Return of the Former Hero

Chapter 152 – Former Hero – Finds the Enemy

The hole we jumped in was pitch-black.

The only source of light were the two magic lights that Leon and I invoked, which were only capable of dimly lighting the surroundings.

It’s like I’m falling into the abyss of the netherworld. The illusion of endlessly falling didn’t help either.

To be honest, I’m a bit scared.

But that’s not something I can openly say.

Anyways, I need to retrieve Celes and Tanya who got dragged down into this hole.

I can’t just let it go.

There is also Elcure.

Somehow, I felt that she’s less annoying now. Cute even.

Well, despite her being a member of the demon king’s army, I had no idea what she’s done so far so I had no particular hostility towards her. More than that, the T-back.

I’ve already set her as one of my targets after all.

After some more time falling, the bottom of the hole is finally visible.

Although the bottom was hardly visible by both normal sight and Search, I could tell through the feeling of pressure coming from below that became more apparent as we keep falling.

Gasshann! Both me and Leon landed at the bottom followed by a loud splashing sound..

[Ueee?! What is this?]

We were standing in 30cm deep viscous substance pool.

No…this…oh, it’s only the magic water.

The thing I heard about earlier.

But unlike the one I found above, the magic water in here is even sludgier and more viscous.

Uee…

It’s disgusting.

I landed here with a crouching position (the so-called hero landing), so the magic water pretty much splashed all over my body.

Looking sideways, Leon was under the same predicament.

[Kuh…]

No, since Leon is wearing a cloak and armor, he looked more miserable than me.

But even he, who has always been the smiling kind boy type, couldn’t help but grimace.

Well, it’s not sludge or rotten water, and the smell wasn’t that bad as well.

Urm, that’s not the real problem here.

[O-onii-san? Are you alright?]

Before I could even start looking around for what we sought after, a familiar voice could be heard coming from behind me.

[Eh, is it Celes?]

Hearing that, I moved the magic light to the direction of the voice.

Because the magic light was soaked in the magic water when I landed earlier, its luminosity had grown significantly dimmer.

However, I was able to confirm Celes presence.

Illuminated by the magic light, I saw Celes there, similarly drenched in the muddy magic water but otherwise uninjured. I sighed in relief.

[You don’t seem to be injured. Thank goodness. What happened? Where are Tanya and Elcure?]

[I’m also curious about what happened… I felt something grab me, and when I realized, I’ve already been dragged here. I seemed to manage landing an attack on whatever was grabbing me, but it seems that I was the only one released.]

Well, it’s indeed hard to see what is happening in the midst of this utter darkness.

[Tanya-chan and Elcure-san… I’m not really sure, but they were still grabbed by then… so probably, they got dragged even further back.]

[I see.]

I couldn’t see it clearly, but there was a small cave behind Celes.

[Celes-san, thank god you’re alright. Haruto-san, let’s go in.]

Having taken his cloak and armor off, Leon, now lightly clothed, came up to my side.

[Right. Let’s go.]

The three of us looked at each others’ faces, and nodded before drawing our weapons and headed into the tunnel.

The small tunnel might lead us to the normal labyrinth passage. A copious amount of magic water flooded the floor.

Although it won’t interfere too much, it does make running a bit harder. Slipping and falling down here is easy if you aren’t careful. I noticed that Celes was a bit behind us.

[Light Ball]

I was wondering since I heard her humming something. Turned out she was casting magic.

Once Celes activated her magic, a fist-size ball of light appeared above her head. The illumination was far stronger than magic light, capable of lighting a much larger area.

[Uwoo, dazzling.]

I was staring at the ball of light in awe like a dumb neanderthal. How stupid of me.

[Ah…sorry for coming up with this all of a sudden.]

[No, no, it’s fine. By the way, can I also use that magic?]

Celes apologized, thinking that she had inconvenienced me. But it’s just me being careless.

[Ah, sure you can. I actually don’t use this often so I might not be able to maintain it for too long.]

