《The Wage Slave’s Hands-and-Feet Scramble》… It really does mean her “hands” are busy and her “feet” are chaotic, huh?

Torina had never seen a skill this ridiculous before.

It was weird. It was ridiculous. It sounded completely uncool, but… in actual combat, it was incredibly useful.

Her footwork truly achieved the literal meaning of “moving like a ghost.”

Especially after she took off her shoes and stepped directly onto the ground barefoot, she could exert force through her toes, arches, ankles, and heels with millimeter precision.

For humans, a towering wall had always stood between the flexibility of their feet and hands.

But she had broken through that wall with ease. Even the famed Muki♂ Ghost Step of old couldn’t reach this level.

On the other hand, when it came to stability and explosive power, no matter how much the arms were trained, they could never match the legs and feet.

Yet she could now support her body effortlessly with both arms. She could even run on her hands upside down at the speed of a hundred-meter dash.

Once the two abilities were combined, she could perform all kinds of movements that could only be described as… bizarre.

Backflipping to dodge punches and sliding to avoid kicks were basic maneuvers.

Moving while upside down and crawling like a spider were both easy.

Even standing—or flipping upside down—on an enemy’s fist, like something out of a martial-arts novel, was perfectly smooth.

She had become an impossibly slippery loach.

Using all kinds of bizarre, even taunting postures, she dodged Glayru’s furious barrage. That only made the monster angrier and angrier.

*(If my feet are as nimble as my hands, then couldn’t I…?)*

As she considered the idea, she backflipped away from Glayru’s swinging punch.

At the same time, she drew a rune in the air with her left big toe—

“ᚠ!”

It worked!

Her toes could draw runes and cast spells just like her fingers!

The rune floated lightly in the air.

After landing, she followed through by drawing a second rune, “ᚩ,” with her sword.

She bent low to evade a straight punch while drawing “ᚠ” with her left hand.

During a sideways roll, she used her right foot to draw “ᛏ.”

While spinning upside down like a top, she drew “ᚣᚣᛠᛊᛈ” continuously with both feet.

The smoothness of her foot-drawn runes was actually greater than that of her hands!

She could even draw the runes for her ultimate attack with both feet while airborne, then use both hands to draw the runes for a defensive spell.

Two spell sequences ran in parallel, crossing and interweaving!

She retreated while fighting, tangled with the monster while circling it.

Even while defending and dodging, she never once interrupted her casting!

ᛈᚱᚹᚻᛝᛝᚺᚱᚢᛃᛒᛃᛒᛁᚹᚨ…

She finished drawing all thirty-two runes in succession.

They floated in the air, dancing merrily.

Only one remained!

*(I have to make sure this hits—let’s bet everything on it!!)*

Torina stopped dodging.

This time, she charged straight at Glayru—

And the maddened Glayru poured all its strength into its right fist.

Horse stance—straight punch!

The fist slammed into the very center of Torina’s torso.

The air throughout the underground cavern trembled.

An invisible shockwave swept up dust from the ground, and Torina’s body bent like a shrimp.

That punch had enough force to shatter every bone in her body, rupture every blood vessel, and reduce every inch of flesh to pulp.

But Torina’s body remained intact.

The punch instantly emptied her Wage Slave Gauge.

Even with the rune-woven fabric absorbing some of the damage, her health bar dropped by seventy percent.

Blood burst from her mouth and nose.

But she didn’t die.

The remaining thirty percent of her health was enough to preserve her ability to act.

“Hold still like that, okay?”

She wrapped herself around its pillar-like arm like an octopus.

In an instant, solid ice spread from its arm across its entire upper body.

Realizing something was wrong, Glayru tried to break free of the ice.

But it was already too late—

“ᛟ—Fubuti’s Touch!!!!”

Her left little toe finished drawing the final rune.

The next second, a massive bolt of lightning, thick as a banyan trunk, struck Glayru squarely in the back.

The underground cavern was lit up as bright as day.

Countless currents of electricity darted wildly like silver snakes.

The instant heat dried every fungus and patch of moss nearby, while the tremendous impact left a horrifying crater in the ground.

The ice shattered beneath the lightning.

Torina backed away, breathing heavily.

The greatest advantage of rune magic was that it couldn’t harm its caster.

And Glayru… still wasn’t dead.

The monster’s body twitched slightly.

Its hands reached forward in an empty embrace, and killing intent flickered in its eyes.

It still seemed to want to fight.

But the strongest lightning strike had already left its muscles numb.

That was more than enough.

“Bye-bye.”

Torina walked behind it and drove her sword deep into its old wound.

She kept pushing until the blade could go no farther.

Glayru swayed once, then crashed to the ground.

Its health bar hit zero.

…

…

…

…

…

Half an hour later—

The four-person party slowly made its way through the forest under the protection of a small holy-light barrier.

Lachesis walked at the front.

By the time she had treated the injured and returned, Torina had already killed the boss.

