Chapter II: A Looming Shadow
Sounds of battle filled the dimly lit underground room. Explosions and the steel of swords were illuminated by the faint green light. The fighting was so fierce that it shook the walls around them. At times, the reverberations could even be felt by those far out of sight of the combatants.
Silver blades of light, fireballs, flaming spears, wind blades, and water jets flew in every which direction, a never-ending barrage of projectiles. Frantic yelling, the sounds of bodies slamming against bodies, and battle cries all mingled together into a chaotic cacophony. The once quiet room had been transformed into a raging battlefield.
“Light that tears through all creation, Wind that erodes time itself, rage like a thousand flower petals and coalesce into a blinding storm— Heavenrend!” In the middle of all the fighting stood Kouki Amanogawa, the hero. With a flick of his wrist, countless blades of light shot out of his holy sword. A dozen of the bat-like creatures flying at him were shredded to pieces. They were reduced to chunks of flesh in a flash, without even a chance to defend themselves.
“Vanguard, ten more seconds!”
“Roger!” The party was facing off a veritable army of huge ant-monsters, giant bats, and massive sea anemone-like things with wriggling tentacles. All in a circular room only thirty meters in diameter. Eight tunnels led into the room. It was from there that the monsters continued pouring in.
The hero’s party was currently exploring the 89th floor of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. The party’s vanguard was composed of the Hero Kouki, his childhood friends, the Monk Ryutarou Sakagami and the Swordmaster Shizuku Yaegashi, the Heavy Knight Jugo Nagayama, the Fighter Daisuke Hiyama, and the Spearmaster Reichi Kondou. Lastly, though he wasn’t technically part of the vanguard, the Assassin Kousuke Endou flitted around the battlefield, picking off targets.
The highly trained vanguard expertly repelled the wave of monsters, keeping the more vulnerable rearguard safe. Meanwhile, the rearguard called out a count for how much longer it would take for their next magical barrage to be ready.
A few of the bats managed to fly past the vanguard, but the ever-reliable Barrier Master kept them at bay with a magical wall.
“O momentary squall, form an impassable, invisible wall! Rebuff all who approach— Storm Bulwark!” Suzu Taniguchi summoned an offensive barrier to shield the back line. But as the wall of raging wind was invisible, the bats didn’t notice it. Heedless of Suzu’s magic, they charged at the rearguard, thinking only of how they would tear these puny humans to shreds.
Just before they reached the group, they ran into the wind wall. As they did so, the wall began to bulge outward. Dozens of them rammed into the wall, none of them able to pass through the swirling gusts.
Once all of the bats were trapped the bulge reached a breaking point and exploded outward. The resulting blast of wind sent the bats flying back.
The impact was powerful enough to obliterate a few of the bats on the spot. Those that survived the blast died a few seconds later when they slammed into the walls with bone-shattering force.
“Heh! You’re not getting past me that easy!” Suzu’s shout was loud enough to be heard over the din of the fighting. Just then, the members of the vanguard unleashed some of their strongest attacks. Their goal wasn’t to defeat the enemies in front of them, but to immobilize them long enough that they could get out of the way.
“Get back!” At Kouki’s command, the vanguard retreated a few steps.
A second later, the rearguard’s magic hit the crowd of monsters. Their timing was perfect. A massive fireball slammed into the monsters, throwing them in disarray. At the same time, a tornado sprouted from the ground, tearing through their ranks. Stone spires jutted out from the floor, impaling those unlucky enough to still be on the ground. Icicles with points as sharp as knives rained down on the battlefield, skewering everything.
Nature’s ferocity tore through the army of monsters, leaving no survivors in its wake. The whole attack lasted only a few seconds. But in those scant few seconds, over 90% of the monsters had been killed or mortally wounded.
“Perfect! Let’s mop up the rest of them!” The vanguard surged forward once more, thoroughly eliminating the few survivors. It didn’t even take five minutes to finish off the weakened enemies. Even after the last monster was dealt with, they didn’t let their guard down. The party remained vigilant for enemy attacks while congratulating each other on a battle well fought.
“Phew, the 90th floor’s up next... We’ve gotten strong enough to kill the monsters here without too much trouble... Looks like our training mission’s almost over.”
“But that doesn’t mean we can take it easy. There’s no telling what kinds of monsters and traps are waiting for us on the next floor.”
“You worry too much, Shizuku. We’ve easily cleared floors no one else has ever made it to. We’ll wipe the floor with anything that comes at us, even if it’s demons.” Ryutarou smiled confidently as he brushed Shizuku’s worries aside. He gave Kouki a fistbump, who returned it and smiled back at him.
Shizuku sighed, frowning. She massaged the wrinkles that had formed on her forehead. Sadly, she’d gotten used to cleaning up the overconfident duo’s messes. Every time she looked in a mirror she worried her frown wrinkles had become permanent. But even so, she didn’t stop looking out for the rest of the group. Despite her attitude, Shizuku was kind at heart.
“Hiyama-kun, Kondou-kun, I’ve finished healing you two... How do you feel?” Kaori started doing her job while the rest of the party was talking to each other. Namely, healing all of the injured members. She was the group’s Priest after all.
Among their 15-person labyrinth conquest party there was one other healer in the group. She split the work with Kaori, and they set about healing everyone.
“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt at all. Thanks, Shirasaki.”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine now. Thanks.” Hiyama replied absentmindedly as he stared at Kaori’s face. It was obvious he was smitten with her. Kondou was blushing to the tips of his ears too. As they were vanguard fighters the two of them often found themselves on the receiving end of Kaori’s healing. Despite that, they still hadn’t gotten used to talking to her.
Kondou’s attitude could be explained away by puberty, and his awkwardness was almost endearing. However, the kinds of gazes Hiyama gave Kaori were far from normal. There was a darkness in his eyes that clouded over his pupils from time to time. And recently, that darkness had been growing stronger. But even those who were close to him, such as Shinji Nakano and Yoshiki Saitou, hadn’t noticed this subtle change in Hiyama.
Kaori accepted the two boys’ thanks with a smile and walked off to heal the rest of the party.
A short distance away, the party’s other healer, Ayako Tsuji, was finishing up healing Nagayama. She was wearing her trademark hair clip, which exposed her somewhat large forehead. Once she was finished she sighed and wiped a bead of sweat off her brow. As Nagayama was the party’s Heavy Knight, he often took the brunt of the enemies’ attacks. Thanks to that, healing him was harder than healing the others.
The rearguard members of Nagayama’s party, the Geomancer Kentarou Nomura and the Invoker Mao Yoshino hadn’t been injured. That accounted for all of Nagayama’s party... Tsuji suddenly felt someone tug on her sleeve. She turned to see Endou showing off the gash in his arm, tears in his eyes. It didn’t look too deep, but it probably hurt a lot. He’d been patiently waiting his turn the whole time, but as always no one had taken notice of his presence and he’d been left forgotten.
“Crap,” Tsuji blurted out, but it wasn’t as if she’d forgotten about her friend.
Kaori couldn’t help but smile at the pair. After making sure no one else needed healing, she heaved a small sigh. Then, she turned to look at the dim passageway heading forward, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
“......” Shizuku knew what the cause of her best friend’s melancholy was with a single glance. Kaori was worried. In another ten floors they would reach the end of the labyrinth, at least as far as they knew. And so far, they hadn’t found a single trace of Hajime.
