Pavane for Living Girls, Part 3

Elza swung her mace.

Each swing produced a heavy whoosh through the air.

The Crocodile monster dodged Elza's mace deftly.

On the rare occasions it tried to block with its sword, the difference in weapon weight forced it back slightly.

Perhaps disliking that, the Crocodile monster stopped trying to block entirely.

Whenever Elza over-committed on a swing, the Crocodile monster didn't miss the opening.

Each time its blade came for Elza, she deflected it with the shaft of her mace.

The Crocodile monster seemed somewhat stymied by Elza's stubborn defense.

Or rather, it seemed to be enjoying itself.

When both sides created distance, Azu returned to the front line.

"Swapping in!"

"Oh my, being young really does speed up recovery."

With that, Elza fell back.

Azu faced the Crocodile monster in the Ash King's stance.

This sword technique was meant for opponents who carried blades.

She recalled the Ash King's swordwork. How it moved. How it struck.

The Crocodile monster moved first.

A diagonal slash with no visible windup. Azu reacted and parried.

Her eyes and body were adapting to the Crocodile monster.

From the parry, she followed through with a thrust at its chest.

It dodged, but her blade grazed the Crocodile monster's hide.

Its skin was rough and uneven, with the hardness of scales.

The sword bounced off.

But compared to their first exchange, this was a massive improvement.

Azu could tell the Crocodile monster had shifted its full attention from Elza to her.

Its movements swayed with an unpredictable rhythm, impossible to read ahead of time.

But in raw speed, Azu had the edge.

The Crocodile monster's masterful technique hid the initial motion of its swings.

But once you got used to it, you could fight back.

With every exchange of blades, Azu's skill chased the Crocodile monster's.

With each swing, she could see what her opponent was trying to do and how she should respond. Her body obeyed in the same instant.

This was fun. For the first time, Azu felt genuine joy in swordplay.

The Crocodile monster, too, seemed pleased to watch this still-green warrior grow by leaps through live combat.

The Crocodile monster stopped using wind magic entirely, facing Azu with nothing but its sword.

Even Alexia, who'd been watching for an opening to lend support, lowered her casting stance.

"Look at her go, having the time of her life."

"Azu-chan is amazing. She's picked up the Ash King's swordsmanship in this short a time."

"During our sparring, she was trying to imitate some technique, but it was all wasted movement."

Kazusa sidled closer to the two of them, keeping her back to the wall.

"Is it okay? Leaving Azu like that?"

"If there were other monsters around, no. But this, let her have it. It's great for her growth."

"That's still dangerous."

"Don't worry. I've already read that thing's moves. If it comes to it, I'll step in."

Alexia set the butt of her battle axe on the ground.

Magic had already been channeled into it; heat radiated off the weapon in waves, warming the air around them.

"Doesn't that… burn?"

"Call me Alexia. And what kind of mage gets burned by her own magic?"

While they talked, there came the sound of a sword being knocked away.

A whoosh, whoosh of something cutting the air, then a blade buried itself in the ground.

It was the Crocodile monster's sword.

Azu followed through with a diagonal slash on the now-unarmed Crocodile monster.

The Crocodile monster opened its jaws to crush Azu's skull, but Azu was faster.

The sharp strike carried real speed behind it, punching through the Crocodile monster's tough hide and opening a deep gash.

The Crocodile monster's scream echoed through the room.

"Sorry, I'm not good enough to finish it cleanly."

With that, Azu adjusted her grip and swept her sword up from below, taking the Crocodile monster's head clean off.

The Crocodile monster's head sailed through the air.

For an instant, its eyes met Azu's. They were not human eyes, yet something in them looked satisfied.

The Crocodile monster's body vanished, leaving behind a large magic stone and a small wind Elemental crystal.

Its hide also remained, unvanished.

Kazusa stuffed everything into her backpack.

Azu wiped her sweat, breathing hard with heaving shoulders.

"Good work. That was incredible, Azu. That monster was seriously tough."

"Somehow… managed."

With that, Azu raised both fists to the sky.

Then she toppled backward.

"The floor's so cold and it feels amazing…"

"What are you doing? Here, water."

Kazusa pulled out a canteen, brought the spout to Azu's mouth, and helped her drink.

"So good…"

"Glad to hear it."

They waited for Azu to recover.

Once her breathing finally settled, Kazusa spoke up.

"Let's call it a day. That monster usually lives much deeper in. There aren't many of them, either. You'd almost never run into one on the fifth floor."

"If those things were roaming around in numbers, you'd run out of lives. It barely used magic and it was still that strong."

"I wonder why it was here. If we hunt monsters on the way back, that should be a solid haul. Shall we head out?"

"Part of me wants to push a little further, but… I almost died doing that once before, so let's go back."

Azu remembered the Giant Centipede.

That had been the very definition of a brush with death.

Safety first for adventurers. You couldn't earn if you weren't alive.

And then, the moment she turned on her heel and set foot on the stairs, the labyrinth shook.

A violent tremor threw all of them off their feet and onto the ground.

To their horror, the stairs were vanishing along with the tremors.

"No way, the labyrinth is expanding!"

Kazusa's scream was drowned out by the roar of the tremor.

Then an even more violent quake struck, and the ground beneath them split open.

Azu grabbed Kazusa's hand on reflex. But the other two were out of reach, and they fell.

"Oh, come on, not again!"

The worst memory of Azu's life came flooding back.