“……Seriously…?”

Well……She did it. Nestra finally found the oh so famous Ultimate Potion. She should be happier about this, shouldn’t she? But…

Right now, in the grip of her hands, was a glass jug, filled with a black liquid that was happily bubbling and moving around. Yeah…that’s right, the exact SAME black liquid as the one Diana threw into the mouth of that now gigantic monster.

Which meant that…That monster, had ingested the Ultimate Potion, and grew into THAT.

On one hand, yay for finding the ultimate potion and now being able to bring Diana back, hopefully. But on the other hand, would Diana even survive if she drank some of this monstrous moving black liquid? She won’t just turn into a giant slime monster, would she?

Hopefully not, because she better leave this place!! The entire ceiling was crashing down, and if she gets crushed while holding this, that wouldn’t even be funny.

So, with that lingering thought, she stood up, shrugged away her doubts about the potion, and bailed out of the treasury room through the hole that Rei had helped create in the wall. And-, oh, Slimey’s been waiting outside the entire time!

Well, with Slimey on her side, she strode her way out, back into the battlefield.

“I hope Crystal’s doing al-“

-Right, was what she wanted to say, but her words choked before they could leave her vocal chords. Because there, lying down on the ground, tattered and burned, the figure of Crystal could be seen.

“CRYSTAL!!!”

“Ha…? Ah…It’s…you, gah…It hurts…everywhere…”

“D-Don’t worry, I’m comin-“

“NO!! Help…Diana…first!! She’s…about…to…!!”

Even if she said that, she couldn’t just leave her like that! Using an empty vial she had in her pack, she poured out some of the ultimate potion into the vial and fed it to Crystal. This potion better work, or else she’s going to demand a refund at Amazon!

“Urk?! W-What is this…!? I…I…a…ah……”

“Eh!? Crystal!? Crystal, can you hear me!?”

But, contrary to her expectations, Crystal didn’t even stay conscious!

Well, her wounds were closed up, and she seems to be alright now, so the potion worked, sure. But what kind of hellish potion would cause the person who drank it to fall unconscious!? That’s like the Red Potion from Terraria awful!

R-References aside, Crystal’s healed up, so it’s time for Diana! Quickly, she made it over to her, and luckily, it seems she didn’t get hit directly by the beam, but she was still blown away by the sheer force of the attack.

Her worry was shooting through mars right now, but Slimey seems to say that she was still holding on, so the potion should work! Since the potion was evil, she decided to only feed Diana half of the entire jug, but even that should be enough! Since, ya know, Diana’s entire body was shining right now!

Her worry had already reached Orion by this point, ‘cause, seriously! If that monster ingested that tiny vial and grew to that size, then what the hell will happen if you drink half an entire jug?!

And to make it worse, this shine wasn’t the graceful shiny one. No no, Diana was shining a black light. Talk about being ominous!

No! She couldn’t be spooked yet! Even if she was doing her best to ignore it right now, that giant monster was eyeing them all, and she could tell that think was hungry. And now that Diana was shining black, its attention was piqued even further.

“S-Slimey! You carry Diana back to that cave area, I’ll go get Crystal!”

*Boink!!*

With Diana ‘recovered?’, Nestra left Diana to Slimey and rushed back to Crystal. The giant monster noticed this, and began charging its beam again! But Nestra was faster! In a haste, she shoulder carried Crystal and ran back to the cave area she breached into.

*GGGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUAAAAAAUUUAAAAA!!!*

The beam fully charged, the monster’s mouth opened, letting the giant beam fire at them! Luckily, just in the nick of time, Nestra jumped, and the force of the explosion behind her propelled her into the cave. She did faceplant her way in though…And it hurt, a lot.

“Ah…My nose…”

Unbeknownst to her, since she was too focused on her nose, the jug she was carrying flew out of her hands and shattered, causing the remaining ultimate potion to splash all over the floor. She also didn’t notice that Slimey had swooped in and ingested all that, without fainting.

“Hey, where’s the ultimaaAA!!! THE JUG BROKE!!!”

It was then she realised her ‘mistake’. Burdened by her guilt, Nestra could only cry as she lamented the ‘loss’ of the ultimate potion, not realising that all of it was now contained in the slimy container that is Slimey.

*Boink*

“A-Ah, right! Diana! Can you hear me!?”

Nestra tried calling Diana, but as she somewhat expected, there was no reply. Crystal who ingested just a tiny amount of it fainted, so Diana staying asleep for even longer wouldn’t be too far of a stretch.

“Ngh…What happened…?”

“C-Crystal! You’re back already!”

“Huh? Who’re-, oh you’re that girl with the weird costume.”

“W-Weird!?”

