While the excitement and adrenaline of the fight started fading, Ryuji''s body began screaming in pain and agony. The constant usage of his ss trait and the ability to temporarily ignore pain and duress backfiring.


    "Yumiko, go help them find the treasure, okay?" Ryuji squeezed out his voice, trying to sound as normal as possible.


    "Nn, are you sure?" Yumiko tilted her head, looking at his body; though it seemed to convulse slightly, he didn''t visibly show any pain, so she epted it when he nodded in response.


    Ryuji watched Yumiko skipping towards the castle, finally losing the battle against the bacsh from abusing his body and ss.


    His muscles began to cramp, tighten and twist visibly under his skin while Ryuji himself fell to the ground, leaning against a half-destroyed stone pir, desperately trying to endure the feeling of his current suffering.


    "Ugh...!?"


    Most of the party was still inside the castle ruins, which meant they didn''t see his current state, wing at the stone while blood oozed from his pores. He tried to call out, but his throat, hoarse and dry, felt like his tongue rubbed against sandpaper.


    "Gaah...!"


    Ryuji''s vision and senses grew dim, and he focused on trying to endure this impossible feeling.


    He would probably do the same if given the choice. He loved to push himself to the limits—even beforeing to this world, he remembered the countless number of times his mother almost put him in the hospital.


    A low ck sounded, indicating someone approaching him in this state—though it wasn''t Yumiko or Erika, this knowledge allowed Ryuji to rx a little. Their aura felt irritating to him at first before delicate fingers began to caress his cheek, pushing his flesh and grinding his head against the stone pir.


    ''Ah... it''s this woman, maybe I shouldn''t have punched her.''


    "Oh, if it isn''t the hero Ryuji, are you in pain?" She''s voice sounded beautiful but different from her usual tone, a little deeper and with a raspy echo. "Does it hurt?" she asked with a mocking tone as her fingernails dragged along his skin.


    "Unfortunately, I cannot kill heroes, though they are the same as monsters... Especially ones like you." She took a deep breath, then released a strong sigh as she stroked his neck, lowering her hand over his shoulders, leaving a trail of blood with her nail piercing his flesh.


    "I wondered why you made me feel so strange from the moment we met. What that tingling sensation in my loins might be~ at first, I thought it was your fearsome eyes or the beautiful face... Ah~ but I was wrong." She licked his blood off her finger, her voice filled with ecstasy.


    Ryuji''s situation at the moment was pitiful—his body had already run out of Rage, and the bacsh negated the passive benefits, leaving him unable to resist. Rather, the intense pain from his muscles and their spasming continued, growing worse the more his body tried to heal the bloody wounds from her nails.


    "Fufu, to think... you were a demon and an apostle of evil~ Ah, just thinking about how disgusting and filthy! It makes me so wet thinking about how I will torture you and kill you~ as an apostle of the supreme goddess Lumia, haa... how could I tolerate such a dirty, loathsome man like you~ just touching you is going to sully my purity? Nnn ~ but I cannot kill a hero—why?


    What should I do?" Her question was rhetorical as her hands poked therge gashes in his stomach while pushing her forehead against his, the burning sensation of her holy light causing Ryuji''s suffering to double.


    "Nn!?" Ryuji''s body writhing against her, his left eye could barely open, his bloodshot eye-catching a glimpse of She''s appearance—her alluring raven ck hair began shimmering to a silver colour while her skin seemed to glow in divine light.


    "As a pdin of Lumia, I must exterminate your filth~ but heroes are an essential existence, so even if I break every bone in your body and kill you slowly, bleeding you dry. Those pigs will bring you back. So~"


    ''Filth? Apostle of evil?''


    Ryuji didn''t have the energy to try and speak—with the constant damage from the boss and now what She did to his body. He could barely keep his eye open.


    "Ah~ seeing you dying in such pain, Nnn~ watching the life fade from those demon eyes, the way you look at me makes me want to vite and torture you until I''ve drained all your blood and split you into a dozen pieces~" Her ecstatic words kept Ryuji awake as she licked across his cheek, her slimy tongue slipping across his eyeball, causing Ryuji intense pain, his body trembling in reaction to She''s long red tongue flicking his eye.


    "But~ heroes can''t die; Lumia has decreed I cannot kill you. Though I can do other things~ fufu."


