WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE OTHER TRANSMIGRATORS IN MY HAREM FANTASY? 386-390

Chapter 386 Demon Slayer

C386 Demon Slayer



Thinking fast, I used [Link Portal] to create a portal below me and the exit portal above the demon.

I fell through the hole right as the foot slammed down on where I had been.

Taking advantage of the demon being distracted, I healed my wing before spreading them to hover in the air.

At the same time, I called up a Shadow Summon to appear on the ground, making it seem like I was still down there and commanded it to start attacking the demon to get its attention.

It seemed to work as my summon started to dart around while firing arrows at it with its shadow bow, diverting the demon's attention from me. The demon roared at it and began to chase it around, not even realising that the shadow was not the real me.

Guess it really is a 'brute' seeing that its intelligence doesn't seem to be that high.

I instructed my summon to focus its efforts into avoiding the demon's attacks while I charged my [Laser] spell. This should be the only magic I currently have that can actually do a significant amount of damage on this demon.

If I poured all my magic into this, I just might be able to produce a [Laser] powerful enough to slice its head off.

The ball of light continued to glow in between my hands, my mana feeding into it and intensifying the light it was radiating.

I just realised I was doing a really nice pose too… Oh you know the pose when you gather an energy ball to fire at something?

Yeah… So I can't help but want to say it…

"Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

The demon slammed its fist on top of my summon, completely obliterating it.

It took a moment to look confused by how my summon simply disappeared like that. It then stiffened, most likely sensing the magic that was gathering above and finally looked up to see me in the air above him.

"HAAAAA!!"

The beam of light was fired from my palms, flying straight towards the demon below me.

The fire in the demon's eyes flared, most likely realising its impending doom in the shape of the light beam.

And then… It avoided the light beam.

My attack crashed against the ground behind it, tearing up a good chunk of the ground and even disintegrating the stone slab that had covered up the staircase.

…

Are you serious?!!

Fuck… I poured all my magic into that and I missed!!

A loud crash followed after that and I looked down to see it was the demon's right arm that had hit the floor.

Looking closer, I realised that in order to avoid the beam piercing through its head, it ended up having the light cut through its shoulder instead, burning through the entire upper part of its arm.

So if my beam actually had hit, that would be the state of its head right now.

The demon let out a roar of pain as it tried to swat at me with its other hand.

I flapped my wings to fly up even higher to stay out of his reach. I'm currently all out of mana so using magic was impossible for me right now.

I have Mana Crystals and potions to replenish it but they're unfortunately all kept in my Pack of Folding…

Damnit… I should look for some accessories later… Maybe a belt or something that I can strap to myself so that I don't become too reliant on the Pack since it's unreliable in situations like these…

Well… I may be out of mana but I ain't out of options!

I drew the Light Sword on my waist and dived towards the demon, dodging a beam of lightning that it shot at me with its mouth.

I may not be able to imbue the Light Sword with the light enchantment property, but I can still use it like a normal sword!

The demon tried to use its one remaining arm to swat at me but I already saw it coming, giving me ample time to avoid it and moving to its right where it was missing an arm.

I tried to turn around but it probably forgot that it lost its right arm so its centre of gravity shifted, causing it to spin a little more than it wanted to fall down on its haunches.

That presented me the perfect opportunity to swoop in to slash at its throat, drawing a line of blood across the demon's skin.

Well… Of course with a size as small as mine going up against an enemy that big, my attack was merely just a scratch to the demon.

Still I'm confident that if I were to keep this up and continue atta--

The demon reached up its hand and snatched me out of the air, its hand big enough to completely envelop me.

It let out a triumphant roar as it squeezed me in its hand, crushing me in its grip.

A scream of pain escaped from my lips before I tried to push back against the demon's fingers.I think you should take a look at

The pain subsided a little but it was obvious that I would not be able to get out of this by brute force alone.

I racked my brains, trying to figure a way out of this predicament before I got crushed to death.

Then I remembered that my Shadow Summons could still be called even when I'm out of mana.

I brought out a few of them from my shadow to leap towards the demon's face, attacking it with swords and spears.𝗇𝔬𝑽𝓔𝗅𝔫𝑒xt.𝒸𝑂𝗆

At the same time, I opened my mouth wide and bit down on its finger, hard enough to taste blood.

The demon roared again, tossing me away to slam me into the ground.

Ugh… That hurts…

Bleuh… I think I swallowed a little of its blood too, disgusting…

I pushed myself up on my knees right as one of my Shadow Summons crashed beside me. She didn't even bother dusting herself off before she charged towards the demon again.

Good thing they don't feel pain.

I picked up my sword that had fallen out of my grasp, glaring up at the demon that was using its last arm to try and swat away my summons.

With only one arm, it wasn't doing that well so only a quarter of my summons have been defeated so far.

