Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach felt it. Something that shouldn't have happened–that shouldn't have been allowed to happen–had happened. But the stubborn bear wouldn't die, and Yanael was standing on her last legs. The underworld energy was pushing against his barrier, trying to force its way inside.

The underworld energy inside the barrier was gone, creating a vacuum. The air was also mostly used up by the bear, Alzara, and Yanael.

Zach could tell that the bear was confused. Its wounds weren't healing. That, it had already concluded. But now, it wasn't even getting any underworld energy to help it fight against the Curse of Decay.

It could feel it. The bear could feel the cold shadow of Death encroach upon its own. It didn't like it. It roared in pain and anger, resentful of the two flies, one buzzing around and the other refusing to get out of the way.

It couldn't stop its own death.

Unlike the wolf, who had only realized it when it was on the brink of it, the bear's death was slow and excruciatingly painful. The Curse of Decay wore down its flesh, drained its blood, and ate at the very source of its life.

Without the underworld energy, the bear stood no chance. Even with the underworld energy, the bear might not recover with how many wounds and layers of the Curse Alzara had inflicted.

The bear's skin peeled like icy walls on a warm spring day.

But the bear was large. It had a lot of skin, blood, and pure life force. It didn't stop moving until it took its last breath. Even then, it was determined not to go out alone. It threw its massive body over Yanael.

Zach wanted to tear down the big barrier that blocked the underworld energy and throw up another one to protect Yanael, but he couldn't risk it. If the bear absorbed the flood of underworld energy that would inevitably follow, it might very well come back to life. And Zach didn't have the confidence to repeat what he and his familiars had just done.

He and Yanael weren't the only ones looking ragged after the fight.

Alzara had avoided any direct hits, but she caught a few scrapes. More than that, however, was how draining it had been to use the Curse of Decay repeatedly as she had done. Her skin was grey, she had bags under her eyes, and her shoulders slumped, clearly tired from swinging the dagger and the curse around.

Zach steeled his heart as the bear crashed down over Yanael with a ground-shaking thud. He had to make sure the bear was dead, even if it hurt Yanael even further.

He gritted his teeth and waited what felt like several minutes. Eventually, when he was confident that all of the bear's vital signs had ceased, he let up the barrier.

Alzara took a deep breath and continued breathing heavily.

Zach approached the bear to start digging Yanael out, but before he could get close, something burst out of the bear's side in a rain of blood, black and red.

Zach saw that while not in her best state, Yanael was fine. They locked eyes. Yanael nodded. Zach turned around.

Instantly, he saw the dead wolf with a pillar of ice over its head. Then, he saw Violina, Dukiel, Julius, and Anerias crowding around something on the ground, Violina was crouching. The familiars were also standing around or biting the wolf.

…

Zach frowned and swept the battlefield with his gaze. The place was a total mess. The two large underworlder monsters and the familiars had wrecked all the trees in the vicinity and torn up the ground.

Something was missing.

He refused to accept the idea into his idea.

But it was persistent, and Zach couldn't stop it.

Nessa.

It was Nessa on the ground.

He took a closer look between the legs of the others and saw her crumpled clothes. He didn't see much else.

Zach couldn't move.

He only saw her clothes from a distance, and they were just clothes. But he had never seen clothes look so…lifeless.

Before he knew it, Zach was already standing next to them.

He could see Violina freeze Nessa's shoulder—what remained of it—and stop the bleeding.

But that alone wouldn't be enough. The wolf had taken a large chunk out of her. Blood loss wasn't the only concern.

"Let's go." The others flinched. They hadn't even noticed when Zach got there. The only one who didn't react was Violina. She continued applying layers of ice to Nessa's body. She cooled Nessa down and lowered her bodily functions and activities.

It was a long shot, especially when Nessa already looked dead.

But they were not giving up.

Zach gestured for the Millipede to get closer. It did. Without hesitation.

"Continue freezing her."

Zach ordered Violina while he bent down and gently picked up Nessa. Thanks to the ice, her body was rigid, and there wasn't much risk of him worsening her injuries. But he still made a solid, flat barrier under her to keep her body in the exact same state as before.

Wordlessly, Violina kept using her skill to cool down and keep Nessa cool.

The Millipede lowered its head and made it easy for them to climb aboard.

Zach didn't even need to order the others.

Anerias and Dukiel were already prepared to pave the way for them back to the Academy and the infirmary.

Julius was about to join Dukiel on the Hound's back when he felt something.

He was the only one who could sense the underworld energy as clearly as an underworlder felt it. He was the first to sense that something was off. The underworld energy in their surroundings was moving. He looked around with a frown.

At first, it was too subtle to tell in detail. But it didn't feel like it was from the well. It was something else.

With a chill running down his spine, Julius turned to the wolf.

The ice had mostly thawed due to the lingering heat and Violina and her familiars focusing their strength on Nessa. A chunk of ice and Nessa's swords leaned out of the wolf's bottom jaw. It fell to the ground.

Julius flinched as the wolf's jaw slid shut when the ice no longer blocked it. He was frozen stiff when the wolf started moving.

The others hadn't noticed yet. They were busy securing Nessa or patching up their familiars to prepare them for a hellish rush through the monster-infested forest.

The wolf stood up. It slowly turned its head.

Julius reacted before he could think. His Mannequin followed him.

The wolf charged.

Julius and his Mannequin did the same. They tackled the wolf before it could reach the Millipede. The Mannequin, strengthened by copious amounts of underworld energy, flew into the wolf's shoulder.

Julius did his best.

The wolf, half-dead, unsteady, and with less than half an intact brain couldn't defend against an impact that would have done almost nothing before.

It stumbled. It almost fell and then stumbled some more.

But its instincts of hate and retribution whipped its head to the side. It snapped its jaws shut around the Mannequin's wrist.

Julius reached out on instinct and grabbed his Mannequin's other hand.

Unlike Nessa, the Mannequin didn't break. The wolf held onto it as it fell. And Julius held onto the Mannequin.

With two in tow, the wolf fell. There was no thud or ground-shaking thump when it fell. That was because it didn't hit the ground like before or like the bear had done.

It had stumbled over to the abyssal hole and was to be devoured by it.

And it brought Julius and the Mannequin along with it.

The others, who had yet to even process what happened watched it like time had slowed down.

Zach's mind cleared for a moment.

"Get out of the way as soon as possible!"