CHAPTER 580: CHAPTER 582: CHASTITY BELT

The cold splash of water on his body was one thing, but what truly distracted him from his end goal was Abellona. Her soaked clothes clung tightly to her body as she held onto him, pulling him closer.

Damon bit his lips.

’Oh goddess, you are testing me... I am a weak, weak man.’

She was literally trying to push herself on him, but Damon persevered. Not out of virtue, but simply because he wanted to.

"Stay still."

Abellona smiled and stayed still. The creek wasn’t deep, which was a relief. The water reached only to their waists.

Damon dunked her into the water a few times, holding her head down just long enough before pulling it back out. He let his mind drift, ensuring her body was thoroughly soaked before he lifted her head again.

Abellona gasped, short of breath, water dripping down her face. Her eyes cleared slightly, some of her senses returning.

"Are... are you trying to drown me?"

Damon smiled lightly.

"No, but I’ll need you to change out of those..."

Abellona glanced at her ripped clothes. Why hadn’t she thought to get out of them sooner? You would think she would have realized after they had been torn, but instead, this man had been given a feast for his eyes, staring at her supple curves.

She gritted her teeth, her face burning, her head throbbing with shame. There was no way she could blame him for looking.

"Can you turn around... or better yet, give me some space?"

Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"In case I turn around and you take off your clothes, just so you know, I will make no effort to resist if you’re naked."

Abellona bit her lips and glared at him.

"I’ll keep that in mind..."

Damon stepped away, turning into a shadow and reappearing a short distance from her. That was as far as he could teleport with the chains shackling them together.

The sound of rustling fabric was the only noise he heard as she pulled out a new dress from her spatial ring and began changing.

Damon raised his hand without looking at her.

"Don’t forget to put on new underwear. Your last ones got ruined, you mig—"

Before he could finish, his danger sense exploded. He slipped into his shadow just as a massive spear pierced through the crystal he had been sitting against.

Damon’s hands trembled. That was too close. She had almost impaled his head.

"Rogue..." he heard her mutter.

Well, he wasn’t exactly a gentleman. That much was true.

’I was just making a point. Why did she try to kill me?’

He decided it was better to stay quiet.

Abellona tugged at the shackle binding them. Her expression was impassive, but Damon could feel her indignation. She was ready to move on.

When he turned around, she was dressed in a long blue gown. Its design was lined with belts crisscrossing over her figure, making it difficult to remove. It covered her completely, even up to her neck where a black choker sat.

"Is this dress supposed to be your idea of a chastity belt? Because it’s useless. You can rip it off with a single move."

She bit her lips and glared at the ground in embarrassment, but this was all she could manage.

"Let’s go."

Damon nodded, walking beside her.

"Ashcroft isn’t far from here. You wouldn’t last long out in the open... so I have an idea."

Abellona’s breaths were heavy, sweat beading down her temple.

"It’s quite obvious what you want. You want to go to the boss room."

Damon glanced at her, surprised.

"How did you know?"

She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling heavily.

"You made it obvious. While we were traveling through the narrow tunnels, you kept asking me about powerful monsters... and dungeon layouts."

Her eyes lingered on him as she walked forward. The black rose mark on her neck had begun to bloom, the curse creeping further across her skin.

"For someone with your experience and skills, it’s shocking how you’ve never been in a dungeon."

She closed her eyes, ignoring the throbbing in her head and the painful twist in her heart urging her to just give in and end the torment.

"You want to lure Ashcroft to the boss room and let him fight the dungeon boss. If he wins... no, when he wins... you’ll fight him."

Damon nodded. She had seen right through his plan. He had thought he was slick. How did she even have the presence of mind to think clearly while under such a curse?

’I suppose horniness doesn’t stop critical thinking... that’s about it.’

Abellona’s breaths grew heavier. She should have already lost control of her faculties, giving herself to her base desires. The fact that she had held on so long was pure willpower.

"The only weak link in your plan is me. I won’t hold long enough... and you can’t kill me either."

Damon nodded slowly.

She glanced at the shackle on her wrist, her voice low and trembling.

"If I lose myself now... there’s no coming back. When I wake, I’ll either no longer be a virgin... or I’ll be dead."

Her red eyes softened as she looked at Damon.

"If it comes to that... you can live. But can you do me a favor..."

Damon raised his hand with disdain.

"I’ll stop you there. I’m not killing you. Your virginity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You’d still lose it if you got married, so what if you lost it now? This is life or death. If you can’t live with losing your precious chastity, then..."

Damon frowned, his senses tingling with apprehension. He looked behind them.

"Let’s go. Ashcroft is about to enter my range."

He pulled her hand impatiently.

"I found a hidden passage to the boss room."

He didn’t care about her chastity, not really. He just didn’t want to see her break apart over something so small compared to her death.

Damon pointed up at a small spiral hole beneath a crystal jutting from the ground. Shadow perception had revealed the hidden tunnel. It was not magically reinforced—this was a naturally formed dungeon. The weak ambient magic made it possible for him to detect it, along with the dim blue light that cast deep shadows.

All these factors worked in his favor.

He dove in first, with Abellona following close behind. After wiggling through several small twisting tunnels, they finally broke out into a wide space. Above them, a massive slanted crystal jutted like an island on the cavern roof.

Below, the boss room stretched out in full view.

What Damon saw made his face pale.

Crystal spiders...