He’s planning to eat me!!

…What, he can speak just fine?

I stared at the man with surprised eyes.

It was an incredibly fluent common language.
Though his voice was low and barely audible, there was none of the growling characteristic of beast-kin.
The smoothly flowing pronunciation was not that of someone who had just picked up the language.

“You knew how to speak the common language…”

“I asked if you knew the meaning of what you said.”

It was me who was rather flustered by the man’s sharp reaction.

Was asking to use a skill such a shocking thing?
Wondering what I had said wrong, I stared at him in bewilderment.
The bridge of his nose in profile was truly magnificent.

His tightly closed lips and jawline were also perfect… Ah, no.
This isn’t it.
I frowned and glared at the man’s profile.

“But, why aren’t you looking at me when you talk?”

“……”

“Why are you talking to the wall? Is there honey smeared on it?”

“Just answer my question.”

The man said coldly, still staring at the wall.

…What the.
It’s not like he’s treating me like I’m invisible.
He really is an NPC!
I glared sullenly at the man’s profile, then turned my head away just like him and spoke to the wall.

“Of course I know what I’m saying! You just have to give me permission.”

“…If I give you permission, do you think anything will change? A mere human…”

“Ah! Enough, just stay still. I’ll take care of it.”

It was a waste of time to argue with this negative wall-gazer.

I placed the man’s hand that was holding my wrist back on his chest with a thud.
Looking at his iron-like forearms and the bulging blue veins, I once again thought it was a good thing I hadn’t rashly attacked him.

“Don’t you want to escape?!”

As I approached from the side, the hand resting on the floor twitched, so I quickly made the first move.

“You don’t want to get your head chopped off in here, right?”

I whispered insinuatingly and drew close to the man on my knees.

“……”

The man was still staring straight ahead, but the tension in his neck made it clear that he was wary of me.

I scanned his body, and finding a scratch on his neck, I decided on my target.
The neck would be better than the abdomen or face.

“Lower your head a bit, like this. I can’t reach.”

The man, of course, didn’t even pretend to listen.
He just stared straight ahead with a blank, stone-like expression.

…Fine.
If you’re going to ignore me, I’ll just go wild too.

Rubbing my hands together like someone about to attempt the high bar, I lunged at the man’s neck and clung to him.

“……!”

As I pressed my lips firmly against the nape of his neck that I had grabbed, I felt his body stiffen.
He put a hand on my waist as if to push me away, so I hastily bared my teeth.

As the fishy liquid seeped into my mouth, I held my breath and quickly swallowed.

Biting his neck out of the blue.
You might think, what is this, am I a vampire?
But it was to fulfill the activation condition of the ‘Stigma Theory’ skill.

[You have cast the <Stigma Theory> skill on <Karvan Baharga>.]

There were two ways to cast ‘Stigma Theory.’

First, to smear the target’s bodily fluids on a weapon.

Second, to consume the target’s freshly produced bodily fluids.

Normally, of course, one would plunder skills using the first method.
Who in their right mind would drink a monster’s blood?

But my equipment window was currently locked.
That meant I couldn’t take out my weapon.

And I definitely didn’t want to kiss this corpse-like man.
There was only one way left.
To drink his fresh blood, and as luck would have it, I had seen a wound on the man’s neck.

[The activation condition for the skill <Stigma Theory> has been met. Your stigma is now engraved on the target.]

Ugh, it tastes awful.
How do the Empire eat this as their main food?
The metallic taste filling my mouth was terrible.

I rubbed my forehead and scrunched my face, then my expression brightened at the notification window that appeared in my vision.

[<Karvan Baharga> is currently under the effect of your <Stigma Theory> skill. (※ Special conditions are required.)]

…But, why isn’t the plundered skill showing up?

I roughly scrolled past the status windows that were popping up and looked down at my unchanged body.

Seeing the surprisingly dainty cherry blossom stigma shining on the man’s bloody neck, it must have been a success.
Strange.

