Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN)

Chapter 36

Hajime and the rest reappeared in the same forest of trees that they had left from.

However, it was too soon to start celebrating just yet. The area was vast, with trees stretching as far as the eye could see, giving Hajime no clue on which direction to head.

In many ways it resembled the tree levels in the Orcus Labyrinth, a forest somehow existing underground. Most of the trees appeared to be about the same height, but one tree in the distance seemed to tower over the rest. Hajime guessed that was their next destination.

“It looks like everyone is here.”

Hajime carefully watched the other members of the group with a squint. He had feared that the transportation circle would have split them up or put them into some new challenge, but it appeared like his worries were unfounded.

“….Hajime, any fakes?” Yue inquired.

“No, everyone seems okay. My eyes tell me that everyone is real.”

“It’s okay if Hajime-san says so.” s.h.i.+a gives out a look of confidence.

Hajime wished s.h.i.+a would be more careful in case he himself was the fake. However, he reasoned that Yue would be able to tell if Hajime was a fake and warn s.h.i.+a, if that situation arouse.

Watching the dense forest ahead, Hajime gave the order for them to get moving. He glanced over his shoulder, examining the figure of Kouki and Suzu who wore shadows over their expressions.

Whatever Suzu’s dream had been, it seem to have hurt her deeply. Hajime couldn’t guess what Kouki had seen. No, whatever it was, it was enough that he didn’t come back to reality. Shaking off the dream was too much of a shock.  Those dreams seemed to cut the party as bad as any nightmare. It was a deep pain that they would never be able to completely escape from. Every member struggled to shake off the shock of those dreams and come back to reality.

However, they were in a labyrinth right now. They couldn’t afford to lose their edge, or a single misstep could bring them to despair in a matter of seconds. The silence seemed to drag on forever.

“Suzu, Koaki, Are you just going to give up?” Hajime breaks the silence harshly.

“Like we have a choice!”

“Eh? What do you mean by that?’

Hajime stared down the two with piercing eyes. The sharp-tempered Ryuutaro raised his eyebrows in anger at Hajime’s harsh words, but Hajime continued to speak before he could say anything.

“This is one of the great labyrinths. Death is merely a step ahead. Death is around every corner, just a second away. If you can’t concentrate, then just give up here. Die in vain.”

“Just wait for a moment there…”

“Even if you forgive yourself, that doesn’t change the fact that you were unable to clear the trial from before. You can’t change that. However, you could at least have the determination to rise to all the remaining challenges as necessary. You don’t see it now, but someone who has no spirit is worse than a burden to the rest of us.”

“… I,”

“I can open a gateway outside the labyrinth for you to flee. Either proceed or give up, but I won’t allow you to continue like this.”

Silence wrapped around the group. Kouki clinched his teeth in a desperate attempt to suppress indignation. However, after what Hajime had said to the group, he wasn’t surprised that Kouki was angry.

The group had realized their failure. They had let their attention slip, unconsciously a.s.suming things would turn out okay because Hajime was there to pick up the slack. Even though they were looking to become stronger than Hajime, Kouki’s group had depended on him to get through the middle section of the labyrinth. They were supposed to beat the labyrinth on their own, yet their dependence on Hajime made them angry at themselves.

However, they were afraid to vent their anger here, as Hajime waited for an answer. Kouki took deep breaths, attempting to discharge his anger with fresh air.

“Naguma, We’re okay now. We can keep going!” Suzu declared.

Hajime gave Suzu a nod, the mood immediately turning lighter. For a moment, Suzu trembled at a look from Hajime’s eyes, but then gave Hajime a decisive nod.

“If Suzu can keep going. That’s enough for me!” Kouki speaks up.

“Is that so? If you’re good now, then focus on your surroundings.” Hajime responded and just as quickly started walking again.

Ryuutaro clapped Kouki on the shoulder hard as he stared at the Hajime’s back. Kouki knew Ryuutaro was trying to support him in a way only a childhood friend could and gave him a look of appreciation.

