In the darkness, a massive serpent drew near.
As it slithered across the floor, its crimson eyes remained fixed on Rest, reflecting his face with startling clarity.
"Hiss... hiss..."
The creature let out a distinct, raspy wheeze. Its long, forked tongue flickered in and out.
He was being hunted. He was completely locked in its sights.
A primal sense of dread washed over him, but he was far too late to react.
"Ugh...!"
Before he could even think of escaping, the great serpent coiled around him.
Its supple body constricted his arms, his legs, and his torso, pinning him so tightly he couldn't move a single muscle. It was as if he were being grappled by a master of wrestling or judo.
"Guh... ah... I can't... breathe...!"
A soft, fleshy mass was pressed firmly against his face, making every breath a struggle.
Was this the texture of scales? It felt surprisingly smooth. He had heard that snakes were cold-blooded animals, yet he could feel an unexpected heat radiating from the creature.
"Ah... guh..."
Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen reaching his brain, but amidst the suffocating pain, a strange sense of ecstasy began to bloom. It was a thrill of sensuality that danced on the razor’s edge of mortality. The sensation of his entire body being crushed elicited a bizarre pleasure, and in exchange, his ability to think rationally began to slip away.
"Ah..."
A burst of light exploded within the darkness.
Was this white radiance a sign that the heavens were coming for him? With his consciousness fading, Rest allowed himself to be swallowed by the descending glow.
"Whoa...?"
Rest's eyes snapped open to find himself in a bed at an inn.
He stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Sunlight was streaming through the window, making him realize that morning had arrived while he was unconscious.
"Where on earth...?"
Rest groaned in pain. It took him a moment to process his surroundings. Why was he here? And what was the deal with that giant serpent?
It took a full minute of concentrated effort, but eventually, the memories returned. He wasn't at the Marquis Rosemary estate or the Pioneer Group's headquarters. He was staying at an inn on the Eastern Side of the Plain. He had come here to hunt a monster called a Worm at the request of Urula from the Margrave Lavender House.
"That's right... I'm..."
"Zzz... zzz..."
"Ugh...!"
At that moment, he realized the unprecedented crisis he was currently facing. Rest was lying in the bed, but he wasn't alone. Another person was tucked under the covers with him.
"Yu-Yuri...!"
"Mumble, mumble..."
It was Yuri Catreia.
To Rest, she was a classmate, a friend, and a fellow party member participating in the frontier development. It wasn't strange for her to be in the same room—they were sharing the lodging, after all.
However, this was a twin room. Yuri was supposed to be in her own bed. He certainly hadn't given her permission to climb into his.
"Hey, wake up! Hey!"
"Snore..."
"Guwaaaaaah...!"
Yuri was sound asleep, clinging to him with a death grip.
Her powerful limbs were crushing his body with such force that he couldn't even manage to sit up. It seemed the "giant serpent" from his dream had actually been Yuri all along.
To make matters worse, her clothes were in total disarray, leaving her almost entirely in her underwear. Even that was half-slipping off, and her ample, bare chest was being squashed directly against his face.
From a male perspective, it was a dream scenario—but at the same time, his life was genuinely in danger. The way her monstrous strength constricted him was no different from being caught in the coils of an actual anaconda.
"Ugugu... wake... uuuugh!"
"Mumble, mumble..."
He tried to shout, but with his lungs compressed, even squeezing out a whisper was a monumental task. In stark contrast to his struggle, Yuri looked utterly peaceful as she slumbered.
(No, really... isn't this seriously bad?)
Being in the same bed as a woman who wasn't his fiancée was socially catastrophic, but he was also in a state of physical and biological emergency. What kind of karma had he accrued to end up suffering like this?
"Mumble... I can't eat... another bite..."
"Wh-what a cliché thing to say in your sleep... Oooogh...!"
Ultimately, it was another thirty minutes before Rest finally managed to escape the bed. Even by pushing his Physical Enhancement magic to its limits, the best he could do was endure the pressure; he simply couldn't crawl out on his own.
Until the moment Yuri finally woke up, Rest was forced to savor every bit of her warmth, her softness, and her terrifying, overwhelming strength.