Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Zero - Volume 3 - Chapter 2

Chapter II: A New Ancient Magic User

A single beast stalked the darkness, not bothering to hide its bloodlust. The beast was a wolf, but one so massive it stood as tall as a man. It sniffed the walls and floor as if searching for a specific scent. After a few seconds, it picked up on something.

“Grrrr...”

With a low growl, one filled with mad glee, it looked up at the wall directly in front of it. Dark crimson eyes glimmering with malice, it pounced.

Just as its forelegs were about to close in on its foolish prey— “Holy light of judgment, bless my sword— Divine Slash!”

The wolf had no way of dodging. It was at its most defenseless when it was going in for the kill, and the blade heading for its stomach had suddenly popped out of the ground. Not only was it coming from a very inopportune angle, but it had also been enhanced with powerful support magic.

The blade sliced cleanly through the wolf’s torso, cutting it in two. Both halves of the monster spun through the air, landing on the ground with a sickening plop. Blood spilled out of the wolf’s bisected corpse and the light faded from its eyes.

The earth started to writhe, and an arm popped out after the sword. It looked like a zombie was rising out of its grave.

“Alright. Surprise attack successful.”

The voice echoing in the darkness was full of confidence. It belonged to a tall, muscular, and stern-looking man in his mid-forties. The same man who’d just risen from the earth.

He spat out a mouthful of dirt and looked around. Though he had the air of a hardened warrior about him, he also seemed affable and easygoing. He patted his graying hair, knocking clumps of dirt out of it, and turned to the wall the wolf had attacked. Like the wolf, he knew there was something there.

“Hey, you lot. You can come out now.”

The section of the wall he was staring at crumbled away, like the outer shell of an egg. Within stood a young boy.

“Bleh...”

He tumbled out of his hiding place, looking exhausted.

“Uh, hey Ruth? Are you okay?”

Ruth didn’t respond. He was on all fours and looked anything but okay.

A girl came out of the wall after him and sympathetically patted his back. She had chocolate-colored skin, blonde hair, and jade-green eyes—Susha.

“He’s been using magic within the Reisen Gorge. It’s no surprise he’s worn out.”

“Yeah, good point.”

The older man, Combat Commander Marshal Diamond, smiled in response to Susha and looked down at Ruth.

“You’re one hell of a kid, you know that? Your camouflage was perfect.”

“It’s hard to believe he’s just eleven. Compared to him, I’m pretty much useless... Alas.”

Sections of the wall next to and directly across from Ruth’s hiding place crumbled away in quick succession and two more men stepped out. One was a young, brown-haired man in his mid-twenties, while the other was a slender beastman with a long monkey’s tail and a penchant for pessimism. The former’s name was Tony Owen while the latter was called Abe Morgan. They were Marshal’s subordinates and part of the Reisen village’s defense squad.

Ruth gave the two men a tired thumbs-up to show he appreciated their praise. In doing so he could no longer rely on his arms to hold him up so he fell to the ground, his butt sticking out.

There was, of course, a good reason the five of them were doing this. Put simply, they were in the middle of exterminating monsters who’d found their way inside the village. This particular hidden village was the one Miledi had used as a base of operations before meeting Oscar. It sat deep within the Reisen Gorge, close to where Velka and Grandort’s borders met.

Because the Reisen Gorge dispersed mana the moment it left anything’s body, it would have been impossible for Snowbell and the other builders to construct anything inside it. In fact, originally the Liberators hadn’t even planned on building a base here. However, the gorge was familiar territory for Miledi. She was a Reisen after all.

She’d personally constructed this base and set it as her headquarters. After all, any potential attacker would be unable to use magic, while Miledi could still cast her spells. Within the gorge, she was invincible. So she’d used gravity magic to carve a cavern out of the sheer cliff face.

Of course, now that Oscar had joined the Liberators, he’d sent everyone living in the gorge, including Ruth, Artifacts that allowed them to use a limited amount of magic down here. Thanks to its remote location, the village had never been attacked by people, and even monsters rarely ventured inside it.

“Marshal-san, thank you for letting us join you.”

Susha bowed to Marshal, her blonde hair falling around her head.

“Don’t sweat it. Your plan was pretty good, so if anything I should be thanking you.”

Marshal smiled ruefully as he said that. His subordinates mirrored his expression. Susha had been the one who came up with their earlier battle plan. Her willingness to act as bait had astounded Marshal and the others.

Of course, everyone living in the village knew that Susha and Ruth had been tagging along with Marshal when he went out to eliminate monsters and that they’d learned a lot in a great deal, but their courage and the speed of their growth had amazed the adults.

“Now then, I don’t sense any other monsters around. Alright, Ruth, get on my back.”

Marshal turned his back to Ruth and squatted down. However, Ruth didn’t respond. He wasn’t unconscious, that much was obvious from the glimmer in his eyes.

“Captain... Look at that.”

“Hm?”

Ruth was looking at the cavern exit. Hesitantly, Marshal followed his gaze.

“Was that a rat?”

Marshal caught a fleeting glimpse of something small with white fur before it darted behind a boulder. Though he wasn’t able to get a good look at it, it definitely seemed like a rat.

“I wonder how it got all the way here? We don’t normally see rats in the village, but it’s still just...”

Susha tilted her head quizzically. With how many dangerous monsters prowled the Reisen Gorge, few natural animals lived at the bottom. They wouldn’t be able to survive down here. Of course, the gorge wasn’t utterly devoid of fauna that wasn’t monsters. Rats, bats, and lizards had carved out a niche for themselves in the ravine’s harsh environment. They tended to hide in the cracks of the walls or within caves though.

The village had a larger proportion of animals than anywhere else in the gorge too, since it was much safer. All of this was to say, it was understandable that Susha didn’t see what was so special about the rat Ruth had pointed out.

“Well... maybe it’s just my imagination, but...”

Hesitating slightly, Ruth explained what he found strange about the rat.

“I feel like I’ve seen it before.”

“By ‘it’ you mean that rat?”

“Ruth-kun, you can differentiate them by their appearance?”

Tony and Abe gave Ruth incredulous looks.

“No, that’s not what I mean. It’s just...”

“Stop beating around the bush and just spit it out already.”

“A-Alright, but don’t laugh at me, Captain. The rest of you better not laugh either.”

“Don’t worry. We were able to keep a straight face this whole time while you’ve been lying down with your ass in the air. I doubt you’d be able to break our poker faces now.”

“So you’ve been laughing at me this whole time, you’ve just been hiding it!?”

Frowning, Ruth nevertheless cleared his throat. Ever since he’d parted from his beloved older brother, Ruth had slowly been learning how to keep his cool in all circumstances.

“When I was looking at that rat, it felt like our eyes met. It felt like that last time, too.”

“Oh, how do I put this...”

Marshal wanted to tell Ruth it was just a coincidence, but the young boy’s serious gaze caused him to swallow his words.

“That rat has a will. I can tell.”

The first time Ruth had seen it was when he’d gone out shopping. He’d seen it just before he’d gone down the secret staircase that connects the top of the gorge to the village.

It had been watching him intently from the shadow of a nearby boulder. When it had noticed Ruth’s gaze it had turned around and scampered off, so he’d just marked it off as a coincidence. But now...

“Alright, I get it. I’ll report this to the others. Who knows, it’s definitely possible that there are other people out there like Tim, who can talk to and strengthen animals.”

“Captain... but what if I really am just imagining things?”

Marshal affectionately ruffled Ruth’s hair.

“You’ve got the sharpest eyes out of all of us here. It’s worth reporting at least.”

Ruth grinned at Marshal’s praise.

“Alright, let’s get outta here.”

Marshal squatted back down, urging Ruth to get on his back. Just as Ruth reached out to grab Marshal’s shoulder— “Please wait.”

Susha held out a hand to stop him.

“We still can’t be sure we’re safe.”

Not only was Ruth claiming there was more to the rat they’d seen than meets the eye, it was entirely possible monsters capable of hiding their presence, like giant ravine worms, were hiding nearby.

“Marshal-san, you need to be ready to fight at any time. I’ll carry Ruth-kun.”

Ruth twitched and turned to Susha in disbelief. But she used the body strengthening magic she’d just recently learned and rolled up her sleeves. It seemed she was serious about this. Ruth tried to run away. Unfortunately, he was still too weak to stand, and all he could do was crawl across the ground.

“Well, I guess you’ve got a point, but...”

Marshal, Tony, and Abe all exchanged glances. They were all thinking the same thing. But when they saw how determined Susha was to make herself useful, they couldn’t bring themselves to tell her to stop. As a result, Ruth was caught. Susha lifted him in her arms and carried him princess-style.

“S-Stop!”

“This isn’t the time to be complaining, Ruth-kun.”

“A-At least carry me on your back!”

“Marshal-san, I believe I’ve improved my body strengthening magic by a great deal, but what do you think?”

“Oh, uhh... Yeah, you’re doing good.”

Marshal’s expression was stiff. Meanwhile, Tony and Abe gave Ruth pitying looks. The party walked in silence for a few minutes, until they reached the residential part of the village.

“Aaaaaaaaaah! Ruth’s being carried princess-style!”

Upon arriving, they were greeted by an excited Yunfa. Her eyes, the same jade-green as her older sister, sparkled as she jumped up and down in glee. Her twin braids bounced with her. In her hands was the violin she’d carried with her constantly ever since learning her Job was Bard. Seeing as it was out of its case, she’d likely been in the middle of practicing.

“Huh? Ru-oniichan?”

Corrin, who’d been listening to Yunfa practice, looked surprised when she saw Ruth in Susha’s arms. Ruth, on the other hand, looked like his soul had left his body.

“Oh my, Ruth. Did you injure yourself?”

Moorin ran over to the party, looking worried. Marshal scratched his head awkwardly and said, “Oh no, he’s fine. The only thing that’s hurt is his dignity.”

“Umm, are you sure he’s okay?”

Moorin still looked a little worried as she examined Ruth. Because of her kind nature and her penchant for looking after children, she was like the village godmother. Finding no external injuries, she sighed in relief. Moorin then clapped her hands together and turned to Corrin.

“Corrin, Yunfa. Now that Marshal-san and the others are back, how about we have dinner? Could you call all the others over for me?”

“Sure, Mommy!”

“Yep, we’ll get everyone!”

Yunfa packed her violin away while Corrin saluted to Moorin. The two of them then trotted off to round up the other villagers.

“Moor— I mean Mother. Is there anything I can do to help?” Susha asked hesitantly, fidgeting.

“My, thank you for offering, Susha. Could you help me serve the soup?”

“O-Okay!”

Though Susha was normally cool and unflappable, she acted more like the little girl she was around Moorin. When Moorin patted her head, she beamed.

Susha’s parents had died at a young age, and since then she’d worked at a family friend’s bar to earn her keep and protected her younger sister. Her environment had forced her to mature quickly, but Moorin’s motherly nature allowed Susha to return to acting like a child around her. Susha still felt a little embarrassed about calling Moorin “Mother,” though. She was a little jealous of how easily Yunfa was able to just call her “Mommy.”

Once the villagers were gathered, dinner began. It was a lively affair, with everyone present except the people on watch or nursing the sick.

“So, Ruth, how’d it feel to be carried by Susha?”

“Oh, shut up.”

Ruth glared at the woman who was teasing him, a young woman with wild gray hair. She wore a tank top, low-rise pants, and a simple pair of sandals. She sat with her legs crossed underneath her on her chair, and rested her elbows on the table. From the way she pointed her fork at Ruth, it was obvious she didn’t have any table manners. Her fluffy wolf ears and tail bobbed back and forth as she chuckled.

Her name was Shushu Corthea, and she was half-wolfman, half-human. More importantly, though, she was the second strongest fighter in the Reisen base.

“Susha’s got pretty big tits for her age, you know? Did you enjoy being pressed against them?”

The way she teased people was reminiscent of the Liberators’ leader.

“I didn’t let them touch him. I would never allow that.”

Susha smiled at Shushu, but her eyes were stone cold.

“Su-nee and I are—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. You guys belong to ‘Naiz-sama,’ right? I’ve heard that line a thousand times now.”

Marshal and the other guys realized this conversation was headed in a dangerous direction, and they all stiffened nervously. At the same time, Corrin blushed and looked pointedly down at her food. She pretended to be extremely interested in the vegetables dotting her plate.

“Shushu. Munch, munch... You’re being... chew, chew... a bad influence on Corrin, so... swallow... just stop talking.”

Mikaela Eifield gave Shushu advice in between bites of food. Though she was blind, her special magic Soul Sight gave her a wide field of vision and she was able to keep an eye on the entire village even while eating.

“Decide whether you’re gonna talk or eat, you glutton.”

Mikaela had food in both hands, and her mouth was so full that her cheeks were puffed out like a squirrel. A particularly gluttonous squirrel.

“I am not... swallow... a glutton!”

Her words weren’t all that persuasive when they were coming from a mouth full of food. Though she looked like a beautiful priestess, Mikaela’s eating habits ruined her good looks. Shushu waved her hand dismissively at Mikaela, then turned back to Ruth. She bit a chunk of meat off the chicken thigh in her hands and started teasing him again.

She was quite fond of this serious, determined, and indomitable boy. There was, however, one part of Ruth’s personality that Shushu didn’t like.

“Give it a rest already, Shushu! You’re a girl so you shouldn’t be telling jokes like that! Besides, I don’t even care about getting a girlfriend! I need to hurry up and become an accomplished Synergist like my brother!”

“Oh god, not your brother again. Every time you open your mouth it’s always ‘My brother this, my brother that!’ You got a brother complex or something, you weirdo?”

“What’d you say!? What’s wrong with me being proud of my brother!?”

“My brother’d say this. My brother’d do that. I wanna be like my brother. I wanna help my brother... God, I’m sick of hearing it. Did he fucking brainwash you or something?”

“He’d never do something like that! He’s an amazing guy! I just—”

For a myriad of reasons, Shushu got irrationally angry whenever Ruth started praising Oscar. Largest among them was the fact that Shushu wasn’t too fond of Oscar.

Tch... What’s so special about that guy? Both Miledi and Ruth are always fucking going on about him.

The reason Shushu didn’t like Oscar had to do with Miledi. Not only did Shushu love teasing Miledi, who was surprisingly innocent, she also owed her life to the Liberators’ leader.

The church was still trying to penetrate the Pale Forest, and they were still using brainwashed beastmen soldiers as their scouts. And Shushu had been one of those scouts.

Her family had been killed by the church, and her will trampled all over. Because she’d been brainwashed, her old comrades had been forced to bare their fangs at her. While it had been an unfortunate necessity, being attacked by her old friends had destroyed what little remained of Shushu’s heart.

It was at that moment that she’d awoken to her special magic, Repulse. It was magic that emitted shockwaves in all directions, preventing anything from getting close to the caster. Shushu had been unable to turn her own magic off, and had been on the brink of dying from overusing mana when Miledi had shown up.

Miledi had used her overwhelming mana pool to push her way past Shushu’s Repulse magic and forcibly shut down the girl’s rampaging magic. Afterward, she’d taken Shushu back with her to the Liberators.

By nature, wolfmen were attracted to those who were strong, so it was inevitable that Shushu would become infatuated with Miledi. Recently though, the only letters she’d received from Miledi had been ones talking about “O-kun.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like him.”

“Wh-What!? What’s your problem!?”

Ruth couldn’t stand how Shushu always acted so dismissive whenever he started talking about Oscar. The dinner table grew tense as Ruth and Shushu glared at each other.

“Ruth, Shushu. No fighting at the dinner table.”

Moorin’s calm voice carried surprisingly far. Ruth withered before Moorin’s reproachful gaze and meekly apologized.

“I-I didn’t do nothing wr—”

“Shushu?”

“Ugh, f-fiiine...”

Not even Shushu could stand up to Moorin. Her tail drooped and she settled back down in her seat.

Scenes like this had become commonplace recently, and all of the other villagers just smiled. The silence that followed was broken a few seconds later by Mikaela.

“Hm? Chew chew... Tim’s back.”

She scarfed down an entire loaf of bread as she said that. As Tim was head of the messenger corps, he wasn’t able to make any one base his permanent home. But because of how often he relayed correspondence to and from Miledi, he practically lived in the Reisen Gorge village for all intents and purposes. People had gone from saying, “Tim’s come to visit” to “Tim’s back.”

Susha and Yunfa’s faces lit up, while Corrin and Ruth smiled to each other. Usually, it took Tim around fifteen minutes from Mikaela announcing Tim’s arrival to him reaching the residential part of the village. Ruth and the others started bolting down their food, eager to hear what news Oscar, Naiz, and Miledi had for them.

Exactly fifteen minutes after Mikaela’s announcement, Tim came into view.

“Wow, that smells delicious.”

Looking a little tired, he walked over to the dining table. Perched on his shoulder was Creme. Tim’s other messenger birds, as well as his beloved horse Tart, were resting in a special stable built specifically for Tim’s animals.

“Tim! Creme! Welcome home!”

“Tim-oniichan, Creme-chan, welcome back.”

Tim smiled as Ruth and Corrin rushed over to him. Creme cooed happily as well.

“Welcome back, Tim-san. Thank you for always relaying our messages. Do you have any letters for us?”

“Welcome home, Tim-oniisan. Did you bring any souvenirs?”

Though Susha and Yunfa smiled as they greeted Tim, there was a forcefulness in their voice that scared him. Even Creme was scared enough to stop cooing. Their obsession with Naiz’s letters was borderline insane. Tim hurriedly pulled a letter out of his satchel and said “Y-Yes, I do. Here you go.”

“Thank you very much, Tim-san!”

Susha’s smile was simultaneously dazzling and terrifying. Tim thought back to how Naiz always asked whether or not Susha had suddenly awoken to some special magic that let her see what he was doing at all times whenever they met.

I’m sorry, Naiz-san. I don’t want to do this, but I don’t have a choice... Tim handed Susha and Yunfa a second letter, then moved on to give Ruth and Corrin Oscar’s letter. Lastly, he handed Marshal and the others Miledi’s letter.

“Oooh, look at this! Corrin, Mom! Brother’s coming home!”

Ruth’s elated voice echoed through the cavern. Oscar’s letter detailed how they’d left Andika and were finding a new home for all the Andikans who’d chosen to join the Liberators. He also mentioned how once they’d gotten the Andikans set up at their new posts that they’d return to Reisen for a time.

His previous letter had mentioned how they’d met Meiru and how she could heal Katy and Dylan, so Ruth and Corrin were looking forward to meeting her. Tim’s letters this time had come bearing wonderful news.

“He said they’ll be back within two months... Hic... Thank goodness... Dy-oniichan, Katy. You’ll be back to normal soon...”

Overcome by emotion, Corrin burst into tears. No one poked fun at her. Everyone knew how she’d spent all of her free time looking after Dylan and Katy, as well as the other unfortunate souls who’d been left in a coma after being transformed into mindless soldiers by the church.

“Hehe, I should have known our brother of all people would find a way to bring Dylan and Katy back.”

“I always believed that onii-chan would do it.”

“Stupid, I did too!”

The other Liberators smiled, warmed by Ruth and Corrin’s happiness.

“Oh Naiz-sama, you’re such a... naughty boy.”

Suddenly, the warm atmosphere froze over. Though Susha’s voice was gentle, it seemed to freeze the souls of everyone who heard it.

“Not again. Goddammit Naiz, not again...”

Though he was berating Naiz, Marshal’s voice was full of pity.

Timidly, Mikaela asked, “Wh-What happened this time, Susha?”

Yunfa, who was reading the letter together with her sister, responded in her place.

“Naiz-sama’s very popular. Meiru-oneesan told us everything.”

Everyone looked at the two letters in the siblings’ hands. They then turned to Tim. He looked away, trying his best to seem unconcerned. Of course, he couldn’t tell everyone he’d just handed over Meiru’s secret report on Naiz to the two of them.

Though none of them had met her, the Liberators all thought they could imagine Meiru’s laughter echoing through the cavern. They did not doubt that this new comrade of Miledi’s was... interesting, to say the least.

Susha finally recovered enough to talk, sending a wave of relief through the veteran Liberators who had fought things far scarier than a twelve-year-old girl without flinching.

“It’s fine.”

The haughty way in which she said that made it seem as though she’d personally eliminate the rabble that dared to crowd around Naiz. But then—

“We’ll be able to see him soon, Yunfa.”

“Yep.”

Susha blushed and stared at the letter in her hands with sparkling eyes. She looked like a wife awaiting the return of her beloved husband. Which was a problem in its own way. Everyone thought there was something wrong with this scene, but no one had the guts to say anything.

Susha’s obsessions aside though, the members of the Reisen branch were filled with hope. They’d soon be reunited with their friends and family. Furthermore, they’d be able to meet Miledi, Oscar, and Naiz’s new comrade. There was a sense that things were going to get better from here on out.

