Happy New Year.
I’ve adjusted my combat strength.
“What!?”
The flames sweeping through the dungeon incinerated nearly half of the vampires and the Failed Ones.
Scheherazade cried out in astonishment at the sudden event. Seeing this as an opportunity, I ran up the wall along the flames that were blowing past me and unleashed my “trump card.”
“——【Iron Rose】——”
My pinkish-blonde hair turned into a burning ash-gray color, and particles of light trailed from my mana-filled body like a comet. I slashed at Scheherazade’s face with the Black Knife, catching her off guard for a moment.
“Gah!?”
Scheherazade screamed and retreated as both her eyes were instantly severed. Even for a vampire who doesn’t feel pain, cutting through the skull would shake the brain.
Should I pursue her here? No. Although I had caught up in combat strength by using Iron Rose, she still managed to evade the second attack even with both eyes and her brain damaged. If so, then to ensure victory, I must first crush her limbs.
【Aria (Alicia)】【Race: Human Female】【Rank 4】
【Mana Capacity: 185/330】【HP: 157/260】
【Strength: 10 (22)】【Endurance: 10 (22)】【Agility: 17 (36)】【Dexterity: 9 (10)】
【Overall Combat Strength: 1497 (During Special Body Enhancement: 2797)】
【Combat Art: Iron Rose /Limit 185 Second】
“Gah!?”
With a flash of my knife, I decapitated a vampire who had managed to escape the flames, albeit half-charred.
I have no use for the Failed Ones who were caught in the flames with only human-level regeneration. I dashed through them at more than three times the speed of an ordinary person, slashing the throats of the Failed Ones who had avoided the flames with my Blade Scythe Style Pendulum, and then smashed the head of a wide-eyed vampire behind them with the weight.
All of this happened in just a few seconds. The low-ranked vampires and Rank 3 Failed Ones, who had finally turned into beasts, tried to evade, but it was too late.
I moved more than twice as fast as them, and the tip of my Dagger, released with strength surpassing that of a vampire, shattered the Magic Stone in the vampire’s heart. At the same time, I crushed the skull of a Failed One attacking from behind with a rising back kick to the head.
The rotating Slashing Style Pendulum sliced halfway through the neck of a Failed One who had carelessly approached, and I wrapped the Pendulum’s thread around the neck of the last vampire who had pounced on me, pulling them in the opposite direction.
The lips of the vampire, who had turned into a beast, twisted into a smile as they approached the prey that had come to them. I deflected the claws of their outstretched arms with my Knife and Dagger, and used that momentum to deliver a knee strike that caved in the vampire’s face.
Even so, the vampire didn’t fall. But I plunged my Knife into their defenseless throat, severing their neck by inserting it into the gap in their cervical vertebrae.
The vampire’s body collapsed, spewing blood. Amidst the bloody haze, I saw a white dress and black hair fluttering and disappearing into the depths of the passage, as if laughing.
“You bastard!!”
Scheherazade, having regenerated her eyeballs, unleashed a kick at me with a blood-soaked face.
Clang!!
I immediately blocked the Magic Steel heel with the blade on my own heel, and simultaneously pulled my leg back while kicking with the opposite leg, resulting in a loud thud!! as our knees collided, and the mana of both of us shook the atmosphere.
“What did you do!?”
“Who knows?”
There’s no way I could understand what that (・・) one is thinking.
We exchanged words while putting strength into our knees, taking a step back from each other. I immediately deflected Scheherazade’s horizontally sweeping kick by kicking it up with my shin.
By releasing Iron Rose, our combat strength became almost equal. My agility had increased due to the rise in my Status, making me faster, but vampires have regeneration, so I would lose in a battle of attrition.
Besides, Iron Rose can only be used for a few dozen seconds. Then, without thinking about the consequences, I’ll exhaust Scheherazade’s HP on the spot!
“Haa!!”
We both shouted with spirit, clashing technique against technique.
My opponent is a higher-ranked Rank 5, so a straight-up brawl would put me at a disadvantage. Moreover, she is a high-ranking vampire, and normally, a head-on close combat would be nothing short of suicide.
