Chapter 82: Archery

The Land of Dead, the tower of dead spirits, and Medea’s nightmare of seeing her beloved fluffy but terrifying spirits get crushed. Haruki’s merciless spear drove a hole through every spirit whether it was a dog, cat, or lion.

Medea clutched her head in agony. Haruki caressed the beautiful strands of blue hair falling down her face.

"I also feel unmotivated to kill them."

Fighting little animals was no fun. Fighting big, burly men was exhilarating.

"They are just animals," Arch said. "They won't appear past the twentieth floor."

Haruki relayed the good news to his grief-stricken lover.

"Haruki-sama, what floor are we on?"

"Fourteenth," Semiramis answered as she spun the pouch of gems. "Next floor should be the boss room. My master, I suggest a break at the boss room’s door. My friend Medea needs some rest."

"Absolutely."

The trio proceeded to rest outside the boss room before pushing open the ancient door. It was the same lion-headed beast he encountered on the 10th floor.

Much bigger and angrier.

"Uridimmu." Semiramis’ black eyes glazed. "My master, slaughter!"

"Haruki-sama, be careful. It looks fiercer than the last boss."

"The duality of women."

He ramped up the reinforcement spell on his spear and leapt forth. The unreasonable strength offered by the reinforcement spell shot up his momentum. His figure blurred into a violet streak.

And he smacked the Uridimmu; the lion-headed beast tried to dodge, desperately trying to push its body out of harm's way. The speed of the dragon in a human's body exceeded its perception.

Haruki skewered the beast’s chest and flung him to the ceiling. What came crashing down was a lifeless corpse.

The offspring of Tiamat was stronger. However, he had also awakened more since the 10th floor. Each fiber of his muscle became used to the abuse of Medea’s cheat-like reinforcement spell.

The fight was unfair to begin with.

[Awakening Progress: 6.9%]

‘That’s a nice number, Arch. Wanna try it with me?’

"..."

He checked on his status.

[Haruki Hayashi]

Species: Dragon [Current awakening progress 6.9%]

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Height, Weight: 183cm/76kg

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

[Parameters]

Strength: 35 (B-)

Endurance: 34 (C)

Agility: 33 (C)

Magical energy: 75 (EX)

Luck: 10 (E)

Haruki picked the Life Essence orb left behind by the Urdimmu. It was almost the size of his palm this time. The bigger the orb, the more Life Essence it stored, and the more valuable it was to mages. The Edelfelt Family would be delighted.

"Catch." He tossed the orb at Semiramis who caught it without a flinch. "Semi, how many do we have now?"

"It’s the 204th."

"Well, we got more than I predicted."

He came with a hundred minimum as a target. However, the numerous household spirits exceeded his expectations.

A mocking smile appeared on Semiramis’ flawless face. "For people to consider these trash quality orbs valuable, the magecraft has fallen quite far since my time."

She was born in an era where the Mystery was on continuous decline after Norse Pantheon’s annihilation. Even so, gods and mortals could interact in her time and the Mystery far surpassed today’s age of science.

Medea hummed in agreement. "I'd never run out of magic power supplying these in my time."

The quality of mana in her era was that great.

Semiramis chuckled at Medea’s reminiscence. "The distorted witch who slaughtered her kin for love. Your story was famous throughout my empire. People called you crazy for murdering your children in cold blood."

Meeting Medea changed her opinion for the better. Medea was just another woman with different priorities.

Medea frowned her delicate brows. “I didn't have any children, Haruki-sama. This is a made-up version of my real story.”

“I don’t care. It’s all in the past now.”

"Haruki-sama…"

The sorceress was getting affectionate. Semiramis pulled the couple in heat out of the room and continued their adventure.

***

Back in Haruki’s house, Sakura paced back and forth in the hallway outside of Haruki’s room. Haruki had vanished to do his serious business of collecting more gems to sell. Sakura couldn’t care less about his secrets.

Her current problem was mundane, inconquestial compared to the ongoing war. She couldn’t decide on a room to stay in.

"Sakura-chan can move into Haru’s room," Kaede adviced Sakura as her mother-in-law. "He won’t argue with you over this."

Sakura shook her head. "Medea-san is more deserving of that right."

Having Haruki as a lover was more than what Sakura ever dreamt of. She had no reason to overstep her boundaries and infuriate the sorceress. Medea had been nice and friendly to her, even solving her lifelong problem with Semiramis.

"If you say so, Sakura-chan."

"Kaede Oba-san, I’ll move into the left room."

"Sure thing."

Sakura didn’t bring anything from her room in the Matou Mansion. The house didn’t lack anything either way. She could always ask Rin to buy any necessity since she was forbidden from leaving the mansion.

‘I’m bored. When will Haruki-senpai return and…’

She blushed as her imagination ran wild. She slapped her cheeks to shake off the lewd thoughts.

"I’ll hone my fighting skills."

Medea, the sorceress, wasn’t present to teach her magecraft.

"Why don’t you pick a weapon?"

Sakura frowned at Kaede’s suggestion. "Where will I find one?"

"The house has a dojo. Follow my lead."

Sakura came out of the room and followed the signs on the walls. It led her to a dojo bigger than the one in her school.

"Fufu, it’s for Haru to flex his muscles. To make his chiseled body sweat… Hmm, he grew taller since he awakened his dragon blood. I can’t wait…" Kaede mumbled in a dreamy voice.

Sakura felt drawn to the line of training weapons on a stand. She picked up her desired weapon and pulled at its string. She had never been a part of the archery club but the wooden longbow felt familiar. Almost as if she played with it before.

"There is a colorful ring for testing."

She firmly gripped the wooden longbow, notched an arrow, and drew the string with the proficiency of a skilled marksman. The wooden bow creaked as she forced the arrow to her cheek and closed her left eye.

The wooden arrow shot through the dojo with lightning speed and pierced the very center of the colorful ring.

"Bullseye. Sakura-chan handles the bow like a pro!"

Sakura blushed at the compliment and gazed at the longbow in her hand. Holding a bow gave her a sense of security, though it wasn’t quite the level of Haruki.

‘Is it because of Kama?’

She fired another arrow that sliced through the first arrow and punctured the center dot. Another couple of arrows landed in the same spot.

‘Magecraft and archery… I can help Haruki-senpai with something.’

Sakura practiced archery for over an hour and her dress became drenched in sweat.

"Kaede Oba-san, do you have a change of clothes? Something eye-catching…"

Either way, she couldn't wear Homuhara academy uniform when it was supposed to be her first night. She had to wear something special but the Matou Family only gave her plain and cheap dresses.

Kaede giggled. "I got the perfect dress for you. Come to my room."