Certainly, it didn’t seem like a magic meant for everyday life.

But it’s a huge convenience here.

[That’s good enough. It’ll really help. As expected of Celes-san.]

[No, it’s not much…thank you.]

On the side, Leon gave Celes a praise

Oy, you. That’s my portion.

You already have Caroin.

Don’t you dare try to win the favor of another woman.

Because I have no integrity to say anything in this matter, I kept that thought to myself.

We went through the tunnel just like that.

After a while, we arrived at an open room with a large hole in it..

Using Celes’ 《Light Ball》 to light up the surroundings, we checked around if Tanya and Elcure were there.

[Tanya! Elcure! ….eh? Uwwee, what is this?]

At the back of the room were Tanya and Elcure.

The two were suspended by transparent webbing that stretched around the room.

Underneath the webbing was a large transparent object.

[Slime….or is it? It’s too huge for a slime.]

Slime.

Yes, a slime.

Leon muttered after seeing the sight.

As anyone here could see, the size was too big for a slime.

It’s almost as big as a small two-storey house.

I have never even seen a slime that large before.

Slimes aren’t exactly good looking creatures, but now that it’s at such a greater size, its disgusting features are also magnified to a greater level.

[Onii-san. Over there.]

While we were distracted by the large slime, Celes noticed something else and pointed it out to me.

[That… is…?]

Following her direction, that is, to the center of the slime, there was a large stone embedded inside.

[That must be a magic stone.]

Magic stone?

So it’s a magic stone. JUST a magic stone.

But really, a magic stone?

Eh? Isn’t that very big for a magic stone?

Speaking of magic stone, the largest known so far is at best soccer ball-sized.

The normal ones are usually only as large as the fingertip.

However, this one is at least human-sized, and it’s buried at the center of the slime.

Uwa, now that’s amazing.

If we can get it, I wonder how much it’ll be worth?

I bet we won’t even need to work again for the rest of our life.

[It doesn’t seem to be capable of moving.]

Ha.

While I was busy daydreaming about the treasure before us, Leon was much more vigilant.

That being said, under Celis’ light ball illumination, although there was still some distance between us, the giant slime merely trembles and showed no signs of movement despite that its enemies are already nearby.

Was this really the one who kidnapped the girls?

No, that doesn’t seem to be possible.

The transparent webbing that suspended Tanya and Elcure were growing out from the giant slime though.

[Tanya.]

So as not to provoke the slime, I called out to Tanya with a slightly lower voice.

[Kyuu…]

But Tanya didn’t responded and merely elicited a weird moan instead.

This won’t do.

Her body is growing.

[Elcure.]

As far as I could see, both of them were not injured. With Tanya being unresponsive, I switched to Elcure.

[Amagi…Haruto… Ku… haa, haa]

Elcure actually responded back.

But her voice was weak, her eyes were teary, her face crimson and she’s breathing heavily in such a sexy vibe.

What is she doing?

Don’t tell me it’s because of the slime’s tentacle.

Noo, Elcure is such a pervert!

…..jokes aside.

[Is it as I thought? The tentacle is absorbing magic power, that’s why they seemed powerless?]

[Errm….is that so? I can’t be so sure about that, but I don’t think that’s really the case here.]

My guess was denied by Celes.

I thought that both of them were incapacitated due to their magic power being absorbed out, but apparently I was wrong.

Apart from Tanya’s body growing up, why did Elcure act like she’s in heat?

Is it because she’s really into it?

How erotic.

Does Elcure really enjoy that kind of play?

I can do that kind of play as well. Un.

And I can assure you that it’ll be very satisfying.

After escaping from this place safely, lots and lots of…

Ehehe.

Seeing them being basically alright, despite being captured and suspended like that, I couldn’t help but have a wild imagination running in my mind.

Must not, must not.

That can wait until I have rescued both of them.

I’m the kind of guy who will do what I want to do.

Anyways, I need to somehow handle this giant slime first.

But honestly, what should I do with it?