The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 94

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 94. Interlude – The Spider’s First Experience
Whirrrrrrrr!
Thousands of silver threads tangled together, emitting an eerie, unsettling sound.
A web of silk closing in from all directions.
“Damn it, damn it!”
Bishop Harris launched his tentacles toward the constricting web, his expression twisted in horror.
Sharp, spined tentacles lashed out with the force to shred the gossamer-thin silk, yet—
“Kugh!”
Slash!
Rather than cutting the web, his tentacles were severed the moment they made contact with it.
The web was thinner than a human hair, yet the power woven within it was potent enough to slice through steel with ease.
“How dare a wretched sinner trapped in human flesh show such insolence!!!”
With a savage cry, tentacles erupted from his skin, piercing through flesh.
A torrent of black demonic energy swirled around him.
Dozens of tentacles shot toward Elisha, seeking to impale her.
And then—
“Is that your answer?”
Elisha stepped forward.
The web spread across the space instantly contracted, ensnaring the volley of tentacles in its grasp.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
The silk wrapped around the tentacles tore them from Bishop Harris’s body, ripping them out alive.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
A horrific scream tore from his throat.
Blood fountained from the stumps where his tentacles had been as Bishop Harris collapsed to the ground.
“Sigh… the Ominous Spider.”
Bishop Harris whispered that name, retreating unsteadily backward.
Terror gleamed in his grotesquely bulging eyes.
Elisha approached the fallen Bishop Harris with measured strides and took a long drag from her cigarette.
“A pathetic response.”
Exhale.
Pale smoke drifted from between her lips.
“Heh.”
The corners of Bishop Harris’s mouth twisted upward.
He rose unsteadily, blood pouring from his wounds.
“Don’t think this is the end! Jackal will soon—”
“You talk too much.”
Slash!
Before Bishop Harris could finish his words—
The web wrapped around his neck severed his head clean from his shoulders.
“Guh… gah.”
A mass of flesh crawled out from the severed head.
It was the true body of the Mind Eater.
Crunch!
Elisha stomped on the writhing Mind Eater like an insect.
Pulverized flesh and body fluids drenched the ground.
Tick.
Elisha flicked a lit cigarette toward the crushed corpse of the Mind Eater.
“You’ve done well.”
I dissolved the barrier I’d maintained and approached Elisha.
“How are the villagers?”
“They’re fine. For now, at least.”
Even after Bishop Harris’s death, the poison embedded within them hadn’t activated.
“We should request support from the Holy Kingdom to detoxify the poison in the villagers’ bodies….”
“No. If it’s poison, I can eliminate it.”
The Primordial Flame possessed the ability to incinerate the power of stigmata.
Since the poison the villagers consumed was crafted using the power of the Demon God’s stigmata, I could eliminate it using the Primordial Flame.
“…Dale can do this?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and approached the villagers.
“H-Hero!”
“What will happen to us?”
“P-Please save us!”
As I drew near, the villagers crowded forward.
“Everyone, please calm down and form a line.”
At my words, the villagers exchanged glances and lined up.
“Hold out your arm.”
“Y-Yes!”
A villager extended their arm.
I grasped the villager’s arm and channeled mana into their body.
‘I’ll burn away only the lingering traces of poison in their body.’
Channeling mana into an ordinary person without a stigmata was as perilous as slicing open their abdomen and touching their organs with bare hands.
‘But this is where I excel.’
When it came to delicate mana control, I could confidently claim to be the finest among the Last Five Heroes.
Whoooosh!
The Primordial Flame flowing into the villager’s body cleanly incinerated the poison’s essence within.
“It’s done.”
“D-Does this mean I won’t become a monster?”
“Yes. The poison inside has been completely eliminated, so you can rest assured.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much, Hero!”
The villager wept tears of gratitude, bowing repeatedly.
“Next, please come forward.”
Like a doctor conducting outpatient consultations, I detoxified the villagers one by one.
* * *
Late night in the Village Square.
The campfire, now dimmed, crackled and scattered ash as it squeezed out its final sparks.
“Phew. That’s all of them.”
I rose from my seat, wiping the cold sweat that had accumulated on my forehead.
This was the first time I’d controlled the Primordial Flame for such an extended duration, leaving me thoroughly drained.
‘Still, my control over the Primordial Flame has improved considerably because of this.’
An unexpected gain, one might say.
By wielding the Primordial Flame against ordinary people without even a stigma, I’d grown accustomed to handling its overwhelming power—something that had been difficult before—and now I could manipulate it far more smoothly.
“You’ve done well.”
The moment the villagers’ detoxification was complete, Elisha approached.
She wiped away the remaining cold sweat with a cool, damp cloth.
“You’ve perspired quite heavily.”
Elisha’s expression was etched with concern as she continued wiping my sweat.
I shrugged, concealing my exhaustion.
“I was just concentrating. It’s nothing serious.”
“For something so trivial, your complexion looks rather poor.”
Elisha pulled my head down onto her lap.