She was still hopeful, but the despair was beginning to creep up on her. Kaori had sworn to herself she’d only believe Hajime was dead when she saw it with her own eyes. But every time they went down a floor without finding anything, her outlook grew bleaker. Moreover, it had been four months since Hajime had tumbled into the abyss. No matter how strong her will was, even she couldn’t keep her negative emotions at bay for that long.
She gripped her white staff tight, as if clinging to it for support. Unable to bear seeing her like that, Shizuku opened her mouth to say something. But before she could, the class’ most energetic girl, Suzu, ran up to Kaori and hugged her from behind. It was as if she hadn’t even noticed Kaori’s dispirited expression.
“Kaorin! Forget about those fools, heal me~ Come on, heal me~”
“Hwah! Suzu-chan, what are you doing!? And besides, you’re not even injured!”
“Am too! My poor glass heart’s been broken! So spoil me! Let me have some of those soft boobs of yours!”
“Wh-Wha... No! Hey, stop that! Yaaah! Shizuku-chan, help meee!”
“Haaah, haaah, how about this? Does it feel good? You’re pretty sensitive down— Bwah!?”
“Haaah, cut it out, Suzu. That’s too much stimulation for all the poor boys.” Shizuku delivered a sharp chop to the back of Suzu’s head, and she fell to the ground. She often acted more like a perverted old man than the teenage girl she was. However, Shizuku was too late to save the dignity of the boys in the room, who’d all gotten erections.
Eri Nakamura, Suzu’s friend, smiled awkwardly as she watched Suzu roll around in pain.
“Uuu~ Thanks, Shizuku-chan. That was embarrassing...”
“There there, everything’s fine now. I’ll be here to get rid of any perverts that try and attack you.” Kaori clung to Shizuku, who gently patted her head. This had become a pretty common scene recently.
As she ran her fingers through Kaori’s hair, Shizuku examined her expression. Kaori was busy watching Eri nurse Suzu now though, and her earlier somber expression was nowhere to be seen. At least for now, she’d been distracted. Shizuku mentally thanked Suzu for her timely intervention.
“There’s still ten more floors. Hang in there, Kaori.” Shizuku squeezed Kaori’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “Don’t break on me now,” her gaze seemed to say. Realizing how pathetic she must have looked, Kaori slapped her cheeks and looked back at Shizuku. Her gaze didn’t waver.
“You’re right. Thanks, Shizuku-chan.” Once again, Kaori realized just how much she relied on Shizuku’s support. As she expressed her thanks, her gaze softened. Shizuku too, dropped the intensity from her glare and nodded.
To everyone else they looked like passionate lovers staring into each other’s eyes, but neither Shizuku nor Kaori noticed. They didn’t notice Kouki looking around awkwardly, either. After all, they only had eyes for each other.
“Do you think... I could protect him now?”
“Definitely. I know you can. You’re stronger than you were back then. I mean, look, your level’s even higher than Captain Meld’s. Hehe, but you know, he might have gotten even stronger than you. He was the one who saved us back then too.”
“Fufu, jeez, Shizuku-chan...” Shizuku had just meant it as a joke, but in truth, Hajime had grown far stronger than either of them could have imagined. Though they wouldn’t come to learn that until later.
As Kouki and his party’s stats had long since eclipsed that of Captain Meld, he and his knights were waiting on standby in the 30th floor. They remained guarding the magic circle they’d discovered that connected to the 70th floor. As of now, they ranked among Tortus’ strongest humans. Their stats were:
Kouki Amanogawa Age: 17 Male Level: 72
Job: Hero
Strength: 880
Vitality: 880
Defense: 880
Agility: 880
Magic: 880
Magic Defense: 880
Skills: All Elemental Aptitude [+Light Element Proficiency] [+Speed Casting] — All Elemental Resistance [+Increased Light Resistance] — Physical Resistance [+Improved Healing] [+Impact Mitigation] — Composite Casting — Sword Mastery — Herculean Strength — Supersonic Step — Foresight — High Speed Mana Recovery — Sense Presence — Sense Magic — Limit Break — Language Comprehension
Ryutarou Sakagami Age: 17 Male Level: 72
Job: Monk
Strength: 820
Vitality: 820
Defense: 680
Agility: 550
Magic: 280
Magic Defense: 280
Skills: Close Quarters Combat Proficiency [+Body Strengthening] [+Partial Strengthening] [+Focused Strengthening] [+Penetrating Strikes] — Supersonic Step — Physical Resistance [+Diamond Skin] — All Elemental Resistance — Language Comprehension
Shizuku Yaegashi Age: 17 Female Level:72
Job: Swordmaster
Strength: 450
Vitality: 560
Defense: 320
Agility: 1110
Magic: 380
Magic Defense: 380
Skills: Sword Proficiency [+Improved Slashing Speed] [+Improved Drawing Speed] — Supersonic Step [+Continual Steps] [+Steel Legs] [+No Tempo] — Foresight — Sense Presence — Invisibility [+Illusionary Attacks] — Language Comprehension
Kaori Shirasaki Age: 17 Female Level: 72
Job: Priest
Strength: 280
Vitality: 460
Defense: 360
Agility: 380
Magic: 1380
Magic Defense: 1380
Skills: Recovery Magic Affinity [+Improved Proficiency] [+Increased Casting Speed] [+Image Supplementation] [+Piercing Spells] [+AoE Proficiency] [+Remote Healing] [+Improved Status Effect Recovery] [+Reduced Mana Consumption] [+Improved Mana Efficiency] [+Chain Casting] [+Multicasting] [+Spell Retention] [+Effect Multiplication] — Light Magic Affinity [+Speed Casting] [+Improved Proficiency] [+Increased Spell Duration] [+Chain Casting] [+Multicasting] [+Spell Retention] — High Speed Mana Recovery [+Meditation] — Language Comprehension
Kaori’s recovery magic and light magic skills had been honed to the limit. Especially her recovery magic. Among the four, Kaori had started with the least amount of skills, but with the addition of her derivative skills, she now had more than even Kouki.
She’d trained harder than anyone to make sure that this time she wouldn’t fail to keep her promise. This time, she’d protect Hajime. Her strength was the result of ceaseless training. She’d even lost sleep to practice her magic.
“I’d like to keep going... Are you guys good?” Kouki awkwardly tried to get Kaori and Shizuku’s attention. Ever since he’d seen the two of them hugging in Kaori’s room, Kouki’s behavior had become odd at times. Kaori hadn’t really paid it any mind, but Shizuku had easily read what was going through his mind. She glared at Kouki, her eyes clearly spelling out “Don’t jump to any weird conclusions, you moron.”
Kouki pretended to ignore her glare and started gathering the rest of the party up. They’d already explored most of the 89th floor. The passage they were heading down now was the only place they hadn’t mapped.
After ten minutes of walking, the party discovered the stairs leading to the 90th floor. The group descended down the dim spiral staircase, warily examining their surroundings for traps. Ten meters worth of steps later, they found themselves on the 90th floor.
Every ten floors usually marked a turning point, so the party remained extremely vigilant as they stepped into the passageway. However, as far as everyone could tell, the 90th floor was no different from the 89th. They quickly started mapping out the area. Even if the overall structure of the labyrinth hadn’t changed, they were bound to meet stronger monsters. They couldn’t let their guard down.