Well, that was offensive! But, nonetheless, it seems the usual Crystal was back! But! It’s time for the moment of truth!

“A-Anyways, can you check on Diana?”

“Huh? Ah, sure, let me see……”

“……Umm……Crystal…?”

“……………………”

Hey…Why was she staying silent? And w-what’s with that expression? Why did she look so, bitter?

“Crystal…?”

“…Her mana’s fine…and her health’s back too……then…why…?”

Crystal couldn’t understand it either. Her HP was back. Her MP was back. It wasn’t leaking out either, which means she was fine! If so, then why was did she seem so…empty? There wasn’t a single ounce of life beating inside her body.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“S-She’s…alive right!? Diana’s just asleep, isn’t she!?”

“………………”

Not only that, ever since she was first brought out of her dungeon by force, she was bound to Diana, like Slimey is, so she could tell if she was alright or not. But, not anymore. That connection she once had with her, was gone.

Yes, that’s right. They were too late.

“N-No……”

Here, Nestra forgot one simple thing. No matter where they were, no matter what world they were in, no matter what logic applied, she had forgotten, that Diana was simply human.

And what’s the source of life for the human?

It was blood.

No matter how many potions she chugged down, no matter how many ultimate potions she got, it wouldn’t restore the blood she’s lost. From the moment her heart stopped beating, and her brain stopped functioning, she was dead.

A mere ‘Ultimate Potion’ couldn’t revive a dead body, no matter how much was ingested.

“…………I’m going.”

Even if she didn’t show it, her entire being was boiling. In this world, the life of a single being didn’t amount to much, but even then, she couldn’t accept this!

Diana might be too far gone, but that monster was still there. She didn’t care anymore what circumstances led to that thing being there, but she was angry. So angry, that she might burst anytime soon.

She needed to vent her anger. So, with her eyes void of any expressions, and her special staff [Ixion] in her hands, she stepped out into the battlefield once more.

The monster saw her and ‘smiled?’, but froze after a giant [Phantom Blade] was summoned. Normally, this would drain her out immediately, but with the added bonus of the ultimate potion, she’ll make it damn sure that this monster goes down!

“[Phantom Blade: God Cleaving]”

With a voice devoid of any emotions, she chanted out so, and brought the giant sword down on the monster. The giant monster tried to move away, but it was slow, and was received the slice head on.

*GGGGGUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUAAAAAAUUUUUAAAA!!!!*

A scream of agony came out, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t dead yet, and that’s wrong.

“[Phantom Blade: Unending]”

This was the same spell she used to attack it earlier. An endless swarm of [Phantom Blades] appeared and flew into the monster’s giant body.

Already, her mana was draining out in a flash, but she didn’t care. She wanted the satisfaction to see it dead, and she wanted is NOW!!

*GGGGUUUUAAAUAUUAUAUUAAUAUAUUAAAUUAUAAUUAUUAUAUAUAAA!!!*

As more and more blades pierced into its body, aided with the already monstrous damage from her earlier [God Cleaving] attack, the monster would reach the light pretty damn soon.

The effect of the Ultimate Potion was finished. The mana from all the monsters it had eaten was eaten up. There was no way the giant monster could sustain that large figure for any longer, and began to shrink down to its original size.

“…So that’s your normal form…”

–DIE

With that single word echoing in her mind, she summoned one last [Phantom Blade], and threw it into the monster’s small head. One last scream of agony came out, before it stopped moving, and fell onto the ground, dead.

“Hah……”

She’s just refilled her mana, and it’s already out. Her job done, she collapsed onto the floor, her staff slowly dissipating into thin air. Her thoughts were slightly blurry, and she felt rather heavy, but one thing for sure.

That thing is DEAD.

And the battle’s, finally over.

*GGGUUAAA!!*

*GGUAAUAA!!*

Or so she thought.

“Are you…f*cking kidding me…?”

You see, Nestra forgot to inform them about one crucial little detail about these bastards.

That, although these things could be killed, they will respawn in five minutes, over, and over, and over again. No matter how many she beats down, no matter if the giant beast is dead or not, these guys will not stop coming.

If the main core, located at where Nestra first met Diana, was destroyed, then the respawn option would finally disappear, and once the monsters are killed, they stay killed.

“Ah…sh*t.”

And now, a horde of newly spawned ‘sisters’ are heading her way. Rei was busy fighting the monsters together with Diana’s golem, Diana’s revival had failed, and Crystal’s mana was empty.

It seems, lady luck wasn’t on her side anymore.

*Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!*

“C-Crystal! Are you okay!?”

But, even if lady luck wasn’t there to help her out, didn’t mean her luck stat has dropped to zero!

“Yeah…You, whoever you are…finish them.”

“Y-Yeah!”

