The constellations who had been watching Han Yuyeon’s conquest of the 10th floor had come to feel favorably toward the True Ancestor.
Because, thanks to the True Ancestor, Han Yuyeon had finally used the various techniques they had taught her.
[You finally used the spear, Yuyeon!!!!]
[Damn it, True Ancestor, I like you!!!!]
[Woohoo, she used magic!!!!]
[Wakyapya, that was perfect martial arts!!!]
Of course.
[I should have taught her combat techniques too...]
[Why won’t she use guns... Could it be that shooting isn’t fun...]
There were some constellations who couldn’t enjoy the festive mood.
But the majority of the constellations began cheering fervently for the True Ancestor.
[Please, hold out even a little longer and draw out even one more of Yuyeon’s techniques]
[Next is fire magic, next is fire magic]
[Shooting... isn’t fun...]
And so, as the True Ancestor continued receiving Han Yuyeon’s techniques and regenerating over and over,
of all things, the True Ancestor drew out a gigantic blood sword, and the constellations could only sense that his spirit was about to break.
[Oh, if he does that, Yuyeon’s going to pull out that thing]
When Han Yuyeon had said on the rest floor that she would become a master of sword-drawing, every constellation had been jealous of the Sentinel of the Sword Realm.
No matter how they thought about it, wasn’t she practicing sword-drawing with the Sentinel of the Sword Realm in mind?
On top of that, it was strange in the first place that she was practicing sword-drawing when her swordsmanship had already reached S-rank.
Even amid that jealousy, the sword-drawing practice that had begun smoothly was on a completely different track from any sword-drawing technique they had ever seen.
Both in visual power and physical power.
The bizarre sword-drawing technique, to the point that it didn’t matter whether her swordsmanship was S-rank or not, laughably possessed the greatest destructive power among all of Han Yuyeon’s current attacks.
If she took the time to cast grand magic, of course its power could match it.
But if she took the time to enhance her body and then performed this sword-drawing technique, its power would be amplified overwhelmingly.
A mad sword-drawing technique that was strong even when given little time, and grew even stronger when given more.
They had never thought the True Ancestor would be hit by such a sword-drawing technique.
[Aaaagh, True Ancestor, don’t break]
[We still haven’t seen her shoot a gun, please hold on]
The constellations prayed that the True Ancestor, standing before overwhelming violence, would not break.
***
When I saw the ceiling of the audience chamber ripped away in an instant, and Lady Ravina rendered helpless by telekinesis,
when I felt the energy stored within the True Ancestor’s body and the many tempered combat forms he possessed, I was reminded anew of the cruelty of Hell difficulty.
‘As expected, Hell difficulty wasn’t made on the assumption that it could be cleared.’
The clear rate of the 1st floor was below 5%. Lady Ravina’s death rate on the 1st floor was also 99%.
Clearing the 1st floor while keeping Lady Ravina alive was already an atrociously difficult task, but if Lady Ravina died, even the means to sever the True Ancestor’s immortality disappeared.
Even if one barely reached the 10th floor, there would be no means to clear it.
‘I thought the standard conditions to clear the 10th floor were Lady Ravina’s survival and preservation, and the completion of the holy sword as a result.’
Even if those conditions were met and one reached the 10th floor, the combat power of Lady Ravina and the True Ancestor existed on different dimensions.
Even if she held the holy sword, Lady Ravina could never be a match for the True Ancestor.
And even assuming the climber had to fight with Lady Ravina’s holy sword, there were far too many problems.
Physical ability capable of responding to telekinesis.
Talent that would not be overwhelmed by the True Ancestor’s swordsmanship and various other combat techniques.
Where could there be someone who satisfied such conditions?
“V.”
Here.
The moment the True Ancestor drew out his enormous blood sword, I knew it was time to use the strongest sword-drawing technique I had practiced.
The ice sword, over 100 meters in vertical length, boasted extreme weight from being compressed and compressed again with ice magic.
「Ice Sword of the Sword-Drawing Master (A)
- It is hard.
- It is heavy.」
When I revealed the super-heavy ice sword to the world, I could sense bewilderment on the True Ancestor’s face.
- Dyu......???
- What even is she, holding something that vicious like it’s only natural...
- It’s as huge as the size of her subspace pouch...
- ?
But if I stopped here, it wouldn’t be a sword-drawing technique.
Because a sword-drawing technique is something that must cut something the moment the sword is drawn.
The reason I went out of my way to compress ice and make a super-heavy sword was because of the characteristics of the subspace pouch.
「Objects taken out of subspace lose their weight while held in your hand.」
The key point was that they lost their weight while held in my hand.