At first the party’s search progressed smoothly. Despite that, one by one, the party members began to grow suspicious.
“What the heck is going on?” The party arrived in a large empty room, and Kouki finally voiced the suspicions that had been growing in the back of his mind. Everyone else stopped and nodded. Confused expressions flitted over everyone’s faces.
“How have we not seen a single monster even after exploring so much of the floor?” Excluding a few side paths, the party must have covered half of the floor already.
So far, they’d always run into monsters strong enough to at least slow them down on each floor. Normally it took them around two days to map out half of a floor.
This floor they’d managed to get through half of in just three hours.
At first Kouki had assumed they were lying low and observing the party from afar, but no matter how many times he tried to use Sense Presence and Sense Magic, he didn’t find anything. Something strange was afoot.
“This is really starting to creep me out. Does this floor just not have monsters?” The others started muttering to each other, but no one could come up with a plausible explanation. Their confusion only grew.
“Kouki. Maybe we should head back for now. I have a bad feeling about this. And it’s possible Captain Meld might know something that’ll help.” Shizuku was clearly worried.
Kouki hesitated for a few seconds. He too had misgivings about continuing on like this. If they were intent on proceeding cautiously, the best course of action would indeed be to go back.
However, at the same time he didn’t want to head back just on some baseless premonitions. Besides, whatever obstacles they faced from here on out, they’d probably be able to overcome them with their strength. After all, they’d been able to clear out the 89th floor with ease.
As Kouki was waffling, Endou started scouting out the room. Spotting something, he stooped down and called out to the group in a nervous voice.
“Guys... this is... blood, right?” He ran his finger across the ground and held it up for everyone to see. Kouki started scrutinizing the walls and floor. As he did so, he noticed something.
“It’s kind of dark so it’s hard to tell, but... there’s definitely blood splattered all over this room.”
“Man, this is... a lot of blood...”
Nomura and Nagayama stared grimly at the blood plastered over the walls. Both of them were now on high alert.
Everyone’s faces paled.
“Amanogawa, I think Yaegashi-san has a point. We should leave. This is monster blood. And it’s fresh.” Endou’s voice was uncharacteristically assertive. However, Kouki still wasn’t convinced.
“Judging by the amount of blood here, whatever monster it was that did this killed every other monster on the floor... But even if there’s something that strong here, we have to defeat it to move forward, right?” Nagayama shook his head. His size rivaled Ryutarou’s, but he was a far more cautious person than him. On top of that, he was good friends with Endou. Nagayama was inclined to trust in his judgment. He had all of his senses heightened to the max in case of a surprise attack. However, he was hoping to retreat without a fight.
“Amanogawa, listen to me. There’s no way monsters only lived in this room. We should have found traces of them on our way here too. But we didn’t. In other words...”
“Whoever attacked these monsters was trying to hide their tracks?” Shimizu finished his sentence, and Nagayama nodded. Realizing what that meant, Kouki stretched out his Sense Presence as far as it would go, cautiously searching for enemies.
“It’s possible there’s monsters that intelligent down here, but... it seems more likely this was the work of a person. And the fact that the bloodstains here haven’t been wiped away means they didn’t manage to cover their tracks in time, or that—”
“This is the place we wanted to lure you to.” An unfamiliar woman’s voice echoed throughout the room. It was a husky, hoarse voice. Everyone drew their weapons and turned to face the voice at once.
Footsteps rang out on the stone floor as a young woman with fiery red hair walked into the room from the other side. Her skin was swarthy, and her ears tapered to fine points.
The students’ eyes opened wide in surprise. They recognized those particular characteristics, if not the person. They’d never seen one in person before, but they knew from Ishtar’s lectures what race she belonged to. According to the Holy Church, she was mankind’s greatest enemy. In other words...
“A demon...” One of the students muttered quietly. A cold smile formed on the demon lady’s face.
She looked over the shocked party of students. Her eyes were the same fiery crimson as her hair. She was dressed in something that resembled the biking suits that motorcyclists wore. The black suit hugged her body, emphasizing her ample curves, even in the dim light.
Kondou, Nakano, and Saitou all blushed, though they knew that now was neither the time nor the place for such thoughts.
“I take it you’re the hero? The one dressed up in that ridiculously sparkly armor?”
“I-It’s not ridiculous! Besides, a demon like you has no right to criticize me! What’re you even doing in this place!?” His somewhat overblown reaction could probably be chalked up to how shocked he’d been to see a demon here, but he managed to recompose himself and ask what everyone was wondering.
The demon lady ignored his question and shook her head in exasperation.
“Well, you certainly are straightforward. Really though, this is the ‘great hero’ they want me to win over to our side? Unbelievable. Well, I guess orders are orders.” With an annoyed sigh, she addressed Kouki once more.
“You, the one in the stupid shining armor. How about joining our side?”
“Wh-What? What do you mean... join your side!?”
“Slow on the uptake I see. Literally what I said. I’m inviting you to join us, the demons. I promise we’ll treat you better than the humans have.” The students were so stunned by the offer that it took them a second to comprehend it. Everyone turned to Kouki, waiting for his answer. He wiped the befuddled look off his face and glared angrily at the demon.
“I refuse! Do you honestly believe I would betray my comrades, and my fellow humans!? I see now that you demons are as evil as the stories say! You may have come here to persuade me, but it was foolish to come alone. You’re outnumbered here. Surrender quietly and come with us!” Kouki’s yells reverberated throughout the chamber, but the demon didn’t even flinch. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and carefully observed Kouki. She didn’t seem too perturbed by his refusal. In fact, she tried offering even more favorable conditions.
“What if I said you could bring your comrades with you? Do you still refuse?”
“My answer won’t change. No matter what you offer me, I won’t betray the humans!” There wasn’t even an ounce of hesitation in his reply. Offended that the demon had even offered, he raised his sword and started pouring mana into it. The holy sword began to glow with white light. His stance made it clear there would be no more talking. If she won’t surrender, then I’ll take her by force!
The demon didn’t react to Kouki’s response, but Shizuku and Nagayama did. They both clicked their tongues and carefully watched the demon and the area around her. Nagayama quietly mouthed instructions to Endou. A second later his presence vanished.
Both Nagayama and Shizuku had hoped Kouki would play along. Even if he’d had to lie, their priority had been to escape. But before they could tell him as much, he’d already antagonized the demon. Now they had no choice but to prepare for the worst.
No matter how reputed demons’ magic skills were, neither Nagayama nor Shizuku were naive enough to think she’d actually come alone. Especially as they didn’t think a single demon was capable of wiping out all of the monsters on a floor this deep, and then hiding all traces of it afterward too. If she was, then humanity would have long since been annihilated.
And to top it all off, she wasn’t in the least worried about facing a group of humans capable of reaching the 90th floor. If they’d gone to the pains of covering their tracks, it made sense that they’d laid an ambush for them. In which case, fighting here was not to the students’ advantage.
This was no longer the Great Orcus Labyrinth. It was enemy territory! A second later, Shizuku’s worst fears were proven true.
“I see. Well then, I have no need of you. I’ll have you know, my orders weren’t to bring you over no matter what. They were simply to convert you if it seemed possible. If the situation calls for it, we’re allowed to eliminate you. Don’t think we’re soft enough to leave our opponents alive. Lutos, Habel, Enki. It’s time to hunt!” There was a loud bang, and Shizuku and Nagayama were suddenly blown backward. They grunted in pain as they slid across the ground.
