Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Instantly, a misty darkness that not even Nessa's night vision would have helped against lowered itself over the cavern. It became difficult for Dukiel, Anerias, Violina, and their familiars to breathe, much less move.

An invisible pressure gripped their hearts. One squeeze was all it would take for them to breathe their last. Even the beings without hearts like the Transformation Cube in the shape of a weedwhacker that it learned from a magic tool, and the Symbiotic Slime still riding on the Darkwing felt it.

One gesture from Soara would be all it took to snuff their existences out.

Soara breathed in deeply.

She had missed this feeling of absolute dominion over the battlefield she stepped foot on.

The power stolen from her had left a gaping hole in the center of her chest. She felt it every breath she took and every beat her heart made. It was a constant painful reminder of her failure and defeat.

But the constraints set upon her by her contract with Zach weren't exactly comfortable either. She understood why they existed. If she could wield her full strength freely from the beginning, her weight on Zach's being would have been too heavy.

She was too strong for Zach, who had lived for a short eighteen years. It was less than a blink compared to the time she had lived. If all of her existence, however fragmented it was, was put on Zach's soul, it would pop.

She would much rather feel a little stiff than have such an unfortunate fate befall Zach.

It was the same with the others, most likely, especially with Mandra. She had to be feeling quite uncomfortable.

Zach was by no means weak, but it was a miracle he had the strength and sturdiness to withstand summoning an SSS-rank familiar as early as he had done. And he had just barely done it.

Mandra had barely managed to squeeze into the available room Zach had left. There wasn't much room for her to exert her full strength.

The only ones who wouldn't be suffering much would be Yanael and Alzara. Yanael was an S-rank. She probably wasn't far from her peak strength she had before she became a familiar. She might have even surpassed that level, thanks to the Book of Sword Techniques from the Labyrinth of Syst. Alzara was similar. Her main focus wasn't on brute strength. She was an expert alchemist and used curses.

She didn't carry an overwhelming power the same way Soara and Mandra did.

Soara had thought it would be a while until she could feel the same ease and freedom of movement Yanael and Alzara felt.

But the Basilisk's death had, for one, elevated Zach's strength by popping his levels up a couple of times. Even in a recently resurrected, half-dead, and weakened state, the Basilisk was still an incredible being.

If it had been at its peak, Zach and the others wouldn't have even been able to keep their lives after entering it. The pressure from being inside it would have crushed them, regardless of how strong Zach's barriers were.

But thanks to the state of its brain, the Basilisk's pressure was almost nonexistent, and they had been able to tear through its insides and destroy its brain. It was a stroke of luck in a way.

That had eased the constraints on Soara.

But that wasn't all. In another strange twist of fate, Zach turning into stone, the same stone that the Basilisk used to create a layer of armored skin, had increased his durability.

It was temporary since it only lasted while he was made of stone, but his body—his vessel—could handle the weight of more of Soara's strength.

She would be a fool not to seize this opportunity.
Read exclusive chapters at empire

Soara breathed out.

The dolls in the large cavern, whether it was hundreds or thousands of them, all fell down like a gale had swept through. Not one remained 'alive.'

Soara turned her gaze in the direction of one of the tunnels.

Deep inside it, she felt the connection to the source of power for the dolls. She felt the dolls' creator. She had tried to kill them as well before they severed the connection with the dolls, but she hadn't been fast enough, and now, they were too far away.

But she turned her attention to another tunnel with a being much closer to her.

She smiled.

Now this, this was a worthy sacrifice.

It was a tall, skinny underworlder with two simple longswords, one in either hand. They had a simple appearance with nothing noteworthy. Still, they were almost as powerful as Monolith. Their dark skin matched the grey hue on their blades, and they looked at Soara with colorless eyes. As they looked, their eyes slowly started glowing with a white light.

Their fighting spirit was ignited.

The Named underworlder could tell at a glance that this wouldn't be a battle. It would be a desperate struggle for survival.

The dual-wielding underworlder, Tar, raised their weapons and bent their knees slightly. Their face had broken up in a mad grin.

Shiver were running down their spin. If they had still had pores and hair follicles, their skin would have been covered in goosebumps.

The robed being in front of them wasn't something they should be fighting against. It was something they should be submitting to. If they wanted, maybe they could clean their neck first to show proper respect to the one here to guide them to what comes next—what comes after life.

Tar was already on their second life after joining the Underworld. They had already escaped death once.

The Underworld had saved them once. It wouldn't save them this time, especially when Death had come for them personally.

But so what?

Death was meant to be resisted. It was meant to be fought and defied. That was what living was all about.

That was why they had picked up the sword in the first place.

Tar was afraid. His instincts were screaming at him from the very depths of his bones that Soara was not something he should or could fight.

It only made him all the more excited.

This moment right before him was what all of his life, both before and after he joined the Underworld, was all about.

Tar took a step forward, disappearing from view.