Even Kaori and s.h.i.+zukuo seemed to be affected by the spirit of encouragement given by Suzu and picked up their steps, taking either side of Suzu for support.

Hajime headed straight towards the trees he had identified earlier.

The area was quiet; there wasn’t even a sound of crickets. Even the wind wasn’t blowing, so when Hajime brushed by a branch the noise seemed to echo in the silence.

“Hmmm… this is a somewhat unpleasant feeling.”

“Yeah, it’s the same feeling like when we were in Orcus Labyrinth, right before the ambush.” Kouki responds.

“For sure. But no signs of demons.”

Everyone’s eyes were leery with tension. Tio had her brows furrowed. Kaori and s.h.i.+zuku s.h.i.+vered as they remembered the demon ambush, the demon woman toying with them.

“I sent some spider-golems ahead and they haven’t detected anything. I suspect we can continue without any incidents. But if it’d make you feel better, we can burn the whole forest down.”

“Nagumo… I don’t know how to say this, but sometimes your ideas scare me.” Ryuutaro Tsukkomi’d.

“I learned to think this way in the h.e.l.l of the abyss. I’m alive today because of it. I didn’t have a barrier maker like Suzu to protect me.” Hajime responded seriously.

Turning everything to ash would leave nowhere for anything to hide. Although it would probably be a little dangerous if the surrounding area was turned to flames.

It looked like Hajime wasn’t able to persuade the other members. Instead, he removed Getsurin and several cross bits from his “treasure room”, just to be safe.

No one thought they would regret stopping Hajime. They didn’t know what would happen if they let Hajime carpet bomb the entire place. In particularly, the way out might disappear.

“… Is it? Rain?”

“Looks like it, it’s starting to trickle down.”

Kouki frowned at the feeling of moisture from overhead. Suzu agreed as she wiped off her hand. They shuttered at the seemingly impossible phenomenon as their eyes met with the others in the group.

“Tsch… Yue!” Hajime called out suddenly.

“It’s a… holy s.h.i.+eld!” Yue responded.

Hajime immediately reacts to the abnormality, calling Yue to create a barrier just in time.

Immediately after…

Zaaaaaaaaa…

The rain quickly turned into a torrent, striking Yue’s barrier and sliding off the surface with a dorori sound. However, by all odds it couldn’t be mere rain. The viscosity wasn’t right, plus they were underground and there was no sky.

If they could figure out the trap. Were they being showered with sulfuric acid or some kind of toxin, or was it some kind of demon in disguise? This time, it seemed like the later.

“Nagumo-kun, it’s all around us!”

Gazing calmly, even in this circ.u.mstance, Hajime carefully observes the outside of the barrier through the growing tension. The trees, gra.s.s, and land seemed to oozing out milky white stuff.

“Is it a slime or…? How were you able to conceal yourself? I can’t even sense it with the magic eye.”

“Nagumo! Our Feet!”

“It’s through the barrier. Decomposition!”

While Hajime was contemplating a slime with the ability to avoid his notice, the milky slime had come up through the ground and surrounded their feet. Normally, the effect of “holy s.h.i.+eld” is a spherical barrier deployed all the way to ground, but did not go into the ground. It seemed like the milky slime was lurking in the ground and was now attacking from the inside out.

To suddenly be attacked from the feet. Kaori hurried to invoke decomposition as the milky-white slime had already reached their knees.

The milky-white slime collapsed into smooth particles. As far as how slimes typically fight, they don’t have much in the way of physical attacks, but they’ll consume something and then melt it, making it disappear completely.

“Oraa… It’s sticking to everything!”

Ryuutaro pounded a fist into the milky-white slime, which was expanding to try to cover him. The gauntlet on his hand transmitted the impact through the slime, ripping it apart as his fist strikes the inner wall of Yue’s barrier.

“You fool, Ryuutaro! You’re making a mess!”

“This brain muscle! You’re splas.h.i.+ng it on me!”

“You? I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Ryuutaro apologized.

