Chapter 25: Lamias Mark -Volume End (1/2)

Karnage: Second time I'm uploading this for the night. Errors like crazy popping up.

Chapter 25 - Volume End.

Within an unknown cave-

[I owe you one?...how exactly do I give you one in return?] -Sol

As Sol asked these questions, he realized she had long left. Sol sat and pondered and was about to ask Mitra a question when -

*Whish*

A silhouette suddenly appeared directly behind Sol so quickly that he didn't even have a second to react, he suddenly felt a sense of danger but it was quickly suppressed-

[...I almost forgot...] -Lamia

*Puchi*

The Lamia inserted her fangs into his neck lightly and injected something, Sol felt his mind go hazy and only managed to hear a cold and detached voice as it trailed off into the wind-

[..Don't forget...same time...same place..next year...*hiss*] -Lamia

Sol lost consciousness-

*HISSSSS*

A terrifying hiss rang out as the Fanged Blades forcefully left Sol's runic ring and flew out beside him pointing directly towards the Lamia with a terrible rage-

It flew up and shone brightly, an illusionary image of a Winged Golden-Blooded Basilisk Queen flew up and coiled around Sol's unconscious body. It shot out directly after the Lamia and smashed directly against her claws-

*BANG* *BANG*

The Lamia deflected the blades with a swipe of her claws but was pushed back a bit giving her a surprise.

[Relax Queen...I'm not here to harm him. This is for his protection] -Lamia

*BANG* *BANG*

However, the Fanged Blades did not listen, the Lamia suddenly felt incredibly threatened and her eyes glared at the Blades but she said nothing and the illusion S-Rank Queen stared daggers at her. The Lamia sighed, a tinge of warmth could be heard in her voice amongst the cold when she spoke towards the Queen Basilisk-

[What a selfish Queen...He is fine, check him yourself. I just gave him my mark that's all, you should know why I came out here in the first place] -Lamia

The Illusionary Queen stared at the mark on Sol's neck and then settled somewhat, she took a last complicated look at the Lamia and then the Fanged Blades rested on Sol's body. The Lamia looked at the Fanged Bladers, the twin Basilisks came out from his arms and they rubbed their heads against the Fanged Blades and made low sounds.

The Queen Basilisk could not forcefully leave Sol's runic ring while he was awake or conscious and so she could only watch furiously from inside when the Lamia had attacked, but now that Sol had fallen unconscious she wasted no effort and immediately came out bringing a threatening aura of savage degree that made the Lamia carefully watch her.

The Queen Basilisk understood that Sol didn't draw his weapons out of respect for her, the same as the time when Sol met her, but the Queen didn't care about that, if it was dangerous to Sol then she would certainly strive to kill it and take the opportunity if she had the chance. In her illusionary form she stared at the Lamia, her eyes not moving for a second.

(His Sentient Weapon and his Soul beasts are related? Absurd.. No wonder this weapon is so abnormal..This Queen can even manifest her power for a short time,) -Lamia

The Lamia took one last look at Sol and was about to leave when she suddenly felt incomparably weak and almost fell to the floor-

(What...is this?...Ugh..) -Lamia

A dark and thick red essence left her body and flowed directly into Sol, the Lamia stared wide-eyed at the essence going towards Sol, this was the first time her composure had been broken. One could see a hint of fear emerge from her eyes as she stared at Sol-

(It...Can't be? This guy..) -Lamia

The blood red essence left her and made a trail directly into the holes pierced in Sol's neck. The same holes she had made with her fangs, and upon realizing this she had a range of emotions flashed through her but none of them were with good intentions and every one of them had the urge to kill.

The Basilisk Queen upon sensing this rise in killing intent, hissed madly and let out terrible threatening sounds towards the Lamia.

[Relax...I have not changed my mind yet..] -Lamia

Even though she said this, the Queen Basilisk didn't care, If she came close then she would certainly strike to kill regardless of if she intends to kill him or not, and the Lamia understood this and maintained her distance. The essence stopped leaking after a short while and the tiny holes in Sol's neck changed and became a dark red tattoo of a coiled serpent coiled into an eight shape. The Lamia upon seeing this had fear and terror present in her eyes as she gazed upon it, still she it had a strand of curiosity lurking.

She stood in the darkness watching Sol's unconscious body, the Queen Basilisk resting on Sol's stomach keeping a vigilant eye, judging by the dim reaction she probably only had enough for a single attack left. The Lamia on the other hand did not dare be careless and rush in and instead waited, the killing intent had faded but was very much present.