But I dare to take a step forward!
“——っ”
Scheherazade took a step back, and I stepped even further forward, using the gauntlet on my left arm to block her right leg kick.
Just as you let those twins die to expose my hand, I have been watching your fighting style. Your main focus on kicking techniques is probably to take advantage of that speed and the vampire’s strength, but conversely, your small body is too light for your strength stat.
Kicking techniques are like Spears; their power is halved when someone closes in. The inhuman strength stat that I should be wary of is no longer something I can’t handle with Iron Rose and level 5 Martial Arts.
“Don’t underestimate me, you little brat!!”
With that shout, the wings made of Blood Magic disappeared, and both of her legs were covered in greaves made of reddish-black blood. If this is Scheherazade’s trump card, then its power is enough to kill me. But—
The ribs and flank that blocked the roaring kick groaned.
I swallowed the blood I spat out, and using that momentum to spin, I slammed the pommel of the Black Knife into Scheherazade’s temple.
“——っ!!”
We both collapsed as if entangled, and as I straddled Scheherazade, who was lying on her back, and raised the Black Dagger, Scheherazade, whose expression had turned bestial, bared her fangs and stretched out both arms to bite my throat.
Without hesitation, I slammed the Dagger into her forehead. But that’s not enough to destroy a vampire.
With the Dagger piercing her forehead, Scheherazade strangled my neck with both hands, and as I heard the sound of my own neck bones creaking, I raised my voice as if exhaling the stopped breath.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
I pulled out the Black Dagger and stabbed Scheherazade’s face again and again.
At the tip of the blade that I swung mindlessly, a look of terror began to appear on Scheherazade’s face.
The doubled strength and agility stats, the endurance to withstand the overload, and the slightly increased dexterity stat combined to create a barrage of blades that covered everything in a single breath, finally reaching the source of Scheherazade’s life.
“Damn you!!”
Scheherazade cried out in resentment.
I understood your desire to avenge your comrades, and the fact that you staked everything on this battle, even abandoning everything else. But I also have a reason why I can’t lose… a “reason to return.”
So you die here.
The true value of the Combat Art 【Iron Rose】 is not in its vast power or speed.
By doubling the mana, HP, and all the stats that I have steadily built up so far, it can be said that the essence of this technique is the violence of the power itself, which increases the combat strength itself.
Scheherazade’s head exploded under the barrage of that violence, spraying dark blood backward, and I finished her off by stabbing the blade into Scheherazade’s heart, which had been completely pulverized.
With my muscles trembling from overuse, I shook Scheherazade’s hands off my neck and stood up, turning my eyes to the darkness of the passage as if searching for “that child” who had suddenly interfered in the battle and disappeared.
“Are you here…?”
While imagining the smile of that child, whose thoughts I couldn’t understand, I started walking deeper into the dungeon, still wounded.
【Aria (Alicia)】【Race: Human Female】【Rank 4】
【Mana Capacity: 53/340】10Up【HP: 76/270】10Up
【Strength: 10 (14)】【Endurance: 10 (14)】【Agility: 17 (24)】【Dexterity: 9】
【Dagger Arts Lv.4】【Martial Arts Lv.5】【Throwing Lv.4】
【Archery Lv.2】【Defense Lv.4】【Thread Manipulation Lv.4】
【Light Magic Lv.4】【Dark Magic Lv.4】【Non-Attribute Magic Lv.5】1Up
【Utility Magic x6】【Mana Control Lv.5】【Intimidation Lv.5】
【Stealth Lv.4】【Night Vision Lv.2】【Detection Lv.4】
【Poison Resistance Lv.3】【Abnormality Resistance Lv.3】1Up
【Simple Appraisal】
【Overall Combat Strength: 1566 (During Body Enhancement: 1934)】69Up
Several days had passed since the ‘Ceremony of Selection’ to decide the king had begun, and several warriors had already died due to conflicts between clans and ambushes.
Amidst all this, a certain rumor had begun to circulate.
