Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"Thanks. You said access was restricted here, right?"

The tasker nodded.

"Yes. The center is an important place where unauthorized personnel are forbidden entry."

"Are you authorized?"

"No. My duties lie in the general management of the Locale and dealing with events such as your arrival."

"I see. Well, laters~"

Zach started toward the chain hanging between the tunnel\'s entrance walls. The tasker instantly realized what Zach was trying to do and began moving to catch up. But instead, he caught Zach\'s foot to the side of his head.

Zach had feinted trying to break into the center to mislead the tasker and ambush him. Since he couldn\'t beat the tiny butler with brute force, he had to resort to the same cheap tricks he used against Nora when they were younger.

He hadn\'t been very successful in any of his escape or retaliation attempts against his current maid. Fortunately, however, the tasker was much shorter than Nora, and Zach\'s foot clocked him.

Zach felt like something broke, whether it was the tasker\'s jaw or skull. Whatever it was, it was enough to turn the tasker\'s body limp.

Zach sighed in relief. When the tasker had displayed his strength earlier, Zach had been worried that even a perfect hit wouldn\'t be enough.

But even if he was unconscious, the tasker might not stay unconscious for long, so Zach tied him up using his clothes as best as he could before dragging him along inside the tunnel to the center.

\'Fuck, why is this tiny guy so heavy?\'

The tasker wasn\'t even up to Zach\'s waist, but he was heavier than a wet sack of potatoes. Eventually, Zach found a corner and dumped the tasker.

It didn\'t seem like the tunnels were very well-traveled. So, hopefully, he would manage to break the others out before anyone caught on or found the tasker\'s unconscious body. Well, as long as he could find and free Yanael, things would get easier.

Zach walked along the tunnel, which fortunately didn\'t have any branches that could make him lose his way. His steps were gentle and barely made a sound against the stone floor.

As he got closer, he felt a simultaneously warm and cold breeze around his legs. The closer it got, the higher it climbed on his body. It was both worrying and soothing.

Strange noises soon began escaping the center and into the tunnel Zach was following. He had to pause in case it was the sound of beings of the Underworld approaching.

When it became clear the sources of the sounds were stationary, Zach continued moving. Eventually, he could confirm that some of the sounds sounded like breaking wood. Another sound was the clinking of stone against stone. And a third stone was the distinct clang of metal against metal.

\'Yanael!\'

Zach could guess what those three sounds were. He started running with worry and excitement.

Before long, a brighter light than the torches lining the walls spilled into the tunnel. Zach slowed down as he adjusted to it.

Zach\'s eyes scanned the large cavernous hall. The first thing he saw wasn\'t any of the familiars. No, the first thing he saw was the center.

In the middle of the room, straight ahead from the tunnel, there was some kind of pool or fountain with strange tubes leading into it from the ground. It looked like there was mud, tainted with ink in the pool.

But what caught Zach\'s attention was the glossy, brown orb floating in the air above the pool and below a stalactite. Every few minutes, a tear of light brown liquid would escape from the stalactite and flow along it before dropping onto the orb. Some of it stayed and some of it continued into the pool.

As the orb spun, Zach also identified the source of the gentle wind around the room and in the tunnel. It was enough to snap him out of his distraction, finally finding what he was looking for: Yanael.

She had a half-torn straitjacket of some kind of metal around her upper body and the remains of chains around her feet. One of her wings had sprouted from her back, and her halo shone with a faint light.

She was ragged from fighting the tall, muscular, hairy creatures surrounding her. Their fists were large like cinderblocks and completely solid. Zach figured they were the security in this place.

Yanael\'s sword was bent, and her shield was torn in half. It didn\'t look like she was winning the fights, even if two of the Underworld fighters had lost their heads.

Zach looked around to see if he could help her in any way. He found the Sentinel bound in a set of stone chains that clinked every time it tried to break itself or any of its four limbs free. Despite not having any facial or otherwise expressive features, Zach could tell it was enraged.

Strapped to a bench not far from the Sentinel with tubes plugged into it, the same kind leading to the pool in the center, was Julius\' Mannequin, writhing in apparent pain as its already dark wood darkened even further. Whatever the tubes were pumping in was not good for the Mannequin\'s material.

\'Damn it.\'

Zach couldn\'t break stone with his hands, certainly not the kinds even the Sentinel couldn\'t break. So, his only option was the Mannequin. He ran up to it, nervously looking around for any workers or more intelligent Underworlders than the seemingly single-minded fighters.

He didn\'t see any, but he found another entrance or exit, so he set that aside and focused on pulling the tubes out of the Mannequin, quickly freeing it.

"Quick, help her!"

Zach helped the Mannequin to its feet before shoving it in Yanael\'s direction.