Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Nessa, Dukiel, Anerias, and Violina had all fought with their lives on the line several times. They had encountered dangerous and thrilling situations that honed and sharpened their senses. When they looked at the unnatural baby, they could only feel one thing.

The instincts that now could guide them away from death, the very ones that had shouted at them not to enter the Underworld, were now telling them that in the matter of the baby, it was kill or be killed.

The baby's outer shell was a lie. It was utter deception hiding the monstrous insides of an abomination that wouldn't hesitate to kill them.

If they didn't kill it,

it

would kill them.

Zach took a step forward.

Dukiel put a hand on Zach's shoulder and held him back. He didn't know if it was to protect Zach or to protect the baby. Regardless of what their instincts were telling them, the baby was a baby. The students were good at ignoring their instincts.

They shouldn't, especially considering what they had seen the baby doing and the fleshy wreckage around the underground hall. But the students were beasts or monsters that blindly obeyed their instincts. They were humans. Rational, civilized humans who followed the creed that seeing is believing.

They didn't doubt that Zach also knew that the baby couldn't be allowed to grow.

But unlike them, Zach wasn't known for being rational. He was better now than he had been in the beginning of his time at the Academy since he had gained control over his mouth.

But he knew no one had cleared the twelfth Trial of the Labyrinth of Syst and still chose to attempt it. He suggested they enter the Underworld to deal with what Maer had warned them about. He paraded around a

deity

as his mad and familiar. He had also burst a vessel as soon as he realized someone had removed all the anti-underworld energy potions from the equation.

Zach was not a normal human, for better or worse. In this situation, it meant he wouldn't hesitate to kill the baby.

After all, the baby wasn't a baby. It was an abomination. It was an affront to the natural laws of life and existence. It was a grave threat to their lives both in the present and in the future.

The remaining months of the school year alone would be enough for the baby to grow stronger and more dangerous, even more so with the break, during which they wouldn't be able to do anything. Even now, this might be their only chance to deal with the baby. If they didn't take it, they would only be dooming themselves.

Still, they couldn't just let Zach walk up to the baby and kill it. There was something wrong with an action like that.

Zach shrugged off Dukiel's hand and took another step. The baby's curious gaze focused on him, but the others still had trouble moving. They stayed at the tunnel's exit like statues, unable to move or say anything.

Anyone moving or doing

anything

could set off the baby.

Zach…Even if he didn't know what he was doing, it seemed like he had the situation under control. They had lost their opportunity to stop him. Now, they could only let him see this through while the baby was still docile.

Zach's first few steps were hesitant. He was worried that the baby would try and make him its new toy. But it just tilted its head with wide, glossy eyes staring right at him as he approached.

The barrier around his body was the strongest he could make it. Hopefully, it would last long enough for his familiars to intervene if the baby decided to do anything. But it remained motionless even as Zach stopped only a few steps away.

"Hey…?" Zach gently whispered to the baby like he was soothing a wild animal. He lowered his body and crouched low to appear less intimidating.

The baby didn't seem intimidated in the least, but Zach figured it was better to be on the safer side. He didn't want to appear as a threat and accidentally trigger the baby into lashing out. He took a cautious glance around.

If he, as a baby, had been surrounded by loud, scary monsters, he would have also acted out a little. It was just that most human babies didn't have supernatural strength that put even Named underworlders to shame.

The baby's curious eyes watched Zach as he inched closer. They were bright and clear, but there wasn't much thought behind them. The baby hadn't learned how to think or reason yet.

Unlike the students who could listen and choose to ignore their instincts, the baby only knew how to follow its instincts.

It confirmed Zach's guess that the baby hadn't acted with malice when it decimated the underworlders. That had just happened because the baby was upset after being created. Its strength had surpassed what the underworlders present could deal with. Their experiment, which they had offered a ceasefire to stabilize, had been too successful.

And now, that experiment, had ended up in Zach's hands as he picked up the baby by its armpits.

Cold sweat beaded on the small of Zach's back.

He wasn't good with babies, much less ones powerful enough to cause earthquakes. Fortunately, the baby didn't seem to mind being held like that, and it giggled as Zach held it out right in front of himself.

However, when it giggled, its arms and legs wiggled and floundered slightly. The baby didn't hit or kick Zach. But he almost dropped it because of how powerful its movements were. It almost broke free even from the barrier Zach used to reinforce his hold on the baby.

"C-calm down, please." Zach smiled pleadingly.

As if finding Zach's face entertaining, the baby giggled again. But this time it even slapped with its hand toward Zach's face. It didn't reach. Instead, it crashed down on Zach's forearm, shattering his barrier.

"Hihihi!"

Zach bit his lips to stifle his voice. His shirt hid his arm, but it did not hide the color of blood seeping into it from the break in his arm. If Zach's barriers hadn't also held up his arm and the baby, he would have dropped it.

Zach took a deep breath. He held the baby in a cradle-like barrier as he grabbed its wrist and stopped it from hitting him. He did his best to keep the baby from breaking out of his grasp.

"It looks like we need to teach you how to control your strength—"
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"You're not teaching that

thing

anything! Drop the baby, Zach!"