Chapter 402: Absolute Values! (Patreon)

The earlier [Myriad Treasure Mallet] had crudely boosted a person's "vessel" and Stats.

Haruhime's new magic, [Entwine], was far more complicated.

First, there was the "disappearance" of the self. She didn't turn into Magic or become some other substance. She truly ceased to exist. To the naked eye, a translucent girl made of mist simply clung to Isagi's back.

In reality, neither physical nor magical attacks had any effect on Haruhime herself. But her life was now completely bound to Isagi's.

That wasn't exactly a good thing. Then again, Isagi was used to dying, and there seemed to be no way around it. It wasn't as if she could be truly "invincible," after all, and having weaknesses was perfectly normal.

Truth be told, it hardly counted as a weakness. Apart from great gods like Odin, or when he went alone to test himself against some high-level Monster "boss," Isagi rarely "died" in the Dungeon anymore.

Anyway.

Like the Myriad Treasure Mallet, Haruhime's [Entwine] raised the target's Stats and the capacity of their "vessel." The target was Isagi himself, and the boost was still about "one level's worth." On top of that, though, it came with several additional effects.

The first was that Haruhime could now cast her magic on her own. The [Myriad Treasure Mallet] could not be cast this way, of course. Once [Entwine] was active, the two spells were mutually exclusive: either you boosted Isagi alone, or you boosted everyone. Even if the Mallet was cast first, casting [Entwine] afterward would wipe out its effect.

The price was that Isagi could use the girl's magic, [Kokonoe] and [Soul Siphon].

It was a subtle thing. From the moment Haruhime first told him about her new magic, Isagi had found it incredibly subtle!

Didn't this mean that, with [Kokonoe] backing them, all of his magic and skills could become "area attacks"? And that wasn't all. The essence of [Kokonoe] was repeating the original spell in a single instant, so in theory he could pick one target and unleash multiple spells at once.

For the old Haruhime, that might not have meant much. But for Isagi (no, for Lefiya, Ryuu, Riveria and everyone else who wielded offensive magic) it was enormously useful. This magic of Haruhime's was practically a divine technique!

[Soul Siphon] was equally formidable, since its duration was, in theory, "infinite." In theory, Isagi could cast [Soul Siphon] on others ahead of time, drain their Stats until every last one of them was "squeezed dry," and then go into battle as a kind of "super stat monster"!

As he'd said before, [Soul Siphon] was a very powerful skill. Haruhime hadn't used it in ordinary times because she had no combat ability of her own, so even sky-high Stats meant nothing. Now, everything was different.

—

Feeling Haruhime, now transformed into [Entwine], was fine for Isagi. For the fox-girl, though, the sensation was almost too wondrous. The feeling of one life joined to another was impossible to put into words, as if their hearts were completely in tune.

She could feel the boy's heart: unshakably firm, burning hot, always pressing forward. And that made her own resolve firmer. She had always been one of his followers, just like the others, except that what Haruhime had been following was everyone.

She had come to the Astraea Familia and received a life completely unlike anything she'd known. She never slacked off. If anything, she felt a greater unease than before, because she was afraid this life wasn't real. That was why, even without any combat ability, she had resolutely insisted on going into the Dungeon with Isagi and the others, to contribute whatever strength she had.

[Your life is yours to decide.]

Isagi had taught her that. Even the smallest, most meaningless struggle was fine. As long as the choice was your own, it didn't matter if you died in some utterly ridiculous way.

It was true that there were many things in this world that could never be done, no matter what. But if you dwelled on those things forever, you'd be trapped in a prison for the rest of your life. Wasn't that painful too? Compared to resisting and struggling, were days spent in a tiny room, unable to do anything, really happiness?

Haruhime understood that all too well. So when she gained the right to choose, she chose a life completely different from before.

And more importantly, simple people don't usually think about complicated things. Haruhime's wish hadn't changed one bit: she wanted to be of help to the "big brothers" and "big sisters" who looked after her. That was all.

Meanwhile, Heith had also made a qualitative leap since reaching Lv.7.

It wasn't that she had gained some new attack ability, or that she no longer needed the "Book of Poisoned Milk" Isagi had given her to turn her healing magic into something that continuously damaged enemies. Rather, it was a brand-new "upgrade" built on top of her original healing magic.

She had gained a new skill: [Golden Alchemy]. It greatly strengthened her two existing healing spells, [Spirit Gullveig] and [Asa Gullveig].

The usual effects (lifting curses, neutralizing poison, restoring stamina and mental strength, healing wounds) hardly needed mentioning. The two most useful abilities of [Golden Alchemy] were these:

One: after a spell was cast, the target was "Marked," and Heith could, at any time, return the body of anyone she'd cast healing magic on to its state before the Mark. As long as the person wasn't dead, even if they were gravely wounded, a body that had been healthy when Marked could be restored to that "point in time" in one go. Naturally, such a powerful effect had a limit: it could only be used once per person per day.

Two: the body of anyone who received Heith's healing magic took on a certain degree of "golden transmutation." According to Heith, it was some kind of pure "Magic" state, and her healing magic kept stacking a layer of Magic shield on the target.

Whenever the target took damage, cast magic, spent stamina, or even was cursed or poisoned, every one of those things would first deplete this "Golden Shield," and only once it was gone would they affect the body itself. There was no limit to how many times it could be cast. But maintaining the Golden Shield drained Heith's mental strength, so by her own estimate, twenty or thirty people at once was her limit.

