"Praise the Holy Light!"
The Saintess' prayer echoed across the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the surrounding monsters could not understand a single word. All they could do was shatter under the swing of the sacred sword, their magic stones crushed as they vanished.
To temper her close-combat abilities, Elise did not use the large-scale magical attacks known as sword techniques. Instead, she merely infused the sacred sword with Prana.
Starlight Sword, kid!
Close-quarters combat had always been Elise's "weakness."
Of course, weak did not mean she was truly weak. It simply meant that compared to her other abilities, her melee combat was not as outstanding. That was why she called it a weakness.
In order to reach even greater heights and become a truly versatile saintess, Elise had deliberately set aside time to study specialized combat techniques.
Back in the world of the Asterisk, because she had been close friends with Sylvia, the two of them had often exchanged ideas.
Elise had even approached Sylvia to learn how she fused combat techniques with dance.
Although the process had been somewhat convoluted, Elise had been able to use faith at the time! Her learning ability had skyrocketed.
She had directly recorded the combat methods and studied them gradually. Looking at it now, she had done fairly well.
This was a method of combat that relied on no bodily enhancement whatsoever—merely maintaining the sharpness and defense of the blade while defeating enemies through a graceful sword dance.
In battle, it was precisely this sword dance that allowed Elise to unleash even greater power.
Adjust posture. Control force. Find the right angle.
Using every aspect of technique, she conserved her strength while pushing her body's capabilities to the limit.
At the same time, it was beautiful.
Yes, very beautiful.
Elise definitely had not learned this style simply because it looked beautiful, okay?
After all, she and Sylvia were friends. What was wrong with exchanging techniques?
"Besides... doesn't this better suit the charm of a saintess?"
Elise lightly evaded the attacks of several monsters, weaving through the gaps between them with the fluidity of a dancer.
Two streaks of sword light flashed. Magic stones fell from the monsters' bodies, and their forms dissolved into nothingness.
"What do you think of my sword dance? Is it beautiful?"
Elise pointed the sacred sword toward a Minotaur preparing to charge.
"Moo?"
The Minotaur glanced in confusion at the sacred sword, then at Elise's face.
How could it possibly understand what she was saying?
It was just an ordinary Minotaur.
There was no way it could answer her question.
"So you're just a simple monster after all, huh?" Elise scratched her head helplessly. "Do you want to dance as well?"
"Moo!"
Though it had no idea what Elise was doing, instinct drove the Minotaur to smash the human before it.
Its fist swung down!
Boom—
In the next instant, the Minotaur exploded.
Its entire upper body vanished. The lower half swayed on the spot for a moment before collapsing as well.
"Still, what a pity!"
"Since I can't meet the skill's conditions, today's increase in ability points definitely won't be that significant..."
If Elise wanted to grow rapidly, she had to fulfill the effects of [Saintess of Scales]—to walk the path of a saintess.
The clearest manifestation of that path was saving others from danger.
"There's no one on this floor. I can't help that. If someone were here, I could proactively save them."
Though she said that, Elise had obediently waited until everyone had left the fifteenth floor before triggering the Monster Feria.
I may not be a good person, and I do cause trouble for others from time to time. But casually creating life-threatening danger for someone? Let's not go that far.
Life is precious.
A saintess is meant to save the people!
If she truly did such a thing, she would only stray further from the path of a saintess.
As for ability point growth...
Was she really short on time?
At worst, she would just stay in this world a little longer!
She was not in a hurry!
"Aaaah—!"
A human scream suddenly rang out from afar.
Elise froze. She even failed to dodge several monsters' attacks, which struck her squarely.
Thud—
Unfortunately for them, the Prana defense surrounding Elise blocked every blow before it could touch her body.
No matter how frantically the monsters assaulted her, she did not budge an inch.
"That was a human voice? Someone came onto this floor?"
Frowning, Elise expanded her Prana perception. Sure enough, at the edge of the floor, she detected a group of adventurers being chased by a large horde of monsters.
One of them had already suffered severe injuries.
The moment she saw that scene, Elise vanished from her spot, not even bothering to collect the remaining magic stones.
The monsters lost their target.
"Grr?"
As they hesitated in confusion, faint dotted lines suddenly appeared across their bodies.
Then...
Those lines connected.
A slash followed.
Shhk—
Every monster present was sliced into fragments. Even their magic stones were completely destroyed.
Only one thought filled Elise's mind.
I have to get there!
This is my fault.
I thought those adventurers would head straight down to a safe floor. I didn't expect that after so long, they would circle back...
And during the battle, I might have gotten too immersed.
The deaths of outsiders had nothing to do with Elise. She would feel nothing. There were plenty of people in this world who sought death, and she could not save everyone.
But since these people had been judged as good by her [Scales of Judgment], and had been caught up in the Monster Feria she planned, they counted as "innocent" in her eyes.
If innocents died because of her actions, she would care...
Elise flew at incredible speed. In just a few breaths, she caught sight of the fleeing adventurers.
"There are three of them. Two are unharmed, but..."
The remaining one was being carried on another's back, blood pouring from his body—and worsening by the second!
If he was not treated immediately, his life would be in danger!
"Constellation—The Cosmic Light of the Celestial Scales!"
Blazing starlight coiled around the sacred sword in Elise's hand, so dazzling it felt as though it might explode if stared at for too long.
It was hard to say whether Elise's techniques were swordsmanship or magic. In her hand, the blade needed only the lightest swing to unleash overwhelming power.
But it did not matter. Whether her move was swordsmanship or magic, as long as it worked.
The scales bring judgment.
The good are rewarded. The wicked are punished.
Standing between the adventurers and the monsters, Elise swung the staff in its sword form.
A massive beam of light struck both the adventurers and the monsters almost simultaneously...
Yet only the monsters disintegrated beneath its radiance.
As for the injured adventurer?
Under Elise's judgment, the blood seeping from his wounds began to slow.
The torn flesh started to knit together, healing gradually before their eyes.