“Okay, I scouted it out!” Lina announced as she returned. We had just been setting up for a meal.
“Thanks! How does it look?” I asked.
“The corridor forks ahead, but from what I could see through the windows, both paths lead to the same place. There were no distinguishing designs down either pathway, so I don’t think there’s any difference in encounters either,” Lina explained.
“Okay!” I said.
Apparently, this crystal dungeon wasn’t too expansive. Past the clearing of the Corrupted King, windows lined the corridor from which we could peer outside—even if all we saw was a sort of void, suggesting that there was nothing else on this map. Maybe it won’t take long to beat this dungeon after all.
Once we’d eaten and rested a while, we set off again. We chose to go right at the fork and kept walking until we came to a larger clearing than before. There wasn’t any monster that looked like a boss, but there were a decent number of lesser monsters, several of which we had faced previously: Fallen Angels, Goddess’s Sentries, Euphoric Angels, Mischievous Mice, and Swarming Soot. Every one of them was a threat too. The Mischievous Mouse and Swarming Soot were relatively weak on their own but made up for it with numbers and had given us quite a challenge when we’d first encountered them.
“Ten mice, twelve o’clock!” Kent shouted.
“I’m going to freeze them all with my spells! Coldest Blizzard!” Luna’s magic stopped the mice for just long enough to land two more AoE attacks that finished them off.
It didn’t take long for us to clear the rest of the monsters.
“Great! Now we can move on to—” Kent began but halted mid-step. “It’s...Flaudia.”
Goddess Flaudia ruled over everything regarding Light magic and healing in this world. That was why you had to pray to Flaudia’s statue to become a Healer and why the cathedrals in Zille enshrined her. However, the goddess had turned out to have completely self-centered motives when we’d last encountered her. She was evil, at least from the perspective of us mere mortals.
She wore a white dress, her straight golden hair reaching her ankles. Her face looked beautiful and compassionate...but also terrifying. Pure-white wings on her back spread wide as if to symbolize her influence over the world.
Before I’d even realized it, my grip had tightened on my staff. This fight was going to be the toughest fight I’d ever faced. I felt that in my bones. “I hope we can take her down quickly, but I don’t know...” I breathed.
“This is what we trained for. No one’s gonna give up, no matter how long it takes.” Rudith cracked a grin and patted my head. That was all it took for relief to bloom in my chest. I could breathe again.
It’s so nice to have allies you can trust. “Okay. Let’s eat our fruit and then go in for the final battle!” I took out a Fresh Fruit Soda, and Kent, Cocoa, Tarte, Tithia, and Leroy followed suit.
“Wait a minute,” Rudith said. He stood a step closer than the rest of the party, like he was their advocate.
“Oh, right. You guys don’t have Fresh Fruit Soda. I have some extra, so you should all take one. It tastes good,” I offered.
“All right, thanks,” Rudith said.
I handed them each a Fresh Fruit Soda—the item we’d bought from a street vendor in Eden. It was a pretty busted item too since it gave a fifty percent boost to our total mana for thirty minutes. As we drank the soda, I made sure to heal our mana with Moonlight.
“This is great!” Frey said, beaming as she ate the pieces of fruit from her cup. “Where did you get these? Can you take me there? I can’t believe it tastes this good and boosts your mana!”
“They sell them in Eden...but it’s a pretty grueling road to get there,” I said. Specifically, it involved walking through an active volcano. Still, I’d been wanting to go back to Eden someday, so I told Frey I’d take her...if the opportunity arose. There were so many new locations I wanted to visit first! “Oh, are we all done? The effect only lasts thirty minutes, so if we’re all ready, we should go now!”
Everyone nodded, showing me that they were ready.
“All right!” Kent called, and the others echoed him.
“Here we go! Let’s beat this trial!” I said, and once again, the party met my call with a cheer.
Goddess Flaudia stood in the center of the large clearing, gazing our way with a calm smile on her face.
I almost shuddered at the sight of her, but there was no backing down. We just pumped ourselves up. Come on, me!
“Taunt!”
“Cursed Health Reduction!”
Just as Kent drew Flaudia’s attention, Mio used a Skill that would lower Flaudia’s HP. The more we could weaken her, the better.
“How dare you defy a goddess, you fools!” Flaudia bellowed. A magic spear materialized and flew toward us, striking and cracking the floor.
I don’t want any of us to take that hit. Every nerve in my body was on alert as I watched Flaudia. It felt like I could barely afford to blink right now.
All of our attacks launched into action, supported by Mio’s buffs. Meanwhile, Leroy and I were focusing on healing and protecting the party from the countless magic attacks Flaudia was unleashing against us, which was made a little easier with AoE healing. I wanted to throw in more buffs, but my Skills could heal more than Leroy’s, so I’d been focusing on healing while Leroy was doling out more of the buffs.
“Take this! Hero’s Strike!”
“Pathetic!” Flaudia shouted, protecting herself with a barrier.