Magnificent.

Just from hearing the descriptions of Haruhime's and Heith's new abilities, Isagi thought of something outrageous: what if Haruhime first cast [Entwine] on herself, and then he cast [Soul Siphon] on the others? In theory, the fox-girl's [Soul Siphon] was a curse magic, a "curse" that continuously drained the target's Stats.

So what if Heith then cast healing magic on a target who'd been hit with [Soul Siphon]? That would not only give them a "Mark" of their best condition, but also keep layering Golden Shields to stand in for the Stats being drained. Once the target had been drained dry, she could use the "Mark" to return them to their best condition. Would their Stats be refreshed to their original level, ready to be siphoned all over again?

When Isagi laid out this long chain of ideas, the girls just stared at him, dumbfounded, wondering what on earth he was talking about. But putting it into practice wasn't complicated. It was also one of the reasons for this trip to [Dragon Valley].

There was no hurry, though. He had just fought Ryuu and wasn't in top condition, so they rested first.

—

The night passed. Although, in Dragon Valley, there was no telling whether it had really been a single night.

When they woke the next morning, the sky was still dark and gloomy, layer upon layer of heavy black clouds pressing down as if they might fall at any moment. As the girls got up one by one, everyone washed, ate breakfast, and soon began testing Isagi's "theory" from the day before.

The procedure was simple. Haruhime used [Entwine] on herself, then Heith cast healing magic on Ryuu and herself, applying both the "Mark" and the "Golden Shield." After that, Isagi cast [Soul Siphon] on them. A faint pink mist swept toward the two of them.

Before long, Isagi, Ryuu and Heith all felt a subtle strangeness. Isagi felt full and brimming with energy, with the illusion that he'd never grow tired no matter what. Ryuu and Heith felt something inside their bodies slowly "disappearing," like the listlessness of low spirits. It was very faint, but it was definitely there.

[Soul Siphon] showed no visible effect in the short term, so Isagi and the girls simply waited where they were for several hours, chatting and preparing lunch in the meantime.

After about three or four hours, Heith couldn't hold on any longer and used her Mark to return to the "best condition" she'd been in when she woke that morning. Ryuu, being a higher level than Heith, clearly lasted longer. A little over an hour later, she too used Heith's "Mark" to return to her best condition.

Then another five or six hours passed, and breakfast turned into lunch and finally into dinner. Fortunately, in her [Entwine] form, Haruhime didn't need to eat or drink; as long as Isagi ate and drank, she was fine. That was a bit outrageous too!

He could also feel that both his appetite and the amount of water he could drink in one go had grown, probably because they were covering Haruhime's share as well. And so, Isagi's experiment let a whole day slip by before he knew it. [Soul Siphon] really was too slow, but there was no helping it.

Still, once Ryuu and Heith had been completely "drained," Isagi felt terrifyingly strong!! What were his Stats right now? He probably didn't know himself. But that was fine. He could test them, and the perfect test subjects were the Great Dragons of [Dragon Valley].

As before, Isagi had no intention of going in himself. He sent the Soul Teardrop instead. Teardrop Big Bro would perfectly copy his current state. It couldn't copy Haruhime's [Entwine], but it would copy his body and the tremendous Stats he'd gained from [Soul Siphon].

As the black, magical slime slowly dripped down and took shape, it was fitted with the "armor" Cecil had made especially for it. Without so much as a backward glance, as if it were used to this, the Soul Teardrop headed straight for the depths of Dragon Valley.

Meanwhile, Isagi, as practiced as ever, took out the Eye Crystal. Beside him, Ryuu and Heith, completely drained and too weak to do anything but lean on him to rest, got ready to watch the "big show" about to unfold in the valley with him.

Oh, and Haruhime, too. The fox-girl had already released [Entwine], but she was still clinging to his back, peeking out her little head to watch along.

Under the gloomy sky, it wasn't long before the Soul Teardrop reached the enormous black tornado. It stepped straight inside once more, and a dazzling expanse of brilliant clouds bloomed before its eyes.

As before, the inside of Dragon Valley was a vast and beautiful "sky." There was probably no difference between day and night here; it was always this lovely hour of sunset glow. Great clumps of thick mist drifted in midair like cotton candy, veiling countless massive rocks and floating islands.

Then came the roars of the Great Dragons. Perhaps it was because he'd come so many times. For Great Dragons who had lived in the valley for over a thousand years, visits several times within a year or two were once unimaginable. So the moment the Soul Teardrop entered Dragon Valley, it received a very warm welcome.

This time, however, Isagi didn't run. Instead, he met the enemy head-on!

"Boom!"

Spreading its golden wings, the Soul Teardrop shot like a cannonball into the huge mass of clouds ahead. Instantly, countless showers of golden blood rained down across the beautiful orange sunset, and a colossal Great Dragon's shattered body plummeted with them.

He couldn't even tell what level it was. To the Soul Teardrop in this state, anything below Lv.8, even a dragon-type Monster, was probably all the same. No difference. Every one of them died in an instant!

That vast, overwhelming sense of Strength made Isagi's blood boil, even from far outside Dragon Valley. This was incredible! So this was the power of pure Stats?!

As a string of "sonic booms" echoed from within Dragon Valley, the Great Dragons' furious roars, so noisy only moments before, turned into countless cries of anguish.

Isagi was now carrying out a massacre inside Dragon Valley!