Take Your Filthy Hands Off Me, Elysia

"This is… the last one, right…?"

Uriel stood before the massive door of the final zone, one hand still covering a face flushed red. The heat in her cheeks hadn't faded—whether from the embarrassment of having cried, or something else entirely—and if I poked at it any further, I was fairly certain her face would actually burst.

If I confessed that I'd heard every last word of what she'd mumbled like sleep-talk, she'd probably just collapse on the spot.

I pretended I hadn't heard a thing and cut straight to the point.

"Yeah. This is the last one. The zone they call the Altar of the Full Moon."

Uriel tensed, clutching the hem of my coat as she listened.

"This whole zone is saturated with the power of the full moon. The mana concentration spikes to the extreme—once you step inside, both your mana and your physical abilities get forcibly boosted by as much as three hundred percent."

"Then… the mana circuits wouldn't be able to handle it. Mana runaway."

"Exactly. The mana flooding in is so overwhelming that your internal circuits overheat and start to burn. Walk in unprotected and you'll detonate in thirty seconds."

Uriel sucked in a sharp breath. I continued, my voice heavy with warning.

"On top of that, this boss is the type that overwhelms you with pure physical destruction. Waste time and you'll either get torn apart or your circuits will rupture. The moment we go in, we dump everything we have and end it fast."

I looked back at her. The flush had already cooled into something grim as she adjusted her grip on her sword hilt.

"You can do this?"

"…Yes. I can. Leave it to me."

Once I'd confirmed the resolve in her eyes, I shoved the massive iron door open.

A deep, grinding roar filled the air as the door gave way. The instant it opened, a colossal blood-red full moon flooded our vision, and the destructive mana filling the chamber surged out through the gap.

…If we actually walked in like this, our bodies would burst in thirty seconds.

To make matters worse, the silver-furred wolf beast had already sensed us. It began pawing the ground, preparing to charge.

The thing's strength had been amplified to an abnormal degree. Just the act of scraping its paws cracked the altar floor with a sickening splinter, and stone pillars of ancient architecture came crashing down with a roar.

"I'll wrap you in holy power…!"

Pure white light enveloped my body, and I felt the violently churning mana settle into stillness. But the Moon Eater noticed just as quickly. It swung a massive foreleg, hurling fragments of the shattered stone pillars at us to smash through the holy barrier.

I can't let the barrier break…!

I kicked off the floor, detonating my aura, and swung my sword at the incoming debris, shattering every last piece. While I held the line in front of Uriel, the Moon Eater had already closed the distance, its massive bulk charging down on us like a collapsing mountain.

Ordinarily I would have met it head-on with aura—but taking that enormous body head-on would shatter the thin layer of holy protection without mercy.

"Uriel…! I just need a moment—block its mana circuits…!"

The words had barely left my mouth before Uriel compressed her pure-white holy power into a razor-sharp spike and drove it hard into the mana circuit running between the beast's eyes.

A thunderous impact rang out. As the circuit clogged and the beast's mana surged backward, Uriel clenched her teeth and crushed it down with holy power, refusing to let a drop leak out.

The flow of the mana circuit cut off. The runaway physical energy snuffed out in an instant.

From years of experience, I knew the duration of the bodily rigidity caused by a blocked mana circuit: 0.8 seconds.

A gap of only 0.8 seconds. More than enough for me.

To punch through that grotesquely enhanced body and the full-moon mana shield in a single blow—!

I drew every last drop of aura in my body, compressed it into the tip of my blade, kicked off the ground, and drove the sword toward the mana core hidden beneath layer upon layer of shielding.

The shields tore apart like paper. The core was pierced. The beast thrashed wildly, making a grotesque, strangled sound—but I used the sword still buried in its core as a conduit and poured aura into its body without mercy, detonating it from the inside.

The forcibly injected aura triggered a mana-circuit runaway, a chain of explosions ripping through its insides. The beast's enormous body couldn't contain the erupting mana. It swelled grotesquely—then, with a deafening boom, shattered into pieces in midair.

"Hah… hah…"

"Caelus…!"

I leaned on my sword, gasping. Uriel rushed over, seized my hand, and poured holy power into me. I felt the holy energy flow through my fingertips and wrap gently around my entire body. At the same time, the faint crushing pressure of mana that had persisted even through the holy barrier lifted completely.

I looked around. The blood-red full moon had already vanished without a trace, and an exit leading to the surface had opened wide.

"Thanks, Uriel. I'm fine now."

