I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

“Ha, haha… What a joke, a knight has appeared.”

Machart laughed, trying to appear relaxed while wearing a dejected expression in response to Ethan’s resolute attitude.

He quickly changed his demeanor after smiling leisurely at me and Ethan, stretching out his black hand and starting to attack again.

“Alright, if dying together here is your wish…! I have no choice but to grant it!”

Seemingly giving up on persuading Ethan to leave, Machart immediately started attacking using his unique magic. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

Of course, Ethan and I couldn’t just stand there and take his attacks, so we each held our swords with both hands and began the battle.

“Hands of darkness! Tear those damned lovers to shreds!”

Whoosh!

Whoooosh!!

Along with Machart’s command, five or six black hands rushed out from the shadows all around. This was a technique I had experienced once before when I was caught in Machart’s mental domain.

However, when I was hit before, it was in darkness where I couldn’t see an inch in front of me, so I couldn’t cope with it. 

Machart’s Shadow Hands was literally a technique that creates hands from darkness, so it was more useful in areas surrounded by darkness.

Although the surroundings were generally blurry in color, it wasn’t pitch black enough to summon Machart’s Shadow Hands, so in the current situation, there was enough time to see the approaching hands from afar and deal with them.

“Ethan! Let’s do Formation 3! I’ll block the ones coming from the front and below!”

“Got it, Lilith! Leave the rest to me!”

Due to the nature of attacks coming out of darkness, there were slightly more attacks coming from behind. Because they popped out more suddenly, immediate reflexes were much more important for that position.

That doesn’t mean I dumped the more dangerous position on Ethan. 

It’s just that in terms of instantaneous instinct as a swordsman, Ethan was much more capable than me, so I entrusted him with the position I could rely on.

Conversely, I, with my center of gravity slightly lower *1, was better at dealing with enemies crawling on the ground, so, in that sense, Formation 3 was used to prepare for Machart’s attacks.

We often used it when facing groups of monsters together during the practical Monster Subjugation classes with Ethan.

Slash!

Whoosh!

Shadow Hands were cut down one by one by Ethan’s sword and my dagger as we took our battle stances in earnest. 

We each firmly guarded our assigned positions, focusing on defense against the approaching projectiles.

Certainly, there was no one more suitable to trust with my back than Ethan in this world. 

It wasn’t simply a matter of strength or weakness, but in terms of appropriateness as a long-time partner with whom I had synchronized with several times before.

Stab! Crack!

My enchanted dagger pierced one of Machart’s Shadow Hands, and the light that leaked from the pierced area illuminated the shadow hand, causing it to dissipate.

This was the effect of Unquenchable Lamp, one of Lilith’s secondary auxiliary magic spells. Originally, it was magic used just to shine light in dark night paths or caves, but it could sometimes be used like offensive magic against enemies with ‘dark attributes’ like this.

I had used up almost all my remaining skill points to learn this spell, but it was necessary. After all, I needed to survive here to be able to level up or learn other skills later.

After engaging in battle like this for a few minutes, we became quite accustomed to cutting down Machart’s Shadow Hands, and at some point, Ethan and I were cutting them down faster than Machart could create them. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

Originally, a Sword Expert should have been able to face the current level of Machart one-on-one sufficiently. Moreover, with the magic tank Lilith assisting, naturally, the tide of battle was turning in our favor.

No matter how advantageous this space was for using Machart’s unique magic, he couldn’t subdue Ethan and me with just five or six Shadow Hands, even if it was his space. 

No matter how much those pitch-black hands looked like a technique that late-game bosses would use (which they actually did), objectively, the power of each of these shadow hands wasn’t that great even in the original work.

It was an ability specialized in restricting the movement of caught opponents and absorbing their mana to weaken them. 

It was just difficult to deal with due to the characteristics of the system in Luminor Academy where you had to control four party members at once if you didn’t turn on auto-control, but if everyone just did their job properly, it was impossible to lose.

Whoosh!

“Ugh, you damned lovers…!!”

Machart’s expression, which had been trying to appear calm while continuing his attacks, gradually twisted into one of urgency. 

He seemed to have realized that if he didn’t deal with Ethan and me quickly, he would be in danger instead.

Time was no longer on Machart’s side. His mana wasn’t enough to maintain this space for long while facing Ethan and me, and soon the battle would end with our victory as Machart’s mana was depleted.

Originally, by the time that much time had passed, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat would probably have arrived, too. No matter how tied up he was with Antonio, with a Hero’s basic physical abilities, he should be able to easily subdue someone like Antonio.

When Machart’s attack density, which initially summoned five or six hands, gradually decreased, and the number of hands he could summon at once had been halved, Ethan and I shared the next strategy to finish him off.

