"Puhah! Haa haa, somehow I can breathe... wheeze wheeze, I can—blub blub blub... buhah!! There's too much, way too much! How much of this lotion are you secreting, you stupid octopus!"

If I let my guard down even for a moment, both my mouth and nose would sink into the sticky, gooey, sludge-like bodily fluid that felt just like lotion.

This large monster, I think it was called “Ortopasra.” I knew about it from something I’d read in a book but I never imagined it would continuously secrete this much fluid.

'More importantly, I seriously can't get out—'

“—... buhoh! Haa haa, wheeze wheeze, give it a rest already! If it were just water that’d be one thing but being completely submerged in lotion up to my head is seriously dangerous!"

I couldn’t let my guard down for even a second.

Caught by its tentacles... suspended in midair, I struggled as waves of the monster’s thick bodily fluid kept pouring over me from the tentacles at regular intervals, forcing me to fight desperately just to secure my breathing every time.

* * *

Rewinding about ten minutes earlier.

That day as well, our hero party had deployed to the front lines against the Demon King Army and just like before, we were pushing the front forward together with the kingdom’s army.

"For now we’ve secured the southern forest so there’s no longer any risk of being flanked from the side or rear, so I guess it’s full steam ahead for a while."

Unlike before, today the front lines weren’t just made up of frontline fighters but also included midline and backline members. That meant our hero party should be able to bring out 100% of its combat power.

And as for me...

"Lady Seitinias, preparations to receive the wounded are complete."

"Okay, good work. We just got word from the front but it sounds like the enemy is starting to hesitate a bit, so it might be a little while before it’s our turn. Take a break while you can."

"Lady Seitinias, the transport of supplies has been completed. They asked to be notified immediately if there’s anything we’d like replenished."

"Got it. Then hmm... I’d like to add a bit more water and light food. Looks like we can push forward today so the distance from the front will increase and we’ll have people eat lightly while getting treated."

This time my job was to oversee this encampment. None of my hero party members were here but about fifty soldiers from the kingdom’s army were working alongside me.

Since the front line had advanced forward, things like the garrison and encampment—basically all the temporary positions—had to be moved slightly forward and rebuilt from scratch...

'Who would’ve thought the fallout from Frick and Kühel getting taken away would show up in a place like this.'

The rear support unit, including Menaas, had set up their base even farther back in the nearest towns and villages. So tasks like setting up, maintaining and relocating these battlefield support encampments were usually handled by Frick and Kühel.

But with both of them gone and Menaas unable to leave the rear support unit to come here, that left no choice but for someone from the backline to take over and unfortunately that ended up being me.

‘Phew. It’s busy but it’s safe work, so I’d probably get punished if I complained.’

I looked over the encampment we’d finished from the outside. There were still people carrying supplies and organizing things but it was fair to say it was complete.

Yeah, not bad for amateur work, right?

Just as I was feeling a little satisfied, a shadow suddenly fell over me.

'Hm? Did clouds roll in... huh?

I turned around and looked up at the sky and lost my words.

* * *

'There’s no way they just flung a monster this huge past the front lines into the rear, that’s just brute force taken too far, Demon King Army!'

The Ortopasra had flown through the air—no, it had been thrown. And unfortunately it landed right on our encampment.

The soldiers of the Silverion Kingdom were desperately shouting near the monster’s feet. They were attacking too but it wasn’t doing anything and the Ortopasra didn’t seem to care at all. Everyone was trying to rescue me but our forces were just far too inadequate against it.

'The unit that came with me from this army... that captain, Retton or whatever his name was. He seemed fairly capable for someone young but he probably doesn’t know about monsters like this. Instead of thinking about calling for reinforcements from my party... it looks like he’s focused on trying to somehow take it down.'

According to the book I’d read, this monster was resistant to both physical and magical attacks. Ordinary attacks wouldn’t do anything.

To deal any damage at all, it would probably take a blow on the level of Gadivan or offensive magic on the level of Miril.

But the distance between this encampment and where the hero party was currently fighting was over 300 to 500 meters.

Even if they noticed something was wrong from the sound of its landing and someone from the party started running this way... I couldn’t count on that either.

"Phew, the fact it’s not trying to kill me... cough cough, is a small mercy... haa haa, but still... wheeze wheeze..."

For some reason after grabbing me with one of its many tentacles, it didn’t try to crush me, slam me into the ground or throw me.

I kept nearly drowning in the large amounts of fluid it secreted but that also didn’t seem intentional, more like just a natural bodily function.

So for now as long as I could breathe, I wouldn’t be killed—but if I had to say...

"Suction cups! Haa haa, why is this... wahp! Gobo gobo gobo... buhah! Hoo hoo, the suction cups are tightly stuck to my butt and chest!"

On the inner side of the tentacle holding me, some of the countless suction cups had attached themselves perfectly to my butt and breasts and wouldn’t let go.

And those suction cups were subtly pulsing and constantly contracting, making it feel like they were continuously kneading me while sucking on me.

"Wheeze wheeze... right now I’m too focused on not suffocating in the fluid to care but this is basically the same as being fondled... haa haa... waaah..."

The tentacle was wrapped around my torso but my arms were still free since they rested on top of it.

But even if I tried pushing against the slippery surface with both hands, it just slipped and slid and even if it didn’t, there was no way I could break free from this restraint with my strength.

"Ahhh! Instead of attacking us you should go after the ones who threw you, geez!!!"

Hiiiiiin

It stopped.

I’d shouted in frustration with no way out.

And for some reason, the Ortopasra’s entire body, which had been constantly writhing, suddenly froze.

"Huh? ...huh, huh? What, what’s happening?! Hey, what are you—"

The monster suddenly brought the tentacle holding me closer to its face.

Wait, no way it’s planning to eat me now of all times, right?!

"........."

But it stopped again. Its large, perfectly round, lifeless eyes were now directed at me.

"W-what is it... hm? No way... could it be? ...Whatever, it’s worth a shot! Hey you! The ones who threw you and hurt you—the ones over there, they’re different from us, their skin color is different—can you tell?!"

Some monsters were said to have enough intelligence to understand human language.

If this one had understood what I’d shouted earlier and if it held a grudge against the demons who sent it here...

It sounded unlikely but no one here could deal meaningful damage to the Ortopasra. So I decided to gamble and called out to it.

"...Bububu."

It let out a low, rumbling, strange sound and then began writhing its head in a way I’d never seen before.

Maybe it was just my imagination but it felt like it was responding.

And even more strangely, a faint glimmer appeared reflected in the monster’s otherwise dull eyes.

The true source of that light—that it was simply the faint glow of my own eyes reflecting back—was something I wouldn’t realize until much later.

But at that moment, I interpreted it as a spark of reason appearing in the Ortopasra and that it was listening to me.