However, it was a sad truth of the world that fate tended to kick people down right when they were most hopeful. Suddenly—

“Run.”

A semi-transparent image of a young man appeared in the middle of the room. His name was Forest. And he was the one in charge of keeping watch up above tonight. Right now he was at a lookout tower camouflaged as a boulder near the surface. His special magic allowed him to detach his soul from his body, which was how he was contacting everyone right now. He opened his mouth to expand on his warning, but—

“Gah!”

Before he could, his spirit vanished.

“Mikaela!”

“Ah... No way!”

Her pained scream cut through the room.

“We’re under attack! I don’t know how many there are, or who’s attacking! They have some way to mask their presence! James and Forest... have been killed.”

Both of them had been strong enough to take on a few Holy Templar Knights on their own, and yet they’d been defeated in an instant.

The shock left everyone stunned until Mikaela shouted, “Ngh, everyone, prepare to fight! Non-combatants head to the clinic! Get the wounded and prepare to evacuate!”

The first to return to her senses was Shushu. She slapped her cheeks and dashed off. Her ears and tail were bristling, and her mouth twisted in an angry snarl. A second later, Tony, Abe, and the other fighters followed after her.

As they left, Marshal shouted, “I doubt they’ll be able to hide themselves down here, but be careful! Stay calm and focus on buying time!”

If Shushu and the others got too aggressive, it was possible some of the enemies would slip past them, and reach the undefended civilians within the settlement. That was the one thing that had to be prevented at all costs.

“Captain, I’ll help too!”

Ruth shook off Moorin, who was trying to hold him back and ran toward Marshal.

“No, you’ll just get in the way!”

“Ah...”

Marshal’s words were harsh, but Ruth’s life was on the line here.

“Besides, you’ve got a more important job, don’t you? Did you forget what your brother told you when he left?”

“Goddammit! Fine, I’ll go!”

Once again, Ruth was unable to fight together with the others. Once again, he was forced to run away, leaving those he cared about behind. It was so frustrating he wanted to cry. But Ruth shed no tears. There was no time to lament his helplessness. He turned on his heel and grabbed his precious sister, Corrin’s, hand.

“Let’s go. We’ve gotta get Dylan and Katy.”

“Okay.”

Oscar had tasked him and Corrin with protecting their bedridden siblings. Though Corrin was trembling in fear, she was determined to see her task through.

“Ruth-kun. I understand how you feel. It’s frustrating for me too.”

“But soon we won’t have to run.”

They were still children now. But as long as they survived, there’d be a next time. And if they weren’t strong enough next time, then they’d keep getting stronger for the time after that. That was what Susha and Yunfa were trying to tell Ruth as they ran with him.

“Yeah, this is the last time.”

Ruth picked up the pace, doing his best to ignore the sounds of fighting coming from behind him. Each clash was a like spear wedging into his back, reproaching him for fleeing while others fought.

While the kids ran, the other Liberators fought near the entrance.

“Dammit, these guys are crazy strong!”

Tony barely managed to fend off his opponents’ flurry of attacks. There were six enemies in total. They were gray robes with matching gray masks, so it was impossible to tell who they were. However, their physical prowess was leagues above anything the Liberators had seen.

Furthermore, they were more agile and dexterous than the best acrobats, using even the walls and ceiling as footholds. Despite their limber movements, even their lightest jabs struck with the weight of a warhammer.

Even Tony was hard-pressed to parry them, despite his amazing swordplay. Though he possessed no job or special magic, he’d practiced swordplay under Marshal for years. His simple defensive style was so well polished that it was considered impenetrable by the other Liberators. But for the first time, it seemed even his defenses were about to be breached. Overwhelmed by his opponents’ coordinated attacks, Tony was blown away.

He crashed into the wall behind him, grunting in pain. Before he could recover, another enemy dropped from the ceiling toward him.

“Not on my watch!”

Abe kicked off from the ceiling himself, getting behind the enemy. His job was Acrobat, and he was just as used to using the walls and ceiling to fight as these mysterious assailants seemed to be. He stabbed his opponent’s back just before their dagger reached Tony. The impact caused the assailant’s attack to miss its mark, only grazing Tony’s cheek instead of driving into his skull. Abe then jumped back, while Tony kicked his defenseless opponent. He recovered his stance just as Abe landed. Unfazed by the loss of one of their comrades, the other enemies rushed toward Tony and Abe. But before they could reach them—

“Fuck off!”

A shockwave rippled across the ground. Shushu had activated her special magic, Repulse. Waves of gray mana shook the cavern, sending the enemies flying. They crashed into the nearby walls and ceiling, pinned there by Shushu’s magic. Tony and Abe were far enough away that they weren’t affected, but some of the other Liberators closer to her were also sent flying.

After Marshal, Shushu, Tony, and Abe were the strongest fighters the Reisen branch had, and even they were having trouble with these enemies. The rest of the Liberators didn’t stand a chance against the mystery attackers, so Shushu had actually saved them by blasting them away. Coughing, they muttered their thanks to her.

However, she didn’t respond. Rather, she couldn’t. Because while the enemies had been knocked back by her Repulse, they looked completely unhurt. She couldn’t take her eyes off them for even a second.

“Haaah, haaah... What the hell’s with these guys!? They’re so creepy!”

Shushu yelled in frustration. Though she was rough-spoken and enjoyed picking fights, she cared deeply about her comrades. She wanted to slaughter all of these assailants for killing Forest and James.

Unfortunately, they were so strong that she couldn’t. There were five other fighters present aside from Shushu, Tony, and Abe. They had the numbers advantage, and most of the Liberators’ fighters could hold their own against even a Holy Templar Knight. And yet, they were being pushed back.

Marshal had told them to focus on buying time, but he needn’t have worried. Buying time was the most they were even capable of. Shushu didn’t have time to even curse before the enemy struck again.

A burly robed figure wearing steel gauntlets shot forward with such force that they shook the ground. Shushu crossed her arms in front of her to guard. Though she was thin, she’d inherited the blood of the wolfman clan. Her physical strength far surpassed that of humans and demons. But even so—

“Goddammit!”

She was sent flying by her enemy’s punch. The impact rattled her guard, and the bones in her arms creaked.

Shushu crashed into the wall behind her with a deafening boom. Cracks spread out from the point of impact, and her body was half-buried in the rock. She wasn’t the only one being pushed back, either.

“Gaaah!”

A short distance away, Tony clutched his flank as he shakily held his sword in one hand. Even as he was cut, he unleashed a counter that sliced through the stomach of his opponent. But his opponent continued pressing onward despite the blood spilling from their guts. It was as if they felt no pain. Tony tried to twist out of the way, but his opponent’s sword still stabbed his shoulder.

Seeing what a precarious position his comrade was in, Abe disengaged from his foe and dashed toward Tony. As he left, his opponent’s blade scratched his cheek.

“These guys heal way too fast! Are they beastmen or something!?”

Abe hit Tony’s opponent with a roundhouse kick and landed next to his companion. The man who’d stabbed Tony was the same one Abe had stabbed in the back just seconds ago. Even now, the gash Tony had opened up in his stomach was healing.

Shushu shouted, “You mean they’re all beastmen with special magic that lets them heal!? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

Their physical abilities were on par with beastmen. However, beastmen were supposed to be unable to use magic. There were rare exceptions who could use special magic, but that was it. It was impossible that the six people Shushu and the others were fighting all possessed the same special magic. This has to be some kinda sick joke.

Unfortunately for Shushu and the others, the joke was about to get much worse.

“Huh?”

Shushu pulverized the wall around her to get herself unstuck and examined her surroundings. For some reason, the gray-robed figures attacking them had stopped moving.

“They brought reinforcements?”

Deeper within the passage, black shadows drew closer. As their outlines became more distinct, Shushu realized they were all dressed in black, instead of gray. Their gauntleted hands lay limply by their sides, and their heads were drooping. They looked like puppets without a puppeteer. Furthermore, unlike the gray-robed figures, their masks were open at the mouths, and their jaws looked like those of beasts.

They looked unbelievably eerie. Shushu’s instincts screamed at her to run. The beastman blood flowing in her veins was telling her those creatures were dangerous.

“Hmph. Bring it on.”

She wiped off the cold sweat pouring down her forehead with the back of her hand. Shushu screamed at her instincts to shut up. So long as there were comrades left to protect, Shushu would never run. Leaving friends behind was a fate even worse than death.

“Hey, Tony? Can you still fight?”

“Of course I can. I still got those ampoules Oscar-san gave us.”

Grinning, Tony took two syringes out of his pocket and injected himself in the shoulder and side. The syringes were filled with enchanted liquid that healed far faster than regular potions. They were just one of the many tools Oscar had invented and delivered to all branches of the Liberators.

“You guys are good to go too, right?”

Though all of Tony’s comrades were heavily wounded, they nodded emphatically.

Shushu glared at the two black-robed newcomers and shouted to her companions, “As long as Marshal’s with the others, they’ll be fine. Are you ready to die, you bastards!?”

She knew they’d all die here, but they needed to buy enough time for the children and the sick to escape.

“Hell yeah!” all of the other Liberators shouted in unison.

A second later, Shushu heard a small voice whisper, “Limit Break.”

“Huh?”

Shushu cocked her head in confusion. Somehow, the enemy was already right in front of her. And there was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Oh. I just got hit, didn’t I? Surprised by her own calmness, Shushu suddenly felt a pain in the back of her neck.

“Shushu!”

“Get away from her, you monster!”

At the edge of her vision, she saw Abe throw a barrage of knives at the enemy. But they were all struck down with ease.

“Don’t... underestimate me, you fuck...”

Shushu activated her Repulse, sending shockwaves of gray mana radiating outward. The enemy jumped back immediately. Then, clutching her stomach and the back of her neck, she stumbled backward.

“What the hell did you...?”

The black-robed figure stood silently in the cavern, unaffected by Shushu’s shockwaves. Its lips were dyed red with Shushu’s blood.

“Don’t tell me you’re...”

Before Shushu could reveal the figure’s true identity, it started emanating an invisible pressure. Because of the Reisen Gorge’s special characteristics, she couldn’t actually see it, but she was certain the figure was unleashing vast amounts of mana. Were it not being dispersed the moment it left the figure’s body, it would likely have formed a spiral reaching up to heaven.

A second later, the figure vanished. Its speed surpassed even Shushu’s enhanced kinetic vision.

“Gah!”

Shushu was hit so hard it took everything she had just to remain conscious after the blow. She didn’t even know if she’d slammed into the wall, the floor, or the ceiling. Dirt and gravel filled her mouth, and all her muscles went limp. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move.

Goddammit... Shushu watched helplessly as her comrades were blown away one after another, blood spilling from their injuries as they flew.

Tony’s solid swordsmanship allowed him to block a few attacks, but eventually, a gauntleted hand knocked his sword away and another one chopped at him from above. A second later, that hand blurred, and Abe’s arm was flying through the air.

Move! Move, goddammit! Shushu desperately clawed at the ground, but she could do nothing more than that. Her body refused to listen to her orders. Soon enough, Tony fell as well. Abe was pinned to the wall by his own sword, his arm stump bleeding profusely.

Run! All of you, run! You’ve gotta tell Miledi! Darkness rimmed the corners of her vision. All Shushu could do was pray, the one thing she hated more than anything. As her consciousness faded, she heard the crunch of boots on gravel next to her. It seemed the reaper had finally come for her.

Isn’t that...? The last thing she saw before blacking out... was a small white silhouette.

Let us turn back time to a few minutes before Shushu and the others encountered the black-robed enemies.

“Mikaela, how’s it look?”

“Shushu and the others are putting up a good fight. But... there’s something strange about these enemies.”

“Did the church come up with some new abomination?”

It was obvious from Mikaela’s expression that if things went on for too long, Shushu and the others would be in danger. Marshal’s expression grew grim, and he looked over at the non-combatants who were rushing to the evacuation tunnel. Unlike other branches, this one housed a lot of comatose patients, so the going was slow.

Marshal wanted to go help his men, but he couldn’t afford to leave the civilians unprotected until they’d evacuated.

“Alright, well, we better hurry. Tim, you’re up.”

“You got it.”

As long as the group could make it to the chamber in the very back, they’d be able to reach the surface in seconds. By cutting the wires at the edge of the room, a pair of weights would drop, catapulting the entire space to the top of the gorge. That room also happened to be where Tim’s favorite horse and his messenger eagles were resting. And it was also stocked with carriages and other horses, so it’d be easy to transport people who couldn’t move. Including Tart, all of Tim’s horses had been strengthened so they could gallop faster than monsters.

“Sensei... Will we be safe on the surface?”

Susha looked up at Mikaela, carrying one of the comatose children on her back. Her face was scrunched up in worry.

“For now, the surface is safe. But our enemy has a way of masking their presence, so we can’t lower our guard.”

“Are they using that advanced light magic, Prismatic Haze?”

“Possibly. They could also be using an artifact of some sort. Either way, these aren’t your normal enemies.”

Even if they were relying on an artifact, it didn’t change the fact that they were a threat. But if they weren’t using an artifact, then that meant they could use advanced magic even in the bottom of the Reisen Gorge. Meaning they possessed massive quantities of mana, and were highly skilled mages.

At the same time though, the enemies’ physical abilities were far above normal. They weren’t just highly proficient mages, they were also highly proficient warriors.

Though Mikaela tried to sound calm, her voice shook. Ruth, who was carrying Dylan on his back, ground his teeth.

“Why’d they come here!?”

“Ruth. Our highest priority is to escape and meet up with our other allies. That’s all you should be thinking about right now.”

At Marshal’s words, Ruth nodded. Behind him, Moorin was carrying Katy while Corrin ran next to him. Both of them were pale-faced, but they looked determined.

The other non-combatant members of the Liberators were also carrying sick or comatose patients. Within ten seconds, everyone had reached the evacuation room. But just as they did—

“Marshal-san!”

Fortunately, Mikaela noticed just in time. It seemed even these mystery assailants weren’t completely immune to the effects of the Reisen Gorge. For just a second, their mana supply cut off and they lost control of the spell that was concealing them.

“You won’t get past me!”

At Mikaela’s warning, Marshal turned around immediately. He unslung the giant broadsword strapped to his back and held it in front of him like a shield. A second later, something hard impacted it.

“Gwooooooh!?”

Marshal, who was easily over 100 kilograms heavy, was pushed backward, his feet leaving furrows in the ground. The air in front of his sword shimmered. The magic concealing Marshal’s enemy dissipated, revealing a black-robed, masked figure with a bestial jaw. There was a short blade jutting out of its sleeve; an assassin’s dagger.

“Raaaaaaaaah!”

Marshal howled a battle cry, and his muscles bulged. His inhuman strength, the product of years of constant training, allowed him to swing his massive broadsword free. Unable to beat Marshal in a contest of strength, the black-robed figure leaped backward.

“Run, now!” Marshal yelled, adjusting his stance. He was using himself as a literal meat shield to protect the others.

“Let’s go, everyone!”

Tim hurried Ruth and the others forward. However, it was too late.

“Limit Break,” the figure muttered softly.

“Ngh! Diamond Skin!”

Sensing danger, Marshal quickly activated his special magic, Diamond Skin. Even with the help of Oscar’s artifact, casting that spell down here drained a prodigious amount of mana. Still, Marshal sensed that he had to use it or he’d die. His instincts proved to be correct.

“Gah!?”

Marshal’s massive frame was blown away like a leaf in the wind. He crashed into Mikaela and Tim, and the three of them rolled across the ground. They ran into Ruth, who fell down as well. Meanwhile, the girls all screamed.

At the same time, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Mikaela howled in pain. Looking over, Marshal saw that the black-robed figure was biting down on Mikaela’s neck. She struggled to break free, but it seemed the figure had broken her legs when it swooped onto her. She didn’t have enough strength left to resist.

“Mikaela!”

Marshal ignored the burning pain in his ribs and swung his broadsword at the figure. He swung with such ferocity that it seemed as though he was intent in cutting both the black-robed figure and Mikaela in two. But the black-robed figure kicked Mikaela in the stomach to bounce off her and jump out of the way. Mikaela crashed into the wall behind her, coughing up blood.

“Sensei!”

Susha dashed over to her. She took out one of Oscar’s recovery ampoules and poured it down Mikaela’s throat. But even as fast as Oscar’s medicine was, it wasn’t enough to heal Mikaela in time. Just as Susha finished pouring the last few drops down Mikaela’s throat, a wave of pressure hit her. Her breath caught in her throat, and her skin tingled. She involuntarily stiffened up.

“Get dooooooooooooooown!”

Just as Marshal shouted, a blinding burst of light illuminated the dark cavern room. It was followed by a deafening boom.

The overload of stimuli left Susha’s senses disoriented. All she could tell was that she’d been flung against something and that she was rapidly losing consciousness. A sudden impact to her shoulder snapped her hazy consciousness back into focus though.

“Ah...”

Susha discovered she couldn’t move. And it wasn’t just her shoulder that hurt, but her whole body. Her ears were still ringing, but she could faintly make out the sounds of people screaming in pain.

I have to get up. I can’t stop. If we stop we’re dead. Move! Open your eyes! After a few seconds, her body complied and Susha’s eyelids flew open.

The situation was disastrous. All of the Liberators were lying on the ground, and while a few were still able to move, none were able to stand. Most were either unconscious or groaning in pain.

Tim, who’d been flung against the wall, Yunfa, Corrin, Dylan, and Katy were faring better than the others, but not by much. The only reason Dylan and Yunfa were fine was because Ruth had transmuted a wall in front of them and used his own body as a shield. As for Katy and Corrin, Moorin had protected the two of them.

As a result, though, Ruth and Moorin were even more heavily injured than the others. Their legs and backs were covered with burns.

Considering the spell the figure had cast had been comparatively weakened by the properties of the Reisen Gorge, it was likely one of the strongest lightning spells in existence. Had this spell hit anyone directly, they would likely have been killed instantly. Anyone that wasn’t Marshal, that was.

“Marshal-san.”

If he focused all of his mana on defending with Diamond Skin, he was sturdy enough that he’d earned himself the nickname “The Unbreakable Shield.” He stood at the center of the blast radius, white smoke rising from his body. He’d absorbed most of the impact of that spell. Of course, it had come at a cost.

“Gah...”

Marshal fell to his knees, using his sword as a crutch to keep him from keeling over. Deep burns covered every inch of his body.

“Wh-What the hell are you?”

He asked that question in a hoarse voice. His goal was to buy time until he was capable of moving again. However, the black-robed figure didn’t even spare Marshal a second glance. Because of its mask, it was hard to tell what exactly the figure was looking at, but it was staring at the dazed and unconscious civilians.

Wait, who’s he looking at? Marshal knew it was a cardinal sin to take his eyes off the enemy while in a battle, but he was curious what the black-robed figure was after.

This isn’t just some ordinary raid, is it? Who’re they after? Marshal was frustrated. If slaughtering everyone wasn’t the enemy’s goal, then that meant the figure had known Marshal would block most of its attack. And it had utilized Marshal’s desire to protect his comrades to leave everyone mostly incapacitated.

After scanning the room, the black-robed figure walked over to Marshal. It drew its arm back, the assassin’s blade glinting dully in the light.

“So you... don’t need me, huh? Well then... at least tell me... what you’re after... I’d like to take a souvenir with me to the afterlife.”

Marshal still couldn’t move. His opponent didn’t answer. There was nothing more Marshal could do. But just as he’d resigned himself to his fate—

“Transmute!”

“Ah!”

He gasped as he heard a young voice echo through the room. A flash of green light filled the room, expanding as fast as that lightning spell had earlier. Marshal had his back turned to the light so he didn’t see the blinding flash directly, but the figure did. It covered its eyes with a sleeve and leapt backward. Marshal smiled, realizing that Ruth must have triggered the glowstone grenades he always carried with him.

I can’t believe I said he’d just get in the way. I gotta apologize to him later. Ruth wasn’t the only resourceful one either.

“Grace those warriors who fear not death with thine divine radiance— Hero’s Ballad!”

Marshal could feel strength welling up within him. Support magic had bolstered his physical prowess. At the same time, a soothing melody played across the battlefield. The Bard job was skilled not only at playing instruments, but it also excelled at support magic. Furthermore, its support magic was bolstered when accompanied by music.

This was the strength of Yunfa’s class. Though she was heavily wounded and barely even ten years old, she continued to play her violin to support Marshal.

“Sheesh. I can’t even hold a candle to these kids.”

Marshal mustered his strength and swung his broadsword. The black-robed figure hadn’t been expecting that sudden surge of strength from Marshal and had already lunged forward to attack. Marshal’s broadsword bit deep into the figure, and it flew backward in a spray of blood. He rushed forward to deal the finishing blow, but—

“Are you kidding me?”

