My Succubus Harem System In The Reverse World

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Every Open Blade is Scented Bait

Ruby walked beside me and nudged my arm with her elbow.

"You were too rough."

I kept my eyes on the tunnel ahead.

"Was I? Didn’t you see her pointing a fucking knife at me?"

"You started it."

"I wanted to be a team."

I picked up my pace and moved ahead until I was walking parallel to Rei.

She didn’t look at me. Her braid swayed once with each step, and the faint residual scent of blood still clung to the air around her from the earlier spar.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Tell me. Are you one of those who hate men because they are rare and get special privileges? Or do you just hate me?"

Rei finally turned her head. Her dark eyes were unreadable in the greenish glow of the cave water.

"I don’t know you enough to hate you."

"Exactly. You don’t know me. The whole reason we are here is to know each other. You don’t want the chain. That’s fine."

I reached out and caught her wrist, not hard, just enough to stop her for a second.

"Don’t act like you are the only one with common sense. Everyone here wants to clear this place."

She looked down at my hand, then back up at my face.

"Revien. Next time, don’t hesitate. It makes me miserable."

She pulled her wrist free and kept walking.

I let her go.

We moved deeper in silence for several minutes.

The tunnel widened, then narrowed again. The green water ran thicker along the walls. Saber walked a half-step ahead of me, her white eyes unfocused but her head constantly tilting to catch shifts in air and mana.

Ruby stayed close on my left, the glow of her healing mana still faintly active around her hands.

Then something moved.

It wasn’t the heavy, ground-shaking presence of the giant hamster.

This was lighter. Faster. Multiple points of movement, low to the ground, spreading out along the walls and ceiling.

Saber’s voice came through the shared Appraisal link, sharp and clear.

"Four signatures. No, six. They’re circling. Heat is low, but the mana density is wrong. They’re drawn to something."

Ruby’s amber eyes narrowed.

"Drawn to what?"

I already knew the answer.

The scent of Rei’s blood from the spar was still in the air. Faint, but present. And these things could smell it.

A long, pale shape dropped from the ceiling directly in front of Rei. It looked like a leech that had grown legs and a mouth full of needle teeth.

The body was translucent in places, and dark fluid pulsed inside it. The moment it landed, its head snapped toward Rei, and it let out a wet, clicking hiss.

Two more dropped behind us.

Another three crawled out of cracks in the stone walls.

They were all focused on her.

Rei’s blood blade formed instantly.

She cut the first leech-creature cleanly in half. Dark fluid sprayed across the stone. The scent of her own blood mixed with the creature’s as the cut on her palm reopened slightly from the force of the strike.

The remaining five went feral.

They moved faster. The air itself seemed to thicken with the metallic scent. One launched itself at her from the side.

She twisted and cut it mid-air, but another was already climbing her leg. She kicked it off and formed a second blade in her other hand, cutting two more in rapid succession.

Every time she formed a blade, more of her blood entered the air. Every time more of her blood entered the air, the remaining creatures grew stronger and faster.

I saw the pattern immediately.

"Rei, stop using the blades!"

She ignored me and cut another one.

The creature’s body burst, spraying more fluid. The last two remaining leeches let out a high-pitched shriek and charged her together, their bodies visibly swelling and their movements becoming sharper.

I formed the combat chain and lashed it around one of them, yanking it sideways into the wall hard enough to crack its body open.

Saber moved in perfect sync through the shared vision, her whip-sword snapping out and severing the second creature’s head before it could reach Rei.

Ruby was already at Rei’s side, green light flaring from her hands as she pressed them against the shallow cuts on Rei’s palms and forearm.

"You’re bleeding more than you think," Ruby said, voice tight.

"These things are amplifying it."

Rei’s breathing was controlled, but her face had gone a shade paler than before.

The hand that still held the blood blade trembled once before she forced it steady and dissolved the weapon completely. The chamber fell quiet again, broken only by the steady drip of water and the wet sounds of the creatures’ remains sliding down the stone.

I released the combat chain and let it fade.

Saber’s white eyes remained fixed on the corpses.

"They were drawn to the scent. The more she used her ability, the stronger they became. That’s a dangerous matchup."

Ruby finished the last of the healing and stepped back.

"Her power is strong, but it leaves a trail. These kinds of monsters exist in real gates too. Leech-types, scent-hounds, blood-seekers. They get worse the longer the fight goes."

Rei wiped her hands on her combat leathers and looked at me. The earlier coldness was still there, but something else sat behind it now: calculation.

"You told me to stop," she said.

"Because every blade you made was bait."

She was silent for a long moment. Then she gave a single, short nod.

"Noted."

That was all.

We reformed the group and started moving again.

This time Rei stayed closer to the rest of us instead of walking ahead alone. She still refused the Appraisal chain when I offered it, but she didn’t put as much distance between us as before.

The cave system continued downward.

Ruby walked beside me again and spoke quietly.

"She’ll remember that. Rei doesn’t like being told what to do, but she likes dying even less."

"I’m not here to make her like me," I replied.

"Good. Because that would take years."

Saber’s voice came through the link, calm and focused.

"New signatures ahead. Larger. Three of them. Not leech-types this time."

I formed the combat chain again and glanced at Rei.

She met my eyes for half a second, then looked forward and formed a fresh blood blade, shorter this time, more controlled.

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