Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

'What–?' While everyone was busy with their tasks, Linkle who'd been stirring her concoction of the special water brought in by Raven, noticed something peculiar eroding from the liquid in gaseous form. Covering her mouth, she flit her finger in the air and began capturing the essence into a massive glass pod sitting on the shelf.

The glistering fumes trailed out of the liquid for about a minute which proved more than enough to fill the glass pot as well as let some of it slip into the witch's nose. Feeling a sneeze because of the fumes, she covered her nose and tried not to contaminate the pot, however, unable to hold it in, Linkle sneezed out loud, and to her surprise, her head poked through the ceiling.

"OUCCHHH!" She yelped, caressing her head.

Slowly as the pain subsided she glanced at herself, standing twelve feet tall even though her body barely was half that size before. The crashing sound from the workshop invited concern from the hero party's members who were present as they came rushing through the door and saw her having burst out of her dainty clothes.

Though her chest was lacking and her face bubbly like a child, the godly curves of her hips and the violet bush on her pink pearly folds–lured the viewer to stare at her in a senseless trance, discarding the fact completely that she'd grown more than twice in height and spread just as much in thickness of her body.

She attempted to move herself out but with her enlarged ass stuck between two shelves, she was stuck in place at least temporarily.

"Aghhh!" Growling at the gawking audience, Linkle snapped her fingers and blindfolded everyone who could be affected by her magic.

Amedith and Liliyana both remained free of the blindfolds for different reasons, but neither of them stared at Linkle as much as the others.

"El'Alibi!" Casting a masking spell, the witch transformed back into her old wrinkly disguise which to her relief shrunk her back to her original size. Although still as tall as her youthful look despite the older appearance being much shorter, she figured the effects of the fumes had yet to subside.

Snapping her fingers again, she conjured herself some clothes and undid the blindfolds from the bystander's eyes. Brushing past the embarrassing event, she turned her attention to the jar of fumes now resting full on one of the counters.

'Water that can enlarge a person…explains the Arachne's size.

She must've been drinking from it since birth, but didn't then the other Araches grow to the same size?' Concentrating the water Linkle was to squeeze the potential of the liquid into the gaseous form which led her to grow larger but since it had taken an entire day for the fumes to come out, she was able to come to a plausible explanation.

'The queen has to be the oldest and the hives don't compensate in any way towards her wellbeing, which would mean that she was the only one drinking the sparse amount of this liquid scattered throughout the cave…Maybe?'

From what she'd learned from Raven, only tiny wells of this mystery liquid scattered inside the cave, but the hiver consisted of more than a few thousand members.

"Uhm…Is she okay?" Watching the witch deep in thought trying to decipher the mystery behind the liquid, Liliyana felt like something was wrong, and from the concerned look on everyone's face, they seemed to think the same.

"That cave is a goldmine of resources…" Breaking her silence, Linkle's eyes twinkled with excitement. "I need it, I need IT ALL!"

Staring at thin air with her hands clutched onto her chest, the witch began drawing deep breaths. Crazed from a look alone, she was smiling laughing even, without realizing that she had a company witnessing her behavior.

"I can finally pay him off if I ju–"

"Linkle?" Feeling a warm hand on her shoulder, the witch was pulled out of her trance. Looking at the fair elf, she still felt dazed. "Are you okay? You…You're talking to yourself."

Squinting her eyes, Linkle looked around at the party left behind by Raven. Reminded that she wasn't alone by what she saw, she blinked a few times and even shook her head to drive away those overpowering thoughts.

"Y-yeah," bringing her attention back to Mel, she slapped her hand off of her shoulder. "I'm fine you perverts! Now leave me alone!"

And like many other times, she gets angry, Linkle snapped a finger and the entire group was flung out of her workshop. Slamming the door shut while their surprised screams still echoed in the background, she quickly turned to the glass jar holding the mystic ether. Picking it off the shelf, she wrapped her hands around it and hugged the glass as if it were a long-lost partner.

'I can finally get away from this place, I just need to find out more about this cave!' Smiling at the thought alone, she lifted her feet off the ground and lay in a hammock made of no tangible matter. Swinging on it side to side, the witch lulled herself into a calm that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"I'll have its secrets and be free from this…" Sealing her own lips, she let all doubt drift out of her mind.

It wasn't long before the hero returned to her shop however, deep in slumber, the witch never realized. As for waking her up himself? Raven didn't bother as more often than not, Linkle was as foul-mouthed as a sailor when disturbed. And since the others barely had a clue as to why she'd grown in size, they deemed it a mistake in her brewing and didn't bring up the matter again.

"We need to get back quick," with their teleportation back to the city of centaurs was still the house under the bridge, Raven didn't waste any time either to take his party back so they could look for another hideout.

The plan now was not to simply find a way to defeat the king and the demon general, but to turn the soldiers around the city into zombies so they could help them fight against those monstrosities. Not only that but also to brainwash the women of the city as leverage to force their families to give up or be forced to watch those women willingly breed with horrors with the help of Raven's charm.

'And if that doesn't work, I can make them kill their own families for a trickle of my love.' Letting himself merge with his fae self more and more, Raven felt a sense of pride in torturing his enemies not just through brute force but by making them feel helpless by turning their own family against them–just like he'd done to Kathy and Arc.