7th Floor.
They hadn't gone far.
In a narrow corridor, just around the bend ahead, a large Killer Ant crawled out, its carapace gleaming with a metallic sheen.
Its compound eyes flashed red; four hook-claws opened and closed restlessly.
Yukino folded her arms, standing off to the side at ease, clearly not intending to strike.
She wanted to see how Mahiru would handle a monster famed for defense and calling its kin.
Facing the hard-to-handle giant ant, Mahiru showed no fear.
She did not draw her sword.
Instead, she raised her right hand.
Her pale, slender palm leveled at the distant Killer Ant.
A golden flash skimmed Mahiru's caramel eyes as she called out clearly: "[——Yata Light Orbs!]"
No lengthy chant.
No elaborate motion.
The instant the words fell, a searing white sphere of tightly condensed mana blasted from her palm.
The orb trailed a blazing tail, its speed extreme, as if the air itself posed no resistance.
A burning track etched across the air and slammed squarely into the Killer Ant's armor.
BOOOOM—!!!
A deafening detonation roared and blinding light swallowed the ant's silhouette at once.
A powerful shockwave, wrapped in scorching wind, surged outward, and even the chamber quivered.
At ground zero, a shallow crater blew open; shingle and dust fountained.
Dense smoke and grit mingled with fading gold motes and spread.
Moments later, as the haze thinned, the ant was gone.
Only a slightly larger purple magic stone lay quietly in the scorched pit.
Quick-cast magic Yata Light Orbs, first shot—first kill, one-hit KO.
The fading embers and the thoroughly erased ant drew a small contraction from Yukino's pupils.
Her face stayed placid, but her heart tightened.
No chant, auto-tracking, and that much instantaneous destructive power… this spell…
With her mouth she would never concede; she merely offered a cool appraisal: "Not… bad."
"At least more useful than flashy-but-empty glitter."
"But it's too noisy; you'll attract trouble."
"And the momentary mana dump isn't small, right?"
"Looks like it's a 'finisher' you can only use on occasion."
Mahiru slowly lowered her arm, feeling the mana that had run off inside her.
"Oh?"
"Then I wonder what 'low-key and efficient' magic you've got, Yukino-san—care to broaden my horizons?"
"Don't tell me it's the kind that needs half a day of chanting and ends up freezing the enemy's toe, how 'powerful.'"
She chuckled, barbs velveted: "Also, your eyes must be blind—I can rapid-fire this one."
Zyhark hurried in to smooth things over: "All right, all right—both of you are awesome!"
"Mahiru's instant light-cannon was crazy cool!"
So saying, he strode forward to pick up the higher-value stone: "Yukino's ice control is top-tier too!"
"Can we focus on exploring and… uh, making money?"
Auto-tracking, chantless, burst-fire, high impact—this was the god-skill for clearing strays and snuffing sudden threats.
Mahiru's potential was indeed no less than Yukino's.
At this rate, his Familia's future looked better and better.
Thinking so, Zyhark grinned inwardly.
In truth, the mana cost of Yata Light Orbs was similar to Bell's Firebolt in canon—a "quick-cast magic" meant for frequent use.
A single shot doesn't cost much, but machine-gunning them racks up strain on mind and mana.
The adventure continued under the never-ending crossfire of their tongues.
The 7th-floor maze twisted and forked; monsters popped up here and there.
However, whether it was the elusive War Shadow or the howling Kobold, they usually met their end the instant they showed.
Sometimes a soul-freezing ice-blue sword-flash pierced a vital spot with precision.
Sometimes a snap-born white orb detonated them before they fully manifested.
Zyhark had to jog to match their clear speed, and the magic stones in his backpack grew at a steady clip.
"Efficient enough, but your moves lack elegance," Yukino commented lightly, flicking apart a War Shadow.
"Better than turning every fight into a walk-in freezer slaughterhouse," Mahiru shot back, then casually loosed Yata Light Orbs to vaporize a Frog Shooter that just peeked out in the distance.
At a relatively broad junction, the trio ran into six Killer Ants bunched together.
Carapaces clacked as their mouthparts chittered.
Pairs of blood-red compound eyes locked onto the intruders.
"Half each?" Yukino slanted a look at Mahiru.
"Fine by me," Mahiru didn't back down.
Ice-blue and gold flared at once.
"[——Ice Soul Bloom!]"
"[——Angel Descent!]"
Two slim figures shot out like loosed arrows.
Yukino became an icy gale.
Where she passed, Killer Ants' movements slowed.
Against her enchant-blade and supreme chill, hard carapace might as well have been paper—split and frozen in a blink.
Mahiru moved like golden lightning, speed leaving afterimages.
Her lightsword carved at joints and eyes—every thin spot—exactingly.
A quick-cast blast in between blew apart any that twitched to resist.
In a blink, the ants joined the heap of prior monsters.
