Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach didn't know how long he had been swimming around in the darkness after his thoughts slowed. It could have been a moment, a minute, or a year, and he wouldn't know the difference. His senses had long since faded and the only thing keeping him intact was the mental fortitude of a young man surrounded by beauties he was unable to lay his hands on.

He had gone crazy for a while, though. He didn't remember when in relation to the rest of his time in darkness it was, but he had spent a significant portion thinking about frogs for some reason. Then birds for a little while. But he could be considered a self-taught expert on frogs by now, at least the frogs in his head.

However, Zach's mind right now was clear. For the first time since the petrification and its darkness swallowed him, he felt something that he knew wasn't an imagination. It was a sinking feeling in his gut like someone had attached an anchor to his heart and dropped it straight down.

He wanted to tear open his chest and do something about it. But he couldn't. He couldn't do anything. He was powerless.

He knew he had to do something. Otherwise, something bad would happen. He had to get out.

The more he thought and the worse the feeling got, the worse Zach's panic got. None of his skills worked.

It was the first thing he tried. Blessed Defense did nothing. Transcension didn't activate. Eyes of Truth might have activated but he still didn't see shit. His skills were useless. His muscles were useless. His brain was useless. His energy…

It was probably what was keeping him alive.

'Wait a minute…' Zach paused his thoughts for a moment. He had tried to activate the skills he thought might work or do something at least. They didn't do squat. Just like that, he completely disregarded using his skills to get out.

But…

Didn't he have one more skill? He wasn't sure how he would activate it or if it would even work.

But Material Extraction was still untouched. The petrification covered his hands, so he was, technically, grabbing it.

Zach…He didn't close his eyes since he was pretty sure they were already closed. If they weren't, there was nothing he could do about it. He, just like every other time, imagined himself pulling the material he wanted to extract out of the stone covering his palms.

But he couldn't move. How was he supposed to pull it out of the stone? And even if he just freed his palms, what was he supposed to do? Wave? It would show the familiars that he was alive, but their presence alone would be proof of that.

All the while, the sinking feeling in his gut continued to worsen. Something was making his heart bleed, and it wasn't the petrification or the memories of his bouts of insanity.
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Zach screamed in his mind until he grew hoarse.

He could do so many things with Blessed Defense that he couldn't from the beginning. Why were the rest of his skills useless in comparison?!

Why couldn't he even just fucking get rid of some stone?!

Zach felt the panic and rage bubble up inside him without anywhere to go. Discomfort danced around the horrible feeling inside him, highlighting it.

Zach had trouble controlling himself, but he knew he had to do something productive.

So, he forced his thoughts to obey and thought about how he had improved Blessed Defense. It was the only clue he had toward altering or improving Material Extraction to suit his needs.

Unfortunately, Blessed Defense's improvements came naturally to him over time as he used it a whole bunch and saw and felt what could be better. One of the downsides to being a genius was that he didn't understand it himself.

The most obvious drawback of Material Extraction was that it needed space. He needed to move his hands to use it. He didn't need that for Blessed Defense or Eyes of Truth. A thought was enough for those.

Preferably, Material Extraction should at least reach that level.

But then, how was he supposed to extract the petrification, even if he didn't need to move his hands? What was he supposed to do with the material he extracted?

'Argh, whatever!'

Zach remembered his body. He knew what it looked like in detail, thanks to the Empress Dowager's trick of introspection. He knew what the petrification looked like and that it covered him like a second skin grafted into his body.

He just had to drain the petrification of all its most useful components. The rest didn't matter.

He visualized his body. He visualized a hollow stone statue with the exact same shape as his body. He overlaid the two, fusing them.

That was almost exactly what he looked like from an outside perspective. It was close enough.

Zach visualized himself activating his skill. It was the same tension based in his hands that he usually felt, but instead of just extending to cover what he held, he stretched it and covered all of the stone on him.

The sensation of stretching and expanding the skill's influence was similar to when he played with the size and shape of his barriers.

But as he did it, he felt the tension in his hands grow. When he was past his waist and shoulders, the weight on his hands started growing unbearable. It was too much. His skill was spread too wide and too thin.

But this was it. This was his key to breaking free.

Zach didn't care that his hands were on the line. If the worst came to it, he would just have his familiars feed and dress him for the rest of his life.

He ignored the pain—No, he reveled in it. It was the second thing he felt that wasn't an imagination since the petrification swallowed him. And it distracted him from the cries coming from within him.

With a sensation of his hands crumbling, Zach stretched Material Extraction to cover all of him. If just expanding the skill was enough to break them, what would happen once he finally activated the skill?

Zach didn't know. He didn't care.

He activated the skill. He drained the petrification away from his body—away from his skin.

The petrification cracked. It was so subtle and fine at first that the Great Ugor and Yanael didn't notice. But as pieces of sandy stone fell to the ground with a dull clattering sound, the Great Ugor had to look.

Yanael…was already in a state where she didn't even notice it.

As more and more pieces of the petrification fell, light returned to Zach's world. Air brushed against his skin like the kisses of the memories of a lost lover. The hair on his neck could finally move to stand at attention in the Great Ugor's presence.

Slowly, gradually, Zach opened his eyes, thankful for the darkness of the Underworld. If it had been the daylight of the surface, he might have gone blind.

He almost wished he had.

That would have been better than seeing the sight in front of him.