Not only the warriors and assassination squads who had separated from the main force of the clans, but even the supply units were being attacked and brutally murdered, their corpses left exposed.
“Again… Which clan is it?”
“It’s not ours at least… I can’t tell in this state.”
A surprise attack unit under the command of Gouma Clan leader Dowhill discovered still-warm corpses, and one of the men who examined them shook his head.
The whispered “rumor” was about a “hostile entity” that attacked humans. The reason they didn’t think it was a hostile unit sent by another clan was the way they died. All the corpses were burned by intense heat, reduced to unrecognizable charcoal.
“Are there any monsters in this stratum that breathe fire?”
“Around here, maybe Hellhounds. But Hellhounds wouldn’t…”
The man looked up as the members of the surprise attack unit turned their eyes to the passage, grimacing.
The walls and ceiling of this wide passage were scorched black as far as the eye could see. There were less than ten corpses, but because they were all burned, it was hard to tell if that number was even correct.
The severity of the damage was why they couldn’t definitively identify the hostile entity.
A high-ranking magician might be able to do the same, but could they secure enough Mana to burn such a wide area?
Bringing a dozen or so magicians could achieve the same result, but there would be no point. If someone could do it alone, it would only be the current Evil King on this continent.
But that didn’t mean they could rule out monsters.
The Hellhounds in this labyrinth were giant dog monsters known as the hounds of hell, and while they did breathe fire, they couldn’t do this much.
Could there be an unconfirmed higher species, a Cerberus? The members of the surprise attack unit swallowed nervously as they looked at the passage and corpses, which looked as if they had been burned by a dragon’s breath.
“Let’s move out.”
“Understood.”
Considering the heat remaining in the burned corpses and walls, the hostile entity couldn’t have left more than half an hour ago. Thinking about the danger of encountering it, they tried to leave the area when—
BOOM!
“—!?”
Suddenly, hellfire blasted from the depths of the passage, engulfing the surprise attack unit. The men, screaming inarticulately, collapsed, turning into living torches. From the depths of the passage, a black-haired girl in a white dress narrowed her eyes, which were shadowed by dark circles, and smiled brightly.
“I’m sorry, but that way is a dead end… Would you mind stepping aside?”
She spoke to the corpses, already dead, and Carla passed through the passage without a sound, stepping on the unlucky surprise attack unit that had been reduced to ash.
Several days had passed since Carla used Spatial Transfer magic to descend to this place.
Since she could use transfer, she returned to the mansion when she got sleepy, but she hadn’t returned even once since entering this labyrinth.
Carla’s complexion was deathly as she walked through the ashes of burned people, but a smile played on her face, and the monsters fled from the Intimidation she exuded.
“…Hehe.”
Carla smiled faintly, as if recalling something. She had met the person she was looking for. She didn’t intend to help with her return, but she had considered burning her along with everything else if she was killed by some mediocre Vampire.
The fire she released at that time was meant to burn her along with everything else. But, whether consciously or intentionally, she dodged the line of fire the moment it was released and used it as a means of counterattack.
She will become stronger—
“Enough to kill me… And…”
GIGIGIGIN!!
Suddenly, steel arrows rained down, piercing the ground at Carla’s feet as she spewed Mana and leaped away.
“—Lightning—”
“—Ice Lance—”
From the air, Carla released Lightning, which was intercepted by the attacker’s Ice Lance, canceling each other out.
A group of men in black appeared from the passage and the darkness, and a wrinkled old man who released Ice Lance as if seeping out of the darkness looked at Carla, his mouth twisting into a smile.
“My name is Ergrim… Are you a monster causing mischief, little girl?”
Elder Ergrim, leader of the Magic Clan. As the leader of the clan that specialized in assassination among the Evil Race unleashed intense Killing Intent, a full smile appeared on Carla’s face.
“She” will become stronger here.
And Carla will also gain enough strength here to match her.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
The battle with Scheherazade, concluded.
Unfortunately, the battle with her wasn’t enough to reach Rank 5.
And the black-haired girl faces a rank up.
Next time, Ceremony of Selection Part 6: Majin vs. Majin