episode_0036

Alice swiftly swung her sword, the ring still firmly on her finger.

Ting!

As her blade clashed with the demon’s, she realized something.

‘This is easy.’

In the past, this opponent might have been tough.

But now?

They were nothing.

‘Thanks to the ring Cain gave me, my mana overload issue is resolved.’

Mana overload.

Not only did it endanger her allies, but it also made it impossible to wield her sword properly.

That’s why she used to waste mana first before drawing her blade—releasing the explosive energy until she was light enough to fight.

But now?

No need.

‘The ring keeps my body light.’

Ting! Ting! Ting!

‘Thanks to Cain, I can fight at full strength without warming up!’

“Y-You’re… not bad!”

The demon was flustered.

They had dismissed humans as weak.

Never had they imagined one could be this strong.

Sure, humans were annoying in groups, but individually?

They were nothing more than insects.

Yet—

The woman before them was on a completely different level.

‘Why is she so strong?!’

Attack?

Impossible.

Just defending was already overwhelming.

‘Right? High? Low? Left?’

Their eyes darted frantically, reflexes barely keeping up.

“Guh…!”

Every block sent shocks through their wrist—the sword was too heavy.

“Pathetic.”

Meanwhile, Alice was relaxed.

‘This is the swordsmanship of a demon?’

It wasn’t even swordsmanship.

Just brute strength and speed.

No technique.

The only reason they lasted this long was because of their weapon.

‘Sigh…’

‘I was actually excited to learn demon swordsmanship…’

She quickly abandoned that idea.

Instead—

She decided to test a new technique.

‘Cain taught me more than one, after all.’

Crackle…!

Ice formed at the tip of her sword, morphing it into a blunt weapon.

Snowblossom Swordsmanship (雪花劍術)

Before, she had only used her sword to bloom frost.

But now—

Snowblossom Armament (雪花武器術)

She could wield any weapon to create blossoms.

Ting!!!

The ice mace shattered the demon’s sword.

Thud!!!

Then crushed their body.

“Ghk—!”

The sudden shift from blade to blunt force caught them off guard.

Crackle…!

The impact froze their wound, sealing their fate.

“Ugh…! G-Guh…!”

Snowblossom (雪花)

A technique that freezes what it touches, blooming ice flowers.

Originally, it just froze.

But Cain had taught her:

[“Magic is the art of making ridiculous nonsense real.”]

An ice flower was just ice.

But—

If she believed it was a flower, it could take on a flower’s traits.

Flowers take root.

Flowers absorb nutrients.

So she applied that logic to Snowblossom.

Roots that burrow into the enemy.

A flower that drains their life and mana as it grows.

Nonsense?

‘Ice flowers aren’t alive.’

‘How can they absorb nutrients and grow like real flowers?’

But that’s how magic worked.

‘If it’s a flower made of mana…’

‘Then maybe it can absorb mana to grow…?’

At first, it was absurd.

But once a mage believed, absurdity became truth.

Belief became law.

Will became magic.

That was one of the truths Cain had taught her.

“AAAAAAH!”

“M-My strength…!!”

The demon screamed, thrashing—

But the Snowblossom only grew larger.

Draining everything from them.

The bigger it grew, the colder it became.

Their body froze faster.

Just when she thought it was over—

Whoosh!

Fwoooosh!

The demon erupted in flames, surviving.

“Hah… Hah…”

They had burned even their own body, taking severe damage—

But they lived.

Which was perfect.

‘Now I can test one more thing.’

She acted immediately.

Snowblossom Armament (雪花武器術) — Spear

A sharp, elongated ice spike formed at her sword’s tip—

Thrust!

“Ghk—!”

It pierced clean through the demon’s shoulder.

Crackle…!

A Snowblossom bloomed from the wound.

“T-This…!”

Whoosh!

The demon burned it away and charged.

‘Should I finish this with a special move?’

She steadied her stance.

‘Cain said…’

‘Ice and fire magic are the same.’

‘Just manipulating heat—lowering or raising temperature.’

The results differed, but the principle was identical.

Her mana carried cold energy, so simply releasing it could create ice magic.

But understanding the principle made it more efficient.

So she had practiced.

Mastered fire magic—absorbing and releasing heat.

Now, she could use it to some extent.

