The tribulations of hypnosis

[The level difference is staggering. The effect of 'Hypnosis' is greatly reduced.]

That was the notification that appeared when Isolde became hypnotized. It was both vague about the time and ominous in its entirety. Travis's heart skipped a beat as he froze momentarily, looking at the vampire woman.

Not even a second passed before he came to his senses. Immediately, he got hold of his softening cock and stuffed it back into his boxers. After fixing his pants, he turned to the lying silver-haired woman.

"Isolde," he said in a slightly commanding tone. "Listen carefully."

"...yes?"

"You are very tired. You have just done something so exhausting that you can do nothing but sleep now. Do you understand?"

"...yes... I have to sleep..." she responded.

"You have to sleep. Repeat that."

"I have to sleep."

"You have to sleep for a long time."

"...long time?" she asked, her eyes suddenly flinching a little.

"Yes. You have to sleep. You are tired," 'It seems like the difference in level lets her resist partially even though her Willpower must be next to zero. This is rather difficult.'

"I'm... tired..."

"Repeat it."

"I'm tired."

"Again."

"I'm tired."

"One more time," 'Better safe than sorry.'

"I'm tired," the woman answered obediently, her muscles beginning to limp a little. The newest command appeared to have already taken its toll.

"You must sleep for a long time."

"I must sleep for a long time."

"You will deal with us later."

"I will... no..." she frowned slightly. "You... you..."

"You will deal wi--!" Travis tried to repeat the command again but suddenly noticed a notification appear.

[Warning! **** bloodlust detected!]

Almost as if on cue, Isolde shot forward, her hand aiming for his neck. The man, however, was a tad bit too fast to respond, barely escaping the vampire's grasp.

"You think you can beat me?!" she screeched, aiming another strike.

The Apostle was just barely able to evade again. Anticipating a third strike, he lunged at the woman, pinning her to the bed by her hands.

'In a physical confrontation, I have the upper hand.' he thought, eerily calm despite the situation. '<Hypnosis>.' he commanded his spirit again, moving his head around a little, Isolde's eyes pursuing his. In the dark room, the two rubies followed the tracks made by a pair of topazes.

In just a few seconds, she was under again. Her hands relaxed nearly instantly, and her breathing became much stabler.

Slowly letting go, Travis got back on his knees. A quiet sigh escaped his mouth. 'This is hardly enough.' he conceded. 'She still resisted greatly. The time was... around 2 minutes. Not good.'

"You are very tired. You have to sleep very deeply."

"...I'm very tired."

The cycle began anew, the man embedding the same commands into Isolde's mind, and the vampire seemingly obeying. However, as the time came to a close, her reaction seemed hardly different from before.

She gathered some magic to form a magic strike, flailed her legs, and attempted to escape; the man didn't allow anything.

It repeated again and again. Travis's WP dwindled by the minute, but so did Isolde's resistance. The more he **** the orders, the quicker she accepted them. And similarly, her will to escape and attack them visibly decreased. She appeared to have difficulty keeping her eyes open as time went on, clearly showing that his commands were working. Or... there was something more at play. Not that it mattered.

"Alright. Isolde, listen carefully."

"Yes," she replied instantly, ready for the following words.

"You will be honest when you answer my questions. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Then say it."

"I'll be honest when I answer your questions," she replied emotionlessly, sitting on the bed with her head against the wall.

Even while sitting like this naked, with her hands on either side of her body, she looked... beautiful. Though her body glistened with sweat and her pussy was slowly leaking some of his spunk, Travis couldn't shake off the feeling that Isolde was... pretty stunning by human standards. Her shapely breasts had a nigh-perfect balance of pert and sag, which made their size look like drops of water transitioning into teardrops. Her smooth stomach had a defined shape. Isolde's elegant legs, ending with small, cute feet, gave her just the right amount of sexiness and innocence at the same time.

But he knew she was dangerous. The strength of her paralysis magic was immense, even though she was hardly in her top-notch condition. He wasn't exactly sure how much of it could be attributed to her being a vampire, and a blood magic expert at it, but he hardly cared. Right now, he needed answers.

"The man that entered here earlier. What did you do to him?"

She remained silent.

"I'm asking you. What did you do to Melin?"

"...who?" she asked in return. Though her face betrayed no emotion, her tone did appear slightly surprised.

