I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

To get straight to the point, on the last day of the witch test, which I thought would pass without any particular crisis, a tense battle occurred where three of us had to defeat a Crescent Bear.

Even after exceeding not just the originally expected three minutes but passing five minutes of confrontation, there was no sign of Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s group coming to support us.

“Ethan, lightning again! This time, it’ll fall to the right!”

“Got it!”

“Master Caraham! I can’t block its howling, so please dodge it yourself!”

“Understood, Lady Lilith!”

Two swordsmen faced a 5-meter-tall bear with a lightning-rod-like horn on its head. As I continued the battle supporting the two with various auxiliary spells, resentment toward the Hero, who showed no sign of coming, built up in my mind.

‘Just when the hell is Gyeongmwa going to arrive?!’

Curses flew through my head at the guy who had said he’d fly over within three minutes when we sent a danger signal, yet was still leaving the three of us to handle the battle.

Even with a Sword Expert to be, a (true) Sword Expert, and a Saint in the party, there was no way that just the three of us could handle a monster more than 10 levels greater.

Usually, in these hunting events, I had my own wishes for no interference from other personnel, but this time was different.

In the current situation, the only spell I had that could finish him off was Mana Blast, but I was in no position to use Mana Blast right now.

Crackle!

“Block it!”

Thunk!

My role was to keep blocking the lightning attacks coming from that horn on the mutant Crescent Bear’s head, aimed at Ethan and Caraham.

It was an attack that had a certain cooldown and visible trajectory, so it wasn’t impossible to block if I stayed alert, but conversely, it would definitely become dangerous if I let my guard down and left it alone.

The two frontliners were already swinging their swords while dodging the bear’s physical attacks as it ran through the forest. Dodging these electric attacks in addition to those would not be easy for them either.

Since pre-deploying coordinate-based Arcane Barriers wouldn’t lead to a proper defense, I had to give up on Mana Blast, which required a long period of concentration, and focused solely on creating Arcane Barriers.

I was enduring the onslaught, thinking I’d have options like chanting Mana Blast or whatever once Gyeongmwajogyegigwat and Seriste arrived. But now, that plan had fallen apart, and I was starting to feel something very wrong approaching while in this endurance battle.

“GRAAAAH!”

“Ugh!”

“Ethan!!”

Ethan went flying after failing to dodge the Crescent Bear’s swing.

Though he managed to somewhat reduce the impact by blocking it with the sword in his right hand at the last moment, his stance was momentarily broken, and naturally, this mutant Crescent Bear wasn’t going to miss such an opportunity.

“GRRRRRRRRR!!”

Whoosh!

“Dodge it!!”

Just obscuring its vision with Blurred Light wasn’t enough to block the Crescent Bear’s attack that had already been launched.

Judging that it was nowhere near enough to block with an Arcane Barrier, and impossible to disrupt its trajectory with Shockwave or Energy Bolt, I hurriedly used the spell I had used in the evaluation match prior towards Ethan.

“Bind!”

Clatter!!

“Guh?!”

The Mana Chain that instantly flew toward Ethan grabbed his waist; I barely caught his flying body and pulled him toward me.

…I felt sorry for not being able to distribute the impact properly due to pulling him so hurriedly, though.

“Ugh, uck, huck….”

“Sorry, Ethan! It was an emergency…”

“Ah, I know…. Th-Thanks for saving me, Lilith….”

Ethan thanked me despite his pained expression and returned to battle.

After continuing this battle of dodging and deflecting attacks for about 10 minutes, I finally realized something.

The Hero’s group, somewhere in the Northern Forest, couldn’t assist us. 

Due to some variables we hadn’t predicted, they couldn’t move to the Western Forest.

‘For example, a ‘simultaneous event’.’

If they had encountered Moonlight Wolves just like we had encountered the Crescent Bear, it was highly likely that they were too busy with their own battle to support us.

While simultaneous monster spawns were something I’d never seen in the original game, it was entirely possible in this world.

Unlike simple coding where ‘if A is generated, B is not generated,’ in this world, both the Moonlight Wolves and the Crescent Bears were living beings.

Therefore, it’s possible that the future where only one of them appeared never existed in the first place.

“Awoooooo!”

‘…As I thought.’

Hearing the faint howling sound from somewhere distant, I was certain. Gyeongmwajogyegigwat was in no position to support us as he was in the midst of his own battle.

This meant that we three, three characters estimated to be around Level 20 against a Level 35 named monster, had to handle this ourselves.

“Ethan! Master Caraham! Change of plans!”

“Huh?!”

“What is it?!”

“The three of us will handle the ‘Roaring Crescent Bear’ ourselves! I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems those on the Hero’s side are quite busy right now!”

Ethan and Caraham must have noticed that things weren’t going well, as they nodded without questioning the change in plans.

“Understood, Lady Lilith!”

“Do you have a plan?!”

“I’ve had one prepared from the start! Though I didn’t want to use it!!”

I would have preferred to stay safe rather than risk a life-or-death battle. But since we couldn’t have that safe battle anymore, well, we had no choice.

