Otherworld Adventure

Cecil could only gape in shock. The scenery around him was filled with an intense golden aura that didn't dissipate even after a while.

The dark night was illuminated brightly by this golden aura that was surrounding him. The aura held a trace of his presence so Cecil immediately knew that it originated from him.

This never happened before. Cecil also noticed that the golden aura that seemed to have originated from him had also somehow caused a geological change to his surroundings. The empty lot he was in had somehow dropped a level in elevation.

Cecil noticed that the ground had lowered in elevation by about half a meter with him at the center.

The once grassy area was now an empty, barren land.

"Did... did I do this?" Cecil asked.

His friends could only nod in reply.

Cecil immediately jumped out of the crater he had created and walked back towards the campsite.

He checked out his body and made sure that nothing adverse had happened to him, but to his pleasant surprise he found that all the mana inside his body was now flowing like a raging river.

"I...I did it..." Cecil once again checked his body to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He even smacked his face just to make sure it wasn't a dream. He laughed in surprise once he made sure that it wasn't a dream.

"AHAHAHAHA!!! I DID IIIIIITTTTTT!!!"

Cecil started circulating his ocean like mana and a golden aura immediately wrapped around his body. Cecil glanced at the changes to his body and smiled.

Cecil did notice this aura envelop him when he activated Mana Burst sometimes, but this time, even without the activation of Mana Burst the aura had already appeared.

Cecil immediately felt his body strengthening with each circulation of his mana. He felt... free... and unrestrained. The euphoric feeling almost felt like a drug. Cecil immediately turned around and struck his palm out into the air.

"HRAH!"

WOOOSHHHH BOOM

His golden aura immediately flew out like a large mana bolt and a tree that was at the end of where he aimed his palm abruptly snapped in two and crashed down to the ground.

"WOAH!" Cecil exclaimed in surprise, but suddenly his body and even his mind felt empty. All Cecil felt was an insatiable hunger and desire slowly enveloping his conscience. He tried to hold back the feeling, but to no avail.

His body began twitching in response to his rational thinking colliding with the instincts and commands his body was sending to his brain.

"AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!"

"CECIL?!"

"OI! BRAT!"

"EH?"

"ROAR!"

At Cecil's abrupt howl and his subsequent collapse onto the ground with his body twitching, his friends quickly were about to quickly rush forward, only to hear an even louder and more anxious shout originating from behind them.

"CEL!"

Lucia who had awoken from who knows when rushed out from behind the group and quickly made her way towards Cecil who was collapsed onto the ground. When she got closer, Lucia saw a rising, maddened look surface inside Cecil's eyes.

She quickly embraced him and covered his mouth while she began circulating her mana and channeling it into Cecil's body.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here." Lucia kept on repeating while doing her best to restrain all of Cecil's limbs with her tails, while she cradled the almost maddened boy.

"Lucia! W-what's happening to him?!" Ainz asked when he arrived by their side.

Lucia glared up at him and yelled, "BACK OFF RIGHT NOW!"

"Uh?"

"I said. BACK OFF!!!"

"Wait a minute. Lucia! Y-you don't need to flare up like that!" Eli said as she got closer to them.

"BACK OFF!!! ALL OF YOU!!!"

Seeing the girl that was cradling their collapsed friend and shielding him away from them like a tigress would do for her cub, the rest of the party was at a loss at what to do.

Earlier their friend was laughing happily at something and then in the next instant he was collapsed convulsing on the ground.

When they wanted to go check up on Cecil's condition, their sleeping friend had rushed out and began defending him. They didn't do anything wrong so they could only look on, not knowing what to do.

"Please... just stay away for now..." Lucia pleaded, her eyes glistening with tears.

"!" Seeing this, the group quickly backed off.

"...don't hesitate to ask if you need anything, Lucia." Fina said. She saw her friend nod before she finally went back towards the campsite in reluctance.

At the campsite around the fire, the group was glancing worriedly at the duo that was close by. Silver got up and walked towards his master. He quickly lay down next to them and wrapped his body around theirs.

The rest sighed helplessly and looked at each other.

"What was that?"

"...I dunno..."

"Cecil... had a breakthrough right? So... what happened? He was laughing earlier, and then he suddenly collapsed..." Fina asked worriedly.

"Did you guys see Lucia? It was like... this wasn't the first time this happened." Velicia added.

"..."

Her statement caused everyone to fall into silence... even Lucius wasn't able to speak up after looking at the oppressive atmosphere.

"So... can any of you guys cook?" Ainz asked.

"...can you only think with your stomach right now? Our friend just collapsed earlier and all you can think about is food?" Fina said disapprovingly.

"It's not like that aqua brat... we should at least prepare dinner not only for us, but for them too... I don't think that those two have eaten yet."

"..." Fina couldn't retort to that so she stayed silent.

