The Bond That Even Gods Cannot Break

Several floating panels appeared in the air, but none of that mattered now. Two girls lay on their backs on the ground, staring at the ceiling with vacant expressions. Their bodies ached terribly. Although they had most of their hit points intact, the same couldn't be said for the stamina they had lost during the battle.

In the hall where the flames had been extinguished by the huge explosion of the red crystal, the outcome of the battle had been decided.

"We won," Melissa said, unable to believe what had happened.

"Yes..." Sophia replied, tightening her grip on the hand that connected them.

Both girls rolled onto their sides to face each other, their expressions empty as they spoke words that seemed impossible.

"We won!"

"We did it, we succeeded!"

Struggling against their sore bodies, both girls sat up and embraced each other.

"We won, Melissa, we won!"

Lifting the girl into the air, Sophia spun around, shouting with joy.

In a green flash, the glow marking the one-hour limit appeared. Losing the slight strength boost that came with the secondary class, the girl who could barely feel her arms fell backward with Melissa on top of her.

"Hahaha!" As if she had seen something funny in ages, Melissa laughed with a smile on her face. "You did it, Snowcurls. I didn't understand half of what you said back there, but it worked!"

"You were amazing too. I didn't even know you could condense the flames like that."

Letting the joy of victory ease their tired bodies, the girls celebrated with all the strength they had left.

"Now that I think about it, there are no more monsters here." Looking around the hall, Melissa noticed several bodies of both bees and mandrakes.

Sitting up, Sophia stared at what remained of the colossal monster they had defeated. The huge tree had cracked in several places, but due to its roots being anchored to the ground, it hadn't collapsed entirely. It was only cleaved diagonally around the spot where the red crystal had formed.

"The fire must have taken care of it, or maybe with the death of the Forest Lord, the monsters may have fled."

Trying to analyze the situation rationally, Sophia brought her free hand to her chin.

"As long as no more monsters appear while I can't feel my legs, it's fine. Now, we should look at the spoils of battle."

Following Melissa's gaze, the silver-haired girl looked at the floating panels for the first time.

"Secret mission?" Reading the notice announcing their victory, Sophia frowned.

"Usually, those are unwritten missions that aren't mandatory."

"So, we didn't need to face this monster!?"

Sophia began to scream, running her free hand through her silver hair.

"In our situation, it was inevitable, and more than that, look at this."

Leaning her shoulders on Melissa's, the girl looked at what she was pointing at and almost screamed.

"Level 12? That's an 8-level jump!"

They had spent just over two days in that dungeon, and although they had done their best, they had only reached level 4.

"This wooden idiot must be a floor boss; they always give a crazy amount of experience points."

"I can understand that, but we've tripled what we had, that's incredible."

Feeling Sophia's face practically touching hers, Melissa used her free hand to push the euphoric girl away.

"Even I can do basic math. Now let's decide where to distribute the points before we deal with the rest."

After a brief planning session, the girls allocated half of the points to "vitality" and the other half to "intelligence."

 

Name: Melissa/Sophia

Race: Human    Level: 12

Class: Hedonistic Ritualist Secondary Class: None

HP: 155/170 Strength: 11 Agility: 11 Resistance: 36(+20) Intelligence: 31(+10) Vitality: 13 Mana: 0/160

 

"From now on, we should also try to increase strength. If the mana crystal were tougher and we couldn't break it, it would have been our end," Melissa pointed out, remembering the end of the battle.

"Yes, but... what was 'that'?"

"That?" Melissa looked at Sophia in confusion, and in response, the girl showed their intertwined hands. As if she had finally understood what she meant, Melissa exclaimed, "It's true, how did we do that?"

No matter how much force the girls exerted, it was impossible to separate their intertwined fingers. However, the last attack was made with both holding the sword with that hand.

"Our hands didn't fully uncross. I was too full of adrenaline to think about it at the time, but it was as if we had come together to do something jointly, and naturally, it was done," Sophia spoke in a low tone, staring at their clasped hands.

"Let's try again, hold this." Since the root sword they used exploded along with the crystal, Melissa picked up a lightly charred twig with her left hand and tried to place it between their intertwined hands, but nothing happened.

"Was there some condition?" Sophia murmured as she watched Melissa grow frustrated with the failed attempts and crush the twig between her fingers.

"Ah... Let's worry about that another time. Now it's time to deal with that notification."

The last panel, which was different from the ones they knew, floated between the two.

[Requirements to unlock the Inventory have been met]

Knowing that she would have to explain it anyway, Melissa took the lead before Sophia's usual face of doubt appeared.

"It's a way to store items."

"I see."

After both girls stared at the red panel, the floating window disappeared, and pain surged within their minds.

"Ouch... it's like when skills are explained, but much more painful," Sophia protested, placing her hand on her head. The pain was akin to a strong headache that lasted only a few seconds. Although it was quick, it was not pleasant at all.

"It really is painful, but now we understand how it works." In front of the girls, there was now a new window resembling a gallery. It displayed some objects. "Let's see what we have."

