The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!

Alicia waited with bated breath. Her eyes, sharp like the daggers she wielded, remained fixed on Kanae's dick. Her tail flicked side to side in anticipation. Up until the first time they had sex, Alicia always played hard to get. She was often playful and teasing. Kanae got the sense that she liked having the upper hand in their intimate encounters.

Now, however, Alicia seemed almost demure and eager. Kanae grabbed hold of her waist with one hand, and guided the cock ring empowered dick to her pussy with the other. Her entrance was smoking hot. An incredible heat not unlike the deserts of Savir emanated from it.

"Are you going to keep me waiting?" Alicia asked with a hint of a pout.

"You don't like being the one made to wait?" Kanae was in a teasing mood and rubbed the tip of her cock against Alicia's snatch.

The succubus drew a quick gasp and shuddered. Her lithe fingers that were pressed against the wall curled a little. Kanae understood why Alicia enjoyed being such a tease.

"Tsk." Alicia glanced back with an impatient glare that briefly put the fear of death in Kanae.

One buck of the hips, and the two were connected at last. Kanae doubled over from the pleasure of her cock being put in the tightest vise possible. It was searing hot inside Alicia, too, and wet beyond belief. She had been waiting for this, that much was possible.

"I…" Alicia balled both hands up into fists. "I can't move… you will have to…"

"Okay, here I go." Kanae started slow, but in doing so caused the other succubus to writhe and twitch. She grabbed Alicia's head and turned her face in for a kiss. Their lips connected as did their hips, both ends refusing to part.

The thrill of doing this in public, where someone might see them and their unconscious assailants lying nearby on the ground, impassioned the pair into a fevered performance.

Kanae's free hand found purchase on Alicia's fist. It eased up to allow their fingers to interlock. They squeezed tightly until their knuckles turned white.

"I'm cumming… Kanae… Inside me! Let it out inside me!" Alicia howled.

"You asked for it!" Kanae thrusted as deep as possible, and her cock exploded with a torrent of spunk.

Ecstasy nipped at the entire surface of both their skins. When Kanae expended her payload, the two stayed firmly sealed at the hips. Even so, her seed began to seep from Alicia's entrance. There was too much even for the succubus' womb to accommodate.

[Skill Drain has temporarily acquired the skill Magical Stealth.

Magical Stealth: Turn yourself and up to one other invisible. The effect and duration continues at the cost of mana. Other than magic, you cannot be detected by normal means. Footprints are no longer left behind, your scent can't be smelled, and neither will your equipment make sound. Toggle On/Off.]

Kanae pulled away at last, and a flood of seed gushed out from Alicia. Her knees gave out. She didn't collapse completely and squatted instead, narrowly avoiding landing in the puddle of cum.

"What… a powerful weapon you wield between your legs…" Alicia panted.

"I think it helps that I have this." Kanae lightly tapped the Cock Ring of Hardening fastened at the base of her dick.

Their innocent little romp had left a mess on the ground. Not to mention, the still bodies on the ground that led up to them. Kanae cleaned the jizz from Alicia's thighs and the ground with a single cast of Prestidigitation. Once Alicia had feeling in her legs again to move, they entered Magical Stealth.

The last time Kanae obtained this skill was right before facing the ancient dragon, Maelstrom. Being invisible was perhaps the most useful thing she had ever known, and Alicia constantly made use of it. They lifted into the sky, unbothered by guards like before.

"When I first flew in The Diamond, I got a ticket for it." Kanae groaned.

"Well, if you ever need the skill again, you know how to get it." Alicia flashed a knowing and satisfied grin.

Being able to fly freely again was liberating, and Kanae had Alicia to thank for that. With the skies belonging to them again, their first order of business was to find the others. As Vice-Captain, Alicia had Petyr, Claudia, and Edina embedded into different parts of the city to look for any worthwhile clues. Vizier Duran accompanied Petyr for the time being, because if his enemies were to discover him, she proved to be the biggest and baddest threat to make anyone think twice. Apparently, being a high elf and wielding a giant warhammer carried a lot of weight around Savir.

