The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Alice didn't just suffer a shallow cut to her waist. The cut had reached her internal organs, and blood was profusely pouring out of the wound. In fact, had the sword wave gone any deeper, it might have even bisected Alice.

In such a situation, it was only natural for Gunst to think that Alice no longer had any strength to resist. After all, any normal person would suffer problems with their mana flow when their body was severely injured. The chances of Alice being able to continue casting taboos in her current state was minuscule. Even if she could cast a taboo, it would be a simplified version that wouldn't be strong enough to stop any of Gunst's attacks.

"Tsk, don't get so full of yourself. I was just a little careless," Alice said, clicking her tongue. A large part of why she got injured was because of her carelessness.

It was true that Gunst's Rainbow and Aurora were powerful taboos. However, the power of these two taboos wasn't focused on "destruction" but "sharpness" instead. Rather than say that they were taboos focused on mass destruction, they were taboos focused on cutting things.

Take Rainbow's large-scale attack, for example. If it were swapped with Alice's Burning Star, this entire neighborhood would have been reduced to ashes. However, Gunst's Rainbow had only left numerous large cuts in the surrounding streets and buildings. A few of the closer buildings might have collapsed because of these cuts, but the level of destruction caused by Gunst's Rainbow was nowhere near the destruction Alice's Burning Star could have caused.

Meanwhile, it was hard for any defenses to be effective when going up against such a "sharp" taboo. What Alice should have done against Gunst's Aurora was to evade the sword wave rather than rely on her defenses.

—Simply put, Alice was still too lacking in combat experience. This weakness was highlighted once when she previously fought with the Eighth Demon King Miriya Hampar, and it was highlighted again in her current fight with Gunst.

If Andusia were here, the moment she saw the cutting effect Gunst's Rainbow displayed, she would have immediately realized that Gunst specialized in taboos with a "sharp" property. So, when Gunst used Aurora afterward, Andusia would have made the correct response, evading the attack rather than trying to block it with Enochian Prism.

I should probably learn more about combat from Flaman or Catherine after I'm done with matters here…

Alice finally decided to face her weakness after suffering another loss because of her lack of combat experience. While she might possess frightening power right now, she realized that it wasn't infallible. On the contrary, it could be easily nullified or even used against her if she didn't know how to wield it, even by opponents who were significantly weaker than her.

In Miriya's case, she was in a soul-like state and only had access to a tiny bit of mana. Yet, she had still turned the tables on Alice and played her like a fiddle. In Gunst's case, although he had enough mana to cast taboos, there was a limit to his mana pool, and he couldn't sustain such high-performance combat for long.

If Alice's current opponent was a real Demon King, she might have lost her life in less than three moves.

"Hm?"

With his sword poised to strike, Gunst readied himself to attack with another taboo. Although he had initially thought of attacking Alice without wasting any more mana, he changed his mind after seeing Aurora manage to only cut open Alice's stomach. Aurora, when used at full power, could exhibit incredible cutting power. Yet, it had failed to cut through Alice's waist completely. If he were to execute an ordinary slash, the attack could, at most, cut through Alice's skin.

Hence, if he wanted to cut off Alice's left hand and retrieve the Pollution Roulette wrapped around her wrist, he'd have to use a taboo.

However, just when Gunst was about to pour mana into his longsword, he suddenly saw Alice reaching into the pouch hanging from her long skirt and pulling out a...bandage?

This turn of events confused Gunst a little. It was true that Alice was injured, but the wound was by no means mendable with a bandage. Not to mention, Alice's injuries should extend all the way to her internal organs. Without the help of healing magic that could only be used in conjunction with specialized medical equipment, it'd be impossible for Alice to recover from her injuries within a short period of time.

So, what meaning was there for Alice to taking out a bandage in this situation? Moreover, the bandage in Alice's hand didn't look new but used instead. Gunst had excellent vision, so he could see moisture stains on the edges of the bandage.

Also, why would a bandage have moisture stains?

