Chapter 91: Beware of Lamias in Spring (1)

  Thud thud thud—

  'So this is why everyone goes crazy about owning their own horse, huh?'

  I hadn’t realized it while traveling by carriage, but riding a horse myself felt entirely different. There was o adjust to someone else's schedule, no reason to follow a fixed course. I could simply take the shortest route and dash wherever I wanted.

  Moreover, while a carriage could only aodate a single bag unless you paid a hefty fee to hire a personal one, my horse could carry all my equipment and even had a pouch attached to carry Molng and Shuru fortably, with plenty of room to spare.

  At first, the well-paved road made it easy to ride to the northermaories. However, heading northwest from there would lead to a sy area, formed by the melting waters of the eternal snows on the Deep Gountain range.

  The lizardmen who onhabited the ss he Yuta Delta had migrated here. Their old habitat was devastated during the war with the kingdom, and the influx of human cities and towns polluted the ss, making survival impossible. They now resided deep within this unpolluted, isoted region. They weren’t hostile toward the kingdom but remained ral, with no active iion.

  "Lamia, huh…"

  Now that I thought about it, in Professor Pandel’s Monster Ecology book, he described certain s-dwelling fish that could swim upstream against the current. These fish were said to use that ability to travel upstream and hunt prey. Apparently, this ability also allowed them to follow the flow of urine and burrow into a human’s urethra.

  There was even an at of a man having to undergery to remove one of these fish after it lodged itself deep in his urethra.

  'That has to be a lie just to stop people from peeing in the s.'

  It wasn’t like these were big, strong fish like salmon. A fish small enough to fit into a urethra surviving the force of a man’s uriream and swimming upward? Impossible. Besides, the book didn’t mention any specific cases, times, or people. It was likely just a baseless rumor.

  'The most dangerous creature in the s is the Lamia, right?'

  There were many types of Lamias, but the ones infamous in the s didn’t have venomous fangs. Instead, they were said to have extremely long bodies, which they used to crush their prey’s waist and kill them before swallowing them whole.

  Typically, Lamias didn’t target rge humans as prey, but the s-dwelling Lamias were reportedly rge enough to swallow aire cow—or even a person—whole.

  'As long as I’ve got armor, I shouldn’t be in danger, but the weight could be an issue.'

  To move quickly through the s, I’d o y body with mana and repel the water while running to maintain speed. Wearing armor would make that impossible.

  This left me with a choice: either ehe s armored and prioritize defense, or leave the armor behind to move more nimbly.

  'If my movements are slow, I’ll just be an easy target. I’ll go in unarmored.'

  To prepare for ued situations, I po store my armor in a magic bag that could also float, using it as a lifeboat if necessary.

  "Neighhh!"

  "Stay here for now."

  I couldn’t take my horse into the s, so I ehe vilge to leave it there. Showing my Mage Knight insignia to the vilgers, they weled me like a savior.

  Some of the younger men had gone missing, and it seemed they had disappeared into the s. Normally, Lamias would target livestock like chis s rather than humans, but something unusual might be happening.

  "I uand. I’ll iigate the s."

  "Please, we’re ting on you."

  After entrusting my horse to them, I prepared my equipment.

  Molng, being a slime, could easily navigate the s. Shuru, with her light weight and ability to leap through trees, could move faster than me, so I had no worries about her. Her clothes would only get caked with mud and weigh her down, so I po let her roam naked.

  Rip!

  I tore my own clothes to make movement easier, discarding even my underwear as it seemed like a hindrance. I ed a single piece of cloth around my waist like a skirt to cover my lower half before heading into the s.

  "Phew… It’s a bit chilly here."

  The cold air made Shuru, ging tightly to my body, shiver. I could even feel her hardened nipples pressing against me through her skin.

  The s’s icy waters came directly from the melted snow of the Deep Gountain ra was freezing cold but bearable, as the weather had warmed up somewhat, leaving only a slight chill.

  'During winter, Lamias and Lizardmen typically hiberhen again, they aren’t ordinary reptiles, are they?'

  Acc to Monster Ecology, Lamias and Lizardmen could slow their movements to a state simir to hibernation, but they weren’t capable of true hibernation like snakes or lizards.

  During winter, Lamias and Lizardmen don’t fully hibernate. Instead, they wake up every few days to eat stored food and then go back to sleep. That means you ’t rex around them in winter like you might with regur snakes.

  While they’re less active and more sluggish in cold ditions, their slowed brain activity often gives them a dazed appearance. But in spring, they bee highly active, hunting eically to replenish nutrients they cked during the winter.

  'At least beastfolk talk to you. I don’t know about Lamias, though.'