"The man who came here before us. What did you do to him?"

"...there was no man..." she replied slowly, almost as if she had difficulty believing her own words.

"What do you mean? His brother guided us all the way to this place. He saw you take him," Travis riposted with a bit of anger in his voice.

"...guided you... it was a trap."

"A trap? Explain."

"My servants went to... find and lure you here..."

"...no," he shook his head a little. "You're lying."

"I'm not," Isolde answered instantly.

'...so... Jeliah is her servant?' the man thought, a feeling of dread rising in his stomach. "What are your servants, Isolde?"

"...Imps. They were a gift from my father..."

*Ting!*

[Due to the impossible objective of the quest 'A helping hand', it has been prematurely terminated. You are not penalized for this. However, the rewards are lost.]

"...shit," he cursed quietly at the news. 'So... that kid is an imp?' he thought, feeling a stinging feeling in his heart. However, he **** himself to look back at the vampire. "One more thing. How many exits are there from this place?"

"...one."

"The one connecting to the crystal crawler cave?"

"Yes."

"...can it be opened?"

"Yes... it should be open..." she said slowly.

"...alright. Good." 'I just hope she is right.'

"..."

"Go to sleep, Isolde. You are very sleepy. You must rest. You are exhausted."

"...I'm exhausted."

"Listen to my voice. It's cooing you. You feel safe. You can go to sleep now."

Suddenly, Isolde's eyes shot at his.

A brief moment of consternation was beset upon the clothed man and the naked vampire. However, contrary to what he expected, Isolde closed her eyes immediately and flailed her hands at him, backing off as much as she could.

"It's the eyes...!" she raised her voice a little. "You're doing something with your eyes!" Isolde's words continued spilling as she haphazardly aimed her right hand in Travis' general direction. In an instant, a scarlet-colored spear appeared in its palm and shot forward. However, it was hardly aimed at the man and ended up marking a small hole in the wall behind him.

"Sleep," he said in a calm tone, doing his best to not let the image of destruction behind him shake his spirit.

Isolde didn't understand what was happening. All of a sudden, she felt... unreasonably tired. She attempted to fight the feeling, but it was too tempting. The promise of sleep after a good meal (and sex) sounded too sweet to just reject it...

No. It was wrong. A strong sensation stirred up somewhere near her heart, stinging like a knife stabbing right through her chest. In a last-ditch effort, she gathered a bit of magic...

But just a few seconds later, she was sound asleep. Eyes closed and a hand resting on her stomach, Isolde was out of commission. How long for? Travis wasn't sure. He did know one thing: this was the only time they'd get to escape.

Without waiting for anything, he skittered to the side of the bed. Planting his legs on the floor, he instantly looked at Violet, who was watching his movements with her green eye. It seemed that despite the blood's effect being weakened, it still paralyzed her completely. Naught a muscle of hers moved as Travis quickly picked up and sheathed Thunder Blade. Then, the man got hold of his pack and took out a single mana cookie. Having recovered a bit of his MP, her looked at Violet again.

"We need to run," he spoke, his hand disappearing into the backpack again. "I do hope you're able to swallow," he added a little quieter.

Within seconds, he was holding a small vial of white fluid. It flowed around like water, with barely a single bubble of air visible in the room's atmosphere.

[Essence of Purity

Rating: Normal

*Cleanses most common debuffs and weaker poisons. Strong and/or rare effects may be weakened instead. The efficiency depends on the rating of the fluid, the amount consumed, and the severity of the debuff/poison.

Made in an alchemy lab in bulk, this item is a must-have for any adventurer. It is even used by many professional armies.

Weight: 41 g]

An item that he bought twice, once just before and once just after his apprehension, it was meant to help Travis deal with any small venoms that he might've come across in his travel to Autir and back. Having seen no use until now, it likely would've been forgotten until much later. 'I hope it will at least weaken the effect. If we're to come across imps on our way out, it may be difficult to fight and protect her at the same time.' he thought. With an audible *Pop!*, the cork of the bottle came undone, and Travis knelt by Violet. Carefully, he helped the woman drink the fluid.

As he emptied about half of the bottle, a notification sprung forth.

[The essence of Purity is attempting to clean the debuff. The blood's effect on the target is slightly weakened.]

A relieved sigh escaped his mouth. It seemed that this was going to work.

