Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

While Zach was busy getting lost in his thoughts and worries, the Underworld didn't waste any time. Less than a day after the underworld energy flooded the city, forcing the alchemists to work in barracks along the road to the next city over, they already started sending underworlders onto the streets.

The underworlders were from the first and second layers, and their only apparent task was to take down the talismans inside and around the city.

The talismans weren't that much of a bother to stronger underworlders, as proven by Mursoth who walked through a tunnel packed to the brim with ones without so much as frowning. But they obstructed the flow of the underworld energy and prevented it from spreading beyond the city.

The talismans were also powerful enough to severely injure the weaker underworlders.

The disposable, doll-like underworlders that obediently marched to their deaths could only hold the talismans for a few minutes in total before collapsing. However, that meant they could remove up to ten talismans before reaching critical failure.

The third-years had to run around the city almost like headless chickens to kill the knee-high dolls before they could tear down too many talismans and ruin the formative defense they had built with the talismans.

The dolls crawling all over the city were efficient. They didn't take down that many talismans in the end, and the students could always put them back up if they were intact or put up new ones. But even a dozen dolls couldn't take one student.

They were weak.

And that was exactly why Violina was scratching her head when looking at a map of the city. Her forehead was covered in deep creases.

The Underworld's plan couldn't be as simple as merely irritating or wearing them down with the dolls.

They had already worked out a rotating schedule that kept the talisman loss at a minimum while still letting the students get more than enough rest. The dolls couldn't be endless, but even if they were, it would take years for them to take down enough talismans to make an impact.

The Underworld should already know that they didn't have trouble making more talismans. They were surprisingly easy to make, and the students already had a stockpile that would last longer than this small war they were fighting.

There had to be something else to it.

The dolls had to be a distraction.

Violina looked up and found Nessa bent over the same table right in front of her.

"Nessa, can you get Zach?"

Nessa looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you figure something out?" She asked. She was also suspicious of the dolls. She hoped Violina, who was good at this stuff, had found an answer of some kind.

"No. But I want Zach in the city if something happens. He should be fine since he's training right now." Violina looked down at the map again.

"How do you know?"

"My Frost Wraith can sense heat signatures." Violina's answer was matter-of-fact.

"From this far away?" Nessa asked, incredulously.

"No…" Violina gestured with her arm vaguely in the Academy's direction. "It's over there somewhere."

Nessa frowned.

"But is it talking to you or something?" Nessa asked, doubtful of Violina's explanation.

"Nope. Well, not talking-talking. I figured out that since all of my familiars are basically living blocks of ice, maybe they speak with ice as their language. The Frost Imp is stubborn, but Ice Spirit and Frost Wraith are starting to be able to convey their feelings kind of through sensations of cold." Violina's voice was neutral. To her, she had simply explained how she conversed with her familiars. It was no big deal.

Nessa's jaw was wide open. Her eyes were trying to mimic her mouth.

Violina had initiated clear communication with her familiars that didn't rely on interpretation of body language and extremely vague feelings. It might even be correct to say that she had created a means of communication between herself and her familiars. It was also done through something as unique as sensations of cold.

What was that even supposed to mean?

And why wasn't Violina treating it like a big deal?

"...Does anyone else know about this?"

"Yeah. Zach. He asked why I was spying on him a while ago."

Nessa's jaw returned to its rightful place and her eyes relaxed. That explained it.

Violina and Zach were not alike. But they had their similarities. Nessa had an easier time accepting both what Violina had done and her attitude to it just by knowing that Zach had a slight involvement.

"That's amazing."

"That he noticed I was spying on him?"

"...No. That's pretty rude, actually. But it's amazing that you can communicate so clearly with your familiars."

"Meh. There's a lot of room for improvement."

"It beats trying to read the facial expressions of a Millipede, especially when it has blood and food all over itself."

Violina looked up at Nessa, her eyes a little wider than usual.

"I thought you were using your antennae to talk with your familiars."

"My antennae?" Nessa asked in confusion.

"Yeah. From your armor."

"..." Nessa was silent. She turned around. She began walking toward the tent's exit. She stopped. She turned around again.

"My armor has antennae?" After the first time she tried out the skill and saw herself in the mirror, Nessa had done her best not to look at herself whenever she donned her Exoskeleton. She had missed the fact that there were a pair of antennae on the top of her head whenever she wore it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yup. Now, get going. Zach might tire himself out at this rate. We don't want him to be exhausted if something happens."

"Alright. Is his body temperature rising?"

"No. His desert witch's body temperature is."

"How do you know which one is which based on heat signature?"

"The desert witch is hot."

"Sure is. But that doesn't answer my question."

"...It does…Nessa. The answer to your question at length would be that the desert witch is hotter than the other two and Nora. The hot one is getting hotter because Zach is working hard."

"...I'm leaving."

Nessa turned around and left the tent in a hurry.