No matter how heavy the ice sword I was holding right now was, as long as I didn’t let go, I could swing it around freely. So what would happen if I used that for an attack?
At the same time as I drew the ice sword from the subspace pouch, I swung it at the True Ancestor with all my might.
And if I let go of the ice sword before the attack reached the True Ancestor,
-!!!!!
The ice sword, accelerated to the extreme, gained weight, and an overwhelming mass attack was established.
In other words, the strongest sword-drawing technique in theory was realized.
The ice sword, launched as if thrown, crushed all the debris in front of it along with the True Ancestor, proving that ice magic was a physical attribute.
Snowflakes scattered from the fragments of the ice sword that had cleanly swept away the horizon.
- It’s gone...
- Um, Lady Yuyeon, is this really sword-drawing?
- Isn’t this just hitting really hard with a really fucking big sword...?
[The Sentinel of the Sword Realm cheers.]
“VV.”
[Many constellations despair.]
“???”
Why in the world. Were they perhaps unsatisfied with just one time...? Or had they looked away for a moment and missed it?
“Should I show you one more time?”
- Ah... no?
- (Tremble, tremble... guardian emote)
- It’s scary how lightly you say that, like it’s a normal attack...
- Isn’t it actually a normal attack...?
[Many constellations violently stop you.]
Oh, right, Lady Ravina.
They were telling me that Lady Ravina might get hurt by the shockwave from the sword-drawing technique.
She almost vanished from this world. I should be careful.
I waited for the True Ancestor, who had been completely crushed into blood, to regenerate.
I saw the blood scattered on the floor slowly gather and form the True Ancestor’s shape again.
The sight of him recovering his form from a state of complete blood was quite fascinating.
“?”
Wait. I had just learned one more truth of the world that I was not supposed to know.
I had seen the True Ancestor’s blood manifest into the shape of clothing.
Which meant, in other words, that rather than wearing clothes, the True Ancestor was going around in a naked state.
How could he be so shameless?
What should I do, now that I had learned the truth the True Ancestor had been hiding?
I could no longer look straight at him.
Even though I could feel the True Ancestor, having fully regenerated, looking at me, I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“...How do you pull something like that out of your chest?”
“?”
“No, why pull it out of your chest in the first place?”
“This is my ability.”
“Why in the world does your ability work that way?”
“???”
Could it be that the True Ancestor was slow to understand?
“Lord True Ancestor. Try to think flexibly. Rigid thinking isn’t good.”
“......Flexible thinking, is it. Very well.”
The True Ancestor looked at me, then strode toward the holy sword embedded in the floor.
“Was that your strongest strike just now?”
“For now.”
“Ha. Meaning you may become even stronger than that in the future.”
“I’m the type to grow endlessly, you see. I’ll grow to seven meters tall too.”
“?”
The True Ancestor, who had suddenly come to a halt, looked at me again.
“Han Yuyeon. No matter how hard I try to think flexibly, this much must be said.”
“Oh. What is it?”
“You will not grow any taller than that.”
“Rigid thinking isn’t good.”
“This is not rigid thinking. It is a simple fact.”
“Hing-ing-ing.”
The closer the True Ancestor got to the holy sword, the more I could see his skin burning.
The holy sword’s property of purifying all impurity was burning the True Ancestor.
Enduring being burned by divinity, the True Ancestor grasped the holy sword and, without hesitation, stabbed his own heart.
Puk—!
- (I’ll die now... swordsman emote)
The True Ancestor’s immortality was severed, and the light of the holy sword also turned murky.
The True Ancestor, who had severed his own immortality, set down the holy sword and stood upright.
In the clearly exposed cavity of his chest, there was no longer a heart.
“You’re not going to continue?”
“I have enjoyed myself enough. To do more would be an insult to you.”
“I never really thought of it as an insult.”
“I know now that no matter what I do, I cannot be your opponent. I have no intention of wasting your precious time. A human’s time is short.”
I could no longer feel loneliness from the True Ancestor.
Even with death before him, his face looked nothing but refreshed.
“You’re accepting it very calmly.”
“Were you not planning to spare me anyway?”
“That’s true. You threatened humanity far too much, Lord True Ancestor.”
“Thanks to that, I was able to meet you, so I have no regrets.”
“Shall I hear your last words?”
“My last words.”
After pondering for a very brief moment, the True Ancestor’s last words were closer to a blessing than a will.
“Han Yuyeon. You, who resolved my loneliness—I hope that you will never have cause to be lonely from now on.”
Srrr.
To the True Ancestor, who was gradually losing his form and becoming blood, I also gave my farewell.