The first thing I did to prepare for battle was to use my skill points to acquire a skill needed for this fight.

『Remaining Skill Points: 16 → 1』

『New Skill: Ventilation』

A secondary support magic that increases all stats by a multiplier of 1.5 and increases the power of all magic and skills by the same multiplier for a certain period.

It was a skill that consumed 15 skill points, so I had been hesitant to take it, but there was no longer time to hold back.

It’s not like I’d get a better position in the afterlife for saving skill points if I died here.

“First, I’ll recast ‘Sharp Blade’ on both of you! With your current swords, just inflicting wounds on that monster is…!”

“GRRRRRR..!!”

“Kyaaaa?!”

“Lilith!!”

As soon as I used Ventilation and the flow of magic changed, the Crescent Bear suddenly ignored the two and rushed at me.

Startled by its roar, I hurriedly used Shockwave to jump. I had no means to face that 5-meter bulk flying toward me.

In the past, I would have struggled to find a way to land after jumping so high, but fortunately, I now had some assistance to help me land.

“Sei!!”

[…Yes.]

The wind spirit created a small whirlpool under my falling body to reduce my speed as soon as I called.

While carefully thinking that these days, the medium-level spirit Sei might be more useful than the high-level spirit Sally, I gracefully landed near Ethan.

“Since we’re in a hurry, I’ll be brief, Ethan.”

“Okay.”

“After I recast the enhancement magic, please chase after the monster’s back immediately, Ethan. There should be one opening, and if you strike its eyes at the right moment, you can inflict a critical wound.”

“…What about you, Lilith?”

“Well… I’ll do what I have to do.”

I didn’t specifically say what I would do because I felt Ethan would unnecessarily ruin the plan out of worry for me.

To be honest, it was close to a gamble and I didn’t want to do it, but in the current situation, we really had no choice.

“…Sharper, and keener.”

After casting enhanced support magic on Ethan’s dual swords, I lifted my body again with Shockwave and flew toward Caraham on the other side.

Similarly, I gave him additional buffs with enhanced support magic. Since his sword was heavier and larger than Ethan’s, I didn’t forget to tell him to aim for a more definitive vital point.

“You’ll definitely be able to pierce the Crescent Bear’s heart with the next attack. However, you’ll only have one chance, so use it carefully.”

“…Understood, Lady Lilith.”

“GRRRRR!!”

The Crescent Bear still chased after me, swinging its dangerous front paws and destroying the forest. Ethan followed behind it, looking for that one opportunity that would somehow appear. Caraham readied his greatsword for that single fatal blow as per my advice.

All preparations were complete. Now, we just needed one decisive strike.

‘Opening Strike. Arcane Blade. Mana Imbue. Arcane Barrier. Sharp Blade. Shockwave.’

After creating as much distance as possible from the Crescent Bear while loading a one-shot composite magic stacked with all sorts of spells, I drew the monster’s attention with the most provocative expression I could manage.

“Hey, you fucking bear!!”

“Groowr?!”

“Ah, I thought you were talking about me…”

…Though I unintentionally drew aggro from an unwanted person, I ignored it.

While I might not have fought it as many times as the Moonlight Wolves, I had taken down the Roaring Crescent Bear at least three or four times in my previous life.

Although I had never faced it with such a disadvantaged party composition, I could at least induce its attack patterns with the knowledge from my previous life.

When provoked from this distance, its next attack would be an lightning spell from that lightning-rod-like horn.

“Groooowl!!”

Crackle!!

An energy mass instantly flew toward me, cutting between Ethan and Caraham.

We only had one chance. If we failed, it would mean not only defeat but also a situation where even my life couldn’t be guaranteed.

On the other hand, if we succeeded, we’d get to share the XP from this Level 35 monster between just the three of us, making it quite a worthwhile gamble.

Crackle!!

I wrapped ‘Opening Strike’ around ‘Arcane Blade,’ a sword specialized in receiving attribute attacks, to increase attack power, and blocked the lightning spell with ‘Arcane Barrier’ containing ‘Mana Imbue’.

Then, as the ‘Sharp Blade’ cast on that barrier reflected the lightning spell instead of absorbing it, ‘Shockwave’ sent that attack right back in the direction it came from.

Thunk.

Whoosh!

“Groo…?”

By the time that monster sensed something was wrong, my attack had already flown toward it, and it had no means of defense, as its electric discharge was the only spell it could use.

Crackle!!

“GROOOOOOOWL…!!”

The bear growled after taking its own lightning attack head-on.

Though it was a temporary shock, it was enough to seal its movements for a moment, and in that opening, the two swordsmen who had received my buffs each stabbed the Crescent Bear’s eyes and heart.

Stab!!

Slash!!

“GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL…!!”

The named ‘Roaring Crescent Bear’ met its end instantly from the attacks it took while paralyzed.

Somehow, in some way, we managed to defeat the bear in the western part of the Witch’s Forest.

T/N

Thanks for reading, see you in the next one!