There was a tremendous splash, and the Berbera still fighting on the pier nearby looked up in shocked dismay. Even the Amazons still hiding in the shadows on the roof of the storehouse could only look on in horror.
“A-Aisha…?!”
“…!” The long-legged warrior, Aisha, grimaced beneath her turban. “He’s transformed!”
Werewolves had long been considered the least-suited race for Dungeon crawling all across Orario because deep within the bowels of the Dungeon, they had no access to the moon—the source of their true power. These sorts of “transformations” had been confirmed only in a limited number of animal-person species. It was an ability that unleashed not only their untapped power but their innate animalistic nature as well, “trading rationality for strength,” as the saying went. And for werewolves, the key to their transformation was none other than the light of the moon.
While this werewolf skill was well-known across the globe, none of the Amazons had ever seen it in person, nor anything like the sheer overwhelming boost of power it gave to his abilities now.
“Vanargand…!”
With blazing speed and honed strikes, he could decimate his opponent in an instant, turning the battlefield into a bloody brawl. Even the werewolf’s alias on her lips was enough to make her shudder.
“Gngh…?!”
She could feel the fear radiating off her veiled companion behind her.
The werewolf’s gray fur was standing on end, giving off the illusion that it had grown in length. His amber eyes, still split down the middle, emanated a kind of savage lunacy.
Looking at him now, the veiled girl felt her tail, similar to his own, begin to tremble in subconscious terror.
“—There you are.”
Snorting, Bete turned in their direction, eyes staring straight through the darkness to where they shielded themselves in shadow.
None of them so much as breathed—and then he charged.
“Shit!” Aisha hissed, the first to spring to her feet, and though the other Amazons leaped to defend them, it was too late.
Pudao swords and other weapons came at him, but they couldn’t so much as graze his fur. His single flying kick connected with the group of hidden warriors, hurling them away.
“You damn animal!”
“Don’t try it, Rena!!”
But the girl wouldn’t listen, flourishing her scimitar and sending it toward one of Bete’s gauntlets. It glanced off with barely more than a haphazard bounce.
Bete turned to her, now frozen in the air, and punched her straight in the gut.
“Nnguuuuuh!”
Her scream followed behind her as she was sent flying. Bete, however, turned toward the lone animal girl, now helpless without her Amazonian guards.
“—!!”
“You’re the one controlling that light, aren’t you?!”
Just like Aiz, Bete, too, had noticed the Level-6 Status Phryne currently boasted. But as soon as the particles of light flitting about her had disappeared, she’d turned into nothing more than a hapless civilian. Not about to leave the source of all that power—this conspicuously out-of-place girl who looked more like a shrine maiden than anything else—at large, he stood ready to bring his full strength down right on her head.
“Ah—”
Until.
He caught a glance of her through the pale-white shroud of her veil, and the trembling green eyes staring back at him brought his hand to an abrupt halt.
“Hngh!!”
Aisha saw her opening and took it, jumping forward in the nick of time to pull the girl to safety.
“M-Miss Aisha—!”
“There’s no time to talk. All of you, run!!” Aisha commanded, her voice ringing out across the battlefield even as she struggled to push her injured body forward. Her fellow Berbera were quick to follow her order, all of them retreating into the darkness.
Soon, none but Loki Familia remained.
“…”
The battle on the pier was over. Finally, silence had returned to the dark city.
All that was left was the quiet lull of the tide from the direction of the lake. With a slump, Bete let his left arm, still held aloft, drop to his side.
Whether his froggy opponent had sunk to the bottom of the lake or floated her way to safety, he didn’t know, and he didn’t care, either. He wasn’t in the mood to go running after her.
He couldn’t seem to shake those jade eyes from his memory. Lips curling in disgust (and his tattoo with them), he shot a wad of spit toward the ground.
“If yer not willin’ to fall in the fire, don’t jump in the pan…”
Back in the sea cave.
The rite continued down within the arena nature had built. It should have been over already, but instead, the two women continued to go at each other with undiminished strength, coming closer and closer to the grand finale of their battle.
“Hiiiii-YAH!”
“Ngh!” Bache quickly dodged Tiona’s incoming attack. The other Amazon no longer feared the armor of Velgas surrounding her body, nor each strike aiming to kill. And as she swung her leg with enough force to break bone, attempting to throw Bache off her feet, Bache took to the air and brought her own heel up for a downward swipe at the top of Tiona’s head.
Tiona was too fast, her catlike reflexes moving her nimbly out of harm’s way, and Bache’s ax kick went flying into the ground. Her heel connected with the stone and cracked it in two. For a moment, the rock burned, smoke rising from the effects of Bache’s Velgas.
“Hey, you guys! If I win, do I get some sorta prize, just like before?” Tiona shouted as she chucked a rock she’d picked up during her evasive maneuvers in Bache’s direction.
Bache didn’t reply, Velgas-coated fist rising to meet the rock and shattering it into pieces as she charged. Kali, on the other hand, furrowed her brows in curious doubt as she watched the goings-on down below.
“You’re really somethin’ else, you know that?…But what the hell. What were you thinkin’?”
