Chapter 82: Saving Harlow (1/2)

The nest of the harpies was similarly built in a corner of the maze. Their nest was hollowed out in a ‘U’ shape with a portion of it leading through to the other side of the maze.

Even now, we still didn’t know how many harpies resided in this hollowed nest, nor did we know if there were any four-stars here. And so, it was imperative that we rescued Harlow as soon as possible.

I led the party off into the direction I saw the harpy fly in. However, before I could take a couple more steps, I was abruptly lifted up by a furry hand and placed onto the shoulders of Habona. My speed was clearly too slow for these four-stars and so I was relegated to pointing instead.

“Forward, take a turn…ah, to the right”

As I only knew the rough location of that harpy, I had some difficulty giving out directions. Strangely, our road so far had been pretty smooth. Except for the initial wave of harpies, we basically navigated through their nest unopposed.

This struck me as being extremely suspicious, therefore I made a mental note of this as I continued guiding the party. This was, after all, the nest of the harpies, the lack of harpies wasn’t normal and could just be a trap. Getting ambushed because of a moment of carelessness was simply not worth it.

The nest was unexpectedly vast, but with our rapid pacing it didn’t take long before we located Harlow.

Perhaps the heavens finally smiled favorably on us but only after a few minutes of running, Habona was able to pick up the scent of Harlow.

“I’ve got his scent. It’s coming from this direction.” She growled excitedly as she took off, leaving the two medusas in the dust. As I sat through this rollercoaster ride of a dash, my body was pelted with fragments from an assortment of objects.

After ten seconds of sprinting, we came upon an area where various species of organisms were held captive.

I staggered around after hopping off her shoulder; her speed was simply too much for me to bear and had nearly knocked me unconscious. As I wandered around in a daze, I was hit with an odd smell. It was clearly an awful scent but it was strangely soothing. It felt like I could put aside all my worries just by being here.

As I continued inhaling this strange scent, I felt a strange heat growing within my body…

While I hadn’t taken an aphrodisiac before, it was clear to me that this scent was an aphrodisiac of sorts.

“Don’t inhale the air, there’s something wrong with it.” Perhaps it was due to my unique constitution protecting me or perhaps it was due to my innate talents as a sage (virgin males above 40 but below 50) showing their true value, but either way I was unexpectedly resistant to its temptations.

Of course, it could just be my lack of a pee pee at work here. Regardless, that strange heat began to rapidly cool down before it even had the chance to take effect.

Habona on the other hand, didn’t notice anything strange and instead waved her hand dismissively, “It’s fine, the bodily fluids of a harpy has a bewitching effect. It’s only effective on males though.”

“…” Based on this piece of information, I’ve learnt two things. The first was that the strange scent came from the bodily fluids of a harpy. The second was that I’m…neither a male nor a female…

…nooo, I don’t want to be a trannie!!

Unfortunately or perhaps I should say, fortunately for me, I didn’t have much time to mourn this fact as I came back to my senses and began scanning the area for our main objective, Harlow.

Just based on the frightening sight before me, I could tell that this was the mating area of the harpies. There were over ten male creatures lying stock still on the floor; devils, demonic half-orcs, ratmen, dogmen and even three lizardmen.

They came from a wide gamut of races but they all had one thing in common, that was that they were emancipated to the point where their bones could be seen through their skin. It was as if they were drained dry after countless assaults. The lifeless males stared blankly at the ceiling, not even noticing our arrival.

Right at the corner of the area was the sole werewolf in the bunch. Unlike the others, he still maintained his original appearance, without the characteristic stoned look of the others. He probably hadn’t been here for long; his condition was mostly alright albeit worrisome.

He laid there spread-eagled on the floor, secured tautly by four ropes tied to a separate pole. His eyes were slightly glazed over as he stared mutely at the ceiling. On his dishevelled body was the pungent scent of the harpy’s bodily fluid.

…is this Harlow…

“Harlow!” Habona’s shout rendered any need to guess useless. She rushed to his side in a couple of strides and with a swift swipe of her claws, cut the bindings on herbrother.

“Harlow, wake up! It’s me, your sister is here to save you!”

She grabbed his shoulders and shook it excitedly. It didn’t work and so she shook him even harder, shaking basically his entire upper body. However, he merely stood there dumbly staring at her.

Seeing his lack of response, frightened her even more. She slapped him several times without giving it much thought. As the vicious slaps rang out across the mating area, his lifeless eyes finally began to stir.

“Sis…sister…” His unfocused gaze finally centered on the female werewolf in front of him. As he took in the familiar sight and scent of his sister, his puppy dog eyes watered up and immediately broke down into tears. “Sis…it was terrible…they…they were just merciless…wah wah…”

From the looks of it, he’s had some rough experiences. I wonder how many times his little wolf was bullied…

“Don’t worry, Big Sis is here to save you, I’ll bring you out right now.”

Just as she lifted up the frail werewolf, his body immediately collapsed as his eyes rolled into the back of his head; he was simply too weak right now. Habona rushed in to catch his falling body, not caring about the filthy bodily fluids on him.

“Harlow!” The lagging medusas finally caught up at this point. With just a glance, Majosha immediately recognized her lover and slithered up to him with a few rapid shakes of her tail, pulling him into her embrace unabashedly. Given his height of 2.5 meters, he still managed to tower over her despite his slumped body.