I groaned, rolling my shoulders as I checked the extent of the damage I sustained.

Pain erupted from my back and I realised my wings were broken, most likely from the demon crushing me with its hand earlier.

I retracted my wings and the pain subsided into a dull throb, so it was still bearable for now. I'll need to remember to drink an Intermediate potion myself later.

Aside from that, I was still in fighting condition.

At this point, I've recovered a little bit of my mana for a spell or two at most so I don't want to waste it on a healing spell unless necessary.

If I want to kill this guy, I'm going to need to do something big enough to damage it with a single spell…

But that means I'll most likely need to target its head… Which was out of reach since I can't fly.

How do I reach that high without being able to fly?

Oh right.

I called up another Shadow Summon to appear from my shadow, giving her the instruction to throw me.

I let the summon pick me up in her arms, taking a moment to aim at the demon before she tossed me at it.

With my arm extended, I straightened my flight path before focusing on pouring the mana I had just recovered into the sword in my hand, activating its enchantment and bathing its blade with a bright glow.

The demon, still distracted with smiting my summons, did not notice me flying towards it.

As I got closer to it, I switched my grip on my sword to an underhand grip, letting out a warcry to get its attention.

The demon paused to turn around, my distraction successfully preventing it from moving away from its current position.

With the sword raised over my head, I brought it down to impale it on the demon's left eye.

It let out a shriek of pain and I could see its hand reaching up to try and grab me off its face.

Using my other hand to push against his face, I pulled the sword free from its eye socket and let myself fall back towards the ground.

The demon ended up smacking itself in the face, sending it stumbling a step back, its body tilted at an angle perfect for me to impale my sword into its side to slow down my fall.

Of course, my summons were not idle either as they each jumped up to stab their own weapons into the demon, impaling it from all sides.

Once again, it let out another wail of pain but I was already busy placing my feet against its side to kick myself off of the demon, yanking my sword free.

I flew back down towards the ground, my summons all gathering up to catch my fall so that I don't break my neck.

A second after that, the sound of the demon crashing into the ground could be heard, causing the entire cavern to shake.

It flailed its limbs for a moment before going still, dead.

So… Err… Can I call myself a Demon Slayer now?

Wait, wait, wait! I'm kidding! The background music really started playing its opening song! Stoooop!

Chapter 387 Infernalmancy

C387 Infernalmancy



Of course, I actually went to make sure the demon was dead by having my summons stab it a few more times.

Since it didn't move, I'm pretty sure it's dead.

That meant I could now check on the others.

I rushed to Katsuki's side who was still breathing but unconscious.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I resumed digging through my Pack of Folding to look for the potions I needed..

First thing I did was pour an Intermediate grade potion on Katsuki's back, watching as the potion took effect and healed the wounds on her back.

It was quite a wonder to see her skin knit itself back to health, not even leaving a scar behind.

I then took out a mana potion and downed its contents, restoring a portion of my mana just in case I need to cast any spells.

Next, I prepared another Intermediate grade healing potion for myself before letting my wings appear on my back.

That action alone struck me with so much pain that I ended up collapsing on my knees.

Ahhhhh!! I should hae known that trying to move broken wings would be this painful!!

I bit back the scream that almost came out from my mouth while I concentrated on opening the healing potion.

Unfortunately, with the debilitating pain coming from my back, my hand kept slipping on the cork when I tried to open it.

Ughh… I should have uncorked it before letting my wings out… But that also ran the risk of the potion spilling out just now.

Just as I thought about temporarily retracting my wings again, a hand reached forward to gently take the bottle from me.

I turned to see Katsuki helping me open the bottle before handing it back to me, the Inugami's face filled with what looked to be sorrow.

I nodded at her gratefully before downing the liquid, groaning as the healing potion took effect on me.

The pain intensified for a moment as my bones snapped themselves back into place, restoring themselves back to shape while the other wounds on my body also closed themselves up rapidly.

Katsuki then bowed her head, "Mistress, please forgive me for not being able to help… I will accept any punishment."

I smiled at Katsuki wryly, "What are you talking about? Didn't you shield me from the lightning the demon was shooting out? How could you say you weren't able to help despite doing that?"

"No… If I had been stronger… I would be able to defend Mistress against such an attack without being incapacitated."

I reached out and patted her head, "Don't say something like that, you're still growing aren't you? Besides, if you weren't here, I'm sure I would have been hit by the lightning before I could even react."

Of course, I was thinking about her Unique Skill which must have told her about the danger of the lightning even before it happened, allowing me to be protected from the lightning strike. If it was anyone else, I doubt they would have reacted fast enough to protect me from it.

Except… Maybe Mary and Sebastian… But let's not compare them to Katsuki.