He came to a halt when he saw the figure’s wounds close up in a second. Marshal was still covered in wounds. Yunfa’s magic had buffed him, but she wasn’t a healer. The situation was getting worse and worse.

In the distance, Marshal could sense a huge amount of pressure building. It seemed there was more than one of this strangely powerful enemy. Internally, Marshal despaired.

“Tim.”

“Wh-What is it?”

Tim, who was pouring potions down Mikaela’s throat, turned around. Even that simple movement took effort, with how injured he was.

“Escape by yourself.”

“What...? You’re kidding, right?”

“You think I’d joke around in a situation like this?”

This was no joke. Marshal needed at least one person to escape. Miledi and the others needed to be told of what was going on. The fastest one among them all was Tim. And the only way he’d be able to escape was if he escaped alone.

Tim opened his mouth to argue. But before he could say anything, the black-robed figure finished healing. It shot forward so fast its outline blurred. Marshal’s years of combat experience kicked in and he dove sideways on instinct. Not to dodge, though. But rather to prevent the enemy from passing by him. As he expected, the figure tackled into him.

Marshal dropped his sword and started grappling with the figure. He managed to grab both of its arms and pin it to the ground, but was then struck by a bolt of powerful lightning. Coughing up blood, Marshal nevertheless maintained his hold on the figure. He poured all of his mana into Diamond Skin, determined to delay the figure for as long as possible. His mana drained at a prodigious rate as he weathered spell after spell. And the only way he’d be able to escape was if he escaped alone. Gritting his teeth, he shouted, “Go! You have to tell Miledi! She needs to know!”

“Ngh!”

“You’re a man, aren’t you, Tim Rocket!? Then prove it and gooo!”

Tim struggled to his feet. He shot Ruth and Yunfa a pained, guilty look.

“We’re counting on you, Tim!”

“Bring Naiz-sama back with you!”

Despite how young they were, the two of them weren’t despairing, even in this hopeless situation. “Struggle until the very end.” That was the Liberators’ motto, and the two of them embodied it perfectly. Creme chirped forlornly at the two children, then flew onto Tim’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, guys.”

Tim’s voice shook. Leaving everyone felt like cutting off a part of his own body. But even so, he grit his teeth and ran, not once turning back. The only thing in his mind now was completing his mission.

Once he’d left, Ruth crawled toward Corrin and held out his hand. After detonating those grenades, he didn’t even have enough strength to stand. However, his younger sister’s wounds were a lot less serious. If he could just wake her up, she might be able to escape too.

Yunfa was nearing the limits of her mana as well, but she continued supporting Marshal, her face pale. Susha, on the other hand, ran over to Mikaela, ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder. Everyone who could move went to the aid of someone who couldn’t. No one was giving up. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they struggled, they were still out of time.

“Gah!”

At long last, Marshal was thrown off the figure. Standing next to him was another black-robed silhouette. Its hand dripped with blood, and there was a huge gash in Marshal’s torso, going from his shoulder to his stomach. His Diamond Skin had saved him from being killed instantly, but the wound was still serious.

Not yet! I can still fight! Marshal roused himself, burning through every last drop of strength in his body. Even as blood spurted from his wound, Marshal got to his feet and raised his sword. More so than his skills, it was his grit that had earned him the nickname Unbreakable Shield.

However, at this point, he barely had the strength left to stand. Worse, more enemies were coming out of the tunnel. Meaning that Shushu and the others had been defeated. The Liberators had been checkmated. But something seemed off.

“What?” Marshal muttered in confusion. The black-robed figures seemed oddly impatient, even though none of the Liberators could put up any meaningful resistance. They stared intently at Ruth, Corrin, Susha, and Yunfa. A second later, they ran over to the kids, not even bothering to finish Marshal off.

Are they here to kidnap them? Marshal once again moved so that he was between the children and the black-robed figures. He could barely stand though, and he knew this was just a futile struggle.

“Gwah!?”

So it was hardly surprising when one of them casually stabbed him in the chest without even slowing down. Marshal barely managed to move enough to avoid getting pierced through the heart, but the wound was nevertheless fatal. The black-robed figure flung Marshal against the wall, and this time he didn’t get back up. Though he knew it served no purpose, Marshal glared at the figures even as his lifeblood spilled onto the floor.

Ruth stood protectively in front of Moorin and Corrin as the black-clad figures approached. Marshal couldn’t help but smile when he saw Ruth’s mettle. Just as one of the figures raised its hand to strike Ruth down—

Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar! A pack of white wolves suddenly appeared. Their glowing crimson eyes made it clear they were monsters. However, it seemed they weren’t any ordinary monsters. They completely ignored Ruth and Marshal, their malice focused only on the assailants.

As expected, the black-clad figures tried to strike them all down, but they were outnumbered. Furthermore, packs of other monsters started flooding out of the corridor, creating a living wave that swept the assailants backward. It was like a flash flood of monsters.

Even the monsters the figures managed to kill created a wall of dead flesh, preventing them from moving forward. The monsters inflicted no damage on the figures, leaving them unable to get past them and head toward Marshal and the others.

What the hell’s going on? Vision blurring, Marshal watched in disbelief as a four-armed gorilla monster scooped up Ruth, Corrin, Dylan, and Katy. At the same time, a black panther with tentacles growing out of its back grabbed Moorin, Susha, and Yunfa.

It wasn’t just the children and Moorin that the monsters were grabbing either. While the white wolves kept the black-robed figures at bay, the other monsters grabbed all of the Liberators and carried them into the room behind them. Most surprising of all was the monsters’ eyes. Beneath the dark crimson gleam was a burning resolve. The wolves, and even the monsters, grabbing the Liberators seemed ready to throw down their lives for whatever mission they were carrying out.

As Marshal’s consciousness began to fade, he realized a monster had lifted him as well. He looked into the eyes of the monster carrying him and thought,

I don’t care even if you’re monsters... just please, save those kids... That was his last thought before unconsciousness took him.

The sound of bones grinding together echoed through the cavern.

“O-kun, you’re bleeding.”

Oscar was clenching his fists so tight that blood dripped from his hands onto the ground.

“You are too, Miledi-chan.”

Meiru gently brought a finger up to Miledi’s lips and wiped away the blood spilling from them. A brief flash of orange light healed the damage she’d done to them by biting down too hard. Meiru then healed Oscar’s fists and turned to Naiz. While Naiz wasn’t engaging in any acts of self-harm, he was crossing his arms tight enough to strangle a bear. The party’s final companion silently examined the deserted cavern, his eyes glazed over.

“Tim-kun? Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. But what was with that giant crowd of monsters that fled the cavern after I left?”

“That’s what we’re here to find out. And we’re going to need your help, so keep it together.”

While Meiru scolded Tim, Miledi and the others exchanged glances and sucked in a deep breath. After healing Tim in Prantz, Miledi and the others had rushed to the Reisen Gorge. The first thing they’d noticed was that a section of the gorge had crumbled away as if there’d been a landslide. Naturally, the Liberator headquarters was also in a horrible state.

They’d discovered James and Forest’s corpses in the lookout outpost near the surface. Meiru had used restoration magic to repair their bodies, and the party had held a short wake for their departed comrades. When Miledi heard from Tim that they’d spent their last moments warning their comrades rather than trying to escape, she muttered, “Your sacrifice won’t be forgotten.”

Though she’d shed no tears, it had been obvious that Miledi was grieving. Afterward, they’d had the Prantz branch members who’d come with them take the bodies back to Prantz for a proper burial while Miledi and the others had descended into the gorge. With the help of Oscar’s artifacts, Meiru had been able to use restoration magic on a large enough scale to repair the headquarters to the way it had originally been. Now Meiru was downing mana potions so that she could recreate the past and figure out what had happened here.

“Is everyone ready? I’m going to continue.”

“Yep. Go ahead, Meru-nee.”

Miledi steeled herself for the worst. But as Meiru’s magic played out, things headed in an unexpected direction. At the very end, monsters took the Liberators away, meaning there could still be hope of their survival. It was that knowledge which helped Miledi and the others remain calm, despite all that had happened.

After Meiru had downed another gallon of mana potions, she continued her magic where she’d left off. The black-robed figures finally broke through the pack of white wolves and started chasing after the monsters carrying Ruth and the others. However, other monsters would then take up the rearguard, keeping the figures at bay for just long enough that the monsters carrying the Liberators could stay ahead of their pursuers.

Though each monster bought only a few extra seconds, those seconds were invaluable.

Finally, Ruth and the others reached the innermost room, and the monsters carrying them cut the hidden wire without hesitation. It was as if they knew how this room worked already. There was a loud thud, and the room shot up toward the surface.

“So they knew about the location of this headquarters, and even how the secret escape route worked.”

“Their eyes were intelligent too... What on earth were those monsters?”

The pack of monsters had been comprised of all sorts of different types, but they’d all been coordinated. On top of that, they’d all been sentient. And they’d even known the layout of the village inside and out. Once they’d seen everything, Miledi and the others took the restored escape route back to the surface themselves.

“Miledi, do you have any comrades who can control monsters?” Naiz asked.

“If I did, I would have told you about them ages ago.”

Miledi gave him the expected reply. When the party reached the surface, Meiru’s past recreation magic revealed an astonishing sight.

“Hey, uh, that’s a wyvern flock, right?”

Like Oscar had said, there was a flock of wyverns roosting above the gorge. That in itself wasn’t too surprising. What was surprising was that they all had saddles and riders, and were carrying gondolas. People were riding inside the gondolas as well, and all of them were wearing bulky clothes to hide their appearance. They even wore masks. As the pack of monsters reached the gondolas, white-robed figures rushed out to heal the injured Liberators.

To Miledi and the others’ surprise, another gondola held Shushu and the other fighters. They were all gravely injured, but the slow rise and fall of their chests told the observers that they were still alive.

Just as the wyverns prepared to take flight, Ruth shouted, “Wait! Please let me down!”

Face contorted in pain, he tried to crawl out of the gondola. Thinking he was trying to escape, the white-robed figures ignored him. However, his next words caused them to pause.

“We need to blow up the headquarters! Please, help me do it!”

All headquarters had a self-destruct mechanism in place in case the worst happened. Ruth naturally knew about that as well.

The white-robed figures exchanged glances, then nodded. One of them carried Ruth out of the gondola. He quickly pointed out the various switches that needed to be triggered within the escape room to activate the self-destruct. Since the adults were all incapacitated, Ruth knew that taking care of all the loose ends fell to him. Oscar watched with admiration and pride as his little brother took charge.

“Nice going, Ruth-kun.”

“My, what a nice kid.”

“Heh, I expected no less from Oscar’s younger brother.”

“Yeah...”

Oscar adjusted his glasses to hide his eyes.

Smiling, Tim said, “All Ruth ever talks about is how he wants to be like his big brother. It drives Shushu up the wall.”

While Miledi and the others talked, Ruth finished setting up the self-destruct countdown. The white-robed figure then hurried back to the gondola, and this time the wyverns did take flight. Their heading was south. Once they crossed the gorge there was a thunderous boom and part of the Reisen Gorge crumbled.

“I see... Everyone managed to escape... I’m so glad. So, so glad.”

Tim fell to his knees, weeping with relief. Considering how bad Marshal and the others’ wounds had been it was too early to relax, but now the party knew there was at least hope. Miledi’s shoulders slumped, the tension draining out of her.

Meiru’s magic moved on to the next scene and Naiz muttered, “I don’t believe it.”

Naiz and the others had heard Tim’s description of what had attacked them. So they recognized the black-robed figures that jumped out of the ruined rubble of the headquarters, blasting aside any rocks in their path. None of the figures looked injured at all.

“I used the single-person escape chute to reach the surface and rode Tart toward Prantz.”

Of course, Creme and the other messenger eagles had flown with him. He’d barely gotten moving when he’d heard the explosion signaling the self-destruction of the headquarters. Overcome with grief, Tim had nevertheless focused on completing his mission. As a precaution, he attached warning messages to each of his eagles and sent them off in all directions.

But even they weren’t fast enough to escape the black-clad figures. Though it took only a few seconds until they were mere specks in the sky, the black-robed figures shot them all down with lightning magic. Even Creme, who’d been given a more detailed letter meant to be delivered directly to Miledi was shot down seconds after taking flight.

Worst of all though, was that the figures could keep up with Tart, who was faster than most monsters. Though Creme had managed to avoid being killed by the lightning by twisting out of the way, it had lost one of its wings and tumbled back into Tim’s outstretched hands. Tim had spurred his beloved horse as fast as it could go, but it wasn’t a match for these strange assailants, especially now that they were unhindered by the effects of the Reisen Gorge.

“So that’s what happened to your eagles...”

The few that survived used their bodies as shields to protect Tim. They flew at the black-robed figures and died, one after the other. No matter how much Tim screamed at them to run, they didn’t listen. Watching his family die like that had been the most painful thing Tim had ever experienced. And even then—

“It wasn’t enough for me to escape.”

Tart had given its all. Even after it had been pierced by ice magic, burned by lightning, and cut up by wind, it hadn’t stopped galloping toward Prantz, where Tim’s comrades were. But once all of Tim’s eagles were dead, nothing was protecting it from a direct hit, and one fatal blast of magic was enough to put an end to the poor horse’s life. Tim was struck as well, and he fell off of Tart even as the horse died. Though he tried to fight back, he wasn’t a trained warrior and in less than a second he was cornered.

“The only reason they didn’t finish me off was... probably because they wanted to know where everyone else had gone,” Tim muttered as the scene came to an end, still on his knees. Creme cooed softly on his shoulder and pecked at him with its beak.

“Tim...”

“Leader...”

Miledi knelt down in front of Tim. She gave him a sad smile and said, “Thank you for surviving.”

“Ah... Yeah... Leader...”

Tim sobbed quietly, and Miledi and the others had a moment of silence for Tart and the other animals. A gust of wind whipped its way past the party, drowning out Tim’s weeping. After a few minutes, Tim wiped his tears and looked up with newfound resolve.

“Sorry. I’m alright now. Anyway, there’s one thing that’s bothering me about all this.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, why did they just leave me there?”

Indeed, that was unnatural.

“When I was on the verge of death, one of them picked me up. It looked like they were going to ask where everyone had gone.”

But in the end, they didn’t. It wasn’t because Prantz’s Liberators had come to Tim’s aid or anything either. In fact, he’d been found by a passing merchant who’d brought him to a nearby village, not his comrades.

One of Prantz’s Liberators had happened to overhear that a boy on the verge of death had been brought to a nearby village along with his pet eagle. Thinking it could be Tim, the Liberators had gone to see what was up and taken Tim with them from there.

“If it was adventurers or something that were coming, I could see them being cautious, but they had nothing to fear from merchants. And yet, they still left. Oh, but they did all look up at the sky right before they did.”

According to Tim, it had felt like they were listening for something.

“Anyway, after that, they left in a pretty big hurry.”

“Were they receiving orders remotely?”

“Maybe part of their orders were to be as inconspicuous as possible?”

“That would explain why they were wearing those robes.”

Miledi, Meiru, Naiz, and Oscar nodded to each other.

“Let’s go check the headquarters again.”

The party wanted to analyze the raid more closely to see if they could glean any other hints.

“Yeah. Alright Meru-nee, take it away.”

“Leave it to—”

Meiru trailed off and staggered.

“Meru-nee!?”

“Oh my, it seems I used up too much mana.”

Though her tone was light, Meiru had been using restoration magic this whole time to recreate events a whole two weeks in the past. Even with all the mana potions she’d been drinking, she couldn’t stop the exhaustion that came with prolonged magic use. Oscar mentally kicked himself for not realizing what a huge burden this was placing on Meiru earlier.

“Let’s take a break for a bit,” he said.

“I’m fine. I know I may look like a dainty noblewoman, but I’m quite tough.”

I wouldn’t really describe you as a “dainty noblewoman...” everyone thought simultaneously. Meiru pulled a mana potion out of her cleavage, and her boobs bounced. Oscar, Naiz, and Tim all pointedly looked away. Miledi, on the other hand, looked at Meiru with dead eyes.

“Why do you keep your potions there, Meru-nee? You have a Treasure Trove, don’t you?”

“To tease you, of course, Miledi-chan.”

Miledi’s face reddened in rage, and for a moment everyone forgot how guilty they felt about forcing Meiru to push herself this hard. If Meiru had purposely put a potion between her breasts earlier because she knew Miledi would eventually feel bad about asking Meiru to exert herself, but would also want to search for clues as fast as possible, then her ability to manipulate her comrade’s mood was on a level that could only be called godlike.

“She really is something else, huh?”

“Yeah, what a reliable comrade.”

Oscar and Naiz smiled to each other, impressed by Meiru’s tactfulness. Normally she was just a lazy bum, but she had her moments like this one. The party returned to the bottom of the ravine and started combing through past events, looking for clues.

“I had an inkling this might be the case when I saw what happened to Shushu and Mikaela, but...”

Miledi trailed off, watching the scene where the black-robed figures blasted their way out of the ruined headquarters, but this time from below. While they were trapped in the rubble, the black-robed figures leaped at their gray-robed allies, or perhaps subordinates, and bit their necks. A second later, their power grew exponentially, and they cast both offensive and defensive magic simultaneously to clear the rubble. Such a feat would be difficult normally, but within the Reisen Gorge, it was nigh-impossible.

“Vampires... It seems like they really do get stronger by sucking blood.”

Meiru’s tone was casual. Though her father was a vampire, she didn’t really have a problem discussing the topic and she didn’t want her comrades trying to act considerate or anything. Smiling ruefully, Miledi nodded to Meiru and turned to the ever-reliable Oscar.

“What do you make of this, O-kun?”

“Well...”

There were five things Oscar knew for sure. The assailants had scouted out the Reisen Gorge headquarters beforehand and understood its composition. And the same held true for the Liberators’ mysterious rescuers. The attacking side had exhibited a lot of traits commonly associated with vampires. While the rescuing side could control monsters. The assailants’ primary goal seemed to have been capturing Ruth and the other children.

Oscar laid those five points out to Miledi, then said, “The question here is, why would vampires be attacking us? Also, that physical strength of theirs was abnormal... I haven’t seen any vampires myself, but from what I’ve read...”

Oscar turned to Miledi, going over all the knowledge he had on vampires in his head. She nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Vampires, like demons, are supposed to be skilled mages, but I’ve heard they’re not much stronger than humans physically. Though apparently, they can grow stronger by sucking blood.”

“But Shushu and the others were being pushed back even before their blood was sucked.”

Furthermore, even if they had sucked Shushu’s blood, it still didn’t make sense that they could shoot off such powerful magic at the bottom of the gorge. They had the magical capacity of demons, the physical strength of beastmen, and the special traits of vampires. It was like they were some kind of supersoldiers.

“Their recovery speed was unnatural too. Can all vampires heal that quickly?” Naiz asked.

Pensively, Oscar said, “The books I read said they can heal by drinking blood. But those gray-robed figures...”

“Never drank any blood.”

“Were they a different race, then? But they could heal unbelievably fast too.”

Oscar’s expression grew grim and he muttered, “Limit Break, huh?”

“Yeah... I was thinking about that too. You think they’re from the church?”

Miledi thought back to her fight with the captain of the Holy Templar Knights, Laus Barn. He’d possessed ancient magic that let him interfere with the souls of others, and had possessed a skill that strengthened people past their limits. But to Miledi’s surprise, Oscar shook his head.

“Nah, probably not.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Of course I can’t say anything for certain, but... I feel like the church has stronger trump cards they could have used.”

Of course, it was possible the church had been experimenting on creating some new breed of soldier and had wanted to pit their test subjects against the Liberators. But if their primary goal was to capture the children, they would have picked a more surefire method.

“Ah... that apostle.”

Miledi was referring to Hearst, the one they’d fought in the past. But seeing as they’d already fought her once, the church had no reason to hide her existence from them or worry about being inconspicuous.

“Those white-robed guys flew south. On top of that, vampires are supposed to be isolationist, but those gray-robed people with them didn’t seem to be vampires. If we consider all that, the attackers were most likely—”

Oscar raised his eyes and paused dramatically. But just as he opened his mouth to state his deduction—

“Demons, ya.”

“Huh!?”

Miledi and the others whirled around in surprise, instantly prepared to fight. They glared at the corridor the voice had come from, but saw nothing.

“Where do ya think you’re looking?”

The voice seemed to be coming from below them. Confused, Miledi and the others looked down. Staring up at them was a rat. However, it was standing on its hind legs, its forelimbs crossed over its chest. It was wearing a muffler and carried a sword the size of a toothpick.

“Uh, what kind of bizarre creature is this?”

“No clue,” Oscar muttered in response to Miledi’s question. Dumbstruck, Miledi and the others stared at the haughty rat. The rat ignored their shock and continued talking.

