NTR: Stealing wives in Another World-Chapter 122: Trauma

The runes on the ground still sizzled, hissing faintly as the last of Rinni’s screams echoed off the cavern walls. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her entire body trembling in Allen’s arms. Glowing slime trails from Luna shimmered along her legs, slowly pulsing like veins full of magic.

Fina knelt beside them, eyes flicking between Rinni and the circle.

"She’s not just a masochist," she muttered. "She’s a conduit."

Allen’s fingers brushed Rinni’s cheek. She was dazed, smiling weakly, practically glowing with sweat and afterglow. "And she just opened a door."

A sudden crack split the air—sharp and unnatural, like glass fracturing under pressure.

They all turned.

At the far edge of the circle, the stone wall began to ripple. Not move—ripple, like someone had dropped a stone into the world’s fabric itself. The magic surged, runes crawling upward, spiderwebbing out into the rock, pulling apart the very matter of the cave.

Luna chirped nervously and bounced into Allen’s chest, wrapping around his neck like a slimy scarf.

"That’s new," Allen muttered.

"It’s a gate," Fina said, rising to her feet, ears flattened. "Not a portal. A gate. Anchored and old. I can feel the demonic energy crawling through it."

"Where does it go?" Allen asked.

Fina’s claws flexed. "Wherever the Demon Corps took the mermaids."

Another shatter sound boomed through the cave. This time, a sliver of something else appeared in the gate—like a piece of night sky where it didn’t belong. No stars. Just shifting, endless darkness and the sound of... wind? Screams? It was hard to tell.

Allen gently lowered Rinni onto a blanket. She reached up for him even in her haze, so he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "You rest. You earned it."

"Mmnnn... kill some assholes for me," she whispered, grinning lazily.

"You know I will."

Fina was already gearing up. Her clawed feet stomped into the boots she’d discarded, her blade sliding across her back in one smooth motion. Her tail lashed behind her, full of restrained fury.

"This isn’t just about mermaids anymore," she growled. "This is about them. The ones who’ve been hunting beastkin for decades. The ones who burned my village and branded my sister."

Allen’s eyes flicked to the still-glowing demon tag tucked inside his gear. He pulled it out, watching the symbols pulse. "They left this behind on purpose. Like they wanted someone to find the trail."

"Well," Fina said, baring her teeth, "they’re gonna regret that."

The gate pulsed again—wider now. Big enough for them to pass through.

Allen stood tall, the air around him shimmering with the aftermath of their ritual. He was shirtless, streaked with Rinni’s sweat and magic dust, glowing faintly like a battle-hardened deity pulled straight from a beastkin myth. Luna rested on his shoulder, coiled tight but alert.

"Let’s go ruin someone’s week," he said.

Fina grinned savagely. "After you, Master."

They stepped forward—together.

The gate welcomed them like a throat opening to swallow, and with a final glance back at Rinni’s resting form, Allen vanished into the dark.

On the Other Side

The first thing Allen noticed was the heat. It hit like a wall—humid, foul, thick with the scent of sulfur and burning hair. The second thing was the screams.

Not the distant kind. Not echoes or illusions. Real screams. Chained, raw, animal.

They stood in a jagged stone corridor lined with cages. Beastkin—foxes, wolves, rabbits. Sat slumped behind rusted bars, their bodies broken in ways Allen couldn’t even describe. One mermaid blinked weakly at him, her gills twitching, her tail covered in burn scars.

Fina growled, her claws glowing.

"This is a holding cell," she snarled. "One of many."

Then came the footsteps. Armored. Heavy.

Voices followed.

"...Check the seal—some of the slaves are reacting again. If one of them is about to trigger another backlash, collar them harder. If they die, they die."

Allen’s eyes darkened.

He turned to Fina, voice ice-cold.

"Let’s make this quick. We paint this corridor in Demon Corps blood."

She licked her lips. "With pleasure."

The corridor stretched endlessly, dimly lit by flickering sconces powered by some kind of cruel fire magic—blue and cold, like it burned without heat. Every few feet, another cage. Another prisoner. And every single one—beastkin, mostly—turned their eyes away as Allen and Fina passed.

Out of fear. Or shame. Or both.

Allen’s hand never left the hilt of his sword.

