She spoke as if she had fought the real thing before. The elf standing there was Gale Wind, a person of true strength who had survived the city’s Dark Age, so objectively speaking, that was entirely believable. The human and catperson bodyguards gritted their teeth as her disinterested gaze seemed to say, Your real strength has risen plenty on its own, so why strut around with a borrowed reputation?
“…Sha!”
As if enraged that their deception had been exposed, the men assaulted Lyu. In this monster-filled Labyrinth City, they were not worth considering, so they had survived by polishing their teamwork and coordination, which they used to pummel the opponent in front of their eyes.
The intensity of their offense and defense increased severalfold. The instant the fake Black Fist led the enemy to defend, the catperson dove in from Lyu’s blind spot, the left side where the eye patch obstructed her vision.
You’re mine! The man was sure of himself.
“—Wh—!”
He saw a leather shoe about to hit his body, and his confidence changed to a tremor. Without looking at him, she hit him with a ferocious kick from below his line of sight as he put his hand on the floor.
—A trap.
She had purposefully used the eye patch’s blind spot as a lure. She dangled it as bait and invited him to dive into her range. And the catperson ate a deadly kick, having fallen it for it just as Lyu predicted.
“Guh?!”
“Sharl?!”
The foot connected with the catperson’s jaw and launched him away. Both of his knives slipped out of his hands, and his body rolled across the floor as it hit. A direct strike from a Level 4 kick.
He was totally knocked out with one attack. The human who had called his partner Sharl was stunned as Lyu easily walked toward him and picked up the two blades.
“Black Fist and Black Cat both had a Status of Level Four.” The human gulped as Lyu thrust her words at him.
“In addition to that, Faust and Lolo were not code names, they were real names.”
Holding the unsheathed blades in a reverse grip, Lyu walked straight forward.
Just who is this elf? All he did was pick up a weapon, but I feel so much more pressure, and he knows way too much about that bounty hunter and assassin. Those thoughts were conveyed in his cold sweat.
“—Most importantly, Black Fist and Black Cat were women.”
The man went wide-eyed at a third shock.
“They are currently working to earn a day’s income at a tavern that I’m also indebted to.”
At the same time…
In a tavern far away from the casino, a human and a catgirl were at work washing dishes. Runoa Faust and Chloe Lolo each let out a large sneeze.
“U—uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
As if losing himself, he roared. The man stealing the name Black Fist lashed out.
As her opponent approached her, swinging his black steel gauntlets, Lyu moved even faster, the two blades gleaming.
Her knives flashed. Eight in all. As he passed behind Lyu, his gauntlets fell to the ground like wooden building blocks. Multiple slashes were engraved on his arms.
“—”
An attack speed worthy of the name Gale Wind. Time seemed to freeze for the man as blood drops scattered from the sharp knife wounds. Lyu did not stop there. Closing in on him again, she spun, mercilessly unleashing a spinning kick to his head.
“—Guah!”
His body was sent flying with the force of a river breaking its dam to crash into a wall. The thunderous sound returned the VIP room to silence as the women and waiters pulled back, no longer moving. The human and catman lay on the floor, unconscious. As the women looked on in shock, the main battle concluded.
“You’re lucky you fought me. If the people whose names you borrowed were here, you wouldn’t have gotten off so easily.”
Lyu gave her unconscious enemies a warning out of concern.
“A-amazing…”
Anna expressed wonder mixed with fear at how the battle had unfolded. She was captivated as the gallant elf glanced over at her, displaying an amazing strength worthy of a fairy-tale hero. Then—
“—Come!!”
“Kyaa!”
A thick hand clutched her slender arm. Ted had been watching the battle, and the moment he recognized that the bodyguards’ defeat was imminent, he hid his presence and snuck close to Anna. Wielding a dwarf’s peculiar strength, he yanked her away in one motion as if she weighed no more than a feather. As Syr turned in shock, the two disappeared down a passage leading deeper into the VIP room.
“Lyu!”
