The Wooden Blade came down hard, and Olivas was finding it harder and harder to block.
Just as the fight was starting to tilt completely to one side, the opening he'd been waiting for finally arrived.
Steel met steel, the heavy thud of repeated clashes drawing closer.
Then, in the next instant, a corner of the green wall blew apart with a deafening blast.
"Ais-san...?!"
Lefiya stared toward the dust-choked corner in confusion.
The red-haired woman looked like she'd taken a direct hit. With her back to everyone, she shot out of the smoke.
She slammed into the ground and slid a good distance before she finally stopped.
"Revis, get over here and help!"
Olivas shouted.
"Get lost. You're annoying."
The red-haired woman pushed herself upright, her body covered in wounds.
"...Even you're losing?"
Olivas was in even worse shape, the steam pouring off him now visible to the naked eye.
Ryuu didn't spare the new arrival a glance, continuing to drive forward with a relentless storm of slashes.
"Ptoo..."
Revis flicked Olivas a contemptuous look and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Deal with your own problems—that's what I'd like to say. But Aria leveled up. In the end, I still had to rely on what those people brought…"
As she spoke in that bloodthirsty tone, the black dagger in her hand fractured, its blade breaking apart into countless fine needles.
Breathing hard, Revis kept her eyes locked on the spot where the green wall had exploded.
As the dust settled, a blonde girl with golden eyes emerged.
"Huff... huff..."
Ais was panting, her right hand gripping a slender silver-white sword. Her left hand pressed to her abdomen, her face twisted with pain.
She swept her gaze across the battlefield, then it stopped on the boy.
"Bell..."
The whisper sounded sad, and a little helpless.
The Sword Princess tightened her grip on the [Desperate Sword], her fighting spirit still intact.
The small Ais in her heart was genuinely happy that he was here.
But she also knew it meant she was going to trouble him again, and guilt hit her all at once.
"Firebolt!"
Bell fired Firebolt straight toward Olivas's face, then immediately read the battlefield again.
The red-haired woman called Revis had clearly been fighting Ais for a long time.
In that explosion just now, she'd been overwhelmed for a moment, blasted away, and sent crashing through the wall.
Now that everyone had converged, their side should have had the advantage in raw strength.
But Bell saw it.
At Ais's feet was a glass vial she'd just discarded, the container for a healing potion.
She must have drunk the restorative elixir in the chaos, while the dust was still thick.
Even so, blood was still pouring from where her left hand pressed against her abdomen.
Bright red seeped between her slender fingers like a curse, like death itself, staining Ais's light armor.
A cursed weapon.
Bell understood instantly.
With Evilus involved, cursed weapons weren't surprising at all.
Could Ais, in this condition, keep Revis suppressed?
No.
Ais was their strongest fighter. If anything happened to her, the enemy would attack without hesitation.
He had to get the anti-curse potion Airmid had made into her hands.
But how?
Olivas, the giant Viola, and Revis stood between them like three impassable walls.
If he forced his way through, everything they'd built up with their coordination so far would fall apart...
Bell decided in an instant.
Firebolt cut off Olivas's vision, and the Wooden Blade came down in perfect sync.
"Ryuu, keep the pressure on him! Filvis, Lefiya, cover me while I deliver the anti-curse potion to Ais!"
Bell dropped any unnecessary honorifics, his voice urgent and strained.
The crimson glow of the quartz pillars cast their shadows across the cavern.
"Understood."
Ryuu seized the instant Olivas faltered, bringing her blade down with swift precision.
"Sweep, holy staff of crushing evil!"
Filvis fixed her gaze on the distant giant Viola and began her chant.
"Mm...?"
Catching the look Bell threw her, Lefiya broke into a sprint without hesitation.
Ahead of her, Bell clutched a pale blue potion and raced through the vast hollow at full speed.
"Damn it! You even have an anti-curse elixir?!"
Olivas took advantage of Bell's absence, parrying Ryuu's attacks as he retreated.
The combined assault of Firebolt and the Wooden Blade had already left him heavily wounded.
If the damage worsened any further, all his Magic power and stamina would be consumed by regeneration, leaving him unable to move.
"Him again...?!"
Revis shot Bell a look, fury flooding her face.
As Bell neared the fallen giant Viola, he hurled the potion in his hand and shouted:
"Ais, catch!"
"Viola!"
Olivas stared at the potion arcing through the air, his brow suddenly furrowing.
"Wait! The second vial is the real anti-curse potion!"
The enormous serpentine flower body snapped upward, leaping into the air.
The second vial Bell had thrown was smashed apart by the monster's floral head. The glass shattered into countless razor-sharp fragments.
The liquid inside splashed down, mixing with the foul slime of the carnivorous plant, dissolving into a useless, tainted puddle.
Olivas's lips curled upward.
Just seeing through the boy's plan was enough to bring a sinister smile to his face.
But the next moment, that smile turned into a mockery.
"Dio Thyrsos!"
