episode_0026

Erina shares the goddess’s grace with everyone.

She generously sprinkles her sticky, sweet semen on the other party members’ breasts as a condiment, splashing it onto their faces.

“Ah…♡ Mmm♡”

As if not a single drop is to be wasted, they eagerly lick their faces.

“Please, Aries-ssi.”

“Before that, can’t we get some materials that might be useful?”

Levi points to the fallen golem.

“Good. It seems inanimate, so there’s nothing to be wary of.”

Levi plunges her knife into the golem’s pierced area, ripping open the corpse. Fragments fly off with a “hiss,” emitting a faint electric spark.

“Hey, but do you know what you’re looking for? Are you just scavenging junk?”

“I wonder…?”

Aries shakes her head at Levi’s answer.

“Whoa, the inside is surprisingly soft. It’s metal, but since it’s metal, won’t it fetch a good price?”

“It seems correct that it has metal… attached to it.”

“Hey, let’s see!”

Aries, who had been concentrating magic in her hand, finally joins in the acquisition of spoils.

A golem without magic. As a magician, she couldn’t help but be curious.

“You all are impossible… I’ll take a look too♡”

“A plate? The circuitry is intricately etched in metal. It doesn’t seem like it’ll make money.”

“I thought it worked like gears.”

“It’s unusual that it has an interior. Originally, it’s just a clump of metal or dirt…”

“The plates are connected by lines… Ow, ouch!”

“Is it conducting electricity? The power source seems to be electrical…”

The party widens the hole in the golem to examine the interior. There’s a metal skeleton supporting the structure, and most of the inside is empty.

Several circuit boards are connected by wires. The area where Aries made the hole is where the power source is located, and wires spread out from there.

“Let’s take some of this. We might find clues about this golem’s identity.”

While Levi dismantles the circuit boards, something blue catches Erina’s eye.

A small, gemstone-like rock, emitting an artificial, flickering light.

“Levi-ssi, can you remove that gem?”

“Just a second…, there!”

The light fades when the power is cut.

“What is that?”

“I thought there’s no reason to have a gem like this inside.”

“Right. It’s odd to say it’s for decoration. There’s a high possibility that it’s a crucial component.”

“I don’t know anything about this.”

There’s nothing else to salvage. A tiny, hand-carved gemstone about the size of a fingernail is their only harvest.

They could dismantle and sell the skeleton somehow, but carrying it is a problem. The circuit boards Aries took are comparatively easy to carry.

“We’re supposed to break through the wall, right? We definitely have the means to make a hole. It’s just a matter of how thick it is. So, which way should we break through?”

“Just a moment.”

Erina runs her slender fingers over the wall surface. The chill of the wall and the damp texture of the moss tickle her fingertips.

One step, two steps. She carefully walks, searching for a place she can break through in one go. She cautiously taps the wall, listening for the sound.

Click.

The gem flickers slightly.

‘Oh my. It seems to be reacting to this building.’

But nothing else happens.

After examining the wall, it seems to have a consistent thickness, so she chooses the spot with the least moss.

“This way, please.”

Aries’s flames erupt where Erina pointed. She continues to pour magic into it, cutting through the wall like a flame sword.

“Wow, never again. This… is exhausting.”

“You need to use nicer words.”

“Excuse me, I’m 27.”

Aries retorted in an absurd tone.

“You made a hole that fits my height…?”

“No, maintaining the magic output was incredibly taxing. If another magician were here, their jaw would drop!”

A cute little hole perfectly suited to her small stature. However, it’s still a remarkable feat.

Aries is drenched in sweat, showing that she exerted considerable effort, even without being a magician.

Levi’s remark was a joke, and she had no intention of belittling her efforts.

“Anyway, we should be able to get through.”

Austi goes through the small hole first. Austi, who is particularly tall, has to bend down considerably, but it’s passable.

The wall isn’t thick, allowing them to slowly enter.

Instead of pitch darkness, they expected, the interior is faintly lit, giving them some visibility.

It’s incredibly quiet. The silence is so profound they could hear each other’s breath. The place where they broke through the wall is a room.

A room with spartan white furniture and smooth metal surfaces on the walls, devoid of wallpaper. The floor is plain.

‘This feeling is strange. Being inside magic energy… is it just my imagination that I’m having trouble breathing?’

“What is this interior…? It’s too clean, it’s creepy…”

“I agree. It looks like some kind of facility.”

Aries cautiously examines the furniture. Mostly well-organized shelves, with special instruments on each shelf.

“Let’s go that way; there’s a door.”

Going down the hallway, the impeccably clean interior remains unsettling.

Austi uses light steps, reducing their footsteps and increasing their speed.

“Can people really make things this clean?”

“It’s definitely not hand-made. It looks like it was molded in a cast.”

“On this scale… whose technology is it?”