“What?!” cried Frey.
“No way! That won’t hit Flaudia?!” I couldn’t believe it.
“My turn... Purrtion Throw!” Tarte’s attack found its mark, and Flaudia let out a pained grunt. “It worked this time!”
Apparently, Flaudia couldn’t use her barrier too often without a cooldown. Maybe there’s hope after all. “Smiting Light! Let’s keep it up!”
“Go get her, guys! Taunt!” With Kent’s Taunt as their cue, our attacks flew at Flaudia again. Chugging potions like water, we unleashed Skill after Skill, pushing ourselves to our very limits.
“Protective Light!” Leroy came up next to me and blew out a breath. “I didn’t know how we were going to do this when I first learned that we were facing Flaudia...but it looks like we’re managing.”
I nodded. I’d been concerned too, unsure of how difficult a dungeon designed for the Holy Maiden would be. Apparently, now that we’d gained more levels and practiced our teamwork, it wasn’t too difficult for our party to clear. “Still, the fight isn’t over. It’s common for enemies to grow stronger as a battle progresses.”
“I see— What?!”
“No!”
Just as soon as I’d mentioned the possibility of a boss powering up, shimmering white light enveloped Flaudia. Forcing myself to move and not freeze, I quickly reapplied buffs to everyone. Big attack incoming!
“Get down!” Kent bellowed.
Without stopping to think, we all dove to the ground. Just as we hit the floor, a shock wave came. As hard as I tried to hold my ground, I was pushed a few centimeters away from Flaudia. She’s too strong! Was she playing around at first?! I lifted my head and saw that Kent had been hit with the full force of the attack, having protected Frey, who’d made the snap decision to jump aside instead of hitting the floor.
“Heal Absolutely! Protective Light! Holy Maiden’s Boon!” Healing Kent from the massive damage he’d taken, I tried to figure out what to do, cogs turning in my mind faster than ever before.
Flaudia still had an unruffled smirk on her face, showing that she was nowhere near going down. Even worse, she chuckled in a way that chilled my spine. “You should be honored that you have become my flesh and bone. Now, kneel before me.”
“Another AoE... Get down!” I shouted, and we all immediately ducked. We’d learned the drill from the first attack. A powerful gust whooshed over my head. This doesn’t bode well for our prospects of victory, though.
After racking my brain for a breakthrough, I thought I’d found a chance of one, except...I wasn’t too eager to use this method. While I stood deliberating, Flaudia swung her staff.
“Taunt!”
“Goddess’s Protection!”
“Merciless Retribution!”
Kent drew the attack to himself, Leroy used a defensive Skill, and Tithia struck a powerful blow. Great teamwork. A moment later, Kent was blown away, then Leroy, who’d dived in front of Flaudia’s attack to protect Tithia.
“Leroy!” I cried out.
“I’m not going down yet... But we can’t go on like this. Even though we still haven’t drunk our Energizer Potions, I’m afraid we’ll run dry of resources before we can defeat her,” Leroy said, stating what I’d feared in black-and-white terms.
I could only scrunch up my face in disgust. That’s it, then. There’s no other option. With a deep breath, I took a step toward Flaudia.
“Lottie?! Don’t get too close!”
“I’m okay.” I gave Rudith a smile and stared Flaudia down. The Skill I was about to use was a risky die roll. Will this bring us a blessing or a curse? Nobody knows. “Wish us luck. Holy Maiden’s Prayer!” I shouted and struck a prayerful pose.
Light shone above my head, an invisible chorus sang in beautiful harmony, and shimmering ribbons of light swirled in the air. From among the ribbons appeared an angel—the same Angel who’d appeared to us before. I had never used Holy Maiden’s Prayer—a Skill unique to my job—because its description had said that I could summon an angel. I had hoped that it was some powerful Skill that could turn the tide of this battle, but alas. It couldn’t have been that easy. Now my horrible suspicions had been confirmed.
“My, who summons me to—” Angel’s expression soured. “Sharon.”
“You know, I should be the one looking at you like that,” I said.
“If you summoned me, you must have become the Holy Maiden. So you weren’t sacrificed to Goddess Flaudia. Color me surprised. Very surprised.” Angel had put on a friendly mask when we’d first met her. Now that we’d seen her true colors, she apparently had no intention of hiding them. She still kept up her saccharine tone, but she used it to spit casual and direct insults.
“No way... You can summon an angel...?” Mio breathed, staring at me wide-eyed. Then, she clasped her hands in prayer and bowed to Angel. It wasn’t surprising that she was a devout angel-worshipper, given her previous job as a Priestess.
Angel looked around and muttered in recognition, “The trial...” Then, she spotted Flaudia and furrowed her brow.
There goes my secret weapon, I thought. Even though Flaudia was the boss monster of the trial, Angel had to have reservations about killing the one she’d formerly served. As I started to rack my brain for another solution, the look on Angel’s face changed.