Chapter 723 - Chapter Sixteen: Testament Exploration ⑧

Chapter Sixteen: Testament Exploration ⑧

As a result of four days of practice, the Wetlands Priestess learned Attract. Since she was originally a user of two dark magic spells, she must have had the talent. Fiona completely lost her nerve after seeing the spiders gather and gave up.

And on the fifth day, the steel armor, helmet, and shield, which were polished to the point of shining like mirrors, were finished. In total, there were four sets, for the princes of each nation. It seems the fit is good when the four of them wear them. Unlike chain mail, movement is restricted, but they are apparently well-made and lighter than expected. They were testing them by jumping, hopping, and doing forms while holding swords against each other, and they passed.

Immediately, we headed to defeat the Cockatrice heads from the afternoon. The participating forces were the four princes, plus Sianya merged with the Wetlands Priestess who uses dark magic, and me merged with Fiona who uses light magic—eight main forces. Supporting them were the hero Harrison-san, and according to themselves, the four delinquent old men who said they didn't mind becoming stone since they were at an age where they could die at any time. Three of them took advantage of the fact that there were no Engrio people and vanished. They are being overconfident, thinking they won't be bathed in rays if they aren't found. Honestly, it was being doubted, but the old men wouldn't listen, saying that if it's to be done, the elderly will do it. Eleanor-sama and the active hero Harrison-san were left out, but if this operation fails and any or all of the participants become stone, they were entrusted with the important mission of spending their lives finding a way to cure them. It feels like they were excluded, but actually Harrison-san is to do the rescue work of the petrified people along with Eleanor-sama, who can use Teleport and Clump Stone. The 'spending their lives' part is a story for after the rescue.

Incidentally, since holy magic will be fired indiscriminately, Wilson-san is off this time. He stayed in the rear with Will and Bonnie.

"Then, let's see your skill."

The Priestess, the manager of this cave, turned into light and dark and was absorbed into the ceiling. A soft light emitted from the ceiling illuminates the area. And from that moment, the conquest operation begins. Since the Wetlands Priestess learned Attract, this will be the critical moment.

"Then, everyone, please."

When Price-sama's instruction was given, the four warriors put on barrel-shaped helmets. Their faces are completely covered. Although there are only two holes for the eyes, there are eaves extending diagonally downward from above the holes, so if they look down, they won't look directly at the heads that look down from above. Whether they can capture the Golems' movements in that state is doubtful, but they had been practicing for these four days.

"Light!"

Hidden behind a polished shield, when I release maximum Light with a reflector from the tip of my thrust-out scepter toward the front, the wall disappears.

"All right! Let's go!"

"Oh!"

The four warriors began to walk, carrying the light of my Light on their backs.

Golems are ahead of the warriors as they advance. The Golems stayed quiet for a while, but when the distance closed to a certain extent, they reacted and readied their swords. They entered the warning zone.

At the same time, the Cockatrice heads all at once released rays. The aim is concentrated on the four without fail, but they are beautifully repelling them. Success.

The four stop and move back while being bathed in rays. They moved back just as they were until the rays ceased and the Golems lowered their guard. With this, we found out where the warning zone starts. From now on, they will move forward, backward, left, and right on that line to control the movements of the heads and Golems.

"All right, shall we go too?"

Only Henry-sama's voice can be heard. From here, everyone participates in the battle. Without a sound, the shield protecting me advances. It's to enter the room. Harrison-san, Sianya merged with the Wetlands Priestess, and Eleanor-sama also entered. And when I entered, the wall that had disappeared behind me appeared, and the back became pitch black. That's the signal.

"Then let us do it too."

As soon as Harrison-san called out, he and Sianya, who thrust her left hand forward, both released Holy Lance. Since they have Sight cast, they can make accurate long-range attacks. One is log-class and one is ultra-thick-class, so it's one shot, one hit. They shot through the heads on the ceiling one by one.

"It seems we can do it."

When the heads turn here, they stay hidden behind shields, but they don't turn here. With this, we found out that the heads' aim is only within the warning zone. This part is, as expected, a light touch. The Priestess herself has no intention of seriously killing us.

Next is Eleanor-sama. When she floats a human-head-sized stone she rolled at her feet with Clump Stone, it accelerates all at once. She also has Sight cast. Like Harrison-san, she crushes the heads on the ceiling one by one, but since she uses the same stone, she keeps chanting. Just in case, she brought about three spare stones, so she can rest when she gets tired.