“I’m Vandre Schnee. Rejoice, ya bastards. I’m offering to pledge my ancient magic to your cause.”

Miledi and the others didn’t register anything he just said. They were still trying to comprehend that a rat was talking to them. Even in the world of Tortus, that wasn’t normal. The fact that it seemed to say “ya” a lot despite having a normal accent otherwise bothered them too.

The rat kept talking for a few more minutes before it finally realized Miledi and the others were so shocked they weren’t listening. He glared at the Liberators and said, “Are you going to stand there forever, or what? Are your ears just decorations, huh?”

Picking their jaws up off the floor, Miledi and the others exchanged glances.

Now that they were finally listening, the rat sighed and said, “Hmph. I’ll only say this one more time, so listen well. I’m saying I’ll join ya little group. I’m like ya... a user of ancient magic. My name’s Vandre Schnee.”

This time, Miledi and the others comprehended his words. It seemed a rat was one of the ancient magic users Miledi had scoured the world for. This was in and of itself a shocking revelation.

“Tch. Oi, four-eyes. What’s with that face? Got a problem with me, huh?”

“Well, I’ve got a problem with you using ‘ya’ all the time.”

You’re just gonna come out and say it!? Miledi turned to Oscar in surprise.

“Hm? Oh... I can’t help it, ya. Whenever I use Batyam’s power to camouflage myself, I end up getting some weird verbal tic, ya.”

It appeared Vandre didn’t think too highly of his speech style either, and he looked away awkwardly. At any rate, it seemed nothing could be done to fix his tic.

“Batyam?”

Oscar cocked his head in confusion.

“Not Batyam, Batyam!”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it? Batyam.”

“No! Bat-ya-m!”

“Huh?”

“Tch, damn four-eyes. I’m gonna smash those glasses of yours.”

“Why!?”

Miledi’s gaze swapped back and forth between Oscar and Vandre as they argued. This sight was so surreal she could hardly believe it was happening. Oscar and Vandre’s argument went in circles for a while until Vandre realized he’d get nowhere like this. He clicked his tongue.

“Tch... This form takes up a lot less energy, but ya won’t understand a thing unless I go back to normal.”

As he muttered that, Vandre started to melt.

“What!? Are you a slime!?”

But the surprises didn’t end there. More viscous liquid, in other words slime, started pouring out of the cracks of a nearby boulder and gathered around the slime that had been Vandre. They piled on top of each other until they were human height, then their form started to solidify. The transformation took only a few seconds.

“Mmm... Good work as always, Batlam.”

Standing in front of Miledi and the others was a young man who looked like a demon. He had swarthy skin, pointed ears, and red eyes. All physical features shared by demons. But his hair wasn’t deep red like most demons’, but rather a pale sky-blue.

Going off of appearances he appeared to be in his early twenties. He was around 180cm tall and his hair was braided back on one side, but on the other it fell free and his bangs covered his right eye. His gaze was sharp, and his expression sour. Judging based on first impressions alone, he seemed like the kind of guy to be fussy about everything.

He had on a high-neck sleeveless white shirt as well as white pants and boots. He also wore a muffler which, like the rest of his ensemble, was white. The muffler was embroidered with artistic flower and vine patterns. The white motif of his clothing gave Miledi and the others a sense of deja vu.

“H-Hey, umm, are you the one who saved our comrades?” Miledi asked, her eyes sparkling.

“Got it in one, Lady Reisen.”

Vandre’s way of addressing Miledi was rather strange. It was almost as if he saw her more as the noble daughter of Earl Reisen than the leader of a group of rebels. Growing even more confused, Miledi and the others exchanged glances again.

“Now then, let me reintroduce myself. My name’s Vandre Schnee.”

Still looking displeased, Vandre furrowed his brow and said, “Your friends are with my clan. If you want them back, you better come save me.”

While everyone else was still reeling in confusion, Oscar thought, Yeah, I don’t think I can get along with this guy.

After that, the party left the Reisen Gorge. Miledi begged Vandre to let them meet with their comrades, but he refused.

“My clan’s healers are skilled, and they have my familiars’ special magic. Your friends’ lives are in no danger. Stop wasting time and follow me.”

Miledi and the others followed Vandre to a spot a short distance from the gorge, where he called even more slimes and transformed them into a wyvern. He then forced everyone onto his back and took to the skies. Before they left though, Miledi and the others left Tim behind to tell those back at the Prantz branch what had happened.

“And right now, you’re using one of your familiars’ Batyam-chan’s power to—”

“Batlam.”

Vandre corrected Miledi. It seemed getting the name right was important to him.

Incidentally, it seemed Vandre had come up with the name Batlam by smashing the words butler and slime together and fudging the pronunciation until it sounded less ridiculous. As Miledi and the others had expected, Vandre’s ancient magic allowed him to control, create, and strengthen monsters. It was known as metamorphosis magic. The monsters that had come to the Liberators’ aid back in the Reisen Gorge had all been his familiars.

Of the monsters under Vandre’s control, Batlam was the one he’d known the longest. It had been with him since childhood, and years of being strengthened by Vandre had made it far superior to other slimes. Normal slimes possessed the special magic mimicry as well, but at best they could change colors or imitate the vague shape of something else. Batlam, on the other hand, could copy even the traits and abilities of something it mimicked. By transforming into a person it could talk, and thanks to its high intelligence it could even impersonate personalities. Of course, the stronger the person or monster it was copying the weaker Batlam’s version of its skills would be, and it couldn’t copy particularly rare special magic or ancient magic.

Still, it was extraordinarily useful. Considering its versatility, Miledi and the others could see why Vandre had named it after a butler. Of course, Batlam’s ability had its flaws. Because of how perfectly it could mimic its target, it often inherited weird traits from what it was mimicking at the time. Just like how when it had looked like rat-Vandre, it had some weird verbal tic. Which was why he’d ended up pronouncing his proud butler’s name as Batyam instead of Batlam. And of course, now Miledi had taken to the name Batyam so much that she refused to use its real name.

“So Batyam-chan, right now you’re mimicking your master, and allowing Van-chan to remotely control your body, is that right?”

“It’s Batlam. And who’re you calling Van-chan?”

“And right now, the real Van-chan is trapped in the demon lord’s dungeon, right? There’s a bunch of other people being held there too, and Van-chan wants us to save them all.”

“Don’t ignore me. And stop calling me Van-chan.”

“What about the people from your clan, the Schnee clan? Aren’t you their chief, Van-chan? Shouldn’t they come save you?”

“Don’t be stupid. My clan is my greatest asset, but also my biggest weakness. It’s thanks to them that I can talk to you guys like this through Batlam, and it’s thanks to them that I’m able to still affect things across the continent. If they came to save me and got captured too... we’d be done for. Also, the next time you call me Van-chan, I’m throwing you off.”

Vandre, or rather Batlam mimicking Vandre, sat cross-legged at the head of the wyvern which was also Batlam. He kept his back turned to Miledi and the others as he gave his explanation. It seemed the real Vandre was held captive somewhere in the demon lord’s castle. He wasn’t the only one either. Members from various races were all being held captive there. The one thing they all shared in common was that they could use special magic. And the reason they were there was to serve as test subjects for the demon lord’s experiments.

The demon lord was trying to fuse multiple race’s special magics together to create supersoldiers that could fight against the human church. The black-robed creatures that had attacked the Reisen Gorge were one such variant. Miledi and the others now understood why those vampires had been uncharacteristically strong.

The demon lord had taken vampires and fused the abilities of demons and beastmen into them. Naturally, such a feat should have been impossible. He hadn’t cross-bred vampires with other races, he’d taken vampire bodies and literally injected the traits and magic of other races into them.

Oscar didn’t even want to think about how many lives must have been sacrificed to create those abominations. Vandre’s voice remained level the whole time he talked about the demon lord’s atrocities, but everyone could tell he was trapped in a truly hellish place. It seemed since he’d been captured, Vandre had been using his metamorphosis magic as a bargaining chip to protect the other captives, but even then, it was only a matter of time. Miledi could see why he was in such a hurry.

“Van-chan, are you doing okay?” Miledi asked in a worried voice.

“What do you mean?”

Vandre brought his muffler up to his nose to hide his expression. True to appearances, he was the kind of guy who tried not to show any weakness.

“The demon lord’s currently away inspecting his western territories. This is our best chance.”

Vandre brought the discussion back on topic. According to him, the black-robed quasi-vampires were part of his personal guard.

“Are you sure we should just leave them alone?” Naiz asked, his expression troubled. Those black-robed creatures had hurt his comrades. But at the same time, they were victims of the demon lord’s cruelty. It was possible Vandre would want to save them too.

“For now, saving the powerless takes priority. Once that’s done, I’ll—”

I’ll free them. Even if I have to do it alone... Though he kept that last thought to himself, his intentions were clear to Naiz. Vandre knew he couldn’t ask the Liberators, who were victims of the supersoldier assault, to go save them. Miledi opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Vandre cut her off.

“Besides, the demon lord’s using an artifact to bind them to his will. Unless we do something about that artifact, there’s no point in saving them... and destroying that artifact won’t be easy.”

“You sound pretty scared of this demon lord. Is he that strong?”

Vandre frowned and nodded in response to Miledi’s question.

“Of course he is. He’s the king of the strongest anti-church faction in the world.”

He possessed an insane quantity of mana and had a deeper knowledge of magic than anyone. On top of that, he possessed rare and powerful artifacts. But most of all—

“He’s unfathomable.”

Vandre spoke of him as though he were some deep abyss that sucked everything in. A cold wind blew past the party.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Vandre said haughtily, “Anyway, I didn’t save your comrades out of compassion. I saved them so you’d save me. If you help me with my plans, not only will you get your comrades back, but you’ll be able to get me into your ranks too. Not a bad deal, right?”

It was in fact a wonderful deal. Almost too good to be true, in fact. Miledi and the others exchanged glances. They still had a boatload of questions. But Oscar and the others knew from the look in Miledi’s eyes that she’d already made up her mind. Still, it’d be nice if they could clear up some of their doubts first.

Normally, Oscar was the one to ask the questions, but he seemed oddly unwilling this time around. He was adjusting his glasses far more frequently than usual. It wasn’t that he was impatient to meet with Ruth and the others, more just that Vandre’s personality irked him.

As they flew, the party suddenly saw a break in the clouds below. They hadn’t noticed because of the cloud cover, but they’d covered a good deal of distance while they talked. The ground beneath them was dotted with little towns and villages. It seemed they were already within Igdol territory. Seeing that Oscar was unwilling to be the interrogator, Naiz decided to pick up the slack.

“Do you know why the demon lord targeted Susha and the other children?”

“I’m curious how he discovered the location of our headquarters as well. The rat Ruth-kun was worried about was you, right Van-kun?”

Meiru added on a supplementary question.

“Gah, now it’s Van-kun? Why do you lot all act so friendly with people you just met?”

Bringing his muffler up over his mouth, Vandre coughed and said, “The demon lord’s always been chasing after ‘Lady Reisen.’”

“Wait, the demon lord’s my stalker!? Oh no, how scary! Being popular is such a terrifying thing! I’m sorry I’m so beautiful I make everyone fall for me regardless of their race!”

“I won’t deny you looked pretty stunning when you were younger. I had a chance to see you once too, using farsight magic.”

It seemed Vandre had seen Miledi in her younger days.

“Oh my!” Meiru exclaimed while Oscar and Naiz looked dubiously at Vandre.

Meanwhile, Miledi, who was quite weak to praise, blushed profusely and said, “Fuhehehehehe. Y-Yep! I knew you had a good eye, Van-chan! That’s right, I’m the beautiful genius mage Miledi-chan! O-kun, Nacchan, Meru-nee, did you hear him!? I’m a lady! A beautiful lady people all over the world fall for! Repeat after me! Miledi is a lady!”

Vandre turned back to Miledi with a pitying look and said, “The passage of time... truly is a cruel thing.”

“Oi, what the heck’s that supposed to mean, huh?” Miledi went from embarrassed to angry in a split second. It was amazing how her expression turned from blushing maiden to mafia boss so quickly.

“Ah, so you do get it,” Oscar and Naiz said to Vandre, nodding in agreement. Miledi rounded on them, and they quickly averted their gazes.

“A-Anyway, why did he go after Susha and the kids?”

“You’ve gotta have figured it out by now, right? He wanted to use them as hostages against you.”

When he put it that plainly, Naiz did feel a little dumb for not realizing it sooner.

From the very start, the Reisen family had been a thorn in the demon lord’s side. After all, they were the only human nobles who possessed land on the southern side of the gorge. Meaning not only were they encroaching on demon lands, but they were also the ones responsible for pushing the battle lines back. Though it had only been Reisen the first who’d managed to actually capture land in the south, his descendants had managed to stubbornly hold onto it for generations. To add insult to injury, every member of the Reisen family, without fail, had been born with more magic than most demons. Since the Reisens were the strongest human mages alive, it was difficult for even the demon armies to defeat them.

However, that same Reisen family had been destroyed in a single night. It was unbelievable. The demons, naturally, had been unable to ignore such news. But because of how dangerous the Reisens were in their mind, they’d overthought the situation. Believing that it was some elaborate trap laid by the Reisen family, they’d done nothing.

“After all, we’re talking about the Reisens here.”

The same family that was known for being cruel and inhumane. They were seen less as people and more as an unfeeling machine designed to reap the lives of demons.

From the demons’ point of view, it was impossible that such an insurmountable wall had been destroyed so easily. Fueling their suspicions had been the fact that they’d been unable to locate the corpse of the family’s eldest daughter. The same genius mage who’d been said to possess talent equal to Reisen the first.

“Ahhh, yeah, I can see that. I’d probably think it’s a trap too.”

Oscar nodded in understanding, as did Naiz and the others. As a result, the demon kingdom had begun investigating the Reisen heir. Consequently, they’d discovered a few things.

One: She’d been involved in the creation of a great chasm within The Greenway, as well as the death of one of Velka’s bishops.

Two: She’d been involved with the creation of a massive crater within the Crimson Desert, and the death of one of its bishops.

Three: She’d been present when Andika had sunk to the bottom of the ocean and fought with the Holy Templar Knights.

During his investigation, the demon lord had also discovered the existence of the Liberators, as well as the Reisen heir’s current goal—to recruit fellow users of ancient magic.

“For some time, the demon lord had known there was a secret anti-church organization. But until recently, he hadn’t paid it any attention. After all, it was an organization trying to oppose the church.”

The demon lord figured there was no way it would last very long. However, once he learned the Reisen heir was leading it, his opinion changed. Especially when he discovered that she already had three other comrades capable of using ancient magic. The Liberators suddenly became an organization the demon lord couldn’t ignore. But at the same time, he’d suffer huge losses if he sent his armies after them. While the demon lord was happy to see another force fighting the church, he knew that if the Liberators didn’t believe humans should rule everything, there was little chance they’d agree with his view that demons should rule everything. Which was why he wanted to mount a raid both to show his power and to obtain hostages as a means of deterring Miledi and the others.

“It took him a while, but his spies finally managed to track down one of your bases. They’re pretty good, but your biggest mistake was sending too many letters,” Vandre said with a shrug.

No matter how well-camouflaged a base was, repetitive actions would leave traces that a skilled tracker could pick up on.

“Haha... So that was his way of getting back at the Reisens? I guess I’ve gotten lax since meeting O-kun.”

Miledi smiled weakly. There were dark shadows under her eyes. Her clear, sky-blue eyes clouded over. Seeing how down she looked, Meiru softly hugged Miledi from behind, trying to cheer her up.

“Miledi-chan, there’s no such thing as a perfect person, and you don’t have to try and be one.”

“Meru-nee...”

“You saw how happy the Liberators were to see you. I’m sure they felt the same way when they got a letter from you, too. Your words have supported everyone until now.”

Miledi’s letters had contained details about the new comrades she’d made, the places she’d visited, what she wanted to do with everyone when she saw them again, and so on. No matter what the reason, none of her comrades would have wanted her to speak to them less. Because the organization Miledi had built up was neither mechanical nor inhumane like her family’s had been.

“Everyone had been prepared for something like this. And it would have happened eventually. But because of how well we’ve trained everyone, our comrades were able to pull through without losing anyone.”

And so long as no one was dead, Meiru Melusine could heal them all with her restoration magic.

“So pull yourself together, Miledi-chan. And you two, stop looking so depressed.”

Scolded by Meiru, Miledi, Oscar, and Naiz looked up at her. Then, they exchanged glances and smiled wryly at each other.

“I must have been looking really pathetic if even you scolded me, Meru-nee.”

“I know you said no one needs to be perfect, Meiru, but coming from someone as flawed as you it just sounds like an excuse.”

“And it’s not like you’ve helped with any of the training.”

“Is it just me, or are you three not as down as you look?”

Meiru shot the three of them a withering glare and they all looked awkwardly away. Sighing, she turned to Vandre, who was looking back at the group over his shoulder, and asked, “So? Who exactly are you? No normal prisoner would be this well-informed.”

“Like I said. I’m just the chief of a remote demon clan who happens to be able to use ancient magic.”

“That doesn’t explain how you were able to locate the Reisen headquarters yourself, contact your clan, and send an army of monsters to hold off the demon lord’s experiments.”

“Batlam’s just that versatile.”

“In that case, why was a mere clan chief like you allowed to see Miledi-chan in her younger days?”

On top of that, Vandre seemed awfully knowledgeable about the demon lord’s thoughts and plans.

“...Batlam’s just that versatile.”

“Oh my, what was that pause for just now? And why did you turn around? It’s only proper manners to look someone in the eyes when you’re speaking to them, isn’t it, Van-kun?”

Meiru narrowed her gaze, looking more like the pirate queen she was than a harmless young lady. Her sadistic streak had come out in full force, and she would torture the answers out of Vandre if she had to. She licked her lips in anticipation, and though Vandre wasn’t looking at her, he shivered. Meiru crawled past Miledi and stalked her way toward Vandre like a panther. She arched her exposed back and—

“Alright, alright, that’s enough, Meru-nee. You sit back for a bit. If you get your hands on Van-chan, this’ll become an 18+ novel.”

“Aren’t those your favorite, Miledi-chan?”

“No, they’re not!”

Denying it that vehemently just makes you more suspicious... Though Oscar and Naiz both thought the same thing, they were wise enough not to say it aloud. They simply exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Miledi shot the two of them a reproachful glare, then floated over to where Vandre was sitting. She circled around until she was in front of him, then used gravity magic to match her speed to his wyvern’s flight.

“We’ll help you, Van-chan. We’ll save you and all the other captives in the demon lord’s castle.”

Miledi’s tone was different from usual. It was calm and completely serious.

“We’re Liberators, after all.”

It was Miledi and the others’ duty to liberate those who were trapped by injustice. Her sky-blue eyes glinted with a fierce determination. There wasn’t a hint of falsehood in her words.

“But there’s one thing I need to be sure of.”

Feeling uncomfortably pressured by Miledi’s steady gaze, Vandre looked down and shot back, “What?”

“You promise you’ll become a Liberator?”

“Yeah. Once this is over, I’ll—”

Vandre trailed off. No, he was forced to cut his words short by the intensity of Miledi’s gaze. Vandre gulped, knowing frivolous promises weren’t what Miledi was looking for. Even though she said nothing, he knew what she was really asking.

“Are our comrades really safe? Are you certain they don’t need Meiru’s magic to survive?”

If she’d just been asking if he was prepared to fight against the church, he would have said yes without hesitation. That was the question he’d expected her to ask. But instead he’d been asked something far heavier: “Are you certain you didn’t abandon any lives that could have been saved?”

I see... So this is the true nature of the woman who leads the Liberators. Becoming a Liberator was about more than just fighting the church.

“I...”

Though he opened his mouth to answer, Vandre’s shame prevented him from doing so. He brought his muffler up to hide his expression, but then felt even more ashamed about doing that. Vandre was conflicted. I want to tell her the truth but... I need to keep something as insurance.

Sneaking into the demon lord’s castle to rescue his test subjects was tantamount to declaring war on one of the two biggest powers in this world. As they were already embroiled in a conflict with the church, Vandre wasn’t certain they’d be willing to hurl themselves at the demon army as well, at least not without leverage. It was possible they’d abandon him at a critical moment. Even if what I’m doing is scummy, even if people say I’m no better than the demon lord, I still...

“Don’t you dare underestimate us.”

Vandre looked up in surprise. It hadn’t been Miledi who’d said those words, but Oscar. He turned around and saw Oscar scowling at him. Though his eyes were hidden by his glasses, he was obviously unhappy about something.

“We owe you our lives.”

“......”

“It doesn’t matter what kind of guy you are, you saved our family.”

“So what?”