[The blood's effect on the target has dropped to medium power.]

Almost immediately, he felt Violet's body twitch a little. Just a short second later, she suddenly coughed, having regained some control over her body.

Within a few seconds, she was already forcing herself up. The process was slow, as Violet had difficulty moving, especially on her left side. The issue was serious enough to **** her to support herself on Travis as they got up.

They started walking toward the door, Violet leaning on Travis a little. She turned around a little while walking, shooting one final look toward Isolde, who was now sound asleep in her half-lying, half-sitting position by the wall. Was it not for what happened just minutes ago, the young woman could've sworn that the sleeping beauty was some elven noble rather than a monster. This only made her curse internally at herself. 'The moment I felt that pressure in that cave, I should've protested against coming here. Instead, I thought that listening to him would be the wiser option.' her gaze returned to Travis as they continued to step into the dark corridor, the man holding a torch in his left hand and the lightning sword in the other. 'I need to report this situation to mister Cedric. A monster of this caliber could threaten many adventurers passing by these mountains.'

Their hasty steps echoed ominously through the corridors. The dry air carried particles of dust with itself, creating a show of gray specs. Though the bloodlust from before was gone, neither of them let their guard down. Cobble clinked as Violet's limp leg brushed against it, and glass let out jingles of a vague crystal tone.

Suddenly, Violet flinched, her left hand tapping on Travis' shoulder. As he looked at her, she nodded somewhere to her right, and then toward the intersection. He understood immediately.

As they got to the intersection, he passed her the light source in his hand. Without waiting, Travis leaned from behind the corner and confirmed what Violet signaled before - imps were ahead.

There were only two of the lower demons, and while one had a small dagger by its waist, the other one appeared to only have a torch with itself. Moreover, their small posture made them look feeble and frail. But it didn't mean Travis was going to charge in aimlessly. He waited patiently until the enemies were in <Sprint> range... and struck.

...

It was easy. Too easy, one might say. Despite the vampire being as strong as she was, with immense pressure and all, her servants were... were. That was it. There was no way to even compare them. If he were to fight against Isolde, he was sure a dozen of him would still not be enough to take her down. The imps... faced the exact same problem when he went against them. They died almost immediately. Not even given a chance to respond.

-10 minutes later-

After reaching the door back into the crystal crawler's territory, the duo found them ajar yet again. A sigh of relief escaped Travis's mouth, immediately overtaken by a stronger beat of his heart. Just getting out of there was step one. They still had to get out of the cave and to Lodiz as soon as possible.

The journey began. Jeliah, as Travis suspected, was nowhere to be found. He grimaced inwardly at the thought. 'I got tricked so easily...' momentarily, he berated himself. 'I wanted to help because I have a soft heart. It's just like with Norbert... but he wasn't an imp, at least.'

...

'...No. I shouldn't try to justify anything. I am at fault for what happened here. I shouldn't have accepted the quest the moment I thought something was off. I'm supposed to sway people, and yet, I get swayed left and right according to other people's minds... I should change how I approach others. More suspicion and vigilance can't hurt.'

-In the evening, roughly 12 km west of Lodiz-

Violet's paralysis was making it difficult for her to move. She couldn't run, and even walking was a challenge. Despite this, the two travelers were determined to return to Lodiz. They didn't pay much attention to the creatures they encountered along the way, be they birds, goats, or veherons. They either ignored them or fled as quickly as possible. Sometimes, Travis had to carry Violet to escape from encounters. In the end, they managed to cover roughly half the distance before the sunset.

Sitting by a small campfire on the side of a mountain, she was slowly stretching her muscles, the last of the paralysis effects waning completely. A small sigh escaped her mouth as she watched the man stand leaning by a nearby tree. His gaze was pointed out into the darkening night, constantly looking in the direction they came from. He was nervously searching with his eyes, doing his best to surveil the area diligently.

"...Travis."

"...what?" he asked without turning to her, his voice dry and devoid of its usual living tone.

"How long will that vampire be asleep?"

"I don't know," 'There are likely some leftover imps in there. I don't know how strong <Hypnosis>-induced sleep will be on her, either. Leaf seemed to just sleep through the night nicely. But first of all, it was something she'd have done anyway, and secondly, the sleeping patterns of elves are just like those of humans. The issue is, how long does a vampire slumber? The myths speak of decades-long sleep, but they're just myths.' "We will only rest as much as we need, and set off at sunrise."

