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Succubus. Among the races that make up the Demonic Race, Succubi are quite well-known among humans. And it’s no wonder—just look at their appearance! Demonic races are known for their unique looks; some are delightful to behold, but others can be downright bizarre when viewed from a human perspective.

However, Succubi are different. As we all know, Succubi are the race that seduces people to make them slaves or absorbs their vitality. By their instincts and nature, all Succubi possess beautiful appearances.

And the woman standing before me is none other than Lilith, the Succubus Queen and one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

“Well, this is just… I was trying to hide my precious little hideaway from those pesky stalkers, and now I’ve been discovered. I guess I’ll have to find another place.”

Isn’t it expected for the leader of a race born to seduce others to act like this? Whether she does it intentionally or purely by instinct, she approached me, swaying her hips as she walked.

“But before that, I should demand compensation from the lady who made me abandon my precious nest, shouldn’t I?”

Even as my enemy approached, I closed my eyes tight. After all, a Succubus didn’t become beautiful for nothing; sight plays a significant role in seduction. If I stared too much at her, I might unknowingly fall under her spell.

Of course, one could argue that avoiding her face would suffice, but as I witnessed earlier with her swaying behind, every subtle movement was an act of seduction from the Succubus Queen. If I focused on her footsteps and gestures, I could easily fall for her.

That’s why I knew just how fatal it was to give up my sight, but there was no other choice.

I nervously wiggled the fingers holding the Holy Sword. Now that things have come to this, should I charge first? But alas, I had already walked into her territory, snared in a trap. There was no way to recklessly advance when I didn’t know what other traps might be targeting me.

“Heh… closing your eyes, how foolish.”

Swish! Swish!

The sound of something slicing through the air echoed in the room. Though my eyes were closed, I could tell that the source of the noise was a whip. She probably planned to attack from afar as I stood still with my eyes shut.

Crack!

The coiling whip flew toward me with an eerie sound. However, as I mentioned when I first arrived, Lilith’s strength was rather lacking for a member of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Before the whip could hit me, my sharp senses allowed me to predict its direction solely based on the fleeting flow of air.

“Huh…?”

She seemed perplexed that I, with my eyes closed, had evaded her whip. But that moment of surprise was short-lived. Thinking I was just lucky, she began to lash about wildly with the whip.

But why should I fail to dodge the same whip twice? Instead of hitting me, her whip only struck the ground and air, missing its target.

As the whip aimed to return to her, I reached out and grabbed it.

The whip coiling around my arm stung. But I gained an opportunity at the cost of a brief pain.

“Uh, uh?”

She sounded dumbfounded that the whip she was holding didn’t budge. I yanked the whip back, reeling in something hefty from beyond it, as if I were fishing.

If she couldn’t hold on, she could just let go, but Lilith strained to follow, being dragged along. For me, that was just a welcome chance for an attack.

Recognizing that I was close enough to strike, I swung the Holy Sword with my other hand.

Whoosh!

“Eeek!”

Perhaps realizing it too late, Lilith dropped the whip from her hands just as I struck with the Holy Sword.

I could hear the desperate sound of her scrambling away on the floor.

…This girl doesn’t even know how to fight?

“Cough, cough!”

Aware of how embarrassing it was to scream and flee, Lilith cleared her throat, trying to act nonchalant.

“Hehe… you’re pretty impressive. To be able to dodge with your eyes closed…”

With her shamelessness apparent, I swung the whip I had taken from her in the direction of her voice.

Smack!

“Gyaah!”

Unlike her silent swings that only hit the ground and air, my strike landed with a crisp sound along with her scream.

“Ugh…! Give me back my weapon!”

It seemed she had gotten hit and scampered even farther out of range, as her shouts were more distant than before.

“If you want it, come and get it.”

Swish!

“Eek!”

As I threatened her by swinging the whip in her direction at her insistence, she merely gasped in alarm, recalling the pain from earlier.

“You bad girl…”

Unable to suppress her anger, her voice trembled, half-crying.

Is a member of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings actually calling me a bad girl? If she had any sense of ethics, she shouldn’t be saying such things.

However, contrary to my incredulity, she was still huffing in anger, breathing heavily and throwing a fit by herself. After quite a while, she finally calmed down, taking several deep breaths before speaking again.

“Hmm… but you won’t be able to keep acting this way for long. Closing your eyes wasn’t a bad choice, but sight isn’t the only way to enchant someone, you know.”

Her voice was once again filled with confidence.

“You can hold out for a while, but how much longer can you endure in a sealed room? You can’t see it, but as the Succubus Queen, I can clearly see the enchanting pheromones filling this room…”

Oh no. I hadn’t anticipated this at all. The fact that she had laid down a trap with her magic and I hadn’t seen any devices made me suspicious—the sealed room itself is apparently a trap.

“Wait? This isn’t mine…?”

With no other traps around, it might be better to open my eyes now before I succumbed to her enchantments and cut off her head.

“Well… who… no way…? Eek!”

After making my decision in a split second, I opened my eyes without hesitation. Thanks to her continuous chatter, I didn’t even need to look around for her.

For some reason, Lilith was sitting far away, staring at me fixedly. But there was no time to waste. At any moment, I could fall under the spell of the pheromones she released. The very fact that I was looking directly at her meant time was running short.

I dashed toward where she was seated. The distance between us closed in an instant.

I lifted the Holy Sword to strike her, but without a weapon, she only flailed her hands at me.

Swish!

And just as I swung the Holy Sword to cut her down.

“Wait, wait, sister!”

Startled by the unexpected title, I instinctively halted my swing.

But my momentum was too strong, and instead of stopping, my sword slightly clipped one of her two horns, making it break off.

Thud! The horn fell to the ground and rolled around, but I had no time to worry about that.

“Sister?”

I asked, half-wondering if I misheard her. But seeing Lilith equally flustered led me to believe I wasn’t mistaken.

“N-no… that’s not it… what I meant is… S-stop, intruder!”

Lilith was so flustered that she couldn’t even meet my gaze, her eyes darting around instead. In the meantime, she finally corrected herself, but the grandeur of the Four Heavenly Kings was nowhere to be found. She even seemed embarrassed as her face turned bright red.

Normally, it would be right to cut Lilith down before falling prey to her enchantments, yet my instincts are telling me that I didn’t have to worry about being enchanted. In fact, according to Lilith, quite some time had passed since I’d been exposed to her pheromones in this sealed space, yet I felt absolutely fine. Even now that I was staring intently, all I could do was marvel at her appearance.

For the time being, worrying about her counterattack was unnecessary. Her enchantment didn’t work on me, and her strength couldn’t defeat me.

Yet it felt strange to attack her when she was muttering by herself like a nerd. Her demeanor made me doubt whether she was the same demonic race I had considered my enemy all along.

This is quite a letdown. But I couldn’t just stand around any longer.

In the end, I lifted my weapon. However, it was not the Holy Sword that I raised, but the whip I had taken from her.

Well… since she is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, she probably knows something. I figured that after a few hits, she’d start to spill it easy enough.

“Um, um… sister? Just a moment…”

Swack!

“Yeeow!”

By the way, who’s calling whom sister? She clearly looks older than me.