“I’ll follow. Stay here!”
Before Syr could even speak, Lyu was already dashing away. She knew that, as quick on her feet as Syr was, she could get away by passing as one of the mistresses whenever Ganesha Familia came into the VIP room and questioned her. Leaving her friend in a safe spot, Lyu chased after Ted and Anna.
The drama had reached at its final stage.
6
They ran down the hallway, their footsteps thumping along the extravagant carpet. Large beads of sweat seeping from every pore, the dwarf Ted dragged Anna along as he fled deeper and deeper into the casino. All of the bodyguards he had employed had been wiped out. All of his pawns had been blown away in the VIP room. He was the king of the gambling paradise, wasn’t he? Until just a little while ago, he was. But now, at the hands of a single elf, he was forced to flee in humiliation.
“They faked their names! What Black Fist?! What Black Cat?! Those bastards!”
Already forgetting that he had been also been caught faking his identity, the owner shouted at the bodyguards for which he had paid a huge sum of money. He was no longer pretending to be Terry Cervantes. All that was left was the criminal Ted.
“Ah-ahhhhh…!”
As the man got angrier, his grip tightened, and a moan escaped Anna’s lips. Even now, she was desperately resisting, but the strength of a dainty young girl was like that of a baby in comparison to a dwarf’s superhuman strength.
He dragged his insurance forcefully along with him, lifting her legs off the floor at times. A fierce beat of footsteps and a violent presence were hot on their heels.
“Grr—!”
As Lyu bore down on them, Ted jumped in desperation, hounded by fear and unease. It was a gaudy, long hallway decorated by crude bronze statues and paintings. Passing room after room assigned to the women, they headed into the casino’s back rooms, then the backyard, passing shocked dealers and staff as they went.
“Mr. Cervantes, what are you doing?!”
“What’s all this…?!”
“Stop the elf behind me!!”
Without giving the stunned staff and remaining bodyguards any semblance of an explanation, Ted kept running. The area he had just passed through erupted into a loud struggle, and then cries rang out, stoking Ted’s fear. With Bell’s group in the main hall, and now this, both sides of the Grand Casino of El Dorado Resort were descending into a never-before-seen chaos.
“Here!”
Swinging Anna around painfully, he changed their path to wind countless times across the labyrinthine backyard before they ran down a long staircase. The casino’s underground floor.
It did not have any of the splendor of the main hall where games were played, but it was just as large as the aboveground floor in size. Raising his voice, he repeatedly told the flustered, staring people to open the enclosing wall as he exited onto a wide, long path. At the end of the path was a giant round metal door. The Grand Casino’s underground vault.
“Faster! Faster…!”
Almost as if he was planning to ram the door, he ran toward it, his fingers trembled as he took out a master key that only he possessed. Opening all the locks, he spun the handle like the captain of a ship, swinging the giant metal door out. His face was bright red. Having opened the door, he pushed Anna into the vault and slipped in himself.
“Ha…ha…if I com
e here…!”
Thunk. The metal door slammed shut. Anna looked around from where she had collapsed on the floor as the sound of the locks closing echoed in the room. Polished gold coins were everywhere. The inside of the vault was like a small cottage, filled with all the money deposited at the casino. There were innumerable mountains of gold, and each appeared to contain at least a hundred million coins. An incomprehensibly large amount of money.
All of the Grand Casino’s commodities were stored here. It was El Dorado Resort’s treasure box—Anna gasped at this room, which befitted a place that billed itself as The Golden City.
“The only one who can open this vault is me, and it’s made from adamantite from the Dungeon! He can’t get in or break in!”
As he caught his breath, a smile finally formed on Ted’s face. As he had said, the vault was made from adamantite mined in the Dungeon. He had sourced large amounts of the rare metal from merchants and familias to build it, heedless of the needs of others. In order to protect against skilled thief familias, it was a small underground fortress. Ted’s aim was to hole up in this underground vault.
