Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Trying to stop the Great Ugor with her meager level of strength spelled certain death for Yanael. She was aware, painfully so. But so what? Her purpose was to protect Zach. If necessary, the other familiars, too.

Besides, even if she wanted, running alone would be impossible. Her only choice was to die at the Great Ugor's hands.

That said, standing in front of him without even a drop of fear tainting her blood was not easy. Yanael was recklessly brave when it came to standing in front of Zach. Regardless of his current condition, Yanael felt like she had a mountain behind her with Zach there. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire

She couldn't back down even if she wanted.

The Great Ugor's eyes narrowed.

He didn't like the look in Yanael's eyes. A worm should not look at a king with a defiant gaze. They should kowtow in reverence and submission. He would show her what that looked like.

The Great Ugor punched Yanael in the stomach. He held back enough not to kill her instantly. He wanted her to curl up on the ground and, at least for a second, regret her miserable existence before dying.

But she didn't curl up. She didn't plead for mercy. She didn't apologize for her disrespect. She didn't die.

She was seriously injured. Blood seeped through her clenched teeth, staining them and her mouth bright red. She clutched her stomach with her broken arm.

But she remained standing on both two feet. She glared at the Great Ugor. Since he wasn't killing her, she could tell what he wanted.

He wanted to see her suffer. He wanted to drag it out and revel in being the strongest.

She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Even if she had to cut off her face, she wouldn't give the Great Ugor the show he wanted.

The Great Ugor's jaw muscles tensed as he clenched his jaws. He also straightened out his hand. He raised it like a cleaver before bringing it down on Yanael's shoulder.

An expert swordsman could have used their energy and skill to transform their hand into a blade and make a clean cut that the victim wouldn't even feel.

The Great Ugor wasn't an expert and even less of a swordsman. He only had brute force. But he had overwhelming strength. He just pushed his solid hand down through the flesh and bone of Yanael's shoulder, demolishing it until her arm fell down.

It was the broken arm anyway, so it wasn't a huge loss to her current combat strength, not that she was thinking of fighting the Great Ugor. But the brutal method of dismemberment would have hurt.

The Great Ugor expectantly turned his attention to Yanael's face, imagining the grimace she would make or the shouts she would release. His face fell in disappointment.

Yanael was making a face, but it was nowhere near the level he wanted. She was clenching her teeth hard enough for him to hear them crack, and her brow was twisted into knots. But her eyes were clear, albeit ablaze as she continued glaring at him without blinking.

The corner of the Great Ugor's lip rose in loathing. The way Yanael ignored her pain reminded him of the way the Daughter and how she didn't even seem to notice her body breaking before it healed.

Yanael wasn't healing. At most, she hemmed the bleeding with her sacred energy. But he still didn't like it.

Why wasn't she despairing?

All of her friends had been defeated. That ugly fucking stone statue behind her wasn't doing shit. She didn't stand a chance. She couldn't even run. There was no one coming to save her. There was no hope. How could she stand there, both feet on the ground, and look him in the eyes without a hint of fear, regret, despair, or hesitation?

Seeing Yanael's defiance, the Great Ugor had no choice but to remember his miserable state before he ended up in the Underworld.

He had incited a rebellion at the beginning of the Empire. His younger brother was apparently a better fit for the throne just because he knew how to suck up to people. The Great Ugor refused to admit that his younger brother could do something that he couldn't.

In the end, it wasn't even his younger brother or the emperor at the time who stopped his rebellion. It was a fucking summoner with an oversized lizard who was bored.

The Great Ugor hated it. He wanted to reject it, deny it, and refuse it. But what could he do? Nothing.

He took a beating that left him pissing and shitting blood for weeks. He rammed his head against the floor until it bled in hopeless apology. He pleaded and beg with his tears and snot mixing with his blood.

And then, as soon as the principal turned his back, he turned tail and ran like a pathetic, cowardly, disgusting pig. He crawled into one of the entrances to the Underworld he learned about when planning his rebellion and securing escape and travel routes.

There was none of the strength of will, determination, or fortitude that Yanael was displaying right now.

The memories that he wanted to erase flashing through his mind irritated the Great Ugor. He wanted to kill Yanael at once. But if he killed her before making her give up, she would win.

She would prove that she was better than him, regardless of how weak she was.

The Great Ugor angrily chopped off her other arm.

He was not going to let her win. He was better. He was not pathetic. He was not miserable. He was not desperate.

He was not!

The Great Ugor let Yanael stop her bleeding. The longer she held out without dying, the more time he had to break her spirit.

After taking her arms, he took her ears. He ripped them off her skull. Then, he slapped her in the face until her cheeks were swollen and her teeth were gone.

He struck her torso until breathing became next to impossible. She wheezed, her blood-stained breath barely escaping what remained of her mouth.

He didn't touch her legs. He needed him to kneel on her own.

Yanael's eyes were muddled. She couldn't see, she couldn't think, she couldn't hear, she could barely feel. But she knew she was standing up. That was good enough.

She could feel her heartbeat weaken. Her spark of life wasn't flickering much. She wondered if she could sense it so clearly because she had spent a lot of time with Soara.

Yanael had always protected Zach, and until Mandra showed up, she had been the one to shield him from the darkness with the light of her halo.

'I'm sorry, Master.'

It seemed the darkness she had always pushed away had come to take her. It closed in on her.