The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!

The Commonwealth forces rounded up anyone who didn't escape in time and fed them reversal potions, after which the Sisters of Sin added them to the army. Drakelings and high elves, including whatever vassals or servants of the empire now belonged to very people they were fighting moments ago.

Talahurah had been devastated in the attack. Beastmen families cried over rubbles of their homes. Shamans and priests went around healing the wounded. Any able-bodied carried debris off the roads and searched for people trapped under debris. Worst of all, the iconic great tree had fallen.

Chieftain Sheeba somberly walked up to the trunk of the toppled giant and pressed a hand to it.

"I don't understand. What did Ortesia have to gain by felling the great tree?" Sheeba asked in a voice full of mourning.

"I'm sorry, Sheeba. I wish I could have done more to help," Kanae apologized and gripped the lioness' shoulder.

"It isn't your fault, Queen Kanae!" She shook her head and mane. "The great tree was a species of colossal yew known as Kh'shanti. They live for millenniums, and have in ages past served as homes to countless races. One may even consider them a symbol of beast races' hardiness. This was the last of its kind, so I wonder if Ortesia meant to hurt our will? But fear not, my queen. We won't waver."

Kanae frowned. She felt terrible for Sheeba and the people of Talahurah. The now-fallen great tree was able to house thousands of people. Everyone knew what they were looking at from a distance. It was going to be difficult not being able to see this sight coming back in the future.

What exactlly was Avaline's plan here? She mentioned something about the final act of their invasion. She also ordered a full retreat as soon as the great tree fell.

As Kanae gazed upon the collapsed giant, no answer came to her. She let Sheeba grieve in silence and went in search of Ortesian prisoners. They weren't hard to come across. Many had been charmed to aid in the city's rebuilding or were being used by succubi as drain fodder. She entered a relief hut hastily raised after the battle ended.

Sweet moans and clapping cheeks orchestrated a symphony of a depraved orgy. Succubi mounted high elves and drakelings, mercilesslly draining them for all their mana, stamina, and experience. High Priestesses Taileen and Erin were also partaking in a victory bang bash.

"I'm not done with you yet. Trapping me in that cage… making me fail my queen… Oh, you can't cum anymore? That's too bad, because I'll just squeeze whatever is left~" Erin was in the middle of riding a defeated high elven man, who looked like a husk. At the very least, he had an expression of utter bliss on his face.

"Careful, Erin. It's better to keep them alive to drain repeatedly than to drain all at once and never again," Kanae scolded.

"Queen Kanae!" She gasped. "It's not what it looks like. I was just having a quick snack before going back to work!"

"I'm not going to stop you. Drain as much as you need. I just need a few prisoners."

Having overheard, Taileen led over a group of three high elves and two drakelings. They were blindfolded and chained together in a line.

"These are still full of energy for you!" Taileen bowed.

"Well, I don't need to feed. I only want answers." Kanae pinched the chin of a high elven knightess, who was bare naked and trembling. A dampness between her thighs suggested Taileen was lying and might have taken a bite before bringing them over. Kanae placed a charm on her and was glad when her demeanor softened to become more subservient. "State your name and tell me what Avaline and Ortesia's plan here was? Why did they want to destroy the great tree?"

"Maria Archweald of the 21st Imperial Land Strike Division. Under General Avaline von Cleisseldor's orders, we were to lay siege to and occupy Talahurah. I was not privy to the details surrounding the destruction of the city's great tree," the high elf named Maria answered stiffly.

Kanae clicked her tongue. She charmed the next one, a drakeling man with an old scar down his broad chest.

"Orgon Vargess of the 2nd Dragoon Cohort. General Avaline tasked us to guard the prisoners underneath the great tree and nothing else," the drakeling said.

Still not the answer Kanae was looking for. The rest of them were no help either. They were all essentially grunts in the empire's forces. Of course, Avaline wouldn't be filling them in on any important details other than their orders.

"Who among the Ortesian army would know why they wanted to topple the great tree?" Kanae asked.

