Linkmas V2c9

Volume 2 Chapter 9 Alice – Part II

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Edited by: Kanaa-senpai

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 A few days after my level reached its maximum, the situation that the people of Sphere Kingdom feared finally happened.

 In the middle of the night, while most people were sound asleep, a strong barrier built by a thousand magical devices set up in the kingdom’s town was destroyed by a powerful demon race.

 *Boom──!!*

 The barrier, which had protected us without ever breaking, suddenly cracked with just one blow, without any warning.

 With the second strike, the barrier easily opened a large hole.

 *Crash!!*

 At that moment, a wave of demons rushed in like an avalanche.

 Since only soldiers and adventurers were sleeping in the town, there wasn’t a massive panic, but from that day on, a full-scale war began between the Sphere Kingdom and the demon race in the east, with no sleep allowed for anyone.

* * *

 While the town was in chaos, the underground town remained as quiet as always.

 However, that silence was shattered by a soldier who rushed into my mansion.

 ”Captain Leon! Captain Leon! The barrier has been destroyed!!”

 My father, Leon Valliere, the captain of the knights of the Sphere Kingdom, quickly got ready for battle and called out to the soldiers waiting at the entrance.

 ”The barrier of sky has been destroyed, hasn’t it?”

 ”Yes! Each unit has already started fighting against the demon race!”

 ”I understand… Alice! Can you hear me!? I’m heading to the battlefield! You need to take Lady Charlotte and escape! …Phew, let’s go. Lead the way.”

 ”Yes!”

 With a brave posture, my father headed towards the town street that had become a battlefield.

 I felt a tightness in my chest.

 ”Father… I won’t run away! …Charl, wake up! Why are you still sleeping!?”

 I shook Charl, who was sleeping next to me, but she wouldn’t wake up easily.

 ”Hehe, Alice, that’s not fair~… We’re girls, after all… So, how about we start with a kiss? Mmm… bleh!”

 As Charl mumbled sleepily, she puckered her lips at me.

 I smiled and smacked a pillow right onto her face!

 Charl suddenly woke up, looking at me in surprise.

 But her eyes still seemed a bit sleepy.

 ”O-oh, good morning, Alice. …What happened?”

 ”Get it together, Charl! This is serious! The barrier of sky has been broken, and the demons has invaded the town! …I’m going to fight the demons on the ground, but you need to escape. There are too many enemies, and I probably won’t be able to protect you…”

 Charl looked at me with unwavering eyes and replied.

 ”Alice, if you’re not going to run away, then I won’t run away either! ‘Sword Saint’ and ‘Saint’, we’re the strongest combo, so we won’t lose to the demon race!”

 I stared back at Charl for a while, but I didn’t sense any change in her determination.

 ”…Okay, I understand. But I don’t plan on dying, and I won’t let Charl die either. …So, if either of us gets even a little hurt, or if we think we can’t win against someone, we’ll leave this country and run away. …Is that okay?”

 ”Yeah, that’s fine! …I also want to meet Sir Rob, who Alice talks about a lot lately, and we can’t die here!”

 ”Then let’s secretly fight where our father won’t find us!”

 ”Yay! …Oh, let’s go see Grandpa first! He’ll fight with us!”

 ”Right. I wonder where Sir Edmond is now?”

 ”He lives around here. He moved here a little while ago because it’s easier to train nearby… Didn’t you know?”

 ”Yeah… I’ve been so focused on getting stronger, both at home and outside, that I haven’t been paying attention to what’s around me…”

 As we opened the front door to hurry to Sir Edmond, the twin maids, Mimi and Momo, were waiting for us.

 ”From Sir Edmond, there’s a message. You must escape quickly. …And if you don’t follow this, we’ve been instructed to forcibly take you out of the country.”

 ”…So if we try to fight on the ground, you two will be our opponents?”

 ”That’s how it will be.”

 ”Haah… I understand. I don’t want to be selfish and fight against my allies. …Charl, let’s head west to Sir Rob.”

 ”Okay!”

* * *

 The situation on the ground was so terrible that it could be called hell.

 The thousand towers set up with magical tools for the barrier were mostly destroyed, and the barrier of the sky couldn’t be restored. Even now, demones were flying in the sky, crossing the defenses and entering this country.

 Many soldiers and adventurers were fighting bravely, and it seemed like we were holding our ground.

 But now that our safe place had turned into a battlefield, maintaining this situation was becoming…

 ”I want to help the people in the underground town escape, but is it impossible…?”

 ”It’s impossible. In fact, it’s even questionable whether we can escape safely…”

 I expanded the range of ‘Magic Detection’ and saw many demon races outside the barrier.

 ”There are a lot of them, but at least there aren’t any strong ones among them…”

 ”Yes. We’ll go ahead, so please follow us!”

 With Mimi and Momo leading the way, we ran toward the western exit, cutting down the demon races as we went, and eventually arrived at the western gate.