Levi shows her adventurer’s curiosity. Although she hasn’t traveled the entire continent, she has never seen or heard of products mass-produced like this in a factory.

“Suddenly, I’m curious about something.”

“What is it? Aries.”

“Has nobody been near here all this time?”

“Well, if there were, wouldn’t that golem have taken care of them?”

“That’s not going to be it. Judging by that moss, it hasn’t moved for at least several decades.”

“That’s right. I think it’s because Levi’s a hero.”

“Huh~. You’re blaming me?”

“It’s just a hypothesis, not blame. Don’t misunderstand.”

Because it’s so quiet, their voices reverberate loudly.

Erina remains silent amidst their chatter.

Her nerves are on edge due to the magic energy, and she can’t calm down.

She needs to solve this quickly, but the place is so vast that navigating it is a task in itself.

As they go down the hallway carefully checking each door, they find that all the rooms are similar.

“…I think it was a place for studying alchemy or something like that. Since there’s magic energy, they might have used magical creatures for experiments.”

Aries offers a plausible conclusion.

“I’ve never seen equipment like this, but if I were to evolve the alchemical equipment I know by about 200 times, it might look like this.”

“That’s almost futuristic technology.”

“Right.”

“Ah!”

Erina suddenly cries out.

“What is it?”

“I sense something powerful from below.”

“Magic energy? I’m a little tired of fighting right now. I’m almost out of mana.”

“There’s no other way, Aries. Austi and I will go ahead.”

“Be careful. It feels more like a demon… than a monster.”

Just like when the succubus suddenly appeared, a powerful magic energy is suddenly rising from below the building.

“Below… there are stairs here. The second floor…? We came in through a hole from the ground, so is this the second floor?”

“Second floor…”

Erina murmurs, following the others down to the first floor.

A sinister magic, qualitatively different from the succubus’, pierces their skin.

“Who’s there!”

A sharp, high-pitched voice echoes through the building.

“Ugh, why is your voice so loud? I’m going deaf.”

“Communication is possible… this means a demon.”

“…Did you summon me?”

As they step onto the last step leading to the first floor. A ghostly figure phased through the wall, instantly transforming into human form before them and asking.

A pale-faced girl in a goth style. She possesses an overall gloomy and ominous aura that warns of danger upon approach.

Accordingly, she boasts a rather gaunt and unattractive figure.

“A nun…?”

Kaaaaaa―!

A bloodcurdling scream. The human form transforms into a half-ghost, revealing a terrifying appearance.

“Wh-who are you?”

“You don’t deserve an answer from me!”

The ghostly form swells, poised to attack.

“Calm down!! Summoned? Who sent you?”

“Try and make me!”

Ignoring Levi’s attempt at diffusing the situation, a magic spell formed from misty magic immediately attacks the party.

Erina immediately counters with a divine skill.

Kiaaa!!

The demon lets out a painful scream as the divine power touches it.

“You cowards! Are you planning to fight one by one?”

“As it happens, it’s a misunderstanding.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! Elven slut!”

The misty magic expands, signaling an area-of-effect attack.

“You were probably forcibly brought from the distant past. We don’t know how either.”

Erina also scatters small orbs of divine power around the group to protect them.

“What nonsense are you saying? The past? …Why can’t I feel anyone? What kind of prank is this!!”

“It’s probably true. There was a similar case with the succubus.”

The demon looks confused.

However, they can’t let it go. Before the area-of-effect attack arrives, Erina fires her divine power first.

“Light!”

But it doesn’t reach them. The ghostly figure avoids the attack.

“Nun! We’ll meet again! I’ll find that woman first….”

They can’t stop it from phasing through the wall in its ghostly form. Regrettably, despite the party’s hasty attacks, they were ineffective against the formless ghost.

“…We missed it. Is ‘we’ll meet again’ a popular phrase among demons?”

……

……

An awkward silence fills the air.

“I still feel magic energy. It’s like the space itself is filled with a strong magical presence.”

“Wait, Erina, something’s glowing from your chest?”

“I hastily tucked the gem into my cleavage…”

“Oh my.”

“Ah…♡”

“Why?!”

“The slight vibration feels nice…♡”

“Ahem. It’s either reacting to this space or the magic energy.”

Leaving Austi, whose face is slightly flushed, Erina takes out the gem carefully nestled in her chest.

Instead of shining spherically, it glows in an oval shape tilted in a specific direction, as if guiding them.

“Let’s”

“Go”

“That way?”

For a moment, Levi’s words sounded like they were filled with severe static noise, and everything around them distorted before returning to normal in less than a second.

……?

“What are you standing there dazed for?”

“Didn’t you guys feel anything?”

Everyone denies it.

‘It seems this wasn’t a simple monster or demon extermination…’

Erina takes a deep breath, resolving herself….