Chapter 751: Unsheheathed
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 751: Unsheheathed
"Crap!"
Ariel’s pupils constricted. She gripped the hilt of Heavenly Fire, ignoring the freshly stitched wound on her leg. The moment she reacted, she kicked off the ground, hurtling toward the Corruptor like she was skimming the earth.
Her movements were impossibly fast. Though her body was weaker than ever, she seemed to have broken through some hidden limit of her techniques in this constant state of extremity. The Heavenly Fire greatsword pierced the "Angry Ghost’s" neck with fluid precision.
Squelch.
Blood sprayed.
Ariel swept her blade horizontally, crushing the creature’s vocal organs while simultaneously severing its head.
"Phew..."
That was close.
Ariel wiped away a bead of cold sweat. Fortunately, her reflexes had been sharp, and the creature hadn't seemed particularly bright. If it had managed to scream...
"ROAR!"
The deafening howl was ear-shattering.
This sudden, furious roar caused Ariel’s expression to freeze just as she had begun to relax.
"Huh? What?" Ariel was dumbfounded.
The thing didn't even have a head anymore—how could it still scream?
Ariel looked down at the "Angry Ghost" as it slowly dissolved into black embers. She saw its chest heaving violently.
Ah, so that’s how it is.
Thinking about it, the emotion this "Angry Ghost" represented was rage. True, surging rage was often suppressed, like a volcano on the verge of eruption... which was why it had kept its mouth tightly shut.
The roar of fury hadn't come from its mouth; it had erupted from its chest!
"Dammit, don't start being logical in a place this freaky, you bastard!"
Ariel pivoted on her lead foot, twisting her body like a slippery eel as she pulled Miss Muse into another alleyway.
A "Laughing Ghost" pounced toward the spot she had occupied less than a second ago!
"Heh."
"Heh your grandmother!"
Ariel cursed internally but didn't spare a glance for the "Laughing Ghost" behind her. She focused entirely on weaving through the narrow streets.
She was nimble. Even gaps that looked barely wide enough for a single person didn't slow her down; instead, they served to bottleneck the "Laughing Ghosts," who were slightly taller than the average human.
More and more eerie sounds echoed through the slums. Humanoid shadows flickered within the mist as a massive number of Corruptors began to hunt Ariel through the district.
However, Ariel’s evasions became increasingly effortless. She was far too familiar with these kinds of cramped, complex environments!
Growing up in the Lower District, she had used her agility and her "not-too-curvy" frame to lose countless pieces of human trash who wanted revenge after she’d swindled them. Although the terrain here was different from the Lower District, the instincts engraved in her bones allowed her to adapt instantly, turning the environment into a weapon.
The complex layout prevented the Corruptors from surrounding her. Even when she ran into one head-on, she only had to deal with a single enemy. Now that she understood their traits, one or two weren't enough to slow her down.
More importantly, while the earlier roar had attracted a horde, it had also taught Ariel that these things still relied on basic senses like sight and sound to track her.
If that was the case, she could use the terrain to lose them—
BOOM!
The house beside her suddenly exploded.
It was the latest in a string of "surprises" that was starting to make Ariel feel numb.
Still, she didn't quite understand. The Corruptors were fast and strong, but they attacked with claws. How could they level an entire building?
Ariel looked up.
Amidst the shattered stone and rising dust, she didn't see a Corruptor’s claws.
She saw a sword.
A massive, black greatsword!
"Wait, it's not a Corruptor!"
Ariel raised Heavenly Fire with both hands. Parry!
Clang—
The ringing of steel on steel became the only sound in the world.
Ariel’s body sank; her knees buckled, and the ground beneath her feet spider-webbed with cracks. The freshly stitched wound on her thigh felt like it was about to rip open again.
So heavy!
It felt less like she was blocking a sword swinging from the darkness and more like she was catching a falling meteor!
But to ensure Miss Muse behind her wasn't hit, she had to hold her ground!
Ariel grit her teeth, her face contorting under the sheer pressure of the strike. Her gaze shifted past the black greatsword to the hidden attacker.
"What the hell... armor?"
She was right. The thing that had ambushed her wasn't a Corruptor or any other monster. It was a massive suit of black armor, nearly as tall as the surrounding houses. Ariel couldn't sense a single trace of life coming from within it.
Compared to this armor, Ariel looked like a fragile toy.
"No... it’s not armor. It’s an... Alchemical Golem!"
The armor wasn't empty; it was just designed to look like a suit of plate. The reason she couldn't sense life was that it was a dead object driven purely by mana!
No wonder she hadn't noticed it until it was right on top of her. She had been so focused on dodging the Corruptors that she’d made a careless mistake.
"Well, if it's an Alchemical Golem, that makes things easier."
Ariel tilted her blade, forcefully shunting the terrifying weight of the black greatsword aside. She lunged forward, staying close to the enemy's blade.
At the same time, she closed her eyes and snapped them open.
Magic Eye of Truth!