“As long as I’m cooped up in here, even Leon can’t do anything about it. Ganesha Familia will capture him eventually, since he’s already on the blacklist.”
“…!”
“Until then…Anna, I’ll have you keeping me company to soothe me.”
Ted looked up, his eyes bloodshot.
“They keep getting in my way. I can’t hold the rage back anymore!”
“Ngh…?!”
“Astrea Familia, those ghosts from the past! I’m the one getting the last laugh!!”
His clothes were stained with sweat, his slicked-back hair a mess. Ted unleashed his sadism, intending to take out all his pent-up resentment on the girl in front of him.
“Acting cute while making a fool of me…It’s just a shame he won’t be able to hear your screams…”
“S-stop!”
The dwarf’s shadow started toward the trembling girl. Her flaxen hair shook in terror. Sensing danger, she reflexively scooted away from him.
“Hmph!”
“Guah!”
An animal person rolled to the floor, struck by a boot to the cheek. After her swift kick, Lyu sprinted forward. She proceeded through the underground floor, instantly dealing with the waves of guards who attacked her. From the aboveground floor through the stairway, countless demi-humans were laid out along the path she had taken. She ran past them like the wind in order to reclaim the girl whom Ted had stolen from her family.
“That’s…”
Breaking through the last door, she emerged onto a wide path. At the edge of her vision, she saw the vault where Ted had holed up. Lyu’s eyes narrowed as she stopped in front of the haughty adamantite door, the seal on the metal castle wall.
“—Distant forest sky. Infinite stars inlaid upon the eternal night sky.”
She started chanting.
“This is…magic?”
As he was about to lash out at Anna, Ted noticed the flow of magic being wielded from far behind him. The swirling torrent of power was strong enough for him to perceive it, even shut off from external stimuli inside the vault. As he whirled around, his face broke into a sneer.
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha! That’s pointless, Leon!! Even you can’t break this vault! That isn’t about to change even if you use magic!”
The dwarf’s husky laughter echoed off the mountains of gold coins.
“Heed this foolish one’s voice, and once more grant the starfire’s divine protection.”
Lyu walked forward steadily, with an air of composure, her footsteps ringing out. Her beautiful chanting voice did not hesitate in the slightest. Her mantra echoed cool and clear as she added more force to her voice.
“Grant the light of compassion to the one who forsook you.”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha…?”
The loud laughter echoing in the vault died down. That enormous amount of magic. It was as though he were standing in front of a cannon loading an especially large cannonball.
“O…oh…?”
Even a normal person like Anna could feel the power welling on the other side of the vault. She went wide-eyed as Ted’s sneering face twitched.
“Come, wandering wind, fellow traveler.”
Lyu pulled her tie off, letting it drop to the floor as she loosened her collar. Her throat quivered, speeding up the spell as she advanced.
“Cross the skies and sprint through the wilderness, swifter than anything—”
She refined her Mind, infusing the source of magic. The undulating power that was gathering in front of her converged the instant before it was released. Stopping to leave a bit of distance, Lyu stared at the metal door with her sky-blue right eye.
“—Imbue the light of stardust and strike down my enemy.”
Accompanied by flashes of wind and stars, she thrust her right arm forward like a conductor. The chanting complete, Lyu quietly spoke the name of her trump card, the strongest sure-kill spell.
“Luminous Wind.”
Clothed in wind, a cannon blast of starlight rang out.
“~~~~~~~~~~~?!”
Stardust rushing through the sky turned into several large light spheres, accompanied by a green wind, that hit the vault. A string of billowing explosions rang out through the underground. Wave after wave of shocks and awe-inspiring explosions washed over Ted and Anna. As they ducked, the door made of numerous layers of adamantite bent inward, cracks forming.
“”
As Ted stood frozen in place, Anna suddenly lay flat on the ground. The next instant, the vault exploded with an enormous boom.
“—Whaaaaaaaaaaa?!”
