if she dropped in?"

"Y-Yes! Inquisitor Gretchen is actually at the stables. She has since last night," the girl answered before going into overdrive to sweep the floors.

Another instance where Prestidigitation would be useful…

"The stables?" Edina coughed and waved a hand in front of her face. "You don't think…?"

"Not think. Know," Kanae said.

They descended down to the castle's stables. It was mostly filled with languis, pegasi, and dreadmourns now. Most of which were birthed straight from Kanae's womb. After the war with the Empire of Ortesia, it had come to the Commonwealth's attention that they were sorely lacking in mounts and just didn't really have a cavalry.

In the next wars— Supreme One forbid— the Commonwealth of Sin was going to be more than prepared. Still, the number of warbeasts paled in comparison to Aidenhall and likely Rotandrix's cavalry.

The three entered the stables expecting every beast inside to be running train on Gretchen. Imagine their surprise when the former archbishop was not only dressed and on her feet, but just brushing the mane of a dreadmourn.

"Ah. Queen Kanae, Queen Arenade, and High Priestess Edina. Have you come to— Why are you staring at me so hard for?" Gretchen squinted.

"Nothing… Anyway, I wanted to get a report from you. How's the inquisiting going?" Kanae asked.

"Inquisiting isn't a word. Yes, it is going well. I've crushed and rooted out numerous Ortesian cells left behind after the war. There's still so many more, and the dungeons are bursting already. When the empire retreated, I don't think that order went all the way down the chain of command," she explained suspiciously.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Edina scratched her head with her staff. "Like, they left them here on purpose?"

Gretchen nodded.

"To do what though? Keep us on our toes? Mess with us?" Kanae asked.

Arenade snorted and drew their attention. "Doubt it. Knowing my people, there's probably a restructuring going on. Think about it: they sent a massive army and naval fleet across the continent. The empire's military forces are also made up of soldiers from every Ortesian house. Some houses probably got the short end of the stick sending more than others. I wouldn't put it past there being some in-fighting going on."

It seemed Gretchen was in agreement, and two high elves with the same line of thinking held a lot of weight. Better a fight between themselves than with anyone else. Though it made sense… that Ortesian task force in Kandis was pretty desperate about bridging an alliance with Cerberus.

"Enough somber talk. I must get back to work. Once I root out every single Ortesian resistance in the Commonwealth, I intend to visit Suvee and Kanade. Their smiles revitalize my very being." Gretchen clenched a fist in front of herself, hopped into the dreadmourn whose mane she was brushing, and bid them goodbye before taking off.

"Guess we should also head out," Kanae insisted.

Edina summoned an undead dragon to fly them. Unfortunately, while there was a portal connecting Ehmvier and Radevic, there wasn't one connecting Ehmvier to anywhere else. It wouldn't happen unless they captured more members of the Viviren family, and Ortesia guarded them like prized treasures.

While Kanae was riding on the dragon's spine beside Arenade, a fruity smell wafted up to her nose. She turned to her wife, who had pulled out a glass of wine and cookies.

"Seriously?" Kanae groaned.

"You want some, too? I have an extra glass." Arenade rummaged in her bag.

"What I want is to see the Kh'shanti seedling. Is it doing alright in that stuffy pack of yours?" she asked.

Arenade put the glass away and continued digging. She eventually pulled out the ceramic pot containing the seedling. It had only grown a little since they last saw it. Two tiny leaves flared out, and… a strange, little bulb between it now.

"Quit being so worried, it's perfectly—"

An eagle snatched the seedling right out of the pot. Kanae and Arenade stared at it in abject shock for a few seconds. The two of them dove off the dragon to give chase.

"What the… Where are you guys going?!" Edina shouted.

"That bird's got the seedling!" Arenade yelled back.

Eagles were among the fastest birds of prey, especially when diving. The distance between them was growing. Fast. Kanae furled her wings inward and torpedoed towards the surface. Just a little more… and— she activated the Collar of Domination. They unfurled their wings and slowed down, then she compelled the eagle to turn around.

Just as the Kanae was about to take back the seedling, a larger bird monster swooped in and swallowed the eagle whole. The dire beast soared away and descended into the forest below.

"God damn it!" Kanae cried.

"What the three hells was that?" Arenade caught up and asked.

"Looked like a pteroraptor, winged lizard dire beasts. I think you can kiss your seedling goodbye," Edina said.

Kanae shook her head. "We're getting that Kh'shanti back one way or another. Come on!"

They descended into the forests and were immediately assailed by the stench of rot. Their lungs tensed up, throats seized, and eyes stung to the point of watering. All of them started coughing. It got so bad, they were beginning to get nauseous. Well, except for Edina.

"What's up with you guys?" Edina shrugged.

"It's poison!" Arenade warned. "Why aren't you suffering like we are?"

"I got a class-specific passive skill called Undead Fortitude. Makes me resilient to most poisons and toxins. Except for Alicia's shit. That rogue bitch!" She raised an angry fist.

The three breached the canopy and welcomed fresh air. Arenade and Kanae in particular gasped heavily.

"Okay, losers. Why don't you wait here. I'll send my undeads in," Edina suggested.

"No, hold on! If I repeatedly use Detox to cleanse us, it should be fine," Arenade said, but the other two were skeptical.

Their resident poison-resistant necromancer was going to be fine. Kanae, on the other hand…

"Let's try it your way then." Kanae relented.

