Chapter 264: Molting (2)
The Abyss lay beneath the Hero Academy. Even though this place had an ominous reputation as the place where the Demon God had been sealed five hundred years ago, the atmosphere felt very hot right now.
I stole a glance at Elisha’s completely naked body and swallowed hard. “Uh, yo-your clothes?”
We were already lovers who had shared each other’s bodies, yet simply seeing her naked like this made my heart pound as if it would burst. And that was not all. Our eyes met as Elisha pulled me into her embrace. True to her tall stature, our gazes aligned at nearly the same height.
She looked younger now. It was hard to tell her age from her appearance alone even before, but now, she looked youthful enough that one could believe she was a cadet just like me.
Seeing my expression, Elisha asked, “Hm? What is it?”
“No, uh, I think it’d be faster if you looked in a mirror.”
“A mirror.”
Elisha glanced around, then snapped her fingers. A strand of spider silk shot from her fingertips, slipped into a bag set off to the side, and retrieved a small hand mirror.
“You usually carry a mirror around?” I asked.
“What are you implying?”
“Well, you just don’t strike me as the type to carry one.”
Elisha frowned slightly, clearly a bit miffed. “Hmph. And what exactly do you think I am? I’m a woman too, you know.”
I hurriedly scrambled for an excuse. “N-no, that’s not what I meant. I just meant you’re so pretty you don’t even need makeup.”
Elisha crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Hmmm. Fifty points. Your response time was acceptable, but the line itself was crude. Be more careful with your wording in the future.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
As expected of a professor, she was absolutely merciless.
“Well, anyway. What changed so...” The moment Elisha looked into the hand mirror, her eyes widened. “Oh!”
It seemed even she could tell how youthful she looked. A quiet, hollow chuckle escaped her lips as she touched her cheek. Her fingers traced her face, then stopped at the corner of her left eye. Even though she had undergone physical reconstruction, the scar running across her left eye remained unchanged.
She muttered, “The scar’s still there.”
“It’s probably so old that the scar itself was recognized as part of your body,” I replied.
Elisha brushed the scar beneath her eye, a bitter smile forming on her lips. “A plausible theory.”
I let out a small laugh and stepped closer, gently touching the mark. “That’s good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah. That scar’s one of your charms, you know?”
The scar crossing her left eye, some would find it ugly, but to me, it was undeniably attractive.
Elisha desperately suppressed the grin threatening to spread across her face and cleared her throat. She quickly turned her head away, but there was no hiding how red even her earlobes had become.
I teased her. “How many points was that line, Professor?”
“Sh-shut up!”
After receiving a kick in the shin for fooling around, I said, “Let’s get to the most important thing first. Your clothes.”
Elisha was still standing there completely naked. I had no idea where I was supposed to look.
She stared at me. “Hehe. You’ve seen it plenty of times already. Why the fuss?”
“This is different.”
Seeing her in bed and seeing her out here in the open were completely different experiences.
Clearly amused by my reaction, Elisha spun around with a playful smile. “Hmmm. What should I do?”
Just as I was about to squeeze my eyes shut, she continued, “Oh. How about this outfit?”
As if struck by inspiration, she snapped her fingers again. Threads of spider silk burst from her fingertips, wrapped around her, and intertwined into the shape of clothing.
As Elisha wove the threads into garments, I stared at her, mouth agape. Then, I asked, “You’re making clothes out of spider silk?”
She had always used spider silk to form nets or spears, but clothes were on a whole different level. Clothing was far more complex than people realized. It was especially so for modern attire, as compared to primitive garb.
“Hehe. After breaking through to a new realm, I can do things like this now,” she explained.
“Wow!”
She had such delicate mana control that she could weave clothing thread by thread. It seemed to me that she had probably surpassed me in mana control. I had always been confident that my mana control was top-tier, but I couldn’t manage it with the precision Elisha displayed.
A few moments later, Elisha said, “It’s almost finished.”
“That’s...”
Elisha had created the Hero Academy’s cadet uniform.
“Ahem! It’s a little embarrassing, but since my face looks younger, I thought I’d try wearing it once.” Unaccustomed to skirts, Elisha lightly held the hem, her cheeks faintly flushed. “Well? Does it suit me?”
Was that even a question? I raised my thumb and nodded without hesitation. “It’s perfect.”
“Hehe. I’m glad.” Elisha smiled, clearly pleased. “Then, how about this?”
She stepped closer to me and shyly took my hand. She winked and whispered in an overly sweet, coquettish voice, “Senior Dale ♡, wanna hang out together after class today?”