His vision overwhelmed by a flash of white light, Ted’s frozen form was blown back. Because of the shock wave, the mountains of gold coins were also scattered in the air, turning into countless gold raindrops, clinking loudly as they splashed across the floor.
When Anna lifted her head, she saw that half of the vault’s door had been torn away.
“Adamantite’s hardness is directly proportional to its purity.”
Emerging from the smoke, Lyu stepped into the large hole in the underground vault.
“If it were the rare metal from the deep levels—the highest purity adamantite—then it would certainly have been exceedingly difficult to break through.”
Anna and Ted—who was somehow pulling himself up—both gazed at her in terror as she spoke.
“However, the materials to make this clearly were excavated from the upper and middle levels…If it is lower-strength adamantite, then my magic can pierce it.
“You obtained inferior goods,” Lyu explained as she glanced at Ted, who had lost his voice.
Telling the difference was impossible for someone who was neither a smith nor an upper-class adventurer. Arrogantly throwing around money had only bought him the resentment of the merchants, who paid him back with this meager revenge.
Ted’s face colored in shock at his miscalculation, and his cheeks quivered as Lyu calmly approached.
“L-Leon…”
His clothes ragged, Ted’s tongue spasmed as his gaze shifted to the side. Anna was there, still unable to stand up. The next instant, he leaped, reaching out to grab her. However, faster than a dwarf could move, the elf’s hand whisked the girl away.
“…?!”
“Time to grit your teeth, you beast,” Lyu calmly announced as she looked down at the cowering dwarf.
The handsome elf wrapped one arm around Anna’s waist as she blushed, moving in front of the girl to cover her. Lyu was wearing just a single dress glove.
“Damn…Daaaaaaaamn!”
As his eyes flashed, she clenched her bare fist.
“I should tell you—I won’t hold back.” Measuring the distance carefully, she smashed Ted’s cheek with an unforgiving gale-force attack.
“Gahhhh?!”
The tremendous for
ce behind Lyu’s fist hurled the dwarf into a collapsing mountain of gold coins, which scattered further. Half-buried in gold, the villainous dwarf twitched and moaned. The elf who would not touch the skin of people she did not acknowledge tossed the glove she had removed at Ted.
“Let’s go.”
“Eh? But…”
“Ganesha Familia will take care of the rest. As long as the women who heard my story testify, he won’t escape interrogation.”
Turning her back on Ted, she called to Anna, who was still lost. The flaxen-haired beauty walked out with Lyu but suddenly stopped.
“Um…”
“?”
As Lyu turned around, the girl clasped her hands in front of her chest, her pure white dress shifting.
“You went so far for me when we’ve never met and don’t know each other…Thank you very much.”
“…You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“Eh? Ah…n-no.”
“Good.”
Lyu smiled slightly, encouraging the trembling girl to calm down. Anna’s eyes instantly welled up, and she gasped a bit as she looked down. Lyu tilted her head a bit at the odd reaction.
“Lyu!”
“Syr?”
Holding the hem of her dress, Syr appeared in the vault.
“Why are you here?”
“I followed the trail of bodies in the corridor and caught up to you two.”
“…I thought I was clear that you should stay there.”
Syr stuck out her tongue as Lyu sighed. Anna kept fidgeting as if she were uncomfortable between the two of them.
“—Leon!!”
At that point, a hoarse voice called out. Ted’s. While the others were turned away, the dwarf had regained consciousness, screaming as he shakily tried to stand up.
“You think I’ll go down like this?! I’m bringing you down with me!”
“…”
“I’ll use my underlings to spread rumors until you’re caught! You are in the city! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Everyone with a grudge will be looking for you. Don’t dare think you’ll get a moment of peace!”
Ted burned with hatred, his cheek smashed, blood flowing out of his mouth and staining his clothes. He climbed to his knees, glaring at Lyu as he swore to bring her down with him as revenge. Instead of Lyu, the one who moved to close his mouth was the platinum-haired girl. She listened quietly to his speech as she approached him.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu Page 10
