Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"Do you mind burning that some more before we leave?" Zach asked Dukiel. Dukiel's eyes widened slightly. Zach's request meant he considered the possibility of Mursoth surviving.

"Mm." Dukiel glanced at his Sentinel, who fired up its lasers again and blasted the puddle on the ground until the stone melted.

"I don't want to take any chances with what's about to come. Speaking of which, I think it's about time we leave." Zach nodded in the direction of the tunnel to the Underworld. The ground had started trembling again. The underworld energy was making another attempt to break through to the surface.

The others didn't mind Zach's suggestion, and they quickly left the sewers not a moment too soon.

Underworld energy rocketed out of the manhole only seconds after Anerias' Hound crawled out. One manhole at a time, pillars of black smoke shot into the air around the city. Occasionally, muffled bangs rang out from the manholes that either blocked or tried to block the underworld energy.

The underworld energy dispersed in the sky and rained down over the city, covering it in grey. Some areas stayed colorful, thanks to the talismans. But the underworld energy this time was more intense than last time. The talismans alone wouldn't be enough to drive away the underworld energy.

Zach looked around the misty city before glancing toward the Academy.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The underworld energy spilling into the surface would make it easier for the underworlders to fight on the surface. At the same time, it would make it more difficult for the surface dwellers to fight in areas covered by underworld energy.

But there were ways to contain the underworld energy in the city and prevent it from spreading any further.

What could the Underworld gain from taking over one city?

The Underworld and the Great Ugor wanted the surface. They wanted its rich resources. They were at war with the surface because they couldn't find peace for some reason. Zach didn't know the reason, but he knew what the Underworld wanted.

If they wanted resources, it didn't make sense for them to just take over a city. The forests in the area around the city were rich. But they weren't aiming for those forests.

Out of all the cities they could have chosen, they chose the one closest to the Academy, where the principal, Kami, and a bunch of powerful summoner instructors were just sitting on their asses most of the time.

Was the Great Ugor betting on none of them stepping in until the students were all dead? Was he hoping to eradicate the future of summoning by doing that? Did he think he could outlive the principal?

What if the Great Ugor wasn't betting on the principal not interfering? Was there something that was worth the risk of tempting the principal into acting?

Was the whole Underworld thing bullshit? Was it something the principal had orchestrated just to torment the students and give them a challenge?

The principal probably had a lot of time on his hands. But the resources, time, and effort spent to prepare everything weren't worth the results. All it did was make the current third-years a little stronger than average. It was not cost-efficient.

The Underworld was most likely real.

That meant they had to have a real reason for their actions.

They could be in cahoots with the principal. In exchange for him not interfering, they had to give the students a fight worth fighting.

It sounded like a ridiculous reason.

Zach would much rather believe that there was something about the city or the Academy that made the underworlders dare to get close to the principal.

There had to be a thousand better places to launch an invasion on the surface. They could have done it in the middle of nowhere and dragged up loads of underworld energy before starting their expansion.

Gathering strength before launching an attack or invasion and catching your target with their pants down is one of the fundamentals of strategy. Eiter the Great Ugor was dumber than a rock or he had something planned.

The Great Ugor wasn't dumber than a rock.

Zach had an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. The blood his heart pumped into his body felt a degree or two too cold.

Unfortunately, Zach couldn't figure anything out no matter how much he thought about it. Even after returning to Alzara's lab to pick up a batch of potions to drink before sleeping, Zach still couldn't even begin to guess what the underworlders were planning.

They had asked for a ceasefire to let both sides prepare. They wanted to stabilize something underground.

Zach tried to figure out what kind of things needed to be stabilized.

Two occasions came to mind.

The experiment that Jigak had gone to pick up at the swamp Locale. The proof of created life. Artificial life.

And the tiger. The underworlders had grabbed its leg and turned it into an underworld energy bomb. If that had not been stable, they would have blown themselves up instead of almost killing Zach, Dukiel, and Julius.

From those two incidents, Zach could guess the Underworld was doing another experiment at the bottom of that tunnel. The only problem was that he had no idea what it could be.

It probably wouldn't be anything like the tiger this time.

But Jigak had brought away the other experiment for a reason.

If the Great Ugor was planning on hitting the Academy or the principal for whatever reason, maybe artificial life could be of help in some way. Why would they have researched it otherwise? For science?

Maybe if they had more resources than they knew what to do with.

If Zach's understanding of the Great Ugor was even a little accurate, the Great Ugor would use anything and everything he had and make it all be worth using.

As he thought about it more, Zach realized that he was curious about that piece of artificial life. He wanted to know what it was.

That curiosity turned into a desire. He wanted the Underworld to bring it to the surface so that he could learn more about it.

An ill-fated desire.