“So if you wish it, we’ll gladly lay our lives down for your cause.”

Vandre gasped, clearly at a loss for words. Oscar had guessed everything he was thinking. Not only that, even though Vandre was effectively holding Oscar’s family hostage, Oscar said he was willing to give up his life for him.

“Stop overthinking things. It’s only natural that we’d want to repay you.”

Naiz offered a few follow-up words.

“You should just give in. These children are the world’s biggest idiots. You can’t win against them.”

It didn’t even matter that this was Vandre’s request. Now that they knew there were people in trouble, Miledi and the others had to go save them. That was what it meant to be a Liberator. Regardless of what kind of person Vandre was, they’d go save him. But at the same time, Vandre was no fool. Not everyone in the world was trustworthy, and his situation was dire enough that he couldn’t just take them at their word.

“Ridiculous... I’m a demon. Not only that, I’m asking you to pick a fight with an empire that controls half of the world. You expect me to believe that without any insurance, you’ll keep your word?”

Quietly, he whispered to himself, “How can I trust you when even the person I trusted most in this world turned on me?”

Vandre furrowed his brows and met Miledi’s gaze.

Miledi smiled fearlessly and replied, “An empire? Half of the world? Because you’re a demon? Van-chan, it seems you’ve misunderstood what the Liberators are.”

“I have?”

Vandre had believed they were just an anti-church organization. Wondering what other objectives they could possibly have, Vandre gave Miledi a questioning look. She struck an intimidating pose and pointed up at the sky.

“We may be fighting the church, but our true enemy isn’t the church. It’s who’s behind it.”

Behind the... church? You mean those deities who look down upon us from up above? You’re kidding, right? Vandre’s confusion turned to disbelief.

Under the vast open sky, Miledi boldly declared, “The gods are our enemy! Who cares about some measly demon lord and his empire!?”

Just then, Batlam shifted its heading a little to keep the party on course, and the sun illuminated Miledi from behind. Looking like the very avatar of the sun, Miledi glowed with a radiant light.

“The Liberators’ goal is to create a world where people can live freely. A world where everyone can cooperate without the gods’ meddling!”

“A world where everyone can cooperate...”

Those words struck Vandre to the core, melting the ice around his heart.

“You’ve had this really troubled look this whole time, Van-chan.”

“Huh?”

“It’s like there are all these things you want to talk about, but can’t. And that just talking about them would be too painful. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Don’t talk like you know me.”

Not again. What’s with those eyes of hers? How can they be so overwhelming? How is it that she can see right through me? Vandre wanted to tell her to shut up, but he couldn’t get the words out. Meanwhile, Miledi continued talking.

“For example, let’s take your familiars, Van-chan. The truth is, you treasured them all dearly, didn’t you?”

“Th-That’s not true. I just grabbed a few monsters and powered them up to—”

“When I saw their eyes, I could tell. They were all filled with determination. Those monsters gave their lives for you, Van-chan. They died not just to save my comrades, but to answer your expectations. Isn’t that right?”

That much had been obvious from the visions of the past Meiru had conjured up. At least, it had been obvious to Miledi.

“There’s no way monsters with eyes like that were ordinary.”

“What’re you trying to say?”

If all Vandre had been after was to put Miledi and the others in his debt by saving the Liberators, he wouldn’t have asked his precious familiars to sacrifice themselves for Marshal and the others. He could have just had them save Ruth and a few other important people while Marshal and the rest fought. After all, if Vandre had said saving the children was the most he could manage, Miledi and the others would have had no way of knowing he was lying. Meaning the reason Vandre had saved everyone was that he couldn’t bear to see anyone die.

“Van-chan. I think you’re trustworthy.”

Even though all he had to do was nod and say, “I see,” Vandre instead spat, “That’s not true at all. There’s more to it.”

He wasn’t arguing just for the sake of it, though. He really hadn’t saved everyone just because his conscience had told him to. There was a much more shameful, unacceptable reason that he’d done that.

“I know there’s more to it, but I think you’re still trustworthy.”

“You... How...?”

Vandre trailed off, amazed at how easily this girl saw through him.

Miledi grinned and replied, “Fufufu, you can’t hide anything from me.”

Seeing how taken aback he was, Miledi’s expression softened and she said, “Van-chan. I’m really happy you want to join us. Really, I am... Which is why I need you to tell me.”

Eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and quiet resolve, Miledi asked, “After you join us, no one will have to be sad, right?”

Miledi’s words echoed through Vandre’s mind. The rational side of his brain was shouting at him to just say whatever Miledi wanted to hear. For the sake of his comrades, for the sake of their salvation, he knew that was what he needed to do. He couldn’t afford to lose his one trump card he had over these people he’d just met. Anyone who tried to cross rapids without a lifeline was a fool. This was something Vandre understood well. And yet, before he knew it, he was talking.

“There’s a spot near the capital where I’ve hidden a wyvern of mine. Meiru Melusine, if you ride that wyvern, it will take you to my clan’s hidden village.”

Why did I say that?

“Van-chan...”

“It’s true that all of your comrades are still alive. But many of them won’t survive for much longer. There may be casualties if we wait until after the rescue operation.”

Looking down to avoid meeting Oscar and the others’ gazes, Vandre said quickly, “This is as much of a compromise as I can make. You have to rescue everyone before the demon lord returns. If you insist on all going to the hidden village, I’ll have to—”

“Thank you, Van-chan.”

Miledi’s tone was gentle and accepting. Looking up, Vandre saw that she was smiling. Miledi floated through the wind back toward the wyvern. Vandre watched her, entranced. She circled around behind him and did a little twirl. Facing Batlam, she held out her hand. Both as a gesture of thanks, and of friendship.

Embarrassed, Vandre drew his muffler up to his face and brusquely thrust out his hand. But just as he did, a sudden gale buffeted him.

“Waaah!?”

He barreled into Miledi, and she let out a squeal of surprise. His muffler slapped her in the face, blocking her vision. Miledi flailed around, unable to breathe. At the same time, Batlam banked heavily to avoid the worst of the turbulence. Oscar and the others hung on to Batlam for dear life, but Miledi was too disoriented to realize what was going on and lost her footing.

“Nwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

She rolled down Batlam’s back, headed straight for Oscar.

“Hey, wai— Bwah!?”

Panicking, Oscar tried to get out of the way but failed. The two of them tumbled even further backward, and Meiru deftly sidestepped out of the way. They nearly fell off of Batlam, but Naiz opened a portal to save them. They rolled into the gate and fell neatly back onto Batlam’s back.

“Owww, sorry, O-kun. Are you— Kyaaa!?”

Miledi struggled into a sitting position, then let out a cute scream.

“Gah.”

“Hey, O-kun!? Where do you think you’re touching, you pervert!?”

“Gah!?”

Oscar’s face was directly under Miledi’s ass. In other words, Miledi was sitting on his face. She hurriedly leaned forward when she felt his breath on her butt, but that only caused her to suffocate him more. A deep blush spread up Miledi’s face. She was one step away from blasting Oscar with gravity magic.

“Alright, things are about to delve back into 18+ territory so let’s stop there shall we?”

Reliable as always, or perhaps not always, Meiru scooped Miledi up into her arms. Miledi buried her head in Meiru’s breasts and bawled like a child.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Meru-nee! O-kun’s sexually harassing me!”

“I object.”

Oscar gingerly got up and fixed his glasses.

“Oscar. In times like these, you need to be the gentleman and apologize.”

Naiz gave Oscar a piercing look. Even if it was a complete accident, it was the man’s duty to take the fall here. This was something Naiz had learned well over the years. “I object,” Oscar muttered again, but more quietly. He then adjusted his glasses and said, “M-Miledi. Uhh, I’m sorry...”

He tried to be considerate, but was then attacked from another direction.

“Four-eyes, you pervert... How could you be so shameless on top of my Batlam?”

Vandre glared contemptuously at Oscar. Oscar’s contrition quickly transformed into anger.

“Anyone with eyes could tell that was an accident! Besides, this all happened because of your stupidly long muffler!”

“You got a problem with my muffler, four-eyes!?”

“You got a problem with my glasses, muffler boy!?”

Now it was Vandre who was pissed. In the same way that Oscar hated it when people insulted his glasses, Vandre hated it when people insulted his muffler.

“Tch. I should have known a fake intellectual like you wouldn’t understand the true worth of mufflers. Do you think I haven’t noticed? I know those glasses of yours are fake. Did you think you’d look smarter or something if you wore glasses? Moron.”

“That’s rich, coming from you. You think I haven’t figured out you act all tough and haughty because you don’t have any self-confidence? That’s why you always hide behind that muffler of yours when you feel pressured, isn’t it?”

“Poor fool, you don’t even realize the aesthetic value of a muffler. I guess I shouldn’t have expected any better from a second-rate moron.”

“What aesthetic value could a muffler possibly have?”

“Don’t you see this embroidery? It took three months to craft.”

“You knitted it yourself!?”

Of course, this Vandre was just Batlam taking his form, but the real muffler Vandre had knitted himself. He’d picked flowers that expressed his feelings in the language of flowers, and had tied them all together with long stretches of ivy that symbolized the joys and suffering of life. He explained all of this to Oscar with a smug smile.

“Get it now? My muffler’s on a completely different level than your shitty glasses.”

“Hah. My glasses aren’t any ordinary glasses. Besides, your muffler totally clashes with your getup. A sleeveless shirt? It’s like you can’t decide if you’re dressing for hot weather or cold. Don’t compare your pointless muffler with my glasses.”

“Excuse me!? Mufflers are cool! Not tasteless, like your shitty fake glasses!”

“You’ve got it backward, idiot! Glasses are cool and mufflers are tasteless!”

Oscar and Vandre glared daggers at each other. Miledi and the others watched, speechless, as the two hurled insults back and forth.

“Tch. Whatever. No point in talking to a pervert.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that was an accident? Are you deaf?”

“Hmph, accident or not, I bet you enjoyed it didn’t you?”

Wait, really, O-kun? Miledi turned to Oscar, blushing.

Oscar adjusted his glasses and said, “You’ve gotta be kidding me. I was too worried Miledi was either going to suffocate me to death or kill me with her magic to pay attention to how it felt.”

I... don’t know how to feel about that. Miledi lapsed into thought, but Oscar and Vandre were still going strong.

“Besides, just think about it for a second. Once her embarrassment’s gone, Miledi’s gonna tease me about this for months. She’s gonna keep asking how it felt and start making up stories of how I liked it!”

U-Uhh, O-kun?

“That’s not... Is she really that annoying?”

Van-chan!?

“Oh, she is. That’s just who the person known as Miledi Reisen is. So naturally, there’s no way I got aroused. QED.”

“Ngh... You make a good point, you fake intellectual.”

“Hey, Meru-nee, can I squish them flat with gravity magic?”

“Not now, Miledi-chan. We’re in the sky, and there’s nothing but demons down below.”

Oscar and Vandre were so wrapped up in their argument that they didn’t even hear Miledi and Meiru’s exchange. Oscar smiled threateningly while Vandre frowned unhappily. Naiz tried to jump in and mediate between the two of them, but neither of them paid him any attention.

“H-Hey, Nacchan, Meru-nee. What’s with those two? Why do they look like they hate each other? They just met, didn’t they?”

“Van-kun likes to act tough, so I’m not surprised he’s so aggressive. But I didn’t think Oscar-kun was this emotional. Especially since he did just say he owes Van-kun his life.”

Miledi and Meiru whispered quietly to each other. After a few seconds of deliberation, Naiz gave his opinion.

“Maybe they get along so badly because they’re so similar?”

“They are!?”

Miledi and Meiru cocked their heads simultaneously and Naiz said hesitantly, “I don’t know Vandre too well yet, but it seems he’s pretty proud of his position as clan chief, and he has the smarts to go with it. But even though he’s intelligent, he’s got a belligerent side to him.”

“Yeah, I can see that... Wait, hang on?”

“That’s just like Oscar-kun, right?”

“Yeah. Oscar has that refined gentleman persona, and he’s got the smarts to keep the facade up when he wants to, but he’s more vulgar than he lets on.”

Oscar had grown up in an orphanage in the slums, after all.

“Maybe I’m thinking too much into it but... it feels like they’re looking into a mirror and they don’t like what they see.”

Naiz glanced over at Oscar and Vandre.

“Wipe that smug grin off your face. It’s disgusting.”

“Well, sorry, but I don’t like looking like I swallowed a lemon all the time.”

I see... Naiz, Meiru, and Miledi thought simultaneously. Oscar and Vandre were quite similar, but it was precisely because they were similar that they instinctively hated seeing the sides of themselves they didn’t like reflected in each other.

“Wh-What should we do, Meru-nee? This is the first time two ancient magic users have been so incompatible in personality...”

“I’m sure it’ll end up fine. There’s no need to worry about their fighting.”

“I-I feel like you’re being too lax about this...”

Naiz sighed as he watched the two girls whisper to each other. He had a sinking feeling that his life was about to get much harder.

From there, Naiz used his spatial magic to help speed the party along, and they reached their destination within a day and a half. They camped outdoors without bothering to find a suitable place to stop and, as a result of their rushing, were able to complete a journey that would have taken a month on horseback in record time.

The demon kingdom’s capital, Igurd, sat inside a forest covering the base of a towering mountain. As the party landed, the part of Batlam that was mimicking a wyvern reverted to its slime form.

“From here, we’re heading into the mountain. There’s a small cavern partway up the slope. That’s where I’ve hidden the wyvern.”

Vandre led the party into the trees. The forest was quiet and filled with a strange scent. Though it wasn’t unpleasant, the smell was new to Miledi and the others, who were unused to southern forests. There was no one else around, and it was almost as if they were on a hike.

“Haaah... Haaah... This cavern’s pretty far, huh?”

“Huh? You’re tired already?”

Vandre shot Miledi a look of disbelief. There was no trail, and the path Vandre was taking them through was rugged and uneven. But even so, only a sheltered girl who never exercised would get tired this fast.

“Nah, no way! I’m used to traveling, so there’s no way this’d tire me out!”

Miledi vehemently denied Vandre’s claim, but—

“Miledi, you look pale. And you’re sweating a lot.”

Oscar furrowed his brows in worry.

“Huh? Really? You sure you’re not just imagining it?”

Naiz gave Miledi a dubious look.

“You had the stamina needed to cross the desert. This shouldn’t be enough to tire you out, and yet...”

“Yeah! You’re making a big deal out of nothing, O-kun!”

“Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Meiru cast restoration magic on Miledi. Color returned to her face and her breathing steadied.

“Thanks, Meru-nee. See, I’m perfectly fine now. I was fine before too. You were just imagining things, O-kun.”

“I sure hope so.”

“Fufu. You’re so overprotective, Oscar-kun.”

Embarrassed, Oscar adjusted his glasses and walked on ahead.

“Don’t walk ahead of me when you don’t even know where we’re going,” Vandre complained. Feeling even more embarrassed, Oscar argued back, and the two started fighting again.

The party continued like that for some time, until they finally reached the base of the mountain. Trees covered the slopes, a green mantle that ran halfway up the mountain.

“I-Is this where your real wyvern is, Van-chan?”

For some reason, Miledi was out of breath again even though the slope was gentle.

“Yeah. You’ll be able to see the cavern soon.”

Worried, Meiru asked, “How soon... is soon?”

“Soon means soon,” Vandre shot back with an annoyed click of his tongue.

“I’m a woman of the sea. Mountain hikes are not for me.”

Meiru turned back to Miledi. She was complaining more for Miledi’s sake than her own. Can’t Naiz-kun teleport us there?

Though, of course, she wasn’t too keen on walking either. Vandre shot Miledi a look, as if to say “Is Meiru really someone you guys can trust to have your back?”

“I-It’s fine. She’s got a lot of problems, but she’s a reliable comrade... I think,” Miledi vouched for her friend, but she didn’t sound too confident herself. She couldn’t even look Meiru in the eyes as she said that. With how useless Meiru was usually, Miledi couldn’t say with confidence that she was reliable.

Naiz gave Meiru a troubled smile and said, “In a densely packed place like this, it’s dangerous for me to try and teleport somewhere I’ve never been.”

“Besides, we’re in enemy territory. We shouldn’t use flashy magic that’ll draw attention.”

Oscar cocked his head at Vandre.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Tch...”

“Can you stop ‘tch’ing’ every time you look at my face?”

Oscar glared at Vandre, and he clicked his tongue again. The two didn’t get along at all.

“Alright you two, no fighting! Sheesh. Anyway, Van-chan, why can’t we use magic?”

Miledi pushed Oscar and Vandre apart and brought the conversation back on topic. Vandre scowled as usual, but still explained himself.

“The capital’s defenses are tight. And I don’t mean that they’ve got a lot of guards stationed on the walls or anything. The city has ways of detecting whenever enemies are near.”

According to Vandre, the capital and the surrounding area around it were covered by a barrier that could detect magic. Human mana had a slightly different fingerprint than demon mana, so if Miledi or the others cast anything, the capital would instantly be on alert. Just as no two people had the same exact hue of mana, everyone’s mana left different traces that a skilled analyst could identify.

Anyone who lived in or visited the capital needed to register their mana footprint with one of the city’s inspection stations. If the barrier detected any magic that wasn’t registered, the city sent out soldiers to investigate immediately. Of course, spells like body strengthening, which kept all mana circulating within the body, could be used just fine. Since the capital sat inside the mountain, its barrier covered most of it.

“So avoid using magic as much as possible.”

Seeing as they were already almost there, Oscar saw no reason to use magic anyway.

“Anyway, once that woman—”

“I have a name, you know. Meiru-oneesan.”

“Once Meiru’s—”

“That’s Meiru-oneesan to you.”

“Who gives a shit about the honorific?”

Meiru looked like she was ready to attack Vandre, but Miledi pulled her back and signaled Vandre to continue.

“Ahem... Once Meiru’s gotten on the wyvern, we’ll head straight for the mountain’s halfway point.”

“Huh? Van-chan, does that mean...?”

“Yeah. We’re going straight in to the rescue operation.”

“And we can’t use any magic, right?”

“Yep.”

“Umm, even if the capital’s protected by the mountain, they still patrol the area and stuff, right?”

“Obviously. There’s a special group of guards that watch over everything from a fortress at the summit of the mountain. They’re masters of mountaineering and magic, and their patrols are completely random.”

“C-Can’t I just act as a diversion while you and Nacchan go save the prisoners?”

Since Vandre had enlisted the help of ancient magic users, Miledi had thought this rescue operation would be carried out through force. But to her surprise, Vandre had a different plan.

“Absolutely not.”

He shot down her suggestion. According to Vandre, the existence of the test subjects was highly classified information. If the demons knew they were under attack, the first thing they’d do was try to hide the evidence. If all they did was move the test subjects to a new location, then that wouldn’t be too bad. However, if they decided to kill the ones they no longer had any use for, Vandre’s plan would be all for naught. In other words, they couldn’t resort to violence until after the prisoners were safe.

“It’s fortunate that you managed to find a comrade who can use teleportation magic. My original plan was to hold off the soldiers together with Lady Reisen while her comrades rescued the prisoners.”

In that case, Miledi and Vandre would have had to fight their way through thousands of demons. But thanks to Naiz, they’d be able to infiltrate the castle and teleport everyone out. However, many test subjects were too injured or sick to move. Getting everyone out would still take a little bit of time, even with teleportation. It was for that reason he’d wanted Meiru present as well. But if she was going to be healing the Liberators, then Vandre just needed Miledi and the rest to work that much harder.

After hearing all that, Miledi tried to offer an alternative plan. Fighting without magic was one thing she really didn’t want to do.

“I-In that case, instead of trying to go through a mountain crawling with patrols, shouldn’t we try to infiltrate the city instead? You know, disguise ourselves as merchants or something?”

“It won’t work. We don’t have the time. We have to force our way through the mountains without letting the guards raise the alarm or using magic.”

In other words, the Liberators had to sneak or fight their way through numerous patrols of mountaineering experts without using their trump card, ancient magic.

“Either way, it’s a race against time. We need to finish everything before the demon lord returns. If we end up getting spotted by a patrol, take them all out without using magic.”

You make it sound so easy... Miledi’s eye twitched. Her expression was stiff as a board. She was completely out of her depth. In fact, she looked like a lamb being sent off to slaughter. But Vandre ignored her and continued talking.

“Don’t worry. We don’t have to scale the entire mountain. Plus, sneaking into the castle itself will be easy. I know all of the hidden passages inside it.”

Adjusting his glasses, Oscar asked, “You do? Aren’t those things only royalty are supposed to know about?”

“...Batlam’s just that versatile.”

“You realize you can’t use that as an excuse for everything, right?”

Vandre pulled his muffler over his face to hide his expression. It seemed he’d really thought that explanation would fly every time.

“We’re here. This way.”

