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 88
Chapter 88: Sleepover and an Attacker
Ah, too many things happened, and now my head feels like a merry-go-round…
After being thoroughly scrubbed from head to toe by Shino, Sora collapsed onto her bed the moment she returned to her room.
All the clothes she had been wearing were sent to the laundry, and now she was dressed in her loungewear.
Both Sora and her clothes were now sparkling clean.
At the moment, she felt as if half of her soul had floated out of her body and was on the verge of passing on.
Even though she hadn’t done anything, she felt completely drained.
She could clearly remember being dragged into the bathroom and blindfolded at the start.
After that, she went into the bathroom, where Shino carefully and thoroughly washed her.
Then, someone else came in, and things got chaotic—beyond that, her memory was a total blank.
She lost consciousness, and the next thing she knew, she was lying on the living room sofa.
She could roughly guess what had happened, but Sora’s self-control refused to let her fully recall it.
?I will not remember anything that happened in that terrifying space, okay? Sound good??
?Y-Yes…?
With that inner voice pressuring her, Sora threw those thoughts far away into the virtual world.
She then put on his VR headset and lay back on the bed.
When feeling this unsettled, the best thing to do was to dive mindlessly into a game.
“First, I’ll check how things are over there. Kurono said she logged out in the big plaza where I was, so if we log in at the same time, we can meet up right away.”
“Got it. We’ll log in at the same time, right, Sora?”
“Yeah, I’ll give the signal. We’ll start the game together on a countdown—3, 2, 1, go.”
“Eh… Wait?”
Just as she said that, Sora suddenly sensed something off.
It felt like she heard a voice from right beside her—someone who shouldn’t be here.
No way… Could it really be…?
Sora, whose mind had briefly stalled, felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Slowly, with fear creeping in, she cautiously turned to look to her side.
There, sitting next to her with a blank expression, holding her VR headset, was none other than Kurono, the silver-haired girl. And she was dressed provocatively in a short, sleeveless dress, which was quite…. distracting.
“…Wh-Why is Kurono here?” Sora asked in a halting, awkward tone after taking her time to gather herself.
Kurono smiled shyly and explained why she was in his room.
“Well, I got permission from Shino, so I’m staying over tonight.”
“Oh, okay. But… you don’t have to log in from my room, right?”
Her bed was a semi-double that she used to share with Shiori, making it larger than a regular single. There was more than enough room for her and Kurono, both of whom were on the smaller side.
Still, Shino had her old room available, so there was no real need for Kurono to stay in Sora’s room.
She thought so, but…
“I want to be by your side, Sora… Is that… not allowed?”
Kurono asked, rubbing the tips of her index fingers together, looking up at him with wide, pleading eyes.
Seeing her like that, Sora thought to herself, *Maybe… she’s feeling lonely?*
It made sense. She was still a middle schooler, separated from the parents she adored. There was no way she wasn’t feeling vulnerable.
Rather than reject her, it seemed like the best choice as her partner to welcome her and be there for her.
Sora, wearing a slightly troubled expression, shook her head and gently patted the head of the small girl beside her.
“Well… I guess I can’t say no.”
At that moment, it felt like Sora had gained another clingy little sister.
When Sora gave her permission, Kurono’s face lit up with joy.
“Thank you! I love you so much,” she said.
Sora’s heart skipped a beat for a moment, but thinking of her as a sister, the words filled her with warmth.
Sora nodded and replied affectionately, in the way an older brother would.
“Yeah, I love you too.”
“……Really?” she asked.
“Yeah, really,” Sora confirmed with a nod.
At her response, Kurono’s face turned bright red, as if there was an audible *pop* sound.
“So, does that mean you and I…?”
She suddenly turned her back, muttering something to herself.
Even though she was right next to her, Sora couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. Tilting her head in curiosity as she watched her, Kurono eventually smiled happily.
“I may be a little clumsy, but please take care of me,” she said shyly.
“Yeah, same here,” Sora replied.
