Chapter 31 Holy Sword
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
He knew this might happen, but he still could not stop the heavy drop in his heart.
Marina’s Holy Sword had cleaved through the black moss golem in one clean strike. When Yuuri swung his own sword at the remains, his blade bounced off with ease.
He was not a fighter. A maze guide was not meant for battle. It was good to fight for self-protection, of course, but if he focused too much on fighting and missed a danger to the group, it would be the worst mistake. His main job was to leave the fighting to his friends and watch for signs of danger.
Still, now that he had unlocked his skills and gained a blessing, he wondered if it was fine to dream a little about fighting better.
”…It’s okay. Yuuri just has a strong blessing, that’s all,” Marina said to comfort him.
He understood. Even with a blessing, his body only became tough and a bit stronger. To cut through rock like Marina, he would also need a skill that made his weapon strong.
”Yuuri has one main job: to stay alive,” Ashley said coolly. “If hitting the enemy is too hard, please run at once.”
Unlike Marina, who at least acknowledged a man’s desire to appear strong, Ashley spoke with no warmth.
Both of them had the limit removed for entering the servants’ workshop. Even if they were apart, they could meet again by entering it, and the exit would appear near Yuuri. So in danger, what everyone needed from Yuuri was to run first while Marina held the front line, and set a safe workshop exit.
”Ashley doesn’t get it. Yuuri wants to look cool for you,” Marina said.
”What are you saying, Princess? Leaving fast is far more cool, desu wa. Besides, he shows me how manly and cool he is every night♡” Ashley said.
Marina only lifted her shoulders at the maid who denied his dream with a flat face and then began to blush.
If Ashley thought of him that much, Yuuri did not even feel like explaining anymore.
— That day, when he decided to train with Marina outside as a daily habit.
Their first goal was to fight on Floor Fifty-Seven, which should be above his level, without trouble. To grow fast, they needed more skills, so they pushed themselves on purpose to find what they lacked.
”Let’s find the next monster. Ready, Yuuri?” Marina asked.
”Yeah. Lead the way, Marina,” he said.
They answered as one and began to run.
Getting a skill was not the end. They had to use it again and again to grow it, and the blessing that came with it would help them live. So they chose to hunt monsters again and again in a short time.
Black rock, clear pools, soft light from moss, all flowed past them like wind.
To hunt many monsters fast, they needed speed. The two girls took agility, and they shared the effect.
”Ashley! Can you still use magic!?” Yuuri called.
”Yes! I can hold until the Safety Area!” she answered.
He checked their tired bodies as they ran over the rocks.
Even while moving fast, they did not look around at random. They hunted in lines from the Safety Area of Floor Fifty-Eight and back, so they did not enter the same place twice.
Each round took about an hour. They rested in the workshop the rest of the time, so time outside did not move. If they returned to the same place after a break, the monsters were gone.
”Yuuri, black ligia! Many of them!” Marina shouted.
Yuuri looked ahead. On the rock wall, huge bugs like giant sea lice covered the surface.
”Ugh, all those are ligia?” he said.
In the Infinite Canopy, the monsters were mostly black versions of ones from upper floors. Normal ligia lived far above, half the size and not so fast.
The black ones were over one meter long and saw humans only as food. Their steps were wide and fast, and they came in groups. They also gave a strong sick feeling.
He remembered the first time they saw them after starting this daily run. Ashley could not hit them well with magic because her fear made her stiff.
But that was in the past.
This was the maze, a place where you did or died. The best way to escape the sick feeling was to clear them fast.
”Ashley, go!” Yuuri said.
”Yes. Freeze!” she answered.
Ligia moved fast in strange lines. If they took battle stances, it was too late. Freezing the group at once was the best.
They had already done this hard run more than ten times. In fact, a group that Ashley could freeze at once was perfect for her to train her magic.
With the growth of her magic power and ice skill, her ice magic grew stronger each time. The ligia noticed something, but before they could move, the black hill turned pure white.
Sharp sounds came as ice crystals grew. A huge ice mound rose and swallowed the bugs.
Most froze to the core and died. Even the few that lived twisted as their bodies broke from the sudden cold.
”Ashley, amazing! Yuuri, take the ones on your side!” Marina called.
With her sword shining like gold, Marina rushed into the dying insects.
Even if the fight was almost over, there was still a chance that one of the dying bugs could rush at them.