"Ainz is right at least... so... who among us can cook?" Eli asked.

"..."

An awkward silence ensued and finally Lucius who was silent from the beginning raised his hand.

"Uhm... I can, but I don't have any ingredients."

Fina smiled and took out the cooking ingredients their party kept inside their party's spatial ring.

"Here you go."

"Oh! Thank you. With these...I guess I'll make a soup?"

"Sure, as long as its edible, big guy!" Ainz laughed.

"By the way... are you really Velicia's husband?" Fina asked.

"Yaaaahhh!! H-he's my fiancé! He's not my husband...yet...ehehehe..." Velicia blushed shyly on the side.

She had a smile plastered on her face.

"...woah... so it's true!" Ainz exclaimed.

Lucius smiled while he began prepping the ingredients. The two girls immediately began interrogating their friend while Ainz just stared at his friends who were currently in the clearing nearby. He sighed and looked up at the night sky.

At the clearing, Cecil's body had stopped convulsing and he was currently resting peacefully in Lucia's embrace. His face was pale and he was sweating profusely.

Lucia sighed in relief seeing this. "At least it wasn't as bad as before..."

This indeed wasn't the first time Cecil had this happen to him.

It was many months before, just after the two had left Forest Hill Town. Cecil was still developing his Mana Blade technique which he now called Ascending Blade and the resulting tests and experimentations had burnt a hole through their wallets.

It also inspired him to test the upper limits of his Mana Burst and so he proceeded to do a very dangerous experiment using his body.

He activated Mana Burst to his utmost limit and tried to find the threshold of which his body and mind could no longer support the activation of Mana Burst. The results were a little unsightly since had fallen into a mana depraved state. His mana and instincts had almost consumed his mind and he began rampaging about like a wild beast.

It was a good thing that Lucia was nearby to keep an eye on him and the girl was able to restrain Cecil at a...small cost. In the end, Lucia was able to channel her mana into Cecil's body and help him satiate his mana hungry state and calmed him down.

She did lose a tail in the process, but at least her beloved friend was okay. Cecil had a full recollection of the event and he agonized over the fact that he had devoured one of Lucia's tails in order to appease his mindless state of hunger for mana.

Cecil also immediately made a mental note and set a limiter on his Mana Burst and skills so that he would never ever fall into that state again.

Cecil also gave Lucia a bracelet that let her track his mana levels and made sure that she would always remind him whenever he was close to the red. Unfortunately this unforeseen event had somehow depleted his mana in an instant and he was dangerously close to losing his mind.

The bracelet had let out a shock spell and the spell alerted Lucia, who was asleep, of Cecil's dangerous state. The only fortunate thing was that Cecil's mana was only slowly depleting into the red zone and by the time Lucia got to him, she was able to save Cecil before he fell deeper.

This times result ended with only Lucia being somewhat exhausted of her mana. At least this time she didn't lose a tail.

She immediately relaxed her tails and she hugged Cecil tighter and began to silently sob. Silver only stared at the two before he howled into the air.

"AAAAWWWWOOOOOOOO!!!"

The party that was beside the campsite turned their attention towards Silver. The food was ready and a flavorful aroma rose from the pot that Lucius was currently handling.

He looked up and called out to the rest, "The soup is ready everyone... if someone can call over those two... please do so. It's better to eat it while it's hot."

"I'll go!" Fina volunteered.

She made her way over and heard a slight restrained sob when she got closer.

'Lucia's crying?'

Fina hesitated to take a step further. Silver turned his head over to her and invited her forward with his gaze.

Fina somehow understood Silver so she took a step forward and called out, "Lucia? Cecil? The food's ready...best if you eat it now while it's hot..."

"Eh? Oh... okay!" Lucia replied and quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Cecil's still unconscious... but can you get Ainz over here and help him bring Cecil into the carriage?"

"O-okay!" Fina replied and ran back towards Ainz and dragged him over.

Ainz went around Silver and he shouldered Cecil with Lucia. To two made their way towards the carriage and quickly put Cecil down inside.

"Man... first it was you. Now it's this brat... just what the heck's wrong with your mana cultivation techniques?"

"..." Lucia only smiled sadly at that.

They exited the carriage and gathered together again at the campfire.

"...sorry you guys... about earlier." Lucia quickly bowed and apologized.

"Eh? I-it's okay! Instead of apologizing... could you at least explain what happened?" Velicia said in response.

Eli and Fina also nodded. Ainz didn't seem to care too much and only proceeded to take a bowl to scoop up the soup that was finished. He took out some bread from his spatial ring and began eating silently.

Lucius began distributing bowls of the cooked soup to the rest. They quickly began eating while waiting for Lucia to explain.

"Uhm... well... it's a long story..."

"We have all night." Ainz plainly respond.

Lucia hesitated a little, but she still decided to explain.

"Uhh... it has something to do with his constitution."