**

After half a day Sol regained his consciousness-

[Ugh..What...happened? Ugh..I feel like I've been hit by a mountain....Ohh right...She bit me..] -Sol

Sol reflexively placed his hands on his neck and felt two tiny holes, he also felt like something had entered him but he didn't know what. As his body could easily tell any abnormalities, Sol checked and he sensed nothing wrong. He knew whatever the Lamia tried to do she didn't take his abnormalities into play. He also knew that whatever she did was not meant to be harmful yet it still had him a bit disturbed.

Sol's body had possessed a natural resistance under the S-Rank poison thanks to the Queen Basilisk and the effects of the Eternity Pill made it permanent and increased it to the point where the poison must substantially be above the S-Rank level in order to bring any harm to Sol. He wasn't sure if she had used a poison but he doubted it, she could have already killed him with her two hands easily why bother using poison? He just knew that something entered him and he wasn't sure and for some reason it didn't feel like it had a bad purpose.

What Sol was given was the Lamia's mark, it was given to humans who had been selected by a Lamia to procreate, this mark would last anywhere from 1-10 years and so long as one possessed it the Lamia would always know the person's position and status.

The Lamia's mark cleansed one's body of filth or any illnesses with a particular type of poison, there were even rumors about a Lamia's mark curing a disease known as ”Stone veins” where one's mana veins within the Dantian had obviously become hard and stone-like thereby not allowing one to practice magic or physical combat and left them crippled.

The Lamia mark also had minor supportive effects, such as keeping other Lamias away as they had an unspoken rule of not touching one another's ”Prey”. It also acted as a deterrent for Serpent type beasts under the Rank of the ent.i.ty that placed the Lamia Mark. If the Lamia who placed the mark was S-Rank then naturally any serpent type beast under S-Rank will ignore the marked target so long as they aren't disturbed.

This mark wasn't just reserved towards serpent type beasts but beasts who were intelligent enough to understand the mark or had strong enough instincts to sense the danger from the mark. They would ignore anyone marked by a Lamia and there were very few both human and beast that would knowingly incur the wrath of a Lamia.

There were stories handed down throughout humanity about them that dates back as far as they could remember. It was said that Lamias would wait for hundreds of years to settle a debt and they would patiently wait. What was even more frightening was the network which they created for themselves, Lamias possessed the rare gift of Telepathy and they would exchange all sorts of information using this method.

This species was born with a set affinity much like other hidden races and water was their predetermined element. Naturally they lived in water and owned nests scattered through Magnolia, using telepathy they could get to know anything they needed to know no matter how far it was as long as one of theirs were at the target area.

If Lamias used this Telepathy, they could issue orders to any lower life-forms within their area to find a target if need be. Finding their targets were not hard at all and it's because of these speculations that people came to fear them and never offend them.

There was once a story of a young prince who had been saved by a Lamia after almost losing a war, they both made a promise to another. The Lamia would help the prince s.h.i.+ft the war in his favor and then ten years later he would return to the forest and sow a seed with her.  So it came to be and the Lamia led a force of Beasts to attack the enemy forces and the prince had won the war and returned home triumphant.

He was heralded as a war hero and became King of his city, time flew and he married and had children. All the while the Lamia remained silent awaiting his fulfillment, the King continued to rule and his country became prosperous and soon he had forgotten completely about his promise.

Naturally his wife had heard of this affair and told him to forget about it and he himself agreed with her, he had become arrogant and blind as he held a much more powerful force compared to ten years ago. He felt that a mere Lamia no longer posed a threat to him and with a simple order he could find her and kill her as he please.

One day a maid who had been serving him for a decade suddenly asked him, ”What's a Lamia like?”. This question stumped the King and most of all it hurt his pride because the sudden question had brought about a fear in his heart. His pride got the better of him and rather than rebuke the maid for her rudeness, to cover his shame he put a smile on his face and described the most grotesque thing he could ever think of with a laugh.

Suddenly the maid smiled and said in a terribly cold voice -

”Is that so?....You might be right”

The maid's lower body then changed to that of a Lamia's and she then ruthlessly slaughtered everyone inside the palace except for the King, his family and the guard who had been at the King's side the entire time. No one knew when but the gates to the Kingdom were opened and beasts poured within the gate, the Lamia brought the King and his family to watch as his city burned.

The King tried to make all manner of excuses but was told a simple statement.