“Ethan, I think he’s reaching his limit.”

“Understood, Lilith. From now on, I’ll block while you…”

“No. I meant that guy seems to be reaching his limit, not me. The frequency of incoming attacks has decreased, and he can only summon half the number of hands at once, right?”

“Ah.”

Ethan nodded with an expression that showed he understood my words, and immediately continued with the next strategy to finish off Machart.

“We’ll go with Formation 5. The formation we used when we hunted the pack of Shadow Hounds in the Dark Forest before.”

“Confirmed, Lilith.”

“And as I said before we started the operation today, we can’t just kill him outright.”

“…I’ll try.”

Whether he meant he would try to subdue without killing, or try to resist the urge to kill unconsciously, it was an answer that seemed to have some ambiguous meaning.

No matter how much this operation was created to kill Machart, if we just killed him with a sword outright, it would be difficult to deal with the aftermath. We had to reveal that Machart was a demon in front of everyone before eliminating him. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

Having roughly drawn out everything from the start of the operation to the end of the battle in my head, I signaled Ethan and Formation 5 began with him first closing the distance to Machart in one breath, holding the sword in both hands.

Step, step, step, step!

“…!!”

Ethan ran straight towards where Machart was to subdue him, as should be taken down with top priority. 

Machart’s eyes widened for a moment seeing Ethan rushing towards him like a moth to a flame.

However, immediately after, he smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth and continued his attack without giving up on Ethan rushing towards him, so countless Shadow Hands stretched out from below to catch Ethan on his path towards him.

“Did you think you’d have the advantage if you got closer?! I had expectations because you seemed to handle a sword well, but in the end, you’re just a stupid guy who can only swing!”

Machart’s unique ability becomes stronger when closer to him. Like all demon magic, dark magic could exert strong power around the caster’s body.

Machart’s ability to generate hands from shadows that weaken the body was particularly affected by this because shadows naturally become darker the closer they are to their owner.

However, that didn’t necessarily mean Machart had an advantage over Ethan.

No matter how much stronger he became in close combat, Ethan was stronger than Machart even considering that aspect from the beginning.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ethan ran forward, cutting down the hands appearing under his feet with his sword energy as a Sword Expert, so the summons Machart hastily created scattered back into shadow fragments after just a few sword strikes. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

The power gained from slightly narrowing the distance was no longer enough to subdue Ethan. That was the ability of a Sword Expert in Luminor Academy. 

30 meters, 20 meters, 10 meters. (T/N: Approx. 100 ft, 66 ft, 33 ft)

As the distance between Ethan and Machart decreased, Machart’s attacks toward Ethan also intensified, and Ethan moved forward, mostly deflecting or cutting through Machart’s attacks.

‘…Ethan can handle it alone sufficiently for now.’

I had to judge carefully as there weren’t many opportunities to help.

If my support came in at an inappropriate time, it could put Ethan in danger, and even if not, I had to use the three chances I had carefully.

“Now, die…!!”

Boom!

‘Now…!’

At the moment when a huge hand that seemed to burst out of the ground rushed towards Ethan’s body along with Machart’s desperate struggle, I immediately threw one of the daggers in my hand towards the huge hand, having grasped the trajectory of Machart’s attack.

“Ethan! I’ll handle that one!”

“…Got it!”

A dagger with the Blackwood crest flying towards the huge hand using Dagger Throw instantly struck the back of the shadow hand enveloping Ethan, and immediately, the Unquenchable Lamp spell stored in the dagger manifested, scattering the hand back into fragments.

At the point when the distance between Ethan and Machart was almost nose-to-nose…

“Do-don’t come closer…!! You monster…!!”

Machart summoned three hands from the ground with all his might for the last time, so the last three summons rushed to surround Ethan from the front, left, and right.

I, who had roughly anticipated the last pattern, shouted at Ethan while throwing the two daggers I had prepared in advance.

“Just cut the middle one, Ethan!!!”

Nod.

Ethan’s head nodded once as if he understood my words.

I couldn’t see well because it was the back of his head from far away, but it must have been so without a doubt.

The two daggers that flew from my hands each took down the left and right summons that Machart had summoned, and Ethan, as I said, definitely cut down only the middle one of the three summons Machart had summoned.

Whoosh.

All of the hands blocking the way between him and Ethan fell, and there was a commotion as Ethan’s sword-wielding body collided with Machart’s once.

…When all the fighting was over, only Ethan was left standing between the two.

T/N

It is well known that the center of gravity of females is slightly lower than that of males.

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading, see you in a bit for the bonus chapter!