Chapter 57
We found the Demon King's army's location sooner than expected.
The Hero's prediction that they probably hadn't moved their base was exactly right, allowing us to quickly pinpoint the location of the Demon King's army's base.
It seemed the Demon King's army still hadn't realized we'd arrived, so we had to get out immediately.
Since I remembered the location anyway, all we had to do was confirm that it was there.
We left immediately after confirming it.
A base—or rather, it would be more accurate to call it a headquarters.
The Hero's explanation hadn't been wrong in the slightest.
The plan was to turn humans into demons, and several people were imprisoned inside that base.
Not only that, they were being subjected to sexual torture.
It wasn't physically brutal, but it was vicious enough that most people would have had trouble enduring it.
The purpose was to turn humans into succubi or incubi, since they were the closest to humans, and use them as their own troops.
So that was why the torture was sexual.
Succubi and incubi were demons that craved human life essence, after all..
It was practically more like conditioning than torture.
“Whew.. Is everyone all right?”
The Hero asked us.
Cecilia's expression didn't look particularly good either.
What must a saintess feel when she saw people being treated so brutally?
Even I could hardly bear to look at the scene..
“My God..”
Cecilia closed her eyes and prayed.
I felt sorry for the people imprisoned there, but we had to get out immediately.
We hadn't joined up with Ruril yet, so we could go ahead to the place where we'd agreed to meet.
...
But wait a moment.
I suddenly thought of that monster.
Come to think of it, that monster.. Despite its appearance, it was a boss monster.
“...”
Now that it had become reality, relying too heavily on information from the game wasn't a very good habit, but this information was extremely important.
In the game, stealth magic and equipment that concealed one's presence didn't work well against boss monsters.
Since we entered the boss room to fight, the focus was naturally fixed on our party.
Of course, it was a game with a high degree of freedom, so using magic individually to get behind a boss did work, but for some reason, stealth magic cast on the entire party didn't work properly.
It was practically the same as saying that once you'd come to defeat a boss, escaping was impossible.
If—just if..
What would happen if Ruril's stealth skill, which concealed her appearance and nearly erased the sound of her footsteps, didn't work on that boss monster?
Of course, that was only a supposition.
I had cast concealment magic on her, but Ruril herself must have used her own stealth skill too. Even if my magic could reveal her, she had a skill she'd activated herself, so it was hard to imagine she'd been discovered.
Right, it was a pointless worry.
Thinking that, I shook the thought off..
Snap
“..!”
The sound of something snapping.
I instinctively realized what it was.
The concealment magic I'd cast on Ruril had been dispelled.
No way,
Could it be?
I sent the Hero a telepathic message, my face gone white.
- Hero, I think something terrible has happened to Ruril.. The concealment magic I cast on her has been dispelled..!
“Wait.. what?”
The Hero's face, already grave, went pale as well.
There were two ways a buff-type spell could end.
Either the mana needed to maintain the buff had run out, or something had happened to the person who received it. In the case of concealment magic, the buff would naturally disappear if the person suffered an attack beyond a certain threshold.
In other words, something had happened to Ruril.
“We need to go now! Lumia!”
“..!”
Although we'd gotten quite far from the Demon King's base, we were still in the area where it was located. If I used tracking magic here and the Demon King's army noticed, wouldn't we be caught in a pincer between it and the boss monster?
I looked toward the Hero.
The Hero was looking at me with an urgent expression.
We had to save Ruril.
We had to save Ruril, but.. could trying to save her actually put us in even greater danger?
“Don't worry. No matter what happens, I'll save everyone..! That's why I came back!”
The Hero said this as he raised the holy sword.
Even though our plan had gone badly awry, why did I
feel reassured by the Hero's words?
What was happening to me, that I was starting to trust him?
But none of that mattered now.
What mattered most was Ruril's safety.
“Lumia.”
I nodded, then used magic without hesitation.
I quickly located Ruril.
She was moving from place to place at high speed, though gradually slowing down.
It almost looked as though she were dodging attacks.
