126 Meeting Alice Again (1)
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!" A bellow of rage escaped from the eighth-layer golem. The terrifying roar suppressed all the sounds and made the cave tremble.
However, it was useless against the girls.
In the instant when the golem let out the roar, a translucid barrier protected the girls. Despite teetering on the verge of collapse, the barrier remained strong and fulfilled with its purpose.
It was Louise's sixth-layer magic, [Force Barrier].
But one second later, a punch from the golem destroyed the already weakened barrier.
"Now!"
Louise shouted, and with that as the signal, a shadow jumped from behind the barrier. The lithe shadow climbed running through the golem's arm, finally reaching to its head.
Then, with a powerful cry, the shadow slashed with her sword.
"Haaaaaaah!"
A silver-colored wave of sword energy flew towards the golem's head. It flew straight towards the golem's face, slicing one of its eyes!
"ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!" The golem roared once more, but this time its roar was filled with pain. It tried to use its hand to swat away the fly that hurt it, but a barrier of ice stopped the attack.
"Thanks Lena!" Claire called out happily. At the same time, she landed in the golem's chest and jumped back towards the girls.
Having lost one of its eyes, the golem's movements became much more erratic. It waved its hands and feet furiously trying to crush the insects that dared to defy its power.
The earth rumbled and the cave shook. Violent waves of energy originated from the place of the fight, causing widespread destruction.
But the three girls facing the monster remained calm. They stood firm against the monster, as three proud goddesses of war, slowly destroying the golem's body.
In the blink of an eye, five minutes had passed. This battle had been the longest the girls fought until now. Calculating the time, I estimated that they had only another three minutes before the time was up.
But fortunately, the fight was already decided.
"Force magic, [Force Chains]!" Louise finished a spell she had been preparing for a long time. Instantly, tens of magic circles appeared around the golem. Then, innumerable chains flew from the magic circles and tied the golem body.
The golem desperately tried to free itself from the chains, but Louise was not the only one whose spell was ready. Less than one second later, Lena's sweet and crisp voice resounded in the cave.
"Activate, [Frozen Hell]!"
Ice-cold mana surged out of Lena's body. The ice-cold mana turned into a current that engulfed the golem, freezing its right leg and arm completely.
Then, a flash of silver appeared, and the silver-haired swordsman brandished her sword.
"[Stardust]!" Claire bellowed, and a storm of sword energy criss-crossed the frozen limbs of the golem.
The next instant, the golem's frozen limbs burst into pieces.
"ROOAAAAARRRR!" The golem let out a furious cry of pain. Having lost one of its legs, its body helplessly fell to a side, crashing against the ground.
Then, a brilliant magic circle appeared over its head.
Extending her hand, Louise flashed a confident smile.
"It's the end!"
Then, she waved her hand.
Force magic, [Swords' Paradise]!
An uncountable number of transparent swords appeared on the magic circle. Following their owner's orders, the swords rained towards the golem.
The golem helplessly tried to use its remaining arm to defend against the rain of swords, but its struggle was futile. Sword after sword descended nibbling away the golem's remaining arm and finally piercing its head.
With one last unwilling look, the golem tried to attack one last time.
But before it could, its last eye turned dim.
Then, the powerful eighth-layer golem crumbled into pieces.
A second later, the pieces turned into motes of light.
Like that, the girls killed the last monster of the cave.
…
"It was incredible!" Claire let out an excited cry once we left the cave. I could not help but let out a soft chuckle seeing that.
"I remember that someone spent half of the time scared."
Claire turned slightly red. "… Please don't speak about it."
"Fortunately, you are alright." Louise looked at her sister and let out a relieved sigh. She then shot me a grateful look. Although she did not know how I did it, she knew I was the one who helped Claire to overcome the trauma of the assassination.
"By the way Claire, I still don't understand why you were like that," Lena asked with a curious look.
Claire smiled bitterly. She could not tell Lena that the assassination was real, could she?
After leaving the cave, we were received by the staff of Hidden Cave. They were noticeably surprised that we finished the array. After all, the final boss was an eighth-layer monster, and the other monsters were not weak either.
Meanwhile, the strongest of us was the sixth-tier Louise. Two entire levels below the boss.
But remembering our identities, they could only sigh in admiration.
At that moment, Earl Carson and his wife, Mia, appeared in front of us.
"Louise, Claire, it's time to go." Earl Carson said.
Although a bit disappointed, Louise and Claire nodded. Before leaving, Claire mouthed a few words towards me.
'I'll go to the palace soon.'
Then, she winked.
"This girl." I sighed inwardly and shook my head. No matter how stealthy she tries to be, how can her antics escape the Earl and his wife's eyes?
Even Louise and Lena noticed it, throwing me looks of suspicion.
Well, I prefer this kind of mischievous fairy than the one that was too scared to move.
After that, Lena and I took the royal carriage and departed back to the palace. During the way, Lena interrogated me about all the things that she found suspicious, starting from my relationship with Louise, until what happened between me and Claire when we were alone.
Fortunately, I was quite experienced in this. I easily eased her suspicions while at the same time diverting the conversation to another topic.
But when we were halfway to the palace, someone stopped our carriage.
From outside, the familiar voice of an old butler came.
"Your highness prince Claus, can you grant an audience to my family's young miss?"
...
Eighth chapter of last week