“Ah!?”
“Gah!?”
They had no idea what had just hit them. At the woman’s command, the space to the left and right of Kouki began to bend and warp. Something tumbled out of that rift in space and headed to the dumbfounded rearguard at high speed.
Only Shizuku and Nagayama, who’d been on guard the whole time, managed to see the surprise attack coming.
Shizuku quickly held her sword and sheath in a cross formation in front of her to guard, while leaping backward to soften the impact of the blow. However, the strength of the attack was far beyond her expectations. Whatever it was that hit her broke through her guard, sliced open her stomach, and slammed her to the ground hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs.
Meanwhile, Nagayama used his Body Strengthening and Diamond Skin skills to raise his base defensive stats. The two skills combined made his body a far more reliable shield than any metal barrier. Most things would have found it difficult to break through that human fortress.
Still, that something managed to blow through his defenses and ravage his arms. Blood splattered the ground as he was blown backward. He only remained standing because Saitou, who’d been standing behind him, was able to catch him.
There was a sound of shattering glass as the makeshift barrier Suzu had put up the instant before the attack was obliterated.
The rearguard had been targeted too. Suzu hadn’t sensed the attack coming like Shizuku and Nagayama had, but she’d instinctively realized that she needed to erect a barrier the moment Shizuku and Nagayama had taken their stances. Or perhaps it had been the wealth of experience that had told her that, and not her instincts.
Either way, she’d clearly made the right decision. Without that barrier, Tsuji and Yoshino would have been ripped to shreds.
As it was, the shockwave from the barrier breaking flung Suzu further back into the rearguard.
Luckily for her, Eri was there to catch her. That helped Suzu avoid taking any direct damage, but her body was still temporarily paralyzed from the blow.
The three somethings instantly launched a follow-up attack. Shizuku, Nagayama, and Suzu were all down for the count, and the remaining party members were unable to mount any kind of defense in time. Just as it seemed all hope was lost—
“Holy light protect us! Holy Blessing, Divine Veil, Sacred Shields!” Kaori fired off three light spells at once with barely any incantation.
The first spell was an intermediate rank healing spell that she’d cast on Shizuku and Nagayama, Holy Blessing. It was one of the few healing spells that could target multiple people from a distance.
Pale violet light rained down on the two figures groaning on the ground, healing their wounds at unnatural speeds.
Her next spell was targeted at the three invisible creatures. Like with Shimizu and Nagayama, pale violet light began to eclipse them. Thanks to the light, their outlines were visible to everyone for the first time.
This was her second spell, the intermediate rank healing spell Divine Veil. The amount of healing it provided was minimal, but so long as the spell was active it continued to passively regenerate the target’s health while enveloping them in the caster’s mana. She’d used the second of those effects to indirectly expose the three creatures’ true forms.
The monsters outlined in pale light had the heads of lions, the legs and claws of dragons, the tails of snakes, and the wings of eagles. In other words, they were Chimeras. Chances were the camouflage they used was their special magic. It not only hid them from sight, but it also erased any trace of their presence. It was quite the dangerous skill, but it seemed they couldn’t completely hide themselves while in motion. That was why the space around them looked warped when they had attacked.
However, even with that it was obvious to Kaori that her classmates couldn’t compete with those monsters. Shizuku and Nagayama, two of the party’s best fighters, had been incapacitated in a single blow. Their strength was on a completely different level from the monsters they’d been fighting on the last floor.
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The three Chimeras roared angrily and struck once more with their lethal claws. It seemed being revealed hadn’t bothered them in the slightest.
The Chimeras’ claws closed in on Shimizu, Nagayama, and Suzu like death’s scythe itself. However, just before reaching their targets, they found their attacks redirected. Shining shields of light had diverted the trajectory of their swipes.
This was Kaori’s third spell, Sacred Shields. It was the advanced version of the basic light spell, Holy Shield. Sacred Shields allowed the caster to deploy multiple Holy Shields at once.
Barrier Masters like Suzu used this spell to supplement their usual barriers. As each individual shield was weak, they generally stacked them on top of each other to create layered defenses.
Kaori, despite her proficiency in light magic, was no Barrier Master, and so couldn’t use the spell in the same way. Instead, she’d positioned the shields at the perfect angles to deflect the Chimeras attacks, rather than block them outright. The way she’d masterfully used the enemies’ strength against them felt more like an advanced martial arts move than a magic spell.
This was the result of all the training she’d done. She’d sworn never to lose anyone precious to her again, and she wasn’t about to break that promise now. Thanks to Kaori’s herculean efforts, she managed to keep all of her party safe.
Enraged at having their attacks deflected, the Chimeras made to strike again. Kaori had only managed to buy her teammates a second. In the end, her efforts were still nothing more than the futile struggling of a weakling.
But that one second she’d gained made all the difference. Kouki had no intention of letting her efforts be in vain.
“Get off of Shizuku!” With the one second she’d bought, Kouki used his Supersonic Step to interpose himself between Shizuku and the Chimera. He’d moved fast enough that he’d left afterimages in his wake. His holy sword shimmered in the air as he swung at the Chimera’s neck, aiming to decapitate it.
At the same time, the other students made their move.
“Like I’ll let you!” Ryutarou thrust his hand toward the Chimera targeting Nagayama. Figuring he didn’t have time to rush all the way over, he’d instead opted to use his gauntlet artifacts’ special ability, and fire off a shockwave. He gathered his mana into his gauntlets. Still, Ryutarou wasn’t the only one to strike.
“Swallow them whole, O crimson mother— Flame Tide!” Eri stuck out a hand and cast her spell with barely an incantation. This was the first time she’d cast a spell this powerful, and the first time she’d redacted an incantation. As the name suggested, Flame Tide was an intermediate rank fire spell that summoned a wave of fire the caster could freely control. Even agile enemies had a hard time dodging this spell.
Kouki’s sword swung down at the Chimera faster than human eyes could follow, all the force of gravity behind the swing. Ryutarou’s shockwave shot out of his hand with the force of a cannonball, aftershocks trailing in its wake. Eri’s crimson wave of death surged forward, reducing everything it touched to ash.
However—
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” There’d been more enemies waiting in the wings. Just before their attacks landed home, two new shadows suddenly appeared and charged at Kouki and Ryutarou.
“Ah!?”
“What the!?” Chills ran down their spines.
The two shadows reached their targets and swung down their heavy metal maces.
Kouki nimbly twisted his body out of the way, using the centrifugal force of his swing to accelerate his dodge. Meanwhile, Ryutarou brought up his left fist and blocked the mace outright.
Kouki lost his balance and tumbled to the ground, while Ryutarou was blown away by the shadow’s follow-up punch. The monsters that had caught Kouki and Ryutarou by surprise were two two-meter tall giants that looked like Bulltaurs. But Bulltaurs, like Orcs and Ogres, tended to have pig-like, disgusting faces. These two giants that had attacked Ryutarou and Kouki had much more intelligent features. They looked like what one might get if they took a Bulltaur and refined its face into something more pleasant. And both their strength and their speed was far greater than that of any Bulltaur’s.
“What the hell are these things!?”
