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 200

Chapter 200: The Sapphire Ring

 

When I woke up early in the morning, the heavy rain pouring down on Kamisato City had disappeared.

 

Feeling the calm before the storm, I went downstairs and had a light breakfast with my sister Shiori and Kurono, who had stayed over.

 

Turning on the TV, I saw a girl with white hair, who called herself a god, addressing the camera. It was El Aurum, speaking confidently to a crowd of reporters in a live broadcast.

 

Her topic was the sudden disappearance of the rain.

 

Apparently, in a few hours, the world would face a disaster on the scale of a massive flood. She stated with a serious expression that the only way to prevent it was to defeat the Great Calamity of Lust, ?Asmodeus?, and urged people around the world to take this seriously.

 

(I see, so that’s why the rain stopped.)

 

Understanding the reason behind the rain’s disappearance, I checked my smartphone. Social media was filled with messages from people worldwide supporting the top guilds—?Hell and Heaven? and ?Hunters of the Twilight?—who were, once again, voluntarily confronting this disaster.

 

But what caught my eye the most was the flood of encouragement directed at me, the “Silver Enchanter”, who had greatly contributed to previous boss monster defeats.

 

The cheers from countless people I couldn’t see were heartwarming, but they also reminded me of the incident with Ilya, stirring a complex mix of feelings within me.

 

To be honest, I felt a bit unsettled.

 

(…Calm down. I’m not fighting for the world. I’m fighting to return to my original form and to protect the people close to me.)

 

I reminded myself of this to stay focused. Pulling my gaze from the screen, I looked again at El on TV.

 

She was explaining the plan for temporary emergency defenses if a massive flood did occur.

 

The idea was to create enormous barriers between the sea and the land to hold back the rain temporarily.

 

However, these barriers would only last for about two hours, which meant that if the flood began now, the world could end before noon.

 

But of course, I had no intention of letting things reach that conclusion.

 

(My mentors have already gathered in the kingdom. With the elite adventurers combining their strength, we should be able to overcome this calamity once again.)

 

As I listened to El’s explanation, the doorbell suddenly rang.

 

I stood up and checked the front door through the monitor. Waiting outside was Inori, a girl with long black hair covering one of her eyes.

 

I quickly went to the door, greeted her, and invited her inside.

 

Once we were seated in the living room with some tea, I decided to make a suggestion.

 

“So… today we’re finally reaching the Sea Kingdom, but when you log in, I’d like you to try the Ring Challenge first, Inori.”

 

“…M-Me? Take the challenge?”

 

“Yeah, I just have a feeling. My intuition tells me that if anyone is chosen, it would be you.”

 

The “Angel’s Ring”, a unique item, only grants its power to a chosen wearer. Without being chosen, one cannot wield its abilities.

 

Kurono was chosen by the “Emerald Ring”.

 

Shinji was chosen by the “Ruby Ring”.

 

And I had a hunch that Inori would be the one chosen by the “Sapphire Ring”. Even ?Lucifer?, the one residing within me, agreed with my intuition, so I wanted her to take on the challenge.

 

But more than anything, there was a compelling reason why I chose her for this task.

 

And that reason was actually quite simple.

 

“This journey has been really helpful with you here, and most of all, I had a lot of fun playing together after such a long time. I want you to think of this as my way of saying thank you.”

 

“…Okay, I understand. If that’s the case, I’ll happily take on the challenge.”

 

With the plan decided, we immediately got ready to log into ?Astral Online?.

 

Shiori went to her room to log in, while Kurono and Inori were assigned to my mother’s room.

 

However, the two of them came to my room, asking if they could log in next to me.

 

Reluctantly, as before, we spread futons on the floor and lay down in the same position, forming a line.

 

As I lay down with the VR headgear on, Inori, who was clutching my arm, pressed her large chest against me and whispered softly.

 

“…Thank you, too. I really like you, Sora.”

 

“U-uh…”

 

I felt a mix of gratitude and guilt for her unwavering affection, which hadn’t changed even after I had turned her down before.

 

Though I couldn’t nod in agreement, I smiled gently.

 

Seeing this, Inori gave a small nod, as if saying that a smile was enough, and her lips, the only part not covered by the headgear, relaxed into a soft smile.

 

“Mm…”

 

At that moment, Kurono, who had been clinging to my arm on the other side, squeezed it just a little tighter.

 

Surprised, I wondered what was going on and glanced sideways.

 

But since her expression was hidden by the headgear, I couldn’t tell what she was feeling.

 

Judging from her downturned mouth, it seemed clear that Kurono was upset.

 

“Kurono?”

 

I asked in a quiet voice, but received no reply.

 

With her chest pressed against me, Kurono remained silent, waiting for me to signal that I was ready to log in.

 

By now, I understood that she wouldn’t speak, as I’d learned over the past few months of knowing her.

 

I decided to leave her be, trusting that she would calm down on her own soon enough.

 

So, taking a deep breath, I straightened my posture and lay back down.

 

(I still can’t understand how girls think…)

 

Feeling frustrated with these complex and confusing emotions, I called out the single phrase that would transport us to another world, making sure the two next to me could hear.

 

“Alright, let’s go save the Sea Kingdom. Countdown starting, 3, 2, 1—Game Start!”

