Chapter 263: Molting (1)
In the room, lit only by the soft glow of scented candles, the platinum-blonde woman, wearing a dress thin enough to pass for sleepwear, slowly reclined across a long sofa. A thoroughly satisfied smile spread across her face.
“Hehe. Did you like your reward?” she asked.
“Ah! Yes. Well, it was... good,” I replied.
Truth be told, it felt less like I had received a reward and more like I had given one. But really, what difference did it make? What mattered was my relationship with Empress Camellia. Judging by how her lips were curled slightly higher than they were during her usual languid smile, this “reward time” had clearly been a very satisfying experience for her as well.
She said, “By the way, I don’t see the Spider anywhere around the staff dormitory. Do you know where she went?”
“You mean Professor Baldwin?”
“Hehe. I brought back some excellent wine from the imperial palace this time. I was thinking the two of us could have a light drink together.”
A light drink. Together? Is she still bothered by how harshly she treated Elisha during their first meeting?
Whatever the reason, it was nice to see her making an effort. It felt like her own way of repairing the relationship.
“Professor Baldwin has gone into closed-door training,” I explained.
“Closed-door training?”
“Yes. To fully absorb the Emperor’s Blessing you granted her.”
“Hm. How long has she been in seclusion?”
“She went in as soon as winter break started. So, about five weeks now.”
Five weeks, huh. Come to think of it, has that much time already passed? I miss her.
I had at least exchanged occasional messages with the other party members through the Hero Watch, but I hadn’t contacted Elisha even once in over a month.
Camellia frowned slightly. “Five weeks, hmm.”
“Is there a problem?”
“No, it just seems a bit long if the sole purpose is absorbing the elixir’s energy.”
“But this isn’t just any elixir, it’s the Emperor’s Blessing. That much time...”
“No. The Emperor’s Blessing does not require that long to absorb. Even at the slowest, the process should have been completed within two to three weeks.”
It meant that Elisha was continuing her closed-door training for another reason.
“Do you know where she’s conducting her seclusion?” Camellia asked.
“Ah, yes. I do.”
Elisha was training on the first layer of the Abyss, the same place used for the first semester’s final evaluation.
“Abyss, first layer. That isn’t too far.”
“It’s directly beneath the academy,” I replied.
One could reach the first layer directly if they were to dig straight down from here. Of course, using the official entrance meant taking a long detour through tunnels far from the academy.
“Hm. Why don’t you go check on her?” Camellia suggested.
“Without any prior notice?”
Interrupting closed-door training was considered taboo among heroes.
“Normally, yes. But this could be an emergency.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The Emperor’s Blessing is powerful. If the one consuming it fails to properly control its energy, it can damage the body instead.”
I knew that the stronger an elixir’s effect was, the greater would be the risks involved. But there was no way Elisha would fail to control it. Anyone who had seen her manipulate dozens, no, hundreds, of spider threads as if they were extensions of her limbs would understand just how absurdly precise her mana control was.
Camellia continued, “As the saying goes, even a monkey can fall from a tree. Could it not be that even a spider might get caught in her own web?”
Hey, now you’re just making me worried.
I rose from my seat with a tense expression and drew my sword from my waist. “All right. I’ll go check on her myself.”
Surprised by my actions, Camellia asked, “Wait. What exactly are you planning to do?”
“The fastest way to reach the Abyss would be to just dig straight down, wouldn’t it?”
“Put the sword away first and calm yourself.” Camellia shook her head in disbelief. “I said there’s a risk of bodily harm if the Emperor’s Blessing isn’t controlled properly, but that does not mean death or permanent disability.”
“But...”
“It was an elixir designed for royalty. Do you really think it would be that dangerous?”
“Ah.”
She did have a point.
“So, calm down.”
“Okay.” I nodded and slid the sword back into its sheath.
“Haah. I thought you were usually quite composed, but once your emotions flare up, you lose that calm entirely, don’t you?”
“Ugh!”
Now that my head had cooled, the idea of digging straight down through the earth felt embarrassingly rash.
“Hehe. There’s no need to be ashamed. It simply proves how much you care for your lover.” Shrugging, Camellia picked up the bottle of wine from the table and returned it to the shelf. “Given the circumstances, let’s save the toast for later. Go on, check on her.”
“Thank you.”
I turned and hurried out of the room. The door closed behind me.
* * *
Left alone in the room, Camellia leaned back against the sofa, gazing at the flickering candlelight. Through the stillness of the room, she murmured, “How enviable!”
