Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan

From the stone corridor just outside the wooden door, the sound of loud, rasping coughing echoed through the pitch-black dungeon. The snake guards were returning. The spicy capsaicin cloud was clearing out.

To Ren’s shock, Vex did not slow down. He didn’t even pause.

Instead, the trickster fox did the exact opposite. He tightened his ruthless grip on her hips and aggressively accelerated his pace. He jackhammered his cock deep into her soaking wet passage with rapid, punishing thrusts, completely disregarding the impending danger.

"Vex!" Ren tried to hiss, but the sound morphed into a needy, broken whimper.

She shoved her palm directly into her mouth, biting down hard on her skin to stifle her screams. The terrifying risk of the situation combined with the targeted friction of his shaft slamming against her entrance was short-circuiting her brain. Her climax was building at a rapid speed, coiling tight in her lower belly and making her feel lightheaded.

"Just a few more seconds, Little Rose," Vex growled, his voice vibrating with raw, primal need.

He drove his hips forward, burying himself as deeply as the thick wooden bars of his cage would physically allow. The friction was maddening. Ren squeezed her eyes shut, her inner walls clamping down around his rigid length, milking him dry.

Vex let out a low, guttural groan. He stiffened against her back, shooting ropes of his seed directly into her aching core.

The moment he finally pulled out, Ren stumbled forward. Her knees instantly buckled like overcooked asparagus. She pitched through the darkness, throwing her hands out blindly, and barely caught herself against the freezing, damp stone wall before she could face-plant onto the floor.

She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to unleash a barrage of furious profanities for risking both of their lives just to get off. But the longer she stayed in this pitch-black cell, the stickier the situation would become.

Behind her, she heard the soft rustle of fabric as Vex adjusted his loincloth. He chuckled in deep satisfaction. He was feeling incredibly pleased with himself. If she were to fail to save him tonight, and knowing Syris’s paranoia, he assumed she absolutely would, he would at least die a very happy, thoroughly sated beastman in the morning.

"They are right outside the door, you lunatic," Ren panted, pressing her burning cheek against the cold wall. "I am trapped!"

"You are not trapped, my beautiful cook," Vex purred calmly. "There is a secret door built into the wall you are currently touching. You simply have to find it."

Ren blinked into the nothingness. "How in the world do you know there is a secret door in the wall?"

"It is not my first time residing in Syris’s lowest dungeon," Vex replied nonchalantly. "The hidden passage leads to a waterhole. Once you slide through, you just have to climb the carved steps back up."

Ren furrowed her brows. "Wait a minute. If you know exactly how to get out of this dungeon, why are you still sitting in here? Why haven’t you escaped?"

Vex let out a dry, cynical chuckle. He reached out, tapping a sharp claw against one of the large, unyielding pillars of his cell.

"Because every time Syris locks me down here, he adds something new," Vex explained, a hint of genuine frustration slipping into his tone. "This specific cage is new. The wood is very hard, maybe even indestructible. I have not figured out how to shatter it yet. So, I might actually just be dead this time."

Ren wiped her mouth, her determination flaring up to replace her lingering lust. "You will not die tomorrow. I promise you, Vex. I will save you."

Vex chuckled again, though it sounded a fraction softer this time. "Okay, Little Rose."

"Now help me find this door!" Ren demanded, dragging her palms blindly across the freezing, uneven stones. "Point me in the right direction!"

"Very well," Vex agreed. "Take two steps to your left."

Ren shuffled sideways.

"Now take three steps backward."

Ren frowned but obliged, stepping cautiously away from the wall.

"Now spin around twice and touch your toes," Vex instructed, his voice dripping with pure amusement.

"Stop being so annoying!" Ren hissed furiously, realizing the trickster fox was deliberately making her walk in completely useless circles in the dark for his own entertainment. She marched straight back to the wall, smacking her hands flat against the rock.

"Alright, alright," Vex laughed. "The smooth section of the wall you are currently touching. You just need to push firmly against it until—"

Vex’s instructions were abruptly cut off.

Ren found the door on her very first push. The massive stone slab didn’t click or grind. It slid backward with zero resistance, vanishing into the architecture. Because she had been leaning her entire body weight against the rock, Ren lost her balance completely.

She pitched forward, tumbling face-first into a dark, echoing abyss.

"Ahhhhh!" Ren screamed at the top of her lungs, her arms flailing wildly as the solid ground simply vanished beneath her feet.

