Volume 7, Chapter 33 – The Buried Bane

“[Spiral Blade: Falling Star]!”

Mithril thin-swords gathered a blinding green light, and a powerful airflow swirled into a helical cyclone centered on the blade. Following the vertically diving Anastasia, it pierced from the zenith into the head of the Skeleton Whale.

Even a Tier 5 Skeleton Whale could not escape such a blow, which possessed the might of a thunder god’s spear. Anastasia instantly penetrated the whale’s skull, causing its massive body to seize. However, due to her excessive force, she was unable to stop her body after piercing the creature. She plummeted straight toward the earth, and finally, with a ground-shaking roar, a deep crater resembling a small meteorite strike appeared on the gray plain.

Then, the agonizing cry of the Skeleton Whale echoed across the plain; its sorrowful, anger-filled voice sent shivers down one’s spine.

The power is good, but the execution is too clumsy.

Watching from the mountaintop, Fia offered a silent evaluation. Although Fia possessed nothing that could be called battle insight—and despite Anastasia and even Liti having more theoretical and practical experience than her—she had seen far too much. The Anastasia of the past would not have wasted mana like that; she would have controlled the power of her first strike to ensure she could transition smoothly into the next, suppressing the enemy with a relentless, storm-like series of continuous attacks.

However, the current Anastasia, having not fought properly for fourteen years and being out of practice, had poured a massive amount of mana into her sword without the certainty of a killing blow. Not only did she fail to critically wound the Skeleton Whale in one hit, but she also smashed herself into the earth and wasted a significant amount of mana—a mistake typical of rookie soldiers or adventurers.

“Still, we have magic potions, so wasted mana is just wasted mana. As long as she can quickly regain her old combat techniques, it’ll be fine.”

Thinking this, Fia saw Anastasia in the crater fly back into the sky, wrapped in a stream of green light, her movements clearly urgent.

Anastasia likely felt her own performance was intolerable and wanted to finish the Skeleton Whale quickly.

Half an hour had passed since the start of the battle. In a deliberately created one-on-one fight supported by countless magic potions, she had yet to gain the advantage. This did not match the strength expected of the Eldest Princess’s personal attendant.

Yet, it was true that Skeleton Whales were difficult to handle. Unlike ordinary monsters, the undead were not hindered by pain, nor would they die from excessive blood loss. No matter how much damage was dealt, their wounds would continuously repair themselves. This was especially true for the Skeleton Whale, given its immense size; without a powerful attack capable of cleaving it into several pieces at once, it would take hours to take it down with mere puncture wounds like the previous one.

It couldn’t be helped; this was the Netherworld, where the Death Aura was thick. In a forest vibrant with life, the Skeleton Whale’s self-healing ability would have significantly decreased.

“I should put in some effort on my side as well.”

Fia shifted her gaze below. Originally, there were three Skeleton Whales in the sky, but she had dragged the two larger ones to the foot of the mountain using [Dark Erosion] and [Telekinesis].

Initially, Fia thought countless undead would charge desperately toward her to save the Skeleton Whales. However, while the sleeping skeletons did charge after hearing the whales’ cries, their target was not her, but the Skeleton Whales that had fallen to the ground. Had she not noticed in time, the Skeleton Whales would have been picked clean by the skeleton soldiers.

Though Fia didn’t quite understand it, her instinct told her that the Skeleton Whales stayed airborne solely because they didn’t dare land, lest they be devoured as food by the skeleton soldiers.

As for now, the two Skeleton Whales were frozen by the Forbidden Spell [Spatial Confinement]. Seeing no hope of breaking the [Spatial Confinement], the skeleton soldiers shifted their target to Fia. Countless pale skeletons crawled toward the mountaintop together. The nearest ones were less than twenty meters from Fia, close enough for her to see the red glow in their eye sockets—a mix of greed and hatred for the living.

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“Use [Flame Storm]? That’s a bit of a waste…”

Since the undead also possessed mana, they should be like monsters and could be compressed into magic crystals.

“But if I manufacture magic crystals here, even if they’re made, no one can collect them. If I mastered necromancy, maybe I could summon a group of skeletons to mine them?”

Fia associated them with robots. Aside from the lack of a surrounding Death Aura, robots and the undead were identical: they could work without pause, felt no pain, obeyed their master’s orders, and sometimes developed self-awareness. The undead even had an advantage over robots: robots needed a power source to move, whereas the undead did not.

