Chapter 209: A very big side effect
As the sun rose on the horizon, the succubus slowly began to wake up.
Medea was the first to open her eyes, a terrible headache making her mood even sourer than usual. Even after a full night of sleep, she felt like her mana hadn’t recovered properly, an unfortunate side effect of the power she had used earlier.
"What a pain..." she let out an overly long sigh. She couldn’t even conjure a grimoire because her mana control was erratic.
Controlling such a gigantic amount of energy had essentially "burned" her natural mana pathways.
The technical reality was slightly different, but the end result was the same: she had temporarily lost the ability to use magic. Even though she was acting tough, she felt somewhat helpless without it.
"Are you already awake?" Martena was the next to open her eyes.
She could feel that something was wrong with Medea. More than that, a chill ran down her spine as she sensed a strange, heavy aura radiating from their makeshift home.
She approached the exit and, pushing her head out of the giant tree, looked at the exterior. Her heart tightened at the sight of so much death.
"I’m sorry; it was me who caused it..." Medea commented, feeling a heavy weight of guilt.
Martena stepped toward her, placing a soothing hand on Medea’s shoulder. She offered a soft, reassuring smile.
"I’m sure you did what you had to do to protect us," she gently hugged the mage. "Thank you very much for protecting me."
"You... you are welcome," Medea murmured, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She didn’t exactly love hugs, but this time it felt surprisingly nice.
"But are you okay? Using such a huge power must have consequences, right?" Martena asked, looking Medea up and down with worried eyes.
"I can say the same; the power you gave Shin was incredible. Are you sure you are fine after that?"
Martena looked down. "Actually, there is a cost," she grabbed her own huge breasts, the tip of her finger brushing against her nipple through her clothes. "I can’t produce milk, at least not for now."
"So your consequences are similar to mine..." Medea whispered, touching her chest, right over the spot where her own mana pathways felt frayed.
In her case, she knew the reason and could estimate that it would take at least three days to recover.
Medea toyed with her index finger as she wondered if not being able to use their power would be a common consequence for succubi using their trump card.
However, it was clear that the cause of it for Martena was different from hers.
"The two of you are lucky; at least you exist," a whisper that apparently came from nowhere reached her ears.
Medea blinked. "Yasmin, are you okay?"
"Yeah..." she let out a sigh. "I also faced monsters and ended up using all my power to defeat them. However, now I’m lost in darkness."
Right after falling asleep, Yasmin’s body disappeared. She lost all her senses, being thrown into an infinite darkness.
And after some time, she began recovering some senses. For now, she could hear things and smell the morning aroma.
Hopefully, in some time she would fully recover and be back to normal.
"This is so terrible," Martena commented, shivering at the idea of staying in pure darkness, feeling absolutely nothing. "But at least everyone is alive."
"Yes, it was a miracle." Now it was Octavia’s turn to open her eyes, waking up slowly. Her face grimaced as she put her hand on her forehead due to a headache.
Medea frowned as she noticed Octavia rubbing her temples. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice softer than usual.
Octavia let out a quiet sigh before giving a small nod. "I’m fine. Just a headache... and I’m exhausted."
Martena’s ears drooped immediately. "Oh no..." she murmured. "Did we wake you up? I’m sorry."
Octavia looked at her with tired, half-lidded eyes. The pounding in her head had left her with little patience.
"No," she answered flatly. "But no one can keep sleeping when people are talking that loudly."
Medea blinked before crossing her arms.
"Loudly?" she complained. "We were practically whispering."
She pointed a thumb over her shoulder toward Mora, who was still fast asleep, lying on the ground with a blissful smile, as her large chest rose and fell with each breath.
"And that stupid bimbo is still sleeping."
As if to prove Medea’s point, Mora let out a content little snore, not stirring in the slightest.
Octavia simply stared at the sleeping woman for a moment before closing her eyes with another weary sigh.
"Still," Octavia muttered, rubbing her temples, "it’s annoying."
Martena bit her lip, still looking guilty. "I’m really sorry if we disturbed you, Octavia."
"No... no... sorry too, I overreacted," Octavia admitted, being disarmed by Martena’s sweet tone of voice.
Just then, all eyes turned to Shin, who was still unconscious, breathing heavily, but something was unmistakably wrong.
His pants had been torn open at the front, shredded by the sheer pressure of what now stood exposed.
His body had swollen to an absurd, disproportionate state, thicker than a man’s arm and longer than his own forearm, veins pulsing with raw power.
It twitched rhythmically, radiating an overwhelming wave of energy that made the air feel thick and heavy.
Martena’s cheeks flushed deep crimson. "Oh... that’s my fault," she whispered, biting her lip. "I transferred so much energy into him during the fight to make him stronger. It must have... built up. He needs to release it, or it won’t go down."
Medea stared, equal parts fear and uneasy desire flickering in her eyes. Her thighs pressed together instinctively.
"There’s no way any of us could handle that," she said hoarsely. "Shin would literally overwhelm us with that. We’d be completely overwhelmed before it was even halfway done."
"Maybe we could use our strength?" Octavia gripped her own chest, but succubi knew better than anyone that simple effort was not enough to release such a large amount of energy.
So finally, their eyes fell on the only solution they could think of. The ridiculous bimbo lay on her back, her body rising and falling with each peaceful snore, completely oblivious to their discussion and the problem.
Martena swallowed hard. "Maybe... she could handle it?"
Mora let out another soft, contented snore, completely oblivious.