Lachesis carried Wenren Jixue over her shoulder.

Thankfully, the rescue had come in time. Her injuries weren’t serious, but she remained unconscious.

Torina walked in the middle.

Lachesis had also cast a slow-healing buff on her, but her mind was still exhausted.

Mylora walked at the very back.

Her injuries were severe as well, but fortunately, she was tough.

After receiving treatment, she could just about manage to walk on her own.

The atmosphere along the way was unbearably heavy.

None of the four said a word.

There was none of the relief or cheer that should have followed defeating a boss.

They simply continued onward until they were almost at the edge of the forest.

Anyone could feel it—

Torina was angry.

Mylora’s thoughts were a tangled mess.

She wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

All she could do was lower her head and follow behind them like a kitten that had caused trouble.

But the system had plenty to say.

【Mylora, why are you staying silent? Don’t tell me you feel guilty?】

“…………”

【Wake up. Have you forgotten what you heard? That woman doesn’t care about you at all. She’s been lying to you the entire time. You’re nothing but her toy. She came here for the lord, too. How could she possibly have come to save anyone?】

“…………”

【The most important thing now is the lord’s drop—the key we need! Since she was the one who killed it, there’s a very high chance the key is on her! We have to find a way to take it!】

“…………”

【She’s exhausted, and Lachesis has to focus on maintaining the barrier. This is the perfect chance for you to strike!】

“…………”

【Stop hanging your head and act already—】

“Hey, Mylora.”

Torina suddenly spoke.

Mylora trembled and hurriedly raised her head.

But Torina, who had been clinging to her constantly just a few days ago, didn’t even turn around to look at her.

“You almost got yourself and your friends killed.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Why would you do something so reckless?”

“…Because… because…”

“Because you don’t trust me?”

“I…”

“Why are you so nervous? If you hate me this much, why are you afraid I’ll get angry?”

“No, I…”

“Or did your ‘friend’ suggest that you kill me and take the item?”

“!?”

The moment she said that, even Lachesis, who had been walking ahead, stopped and turned back in surprise.

Torina slowly turned around as well.

She stared coldly at Mylora, looking through her face at something hidden even deeper within.

“Do you know the common methods used in audio processing?”

She suddenly brought up a completely unrelated and unfamiliar term.

Mylora let out a confused, “Huh?”

Torina continued.

“You can distort a voice just by adjusting a few parameters. With some editing, you can fabricate any statement.”

“Have you ever considered that what you heard was merely what someone wanted you to hear?”

“Eh… what?”

“You think I’m untrustworthy, but you trust your ‘friend’?”

“Ask yourself honestly. Do you really think that friend of yours is a good person?”

“I, I… but…”

“I thought that after spending so many days together, you would at least have built a basic level of trust in me.”

“At the very least, I thought you would come to me for confirmation when you were confused or in pain.”

“Looks like I was giving myself too much credit. How boring.”

She slowly reached into her waist pouch and took out an object.

Then she waved it in front of Mylora.

It was a key.

An ancient, mottled key that radiated strange ripples of energy.

【That’s it!!!!】

The system instantly grew excited—

“Guess you want this, right? Too bad. You’re not getting it.”

Slash!!!!

Torina’s sword fell in a single motion, cleaving the key into pieces.

【…Huh?】

The system froze, as if it had crashed.

Mylora also stared blankly at the fragments on the ground.

Some kind of radiance dispersed from them.

They could never be repaired again.

The key to the first step on her path to becoming powerful had just been destroyed.

Just like that.

“This… you…?”

“This key is my spoils of war. I’m free to do whatever I want with it, aren’t I?”

“…………”

Torina looked down at Mylora without expression.

Of course, she could forcibly pull the ring containing the system from Mylora’s hand.

But what would that accomplish?

For one thing, the ring had been created by an ancient civilization, and Torina couldn’t destroy it with her current strength.

For another, if Mylora still refused to trust her and remained hostile, then with the protagonist’s luck, Mylora would probably grow into a mighty figure even without the system.

She would still return one day and slaughter Torina.

It was only a matter of when.

Ultimately, this wasn’t up to Torina.

It wasn’t up to the system, either.

It was up to Mylora herself.

So Torina asked her a question that struck at the very heart of things:

“Come to think of it, if you were a character in a book, would you want to become a flesh-and-blood character?”

“Or would you rather be a tool that exists only to make someone else feel immersed?”

“…………”

“Or put another way, from now on, do you want to make decisions according to your own will?”

“Or will you keep letting your ‘friend’ manipulate you?”

“………………”

“If you’re going to turn against me sooner or later, should I lower my moral standards a little and kill you now?”

“Give me a clear answer, will you?”

“……………………”

Mylora simply stood there, staring blankly.

Seeing this, Torina rolled her eyes and shrugged.

Her tone was light, almost careless, as she said—

“Mylora Sistem, you’re kicked out from this moment on. Bye-bye.”