The effect of s*men absorption was incredible!

Rosé wiped off the sticky cum from her hand on the wall and looked up at the floating system window.

〈SYSTEM〉 Conquering  ‘Emmet Bovir (S-Tier)’ changed your stats.

Strength +6.

Faith +11.

Healing his black magic poisoning and raising my stats. Killing two birds with one stone, as the saying goes.

Though there was an overwhelming amount of cum, making it hard to clean up after, things went smoothly. It almost got ruined when Emmet woke up…

But, luckily, he wasn’t aware of what was happening to him. Although that made her feel more guilty…

‘Well, good things are good, right?’

Rosé looked down at Emmett, who had become neat and tidy, as she combed her hair to the back of her ears.

His body, which had been invaded by black magic, was now clean without a trace of it. His rough breathing became smooth, and his sweaty body became fresh.

Not only his body but also the black liquid on his clothes disappeared. Now, Emmet Bovir was in a dazzling state, shining brightly with his radiant beauty.

This is the effect of s*men absorption. Rosé closed her eyes with self-praise and nodded her head.

I’m the kind of person who can absorb black magic just by absorbing the essence. Such an excellent person.

‘By the way, I should wake him up now.’

Rosé gently shook Emmett’s shoulder, feeling unsure. His complexion seemed fine, but what about elsewhere?

Rosé carefully shook him, fearing that his injuries might still be there.

Emmett’s eyes flickered open little by little. Before he could recognize her, Rosé quickly covered herself with a black cloak and whispered as quietly as possible.

“Well… can you move?”

Emmett looked at the blurry space in front of him. Then he flicked his bangs back haphazardly, as if they were a nuisance.

His body felt strange and unnaturally light. But it was undoubtedly the poison…

“What happened to me?”

Rosé wanted to confirm whether he was alive or dead. Even an awakened person with healing abilities would not have been able to endure the poisoning without Hex Amplification.

Rosé watched Emmett as he felt himself, seemingly unable to believe it, and said,

“Well… somehow, you got cured…”

Somehow? It was an expression devoid of confidence, especially from someone who had treated him.

Emmett stood up and looked for his sword. Rosé pulled the Black Cloak closer, hiding her face.

“I don’t know what I should say. At that time, I’m sure…”

Before ‘Thank you’ could come out of his mouth, Rosé quickly left the room. It was because she felt guilty that she had touched him in such a precious place while he was asleep.

Emmett, who had no memory of that time, looked confused. Curing the poisoning would have taken more than a month, even in the intensive care unit.

He couldn’t understand why she avoided him, even after detoxifying him from a condition like magical poisoning, whether through her abilities or medication.

But now there was no time for interrogation. Emmett started walking after her.

“Emmett?”

Raiden, who was the first to find the two, opened his mouth in surprise at Emmett’s recovered body.

Ha.

An exclamation of disbelief escaped his lips. He couldn’t sense any magic from Emmett. The poisoning had been cured in that short time.

“Thank you, Black Cloak.”

The Black Cloak had indeed cured Emmett. An indescribable feeling struck Raiden’s heart.

Now, it didn’t matter who she really was. The woman who appeared in this godforsaken land without a deity was their hope to save the empire.

“It’s the Black Cloak!”

“The poisoning is gone!”

“Black Cloak!”

The support soldiers who had found the two people also cheered. Rosé awkwardly nudged her backside.

She wondered what kind of reaction she would get if she said, ‘Actually, after waking up sleeping Emmett, all the madness disappeared’… But Rosé decided to keep her curiosity hidden until her dying day.

“Raiden, report the situation.”

While there was temporary relief from his recovery, Emmett looked around with a serious face. At a glance, it seemed that there were few survivors. While he was fighting on the opposite side, there were also injured knights who had died.

The companions of the White Knights were left to die without any help and looked resentfully at Rosé. Their reaction was the complete opposite of that of the unharmed support soldiers.

Raiden also sensed the atmosphere and answered with a calm voice.

“There are a total of twenty-eight survivors. Excluding the three injured, we have twenty-five knights available for combat.”

Twenty-five. It seemed like a promising number, but if we exclude the seventeen support soldiers with little combat experience, only eight remained. It was unfortunate yet fortunate that four of them were Blue Knights, and one was the Black Cloak.

“Lead the squad in a simultaneous assault. How much time do we have?”

“It has been 10 hours since the assault began.”

“Hurry.”

Raiden looked around, calming down the agitated people, and aligned the formation.

If the number of monsters increases, it may become dangerous even for people outside the cave if they do not find and kill the Quamad. They needed to find the whereabouts of the Quamad, whatever it took.

The tense atmosphere that momentarily eased with Emmett’s recovery became tense again under Raiden’s command.

At Raiden’s request, Rosé stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the knights. She felt a piercing gaze from behind, which belonged to the White Knight, who had lost a comrade a while ago.

“Does the Black Cloak hide people and then save them?”