She hasn’t been in the spotlight for a while, so it’s time for her to finally shine!

Going back a bit, after Crystal left to fight again, and saw that she defeated the giant monster, a spark of hope burned in her heart once more. Even if her plan had failed, didn’t mean the battle was over!

Her resolve burning once more, she ran back into the treasury room and scavenged for any useful items she could use to battle the monsters. Her ammo was out, and she wasn’t very good with the knife. She needed something else!

The weapon she decided to use, was a specialised magic grenade launcher, that used up her mana to shoot instead of normal grenades. She had no idea why this was here, maybe Nitori left this by accident, but she’ll take it!

*GGGUUAAA!!*

*GGUAAUAA!!*

“Oh…Oh no…”

But then, she heard it. The screeches of those dreaded monsters. Then she realised! She completely forgot that they respawn over time!

And outside, she saw a nightmare. Another giant horde of those ‘sisters’ were coming in, and farther away, she could see a mesh of many monsters. Luckily, Rei and a certain golem gone rogue was fighting the other monsters back, but Crystal was defenceless against the incoming monsters!

It was time, for her to shine!

*Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!*

With her new grenade launcher fired up, she shot several grenades into the horde, causing a series of explosions, and many, many ounces of blood to fly into the air.

“Yeah…You, whoever you are…finish them.”

“Y-Yeah!”

It’s time, for the last STAND! *Poses dramatically before firing off some more grenades*

…Ahem, anyways, this is troubling. If her sights are correct, there should be around 100 or so inside that group. Since her grenade launcher is not specifically made to counter these guys, her previous grenade shots didn’t do much.

It’s still very powerful, that much was apparent! But with the numbers she needed to fight against, and the amount of mana this thing sucks out every time she fired a shot, the mountain to climb was quite steep on this one.

And guess what? Their bodies are shock-resistant, which makes her grenade launcher even weaker than before!

She could have chosen a sword, but she couldn’t even lift them

Muu~, the odds are stacked against her, but she’ll make do! The knockback on this thing was pretty good, so that should get her some advantage to the battle! If she could hold on long enough for Rei to finish her job, this battle was a guaranteed win!

She just needed to hold on!

“Take, THIS!!!!”

*Bam! Bam! BAM!!*

Meanwhile, back with Rei,

“…Many.”

Despite having fought this battle for, about 12 minutes now, the number of the monsters here are endless!

*Vuuu!!!*

And the golem wasn’t doing very good either. Since it’s core it pretty much infinite, there was no risk of it dying, but the amount of mana it has stored up inside wouldn’t last for much longer!

“…Golem, jump.”

*Vuuu!!!*

No more words were exchanged, but the golem clearly understood what Rei wanted to do. Building up some energy under it, the golem leaped up into the air. With her friend out of the way, Rei took a deep breath, and sent a good New Hampshire smash to the ground!

*BBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!*

A terrific tremor was sent out, as the ground cracked under the force of her punch. Torrents of wind surged out from the ground, blasting many of the incoming monsters into the air.

*Vuuuu!!!*

Taking this chance, the golem readied some rocks it had stuck on it, and fired them at the airborne enemies, just to make sure they stay dead. Of course, there were some annoying enemies that just wouldn’t stay dead, but Rei would sort them out.

“…Kuh.”

Although, Rei was taking a beating. Although these monsters came from the upper floor of the dungeon, they still hit quite hard. The damage they dealt wasn’t high by any means, but stack them together, and they’d start looking quite dangerous.

Even if Rei had super strength and could regenerate, she wasn’t invincible. Just like any normal monster, she had HP and MP, and if her body was intact but her HP drops down to zero, well, she’d be meeting lord death.

*BAM!!!*

“…?”

Aya? For some reason, an explosion just occurred right beside her, sending a group of monsters flying. Rei wasn’t hurt by it, but who sent that explosion?

It was then, she finally noticed the fighting on the other side. And there, she saw Nestra holding her ground against the ‘sisters’, and Crystal who was lying down on the ground. The battle over there was also quite hectic!

“…Golem.”

*Vu!!*

Noticing where Rei was pointing at, the golem responded and formed a boulder around its core. And just like any boulder would do, it picked up speed and ran over as many enemies as it could as it made its way to Nestra!

What? That’s not what boulders do? Nonsense!

“…Fuh.”

Then again, now that the golem wasn’t with her, the entire monster army was her enemy now. Would she be able to pull-

“?!”

But then, just as she was about to contemplate her life choices, a sudden wave of intense energy burst out through the entire battlefield. Rei, no, not just Rei, but everyone in the room, even Nestra could feel the sudden burst of mana.

It wasn’t clear if it was an ally or foe, human or monster, but she knew one thing,

Something, had just awoken.