The loud, piercing scream echoed out of the dungeon, immediately drawing the attention of the two snake guards outside. The door burst open, flooding the room with the dim light of the corridor brazier.

Fortunately, the secret door slid rapidly shut, sealing flat against the wall just a fraction of a second before the guards stepped inside.

The guards coughed, their throats still raw from the pepper bomb. They gripped their serrated spears, their golden eyes darting around the empty room. They eyed the Fox Shaman in his wooden cage with profound suspicion.

"What was that sound?" one of the guards demanded, pointing his spear at the cage.

Vex smiled innocently, leaning casually against the thick wooden bars. "That was just me. I had a terrible, sudden nightmare about dying tomorrow."

The guards exchanged a highly skeptical look. They scanned the dark corners of the room. "That scream sounded like a female."

To further prove his innocence, Vex threw his head back, widened his eyes, and let out a pitch-perfect, high-pitched, blood-curdling girlish scream that echoed off the stone walls.

The guards flinched, thoroughly startled by the bizarre display.

"Do not make another sound, trickster," the lead guard threatened, baring his venomous fangs. "Or you will be losing your tongue long before sunrise."

Vex offered them a crisp, mock salute, completely unfazed by the threat.

Meanwhile, deep within the hidden passage, Ren was still falling.

She was plummeting through rushing darkness for what felt like an eternity, her vocal cords raw from screaming. She was sure she was going to die. Her stomach was lodged firmly in her throat. Vex had completely failed to mention the terrifying vertical drop! He made it sound like she just had to walk down a hallway!

The cool, damp subterranean air violently whipped at her frizzy red hair and stung her face as she plummeted faster and faster.

Suddenly, right in the middle of her terrifying freefall...

Whoosh!

The System confiscated her emerald silk dress.

Ren gasped, her bare skin instantly exposed to the biting, freezing wind. She was plummeting down a bottomless pit, naked and freezing cold!

"System!" Ren shrieked into the void, her voice echoing wildly. "Give me my dress back right now!"

A blue holographic screen materialized beside her falling body, keeping perfect pace with her descent.

[System: Negative, Host! You will be landing in a body of water very soon!]

"The dress is supposed to be indestructible!" Ren argued frantically, waving her bare arms as she fell through the dark.

[System: Yes, Host, but it isn’t waterproof! Seawater will ruin the silk threading!]

"You are a liar!" Ren screamed at the floating blue screen. "That is not what you told me when you gave it to me!"

Before the System could offer another snarky retort, Ren hit the surface.

SPLASH!

She plunged into the freezing, churning underground waterhole. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs in a rush of silver bubbles. The frigid water felt like a million tiny needles stabbing into her bare skin, and the intense salinity immediately stung her eyes.

It was saltwater?!

The current beneath the surface was vicious. It grabbed her bare legs and began pulling her relentlessly downward into the dark depths.

Ren fought back. She kicked her legs and thrashed her arms, battling the terrifying undertow. Through the churning, bubbling water, her stinging eyes caught a faint, bioluminescent glow illuminating the carved stone steps Vex had mentioned. They were right there! Just a few yards away!

She reached out, swimming desperately toward the stairs.

But the rushing saltwater was too powerful. It flooded her mouth, choking her with its bitter, briny taste. Her lungs burned fiercely for oxygen. The current overpowered her exhausted muscles, spinning her backward and dragging her under.

Ren clenched her eyes tightly shut as the current sucked her directly into a narrow, submerged tunnel.

She was shooting through the dark like she was trapped in a high-speed aquatic waterslide. The water battered her naked body against smooth, slippery rocks, twisting her around in the dark, suffocating rush. Water rapidly filled her nose and mouth. The burning sensation in her chest grew agonizing as she slowly began slipping in and out of consciousness, her mind going fuzzy around the edges.

Suddenly, the narrow rock tunnel vanished.

Ren felt herself launch out into open space, falling over the crest of a rushing waterfall. She forced her burning, stinging eyes open for a fraction of a second.

Blinding, brilliant sunlight pierced her vision.

She saw a flash of blue sky and lush, vibrant greenery before gravity yanked her back down.

’What?!’ she thought.

Ren slammed into a crystal-clear basin of water below the falls with another splash. The impact was the final straw for her battered, oxygen-starved body.

As she slowly sank into the warm, sunlit water, the world finally faded to black, and Ren lost consciousness.