When the long-range group began their attack, the vanguard began to move. From our perspective, they moved to the far right, drawing the heads' rays and the Golems there. They are being hit by rays incessantly, but they are repelling them well. Partly because instructions were given to stick to being decoys and not to engage in direct combat with Golems as much as possible until the opportunity comes, they are moving bit by bit while securing distance to prioritize guiding the sluggish Golems. It's one person per Golem, and they guide them to open the intervals between Golems as much as possible. For the one extra Golem, Roberts-sama guides it to the far right. Thanks to that, the front and left side became clear. The long-range attack group attacks the wide-open front ceiling part. Every time Holy is released, and every time a 'thud' sound is made, the rays decrease one by one.

Since I'm releasing Light from the tip of my scepter with a reflector, the front is bright but the left and right are dark. In that dark left hand, white light burst forth. It's Price-sama's Purification. More than ten rays decreased all at once. Other than that, the ones decreasing sporadically are likely Henry-sama and Harold-sama releasing silver arrows. The rays are concentrated on the four warriors. It seems the stealth operation is also a success.

"All right! I'll do it too!"

When Sianya raised her right hand, the merged Wetlands Priestess released Dark.

The Priestess's charge is the front right side.

It's dark and I can't see, but the mist should be moving.

While I was wondering what would happen, the rays decreased significantly. It's because the Priestess deployed the mist of Dark.

"I did it! As I thought, Dark could block them."

She made a thick mist so the rays wouldn't pass through. Direct damage cannot be given, but since they are entangled in the mist from the front, it must be hard for the heads to move.

"You guys, it's your turn! Go reap the heads!"

"Oh!"

When the Priestess said something dangerous, the ghosts set out. Since they are invisible, only their voices can be heard, but all ten should have set out. The ghosts take advantage of their characteristics to sneak into the mist of Dark from the side. And then they reap the heads as they are. This way, they can attack safely.

"Jeanne, next is me."

"Okay."

It's Fiona. I entrust my left hand to her.

Eleanor-sama whistles. Hearing the signal, the four warriors ran to the right. My eyes with Sight cast magnified the target.

"Here I go. Thunderbolt!"

As expected, she didn't use Heaven's Roar. However, she made it a five-shot horizontal volley of high-level magic. A thunderous roar that almost split my ears rang out, and one leg of the leftmost Golem was crushed and it fell over sideways. One more shot. She also knocked over the one that was second from the left.

"Uooooooo!"

Oh no, the soul of Edward, the Great Voice Prince, was ignited by the thunderous roar. He began to let out an exorcism roar that was not inferior to Fiona's lightning... no, completely superior. My ears are going to go weird. Furthermore, he casts the Chant of Exorcism with a loud voice to follow up. Following his lead, the other warriors chant in unison. The already sluggish Golems are lying sideways. Taking advantage of their agility, they move quickly and thrust spears all at once with multiple people.

"Oh, the rays have stopped. Now is the time."

Eleanor-sama released Clump Stone with both hands and began to fly two stones at the same time. The four princes moved all at once, taking advantage of the gaps in the sluggish Golems to attack with two people per Golem. The Priestess, who had almost been knocked over, also pulled herself together and is manipulating the mist. The left side is also firing Purification light repeatedly, taking advantage of the fact that no rays are coming out.

I wonder if... could it be that the heads lost their will to fight because they were bathed in Edward-sama's loud voice?

"That's foul!"

The ceiling is flickering. It must be sulking. No wonder. Both sides had fought based on large-scale preparations and strategies. That was decided by Edward-sama's great voice. Even though they were heads as materials for Golems, they were originally the heads of living creatures. They must have been scared. They were no match for Edward-sama, who even intimidated the vicious evil spirits in Morandine.

Once the Golems were defeated, the rest was like mopping up remnants. The heads were taken down one after another, mainly by the ghosts hidden in the mist and the three old men who hid their forms.