[The life of this city is not enough to quell my rage..I need more] -Lamia

After that, she brutally murdered the royal family slowly and painfully. She made families play sick and tormented games to kill one another and then delivered the King's guard who had lost his mind to another city. The guard who was dragged around the Kingdom to watch as the Lamia killed everything in sight, recited everything he saw to the King of that city. A short while after the man could no longer hold onto his sanity any longer and then took his life in fear that she would return for him.

People personally went to the cities to confirm the tragedy and it had become known to every living human alive, that they were not to be trifled with. It was then the fear of Lamias had become deeply ingrained in people and very few would dare anger them. Before similar reports had been heard before, but were never taken seriously until it happened to a King and then they realized just how grave the situation was.

Even if the most l.u.s.tful man noticed a beautiful naked woman sitting by a stream with half her body submerged while singing and combing her hair with her fingers alone, they would bow and turn around and run no matter how hot their pants were. In the forest, there was no such thing as time for a man to try to take advantage of a woman, even the wrong insect could end your life with the right bite in the right place.

They earned the most notorious names throughout the period of ages, ”She Devil” ”Serpent Woman” ”Vengeful Matriachs” and many more.

The other hidden races were not inferior to them in the slightest and also possessed similar marks. However there was one thing common about these marks, they all possessed one similarity. If the one bitten and given a mark has complete compatibility with the mark, then the mark becomes permanent and changes to something else.

Within history there has ever only been a few cases of such a thing happening, for example, Lamias usually give birth to females who are Lamias almost 99% of the time. On the rare 1 %occasion they give birth to a male, it is usually a 100% human with no Lamia characteristics. However that is not the case, if a male who had been born from a Lamia were to receive it's mark there was a very slight chance that an abnormality would occur.

The Lamia's mark would rose the human male's Lamia DNA and the one that gave him the mark would become submissive towards them. This mark had many different stages and as one's power increases, so does the mark. Most of the time when this occurs, if the male has less compatibility than required, he would be driven insane by the raw animalistic urges coming from the mark and they were usually killed on site by the Lamia that gave them the mark to retain their freedom.

However regardless of if they were driven insane or not by the mark, once the mark mutates Lamia's as well as the other hidden races usually kill them because none of the choices are good news for them. If one is insane, then they would usually put them out of their misery....but..should one retain his sanity...Then an entirely new breed of Lamia or hidden race is born..and this is what they fear most.

The new breed of Lamia, were usually males and possessed a King's aura granted by the mark and could suppress weaker beasts no matter their numbers even if one were surrounded completely. It was especially effective against serpents, Lamias and even some hybrid dragons. The number of people who were recorded in history to ever gain this mark were less than one can count on his hands and every single one of them had used this mark for greedy purposes.

There were even recordings of human men who possessed the mark of Wolven Men and every full moon they would lose their minds in bloodl.u.s.t and engage in an utter blood bath. Their forms would change from men into cruel and ruthless beasts that killed for sport and the most terrifying part about Wolven men were their abilities to call forth all canine type beasts within the area and send them into a frenzy..

People who possessed mutated marks of hidden races were hunted down and killed by, humans, beasts and especially the hidden race of the mark's origin. The perfect mutated mark could enslave their kind because of the King's aura it gave off and would automatically make them submit.

This is precisely why the Lamia changed it's mind and killing intent immediately poured out at Sol, she would know which type he was when he woke up, but regardless of which she had already decided to kill him. However, the process of giving one a mutated mark usually drains out a Lamia's essence and weakens them for a period of time.

Before she could have easily killed him but now that her power had been greatly weakened, the Fanged Blades were preventing her from killing him and in her currently weakened state it could surely kill her so she didn't dare make any rash moves. She was aware that the Queen Basilisk's venom would be no joke and she believed this particular Queen Basilisk was abnormal and had a strong attachment towards Sol and would never let her guard down as long as she was around.

**

Sol had only just awaken and was feeling himself out, when he noticed the terrifying killing intent pointed towards him.

[...Change of plans..for one year, you are not to leave this valley...if you do I will kill you..] -Lamia

[Good morning to you too, care to tell me why you have killing intent pointed towards me?] -Sol

Sol had grown a bit tired of this Lamia's games and though he had respect for power, he didn't like being toyed with and

[....You are not to leave this valley for one year, if you do, you will learn how real this killing intent is] -Lamia

Sol noticed a huffing in her breathe and a dimness in her eyes that wasn't present before, he got a sense that she was much weaker for some reason and did not miss this. He also noticed the sense of danger he felt now compared to before was minimal even though her killing intent was high, he thought for a minute and then seemed to understand.