Yuuri stepped in front of Ashley and raised his sword, ready for a sudden charge. Thanks to his blessing, his body was now stronger than Ashley’s, so even the self-defense sword training he learned before skills was enough to knock one away.
”None seem to be coming this way,” Ashley said.
”Looks like it,” he replied.
He kept watching ahead while also checking around them, and gave Ashley a small answer.
The dying ligia all chose Marina for their last charge. It seemed they were drawn to anything bright, and Marina’s shining Holy Sword pulled them in like a lamp for moths.
”Ha, too slow! Come on, come one! I’ll cut every one of you in half!” Marina called.
The giant bugs threw their last strength at her, but Marina cut them down one after another.
Normally, they were so fast that they would vanish from sight in a blink, but they were already near frozen, and many had lost some of their legs.
Marina had strong skills in attack and defense. Now that she could use agility, she moved even faster than the dying bugs, even while wearing heavy armor.
In the end, Marina finished them all without trouble.
Once the danger was gone, Ashley ran to her.
”Good work, Princess,” Ashley said.
”Mm. It went very smooth thanks to you. Really, thank you,” Marina said with a smile.
They praised each other, though they still did not fully lower their guard.
After all, they had used loud magic and cut many big bugs, so other monsters could come because of the noise or smell. Yuuri waited a short moment, and after checking nothing strange was near, he joined them.
”Good work. I’m sure you’re fine, but… no injuries, right?” he asked.
”Thanks. I’m fine. Not even a scratch,” Marina said.
Lately, with agility, Marina dodged most attacks. And even if she did not dodge, her Holy Armor kept her safe.
Still, even if it was her job, watching her take all the attacks made Yuuri worry. And because she was his dear lover, that worry grew even more. He trusted his strong vanguard, but he still feared for her.
”Oh, Yuuri, you worry too much. I said I’m fine… Oh! If you don’t believe me, you can check with your own eyes later. Okay?” Marina said.
”Princess, that’s unfair! I also want Yuuri to check me!” Ashley said at once.
”Uh, sure. I—I’ll check for real then…! Don’t hide anything later,” Yuuri said.
The two servants pushed in so fast that Yuuri had to answer strongly.
His simple worry had turned into something else. They did not blame him for caring too much—no, they used it to get his attention.
He was the master, yet somehow it felt like he was being led by his servants. Still, for them to want him to check them showed trust. As a man, being trusted like that felt good.
”Right, then there’s only a little to go until the Safety Area. Let’s head straight there and end today’s run. Marina, lead the—”
”…Princess?” Ashley said.
When Yuuri gave the order, Marina did not answer.
He and Ashley both turned to her. The golden girl stood still, staring at one empty point.
”Hey? Are you really okay? Did something start to hurt?” Yuuri asked.
”Princess, are you unwell? Please say it clearly…!” Ashley said.
Her strange look made them both look at Marina, then at what she stared at.
This was not normal. Yuuri reached to touch her shoulder, but before he did, Marina’s small lips moved.
”T—”
”Huh? What? What is it?” Yuuri said.
The sound meant nothing by itself. He tried to ask again, but she grabbed his hand and shook it hard.
”It came! It finally came! The moment is here!” Marina cried.
”Uh, congrats? Wait, what came!?” Yuuri said.
Marina was so happy she bounced up and down while holding his hand.
Even when he tried to ask, she only danced with joy, and soon she even began a dance like a formal one from the Restea royal castle. Yuuri had no idea how to dance, yet when she pulled him along, somehow it looked right.
”Princess, please tell us what happened…!” Ashley said.
”Yes, we can’t share your joy if we don’t know why,” Yuuri added.
Marina kept dancing with no sign of stopping, and both of them grew tired.
At last, maybe feeling she had kept it too long, Marina cleared her throat and drew her sword.
”Th-the truth is… in this fight, my Holy Sword grew one step stronger…!” she said.
She spoke slowly, as if she could not believe it herself.
Yuuri understood. Marina’s Holy Sword and Holy Armor were real battle skills, not like some silly ones. Attack skills needed real hits to grow.
Even if she had special skills as a reborn one, a princess like Marina rarely had the chance to fight in places that could grow them.
”Now it can cut almost anything, but when I first found out I was reborn and used it, it only shone. I can still remember the strange looks people gave me…” Marina said.
”That is because you invited Their Majesties and even Your Highness Marisio to watch, desuwa…” Ashley said.
