Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach slowly continued reaching for a bottle. Expressionlessly, he grabbed one and picked it up. He held it in front of his face.

It was completely empty.

The crashing sound when he threw the bottle to the ground, shattering it, startled the others. They turned to look at Zach in irritation and confusion. Was this the time to be clumsy and drop one of their precious X0 bottles, the strongest anti-underworld energy potion they had on hand?

Before they could even ask what was going on, Zach grabbed another, smashing that one as well. He was kneeling next to the crate, picking up and smashing down bottle after empty bottle.

Although the others were concerned about Zach's behavior, by now, they noticed that out of all the bottles, not a single one contained so much as a drop of anti-underworld energy.

"H-hey—"

"How could this happen?!" Zach's voice rang out over the field. It caused several underworlders in the city to tremble in fear.

Zach stood up and in the same motion picked up the crate and slammed it into the ground.

He turned to Jessecke, who was overseeing the potion transportation.

"How could you let this happen?!" He demanded. His shout broke Jessecke's stunned silence. She had never seen Zach be this emotional, much less this angry before. However, when he turned his anger toward her, fear replaced her shock.

Zach's eyes burned with anger. It even seemed like his orange hair was swaying in the breeze like fire.

"I–I don't…" Jessecke couldn't answer. She didn't know why the bottles were empty. She didn't know where the anti-underworld potion was. She didn't know when or how it had disappeared.

"Hey!" Nessa yanked on Zach's shoulder, turning him away from Jessecke. It had been far from as easy as Nessa thought it would be. Zach's body was solid like a statue, and it hadn't turned easily. But she still managed to make him look at her.

"You already know who did this! Stop harassing Jesse!" Nessa was tempted to give Zach a slap and help him snap out of it, but that would only hurt her since he was covered in a barrier.

"..." Zach's eyes smoldered like glowing coals as he looked at Nessa in silence.

"That fucking spy…!" Zach, needless to say, was infuriated. Hours of hard labor, sacks of money, precious time. All of it wasted. Because of the Underworld's spy.

"Are all potions gone?" He asked, slightly calmer than before. He glanced around at the mixed somber and grave expressions of the ones around him.

"...We have X3s left," Violina answered. She continued,

"We can't execute step one of Plan E."

That was the grim reality. Plan E was their best bet at dealing with what the Underworld had cooked up under the city. But the rest of Plan E was useless if they didn't prime the city, the sewers, and as much of the Underworld as possible with extensive deployment of the anti-underworld energy potions.

They could still execute the rest of the plan, but it wouldn't do more than put a stick in the wheels of the Underworld's plans. It would delay it. But it would still devastate and wreck the city and its surroundings.

"What do we do?" Dukiel asked. Executing Plan E right now would be a waste.

"...I still have a couple of potions. With how potent the X0s are, wouldn't it still work?" Nessa asked.

"Hmm, for Plan E to work and for it to be worth the destruction it will cause, we need to purify the ground as deep as possible. We need to wreck at least down to the third layer of the Underworld. We need to get at least that deep before executing the second step. Otherwise, we cause more damage to us than to them." Violina shook her head while explaining why a couple of potions, despite how powerful they were, wouldn't work.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"What do we do?" Anerias repeated Dukiel's question since no one answered it the first time.

But it wasn't because they hadn't heard it. They didn't have an answer. They didn't know what to do.

The removal of all the potions and the halt it had put to the execution of Plan E had stumped them. It was a last-ditch plan in the first place. It was the type of plan that would only be used when they had exhausted all other options.

This time, they hadn't even exhausted all other options before resorting to it since the situation was so dire.

Zach gritted his teeth.

Since their last resort was useless before they exhausted their other options, they just had to take a step back and do what they could.

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"We go down."

It took a moment and a half for the others to all process Zach's words. They slowly looked at him. They understood what he meant. They didn't believe it.

"If what Maer said is true…"

"...going down there is suicide, Zach." Dukiel and Nessa did not like the idea.

Anerias and Violina were silent. They knew that, too. They also knew that Zach knew it before he said it. Zach said it fully aware of what he was doing.

"We have to stop it before it's too late." He shrugged. If what Maer said was true, wasting time would only increase the danger. Going down would be risking their lives. It would be very very risky. More than anything they had done so far.

But everytime they had risked their lives had been risker than the previous time.

If they were looking for peace, comfort, and stable, safe lives, they should have made different life decisions long ago. By now, it would be too late to turn back. They could only move forward.

"If it does come to the surface, won't the principal…?" Anerias asked with slight hope.

The other four shook their heads.

"Nope."

"If the principal would do something like that, he wouldn't be the principal."

"Maybe if we all die first."

"I think he might make a move if the Great Ugor shows up since he will be a year early, but even then, the principal would most likely just send him back down and tell him to wait a year."

The students could only rely on themselves to overcome this crisis.