Unfortunately, Katsuki did not share my sentiments and bowed her head even lower, "It still does not change the fact that I have left Mistress to fight by yourself. Something like that is completely disgraceful as a maid."

Well… To be honest, I'm not really surprised by the way she was acting since I already expected she would react like this.

"Hmm… Then shall I punish you, Katsuki?"

"Yes Mistress, please do," She replied without hesitation.

I tapped my chin with a finger, "Alright then… How about you take the potions needed from my Pack of Folding and start healing everyone here? I'm sure you can handle something like this right? Then afterwards, you need to let me fluff that tail of yours~"

She looked up at me, "E… Eh? But… But that hardly counts as a punishment?"

I giggled, "Ufufu~ So is Katsuki telling me it's fine for me to go run around the place and heal everyone by myself? And you're already trying to decide what actions I do constitute as a punishment for you?"

My Inugami maid immediately realised her error and bowed her head one more time, "That was not my intention at all, Mistress! Please allow me to do it in your stead!"

"Ufufufu~ In that case, I'll leave it to you!"

My maid rushed off towards my bag and quickly took out the needed potions to heal her fellow maids.

She's so cute~ I'm going to enjoy fluffing that tail of hers later~

Just so you know, I've not let down my guard yet.

At this moment, we're still inside enemy territory and I've instructed some of my Shadow Summons to watch the perimeter while the others worked on dissecting the demon's corpse.

Hey, this is basic Mercenary and Dungeoneer knowledge! Of course it's natural for the winner to claim the spoils of war! Which in this case are the parts of the monster that was defeated!

Well… Granted, this guy isn't a monster but who's to say that demon parts aren't useful?

Actually… I don't even know if it would be useful but I'm sure something as strong as the one I fought should have some value?

Maybe the demons in this World have something like demon cores or something that are brimming with mana?

Just as I thought of that, the Shadow Summon that was carving up its chest took out an orb shaped object from within the demon's chest, right above where its heart was.

She then brought it over to me, the orb being about half a size bigger than a basketball.

Wait, seriously? I was only joking with the demon core thing you know?

I took the orb from it and used my [Screened] to see what it was.

[Demonic Core - An orb filled with demonic energy. A source of power for all demons.]

Oh… So demons really have something like this in them? But what can you do with it? Does it function the same as a Mana crystal?

Since my mana wasn't full yet, I tried to absorb the energy inside the orb and…I think you should take a look at

Pain shot up my arm and I was forced to drop the orb, clutching at my wrist in an attempt to numb the pain.

Gritting my teeth, I noticed the blood vessels in my arm seemed to have expanded noticeably and they were slowly darkening to a sickly black colour.

I was hoping the pain would subside but it only got more intense over time, making me feel like my hand was being chopped off.

Thinking quickly, I surmised that the pain started because I tried to absorb the energy but my body might not have been compatible with it which is making me reject that energy right now.

That means the way to stop this was to expel that energy out somehow.

I focused on my hand, feeling the energy gathered in it before thrusting my palm outwards to expel it from my body.

A streak of dark red lightning blasted out from my palm to impact against the wall, tearing a great chunk out of the wall.

The impact was at least three times stronger than my [Spark Strike] spell.

I blinked, feeling the pain subside away before I noticed something pop up in my mind.

[Infernal Lightning - Basic lightning attack made up of pure Demonic Energy]

It took me a moment to register what that meant before I recovered enough to look at my stats.

[Name: Aster Nilm

Title: Young Mistress of Nilm Family, Dragonslayer, Most Adored Young Mistress, Lover of Sweets, Lisa's Soulmate, Delmare's Aural Lover, Tiara's Big Sister

Race: Meslatar

Gender: Futanari

Stats:

456 Strength

440 Dexterity

458 Endurance

500 Magic

Skills:

Hunting (Tier 2), Cooking (Tier 2), Alchemy (Tier 1), Navigation (Tier 1), Sailing (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Dagger Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 2), Bow Proficiency (Tier 2), Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Polearm Proficiency (Tier 1), Axe Proficiency (Tier 1))

Magic Skills:

Mana Management (Tier 2), Umbramancy (Tier 2), Electromancy (Tier 2), Lumenmancy (Tier 2), Pyromancy (Tier 2), Hydromancy (Tier 1), Aeromancy (Tier 1), Geomancy (Tier 1), Iatromancy (Tier 1), Somatomancy (Tier 1), Astromancy (Tier 1), Infernalmancy (Tier 1)

Unique Skill:

Mind Shield]

Ok… First thing, I'm not too surprised by the new title since that was something to be expected.

But the new thing that surprised me was [Infernalmancy], which I assume I must have obtained earlier by trying to absorb the energy in the Demonic Core.

Well, let's try it out again!

Infernal Lightning!!!

…

Nothing happened…

That's odd? I thrusted out my palm again, this time yelling, "Infernal lightning!!"

