Chapter 329: Sugar mommy
"Welcome, my Lord," Erin said softly, both proud and reverent. "To the heart of my domain." She moved ahead, and with a flick of her wrist, one of the fissures on the mountain wall split wider, revealing an entrance.
Thick waves of corrupted, toxic miasma instantly poured out, and for a moment, Damon staggered because of the sheer force of it. His body burned, and his blood churned. All sorts of toxic wisps drilled into his pores, blood seeping out of his orifices.
Erin had not exaggerated at all. This place was too far out of his reach. But thankfully, he took the time to condition his body by absorbing all of the miasma around him, so he was able to manage it somewhat.
Damon immediately sat down and allowed his body to do the work while he focused on using some skills to heal himself constantly. He closed his eyes, forcing his breathing into a steady rhythm while his crimson aura thickened around him like a second skin.
Every heartbeat felt like it was pumping molten lead through his veins. The toxic wisps didn’t just claw at his skin, they sank deep, worming into muscle and marrow, testing every fiber of his being. His health bar flickered dangerously with each pulse, but he pushed through, weaving his healing skills into a constant cycle of absorb, purge, repair.
Notifications continued rolling in, and slowly, little by little, the dense miasma became tamer and tamer.
Erin watched in silence, shock and awe in her mesmerizing eyes as she observed Damon forgetting even to blink. "You adapt quickly, my Lord," she said silently, not to disturb Damon. "Perhaps faster than even I imagined."
Another couple of hours passed by, and Damon was finally done. The miasma around him was completely harmless now. In fact, it was not just harmless. It nourished him and boosted a whole bunch of things.
Erin, who was clearly able to sense this, gasped in shock. She did not say it out loud, but right at this moment, she already knew that her new Lord was an entirely different beast than the Venom King. In the future, her Lord might even surpass him. No, he will definitely surpass him.
And she had the honor to serve such a being. That thought sent an unexpected shiver through her, a shiver of intoxication. She clenched her fists, silently vowing to stand by him no matter what path he chose, no matter how bloody or perilous it became.
If the world dared to rise against him, she would coil around him like an unbreakable shield. If his enemies hid in the shadows, she would hunt them down and crush them without mercy. Fierce and absolute devotion shone in her eyes.
A few more minutes later, Damon finally opened his eyes. He flexed his fingers, feeling the surge of newfound vitality coursing through him. "Alright," he said, rolling his shoulders as if he’d just woken from a nap instead of enduring hours of poisonous baptism. "I am ready, Erin. Let’s see your lair."
Erin nodded. "Follow me, my Lord," she said. With a graceful motion, she turned toward the gaping fissure. At her command, the stone split wider, to reveal a tunnel bathed in an eerie emerald glow. She led the way, and Damon followed her.
The moment they stepped inside, Damon instantly opened his mouth in shock. In front of him was a mountain of gold. Not just coins, though there were enough of those to bury a city, but artifacts, weapons, armor, and strange relics piled in dazzling chaos. Jewels the size of fists glimmered in every shade imaginable.
Damon gulped. He had gotten himself a sugar mommy! No wonder so many treasure chests were freely thrown out around the territory so casually. This Erin was loaded beyond reason.
The piles weren’t neat. They were chaotic mounds, the kind only someone who didn’t need to care about counting their wealth would leave lying around. Did this snake have a hoarding habit?
"Forgive me, my Lord. It is embarrassing that you had to see this. I will destroy these useless baubles right now," Erin said with a perfectly straight face, as if annihilating enough wealth to bankrupt entire kingdoms was a completely reasonable course of action.
Damon thought for a moment she was joking, but then he realized she was not. Before she did something crazy, he immediately stopped her. "Wait. Don’t do anything."
"They are meaningless to me, my Lord. They are not worth anything. They are trivial trinkets left behind by weaker beings. They are of no value at all. If you desire them, they are yours. If you wish them gone, I will see to it that not even dust remains."
Damon stepped closer, picking up a particularly shiny red gem.
[Ding! You have acquired Bloodfire Ruby. This gem can permanently increase fire affinity by 5%. Can be embedded into a weapon or armor for an additional burn effect.]
"Meaningless, huh?" Damon smiled bitterly.
"If such baubles please you, my Lord, then please take them." With a wave of her hand, she instantly tossed everything into a storage pouch and handed it over to Damon without any question or judgment in her eyes.
"You really don’t care about any of this?" he asked, half in disbelief.
Erin shook her head. "I was just collecting them because I was bored. If you wait a moment, I can give you some more. I have some more trinkets scattered about this area. Also, there is a fly buzzing around that has pocketed quite a bit of my gold. Give me a moment. I will be back."
Damon instantly realized who she was talking about. "Erin, wait. Wait. That’s my follower. Don’t kill him off."
"Your... follower?"
"Yes," Damon smiled bitterly. "Both of us came here together."
Erin quickly understood. "As you wish, my Lord." She stepped back.
Damon sighed in relief, sending a message to Kaelthorn to stop and take a break. His gaze then darted around the huge cave, looking at the rest of the lair.
***
Mass release sponsored by Syphatrol