The sword flew in a straight line with tremendous speed.
Then it suddenly stopped, levitating in front of Soma.
"She... is..."
"?! What's wrong...?!"
"I can... see it...! This feeling..."
Lestia became a little excited, as if she had seen someone like her.
Soma's bloodied form began to seep back into her skin.
"Th...at... is..."
Lestia stumbled onto her words dumbfoundedly, as she could sense something similar within Soma. Her Slime Sense had not deceived her. Soma was definitely emitting a thick miasma, something only monsters with a dark attribute could create.
And ever since she had obtained her Origin, Lestia had begun to be able to use her bodily functions normally now. Her eyes could clearly see...
The physical manifestation of a pair of dark red wings sprouting behind Soma's back.
"That woman... no, Soma... I have no idea what had happened to her... but she has probably turned into a Monster..."
"A... monster..."
Huh? Did it not work again? But then...
Kuro looked at Soma's recovering state. Her expression turned calmer as the Sword of Bloodwell stayed right in front of her.
This time, the searing of the Sigil happened all too quickly, as if unclogging a blocked basin pipe. The pain that would have otherwise been transmitted into Soma's body finished in an instant.
The symbol was inscribed onto the metal of the Demonic Blade in front of her instead, as if implying that it was part of her body. Going down horizontally, it formed another distinctive red symbol to add on to the existing six.
As the blue liquid covering her disappeared entirely, Kuro and Lestia could finally see her expression and figure.
True enough to Lestia's claims, she had turned slightly different with some protruding physical changes. Firstly, it was the pair of wings behind her. Secondly, a tail with a heart-shaped tip on its end was behind her back and along the spinal cord.
Soma twirled around once in surprise, inspecting her new body parts. The pain had disappeared right after her Master had done something for her.
As if coming to a full understanding, Soma grinned and revealed two sharp ends of her teeth protruding out like a bloodthirsty bat.
Looking at her hands cupped up to her chest for a brief moment, Soma redirected her gaze to Kuro who was on the other end. She sent her intentions through the slave connection.
I see... Master. My impulses earlier... it would be much quicker to see my status for yourself... but we need to take this fight outside.
You're right... kuhh...
...Y-You're... hurt...!!! Be...because of me...
...no... because of that thing...
...We need to treat those wounds as top priority, Master...And then... after hurting my beloved like this, that thing now has zero chance to be left alone. I will DESTROY IT.
... ...
...Outside...? How?
Soma grinned again and turned towards Lestia. Silvain Worm L'althukul had returned to her side, circling around underneath and lying in wait.
"Well then, you can stay here for all I care~ Keep thinking of the hole in the ceiling as an unreachable point, I'll just bring Master away with these wings~"
As if showing complete mastery over it within a few seconds, Soma flapped them a few times as a taunt. Her tail was twirling around mischievously like a cat.
"! I'll go too!"
"No, you'll just be a hindrance since I don't think you're capable of using movement-based abilities after sparring this many times. You don't even have mana in the first place, so don't even bother~"
Lestia felt slightly provoked by those words, and watched Soma perform another powerful repulsion effect by stacking her sword skills in order to stop the Abomination from following her defenseless Master.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Sword Field! Delay: Lightspeed Thrust, Breakmoon!"
Following this sequence, the repelling force of Breakmoon was magnified in speed with the "delay" incantation.
Delay was one keyword a martial art practitioner or a melee combatant could use at the start of their skill chants or incantations to add an effect to them. Delay allowed the effect to last longer, but their effectiveness would be reduced. It was usually used to avoid repeating incantations and skill names to achieve a time-based effect.
It also bypassed skills that required chants as a whole so it could activated instantly with just a single word.
----------------------------------------
Incidentally in this new world, skills in general required the caster to chant for a few seconds to achieve the lethality in their powers. But Lestia and Soma were cross porters who were on a completely different level than the residents in this world; they were reborn with powers from the start, except that they had been delayed in understanding how they worked due to their personal circumstances. Even though they were strong compared to the standards of this world, they were cursed with limitations that restricted their use.
----------------------------------------
But the drawback to Lightspeed Thrust's effectiveness with Delay did not affect what she had set out to do, since she just needed to tag all of the swords summoned by Sword Field with that agility boost that would follow when the swords were in motion.
Even after becoming something different from a human now, Soma was a Level 87 Sword Mage and she had more than enough capability to back it up.
When the swords had been enhanced from the extended duration, Breakmoon sent them flying towards the Abomination. It struck with ferocity due to a large amount of mana used for it, causing the creature to screech again.
"Grant me the power to observe the veil of night, Nightvale!"