…

Still nothing?𝓝𝑜𝑽𝓮𝔩𝑛𝑬xt.𝑐𝑶𝔪

Wait… Don't tell me I can only cast this magic using the energy from a Demonic Core?

I looked down at the orb at my feet, the reddish black orb pulsating back at me as though asking me to try it.

I picked it up again to hold it in my left hand, almost expecting it to burn me again.

Feeling no pain this time, I thrusted out my right palm once again.

[Infernal Lightning]!

I could feel the energy travel from the orb into my left arm, the process of which was incredibly uncomfortable.

It almost felt like there were worms squeezing through my veins and moving through my arm and I really wanted to drop it but I was forced to stay in place and unable to move.

The good thing was that there was no pain this time, it was just incredibly uncomfortable.

It took quite a while before the feeling finally reached my right arm to squeeze to my fingertips, dark red lightning once again streaking out from my fingers to explode against the wall.

That uncomfortable feeling then dissipated and I could move my body again.

Ok… So… I guess I'm an Infernalmancer now?

Chapter 388 Cutting Off The Heads

C388 Cutting Off The Heads



I expected all my potions to be used up but it seems like there are Iatromancers amongst the maids so once they were brought back to health, they helped to heal the others using their magic.

I looked at the group of maids gathered in front of me, "So… Are we continuing with the extermination of this cult? It kind of feels like we bit off more than we can chew."

Katsuki shook her head, "It's fine, Mistress. You do not need to worry about us, we are all ready to go."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Are you sure about that? We almost got wiped from a demon encounter…"

"I do not believe there are any more demons, Mistress. If there were, they would have tried to take over the capital by now."

"Eh? Really? You mean that demon from earlier wasn't enough? Now that I think about it… Why didn't they make use of that demon to kidnap the princess? Instead, they were betting on the princess coming here on her own?"

Katsuki hesitated for a moment, "I'm afraid I am unable to answer Mistress's latter question but I am able to speculate that this cult does not actually have control over the demon that Mistress defeated. They most likely summoned it and kept it here where it remained docile until we came along. The demon itself does not follow their orders."

Hmm… I guess that would make sense… But seriously though… What made them think that the princess would even make her way here after that attempt to kidnap her?

Sure, she initially wanted to, but there's no one in their right mind who would agree with the princess and allow her to do something like that… Everyone would have stopped her.

So unless these people know something that we don't which made them so sure the princess would come here, or they're just complete idiots.

And seeing that they all think that using the princess to summon a demon of all things was a good idea… I'm going to go with the latter possibility.

Welp, since I have received their assurance that everyone was fine and there weren't any problems with forging ahead, I agreed with their plan of continuing forward.

Which now brought about the next question… Where to?

"Mistress, up there," One of the maids pointed.

I looked at where she was pointing and I realised there was a sort of hole in the wall with metallic bars for a window all the way at the very top of the cavern, almost flushed with the roof.

I'm assuming that's where we had first heard the voice from and how that person realised that the princess wasn't here. But right now there was no one there so that person must have left before he saw the end of the fight.

"Ok… I guess that's where we need to go next?" I assumed.

Katsuki nodded, "That place should lead us to the real hideout of the cult. The previous one must have been a decoy meant for their pursuers to find so that they could be led to this place and have the demon take care of them."

Alright, then all we need to do is get up there! Good thing I have a line of sight to that place so I could cast [Link Portal].

Two portals materialised instantly with one of them being behind the bars and the other one appearing in front of me.

I then gingerly strode forward and held the portal open, allowing the other maids to come through after me.

The place we teleported to seemed to be a viewing room of sorts where there was even a couch and a cabinet filled with bottles of liquor.

I'm willing to bet that whoever was in charge here wanted to sit here and watch the princess get torn apart by the demon or something.

Hmm… That also doesn't make sense… They need the princess to perform some ritual to summon more demons right? So wouldn't it be bad for them if the demon were to… Oh…

They never said they needed the princess alive…

Damn, this just makes things worse… We better get rid of everyone in this cult then… They've already managed to summon one demon, things would definitely be worse if they manage to summon more.

Even the demon from earlier would be able to destroy quite a bit of the city if it was released without any warning.

It'll definitely still be killed and not achieve the cult's goal of overthrowing the Royal Family, but it's definitely a threat that they could have used.

"Mistress," Katsuki called out to me, bringing me out of my musings to see her standing at the only door that led out of the room.

All of the maids, with Katsuki included, had their weapons drawn, already expecting a fight up ahead.

I unsheathed my own sword and nodded at them, advancing with the maids down the dimly lit corridor outside.

I soon realised why they were prepared to fight when voices echoed from up ahead, though it was too muffled for me to make out what they were saying.

A short walk later and we found ourselves at what looked to be a dead end, the voices coming from behind a smooth slab of rock.