Vandre sped up in an attempt to avoid Oscar’s piercing glare. He weaved his way through the trees, circumventing a slope overgrown with weeds. Once they were past the slope, the party found themselves in front of the entrance to a natural cavern. The entrance was partially caved-in though, and a person would have to crawl to get in.

It was hard to imagine Vandre had managed to sneak a wyvern into there. But Oscar and the others had an even more pressing question to ask.

“Vandre... Did you leave anyone but your wyvern here?” Naiz asked quietly. Naiz’s magic allowed him to detect distortions in space, and right now he could tell there were multiple other living things inside the cavern aside from Vandre’s wyvern.

“No, there shouldn’t be anyone else here. But if they were able to get in, it means they’re...”

Vandre didn’t seem worried, but the way he wrinkled his brow suggested that while whatever was inside wasn’t dangerous, it wasn’t meant to be there either.

“Batlam, go ahead.”

Vandre’s slime butler put a tentacled hand over its chest and bowed. A second later, the rocks covering the cavern’s entrance turned blue and started to melt.

“Batlam’s fragments can transform into other things even when it’s separated from its main body?”

Oscar turned to Vandre in surprise while readying his Black Umbrella just in case.

“They can’t mimic living things, but his detached parts can still camouflage themselves as inanimate objects.”

Vandre smiled smugly, enjoying the surprised look on everyone’s faces. Feeling like bragging about Batlam even more, he said, “That’s not all. He knows how to make over a hundred dishes, and he’s as good as the chefs in the royal palace. On top of that, he can do household chores like cleaning and laundry. Plus, he gets them all done in a tenth of the time. Naturally, he’s a master spy as well. And if need be, he can transform into a sword and shield to protect his master. As long as he doesn’t run out of slime, he’s basically immortal, and he doesn’t need any sleep. Most importantly, though—”

“M-Most importantly? There’s more, Van-chan!?”

Miledi gulped. Vandre savored her reaction. Then, after a dramatic pause, he said with a grin, “He brews the best tea you’ll ever taste.”

“Un...believable... He’s perfect!”

Elated, Vandre concluded by saying, “See what I mean? My Batlam really is that versatile!”

The part of Batlam that had camouflaged itself as rocks bowed, as if to show its appreciation for Vandre’s praise.

Now I see... Oscar thought to himself.

“He’s just that versatile...”

“Indeed. I want a butler like this.”

If Meiru actually got a butler as versatile as Batlam, her slow decline into becoming a complete slob would accelerate. While Vandre and the others were talking, a few figures timidly walked out of the cavern.

“Van-sama...”

“Margaretta, I should have known it was you.”

Miledi and the others’ eyes widened in surprise. The newcomer was wearing white robes. The same white robes Ruth and the others’ rescuers had worn. It looked as though she’d been waiting for Vandre for some time now, but was also unsure how to act around him now that he was here. She wasn’t wearing her mask this time, so her expression was visible.

Like Vandre, she had dark skin and pointed ears, but her long hair was red and black. Judging by her build and the sharp glint in her eyes, she was a warrior.

Behind her stood five other white-robed figures. They all looked like demons at a glance, but they had beastmen traits and oddly colored hair. Oscar guessed these were the members of the Schnee tribe. In other words, Vandre’s family.

Miledi opened her mouth to thank them for saving her comrades, but before she could, Vandre shouted, “Go back to the village! I’m ordering you as clan chief!”

“Ngh, but now that you’ve been taken prisoner and our brethren are being tortured, we can’t just sit back and watch!”

“That’s why I brought the Liberators here! If you guys get caught too... I won’t...”

“Van-sama. We came here prepared to die. We left more than enough soldiers to guard the village! We have no regrets! Please, take us with you!”

Margaretta dropped to one knee and pleaded with Vandre. It seemed his clansmen treated Vandre more like a king than a mere chieftain. The men and women behind Margaretta knelt as well, parroting her request. However, Vandre’s answer remained the same.

“No. I can’t afford to lose you guys.”

“Van-sama...”

“This is an order. Take Meiru Melusine to the village! Your mission is to make sure the Liberators we rescued all survive. She must heal them so that there’s no ill will between us and the Liberators. Now go!”

“Ngh... Van-sama...”

Margaretta and the others seemed to want to argue further, but Vandre’s stubborn expression dissuaded them. Margaretta then turned to Miledi, thinking back on the Liberators she helped rescue in the Reisen Gorge. She bowed her head, expressing in one action all the emotions she couldn’t with words. Then, without a word, she grit her teeth and headed back into the cavern. The people behind her followed. They were likely going to get their wyverns.

An awkward silence followed Margaretta’s departure.

“Coo?”

But it was broken almost immediately as a wyvern poked its head out of the cavern and cooed.

“Mmm, sorry for making you wait, Uruluk.”

The wyvern that walked out was identical to the one Batlam had been imitating earlier. However, its eyes were rounder and gentler than Batlam’s.

“Listen up, you need to take her to the village. Don’t worry, I’ll be there soon. But first, you have to take her.”

Vandre pressed his forehead against the wyvern’s. His usual sour look was gone. He closed his eyes and leaned against Uruluk, looking completely at ease. It seemed Uruluk was as precious to Vandre as Batlam and the other familiars he’d sent into the gorge were.

After a few seconds, Vandre opened his eyes and turned to Meiru.

“Uruluk’s a gentle soul. And you’ll have my clansmen with you. Just sit on his back and he’ll take you where you need to go.”

Meiru nodded and glanced over to Margaretta and the others, who’d come back out with their wyverns. She then turned back to Miledi.

“Alright, Miledi-chan, Oscar-kun, Naiz-kun. I’ll go meet with our friends.”

“Yeah. Take care of everyone, Meru-nee.”

“Make sure you tell them what we’re up to.”

“We’ll meet up with you soon.”

“Of course. Take care of yourselves, everyone.”

Meiru hugged Miledi and patted her head. She then hugged Oscar and Naiz as well, patting them on the back. The two men blushed as her voluptuous breasts pressed against them. But when she whispered, “Keep Miledi-chan safe,” to both of them, they forgot their embarrassment and nodded resolutely. Finally, Meiru turned to Vandre.

“Stop, I don’t—”

But he couldn’t escape Meiru’s warm embrace.

“Don’t worry. You’ve got Miledi-chan with you.”

Vandre’s protests died in his throat as Meiru whispered that in his ear. The strength drained from his limbs and he relaxed. Margaretta and the other members of the Schnee clan glared enviously at Meiru. But once Meiru let go of Vandre, he slapped his cheeks and changed gears.

However, Miledi didn’t miss the slight blush on his face. Grinning she said, “Did Meru-nee’s boobs feel good? Huh, Van-chan? Did they feel so good you lost yourself in them? Bahahaha!”

“Batlam.”

At Vandre’s command, Batlam lashed out with a tentacle, smacking Miledi on the face. She hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Ignoring the chaos her actions had caused, Meiru leaped up onto Uruluk. Margaretta and the others urged their wyverns into the sky, and Uruluk followed. They flew low, close to the treeline, and Miledi and the others lost sight of them in an instant.

Once they were gone Vandre said, “Let’s get out of here, just in case.”

Miledi nodded and the party headed deeper into the mountains. The foliage grew thicker as they went.

“Miledi?”

“I’m fine. I think I just prefer the sea to the mountains too.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not the problem here.”

Oscar and Naiz turned worriedly back to Miledi, who was lagging behind. But she brushed them off with a smile and continued trudging onward. After they’d been walking for a few more minutes, Oscar suddenly held out a hand to stop everyone. The lenses of his glasses glowed dimly.

“I’m picking something up on my heat sensors. There are four enemies ahead. If we keep following this path, we’ll run into them. Going by how small they are, I think they’re monsters.”

“Oi, I told you no magic—”

“I’m not emitting any mana.”

“Tch... What’s with those glasses of yours?”

Vandre eyed Oscar’s glasses suspiciously and reached a hand out to Batlam. He’d thought they were just for show, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Batlam squirmed, then transformed into a shamshir. The shamshir’s blade was engraved with intricate flower and vine patterns, while the spiral-shaped hilt also had fancy embroidery on it. Naturally, the crossguard did as well.

It was obvious the shamshir Batlam was mimicking was one Vandre had designed himself. Fortunately, Batlam’s transformations didn’t emit any mana outside of his body, so he could transform all he wanted without alerting anyone. Vandre handed the shamshir off to Naiz.

“Th-This is so ostentatious...”

Naiz preferred his weapons to be simple and functional, so this wasn’t really to his tastes.

“I think what you mean is that it’s a work of art.”

Vandre had Batlam make him a shamshir as well, then crept forward. He hid in the shadow of a large tree and brought a finger to his lips, signaling for quiet. After a few seconds, there was a rustling noise and four ugly, green-skinned figures walked out of the brush.

Goblins. They were equipped with rusty daggers and crude wooden cudgels. One had a broken spear. They passed to the left of the tree Vandre was hiding behind and he circled around to the right. Once he was behind them, he leaped.

He sliced twice in quick succession, his first slice taking the head off a goblin, while the return slice slit another one’s throat. Vandre twirled, throwing the dagger he’d stolen from the goblin he’d just killed. It slammed into the throat of the goblin furthest away, killing it instantly. Lastly, Vandre kicked another dagger the second goblin had dropped into the chin of the last goblin, killing it as well. There were four soft thuds as the goblin corpses hit the grass. Barely two seconds had passed since he’d engaged them.

“I forgot to mention this earlier, but the mountain’s crawling with monsters. The demon lord lets them roam free on purpose, since they’re a good deterrent against intruders.”

Vandre returned to the party as if nothing had happened. Miledi and the others all thought simultaneously, This guy’s stroooooong.

The way Vandre had fought made it obvious he was a seasoned warrior.

“Umm, Van-chan. I know you can use metamorphosis magic, but is your job one of the combat jobs?”

Vandre nodded.

“Yep, my job is Artist.”

“Liar,” Oscar responded immediately.

Artist has nothing to do with fighting!

“I’m not lying. Look at the exquisite embroidery on my muffler? How can you think I’m not an Artist?”

“Fine, I’ll admit your artistic talents are great, but...”

Indeed, even the shamshir he’d had Batlam transform into looked more like a ceremonial weapon used for rituals than a tool of war.

“Is my information outdated? Is Artist actually a combat job?”

Naiz rubbed his temples, looking confused. Not understanding why everyone found this so strange, Vandre said, “Martial arts are art.”

“That’s not how it works.”

Oscar shook his head. At any rate, it seemed Vandre was fond of the arts. And as far as he was concerned, anything that had art in the name was indeed an art, including martial arts. So it seemed natural to him that the job Artist would make him skilled in that area as well. Of course, everyone else thought that was a bit too liberal an interpretation of Artist, but they didn’t argue the point.

“Hm? Above us?”

Vandre spotted a group of monsters that looked like monkeys swinging on the trees above them and shot his hand out toward Batlam again. In seconds, the versatile butler-slime transformed into a bow. Vandre grabbed the bow and unleashed a flurry of arrows faster than the eye could follow. He drew his bow back three times and fired three arrows per release.

Naturally, all nine shots were fired with perfect aim. Just before they hit their targets though, Batlam transformed again, each arrow morphing into a sickle. The sickles cut through the monkeys, eliminating them all.

“They were probably lured here by the smell of blood. You three, stop spacing out. We need to keep moving.”

“Oh, okay.”

The party moved swiftly, Vandre eliminating any monsters they encountered with whatever weapon was most fitting. He cycled between swords, spears, knives, warhammers, scythes, and even chakrams. Some powerful demon warriors he even incapacitated bare-handed. He was like a god of war. Though he was barely over 20 years old, he’d mastered every martial art there was.

“Tch... It’s hard to move smoothly when it’s not my body. I can barely use a third of my strength.”

Vandre seemed annoyed by his performance. Even though he was able to send enemies flying with a flick of his finger, crush their innards with a simple palm strike, and bury demon soldiers before they even had a chance to raise the alarm, he was unsatisfied. He was so strong already it was easy to forget this wasn’t his real body or his full strength.

Oscar and Naiz, who’d started helping Vandre after a few battles, exchanged rueful smiles. As they neared the secret passage that would take them to the castle, Naiz muttered, “Your battle prowess is amazing.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere... But well, you’re pretty good too... Though it seems you haven’t fought in a while?”

Vandre’s discerning eye saw through everything. Indeed, Naiz had originally been a warrior. His swordplay was polished, and he was clearly a veteran fighter.

“Yeah, controlling spatial magic is pretty hard, so I’ve put my sword practice on hold while I try to get the hang of it.”

“At the end of the day, your muscles are the only thing you can rely on, not magic.”

Oscar chuckled and said, “Never thought I’d hear that from a demon.”

“Hmph! By the way, four-eyes... I mean, Oscar, you’re not half-bad yourself. I thought you were just a weakling who relied on artifacts.”

“Thanks for the praise. I’d like it if you’d stop insulting me every time you compliment me, though.”

However, Oscar was really more of a craftsman than a warrior. His primary role should have been to support the main fighters from the rear. As it was, he was just barely keeping up with Naiz and Vandre by using his glasses’ perception enhancing abilities along with his umbrella’s body strengthening enchantments. That being said, his various magical enhancements, along with his metal wires, were enough that he could hold his own against even the best of the demon elites.

A bond formed between the three men as they fought together and learned more about how each of them had trained themselves up.

As they fought, Vandre looked over his shoulder and said, “But you know...”

“Ah!”

Miledi twitched as his gaze landed on her. This whole time she’d been following behind the three guys, doing her best to hide her presence completely. Vandre looked disdainfully down at her.

“I never knew you were so worthless without your magic, Lady Reisen.”

“What!?”

Miledi clutched her chest and dropped to her knees. Vandre had just landed a critical hit on her fragile heart.

Smiling sadly, Oscar said, “Now that I think about it, this is the first time Miledi hasn’t been able to use magic. I didn’t realize it until now, but she really relies on it for everything.”

The unsaid implication was, of course, that Miledi was useless. She toppled over, taking another direct hit to the heart.

“You should at least learn some basic self-defense, Miledi.”

The last thing Naiz wanted to see was his leader running around like a headless chicken trying to escape from enemies just because she couldn’t use magic. That was the final blow for Miledi and she curled up on the ground and cradled her head.

“I’m sorry I’m such a pathetic leader,” she muttered.

“Lady Reisen... I mean, Miledi. As you are now, you’re nothing but an annoying little girl.”

Vandre was so disappointed in Miledi that he dropped the Lady Reisen title. It would have been one thing if he’d done it as a sign of how close they were, but the cold look in his eyes made it obvious that wasn’t the case. At that, the dam burst and Miledi started sobbing.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I’m sorry I suck so much! Meru-nee, where are you!? Please hold meeeeee!” Miledi started wandering around aimlessly. This was the first time in her life she was not only useless, but actively holding her comrades back.

“If Meiru spoiled her now, Miledi’d be even worse off.”

“She really doesn’t know how to hold back, yeah.”

“Are you guys sure you want her as your leader?”

The three guys watched Miledi wander around sadly, their thoughts in sync.

Five minutes later, the party arrived at the entrance to the secret passage without tripping any alarms. Naturally, the entrance was camouflaged, so it looked no different than the rest of the mountainside. Just another patch of the forested slope.

Vandre turned to Oscar expectantly. He’d realized Oscar’s glasses were an exceptionally useful scouting tool. Oscar touched the bridge of his glasses and looked around.

“All clear.”

“Perfect, let’s go. It’s only a matter of time before someone realizes some of the patrols are missing.”

Vandre had Batlam change one of his fingers into the shape of an old key. With his other hand, he caressed the bark of a nearby tree, and the bark slid away to reveal a small keyhole. Vandre put his key-finger in and turned. Miledi, who’d finally recovered from the shock of being called useless, tugged at Vandre’s sleeve.

“How do you know what key it needs?”

Vandre’s answer was the same as always.

“Batlam’s just that versatile.”

“Batyam-chan’s so amazing that it’s scary.”

The part of Batlam that still looked like a slime bowed to Miledi. What had looked to be a tree turned out to actually be a metal tube camouflaged to look like a tree. Upon opening the door, the party found themselves looking at a staircase heading underground. At the bottom of the stairs was a wide pathway made of bricks. The moss growing within the corridor was bioluminescent, giving the party just enough light to see.

“The pathway’s built like a labyrinth to deter intruders. There are traps too, so make sure you don’t go ahead of me.”

“And you know all this because Batyam-chan’s—”

“Versatile, yes! Stop asking every time!”

Vandre was learning for the first time just how annoying Miledi could be.

“Hold on, Vandre. It’s hard to see down here. I’ll make us some light.”

“Without magic, right?”

“Of course.”

Oscar flipped a switch on his glasses and twin beams of light shot out from the lenses, cutting through the darkness. Oscar swept his gaze from side to side, investigating the path.

“Hmph.”

Vandre slapped Oscar’s glasses off of his face. The beams of light shut off as they flew through the air.

“What the fuck are you doing, Vandre!?”

Oscar dropped his fake gentleman persona and rounded on Vandre.

“That light’s annoying.”

“You little—”

“Sorry, O-kun. But... I don’t think I can handle those beams of light either.”

“Yeah, we’d get blinded if you looked at us. Sorry, but I’m with Vandre here.”

“What...? No...”

Oscar’s shoulders slumped as his friends spoke out against his eye-beams. He staggered over to the wall and picked up his precious partner.

“Batlam can make light for us.”

Batlam used illumination magic inside of its body, and his translucent slime started glowing.

“Batyam-chan really is versatile!”

“Yeah, he can do anything.”

“Sure... Not that I’m jealous or anything.”

Batlam once again bowed to Miledi and the others, and the party began walking down the corridor. Vandre safely navigated them past all the typical booby traps expected of a secret passage: pitfalls, spear traps, poison gas chambers, rocks falling from the roof, and so on.

“Does this passageway lead straight to the prison where the test subjects are being held?” Miledi asked.

“No. This passageway connects to one part of the dungeons. It was created in case there was ever a coup d’etat. The demon lord could pretend to obediently let himself get captured, then escape from prison.”

The laboratory where everyone was being held was three floors below the dungeons.

“Is that where your real body is, Van-chan?”

“No, I’m being held somewhere else. But the other prisoners take priority. If you get the others out, I can probably escape on my own if I have to.”

“Gotcha. Don’t worry! I’m no longer useless! I’ll show you exactly what I can do!”

“I sure hope so.”

Miledi hopped up and down, eager to show off how amazing she was. Surprisingly, Vandre didn’t seem annoyed. In fact, he seemed quite tense, probably because the exit was so close.

In an attempt to reassure him, Miledi said confidently, “We’ll definitely save everyone.”

“Yeah, you can count on us.”

“You still annoy the shit out of me but... well, I promise I’ll save them.”

“Hmph... You’d better.”

Vandre harrumphed and looked away, the textbook tsundere reaction. A few seconds later, Miledi and the others arrived at their destination.

Vandre stopped in the center of what appeared to be a perfectly ordinary corridor. He dropped to one knee and pushed down on one of the flagstones. A few bricks slid away from the nearby wall, revealing a doorknob.

Vandre twisted it, and a section of the wall pulled back, revealing a hole large enough for an adult to crawl through. Batlam sent his tentacles through the aperture, making sure there was no one on the other side. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he beckoned the party forward.

From this point on, everyone would need to be silent. Miledi and the others nodded to each other, then crawled into the dungeon. There was no one in the three jail cells they found themselves standing in front of. Though Vandre had made sure the coast was clear already, Miledi and the others still sighed in relief when they found the place deserted.

They looked around, examining the cold and unwelcoming dungeon. The first thing they noticed was that Batlam was nowhere to be seen. A second later, though, he popped out from behind a nearby wall. He waved his tentacles at the party and they followed him out of the cell. A bit further down the corridor, they found two unconscious guards. It seemed he’d gone on ahead to incapacitate them.

Vandre took the lead and used hand signals to guide the party in the right direction. They followed after him, ignoring the unconscious guards. Outside the dungeon, they found a staircase leading downward. They hurried down it, passing multiple landings. Finally, they arrived at the deepest part of the castle. As they headed down the corridor, they noticed it turned up ahead. A lantern hung from the wall at the turn, so that anyone approaching would cast a shadow easily visible to those deeper in.

“......”

Miledi scrunched up her face. A second later, Oscar and Naiz did the same. The stench of blood filled their nostrils. It was so thick it was cloying. It was clear much blood had been spilled here, and over a very long time too. Oscar could easily imagine the people trapped here screaming in anguish and cursing their fate.

“Let’s go,” Miledi said resolutely.