"General Avaline," they answered at the same time.

"Right…" She put a hand to her face and sighed. "My fault for asking silly question. Taileen, Erin. As you were. Drain them all, so the next time we perform Feed the Queen, I'll have every last drop."

"Yes, Queen Kanae!" the twins exclaimed ecstatically.

Kanae left to find Lani and Chappy. They were supposed to get to work on the second teleportation circle. When she found them with the Viviren mage, however, the two were in the crater where the great tree used to sit. A hole had been left behind after the roots pulled out all the dirt during the fall.

"Lani, Chappy? What are you guys doing down there?" Kanae asked, descending into the crater.

"Oh, Amethyst! I was just searching for the perfect place to begin creating the circle, and we found it. Right here! The mana concentration in this spot is so high in mana!" Lani was brimming with excitement.

Chappy flipped his pages from end to end. "No kidding! It's got me feeling all sorts of goosebumps. Heh. Might even rival having sex with Lani."

"High mana concentration… you mean there's magic crystal cave underneath Talahurah?"

"Not quite," she began. "You know how our mana passively restores over time, even if you're not drinking a mana potion or consuming a magic crystal? That's because there's mana all around us. It exists in the fauna, vegetation, and in the air. By simply breathing and eating, you will gradually recover your mana in time. Sometimes, somewhere, the world has spots of high mana concentration that spew out. I wonder if the Kh'shanti here had grown as big as it did because of that. Oh, not that I'm not sad about its destruction! It's an incredible shame to see this beautiful tree on the ground, but the silver lining is, we can more easily create a magic circle here and have it powered by the latent mana!"

For once, Kanae sighed in relief. It might not be able to transport everyone, but once they connected Talahurah and Ehmvier, the ability to travel great distances would be a great utility in the war.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kanae asked, eager to bring Feraline home safe and introduce her to Suvee and Kanade.

"We would actually prefer you not to help. Sorry, Amethyst. Writing magic circles requires precision that you just aren't up to task for. We should be done by the evening. Go spend time with your daughter. I saw her earlier. She was sooo adorable! Maybe a little too rambunctious than I expected though." Lani giggled.

Kanae deflated, but Lani was right. This was a good chance to get to know her new child. Focusing on the Mother's Love passive skill led Kanae a short flight outside of Talahurah, where a second encampment had been built to serve as a refugee shelter for those who lost their homes. Edina's undead swarmed the place, delivering food and blankets, raising tents, and playing with children. A group of kids were even playing soccer with a skull, and the headless body helplessly chased after them.

One child, however, wasn't interested in playing. Instead, she was sparring against an undead warrior while Esta and Edina watched. Wielding a shortsword, Feraline launched a flurry of attacks on her glorified target dummy, who had nothing but a wooden buckler to defend itself with. She eventually knocked it to the ground. Every hit chipped pieces off the shield, and when nothing was left, she plunged the sword through its ribcage where the heart would have been.

"Look at what you and Esta made. A little monster!" Edina exclaimed.

Feraline threw her arms up in victory.

"Our daughter is strong." Esta nodded proudly.

"A little too strong, ain't ya?" Edina pressed a finger to the drakeling girl's forehead.

Feraline hiccupped. They came out snappy and squeaky. It sounded like tiny little 'eeps'.

"Is she okay?" Kanae asked.

"This is normal in young drakelings," Esta answered with a lack of concern. "They aren't quite used to their breath yet, so—"

Feraline hiccupped again, and since she was facing Edina, expelled a torrent of flames in the squirreling's face. By the time it ended, her entire body was charred black. A pair of eyes, the only color left, opened slowly in disbelief.

"Man… All your daughters are handfuls…" Edina coughed.

"Yeah, but you love them all anyway. You're the one who spoils them the most." Kanae picked up Feraline, who threw both arms around her neck in return and rubbed their cheeks against each other. A low, content trilling erupted from the girl.