An unfamiliar incantation entered Kuro's ears. He had never seen that skill before in her Status Window. Soma's eyes started glowing reddish.
Is that... the power of her Origin...? Or the Monster? Or is she being a monster... her origin?
"Diamond Dust!"
As Soma dashed forward to retrieve her Master, she extended her palm towards the area around the Abomination and casted another ability.
The fog of glitter appeared again. Soma was trying to disable its vision with this. It would last for a maximum of 20 seconds until dispersed through heavy action or inhalation, and had a 2-minute cooldown time so she was going all in for this.
In order to block of its acute sense of smell from its sensory organs displayed horrendously all over itself, Soma took out a bottle of yellow liquid and doused her body with it.
This was the item she had found in the possession of some of the guard elves and some cellrooms she had passed by in the caves earlier. It was used to remove smell from anything it comes in contact with. She decided to call this the Odourless Pigment.
To combat the sound created from her footsteps as she got closer, she used Sword Summon right as her right leg left the ground. A sword materialized beneath it, giving her a platform to step on.
Immediately following up with a Blade Current, Soma lifted her other leg up onto the sword. She was levitating a meter off the ground while positioning herself on the sword, as if using a skateboard.
This was a way a Sword Mage could replicate the effects of the unique skill: Fly, commonly called Sword Surfing even though it wasn't really used all that much besides being a good party trick due to it being an impractical combat maneuver; it required concentration on mana usage while surfing so the caster wouldn't fall off from a powerful current or not take off at all from a weak one.
The repeated and expensive usage of Blade Current to 'fly' at such a low height also shaved 200 MP each time as it only lasted 5 seconds and had to be recast again. It just wasn't affordable, but it was a different case for Soma who had a large pool of expendable MP.
As she sword surfed towards Kuro, Soma could avoid making a sound. Kuro had also noticed her efforts to remain stealthy and kept silent instead. Even through the fog she had created herself, Soma could still navigate through it with her new Nightvale ability.
The Abomination was attacking randomly within the Diamond Dust, slowly dispersing it.
But it was already too late, Soma had succeeded in retrieving Kuro without using too much of her mana to control it with damage. This alternative had not only saved her a large amount of MP, but it had been faster as well.
"... ...You're late."
"...Yes, Master... I will accept any punishment when everything... is over..."
"... ...You better..."
The two smiled bitterly at each other.
Before Soma could extend her wings to bring Kuro back up to the surface from the hole in the ceiling, they were suddenly pushed up from the ground with a tremendous velocity.
A large sound was created from the ground, as a figure riding the shadow of a giant snake could be seen speeding past.
"Wh-!"
Kuro was startled, as he and Soma was brought to the surface as if riding an automated escalator upwards. The wind pressure was just like riding a roller-coaster, his heart nearly stopped.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt tttttttttttttheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ffuuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkkkk!!!!"
His gum was blowing up and down from the speed, as he tried to cling onto what seemed like a skeletal frame.
But Soma just calmly narrowed her eyes in amusement, as she hugged her Master tightly and hung on to the frame as well to steady themselves from falling.
"Oh~?"
She could see the other woman who had ordered the undead worm to do this.
They were currently riding on L'althukul as it used a powerful momentum to spring itself upwards from the ground.
And its tamer, or summoner, was glaring at Soma, as if she didn't want to be overtaken so easily.
"I... I will... be acknowledged by him too!!!"
Soma smirked at Lestia's proclaim, and replied curtly.
"Competition huh~"
"I'MMMM AFRAIIIIDDDDDDD OFFFFFFFF HEIGHTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!"
----------------------------------------
The winds rustled. Leaves bristled the grass on the plains above.
Lestia widened her eyes.
She... had made it. Everyone... her undead worm, Kuro, and that Soma.
She had finally gotten out of the elves' village, and the caves she was so used to living in.
Everything around her... was liberating...
What have I been missing out on...
The gloomy atmosphere within her heart had started to melt even faster, as she looked up consciously at the moon which she'd never gotten a proper look at from below.
But this feeling of wonder only lasted for a brief moment, as the cold reality cut in again.
The grass field in front of the three collapsed down to the cave below, and the Abomination had showed itself again. It had continued its crazed pursuit. But as it got in contact with the surface, their voices started to distort once more, as if feeling irritation from leaving the caves.
Lestia was creeped out by the familiar voices it was creating from the orifices of the mouths along its skin. But she felt a sense of warmth covering her trembling right hand.
Surprised, Lestia turned to look on her right.
"It has been a long night, but I'm glad we managed to pull through... We're finally at the final stage of this shitty game, are you prepared?"
This time, a look of determination appeared on her face, as she replied him without hesitation.
"Yes, Master...!!!"