Chapter 789: Strengthening Period
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 789: Strengthening Period
“Hm? Are you awake?”
A pleasant, ticklish sensation woke me. I opened my eyes to find Diana licking my chest, greeting me with her tongue.
As expected of Diana, who had plenty of experience being on the receiving end of my antics, she wasn’t the type to drag out what happened last night into the next morning like Vanessa.
We’d done far worse things than this, and using a few skills to gain the upper hand during sex was a relatively normal part of our repertoire.
If I’d caused some kind of accident during our exhibitionism, that would be one thing, but Diana wasn’t going to get pouty over something like this at this point.
If that were her personality, she wouldn’t be speaking a single word to me by now.
…Yeah. Now that I think about it, I really have tormented Diana quite a lot.
I should be grateful for our Archmage’s generous heart.
And from now on, I should exercise a little more self-control… no. I can’t make that promise, no matter how hard I try. It’s all Diana’s fault for being too cute.
In any case, it felt like these small gestures spoke to the strength of our bond, and a corner of my heart grew warm.
At the same time, however, I had a question about her actions.
“…Yeah. Good morning. So, what are you doing?”
Well, I knew what she was doing.
Just the faint touch of her breath on the parts of my skin slick with her saliva was enough to make my body twitch with pleasure.
What I was curious about was why she was suddenly at it again so early in the morning.
Was she planning to pick up where we left off last night?
“Research. I must use the opportunity to gather as much data as I can.”
But it seemed Diana wasn’t doing this to continue last night’s activities.
Well, that made sense. It was unlikely she’d want more after what I put her through yesterday.
“Ah, right… Sorry.”
Her words felt like she was pointing out that my opportunities to have sex with her had been dwindling lately, so I couldn’t give her a proper answer.
“Do not make such a face. I am not blaming you. This was something I agreed to as well.”
But my kind-hearted Diana saw my expression and, instead, encouraged me.
She was just too nice. She was in a position where she could genuinely give me a hard time.
“No. Still. I feel bad. I really do love you. I promise I’ll never ask to switch turns with anyone ever again.”
“I have no intention of granting such a request every time, you know.”
Even as she said that, my words of love seemed to please her. A faint blush colored her cheeks as the corners of her lips curled into a smile.
Then, as if to signal the end of that conversation, Diana gave me a light kiss.
Alright, I’ll respect her wishes and change the subject.
“So, since when could you use Saint’s Holy Water again? And I guess you really were doing research, huh.”
It was true that this was the reason Diana had first approached me, but after we’d gotten into this kind of relationship, she had never once mentioned magical research or anything of the sort, so I had completely forgotten about it.
“What do you take me for? As one who walks the path of magic, do you truly believe I would simply ignore such a new possibility right before my eyes?”
Right. Now I remembered her saying some dramatic, chuunibyou-like line like that.
“So, you’re saying that after all your research, you’ve managed to analyze Saint’s Holy Water?”
“Hmph. Even then, it is not yet perfect.”
Despite her words, she seemed to think it was a significant achievement herself. Diana proudly puffed out her non-existent chest and nodded.
“Really? It seemed pretty perfect to me.”
“Not at all. Look.”
Saying so, Diana flicked a finger, lightly tapping my nipple.
“Huh? What about it?”
“I was just using my magic on you, yet the effect has already vanished, has it not?”
Ah, now that she mentioned it.
Normally, once my skill hit someone, its effect would persist until they reached climax with me.
But the Saint’s Holy Water Diana had used had already worn off at some point.
No wonder. She kept licking my chest over and over last night.
Usually, there was no need to lick a spot that had already been licked.
“Hmm. As I thought, that property may not be a characteristic of the skill itself, but rather one inherent to your mana.”
“Come to think of it, you said something similar before.”
I wasn’t sure, but I had a vague memory of hearing something like that in the back of my mind.
“Indeed. However, I have managed to use the skill itself, albeit imperfectly. With continued research, I may even be able to replicate that property.”
“Yeah. Good luck. If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”
“…You seem unusually enthusiastic.”
When I spoke with vigor, Diana looked at me with narrowed, suspicious eyes.
Why was she looking at me like that? I was just cheering her on.
“My beloved Diana is working hard. As her husband, it’s only natural that I support her.”
“What are your true intentions?”
“That’s harsh. My pure support is… well, I’m not saying I didn’t think that if you could perfectly use my skills, I’d be the one to benefit in the end.”
Under Diana’s narrowed gaze, I finally confessed the truth, and she let out a deep sigh.
“…I am not researching this skill just to pleasure you, you know.”
“Huh? You’re not?”
“Of course not! I, on the path of magic… Nngh?!”
Diana began to shout her ambitions at me, but when I shifted my hips slightly, her body immediately trembled, and she trailed off.
“You once said I was more important to you than magic. Has your love cooled?”
“It has not! But that and… ungh… this are… Nngh?! Do not move your hips while a person is speaking!”
As she spoke, Diana lightly chopped my forehead with the side of her hand, but of course, that wasn’t enough to stop me.
This time, I had a perfect excuse.
“No. You started it, Diana. Using Saint’s Holy Water on me first thing in the morning.”
“The, the effect is already… Haah!”
“Even if the effect is gone, the arousal you caused hasn’t.”
“Ngh… After all that yesterday… you still want more?”