In an instant, the world turned monochrome. Complex lines of mana appeared across the Alchemical Golem’s body.
At the center where those lines converged... lay the Golem’s core!
In her peripheral vision, Miss Muse’s hands seemed to have become significantly firmer and more powerful, but Ariel was too deep in combat to notice. She closed the distance rapidly. The massive Golem was slightly cumbersome and couldn't pull its weapon back in time to defend. Ariel slipped inside its reach with ease. Then, with the Heavenly Fire greatsword wreathed in blistering heat, she punched through the Golem’s hardened shell and impaled its core!
The Alchemical Golem froze. Then, as if all its support had been cut, its massive frame slowly toppled into the ruins of the house.
Dust billowed.
Ariel limped down from the Golem’s chest.
"Sss—dammit, that hurts."
She clutched her thigh, frowning as she watched blood seep through her fingers. She had stitched it up specifically to keep it from reopening, but it had happened anyway.
Seriously, her luck lately was pathetic. Could she not get even one wound to heal properly?
"But I have to keep moving. Even if the Golem is down, I need to leave before the other Corruptors surround me..."
Looking at the path ahead, which was temporarily blocked by rubble, Ariel let out a weary, bitter laugh.
Surely nothing else would go wrong now. She was already at her limit; if one more thing happened, she really wouldn't be able to take it...
Creeeeeak—
The sharp sound of grinding metal echoed from the dust behind her. The ground began to tremble slightly, as if some behemoth was shifting its weight.
"Hey, now..."
Ariel’s bitter smile froze. Her cheek twitched uncontrollably.
"Don't be ridiculous. I accepted that those Corruptors could scream from their chests, but you're an Alchemical Golem! Your power core is gone! How the hell are you still—"
Gurgle, gurgle...
As if in response, a wet, squelching sound joined the grinding of metal.
Ah...
I see...
That Alchemical Golem was a Corruptor too.
Ariel had a moment of realization, but she wasn't happy about it. With a tired sigh, she spun around to face the enemy once more.
The Alchemical Golem, with a strange black substance leaking from the hole in its chest, had already raised its greatsword. It was even faster than before, giving Ariel no time to recover.
She didn't even have room to dodge. Between her mangled leg and the narrow environment, there was no way to avoid the strike.
In that case...
"Then I won't dodge."
Ariel’s gaze suddenly turned steely.
Clearly, she couldn't disable this Golem by piercing its core. She had to use another method.
A blunt method, but the most effective one...
Destroy it head-on!
Ariel focused her mind, channeling every drop of her remaining Fighting Spirit.
Condense. Condense. Condense.
She poured it all into the Heavenly Fire greatsword, and then—
"Heavenly Fire—Unshea... Huh?"
In an instant, her gathered momentum evaporated.
Ariel’s determined gaze turned into a blank, hollow stare.
Because at that exact moment—the moment she was about to unleash her most practiced technique—the Heavenly Fire greatsword slipped from her hand.
Why?
"Oh."
After a second of confusion, Ariel realized her sword-hand was shaking uncontrollably.
Was it a delayed reaction from tanking that earlier hit? Her body was already weak, and she had forced herself to block an attack like that. Her arm had finally gone numb from the strain.
"Crap, I forgot to bind the sword to my hand," Ariel whispered.
Injuries this severe didn't just affect movement; the prolonged pain and adrenaline spikes eventually dulled the nerves. That was why she hadn't realized her old leg wound had reopened until she entered the slums, and why she hadn't realized she couldn't even hold her sword until it fell.
Losing your weapon in a fight was a fatal mistake. Even if Heavenly Fire possessed a living spirit, the spirit alone couldn't execute a martial technique.
She should have seen this coming. Before her last few life-and-death battles, she had always made sure to wrap her hand to the hilt... Had she been so distracted by her pleasant conversation with Miss Muse that she’d forgotten something so vital?
"I'm finished..."
The black greatsword loomed in her vision. A tide of exhaustion and weakness began to drown her. She would have to tank it with her body. She wondered if her current self could even survive—
"It’s not over yet."
Suddenly, as if she had endured enough "surprises," the Goddess finally decided to tip the scales of luck back toward the girl who used to be so fortunate.
The tide was held back. The coldness enveloping her body was chased away by a warm presence.
Ariel felt herself wrapped in a sturdy embrace. Then, a slender but powerful hand reached out, snatching the falling Heavenly Fire out of the air.
The greatsword vibrated slightly, then seemed to understand something and ceased its resistance.
The crimson-gold blade was raised once more. The power Ariel had already poured into it was joined by a new, surging force.
The two powers fused instantly, condensing, compressing, and refining.
They shrank down to a single point.
Finally, that compressed power erupted like a long-hidden blade finally being drawn—a fierce, brilliant burst that met the falling black greatsword without a hint of fear!
"Eh?"
As she drifted toward unconsciousness, Ariel watched the scene, a question flashing through her mind that was more baffling than anything she had faced so far.
"Is that..."
Her... Heavenly Fire Draw?