THE LUSTING WORLD - Season 2 Episode 33

“Rune, go get rid of those pests first. We will hold her here.” They had no choice other than send one of them for the kids otherwise, one more decent hit from them might cause them to lose this standoff entirely. Reiner had already made the mistake of wrongly gauging Sophia’s abilities. They can’t afford any more fuck ups. “Haaagghh…” He swung his sword down heavily but all he could see was a smirk at the corner of her lips. Sophia had been waiting for this moment. She believed in her juniors to atleast pull one of them off her back and the brats did just that. The earth under Reiner’s feet tilted to a side suddenly, making him stumble on his legs. That was enough time for a earth spike to injure his large abdomen. “Ahh.. Crafty slut.” Reiner knew his plan had failed they can’t defeat her at all. “Darla do it..” That was the last thing they can attempt.

**Few minutes earlier.**

“Hahah.. brat let me see who comes to your rescued today.” Ryu was still ducking and darting around. He had already known her weaknesses. Firstly, she talks way too much while engaged in a fight and secondly, the heavy sword she was carrying was too much for her to handle for long. He just had to wait it out. He would dodge the blows that he can and block the remaining with his vines, which will grow from the ground and put themselves between the two fighters. For the past two weeks Ryu had not practiced any cultivation, such that he was still stuck at the first level of the Junior realm. But that didn’t mean he was lazing around. He knew how vulnerable he was in this world with a single rule, might is right. In those days he had practiced a few useful spells to their limit. That’s how he was able to command the vines so effortlessly. He had seen the advantage Sophia had managed to get over her adversaries.

“Darla do it..” Ryu heard the leader of the centuars call out. He instantly realised they had something planned for their worst case scenario. Right then he saw Darla turn on her heels as she sprinted towards the entrance of the cave. ‘What was she doing?’ Ryu can’t make any sense if her judgement but Sophia must have understood their motives. “Ryu, stop her. Don’t let her enter the cave.” He had no idea what was happening but he nonetheless followed her orders. But once he began running behind her, it was way to clear he was outmatched by a big margin. Having no other choice is commanded on if the vine to grow rapidly through the ground. It burst out from under Darla and wrapped around her. Ryu held onto the other end but all his efforts were futile. The girl was too heavy and all he had on her mind was to enter the cave at any cost. It didn’t take long for Ryu to figure that out. *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Watching the rocks falling from the cave roof, Ryu gave up on stopping the her and allowed her to pull her along. He had the choice of letting go of the vine but at that moment he thought this was the best decision. Why? Because from how his spacestone was acting the relic he is looking for was inside the cave. Had he left the rope, all of them would have been trapped outside with no way in. *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* The cave entrance was blocked by the falling debris. A huge amount of explosives were used, collapsing the entire tunnel.

Reiner dropped his bow before leaping away from Sophia. His companions too did the same. Reiner had took an instant to fire a burning arrow towards the cave, that’s when Sophia realised their plan. “Hmm.. you guys must have faith in that girl to let her go in and search for the flower on her own.” Reiner smirked “Yes we believe in her. Anyway, it’s not she will be alone for long. We got the location for the herb. This is our territory, we just need to regroup and attack you guys again. Let’s see how long all of you can endure that hahaha..” Sophia did away with her transformation “ohh.. it just so happens that I too believe in my little brat. We should see who succeeds in capturing the other.” “Haha.. the boy will be dead before the day falls.” Saying that Reiner and his friends disappeared back into the forest.

The rookies came running towards her. “What do we do now big sis? Brother Ryu got trapped inside, how will we get him out?” Sophia can feel a headache coming looking at the huge pile of large rocks ahead of her. “For now let us believe in little Ryu and we will take a short rest before planning anything.” Watching the concern on Kira’s face she ruffed her hair “Haha.. You need to trust in that brat. He can outplay that girl any day of the week. Let’s not get depressed over it.” All of them nodded their heads and Kyro took the time to console Kira for a bit. Jake wasn’t concerned at all about Ryu. He knew the green haired boy was the most powerful out if all 4 of them. “Big sis, I can understand them blocking the path for us. But why did they let one of them be trapped inside?” “Hmm.. that’s what have been thinking all along. My best guess will be that the girl is someone important and they believed she had a better chance of surviving inside than outside. They must have been scared that I might have taken the girl hostage. Whatever..”

**Inside the cave**

Ryu found himself covered in tons of dirt having been dragged on the ground all the way here. It was mostly dark inside with little light permeating through small crevices. Just when Ryu had opened his eyes he saw a large blade tip falling towards his chest. “Die pest.” He rolled away, saving himself from getting impaled. “Why do you jump around so much? Aren’t you a man? Fight like one, then.” “You really are an idiot aren’t you? Just because I am a man, I should offer my neck to you. You need to grow up kiddo.” *Swish* “Who are you calling a kid, filthy mouth!” “Filthy mouth? You are one to talk huh..” Ryu have had enough of her shenanigans. He knew the girl must be young and sheltered just like Kira, evident by her childish behaviour. “Okay, time to end this.” He let of of his seal before bringing his hands together *Clap*. “Maximum growth!!” Out of nowhere huge vines germinated all around Darla, wrapping her completely in their binds.

