Dungeon of Lust: Managing Otherworldly Beauties-Chapter 230: Fish Out of Water

’It’s a bit ironic.’

From her elevated position, Ximena listened as the croaks and growls of the Piscari drew closer.

She’d been fighting these foes the day she activated Crystal Prison.

’Fish out of water.’

That’s what she’d felt like in the world for a long time.

And the Piscari, who were exactly that, had appeared almost immediately after she escaped the Crystal Prison.

’It feels almost symbolic...’

Like the world making fun of her. Shouting at her, "Hey! You see them! You’re no different. A princess who lives in a dungeon. A girl who craves tenderness but cannot touch another! It’s you! They’re you!"

The world wasn’t telling her anything, yet Ximena interpreted it that way anyway.

’Now I don’t even know what I’m doing here...’

She had an obvious goal: to live and earn Vale’s affection, but she had no desire to play second fiddle. If Vale looked her way, she wished him to look only her way.

A princess craves a prince, not a harlot.

See? A fish out of water.

One in the Dungeon of Lust, yet lust was secondary in her mind.

Still, she’d fallen for Vale the moment he hugged her, and there wasn’t much she could do to deny the nagging ache in her chest.

However, it had at least been easy to hate Salome before — as she always had. And it was easy to say Salome had hexed Vale, so his desire pointing towards others wasn’t his fault.

’Though I’ve been disabused of that notion by now.’

Vale was indeed choosing to lie with other women, not spurred by Salome.

Even worse...

’Why...’

Ximena had wanted to die to absolve the pain, not because she craved death; however, living as the result of Salome’s pity?

’Why did it have to be her?!’

Why did Salome have to be the one to save her?

Sure, she was the only reason Ximena could contemplate anything at the moment, but the act had spawned a storm of inner turmoil.

Salome had nearly always been the aggressor in their ill-fated relationship, yet now she dared show Ximena mercy?

’It’s... unforgivable.’

To kill her family, then spare her?

All for something...

’Something I don’t understand.’

She had memories of sliding Hope’s blade into his chest, but they were all muddled and wrong.

She didn’t remember how she got there, why she left her home in the first place, and why Hope would let her kill him.

It all made no sense.

Not only that — whenever she tried to explain anything, something within her forcibly silenced her.

Ximena sighed as the Piscari entered her line of sight.

Without wasting time, she reversed her crystals, deflecting her power outward, and unfurled her wings.

Instead of her usual red fabric, which was bloodied and unsalvageable, she had claimed one of the torn purple banners from the Liora church, which she wore as a robe.

Ximena set her foot firmly on the half wall, held out her hand, and yelled to the fish-people as they turned into the maze below her. Some looked up and held their spears at her, others didn’t dare brave the cold and fled further into the dungeon.

Ximena looked down at the vile beings below her and bellowed:

"You... you things disgust me!"

’Sometimes, looking the other way is the right decision!’

She would unleash all the emotions she’d kept bottled up for the two months she’d been confined in constant blazing agony. An agony which was absolved by the source of her long suffering.

With more Aether, Ximena didn’t bother to be sparing. Nor should she be. The beasts below were all Emergent.

Ximena waved her hand, sending a wave of [Frostbite] into the congregation below.

"Repugnant. Foul. Hypocrite! Wretch!"

The Piscari shrieked back.

"Greeaaak!"

"Greeaaak!"

The foul beasts that remained chucked their spears at Ximena.

Ximena summoned crystal shields that orbited her, knocking away the bone spears.

"Useless! Misplaced!"

More fish poured into the chamber, shrieking.

"Greeaaaaaaaak!"

Ximena’s eyes transitioned into an opulent sapphire from their usual ruby.

Ximena snarled as a large crystal formed in her hands, which she froze while filling it with Aether.

"Do you not see the fallacy in looking up and launching your spears at me?!"

The Aether-filled crystal plunged into the middle of the horde. The moment it smashed into the ground, the Aether inside it combusted the frozen crystal, sending shards in every direction.

"There’s a path forward behind you, yet you dare stay sidetracked looking up at something you’ll never overcome!"

Ximena felt like she wanted to cry. But she had shed her tears three days ago.

She unleashed a few more Aether-filled crystals while knocking away every spear thrown at her and impairing as many as she could with [Frostbite].

Of the sixty-one fish, thirty had gone on, thirty were trying to reach Ximena, and the last one...

Ximena watched as a fish bigger than all the rest, walking at a slow and steady pace, rounded the corner and looked up at Ximena.

Ximena laughed.

"Wretch..."

The gigantic fish looked up at her, then growled in a deep voice:

"Greeak."

The smaller Piscari halted their attacks and turned to the big one. After exchanging a few more growls, the thirty Piscari ran off after their brethren, leaving the Wretch behind.

A big purple bastard wielding a broadsword with a notched spine and a thin cloth toga looked up at Ximena.

"Foul Wretch. Daring to take me on your own."

Ximena screamed:

"It’s foolish, utterly foolish!"

The large Piscari bellowed a war cry then bent its thick stumps. Its intent was obvious. It was going to jump up to Ximena.

Ximena summoned another crystal shield, one larger than the rest. Then she added the already existent shields to its edges.

"You had allies, and you threw them away. Now, pay the price for that arrogance."

The fish jumped up with its sword raised. The massive bone sword slammed into the shield, which shattered instantly. But together, the shards were able to push back and block the Wretch from joining her on the ledge.

The Wretch seemed partially resistant to her power, its body coated in slick mucus.

Ximena sneered as she dismissed the crystals.

She looked down at the Wretch as it landed gracelessly on its knees.

"You damned fish out of water..."