Edina was the easiest to find though, and Renya had supposedly accompanied her. Alicia sent them to investigate the casinos of The Diamond, of which there wasn't any shortage of. Wherever money existed, no matter how much or how few, someone always wanted to make more of it. And there was no faster way to make or break than gambling.

Unlike Lograin and Radevic where such a vice took place behind closed doors, ran rampant in crime-riddled areas of the cities, and was a tolerated affair by officials, gambling in The Diamond happened out in the open. Underneath the shadow of the north spire, it was like the bazaar in front of the adventurers hall, but the merchant stalls and stands had been replaced by carpets and tables. Instead of goods for sale, dice and cards. Instead of patrons and customers, gamblers and dealers.

The fragrant scent of hookah permeated the air. A group of men in turbans took turns passing around a pipe while they rolled dice on the ground. Elsewhere, two dire beasts ripped each other to shreds inside a dugout. Spectators cheered at the top of their lungs while the contestants shouted orders from their end of the arena.

"Now to find Edina." Alicia naively scanned the crowds from above, but Kanae knew the squirreling better.

"These people aren't gambling nearly enough money for Edina to have fun. Follow me. I think I know where she is," Kanae said.

They were about to take off until Alicia spun around.

"What's wrong?" Kanae asked.

"I thought I sensed someone following us. But that isn't possible given our invisibility," Alicia said.

Aside from the many gamblers and passersby, Kanae couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary. Alicia's instincts usually weren't wrong though. She did a cart having been overturned, and its textile merchandise strewn all over the ground. A female jackal beastman apologized profusely to the merchant man, who was in the middle of scolding her to hell and back.

Alicia eventually brushed off her own concerns and followed Kanae instead. Farther out from the tower they were, the lower the stakes seemed to be. Gamblers only wagered a few hundred coins at a time. No way in hell was that going to get Edina's blood going. The closer to the tower they got, the wealthier the gamblers became. Some even had women around their arms and on their laps.

The games were even more sophisticated than just tossing dice. Among them, poker and roulette were commonplace. Eventually, they came across Edina and Renya sitting on a large carpet alongside a group of well-to-do Savirans. Their finely-embroidered clothing suggested that they were upper class citizens. They wagered with tiles rather than coins. Whatever game they were playing involved three rows of cards facing down. Only a few were face-up. Each player held a hand of their own, and in front of them was a separate row of cards facing up.

Kanae's two friends were the only ones not breaking a sweat despite the midday sun. Meanwhile, the rest of the players sweated bullets. Paranoid eyes flicked from one player to the other.

"Well, Edina. I'm sorry to say Lady Luck isn't looking your way today." Renya smirked.

For some reason, the other players breathed a sigh of relief. Renya revealed her hand, matching two cards on her row and another two on the dealer's rows. Her final card remained face down. One after another, players did the same on their turn and only matched a single card. However, once it got to Edina's turn, she unveiled a hand that matched every single card on her row, as well as the dealer's row.

"Hehe. Never bet against a squirreling." Edina sneered.

Every player threw up a stink and started shouting over each other. In fact, they turned their ire to Renya instead.

"Cheaters!"

"Both of them are in on it!"

"Hey, hey!" Renya waved a dismissive hand over their anger. "We're all playing the same game here. We're not allowed to work together, but who's to say I couldn't self-sabotage. It ain't my fault you followed suit like lemmings."

That only made them angrier. Some threw their tiles onto the carpet and stormed away. The more furious ones, however…

"You don't know who you're fucking with!" A beastman of wealth rose to his feet and gestured for his cronies to close in on Renya and Edina.

"Should we go down and help?" Alicia asked.

"I'm sure they have it handled," Kanae said, staying back to watch.

One thug got his hand on Renya's shoulder, but the pirate lord conjured a clone with a flintlock pressed to his head.