“If I win…I want you to make it so Bache and Argana don’t have to fight anymore!”
This was enough to widen not only Kali’s eyes but Bache’s, as well.
“I’m not sayin’ you have to stop the rites entirely, ’specially for those who like ’em! But Bache doesn’t wanna fight anymore, yeah? She doesn’t wanna die! Just like Tione and me! So I want her to be able to do whatever she wants!!”
A chance for Bache to escape from Kali’s command, from the brunt of Argana’s bloodlust. Even now, in the midst of their close-quarter duel, Bache’s movements dulled ever so slightly.
“…Don’t listen to her, Bache. You think I’d be stupid enough to release you for losing? Don’t make me laugh! Victory is the only path to survival.”
“…I understand, Kali,” Bache replied, devoid of emotion, and soon her attacks packed the same punch as before.
“But why?!” Tiona shouted.
“You think your words mean shit? Ha! As if I’d grant you any old stupid request.”
“You’re just a greedy old hag!” Tiona was whining now, bickering like a small child even as she was pummeled with attacks.
“And that’s good enough for me!” Kali shot back, sticking out her tongue in an equally childish riposte. “…It’s a good thing I’m here to watch over your fight,” she continued, going stoic beneath her mask. “At least with Argana and Tione, I know they’ll complete the rite. They’ll continue fighting until the bitter end, offering up their opponent’s dead carcass in triumphant victory.”
“…!”
“Because Argana and Tione…are made from the same mold.”
Tiona twisted her head upward. “That’s not true!”
“Yes it is!” Kali simply laughed. “Argana may have her relentless fighting spirit, but Tione has her anger, and they’re both the same, ever-enduring and ever-abiding. When that girl gets really, truly angry…she wouldn’t hesitate a moment to end her opponent’s life.”
&nb
sp; Almost as if in response to Kali’s murmured allegations, a similar battle to the death intensified, far away atop its ship out at sea.
“HrrrruuuaaaaAAAGH!!”
Tione roared, all her rage and all her fury sending her fist into Argana’s abdomen. The force sent a waterfall of blood down Argana’s chin.
“Guh-guaagh…ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! You’re still…growing stronger…are you, Tione?!”
“I thought I told you to shut up!!” The sight of all that blood, the sound of Argana’s vicious laughter—it only served to spur Tione on further. It didn’t matter how much of her own life Argana’s strikes had already carved away. It didn’t matter how much blood came bubbling out between Argana’s lips. Tione couldn’t stop; her fists, her feet—all stained red—just kept flying.
Relentlessly, mercilessly, she threw blow after blow, the aura of vibrant red air around her darkening as her every strike sought to rend the other Amazon limb from limb.
Argana had her curse. But Tione had her skill.
And Argana was forced to admit that these two weren’t exactly the most compatible of abilities. As her own defenses took a sharp decline, Tione’s attack power only climbed and climbed.
One strike. One strike was all it would take. Tione was becoming the sword that would behead the snake.
While there were any number of ways Tione could have overpowered the other Amazon using her technique and skills, she forgot all of them—simply railing on her again and again, her entire mind, her entire being focused on wringing the very life from Argana’s body. And with every punch, more and more blood came spurting from Argana’s mouth.
Argana took all of it, making no move to cancel her curse.
Perhaps it was a sign of respect, perhaps a way of not turning her back on the battle at hand. So as not to dirty the sacred rites of her country.
And Argana, who refused to put nothing but her best foot forward, was dying.
“Are you going to kill me, Tione? Good!” She laughed, even now trembling with excitement, with a scorching pain. “My blood will become yours, and I shall live forever! Together with those I’ve already consumed! We shall arrive, all of us, at war’s end!!” She was howling now, her state of mind practically no different from Kali’s own.
“We shall become…the strongest warrior!!”
—Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP.
Argana’s words were like white noise to Tione’s ears.
—I’ll defeat her. I’ll kill her. With my own hands. I’ll steal the life from her eyes.
This monster of Telskyura, who represented everything she and Tiona had been made to suffer—she was going to kill her. And she was going to protect her sister.
There was one key difference between her and Tiona—and that was how much they condemned Telskyura. Tione, who’d never been able to smile the way Tiona had, retained nothing but a quietly amassed resentment, like a shadow hanging over her. Without even realizing it, Tione was becoming every bit the warrior she’d so tried to escape.
Kali had been right on the money.
While there might have been a temporary slump in Tiona and Bache’s rite, Tione and Argana’s never faltered. On and on they fought, showing no signs of hesitation or misgiving. Tione’s rage was propelling her toward the future of war Kali desired.
Kali had all of them in the palm of her hand. It had been she who’d ordered Argana and Tione’s fight to take place out at sea, where no one could interfere, and she who’d decided to remain in the cave and watch over Bache and Tiona.
Everything was going exactly as she’d planned.
“I’ll kill you, Tione! Come here and let me drink the life from your veins!!”
“RuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!”
As Argana coaxed her, voice dripping with joy and rage, the Amazonian warriors beside them raised their own voices in vociferous climax.
The final curtain call so lusted after by their goddess was growing steadily nearer.
Tione…!
