The corridor was endless. The more Frost Wraiths I cut down, the heavier my body became. Frost began to settle on the arm I used to swing my sword.
"Li-An, your face has gone pale. We can't go on like this."
Jia hugged my back even tighter. Her scales were cold, but the blood flowing beneath them was boiling. But something was strange. Chen's hand was shaking. Since she had shared blood with me, she was experiencing my physical state in real-time.
"It's cold... so cold, but inside, I'm burning..."
Chen mumbled, burying her face in my chest. Everywhere her breath touched, mana sparked like embers. This wasn't just a simple chill. The mana of Floor 13 was forcibly triggering their 'mating season' instincts. For beast-people, extreme cold acts as a switch that flips their survival and reproduction instincts.
"Hey, not here..."
Before I could finish my sentence, Mei slid her hand into my pants pocket. Her teeth were chattering from the cold, but her eyes were gleaming with hunger.
"Li-An, give me more mana. Or I'll freeze to death here. Not just raw mana, I want your real essence..."
Mei bit my neck roughly. Along with the pain, a surge of heat traveled down my spine. Jia also tore through my shirt, pressing her bare chest against my naked back.
"Dragon blood stops if it gets too cold. Li-An, take responsibility."
The three predators pushed me down to the floor. The ground was icy, but the flesh of the girls layered on top of me was hot enough to melt. Chen took my hand into her mouth, licking my fingers one by one while staring me down.
"The blood we mixed to catch the wraiths... it's still circling inside me. Li-An, give it all to me."
I grabbed their hair. Ragged breathing echoed through the frozen hallway. Wraiths hovered nearby, trying to attack, but they were scattered by the explosive heat of the mana the four of us radiated.
The battle with the monsters had stopped, but the sound of flesh hitting flesh grew louder. I gripped Jia's hips tight and poured my mana into her. Mei groaned, using my arm as a pillow, and Chen kissed me as if she were trying to devour my lips.
We indulged in each other in the dark corner of Floor 13. It was more intense than hunting and required more stamina than taking down a dungeon boss. But through this madness, the 'Vessel' inside me continued to expand, growing larger and larger.