My Succubus Harem System In The Reverse World

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Pressing the Solid Links Against Her Pale Neck

Rei wiped her bloodied blade on the creature’s fur until the weapon dissolved back into liquid and returned to the shallow cut on her palm. The wound closed almost immediately.

She looked at me for the first time since the fight started.

"Not useless."

High praise, coming from her.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling the residual adrenaline still humming under my skin.

"Next time you take the chain," I said. "It works better when all three of you are linked."

Rei didn’t answer, but she also didn’t immediately refuse.

Ruby stepped closer to the corpse, already checking for any residual mana that might be useful.

"First kill of the simulation. Not bad for a mismatched group."

Saber tilted her head toward me.

"Your chains... they don’t feel like normal support skills. What exactly are you?"

I met her white eyes and gave a small, honest shrug.

"Still figuring that out myself."

We stood there for a few more seconds in the quiet chamber, the greenish water still glowing faintly around us. Somewhere deeper in the cave system, another roar echoed, louder this time.

The simulation was just getting started. I formed the Appraisal chains again and held the ends out.

"Round two. Who’s taking them this time?"

Only Saber and Ruby took the chains this time.

Rei still avoided them.

She didn’t even glance at the glowing ends when I held them out. I stopped caring. If she wanted to fight blind, that was her problem.

We walked deeper into the cave system.

The greenish water ran thicker along the walls now, and the air grew colder. Distant vibrations still pulsed through the stone, but they felt farther away.

I broke the silence first.

"The Guildmaster said five teams. Anyone know what that actually means?"

Ruby answered without looking back.

"You don’t know? We’re competing with them. Whoever clears first gets a reward."

"From who?"

"From the Guildmasters, of course. It’s just something they do to motivate the first-timers."

"So we’re in a race."

Rei’s voice cut in from the front, flat and cold.

"It always has been. Someone’s just too careless."

I stopped walking.

She didn’t.

I closed the distance in three steps and caught her wrist before she could take another.

"You give me that again," I said, voice low, "and I don’t know what I’ll do."

Rei turned her head slowly. Her dark eyes met mine without flinching.

"Did I hurt a male ego? My bad. Get used to it. We will train more in the future."

I released her wrist and formed a single combat chain in my right hand. The links solidified with a soft metallic sound.

At the same time, Rei sliced her palm again. Blood rose, hardened, and stretched into a longer, thinner blade than before. The cut on her hand was already sealing, but a faint smear of red still marked her skin.

Saber raised both hands, white eyes turning toward the tension in the air.

"Guys, we can talk it out."

Ruby stepped sideways, already positioning herself out of the immediate range.

"Oh, this is better than the dungeon."

Neither of us looked at them.

Rei moved first.

She closed the gap with the same explosive speed she had used against the giant hamster.

The blood blade came in a tight diagonal aimed at my shoulder. I stepped inside the arc and let the combat chain snap upward, catching the edge of her weapon and redirecting it.

Sparks of solidified blood and blue energy scattered across the wet stone.

She didn’t pause.

The blade dissolved mid-swing and reformed in her other hand, already cutting low toward my knee.

I jumped back, boots skidding on the slick ground. The chain lashed out and wrapped around her free wrist for half a second before she twisted and broke the hold by sheer force.

We circled.

No more testing. No more holding back.

Rei pressed harder. Every strike came faster than the last. She used the cave walls, the uneven ground, the glowing water pools, anything to create angles.

Blood blades formed and dissolved in rapid succession, each one slightly longer or thinner than the previous.

She was spending more than she needed to. I could feel it.

A cut opened on her left forearm when she blocked one of my chain strikes with the flat of her blade.

The wound sealed almost immediately, but the skin around it stayed pale for a second longer than it should have.

Her next step was half a fraction off. The hand that held the blade trembled once, barely noticeable, before she forced it steady again.

I saw it.

The same way I had read Gianna’s footwork yesterday in the training hall. The tiny shift in weight. The micro-hesitation before the next attack. My Perception stat and the residual feedback from the Appraisal chains made the tell scream at me.

I didn’t overpower her. I anticipated.

When she committed to a high thrust, I was already moving under it. The combat chain wrapped around her ankle and yanked.

She stumbled. For the first time since the spar started, her balance broke. I stepped in, closed the distance, and stopped with the solid end of the chain pressed lightly against the side of her neck.

Neither of us moved.

Her breathing was controlled, but her eyes had changed. She knew I had seen the tell. She knew I had used it. The knowledge sat between us like a second blade.

I didn’t push the chain any harder. I didn’t force her to the ground. I just held the position and waited.

Rei stared at me for a long second. Then she dissolved the blood blade completely. The cut on her palm closed the rest of the way, but a faint residual paleness remained across her knuckles.

She stepped back. I released the chain and let it fade.

Saber and Ruby stayed silent.

Rei wiped the last trace of blood from her hand against her combat leathers. Her expression was unreadable again, but something colder sat behind her eyes now.

"You’re not what I expected," she said.

That was all.

She turned and started walking deeper into the tunnel without another word. No acknowledgment of the near-loss.

No comment on the fact that I had stopped the moment I had the advantage.

Just the single line, and then her back.

I watched her go for a moment longer than necessary.

Ruby finally exhaled.

"Well. That was ugly."

Saber’s white eyes remained fixed in Rei’s direction.

"She pushed further than she needed to," she murmured. "I could feel the mana cost spike at the end."

I didn’t answer either of them. I just reformed the Appraisal chains and held the ends out again.

Saber and Ruby took them without comment. Rei kept walking ahead, alone.

We followed.

The cave grew quieter the deeper we went. The distant vibrations had stopped. Only the steady drip of water remained.

I kept my eyes on Rei’s back and said nothing about the flicker of weakness I had seen. She already knew I had noticed. That was enough for now.

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