"... Did you just say you were going to kill me?"

"Yes."

Li Qingyu readily nodded at Bellows's incredulous expression. Then she looked apologetic.

"I appreciate all the work you've done, but you've served your purpose. There's no reason to keep you alive anymore."

Like a master boiling his hunting dog once the hunt was over, Qingyu spoke of discarding him with apparent regret but not a trace of hesitation.

Bellows stared at her coldly for a moment, then said quietly, "It seems you've underestimated me rather badly."

"Not particularly. I only said it because, objectively speaking, I think I can kill you."

[Um, Princess? That's what underestimating someone means.]

"Does it?"

[Usually, yes...]

"Hmm. That's awkward. I didn't mean to insult you."

TWITCH.

As if being used weren't enough, she was treating his life like a piece of candy in her pocket. Had his patience finally snapped? A vein bulged on Bellows's forehead.

"Very well." He opened his statute book and flipped rapidly through its pages. "Try it, then, if you can, you bitch of the Seven Dragons Society."

"Gladly, if that's what you want."

Bellows stopped at a page. Qingyu smiled at him.

"Assault established. 『Death by Crushing, sentence requested』."

[Princess, watch out!]

RUMBLE!

A terrifying pressure, like an enormous boulder, bore down on Qingyu. It was 『Judgment of the Law』, a derivative skill of 『Rule of Law』 that instantly became pure pressure and crushed its target. It had killed countless warriors in a single blow.

[... Huh?]

But when Yu Na-gyeong saw how Qingyu responded to that cheat-like skill, one that could neither be dodged nor blocked, she stared in disbelief.

CRACK!

"About fifty thousand geun of pressure? It's not as heavy as I expected."

Roughly thirty tons. Enough weight to flatten not just a person but most houses in an instant. Qingyu's response was simple: she did nothing.

The sight of her, without so much as a hair out of place, was beyond astonishing. It seemed unreal. If cracks hadn't begun spreading beneath her feet, one might even have suspected the pressure hadn't touched her at all.

Perhaps that was why Bellows found himself asking, "... What trick did you just pull?"

"I haven't done anything yet."

"You expect me to believe you took my skill with your bare body?"

"It's the truth."

As though he had asked something obvious, Qingyu answered without a hint of concern and smiled at him. "If you're done playing around, shall we get started properly?"

She raised one hand and flicked her fingertips as lightly as a butterfly beating its wings. Bellows instinctively sprang aside.

BOOM!

A section of the corridor forming the Underground Dragon Palace's inverted-pyramid gallery shattered as though struck by an invisible giant's fist. Had Bellows dodged even a little later, the blow would have buried him in the rubble too.

But that was only the beginning.

BANG! BOOM! KABOOM!

Delicate hand movements, like brushstrokes painting orchids, shook heaven and earth. An afterimage threaded through the explosions like a bird flying low over the ground.

[Whoa...]

Every gesture Qingyu made blew apart another section of the structure. Na-gyeong's beak hung open as she watched Bellows race down the corridor like lightning, dodging invisible strikes of psionic force.

Qingyu fired off blows that could crush rock from dozens of meters away. Bellows zigzagged across the walls and ceiling, evading every one. Even Na-gyeong, who had been a high-level player in her previous life, could only stare in shock.

"Ha. Well, this is..."

For all the spectacle, Bellows was the one fleeing without pause, and he could only click his tongue. Most high-level players would have tired after using a skill this powerful a few times. Yet Qingyu had released psionics, not even a skill, dozens of times already without showing the slightest sign of fatigue or slowing her attacks.

"Fine. I'll give you the real fight you want."

Bellows abandoned his plan to counterattack when her assault stopped. Still darting about, he opened the statute book with one hand and spoke under his breath. "Property damage established. 『Enhanced Punishment, sentence requested』."

BAM!

Perhaps he'd been concentrating on reading the statute book. A fraction late in dodging, Bellows failed to avoid Qingyu's unseen strike entirely. The impact caught him and sent him sliding backward.

But his skill activated too. The pressure crushing Qingyu multiplied several times over in an instant. It was no longer mere pressure but a crushing force, concentrated weight capable of tearing even a truck apart as if it had exploded.

"Now that is a little heavy," Qingyu murmured in admiration.

[... Princess, be honest with me. You're using some kind of skill-nullifying ability right now, aren't you? You are, right?]

Even under that tremendous pressure, Qingyu never lost her smile. Yet 『Rule of Law』 was not entirely without effect.

CRACK! CRRRACK!

"Oh my."

[Eek?!]