With her fingers, Melissa grabbed one of the icons on the window, and something was pulled out as if it had appeared in the air.

Turning her hand, the brown-haired girl studied the pair of rings that had appeared. They were made of dark wood with small red filaments. Although she was not knowledgeable about jewelry, she knew that even though it wasn't made of a precious stone, that item was of high class.

---

[Spirit Sap Rings]

Rarity: B

A pair of rings forged from the body of the Luminescent Forest Lord. While wearing them, your mana will recover more quickly.

+15 intelligence.

---

Whistling, Melissa met Sophia's shocked gaze, who was also staring at the panel, but with her jaw dropped.

"150 more mana!"

Unable to believe what she was seeing, the girl stared at the small rings with wide eyes.

"It seems that the rewards for defeating the Forest Lord ended up here. The accelerated mana recovery will be a great help. Let's put it on right away. As it's a pair, I think each of us should wear one for it to work."

Tossing one of the rings to Sophia, Melissa instructed her to help her put it on while showing her index finger. However, she soon frowned when she noticed that Sophia was taking too long.

"What's wrong? Put it on already."

"I-It's not going in." Even with Sophia using all her strength, like equal sides of a magnet, the ring wouldn't fit on Melissa's finger.

"This can't be possible, give me your hand." Holding the ring that was in her hand carefully, Melissa brought it to Sophia's index finger, but as she said, the ring wouldn't go on. "What the hell is this?"

"See, I told you it wouldn't go in." 

Flipping her silver hair, Sophia stared at Melissa with puffed cheeks. 

"Maybe there's some condition to wearing it, or... wait, it can't be that, right?"

When Melissa first looked at the rings, a thought crossed her mind, but she dismissed it. However, with trembling hands, she moved away from Sophia's right hand and looked at their intertwined hands. Swallowing hard, she brought the ring closer to Sophia's left hand, a specific finger in her mind. Like magic, even though they were intertwined, the ring slid easily onto the girl's ring finger, its crimson color gleaming softly.

"It's like... a wedding ring," Sophia murmured, her face igniting like fire. Lifting her trance-like gaze from her hand and looking at Melissa's face, she was caught off guard by the same flushed expression.

"T-The rings were too beautiful to be just ornaments. B-But that doesn't mean I had the intention you're thinking of! The system always gives us things related to a relationship... Ah, I don't know anymore!" Shouting, Melissa averted her gaze and extended her left hand to Sophia. Although she was as red as a beetroot, Sophia placed the other ring on the girl's finger, and their statuses finally changed, reaching the limit of 310 mana.

The girls, who now possessed what would undeniably be treated by an observer as a wedding ring, had heads so hot it felt like the environment was about to catch fire again.

"W-What else is in the inventory?"

Trying to alleviate the sensation she couldn't handle, Sophia reached for the last two items on the panel.

---

[Luminescent Forest Purified Branch]

Rarity: C

The last undestroyed part of the Luminescent Forest Lord. This object contains a high content of pure sap.

---

[Forest Guardian Core]

Rarity: A

Combination of all the life force of the Luminescent Forest Lord. This item contains an extremely high amount of condensed mana.

---

Observing the small wand and the large branch almost a meter long, Sophia tried to ponder the items for herself before turning to Melissa, who shrugged.

"It seems like these aren't things that will increase our strength, at least not for now. Let's save and deal with them later."

"Right, the core is the highest-rated item we have right now, so maybe it'll be useful later."

Too tired to think deeper into it, Sophia stored the items back in the inventory before turning to Melissa, who had a reflective look.

"The storage limit seems to be that of a small room. Things in the inventory have no weight, so it'll be very useful for storing food."

Placing her hands on her chin in response to Melissa's words, the silver-haired girl thought of something. Bringing her hand close to the status window, she touched her forearm against the floating panel, and instantly her white blazer disappeared, leaving only her black dress shirt, which was slightly torn and stained with blood.

"It worked! As long as it's with us, we can put things in the inventory just by touching a part," she said, observing the item showing her blazer in the inventory, the white uniform perfectly folded in front of her.

"Oh, good job noticing that."

"We can finally clean ourselves more consistently now," Sophia sighed with relief at the major achievement. Due to their hands always being together, the girls couldn't remove the tops of their clothes. Finally looking at the large wall of the hall, more specifically, the exit of the lower floor at the top of it. "Do you think it's possible to climb with the current conditions we have?"

While still having the secondary class, Sophia had built a moldy ladder halfway up the large wall. However, due to the flames, such a ladder no longer existed.

"Our mana is recovering fast now, but I think it's safer to wait until the secondary class is available again than to try to climb the walls," Melissa agreed, finally realizing how sore her body was.

Agreeing with Melissa and finally noticing how exhausted they were, Sophia suggested they find a more secluded part of the center of the hall for safety.

Although the door was still closed, it wasn't impossible for a bee to enter through the leaves of the hall's ceiling, so every precaution would be important.

Hiding near the wall and using the rest of the mold as shelter, the girls, who could barely keep their eyes open, collapsed from exhaustion.