Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 267 In Chains

The clanging of the chains, the sound of grunts, and perhaps the strong smell of something Rhys could not really explain. Those were the sounds that pierced Rhys's ears as soon as he was woken up by his own gasp — he was confused, utterly so.

The last thing he remembered was falling down toward the orange ocean while trying to rein the colossal eagle. He also remembered failing, and then leaping off of the eagle before it dropped to the water.

He also remembered watching the colossal eagle be swallowed by an even more colossal sea creature that was probably almost the size of a small mountain, and then being dragged into the water due to the sheer force of it…

…and he doesn't remember anything after that.

And now, he found himself being dragged by the neck with chains, extremely weak and exhausted, and could not even focus on his surroundings. And his billion-dollar mechanical leg was missing.

"Kh…" Rhys struggled to breathe as he dropped his head back to look at the one dragging him, and at first, he thought it was human, but not at all. The most obvious difference was that they didn't have legs, but instead crawled with their snake-like lower body.

"...Arise," Rhys then finally remembered he had special abilities; a sting of a comfortable warmth instantly covering his entire body as all of his physical energy returned to him — but that was all he could really do. He did not know the situation at all, and if he suddenly reacts here, who knows what will happen…

…since there were actually hundreds of creatures surrounding him; well, not creatures, but people.

If Rhys's memory serves him correctly, these are gorgons. There isn't really much data on them in the Underworld Corps, and there were only blurred photos of them captured from more than 80 years ago. Not much is known, except for the fact that their lower body was similar to that of a snake, and that their hair was also a bunch of snakes.

Well, the latter part was not right at all — they didn't have a bunch of snakes on their head, but they had braids, thick braids that reached their back.

It is also said that they were mostly women, another mistake as the one clearly dragging him was male, and so were the hundreds of gorgons walking around and staring at while he was being dragged by the neck.

He was in some sort of Desert Region, considering the large amount of sand he was feeling on his back… as well as the small houses he was seeing that seemed to be made of mud. There were also tents which were set up clumsily.

Like the cenleons, of course, the Gorgons would also have some sort of civilization. But from what Rhys was seeing so far, the cenleons were a more advanced species than them…

…or so he thought.

Soon, they entered some sort of gate — a colossal stone gate that caused the ground and the sand beneath him to vibrate when it slid open. Rhys once again found himself dropping his head to look at where the male gorgon was dragging him, only to see a metropolis.

It was a city, a human city made of rocks, sand, and marble. Unlike with the cenleons where the structures were built around them having four legs, the city of the gorgons was truly just similar to that of humans. The only difference was that the doors were a lot larger in size.

"What is this? What did you bring?"

"I don't know, I found him on the shore — I thought he might be a servant. Look at him."

"By the gods. Look at his face. But… what is wrong with his limb? Why does it look like that? That's disgusting. And why does he only have one arm?

Was he torn apart by the ocean?"

"Oi! Don't touch him. I'm the one who found him!"

Rhys could really only squint his eyes as the man who was dragging him was stopped before entering the city. And from the way they were talking with each other…

…they were not well aware of the existence of humans, unlike the cenleons.

"If he's not a servant, then I would get even more money for him. Don't touch him!"

"Relax. Just give me the toll and you can pass, and cover the poor guy."

"Cover him? No, I fully intend to drag him all the way to the temple for everyone to see! They are going to get curious, and they are going to offer me lots of money for him!"

"Tch, lucky bastard."

And once again, after the man dragging him gave some coins to the people stationed at the large gate, he started dragging him into the city — and there, Rhys quickly heard the heavy whispers, as well as the rampaging desires of all the female gorgons they passed by.

And there were a lot of them, all of them curiously staring at him.

"That poor man, look at him. Where is his limb and what—!!! Look, is that his… oh my."

'His… his cock is so large.'

"He's… so beautiful. But why is his body so deformed?"

"It looks disgusting… but at the same time, it's not?"

"Cover your eyes, my child!"

'So hot. I can just slither my way on top of him.'

Their voices and thoughts started to mix inside Rhys's mind, to the point he almost did not realize that as soon as they entered the city… almost all of the people were women. There were a few men, but Rhys could probably count them in his remaining hand — and they were all either carrying something, or they also had a chain around their neck.

"I'll buy him! I will buy him!"

Rhys then watched as several gorgons started approaching them. Some of them, even trying to tap Rhys's leg with the tail of their snake limb, extremely curious about it.

"He's deformed, so he's not worth that much, right? I'll buy him!"

"Oi, oi! Please, Madams. Don't touch the merchandise! I still need to bring him to the temple."

"You don't need to bring him to the temple, I have money!"

"No, sorry. Can't do, can't do!"

And as people started gathering and following them, Rhys could really only look at all of the eyes looking at him — was this what his Lowborn ancestors felt more than 300 years ago?

Should… he actually just escape this? But with one of his legs missing, he would definitely have a hard time escaping even with his strength. There was also the fact that he didn't exactly know how strong these gorgons were, and considering he had seen one of the male gorgons lifting an entire boulder earlier with one hand without any difficulty, they were probably strong.

And there was also the undeniable fact that he did not know where he was. And so, Rhys just continued to let himself be dragged across the city naked. Fortunately, the ground was incredibly smooth; it was almost comfortable. There were no stairs either.

And soon, they reached the so-called temple. And of course, with just one glance and one whiff of the scent, Rhys realized it wasn't a temple at all — it was a brothel.

It looked fancy, very much so as the entire building was seemingly made with marble; not much clay. They did not enter the main entrance where the male gorgons were waiting and waving at the female gorgons, however, but the man dragging him slithered to the back of the establishment where the light of the Helios could not be seen.

"Is the Mother inside? I brought her something she might like."

"The Mother is busy, you can just—what is that?"

"The something."

"Come with me."

Rhys could really only let out a sigh as he was dragged inside the luxurious brothel. There were a lot of colorful drapes — and the sound of moans was almost drowning. They tried to hide the scent with something floral, but Rhys would recognize the scent anywhere.

"Hm…" Rhys could not help but breathe out as he caught a glimpse of one of the patrons of the establishment through the gaps of the drapes; her snake limb just slithering wildly as a male gorgon was crawling on top of her.

"Hn!?" Perhaps that was a mistake, as the woman also caught a glimpse of Rhys's face, and she moaned loudly there and then as her entire body convulsed. Rhys then watched as she quickly pushed the escort to the side and rushed toward to see Rhys,

"Who… who is that!? Is that a new servant!?"

"Madam, madam! Your clothes! Please!"

The man dragging Rhys covered his eyes as he just continued to drag Rhys deeper into the establishment. There were a lot more women getting curious about Rhys, but the man ignored all of them and just went straight up to some sort of office.

Some sort of office, because Rhys was not entirely sure if it was… since there was a woman there surrounded by several men; all of their snake limbs intertwined with each other.

"Oho…" The woman was smoking some sort of cigar; blowing it out as she looked at Rhys,

"...It would seem you brought me something freaky this time, Hurkin."