Back in the cave, Tiona scowled. The constant drumming in her ears was louder now, sending rippling waves of heat all the way to the tips of her fingers.
“Ngh!”
Not missing the opening, Bache threw a knife-hand strike toward her face, and Tiona had less than a second to dodge the incoming Velgas. She leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the attack as it went into the wall, sending shards of smoking, toxic rock flying.
Tiona’s cheek and hair, too, sizzled where Bache’s hand had grazed her, and moving back, she reestablished the distance between them.
I can’t be worrying about Tione now. I have to focus on winning this battle first…
If not, she was in for a world of hurt from her sister. She turned her gaze toward Bache and the icy-cold stare the other Amazon was directing her way. Feeling the sweat running off her in droves, she let out another breath of crimson air.
“My big hits keep missing…” she mumbled beneath her breath, and it was true—three times now she’d tried to lay the finishing blow on Bache only to miss her target. While she knew pecking away at the other Amazon with short, quick strikes would do nothing but get her own body further scorched by Bache’s Velgas, Bache herself wasn’t so negligent as to leave herself open for any type of critical hit. “What should I doooooooo?”
She didn’t have much time. That much she knew.
She could keep smiling all she wanted, but pain was still pain, and heartache was still heartache.
In fact, if she had any choice in the matter at all, she’d much rather have curled up right there on the floor and taken a good long nap.
Kinda reminds me of those caterpillar critters down in the Dungeon. If only I had some sorta weapon…then I could figure somethin’ out.
Not that it was an acceptable scenario, considering she’d probably kill Bache right out.
But if I had my Urga…then what would I do? she mused, looking down at her fist as her mind went to her beloved weapon still under maintenance.
This poison was different from that of those caterpillars. Though her skin may change its color, lose its feeling, and squirm with an agonizing pain, it didn’t melt or lose its shape.
Her breath grew darker, saturated with more and more red.
“…”
Then slowly, she began to stretch.
Bending her knees, she let out a deep puff of air.
“Bache.”
“…”
She looked the other woman straight in the eye. Bache’s face was expressionless, and her lips were closed tight beneath the black of her neckerchief.
“—I’m coming for you.”
And with that, their final duel began.
Tiona’s inaugural strike was a flying punch, straight from the front.
“?!”
Both of them attacked, counterattacked, blocked. They went at each other like dogs, and the swirling mass of toxic light circling Bache’s body seared Tiona’s skin every time they touched. As she danced out of harm’s way, her feet as bare as the elves’, Tiona was foregoing all manner of evasion and simply throwing herself at the other Amazon with everything she had.
What is she thinking?
Bache’s eyes hardened as she watched Tiona come at her. It was ridiculous, really, coming straight from the front like that. Her Velgas was not only a method of attack but one of defense, as well. And every time Tiona’s fist came at her, no matter if it hit, no matter if it was blocked, no matter if it was fended off, the toxins ate away at her bit by bit. It didn’t matter how high of a status resistance she might have—if she didn’t heal herself soon, she had only about five minutes of fight left in her.
And as for the finishing blow she’d been trying to lay on Bache for some time now, she had only about one.
Had the other girl really let herself go this time? Abandoned all reason in her desperation? The thought had only just crossed Bache’s mind when—
“”
—her attacks began hitting nothing but a
ir.
And the attacks landing on her came faster and faster, the accuracy of Tiona’s punches and kicks seeming especially on point.
Bache threw punch after rock-crushing punch. But none of them hit. Tiona was gone. Then suddenly she’d be right next to her, landing a kick to her shoulder. She could hear the sound of Tiona’s skin sizzling against her Velgas. Again and again and again.
—She’s…
Their timing no longer matched.
Tiona’s speed was rising.
Alarmingly so.
And not only that, the power behind her punches was rising, too.
Bache’s eyes shook in their sockets. And all of a sudden, that painfully smiling face came directly into view.
Sh-she can’t be—!
Tiona’s skill, Intense Heat.
Similar to her Berserk skill, every time she took damage, it increased the course-correcting effects of her abilities. The more cornered she was, the closer she came to death, the more her survival and battle instincts turned into pure, concentrated power, flaring up inside her.
—Which meant Bache couldn’t let her land an attack. But Bache couldn’t attack her, either. Or to put it another way, whether she turned the other cheek or simply let it all fly, Tiona’s Status would simply keep on rising.
The damage from her Velgas was going to keep on strengthening the other Amazon no matter what she did.
“Gngh!!”
Tiona’s two boosts had stacked themselves.
Bache, on the other hand, couldn’t land a single hit. She couldn’t dodge a single blow. And she couldn’t guard against a single incoming strike.
Bone-crunching punches slammed into her face. Flailing toes met her chin in earsplitting kicks. Throws sent her hurtling through the air to slam hard against the ground.
Higher, higher, higher.
Speed, endurance, power—all of it rose, seemingly without limit.
Up, up, up, up, up, up—it never ceased.
“Nothing can stop me noooooOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!”
The wave of attacks beat against Bache’s body with the force of a raging river.
Wounds opened up all over her faster than she could even register them, shaking her so much she couldn’t even maintain her Velgas.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 6 Page 26
