Hidden Piece Strategy
The evening of that day, I returned to the dormitory pretending I had been training until this late hour. What greeted me was Yas's endless whining.
“Luan! Listen to me, man. We seriously gave it our all to take down that gargoyle, but then some crazy bitch showed up and stole every last treasure!”
“Yas. Calm down.”
“Do I look like I can calm down right now? Abel, aren’t you pissed off too? What the hell kind of treasure was it? If we had that, we might’ve been able to live like kings even after graduation! Aaaargh!”
Nothing is scarier than an overactive imagination. Whatever grand treasure Yas was picturing, the sense of loss had him rolling around on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum in the toy aisle. No kid in a toy store could roll around quite this dramatically.
I ignored his antics and asked Abel, “So you didn’t get the treasure in the end?”
“Yeah… There were a few things that looked like experimental tools, but nothing particularly valuable. So we came back empty-handed.”
“That’s a shame.”
“It is. But what can you do? Still, we got some solid real combat experience, so I’m satisfied.”
Whether it was true detachment or he simply never cared much for treasure to begin with, Abel just smiled brightly. I subtly turned my face away from that smile.
Damn, my conscience is stinging.
I wondered what kind of reaction he’d have if he knew that very treasure was currently sitting inside my subspace pouch. I couldn’t picture Abel’s response, but Yas would definitely flip out and call me a traitor for sure.
Well, it’s not like they’ll ever find out.
These guys had never even seen the artifact before. How could they possibly prove that the Iron Wall Fortress came from that dungeon? Even if I openly admitted it, they’d probably just think I was messing with them.
The only one I needed to watch out for was Pernia.
She’s probably desperate to track it down.
Not only had her artifact been taken, but both of her holes had been thoroughly opened. She must harbor a grudge on par with Alissa’s. As I pondered how to deal with her, the memory of fingering her ass suddenly resurfaced.
My lower body twitched.
It actually felt pretty good.
To be honest, it felt amazing. The sample size was too small for a detailed comparison, but her anus had been tighter and offered stronger pressure. It took more effort, but there was a sense that I was being more proactive. Either way, it was in no way inferior to her pussy. At this point, I was starting to wonder if the god who created humanity had originally intended for us to fuck asses too.
I might actually get addicted.
Still, I need to control myself.
Barring special cases like this, how often would I even get the chance to fuck an ass in my lifetime? Without hesitation, I cast the lingering thoughts aside and nudged Yas, who was still rolling on the floor, with my foot.
“Hey, quiet down. I need to sleep.”
Of course, Yas didn’t settle down. If anything, the fact that I’d paid him attention only made him spew even wilder delusions.
“Aaaargh! This is bullshit! Total bullshit! With that kind of money I could build a harem kingdom! I wanted to have an orgy with top-tier beauties on a private beach! Humans, beastkin, elves, dwarves, spirits, even dragons! I’m fine with all of them!”
Just how far had that treasure escalated inside Yas’s head? I shook my head in disbelief.
“Ugh, you crazy bastard. Abel, I’m going to bed. Have fun with this idiot.”
“O-okay! Good night, Luan.”
Deciding to leave them to it, I exchanged a quick goodbye with Abel and flopped down onto my bed.
Maybe I should clear a dungeon soon.
My recent expenses had been massive, and my living allowance was already running dry. Since I’d need even more money going forward, I needed to find a suitable dungeon to tackle.
Somewhere that has merit for me, but none for the other transmigrators. Where could that be…
The question weighed heavily on my mind.
Wednesday — Close Combat Class
As usual, I was about to spar with Alissa when Pernia approached me. She stared straight into my eyes.
“Excuse me for a moment~nyang. There’s something I need to check. Could you show me your wrist~nyang?”
“What? Where did this come from?”
“I’m begging you~nyang. Just show me your wrist once and I’ll be grateful~nyang.”
Even though I responded with the rough, thuggish tone and menacing expression I usually used, Pernia didn’t back down an inch. She looked ready to stand there until I showed her. Naturally, the eyes of everyone around us began to gather.
Alissa urged me on with clear displeasure. “Just show her already. You’re wasting time.”
For her, today was one of the two precious days a week she looked forward to. She couldn’t afford to waste even a single second.
At her urging, I clicked my tongue in annoyance and roughly shoved my wrist forward.
“Here. Happy now?”
“This is…”
“It’s a wrist brace. What, never seen one before?”
Instead of the round restraint device, a plain wrist brace was fastened around my wrist. Pernia stared at it suspiciously, but when she couldn’t find anything unusual, she failed to hide her disappointment and lowered her head.
“Sorry~nyang. I must have been mistaken~nyang. You two can spar now~nyang.”
She turned around with a dejected look and slowly walked away. Her drooping shoulders looked utterly pitiful. Watching her leave, I let out a quiet sigh of relief inside.
Good thing I switched it in advance.
Having anticipated something like this, I had consulted Kain about whether the gravity ring could be changed into something else during Sunday training. Surprisingly, I learned that as long as the enchanted magic circuit was transplanted, it didn’t matter what the outer form was. So right after training that evening, I had rushed to the Magic Tower and changed the gravity ring into a wrist brace.
