Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 144: Aren’t you in a hurry to use the props?
The strike shadow beast that emerged from the darkness seemed to hate the light released by the lantern, so it always lingered at the junction of light and darkness, as if it was hesitating whether to launch an attack. But this was just a disguise. If you look closely at its cold scarlet eyes, you will find that it has always been fixed on the girl, without a moment's deviation, and there is a ferocious blood light flashing in it.

Olvera held the Broken Steel Holy Sword in her hand, and the pale blue crystal blade reflected the girl's stiff face. Although Alice had been comforting her, saying that it was just a small monster at the door of the house, and it could be killed with two or three swords, and there was no need to be so scared...but facing such a vicious enemy for the first time, the princess of the Beman Kingdom still felt nervous, and even her breathing stagnated.

This silent confrontation lasted for about a few seconds, and finally the more manic Assault Shadow Beast could no longer hold back. The inherent ferocity in its bones urged it to destroy the enemy in front of it as soon as possible, swallow the ashes of blood and fire, and let everything return to the eternal silence. So it chose to follow the drive of instinct, slightly lowered its front limbs, and suddenly exerted force with its two claws pressing on the stone bricks, and a low, thunderous roar rolled out from the depths of its throat:

“Ugh—!”

Alice’s voice rang in Olvera’s mind: “Get out of the way!”

The girl had no time to think, and almost subconsciously dodged, moving her body to the side. At the same time, a dark stream of light passed by where she had been standing at an extremely fast speed. Two beast claws burning with dark flames pounced hard with a thunderous momentum, but pounced into the air.

The shadow beast that looked like a tiger and a leopard fell to the ground. Due to the kinetic energy brought by the long-range attack, it leaped forward a few steps uncontrollably and fell into a state of temporary stiffness. At this time, Olvera had turned around and swung the holy sword in her hand at it under Alice's command: "Cut it!"

The crystal-like, elegant and smooth sword shape became a weapon that could kill people at this moment. Although the sword had no blade, the sharp edge swept across, tearing open the dark shell covering the surface, penetrating into the flesh and bones, leaving a hideous wound, causing the shadow beast, which had nowhere to hide, to howl in pain.

Olvera's mind was blank, but her steps moved forward automatically. She used the momentum after swinging the sword to retract the blade, drew a beautiful half arc in the air, and slashed again from another direction, completely shattering the shell covering the body of the shadow beast that had finally gotten rid of its stiff state, turning it into countless black fragments that fell on the floor. Without the protection of the shell, the opponent's fragile body was completely exposed to the sharp edge of the holy sword. The girl moved forward and slashed upward without any instruction. The blade swept across the body of the shadow beast for the third time, crossing with the original scar, forming an X-shaped mark.

The shadow beast, which was already in a state of low health, roared miserably, opened its huge mouth and bit the girl, with a pair of sharp daggers pointing directly at her fragile neck, and could vaguely smell the chill. But Olvera did not hesitate at all, turned forward, stepped hard on the cold stone bricks with her long boots, twisted the hilt with both hands, and used the force of her body rotation to smash the pale blue giant sword down, the speed from top to bottom was even faster than the fangs of the shadow beast, and fiercely chopped the opponent's waist, splitting it in two with irresistible force, and countless filthy dark blood spurted out from the torn fracture.

The remaining blood bar on the shadow beast's head was directly emptied by this sword, and the blood light in its cold eyes dimmed instantly. Its body also lost all its strength and fell softly to the ground. After a few miserable whimpers, its unwilling eyes slowly closed, and its body, which had previously contained terrifying and brutal power, was like corroding in the stomach of a giant beast, melting into countless black mists and completely dissipating in the flickering flames of the lantern.

"Hoo, hoo!"

Olvera still maintained the posture when she swung the sword to cut off the shadow beast. After taking a few quick breaths, she finally regained control of her body. She straightened up in a daze and murmured, "I won?"

"Yeah, you won without losing any health. I told you, the monsters outside your house are weak, there's no need to be so nervous."

"But how did I win?" Olvera, the person involved, was confused: "What was that sword technique just now? I have never learned it, but my body moved on its own..."

"That's not swordsmanship, it's a basic combo." "Huh?"

"Basic combos are moves that come with weapons. You don't need to learn them to use them. The basic combo of the holy sword Broken Steel Oath is three light attacks followed by a heavy attack. The damage of light attacks is relatively low, but there is no afterswing; the damage of heavy attacks is very high, but there is a afterswing. For a small monster like the one just now, just dodge its first wave of attacks, and then directly kill it with a set of basic combos. Do you understand?"

"...No." Olvera looked at the holy sword in her hand with disbelief and murmured, "It is incredible that he can control the human body and use such exquisite swordsmanship. His proficiency is not inferior to that of a court swordsman with twenty years of combat experience. Such a magical weapon is like a holy relic."

"Ah, so I told you that it wasn't some sophisticated swordplay, it was just a basic combo..." Alice wanted to scratch her hair, but she didn't have a physical body now, so she couldn't do this habitual action, so she gave up: "Whatever you think, let's see what item that guy dropped just now."

"Dropped?"

Olvera bent down and picked up a flame-shaped crystal from the place where the shadow beast had just turned into black mist and dissipated. It felt like solidified amber, with a smooth surface and a gem-like texture. It was hard to imagine that it was something that fell from such a ferocious and evil beast.

[Embers of the Remnant: The embers left after the shadow of darkness faded away. You can still feel some temperature. Perhaps it is the memory of hope that the old people placed on. After use, it will restore 100 HP, or throw it into the ember fire source to extend the burning time by 5 minutes. ]

Can you extend the burning time of an ember fire?
Olvera's eyes lit up, and she was about to throw the "ashes of the remaining fire" into the lantern without hesitation, but was stopped by Alice: "Don't be so anxious, don't you see that it can also restore health?"

"But my HP is still full..."

"The ember fire source still has 27 minutes left to use." Alice said, "Keep it for now and use it when you need it. After all, this isn't a turn-based system, so using items doesn't consume actions."

Olvera thought about it and it seemed to be true, so she did not insist and put the [Embers of the Remnant] into the item column, then held the holy sword - Oath of Broken Steel and continued to move deeper into the corridor. The light from the lantern opened up a warm area in the deep darkness where one could not see one's hand in front of one's face, like a bright island drifting in the black ocean, slowly and firmly swimming through the depths of the dark storm.

The sword-wielding girl on the isolated island is carefully following the direction of the light, bravely opening a path to the future.

Dungeon [Bayman Ruins, Dark Castle on the Southern Foothills of Sosen] Exploration progress: Fifth-floor corridor, 5%.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)