The Secret of the Forbidden Book
Women buried in the tentacles of the Forbidden Book rolled their eyes back, their bodies convulsing wildly.
“How’s that? Once you enter, you can never escape on your own. Endless repeating orgasms drive you insane. For a woman, it’s pure hell, wouldn’t you say?”
“Hic..!”
I’d experienced firsthand just how agonizing continuous climaxes could be. The mere memory was a trauma so terrifying it nearly made me piss myself.
“Crying? It’s not even happening to you, so why? Ah, scared of tentacles?”
Lorella yanked the leash hard. My unbalanced body nearly tumbled into the pit.
“Look closely. It’s not the monster you imagine. That slime from before, these tentacles... they all have intelligence. They can communicate.”
“Ah...”
The grotesque tentacles writhing in the dark, bottomless abyss came into even sharper focus. Something about it... the more I stared, the more an uncanny dissonance crept in. A tentacle monster I’d never seen before, yet it felt strangely familiar?
[That one... it’s me..!]
“Eh..?”
Mahel cried out in shock. Now that I listened, the color and shape matched exactly the tentacle lump inside my body.
[I’m certain! Well, more precisely, it shares my personality but is separated... anyway! I need to make contact with it..!]
“Nooo...”
To make contact meant diving into that pit. Being engulfed by a mass of those tentacles? I’d rather die.
Suddenly, the rope went taut.
“Ow..!”
“Know why I showed you the workshop? We’re in the same boat now. Time for business. Follow.”
My body was dragged along behind the leading Lorella.
[No! Don’t go!]
“Guhhh..!”
The tentacle thrashed wildly inside my guts, as if trying to hold back my forcibly pulled body. Intense abdominal pain hit me; I curled up tight.
“What’re you doing? Not coming?”
“Guhh..!”
[Don’t go!]
“Nooo...”
No choice left, I was trapped in the middle, suffering.
“Hmm~ Can’t figure why you’re resisting so hard. Want more torture?”
“N-no..! I-I-I’ll go..!”
Shaking my head and screaming, I painfully dragged my stuck feet forward. Staggering on awkwardly bent legs, I chased after Lorella.
[I said don’t go!]
“Guh... uh...”
Still brimming with complaints, Mahel swelled up and battered the barrier. Pain like my belly ripping apart hit in real time; cold sweat poured down.
“Hah... hak... guhhh..!”
Pain words couldn’t describe. A powerless life, unable even to resist once. No freedom for me—reality was hell...
“So, you want the Forbidden Book’s location?”
“Yes...”
“Hmm~ Alright. Follow me.”
After twists and turns, we reached a secret side chamber off the underground passage. Spiral stairs led down to a cramped room about three feet square. A single small side table sat alone inside.
“No explanation needed, right?”
“Ah...”
A human-skin-bound book lay on the table, encircled by yellow ribbons densely inscribed with complex rune language. Anyone could tell it hinted at a sealed Forbidden Book.
[Aha! Cursed Forest straight to Black Market... this is the magic circle’s northern vertex?]
Realization came too late. I’d wanted location info, but now I was robbing the Forbidden Book’s owner. Still, with two books located, I could roughly estimate distances for the remaining three.
“You really didn’t know it was here? That knight before, you too... incompetents everywhere, unlike the old days? Well, ignorance got you caught like this.”
“Ugh...”
Lorella gazed at me with pity, reminiscing on her glorious past.
“So, why hunt the Forbidden Book?”
“W-well... that is...”
Explaining meant backtracking two weeks. Tedious spiel, and she might not believe anyway.
“Whatever. Your goal’s recovering the Forbidden Book, right?”
“Yes...?”
“Court Mage, aren’t you? Don’t want national meddling, but persistent pests are trouble. Just take it.”
Still misunderstanding, but who cared? Mission accomplished.
“Not free, of course. Help us in exchange.”
Business time now. Arms crossed, Lorella snorted arrogantly.
“Connections to a Court Mage? We welcome it. Don’t know your pull, but it’s an escape hatch.”
“Yes...”
“Anyway, let’s keep ties... You’ve got a job. Saw the teleport magic circle? No maintenance mage—big headache. Just manage the mana stones periodically.”
“Ah, yes... I can handle that.”
“Good. Contract made? Take it.”
Lorella, back to the wall, chin-nodded at the book. Suspicious vibe, but I chalked it up to nerves and stepped forward.
“Ugh...”
I gripped the Forbidden Book. The rough human skin still sent chills.
[Wait.]
Mahel’s voice halted me as I moved to open it.
[Something’s wrong. No mana at all.]
“Eh..?”
Ignorant me had no clue. It just looked like a creepy, unsettling book.
[No no, hold on... that shaman bitch, kept feeling drawn... she stole all my power?!]
“What..?”
[Wondered her mana source... it was all mine!]
My gaze snapped to Lorella. Her smirking eyes turned vicious.
“Ah... busted...♥︎”
“Hic..!”
It happened in an instant. A casual flick of Lorella’s wrist sent an invisible force smashing into me at blinding speed. My body defied gravity, floating up as breath choked off.
“Gah... hek..!”
“Knew? Should’ve played dumb to the end. Reacting so obviously? That knight drew steel right away—killed him. Keeps piling bodies? Just shut up, grab the book quietly? That’s your goal, right?”
The immortality-dreaming archmage had absorbed the Forbidden Book’s mana entirely. Used it to soul-swap with a healthy young woman, laundering her identity. Hid the forbidden sorcery perfectly, impersonating the ‘Forbidden Book’ maintaining the pentagram magic circle.
“Get it now? ‘Recover the real Forbidden Book’ means killing me. Kill me, and the barrier shatters?”
“Guh...”
I realized why she’d reacted so sharply to the book. Too late—truth dawned, but the trap had sprung.
“Coming alone to dangerous spots, mouthing off tactlessly... you’re doomed to die young?”
“Guhhh...”
Breathing grew impossible... consciousness blurred...
“At least your face and figure are decent. If you were a man, I’d have killed you outright.”
“Ugh...”
Those were her last words before I blacked out...
“Hah...”
I came to in a dank, moldy basement corner. Women’s sobbing echoed.
“Ah, wh-where...”
Clutching my throbbing head, I sat up and scanned around. Amid ankle-shackled women, a familiar sight: the slave market. Now I was experiencing the process I’d just toured.
Clang clang—
“All out!”
A brute’s roar sent terrified women crawling out one by one.
Chasing the line, I desperately called out telepathically.
‘Mahel! Mahel..! Help..!’
This way, I’d end up a sex slave for sure. Abandon my Court Mage post, spend life as a nobleman’s fawning plaything.
I’d become a mage to avoid sex slavery... this fate was worse than death.
‘This can’t happen! We have goals!’
For my sake, and Mahel’s revenge on humanity. Somehow, I had to escape.
[Noisy. Super focusing right now, shut it. Figuring how to screw that evil shaman bitch. Daring steal all my mana? Stealing has limits!]
‘What do I do...’
[She won’t kill you, probably. Hang in there! Want to help, but can’t. Gave you mental immunity—deal!]
The moment I touched the book, I’d sensed the mana flow. Mahel had exited my body. Right now, I had zero mana—equivalent to a powerless civilian. A defenseless, frail woman with no self-defense training.