Chapter 94

Chapter 94. Interlude – The Spider’s First Experience

Sssssssssssssssss!

Thousands of silver threads tangled together, emitting an eerie sound.

The spiderwebs closing in from all sides.

“D-damn it!”

Bishop Harris, with a horrified expression, shot his tentacles toward the encroaching spiderwebs.

The sharp, thorn-covered tentacles swung with the force to tear the thin spiderwebs apart, but…

“Guh!”

Ssssssssh!

Instead of cutting the webs, the tentacles were severed the moment they touched them.

Though the spiderwebs were thinner than a strand of hair, the power within them was strong enough to slice through steel effortlessly.

“How dare you, a pitiful sinner trapped in a human body!!!”

With a fierce shout, tentacles sprouted from his entire body, piercing through his skin.

A swirling black magic.

Dozens of tentacles shot toward Professor Elisha.

And then.

“Is that your answer?”

Professor Elisha took a step forward.

The spiderwebs spread around her instantly contracted, wrapping around the incoming tentacles.

Crrrrrrrrack!

The spiderwebs, now wrapped around the tentacles, yanked them out of Bishop Harris’s body.

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!”

A horrifying scream erupted.

Bishop Harris, with his tentacles ripped out, collapsed, blood gushing from his body.

“Phew, the Spider of the Wicked Eye.”

Bishop Harris muttered the name, staggering backward.

A look of terror filled his grotesquely bulging eyes.

Professor Elisha strode confidently toward the fallen Bishop Harris, taking a deep drag from her cigarette.

“Pathetic answer.”

Puff.

A wisp of pale smoke escaped her lips.

“Hmph.”

Bishop Harris’s lips curled upward.

He struggled to his feet, blood pouring from his body.

“Don’t think this is over! Jackal-sama will soon…!”

“Too much talk.”

Ssssssh!

Before Bishop Harris could finish his shout.

The spiderweb wrapped around his neck and severed his head.

“Gurgle… Gurgle…”

A mass of flesh crawled out from the severed head.

It was the true form of the ‘Mind Eater.’

Crunch!

Professor Elisha stomped on the squirming Mind Eater like a bug.

Crushed flesh and fluids soaked the ground.

Tick.

Professor Elisha tossed her finished cigarette toward the crushed remains of the Mind Eater.

“Good work.”

I released the barrier I had set up and approached Professor Elisha.

“How are the villagers?”

“They’re fine. For now.”

Even after Bishop Harris’s death, the poison planted within them had not activated.

“We should request support from the Holy Kingdom to detoxify the poison in the villagers…”

“No need. I can remove the poison myself.”

The Primordial Flame had the ability to burn away the power of the Holy Mark.

Since the poison the villagers ingested was also created using the power of the ‘Devil God’s Holy Mark,’ the Primordial Flame could eliminate it.

“…Candidate Dale?”

“Yes.”

I nodded and approached the villagers.

“H-hero!”

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“P-please, save us!”

The villagers swarmed toward me as I approached.

“Everyone, calm down and line up.”

At my words, the villagers glanced at each other and formed a line.

“Hold out your arm.”

“Y-yes!”

A villager extended their arm.

I grabbed their arm and channeled magic power into their body.

‘Just burn away the remaining traces of poison.’

Channeling magic power into the body of an ordinary person without a Holy Mark was as dangerous as cutting open a stomach and handling organs directly.

‘But this is my specialty.’

When it came to the delicate control of magic power, I was confident that I was the best among the ‘Last Five Heroes.’

Whoooosh!

The Primordial Flame flowed into the villager’s body, thoroughly burning away the traces of poison.

“It’s done.”

“W-will I not turn into a monster now?”

“Yes. The poison inside you is gone, so you can rest easy.”

“Thank you! Thank you, hero!”

The villager bowed repeatedly, tears streaming down their face.

“Next, please.”

Like a doctor on a house call, I detoxified the villagers one by one.

* * *

Late at night in the village square.

The dim bonfire crackled, scattering ashes as it squeezed out its last flames.

“Phew. It’s all done now.”

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and stood up.

This was the first time I had controlled the Primordial Flame for such a long time, and I was thoroughly exhausted.

‘But thanks to this, my skill with the Primordial Flame has improved a bit.’

An unexpected gain, you could say.

Handling the Primordial Flame with ordinary people who didn’t even have Holy Marks made it easier to control its overwhelmingly powerful energy.

“You did well.”

As soon as the detoxification of the villagers was complete, Professor Elisha approached.

She wiped away the remaining cold sweat with a chilled towel.

“You’ve sweated a lot.”

Professor Elisha wiped my sweat with a worried expression.

I shrugged, hiding my exhaustion.

“I was just focused. It’s nothing.”

“For someone who says it’s nothing, your complexion doesn’t look good.”

Professor Elisha pulled my head onto her lap.

Through her suit pants, I could feel the softness of her thighs.

“Rest.”

“…This position is more tiring, though.”

“Quiet. Just lie down.”

