Chapter 51 – What Grace Aims For

“Well then—”

Grace wiped the smile from her expression and began walking casually toward the Sword Boar, gripping her axe with both hands.

As for the Boar—perhaps it took the sudden appearance of the slender Grace facing it alone as an insult—it let out an irritated roar, spread its arms wide, and charged forward.

Grace slowly crouched. Just a bit more until she could close the distance in a single leap—.

“Defense Field!”

My barrier magic, which I had positioned behind the Boar, completed. Distracted for a moment by the presence that had appeared behind it—Grace kicked off the ground and charged in.

She had perfectly exploited the Sword Boar’s opening. Grace’s axe, carrying all her momentum, sank into the boar’s flank with a whoosh.

It didn’t sound like an axe striking living flesh—more like the clang of metal hitting metal. Unfazed, Grace followed through with the swing, letting the momentum carry her arm.

The Boar’s massive frame was forcibly moved by the impact of the axe strike. The shock was enough to make its planted feet gouge the earth as it was pushed back.

Grace’s strike had indeed torn open the Sword Boar’s flank and ripped through its flesh. —But it wasn’t a fatal wound. The Sword Boar looked at its bleeding abdomen, paused for a moment, then glared at Grace and roared in anger. It seemed upset at having been unexpectedly wounded. Maintaining its close-range momentum, it swung its arm down at Grace.

In response, Grace didn’t retreat a single step, choosing instead to meet the attack head-on.

Arm versus axe. She parried every one of the Sword Boar’s blows—grabbing or slamming attacks that could snap giant trees—knocking them all aside. Each collision produced metallic clangs, their weapons deflecting and scattering sparks each time. Seriously… its fur is like a joke.

The Sword Boar wildly flailed its limbs, while Grace slammed her twin axes into them. Other monsters had gathered, but any that recklessly tried to intervene were sent flying into the air, shattered like small boats caught in a tornado.

…Or rather, it seemed Grace was deliberately choosing to fight that way. She was intentionally guiding the enraged Sword Boar toward the groups of monsters.

It was a simple equation: wide swings versus wide swings, strength versus strength. But precisely because of that, getting caught up in it was no trivial matter. Obstacles in the attack’s path were practically nonexistent. Every time their forces collided, the surrounding monsters were

whittled away

(

…

)

.

Eventually, the other monsters seemed to give up on intervening in the fight between Grace and the Boar and started coming toward us instead. However, slowed by the Defense Field, they were being neatly sliced apart by Sheila.

Furthermore, they were being freely skewered by Caduceus and sent flying by Ashley’s precisely aimed mace strikes.

“Theodore-sama! The adventurers haven’t escaped yet and are helping out!”

“Understood!”

The adventurers in the trees seemed to have sustained some injuries, but after being healed by Ashley’s healing magic, they joined the battle line.

Glancing sideways at them, I saw them steadily holding back the monsters with spears and magic while covering for each other. They were adventurers capable of reaching the 20th underground floor, after all.

If we could maintain the battle line with the Defense Field, there was no need to retreat. In that case, I’d help cover for everyone by reducing the number of monsters.

I leaped into the air, gaining elevation over the monsters. I pointed Ouroboros at the monsters pressing against the barrier and activated my magic.

“Rock Press!”

Fifth-tier Earth Magic. I summoned giant rocks from above and proceeded to smash the monster groups. Reducing their numbers here would lighten everyone’s burden.

As for Grace—she was holding back the Boar single-handedly.

“Fu, fufu”

Narrowing her blood-colored eyes, she smiled bewitchingly.

The battle of brute strength continued, but as I reduced the monster numbers, a slight change occurred.

Namely—Grace began focusing solely on her fight with the Boar. She continued swinging her axe to intercept the Boar, that much remained the same. However, she was now continuously knocking the Boar back, forcing it to retreat step by step. Since Grace herself wasn’t retreating at all and maintained a fixed distance, this outcome was natural.

“Grooargh!”

The continuously retreating Sword Boar let out an irritated cry.

Even for a Guardian-class monster, being able to trade blows with Grace’s axe with its bare body was impressive—but it seemed to be bleeding from various places.

Yet the Boar’s movements showed no signs of weakening because its wounds were closing as fast as they were inflicted. Perhaps the Sword Boar had determined that Grace’s axe couldn’t deliver a fatal blow in a single strike, as its movements gradually became sloppier.