I patted her hand as she looked up at me with worry. Only then did she let the tension go, exhaling in relief.

"So that's this dungeon's ancient relic."

Among the beast's remains, scattered by the explosion, something on the altar caught my eye—an ancient artifact glowing with a faint light. A silver-ringed magical instrument, shaped in the image of the moon's orbit, forged with primordial technology.

The ancient relic: Selene's Lunar Orbit Mirror.

I'd already spent three years clearing every hidden dungeon I could find. I didn't need another stroke of fortune. But this relic was the key—the one I needed to break the South's food hostage crisis and resurrect the Belfort Merchant Guild.

Feeling the cool touch of the artifact, I turned around.

"Uriel."

I met her eyes, still warm with relief, and jerked my chin toward the exit leading to the surface.

"Let's go back."

After bidding farewell to Uriel, who was clearly reluctant to part, I made my way back to the dormitory. The tension that had been crushing my body finally lifted, and a heavy fatigue came flooding in to take its place.

And just before I reached my door, a familiar perfume and the irritable click of heels made me look up. Elysia was pacing in front of my dormitory, the hem of her lavish dress swirling with every turn.

The moment she heard my footsteps in the corridor, she whipped around as if she'd been waiting for this. She seemed to be trying to keep her emotions in check, but she couldn't hide the way her face had twisted with anger and distaste.

"Lord Caelus…! Where on earth have you been, coming back at this hour?!"

Elysia snapped at me in an irritated voice as she strode over.

"I sent you a letter this morning. Why didn't you so much as write a single line in reply? I thought you'd been reflecting since that incident—is this how the Grand Ducal House treats its fiancée?"

She lifted her chin high and fired the words at me as if dressing down a subordinate who'd committed some offense.

Ordinarily I would have deflected with some roundabout excuse and let it pass. Today I was in no such mood. Half a day in the dungeon had pushed my irritation to the breaking point, and the horrific memories from two years ago had been forcibly dug up, leaving a stone sitting on my chest.

I'd barely made it back with my soul in tatters—and the welcome waiting for me was Elysia, throwing a tantrum because I wouldn't indulge her.

I had no reason to put up with it anymore.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

When I looked down at her with a frigid gaze, Elysia flinched and hesitated for a moment—then, as if her pride had been wounded, she glared back even more fiercely.

"What are you looking so self-righteous about? I'm asking you a question! Why didn't you reply?!"

I let out a low sigh, shoved my hands into my pockets, and spoke in a voice gone cold.

"A reply?"

"Yes, a reply!"

"I threw it away."

"…What?"

The icy answer that left my mouth froze Elysia in place, as if her thoughts had simply stopped. With an indifferent expression, I pulled my dormitory key from my coat pocket and continued, quietly.

"That scrap of paper you shoved through the door crack, reeking of perfume. I tore it up the moment I read it and stuffed it in the trash."

"C-Caelus… what are you…! How dare you treat a letter from your fiancée like…!"

Elysia pointed at me with trembling fingers, as if she couldn't believe her own ears. I didn't even glance at her. I turned the doorknob as if her reaction weren't worth acknowledging.

"And why shouldn't I?"

"C-Caelus…!"

"Don't get the wrong idea, Elysia."

I held the doorknob and looked down at her, cold. In my eyes there was none of the affection she so desperately craved—only icy indifference and disgust.

"Did you think the heir to the Grand Ducal House has the leisure to sit around indulging your whining, then come running like a pet dog the moment you call? Spending precious time eating cake with you at a café would do my life far less good than an extra hour of sleep."

"H-how can you say something so cruel…! I only asked to spend time together as your fiancée…!"

"Was I obligated to waste ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time like that just because you're my fiancée? And from now on, don't even think about sending me letters that are going to end up in the trash."

I gave her a cold, mocking smile and started to open the door and step inside. But apparently backing down would have wounded her pride too much. Elysia lost her reason and roughly snatched my arm.

"Where do you think you're running off to…!"

Caught by the arm, I stopped just as I was about to enter the room. The filthy sensation of my sleeve being yanked made me look down at her slowly, with the kind of eyes you'd give a bug that had landed on you.

The moment my frigid gaze touched her, Elysia's hand twitched—but she clenched the sleeve tighter, as if she'd rather die than let go. The sensation was so viscerally unpleasant that I shook my arm free and struck her grip away, hard.

A sharp slap rang out.

Elysia clutched her reddened hand, her face gone deathly white, as if she were staring at a reality she couldn't believe.