Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

The large doll with enough strength to crack the stone floor with each step it took turned around and sprinted away from Soara at full speed.

Soara turned to Tar's lifeless body. She turned back to the tunnel the doll was quickly disappearing into.

"What the…?" She relaxed her tense muscles and tilted her head in confusion. She had been gearing up for a fight that would prick her nerves as much as the one with Tar did, where one mistake would lead to a blemish on her perfect skin, hair, or dress.

She shrugged.

This was better than having to fight the doll. It meant she could look for the others and see how Zach was doing. He should still be alive, considering her contract seemed to be intact. But if he had been released from the petrification, he should have already burst out of the Basilisk's body.

Since that hadn't happened, it was clear he was still petrified. Alzara should have already had more than enough time to fix him. Even if the Basilisk's sudden stop upon meeting the ground stirred things up, the other familiars, Alzara included, weren't so weak that they would die or be hindered by something like that.

The only one who might be in trouble would be Yanael since she was weakest and affected by the petrification as well. But Mandra should have been able to protect her.

Soara frowned as she walked over to the Basilisk and the three students and their familiars who were busy catching their breaths.

She glanced around.

"Is the fourth one already inside?" She asked upon noticing that Nessa was nowhere to be seen.

Violina nodded.

"Yes. She is the best of us when it comes to searching in the darkness."

"...She also wasn't in a state to fight after what happened to her Millipede," Anerias added.

"What happened to the Millipede?" Soara asked while walking toward one of the ruptures in the Basilisk's skin from the crash landing.

"Petrification and crash," Dukiel answered with a grave tone. None of them were as close to the Millipede as Nessa, but all of them had spent the last few years hanging out with Nessa, which naturally meant they also spent some time with the Millipede. It had been hard to understand and a little creepy at first.

But after a while, it became obvious that the Serpentine Millipede was no more than a big, gluttonous puppy with hard 'fur' and a few more legs than typical. It liked belly rubs, long walks, and food. No, it loved food. It was hard not to like it.

Soara stopped. She could tell what Dukiel meant, even if he didn't finish his sentence.

She narrowed her eyes as she peered into the Basilisk.

She couldn't sense the passing of anything other than the Basilisk, but then again, the Basilisk was pretty big and significantly more powerful than the Millipede. It wouldn't be strange if the aura of its death concealed the Millipede's death.

Soara frowned.

Still, it didn't feel like the Millipede would die that easily, especially if it was turned into the same stone that was partially intact, even after making direct contact upon collision with the hard ground.

The stone from being petrified wasn't quite as thick or durable as the one the Basilisk made its skin of. But if the Millipede was protected by the Basilisk's soft insides, it might still be intact. It most likely wouldn't have shattered, but it might still succumb to the petrification.

Soara raised an eyebrow and entered the Basilisk's corpse.

Whatever the case, it didn't have much to do with her. The Millipede wasn't another familiar of Zach, and it definitely wasn't Zach. Its survival or death wasn't of great consequence. Its survival might increase their chances of success in the Underworld.

But only by a few fractional percentages.

Soara navigated through the Basilisk. Since it had hit the ground head first, she only needed to stay close to the ground, and she would sooner or later find her way to the center, where Zach and the other familiars should be. Hopefully, she would make it before she was completely covered in the blood and gore that she couldn't dodge with the Aspect of Untouchable Death.

She needed to touch the Basilisk to tear it apart and pry open a path forward, after all.

After a little while, she sensed some motion slightly above her. It was not where she was supposed to go, but it wasn't like she could ignore it. Soara opened a path to a fleshy cavern where she found Alzara, Nessa, the Millipede, and a partially restored Yanael.

They turned to Soara as her head popped up out of the ground, bits of flesh and blood slipping through her body as she rose to their level.

"...What's going on?" Soara asked.

"Alzara is undoing the petrification on me and the Millipede," Yanael answered, the translucent liquid from Alzara's potion running over her stone-clad body.

Soara frowned.

"What about Master?" She questioned. If he was released from the petrification, why was he not with them or outside the Basilisk? If he was not released from the petrification, why was Alzara pouring the potion on someone who wasn't him? Experience more on empire

Yanael and Alzara exchanged looks as they felt the increased pressure from Soara. They could tell that she was worried. They could also tell that she could exercise more of her strength.

"...It didn't work," Alzara eventually said with a low face, her gaze turned to the floor in shame.

"What…?" Soara demanded an explanation with a growl. She knew the ramifications of those words. She knew Alzara knew the meaning of those words. She could not believe Alzara was sitting here with a relaxed face focusing on someone who wasn't their Master, the one binding them to this world.

"The potion didn't work on his petrification," Alzara explained. It did nothing to ease the pressure from Soara or dispel the robed phantom looming behind her.