 We slipped through a side entrance next to the gate and got outside.

 There, waiting for us, were a large number of demon races and monsters, seemingly not planning to let anyone escape. It looked impossible for just the 4 of us to get through, but all 3 of us were level 99, and Charl had also leveled up to 90.

 …We should be able to make it through.

 ”Momo, use fire magic on the group of monsters, and let’s break through!”

 ”Yeah… Lady Alice, Lady Charlotte, please protect yourselves and follow me.”

 Right after Momo said that, a powerful magic came flying toward us.

 ”Not good! ‘Divine Barrier’!”

 ──Boom!!

 Thanks to Charl’s absolute defense magic, we blocked the enemy’s magic.

 I turned my gaze to the demon race that cast the magic.

 ”Oh… not bad. There’s someone who can block that.”

 They were a sturdy figure, about 2 meters tall (≈ 6.6 feet).

 Their skin was a cold, dark blue like steel.

 The face was angular, and their eyes had a deep red color, shining with a sharp light that seemed to have lost its warmth. They had a cold gaze like a predator hunting its prey.

 Large black horns grew from their forehead and extended down their back. Their ears were pointed, resembling those of an elf.

 The hair was jet black, long and messy, with a color mixed in that looked like red blood.

 They wore luxurious armor mainly in black and held a pitch-black sword.

 With a cold smile that seemed to sap our fighting spirit, the demon race landed in front of us, exuding an overwhelming presence.

 ”Could it be… the Demon King?”

 We were overwhelmed by their extraordinary magic power and stood frozen.

 ”Hah… 4 little girls are my next opponents? I doubt you can entertain me, but let’s see.”

 The Demon King slowly walked toward us, resting the pitch-black sword on their shoulder.

 ”Hah!”

 Mimi quickly charged at the Demon King, but──

 ──Slash!!

 In an instant, with overwhelming speed, the Demon King cut off Mimi’s arm.

 ”Ugh…”

 ──Thud!!

 And then Mimi was kicked away by a group of monsters in the distance.

 ”Mimi──!!”

 ──Thud! Crash!!

 Momo started running towards Mimi, but the Demon King cut off Momo’s leg and kicked her into the group of monsters.

 ”Ah… ah…”

 Charl was overwhelmed by the Demon King’s strength, completely losing the will to fight, and collapsed onto the ground.

 I was furious and charged at the Demon King with all my strength.

 ”‘Starblade’!”

 ──Boom!!

 The Demon King blocked my attack with a pitch-black sword in his right hand and swung at me with his left hand, but I dodged while spinning and used my Sword Saint Princess Lv.7 skill to slash at the Demon King multiple times.

 ”Ha! ‘Flash Dance’!!”

 ──Clank! Clank! Clank!

 The Demon King easily deflected and blocked my attacks.

 ”Ha… is this all the ‘Sword Saint Princess’ can do? How boring.”

 ──Ka-boom!!

 ”Ugh!”

 *Thud-thwack*

 The Demon King delivered a powerful kick to my abdomen, sending me flying next to Charl, and I dropped my sword.

 ”Ah… Alice…”

 Charl’s face was pale, and her body was shaking; she was not in a state to fight…

 I smiled at Charl and spoke to her.

 ”Charl. I’m sorry, I’ll hold off the Demon King, so somehow escape.”

 ”U… I’m sorry… I can’t stand up…”

 ”…Then, can you at least support me with magic? If this keeps up, we both will die.”

 ”Yeah… ‘Angel Breath’!”

 Charl used magic to boost all my abilities.

 ”Alright, I’m going now. ‘Godspeed Dance’!”

 I tried to get behind the Demon King, but it seemed like they could keep up with the speed of Godspeed Dance, so I couldn’t get behind them.

 (I need more speed… faster, faster! Faster!!)

 Right after I wished for speed many times, I heard a voice in my head that I had never heard before.

 (You have acquired the unique ability ‘Celer’.)

 In that moment, I was able to get behind the Demon King, something I couldn’t do before.

 (What just happened… but this is my chance!)

 I summoned the divine weapon [Divine Eternal Sword] and aimed to behead the Demon King.

 ──Clang!

 The Demon King barely blocked my attack with their sword.

 ”…What did you do?”

 The Demon King asked with a shocked expression, but I ignored them and activated ‘Flash Dance’.

 ──Clang! Slash! Slash! Slash!

 Out of 7 slashes, I managed to hit them 5 times.

 I cut off the arm that was holding the sword, so they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves anymore. I went for the Demon King’s head again.

 ”This is the end, ‘Starblade’!!”

 ──Boom!

 Just before my sword reached the Demon King’s neck, an attack from someone blew my arm away.

 ”Ah… ugh…”

 The Demon King grabbed my neck with their remaining hand and lifted me up.

 ”I never thought I would be cornered like this…”

 And then I lost consciousness just like that.

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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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