  Beastfolk, like Shuru who was ging to me now, often had a frietitude toward humans, so they weren’t usually an issue.

  "Shuru, are you cold?"

  "Meo..."

  Other cats have fur c their bodies to keep warm, but aside from her fluffy hair and cat ears, Shuru’s body wasn’t much different from a human’s, so she couldn’t help feeling chilly.

  Even so, being submerged in the s would sap body heat more if she were clothed, so putting clothes on her wasn’t practical. Instead, I cupped her small belly aly blew warm breaths onto it to warm her up.

  "Hoo... hoo..."

  "Meo!"

  As I blew on her belly, Shuru squirmed, gripping my hair as if throwing a tantrum. The sensation seemed ticklish to her, but she soon quieted down, enjoying the warmth.

  'Shuru’s starting to give off that distinct, arousing st. I should take care of her soon...'

  I decided to buy a shrinking potion to temporarily separate Molng and then focus on Shuru for a while. Molng received my essence regurly, but Shuru only did during her heat. It made seo make it t wheime came.

  Lig sounds followed as Shuru licked my hair affeately. I hoisted her onto my head and readjusted Molng, who was stig to my shoulder for warmth, before stepping deeper into the s.

  Spsh.

  The further north I traveled, the colder it became. But as I ehe s, the derees seemed to trap heat, making the temperature uedly fortable for my current attire.

  'It gets chilly sometimes, but this isn’t too bad.'

  As the temperature rose, I remained alert, sing my surroundings fns of Lamias, who could appear at any moment. It wasn’t long before I spotted something unmistakable.

  "Eh?"

  It looked like something had been dragged along the ground, leaving a long trail behind. The trail was bold and unhidden, leading me directly to a Lamia.

  'Is it dead?'

  At the end of the trail, a Lamia y sprawled on the s floor. With long bck hair and a rge, curvy body visible betweeorso and tail, it was clear she was female.

  "Hmm..."

  I carefully tucked Molng and Shuru into my bag before approag the Lamia. Even as my footsteps spshed through the s, the Lamia didn’t stir.

  Half expeg her to suddenly spring to life and attack, I kept my hand on my mana saber as I approached. But the Lamia didn’t move, barely evehing.

  Hisss…

  Her faint breaths came in intervals of about five minutes, suggesting she wasn’t in a state to do anything.

  'Should I ignore her and move on, or wake her up and find out what’s going on?'

  Since I o question her about the missing young men, I decided to wake her. Nudging her side with my foot, I tried to rouse her.

  "..."

  No response.

  From her occasional shallow breaths, she was alive but barely scious.

  'Could she be frozen solid?'

  For me, the s’s temperature was only mildly chilly, bearable even with minimal clothing. But apparently, it was harsher for her.

  "Tsk."

  Determio wake her, I rolled her onto her back. Her soft, scaly belly was exposed, along with her rge, hardened breasts. She was naked, her body entirely visible.

  Surprisingly, her appearance wasn’t arousing. Her breasts and hips were shaped like a woman’s, but they cked nipples enitals, giving her an oddly ral appearance.

  'So, ied nipples?'

  I recalled that Lamias were said to be born with ied nipples to prevent injury or wear while crawling. Indeed, unless I deliberately probed with my fingers, her nipples were so deeply retracted they were nearly impossible to spot.

  Pg my hand on her cold, hardened chest, I used my body heat to gradually softeissue. As I massaged her chest and belly, warmth returo her body, helping her recover.

  "Shuru."

  I pced Shuru on the Lamia’s head to transfer more heat to her upper body.

  'Her face is... quite pretty.'

  Her features resembled a human’s, though her mouth had slit-like extensions along her cheeks, probably to aodate swallowing rge prey. Her hair, while long, wasn’t soft like mammalian fur but felt more like fine scales, stiff and rough to the touch.

  'So all Lamias have straight hair, huh.'

  As I tinued massaging her chest, I felt the hardeissue begin to loosely pressing near where her nipples should be, I saw them start to emerge from hidden grooves.

  'Her nipples are surprisingly human-like.'

  Pulling on them caused the surrounding protective yer to slide away, revealing her nipples and areo. Once exposed, they looked natural, like a woman weariig lingerie.

  The sight was oddly captivating, and I couldn’t help but appreciate it.

  'She still seems too cold.'

  Despite her skin regaining some color, the Lamia remained unscious. Clearly, hand tact alone wasn’t enough.

  "If body heat isn’t enough, I’ll have to warm her up by sharing body warmth directly."

  This decision wasn’t driven by perversion—it urely practical. Warming her frozen body was necessary.

  As for my arousal? That was just a natural rea, not because of any improper thoughts.

  Ultimate-Harem-fan