They moved in silence, footsteps light, Luna flattening herself across Allen’s back like a protective cloak of slime. The only sounds were distant—metal clinking, a door creaking, maybe a muffled cry far off.

Then they saw it.

A large canvas tent nestled in a clearing of the cavern—sandstone all around, but this thing looked... temporary. Like it was thrown together in a hurry. Demon Corps weren’t known for sloppiness, so that alone put Allen on edge.

Fina tapped her claw twice against his shoulder and pointed: no guards.

He nodded, slipping forward. They crouched low, pressed to the canvas, and Allen gently lifted a flap to peek inside.

What he saw made his stomach twist.

Inside was a tank.

Massive. Like the kind you’d see at an aquarium back on Earth—but this one wasn’t glass. It was copper. Dented, scratched, stained with crusted blood. The water inside sloshed faintly, murky with filth. Pipes stuck out from the sides like metal veins, some of them pumping steam, others hissing something chemical into the water.

And floating inside... were mermaids. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

At least six of them.

One pressed her webbed hand against the side of the tank weakly. Her eyes were cloudy, unfocused. The others barely moved—except for the gentle drifting of their tails. Or rather... what was left of them.

Allen’s breath caught in his throat.

Their tails had been cut off at the knee—every single one of them. Just above where their fin began. The wounds were uneven, ugly, and slowly knitting themselves back together with the sluggish, painful pace of cursed regeneration. One tail twitched violently, raw muscle flexing as scales began to grow back like burnt skin regrowing over bone.

Fina’s breath hitched beside him. She wasn’t growling. She wasn’t snarling. She was completely still. Frozen with horror.

Allen slipped inside the tent, careful not to make a sound. Luna clung tighter, her glow dim.

He approached the tank. One of the mermaids, a younger one with coral-pink hair and a raw stump of a tail, floated to the edge and blinked at him with swollen eyes.

She opened her mouth. No sound came.

Then she mouthed one word: "Help."

Allen’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked. His jaw locked tight.

Fina stepped forward, voice ragged. "They’re... they’re cutting the tails off. For what? Alchemy? Potions?"

Then a voice rasped from inside the tank. It came from the mermaid closest to the spout—her tail was little more than a bleeding stub, constantly twitching. Her voice was hoarse, full of hate and agony.

"They... they eat us," she said.

Allen turned, stunned. "What?"

"The... demons. They eat our flesh. Serve it to nobles. And sell the leftovers to dwarves... They say mermaid meat is a delicacy..."

She gasped, eyes unfocused. "The humans and elves—they take our scales. Cut them off while we’re awake. For necklaces... earrings... they say it brings ’luck’ in love..."

She sobbed, body trembling in the filth-clouded water.

Fina’s claws dug into her palms. "I’m going to rip them apart."

Allen stepped to the side of the tank, where the tools lay on the table. Not surgical. Torture tools. Hooks. Heated knives. Bone saws. One of the blades still had fresh scale remnants sticking to the edge, glittering like opals.

Luna let out a soft, mournful gurgle.

Allen’s blood ran cold.

"We’re burning this place down," he said flatly. "All of it. But first—"

He looked at Fina. She was shaking, teeth bared, tears building in the corners of her golden eyes.

"We rescue them," she said.

Allen nodded. "You disable the pipelines. I’ll get the tank open."

Fina dashed to the side, inspecting the twisted alchemy contraptions feeding into the tank. With a series of swift, practiced slashes, she severed the flow of chemicals, steam venting into the air with a hiss. Luna helped, her slimy body pressing into valves and clogging ports.

Allen grabbed a metal bar and wedged it under the tank’s latch. It took everything he had, but with one final grunt and a snap of metal, the side groaned open and water poured out, carrying the weak mermaids onto the bloodstained ground.

They gasped. Choked. Flopped weakly.

Fina knelt beside them, gently cradling the coral-haired one as Allen pulled off his cloak and draped it over another. Luna stretched herself out into a makeshift blanket, wrapping two of them in warm slime.

"We’ve got you," Allen said quietly. "You’re safe now."

But even as he said it, the ground rumbled slightly. Not from the water.

From footsteps.

Big ones.

More than one.

Fina’s ears snapped up. "They’re coming back."

Allen stood, eyes narrowed.

"Good," he said, voice low and burning. "Let them come."

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