Chapter 12: I Got Princess-Carried?
Within the canyon, one black and one white figure were fiercely clashing.
Dolores moved with agile grace, her sword tracing arcs of golden light through the air.
Every movement was precise and ruthless.
Every strike aimed directly at vital points, leaving her opponent no chance to breathe.
The Shadow Demon’s body flickered unpredictably.
At times, it transformed into black mist, allowing the blade to pass harmlessly through.
At other moments, it suddenly condensed beside Dolores, launching attacks from impossible angles.
Again and again, Dolores neutralized the Shadow Demon’s sneak attacks.
The two fought intensely at the narrow pass, neither giving ground.
The Shadow Demon dissolved into black mist once more.
Dolores tightened her grip on the sword while her gaze continuously swept the surroundings.
Left side.
She suddenly spun around, preparing to slash toward empty air—
No.
Her perception caught something strange.
The Shadow Demon’s presence wasn’t on the left.
It was… above!
Dolores immediately leaned backward.
The Shadow Demon appeared diagonally above her left side, its dagger slicing past the tip of her nose and bringing a chilling gust of wind.
Seeing the ambush from above fail, the black-robed figure reversed its grip on the dagger and instantly flashed behind Dolores for another sneak attack.
Dolores pivoted her feet.
Her body spun halfway around as she blocked the dagger attacking from behind.
CLANG!!!
Sword and dagger collided, sending sparks flying.
Using the impact, the Shadow Demon leapt backward to widen the distance.
“Little girl, your skills are impressive.”
The Shadow Demon shook its wrist while narrowing its dark red eyes.
“I’ve never seen swordsmanship this sharp before.”
“Who taught you?”
Dolores was only pushed back half a step.
Her sword still remained in a defensive posture.
Who taught her?
How would she know?
She wanted to ask where all this swordsmanship inside her head even came from.
Every time she swung the sword, her mind already knew the next movement in advance.
Her body naturally reacted through pure muscle memory.
The sword skills were the same.
It felt just like controlling a game character.
She only needed to issue commands.
As for how the moves were executed, her body handled it automatically.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Oh?”
“You don’t want to tell me?”
The Shadow Demon chuckled softly while spinning the dagger around one finger.
“But it doesn’t matter.”
“I don’t need to know anyway, because you’re about to die.”
Before its words even finished, its body dispersed once more.
This time, however, the Shadow Demon didn’t rush to attack immediately.
The black mist slowly spread across the ground, surrounding Dolores completely.
Her vision gradually blurred.
Whispering sounds echoed beside her ears.
It was 【Black Mist Whispers】!
“Hahaha! Well?”
“How’s this move?”
The Shadow Demon’s voice echoed from every direction within the mist, its figure flickering in and out of view.
“Your perception really is excellent.”
“But inside here, no matter how strong your senses are, they’re useless.”
“The black mist blinds your eyes.”
“The whispers disrupt your hearing.”
“Inside this fog, you can’t see clearly, can’t hear properly…”
“Even your magical perception becomes distorted.”
The Shadow Demon paused briefly before letting out a low laugh.
“So tell me…”
“How long can you last under these conditions?”
Of course Dolores recognized this move.
Every single time she played through this part of the game, she had to listen to the Shadow Demon explain it once again.
【Black Mist Whispers】 released black fog that obscured the enemy’s vision.
Those endlessly muttering whispers disrupted the opponent’s senses.
Under these conditions, locating the Shadow Demon became extremely difficult, resulting in players being ambushed to death.
There was actually an extremely simple solution to this move.
Just leave the mist’s range entirely.
You could figure that out instantly from the description alone.
But in the game, Philly never ran out.
Instead, she stubbornly fought inside the fog.
Even though such an obvious solution existed, why didn’t Philly use it?
Because the game never gave players that option in the first place.
The two sides simply fought and traded taunts inside the mist while protecting Dailina, allowing the developers to pad out another thirty or forty pages of dialogue.
Dolores slowly took a deep breath.
She absolutely wasn’t going to waste time fighting inside this mist.
The canyon exit should be directly ahead of her, right?
“Little girl, do you know something?”
“I love watching students like you struggle inside the mist.”
The Shadow Demon’s voice carried a mocking grin.
“At first, you all stay calm.”
“You think your abilities will definitely help you find me.”
“Then panic slowly sets in…”
“Because you realize this technique is far harder to deal with than expected.”
“And after that…”
The Shadow Demon continued rambling endlessly.
