Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Dukiel looked at Zach again. Zach nodded. It was like he was telling Dukiel to just do it. Dukiel sighed again, but he sat down and took off his shoe.

One of the things that had happened during the preparations against the Underworld's activities was the maintenance and clearing of the sewers. The stone floor was no longer damp and slick with water and mold.

But Dukiel didn't want to sit on the cold stone for long, so he grabbed his foot with both hands and concentrated for a moment. After a few moments he sighed in disappointment and looked at Zach while pointing at his foot.

"See? Nothing—" Dukiel froze and stiffly turned his head to his foot.

Zach couldn't see anything. Dukiel couldn't see anything, either. But he could feel it. But at the same time not.

Something was happening to his foot. Simultaneously, nothing was happening to it. It felt like hair-fine worms wriggled around under his skin and between his bones for a few moments before stopping. It didn't feel like anything had changed.

Dukiel frowned.

Had he just wasted his skill trying to Enhance his foot? Could he use it on his foot but it didn't do anything?

Full of doubts, he stood up and jumped slightly on his foot.

Nope. He had not wasted his skill.

Dukiel's face lit up in excitement.

It wasn't much really. But he could feel it.

His foot was stronger now than it was before. It was enough to be noticeable when he compared it to his other foot, which hadn't been Enhanced but no more than that. Still, it was proof that he could enhance himself to grow stronger.

And if he could enhance himself, couldn't he enhance his familiars as well?

Dukiel's face broke up in a madly excited grin. He couldn't wait to start experimenting and enhancing his familiars.

Dukiel's expression sank into a frown. He had to wait. He could only use his skill once a day. He finally understood what Zach meant.

It would have been a waste to use it on his shoe. And it had been a waste to use it on a rock, a book, a piece of meat, and his other shoe. Anerias' Blackfire Hound probably didn't think it was a waste. But Dukiel didn't care a damn about that. If anything, he would have preferred to just enhance the Hound directly.

"...Damn." He cursed. Those were just four of the things he had wasted it on.

Zach's eyes widened slightly. Dukiel rarely lost his composure like this.

"Don't worry, Dukiel. You have a lifetime ahead of you. Be happy we figured it out this early and not a year from now."

Dukiel turned to Zach.

"...Thanks." He thanked him for both the comfort and helping him figure out his skill. Dukiel couldn't imagine how long it would have taken him to figure out Enhancement without Zach's help.

It probably wouldn't have taken a year. But it would have taken more than a week. Definitely.

Dukiel regained his composure.

Yanael gently nudged Zach's shoulder.

Dukiel lost his composure.

He hadn't put on his shoe again. He had forgotten it in the excitement of his skill that made up for the apparent crappiness of his first contract skill.

With his enhanced foot, he felt tremors in the ground. The enhanced foot's sole sensed a lot of subtle activity.

Dukiel was smart, but he didn't even need to be smart to figure out what underground activity meant.

It was the Underworld. He was about to warn Zach, but when he looked at his friend, Dukiel saw Zach and the two familiars who had accompanied him already looking into the darkness of the tunnel leading into the Underworld.

The angel had already drawn her sword and revealed her halo and wings. The black-haired familiar was just standing there. But shivers ran down Dukiel's spine when he looked at her. Her face which usually didn't appear very distinctive or grab much attention was death-seekingly beautiful.

Dukiel couldn't stop staring until Zach snapped his fingers and turned Dukiel's head.

Dukiel tore his gaze away from the scarily beautiful maid and concentrated on Zach's face.

"It seems the ceasefire is over. I don't know what the Underworld is planning, but it feels like they will start with a tsunami of underworld energy."

"...Seems reasonable."

"I don't have any potions on me."

"Why not?"

"What if I dropped it? Do you have any?"

"No…." Dukiel avoided Zach's gaze. He questioned Zach about his decision not to bring any potions when they were visiting the entrance to the Underworld when he himself hadn't brought any.

Zach was silent for a moment.

"...It might actually be for the best. We shouldn't use them unless we can land a blow against those bastards. If this shaking is the underworld energy rushing through the tunnel, I can block it. If it's because of underworlders, I can kill them." Zach's voice was cold. There was not a doubt in his mind.

Dukiel suspected it when Zach said that

he

could do it.

"And I…?" he started asking.

"Go back to the surface. Inform the others. Have them prepare the second line of defense. I'll stop them here for a day at minimum, but I'll need help getting out."

"Of course. I'll be back, Zach. Hold on."

Dukiel didn't waste any time. Any second wasted was a second that Zach could be in trouble.

Zach saw Dukiel's worried eyes. Experience more on empireNôv(el)B\\jnn

"It's not me you should be worried about, Dukiel."

Dukiel heard Zach but didn't answer. He and his familiars were already rushing to get out of the sewers and sound the alarms.

"...It's those bastards…" Zach turned to the tunnel with a fierce expression.

He hadn't received an opportunity to vent his frustration against the Underworld after they took down Julius. Since there had been a ceasefire, Zach had been planning to wait it out and prepare as much as possible.

But now that they were picking a fight on their own, it was time to show the Underworlders why it had been a mistake to provoke the surface after he had been born. If they were going to do something stupid, they should have done it seventeen years ago when they still had a chance.