Volume 4 Chapter 180: The Calm Before the Storm at Herman City
Translator: The Light
Edits by Grandia
The gra.s.slands on the Beastman continent at night were uncharacteristically cold. Even though it was already spring, no hint of it could be felt when night fell. The demonic coalition had already taken over Wolf City and they had lit the eerie blue ghost fire to illuminate the city. This once bustling Beastman city had become a thing of the past and was now a ghost town as no Beastmen were willing to take a step into the city.
There were many dark shadows roaming the night skies. Those dark shadows were flying-type demonic beings. However, it was a new moon that night and there was no moonlight to light up the skies. As there was no way of knowing what varieties of demonic beings were around, it added to the terrifying aura that permeated the night.
Bella and Tania had hidden within the woods. Ever so often, Death Knights and Skeleton soldiers could be seen walking outside the woods where the girls were hiding. As the bonfire by the stream was ghost fire as well, those demonic beings a.s.sumed that they were allies and did not bother to investigate further.
Although Tania was rather hesitant, Bella did not rush her either as there was no escape for the other girl. Sooner or later, she would “reveal” her true self. If Bella was too pushy, there was a chance that Tania would get suspicious instead.
“Mistress Witch, could you just leave a couple...”
“Nuh-uh, Tania. Don’t hesitate any further. If you do not make a decision soon, the toxins in your body will reactivate and spread throughout your body. After that, it will not be as simple as amputating a limb or two.”
“Alright, Mistress Witch... could you at least tell me your name? I wish to know.”
“Hmm... my name... call me Bella. This is the fake name that Master Kenneth has given to me. Don’t find it strange if it might be different from what you might have known.”
A hint of doubt flashed across Tania’s sky blue eyes. After some consideration, she finally gave in and took off all of her practically transparent clothes. Quietly, Bella walked towards her, picked up the clothes on the ground, and threw them into the bonfire.
“Bella... what are you...”
“Don’t stop there. It’s fine, these clothes are already useless anyway. I have other clothes, I’ll hand them to you later.”
Tania looked at her clothes that had been burnt to a crisp and she knew that she had pa.s.sed the point of no return. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and finish taking off her clothes. Bella put on an act of decency and seemed to be helping Tania clean her wounds. However, Bella’s hands were already beginning to roam across the girl’s porcelain white skin.
“Bella... I’m not injured there. Why are you... not there, you can’t touch... stop it...”
“Shush... be quiet, you’re now a patient, how could you not listen to the doctor’s instructions? It’s up to me to determine if you’re injured or not. Now, put your hands behind your back and cross your wrists.”
“Well...”
Princess Tania was an elite Wolfman warrior and understood perfectly that once she put her hands behind her back, it would put her in a vulnerable position. If the other party decided to bind her hands, she might as well be a sitting duck. Bella was now extremely close to her and at this distance, Tania would definitely be in danger if she took advantage of the situation.
“Are you unwilling? I shall leave on my own then. Take care.”
“Hold on... Bella, I believe you. Don’t leave. I’ll do as you please.”
Princess Tania could no longer keep up with Bella’s cat and mouse game and obediently put her hands behind her back. In an instant, Bella skillfully took control of her hands. If she was to bring out her ropes, there was an eighty percent chance that she would be able to put Tania in a full body bind.
Bella resisted the intense urge to capture Tania immediately. If she captured her now, it would be extremely difficult to find the Silver Fox Princess Vanessa. The demon army had already searched every nook and cranny in the city, but the princess was nowhere to be found. Bella guessed that any clues to Vanessa’s location must be on Tania herself.
If Tania was telling the truth earlier, Princess Vanessa must be in the Tiger Tribe’s territory. In order for her to capture that fox girl as well, Bella gave up any thoughts of capturing Tania for now.
Gently, Bella removed the poisonous arrows. Since it was not difficult for a Demon King to dispel the dark toxins from the arrows, Tania’s body was soon poison-free. Once the toxins were gone, her wounds healed quickly as well.
“Bella, thank you. I believe that I misunderstood you before this.”