Though they had only known each other for about a week, Sora wasn’t worried—Kurono was a good girl.
Sora moved closer to the wall, making space so she wouldn’t fall off, and lay down.
“Alright, let’s log in on the count of three, two, one.”
“Okay!” Kurono replied enthusiastically, snuggling close beside her.
After turning on their VR headsets, they were ready.
Sora began the countdown, and at the last moment, the two of them spoke in unison, ready to enter the virtual world:
“Game start!”
…………………….
After the heartwarming scene before logging in, the next development was anything but peaceful.
Sora, now in the form of her adventurer persona, appeared in the large plaza with the teleportation gate in the Hephaestus Kingdom. But as soon as she arrived, she found herself surrounded by several soldiers.
The soldiers wore unified, gleaming steel armor and wielded typical knight equipment—one-handed swords and round shields.
Using her ?Insight II? skill, Sora quickly scanned their levels. On average, they were around level 30. For someone like her, who was level 50, they weren’t particularly strong.
She hadn’t done anything bad to warrant being surrounded by the kingdom’s soldiers, but their eyes were all locked onto her. It didn’t seem like they were going to let her through easily.
As Sora wondered how to get out of the situation, a voice called out to her.
“So, you’re the world’s strongest adventurer that Aria was talking about?”
At the same time, her ?Perception II? skill picked up a small knight clad in full armor approaching from behind. Judging by the shape of the weapon they carried, it appeared to be a rapier.
Charging straight ahead without any sign of stopping.
Judging by the voice, the person seemed to be a girl, but the intense killing intent left Sora bewildered.
Though she couldn’t fully understand the situation, it was clear that the other person was fully committed to fighting. So, she switched to combat mode, which she usually kept off.
As she turned around, her reflexes kicked in, and she cast ?Speed Boost Enhancement III? on herself five times.
The oncoming thrust from the sharp rapier, executing a skill called ?Linear Pierce?, was barely dodged by Sora’s superhuman reaction time as she pivoted at the last second.
She stepped forward into the attacker’s space and grabbed the weak spot in her armor. She used all her strength to throw the attacker away.
However, the attacker, despite wearing heavy armor, displayed incredible agility, twisting mid-air and landing gracefully on the ground with a spin.
“How about this, then!”
The attacker, now with a crimson rapier in hand, dashed toward Sora once more.
This time, they chose the rapier’s speed-based thrusting attack, ?Sonic Pierce?.
The lightning-fast thrust was aimed directly at Sora’s heart. In response, she grabbed her ?Silver Magic Sword? from her waist, leaned forward, and swung it with force.
The silver blade, sweeping upwards from left to right, collided with the incoming thrust and easily deflected it.
“What… You parried my thrust without using a skill!?”
“It’s quick and sharp, but it’s too refined and your aim is too obvious.”
Offering a single piece of advice, Sora halted her swing midway, exhaling sharply before bringing the sword down in a slash from right to left.
Seeing the returning strike, the attacker froze, unable to move as the blade approached.
From the sidelines, the soldiers shouted, “Princess!”
Sora’s silver blade was inches from slicing through the attacker when she gripped her sword tighter and stopped it mid-swing.
The slash came to a perfect halt just as it was about to touch the attacker’s shoulder.
Their eyes met, and Sora, sensing the upcoming situation, asked with a sinking feeling, “Wait, ‘Princess’? Don’t tell me…”
Without answering, the small knight in full armor deactivated all of their equipment.
From beneath the armor emerged a girl as beautiful as a crimson rose.
Her wavy, shoulder-length red hair shimmered, and her sharp golden eyes gazed at her. She wore a red frilly dress, and from her head sprouted two horns, while a lizard-like tail extended from her lower back.
With graceful elegance, she lifted the hem of her skirt and gave Sora a polite bow before introducing herself.
“Nice to meet you, Sora-sama. I am Alice Fafnir, the one and only daughter of the Dragon King of the Hephaestus Kingdom.”