* * *
Leaving the Empress’s quarters, I headed straight for the entrance to the Abyss. The first layer alone was far larger than the entire grounds of the Hero Academy, so reaching its entrance required traveling well beyond the academy itself. Normally, I would’ve taken a magi-car, but that was too slow.
Stepping outside the academy, I took a deep breath and lowered my stance. Ashen Flames flared and coiled around my legs. I focused the surging mana into both limbs and kicked off the ground.
Berald Combat Style: Storm Step!
With a thunderous roar like an earthquake, the scenery stretched and warped. I was moving at an explosive speed, so fast that air resistance alone could crush an ordinary person to pulp. Crossing thirty kilometers took less than a minute.
Arriving at the Abyss entrance in the blink of an eye, I brushed my disheveled hair back and headed toward the cavern. Near the bushes surrounding the cave, I noticed traces indicating that something had clearly passed through here. I wondered if it was Elisha, but the marks looked far too recent for that.
A chill ran down my spine, and a horrifying thought bubbled up like a volcanic eruption. “Don’t tell me...”
What if someone else had invaded the Abyss and attacked Elisha while she was in seclusion?
“Damn it!” I gritted my teeth and kicked off again, sprinting down the long passageway like a gust of wind. “Elisha!”
The first layer of the Abyss was vast, large enough to swallow an entire city and still have room to spare. Searching aimlessly would never be enough. Therefore, I had to do something different. Ashen Flames wrapped around me and flared violently. I spread my arms wide and clapped my hands together with force, executing Berald Combat Style: Palm Clap. A terrifying boom echoed throughout the Abyss.
I shouted her name again at the top of my lungs. “Elisha!”
As I continued roaming the depths, calling out to her, a strand of translucent silver thread crept toward me. It was spider silk. The moment I saw the spiderweb slithering across the ground like a serpent, the tension drained from my body, and I let out a breath of relief. She was safe. Camellia’s words had gotten to me, making my anxiety spiral, but if Elisha was sending her web, then clearly nothing had gone wrong.
Suddenly, the web wrapped around my wrist and slowly pulled me forward. “Huh? You want me to follow?”
The strand bobbed up and down as if nodding. I followed where it led me, and what came into view was something unexpected. Before my sight was a pure white cocoon, woven tightly from countless threads of spider silk. I looked around in confusion, but Elisha was nowhere to be seen.
Don’t tell me that’s...
I cautiously spoke toward the cocoon. “Professor Baldwin?”
Her voice flowed directly into my mind through the spider silk. “Didn’t I tell you to drop the ‘Professor’ when we’re outside the academy?”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“That’s what I’d like to ask. What brings you here?” replied her voice.
“You weren’t responding at all, so I got worried.”
Her soft laughter echoed in my head. “Oh? Starting with such heart-fluttering words the moment we reunite.”
“But seriously. What is this?”
“Hmm. Should I call it metamorphosis? No, that sounds unpleasant. Let’s call it molting instead.”
“Molting?”
“Haven’t you experienced something similar before, Dale?”
“Something similar... ah.” A memory flashed through my mind. “Don’t tell me, physical reconstruction?”
It was a phenomenon that rarely occurred when a hero surpassed a long-standing wall and stepped into a new realm. To withstand overflowing mana, the body itself was rebuilt, granting the true physique of a transcendent being.
“That seems to be the case,” explained the voice.
“Haaa!”
That was why absorbing the elixir was taking so long. Her body was being rebuilt from the ground up.
Physical reconstruction was something no Master had experienced, except Camellia. A hero who underwent it ceased to age entirely until the day their life ended. More often than not, they would even grow younger in appearance. Even Marianne the Pope, ranked second, and Lionel Ryu, ranked third, couldn’t escape aging, so one could imagine just how rare Elisha’s transformation was.
“I’ll... step outside so I don’t disturb you. Sorry,” I said.
“No. There’s no need.”
Hundreds, no, thousands, of threads flowed downward as the massive cocoon slowly unraveled, like a tangled skein loosening itself. What stepped out from within was Elisha, completely naked, her pale, flawless body exposed.
“Elisha?”
“It’s been a while, Dale, no, that’s not right.” She slowly walked toward me, wrapped her arms around me, and whispered into my ear, “My dear husband.”
Forgive my indecency, but, uh, well, how should I put this... I held back my thoughts.
“Hm? Something hard is pressing against me,” she playfully said.
Ahem!