“It’s nothing. By the way, Princess Tania, I forgot to mention that I do not have any spare clothes with me. Tonight, you’ll just have to make do and sleep in my bed with me. I will do my best to find new clothes for you in the morning!”
Tania’s face froze in a strained smile as she was about to thank Bella. This bad witch had been teasing her from the beginning. Since she had no change of clothes available, there was absolutely no reason to burn her clothes. Was she trying to freeze her to death?!
Once in a while, a chilly breeze would pa.s.s through the woods. Furthermore, the blue bonfire did nothing to keep them warm and actually made the surroundings much colder instead. In fact, the ghost fire was not meant to keep the user warm. By this point, Tania was so cold that her teeth were chattering. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep warm.
Bella took off her black witches’ cloak, laid it on the ground and gave the s.h.i.+vering Tania a pointed look. She chuckled to herself at the thought that this White Wolf Princess would soon have no choice but to be compliant and give in to her embrace if she did not wish to freeze to death.
“Bella, you’re too evil. Do you want me to freeze to death?! Quickly, set up a normal bonfire.”
“Tania, have you gone insane? There are Death Knights everywhere. What if our normal bonfire attracts them here instead? I should be able to pa.s.s off for a legitimate Death Spirit Witch, but what about you?”
“Well...”
In the end, Tania decided to give in. She must not die before she found her best friend, Princess Vanessa. After ensuring that there was no one in the vicinity, she carefully crawled over to Bella’s side. Just as Tania was about to lift the black cloth, Bella gave a sudden tug and Tania found herself sprawled onto the black cloth.
Before she could figure out what was going on, Bella had already wrapped her arms around her and rolled over. The black cloth was now like a coc.o.o.n, wrapped around the two girls. Tania just realized that Bella was actually bare underneath her robes. Once they made skin on skin contact, Tania figured out that something was not right.
“Bella, what are you doing... you’re hugging me so tightly. Let go of me...”
“Tania, this is just us sharing our warmth. There’s no need to be nervous. This is how human explorers keep warm in the wilderness under extremely cold temperatures.”
“You... you’re not lying to me, aren’t you? How can humans... Wait a minute, your face is too close...”
Bella got closer to Tania’s proud face and cut off Tania’s questioning by kissing her on the mouth. She could taste the rich wildness of Tania’s lips. The Beastmen were surprisingly similar to human girls, and the only difference was that they had a pair of animal ears. As for the tail, it was not typically revealed except for special occasions such as during combat.
Tania was obviously new to this. She was not able to struggle for long before she was pinned under Bella, unable to move a muscle. Bella had already conquered a girl from the Dragon Race. In fact, it was the Golden Dragon Princess Laceman. Since dragons were already no match for her, it was no surprise that Bella would be able to subdue Tania, who was just a White Wolf and was definitely much weaker in strength than Laceman was.
“Bella... stop it right now. This is too weird. Don’t continue...”
“Tania, it’s called sharing warmth. It’s not like you’re doing anything bad. Anyway, your eyes tell me that you enjoy this feeling. Look into my eyes, and tell me how you truly feel.”
Bella had already taken off her mask and Tania finally managed to get a good look at her gorgeous face. This human beauty, despite looking rather decent, was doing an incredibly indecent thing. It was as though there was some kind of magic around Bella. Somehow there seemed to be a mysterious force that prevented Tania from breaking free of this black cloth prison.
Bella’s hands roamed freely across Tania’s body. Before long, she had managed to locate and take control of every sensitive spot on the other girl’s body. This time, there was no way that Tania could put up any resistance. Every time she thought of putting up a fight, Bella would reach out towards one of her sensitive spots. In an instant, Tania would lose all strength.
Under Bella’s maniacal offensive, Tania had lost control over many of her vital points. She had gotten so aroused that even her tail made an appearance.
“Tania, stop moving around. If you do not stop, I’m going to devour you.”
“Don’t grab my tail... so ticklish, stop licking my ears. Please, I’m begging you, Mistress Witch, have mercy...”
“Tania, you’re so sensitive! Be my personal pet, I promise to take good care of you. You don’t have to rush into a reply. Anyway, there is no option to reject my offer.”