“It feels so gross!” s.h.i.+zuku complained.

Suzu and s.h.i.+zuku raised voices of complaint as Ryuutaro attacked the slime. His attempt to punch the slime had splashed it all over the people beside him. (Translation Note: Imagine the girls all covered in sticky white stuff and you get the gist.)

“Oh no, s.h.i.+zu, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m okay, Kouki. These guys seem to die unexpectedly easy…”  Suzu explained.

“Oh, no, I’ll help… erm… Oh, never mind!” Kouki turned away and blushed.

“?”

The monsters didn’t seem all that dangerous. In fact they were rather fragile from what you’d expect in a labyrinth. However, they had a bad side effect on the girls. Kouki couldn’t talk to her without averting his gaze.

They also had to avert their eyes quickly from Suzu because she wasn’t in a much better situation.

However, Suzu had a more suspicious face when she looked at Kouki and witnessed the slimes beginning to cover the outside of the barrier.

The effect seemed to disturb Kouki.

That was perhaps the nature of the milky-white slime. First it rained down on everyone. Then it got spread around, such as when Ryuutaro hit them. In other words, it was there to cover you in the turbid liquid.

What Kouki was reacting to…. to put it simply, the appearance of Suzu and s.h.i.+zuku covered in slime looked really bad. However, the girls didn’t seem to notice it themselves.

And Yue and the others were regrettably not an exception.

As the milky white slimes had breached the barrier, Yue attacked with a scaled-down version of “Saint Sever” while burning the pieces away with “blue dragon”.  However, she wasn’t able to stop minute drops from falling down on her face, streaming cloudy liquid over her cheeks and neck.

s.h.i.+a had also struck one of the milky-white slimes with Doryukken, which had been trying to cover her like Ryuutaro and s.h.i.+zuku, splattering what was attached. However, because her power was higher it ended up in a shockwave unlike Ryuutaros. The amount was small, but still…

Tio had taken the blunt of s.h.i.+a’s attack, becoming accidently bathed in milky-white slime. s.h.i.+a wasn’t trying to aim for Tio, but it seemed like it was just bad luck. Tio was in front, and the effect was similar to being hit with a pie in the face. (Translation Note: Yeah, we’ll go with pie. There are kids reading this. This is a totally innocent scene and totally not a bukkake)

Tio was in a kimono with charming black hair covered in white liquid. Hey leg peeked out from the hem of her hadake with more white liquid flowing down her legs. Yeah, this looked really bad on the surface.

Kaori was the only one spared from the blunt of the damage. There was no splattering of liquid with the use of her decomposition spell. However, the initial rain before Yue had put up a barrier had already done its damage, and she didn’t look much better than any of the other members.

Hajime deployed “summarize thunder” to hide the slime covered girls. Yue’s appearance was too dangerous and Ryuutaro was looking around with eyes a little too bright for Hajime’s comfort.

Hajime was careful though since the still didn’t know the milky white slimes weakness. It was important to be prudent.

(It’ll be difficult to forget what has been seen this day.)

A lifeform this dangerous may find itself quickly becoming extinct.

So, like this, the Milky slime in the barrier were easily destroyed. Now that they had the slimes on the inside were gone, Hajime turned his attention to those outside the “holy s.h.i.+eld” covered in creamy white slime. He slowly approached the wall and transferred a cross bit and a Getsurin outside of the wall.

“After all, it becomes like this…”

Hajime examined the world outside with his demon eye via the cross bit. The world outside overflowed with milky white slime. The walls and ceiling were covered and slime rained down. The ground had become a sea of milky white.

If it had not been for Yue’s quick cast of the defensive magic, they could have ended up being quickly swallowed. This was truly a great labyrinth.

“Yue, will the barrier hold? I’m going to need to burn everything.”

“Nn… go.”

At Yue’s word, Hajime releases all the crossbits and Getsurin at the same time.

“Reproduction Magic, it’s time to burn them to h.e.l.l!”