I’ll have to be more careful from now on.
I had removed the gravity ring to create a surefire comeback in a disadvantageous situation, but it had come back to bite me like this. Things had gotten a bit more complicated. At the very least, I could never show my wrist to Pernia again. If we crossed paths later and she saw a wrist brace instead of the restraint, she would instantly realize my identity. If I ever had to meet her again, I’d have to take it off beforehand.
While I was lost in thought, the waiting Alissa irritably kicked my leg.
“What are you doing? Let’s start sparring already.”
“…Got it. Here I come.”
I immediately got into stance and charged at Alissa. Time to get my ass kicked.
10km west of the Imperial Capital, by the lakeside, lay a dungeon called the Cradle of Slimes.
It was the weekend. After getting an outing pass, I rushed here and was now preparing to enter.
“Alright. Nothing forgotten.”
As its location suggested, this place was quite far from the academy. On top of that, the difficulty was fairly high and the rewards weren’t particularly appealing, so it held virtually no value for a transmigrator to clear. But precisely because of that, it was the perfect spot to avoid any unexpected complications. That was why I had chosen it.
After packing my gear, I took one last look at my status window.
“Just looking at it makes me feel full.”
Thanks to living with the gravity ring on for the past two weeks, my level had risen by a whopping twelve, and all my stats had reached their maximum growth. At this point, I could compete with mid-tier opponents without even using Rape Declaration. This should be more than enough to clear the dungeon.
“Time to head in.”
Slimes usually had high resistance to physical attacks. That’s why mages were generally better suited to fight them, but that only applied if you didn’t know the proper strategy. I carefully oiled my gauntlets one last time and stepped inside.
The entrance was a cave behind a waterfall. The moment I entered, the air grew incredibly humid and my clothes clung to my skin. Despite being a cave, it was strangely devoid of any living creatures. The only things filling the emptiness were the stalactites scattered throughout. That was only natural, though. Every living thing here had already been devoured and digested by slimes.
After walking a bit further, I finally encountered one. The slime, made entirely of mucus, wriggled its way toward me from a distance. It would lure its prey into lowering their guard, then suddenly spread out like a net and pounce in the blink of an eye. I immediately pulled an oil bottle from my subspace and threw it.
Whoosh!
The bottle was sucked into the slime’s body as if falling into a swamp. The instant it melted in the acidic fluid and shattered, the mucus was pushed aside, creating an empty space that clearly revealed the slime’s core.
“There it is!”
With a cheer, I dashed forward and threw a punch straight at the core. Normally, the mucus would have drastically reduced the power of my fist, but thanks to the oil I had applied beforehand, it sank in without any resistance and shattered the core.
Crack!
The moment the core split, the mucus lost its form and splattered onto the floor. One down.
“Hmm, this place isn’t that difficult.”
To be honest, the boss monster here was far more troublesome than the regular mobs. Leaving the slime’s remains behind, I continued deeper into the dungeon.
The fights were incredibly easy. Just like the first one, I exposed the core with an oil bottle and smashed it. After repeating the process for three hours, I finally stood before the boss room.
“Up we go! Better take this out in advance.”
I pulled an item from my subspace. It was a life-sized cutout of Saintess Iris. Why bring this? Because the boss monster of this dungeon was a mimic slime that copied the appearance of its opponent. With a cutout of the Saintess, I could use that trait against it. Even if it transformed into the Saintess, it couldn’t use holy power, so I could defeat it without much trouble.
I strode confidently into the room.
Squelch— Squelch—
As I walked across the wet, sticky floor, I spotted a massive amorphous monster wriggling in the center of the wide cavern. It was three to four times larger than a normal slime, and its acidity was so extreme that the ground around it was corroding in real time.
I hid behind the cutout and crept closer. When the distance narrowed to within thirty meters, the creature flinched and extended a tentacle-like feeler toward me. It vibrated faintly as if sensing something, then abruptly began to change shape.
Its enormous body compressed, taking on a blunter form before gradually refining itself. Pretty toes appeared first, followed by smooth calves and firm thighs. Between its legs was even a tightly closed, slit-like pussy.
Saintess… I’m sorry.
I apologized to the owner of that body and watched as the transformation continued past the smooth belly and reached the chest.
“Oh…”
A sigh of admiration escaped me. Even when hidden beneath her thin nun habit, her chest had been impossible to look away from. What about her bare breasts? These violent mounds were so large they couldn’t fit in one hand, yet they maintained a perfect teardrop shape with zero sag. The areolas were the perfect size, and the nipples looked so tempting I wanted to suck on them immediately. The fact that her skin was blue because it was a slime was a little off-putting, but it was still incredibly arousing.
While I was busy admiring her, the slime’s transformation finished. Now fully resembling the Saintess, it seemed to check its new body for a moment before lifting its head and charging straight at me.
“Huk!”
I was stunned. The closer the slime got, the more those massive swaying breasts burned themselves into my mind. I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
I have to move!
Somehow regaining my senses, I threw a punch at the slime—only for it to catch my fist with the back of its hand, spin to redirect the force, and slam its other hand into my stomach.