“Damn it, where do they keep popping up from!?”
Kouki and Ryutarou were confused and overwhelmed by the powerful monsters that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Just then—
“Gah!?” Endou cried out in pain as he slammed into the ground between the two of them.
“Endou!?”
“Ngh, be careful everyone! There’s more we can’t see! They’re everywhere!” Endou held a hand over his stomach as he shouted out his warning. He’d been hurt pretty bad.
At Nagayama’s command, Endou had gone invisible using his Assassin skills and tried to launch a sneak attack on the demon. However, the situation had progressed faster than he’d expected. He’d been so surprised by the monsters’ attacks that his concentration had slipped and his invisibility had been dispelled for a moment. Because of that one of the monsters had managed to spot him and ram into him from the side. When he’d been hit, he’d noticed that the monster who’d struck him was the same kind of Chimera as the ones that had attacked Kouki seconds before. Furthermore, he’d realized there were Chimeras next to the Super Bulltaurs, and that they could go invisible too by touching the Chimeras’ manes.
In other words, all of the monsters could, and had, borrowed the Chimeras’ power of invisibility. There was no telling how many enemies were hidden from them. That was how the demon had been able to wipe out all the monsters on the 90th floor.
As if to prove Endou’s statement, monsters suddenly appeared next to Eri as well.
There was a massive whoosh of air, and her Flame Tide suddenly collapsed in on itself before being completely snuffed out. It was as if someone had made a hole in the atmosphere itself, and it was sucking everything inside it.
“No way...” The shock of having a massive spell like that wiped out in the blink of an eye was too much for Eri. She stared blankly at the spot her flames had been in.
The monster who’d destroyed her flames appeared in that same spot, seemingly as if from thin air. It resembled a massive, six-legged turtle. The shell on its back was glowing bright red, as if it had absorbed all of Eri’s flames.
The turtle then opened its mouth, and its shell glowed even brighter. Shimmering red light started gathering in its mouth. It looked like a laser ready to fire.
“N-Not good.” Eri’s face paled. She’d just cast a spell, so she didn’t have time to cast another. However, her best friend had recovered enough to help out once more.
“I’m not done yet! Undying holy light, be my shield forevermore— Sacred Shields!” Twenty barriers of light instantly sprung up in front of the pair of them just as the turtle released its red-hot laser beam. The shields were all angled at 45 degrees, so as the beam punched through each one, more and more of its volume was directed upward.
However, this attack was even more powerful than the Chimera’s swipes had been, so Suzu’s barriers were all pulverized.
Biting her lip, Suzu continued chanting. For every shield that was destroyed, she raised a new one. Living up to her name of Barrier Master, Suzu just barely managed to keep the turtle’s ray of death at bay.
The entire floor shook as the turtle’s beam slammed into the ceiling, sending chunks of molten rock raining down below.
“Dammit! What the hell are these things!?”
“They’re so freaking strong!”
“Fuck! It’s do or die, guys!”
Hiyama and his party had recovered their wits as well, and they too leaped into the fray.
“Nagayama-kun! I’ll cut them down, you protect the rearguard!”
“Just leave it to me! Take them down, Yaegashi!”
Both of them had been fully healed now, and they were ready to launch a counterattack.
Shizuku charged at the Chimera closest to her. She moved so fast that even her afterimages left afterimages. There was a loud whoosh, and in less than a second Shizuku was behind her quarry. She drew her katana with superhuman speed, slashing at the Chimera’s rear.
Her No Tempo skill made it impossible to read her movements. It wasn’t just her speed that made her hard to follow, but also the lack of any sort of pattern to her actions. On top of that, her sword-related skills had made her slashing and drawing speeds even faster. Most creatures would be cut down by a slash like that without even knowing what hit them.
This was one of the Yaegashi-style’s signature moves, Vacuum Slash. A technique where the wielder held the sword in its scabbard until the last moment, building up as much force as possible. Then, they released that force all at once.
True to its name, Shizuku’s sword moved so fast that it felt as if it was cutting through air itself. There was a single silver flash, and the Chimera’s tail was severed at the base.
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The Chimera roared in pain and turned to slash at Shizuku. However, its paws passed through thin air. Shizuku had already circled around to the other side. This time she sliced through both of the Chimera’s wings.
“Ngh!” She was whittling down its strength with shallow, speedy attacks. However, Shizuku didn’t seem happy about that at all, probably because her attacks weren’t connecting as well as she’d wanted. In truth, she’d been hoping to cut through the Chimera’s torso with her first slash, but the tail had gotten in her way, so she’d been forced to change targets. Her second attack was also supposed to have been fatal, but the Chimera had managed to twist out of the way in time, resulting in only its wings being chopped off.
The Chimera wasn’t able to keep up with Shizuku’s speed, but it still managed to react fast enough to avoid lethal blows, so not only was it able to erase its presence, it also possessed an agility that was close to Shizuku’s. This was the hardest foe they’d faced yet. Shizuku had planned on finishing this Chimera off quickly and going back to help her comrades, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be happening.
Her next series of attacks all failed to kill the Chimera as well, instead only inflicting shallow wounds. Worse, the Chimera was starting to get used to Shizuku’s speed. Shizuku could feel panic welling up within her. Plus, that wasn’t even the worst part.
“Kraaaaaaw!” The Chimera in front of Shizuku was enveloped in dark red light. The murky mana swirled around its wounds, healing them instantly.
Kaori had long since dropped her Divine Veil, as it wasn’t helping too much. And even if she hadn’t, it wasn’t strong enough to heal wounds like this instantly. Still wary of the Chimera, Shizuku turned to the direction of the screech she’d heard.
There was a white, two-headed raven perched on the demon’s shoulder. One of the raven’s heads was looking right at the Chimera in front of Shizuku.
“She’s got monsters who can heal, too!?” It had taken everything Shizuku had to even injure the Chimera, and now all that hard work was undone in an instant. Her chances of victory had been slim to begin with, but with the raven’s healing there was no hope at all. Shizuku screamed at the unfairness of it all.
A quick look around the battlefield told her that the rest of her comrades were in similarly dire straits.
Kouki had managed to land a fatal blow on the Super Bulltaur that he’d been fighting, but the raven’s second head had instantly turned to heal it before the Super Bulltaur died. Its healing powers were fearsome enough that it could bring allies back even from the brink of death.
Ryutarou and Nagayama were struggling as well. Ryutarou had managed to beat the other Super Bulltaur to a pulp by smashing its stomach and breaking its limbs, but before he could land a finishing blow the raven had turned to heal it as well. Nagayama had dealt quite a bit of damage to the one menacing the rearguard, but that was also healed back to perfect condition. The situation was looking rather dire for the hero’s party...
“Looks like you’re having a hard time. How about it? Feel like joining our side yet? If you give up now, I might still be willing to let you.” The demon folded her arms and watched as Kouki and the other struggled to keep the monsters at bay. Her cold stare made it clear that she already knew what his answer was going to be, though. And, of course, Kouki didn’t defy expectations.
“Like hell we will! Your petty threats won’t work on us! Just you watch, we’ll beat you and your monster army! Take this— Limit Break!” He angrily swatted back the Super Bulltaur’s mace and activated his most powerful skill.