[You look weaker...much much weaker. For some reason...I don't think you can kill me right now anymore] -Sol

The Lamia didn't flinch or show any expression to Sol's words and she hid it pretty well, but Sol was just too intelligent and possessed the experience that was able to tell slight changes within people.

*Whoosh*

n.o.body had known when, but Sol had already kicked off the floor and approached her with both Fanged Blades in his hands. The Lamia's pupils contracted and had not realized that Sol would be so decisive and directly followed through with his immediate decision to attack.

She lifted her claws and swung towards him almost instantly to counter, sadly her power was greatly weakened and was met with an illusion and swiped nothing but air-

*SLLLLLINGG*

The Lamia stopped her attack because Sol's Fanged Blades were already pressed against her neck, the mutated mark had already begun showing it's effect and she was slightly suppressed because of it. However, she knew that even with the Mutated mark the only way he could have placed her in such a deadlock position were a combination off a few things. His natural speed which surpa.s.sed warriors and were comparable to beasts and his decisive demeanor.

She knew that very few blades could cut her skin of S-Rank, but this unfortunately was such a weapon and if she were to be poisoned by it in her weakened state the outcome was obvious. She dared not move and stared at Sol without flinching but panic was obviously written in her eyes. Even if Sol had it pressed near her and didn't kill her yet, she was sure the Queen inside the blades wanted to kill her and would surely do so, she didn't dare agitate it.

[I have no reason to kill you, why do you want to kill me?] -Sol

[...Your mark...it wasn't supposed to be like that...if you leave here before one year, I will die. If I do not kill you now, then in the future you would bring destruction to my family and I must kill you no matter what. If my sisters learn of your existence, they will hunt you down no matter where you are and slaughter you..] -Lamia

[My mark?] -Sol

[Master! She means your neck!] -Mitra

Sol remembered the two holes, and asked her seriously. A sense of anger welled up inside but he ignored it and remained calm. It was because of them in the first place he got this mark and now he was being threatened again, even the most pious man would become annoyed. Sol offered her the same choices she offered him before-

[What did you do to me?..Lie and you Die] -Sol

The Lamia hesitated for a second and then spoke.

[I gave you my mark, it was supposed to show others you were my selected mate and other beasts or Lamias wouldn't disturb you..but..something went wrong..I need to get back my essence from you or regardless of what happens I will die] -Lamia

Sol looked at her for a second and then asked Mitra through their special connection without making a slight change. He couldn't see through her expressions completely and her heart was too tranquil for him to notice any differences, but he knew she wasn't lying about most of it but still it was in his nature to want to verify if all the facts were indeed correct.

(Is what she says the truth?) -Sol

(Master she's not lying, you gained a mutated mark, you won't see it's effects right away and only the original Lamia's mark would work. The mutation doesn't happen until much later down but this is why she tried to kill you, to regain her essence you stole from her. If she doesn't regain her essence and your mark mutates further, she will become sired to you in a manner of speaking

The reason she says she will die if she doesn't retrieve her essence is most likely cause she would rather die than be at the mercy of a human. Stuff like this has happened before in the past and Lamias had to make deals with non serpent beasts to eradicate the humans that possessed these marks because they were heavily subdued by these marks. Lamias who've been subdued by these marks have suffered all manners of terrible fates and ever since they always took counter-measures) -Mitra

(I see..Are there any side-effects?) -Sol

(No master, you've already cleared the hardest part. The fact that you have you're sanity is proof of that. The usual mark doesn't cause anyone harm, but this particular mutated brand is different. If master didn't have compatibility with serpents thanks to the Queen Basilisk, master probably would have been eating this Lamia alive already after slicing her to bits) -Mitra

(Master, what are you going to do? Compared to most Lamias, this one is probably only about 500 years old and is considered very young and is actually more understanding than others. Besides, I can tell master doesn't want to kill her, and you're not wrong. With a little persuasion she would most likely calm down, I suspect you are her first mate candidate and she is inexperienced in these matters otherwise she would have gone at all costs to kill you immediately when she discovered the mark.

Killing her can breed more problems than solve, especially since she's this young the others probably wouldn't let you off if they've learned that you've killed her and chances are they probably already know she already chose her mate candidate. At best, they probably just don't know who you are yet and it would only be a matter of time until they ask her to see you...Also, I think this specific Lamia has a special and privileged background.

See her red hair? Lamia's have different types of hair colors that define the density of their beast blood. Red is one of the higher privileged hair colors, I suspect she is the daughter of a Matriach or an elder of some sort. Besides, master I'm sure you can put the moves on her and subdue her. Master is naturally handsome after all and second only to me.