"Hidden door?" I guessed.

The others nodded, already scouring the walls of the passageway to look for a hidden mechanism that could operate it from this side.I think you should take a look at

Ummm… Some of them even got on the ground to search, which meant that their bottoms were presented to me on full display and I had to try not to react to that…

Instead, I focused my sight on Katsuki, watching her trace her hand along the wall before she suddenly stopped.

My Inugami maid rapped her fingers against a part of the wall before pushing her hand against it, causing a part of the wall to sink in and the sound of the stone slab being moved.𝚗𝗈𝐯𝗲𝒍𝒏𝗲xt.𝐜𝐎𝐦

Everyone immediately formed up again and rushed through the opening, jumping out into the open at the same time.

There were shouts and cries of pain that followed soon after, prompting me to rush out as well.

I stepped out into what could be described as a rather spacious meeting room of sorts where several robed people were currently being cut down by the maids one after another.

"The… They're Combat Maids from the Nilm Family!!"

"What is the Nilm Family maids doing here?!!"

"Run! Run!! Quickly ru--aaarrrghhh!!"

A few of them tried to fight back but none of them were any match for the maids.

Well… Since they were taken out by the demon earlier, they did not get to showcase their skills and in the previous encounter they were fighting people who were concentrating on grabbing the princess instead of fighting back… So I think they might be the first proper fight they have today.

I even spotted someone trying to shoot a crossbow at a particular maid and was about to jump in to stop him when the maid simply reached under her skirt to throw a throwing knife at her assailant.

The knife struck home on the crossbowman's head, killing him instantly before he could even shoot his bolt.

Another maid was fighting three swordsmen simultaneously with an estoc in her right hand and a dagger in her left, expertly parrying and dancing around the three men despite wearing a voluminous maid uniform.

Hey, I have the [Fashion Forward] boon, so it's fine for me.

Supporting the maids at the front line were another group of maids that were either shooting arrows or flinging spells at the enemies, all of them coordinating with one another without even speaking like they have done this plenty of times.

Despite that, there seemed to be quite a number of enemies this time and a few of them were escaping through the door on the other end of the room.

Looks like that's a job for me!

I used [Link Portal] to teleport myself to the other side of the room, appearing in front of the runners with my Light Sword in my hand.

"Hello there~ Going somewhere?" I chirped.

"Who's this?!"

"I don't know, but she's not wearing a maid uniform of the Nilm Family!"

"That means she's weak! Cut her down and run!!"

Oh, now that's just rude…

The first man raised his fist to try to punch me so I just sidestepped him and poured my mana into my sword, cutting his arm at the elbow before swinging it back to cut through his legs.

The man took another step past me before his limbs separated and he fell over onto the ground, screaming out in pain.

The next guy tried to slash his sword at me, prompting me to raise my sword and cut through his blade. He stared at his broken sword dumbly, only to have my sword slice through his neck in the next instant and decapitate him.

The last guy screamed upon seeing his dead comrades and tried to run past me.

Of course, I wasn't going to let him escape so I smashed my pommel into the side of his head, sending him crashing into the wall.

"A fantastic display, Mistress. You personally took down the leaders of the cult by yourself," Katsuki praised, appearing behind me without a sound.

Eh? These three were the leaders? I guess one of them sounded similar to the voice I heard earlier…

But umm… I killed one and then chopped off the limbs of another one… That's fine right?

Right?

Chapter 389 Valour Skills

C389 Valour Skills



"So… These guys are the leaders?" I asked, pointing at the one dead body, the one unconscious man and one more unconscious guy who was missing an arm and two legs.

"According to our sources, that is correct, Mistress."

I'm guessing the 'sources' she was talking about were the cult members who were being interrogated before.

"Sooo… Who are they?"

"Just some nobles who dreamt of something out of their reach, Mistress."

Ok…

Well… I went ahead to use [Screened] but it's not like it gave me much information since I don't know how significant they are, especially when two were only Baron houses with the last one being a Viscount.

Their stats weren't even that great to begin with with all three having an average of tens in their stats across the board.

The only thing similar between the three of them was that they all share the title of 'Demon Cultist' amongst their list of titles.

There's no question that they were definitely a cult after that...

But seriously… Were they really betting on using the princess to summon a demon and take over the kingdom that way? What's so special about the princess that they are sure the demon would not turn on them instead?

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be getting an answer from these three anytime soon since they were not really in a position to actually talk… But then again, we've yet to clear the area yet anyway since there's still cultists running about.

How the heck did they even convince people to join this cult? Promises of money? Power? Guess I'll have to find out later.

The tunnel had led us to the Viscount's manor on the outskirts of the city.

That was already quite a big deal since this practically meant that the city's walls were compromised from the very beginning. If the capital were to face an invading force and they find out about this tunnel… That would be pretty bad.