Limit Break continually drained his mana, but in exchange it tripled all of his stats. However, the skill literally pushed his body past its limits, so he couldn’t maintain it for long. Furthermore, it left him drained and exhausted once the skill was over. He’d be lucky to have even half his original strength left once the skill wore off. Though this skill was his trump card, it came with dire consequences that needed to be taken into consideration.
Kouki had activated it here because he knew he needed to kill these monsters fast, or his party’s morale would drop. The strength of the monsters, as well as the raven’s healing had left him with few other options.
Blinding white light wreathed his body. The Super Bulltaur charged again, completely unperturbed.
“Light of judgment, smite mine enemies— Holy Blade!” Kouki ducked under the Super Bulltaur’s attack and swung his light-infused sword up from below.
He’d done a similar attack a few minutes before, but it had only managed to wound the Super Bulltaur back then, not kill it. However, his stats were tripled now. And so, he cut through the Super Bulltaur like it was butter.
A second later the two halves of the Super Bulltaur’s body thudded to the ground. Kouki used the momentum of his swing to rush forward, directly at the demon woman.
There was nothing left protecting her from him. Skilled at magic though they may be, Kouki doubted this demon could do anything to stop him now. He’d cut down the two-headed raven and that would end the battle. At least, that’s what everyone thought would happen. Just then—
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Wha—!?” The space around Kouki warped in five different spots. Five invisible Chimeras let out a ferocious howl and charged at him. Kouki wheeled about in surprise as they closed in on him from all sides.
He ducked under the attack coming at him from the front while cutting down the Chimera to his right. He trusted his holy armor to protect him from the Chimeras to his left and rear.
It succeeded, but just barely. The one on the left cuffed him on the shoulder, sending him careening into yet another Chimera. The right one raised its paws and slammed them down on his shoulders, forcing Kouki to his knees.
“Ngh!” Gritting his teeth, Kouki grunted in pain. The Chimera’s fangs bore down on him, and he just barely managed to keep them at bay with his sword.
The claws digging into his shoulders limited Kouki’s movements, and despite being in Limit Break, he couldn’t squeeze out enough strength to break free.
“Sanctified flowers, pave the path to victory— Plenary Blessing! Radiant Prison!” Kaori cast her spells the moment she saw Kouki get hit.
Plenary Blessing was a single-target intermediate rank recovery spell. It was a more potent form of an earlier spell she’d cast, Holy Blessing. Just healing Kouki would have been pointless though, as the Chimera had him pinned and would just hit him again.
That was why she’d also cast the intermediate rank light spell, Radiant Prison. As its name suggested, Radiant Prison sealed its target in a cage of light. Her target was Kouki. Bars of light rose up around him, pushing the Chimera away.
With the Chimera removed, Plenary Blessing was able to heal Kouki without interruption.
At the same time, Suzu and a few other members of the rearguard fired off a barrage of spells at the remaining Chimeras near Kouki. They’d managed to gain enough of a respite against their own opponents to unleash a single volley. However, as Kaori’s Divine Veil wasn’t covering them anymore, they had had a hard time aiming their spells. Due to that, and the distance between them, their volley wasn’t as effective as they’d hoped.
Still, it bought the front line enough time to regroup. Fully recovered, Kouki raised his sword high and cast one of his strongest spells.
“Astral Unleash!” Four shockwaves of light exploded out from Kouki’s blade. This was his favorite technique. The Chimeras sensed danger and quickly tried to leap out of the way. However, Kaori wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Divine Shackles!” Now it was her turn to show off her most prized spell. Chains of light rose up around the Chimeras’ feet, wrapping around their legs, necks, and torsos. With their strength, the Chimeras could easily break free, but Kaori had still succeeded in stopping them for a few seconds.
Those few seconds were all it took for Kouki’s shockwaves to reach the Chimeras and make mincemeat out of them. Kouki turned around and pointed his sword at the demon.
“Sorry, but if this is the best you’ve got, it’s nowhere near good enough. There’s nothing left protecting you now!” The demon stared at Kouki with an incredulous expression on her face. “If you have me on the defensive, why waste your time stating the obvious? You should’ve just gone straight for the attack,” it seemed to say.
Kouki found it infuriating that even after being pressed so far, the demon still seemed so composed.
He’d taken out all of her Chimeras and Super Bulltaurs. Part of why he was so annoyed was because everything she’d hit them with until now had been surprise attacks.
That coward! All she ever does is use petty tricks and sneak attacks, while she watches safely from behind her monsters!
“I don’t recall ever saying this was my best.”
“Your bluffs won’t work on me!”
“You’ll see for yourselves whether it’s a bluff or not. Now that I’ve seen how strong you heretical apostles are, I have no use for you anymore.”
“What do you—”
“Kyaaaaaa!”
The demon irritably flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes. At the same time, Kouki heard a scream behind him.
The sight that greeted him as he turned around was the stuff of nightmares. Five more Super Bulltaurs and Chimeras had suddenly sprouted up from nowhere. Worse, new monsters had popped up too. Black four-eyed wolves and black cats with tentacles sprouting from their backs menaced the rest of the party. One of the cats slammed its tentacles into Nomura’s flank as he watched.
“Kentarou! Dammit, you’ll pay for that!”
“Ayako, pull yourself together! Heal him!”
Endou quickly launched an attack on the cat’s tentacles the moment he saw Nomura go down. He angrily slashed down with his daggers.
Meanwhile, Yoshino started yelling at the dumbfounded Tsuji to start healing her comrade. Yoshino’s rebuke brought Tsuji back to her senses, and she began casting healing spells on both Endou and the collapsed Nomura.
“What!? There were still that many monsters left!?” Kouki’s jaw dropped open in surprise.
“The Chimera’s special ability is Camouflage. It can hide itself and anything it touches. That kid over there even tried to warn you about it. Though, even he wasn’t able to figure out just how many monsters I had hidden here. Now then, I suppose it’s time for the final curtain call!”
“Ah!?”
The students were being pushed back by the sudden onslaught of monsters. Kouki dashed back to try and help his comrades. Now that the secret was out, the demon had no reason to hide her forces. More and more monsters started dispelling their Camouflage, and joined the fray. Dozens of wolves and cats appeared from the space behind the demon and charged.
“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Before he could make it back to his allies, Kouki found himself surrounded by a wall of tentacles.
He swung his sword in a giant circle, cutting down the tentacles. One of the cats jumped at his face, and he swung down at it. Since it was mid-leap, he was sure it wouldn’t be able to dodge out of the way.
“I’ll start with you!” Kouki roared. However, the cat jumped aside in mid-air, and Kouki’s sword swung harmlessly through the air. This went far beyond Kouki’s expectations. It then leaped forward again, its wickedly sharp claws headed straight for Kouki’s neck.
He barely managed to duck his head out of the way in time, but in doing so he ruined his stance, and was unable to defend against the four-eyed wolf that came at him from behind. Thanks to his armor and Limit Break skill, the wolf’s tackle didn’t do any real damage to him. Instead, it sent him flying backward to his comrades. Which, fortunately, he’d been trying to do in the first place.
The horde of insanely powerful monsters surrounded Kouki and his comrades.
It was only thanks to Kaori and Tsuji’s nonstop healing that all of the students were still alive. The front line was still barely holding, but as it was, they had no way out of this predicament.
Kouki tried to cut down their numbers while his Limit Break was still active, but the monsters came at him in formations of five and employed hit and run tactics. They weren’t letting him get a decisive blow in.