The horns hadn't grown in yet. But it looked like Feraline was going to have two sets of horns, one drakeling and the other succubus. Her wings, however, appeared slightly draconic. Although still small, black, and purple like Kanae's own, it had a texture similar to the scales that covered the arms and legs.

Feraline's stomach started growling.

"Awww. Are you hungry? Actually, how do I feed you? With milk?" Kanae wondered aloud.

"No, Master." Esta laughed from the side. "Drakelings are born ready to hunt. We can just set her free, and she will stalk down prey to feed on."

"Say what…"

"Succubus!" Lady growled, dragging the corpse of a large moose behind her.

Feraline immediately went into aggressive mode. Her lips peeled back, and she began to snarl menacingly.

"Why is it that your daughter has it out for me? Never mind that. Need your help with something. The attack on Talahurah destroyed a lot of the food stores. The Ortesians stole some of it on their way out. We're low on rations. Think you can scrounge up some game in the wilds? I sniffed out a pack of skrangers not far north of here. I'd go myself, but Minestra and I are busy plotting Lord Charron's next moves," Lady explained.

"I guess we can do that. Feraline needs to eat, too. Wait, what do you mean Lord Charron's next moves?" Kanae asked.

"You already know Ortesia had launched offensives all across the Commonwealth at the start of the war. In the past weeks, we've been getting reports that they are pulling back to three major fronts. Highgreen, the tract of land you gave the Underqueen, and the stretch between Ehmvier and Lograin. We're responding by reorganizing our forces that were spread thin to deal with the initial invasion. In two days, I'm taking my army back to Highgreen. Minestra can stay with you."

Lady was about to leave until she saw Feraline gnawing on the moose's leg. She picked the girl up and handed her back to Kanae, then returned to the refugee camp.

"Sounds like Mother was right. The empire seems confident that their next phase of the invasion will be the end. Do you suppose they discovered the whereabouts of Saint Rue's temple?" Esta whispered.

"They couldn't have. Ugh. I don't want to think about the war anymore. Let's get Feraline some food before she goes off to hunt on her own," Kanae insisted.

The four of them went into the wilds together to track down the skrangers. They were a species of dire boars that fired their own tusks as a defense mechanism. They also had incredibly juicy meat. It didn't take long before they tracked their footprints to a field of mushrooms. The boars were too busy munching to notice them. Feraline was already drooling.

"Whaddya wanna do? I can round them up with my bone brutes, and you guys go in for the kill?" Edina suggested.

"I want Feraline to taste her first hunt," Esta said.

"Those skrangers look dangerous! What if she gets hurt?" Kanae panicked at the thought.

"Then when she survives, she will grow stronger from this experience."

"Oh, god… You sound just like your mother."

 Kanae wondered if Esta was going to inevitably become like Avaline now that she had a baby to raise.

"One problem, guys." Edina pointed to the empty space where Feraline was just prowling. "The kid is gone."

They stared blankly for a few seconds, then looked up. Feraline was charging headlong into battle with nothing but a shortsword in hand.

"Raaaagghh!" Feraline roared her cute little battle shout.

Unfortunately, since Feraline was only an infant drakeling, the sounder of skrangers were not at all intimidated. They fired projectiles of their tusks at her, regrew them in an instant, and continued shooting.

"FERALINE?!" Kanae cried.

"Have more faith in our daughter. Drakeling Ancestry makes her more resilient to physical attacks," Esta explained.

"Hey, guys… is this gonna leave a mark?" Edina turned to them with a tusk embedded into her forehead.

Kanae jumped out of cover and flew over to shield Feraline from the onslaught of projectile tusks. She unfurled her wings to take most of the attacks instead. The durability gained from Lion's Pride turned them into nothing but a tickle.

"Feraline, you're also a succubus. Not every fight you need to go in with your fists, claws, and swords. Try charming them. Make them less interested in attacking you," Kanae instructed.