“So he’s going to use that…”

“Last time you used this Suzu’s barrier would have broke if we didn’t have revival magic? We’re going to die. Don’t attack them Hajime, we’re not the enemies!” Kyuutaro pleaded.

Hajime gave Ryuutaro a look before turning away. Suzu wore an expression like a dead fish. It seemed that Hajime’s prison of flames had turned into a trauma for her. Her eyes were slightly watery. Kouki was still evading his eyes. It looked like Kouki still remembered.

“Kaori, please get rid of the rest of the slime with your decomposition. It looks bad.”

Kaori was surprised at the attention Hajime was suddenly giving her. She looked around before realizing what Hajime was talking about when he said it “looked bad.”

All the ladies were dirty and covered in white liquid and it looked kind of… they blushed all at once. Hajime was purposely being vague, in consideration of the fact that weren’t aware of their own appearances. To directly point out what it looked like would be a bad move for any man.

Kaori blushed, finally understanding and giving a look of appreciation, she embarked on cleaning up the white liquid.

Hajime refocused on an image coming in from the cross bit.

(The rain of slime seemed to not weaken at all. Is there a limitless supply? Unless we take care of the ceiling, there is no meaning to this.)

The sea of slime was increasing in volume each moment. Hajime sent the Getsurin to the ceiling. It struck the ceiling, only to have milky white slime get wrapped around it, weakening the momentum.

Hajime made cuts in the ceiling using formation magic, the Getsurin cutting even marks into the rock like cutting through b.u.t.ter before making a central hole.

Hajime drew a small arch in the ceiling, then confirmed that the Getsurin cut in far enough that he could just see the tip. He brought out a spider-golem and another Getsurin from the “treasure room”.

The metallic spider overstretches the drop to nothingness around each hole.

He pulled out more spiders, and each on stretched itself across another hole as if they were glued to the ceiling. The spread out in unison across the ceiling.

Now, he could control hundreds of units when they were set to non-combative maneuvering. After practice, he was capable of moving 14 times the previous number simultaneously.

As result, 80 spider golems spread across the ceiling, and began activating a drill. to suppress the milky slime, it seemed like they came from the small holes and walls, so the only way to stop the slimes was to destroy the source.

The drilling seemed to work, stopping the outflow of slime from the places the golem’s drilled.  The shower weakened visibly. The ceiling now emitted a red light, like the countless tails of a meteor shower.

(Okay, first take care of the ceiling, then we’ll worry about the ground.)

Hajime thought things through as he spun the Getsurin spun another hole and stuck another spider to the ceiling. In turn, he opened a gate in the circle of the Getsurin and began to remove tar from the “treasure room”.

“Well, well, to make my Yue dirty. I’ll need to burn the slime away without a trace.”

Hajime gave a fearless smile that showed the canines in his mouth, a heinous look in his eyes. Being able to cover Yue and s.h.i.+a in white liquid was something Hajime couldn’t forgive.

Exactly where those commendable words were earlier when they could avoid the indiscretion…

“Devil, is this a devil? s.h.i.+zu, s.h.i.+zu, I’m scared…”

“Just don’t look… Suzu, Maybe if you can’t see him…”

“It’s dicey, Kouki He’s being unexpected and imposing again.

“So it’s a demon who looks like a man.”

s.h.i.+zuku and company looked in horror at Hajime’s demonic appearance. Ryuutaro looked like he had seen true terror. Hajime was the kind of guy they should defeat as a hero, heroes driven by a sense of mission.

On the other hand, Yue and her group spoke up.

“Nnn…. Hajime, nice.”

“He is doing good!”

“Master ah… a glance like that. Would you only direct that eye towards your mistress?”

“… Hajime-kun… Manly…”

If something could be said of the situation, Love is blind? No matter how you look at it, Hajime’s face looked evil. However, to Yue and company it only served to charm them and make their hearts race. It was too late for them in a lot of ways.

Kaori wore a complex expression on her face at the sight of a belligerent Hajime. She had seen Hajime fight on in desperate situations before like in the Melusine Underwater Ruins. Seeing him like this reminded her of why she fell for him in the first place.

