The Goddess' Champion

Chapter 17 A Cicada?

It was like being thrown from the heavens to hell, to the warm embrace of his goddess to a cumulus of hatred.

[…]

Zebellia noticed this, his magic going haywire.

[Regardless, it is nonsensical to think of your past and allow it to affect your present, Constantine… the world you hail from, you can never go back, and even if you did… those times are long gone.]

"But I just came here, there must be a way I can turn back and-"

[Do you desire to forsake your potential, the desire of your wives, and even your precious goddess, just for the sake of some petty vengeance?]

"…"

[With how much of a pervert you are, I'm sure you're unwilling, hence, keep moving forward and forsake that past, the only remaining connection between you and them, is a karma influence in the fate jewel that you must decrease… the last punishment, me sending you here, decreased three hundred points from that number so keep it up~]

"Just three hundred!? Are you telling me that I nearly died for three hundred!?"

[That small detail didn't count into the meter, the fact that I stopped your precious bonding with the goddess did… you see, I am smart, I know you don't care about your life being in risk as you make it look]

"Hey!"

[But I know that you loathed to death not to be able to fill up that goddess with your seed~]

"Damn you! I'm out!" Constantine didn't feel like speaking with Zebellia anymore, she's a witch!

[You can ignore me as much as you want but… I know what pains you the most, little conqueror~ and I'm going to use it against you until all those negative karma points are gone.]

"…" Said and done, he ignored her and started to dig forward.

'I should return from where I came, that's the only sure path back to the cave, assuming the cave itself didn't collapse with that explosion, that would be quite troublesome for me'

Little by little, he started to use his earth magic to dig a path forward.

"Zebellia, I see that this trial or whatever allows me to see my status."

[Indeed, it checks your God Spark every so often… your God Spark is a little orb located in your brain, it is what defines you as a divine being, or in your case, an aspirant]

"Can I have a wa my to measure how much Mana I have left? I can sense it… but this isn't accurate enough" Being able to know how many resources he had was paramount.

[Sure… I can do this for free, those metrics will tell you how much you have left.]

"…?" He wondered what did she mean by free, surely nothing good.

…

[Mana Capacity:]

[1st Ether Magic Core (Wind): 72%]

[2nd Ether Magic Core (Wind): 70%]

[3rd Ether Magic Core (Earth): 42%]

[4th Ether Magic Core (Earth): 38%]

…

"W-What, two of them are so low already!?"

[What do you expect? Not only have you been digging and ejecting pressure so the debris doesn't fall on you, but you're technically using magic that non-magus shouldn't be able to use thanks to your ether cores… if aside from that your magic consumption was low, I, a renowned Time Valkyrie, might as well kneel in front of you…]

"I must get out of here…" With that information in mind, he decided to just go back from whence he came, the only spot he's sure that there is a cave in.

[Are you sure you don't want to retain some of those stalactites? They seemed to be quite valuable, the ones that didn't explode that is, there are more ahead, after the explosion, some remained…]

"Even if they're valuable, I don't have anywhere to store them, I'll probably have to run the moment I leave this damned debris"

[I can help you with that for a modicum price…] Zebellia literally whispered.

"…" Constantine knew that whistle, 'I'm about to get scammed, right?'

"And what is that price?"

[You will have to heed one of my requests later on]

"What kind of request?"

[You ask too many questions, just say yes or not!]

"Then no, you're a witch, it will surely be something evil"

[Hmph! Your loss, leave those precious crystals behind then]

"…" He grit his teeth, she has a point there.

He continued to dig until after roughly twenty minutes, he reached the main cave he entered this junction from.

"Haaaa…" Exhaling a deep breath he crawled his way out, feeling like a new world had opened for him, but the only difference was that the whole was way wider, still a cave nonetheless.

"I'll just leave a mark to know where they are."

[Clever…]

He left a simple 'Constantine was here' on the stone cave.

[Not so clever…]

**

**

Instead of directly walking down the cave and exploring, Constantine opted for remaining in a particular shadow in a corner, recovering his mana reserves.

After they were filled, he began his intent.

'I have to feel air currents…' he wondered if this was possible with wind magic, flora magic was a different sort of feeling compared to the rest.

By using ground magic he couldn't 'feel' the ground, but by using flora magic, he could.

[You're an Elf and you also have flora magic, Light and Flora are your greatest assets… don't expect to become as proficient with other types of magic unless you're stubborn, it is in your greatest interest to cultivate both of these magic elements]

"I don't understand how can you want to punish me and then help me at the same time."

[Maybe because I want you to survive the punishment, fool… even if you're a shameless pervert, your potential is still immense]

"Thank you."

[Aren't you going to deny the 'pervert' claims?]

"Deny them? Of course not…"

[Shameless! Hmph! Don't even think about putting your hands on me!]

"…" He had been meditating but her words caused him to stop abruptly and lift his eyebrows.

"Oh…? So you have a physical body? I thought you were just some ugly voice"

[Bastard, I won't fall for that obvious trap…]

*Tch!*

He twitched his lips, indeed, he added the insult just to work up the Valkyrie into revealing her body, it didn't work, instead…

*RUMBLE!!*

Time seemed to have stopped all of the sudden, not that he noticed.

And the next thing was that his butt burned like never before.

*SLAP!*

!!!

Constantine gasped and held his buttcheek in disbelief, he looked sideways and there was nobody, let alone he didn't even see a hand!

"Zebellia, pervert! you dare!?"

[YOU dare try to trick me into revealing my sacred body? maybe receiving a slap from the future will have you know who you're dealing with~]

"Slap from the future?" He gasped, not really understanding what she meant.

[Want to feel it again?]

"Stop! I won't try to trick you!" A slap in the butt would sometimes be rather lusty, this time, however... his butt was literally burning.

[Hmph! You better, or else, it will be a kick in the sack next~]

!!!

Anything but that!

Constantine decided to remain silent, he'd rather that than anger some sort of sadistic entity that he couldn't see, but she could kick his balls whenever she wished, apparently.

Thinking about the wind, he did something simple.

"I can't feel it, but…"

He thought about the wind creating a gust of it outside, in front of him.

Then took some soil from the ground and threw it.

The direction of the dust changed abruptly, following the path to the left.

He tried several times and receive the same reading.

"Left it is…"

[Why not right?]

"Don't you smell that?"

[Yes, it is a nauseating smell…]

"The flow is coming from there, it is rotting flesh of some sort… it doesn't give good vibes, hence, we're going left"

[Your call… call me if you need something, I'll sleep]

"Where exactly is your body?" The more he spoke to her, the more doubts he had.

[S-Somewhere…]

"…"

**

**

Constantine had been following the trail of wind and dust for roughly half an hour without an encounter, there isn't light and he had to create his own with light magic.

'How long is this cave…?' He sighed and kept going on.

But when he heard a sudden grumbling, he stopped.

…

Turning his head sideways, he tried to hear that noise again and sure enough, it resonated.

The slim noise of rocks falling.

There seemed to be no issue until something started to protrude from one of the walls.

!!!

The size of the creature was… moderate.

At least compared to the size of the cave, still, for the current Constantine who had yet to adapt to the fact that in this world there were such animals, he found himself retreating.

"Perfect…"

It was a cicada of sorts, a big one, and it was exactly in the way where he needed to go across.

"Oh, a fresh meal~"

…

"Does everything in this world speak or what!?"