A second later, a piercing alarm rang out through the corridor. It seemed someone had found the incapacitated mountain patrols. However, Miledi didn’t panic. Instead, she smiled fearlessly. There was no need to be worried. After all—

“The beautiful genius mage Miledi-chan is here to save the day!” That meant she could freely use her magic. She shot forward like a cannonball. The two soldiers guarding the laboratory looked up in shock as they saw a human girl suddenly hurtle toward them. They’d been trained rigorously to contact their commander if they noticed anything odd, but all they could do was stare. You couldn’t blame them, really. Not only had a human girl suddenly shown up, but she was also ignoring gravity and running across the ceiling.

Miledi jumped off the ceiling and shifted her gravitational orientation downward and forward. Her feet landed squarely on the faces of the two guards who’d only just started returning to their senses. Caught up in Miledi’s gravitational field, the two soldiers flew backward and slammed against the iron door they were guarding. The force of Miledi’s kick caused the door to fly open and the guards tumbled into the room behind them.

Their armor clattered as they skidded across the ground. They came to a stop a short distance away, their noses broken and bleeding. Miledi landed triumphantly inside the laboratory and—

“Ah!”

...Covered her mouth in horror. Oscar and Naiz, who’d been running behind her, came to a halt as well when they saw what was inside.

The laboratory was a gruesome place. Jail cells similar to the one Miledi had seen in the dungeons lined the walls. But unlike the cells in the dungeons, people were crammed into these.

They’d been stripped naked and packed together like sardines. All of the prisoners were emaciated and covered in wounds. Some stared emptily off into the distance, while others moaned in pain, as fevers wracked their weakened bodies. Some had gone insane and clawed endlessly at the ground. Shelves lined with jars full of blood and organs covered whatever space wasn’t taken up by cells, and dissected monster corpses littered the floor.

Standing in the center of that hell was a group of demons wearing white lab coats and their guards. They turned to Miledi in surprise.

“Die.”

Miledi’s voice was cold and unfeeling. She sounded like the emotionless executioner she’d once been. She gathered her mana and mercilessly assaulted the demon researchers and their guards.

A second later, her gravity magic crushed them flat. Their bones shattered with a sickening crunch and they died before they even had a chance to scream. Those who treated people like toys had no right to be treated like people themselves.

“O-kun!”

“I’m on it.”

Oscar thrust his arms out and his Metamorph Chains flew out of his sleeves. They split off from each other and coiled themselves around the bars of the jail cells. Even bars made of sealstone were no match for a master Synergist like Oscar. He transmuted them as easily as he transmuted regular iron.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take you all somewhere safe.”

Miledi smiled gently at the prisoners. They stared blankly at her while Naiz quickly prepared to create a portal. But just before he could—

“Impossible, why is he already back!?”

Vandre shouted in surprise. He looked up in a panic, then over at Miledi.

“Hurry, it’s a tra—”

Before Vandre could finish his warning, Batlam melted back into a slime.

“Van-chan!?”

But Vandre was no longer controlling the translucent slime’s body. Batlam fused with the other slime part of himself, but he was incapable of conveying Vandre’s words without Vandre. Something had happened to the real Vandre. But Miledi and the others didn’t have time to think about the implications of that.

A deep rumbling suddenly reverberated throughout the laboratory. A second later, a section of the wall slid away and two black shadows leaped into the room. The same vampire hybrids that had attacked the Reisen headquarters. The amount of mana swirling around them wasn’t natural. It seemed they’d activated Limit Break already. Behind them were ten of the gray-robed creatures.

Miledi instantly turned her gravity magic on the newcomers. But while the gray-robed creatures were forced to their knees—

“Huh?”

The black-robed ones seemed unaffected. One of them shot toward Miledi, thrusting its gauntleted fist at her stomach.

“Miledi!”

Oscar quickly brought out one of his enchanted swords and commanded it to fly between Miledi and her attacker. The sword served its purpose as a shield, protecting Miledi from the creature’s fist. Miledi and the creature both leapt backward, and a second later, the blade exploded.

While Oscar had successfully protected Miledi, he’d neglected the other creature, which was bearing down on him. It had chosen the exact moment his focus had shifted to Miledi to strike, and now it’s assassin’s dagger was inches from Oscar’s throat. Naiz quickly tried to blow the other creature away with a spatial blast, but—

“What!? It got dispersed!?”

He failed. Oscar used the sleeve of his coat to block the dagger, but the creature followed up with a knee to his stomach. The force of the blow sent Oscar flying and he slammed into a shelf of blood jars behind him. He groaned in pain as shards of glass rained down on him. As he was struggling to recover, the gray-robed creatures, which had freed themselves from Miledi’s gravity magic, attacked him. Half fired blades of wind at him as the other half sprinted toward him.

“O-kun!”

“Oscar!”

Miledi and Naiz turned to go to Oscar’s aid, but they were blocked by the two black-robed creatures. The one with the dagger faced off against Miledi, while the gauntleted one took Naiz. Both of them attempted to cast their respective ancient magic, but for some reason, they couldn’t. They looked down in disbelief. How could their own magic have betrayed them?

Meanwhile, Oscar watched as blades of wind strong enough to cut apart boulders hurtled toward him. Just before they reached him, though—

“Wow, you really are versatile!”

Batlam slipped in front of Oscar and protected him with his sturdy slime body. He expanded his liquid gel to cover all of Oscar and absorbed the impact of the wind blades. Once the storm of wind passed, Oscar jumped in front of Batlam and deployed his Black Umbrella. He activated Wall Blast and the gray-robed figures were blown away like ping pong balls.

Though he’d managed to escape the jaws of death, there was no time to relax. A barrage of fireballs bore down on Batlam. It transformed into a wall of steel to protect itself, but then Naiz was sent flying as well. The black-robed creature had managed to get a hit in. He hit another shelf a short distance from Oscar and a stray shard cut his temple open.

Though he’d avoided taking too much damage from the creature’s punch, it had successfully snapped the shamshir Batlam was mimicking in two.

“Those creatures can block spatial magic.”

Naiz was now certain they were dispersing his magic.

Half-panicking, Oscar shouted, “Are you kidding me!?”

Before Naiz could respond, the creature came at Naiz with a flying kick. He hurriedly jumped to the side, and the creature’s kick pulverized the wall behind where he’d been. It used the rebound from the kick to turn in midair and throw itself at Naiz again.

Judging by the fact that it was focusing on close-quarters combat and not using magic, the creature likely needed to be within a certain distance of Naiz to nullify his spatial magic. Oscar quickly pulled a sword out of his Treasure Trove and threw it at Naiz. Naiz caught it and, using a combination of body strengthening and the skills he’d learned as a warrior, barely fended the creature off. Then, in an attempt to save Batlam from the rain of fire he was under, Oscar threw a barrage of enchanted daggers at the gray-robed figures.

They noticed the threat immediately and scattered. And after evading the assault, they surrounded Oscar from all sides. Half of them fired a barrage of lightning and fire spells as the other half dashed forward in waves. While Oscar was busy parrying their attacks, he heard a scream.

“Kyaaa!”

It was Miledi. She was lying on the ground, the other black-robed figure standing over her. The fact that its presence prevented her from activating gravity magic had left her too shaken to properly resist. But even taking that into account, it felt as though Miledi’s fighting skills weren’t as sharp as usual. Still, she managed to deploy a barrier in time to prevent the creature’s dagger from slitting her throat.

The dagger clanged against Miledi’s barrier, cracking it. It was likely some kind of artifact. Its superhuman strength alone wouldn’t have been enough to damage Miledi’s barriers.

Oscar wanted to go to Miledi’s aid, but he couldn’t shake himself free from the gray-robed squad. They used guerilla hit and run tactics, focusing more on keeping him occupied than doing any real damage.

Meanwhile, Oscar couldn’t take them all out with a large-scale attack because the captives would get caught up in it as well. And though he knew this wasn’t the time to be worried about others, Oscar couldn’t help but think about how these assailants were also victims of the demon lord’s experiments. He took them down one by one using his metal wires, but he couldn’t go fast enough to reach Miledi in time.

“Dammit! Batlam, help Miledi!”

With no other choice, Oscar turned to the ever-versatile butler-slime.

“You little—”

Meanwhile, Miledi used earth magic to blow up the ground at her assailant’s feet. It staggered, momentarily defenseless. Miledi quickly trapped its feet with a Binding Chains of Light, then fired a blast of wind at it. It took the attack right in the stomach and was blown backward.

My magic still works. It’s just gravity magic that I can’t use... Miledi wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or terrified. What kind of creature was susceptible to regular magic, but not ancient magic? Gravity magic was the reliable partner that had bailed Miledi out of every sticky situation so far. Unwilling to believe it was useless, Miledi once again tried to cast it on the black-robed creature. However—

“It really doesn’t work...”

It ignored Miledi’s magic and leaped at her again. Miledi thrust her hand out to push it back with regular elemental magic, but luck wasn’t with her today. The moment she did, her consciousness grew hazy and she staggered.

Until that point, she’d convinced herself it was just her imagination and that she wasn’t actually feeling unwell, but now her denial had come back to bite her. Unable to concentrate, the magic Miledi was trying to cast fizzled out.

Shit... There was a flash of silver, and Miledi braced herself to be stabbed in the chest. But then there was a strange creaking noise, and Miledi rolled backward. Looking up, she saw what it was that had saved her. Numerous tentacles were wrapped around the black-clad figure’s dagger.

“You’re the best, Batyam-chan!”

Miledi put a hand on the ground. A second later, sparks started running through it. Surprisingly, her two comrades were also casting the same spell.

“Ability nine, minimum power—”

“Get lost already!”

“Spark Plasma!”

Miledi, Oscar, and Naiz’s voices overlapped, and three flashes of lightning shot out. They kept their spells centered around them, making sure they didn’t hit any of the prisoners near the wall. The three of them walked over to each other and formed a circle facing outward. Their spells combined to form a barrier of electricity.

After a few seconds, the glow of their magic faded. While they’d defeated the gray-robed figures, the black-robed ones were still unhurt.

“Miledi, you okay?”

“Haaah... Haaah... I thought I was gonna die there. Batyam-chan saved me.”

Batlam was currently resting by Miledi’s feet. Even though something had happened to his master, he was continuing to help Oscar and the others because that was what Vandre had ordered him to do.

“You look pale. I knew it. You’re not feeling well, are you?”

“Haha... Looks like it. I guess I overestimated myself.”

Miledi spoke cheerfully in an attempt to dispel Naiz’s worries, but she looked so pale it wasn’t really working. She looked haggard, her breathing came in pained gasps, and she was burning up. There was so much sweat on her forehead that even Oscar and Naiz could tell she had a fever. Especially since she was shivering despite also sweating. Miledi grit her teeth and tried to ignore the pain in her body. Why now of all times!? she thought angrily.

The prisoners stared at Miledi and the others, their gazes full of despair. Miledi wanted to get them somewhere safe at least, but the black-robed creatures were preventing Naiz from using spatial magic. They needed a plan, but unfortunately, they were out of time to formulate one. A clear, malicious voice echoed throughout the room.

“I see, I see. It looks like my experiments are working as intended.”

A hole opened up inside the ceiling. A man dressed in fine clothes, who was wreathed in an aura of deep crimson mana, jumped down it. He looked young, in his late twenties at most. He had long, glossy red hair and dark skin. His slit-like eyes were as red as his hair, and his face and figure were beautiful. He’d braided the hair near his left ear, giving him a strange, boyish charm.

“Normally, I’m the one who asks others to name themselves, but... I’ll make an exception today.”

Though his tone was light, the pressure this man gave off was immense. His vast mana was on par with Miledi and the others.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ancient magic users. My name is Rasul. Rasul Alva Igdol. I am the lord of this country... In other words, the demon lord.”

It seemed this beautiful man was the demon lord. The ruler of one of the world’s two great powers.

“So you’re an artifact user, huh?” Oscar muttered quietly, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He could tell all of the ornaments adorning the demon lord’s clothes were dangerous artifacts. The circlet Rasul wore in place of a crown, the sword at his belt, the rings on his fingers, the bracelets on his wrists, his earrings, his necklace, and even his boots were all artifacts.

“Mmm, and you’re the artifact maker, aren’t you? It’s an honor to meet this generation’s creation magic user.”

“What do you mean by this generation?”

Rasul ignored Oscar’s question and snapped his fingers. Another hole opened up in the ceiling. Batlam wriggled uncomfortably as Miledi and the others tensed up. Like they’d feared, two of the demon lord’s generals, one a grizzled old man, the other a beautiful woman, walked in, carrying Vandre between them. He was in chains. Numerous magic seals had been placed all over his body, and he was covered in wounds. Some were fresh enough to still be bleeding, and it was obvious they’d been torturing him until just now. Vandre didn’t even have the strength to stand, and he slumped when they let go of him.

“Van, how could you be so cold? If you have all these wonderful friends, isn’t it only proper manners to introduce them to me?”

It was obvious Rasul was trying to say “Why’d you try to sneak behind my back and do this?” Vandre looked up and glared at the demon lord.

“Like you’re one to talk. You lied to me about going to the western regions!”

“You’re in His Majesty’s presence. Watch your tongue, mongrel.”

The female general dug her nails into Vandre’s cheek. He groaned in pain as she cut through the soft skin around his mouth.

“Van-chan!”

Miledi tried to dash toward him, but the older general brought his sword to Vandre’s neck. As extra insurance, the gauntleted black-robed creature stood behind him as well. With this, Miledi couldn’t use gravity magic on the two generals.

“Lie is such a hateful word. I did indeed go to the western regions. But then, I changed my mind and came back. That’s all.”

Rasul had first realized something was off when his attack on the Reisen headquarters had failed, and the hostages mysteriously disappeared. He’d had a good idea who was responsible, as well. While the world was vast, there was only one person who could control monsters of that caliber. And so, he’d decided to purposely show an opening, knowing that Vandre would try and take advantage of it.

“You’re a nice kid. I knew you wouldn’t be able to abandon the test subjects. And I also knew the only people you could rely on were the Liberators.”

“Tch, so you saw through everything, huh?”

“But of course. I know everything about you. But you knew that, didn’t you? After all, you’re... my cute little brother.”

Miledi and the others had half-suspected this was the case. Vandre had known far more about the layout of the castle and the demon lord than was normal. Even so, they couldn’t help but be surprised.

“I didn’t think you’d actually be royalty,” Oscar muttered, adjusting his glasses.

“If he’s your cute little brother, why are you doing this to him!?” Miledi’s voice trembled as she turned to Rasul, questioning him.

“You misunderstood my emphasis.”

Rasul didn’t find Vandre cute because he was his brother. He found Vandre cute because he was the perfect little guinea pig. When he said as much, a fire appeared in Miledi’s eyes. She would save Vandre from Rasul no matter what it took.

“Heh. It looks like Lady Reisen’s quite fond of you.”

“That’s right. Van-chan’s our friend, so you better prepare yourself.”

“Members of the Reisen family sure are scary,” Rasul quipped, looking completely unfazed. He shrugged his shoulders and added, “And because you’re so scary, I’ll have to use this.”

Before anyone could stop him, Rasul raised his right hand. The ring on his middle finger glowed. A second later, Miledi’s eyes grew unfocused.

“Ah...”

“Miledi!”

Oscar grabbed her before she fell to the ground. His eyes widened as he realized just how badly she was burning up.

“What did you do to her!?” Naiz shouted, standing protectively in front of Oscar and Miledi.

“This is just one of my anti-Reisen measures.”

Apparently, Reisen the first had caused the demon lord of that era quite a bit of grief. Naturally, subsequent demon lords had come up with a good number of anti-Reisen measures.

Oscar had no idea what exactly Rasul had done, but it was obvious he was the reason Miledi had suddenly fallen ill. Miledi’s fever was so high that she didn’t even have the strength to stand on her own anymore.

“Now then, I’m sure you’ve realized this already, but gravity magic and spatial magic won’t work here.”

Rasul cocked his head.

“Actually, I suppose it’d be more accurate to say they won’t work in the presence of my masterpieces.”

The black-robed figure with the dagger walked over to Rasul and stood behind him.

“I told Van I was trying to make supersoldiers to defeat the church, but that’s not quite true.”

The reason the church was so terrifying was that they owned the majority of people capable of using special magic. And until now, they’d been the ones who’d owned most of the users of ancient magic. Of course, they still had the Commander of the Holy Templar Knights, but until Miledi had come along, the Reisen family had fought for the church as well. And the Reisen family had a history of producing heirs capable of using ancient magic.

Rasul had pored over history books, thoroughly investigating when and where users of ancient magic appeared. He’d captured anyone whose family line had a history of producing people with ancient magic, or special magic that resembled ancient magic, and started his research. All for the sake of creating countermeasures against ancient magic users.

The black-robed creatures’ vast mana reserves, superhuman strength, and insane recovery abilities were just byproducts. Rasul’s true goal had been finding ways of nullifying gravity magic, spatial magic, restoration magic, and spirit magic. And by poring over records of the past, his research had finally borne fruit.

The gray-robed creatures that had been supporting the black-robed ones were failures. Only vampires had been compatible with ancient magic. The other races had proved insufficient. However, few vampires traveled outside of their isolated nation, and Rasul had been lacking in test subjects. And so, he’d decided to use demons as a base instead. But even though he’d mixed in the blood of his successful test subjects as well as the blood of beastmen into regular demons, they’d only managed to inherit the vampires’ superhuman regeneration as well as the beastmen’s strength. As he spoke proudly about his experiments, Rasul’s expression twisted into one of sick joy.

“Thanks to Van’s help, I was finally able to complete the research my ancestors started. Do you see what I’m getting at here?”

Rasul sneered. He found Miledi’s resolve to save Vandre laughable.

“Everyone in the anti-ancient magic unit, Chimera, was made by Van.”

Normally, something like nullifying ancient magic would be impossible. However, it was the nature of ancient magic to make the impossible possible. Which was exactly what Vandre had done using metamorphosis magic.

“It was the creatures Van made that attacked your precious comrades.”

Rasul’s smile was tainted with malice and derision.

“Thanks, Van. You brought all these defenseless ancient magic users straight to me. You really are such a foolish kid.”

Rasul’s words made it clear that Vandre had no idea he’d been helping create anti-ancient magic hybrids. Chances were Rasul had known Vandre was using Batlam as a spy and fed the slime false information to make Vandre believe he was helping make simple anti-church supersoldiers.

In truth, though, Rasul had predicted Vandre would turn to other ancient magic users for help and had already prepared countermeasures for them so he could capture even more test subjects. Despair clouded Vandre’s eyes as he realized just how dire their situation was.

“I...”

Vandre had already been afraid of telling Miledi and the others he was related to the demon lord, so naturally, there was no way he could have told them he’d created the robed figures. He was afraid Miledi and the rest would abandon him if they knew the truth. He was afraid of trusting them. And that was why he’d purposely tried to act antagonistic.

Once the rescue operation was done, he’d wanted them to treat him like a slave. That would be both his punishment and his means of repenting. But as a result, he’d unwittingly lured his rescuers into a deathtrap. This was all his fault. Despairing, weighed down by guilt, Vandre lowered his gaze to the ground. He was disgusted with himself. Not only had he been utterly shameless, he’d been a fool, too.

“I already knew that,” Miledi said quietly, her voice weakened by the fever. But the unwavering look in her eyes made it clear that her resolve was undaunted.

Surprised, Vandre looked up to see Miledi grinning at him. Though she needed Oscar’s help to stand, she still wasn’t backing down.

“What, did you think we’d abandon Van-chan because you said all that? Did you think you’d crush our resolve? Too bad! I knew all of that from the start, so it doesn’t matter! For a demon lord, you sure are crappy at manipulating people!”

Miledi brought a hand to her mouth and snickered. She was in full annoying mode now. Rasul’s two generals glared at her, but Rasul himself just narrowed his eyes curiously.

Staggering, Miledi turned to Vandre. Her eyes welling up with emotion, she said, “Van-chan... No, Vandre Schnee. Hold your head up high! Be proud of yourself!”

“What...?”

Confused, Vandre thought to himself, Her smile really is like the sun...

Miledi pointed at Vandre and said with conviction, “You have no reason to feel ashamed! You fought your hardest against the unfairness of this world!”

“Ah...”

Vandre had no words to describe how he was feeling. All he knew was that Miledi’s gentle but powerful heat had warmed his heart.

“Can you please stop seducing my brother? He belongs to me.”

“I thought I told you to prepare yourself.”

Miledi’s words served as the signal to begin fighting.

“Take this, Super Onyx Blast!”

“I see the time for talk is over... Come to me, Ignis!”

Miledi unleashed a sphere of gravity magic five meters in diameter. It hurtled forward like a battering ram, obliterating anything in its path. But despite its overwhelming destructive might, the demon lord cut it in half with an enchanted blade.