Of course, it was a momentary event, and the heads that came to their senses by the time the second chant of the Chant of Exorcism finished began to release rays, but the number had decreased significantly. Especially, it was big that the warriors, who were given time to raise their faces, faced the sluggish Golems and created situations of multiple against one, and further dismantled one. They are four people with excellent skills if they have the numbers. Partly because the knight order decreased the heads on the right side all at once, they took advantage of their agility to occupy positions from the center back toward the front right side where there were no heads, as a result they could secure sufficient visibility and defeated the remaining two.

"My apologies. I accidentally got hot-headed."

I don't think you need to apologize.

"Ufufu, it's a joke. There are ways of fighting like that too, aren't there? It was magnificent."

"Well, thank you very much."

He turns red and bows his head.

The other three warriors, who usually treat Edward-sama like a younger brother, are smirking.

Anyway, we broke through.

And next is Attract. Since the Priestess learned it, we should be able to break through. I was thinking lightly of it, but...

When the wall was erased and three ghosts were sent in to scout, it was apparently not stone-built, but just a large hall with dirt walls, ceiling, and floor, with a lump of dirt.

"However, several small holes are open in the lump. We could not search inside those."

Small holes, this is where Attract is tested... in other words, insects. It might be ants. It'll be troublesome if there's a queen.

This is decided to be the Wetlands Priestess's turn from the beginning. It's the newly learned Attract.

"All right! It's my turn! Attract!"

She releases magic while riding on Eleanor-sama's Owan. The target is the center of the hole made with Clump Sand. The hole has a large diameter and is funnel-shaped. It's not that deep, but it's frozen with Freeze after being wetted with Shower. If ants come, they will slip on the ice and fall to the bottom of the hole. Since we've made a high platform with the dirt from when we dug, it'll be easy to defeat them with holy magic if we just watch from above.

I thought so, but... unfortunately, nothing comes out.

"Huh? That's strange. I should have done it right. I practiced too."

I was also forced to accompany her in practice. Every time, I was shown insects gathering. It wasn't very pleasant.

"I'll try one more time."

She said so and released it a second time, but still they didn't come.

"The distance might be too far."

It's Eleanor-sama. However, the ant hill is right in front of us.

"A hole might be connected deep underground from here."

If that's the case, will it be a queen battle after all?

"Let's try releasing one flashy magic."

I see. That's a good method.

The experience of those who subjugated the Demon Lord is something else; when the Wetlands Priestess slammed a Thunderbolt toward the ant hill, ants came out in swarms. And then they just kept slipping and falling into the hole.

When a certain amount accumulated at the bottom, the priest group released eight-shot volleys of Holy with reflectors in turn to defeat them. Since there are illuminators, aiming is easy. If we release toward the moving lump, it stops moving. It's as calculated.

"We should have defeated quite a few."

Half of the funnel is ant corpses. Despite that, the ants coming out don't decrease at all.

"This might have been a failure."

Eleanor-sama put her right hand to her forehead and sighed.

"Failure? Why?"

The Wetlands Priestess pressed, but I somehow understood.

"The ants in the Demon Lord's cave come out when high-level magic is released. In other words, the reason the ants came out this time is likely the same principle, and I don't think it's the effect of Attract. It's my error in judgment. My apologies."

"Eh? Then, what happens to this?"

Ants come out in swarms. And they fall into the hole and die from holy magic. I heard that about 30,000 ants come out in one sortie. We'll just have to wait until it's over.

Huh? Wait a minute. This is strange.

"Isn't this strange?"

"Strange? Is something weird?"

I was pressed by the Wetlands Priestess. The Priestess hasn't been involved in ant extermination until now. Honestly, she probably doesn't know what the standard is. At this rate, it'll just be a repetition of the same thing.

"Because, what are the ants in this ant hill eating? There's nothing, right?"

"They must be maintaining their bodies with magic stone powder."

Eleanor-sama answered.

"Right. If so, no matter how many times we lure them out like this, won't they just keep coming out? At this rate, it'll just end with all of them dying, right?"

"Is there any other way?"

"I think luring them out is correct, but after that..."

"Then, let's stop killing them and watch for a while."

Eleanor-sama also agreed, and we stopped the Holy. Then, they just ended up squirming at the bottom of the funnel, slipping and sliding. More followers came out than expected. In the meantime, it became full and overflowed. The ants began to wander around as if to say, "Since we've come out anyway." The high platform was covered with ice on the sides and surrounded by Wind Barrier, so the ants don't climb up, but we also became unable to get down.