Before Gunst could figure out what was going on, the bandage in Alice's right hand suddenly gave off a blinding white light. The light was so intense that Gunst's eyes hurt just from looking at it. However, the light's brightness was the least of Gunst's concerns right now. This was because he could sense the light carrying frighteningly dense mana.

The mana was so dense that it had reached a level where Gunst could no longer avoid it. Moreover, this mana did not exhibit any destructive properties. Instead, it radiated a calming power.

Upon noticing this point, Gunst's expression changed as he realized what Alice was trying to do—Alice was most likely using some special means to heal herself!

Although Gunst couldn't figure out what exactly could help Alice heal such a large wound, he trusted his instincts. So, as soon as he realized Alice was trying to heal herself, he gathered his mana into his longsword and executed an attack:

"Aurora."

Another sword wave carrying a frightening amount of mana swept toward Alice. This time, none of the surrounding buildings got hit by Gunst's sword wave since there were no buildings left to be hit. Every structure nearby had already collapsed into a pile of rubble.

At this point, Gunst was certain that even though Alice possessed superb physical qualities and was outstanding in all attributes, her speed hadn't reached a level where she could evade Aurora. As its name suggested, Aurora carried the properties of light, so it was incredibly fast and hard to dodge.

However, Gunst's expression immediately sank when the dazzling sword wave passed through Alice's location. This was because he noticed that his attack had failed to hit its mark and, contrary to his expectations, his opponent had actually dodged his Aurora.

How did she… Where is she?

Gunst hurriedly poured more mana into his longsword and looked at his surroundings warily, readying himself to unleash "Rainbow" when Alice tried to get close to him. With Rainbow's all-encompassing attack pattern, nobody could get close to him without getting hit.

However, before Gunst could finish injecting enough mana into his longsword, he suddenly felt a gust of wind hitting his face. Then, his vision darkened as he felt a furry paw grabbing onto his face.

Fuck!

Gunst quickly realized the severity of the situation and swung his sword forward, trying to cut at the paw's owner. However, before his sword could hit anything, Gunst felt the paw's owner jumping while using his face as a fulcrum. The other party's jump was incredibly powerful, and the resulting weight and impact force caused Gunst to fall head-first on his back.

Dammit. Is it some kind of beast familiar?

Gunst gritted his teeth while attempting a retaliatory attack. However, the other party was surprisingly quick to react. Before Gunst could even move the longsword in his left hand, he felt a sharp claw tearing through half of his left digits, nearly severing them completely. Then, during the brief moment his left hand had stiffened from pain, he felt his longsword getting forcibly yanked out of his hand.

Gunst bellowed angrily when he lost his weapon. Immediately, he tensed up the muscles in both his arms and fiercely pried away the paw holding onto his face, the paw leaving behind five deep gashes as it separated from his face.

After throwing the opponent away, Gunst hurriedly jumped up from the ground and looked in front of him. Immediately, he realized that his opponent wasn't some kind of beast familiar but Alice herself. Only, Alice currently had a much more different appearance than before, her limbs had turned into furry paws similar to those of felines, and a feline tail had grown out of her back. Two slits had also formed on her hat, and a pair of cat ears were protruding out of these slits.

Wind Hunter, a taboo developed by the catkins. It was a taboo that could elevate the user's speed, agility, and sensitivity toward presences. Alice had relied on this taboo to evade Gunst's Aurora.

"This is…a beastkin taboo…"

Gunst was gasping for breath. He had to admit that he was caught off guard. He had been suppressed before he could even use his magic swordsmanship taboo just now, and his longsword was thrown away into the distance. His left fingers were also nearly severed, and several deep gashes decorated his face.

At the same time as Gunst realized what kind of taboo Alice had used, he also couldn't help but be confused as to how Alice had managed to learn how to use a beastkin taboo. Moreover, even though she had already suffered such a huge wound just now, that wound had all but disappeared by now. How exactly did Alice achieve these two things?