IATVWAMOLS 104

104. The Original Heroine Hides Her Power

One, two, three, four…

There were so many demonic beasts charging in like a swarm of bees that they couldn’t even be counted.

In an instant, the entire warehouse was filled with their dark, looming presence.

With the entrance and corridors blocked off, there was nowhere to run.

“L-Lady…”

Seraphine, standing right next to me, was frozen stiff.

“Protect the young lady at all costs!”

The knights formed up, swords ready, to fight the oncoming beasts.

Their movements were so fast they could barely be tracked with the naked eye—but as expected of the Duke’s knights, they were skilled enough to keep up. With polished swordsmanship, they fought back, handling the beasts’ assaults with practiced precision.

“Grooaaaarrr!”

But in a fight between humans and beasts, the beasts held the overwhelming advantage.

“Magic bullets aren’t working!”

“Their regeneration speed is too fast!”

One swipe of a colossal beast’s claw sent the entire front line into chaos.

The knights rolled, staggered, and threw themselves back into the fray with desperate courage.

“Shreeeek—!”

Then, one beast began spraying venom wildly.

The knights’ armor sizzled and corroded as the dark green liquid splashed over them.

“Ghhhk!”

Those fighting in the front were hit worst of all. One knight whose bare skin had been touched by the venom clenched his teeth in agony.

“Don’t give them a chance to breathe! Kill them as fast as possible!”

The knights pressed on with valor, but the waves of beasts kept pouring in endlessly, like storm clouds with no end in sight.

And then—

“Urk!”

With a sound like something being pierced clean through, the hearts of two massive beasts were skewered at once.

They collapsed with heavy thuds, shrieking in death throes.

“C-Cayenne?”

The source of the attack was none other than Cayenne.

He stood there, panting harshly, glaring at the beasts he had felled—despite his body still not being fully healed.

But then—

“GROOOAAARR!”

As their comrades fell, the rest of the beasts went into a frenzy.

All at once, they charged straight at Cayenne, the source of the blow.

“No!”

I pulled out the machete I carried—the so-called Soul-Cutting Blade—and threw it toward him.

But—

“M-M-Me?”

Against all expectations, the blade landed squarely in Seraphine’s hands, as if magnetized.

“No, not you! I meant Cayenne!”

I had no time to clarify.

“Kyaaaaah!”

Seraphine let out a piercing scream and swung the sword wildly.

…Someone stop her.

The knights around her tried to intervene, but her wild frenzy made it impossible.

With her eyes squeezed shut, she charged straight into the beasts rushing for Cayenne.

“Shriek!”

“Groooohhh!”

Thud.

Crash.

One after another, the beasts collapsed wherever she swung.

“Wh-what the…?”

Did those things really die from that clumsy swinging?

Beasts that wouldn’t even die from trained knights’ precision strikes?

I wasn’t the only one stunned—the Duke’s knights were staring at her wide-eyed.

“Kyaaah! Aaahhh!”

Her swordplay was utterly sloppy—less wielding than having the blade wobble in her tiny hands.

But every time it so much as brushed a beast, flesh was sliced apart and blood sprayed.

“She’s… actually doing it?”

The destructive power was overwhelming.

But how?

Then I remembered what Count Vermon had once said about the blade:

“Normal swords depend on the wielder’s physical ability. But this one feeds off the wielder’s mana instead. If the user has strong mana, it can cut anything. If not, it’s worse than a kitchen knife. That’s why it was once called the Soul-Cutting Blade.”

No way…

“Shriek!”

A beast spat venom directly at Seraphine.

“Kyaaah!”

“Tch.”

Cayenne managed to weaken the attack with magic, but when the venom touched the blade, its edge corroded instantly.

Seraphine barely dodged, stumbling dangerously. I quickly opened my inventory.

[Luck Up! Item Enhancement Ticket]
Enhances the chosen item with the blessing of fortune!

[☞ Use Item ☜]

“Administrator.”

【Unknown: Hm?】

“Can I use this to enhance any item?”

【Unknown: Normally it’s just for luck-related items…】
【Unknown: …But since it’s you, I can tweak things a little.】
【Unknown: Don’t worry, leave it to me. This is my specialty.】
【Unknown: (๑^⩊^๑)】

“…Didn’t you say you weren’t allowed to interfere?”

【Unknown: This doesn’t count. Because Seraphine’s keyword is—】

“Groooaaarr!”

Dozens of beasts rushed at Seraphine at once.

“Kyaaah!”

She swung in panic, on the verge of tears, but the blade had dulled and barely cut.

The beasts pounced, fangs grazing her skin—

—I activated the item.

【SYSTEM: The Soul-Cutting Blade has been restored.】
【SYSTEM: A special protective barrier now envelops the weapon.】

Whooosh—

White light wrapped around the blade, sharpening it anew.

Slash—

The beast lunging to devour her had its jaw split clean apart by her blade.

Each of her swings cleaved beasts like paper, one after another.

‘Wait… now that it’s enhanced…’

Since the moment of enhancement, the beasts seemed to cower, almost too frightened to approach her.

“That girl’s sword aura… it’s suppressing the beasts’ miasma,” Cayenne muttered.

Not only was the blade’s power multiplied, but now some unknown aura of hers was completely negating the monsters’ power.

All I could do was watch in awe.

“Hah… hahh…”

After her wild dance of sword swings, Seraphine finally stopped.

Corpses of beasts lay piled like mountains inside and outside the warehouse.

Still with eyes squeezed shut, she hadn’t even realized the battle was over.

“It’s fine now. They’re all dead.”

“H-huh? The beasts are…?”

She finally dared to open her eyes.

“Amazing, young lady. I see you in a new light.”

“Truly remarkable.”

“You’ve done well, milady.”

Everyone showered her with heartfelt praise. She looked around in dazed disbelief.

Even I couldn’t help but marvel.

I opened the Luck Points shop, curiosity gnawing at me.

[Peek at Character Keywords]
Check an individual’s keywords. Compatibility with your own can only be checked against male leads.
Cost: 120 Luck Points per use.

Maybe that would explain her power.

I used it, and Seraphine’s keywords appeared before me:

[#SunlightHeroine #PureHeroine #CandyHeroine #WoundedGirl #HiddenPowerhouse #FlowerPathPass]

Flower Path Pass I could understand, but Hidden Powerhouse?!

【Unknown: Yeah, Seraphine was born a natural munchkin.】
【Unknown: So any intervention matching her keywords doesn’t break story logic!】

Unbelievable.

So in the original story… she had hidden this strength all along?

I was reeling when—

Rumble rumble rumble—!

“Wh-what now?”

The floor of the warehouse shook violently, followed by a bone-rattling quake.

“It’s begun,” muttered the man the knights had subdued, with a bitter, resigned laugh.

“This building will collapse in minutes. They’ve already moved all the important documents, so now they’ll bury the evidence—by burying the whole building.”

“Bury the whole building? You can’t be serious!”

“Stop struggling. Just die quietly.”

Craaack—

The supporting pillars split, and fractures spread across the ceiling.

“Young lady, we must leave at once!”

We rushed out, but the collapse was spreading faster than we could escape.

Debris piled like mountains, blocking every path.

“Damn it, if we could just get through here—!”

There was no time to clear the rubble, and using explosion magic risked bringing down the entire building.

Worse, many of the knights were wounded—an all-out rush could kill them.

A perfect deadlock.

‘Do I really have to use a teleportation scroll?’