Even Shizuku’s speed had been sealed. The agile cats worked together with the wolves, who possessed the special magic Foresight, to keep up with her even when she was using No Tempo. Though she managed to get a few cuts in anyway, none of them were fatal.
“Crap... This is really bad!”
“Fuck! What are we supposed to do!?”
Despair started to color the students’ faces as they continued fighting. The final nail in the coffin was when the demon herself joined the battle.
“O great golden-eyed drake, slumbering deep beneath the earth, lord of all creation, your curse pierces through even the blackest darkness. Bring forth an everlasting seal of darkness, from which nothing escapes. Fear, despair, anguish, swallow it all and leave emptiness in your wake. All will fall before your stern visage. Destroy your enemies and return them to the earth— Dark Gaol!” As she finished chanting, a swirling gray ball of mana gathered into her hand and flew across the room to where Kouki and the others were.
It didn’t travel all that fast. Every one of the students was a high enough level that they could have dodged it. However, when Nomura saw it his face paled. He was barely conscious thanks to that earlier attack, but he knew he had to warn his friends. Coughing up blood, he shouted a warning to his comrades.
“Oh no! Taniguchiii! Put up one of your barriers! We have to stop that sphere!”
“Huh!? O-Okay! Reject all malice and let this be a holy ground that denies thine enemies passage— Hallowed Ground!” Suzu shortened her chant and hurriedly cast a high level light barrier spell. A shimmering dome covered the party. As Hallowed Ground separated a particular area from other areas and not people from people, the monsters within the dome remained.
Moreover, Hallowed Ground consumed a massive amount of mana. Normally, Suzu reserved this skill for the most dire of circumstances. And Nomura’s desperation had made it clear that demon’s ball was one of those circumstances. That was why she’d picked the strongest spell she knew.
The swirling gray sphere slammed into the barrier. It possessed a force far greater than its appearance would imply. Suzu gritted her teeth and burned through her mana at a prodigious rate as she struggled to keep the sphere from breaking through.
At the same time, the monsters’ movements suddenly changed. A group of them broke off and headed for Suzu, almost as if the demon was commanding them.
“Suzu!”
“Everyone, protect Taniguchi!” Eri started casting like mad, trying to keep the encroaching Super Bulltaurs at bay. Across from her, Saitou, Yoshiki, Kondou, and Reichi all heard Nomura’s shout and rushed over to cover Suzu.
So long as Hallowed Ground was active, Suzu couldn’t move. The black cats took advantage of that weakness and nimbly slipped through the gaps in the party’s defenses. Nomura laid his hand against the ground and summoned spikes from the earth, hoping to impale the cats, but they zigzagged through the air, avoiding the spikes, and lashed out at Suzu with their tentacles.
“Taniguchi!”
“Aaah!?”
Nomura called out a warning, but it was too late. The tentacles pierced through Suzu’s stomach, thigh, and right arm. Before she could even scream, the cats swung their tentacles sideways, throwing Suzu to the side.
She hit the ground so hard the breath was knocked out of her throat. Blood littered the ground where she lay. As she sucked in a ragged gasp, a searing pain ran through her body.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Suzu-chan!”
“Suzu!”
Eri and Kaori called out to Suzu, clearly panicked. Kaori quickly began casting a healing spell, but Suzu’s barrier faded before she could finish.
“Everyone, get away from that sphere!” Nomura desperately called out to everyone, but this was the same spell that had managed to compete evenly with Suzu’s Hallowed Ground. Nomura’s warning was too little, too late.
The gray sphere hit the ground without a sound. It broke apart where it landed, smoke expanding from the point of impact.
Saitou, Kondou, and Nomura all tried to run over to Suzu. The gray smoke enveloped all four of them. The monsters nearby had all leaped out of the way ahead of time, so they weren’t affected.
The gray smoke expanded out even further, swallowing the rest of the students.
“Heed my call, O wind— Wind Blast!” Kouki instantly unleashed a gust of wind to blow the smoke out of the room. Magically created smoke like that wouldn’t normally be so easy to dislodge. Still, Kouki was under the effects of his Limit Break, making his magic stronger. He was able to push the smoke out into the hallway, albeit with some difficulty. However, when the smoke cleared, the sight that greeted them was completely unexpected.
“No way! Suzu!”
“Nomura-kun!”
“Saitou! Kondou!”
The four of them had been turned to stone. Saitou and Kondou had been completely petrified, while Nomura, who had thrown himself above Suzu had only his left half petrified. For her part, Suzu had only had her legs petrified.
Saitou and Kondou hadn’t even had time to react before the smoke had hit them. Their faces were still frozen in dumbfounded shock. Suzu had fainted from the excruciating pain that had accompanied having her legs petrified.
Nomura managed to remain conscious, but just barely. He gritted his teeth and groaned as the petrified part of his body seared in pain.
The reason Nomura had resisted the petrification better than the others was because he was a Geomancer and possessed the highest resistance to earth magic out of all of them. He’d been aware of how dangerous the spell was in the first place because it was an earth spell he’d recognized.
More specifically, the high rank earth spell, Dark Gaol. It spread a cloud of smoke that petrified anything it touched. Worse, as long as any part of someone was hit by the petrification, it would slowly spread until they were completely frozen. The only way to stop it was to put up a barrier strong enough to repel it, or blow the smoke away before it touched anyone. However, only a high rank barrier would be able to hold it off. Furthermore, it required an extremely powerful wind spell to be dislodged.
“You bastard! How dare you!” Seething fury dripped from his words. The light surrounding him shone brighter than before. He was more than ready to charge straight at the demon.
However, Shizuku’s words stopped him.
“Kouki, wait! We have to retreat! You need to secure our escape route!”
“No way! You want me to retreat after she did that to our comrades!?” He glared angrily at Shizuku, but she wasn’t fazed by his attitude and calmly glared back at him.
“Listen to me! Kaori can still heal them, but it’ll take her time. And if we wait too long, it might be too late. We need to retreat and regroup! And now that we’ve lost half our party, if you jump out to attack now, the rest of us won’t be able to hold out! We’ll all die!”
“Ngh, but...”
“Besides, your Limit Break’s going to run out soon, isn’t it? How long do you think you can last without it!? You can’t lose your cool here! Everyone’s angry about what happened, but we’re done for if we let that get the better of us!”
Kouki ground his teeth in frustration. It was then that he noticed the blood dripping from the corners of Shizuku’s mouth. She was just as angry as him, if not more.
Still, even though she was so frustrated that she’d bit her lips until they’d bled, she hadn’t lost sight of what needed to be done. If she could, she’d pound that demon into a pulp, but she knew that wouldn’t save her comrades.
“Fine! Everyone, we’re retreating! Shizuku, Ryutarou, cover me for a bit!”
“You can count on me!”
“You got it!”
Kouki raised his sword up high and started chanting. He hadn’t used this spell earlier because it had such a long incantation. On top of that, it wouldn’t have been enough to defeat the enemy. However, it was the perfect spell for opening up an escape path.
Chanting left him defenseless, so he’d asked Shizuku and Ryutarou to guard him. Of course, that meant they had to fight the monsters he’d been holding off until now on top of their own foes. They fought valiantly, but every second they suffered more injuries. They wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
“Hmph, do you honestly believe I’ll just let you flee?” The demon commanded her monsters to circle behind the party’s rear. At the same time, she started chanting another spell. This time, her hand was pointed directly at Kouki.
