After a burst of light, the room fell back into darkness.
Because Colin had just used up his mana, he could only wait in the dark for it to replenish.
When the magic circle emitted its glow, he heard Liami’s voice and called out in her direction, but there was no response.
Seeing this, Colin grew slightly anxious and hurried toward Liami.
Just as he was about to reach her, she suddenly spoke, her voice tinged with panic.
“Wait! Don’t come any closer!”
Hearing this, Colin furrowed his brows.
What’s going on? Why won’t Liami let me approach? Is something wrong with her body? No, I have to check!
The more Colin thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He quickly apologized in advance, then, ignoring Liami’s protests, came right up to her.
“Wait! What?! Didn’t I say not to come closer?! Ah! Wait—”
The closer Colin got, the more frantic Liami’s voice became, and the more eager he was to see what was wrong. Finally, he stood before her, and Liami stopped speaking, only crossing her arms to shield something.
Once in front of her, Colin, whose eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness, took a careful look.
That look stunned him instantly.
For some reason, Liami was completely naked, wearing no clothes at all.
She lowered her head, her fair skin like a smooth, flawless white jade.
A faint blush spread across her shoulders, inviting an urge to reach out and touch.
Colin quickly suppressed that thought and continued his examination.
She covered her chest with both hands, but the sizable curves were too much to fully conceal; she could only cover the most intimate parts.
Alongside the remnants of what looked like some kind of liquid-like clothing that had dissolved away, it made one almost want to taste it.
Staring at those impossible-to-hide ample forms and feeling his heart stir, Colin swallowed hard and lost the courage to continue looking.
He shifted his gaze back to Liami’s face.
Though she still kept her head down, Colin could tell her face was bright red—her ears practically glowing like little light sources.
After a thorough—albeit more than a little eye-pleasing—inspection, Colin found no physical abnormalities.
He turned his head aside and asked if Liami felt any discomfort.
“Uh, do you… feel anything wrong with your body? If you do, just tell me. Once my mana recovers a bit, I’ll heal you!”
At this, Liami almost lost it.
In a barely audible voice, she said, “C-Can you step back a little? I-I can’t handle having you this close…”
She lowered her head even further.
Colin, after a brief moment of stunned silence, took a small step back—but only a little.
Even so, Liami visibly relaxed.
She raised her head again and glanced toward Colin, finding that he wasn’t looking at her anymore.
Only then did she lower her arms and inspect herself.
Finding nothing wrong, Liami finally felt at ease.
Yet she couldn’t help but wonder: was this magic circle’s grand display only meant to dissolve our clothes?
At that moment, Colin had calmed down and closed his eyes, turning his head to explain his situation.
“I wasn’t affected. Not only are the Sanctuary Armor and Sanctuary Sword fine, but the clothes beneath the armor are intact as well. Did only your clothes dissolve?”
Liami was about to answer when she suddenly felt something touching her foot.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Could there be a monster here?
She carefully looked down, only to see not a monster but Sivne—naked like her, looking utterly defeated.
Meanwhile, Colin, having waited long for Liami’s reply, cautiously cracked open one eye and looked up at her.
The moment he opened his eyes, a huge mass of pale flesh instantly invaded his vision, making him instinctively widen them.
Then he clearly saw Sivne at Liami’s feet—and was stunned by her even larger curves.
Liami noticed the movement from Colin’s side and looked over curiously, only to find him gaping at her feet.
Of course, Liami knew exactly what was there.
Her face darkened instantly.
She stared at Colin word by word: “Sir Paladin, how long do you intend to keep staring?”
At her words, Colin snapped out of his stunned state.
Seeing Liami’s face dark as coal, he quickly shut his eyes and turned away.
“A-Apologies! I didn’t see anything! Really! Believe me!”
Listening to Colin’s obviously guilty denial, Liami snorted and decided to let it go for now.
Still, she wondered: wasn’t Sivne on the other side of the room? How did she crawl over here?
Sivne met Liami’s gaze and, seeming to read her thoughts, explained without prompting.
“I know what you’re thinking—you’re wondering how I got here, right? I crawled over bit by bit from the other side of the room. You two never came to check on me, and I ran out of mana, so crawling was all I could do to remind you I’m still here.”
Hearing this, Liami felt embarrassed.
She realized she and Colin had completely ignored Sivne earlier, too caught up in their own awkwardness.
Facing Sivne’s pitiful eyes, Liami quickly looked away and focused on something else.
She began checking exactly what this magic circle had done.
From the clues so far, the magic circle only dissolved the clothes of Liami and Sivne.
Liami glanced at Sivne’s body, ignoring the fact that Sivne’s chest was even larger than hers, and checked her condition.
Sivne was still collapsed on the floor.
Even with her clothes fully dissolved, she didn’t care—or maybe she simply couldn’t.
Her mana was completely drained, and crawling here had exhausted all her strength.
Sure enough, like her, only the clothes had dissolved.
The wand hadn’t been dissolved either—just like Liami’s “Twin Moon” blades.
Liami looked at Colin again.
He was in much better shape than the two of them.
Not only was he still wearing armor, but the clothes beneath also hadn’t dissolved.
Why was that?
Liami couldn’t figure it out.
So far, Colin’s Sanctuary Armor and Sanctuary Sword remained intact, and likewise, Liami’s Twin Moon and Sivne’s wand were untouched.
Could it be that this magic circle only dissolved clothes?
What kind of strange design was that?
Liami couldn’t help but want to complain: Why would such a strange magic circle have such a powerful barrier and execution?