Looking at Kaori in such a situation, Koaki’s party looked at her as if the distance between them had become all the greater.

Suzu, after seeing Hajime’s fighting spirit and determination to annihilate the room full of slime, also diverted her line of sight. Even she couldn’t handle the sight of his heinous expression. That was normal, wasn’t it?

At that time, a tremendous roar echoed across the outside of the barrier. It was the sound of rocks cracking. The sound of destruction rang out in bigger and bigger succession. It sounded like the continuous burst of a firecracker, the roar beyond comparison. That was the carpet bombing started with Hajime’s cross bit.

The milky white slime covering the barrier started to writhe. Hajime becomes covered in a sheer crimson light. Yue admired it. Hajime wasn’t aware of it, single-mindedly focused on controlling the cross bits on the outside of the barrier.

The sea of slime had turned into a burning h.e.l.l, reflecting in the magic stone eye behind his eye patch.

Hajime had spread black tar on the ceiling, creating blackrain that ran down from the ceiling, polluting the milky white slime below, while the Getsurin added in sprinkling tar across the sea of slime.

After enough tar had saturated the slime, the cross-bits began to drop cl.u.s.ter bombs. Each of the holes Hajime had created were packed full of small explosives and burning powder, the contents of each was enough to destroy a small house.

The cl.u.s.ter bombs ignited one after another, the slime sea undergoing one explosion after another, tearing the slimes into various small pieces. The explosive flame flooded across the sea, creating a lake of fire 3000°C in a prison of flame ignited by tar.

A tremendous amount of heat licked across the ground, rising into the air in a spire of scarlet. The milky white slime continued to burn, helpless to escape the heat. Hajime’s murderous intent spread out, creating a world of scarlet that consumed everything. The trees were baked, the ground was melted, and the air was scorched. The Jukai forest was completely consumed.

A gap in the barrier finally became noticeable as milky slime fell away, burning red. Someone noticed it and raised a voice, only to realize that the barrier of slimes was replaced with a sea of flame, and the white slimes were quickly turned to ash.

Before long, the milky white around them had become completely eliminated. There was nothing left but a few puddles of tar on the ground.

“I ~, It seems like they were devoured.”

“Looks like we no longer need the barrier.”

Yue nodded in confirmation.

“We should maintain it a bit more. There might be a few still lurking around.”

When Hajime stated so, countless black objects from the ceiling came down in a suite with a constant speed. It was the spider golems, which were lowering from hanging threads from the ceiling.

“It comes!?”

The spectacle of dozens of spider golems coming from the ceiling caused some of the party to shout out in surprise. After they realized what it was, they blushed in embarra.s.sment, although those that recognized what they were only grinned.

The spider golems landed on the ground and began drilling once again into the floor and giant trees in the same way they had chewed up the ceiling.

Hajime finally affords some of his concentration to talk to the group.

“It’ll take some time to finish drilling all the giant trees. I don’t know how many slime there are out there. It’d be nice if we didn’t face any trouble once we leave the barrier, so we can take some time to finish up here. In that case, Yue, if you could leave the barrier up for just a bit longer.”

“…. Nn.”

While concentrating on operating the spider golems, Hajime instructed Yue who readily agreed. Either way, the crisis seemed to be over and everyone started to relax.

Kaori was already helping remove the white fluid from the other girls, ending their indecent appearance. However, Ryuutaro vowed to never forget.

Hajime continued to drill to the extent that it wouldn’t disturb their journey the rest of the way to the giant trees. He sat cross-legged in place. In was a cardinal rule of an adventurer to rest when you could rest.

The others saw him rested and committed to resting themselves as well.

At that time, a soft weight press onto Hajime’s back. Looking back over his shoulders, Hajime sees the figure of Yue there. She was hugging him from behind. She was spoiling Hajime as usual and put on a small smile for him.

“Ah… Hajime, something strange, Ah, really, I want that too Hajime.”