The most sensitive points on a Wolf girl’s body were her ears and tail. Bella skillfully held on to Tania’s tail while she licked and nibbled on that pair of intoxicating ears. At this point, Tania was spent, and simply let Bella have her way with her.
Sunlight filtered through the trees as dawn broke the next morning. Tania awoke from her slumber and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Bella, who was staring at her, eyes filled with adoration. The look on Bella’s face was could be likened to someone who was sizing up a house pet
“Bella, this is... let me go, now!”
“Address me as your Mistress, and I’ll let you go. Otherwise, be prepared to remain in these woods for the rest of your life!”
For Bella, a leopard never changes its spots. After Tania pa.s.sed out from her administrations, Bella had found some thin ropes out of habit and bound Tania’s hands and feet behind her. After her failed attempt at getting up, Tania realized that she had been bound.
“Bella, you baddie. You took advantage of me last night, wasn’t that enough? Let me go! What’s wrong with these ropes... they’re so tight!”
Tania attempted to get out of her bindings by force. However, Bella’s ropes were made especially for this and it would be a miracle if she managed to break free.
Bella watched gleefully as Tania continued to struggle. Once in a while, she would caress the squirming girl’s snow white tail. In no time at all, Tania could no longer put up a resistance. Her wolf tail was now under Mistress Witch’s control and there was no way to work her way out of the restraints.
“Bella, stop playing, I beg of you. Help me save Vanessa, afterward, you can do whatever...”
“Call me your Mistress. If not, you can forget about being set free.”
“Mistress... now let me go. Eh, wait, I can walk on my own!”
Bella picked Tania up and carried her over to the stream nearby to clean up. Afterward, she fed her some breakfast using her mouth. Despite her reluctance to open her mouth, Tania had no choice but to comply with Bella’s orders as she still had a firm grip on her tail. If she did not open her mouth, Bella had all sorts of ways to ensure that she would follow orders.
After an afternoon of torment, Tania eventually submitted to Bella. As long as Tania listened to everything she said, Bella expressed that she would save Vanessa, no matter what.
Tania did not shake her head in refusal when Bella took out an intricate red collar and had even allowed Bella to put it on her without even putting up a fight.
Soon after, Bella summoned her White Bone Warhorse and released Tania from her bindings with a hint of lingering reluctance in her heart. Before she loosened the ropes, Bella did not forget to use this chance to take advantage of Tania one more time. Tania did not know whether to laugh or cry as this Mistress Witch’s preferences were too out there. Could it be that she had never seen a girl before?
Bella pa.s.sed Tania a change of clothes, it was a set of a.s.sa.s.sin’s clothes that she had designed. Those clothes were skin-tight and hugged every curve of Tania’s smoking hot figure. In terms of chest size, this Wolf girl was much larger than any of the human beauties that hung around Bella. However, it was comparable to the princesses of the demon race.
It was a complete waste of resources to hide such a fantastic figure. Tania could not object to any of Bella’s arrangements as she had only given her two choices: either she wore the outfit that was provided for her or remained naked.
After Tania had gotten changed, she and Bella made their way to the Tiger Tribe’s territory. This time, Bella decided to impersonate a Black-Robed Witch to infiltrate the Tiger Tribe’s territory to create trouble.
The Demon Army did not stop advancing even though Bella had left temporarily. The battalion being led by the Blood Demon King Eleanor would remain within the Wolfman territory and continue to repress any uprisings from the Wolf Tribe. As for Kriss and Ariel’s respective battalions, they would merge and begin their advance into the Leopard Tribe’s territory. Noreya and Lisha’s battalions would then take this opportunity to attack the Lion Tribe.
Bella had a.s.signed Elaine’s “Thousand Broken Souls” army to provide backup for this mission. She had purposely requested that Lisha lead her own battalion in sweeping the area, providing the illusion that she was not in the area.
The Tiger Tribe’s territory was quite close to the Wolfmen’s territory. Under Tania’s instruction, Bella did not have to walk for long before she reached the core region of the Tiger Tribe’s territory.