It was an emergency.
I realized it instinctively.
I immediately indicated Ruril's location so the Hero could find it.
The moment I indicated Ruril's location, the Hero approached me at tremendous speed, picked me up in a princess carry, lightly pushed Cecilia's back, making her topple forward, then darted ahead and caught her with his back, forcing her onto it.
It happened before we had a chance to react.
“..?!”
“H-Hero?!”
“Just hang on a little longer, everyone!”
I could see that the Hero's holy sword was emitting an enormous light.
He had released the holy sword's power to its limit to save Ruril.
Soon, the view around us seemed to twist, and we began moving at tremendous speed.
After crossing the forest in an instant in the direction I'd indicated, we arrived at a vast expanse of poison, and..
“Haa.. haa.. ngh.. ugh..”
Ruril had been caught and lifted up by the tentacles.
Her clothes had almost completely dissolved, presumably because she'd been sprayed with poison several times, leaving them impossible to recognize.
She was gasping for breath, on the verge of being violated by the tentacles.
“Ghk..!”
The Hero groaned.
After setting Cecilia and me down in the safe zone, the Hero seemed to vanish again for an instant.
With a swish, all the tentacles holding Ruril were severed.
The monster screamed in agony after its tentacles were cut off.
“Haa.. haa..!”
The Hero arrived in front of us with Ruril in his arms and set her down.
The poison had apparently gotten on the Hero as well, since parts of his clothes had melted slightly, but unlike last time, he had taken proper precautions this time, so a little poison on his clothes wasn't a problem.
An elf with nature-green hair gasped for breath, naked.
Cecilia and I, as if accustomed to this, each used Clean magic and a purification miracle. The poison on her body and her now-irritating clothes dissolved and vanished, and the purification miracle then seeped into Ruril's body.
Ruril's expression improved considerably.
Since the Hero had spare clothes with him, she had to remain naked until he took them out.
We couldn't leave her like that, so I took off the robe I was wearing and draped it over Ruril.
Was the monster all that remained now?
As I had last time, I raised my staff and prepared to use ice magic to freeze the poisonous area and keep the monster from descending into it, but when I saw the carnage unfolding before my eyes, I stared blankly.
It was being hacked apart, utterly unworthy of the title of boss monster.
It was literally being sliced apart by the Hero's holy sword.
Moving around the monster at a speed like a flash of light, he was cutting off all its tentacles.
Kwoooorrgh!
I heard the monster's agonized scream.
The monster began forcing its body beneath the poisonous area in an attempt to survive somehow.
But before it could escape, the Hero leaped into the sky, gathered power in the holy sword, and brought it down in a slash.
Explosive light burst from the holy sword, then became a blade of energy and cleaved the monster in two. The force of the attack was enough to split the poisonous area, which was practically the size of a lake, in half as well.
Watching poison leap from the divided poisonous area like the parting of the Red Sea and patter down right beside me, I shuddered from head to toe.
This technique.. was one of the ultimate skills available to a Hero.
I couldn't remember the name of the technique.
I think it had an incredibly chuuni-sounding name.
“Phew..”
The slain boss monster collapsed where it stood and slowly sank beneath the poison.
The Hero drew in the power he'd unleashed, sheathed the holy sword again, and let out a sigh.
Now that the monster seemed to be taken care of, it was time to check Ruril's condition.
I sat down again, approached Ruril, and checked whether she was breathing.
Her breathing was.. fine.
However, she was twisting her body this way and that, just like the Hero had earlier.
She was probably struggling to endure her surging sexual desire.
...
...
This may be inappropriate, but her breasts really were large..
Even though they were covered by the robe, their presence was unmistakable.
Hmm..
I wonder what it feels like to have large breasts.
I was so small myself that all I could feel was the sensation of swelling.
“...”
Sorry, Hero, but I don't think I can do that.
No, what am I thinking now..? Do what, anyway..
Still, well..
Fortunately, Ruril hadn't been seriously hurt, and we'd managed to save her.
I let out a sigh of relief.