The man spat on Rosé’s instep. Rosé only pursed her lips for a moment without saying a word.

The reason she could save Emmett was that he was under the influence of black magic. She couldn’t save someone whose limbs were severed or whose organs were torn.

“Then let’s move.”

Raiden raised his hand, looking at the man who spat at him with a glint of survival in his eyes. The march, which had continued for 10 hours, started again.

* * *

“Halt.”

They all stopped in unison at Emmett’s word. Even Rosé, who was stumbling from drowsiness, stopped and quickly gripped her sword.

They arrived at a place after walking through a dimly lit space, similar to an underground dungeon, in which a large snake pattern was drawn on a certain door.

Judging by the lingering warmth on the wall, it seemed that someone had entered through this door.

“Ugh, it stinks.”

“I feel like throwing up.”

The nobles standing near the door covered their noses with displeased expressions. Strong magic often emitted an unpleasant odor to ordinary people.

Emmett placed his palm on the thick door to measure the magic. The blue light emitted from his hand rapidly turned black. It was highly likely to be Grade 1 or higher.

Emmett and Raiden exchanged glances and nodded silently at each other. Both of them were certain that this place was Quamad’s room.

“There is a high probability that beyond this door is the end of the boundary.”

“You mean that’s where the Quamad is?”

Emmett responded briefly to the nobleman’s question, causing everyone to hold their breath and swallow their dry saliva.

The only person who wished it to be a humanoid demon was Rosé, who needed to absorb s*men to survive.

Most humanoid demons were highly intelligent and often struggled to fight it. Others hoped it to be reptilian or mammalian creatures like the two-headed snakes or giant rats.

Thud, thud…

Kevin and Brody opened the door ahead. As Raiden illuminated the inside with a torch, they could only see an empty corridor. They would have to go further in order to confirm.

As planned, the people lined up in a triangular formation and crossed the threshold. Rosé was walking in the third row with Kevin and Brody.

Step, step… The sound of each person’s footsteps resounded loudly as if it were coming from right next to each other. The corridor had a high ceiling, and its width was immeasurable. It’s a path with an unknown end.

If it weren’t for Raiden’s flickering torch, it would have been difficult to discern left from right or front from back.

After walking for some time, everyone’s steps started to waver. Their swords vibrated with a thud, even though there was no earthquake.

“Ah, ah!”

“What’s wrong? Why is this happening?”

“Ahh!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their swords lost their sharpness, and they shattered into pieces. Just like torn pieces of paper scattered on the floor, everyone’s expression turned pale.

They lost their weapons! Raiden belatedly poured his hex on the swords, but only six unbroken blades remained. Even those were blades that would break without being swung a few times and were already brittle.

“Brody!”

In response to Raiden’s urgent cry, Brody quickly drew a formula. But it was impossible to control an invisible enemy. The formula he had drawn was shattered in vain.

That’s when it happened. Someone in the middle row reached out into the air.

“Uh, over there…”

But that was as far as the voice went. What followed was the scream of another support soldier nearby.

“He… He turned into stone! Like that… like that statue, he… he turned into stone!”

Stone? Raiden swung the torch backward. In the faint, flickering light, a frozen servant appeared, stiff as a rod.

“Aaaaah! Over there… over there too!”

Before Raiden could understand the situation, screams erupted one after another.

Raiden quickly turned the torch around. In the yellow light, a nobleman was seen raising his arm to protect his head. He too had become a statue.

“Aaaaah! This person here too!”

“He’s turned into stone too! Dammit!”

People turned into statues were emerging from all around. Others tried to escape without touching the statues. As a result, their formation collapsed, and everyone scattered in all directions.

At that moment, sparks ignited on the wall sconces. The once-dark space brightened, revealing things that were previously unseen.

A large glass door leading to the balcony, a golden chandelier, a pink marble floor, a familiar ceiling painting depicting the view of Monchen, a table prepared with snacks and drinks, sofas, and chairs awaiting dance requests.

It was like the ballroom in the First Princess’s Palace.

‘No, it’s different. This is…….’

Rosé looked at the statues that filled the ballroom. They were the same statues she had seen in the corridor. These statues, resembling the people who went missing 19 years ago, were spread out as if they had come to life in this ballroom.

Do not touch the statues. This compulsive thought captivated the minds of Rosé and the others. Some people ran without a plan, while others crouched against the wall.

“Aaaaah! Let me out!”

“I can’t take it anymore! Dammit!”

When they turned their heads towards the source of the sound, there were always more statues. They were not the people who went missing 19 years ago. They were the same people who had been standing with Rosé just moments ago.

It was impossible to estimate the number of survivors. Statues after statues. The surviving people were scattered haphazardly between them.

Rosé’s eyes shifted back and forth. Sweat dripped from her hand holding the sword. Now, it was impossible to distinguish between the sound of her heartbeat and the screams of people.

Who on earth turned people into statues? She couldn’t grasp the situation, and Emmett’s voice echoed throughout the hall.

“Everyone, close your eyes!”