Filvis raised her short staff and unleashed lightning at the giant Viola in midair.
Light blazed. Electricity surged.
The Viola had already opened its gaping maw to swallow the potion. The lightning struck directly inside, scorching the flesh within.
"Firebolt!"
Several Firebolts followed immediately after.
Paralyzed by the lightning and unable to adjust its posture, the giant Viola was forced to swallow the blazing fireballs whole.
"GRAAAAAAAAH!!"
As the monster shrieked, Firebolt raged through its body, burning the Magic Stone inside to ashes.
"So the target was the Viola...?"
Olivas's face twisted.
"But your potion's gone. The advantage is still ours!"
Adventurers couldn't carry too many potions during combat.
Their pouches were small, and they had no supporters with them.
Olivas was certain Bell couldn't possibly produce another anti-curse potion.
And under normal circumstances, he would've been right.
But what he didn't know was that Bell had anticipated Evilus's involvement and had Lefiya prepare an extra vial.
Since the golden-haired elf didn't engage in close combat, she was the most suitable person to carry it.
And now, Lefiya was sprinting straight toward Ais.
"Don't tell me...?!"
Revis's expression darkened when she saw the potion in Lefiya's hand.
She moved to intercept—
Only for a violent gale to erupt in front of her.
"Awaken, Tempest."
The storm roared.
Ignoring the cursed wound in her abdomen, Ais activated Ariel.
With Bell and Lefiya risking everything for her, she no longer had the luxury of worrying about the [Jewel].
"Ahhhhh—!"
The Jewel Fetus reacted to Ais's wind, shrieking repeatedly.
Perhaps due to [Luck], the Jewel remained tightly bound to the quartz pillar. No matter how violently it writhed, it failed to interfere with Ais.
"Viola!!"
Revis hurriedly summoned a second giant carnivorous plant.
Its serpentine body peeled away from the blood-red pillar and crashed down like a massive hammer.
The storm howled.
Ferocious wind coiled around the Desperate Sword.
The instant the giant Viola came crashing down toward Ais—
A flash of steel.
The monster's floral head was severed cleanly, flying high before landing several meters away.
"...?!"
Olivas stood there in stunned disbelief.
Revis didn't even glance at the blood spraying through the air.
The moment the Viola descended, she had already turned away. She had expected this outcome.
The Sword Princess was no longer the same.
Back in Rivira Town, Ais had wielded a temporary blade, one that couldn't withstand Ariel's explosive power. That was how Revis had managed to defeat her.
But this time, Ais carried the Desperate Sword.
And she had reached Level 6.
Revis knew it well. The moment Ais stopped holding back for the sake of the Jewel and fully unleashed the power of her Wind, defeat was inevitable.
So she used the second Viola's attack as cover and redirected her target toward Lefiya.
If she destroyed the anti-curse potion, Ais would eventually lose her fighting strength to the curse.
The ground shattered beneath her monstrous step.
Red hair whipping wildly, Revis charged like a beast.
"Firebolt!"
Bell fired a Firebolt and dashed toward Lefiya at full speed.
Her intent was far too obvious.
The situation had shifted in an instant. He couldn't shout instructions without exposing their trump card, and Lefiya's worry for Ais had pushed her into a reckless move.
Bell couldn't blame her.
For better or worse, Lefiya's action had indeed changed the flow of the battle.
"You think I'd fall for the same trick twice?!"
Revis ignored the lightning entirely, letting the flames scorch her arm as she charged forward.
Just as she was about to reach Lefiya—
Ais and Bell rushed in from both sides.
"Guh—?!"
The Desperate Sword cut through the air. Revis barely twisted away in time, but blood sprayed from a deep gash torn across her shoulder.
The blast of wind pressure hurled her backward.
At the same moment, Bell tackled Lefiya to the ground, narrowly avoiding Revis's monstrous iron fist.
"I know you're worried about Ais-san, but next time don't make your intentions so obvious to the enemy, you magic idiot."
Bell held the golden-haired elf as he scolded her reckless move.
It had all happened too fast.
Lefiya hadn't frozen in fear. She'd chosen to step forward.
To Bell, that alone was no small thing.
After all, the one who had truly thrown herself into danger was Lefiya, charging toward Ais without hesitation.
When teaming up with this golden-haired elf in the future, he'd have to factor in her impulsiveness.
But before that, they had to deal with the crisis in front of them.
Thanks to Lefiya, Revis had taken a heavy blow from Ais and lost her second giant Viola.
Next—
Bell's thoughts raced.
Then, in the next instant, he frowned.
"Lefiya-san?"
The golden-haired elf didn't shove him away.
She didn't even mutter an apology.
That wasn't like her at all.
Bell quickly pushed himself up to check on her.
Scarlet eyes met sapphire ones.
Lefiya's eyes were brimming with tears.
"Uu..."
As the golden-haired elf whimpered softly—
The anti-curse potion had already soaked silently into the green ground beneath them, dissolving into nothing but despair and guilt.