Unable to refute my words, Diana shot me a light glare and muttered.
“With you, Diana, I could go on for a lifetime.”
“Your words don’t sound like a joke… Hngh?! Haah… Nn… Do as you please.”
Honestly. Acting like she doesn’t want it when she’s enjoying it deep down.
In any case, it seemed Diana was in the mood as well, so I grabbed her waist and began to thrust in earnest.
We tangled together, exploring each other’s bodies until Leia arrived. This time, without using any skills at all.
*
“A battle with just the two of us… now.”
After sending Diana off through a teleportation circle, Leia and I headed out of town to hunt.
Just one step away from the massive air bubble enveloping the town, Leia muttered in a slightly tense voice.
“Nervous?”
“A little.”
Leia was the only one in our party with no means of protecting herself, so it was natural for her to be nervous.
But after the battles of the last three days, I was confident that Leia would never be in any danger.
In fact, I had finished my hunts with Sara, Vanessa, and Diana without a single monster ever getting close to them.
“It’s okay. Trust me.”
“Yes. I’m okay. I trust you.”
As if to say she wasn’t that nervous, Leia cutely brought her fists together in front of her chest in a fighting pose.
Well, the part gathered between her arms was a bit far from the word ‘cute,’ though.
And with that, Leia and I finally stepped outside the town.
I was sure it would be fine, but just in case, should I try actively using Holy Ground Proclamation today for Leia’s safety?
It was a skill I rarely used because its mana consumption was extreme for its power, but it was also the best skill for drawing monster aggro.
If a truly dangerous situation arose, I could just expand the range of Holy Ground Proclamation to include Leia.
That would pull all the aggro from any monsters heading for her, ensuring she would never be in danger.
Of course, it wasn’t without its problems.
First, Holy Ground Proclamation consumed so much mana that it would shorten our hunting time.
But thanks to Diana, I’d gotten a ton of hunting done yesterday, so taking it a little slower today wouldn’t be an issue.
There was also the problem that if I expanded the range to include Leia in a crisis, she would naturally be affected by the skill, but that was far better than her being in danger.
Besides, the Leia of today probably wouldn’t turn into a Gumiho immediately even if she was briefly affected by Holy Ground Proclamation.
No. Even if she did, on the off chance, she wouldn’t lose her reason like she used to, so it wasn’t a problem at all.
Having decided on today’s battle plan, I immediately resolved to actively use Holy Ground Proclamation on the first group of monsters we encountered.
The first enemy we met was a swarm of piranhas.
They were a bit annoying to deal with one by one with skills like Saint’s Touch without letting any escape, making them the perfect opponents to test Holy Ground Proclamation on.
“Leia.”
“Yes.”
I moved a short distance away from Leia and activated Holy Ground Proclamation, keeping the range just small enough not to reach her.
The swarm of piranhas, which had spotted us and was heading our way, naturally entered the holy ground, and at the same moment, they charged at me like mad.
Monsters on the 4th Floor are usually taken care of with a single hit from my other Saint skills.
I guess Holy Ground Proclamation doesn’t work that way.
Then again, if monsters just died from pleasure the moment they entered the holy ground, it would be the most broken skill imaginable.
Even if I was the goddess’s messenger, would she really give me a skill that game-breaking?
With that thought, I deactivated Holy Ground Proclamation, its role of drawing aggro complete, and instead shrouded my body in the Saint’s Sincerity.
At the same time, I used Stealth.
Simply killing monsters with Saint skills wouldn’t raise my Moon Shadow Warrior level, so this was a method I’d devised for more convenient leveling.
The Saint class doesn’t gain experience from combat. It was a structural flaw: if I used skills from another job during a fight, all the combat experience would go to that job.
At first, I thought that to exploit this, I had to use an attack skill that contributed to killing the monster.
But yesterday, while trying all sorts of things to burn through my mana, I accidentally discovered that my Moon Shadow Warrior level would rise even if I only used Saint skills while in Stealth.
I suspect it’s because killing a monster while stealthed counts as a sneak attack, but I don’t know the exact reason.
In any case, it was a great discovery, so I had to make use of it, right?
Of course, my Stealth skill level wasn’t high, so it didn’t have a dramatic effect like making me seem to vanish before the eyes of the monsters on this floor.
Plus, I had just used Holy Ground Proclamation to draw a ton of aggro, so its effectiveness was even lower.
But that was fine. I smirked slightly as I watched the approaching piranhas.
The moment the piranhas sank their sharp teeth into my body, they began to flop and twitch before floating belly-up on the water’s surface.
Yeah. I know what you’re thinking. Weren’t you just talking about game-breaking skills?
What can I do? If you have a complaint, take it up with the goddess who gave me this overpowered job.
Sigh. Leveling Moon Shadow Warrior is tough today, too.
“Leia. See? Nothing to worry abou—”
I knew she couldn’t hear me, but I turned toward her as I spoke.
And there stood Leia, already in her Gumiho state.
Huh? W-wait a minute. Did I miscalculate the range of Holy Ground Proclamation just now?!
“L-Leia? Were you inside the Holy Ground Proclamation?!”
“Huh? Oh, no! I just thought to myself that sex is really great! Ah, no! That’s not what I meant!”
I rushed over to her and asked. Leia tilted her head slightly, then frantically waved her hands and shouted.