A huge shockwave rippled outward as his crimson blade bisected Miledi’s sphere. At the same time, the demon lord’s allies headed toward Oscar and Naiz. The old general hefted a battleax and charged at Oscar, while the gauntleted Chimera dashed toward Naiz. Though Oscar and Naiz defended against their respective attacks, they were blown a few meters backward.

The moment Miledi was isolated, Rasul said, “Let’s see how well you can handle the combined might of all the artifacts the demon race has gathered since the founding of this nation!”

Rasul took a step toward Miledi. But a second later, a compressed blast of wind circled around Rasul and headed toward the Chimera standing behind him. The real reason Miledi had fired off that localized Onyx Blast was to keep Rasul busy while she targeted his bodyguard. The Chimera tried to dodge out of the way, but just before the blast of wind hit it, it burst into a miniature storm. Trapped in the whirlwind, the Chimera was blown into the air. But despite having lost his protection against gravity magic, Rasul didn’t stop charging forward.

“You’re mine— Heavensfall!”

“Didn’t you hear me before? I have more than one way of dealing with a Reisen.”

Right when the sphere of super-dense gravity reached Rasul, his necklace glowed. That particular artifact allowed him to manipulate gravity in a one-meter radius around him. It was his anti-Reisen trump card. He’d spent a vast amount of time and money tracking this particular artifact down. But all that effort had been well worth it. His trump card completely neutralized Miledi’s Heavensfall.

“What!?”

Surprised, Miledi nevertheless attempted to reorient her gravity backward to dodge Rasul’s attack. But just as she did, her consciousness grew hazy again and her fever sapped her concentration.

“Fear not. I’ll leave you on the brink of death.”

Rasul swung his sword down, intending to cut through Miledi’s torso. But just before his blade reached her, one of Oscar’s Metamorph Chains coiled around her waist and dragged her back to safety. She flew backward, into Oscar’s waiting arms.

“Ngh.”

“O-O-kun?”

Oscar grunted in pain a second after he’d secured Miledi. In order to save her, he’d had to divert his attention from his opponent, and he’d paid for that by getting struck in the side. A dark stain spread through his dark shirt. The old general pressed his advantage, striking with his ax again.

“Nuwoh!? I suppose I should have expected as much from the creation magic user.”

But his ax was stymied by a massive tower shield. Oscar had brought out one of his Shadow Knights to protect him. He manipulated the fully armed and armored puppet with his black glove, which was currently on the hand holding Miledi. Superfine threads stretched out of the finger joints on the glove, connecting to various points on the puppet. He pulled one finger back, and his Shadow Knight swung its sword horizontally at the old general. The general brought his ax back and blocked the swing. However, Oscar’s golem had more power than the general had anticipated. The old man was lifted into the air and sent flying. Oscar sent the Shadow Knight after the general while deploying his Black Umbrella with his free hand.

“Ability ten, Hallowed Ground - focused activation!”

He deployed a barrier and turned toward Rasul, who was bringing his crimson sword down on Oscar. However, even Oscar’s focused Hallowed Ground wasn’t enough to stop the demonic Ignis’ momentum.

The sword cut through the barrier, and a moment later, the umbrella’s glow vanished. But even without the barrier, Oscar’s umbrella was woven from a superhard Azantium alloy. Though Rasul’s sword possessed the special ability to cut through magic, even it couldn’t cut through Oscar’s hardest alloy. In fact, it barely even scratched the surface of the umbrella.

Oscar and Rasul locked eyes, their faces inches apart. Rasul’s eyes glimmered with admiration and he muttered, “Oho.” Then, he touched the surface of the umbrella with his right hand.

“But can it handle shockwaves?”

“Wha—”

The ring on his index finger glowed, and a blast of crimson mana shot out of his hand. But it wasn’t just a plain burst of mana. Is this the same magic Shushu has!?

Indeed, Rasul’s ring allowed him to do the same thing as Shushu’s Repulse. Namely, convert mana into a vibrating shockwave. However, the quantity of mana Rasul possessed was magnitudes greater than Shushu. The shockwave he unleashed was powerful enough to rupture organs.

Oscar hugged Miledi closer to him, covering her from the shockwave. Ignoring the searing pain in his side, he bore the full brunt of the shockwave. Impressively, he didn’t let go of his umbrella even as it blasted him away, and he even managed to activate another Hallowed Ground as he flew through the air to cushion his landing.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have any time to catch his breath. A barrage of black tentacles, or rather, flexible black spears, bore down on him.

He can control shadows too!? Thanks to his glasses’ analytical abilities and his own focused analysis, Oscar was able to discern the true nature of the shifting black spears. The demon lord had turned his own shadow into an army of black spears. Judging by the fact that the ring on the middle finger of his left hand was glowing, Oscar deduced that this was the power of an artifact as well.

In response, Oscar summoned his own army of enchanted swords from his Treasure Trove. Following his will, the swords rushed toward the spears. The barrage of disposable artifacts cut through the shadow spears like they were butter. However, rather than dissipating, the spears just reformed. Of them, one managed to find its mark. With the trajectory it was following, it would end up piercing Oscar’s chest and Miledi’s shoulder. While neither would be fatal wounds, they’d certainly be grave. By manipulating the sleeve of his coat, Oscar managed to redirect the spear enough that it wouldn’t hit Miledi. And while it no longer pierced straight through Oscar, it still grazed past his chest, cutting open a new wound. Blood spilled from the cut, staining his shirt.

“Gaaah!”

The barrage didn’t end there, either. Oscar was forced to activate Hallowed Ground again to defend against the rain of spears. In seconds, the spears surrounded the spherical barrier and Rasul directed them to twine around the barrier and start constricting it rather than try to pierce through. The spears were more like snakes with pointed heads than anything. Seeing how badly pressed Oscar was, Naiz tried to go help.

“Ngh, you’re so persistent!”

But he was blocked once again by the Chimeras. They’d both decided that Miledi was no longer a threat, and were now focusing on Naiz. They’d replenished their mana and healed their wounds by sucking the blood of the gray-robed Chimeras and were back to full strength. They focused all of their efforts not on defeating Naiz, but sticking close to him so that he couldn’t use spatial magic to help Miledi and Oscar. There was one other person, or rather, lifeform that was in the fight, but—

“Get out of my sight, you disgusting creature.”

The remaining general watching over Vandre unleashed a blast of fire at Batlam, the last remaining combatant. He had been trying to remove Vandre’s shackles while everyone fought, but the female general had seen through him. Batlam instantly transformed into a wall of steel, but the general’s flames were on a completely different level than the weaker Chimeras’.

The general’s flames turned from red to blue, becoming so hot they could melt even steel. The heat forced Batlam to cancel his transformation, and he writhed in pain.

“Batlam!”

“Shut up, you half-breed!”

The general shoved Vandre to the ground and stepped on his head. He could only watch helplessly as Batlam burned in front of his eyes. Vandre screamed in despair as Batlam’s slime was reduced to ash. He was burned so thoroughly that not even his mana crystal remained.

“Dammit!”

Oscar cursed as he watched Batlam get destroyed out of the corner of his eye. Seeing Vandre’s distraught look caused Oscar to boil over with rage. But even if he wanted to help Vandre, it was taking all he had to keep his Hallowed Ground up against the army of shadow spears. Worse, the demon lord was still growing stronger. If Oscar wasn’t careful, he’d be annihilated in an instant.

Is this the demon lord’s power? He has even more mana than Miledi... The only other person Oscar had encountered that was stronger than Miledi had been an apostle. As Oscar glared at the steadily approaching demon lord, he suddenly noticed something.

Is he drawing power from his circlet? Oscar knew Rasul’s circlet was an artifact, but he still wasn’t sure exactly what it was doing. It seemed to be giving strength to the demon lord, but Oscar wasn’t sure how. And if a highly accomplished Synergist like him couldn’t analyze that artifact, it definitely warranted attention. Unfortunately, Oscar didn’t have time to think about it too much.

“Very impressive, Oscar Orcus.”

Rasul smiled, his praise coming from the heart. Even though Oscar was occupied with the demon lord’s shadow spears, he was still able to control his Shadow Knight well enough to keep the old general at bay. As an artifact user himself, Rasul was quite impressed by the variety and utility of Oscar’s artifacts.

“Why, thank you. Can’t say I really enjoy being praised by you, though.”

Oscar glanced down at Miledi. The sudden movements he’d had to make to dodge Rasul’s attacks had placed quite a bit of strain on her fever-stricken body. Her body was emitting so much heat now that Oscar felt like he’d burn if he held onto her for too long.

Burning with impatience and worry, Oscar wanted to feed her an antidote, but he doubted she even had the strength left to swallow. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes were unfocused, and her consciousness was fading.

Rasul casually walked closer and said, “Really? Personally, I’d love to have you two on my side. What do you say to joining hands with me?”

“What did you say?”

Oscar cast Benison Aura from his umbrella while simultaneously maintaining his barrier. He needed to heal his injuries, of course, but he was also hoping it would help alleviate Miledi’s symptoms. Benison Aura was healing magic that only cured physical wounds, so he wasn’t expecting much, but it was better than nothing.

“You want to overthrow the church, don’t you? Coincidentally, that’s what we want as well.”

“We want to destroy the idea that humanity is superior, not support the idea that demons are superior!”

Rasul smiled ruefully.

“Well, I expected as much. This is why I wanted hostages.”

His smile turned mischievous.

“Well, if you won’t support our ideology, I’ll just have to grind you into part of its foundations.”

Rasul poured more mana into his spears, and cracks started to form along Oscar’s barrier. It appeared Rasul’s artifact grew stronger the more mana he gave it.

Oscar looked down to check up on Miledi and the state of his wounds. Since he was using most of his mana to maintain his Hallowed Ground, his Benison Aura was far from healing him fully. Especially with how deep his wounds were. Miledi’s breathing had steadied a little, but she wasn’t doing much better.

Dammit, what do I do!? How do I get us out of this while also saving Vandre and the prisoners!? Think, Oscar Orcus!

Oscar racked his brain for ideas, but this was a situation where even escaping alone was near impossible.

As he furiously tried to think of a plan, Rasul said, “Hmm... Thanks to Van’s metamorphosis magic, my dream of mass-producing soldiers capable of using ancient magic may just end up a reality... But now that I think about it, it would be a shame to scar Lady Reisen.”

“What?”

“I mean, think about it? Aren’t you interested in seeing what kind of children a union between a Reisen and the demon lord would produce?”

Ignoring the fact that Oscar had fallen silent, Rasul continued talking. He felt as though he’d hit upon a truly wonderful idea.

“It’s a shame she’s not a demon, but... even so, I’d say it’s worth a shot.”

“You wanna make Miledi your queen?”

“Now now, I never said anything about giving her status. Oh, but don’t worry. I’m a feminist. If I take her prisoner, I’ll be sure to treat her well at least. Even if she doesn’t want to be mine, I’m sure she’ll accept my advances if I use you as a hosta—”

Oscar interrupted Rasul’s delusions of a glorious future for his demon empire, his voice as cold as ice.

“That future will never come to pass.”

He looked quietly at Rasul, his eyes inscrutable.

“I promised Miledi I’d follow her wherever she went, even if that was to the depths of hell. But I’ll never let her go to your side.”

No matter what the situation was, even if Miledi was taken prisoner, his thoughts were clear.

“I won’t let her join you.”

Oscar reflexively hugged Miledi tighter. He couldn’t tell if it was his imagination or not, but it felt like Miledi snuggled up to him as well.

“Good grief. Hasn’t anyone told you that women don’t like overly possessive men?”

For a moment, Rasul was overwhelmed by the vehemence in Oscar’s voice, but then he smiled and returned to his same light tone. A second later, though, his eyes turned as cold as ice.

“You all are wonderful samples. I will have you become my test subjects.”

Crimson mana flared up from Rasul, and his spears shattered Oscar’s barrier. Oscar used his Onyx Boots’ Footholds of Light to leap into the sky. The spears gathered underneath Oscar, then shot upward. He blew them apart with a barrage of exploding daggers while simultaneously throwing another barrage of searing daggers at Rasul.

Rasul easily shot them all down with his own barrage of flaming blue spears. Then, using an ungodly amount of mana on body strengthening, he jumped toward Oscar, closing the distance between them in an instant. There was a crimson flash as he swung Ignis down at Oscar, and Oscar blocked with his umbrella.

The two fought in the sky, clashing over and over. But it didn’t take long before Oscar was cornered. Not only did he have to fight while protecting Miledi, but he also wasn’t nearly as skilled a swordsman as Rasul.

He’s as good a swordfighter as Vandre... Not only that, but his techniques were all the same. Still, even though Oscar had seen them all before, he wasn’t skilled enough to deflect them. He’d just learned a smattering of swordplay for self-defense.

“Gaaaaaaaaah!”

Before long, Ignis started scoring blows on Oscar. Though he managed to avoid taking any fatal blows, he was cut over and over by Rasul’s enchanted sword.

“Are those glasses of yours an artifact as well? I want them.”

“You’re not worthy of them.”

Rasul realized it was Oscar’s glasses that were enhancing his senses and allowing him to just barely keep up with the demon lord’s swordplay. The moment his attention was drawn to the glasses, Oscar activated his favorite ability, the flash of light. Momentarily blinded by the light, Rasul took an involuntary step backward.

Oscar leaped back to try and put some distance between him and Rasul, but the demon lord retaliated against the flash by firing a bolt of lightning.

“Gah!”

Screaming in pain, Oscar nevertheless prioritized Miledi and crashed into the ground back-first. At the same time, the old general cut through Oscar’s Shadow Knight, which he hadn’t been able to properly control for some time now. No longer occupied by Oscar’s puppet, he went to help the Chimeras fight Naiz. Too numb to move, Oscar could only watch helplessly as Rasul’s sword bore down on him again.

“I’ll protect... you...”

To Oscar’s utter surprise—

“Hm!? I see the Reisens are as impressive as always! To think you could still cast magic in that state!”

Though she was suffering from a fever, could barely see, and was trembling with chills, Miledi nevertheless managed to cast elemental spells one after another. The whole time, she mumbled, “I’ll protect you. I’ll definitely protect you.”

Miledi truly was amazing. Even in her condition, her resolve remained firm.

Seeing her heroic determination, Vandre shouted, “That’s enough... You’ve done enough! Just run! Run away!”

He couldn’t bear to watch this anymore. It would be better if Oscar, Naiz, and Miledi all fled without him. Like hell we’re doing that! Oscar thought to himself.

“Haha, I’m afraid I cannot allow that.”

Sneering, Rasul countered Miledi’s magic and sent her and Oscar flying with an attack of his own.

“You just sit there and watch, Van. It’s not like you can do anything anyway.”

Vandre hung his head. Rasul’s words brought back bitter memories. Memories of pain, sadness, and helplessness.

“Yes, that’s more like it. You should have just been obedient from the very start.”

If you’d done that, I wouldn’t have done anything to your clan. I would have even spared the test subjects any more pain than necessary...

“No matter how hard you struggle, your fate is to be used. You can’t protect anyone.”

Yeah, that’s how it’s always been. Vandre thought to himself.

I always endured being used, and in the end, I lost everything I cared about anyway. But even so...

“Hold your head up high! Be proud of yourself!”

When I think about how she’s still struggling...

“You have no reason to feel ashamed!”

Who’s she fighting for right now? The guy who got us all mixed up in this mess! The truly shameless thing to do would be to accept my defeat while she’s still fighting!

“Don’t... underestimate me. I... I am the man who’s inherited the blood of demons and dragons.”

Vandre spoke to himself, recalling those horrible memories. Unsealing the memories he’d buried deep inside his heart made his mind churn. But even so—

“Live for the sake of others.”

That person that meant so much to him, that person he’d let die, would never have sat back while others fought for them.

“I am the proud son of Sasrika Schnee, Vandre Schnee! Leader of the Schnees!”

As Vandre declared that to the world, a light as pale and clear as the light of the moon erupted from him. The maelstrom of light surrounded Vandre, obscuring him from view.

“Impossible, there should be a dozen seals blocking your mana!”

The female general keeping an eye on him watched on in surprise.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

There was a thunderous roar, and a second later, she was blown back against the wall.

“Van... I never thought you’d use that power again.”

Everyone watched in awe as the pale light pulsed once, then vanished. A second later, there was a white flash, and a pillar of moonlight shot toward Rasul.

“It’s far too reckless to attempt a transformation while your mana’s sealed. I can’t have you dying on me, you know...”

Frowning, Rasul dodged out of the way. For the first time, he was forced on the defensive. And that was because he knew better than anyone just how deadly that light was.

The light shot through the laboratory. A second later, a bone-chilling cold filled the air. There was a sharp cracking noise and a wall of ice formed in the spot the light had passed through. As crystals of ice danced through the air, a massive winged creature appeared where Vandre had been standing.

“I-Is that a dragon?”

Oscar put his glasses back in place as he looked up in awe. The dragon fired another blast of light at Rasul and fixed one beady eye on Oscar.

“Stop spacing out and run! I can’t maintain this form for long!”

That voice unmistakably belonged to Vandre. It echoed through the room as if it was coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It appeared the majestic ice dragon with shimmering sky-blue scales was none other than Vandre.

Vandre turned to Naiz and fired its breath in his direction as well. The two Chimeras and the old general who’d been fighting him leaped back. However, the light that enveloped Naiz was harmless.

Naiz looked down at himself, surprised that he hadn’t been frozen. Even as he stared, Vandre unleashed another roar. Looking up, Naiz saw a wall of ice now separated him from the Chimeras and the general.

Vandre’s dragon form certainly was beautiful, but seconds after he’d transformed, deep gashes started appearing in his scales. His eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like he was desperately straining against something. Judging by what Rasul had said earlier, forcing a transformation while he was still sealed was causing Vandre to take continual damage.

“W-We can’t leave you behind, Van-chan... We’re all escaping together...”

Trembling, Miledi reached out to Vandre. When he saw that, Vandre closed his eyes. He continued pouring his breath into the ice wall to keep it from being destroyed and said, “I can’t leave these guys.”

If Vandre escaped, the prisoners would be subject to hideous experiments again. But so long as Vandre was the only user of metamorphosis magic Rasul had, Rasul had no choice but to accept Vandre’s demands that he not perform any experiments that might kill the test subjects. Moreover—

“I... I still haven’t... given up on my brother.”

Vandre stared at the other side of his ice wall. Miledi had no idea what he meant. However, she knew he was speaking from the heart. More gashes appeared on Vandre’s scales, and his mana began to weaken. If he kept his transformation up much longer, he’d die.

Though he was bleeding from all over, Vandre shouted gallantly, “Go! For now, focus on surviving!”

“Van...chan...”

Consciousness fading, Miledi nevertheless called out to Vandre.

“Oscar! You can’t let her die! She’s not someone who should meet her end here! Isn’t that right!?”

“Shit! Goddammit! I’m sorry, Vandre. We’ll be back for you, I promise!”

Oscar hefted Miledi up in one arm and turned on his heel. A second later, Vandre’s breath reached its limits. Its pale light faded, and a massive impact struck the ice wall. The impact repeated itself over and over and cracks soon spread through the wall. There was a loud thud and Vandre fell to the floor.

A cocoon of pale light enveloped him. And, at the same time, Rasul finally destroyed the wall. As Vandre returned to human form, he watched as Naiz teleported the party to safety. He then looked up as he heard footsteps approach him.

“You got me, little brother.”

Rasul’s tone was cheerful. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned that Oscar and the others had escaped. But even so, despite the fact that he was bleeding from every orifice, Vandre smiled. Serves you right...

Vandre had no idea if Rasul read his thoughts or not. However, the demon lord just looked down at him and said, “Elga, Lestina, send messengers to every corner of the kingdom. I want every demon to know they’re wanted, and that they’re wanted alive.”

“As you wish, Your Highness.”

The two generals shot Vandre a bitter look, then hurried out of the room. That was the last thing Vandre saw before he lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, Oscar and the others reappeared at the base of the mountain the capital was located on.

“Haaah... Haaah... How’s Miledi?”

Panting, Naiz turned to Oscar.

“She’s lost consciousness. It doesn’t look good. We need a place to rest... Somewhere with a doctor, preferably.”

Oscar’s expression was grim. He and Naiz both knew there was nowhere safe for them to rest within the demon kingdom.

“For now, let’s get out of here. Naiz, can you teleport us again?”

“Yeah.”

Naiz laid a hand on Oscar’s shoulder. Not only because it was easier to teleport people when he was touching them, but also to console Oscar. Though it was obvious from the strength of his grip that Naiz was every bit as frustrated as Oscar was.

What sounded like a dragon’s roar reached their ears. The two men looked up at the demon lord’s castle.

“We’re coming back, for sure.”

“Yeah, you can count on it.”

Frustration and determination warring within them, the two men teleported away.