“What, no, what are you talking about. Yue? Together in such a circ.u.mstance?”

Yue’s breath is rough. Her lovely eyes were just a bit misted, and she was licking her lips. Any way you look at it, she was aroused.

If they were at an inn for the night, Hajime might have rejoiced, but this was clearly not the time right now.

To get aroused so suddenly in this situation, it seemed impossible. There was something abnormal with Yue right now. Hajime examined Yue with a serious look. Yue’s body was hot and trembling. Her body was pressed up against his with an impatience that even made it hard for Hajime.

Hajime shakes his head in wonder watching Yue’s condition before the shadow of the other girls caught his attention. He looked to where s.h.i.+a was.

“Hajime… me… me, already… ah.”

“s.h.i.+a, you too?”

“Ah, Hajime, I like, I like you.”

“Wait, just wait.”

s.h.i.+a prevented escape by sandwiching Hajime’s arm between her thighs and chest and hugging his right arm, rubbing his body. Obviously, it’s the same symptoms as Yue. Cheeks red, respiration high, pupils look hazy with animal pa.s.sion. It’s like they had been shot with a full throttle of s.e.x appeal. Hajime felt a little dizzy from the smell.

“What on earth…”

Hajime stared at them with a bewildered look. There was another figure that was acting the same way as Yue and s.h.i.+a.

Kaori also had directed an eye towards Hajime, writhing unbearably. Kaori crawls towards him little by little on all fours, aligning hesitantly and rubbing Hajime’s legs. Tio even…

Koaki’s group were no exception. Ryuutaro’s pupils were hollow, and he was writhing uncomfortably. As if losing his senses, he creeps up next to Suzu as she hugs herself in a slouch. Meanwhile, Kouki is giving s.h.i.+zuku a side glance with bloodshot eyes. He finally stands, approaching s.h.i.+zuku with a hand extended towards her.

The problem was that s.h.i.+zuku was acting in a very similar way. She was writhing in spot, stiff and unmoving, while biting her upper lip. She was silent, but had a tinge of red on her cheeks. It wouldn’t do to have them have to endure this situation. Once everyone regained their senses, it might be too late.

It was hard to tell what was really going on in Kouki’s mind, but there was l.u.s.t in his eyes. Suzu is s.h.i.+vering and suffering, and Ryuutaro tries to catch her as she falls to the ground. As he called out her name, it was clear his intentions weren’t n.o.ble.

 

“s.h.i.+t, this is from the essence of the slime.”

Hajime pulls out two cursed bora artifacts from the “treasure room” and slaps them on the wrists of Ryuutaro and Kouki. They seemed to be causing the worst problem. s.h.i.+zuku and Suzu were delirious, even calling out Kaori and Yue’s names in their fervor. The artifacts used some kind of restriction spatial magic.

It seemed like the situation was safe for a second, then Suzu started to extend a hand toward s.h.i.+zuku. The expression was one that shouldn’t show on a girl’s face. It was the kind of important expression you only showed to the one you had your heart set on.

Hajime’s clicked his tongue in annoyance, throwing another bora on Suzu as well.

“Oh… is master safe? It looks like that slime’s mucus is a powerful aphrodisiac.” Tio explains.

While restraining Suzu, he stops Kaori as she reaches out to cling to his left arm. Tio begins to move towards him at a steady pace with a calm look.

Hajime looks up at her.

To Hajime’s surprised, she begins to talk as if normal.

“My magic is being obstructed by the feeling of intense pleasure. Soon, I might lose my consciousness and be blinded by the pleasure. This is more than just a troublesome thing. Since it wasn’t just a little, I was bathed in it, it’ll be impossible to resist. If the battle had been prolonged, it would have been complete destruction. Even if we survived, the after effects would become… rather dangerous.”

“Oh, Oh, yeah…”

“Hmm, probably, the goal of this test is to endure pleasure and overcome difficulties together, or to let bonds be defeated by pleasure. In any case, the “liberators” played a really nasty trick. They probably didn’t expect someone like past with such a high poison resistance.”