It was a pity the undead were not as intelligent as robots; otherwise, equipped with mana furnaces, they would surely make a very useful army.

Better not to overthink it.

Dealing with these skeletons was the priority.

The nearest skeleton was less than three meters from Fia.

“If you know I can deal with those whales, then just stay quietly in your holes.”

Sighing as if it were a hassle, Fia raised her right hand.

—[Spatial Confinement].

A faint, strange sound echoed in the air. Subsequently, the speed of the skeletons before and beneath Fia dropped sharply until they became completely still. Looking closely, one could see a glinting barrier appearing in front of the skeletons.

In less than half a second, the space before Fia completely solidified. The skeletons were like insects trapped in amber; whether it was their mid-step stride or the hideous expressions on their faces, they were frozen in that instant, as if they were stopped in time before they could even react to what had happened.

Fia used [Wind of Exploration] to check for any that had slipped through the cracks, and then she discovered something that made her raise an eyebrow. The time stopped by [Spatial Confinement] appeared as an orange-red color in the [Wind of Exploration]. This indicated that the mana of [Spatial Confinement] existed in the air and approached the mana concentration of the eighth tier—it manifested as those transparent barriers that clanged when struck.

In that case, if she released her own mana in the form of [Spatial Confinement] and then used [Orbital Beacon Bombardment] to compress that mana into magic crystals, could she mass-produce high-concentration magic crystals without any cost…?

As an energy source, mana was simply too far beyond any standard.

Speculating internally, Fia, having dealt with the skeletons, looked back toward the sky. By now, Anastasia had found a way to handle the Skeleton Whale. A gold-and-red storm covered the sky; it was a flow of air created by mixing holy magic and wind magic. It acted like a razor, shaving any bone it touched into powder. Even if the Skeleton Whale only brushed against the storm slightly, a piece of its body would be sliced away. As for the death breath emitted by the whale, Anastasia easily dodged it with her agile form.

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Anastasia had used this spell, called [Golden Storm], when she faced Chaos in the past. Although its consumption was not small, its power approached that of a fifth-tier spell. At this rate, Anastasia would need ten minutes at most to finish the Skeleton Whale. Fia decided she would use this time to freeze all the undead across the entire plain.

If [Orbital Beacon Bombardment] could compress [Spatial Confinement], then in the future, there would be inexhaustible magic crystals appearing in the form of mineral veins.

Five minutes passed quickly. When Anastasia destroyed the Skeleton Whale’s final remaining skull with [Golden Storm], a strong sense of weakness immediately swept over her. She felt her brain grow dizzy, and her body swayed, to the point that she could no longer maintain her flight magic and fell some distance.

“Anastasia?!”

“Cough… Your Highness, don’t worry. This should be the backlash from the undead…”

To completely eliminate the undead, one needed to consume an equivalent amount of vitality. Anastasia’s exhaustion was a manifestation of her vitality being offset by negative life. It should be noted that vitality here did not refer to lifespan, but something similar to vigor or stamina.

Catching Anastasia around her waist, Fia activated [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] above her head. The blinding gold instantly became the sun within the Netherworld. Especially after the Death Aura was dispersed by the holy magic, even the turbid air became fresh, and the color in Anastasia’s face returned at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Let’s stop here for today. After you return, Anastasia, you should consult Erin Slate to regain your combat sense.”

“Yes…”

Her voice was full of shame, and Anastasia lowered her head. However, she quickly noticed the unnaturally quiet plain below. She instinctively looked down, and her expression instantly became exaggerated—skeletons across the hills and valleys were motionless as if stopped, some even hovering mid-air.

“Your Highness, that? What happened to these skeletons and the whales?”

“They’ve been stopped.”

Of course I know they’ve been stopped! Anastasia screamed in her heart. The question was why they were stopped?!

Anastasia knew that a Forbidden Spell called [Spatial Confinement] existed in the Holy Tree’s restricted library. However, the range that [Spatial Confinement] could restrict was extremely small—at most ten meters or so. Freezing a plain over a dozen kilometers long with an unknown width completely exceeded her imagination. If the other nations’ kings heard the Eldest Princess’s name after this, they would be shivering under their thrones.