Dolores suddenly kicked off the ground with her right foot.
Her body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
“…you’ll eventually fall into despair—hm?!”
The Shadow Demon suddenly realized Dolores had vanished from before its eyes.
“Trying to run?!”
The black mist churned violently as it immediately gave chase.
Dolores poured mana into her legs, accelerating even further.
For a moment, even the Shadow Demon struggled to catch her.
“Damn it!”
“Stop right there!”
“What kind of person just runs away like this?!”
The Shadow Demon’s voice came from behind, sounding furious and flustered.
Dolores ignored it completely.
Fight inside your territory?
As if.
Why would she willingly suffer such a disadvantage?
As light suddenly returned to her vision, Dolores successfully escaped the black mist.
But the moment she looked ahead, she realized she was back inside the same forest she previously exited from.
Huh?
Why did she run back into the forest?
Before entering the mist, she specifically memorized the direction of the canyon exit.
And afterward, she never changed direction.
How could she possibly run the wrong way?
The Shadow Demon emerged from the mist.
The moment it saw Dolores’s confused expression, it burst into arrogant laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
“You fell for it!”
It spread its arms wide while retracting the black mist behind it.
“I deliberately altered the orientation of the mist domain!”
“You thought you were running toward the exit, but in reality, I lured you straight back into this forest!”
“So now…”
“In this dark forest, how exactly will you fight me?”
Dolores felt speechless.
When you came out just now, weren’t you confused for a second too?
You clearly didn’t expect me to run away either.
You panicked and chased after me the whole time.
And now that things accidentally worked out in your favor, you’re acting smug after the fact?
Still…
She genuinely was in trouble now.
The forest was far darker than the canyon outside.
Trees surrounded her on all sides.
Her movements became restricted.
The trees obstructed her vision while also reducing her space to dodge.
Meanwhile, the Shadow Demon could merge into the shadows at any moment and attack from any direction.
This environment was completely its home ground.
Even worse—
Her mana was almost depleted.
She had fought the Shadow Demon for far too long.
The Shadow Demon clearly noticed this as well.
Its body flashed and immediately merged into the forest shadows.
In the next instant, attacks came at her from every direction.
Dolores’s movements were already noticeably slower than before.
She barely managed to defend herself, while her footing gradually became disordered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Out of strength already?”
Noticing her exhaustion, the Shadow Demon’s tone became increasingly arrogant.
“Weren’t you running pretty quickly earlier?”
“So why can’t you keep up anymore?”
Dolores panted heavily.
Not only was her stamina nearly exhausted, but her mana had completely bottomed out too.
At this rate…
She was finished.
“If you still have any trump cards left, you’d better use them quickly.”
“Otherwise…”
The Shadow Demon let out a mocking laugh.
“Though judging from your current state, you probably don’t have any left.”
Trump card?
If it hadn’t mentioned it, she almost forgot.
She really did have one.
She could partially unseal the Demon God and borrow its power.
Thank you for reminding me.
Dolores quietly opened the panel and switched to the weapon interface.
Inside was a blood-red mana bar shaped like a sword.
At the tip of the blade, a lock-shaped icon flashed with red light, almost urging her to unseal it.
At this point, she couldn’t hesitate anymore.
She decisively released the seal.
【First Stage Unsealed. Obtained: Blood Devour】
【Blood Devour (lv1): Upon striking a target, the Holy Sword Castillo absorbs a small amount of the target’s condition】
This is…
Life drain?
It directly steals the opponent’s stamina and mana?
That’s absurdly overpowered.
As expected of Demon God power.
But in her current state, she could barely even touch the Shadow Demon.
Even with this ability, it wouldn’t matter.
Unless…
A plan formed inside Dolores’s mind.
“You’re stronger than any student I’ve assassinated before.”
“But unfortunately…”
“You’ll still die by my hands today.”
The Shadow Demon approached Dolores while proclaiming its victory.
“Allow me to send you on your way.”
“I’ll preserve your head nicely afterward.”
The dagger descended.
A faint smile slowly appeared on Dolores’s lips.
Dark red light flickered across her blade.
Perfect.
As long as this strike lands—
In the next second, her body suddenly lifted into the air.
Her line of sight abruptly shifted upward toward the sky.
???
Someone had wrapped one arm around her back while the other firmly supported the back of her legs.
It seemed…
She had been princess-carried?
Then a strand of pink hair brushed gently across her cheek, causing her mind to instantly go blank.
Eh?