“Tio….”

“What can I say? It’s very much like master.”

Hajime, while agreeing with Tio’s predictions, gave out a bigger question while eyeing Yue and the others.

“You guess that it was the slime’s mucus that caused this situation… it’s safe to think that. But why are you so calm? You got hit with more mucus than anyone.”

“Certainly, the liquid is affecting this mistress. In fact, my body is greatly affected by it. I’m thinking right now that I’d like master to lick me.”

“Tio…”

Tio throws out her chest, giving Hajime a wide eye look as she flashes a beautiful smile.

Although Tio is being violated by intense pleasure, she’s keeping her senses by the power of her will. It seemed to be a sense of pride. Hajime wondered how long she’d be able to keep it up. After all, she was. .h.i.t with a lot of aphrodisiac…

“Mistress is her master’s slave. Compared with the degree of pleasure the pain you give me causes, this is only lukewarm. Now if you wanted to hit me I wouldn’t be able to take it anymore.”

“Is that so…”

Eyes! Kuwa! Hajime eyes turned sour and looked at her as if she was dirt. Tio, who could even shake the pleasure of the slime, began to s.h.i.+ver uncontrollably.

“As expected of Ms. Tio. Do you mind keeping your distance from me?”

“Oh no, to think you’d call me so indifferently and distantly. Ah… this is bad, the pleasure.”

Tio was calm a little while ago, but the rapidly growing pleasure of Hajime’s disgust quickly defeated her. She was brought to all fours, painting desperately. From such a sight, Hajime turned away and looked at Yue, who was hugging his body while trembling.

He decided to talk to the three he trusted the most.

Yue, s.h.i.+a, Kaori. You guy’s shouldn’t be that overtaken by a slime like this? You’re keeping things in control, right?

The three of them look up at Hajime, their cheeks stained red, their breath coming out in hot puffs as they cling to him desperately.

“Nn… is natural.”

“uu, of course, yoo- “

“It’s okay. I’m fine!”

They resisted the intense desire that tempted them to devote themselves to pleasure. Yue and the others were keeping it together with clenched teeth. After a look at the girls, Hajime laughs with satisfaction.

“This is one of the disgusting trials prepared for the great labyrinth. If you think for a second you can’t take it, look at the others. Don’t lose to them, it’d be embarra.s.sing?”

Amongst his speech, Yue’s mouth distorted into a fearless smile.

“There is a way to fix this immediately, of course. I’m holy water to drink. That would quickly change out state. There are no things that can’t be released. How about…”

Hajime and the two others respond at the same time before she can finish talking.

“… unnecessary.”

“I do not need.”

“I don’t need that.”

They decided to get over the trial without any help. If “help” was “that”. Hajime gave a soft look. Yue, s.h.i.+a, and Kaori give him happy smiles, because Hajime believed in them.

He still tried to help by keep a distance between the three women. This wasn’t something that would be easy for them to endure.

However…

“Hajime hug is gone…” s.h.i.+a whined.

“It isn’t harder for you?”

“It’s harder not the embrace Hajime.” Kaori explained.

“As she said, because a heart calms down… so please…” s.h.i.+a said.

Hajime thought that it’d be a problem if he held them, but found himself holding all three in his arms. On his right arm is s.h.i.+a, his left his Kaori, and Yue was held in the front on his lap.

They occasionally trembled with s.h.i.+vers, but Yue and the others devoted themselves to controlling their rough breathing and finally began to feel relief.

If they concentrated with their eyes closed, they could maintain and balance their spirit. Soon, the three excited women body temperatures began to drop and their heartbeats returned to normal. They seemed to be able to whether this trial without a problem as well. Hajime avoided moving his body even slightly as to not stimulate them. He smiled a little and kept supporting the three woman.

“I like this master, may your mistress also come over there?” Tio speaks up.

“Clearly that’s a joke… Ms. Clarce.”

“I’m falling down… oh, so cold. I’m done for.”