No, to be able to use magic of this scale so silently… if her Highness were placed in a world filled with Chaos and on the brink of shattering, she would surely allow the Alliance to achieve a power equal to that of Chaos. Anastasia didn’t know who was stronger between Fia, the Absolute Evil, or the Queen of the Land of the Dead, as she had never seen the full power of the latter two, but her intuition told her that Fia was at least on the same level as them.

In less than a year, the Highness of this world had grown from a quasi-seventh tier to a level comparable to the Queen of the Land of the Dead. Was being hit by the Unsinkable Moon truly part of her Highness’s plan?

But why didn’t her Highness tell her in advance? If she had told her, Anastasia would have found peace of mind.

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“Do you have something on your mind, Anastasia?”

“Err, I was thinking… if Your Highness knew that you would become as powerful as you are now after being hit by the Unsinkable Moon, why didn’t you tell me back then instead of telling Lady Erin Slate…?”

“I don’t know.”

Fia shrugged and answered truthfully.

“I have no memories of the past, so I’m also curious about the reason. I asked Erin Slate before if she knew anything, such as whether the old me had instructed her that if I died in the Holy Kingdom of Milcandis, she must ensure Anastasia’s safety. The fact is, Erin Slate knows nothing either. Whether I use a commanding tone or look at the surprised expression she makes when asked, it all shows she’s unaware. Perhaps the two worlds have differences in the details.”

“For example, in Anastasia’s world, the Eldest Princess there instructed Erin Slate to let you out, while the Eldest Princess here did not. Hmm… come to think of it, did the old me know I would definitely be resurrected, which is why I didn’t tell Anastasia? But that doesn’t make sense either; it was just a matter of a few words, there was no reason not to say it.”

After speaking, Fia was suddenly startled.

It was possible the Eldest Princess knew that if she told Anastasia she would be hit by the Unsinkable Moon, Anastasia would surely find a way to block the moon for her, making an unnecessary sacrifice, which was why she didn’t say it.

It would be great if she could go to Anastasia’s world; maybe she could understand something then.

But then again, according to the Witches, the Tier 9 Witch of Hope said she would bring a guide, and she happened to find the Witch of Hope’s remains in the Dry Desert. Could it be that the difference between the two worlds requires the cooperation of the Witch of Hope in addition to the Eldest Princess being hit by the Unsinkable Moon? It was truly strange.

“Your Highness, could you… could you put me down now?”

“Ah? Ah, sorry, I was spaced out for a moment.”

Fia quickly released her hand from Anastasia’s waist. Although it was partly because she was spaced out, it was also true that Anastasia felt very soft, and her body, which had grown hot after the battle, made the scent of her perfume even more alluring.

The silent air made the atmosphere even more romantic. Uncomfortable with the awkward vibe, Fia made a fist and gave a light cough.

“Ahem, let’s go find Claire, Liti, and the others first, and then go back to the Land of Exile to pick up those children. Can you still fly on your own, Anastasia?”

“I can…”

The reason she hesitated was that in her heart she wanted to say she couldn’t, so that she could keep being held like that.

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Anastasia thought greedily.

She had been in battle and thus had no mind for other things, but now that she had calmed down, she couldn’t help but recall what Fia had said earlier: “I’m very happy you feel this way, but this kind of thing should be taken step-by-step, no matter how you look at it.” To an outsider, it would seem vague, but to her ears, it was equivalent to “I accept Anastasia’s feelings, but we should start slowly.”

Start slowly…

Is even someone like me allowed?

Anastasia felt a trace of bitterness at the back of her throat.

She was not the true Anastasia. This acceptance was meant for the real Anastasia. The reality was that she had told a monstrous lie, and she didn’t even have the right to imagine accepting these feelings.

Deception was the most unforgivable crime a personal maid could commit, especially regarding a matter that could jeopardize another’s life. No one knew where the real Anastasia was. She wasn’t thinking about finding her but had lied saying she felt the connection strengthening—it was practically murder.

She had to guide Dofilia to find another way to bring Anastasia back, or else it would lead to a great disaster.

“Anastasia, it’s time to go.”

“Ah, okay. Then the monsters here…”

“I’ll come back later; I have other things to do then as well. While I’m away, you stay with Claire. If I don’t return too late, you’ll sleep in the same room as her.”

“W-With Lady Claire? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going down into the Abyss to take a look.”

Giving Anastasia a confident smile, Fia took the lead and headed back in the direction they had come from.