"You did. Badly so, thinking I’d fall for a garden trap. I wonder what’s with anyone thinking I’m a hero anyway..." Ryuk muttered with an eye-roll under his breath, before he turned his attention back to the hanging lady, as he asked in his mind:
’Hey, system. What is she?’
[Congratulations, Host has come across a Special Hybridual Mutated Beast called a SuccuTerra.]
’Oh, she’s a mutated beast?’ he thought as he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the lady, who also raised an eyebrow from Ryuk’s eyes, noting the flicker in them as if he just realized something.
[Yes, a hybrid. But be careful. One of her hybrid races is one known for their evil.] the system said, as Ryuk nodded his head, giving one last look at the entire view before he turned his back and moved back towards the place from where he had come.
"Nice meeting you," he said, and the lady’s eyes looked at Ryuk uncaringly, moved out with dumb shock.
Most who had come here would at best try to strike up a conversation. Ask her what she was. Or just cry out, Monster, monster, before they are eventually overtaken by their own desires
But the ladyboy before her just came in, told her her illusion was stupid, and then turned his back and said goodbye.
’Finally, a mildly interesting individual.’
"You’re leaving?" she shouted from behind, as Ryuk nodded his head without turning back
. But he soon paused when he felt the entrance back to the cave suddenly begin shaking loudly, and in the next instant, his eyes flashed as he faded away from where he stood.
A split second after he left, a powerful burst of dark lava came rushing out of the cave, slamming outward with powerful momentum.
Ryuk’s eyes furrowed, looking at the cave entrance, with all the lava rushing out with a momentum rivalling that of an opened dam, before he turned back to the lady, noting a dark ring in her eyes.
"You can control the dark lava?" he said out loud.
But then he looked around the entire area—the entire waterfall that was raining down with lava—and he couldn’t help but gulp a bit, something that didn’t escape the eyes of the lady.
"Seems like you’ve realized," She said as Ryuk watched the waterfall stop flowing, and all of the lava began moving up, surrounding her figure, as the heat in the room reached spiking-hot degrees, while the air became covered in a dark aura that made Ryuk feel the world around him blurring with every second.
But he only needed to wrap himself in a cocoon of Aetheris energy before getting rid of the mind attack.
Still, it was seeping in, bit by bit.
"You don’t think you can waltz into my realm, and then turn your back and leave without my permission, right?" she said to Ryuk with a devilish grin, as he corrected:
"You mean your prison. And to be fair, I didn’t see a mark on the cave entrance that says it belongs to someone, so I can’t really be blamed."
"Now, let’s just both pretend this never happened and you stop the gushing lava from the entrance and I turn my back and leave quietly."
"You can’t leave, playboy. The cave shuts closed once you step in," she said with a smirk, as Ryuk’s eyebrows furrowed.
"I doubt that. It’s just a rock over the surface. I can crack it."
"You can’t. It’s been obstructed with a sealing rune. Not just a shut rune. The only way you can leave is having this..." she said, and in the next instant, Ryuk watched as a red-colored card, inscribed with bizarre runic lines, appeared before her face.
[An Unsealing Card] The system flashed before him.
"This is the rune card opposite to that on the rock. Place it on the outer rock, and it will open up," she explained as Ryuk flashed her a thankful smile.
"Seems like that’ll save me lots of stress. I’ll kindly take it. Just send it down here..." Ryuk said from below, as the lady laughed out loud in disbelief and humor before she said:
"Come closer, if you want it. I can’t push it any farther than this..." she said, as Ryuk’s eyebrows furrowed.
"Well, if you can’t, I can..." he said as his will instantly moved up with speed, and he willed it toward the card, instantly raising it toward himself.
But before it moved even a centimeter, a wall of lava instantly appeared, surrounding the card, and Ryuk felt his will shatter into pieces as he lost control of the card.
"Seems like you won’t let me have it. Just like I guessed," he said, unimpressed, as the lady replied:
"Actually. I will give this to you. I promise. On just one condition," she said, noting Ryuk looked at her binding chains, and he said:
"Free you? Yeah, you made that clear when I came here..." he replied as she shrugged.
"What else do you think the condition can be then? I’ve been trapped down here for 203 years. Of course, I want to be free."
"203 years, huh? Don’t tell me nobody has come down here in 200 years. It might be secretive, but I doubt the Titans have ever entered this cave..." Ryuk said out loud in suspicion as he watched a faint light bloom in the lady’s eyes.
"Oh, there’ve been a couple of people who have come down here," she said.
"So... where are they?"
"Right there..." she said, turning her head toward a distant wall, and he watched the lava form a hand and move towards the side of the wall, pulling up on an iron knob in the wall, and coming out was a shelf, with objects on top that chilled Ryuk spines.
On that shelf were about five skulls. Yes, skulls, pitch black as if they’d been burned to death.
And from their expressions, he could see the horrifying agony that was still present on their face.
"How did you like my collection?" the lady asked, looking at Ryuk, who eyed the skulls before he turned back to her with furrowed eyebrows.
"Each of them could have helped you get out, but you burned them to death and stored their skulls. Why?" he asked, as she scoffed in mockery.
"They were all useless. They couldn’t help me sever the chains. They’re all simply too weak to even make a deep enough dent in it."
"And so... you killed them and kept their skulls as a reward because of them being unable to free you from your bondage?"
"No. I’m not that pathetic. I killed them because they got overtaken by my curse."