"The amount of mana I put into this weapon determines how powerful the blast is. I can give you a headache. I can blow your head clean off. You feeling a wager coming? Because I'm all for another game," Renya said as she lit up a pipe between her teeth.

"Whew." Edina jumped up with a hefty bagful of tiles slung over her shoulders. "Thanks for making me a small fortune today! I'll be back tomorrow for round two. That is, if you loser chumps don't end up six feet under in the next minute."

The beastman and his men backed away. Satisfied with their winnings, Renya and Edina were headed to cash out until Kanae and Alicia intercepted them. They dropped invisibility in front of the two, confident that the crowds were sufficient enough cover.

"Look who finally made it to town!" Renya threw her arms open.

"Perfect timing. We're about to feast on someone else's money. You in?" Edina asked, shifting the bag to her other shoulder.

"I knew I'd find you here. What the hell were you guys just playing anyway?" Kanae cast a look back at the game where new players were taking their places.

"Oh, that?" The squirreling followed her gaze. "It's like a matching game. 50% chance, 50% bluff. Thing is, everyone should be playing against each other. Renya here did the bluffing for me and baited those suckers in to lose to my fatter hand! Ahahah! Were you around to see their faces? Fucking priceless!"

Edina and Renya knew a nice place to sit down and talk. It was much too noisy out here anyway. On their way out of the open-air gambling plaza, a commotion caught Kanae's attention. The same jackal woman from earlier had accidentally stumbled over a poker game. Cards and chips went flying. She was lying on her front over the mat. Players who had their game interrupted flung insults at her.

"Get out of here, you idiot!"

"That was my winning hand! Whaddya plan to do to compensate me for it?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She jumped up and bowed repeatedly in apology.

"What's with her?" Edina asked.

"I dunno. Probably just clumsy." Kanae shrugged.

They were about to leave, but Alicia lingered on the bumbling woman for a little while longer. It took until Renya hollered for the succubus before she finally let it go to catch up. The four made patronage at a hookah bar down the end of the street. A large canopy nailed to the side of nearby buildings extended outwards to shield them from the blazing sun.

The seats were cushions on the sandy ground. A tall glass apparatus sat between them. Coals heated a chamber of water at the bottom. Edina grabbed one of the four thin tubes with a pipe connected to the end and smoked from it. She pulled deeply, keeping the fumes within her lungs for a few seconds, and then let it all out. Renya, on the other hand, playfully breathed rings out for fun as she smoked.

Kanae did the same, but it was a lot different than smoking from a pipe or cigarette. The fumes brought her to a coughing fit. Its flavor was addictive and immaculately delicious, tasting like a mixture of fruit, tobacco, and candy. She caught her companions up in the meantime and exchanged information.

"Huu! Elemental plane, huh? We just got back from Faerealm. If we're about to go diving into another world, count me out!" Edina laid down on her back and sighed.

"We might not have to. Just need to stop the Harpy King from dabbling in it somehow. What about you two? Learn anything?" Kanae asked.

Renya nodded. "Yep. It ain't just elementals, lemme tell ya. Word on the streets is the Harpy King's got a legendary guild of monster hunters on his side. The Dervish Five is what they call themselves. People are saying he paid them a massive fortune in response to Sultana Dudula cozying up to mercs."

"I've heard of the Dervish Five," Alicia chimed in. "A man I charmed mentioned the guild by name, but knew little else about their members. They are supposedly very potent adventurers, formerly Veterans, who have since gone their own way."

If the Dervish Five were in The Diamond, then they must be up to no good. Especially since they were working for the Harpy King. Did it have anything to do with the banquet coming up? Kanae pressed both hands to her face and sighed.

"So, Kanae. This Sadul guy. Can we really trust him?" Edina asked.

"My pussy does," Kanae said.

The other three stared at her in disbelief.

"Listen, if anyone is willing to have sex with me of their own volition knowing full well what I am, I feel like they can be somewhat trustworthy. Am I wrong?" Kanae fired back.