Dual magic—

One side concentrated heat into flames.

The other stole heat to create ice.

Whoosh!

‘Still a beginner.’

‘Can’t use overwhelming fire magic yet.’

But simple heat manipulation?

Easy.

Crackle-crackle-crackle…!

Fwoooosh!

One blade froze, forming a razor-sharp edge.

The other ignited, acting as a booster for swift strikes.

A sword of ice and flame.

One side freezing, the other burning.

A technique possible because even a novice could create flames with this sword.

Swoosh!

A rocket-boosted, supersonic slash.

Slice!

The demon’s head flew off effortlessly.

“Hah…”

“Did I get it?”

For fun, she chanted the “revival spell” Cain had mentioned.

“……”

The demon didn’t come back.

Well…

Obviously.

Even with their physical prowess and regeneration—

A severed head meant death.

A destroyed heart meant death.

“No way a beheaded corpse would stand back up.”

A shame, really.

She had so many techniques from Cain to test—

But her dummy was dead.

…Or so she thought.

Tap.

Lia poked the demon’s corpse with a wooden sword.

“Guh…”

And just like that—

Their head reattached.

They revived.

“Whoa…”

“It actually worked.”

Lia looked fascinated as she asked:

“How does it feel to be revived?”

“Everything okay?”

“H-Huh?…”

The demon scrambled back, wary.

“My head?…”

“Huh?…”

“Why is it back?!…”

They glared and shouted:

“What the hell?!”

“What do you want?!”

Lia just smiled.

“Just curious what happens when you revive the dead. Consider this an experiment.”

“Relax. You can die again now.”

Ah.

A revival experiment.

Since Cain would need to use Near-Death from One-Hit Kill to revive if he died,

They had to test it first.

Make sure there were no issues.

“Seems like they revived just fine.”

Which meant—

Her next task was simple.

Use the revived demon for more experiments.

They revived and killed the demon several more times.

Testing how many revives were possible.

Checking for side effects.

Experimenting in every way they could think of.

But—

“Ughh…”

“K…Kill me…”

Thud.

With each revival, something broke inside them.

Was it the shock of death?

Or revival sickness?

‘Catching a few more test subjects might help…’

But for now, this was enough.

‘At least we know 1-2 revives are safe.’

As she thought this, she glanced at Cain—

“……”

He avoided their eyes.

“Cain?”

“H-Huh?…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Master?”

“Are you hurt?”

“N-No…”

‘Is it the blood?’

Some people couldn’t stand the sight of blood.

So she cleaned it all up.

Used water magic to wash away the mess.

But that wasn’t the issue.

‘To think they’d do experiments like this…’

Cain wasn’t scared of blood.

It was the sight of them testing how long someone could endure repeated death and revival.

For some reason—

He imagined it.

‘Lia…’

‘Alice…’

‘Please… stop…’

‘Master.’

‘You can take more.’

‘Cain.’

‘We’ll revive you if you die, so don’t worry.’

A vision of being pinned to a bed.

Drained to death by Lia and Alice.

Revived.

Trapped in an endless cycle of torture.

A living D—

‘N-No way… right?’

Surely not.

Even if they were bulldozers, they weren’t criminals.

…Right?

Shaking it off, he examined the demon’s corpse.

‘Nice gear.’

The sword was high-quality.

So were the accessories.

The armor was shredded beyond use, but—

The Grail of Sacrifice could fix that.

‘A miracle from the grail will do.’

Since it was charged through alternative sacrifices (not human),

It couldn’t perform grand miracles.

But repairing items?

Easy.

It could resize gear.

Even convert male equipment for female use.

In Prophecy RPG, mismatched sizes or genders reduced performance, making loot a pain.

But with the Grail of Sacrifice—

Problem solved.

‘Oh…’

‘This looks cool.’

A black, sleek coat for black-haired Cain.

Pure style.

‘Add two swords, and…’

He could cosplay a certain dual-wielding anime character.

‘Stats are great too.’

Solid defense.

Magic armor with all-stat buffs.

‘And it’s not bulky.’

Heavy armor had defense but was uncomfortable.

Magic gear?

Light.

Breathable.

‘First loot, and it’s already a win.’

But—

This was just the beginning.

The real farming starts now!