Showing it off with great pride, only for it to be nothing special, would be a shock for a child. Normally, one would test a skill first, but with a name like Holy Sword, which often appeared in stories, it was no wonder that Marina, as a reborn one, believed it must be amazing. Maybe because of that mistake, she now thought more carefully.
”So, how did it grow? If it changed from only shining to cutting anything, we can hope for another big jump, right?” Yuuri asked.
”Y-yes! I’ll try it, so please stand back,” Marina said.
She could not wait to test it. Turning her back to them, she faced the ice mountain Ashley had made.
She was right to be careful. The Holy Sword was already at its limit in attack power, so the only guess left was a bigger range. The danger was how that range might work. If they stood too near, even a small mistake could burn them—or worse.
Yuuri and Ashley stepped even farther back and used a rock as a small shield.
”I’m starting!” Marina called.
Yuuri bent low as she raised her sword high.
At first, the blade glowed gold as before. But then, the light left the tip of the sword and formed a long blade of light in the air.
”It’s… an extended blade?” Yuuri said.
”It seems so,” Ashley said.
The light kept extending until it reached about ten meters.
The girl knight holding the extended blade of light looked dream-like and beautiful in the dark, but also far too dangerous to approach. That light blade likely retained the “cut anything” power.
Marina understood the danger. She stopped them with one hand, turned to the ice mound, lowered her stance, and held the long blade to the side.
”Sei!”
A wide side slash!
The swing met no resistance. A bright line cut through the ice. After a short quiet moment, the block began to slide apart along a clean line. Ice, black rock, even the dead ligia bodies—all slipped down as one huge piece.
”…Amazing,” Yuuri breathed.
With the crashing sound of the ice pile behind her, Marina slid the sword back into the sheath.
Yuuri stepped closer, now sure it was safe, but Marina rushed to him first and jumped into his arms.
”Did you see? Yuuri, you saw it, right!?” she said.
”Y-yeah. It feels like it fixed the Holy Sword’s weak point,” he said.
”Yes!” Marina hugged him tighter.
The Holy Sword was an amazing attack skill, but it had one flaw: it needed the blade to reach the target. The Fried-lord had used that weak point against her, and even with the ligia, she had to aim for places thin enough to cut. Now, she could ignore the size of the enemy and hit even far targets with a deadly strike.
”Yuuri! Let’s hunt a golem! Please? Please!?” Marina begged.
”Knew you’d say that,” he said.
Of course she wanted the biggest enemy on this floor.
But this was the end of their hard run, and they could not push more.
”I get you, but Ashley is tired. If we don’t find one near the Safety Area, we stop for today,” Yuuri said.
Marina pouted, but he had to stay firm.
Even if they felt a bit safe now, if Ashley was completely drained and a group of ligia showed up, it would be bad. They could escape to the workshop, but being trapped in a ring of bugs—time frozen or not—would crush their hearts.
So they all agreed: each full round took one hour, and no matter what, they returned to the Safety Area even if they were late.
”F-fine. If we change the route too much, it slows us down anyway. We must keep good speed… we have a time limit,” Marina said.
”Sorry. You’ll get your chance tomorrow for sure,” Yuuri said.
If Ashley still had magic, they might have done one more, but it could not be helped.
Yuuri began thinking about what skill could help with that problem, then asked Marina to lead.
They were lucky. On the last fight before reaching the Safety Area, they met a black moss golem, and Marina cut it down with one strike, proving the Holy Sword’s third stage strength. Before, she could only aim at thin joints, but now that limit was gone.
Marina clearly wanted to fight more, but she held back.
There would be many opportunities later.
Yuuri reminded her of that, and they returned to the workshop safely.
—None of them knew that this growth of the Holy Sword would become the start of the goddess’s next plan.
—
(Outside the story)
There is a distance limit for how far a servant can go from Yuuri and still return to the workshop. Otherwise, if a servant got a skill to escape the maze, they could move between the capital and the workshop freely, and the story would break. Yuuri knows that his servants might not be able to return if they get caught by such a restriction, so he continues to make practical plans. Currently, they can reunite within the maximum distance of the Safety Area, which has been proven to be usable for retreating from the front lines.
Notes:
• Marina – First Princess of Restea—needs labyrinth escort.
• Ashley – Count’s daughter, royal attendant, has a crush on Yuuri.
• Restea – Yuuri’s homeland.
• Marisio – Princess Marina’s older brother who already holds the right to the throne.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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