Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 192
Chapter 192: The Princess of Helheim
With the victory over Philly, the battle axe user, Sora’s level finally rose to 90.
After the battle, Kuro exchanged a brief look with Sora before quickly rushing over to her mother, Arisa, who had lost an arm.
Meanwhile, Inori, now free from her stun, hugged Laura tightly, celebrating with childlike joy.
The only sounds echoing in the undersea tunnel were the cheers of the girls, rejoicing in their victory. Unable to move due to skill cooldown, Sora sighed in relief, grateful that no one had been lost.
Looking at her HP, she noticed that, thanks to the now-expired debuff ?Laceration?, it had been reduced to about 20%. Had it lasted just a few more seconds, she would have respawned back at the save point, the rest area.
Reflecting on the intense battle, Sora felt a slight sweat on her palm.
—Philly, the battle axe wielder of Helheim, was one of the toughest opponents I’ve ever faced.
If it hadn’t been for Sue and Kuro’s last-minute support, Sora realized she would’ve lost. Philly’s power and skill were at an extraordinary level.
And then there was Ritter, the longsword user, whom Arisa barely managed to defeat by a narrow margin.
The thought that more enemies of this level might await in Helheim sent a shiver down her spine.
Looking ahead, Sora resolved that if she was going to protect her partner Kuro, she’d need to grow even stronger.
Just then, Lucifel, her support, offered advice in her usual robotic tone.
?Master, if you wish to grow stronger, then let’s reach level 100.?
Hearing this, Sora frowned, as it was a common bit of knowledge that any avid player would already know.
‘That’s not something that needed to be said.’
When she voiced her exasperation, Lucifel, speaking directly into his mind, immediately corrected him.
?No, reaching level 100 has a significance different from what you might think.?
‘…Different? What could that mean?’
Not quite understanding, Sora tilted her head in confusion, but then Lucifel hesitated slightly before speaking again.
?I… apologize. I do not have the authority to answer that.?
‘She doesn’t have the authority?’
As part of the system governing this world, it wasn’t something Lucifel could help with.
So, deciding to take her advice at face value, Sora resolved to aim for level 100. As soon as she accepted that goal, her skill cooldown lifted.
Sora stood up and calmly surveyed her surroundings.
We defeated the two powerful knights affiliated with Helheim.
Since the enemies’ HP had reached zero, it was clear according to the game’s system.
…But for some reason, Sora had been feeling an indescribable sense of unease about this should-be joyous situation since earlier.
First and foremost, the cause of this discomfort was the presence of the two knights, who should have vanished but remained.
Reflecting back, when they had fought the followers of the Demon Dragon King, those foes had dissipated into particles of light upon defeat.
From that, one could infer that in Astral Online, a definite death was not merely having HP drop to zero, but rather “the body dissolving into particles of light.”
Well, it was also possible that there could be instances where enemies didn’t disappear.
However, Sora’s intuition told her that wasn’t the case.
Her long history as a gamer honed an instinct that warned her this wasn’t the end.
That ominous feeling, heavy as a weight, quickly morphed into certainty.
In the center of the five who had regrouped, the empty space began to ripple and distort, and from it emerged a girl, like a Japanese doll dressed in a black miko outfit, without making a sound.
With long, neatly trimmed black hair and a kimono that only reached her knees, her crimson eyes shone as red as blood.
She exhibited no hostility at all as she lightly tapped the ground with the staff she held, whispering a single word from her small lips.
“?Gravity Field?”
“‘What!?’”
As soon as the skill name left her mouth, the gravity surrounding Sora and her companions suddenly intensified to several dozen times its normal weight.
Caught off guard, the five of them could no longer maintain their balance and were forcefully slammed to the ground.
Even Sue, the slime, was pitifully reduced to a puddle of water.
…Could this be gravity magic!?
Struggling to lift her head, Sora saw information about ?Gravity Field?, a non-elemental barrier that increases surrounding gravity to immobilize enemies, emerge in her view.
The effect lasted for 30 minutes, and it seemed that no other attack skills could be used while it was active.
Sora clicked her tongue lightly, unable to evade this sudden magic, even though her ?Insight? skill had seen through it.
The girl who had appeared suddenly glanced around lightly and, upon seeing the two knights, sighed with disappointment.
“…You said you would come as bodyguards, yet you fall so easily. The captain and vice-captain of the seventh squad are truly useless and pathetic.”
“Princess of the Underworld??Princess Hel!?”
Hearing Laura’s voice, the girl, Hel, smiled darkly.
