28: Chapter 28 Dark Abyss

Ten minutes passed quietly in the busyness. Lin Muyang let out a long sigh of relief; he had finally restored the room to its original state. The water stains on the floor and furniture had been carefully wiped dry, and the moved items had been returned to their places. The only tricky part was the room temperature, which had soared due to the air conditioner's abnormal heating, making it stiflingly hot and hard to breathe.

However, for Lin Muyang, who possessed various Aura(s), this was not unsolvable. With a thought, an Aura called "Cooling Barrier" was quietly activated. An invisible chill spread out from him, effectively neutralizing the stuffiness in the room, and the temperature quickly dropped to a comfortable level. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly; although he had drawn quite a few absurd Aura(s) that left him between laughter and tears, practical ones like this could really come in handy at critical moments.

With everything tidied up, he turned his gaze to the dining table. At this moment, the Elf Maiden Lilia and Succubus Maiden Elabess were sitting side by side. Both had their hands neatly placed on their knees, like two elementary school students waiting for a teacher to hand out snacks, but the curiosity and slight unease revealed in their eyes exposed the fact that they were not from this world.

Lin Muyang walked over and sat down opposite them. The vintage-style princess bracelet on his wrist flashed with a faint light, and the table was instantly filled with steaming food. These were mainly prepared for Lilia, as she had clearly expressed her love for rabbit meat. Thus, fresh pot rabbit, dry pot rabbit, cold-eaten rabbit, spicy rabbit heads... a dazzling array of dishes made from rabbit meat appeared, and a rich aroma immediately filled the entire room.

When Lilia first saw these varied and brightly colored dishes, a flicker of hesitation crossed her face. In her understanding, rabbits were usually just food roasted over a fire; such complex cooking methods were something she had never seen before. She cautiously poked a piece of fresh pot rabbit meat with a fork and hesitantly put it into her mouth.

The next second, her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had discovered a new world. "It's... it's delicious!" she exclaimed indistinctly. She immediately abandoned her reserve and began to feast, commenting vaguely while eating, "The rabbits in this world seem to have a richer flavor, and the meat is even more tender and smooth!"

By contrast, Elabess appeared much quieter. In front of her was only a cup of warm milk. She held the cup with both hands, sipping it in small mouthfuls. After each swallow, she would unconsciously stick out her small tongue and gently lick away the milk stains on her lips. This extremely simple action, when done by her, naturally exuded a kind of innate charm. Combined with her innocent and guileless expression, it formed a strong contrast that struck Lin Muyang's visual nerves.

Lin Muyang felt his heart skip a beat and quickly looked away, silently reciting "do not look at what is improper" a few times in his heart. He forced himself to shift his attention to another problem: how could the relationship between these two maidens from different races, who should logically be wary of each other, have become so harmonious in the short time he was out? When he left, Lilia had clearly still been highly vigilant against this succubus miss.

Did Elabess use some unique succubus methods on Lilia while he was away? Thinking of this, Lin Muyang felt a bit uneasy. He calmly used the telepathic connection with his summoned creatures to send a message to Lilia privately: "Lilia, while I was away, did Elabess do anything strange to you or say anything bad? You don't need to be afraid, tell me the truth. If she bullied you, I will stand up for you."

Lilia, who was immersed in the world of food, received this message and paused for a moment. She raised her emerald eyes and looked at Lin Muyang with some confusion, then responded in the same way: "No, Master. Elabess is actually a very pitiful person." She paused, her tone carrying a hint of sympathy, "This Princess didn't expect that she was actually a succubus from a place like the 'Dark Abyss'..."

"Dark Abyss?" Lin Muyang's heart stirred, and he asked, "What kind of place is that?"

Next, while struggling to finish the rabbit meat in front of her, Lilia explained to Lin Muyang via telepathy, in bits and pieces, the situation she had learned from Elabess during his absence.