Just as Yukino lopped the last ant's head, however, the severed neck let out a shrill, metallic "jiji," like scraping steel.
The sound ricocheted through the narrow passage and carried far.
Zyhark's heart thumped and he instantly swept the surroundings.
His strong perception caught the crawling rush from both ends of the hall.
"Bad—kin-call! We're surrounded!"
His voice stayed steady as he broke it down fast: "Sounds from front and back, lots of them!"
"These corridors are bad for dodging—watch the hooks and bites!"
His cool read snapped Yukino and Mahiru into battle states.
In perfect, wordless sync they both stepped back, one front and one rear, bracketing Zyhark.
Yukino faced the way they came.
Mahiru guarded the ahead corridor.
"Hey, angel-chan, don't drag me down now," Yukino didn't look back, her tone able to set tinder alight. "I've no interest in bagging your corpse."
"Don't call me angel!" Mahiru bristled, fire lighting her caramel eyes. "You ice block, mind yourself! Don't get gnawed into a popsicle by the big ants!"
Rage became fuel and the golden aura on Mahiru seemed to blaze brighter still.
She dumped all that fire into the Killer Ant swarm surging from the front.
"[——Yata Light Orbs!]"
"[——Yata Light Orbs!]"
"[——Yata Light Orbs!]"
White-hot spheres launched like linked cannon into the mass and explosions hammered the front corridor.
Dazzle strobed and hot wind rolled.
The foremost ants shredded at once, but the rear still drove in fearless.
Hooks flailed and jaws gaped for the bite.
Mahiru did not flinch.
Her lightsword became a golden curtain, mowing the ants that closed, and any straggler got a snap-orb to finish.
Behind, Yukino fought as well, but her style—unlike Mahiru's storm—was precision and economy.
An ice-blue phantom wove through the swarm and every cut bore killing frost.
Under low temperature, the shell went brittle and movement dulled by chill.
Her blade always found the sneakiest angles, threading joint seams or freezing an action-core outright.
A gentle ice-sword slash after turned an ant sculpture into shards.
One ant lunged to bite, but Yukino slipped aside, backhanded to freeze its legs to the floor, then sealed it with another stroke.
Another tried a side ambush and a sudden spike of ice skewered it before its hook reached.
In the middle, Zyhark watched keenly.
Fierce as the ants were, they posed no real threat against Familia under add-on magic.
For all the snark between the girls, their in-combat synergy was uncanny—one holding the back, one crushing the front, squeezing every advantage from the corridor.
The fight lasted under a minute and the last ant fell to Mahiru's lightsword and crumbled.
Yukino flicked ice crystals from her tip.
Front and back lay only magic stones and a few shattered shells.
Zyhark finally exhaled, offering heartfelt praise: "Fantastic work, both of you! That was great synergy!"
Yukino drew a measured breath, dropped her add-on, and cut Mahiru a cold glance: "Hmph, you barely didn't hold me back."
"If someone weren't a walking flash-bang blasting at random and drawing aggro, it would've been easier."
Mahiru's breath smoothed and her gold dimmed as she shot back: "Better than someone sneaking cold air behind me—nearly froze my ankle!"
"And if not for my 'flash-bang' quick-clears, someone might've been ant food."
They still bickered, but in both sets of eyes glinted a faint, hard-to-spot approval.
It was recognition of each other's strength and of that short, sharp cooperation.
As Zyhark bent to swiftly gather the generous haul of stones, a rapid "bzz-bzz" of beating wings came from overhead.
They looked up and saw five or six moths whose wings dusted eerie violet phosphor.
Poison Moths.
They'd crawled out from cracks in the rock and beat their wings, and visible purple powder began to sift down like snow.
"Poison Moths! Watch the phosphor!" Zyhark called at once.
Perhaps a heartbeat late, or perhaps Yukino simply didn't regard these little things as threats.
Her eyes sharpened and she didn't re-activate her add-on.
Her wrist twitched and the sword became several ice-blue afterimages too fine to follow, like a lotus of frost blossoming in an instant.
Shish-shish-shish—!
Just as the moths cast their dust, invisible cold blade-light lopped them cleanly midair.
Even their scattered poison was flash-frozen by the bursting chill and fell as a hush of tiny ice crystals.
Soon, the Poison Moths dissolved to ash and only Purple Moth Wings drifted down, faintly violet and glinting.
Yukino sheathed her sword as if she'd done a trivial thing.
"A nuisance."
The sight made Mahiru purse her lips.
She said nothing, but had to admit inwardly that Yukino's fine control of power was worth studying.
Zyhark picked up the Purple Moth Wing drop, felt the faint toxic mana within—it was good apothecary stock.
"Seems this floor's full of 'surprises,'" he said, standing and peering deeper down the hall.
"Let's keep going."
...
…
(End of Chapter)
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