As I was tilting my head in confusion, a status window belatedly popped up.

[This is a target that requires special plunder conditions. The <Valta’s Imprint> status effect is required to meet the requirements.]

…’Valta’s Imprint’?
Did it misspell ‘stigma’?

So the status window can be wrong sometimes.
I was just staring blankly at the hologram that appeared in my vision.

“Ack! Y-you scared me.”

A black shadow fell over my face.
Startled by the man’s face that had suddenly come close, I fell on my butt.

Ouch.
I was groaning and holding my lower back as I sat there, but the breath coming closer was considerably rough.

“What’s wrong?”

As expected, no answer.
I could feel his intense gaze from under his disheveled hair.
Somehow, the atmosphere was unusual.

Was he angry?
As I was hesitantly trying to back away with confused eyes, my ankle was grabbed.

“……”

I looked up in bewilderment at the man who was on top of me in a half-sitting, half-lying position.

His disheveled hair cast a shadow on his face, making his bright yellow eyes feel somehow eerie.

“Hey, did it hurt a lot?”

His skin was so hard and thick that I didn’t think my teeth could even penetrate it.
I didn’t have a weapon and had to draw fresh blood, so I bit the wounded area a bit, and it seemed he was angry about that.

Should I have explained more clearly?
But time was of the essence, and he was the one who kept ignoring me.
While thinking this, I smiled awkwardly and apologized.

“Sorry. I tried to bite lightly, but I’ll heal you as soon as I get my inventory back.”

I’ll give you an expensive elixir, use a healing factor, and even give you the one phoenix heart I have if you need it, so calm down.
Okay?
I rambled on, unsure if the man could understand me.

The man was still listening to my words silently.
He stared intently at my lips.

“……”

The man who, until just a moment ago, wouldn’t even look at my face and only stared at the wall, the man who wouldn’t even look at me with his chillingly disgusted eyes, was now looking down at me with eyes that felt hot enough to burn.

…I have to run.
I didn’t know why, but it was a basic human instinct.

I propped myself up with my arms and tried to squirm out from under the man’s shadow.

“H-hey…”

Of course, it didn’t go as planned.
The man wrapped his arms around my waist.
The body heat covering my entire body was scorching hot.

Could it be that he got infected because I bit his wound?
But does the reaction come this quickly?
I tried to make sense of the man’s sudden strange behavior.

“What’s wrong, all of a sudden. Are you cold?”

“……”

“You’re too hot. Your breathing is rough too.”

“……”

“And, your eyes are a bit…!”

Before I could finish my words, I was hunted.

Like a predator ambushing its prey from the bushes, he pressed down on me with his huge body.
I was about to push the man on top of me away when I stopped at the pain in my neck.

“Ack!”

The man had bitten my neck.
It stung, but on the other hand, I was relieved.
It seemed he wanted revenge for me biting his neck.

Well, if that’s the case.
I stopped struggling and quietly entrusted my neck to him.

When I became docile, the man relaxed his pressing body and slowly began to sink his teeth into my neck.

…But, why, does it feel like he’s licking my neck?
It doesn’t even seem to be bleeding, so what is he licking.
He’s not a puppy.
I was momentarily confused but quietly waited for the man to finish his ‘revenge.’

He would nibble gently, then rub his lips as if crushing them.
Suck, slurp.
Unpleasant sounds began to flow out.

…And it feels like he’s getting lower?

Unable to bear it any longer, I pushed the man’s shoulder firmly, and the movement of him licking my collarbone stopped.

“Are you feeling better now?”

An ice-cold breath touched my face chillingly.

“I think there’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t bite you to really hurt you. I did it so we could escape together.”

“……”

“But if this makes you feel better… Mph!”

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what had happened.

I even missed the timing to get angry and ask why he was freely sucking and exploring someone else’s lips.

“…Ah…”

The golden eyes, slit vertically, were right in front of my nose.

The moment I met those beastly eyes, I finally realized.

This man, was planning to devour me.