Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

After a strange and short conversation with Nessa, Zach soon found himself roaming the streets of Basilia. Not a single citizen joined him. Still, the city was lively. There were hoots, shouts, and conversation echoing from all corners, thanks to the students making noise while hunting the dolls.

Since he had worked so hard and gotten injured when they dealt with Mursoth, Zach had been promised a short break to rest and recover. A day was all it took for Violina to renege on that promise and stuff him back into activity.

Even worse than that, she made him wander the streets of Basilia alone. The city wasn't that big, and he could probably find his way out. But after a day of walking, he might have covered a couple of blocks multiple times only.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

He couldn't even pass the time with idle conversation since Yanael and Soara were killing the dolls like they were responsible for their food ending up on the ground. There were also a bunch of his classmates around. Even if they weren't right next to Zach, it felt like there was also at least one or two within earshot.

Zach still didn't want to risk anyone finding out that he could talk with his familiars.

So, to entertain himself while he walked, Zach looked at the dolls. Since they couldn't be bothered with clean-up just yet, there were piles upon piles of doll scraps all over the city. They weren't hollow, but it looked like they were made of clay, rather than flesh. Yet, they still bled. Thick, dark, sap-like blood dripped slowly from the broken dolls.

Zach couldn't tell if they were actually underworlders or an underworlder's creations. Whatever they were, they were a waste of resources. The Underworld had to have something big planned for the dolls to be worth it.

Zach knelt to pick up the head of a doll and study it closer. No sooner than he did that did Soara smack it out of his hands. As soon as the doll's head hit the ground, it burst into flames.

Zach was shocked. But before he could react to that doll, the dolls around him and along the streets in the city caught fire one by one. Some did it almost at the same time as the one in his hand. Others only spontaneously combusted several minutes later.

He was about to return to the command tent outside the city when an explosion rang out in the opposite direction. A shrill scream also pierced the air. Zach sighed.

He looked at Yanael. She nodded and led the way. Her sense of direction wasn't anything to write home about, but she could at least lead the way to sources of commotion or follow traces without getting side-tracked.

Zach and his familiars turned the corner of a residential house and saw one of his classmates clutch her bleeding leg in pain. It was so bad she couldn't even stand up.

"Heyo!" Zach greeted her and the two birds anxiously cooing, cawing, and flapping around her head. One looked like a pigeon, and the other was a light blue little thing.

"..." Zach's classmate slowly looked up at him and spoke through teeth gritted in pain,

"...Evandiel."

Zach raised an eyebrow.

"Your surname is Vis, right? Kat Vis? Double-three." He asked, but he was pretty sure he had it right.

"Yes." Kat sighed.

"I have a feeling you don't need me to ask if you're okay," he said while pointing at her leg.

"No. Can you get someone?"

"I can help you, you know?"

"Then do that instead of standing there staring at me."

"Ah. Okay."

Kat's leg was bleeding heavily, so Zach put a restrictive barrier around her thigh just above the wound to stem the bleeding. He then gently helped her stand up on her other leg and let her put her weight on him as she hopped on one leg while he walked.

"I can carry you if you want. Like, on a barrier. It will be like riding a floating bed—"

"This works." Kat barely let Zach finish before rejecting his offer.

He wasn't sure why. But if she wanted to wince in pain with every step they took, that was her decision.

"So, uh, do you mind if I ask what happened? The dolls suddenly catching fire was shocking, but that wound looked like something caused by a blade, not fire. And I didn't see any blades in the vicinity."

Kat's jaws were clenched in pain and concentration since she also had to lead the way out. She stayed silent for several long moments and short hops.

"...I don't know."

"Huh?"

"I don't fucking know, dammit."

"What?" Zach was a little surprised at her sudden outburst and stopped to look at her in confusion.

"...I was just walking when the dolls started burning. I turned around to get the fuck out of there. The next moment, my leg was slashed. What do you want me to say, that a ghost did it?"

"No…If you don't know, you don't know. There's no need to make such a big deal of it. After we leave the city, we can see if anyone else experienced anything similar. I have a feeling this is what the Underworld was planning."

"What, cutting my leg?"

"No…The dolls were a distraction. They diverted our attention and made us let down our guards. Then, at the right time, they caught fire and distracted us even further, exposing us to some kind of attack."

"...Sounds unnecessarily convoluted. If it was so fast that I couldn't even see it, was there a need to make us let down our guards?" Kat asked with a frown.

"Maybe it wasn't speed."

"You're saying I'm wrong?"

"How can you be wrong when you don't know? No, I'm saying it might be something that affects our awareness."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"What if it wasn't fast? What if you just couldn't see it?"

Kat glared at Zach after his question.

"I was attacked by an invisible underworlder?"

"It's not impossible."

"Then why didn't it kill me?"

"Why didn't it kill you if it was too fast for you to see?"

"..."

"In any case, you don't need to worry about it. Now that I'm here, nothing, whether fast or invisible, can touch you."

Zach's words were, to Kat's displeasure, comforting.

"So, your hand?"

"It's neither fast nor invisible."