Professor Elisha gently pressed down on my forehead as I tried to lift my head.

“Is the detoxification all done?”

“Yes.”

“You must be tired from the fight. You’ve worked hard.”

Professor Elisha stroked my forehead and spoke softly.

“Candidate Dale.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

I swallowed a chuckle and shook my head.

“Thank me? No.”

Though I was the one who proposed the plan.

It wasn’t a plan I could have succeeded in alone.

“Professor Elisha, you’re the one who saved them.”

“……”

Professor Elisha turned her head to look at the villagers.

Some were crying profusely.

Some were cheering, overjoyed to be alive.

Some were angrily spilling barrels of cider.

Suddenly.

A memory from the past flashed through her mind.

-“Someone, please save us! Our village… our village!!!”

Decades ago, on that day.

The memory of a girl screaming as she watched her village burn.

A girl who looked just like her, crying endlessly, longing for a salvation that never came.

-“Don’t worry.”

Her own figure standing in front of the crying girl.

-“We’ve come to save you.”

In her imagination, Dale stood beside her, smiling confidently.

“…Ha.”

Professor Elisha let out a self-deprecating laugh at the image that came to mind.

‘So this is the kind of wound that could be healed by something so simple.’

In the deepest part of her memory.

She felt the tattered, rotting wound slowly beginning to heal.

“Really… how cliché.”

No grand twist, no heart-wrenching epic, no tear-jerking ending.

The wound that had tormented her for decades was healed in an almost laughably simple way.

And by a mere rookie candidate, no less.

“Professor Elisha?”

Professor Elisha looked down at Dale, who was staring up at her with wide eyes.

For some reason.

Her heart raced so much that she found it hard to look directly at his face.

‘How childish.’

If Professor Lucas had seen this, he would’ve teased her mercilessly.

Professor Elisha swallowed a bitter smile and gazed at Dale.

Suddenly, a mischievous thought arose.

“By the way, this is quite suspicious.”

“Huh? What is?”

“A Warrior Department candidate using a Magic Power Blockade Barrier that even Magic Department professors struggle with, and detoxifying poison created by an Archbishop… Isn’t that suspicious enough?”

Professor Elisha narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.

The distance between us was close enough to feel each other’s breath.

“Looks like further investigation is needed.”

“What are you…?”

Just before Professor Elisha’s lips touched mine.

Ssssssh.

Professor Elisha pinched my cheek.

“Hehe. Were you expecting something?”

“…What are you doing?”

“Suddenly, I felt like teasing you a bit.”

Professor Elisha smiled contentedly and pulled away.

I frowned and lifted my head from her lap.

For a moment, a hint of regret flashed in Professor Elisha’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing. It’s nothing.”

She turned to look at the villagers and spoke.

“Though we managed to get through this time, the Grand Archbishop of Beasts won’t stay idle.”

“Yes. That guy said it before he died.”

That Jackal would come for her soon.

“At that time… can you fight alongside me again?”

Professor Elisha asked in a slightly trembling voice.

It must have been hard for her to involve a mere candidate in a fight against a Grand Archbishop, no less.

I swallowed a chuckle and nodded readily.

“Gladly.”

I hadn’t expected the Grand Archbishop of Beasts to act so aggressively.

But this was actually good news.

‘The faster we deal with him, the less burden we’ll have in the future.’

Considering the number of heroes who had sacrificed their lives to take down just one Grand Archbishop in my past life, eliminating him now was necessary for the future.

“…Gladly, huh.”

Professor Elisha looked surprised, as if she hadn’t expected such a straightforward answer.

After all, the Grand Archbishop of Beasts was targeting ‘Elisha Baldwin,’ not Dale.

With Bishop Harris dead and no witnesses left, she could have distanced herself and remained safe.

Yet Dale nodded without hesitation.

‘Is it because he trusts in his Blessings?’

No.

Professor Elisha shook her head.

Even if Dale had a Blessing that allowed him to resurrect after death, that wasn’t reason enough to nod so readily.

The Grand Archbishop was a being who could easily create a living hell, one where death would be preferable.

Yet the reason he nodded without hesitation was…

‘Because he has feelings for me, or something.’

The cheeky thought made Professor Elisha’s cheeks flush slightly.

Even though she knew it was closer to a delusion, she couldn’t suppress the intense impulse rising from deep within her.

“Sigh.”

A deep sigh escaped her lips.

“This is a bit hard to resist.”

“What’s hard to resis— Mmph!”

Professor Elisha pulled Dale’s neck and pressed her lips against his.

A moment later.

A transparent thread of saliva connected their lips, like a spider’s silk.

“…Didn’t you say the need for further investigation was a joke?”

“I did.”

“Then why…?”

Professor Elisha smiled faintly and touched her lips.

“That kiss wasn’t for investigation purposes.”

Elisha Baldwin, the Spider of the Wicked Eye.

In her not-so-short life, this was the first time she had experienced a kiss for a purpose other than investigation.