"We each had sex with Kanae of our own volition, right? Coincidence? I think not!" Renya offered, siding with her.

"Sometimes, Kanae… I'm ashamed to call you my best friend." Edina shook her head.

"But speaking of coincidences," Alicia began, "it is no coincidence that the Dervish Five are in the city, Romira's Stalkers tried to stop Kanae from reaching here, and some members of the East Saviran Trading Company have turned their back on Sultana Dudula. This banquet is our best shot at uncovering those traitors."

Everyone agreed. Kanae might have to check up on Sadul before the banquet to make sure he had the platinum token needed for entry. She didn't want it to only hinge on him. Fortunately, if that plan failed, they had Alicia's magical stealth as back up.

They figured it was time to go meet up with Petyr, Duran, and Claudia. Getting high would have to come later. As they exited the hookah bar, the immediate street was deserted. It was teeming with people half an hour ago.

Alicia stared up at a building rooftop across the way. Standing on the shingles was a lone jackal woman of dark brown complexion and a short black bob cut. She was dressed in baggy violet harem pants and a sleeveless tunic of the same color. The length of her giant, curved blade rested against one shoulder and stretched past the other. Both of her rather long ears had their tips nicked off. 

"We've seen her before. Several times," Alicia said, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"100%... Isn't that the clumsy girl?" Kanae wondered aloud.

The woman leaped off the building, spinning elegantly as she did, and landed gingerly on the ground before them without so much as kicking up dust.

"Greetings, warriors! I see you caught sight of me from afar. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Sofisa Rash'wan!" She bowed low, keeping her blade perfectly balanced.

"Uhh. We actually saw you a while ago," Kanae confessed.

"Heh. You must have sensed my killing intent? I expected nothing less from capable warriors such as yourself!" Sofisa exclaimed.

Kanae and Alicia exchanged awkward glances.

"No, we sensed you because you ran into a cart and made them drop their merchandise. We also saw you tripping over poker players near the north tower," Alicia explained.

"Y-Y-Y-You saw my blunders? Kuh… How embarrassing! I'm so ashamed! As a revered warrior of the Dervish Five, my mishaps have sullied the guild!" Sofisa cried.

When the name Dervish Five reached Kanae and her companions' ears, they reached for their weapons right away. The tension in the air had thickened, even if the woman before them was throwing a tantrum.

"You have guts showing yourself like this. Who are you after? Is it me?" Kanae asked, Lust drawn and ready to cast Charm at a moment's notice.

"I'm not even sure who you are. But the one I seek is among you. There, in the crimson coat! Renya Rown, the scourge of the seas!" Sofisa brandished her curved sword in the dark elf's direction.

"Oh, I'm tickled pink to have my introduction come from another's lips. It's a pleasure to meet you! I suppose all I have left to introduce is— bang, bang!" Renya fired off a shot from each of her flintlocks.

Sofisa sidestepped both blasts. Alicia tossed a fan of knives before darting in close to attack her. The Dervish effortlessly dodged the projectiles, then deflected each of the rogue succubus' strikes. She was practically dancing. It looked like a performance as she glided across the battlefield. Her blade moved so fast, it whistled like chimes in the wind.

Kanae joined Alicia in backing Sofisa up to a building. Edina summoned numerous undead warriors, and Renya duplicated herself into four clones. It looked like they had the Dervish cornered— until she spun, and spun, and spun, transforming into a tornado of steel that cut past them, destroying both Legion of the Dead and Renya's clones.

The gale force blew them all away, too. Kanae landed across the block, and Edina dropped head-first on top of her. Renya, with her new enchanted boots, blinked away to safety. Alicia landed on the rooftop behind them, covered in dozens of cuts.

"I am Sofisa, crowned Bladedancer! The Dancing Dervish of the Dervish Five! Dance with me, warriors! Or fall behind and be swept up by the reach of my blade!" Sofisa bellowed.