 

……………………

 

“Ugh, I hear some loud noises coming from outside…”

 

The first one to speak when we logged into ?Astral Online? was Kuro.

 

As the surroundings shifted, the sound of a massive monster’s roar, which we had heard multiple times during the journey, echoed inside the room.

 

In the same instant, Kuro, Inori, and I jumped up from the bed, looking at each other before rushing out to check the situation on the ship.

 

“Is the ship under attack?”

 

“That’s highly likely!”

 

Inori agreed with the assessment as she prepared her gear beside me.

 

As the ship rocked violently, I helped Kuro steady herself while gripping my ?Silver Magic Sword?, a bead of sweat forming on my forehead.

 

It seemed that we were immediately facing a dangerous situation.

 

After deciding to temporarily suspend the planned “Sapphire Ring” challenge, we left the room to check on the situation.

 

Our destination was the deck. We kicked off the floor and ran straight ahead with the two of them.

 

As we burst onto the deck, I noticed the crew gathered around, but they weren’t using cannons to fight or focusing on operating the ship. Instead, they were excitedly looking off into the distance, like children.

 

Wondering what they were looking at, I moved over to where they were and glanced in the same direction.

 

There, I saw a massive whale—the ?Calm Whale?.

 

Not only that, it was using its body to slam into a huge anemone monster, ?Charybdis?, sending it flying into the air and transforming it into particles of light.

 

It was a shocking sight: just like in the real world, a monster was defeating another monster.

 

But that wasn’t all—the ?Calm Whale? wasn’t alone. There were four more, evenly spaced around the ship, and along with one that had returned from the battle, a total of five whales were swimming alongside the ship, guarding it from enemies.

 

“What is this…?”

 

“It’s the big whale I saw the first time we went out to sea!” Kuro exclaimed, her eyes sparkling at the sight of the beautiful rainbow formed by the whale’s spout.

 

Completely bewildered by the situation, I looked around to see if anyone could explain what was happening.

 

Just then, Captain Lucas appeared at the perfect moment.

 

“It looks like even you’re surprised, Sora-sama,” he said.

 

“Captain, what’s going on here?” I asked.

 

“If you listen carefully, you’ll understand why this is happening,” Lucas replied.

 

“Listen…?”

 

Following his advice, I focused and began listening to the surrounding sounds. Along with the sound of the waves, I could hear a beautiful, ethereal singing voice carried by the wind.

 

Thinking it couldn’t be, I turned my gaze toward the direction the voice was coming from—toward the bow of the ship.

 

I was captivated by the sight of a young girl standing at the front of the ship, creating this magical scene.

 

“…Laura?”

 

The name slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

 

At the bow stood a songstress, dressed in a blue armored dress, with blue wings spread wide on either side of her head.

 

Around her, particles of soft light shimmered and sparkled in time with her song, supporting her colorful performance on the “stage” she had created.

 

After a while, as the entire crew stood on the deck listening, Laura finished singing and turned to face us.

 

She ran over to us, and with a graceful bow, she greeted us.

 

“Good morning, everyone!”

 

“Good morning, Laura. What is all this…?” I asked.

 

“Just a little while ago, monsters appeared to prevent us from returning to our country. Then I heard a voice in my head, telling me that if I sang a beautiful song, they would protect us until we reached ?Enoshigaios?,” she explained. “So, I decided to give it a try and sang.”

 

“Those ?Calm Whales? helped us?” I asked.

 

“Yes, I was just as surprised as you!” she replied with a bright smile.

 

Her happiness was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile as well.

 

To think that the ?Calm Whales?, normally just active monsters, would protect us in exchange for a song.

 

Even the slime, Sue-chan, nestled in her arms, seemed content, enjoying the song.

 

“Well, I’m just glad everything’s okay. When I first came into this world, I thought we were in big trouble with all the monster roars…” I said, relieved.

 

The ?Calm Whales? were proving to be incredibly strong allies, swiftly and efficiently fending off the monsters that came at us in waves.

 

Lucas told me that we’d arrive in the Sea Kingdom in about an hour, so I decided to give Inori the “Sapphire Ring”, which had been my original goal.

 

With everyone watching, I took the rare ring out of my item storage and placed it in her palm.

 

At that moment, I felt the sharp gaze of Laura, who looked on enviously, but since this was all part of enhancing our strength, I ignored it with a strong will.

 

“This is the ring with the power of an angel…” I said.

 

Inori, true to her alchemist nature, observed the ring with keen interest.

 

After examining it from all angles and touching it to check its properties, she finally seemed satisfied and stopped her inspection.

 

She muttered, “I’ll give it a try,” and took a deep breath.

 

With everyone’s attention on her, she hesitated but slowly slid the ring onto the ring finger of her right hand.

 

(How is it…?)

 

After fully putting it on, nothing happened, so I was relieved. There was no sign of the rejection phenomenon that ?Lucifel? had warned me about.

 

After a few seconds of lag, the ring fit perfectly on Inori’s finger, recognizing her as its master.

 

“Sora-kun, I’ve gained Gabriel’s skill!” Inori exclaimed, overjoyed.

 

In her excitement, she threw her arms around me.

 

I caught her instinctively, and seeing her happiness, I let out a relieved sigh.

 

Everyone around us applauded with heartfelt joy, celebrating the birth of the fourth angel.