Chapter 32: Chapter 221

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I had already suspected that Agnes was going to be the final boss, considering how the Pilgrim's Path was an event dungeon that Lord Voice made specifically for me. He probably had planned for cute slime monsters at each gate, eventually leading to Saint Agnes of Voiceism, but all of the slimes had been replaced by saints of the Strict Order and Goodness due to the adjustment of the difficulty level. It seemed that this was possible because the dungeon wasn't constructed to only include one religion.

Anyway, I knew I was expecting to meet Agnes, but I had no idea that Lord Voice's plan was to help me become an aura master.

I called out to Agnes, "Do you actually think this is going to work? I can't suddenly become an aura master after a bit of freestyle training!"

My trainer responded to my desperate plea by brandishing an aura blade. "Shut up and pay attention!"

The seven swords fanned out behind Agnes, spaced out on the left and right at equal distances, as if she was spreading white wings to fly. The three swords that formed the left wing shot up into the air before they came hurtling toward where I stood, painting long tails behind them like blazing meteorites crashing down upon me.

What the hell?! That's so cool! My body reacted automatically, even as I marveled at my drill instructor's amazing performance.

Zing!

Serpens sang as it became infused with aura. I leveraged the speed of drawing it from its sheath to powerfully smack away one of the aura blades. As I defended from one sword, the two others flew toward me from either side, so I quickly stepped back and watched a small explosion erupt where I had just been standing.

This destruction, made by the clashing of two aura blades on the ground, instantly created a surge of wind that whipped my hair about my head. Agnes used the cover of dust now obscuring the air to aim at my back again, which I blocked by swinging my sword behind me. My sight was still fixed on where Agnes stood in front of me, looking perfectly at ease.

"Visualizing one's sword with one's mind. This is the level of a master."

She hadn't used her other remaining swords yet, which made it obvious that she was intentionally going easy on me. I scanned my trainer, observing her composed demeanor. Right. My opponent right now is the strongest aura master I could possibly meet in a duel.

She far outranks me, so I can't defeat her by only using aura...

Agnes interrupted my trailing thoughts as if she had read my mind. "You're right. There is no guarantee that you will reach the level of an aura master through this training, but you can learn how to fight an aura master with the power you currently have."

Considering her words, I knew she was right.

"Use your divine power as well, Ailette."

There was no reason for me to turn this offer down.

"Divine Retribution!"

I unleashed the quickest divinity skill I could activate, which immediately released three bolts of lightning from the clear sky. The scale and impact had noticeably risen since I reached Tier 9 Divine Power, causing Agnes to glow in a white electric light, tinged with a hint of blue, as the lightning raced toward her. Her aura blades swiftly reacted to this attack, three of the swords flying to intercept the lightning bolts, shattering them instantly.

Gazing upon the destruction this had left on the ground, I quietly recited, "Blue Flames of Sanctity."

Divine flames formed into the shapes of arrows around me. They flew from invisible bows as they split the air, gliding toward Agnes, to which she rapidly summoned her aura blades to protect her again. The direction of the flame arrows changed every time the swords flashed, the last arrow splitting in half and scattering away in the air as soon as it came in contact with a sword.

I wasn't disappointed in how easily she defeated the flames—in fact, I had never expected these moves to impact her in any way. Instead, I'd given myself some time to enhance my body with Divine Inviolability, Divine Hymn, and various other buff skills before I kicked off from the ground.

"That was a smart move," Agnes praised.

I could not use skills that required a long warm-up time against an aura user, especially since Agnes had a natural level of resistance against divine power because she was in spirit form. I could only use divine power to support my moves or keep her in check while I extracted my aura to attack her during direct combat. Unfortunately, Agnes did not allow me to get close.

"Frankly, an aura master's battles are no longer limited to close-contact attacks because the attack range extends as far as I can see."

Her aura blades arced through the air as they headed in my direction. I kicked off just in time, causing them to hit the ground before pivoting and flying toward me again. I couldn't help but clench my teeth at the feeling of having become prey to a hunter. I knew I couldn't win this battle by running away, so I reached into the inventory and pulled out my other sword, Europa.

Holding Europa in my left hand and Serpens in my right, I watched as Agnes' seven swords circled me ominously, dancing in and out of sight. Thrilled by what I was seeing, my eyes widened.

Seriously! This is so cool! As amazed as I was, I wasn't in a trance. Focusing all my energy on my visual acuity, I read the angle of the attack and quickly swung both swords around after dodging two aura blades that flung toward me from either side.

Clank!