Leaving those three noblemen aside with a pair of maids to guard them, the rest of us moved on to clear the rest of the manor.

We had to move fast since everyone else must have heard the commotion and might be trying to escape from here right now. And if we let one escape, they could just start up another cult if they were determined enough.

That's why it's best to get rid of all of them now, especially when every one of them was gathered here right now.

I followed behind the maids as they went to clear the rooms one by one, the main force moving towards the main hall of the manor where we were expecting most of the cultists to have escaped to.

Sure enough, the main doors of the manor were left wide open and one of them was even running towards it at this very moment.

One of our maids was quick to respond by throwing a knife that impaled the running man in the back of his knee, causing him to tumble onto the ground while screaming in pain.

"Search the perimeter, let no one escape. Show no mercy," The maid acting as the group leader commanded, prompting everyone to scatter.

I figured that since I was of no help indoors, I might be able to help them search for these cultists outdoors with my flying so I joined them in rushing out of the manor.

Already, I could see a few of those cultists dispersing in several directions from the main entrance, obviously thinking that it would be harder for us to catch them if they were to split up.

I chose a group of three that chose to stick together and flew after them, my sword drawn and held at the ready.

The sound of my wings flapping behind them drew their attention and they turned their heads to gawk at me.

The leader must have realised that they could not outrun me and turned around with his brethren to fight me. He was using a longsword while the two followers beside him were wielding an arming sword each.

[Name: Irfan

Title: Sword Flash, Mercenary Hunter, Swordmaster Reject

Race: Mahun

Gender: Male

Current Mood: Determined

Stats:

90 Strength

110 Dexterity

80 Endurance

15 Magic

Skills:

Noble Etiquette (Tier 1), Leadership (Tier 2), Tracking (Tier 1), Cooking (Tier 2), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Shield Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1), Spear Proficiency (Tier 1))]

Hmm… Impressive but I doubt he would be a challenge for me.

I landed in front of them and intentionally flared my wings to look more imposing, "You three… Lay down your weapons and surrender if you don't wish to die."

The leader raised his sword to point the tip at me, "You'll never take us alive, Royal scum!"

Err… What? I'm not even part of the Royal Family though?

I didn't get to retort that since the three of them charged at me at that moment, spreading themselves out in a fan to flank me from both sides while the leader charged me from the front.

I hefted my blade and got ready to intercept him, expecting this to be an easy fight.

"[Sword Flash]!" Irfan roared, his figure suddenly disappearing from view.

Eh?

I felt my entire body go stiff and I had the mental image of a sword being held against my throat, right before a metallic clang resounded from beside me.

"Mistress, please forgive my delay," Katsuki apologised, having just deflected the sword that was a split second away from reaching my neck.I think you should take a look at

Well… Not really, since my instinct prompted me to raise my own sword in defence so even if Katsuki had not deflected the sword, I would have defended myself anyway.

But that brought the question of what was that 'Sword Flash' he was shouting when he was running up to me earlier? Was that a Unique Skill? But his status screen definitely did not show anything about a Unique Skill.

So what the hell was that?

The Irfan guy backed off and glared at my maid, "Tch… This is not good… She has some kind of Valour Skill that can match my speed too…"

"We'll take care of the other one! You can fight against the maid!"

"Got it, let's go!"

Err… I really just want everyone to stop for a while… What the heck is a Valour Skill? Is this something new that I don't know about?

Ah, whoops, those two are charging towards me now. Getting distracted in a fight is a big no, no. I can figure out what was going on with that sword flash or whatever later.

"Katsuki, can you handle their leader?" I requested.

"Understood, Mistress."

She dashed forward with her daggers while I focused on the two cultists charging towards me.

I was a little bit more cautious now in case these two also do something unexpected like the first guy did.𝑛𝒪𝓥𝔢𝔩𝑛𝐞xt.𝑐𝒪𝓂

But it seemed like my caution was for naught as they simply ran up to me normally and tried to slash at me with their swords.

Thus, I had no problems dealing with these two in particular, especially when their stats were only around the twenties each.

What's more… They don't even have a tier one in Martial Skills… It's obvious that they aren't experienced fighters and were more like labourers…

The one on the left tried to attack me with a clumsy overhead slash from his sword, so I easily sidestepped him and smashed him in the back of the head with the flat of my sword.

Just that was already enough to knock him out and send him sprawling onto the ground.

The other cultist rushed up to me in an attempt to stab me to which I spun my sword in a circle and parried it, redirecting his sword to the side.

I then switched my grip on my sword and smashed my pommel to the top of his head, letting him join his companion in blissful unconsciousness.

Huh… That was easy…

I called up a Shadow Summon to watch over these two in case they were just pretending to be weak so that I could watch Katsuki's fight instead.

