Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach's eyes darkened as he looked at the Ugri guard.

"Is that it?" He asked. "Is that your reaction when you hear innocent people are dying like flies to some crazy arsonists?"

The guard shrugged.

"If that's all you have to say, you four can take your leave now. Go back to the elves, Borso. The lower floors are too much for you." The guard dismissed them.

Zach and Borso took a step back.

"Who is he for him to speak to disrespectfully?" Zach asked. He was pretty sure that this was important news. But the Ugri guard didn't care.

Borso shrugged.

"That's how most people in the Ugri tribe are," he admitted. He was the same. He had only started to change after spending time with Zach and the elves in Viomin's village.

Zach made a full turn, scanning the horizon. The Ugri tribe was a dead end.

"Is it worth trying to look for the other tribes?" He asked the others for their opinion. If they couldn't get the Ugri tribe's cooperation, maybe they could get either of the other two to hear them out.

"Is there a need for that, Young Master?" Nora asked. Technically, they weren't in the Labyrinth to look for the tribes. They were looking for the Children of the Hydra, Yanael and the others, and the Evandiels.

Zach shrugged with one shoulder.

"Information on the Children, the war, and the person who fought the Child on the twelfth floor would be nice," Zach said. Getting the tribes to talk about peace was probably impossible. They were fighting each other. How eager wouldn't they be to fight the Empire as soon as they finished delving into the Labyrinth?

Or maybe they weren't interested in the war outside at all as long as they could move into the Labyrinth. They had started it as a pretext to get access to the Labyrinth. Once they had that, they didn't care about the rest of the tribes.

It would be callous of them if that were true, but given the Ugri guard's attitude just now, Zach could see it.

"The nineteenth floor it is. I hope you're ready, Borso."

They took out the needles they had gathered from the tiny furballs that hid in the sand and tried to ambush them on the eighteenth floor. With the requirements met and their wish to move to the next floor at the forefront of their minds, the group of four teleported to the nineteenth floor, where massive worms the size of buildings were supposed to tunnel through the ground and swallow them from underneath.

The sight of worms greeted them indeed. But not in the way they had expected.

The worms weren't lying in wait to swallow the ground they were standing on. They were lying on the ground in tatters, stacked on top of each other, with smoke rising from their corpses.

'Shit.'

Zach felt it first.

There was a heavy pressure in the air that had nothing to do with the nineteenth floor, the worms, or the sun.

It came from the individual in the center of the worm massacre. Their hair, such a dark red it was almost black, draped over their back like an inky curtain. They turned around slowly to look at Zach and the others with slit pupils and dark eyes. Scales covered their cheeks and rimmed their eyes.

A split tongue snuck out between their thin lips and tasted the air.

The Child's mouth broke into a grin as he looked at the newcomers.

"RUN!" Zach shouted while raising his arms and a stack of barriers to defend himself and the others. The only one who listened to that command was Borso. Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

Rather than wasting time turning around and trying to flee while Zach remained in place, Nora and Alzara took out their weapons and prepared for a fight.

This was a Child stronger than the one they fought at the Nilma tribe. Given the fear in Zach's voice when he shouted, he was most likely noticeably stronger. In comparison, their group was far weaker than when they fought at the Nilma tribe's camp. Their three strongest fighters were not with them.

Their only relief was the fact that they had figured out what they received from the Labyrinth each time they passed a floor. Almost as if the Labyrinth could sense the need, it had pooled everyone's rewards and given them to Zach in the form of helping him with his condition and improving his world essence energy.

He was not yet fully restored, but he could fight without worry. Pushing himself beyond his limits probably wasn't smart, though.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a choice.

"What a cute little group," the Child remarked, suddenly appearing right in front of Zach's face, breaking two barriers in the process. Zach's eyes twitched. It stung, but it was bearable.

"Thanks, I do my best to look cute," he answered, only deepening the Child's grin.

"You're a summoner," the Child pointed out while glancing at Nora.

"Yeah. Sorry for intruding on your business. If you don't mind—"

"That means you know that lizard bastard," The Child interrupted with a displeased frown.

'Fuck. Stupid fucking principal,' Zach lamented deep in his heart. Just knowing the principal had already lowered their chances of getting out of this without a fight to zero.

Far, far away, the principal scratched his ear.

"Huh," the principal said.

"What?" Kami asked.

"I think Zach's talking shit about me," the principal answered.

"Why would he be doing that? And why would you know about it?"

"I have absolutely no idea. And because I'm the greatest, obviously. No matter. You said you found traces of Ozra?"

"Yeah…"

Back on the Labyrinth's nineteenth floor, Zach was flying through the air fast enough that his surroundings were a blur.

Despite that, Nora was flying even faster as she caught up to and crashed into him mid-air. When they landed, Alzara landed on top of them.

Zach's barriers were the only reason they were still alive.