Feraline nodded. As soon as Kanae stepped out of the way, the drakeling succubus' eyes glowed intensely. Only a few of the younger skrangers, likely lower in level, stopped firing. Seeing that it worked, she jumped up and down in glee.

"Good girl, Feraline! Now use your breath!" Esta shouted from the back.

A torrent of flames erupted from Feraline's maw. They consumed the skrangers whole, killing the weaker ones outright and incapacitating the stronger ones. The ground started trembling. A house-sized skranger stampeded out from the woods right for them.

Although Feraline looked like she wanted a piece of it, Kanae picked up her daughter and was about to leave until a death knight bodied. The dire beast crashed to a halt against the side of a tree, and Edina flipped them a thumbs up.

"Your fire breath brought a tear to my eyes, Feraline. Now watch as your mother show you the strength you've inherited." Esta breathed deep, then unleashed a confllagration that cooked the enormous thing to a crisp.

Feraline was all smiles, bouncing in Kanae's arms.

"Whew. Looks like that's gonna feed Talahurah for at least a week," Edina said, strolling up to them with the tusk still in her forehead.

"Are you going to pull that out?" Kanae asked.

However, Feraline beat her to it. She yanked the tusk out, and a jet of blood spewed out of Edina's forehead.

"AAAaaghhh…" Edina let out a death cry before collapsing to the ground with her tongue rolled out. 

Feraline looked afraid. After a few seconds, Edina snapped one eye open and smirked.

"Hehe. Just kidding! As if that'll do me in so easily. Watch this, kiddo." The necromancer summoned an undead minion, and just as quickly as it emerged from a portal, she consumed it the purple haze surrounding it. The skeletal warrior crumbled into bone dust, but its energies seeped into her and healed the wound like it was never there.

The drakeling girl clapped her hands and cheered.

"Okay, if we're done messing around, let's haul these back so everyone has something to eat." Kanae thumbed over her shoulder.

Feraline didn't wait. They tore off a whole boar leg for her to eat on the way back. Esta carried the girl on her shoulder. Before they even reached the city, she had fallen fast asleep, tuckered out from fighting all day.

"What do you think, Master? Our child is quite spirited," Esta said.

"That's one way of describing her. I think Feraline is going to fit into the family just fine." Kanae smiled.

Esta stayed behind at the camp with Feraline. She offered to help distribute food to the refugees for the rest of the night. Apparently, it was a good idea to be near fresh food in case Feraline woke up. It was getting late, so Kanae and Edina entered Talahurah to check on how the portal was coming along.

They were expecting a working magic circle, but found a worried Saint Priest and Viviren mage mulling over it instead.

"What's going on here?" Edina hopped off the death knight to inspect the portal.

"Uhm, how do I break this to you… For some reason, the portal isn't working," Lani said, her face going pale.

"What? Why not?" Kanae asked.

"We did everything right. The only thing I can think of is something happened on the other side. That's odd." The Saint Priest's ears went limp.

Kanae turned furiously at the high elf.

"I swear, the circle should be in effect! I've created these numerous times before. There's no way I did it incorrectlyl!" the Viviren mage exclaimed.

"Kanae, is it possiblle that Lynn Alton betrayed you? She was watching over the portal in Ehmvier after all," Lani said.

"That's not possible. She's a transformed succubus, that makes her extremely loyal to me," Kanae explained.

"Hold on." Edina shut her eyes and focused. "I should be able to check up on the undead I left behind in Ehmvier… or not. The fuck? I can't connect with any of them!"

A strong gust of wind blew past them. Kanae, Edina, and Lani turned to the source— a tall tower in which sections of the wall had been blown off and chunk of the roof caved in. Someone stumbled out of it. Elizabeth Bedlam. She dropped to her knees, covered in soot and burn marks.

"Eliza?!" Kanae and Lani exclaimed.

"Amethyst… Lanil… Thank goodness, you're safe… The empire launched an attack on Aidenhall. I tried to find you in Ehmvier, but… it was in the middle of being sacked when I arrived…" Eliza managed to say before passing out.