Those two were still at it but it was clear that Katsuki had the advantage here.

The only odd thing was that the guy was yelling out something that seemed to have an effect, even though I know for a fact that he did not have any Magic Skills… I'm guessing this was related to the Valour Skill he was mentioning earlier?

"[Fourfold Multi Slash]!"

He brought his sword down and Katsuki swung out her daggers quickly, deflecting his physical blade away from her with a loud 'clang'.

Her daggers then lashed out and four more 'clangs' could be heard as she struck against invisible blades in the air.

That was… Not magic I think?

I tried to look at his status again.

[Name: Irfan

Title: Sword Flash, Mercenary Hunter, Swordmaster Reject

Race: Mahun

Gender: Male

Current Mood: Determined

Stats:

90 Strength

110 Dexterity

80 Endurance

15 Magic

Skills:

Noble Etiquette (Tier 1), Leadership (Tier 2), Tracking (Tier 1), Cooking (Tier 2), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Shield Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1), Spear Proficiency (Tier 1))

Valour Skills:

[Sword Flash], [Threefold Multi Slash], [Fourfold Multi Slash], [Body Strengthening]]

Ok, that wasn't there before…

So I pretty much have confirmation that this [Screened] boon only shows me what I am aware of… Which means there could be things I don't know about that aren't being displayed and will only show themselves after I'm aware of it…

Interesting…

As for that guy… Even with those skills, it was not enough for him to beat Katsuki and she simply cut off his hands the moment he overextended his sword swing.

The guy didn't even get to scream before Katsuki knocked him out with a blow to the head.

Well, leaving him aside… I need to find out more about these Valour Skills… Who can I ask?

Chapter 390 Why Aren't There Battlemages?

C390 Why Aren't There Battlemages?



"Valour Skills, Mistress?" Katsuki repeated my question while tying up the unconscious cultists we had just defeated.

I nodded, half watching her while the other half of my attention was directed to watching our other maids bringing back the cultists that tried to escape back to the manor. They were fast enough to catch them before they even got very far.

"Mmhmm, I've never seen them before, actually."

Katsuki tilted her head slightly, "I was so sure that Mistress would already know about several Valour Skills… To think Mistress has been fighting without them all this time…"

"Err… Is that a bad thing?"

"Hmm… Not exactly, Mistress… But I am quite surprised that Mistress is unaware of it. Has the martial class in the Academy not taught anything about it?"

"I don't believe so… I might need to ask Odeta about it since I've been skipping quite a number of the classes before this."

Katsuki seemed like she was about to agree with me when she stopped herself, "Ah… Forgive me Mistress. They would have definitely not taught you about it yet since they are considered rather advanced skills. I would think that you would only get to learn about them in the senior years of your school. Perhaps even only right before you graduate."

"Eh? That long?"

"If I am not mistaken, they had raised the bar for learning these Valour Skills after they realised teaching younger students these skills resulted in a lot more accidents and quite a number of deaths in fact."

"Ah… So I guess it's not like I can go and request myself to be moved to a more advanced class to learn it earlier?"

"Mnn… If it's Mistress, it is possible."

I shook my head, "Let's just say that it isn't me and it's just some normal student asking so."

"In that case, that is correct, Mistress. They would not allow someone young to learn such skills. That is… Unless they show considerable skill with their martial prowess which would then leave it up for the people in charge to decide."

Hmm… They are scared of teaching a bunch of kids Valour Skills because they think they will just grab the nearest sword and go around slashing each other… But then you guys go ahead and teach them how to cast fireball and burn stuff without question…

Ok, I guess accidentally burning your friend with a small flame is less traumatic than lopping their heads off and there's always magic to stop a fire… But still, I still think this is really ironic.

"Does Katsuki know any Valour Skills?"

"I do, Mistress. I knew a few before I met Mistress already."𝗇𝒐𝑣𝔢𝔩𝞰𝖊xt.𝑪𝑂𝔪

I gasped, "Eh?! Really?! Does that mean it's easy to learn them?"

"On the contrary, Mistress… Learning one takes quite a long time, though I would say it would definitely be shorter than advancing a Magic Skill to the next tier of proficiency."

Hmm… So it's still not that easy to learn them…

"So what Valour Skills does Katsuki know?"

Katsuki finished tying up the cultists and stood up to face me, "I think it would be easier for Mistress to see it instead. If I may?"

I nodded of course, already watching her with anticipation.

She patted her maid uniform to smooth out the creases in her skirt before looking forward.

"I shall be running to the manor, Mistress."

She disappeared from my vision and I looked towards the manor, finding her already standing at the doorway and in the midst of turning around.

She then paused for a brief moment before disappearing and reappearing in front of me, almost like she teleported.

I knew she definitely did not teleport since I could see some parts of the ground being disturbed which was where she must have passed through to get here.