Through the fabric of her formal trousers, I felt the soft warmth of her thighs.
“Rest.”
“…Resting in this position is more exhausting, honestly.”
“Quiet. No more complaints—just lie still.”
Elisha gently pressed down on my forehead as I tried to lift my head.
“Is the detoxification complete?”
“Yes.”
You must be tired from the battle. Thank you for your hard work.”
Elisha continued softly, stroking my forehead.
“Dale.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
I suppressed a faint smile and shook my head.
“There’s no need to thank me.”
I may have proposed the plan,
but it was never something I could have succeeded in alone.
“You’re the one who saved them, Professor Elisha.”
….
Elisha turned her gaze toward the villagers.
Tears streamed down the faces of the residents.
Residents cheered, celebrating that they had survived.
A resident dumped a barrel of apple wine onto the ground in anger.
Suddenly.
A memory from the past flashed through my mind.
-Please, someone please save us! The, the village… our village!!!
That day, decades ago.
The memory of a girl wailing as she watched the village burn.
The girl who looked identical to me shed endless tears, yearning for a salvation that would never come.
-Do not worry.
My own figure blocking the path of the wailing girl.
-We have come to save you.
In her imagination, Dale stood beside her with a reassuring smile.
“…Hah.”
At the fantasy that bloomed in my mind, Elisha let out a self-deprecating laugh.
‘So this wound could be healed by something so trivial.’
The deepest place in her memory.
I felt the tattered, festering wound gradually beginning to mend.
“Really… how utterly commonplace.”
No grand twist, no stirring narrative, no poignant ending to bring tears to one’s eyes.
The wound that had tormented her for decades was healed in an absurdly simple manner.
And by none other than a mere green candidate.
“Professor Elisha?”
I looked down at Dale, whose wide eyes gazed up at me.
Why was it?
My heart pounded so fiercely that I could barely meet his gaze directly.
‘How foolish.’
If Professor Lucas Kane had seen this, he surely would have teased me mercilessly.
I swallowed a bitter smile and took in the sight of Dale.
Suddenly, a playful impulse stirred within me.
“Now that I think about it, something seems rather suspicious.”
“Pardon? What is?”
“A Warrior Department candidate using a mana-blocking barrier that even Magic Department professors struggle to deploy, detoxifying poison created by the Archbishop… surely that warrants suspicion, does it not?”
I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head slightly.
We drew close enough to feel each other’s breath.
“Indeed, further investigation will be necessary.”
“What do you—”
Just before my lips touched his.
Tug.
I pulled at his cheek.
“Hehe. Were you hoping for something?”
“…What are you doing?”
“I suddenly felt like teasing you a bit.”
Elisha stepped back with a satisfied smile.
I furrowed my brow and lifted my head from where it had rested against her thigh.
For a moment, a flicker of regret crossed Elisha’s eyes.
“Why are you asking?”
“…No. It’s nothing.”
She turned to address the villagers, opening her mouth to speak.
“We managed to get through this time, but the Beast Archbishop won’t simply sit idle.”
“Yes. He said so before he died.”
That Jackal would come for her soon.
“When that time comes… will you fight alongside me again?”
Elisha asked, her voice trembling slightly.
She hesitated to drag a Candidate into a battle against not just any Demon, but an Archbishop.
I suppressed a chuckle and nodded readily.
“Gladly.”
I hadn’t expected the Beast Archbishop to move so aggressively.
But it was actually good news.
‘The faster I eliminate him, the less burden I’ll carry into the future.’
Remembering how many heroes had been sacrificed in my past life just to stop a single Beast Archbishop, eliminating him now was a necessary investment in the future.
“…Gladly.”
Elisha looked surprised that I would answer so readily.
The Beast Archbishop’s target was Elisha Baldwin, not Dale.
With Bishop Harris dead and the witness gone, she surely knew that maintaining distance from her would keep me safe.
Yet Dale had nodded without hesitation.
‘Is he relying on his blessing?’
No.
Elisha shook her head.
Even if Dale possessed a blessing that allowed him to resurrect no matter how many times he died, that wouldn’t be reason enough to nod so readily.
Archbishops were beings capable of creating hells so torturous that death itself would be preferable.
So the reason he nodded without hesitation was…
‘Because he has feelings for me.’
At the audacious thought that crossed her mind, Elisha’s cheeks flushed slightly.
Though she knew it was more fantasy than reality, she couldn’t suppress the intense surge of emotion welling up from deep within her heart.
“Haah.”
A deep sigh escaped between her lips.
“This is hard to resist.”
“What’s hard to resist… Mmph!”
Elisha pulled Dale’s neck toward her and pressed her lips against his.
Moments later.
Like a spider spinning its web, a transparent thread of saliva stretched between her two lips.
“…You said additional investigation wasn’t a joke, didn’t you?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Then why….”
Elisha smoothed her lips with a faint smile.
“This kiss wasn’t for the sake of investigation.”
The eight-eyed spider, Elisha Baldwin.
In her long life, this was her first kiss for a purpose beyond investigation.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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