And it was then that something unexpected occurred.
“Graaaaaah!”
“What!? How!?”
Five of the Chimeras, which were supposed to be her allies, suddenly turned on her. She instantly shortened her incantation and changed her target to the monsters bearing down on her. A dust storm whipped up around her. Grains of sand coalesced into blades and sliced through two of the Chimeras. The remaining three let the wind push them back, saving them from the whirlwind of sand blades.
She stared at them in surprise. Why are they attacking me!? Then, she realized that all of the Chimeras were gravely injured.
“That damn brat...” The monsters that had turned on her were all ones that had been cut down by Kouki. They should have all been dead, and indeed the demon didn’t sense any life coming from them. Suddenly, she remembered a certain branch of magic that allowed people to manipulate the dead.
“I won’t let you touch Kouki-kun!” Eri waved her hand like a baton, and the dead Chimeras moved to surround the demon.
“Tch! A Necromancer! No one told me they had one of those!” The demon had actually done a rather thorough investigation of Kouki and his party before laying this trap. None of her reports had mentioned anything about there being a Necromancer in his party.
Eri’s usual aversion to necromancy had actually ended up saving them in this critical juncture. Though she was a Necromancer, she’d been too scared to actually use her necromancy skills.
However, now that their backs were to the wall, she’d had to conquer that fear. She glared at the demon, skillfully manipulating the three Chimera corpses. It was hard to believe this was her first time using necromancy. She kept the Chimeras circling just out of the demon’s attack range, but close enough that they still posed a threat. Her goal wasn’t to defeat the demon, but rather to buy time.
“Suzu-chan, hang on! I’ll heal you!” Kaori cast both Plenary Blessing and Consecration on Suzu.
She was the one closest to death out of all the party members, which was why Kaori had focused on her first. Consecration was an intermediate rank light spell that removed status effects from the target.
Petrification in particular was a very potent status effect, and it was taking even Kaori some time to heal it. Plenary Blessing instantly closed up the holes in Suzu’s arm and stomach, but she’d already lost a lot of blood. She needed a proper rest or her life would be in danger. And once her legs were unpetrified, Kaori needed to close up the wound there as well.
While Kaori was tending to Suzu, Tsuji began unpetrifying Nomura. Thanks to Nomura’s naturally high earth resistance, his healing went quickly. Tsuji had already succeeded in restoring his left leg.
As she was healing Nomura, Tsuji glanced over at Kaori and bit her lip. Though she was an accomplished Priest as well, it was obvious that Kaori’s skills were far greater than her own.
Not only was she healing Suzu, who’d been hurt far more than Nomura, she was able to cast recovery spells on Shizuku and Ryutarou at the same time. On top of that, she was even providing support with her Binding Blades of Light and Divine Shackles. Tsuji doubted she could manage even half of that.
Shirasaki-san is amazing... Compared to her, I’m just... No, now’s not the time for self-pity! Though she hated herself for not being more useful to her companions, she couldn’t afford to let herself be distracted right now.
Nomura wanted to offer some words of encouragement, but he also knew there was no time for sentimental chit-chat. Still groaning in pain, he spat out an incantation.
With their battle power reduced, and Kouki no longer fighting, the students were hard pressed. Hiyama, Nakano, Nagayama, and Endou were all covered from head to toe in blood, and their movements were growing dull. Eri had her hands full protecting Kouki and the two healers. At this rate, the party would collapse in a few more minutes.
Had it not been for the hope Kouki’s gleaming blade gave everyone, they would likely have given up already.
Finally, the moment they’d all been waiting for arrived.
“Take this— Divine Deluge!” A single beam of light shot up into the sky. As it hit the ceiling, it burst apart, sending shards of light hurtling toward the ground like a meteor shower.
Divine Deluge was a light spell that targeted multiple monsters from above. It wasn’t a terribly powerful spell, and was usually just used to clean up hordes of weak enemies, but with the help of Kouki’s Limit Break, the spell’s might increased to the point where it could kill even monsters found on the 50th floor.
Unfortunately, the monsters the demon had brought with her were far more powerful than that. The most it was able to do was slow them down.
Still, that was all Kouki needed. As long as it kept them pinned down for a few seconds, they’d be able to escape.
The demon was still busy dealing with Eri’s three Chimeras.
After making sure the demon was still occupied, Kouki then activated the second effect of this ridiculously long spell.
“Gather!”
The rain of light that had been keeping the monsters at bay stopped, and began returning to Kouki’s sword. It was a truly awe-inspiring sight, watching a veritable meteor storm of light fly into the holy sword.
Once all the light was back with him, Kouki pointed his sword at the monsters blocking their escape and shouted the name of the spell’s second form.
“Holy Shooting Stars!” The countless points of light shot out at once, bombarding the monsters. This spell didn’t have the same destructive might as his trump card, Divine Wrath, so it was unable to completely destroy the monsters in front of him.
He would have preferred to use Divine Wrath, but the incantation was too long. He knew Shizuku and Ryutarou wouldn’t have been able to hold out for that long.
Though, there was something Holy Shooting Stars had that Divine Wrath didn’t.
As the shards of light slammed into the monsters, they burst in a thousand shimmering explosions. It was as if Kouki had fired a cluster bomb into the horde of monsters. The monsters were unable to defend against the continual bombardment, so they were blown away.
“Graaaaaaaaah!” They screamed in pain, their eyes closed against the blinding light.
The harsh light crippled their vision. Holy Shooting Stars secondary ability was that it blinded its targets. Unable to see properly, the monsters flailed about.
They weren’t in position to guard an escape route anymore. Kouki and the others were saved.
“Everyone, run for your lives!”
At Kouki’s command, the party began to flee. Nagayama carried the petrified Kondou and Saitou, while Endou carried the unconscious Suzu. Nomura’s left arm was still petrified, but he endured the pain and ran.
“Tch! Don’t let them escape! All of you, attack!” The demon ordered her remaining monsters to attack while she continued fending off the Chimera corpses. The monsters quickly dashed off in pursuit. The Chimeras, four-eyed wolves, and black cats were all agile creatures, and they closed the gap in an instant.
Nomura grinned through his pain and turned around, his right hand pointed at the army of monsters bearing down on them.
“You’re not the only one who can use earth magic here! Have a taste of your own medicine— Dark Gaol!” Nomura fired off the same gray sphere the demon had a few minutes prior.
It exploded in front of the charging monsters. When the demon had cast the spell, her monsters had all instinctively leaped out of the way. He’d guessed that the demon had taught them all to be wary of that specific spell, which was precisely why he’d chosen it. He figured it would buy them the most time.
His guess proved to be correct. The moment Nomura had thrown out the gray sphere, the monsters had all come to a halt and swiftly leaped back. The petrifying smoke also doubled as a smokescreen, hiding Kouki and the others from view.
Endou called upon the last dredges of his mana to use a skill that hid their tracks and erased their scent. It was one of his derivative skills, “Stealth.”
The monsters angry howls faded into the distance as the party ran. Humbled and defeated, Kouki and the others trudged up the stairs leading to the 89th floor. Their faces were a mixture of frustration at how badly they’d suffered defeat, and happiness at escaping alive at all.
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