"I agree."

"We will have to report it to somebody. Maybe authorities, even."

"...yes, I agree with this too," she nodded lightly (not that the man noticed). "But it might be tricky."

"...we'll figure something out." Travis responded with his gaze still not leaving the distance.

"..."

"..."

"I'll take the first shift."

"...no," he shook his head. "Isolde is primarily after me. If I'm not awake to deal with her, she might just kill you."

"...alright," Violet answered with a hint of hesitation. "Wake me up in a few hours."

"...sure," Travis replied.

A dozen or so minutes of the night passed. In the chilly air, only the sounds of cracking fire rang freely, unbothered completely by the living beings' mortal worries. The night's sky, usually rather clear, was cloudy today, with only some occasional shimmers of moonlight passing through. It appeared that even nature was tense, the atmosphere of uncertainty hanging low in the air.

As Travis slowly turned around, his eyes fell upon Violet, who was fast asleep under a cozy beige blanket she had taken out of the storage space. The warmth of the blanket seemed to have enveloped her in its comforting embrace, and her soft breathing was the only sound she emanated. Her raven-black hair brushed the ground with every slim movement, her face illuminated by the campfire's light.

Turning his attention back to his previous spot, Travis began to trace everything around him with meticulous detail, as he had done countless times before. Despite his blurry vision, his memory filled in all the gaps. He could recall the shapes of the majestic mountains that surrounded them, each one towering over the other in a grand display of nature's beauty. The deep crevices of the valley that lay between them were all a testament to the passage of time. And he could see in his mind's eye a lone river descending from a nearby peak, its shimmering waters disappearing somewhere along the way, leaving behind a trail of mist as it flowed on its journey.

And yet, nothing was changing. Anxiety filled his mind all the while the man kept on glancing here and there in succession. It festered deep within his consciousness.

'...this is how Aria must've felt...' he felt the weight on his chest increase momentarily. 'I wish everything's fine with her, as well.' he added with sincere hope.

But the man didn't ponder too much on his thoughts. Instead, he got hold of the Rulebreaker's Piece. Noticing that the cooldown had not yet finished, he impatiently put it down and gazed back at the vast valleys.

Then, he looked at his status.

...

Wait, something wasn't right. Why were his stats almost the same as yesterday...?

'Oh right, the DQ. I forgot about it. Let's see... yeah, dodged attacks were also done. Good.' he thought as he put five out of seven points into his highest stat, leaving the last two unassigned. 'I wanted to put them all into Intelligence, but I'll have to leave myself a few spare points from now on.'

And then... he waited for nearly an hour before getting a hold of Rulebreaker's box.

20. Special evolution of classes

[Perhaps you recall (or have had this bashed into your skull), but basically, classes that grow will eventually evolve into more powerful forms. Seems sweet, right?

However, that’s not everything there is to it. Many obscure or hidden classes have special requirements to be learned. Some will require knowing a specific skill, and others may require one to not change their class when they first get the chance. There are even classes that can only be learned by specific people, mostly due to how their stat distribution is laid out.

Keep this in mind: sometimes, there is more under your nose than there is ahead of it.]

This piece was... surprisingly novel. It vaguely reminded Travis of the 18th entry he had received not long ago. Just like the topic of growth-type items, this was something that he highly doubted anyone knew. He, for one, definitely didn't.

'Interesting.' he nodded to himself. 'It seems to complement the previous entry, too. Sage can grow to be a strong class, and this entry is saying that some will not get to see it. Differences of choice, needs, or even birth, make permanent marks on one's possibilities of growth in every class they choose.'

He nodded to himself whilst discarding the notification.

'...is this why Redion took pity on me? My inherent stats were so messed up that I wouldn't have gotten a class for myself?' he pondered for a moment with a slightly somber expression. 'If I survive the Competition, what will even happen to me? Will I stay as the Apostle? Or will I have to give up my class regardless?'

...

Maybe it was better to not ponder right now.

Travis' eyes ventured to the sky, looking at the slowly shifting clouds and how the rays of moonlight were marking large, irregular patterns on the ground below. The way all of this scenery unfolded before him was... serene. Perhaps because of how it looked, the man felt a glint of calm inside of him.

He only could wish it would last.

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