Chapter 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Saintess, Eve Seraphia (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Amy! Rosa! Cover the rear!"
"Yeah!"
"Got it!"
Tadadadak-!
With her red hair whipping behind her, Piona charged forward and collided head-on with a massive one-eyed giant whose body alone measured three meters tall.
Kwang-!
Piona's sharp shortsword thrust toward the giant's eye, and the giant barely managed to block her attack.
"Grrrrrrr..."
But Piona was a C-Class adventurer.
She never lost a one-on-one against ordinary monsters. The one-eyed giant monster was gradually being overpowered, its arm starting to tremble.
Three days had passed since we cleared the Rune Treasure Warehouse.
We had swiftly moved to our next destination, leaving Tirren Forest behind and arriving at Nevis Forest. This was a place where vicious monsters frequently appeared.
The monster currently facing off against Piona was a powerful giant-type one-eyed monster called a Giant Eye.
Nana or Yuri could have handled it in an instant, but Piona, Amy, and Rosa had insisted on taking the lead themselves.
It would give them solid combat experience, and I could step in if things got dicey. So, I approved their request.
Yuri, Elrine, and I stood back, watching them work.
Rosa aimed her crossbow, sniping at the Giant Eyes that tried to rush past Piona to keep them at bay, while Amy stayed protected behind Rosa and began chanting her spell.
"Flames! Heed my call-!"
Wuuuuung-
A massive flow of mana gathered above Amy's outstretched hand.
It seemed I'd been underestimating Amy all this time.
When she and Piona had come to capture me in the cave where I was staying, Piona had put up a decent fight, but Amy hadn't resisted at all before I caught her.
"Pierce the enemy's flesh and devour their bones entirely, oh blazing inferno...!"
Though they were all C-Class adventurers, I'd thought Amy was a step below Rosa and Piona.
"At my command, manifest purgatory—bring forth the abyss—! Scarlet Call!"
But I was wrong.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang-!
'Whoa.'
As Amy finished her incantation, a colossal pillar of fire erupted from the forest floor, instantly incinerating five Giant Eyes.
All the giants turned to charred husks with a single spell.
I had no choice but to revise my assessment of Amy upward.
She wasn't inferior to Piona or Rosa—she was the core of their trio.
Piona held the front, Rosa bought time, and Amy finished them off.
This had to be their true dynamic as a team.
"Phew, is that all of them?"
"Yeah, looks like they're all dead."
Piona asked, and Rosa nodded.
"Ehehe, we took care of 'em! Lord Tentacle!"
Patapatapata-
Amy, who had just moments ago torched the monsters with a massive fire pillar, scampered over to me and threw herself into my embrace.
- Good job, Amy. You handled them even faster than I expected.
As I stroked her and praised her, she planted her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly.
"Ahem, of course! Who do you think I am?"
What adorable confidence.
- By the way, how many spells do you even know? You've used more than five just today.
I asked Amy out of genuine curiosity.
Magic.
One reason I'd underestimated her wasn't just because she'd been caught so easily.
Mages in this world were a surprisingly ambiguous class.
Magic wielded immense destructive power on its own, but mastering it here was incredibly difficult.
And it wasn't just hard to learn—even after learning it, few could use it properly.
Mages in this world were like walking time bombs.
Ones that might malfunction at any moment and strike allies, with inconsistent power and range to boot.
Back when I played the previous game, I'd died unfairly to mages countless times.
To my own allies, no less.
If your party had a mage, there was a ridiculous 5% chance their spells would hit allies.
It was the ultimate frustration, the number one reason players quit.
The penalty vanished once you recruited a high-level mage, but until then, you just had to endure it.
In any case, magic was that hard to learn and control, and skilled mages were exceedingly rare.
Most mages in this world mastered only a handful of spells—enough to count on one hand—and spent their lives honing just those to avoid mishaps, relying on them entirely.
About six out of ten mages were like that.
But even most of them caused malfunctions. Errors in magic were a matter of raw talent.
Amy had that talent in spades.
Even with her magic power stat still in the twenties, she could cast a wide variety of spells.
And every one was precise and stable.
She controlled power and range masterfully, and she'd never once had a mishap.
This qualified her as a genius, no question.
"Hmm, if you're asking how many... about fifteen? That's how many I can use perfectly. Hehe."
Amy answered with a grin.
I was speechless.
Fifteen was top-tier among mages, no exaggeration. With enough mana, she could dominate.
- You know a ton.
"Yeah, well... my mom's actually at the Mage Tower."
- Mage Tower?
"Yep. I've been learning magic since I was little. After Dad passed, Mom devoted herself to it. She couldn't cast due to low mana, but she read tons of magic books from way back."
I see.
No wonder her grasp of magic was so advanced and her spells so refined. With her talent and upbringing, it all made sense.
Confirming Amy's talent left me deeply satisfied.
It helped that my woman was so capable, but also because if I ever wanted to learn magic, she could teach me.