“Uh!”
How was I supposed to say this without hurting Elisha’s feelings? After agonizing over it for a moment, I slowly opened my mouth. “That absolutely did not suit you.”
Elisha froze mid–cutesy smile. “Couldn’t you have said that a little more tactfully?”
“I said it as gently as I could.”
“No. That was gentle? Ugh.” Elisha’s shoulders slumped as shock washed over her face.
I snorted and shrugged. “I’m kidding.”
“Kidding?”
“Yeah. It’s cute. It feels kind of refreshing too.”
Maybe it was because her appearance had grown younger or maybe it was because of the cadet uniform, but Elisha, who was not someone I would describe as cute, looked genuinely adorable right now. Though, I couldn’t quite bring myself to say it suited her. That aside, the fact that it revealed a completely different charm wasn’t bad at all.
“Hmmm. The reaction’s a bit lacking, but... Well, I suppose I’ll be generous and let it slide.” With a faint smile, Elisha stepped closer to me. “Then, Senior Dale...”
She tugged on my hand and lightly slipped my fingertip into her mouth. A soft, pliant sensation traveled up from my finger. I hurriedly tried to pull my hand away, but Elisha pushed my finger in deeper instead, her tongue moving slowly around it.
“E-Elisha?”
Letting out a heated breath, Elisha pressed her body against mine. “Hehe. There we go, that’s the kind of reaction I wanted.”
“Don’t tell me... You’re not actually planning to do it here, are you?” I asked.
We were on the first floor of the Abyss. There wasn’t a single person or even a monster around, but this was still very much out in the open.
“Thirty-seven days,” she muttered.
“Huh?”
“The length of my closed-door training.”
Spider silk crept along the ground like a snake and wrapped around me.
“And also, the amount of time I spent completely cut off, without exchanging even a single message with you, Dale.” A reptilian golden gleam surfaced in her eyes. “And you ask whether I’d do it here? Hehe. What are you talking about, Dale?”
Her ominous eyes glinted as she licked her lips. “I never intended to do it anywhere but here.”
The ravenous, Cursed-Eyed Spider pounced without mercy.
* * *
How many hours passed after that? It was hard to tell inside the Abyss, where the passage of time was distorted, but one thing was certain: a lot of time had gone by.
Elisha let out a satisfied sigh and gently touched her now radiant, well-rested-looking face. “Perhaps I got a little too excited after such a long break.”
In contrast, I nodded weakly, my own face looking utterly worn out. “You don’t say!”
Laneige, Elisha, both of them! Seriously. Where on earth do they get that inexhaustible stamina?
I staggered to my feet and looked back at her. “So, your closed-door training’s finished now, right?”
“Yes. I’ll need some time to adjust to my new body, but I’ll do that outside.”
“You worked hard.”
“Hehe. I’ve already received more than enough compensation, so I’m quite satisfied.” Smiling contentedly, Elisha stepped closer and planted a light kiss on my lips.
“But you really didn’t go outside even once during your training?”
“Hm? Isn’t that what closed-door training usually means?”
A memory suddenly surfaced in my mind. “Then, what about the traces near the Abyss entrance?”
Elisha frowned. “Traces? What traces are you talking about?”
“Well, there were signs that someone had passed through near the entrance.”
Elisha narrowed her eyes. “There were no such traces when I arrived. And during the vacation period, entry into the Abyss is strictly forbidden. Only faculty members are allowed inside.”
“Then...”
Our gazes met.
“That means someone might’ve trespassed into the Abyss?” I said.
Elisha nodded gravely. “Most likely.”
“You didn’t encounter anyone during your training?”
“No.”
That made sense. The first floor of the Abyss was so vast that it would be unlikely to run into anyone unless you were actively searching for them. But if someone had trespassed into the Abyss, we couldn’t just leave without finding them first.
I turned to her. “Then, it looks like there’s one more thing we need to take care of before heading out.”
“I’ll look for them.”
“You will? Don’t tell me you’re planning to...”
I recalled the time Elisha had spread her spider silk throughout the imperial palace to locate a hidden passage. Even that had been astonishing, but the first floor of the Abyss was dozens of times larger than the palace itself. No matter how much she had advanced, it wouldn’t be easy.
Elisha slowly drew in a breath and spread her arms wide. Thousands upon thousands of spider silk threads burst forth from her fingertips, stretching out across the entire Abyss. And then, her violet eyes glinted as she turned her gaze toward the heart of the Abyss.
“Found them!”