In other words, it was aiming for mutual strikes—taking Grace’s axe hits with its body while continuing its own attacks.

Grace leaned her upper body back to evade the attack. The log-like arm swept through where her bangs fluttered in the wind. The Sword Boar twisted its mouth into a grin, as if it had found some effectiveness in its fighting style.

Grace furrowed her brows for a moment.

Ducking under the arms that tried to crush her head from both sides, she used her axe to dig up a stone embedded in the ground and floated it to eye level. Then, as if pushing it with her toes, she kicked the stone toward the Boar’s solar plexus.

“Gah!”

The stone shattered, forcing the Sword Boar to exhale heavily as it retreated backward.

From slashing attacks to striking attacks. From lines to points. It couldn’t adapt to the change in attack quality. Having thought it had found a way to win, only to be forced back again, the Sword Boar bared its fangs, now utterly enraged.

“I have regenerative abilities too, but I wouldn’t want to imitate that. More importantly—there’s something I want to try.”

With the distance opened between them, Grace sighed.

Then—facing the Boar charging toward her with a strange cry, she hurled the axe in her right hand with tremendous force.

The Boar crossed its arms to block the projectile flying at cannonball speed. The impact of the collision stopped its charge. The Boar tried to regain its stance and turn toward Grace—but she was no longer there. The monster’s gaze wandered as it searched for her.

At that moment, Grace was in the air. A purple glow wrapped around the axe she held raised high overhead.

The impact of her fall combined with Grace’s physical strength. And that glow—though its color differed from normal—was undoubtedly Fighting Spirit.

“Haaah!”

With a sharp battle cry, the axe-wrapped Fighting Spirit strike descended straight down upon the Sword Boar’s head from above. A tremendous roar echoed through the area.

It cleaved through both the Boar’s arms that tried to block it and the sword-like fangs visible at its mouth, then with remaining force carved a deep, deep crevasse into the Dusk Forest’s ground.

Grace shook the blood from her blade in front of the Boar. A few moments later, the Boar’s body split into two halves and crumbled apart.

“…My apologies. I want to stay with Theo too. I can’t afford to remain stuck in the same place.”

Though I think it was self-taught imitation… that was definitely a Combat Skill. It’s typical of her that even her Combat Skills rely on brute strength.

Perhaps she had some thoughts after watching the Knight Order Commander’s demonstration the other day. The technical perfection couldn’t possibly match the Commander’s—but Grace’s base specifications are different. Even with her clumsy concentration and control of Fighting Spirit, she could still unleash that much power.

After mopping up the remaining monsters—we used the Transference Stone to send back the Sword Boar’s massive body and as much loot as possible, then returned to the temple with the rescued people using the Red Transfer Stone.

Whether from relief at being saved or exhaustion, the adventurers we brought back collapsed on the spot. Grace did too. At her request, I applied the Ring’s seal in an inconspicuous corner.

Grace leaned her hands against a pillar and exhaled heavily. Her complexion didn’t look good. She seemed unwell.

“Are you okay?”

“Well… how should I put it?”

Grace hesitated.

“Grace-sama, do you need healing magic?”

“Are you injured?”

Both Ashley and Sheila looked at her with worried expressions and called out, but Grace showed a slightly surprised look before hurriedly waving her hands sideways.

“Ah, no! That’s… I’m sorry for worrying you. I’m just a little hungry.”

Ah, that kind of impulse.

Whether from embarrassment or guilt, Grace made herself small.

“…It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve felt this kind of impulse. Thanks to Theo, I’ve been doing well recently, but look at me now. I feel terrible toward Theo and those adventurers…”

Even though it’s the same blood, it must be fundamentally different from the bloodsucking impulse she feels with my blood.

For example—the smell of human blood, or exercising power through destruction and trampling. Those things pull Grace toward her vampire side, but being a hybrid means that even when unleashed, minor things don’t send her completely into drunken frenzy. Along with exhilaration, she also feels anger, disgust, and self-reproach.

The reason she asked to handle the Boar herself probably lies there too.

“It’s fine. When we get back today, I’ll cook. Well… it might be heavy on mushroom dishes though.”

Since we harvested a mountain of Whisper Mushrooms. When I told her this, Grace smiled slightly and nodded.

“…Yes. Thank you in advance.”