It turned out that the Dark Abyss was a wasteland abandoned by the gods in their different world. There was no sunlight, no life, only boundless desolate rocks and the eternally howling Dark Storm, and the environment was extremely harsh. The succubus tribe to which Elabess belonged had been forced to flee into the Dark Abyss hundreds of years ago to escape a hunt that swept across the continent, but they ended up being sealed by powerful enemies working together, completely trapped within it.

They had been trapped in that desperate land for generations, struggling every moment against the Dark Storm that was strong enough to tear flesh apart. Food was scarce, and survival resources were extremely limited. Not to mention relying on absorbing the vital energy of males to increase their strength as in the legends, even basic food and clothing were a problem; they were struggling on the line of life and death every day. Under the consumption of several hundred years, the older generation of the entire tribe had almost all died or been injured to protect the younger generation, their population withered, and they were on the verge of extinction.

And Elabess was the one with the highest talent in this tribe on the verge of extinction for hundreds of years. She was born with an excellent magical talent reputed to be SS-rank and was the only hope for the tribe's resurgence. However, the seal of the Dark Abyss not only trapped their bodies but also greatly suppressed and distorted the magical environment within it. This made Elabess, despite having world-shocking talent, unable to cultivate normally at all; her magical power grew so slowly it was almost stagnant, and she could not learn or master advanced magic skills.

Just when the whole tribe saw no future and was about to be completely swallowed by darkness, Elabess felt Lin Muyang's summoning. That light of summoning that had crossed the endless space barriers was, to her, nothing less than the last straw grasped by a drowning person. She saw hope to save her clansmen and the possibility of allowing the tribe to continue.

"So, she feels that being able to come here is a very, very lucky thing," Lilia concluded, her tone filled with emotion. "How could she quarrel with me? She said that you, Master, are the only hope for her and her tribe. She hopes you can become stronger, and she also hopes... hopes to get along well with everyone around you."

After listening to Lilia's account, Lin Muyang fell silent.

"So that's how it is..." he understood in his heart. No wonder she behaved so passively and even somewhat submissively. For her, being able to leave that desperate Dark Abyss and breathe the free air of this world was already a great happiness in itself. Moreover, from Lilia's description, he also captured a key piece of information—when Elabess was taken into the Dark Abyss back then, she was just a child who didn't know the ways of the world. This meant that everything she knew about succubi mostly came from the oral accounts of the elders in the tribe and sporadic inherited memories; she herself actually had no "combat experience" at all.

"So, Elabess is essentially a pure succubus?" This conclusion made Lin Muyang feel a bit absurd, yet it also made sense. He subconsciously touched his wrist, remembering that peculiar constitution of "Friend of Beautiful Girls". Perhaps it was precisely this constitution that caused all those summoned by him to be maidens whose minds were like blank slates.

His gaze fell on Elabess again. At this moment, she had finished her milk and was sitting there quietly, listening to Lilia chattering about interesting things in the Elf Forest, occasionally revealing a faint but genuine smile. The afternoon sunlight shone through the window, dancing on her purple hair, outlining a sense of quiet beauty.

Lin Muyang turned his head to look out the window again. The sky had completely darkened at some point, with stars dotting the ink-blue canopy. The city's brilliant lights were like a galaxy on the ground, reflecting each other with the night sky. After a busy day, the entrances to the secret realms on the outskirts of the city must have been mostly cleared by the professionals who heard the news, and there was no point in going out now.

So, a practical question was placed before him.

He cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the two maidens, and asked in a gentle tone: "It's getting late. Lilia, Elabess, do you... intend to stay here tonight, or do you need me to send you back to your original world?"

He remembered very clearly that as a Summoner, there was a special connection between him and the summoned maidens. With his consent, they could temporarily return to their original world, and when he needed them, he could summon them back at any time. At this moment, he looked at these two maidens from another world before him, waiting for their answer.

Lilia seemed to still be unsatisfied, looking at the unfinished food on the table, then looking at Lin Muyang, appearing a bit hesitant. As for Elabess, she raised her pale purple eyes and gazed quietly at Lin Muyang, her eyes carrying a hint of imperceptible reliance and inquiry.