There was one long impact sound, but in fact, it was created by the merging of multiple clashes. Twirling Serpens, I smashed away one aura blade that came at me from the front, then used the hilt of the same sword to block the next two blows.

At the same time, I brought Europa to my side as a shield, blocking the aura blade that attempted to surprise me with an attack from the left. This combination of moves occurred within a matter of milliseconds. Still, I was able to block every attack because of how precisely I read and reacted to the angle of each aura blade.

⟬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering is impressed.⟭

This reaction time would have been impossible without incredible dynamic visual acuity, reflexes, speed, and insight.

"That's my pupil."

Even in the heat of battle, Agnes took the time to compliment me. Despite the encouragement, I knew I was lacking something critical in this fight.

I need more swords!

Just then, a final aura blade struck out. Even though I saw the attack coming, I had to take the hit as I had reached the limit of my strength and reflexes dodging the other six blades.

A sword glowing in white light made a large curve around me and wedged itself into my shoulder blade, which effectively tore away the Divine Inviolability that was cocooning my body like armor. This was getting dangerous. I unleashed my aura with the single determination to push the threat away, causing a large explosion to erupt the moment my aura seeped out of my body and met Agnes' aura blade.

Boom!

My body was tossed into the air. I bent a knee as I landed firmly on the ground, but the gust of wind continued to force me backward. I wedged both of my swords into the ground to anchor myself in place, and only when I came to a halt did I realize that my heel was right at the edge of the cliff.

"Crap..."

My body shivered with the potent concentration of aura flowing through my veins, but instead of attacking while I was vulnerable, Agnes merely offered an assessment.

"You can't defend yourself unless you're in Divine Advent state."

"It seems so."

It was at this moment that my anxiety started to really mount. I realized the forty-day course of the Pilgrimage of Enlightenment quest I'd received from the system was a trap. The penalty for failing to complete the quest was the inability to leave the dungeon, which meant that I was stuck in this place until I defeated Agnes, the gatekeeper.

I have to get out of here as soon as possible and make more money to buy the Genre-Change Voucher. I also had to save Tesilid from the genre breach penalty, for which he alone was being punished. The thought of Tesilid only increased my anxiety, when Agnes piped in to make things worse.

"I'm sorry, Cadet Ailette, but I have no intention of just letting you win."

Indeed, an honorable knight would never allow herself to lose on purpose.

"I guess I have no choice but to defeat you with my own strength, Agnes."

It seemed that I was left with one last trump card.

I must use Divine Advent to swiftly end the battle. Divine Advent was my best shot to defeat Agnes, but something stopped me before I could act on it. Agnes' seven levitating aura blades floating protectively around her stole my attention.

I... I also want to become an aura master. Just staring at the blades made my heart flutter, and the numerous deep breaths I took did nothing to calm my desire. I wanted those brilliant swords, and I wanted Agnes to teach me.

"Whew..."

Sighing deeply one last time, I closed my eyes and thought about Tesilid. What was the point of becoming an aura master if the one I was meant to protect was no longer here? Moreover, I didn't think I could push through my current power limit with the vulnerable feeling I had in my heart right now.

I had more or less succeeded in convincing myself of what I needed to do next when an odd sound interrupted my internal debate.

Ding!

The beeping of an alarm, which sounded extremely out of place given the gravity of my thoughts, rang irritably in my ear.

⟬«System» Warning. Your trans-dimensional storage is full. Please reorganize.⟭

What? Why would my inventory be full all of a sudden?

"What's the matter?" asked Agnes, who instantly recognized the confusion in my eyes.

Apologetically, I called out to her from across our battlefield, "A-Agnes. I'm really sorry, but give me a second!"

"Huh? Oh, um... All right."

The battle paused the moment she gave her awkward approval, her aura swords seeming to wilt slightly where they floated in the air. My expression grew serious as I considered the implications of the system warning. Tesilid and I shared my inventory, and since I had not added anything to it, that meant that its change in status was because of something Tesilid had done.

What did he put in there that filled up a fifty meter-squared space?

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World is shocked after taking a peek.⟭

⟬The Executive of Creative Economy's eyes sparkle.⟭

⟬The Scale that Judges Souls doesn't know what to do because they're so excited.⟭

The reaction of the three department heads only intensified my curiosity. I had to release the invisibility function in order to reorganize the inventory, which allowed me to hold a satchel bag I hadn't touched in a long time. I flipped it over and began shaking it when something unexpected fell to the ground.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

My ears filled with the sound of metal on metal, and my eyes gleamed in wonder.