She simply had no time to move away this time and the thickness of each vine was more than 5-6 times the normal one, making it impossible for her to break them off. “You bastard! You were hiding your power all along. Let go of me.. Aghh.. let go you idiot!!” He ignored her cries and sat down crossed-legged to regain his lost mana. “I know you are listening. How dare you put me in binds. Do you know who I am? My father can crush a army of your humans under his single foot. You don’t.. ….” Her banter continued for a long time before she got tired and put an end to her rantings on her own.

“Hhaaaahh!!” Ryu streched his body all around. It was time to make his move. “Release” Darla had fallen asleep from all the exhaustion. She fell down to the ground once he released the spell. She stared viciously at Ryu but he chose to ignore her. “Just leave. You are too much of a novice.” Saying that he turn around, strolling deeper in the cave. He had only walked a few metres when he heard the loud sound of hooves striking against the ground. *Swing* This was really getting annoying. She refused to take the hint. He didn’t want to hurt her but the brat kept coming back to him. Ryu had misjudged her hatred for him. For a centuar it’s pride was the most precious thing to it and his actions had destroyed her’s completely.

Both of them stared at each other before Darla realised the futility of her efforts. She can continue doing it for the next week and the result will barely differ. “Enjoy your life while it lasts, trash!” She had a really bad mouth. But the only ones he could blame is her parents for bringing up a child like her. She took off ahead of him in a huff.

**Back in Korua**

“What is this Rubin? I told you I am not interested in doing all this anymore.” A redheaded woman pulled a man out of the room before cornering him. She had medium bust size but wide hips. The man was not particularly handsome but had a muscular build. He cupped her face in his hands before speaking with a charming smile “I know Emma but you see these guys are from the capital. They specially made a visit to be with you. I can’t say no to them.” Emma’s gaze fell down. She was in a deep regret over what she had already done. There was no way dge wanted this to continue any further but she had no choice the cost of keeping her husband alive had gotten her into a large debt. A debt that she can’t ever hope to pay. The only thing left to do was to sell her body to some nobles from the capital and collect the amount somehow. She had no salvation of she wasn’t able to pay them of in the next 5 years. Her whole family could have been affected.

Previously when Emma’s husband fell ill, they had gotten the support of her family. But after these many years even they had given up on him and retracted their support. Emma, being from a noble birth had no experience in working. Even if she could do that, it will only be enough for their sustenance. How was she going to keep her husband alive with such a small income? That’s when Rubin, her husband’s brother cane up with this suggestion for her. She had forced him out if her house on the first day he brought that up. She, a woman of noble birth, sleeping with men to raise the resources like a commoner? That idea felt so outrageous that time but few weeks passed after that and her husband’s condition worsened. All this while Rubin never stopped bringing up the idea of prostitution. Knowing that she had no other way out she took him up on the offer. They started with the nobles from Korua itself and slept her way to the capital. Her beauty combined with her high birth meant she never had any shortage of customers.

Yet again her husband suffered a stroke and this time she had to borrow some funds from the dreaded underworld organization, the Dark Wings. His condition improved for better but he still required constant life support to survive. As her debt grew so did her offerings during sex and not long after she had crossed the line. The prostitutes who allowed their customers to kiss them had their value shot through the roof. She did just that with a heavy heart but in the end everything turned out to be good. Her income grew multiple folds and now she had enough to pay off her debts completely. In all these years she had leant some crafting work and was positive that she could support her family without selling her body. All these years Rubin had been her agent who would fix her deals for her. She was quite trusting of the guy but sometimes he had forced her into doing many things she would never have agreed. One such day was today. She had already informed him that she wasn’t going to continue doing this anymore but still he brought these people with them.

All these years she had kept her child away from her, so that he doesn’t come to know what his mother had been involved in. But that meant they had grown apart much further than she had expected. Now that she was free from that burden, she wanted to spend some time with her boy and let him know how much she loved him. But when she got home, she got to know he had left for his mission with his friends. Speaking of her boy’s friends she would have to pay their families a visit and apologize for her prior behavior. Like most of the people with noble birth she too had an inherent disdain towards the commoners. Nonetheless after going through such a bad experience herself she had come to respect all humans. Also, when she couldn’t take care of her child, it was his friends who kept him cheered up all this while.

“Huuu.. How much are they paying?” “20 Turas.” She knew the guy was lying to her. The amount must be double that but she didn’t care anymore. “This will be the last time. Make sure all the previous ones also know that I am out.” Rubin nodded. “Also, I hope you reminded them that there will be no kissing involved.” “Of course! How can I forget that.” He gave a toothy grin before following her into the room.