"That was Agility Boost, Mistress."

Oh. So unlike spells, you don't have to chant or say the skill name out loud? I can see some advantages of this.

"So… That skill increases your speed?" I asked.

Katsuki bowed, "That is correct, Mistress."

"And how would one learn such a skill?"

"For me, I was made to sprint from one position to another repeatedly for several months. It was one of the first skills I learned."

I gasped, "Is that how you are able to move so fast from place to place? Ah! Like whenever I call for you and then you instantly appear?"

Unexpectedly, Katsuki shook her head, "Definitely not, Mistress. It is natural for a maid to appear before her Mistress whenever she is called. I need not use a Valour Skill to do something like that."

I… Don't even know what to say to that… Because I actually believe that she could do something like that without using her skill.

I decided to change the topic instead, "So if I wanted to learn how to use a skill like that, I just need to practise sprinting for a few months?"

"That is possible, though there could be many ways to get the same skill."

I perked up, "Oh? Like what?"

Katsuki hesitated, "Unfortunately… I am not very well versed in this, Mistress… I am only aware that there are multiple ways to get the same skill. Perhaps you might want to ask Sebastian about this instead?"I think you should take a look at

Oh right, of course I should ask our Combat Butler about it~

This would be so cool if I could learn how to do all those skills too!

Seeing that the guy knew a skill called [Threefold Multi Slash] and [Fourfold Multi Slash], I'm also going to assume that there's also some kind of progression to these skills as well. So most likely to get to [Fourfold Multi Slash] skill, he had to learn [Threefold Multi Slash] first.

So maybe a skill like [Agility Boost] could be improved to another skill after using it multiple times?

Now I'm even more excited, what kind of Valour Skills there are out there? That [Sword Flash] skill that he was using was basically an attack and movement skill rolled into one right?

So maybe there's skills that combined magic as well?

"Are there Valour Skills that also combine magic in them?" I asked.

Katsuki seemed to think for a moment, "I have not seen any like that before… But I believe there are such skills, Mistress."

Ohhhh! Then maybe there's even a skill that could summon multiple portals that shoots out different swords at your enemies?!

Oh wait… Now that I think about it… Couldn't I achieve that by combining Astromancy and Umbramancy? Astromancy to create the portals and then Umbramancy to create shadow weapons to shoot through the portals?

Hmm… Unfortunately I can only create one portal at a time so that's not possible yet… But that means I just need to experiment more!

Now I have another question.

"What made Katsuki think that I am able to use Valour Skills?"

"Mistress has been doing those exercises of yours for a long time, so I thought that those were training to gain a Valour Skill of sorts."

"Huh… Is there a skill that can be gained from something like that?"

"I… Do not know, Mistress. But I do know that Odeta has Valour Skills of her own as well, which I had thought she might have gained because of following this training regime."

Eh?

What?

She does? Then what about me?!

"What Valour Skills does she have?"

"I'm afraid I do not know about the specifics of the skills, Mistress. If Mistress wishes to know, I'm afraid you would need to ask her directly."

"Nngh… I guess I'll have to do that later when we get back… I didn't even know about the existence of Valour Skills before today…"

Katsuki actually blinked at me in confusion, "Has… Has Madam not taught you about it, Mistress?"

"Umm… Mo… Mother has not…"

"I see… She must have her reasons then. Unless… She forgot?"

Well… I wouldn't be surprised if she actually did forget… Most of her time was spent fawning on me after all. And she would only tell me stuff after I ask her about it.

Maybe she just likes to see me learn about these things myself?

"So… Who else I know has Valour Skills?"

"Umm… Pretty much most of the servants in our family, Mistress… Ah, aside from those who are focused on spell casting of course."

"Hmm… Is there a compatibility for this? Like those who learn magic aren't able to or just generally don't learn Valour Skills?"

"I would say more of the latter, Mistress. Trying to increase one's proficiency with magic is already a daunting enough task. To try and learn Valour Skills on top of that would mean that the person either spends every single waking moment of their lives training or they would just be mediocre at both. Of course, such things do not apply to geniuses like Mistress."

Oh stahp it Katsuki~ You're making me blush~

Hmm… But that would mean that there's almost no spellswords, are there? Or maybe even a lack of battlemages?

Damn, but I think that's cool though… Maybe I can be one of the first to do so?

Oh, that reminds me! I wanted to fluff that tail of yours!

"Mi… Mistress? Did… Did I displease you?"

"Ehehehe~ Don't mind me~ I just had an urge to fluff your tail~ So just let me indulge a bit~"

"Ngghh… Un… Understood, Mistress… Ahhh…"

Ahhh~ It's so fluffy~ Yeesssss~

I can just enjoy this for now and worry about everything else later~

Fluff~ Fluff~ Fluff~