I saw the red moon set and a new sun rise.
「You have cleared the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials.
- You have defeated the True Ancestor Valerius.
- Ravina has survived.」
The main objective had been displayed as question marks, so I had been worried there might be separate clear conditions, but what a relief.
The clear log was very short, but I felt good.
「You have defeated every vampire existing in this world.」
Gasp. I did? I don’t think I defeated them all by myself.
「You engraved the concepts of despair and fear into the vampires, and returned to humanity the expectation called hope and tomorrow.」
VV.
「Thanks to you, the final light of human civilization was not extinguished.」
Am I the model of a maid?
「You were truly the model of a maid.」
Thank you.
「Overall Evaluation: EX」
「Ability Points +25」
「Because you satisfied a hidden condition, a special reward will be provided.」
“?????”
At the message I was seeing for the first time, I opened my eyes 10% wider than usual.
So an EX-rank evaluation really did exist.
「- You understood the loneliness of the True Ancestor Valerius.
- You resolved the loneliness of the True Ancestor Valerius.」
So this was the hidden condition.
Was the main objective shown as question marks because there was a hidden condition?
What is the special reward, then? When I sat obediently and waited, a message appeared.
「You have acquired Telekinesis (A).」
“!!!”
Telekinesis. I learned the True Ancestor’s skill!
「Telekinesis (A)
- You can move objects with your will.」
When I looked at a piece of debris as a test and thought about lifting it, I felt an invisible hand added to my senses.
I had ended up with three hands. Maybe even four.
The traces of the enormous hand that had moved Servain Cathedral must have been telekinesis too.
But why a hand, of all things?
As I focused on the sensation of telekinesis this way and that, I realized it was easiest to handle telekinesis in the form of a hand.
I could handle telekinesis even if it wasn’t hand-shaped, but if I wanted to use it unconsciously, the hand shape was the most comfortable.
I tried handling a sword and spear with telekinesis like the True Ancestor had, but it wasn’t easy.
I decided to practice this more later.
For now, I tried a Maidly Grace Telekinetic Peace Sign.
Since it was invisible, there was no effect.
「For you, who have shown yourself to be a model, additional reward options will be provided.」
「1 - Sixth Sense (C)」
「2 - Clone Technique (D)」
「3 - Maid’s Cleaning (D)」
I pondered the options that appeared for a moment.
Because Sixth Sense and Clone Technique were both skills I wanted to keep raising in rank.
But what changes when Maid’s Cleaning rises in rank?
When I checked through the preview, I saw that one line of options had been added.
「Maid’s Cleaning (D)
- ‘Maid’s Cleaning Tools’ become more powerful.
- You can register a maid’s weapon as a cleaning tool. (Maximum 1)」
Being able to register a maid’s weapon as a cleaning tool... means.
Does that mean things like a shotgun or sword can also be placed in the cleaning tool category?
And if I register them that way, they’ll receive corrections and become stronger.
“Hmm.”
Since I’m not the only one who uses my weapons, it might be fine.
After choosing Maid’s Cleaning, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
If I got dragged to the rest floor here, what would happen to Lady Ravina?
I picked up Lady Ravina, who was still sound asleep, and whispered into her ear.
“Lady Ravina, Lady Ravina. I’ll give you the shotgun...”
“!!!”
Lady Ravina woke up.
As soon as she opened her eyes and checked her surroundings, she seemed to realize that the battle had ended, and looked at me.
Her eyes were full of self-loathing.
“B-Benefactor... I... did nothing...”
At this rate, Lady Ravina would start bawling.
I comforted her with Maidly Grace pat-pats.
“That can happen. The True Ancestor was much stronger than expected, and you didn’t have the holy sword either, Lady Ravina.”
“...No. Even if I had the holy sword, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”
“?”
What was this. Was Lady Ravina better at objective self-assessment than I thought?
I had thought she wasn’t, but it seemed I had underestimated Lady Ravina.
Ugh. It couldn’t be helped. It was very hard to say, but I had no choice but to say it.
“That’s right, Lady Ravina. In truth, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything. You may cry waaah waaah.”
“Waaah waaah...!”
“Oh dear. When you cry, you must cry quietly.”
“Waaah waaah...”
Sometimes it was better to simply let the tears flow.
While I waited for Lady Ravina to cry enough, messages appeared one after another.
「Tutorial cleared.」
「Due to the difficulty, a ‘base’ will not be provided.」
「You can return to Earth.」
“?”
It was not a message saying I would be dragged to the rest floor in ten minutes, but a message saying I could return to Earth.