Almost as if my instincts approved the monster's words, no rebuttal came to my mind.
—But... but... she was wrong...!
El was just a childhood friend.
At the very least, he couldn't be my special partner.
If that wasn't the case... if it wasn't... I... I would...—
"Oh my... Stubborn, aren't you...? Well... it's more worthwhile making you fall that way... isn't that right? "
"Y... you're not done yet...!?"
The succubus sounded delighted.
In response to my rejoinder, spoken nine-tenths in bluff, the monster's fingers began to move.
My body complained of an itch where the fingers seemed to caress the surface of my exposed breasts.
It was nothing I couldn't endure, but it was accompanied by a sensation that seemed strangely to remain in the core of my breast.
"Of course not! On the contrary... I'm just getting started. "
"Guh..."
—As she spoke, the succubus' fingers began to spread...
Each finger moved about as if it were a separate organism.
They were crawling over my skin like snakes.
Their movement was limited to gently caressing the upper half of my bust, and it seemed that they had no intention of forcing their way inside my bra just yet, but surely they would do so sooner or later.
Just thing about that time was enough to send something cold flowing down my spine and make me want to scream.
—But...!
I was a "Hero"; I was everyone's hope.
Even if no one was watching me shoulder everyone's expectations and wishes, I couldn't allow myself to react like an ordinary girl of my years.
Having so sworn to myself, I shut my lips tight; shut them so that no scream would leak out.
"Hee hee... Giving me the silent treatment now?"
She must have perceived my condition.
The succubus still sounded delighted.
Foreboding feelings boiled up in me at her voice, which gave the impression of a cat taking pleasure in its prey's desperate attempts to escape.
My instincts cried out that I must not remain like this and ordered my body to resist, but no matter how I twisted and turned, I couldn't break free of the tentacles' restraint. In order to find a gap, I ought to keep quiet and pretend to...—
"Hyah!"
"Tee hee... ...Did I startle you...?"
I clenched my teeth at the succubus, whose tone was like that of a child who had succeeded in some mischief.
My involuntary cry was surely the reason for her triumphant attitude.
But surely anyone would have ended up crying out if a thick, tepid liquid suddenly oozed onto them from the tentacles restraining their arms.
—No way... W, what is this...!?
A viscous liquid, thick like slime, penetrated my leather guards and encroached as far as my clothing.
The slimy, tepid sensation was simply disgusting.
So much so that I felt driven to get in a bath and wash the liquid off at once.
"But don't worry... it's certainly nothing bad. "
—You mean to say this isn't something bad...?
It seemed that this disgusting feeling wasn't bad as far as the succubus was concerned.
In my excess of frustration I wanted to say something, anything to dispute her, but nothing I said to this monster would do any good.
It was even possible that she would, on the contrary, be delighted at getting a reaction, so sinking into silence should be the right thing to do in this situation.
—Ugh... It's already to my armpits...
But even while I made up my mind, the liquid continued to flow, and the slimy sensation to spread over my body.
The feeling provoked a physiological revulsion in me, and sweat rose on my skin.
The moment I felt that dampness travel down along my spine, just like the liquid, the monster's fingers quietly left my breasts.
—...Huh? ...Hyaaah!
As I mentally tilted my head in puzzlement at the succubus' behavior, two tentacles stretched out from beside me and began to play with my breasts.
The same liquid was of course also clinging to those tentacles, which reached up softly from below as if to lift me up and rescue me.
In the blink of an eye, that liquid, which possessed frightening powers of penetration in spite of its viscosity, had soaked through my underclothes and spread its dominion even as far as my bra.
And yet, the sensation of it differed slightly from that traveling along my sides.
—It's... almost like... an itch...
Perhaps my chest was just more sensitive than my sides, or perhaps the succubus had done something while she touched me, but each time the slimy liquid came into contact with my bust, the same ache as when I had been ensnared was revived in the depths of my breast.
No, it wasn't merely revived; that ache, stronger and fiercer than before, through my mind into disorder.
—Why is... something like this...!?
That sensation, almost like an itch, complained to my reason that it wanted to be touched.
I couldn't comprehend its voice, which entreated me for a renewal of the earlier stimulation.
But... but the succubus was an enemy I must destroy.
I had to defeat her for his... for El's sake, too, so... to want to be touched by her was...!!
"Are you confused because your body is aching... and you have come to desire my touch, perhaps?"
"Ngh!!"
The succubus, who had gotten behind me without my noticing, flashed a confident smile.
Her words, which again seemed to see through to my true feelings, made me show my dismay on my face in spite of myself.
That reaction must have struck a chord in the monster's heart, because her expression had changed to a smile with a tinge of superiority about it.
"You see, that syrupy liquid you are touching... Are sexy stuff that makes girls' bodies become ve–ery sensitive. "
—Is that... why...?
If the succubus was telling the truth, then this ache in my chest, which had become difficult for me to deny, was all due to this liquid.