Qingyu herself was unharmed, but the floor beneath her feet finally gave way under the enormous pressure. Qingyu and Na-gyeong, perched on her shoulder, plunged toward the level below as suddenly as if thin ice had broken beneath them. With the added pressure bearing down on them, they risked crashing through floor after floor all the way to the lowest level.

SWISH.

But just before they landed, black mist rose from the floor below and gently caught Qingyu's feet.

"To think Leviathan's facilities would collapse under so little weight. As their owner, I'm embarrassed."

She sighed as though she truly meant it. Na-gyeong shrieked, [Princess, beside you! Look out!]

"Too late."

Only moments ago, Qingyu's unseen strike had sent Bellows flying. But he had already crossed the gallery. Bursting out beside her, he swung the statute book at Qingyu, gripping it tight.

WHOOSH!

[Unique skill 『A Statute Book Is Not a Weapon』 activated.]

[Striking a target with the statute book inflicts physical damage equal to 970% of the 『Judgment of the Law』 currently applied to that target.]

It was a deadly blow. The attack compressed a mass nearly ten times the weight pressing down on his target into a single book. Even a glancing hit could bring down a mountain.

RUSTLE.

But after he swung, Bellows's face stiffened. He had attacked from her blind spot at a moment when she could not possibly dodge. Yet Qingyu's form shimmered like a mirage, then scattered like black mist. The statute book cut through empty air.

"Where are you looking?"

"...!"

At the voice behind him, Bellows spun and swung the book again like an axe. Qingyu smoothly guided it aside with the back of her hand, then turned her hand over to seize his wrist.

Bellows reacted swiftly. He used the inverted book as a shield to protect his wrist while driving it at her like a shield bash.

And so the melee began.

RATATAT!

He swung it like a hammer, blocked with it like a shield, and thrust it like a dagger. Built on military hand-to-hand combat and knife fighting, his personal style of using the statute book as a weapon was bizarre, dazzling, and brutally practical. Most duke-class players would have struggled against it.

SHHHH.

Qingyu's movements, by contrast, were neither fast nor sharp. She deflected blows with a gentle sweep of the back of her hand, caught them with fingers curved like a dragon's claws, or nudged them away with her palm. Slow as the passage of time, graceful as a dance, clean yet simple, her movements were so soft and calm that they seemed to have no practical use in a fight.

Yet as the melee went on, it was Bellows whose expression twisted.

'What kind of hand-to-hand fighting is this...?!'

THUD!

The statute book took the shortest path toward her neck, only to be deflected by the back of a hand already waiting there. Fingers slipped through the opening to close around his throat; just as he managed to block them, her palm swept around and struck his jaw. Before he could feign a stagger, spin, and hook her ankle, her long leg swept out like a blade, lightly stamping on the top of his foot and slicing toward his side.

The whole fight went that way. No matter how unpredictable an attack he tried, Qingyu struck first at his openings as though she could read his mind.

Most surprising of all was her skill at hand-to-hand combat.

'This is how a girl raised like a hothouse flower fights?'

He hadn't expected her to know nothing of martial arts. The Seven Dragons Society had ruled the world's shadows for centuries through martial arts and psionics, and she was its princess. But she was still a hothouse flower. A pampered princess with hardly any real combat experience could only be so capable, especially now that 『Judgment of the Law』 was weighing her down.

That was precisely why Bellows had chosen to fight her up close. But he'd been completely wrong. Leaving aside her bizarre ability to withstand hundreds of tons of pressure and her psionic tricks, Qingyu was his equal in martial arts alone. No—she surpassed him completely, in both technical finesse and practical combat experience.

"Gah...!"

The moment Bellows realized his mistake, he changed tactics. Willing to take a few hits, he thrust the statute book straight at Qingyu—a gambit that traded flesh for bone.

She did not bother dodging. Instead, she flipped her palm eight times in succession. Eight black palm prints remained suspended in the air, one after another, then merged into one over her snow-white palm. Her hand, wreathed in black light, met Bellows's statute book head-on.

CRRRRUNCH!

From the hand gripping the book through the radius and ulna, the elbow joint, upper arm, and shoulder, every bone in Bellows's right arm was crushed almost to powder. His body hurtled backward, smashing through wall after wall.

"You're tougher than I thought. Usually the whole arm gets torn off or ripped apart."

"Cough!"

The force of the blow was so great that Bellows only came to a stop after breaking through five walls. He coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, then gritted his teeth at Qingyu, who stood tilting her head beyond the five gaping holes.

Only then did he realize the humiliating truth. Throughout their entire fight, Qingyu had kept the box in her arms and the bluebird perched on her shoulder, its beak hanging open. She had fought him with just one hand, without taking a single step from where she stood.

That was why he couldn't help asking, "What kind of monster are you?"