I'd been pondering if I could use magic myself, and now I had a teacher.
If she handled fifteen spells, she'd probably be great at instructing too.
"But, Lord Tentacle..."
- Hm?
As I imagined her teaching me, Amy looked up at me with expectant eyes.
"We handled those monsters pretty well... no reward or anything? Hehe."
Smoothly-
Amy tugged down the neckline of her top to emphasize her chest, rubbing against me seductively.
Her expression was sultry.
When she'd first come to catch me, she just seemed like a cheerful, pretty girl. Now, every glance and gesture oozed raw allure that could tempt any male.
- Want a reward?
She answered without hesitation.
"Yesss... you haven't done it even once todayyy."
True enough.
She was used to getting pounded daily by my cock until she came, so even a day without it must have left her aching.
I extended a Digestion Tentacle and sucked on her lips with wet smacks.
"Haum, chup, jjeup, jjop, jjoook, Lord Tentaclesss..."
Amy lunged at my lips like a starved woman and sucked back eagerly.
"Uum, chureup, jjeup, jjop, jjoooop, heum..."
She parted her lips, inviting my tongue inside.
Chureup, jjeureup, chup, chuueup-
Our tongues tangled lewdly.
Amy's kissing had improved dramatically; she skillfully sucked my tongue, swallowing saliva with eager gulps.
Gulp, gulp-
I sent out a Basic Tentacle to strip off her top and undergarments, fondling her breasts.
They were always so soft, no matter how many times I touched them.
Her nipples protruded so prettily in pink.
Suddenly, I recalled her bathhouse theory about breasts 'wearing out.' Whatever—it was her idea that only I should touch them anyway.
As the remaining Digestion Tentacles slurped at her nipples, she shuddered and pressed deeper into my embrace.
Piona and Rosa approached from the side.
Piona shot a glare at Amy kissing me and huffed.
"Hey, Amy. We took down those monsters together. Why act like you did it alone and hog Lord Tentacle?"
"Uum, chuup, jjeup, heum, chureup, sorryyy... can't... haum, chureup, jjeup, help it... uum-!"
Piona and Rosa exchanged helpless looks before joining in, stripping themselves and rubbing their bare skin against me.
"Reward us too..."
Smoothly-
Piona's Yin Gate progress was over 50%, yet she still got shy expressing her desires. So cute.
"Uum, chureup, jjeup, jjeup, chup, jjoook, chup... Lord Tentaclesss... haa, haa, um-! Chuup, jjeup, jjeup..."
I sucked on Piona's lips too, lavishing her sensitive tongue and lips with sticky attention.
For Rosa, I immediately gave her a Genital Tentacle. She was already fingering her pussy sloppily while sucking my cock with wet pops.
Thus began our lewd time with the three of them, and soon Elrine and Yuri crept closer from the side.
Twitch, twitch-
"Master, what about me..."
"A-any spectator rewards?"
Yeah, let's all do it together.
I extended all my remaining Basic Tentacles, wrapping their bodies in sticky, lascivious coils.
Step, step-
"How much farther to Peros Gorge?"
"Hmm, about two days?"
Five hours later.
After ravishing the girls for three sticky hours, we rested for two and resumed crossing the forest toward our goal.
Our destination: Peros Gorge.
Just beyond Nevis Forest lay Peros Gorge.
I planned to build my first dungeon there.
Plenty of other monsters to draw attention, and crucially, it wasn't Phrygia Alliance territory.
Neutral ground, not part of Phrygia or the neighboring Jerome Empire's imperial lands.
My plan was to build the dungeon, steadily grow stronger, and conquer this zone first.
Gorges housed dangerous monsters, but Peros was relatively safe among them.
Of course, "safe" was relative—fierce beasts still claimed adventurer lives yearly.
In short, adventurers vanishing in Peros Gorge raised no eyebrows, and with no top-tier monsters, it was ideal for me to build a dungeon and rule as the apex predator.
As we cheerfully headed for the gorge, one of my tentacle limb slimes suddenly signaled me.
Tzujjeup-
'What is it?'
I tilted my tentacles.
After getting the dungeon core from the warehouse, I hadn't given the tentacle limb slimes any specific orders.
The signaling slime was No. 3, scouting about a kilometer ahead.
I linked minds with No. 3.
Snap-
Its vision and senses flooded into me.
.....
Dense trees.
Among them, five people and six massive monsters.
The monsters were Giant Eyes, like the ones Amy had wiped out earlier with one spell.
Six hulking giants surrounded the people in threatening stances, slowly closing in.
"Hmm, Giant Eyes..."
The strongest-looking of the five—an elderly man in battered armor—stepped forward protectively in front of the central woman.
"Please step back, Saintess. You could get hurt."
At his words, the voluptuous woman in the center nodded and retreated a step. She radiated a strangely familiar aura.
"Yes, please. Jerpha."
Her voice was clear as jade beads.