Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"That's…bold," Jigak said after a minute of stunned silence after Yanael finished. He crossed his arms as he looked at the three maid familiars and Zach. The young summoner had come a long way in three years, much longer than Jigak would have expected when he first saw Zach back then.

"But it will be difficult with him like that." Jigak pointed at Zach. He was still stone and showed no signs of doing anything about it.

The maids looked at Zach. Yanael met Jigak's gaze.

"You asked us if we trust him. We do. As such, there is no reason to cancel the plan. Master will break free before it is too late," Yanael said with conviction.

"I see." Jigak nodded. It would still be difficult—impossible, in fact. Unless…

"I'll help you as much as I can," he eventually said.

Yanael's eyes widened. While she hadn't thought he would go against them, especially after he listened to them to the end, she did not think he would help them.

"Why?" She blurted out.

"A bunch of reasons." Jigak shrugged. "But before we face the Great Ugor, there's something I need to do."

"Is it related to…?" Yanael asked, nodding toward the artificial heart carefully stored within Jigak's vest.

"Yep." He nodded. There was no need to hide it.

"Is it something we can help with? In exchange for your help against the Great Ugor, I mean."

"It would be greatly appreciated."

Taking another detour, without informing the others at that, was the last thing they needed. But if it were to secure a powerhouse like Jigak, it would be more than worth it. Yanael just hoped the others managed to drag the Millipede away from the Basilisk. Staying there for too long would just be inviting trouble.

There was no way for Yanael or the others to know that the other group had already encountered more trouble than they could handle. Well, Mandra could have deployed alarm magic in advance, but that would have been a waste and a distraction when she needed to focus on Zach and their expedition.

It also wouldn't have done much since it wouldn't be able to tell her what kind of trouble the other group encountered. Alarm magic could be precise and detailed, but that took time. With what little they had before setting off, Mandra could only set up something stationary that would react to anything other than the members of the other group, meaning they could leave and something else could show up and still trigger the alarm.

It would have been practically useless.

Besides, Soara was there, and she was as good as their most powerful weapon currently. They should be fine, and if they weren't, it didn't matter if the others knew about it.

Yanael, Alzara, and Mandra focused on what Jigak was doing. Somehow, he was floating through the hallways without even using his wings. He was also moving at a speed that was difficult for them to keep up with, and he did it without any signs of effort.

Jigak was apparently stronger than Yanael and Zach had first thought, or he had grown stronger in the time they hadn't seen him. Both options were equally likely. Regardless, Jigak was strong. He would be a powerful ally.

But it also meant the Underworld was strong. The Great Ugor was strong, and there might be other underworlders as strong as Jigak.

Yanael wanted to ask him about the Underworld's forces and find out as much as possible, but she could tell that Jigak was in a hurry. He was barely holding back enough for them to follow him. From what she could see of his expression, he also had more important things on his mind than information that most likely didn't matter much to him.

The three maids followed Jigak in speedy silence as he breezed through the hallways.

It seemed he had shed all pretense. He killed every underworlder unfortunate enough to be in their way.

Since he had said he would help Zach's familiars root out the Great Ugor and the Underworld, there was no reason to hold back.

It also seemed like he held a grudge against the underworlders working in proximity to the artificial life project. The closer they got to it, the more violent the deaths of the underworlders caught in the way of the unstoppable force of nature that was Jigak.

Yanael, Alzara, and Mandra were curious as to what could drive such a powerful man to such rage, but clearly, there was no room to ask. They could only wait and see what he was going to do after tearing apart the lab section of the Underworld in charge of the artificial life project, which was apparently an even bigger deal than they had initially thought, even after seeing it revive a creature like the Basilisk.

The artificial life project was apparently a big deal, and it was also very important to Jigak.

As they closed in on the center of the labs and hallways with pipes and tubes pumping black stuff in and black stuff out, Jigak's violence only grew more intense. At the same time, the heartbeats of the heart in his hand grew weaker.

The artificial life project was failing.

Jigak could not let that happen. He would not let it happen. He burst through the stone and metal doors, sparing not even a glance to the researcher underworlders caught in the crossfire.

There was no way the maids would miss the trail of destruction he left in his wake, so he didn't even bother keeping his speed in control. He even flapped his wings, propelling him forward at speed that caused shockwaves, which burst the eardrums of the weaker underworlders and collapsed their brains.

In a flash, he was where he wanted to be.

He looked up at the glass cylinder that stretched from floor to ceiling. It was a disproportionately large canister for the tiny girl floating in the translucent green liquid with wires and tubes connected to her body.

The only place not connected to something was the center of her chest.
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There was nothing to connect to. Where her heart was supposed to be, only a hole remained.