The Demon Army led by Elaine had sent out several puppet hummingbirds and tailed Bella throughout her journey and quickly managed to find a shortcut that led to the Tiger Tribe’s main city for the remaining demon soldiers to rush over. Tania did not realize that she was about to become the first ever “leading party” to go down in Beastman history.
As Bella did not understand the Beastman language, it had been extremely inconvenient during her journey. After gaining possession of Tania, she finally had someone to translate for her. Other than the Wolf and Human languages, Tania was proficient in many of the other languages of the nearby territories, which included the Tiger language.
Along the way, there were many large hulking Tiger Warriors patrolling the area. No one stopped Bella to question her as her Black Witch’s robes was the best proof of identification.
In terms of IQ, the Tiger Tribe and Wolf Tribe were similar and did not engage the aid of the Black Robed Wizards and Witches for their defenses. Bella and Tania seemed to have reached a no-man’s land and entered Tiger City without much effort. The dozens of elite Tiger soldiers at the entrance were more for decoration than anything else.
The Tiger Tribe’s city, Herman City, meant “City of Champions” in the Beastman language. The Tiger Tribe’s pride and arrogance was far stronger than the Wolf Tribe’s. The size of this city was comparable to Nolan City. Even though the architectural style was inspired by Gabriel City as well, it was more cla.s.sy than the Wolf Tribe’s city.
The Wolfmen’s city was called Arade. In comparison to Herman City, it was as shabby as a village. Herman City had city walls that were five meters high and had a moat surrounding the walls. If not for the Beastman insignia on the flags and the fact that guards were Beastmen warriors, Bella would have thought that she had made a mistake and walked into a Human city.
After entering the city, the Tiger King’s palace was exceptionally prominent. The Beastman n.o.bility had taken a leaf from the human n.o.bles’ books and learnt to show off their power and opulence. Since the Beast King’s position among the Beastmen was similar to the princes of human empires, there was no reason why they should not build their palace with more grandeur.
The only thing that Bella did not expect was that the Tiger King was currently not within the palace. Based on her conversations with the members of the Tiger Tribe, the Tiger King was currently on his way with more than two hundred thousand soldiers to pillage their archenemy, the Lion Tribe’s territory.
The Lion Tribe’s territory was currently under attack by the Demon Army and was busy trying to defend their city, which meant that they had less control over the border regions. The Tiger Tribe, who had been oppressed by them, finally had their chance to seek revenge. They were not concerned about having a united front as this was their only chance to fight against their oppressors. If the Tiger Tribe had let this opportunity slip through their fingers and the millions of Lion soldiers on the frontline returned to the city, they would be hard-pressed to exact revenge again.
The Tiger Tribe was not ignorant of the fact that the Wolf Tribe’s territory had been invaded by demonic beings. Rather, they felt that it did not concern them. From the beginning, the Tiger Tribe had looked down upon the Wolf Tribe. They felt that those speed type Wolf soldiers were nothing but cowards in comparison to their strength type soldiers.
The Tiger Tribe was equally dismissive of the news that the Wolf City of Arade had fallen. Herman City’s walls were miles ahead of that wall-less city. Furthermore, the gra.s.slands were so wide, the Tiger Tribe felt that it was highly unlikely that the demonic beings would attack them.
Even at this point in time, the Tiger Tribe was still thinking of infighting. These Beastman tribes were beyond help. Bella scrutinized Herman City’s walls and found that they had managed to recreate the essence of the human cities’ defensive walls and even had watchtowers.
The Tiger Tribe was estimated to have at least a million guards. However, their numbers were not surprising as the Lion Tribe was just slightly stronger than them and was able to send a million soldiers to the border of the Gabriel Empire.
Bella coincidentally b.u.mped into one of her old “colleagues”, that gang of slave traders from Nolan City, inside Herman City. They were standing in line to enter the Tiger King’s palace. Bella wondered why they were doing their business here. If she remembered correctly, the Wolf Tribe were the only ones who had the habit of keeping human slaves. The other Beastman tribes would basically kill these humans on sight.