They entered the poison forest again. The debilitating fumes were sour and painful. Arenade looked like she was having the worst stomach ache of her life— until she cast Detox and became perfectly okay.

"See, it worked!" Arenade grinned.

"Great… Now Detox me, too…" Kanae swallowed the urge to vomit.

"Uhh… It kind of has a cooldown of one minute," she replied anxiously.

Kanae angrily grabbed Arenade by the collar of her cloak until breakfast started coming up. She turned away and barfed.

"This stupid plan of yours… isn't working… I'm… dying here!" Kanae groaned.

"Oh, gods… I'm feeling the poison again… Sorry, Kanae. I need to Detox myself—" Arenade was about to cast it on herself again until Kanae grabbed her.

"I got a better idea," she said, pinning the elf against a tree.

"W-What are you doing? We're getting poisoned as we speak!"

Kanae switched on Futanari, pulled Arenade's robe aside, and plunged the magic dick into her pussy. It knocked the wind from the high elf's lungs. Her hands found purchase around the tree trunk as Kanae bludgeoned her womb with every thrust. She was squeezing back so much, too.

As their hips collided, Arenade's short gasps soon turned into moaning quips. Her manicured nails dug into the bark. They were both getting woozy from the poison, but any second now and…

"I'm cumming, Arenade!" Kanae winced, on the edge of exploding.

"Not inside… Not… inside!" Arenade exclaimed.

Kanae pulled out in time and ejaculated all over Arenade's ass and back. Most of it landed on her robes. The elf collapsed to her knees, panting like a dog.

[Skill Drain has temporarily acquired Detox.

Detox: Purify the body, cleansing poisons, toxins, and negative potion effects from oneself or another.]

The moment Kanae cast Detox, she felt a million times better. Poison was slowly affecting her again, but at least death wasn't one knock on the door away. She glanced down at her handiwork.

Arenade propped herself up on her staff, trembling all over after being fucked. She lifted a finger up at Kanae.

"Next time… warn me first…" Arenade grumbled.

"If you guys are done fucking, I found the pteroraptor!" Edina hollered from afar.

They followed Edina deep into the forest while occasionally casting Detox on themselves. When the necromancer said found, she actually meant one of her undeads did. A pack of undead wolves guided them to a ravine. The pteroraptor was resting at the bottom in a pile of bones and branches.

Hopefully, the Kh'shanti seedling hadn't been digested in stomach acid yet.

"Can we hurry this up? I don't like the feeling of being perpetually poisoned," Arenade complained.

"I know it hurts, but I prefer we take this slow. What if it flies away or calls for help? Just let me get close enough to use my collar," Kanae said.

"Stand aside, losers. The greatest necromancer in the world's got this in the bag. Come forth, death knight!" Edina summoned her signature hulking undead monstrosity.

In doing so, however, the commotion awakened the sleeping pteroraptor. It let out a piercing shriek. Kanae was about to tap on her Collar of Domination until a swarm of pteroraptors descended from the trees to peck at them.

"I knew we should have went with stealth!" Kanae yelled.

"Get back here with my staff!" Arenade chased one of the dire beasts that was keeping her new weapon an arm's length out of reach.

"Let me go, you stupid birds!" Edina had gotten herself caught in the talons of two pteroraptors, lifting her into the trees. She whacked them repeatedly with her staff to little success, and her death knight was too far to save its master.

Kanae stripped her top off. The Piercings of Impurity flashed an exceedingly bright light, blinding and knocking down the pteroraptors. They screeched and flailed around on the ground. Many of them were now trying to fly away, but Edina summoned undead archers to shoot them back down. Scores of pteroraptors, their bodies filled with arrows, plummeted in a heap.

The largest beast, the one with the Kh'shanti in its belly, tried to take flight. Kanae cracked her whip on the ground once, then lassoed its ankle and gave it a hard yank. With nowhere to go, the death knight finished the pteroraptor by severing off the head. She cast Detox again just as the poison was getting too unbearable.

"How long has it been? Six? Seven years? How come we're still so bad at working together?" Kanae threw her hands in the air.

"No one told me there was going to be a whole flock of them up there! I blame you guys." Edina shot a glare at the undead wolves which shied away and whimpered. "Don't give me that look. Back to oblivion with you."

They vanished into a dark portal.

With the help of Edina's death knight, they sliced open the pteroraptor's stomach and found the Kh'shanti seedling intact next to the partially-digested eagle. Both of them were surprised that it looked mostly fine if not a little wilting.

A thought came to mind. Kanae held the seedling in both hands and cast Restore Mana. It might not be a person, but the plant was a living being. To her relief and surprise, the transfer of mana flowed down her arms and straight into the roots. Its leaves stiffened and no longer drooped.

"Thank goodness." Kanae sighed, only to then notice someone missing. "Where's Arenade?"

"Last I saw, she was chasing a bird around." Edina shrugged.

Kanae went to search but tripped over something. It was Arenade, lying on her back, foaming at the mouth, and eyes spinning. Her staff was just out of reach, in the beak of a dead pteroraptor.

"ARENADE?!" Kanae and Edina shouted.

"Uugh… can't… cast without… my staff…" Arenade replied deliriously.

After Kanae casted Detox on Arenade, the high elf furiously stomped on the pteroraptor that played keep away with her staff. Not wanting to get poisoned again, they flew from the forest but not without Edina adding a few new beasts into her undead army.