With a casualness reminiscent of bumping into someone during a grocery shopping trip, she waved her hand lightly in response.
“Hehe, it’s been a while, egg of the songstress. To think you’re rolling around in a place like this. It seems you haven’t awakened yet. How pitiful and adorable.”
“Why are you here…?”
“Of course, I’ve come to collect the ring. …That’s just the pretext to get permission from my mother to leave the country. The real reason is that I came to see the silver-haired enchanter.”
“You came to see… me?”
The foul-mouthed girl called Hel had not smiled at all since earlier.
Staring into her eerily deep eyes felt like looking into an abyss, causing goosebumps to rise all over Sora’s body.
If the two knights from earlier could be compared to ferocious beasts, the girl before her was so out of place that it felt as though she was peering into an unfathomable darkness.
The girl glanced at Arisa, who was trying hard to stand, and laughed happily.
“…Oh, wielder of the magic spear. Even you can’t stand up in a gravity barrier with just one arm?”
“Yeah… This is definitely tough…”
Having given up, she relaxed and fell to the ground just like Sora and the others.
Now, everyone was immobilized, but from what she could see, there were no signs of ambushers aside from the two knights they had defeated.
Moreover, while they were being restrained by the effect of the skill, she was also unable to attack.
The staff she held was a magical aid with no blades or sharp edges, meaning she couldn’t do anything to them in this situation.
In a standoff where neither side could take action, the girl moved on to her next step without losing her composure.
“Hehe, finally, everyone has quieted down. Now, let’s retrieve this first.”
Hel raised her right hand and simply said, “Vessel of the obedient knights.”
In response to her words, the two knights, who had fallen and become immobile, transformed into particles of light. Instead of scattering, their bodies gathered into a glowing sphere and settled into the girl’s hand.
What on earth was going to happen now?
Sora, curious despite her restraints, held her breath and observed Hel’s actions.
“O vessel of the knights who have lost their souls, by the authority granted to the dark priestess, rise once more.”
Once she finished chanting the simple incantation, two beams of light once again took on the form of the knights from earlier.
Within the gaps of their lost great helms, two eyes gleamed with a light of will, scanning their surroundings as if to assess the situation.
Once the two knights grasped the circumstances, they immediately knelt before the girl, bowing their heads.
The two who had fought so hard to defeat, the great axe wielder and the sword master, seemed to have been fully revived by the girl’s abilities.
“…My lady, I apologize for troubling you.”
“Silence, you worthless dogs. Just wait there.”
“Understood.”
Following Hel’s command, they fell silent.
On the other hand, Sora watched in stunned silence as the enemies she had definitely defeated in Astral Online were resurrected before her eyes.
“What was that…?”
“That is a power possessed only by the princess of the Underworld. It is a unique skill called ?Revival?, which allows the one marked by the bearer to be resurrected once within an hour of their death. …Though, for you adventurers who can revive as many times as the will of fate allows, it’s a rather insignificant ability.”
After laughing self-deprecatingly, the girl lowered her gaze to observe Sora.
“What a nice face. This is the apocalypse that ‘that woman’ cherishes so dearly…”
She abruptly fell silent, looking down at Sora intently.
That woman? Apocalypse?
Sora furrowed her brow, unable to comprehend the meaning behind her words.
Seeing her confusion, she smiled mischievously, clearly amused.
“You don’t know anything, do you? …Fine, I’ll tell you something interesting. The reason you were chosen by the world is certainly not by coincidence.”
“…You’re saying I was chosen, and that it’s not a coincidence?”
Was she perhaps referring to the fact that she had been fighting the Demon Lord from the very beginning when she started the game?
If that were true, then who had chosen her? For what purpose, and what benefit could it provide?
As she considered one of the many mysteries that had puzzled her until now, her mind became overwhelmed.
Receiving the gazes of everyone on her, she said nothing further.
Turning away, Hel walked over to the two knights standing by and, lastly, looked at Laura.
“—Egg of the songstress, if you had awakened, I might have let you aim for the ring as a bonus. But judging by your state, it seems impossible for you to overcome that trial, so I’ll refrain.”
“Princess Hel…”
When she snapped her fingers, the empty space warped, forming a large circle.
Beyond it, a view of a castle unlike any he had ever seen became visible.
“Now that I have achieved my purpose, well then, Sora, let’s meet again somewhere.”
As Hel entered the distortion first, the two knights followed, disappearing into the distortion after giving Sora a quick glance.