    ''Fuck Lumia!''


    Ryuji wanted to yell but couldn''t; the bacsh and his constant shaking from the muscle bacsh were no longer bearable.


    She''s cruel smile was thest thing Ryuji saw before her delicate hand clutched his head, squeezing his skull tightly. As Ryuji''s vision dimmed, he saw her ce a finger inside her dress. A strange, sloppy sound echoed in his ears before she forced the finger into his mouth, pushing it against his tongue: " Ah, taste it good. This is the holy nectar of an apostle.


    It will heal you and make you ALL~ better."


    The taste was a mixture of natural sweetness and a slightly salty, sour taste, simr to natural yoghurt. Ryuji couldn''t stop her finger from wrapping around his tongue and spreading the viscous fluid, and hecked the power to fight back. He finally lost consciousness, only remembering the taste and potent scent that filled his mouth.


    ****


    Meanwhile, inside the castle, the group finally found the chest. Larger than all the rest, it seemed like something that shouldn''t exist in a C-Rank dungeon.


    "Yah! it''s so big and full of treasure!" Erika and Yumiko celebrated, pping their hands together and jumping.


    "We''re damn lucky to have an endurable bastard like Ryuji... Something tells me that boss wasn''t something that could normally be beaten so easily.


    I think he might need to see a doctor or high priest after this dungeon to check his body—the berserkers I know could never push their bodies that far and be fine." Simon and Paul sat smoking a pike together, with Simon voicing his concerns while Paul made weird shapes, recovering his magic after such a long day.


    "Hoo.... I agree, though it might be rted to his secrets. I don''t want him to get too hurt or for the church to decide his existence is problematic." Paul''s words felt a little prophetic as his eyes darted around and seemed to search for someone.


    "Where is She?" Unlike the other members of his party, Paul knew more about the so-called apostles, though they were sworn to keep quiet when joining a party with She and signed a magical oath. He still knew their dark side, and if his theory about Ryuji was true... Then she definitely knew, too!


    "Ah, she said she would go and help heal Ryuji''s wounds," Alicia replied while she maintained her bow, adjusting its string and shaving some arrows damaged inbat to make them usable.


    Yumiko and Erika looked back at them; though Yumiko heard their conversations, she thought nothing of it and just smiled. "Do you not care about the treasure? Are we not going to open it?"


    "Nn, potions are expensive, though. Do you think we can afford it? Maybe we should share them?" Erika still thought with her old knowledge, not aware she was already a well-off little Baroness after clearing this dungeon.


    "Though Ryuji was an unknown addition, as the party leader, Paul gets to divide the treasure. Though Simon and I can voice our opinions~" The teasing Alicia finally joined their conversation, her bow now fixed to her back with a slight sheen from her polish.


    Erika and Yumiko felt stunned that Paul was the leader. Yumiko remembered Ryuji said Simon and She led the party. "Wasn''t the leader--"


    "Ah, that was beforeing here; we realised just how wise and skilled our old boy Paul is, thus giving him the leadership role since Ryuji also admires Paul the most, haha." Simon sucked on his pipe, the weeds in the tip helping calm his nerves and regenerate his tiny amount of magic.


    "Yeah, I''m here!" She''s face looked filled with delight, her skin almost shining and vibrant. She walked with a skip in her step towards the group and a wide smile.


    "You look very happy," Paul couldn''t helpmenting, noticing that She''s appearance and vitality seemed strange, as though the dungeon''s oppressive aura was weaker on her.


    "Fufu, Ryuji did me a FAVOUR~ so I feelpletely rejuvenated after expelling the impurities in my body. I gave him a very delicious potion~ so he will recover after a small nap." Her words and gestures seemed erotic, her flirtatious tone and wording causing Yumiko''s heart to tighten as her tail pped the stone pir beside her.


    Simon also sighed, tapping his pipe to knock out the weeds used before standing to join Paul while Erika and the fox stared at She, feeling a little disturbed.


    "Mnn~ open it quickly, Paul. I believe Ryuji performed the best today~ right?." She sat on a broken pir, swaying her hips while giggling, her actions almost enough to confirm his suspicions as the group began opening therge


    ''Her state seems different, why is she being so strange... If she didn''t kill him, then what kind of perverse hobbies does this woman have?''