Chapter 159 – Nerve-Racking Exhibition(ism)

Is this dragon also part of a taboo?

Alice had never seen Luna using Dragon's Shadow before, but it didn't stop her from thinking that it looked very cool.
At a glance, it looked very much as if Luna had just summoned a dragon to fight for her.
Moreover, this wasn't some mana construct shaped like a dragon.
Instead, it also possessed the full strength of an actual dragon.

As far as Alice knew, such a taboo did not exist in the March Academy's library.
However, she wasn't particularly surprised to see Luna knowing such a taboo since the latter used to work for the Gryffin Kingdom's intelligence department.
Luna must've learned many taboos during her time with the intelligence department.

Although Luna was only capable of using dark mana due to the modifications the Demon King's Power had made to her body, it did not stop her from learning spells of other attributes.
It was just that these spells would be modified into dark-type versions when Luna used them.
Meanwhile, the Dragon's Shadow she just used was one of these examples.

Regardless, after the taboo exhibition had progressed up to this point, it was already obvious that the Demon King was at a disadvantage.
Based on the worried looks on the demons' faces, it was clear that they could see this point as well.

However, both Davis and the demon soldiers were fully aware that the Demon King had appeared later than the Hero.
So, this disadvantage was only the result of the Hero having more time to develop.
Meanwhile, the more time the Hero and the Demon King had to develop, the smaller the gap in strength between them would become.
Thus, Davis and the demon soldiers did not despair at this defeat.
Instead, they had readied themselves to take action at any moment.

At this point, their only option was to either retreat or charge forward and fight against the Hero and the elves.
The Demon King was the only hope for the demon race to acquire a better living environment, so there was no way they could abandon the Demon King here.

Meanwhile, after tearing apart Alice's Fountain of Uys with her Dragon's Shadow, Luna still did not show any signs of retreating.
Although she was feeling a little drained now, she still hadn't reached a point where she needed to retreat.
Not to mention, if she retreated after just this much, it would make it seem as if the Demon King was a coward.

Although there existed incredibly cowardly Demon Kings in the past, Alice was the holder of the Demon King's identity this generation.
As a dutiful maid, Luna would not allow herself to create a cowardly image for her master.

Hence, after breaking free from the Fountain of Uys, Luna promptly launched another attack.
With a swing of her right hand, she gathered a huge mass of dark mana in front of her.
Then, she compressed this mana into a solid, crystalline pillar.

“Soul Suppression Pillar!” Luna shouted and sent the crystal pillar smashing toward Alice.

When Alice saw the gigantic pillar shooting toward her like a missile, her eyebrows twitched a little as she couldn't help but wonder if Luna had forgotten about her power armor.
She didn't have the Enochian Prism protecting her right now.
If she couldn't mitigate the power of this attack sufficiently, her power armor would definitely cease to exist.

Of course, Alice could also understand Luna's thoughts.
Her maid must've thought that it would seem too fake if she retreated after suffering such a small loss and that she needed to show that she was “going all out.”

But don't you think you're going too all-out?!

To make matters worse, Alice had already depleted most of the mana the Hero's Sword had provided her.
The 8,000-point bonus the Hero's Sword provided to her Mana state might seem like a lot, but that bonus provided only enough mana for a few taboos.

The reason Heroes could launch taboos as if they were worth nothing was because of their frightening mana recovery speed.
To put it into perspective, assume that a Hero had a 10,000-point mana capacity and that it cost 4,000 points of mana to cast a taboo.
Logically, a Hero would lose the ability to cast taboos after two casts.
However, that wasn't the case at all in reality.
This was because the mana recovery speed a Hero possessed was so astonishing that they could recover the 4,000 points of mana they expended after taking only a few breaths.

Unfortunately, although Alice's body currently had the growth potential of a Hero, she hadn't fully developed this potential yet.
So, her mana recovery speed still hadn't reached a point where it could let her cast taboos continuously.
Meanwhile, the 8,000 points of Mana the Hero's Sword provided only changed the upper limit of her mana pool.
It did not affect her mana recovery speed at all.
Thus, she no longer had the mana required to cast any more taboos.

Thank goodness I came prepared.

After letting out a soft grunt, Alice injected a small strand of mana into her power armor, causing the opening in her right hand to close.
This, in turn, severed Alice's contact with the Hero's Sword.
After doing so, Alice retrieved a pair of panties from a small opening inside a small compartment located inside the power armor's right hand.

This small compartment was also something Alice had asked the dwarves to add to the power armor during manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Alice had used this compartment to store a pair of panties for a rainy day.
When necessary, she could simply close the opening in the power armor's right palm, retrieve the panties in the compartment, and gain the power of panties.

Moreover, Alice wouldn't have to worry about the holy light the panties radiated, either.
This was because…the power armor's interior was a closed space!

Even if holy light was flashing inside the power armor, nobody on the outside would notice it.
Naturally, nobody would know that the Hero was actually holding a pair of panties in her right hand, either!

Although Alice had switched her weapon from the Hero's Sword to a pair of panties, her mana pool remained empty.
Due to her ability's restrictions, she could only employ the trick of topping up her mana reserves once every battle.
However, this wasn't a problem.
Other than providing stat bonuses, all panties also came attached with an active skill.

Meanwhile, these active skills did not cost Alice any mana.

…

[Weapon: Soft Light-Yellow Underwear]

[Quality: Artifact]

[Effect: Strength +5000, Constitution +5000, Speed +5000, Mind +5000, Control +5000, Mana +5000]

[Additional Effect:

Mana's Friend (Passive Skill.
The mana you require to cast spells is halved);

Absolute Defense (Passive Skill.
You will not be hurt by physical attacks);

Steel's Sublimation (Active Skill.
Upon use, unleashes a steel blade that severs the target's soul.)]

…

“Steel's Sublimation!”

When Alice used the active skill, the panties in her right hand instantly disappeared and transformed into a torrent of mana that poured out of the power armor.
Then, this mana transformed into a steel blade that gave off a cold sheen.

The steel blade had an ordinary appearance, and it looked nowhere near as magnificent as the gigantic pillar Luna summoned.
However, Alice could feel the destructive power this steel blade carried within it.

The next moment, the steel blade transformed into a silver streak of light that moved straight for the base of the Soul Suppressing Pillar.
Then, as if it were cutting through a block of tofu, the steel blade effortlessly penetrated the gigantic crystalline pillar.

As soon as the steel blade cut into the crystal pillar, it promptly began unleashing wave after wave of earth mana, causing the pillar to explode and shatter into countless fragments.
After neutralizing the dark mana used to form the Soul Suppressing Pillar, the remnant earth mana continued to ravage the surrounding area, leaving countless gashes on the ground.
However, because of Alice's control, the earth mana did not injure any elves or demons.

“This is going to be the last attack, Demon King!”

Alice reopened the opening in the power armor's right hand and gripped the Hero's Sword directly once more.
Although the Hero's Sword did not provide her with any additional mana or mana recovery, the boost it provided to her Strength, Speed, and Mind stats were still very useful.