Chapter 724 - Chapter Sixteen: Testament Exploration ⑨

Chapter Sixteen: Testament Exploration ⑨

Now, what to do?

Illuminated by the pale blue light of the ghosts, the ants are scurrying around. Since there's no point in keeping the funnel frozen, I release it. Then, not only the ones that were at the top but also the ones at the bottom came up, and it became even more of a swarm. Finally, they began to prey on the ones killed by Holy.

"Hey, why don't we turn a few into Revenants and control them?"

It's the Wetlands Priestess. As a result of controlling the bone Fenrir, we were able to find the exit.

"That's right. Let's try as much as we can."

It's not Attract, but wouldn't it be fine if we find the exit? Eleanor-sama must have thought so too. We actually decided to do it.

However.

At the same time the Wetlands Priestess turned a few ants into Revenants with Undead, they were attacked by the other ants and returned to the earth. An unexpected development. With this, it's just a matter of which one defeats which, and it's not much different from defeating live ants with Holy.

"Does Attract only have an effect while it's being cast?"

It's Eleanor-sama. Eleanor-sama was watching the process of the Wetlands Priestess learning Attract while mixed with the priest group.

"Hmm, it seems the effect remains after casting. For about half an hour, I think."

"Then, if you cast it toward water produced by magic, wouldn't it have an effect like Jeanne's magic water?"

"I see, that's right. Then, shall we try it with maximum power?"

I see. As expected of the developer of Megiddo Fire. If insect-repelling water can be made, then conversely, insect-attracting water might also be possible. It's like summer insects flying into water. If it works well, I'll teach it to Lyudmila.

The funnel is utilized again. Riding on the Owan, she releases Shower profusely from above the funnel. As expected, the ants seem weak against water and all fled at once. Only corpses remained. At the point where those corpses were enough to float in the water, the Priestess released a maximum Attract. It's an ultra-high-level Attract. The ants that were around the funnel all crawled toward the water at once. However, as expected, they seemed to stop entering inside, and they are lined up in a row at the edge, perhaps drinking the water. Those that came from behind climbed over their allies and pushed forward, gathering at the water's edge. In that way, a ring of ants piled up in many layers was created near the edge of the funnel.

"Now is the time."

"Okay!"

At the outer edge of the ant ring, there are those wandering around because they were pushed away and can't get inside. Among those, we turned a few that were wandering in distant places into Revenants.

"All right! Necromancy! Go to the exit!"

Ignoring the other ants attracted by the insect-attracting water, the Ant Revenants began to move. There were five, and they split into two directions. One group tried to go to the place where we entered, so I turned them back into dirt. We follow the two heading in the other direction with Eleanor-sama's Owan.

And so, they finally reached a corner of the wall. Since they stopped moving as if clinging to it, I turned them into dirt and made them a marker.

"It's here. Contact the others. We'll escape before the ants come."

"Yes."

When I flickered the Light, they gathered.

Just in case, around the entrance and around what appeared to be the exit, I sprayed water with Shower and froze it with Cocytus with narrowed output so the ants wouldn't come. It should last for a while.

"Light!"

A corner of the dirt wall disappears from the bottom. It's a hit. Gwyn-sama, Harold-sama, and Harrison-san jump in. The ghost merged inside should jump out and scout.

After working hard for a while, adjusting so it doesn't all disappear and doesn't all close, someone's hand came out and made an OK sign.

I erase the wall completely. At the same time, the door on the opposite side seems to have opened, and light can be seen.

I hope the ants don't go over there and go outside.

Proceeding through the stone-built passage, we reached the Goddess's small room.

Feeling relieved, I knelt before the Goddess and offered a prayer of thanks. Of course, I wasn't the only one. Everyone joined in Price-sama's chant.

With this, we finally broke through the trials of light and dark. Since I'm afraid of ants coming from behind, we decided to build a defense wall immediately. We deploy simple magic circles and transport materials via the midway base. Heavy things cannot be transported, but ants won't break through stone materials or iron plates. So, taking advantage of the fact that the passage is stone-built, we brought in materials for church repairs. There is manpower. And it's powerful. Harold-sama and Gwyn-sama became site foremen and blocked it urgently.

Just in case, I did it after Price-sama said everything we were going to do toward the ceiling, so it should be fine. Besides, we haven't put a lock on it, so anyone can open it. Perhaps the promise that the church would take responsibility for all repairs if anything happened also worked, as the ceiling glowed once when we asked about the feasibility.

It took a full day for repairs and such.

After that, it's the four elements.

The barriers of the Four Great Spirits' dwellings were sung in the Hand-holding Song, but this is likely different.

First, I erase the wall with Light and proceed through the passage. Beyond this, will an elemental magic come, or will an environment representing it come?

When we arrive at the Goddess's small room, the stone statue is holding a small box in its right hand. I immediately open it and find a scroll inside.

I call Henry-sama and the others and have them confirm the contents with Erikson-sama.

"Beyond here are four passages, and each has an attribute necessary to pass through. If you pass through to the opposite side of the passage, you pass. If you can pass through all four attribute trial passages from this side to the other side, a new passage will be shown, and you just have to break through that."

"Let's do our best!"

Eleanor-sama is suddenly enthusiastic. The blood of the great mage once called the strongest on the White Island must be stirring.

"Is magic alone enough?"

Harrison-san asks. If so, warriors and priests will be support.

"I wonder? What is required is an attribute, and it is not written as elemental magic. I don't think it's necessarily limited to magic, but..."

At Price-sama's words, Eleanor-sama, who was doing warm-up exercises, stops moving.

"How do you reproduce attributes other than magic?"

Eleanor-sama is also asking with a serious face. I wonder if humans can reproduce it.

"I don't know. However, for example, there are methods like imbuing weapons with attributes like Enchant."

Enchant, who can use that besides Jennifer-sensei? We won't be able to break through.

"Also, there is one condition. If there are four or more people challenging with the users of light and dark magic, those people can only challenge one location per person. And they must attempt to break through one location at a time in one challenge, and if all four cannot be broken through, it will be a redo."

One location per person besides Wilson-san, the Wetlands Priestess, and me, huh. Well, if Wilson-san is okay, we should be able to break through all of them.

"Is that really so? I cannot use dark magic, you know."

Um, isn't it okay after all?

"Since it's specified as users of light and dark magic, I think it'll be necessary to actually release one of them. So, I don't think it'll be recognized if you can't use it. After all, this is a place with a judge. Otherwise, such conditions couldn't be set."

Now that you mention it, that's true. However, if that's the case, the users of elemental magic will be limited. All four for Eleanor-sama and Wilson-san, and for one or more high-level elemental mages, there's the Wetlands Priestess, Fiona, three in the knight order, and Harold-sama—six in total. I think we can do it.

"In that case, we are just stalling, aren't we? Let's have support magic cast on us."

It's Henry-sama. There are seven warriors including scouts and scout-warriors, and seven in the knight order. Knight order members can provide light and a certain amount of magic defense with the pale blue flame of ghosts if they merge. Erikson-sama is especially promising.

"Then, we are support and recovery."

It's Price-sama. This group includes Harrison-san and Sianya. How to divide this might be the point.

We consult with everyone and divide into four groups. We decided to treat attributes as magic.

The first group, as elemental magic users, includes Harold-sama, the Wetlands Priestess, and two high-level mages from the knight order. And the warriors for stalling are Gwyn-sama, Will, and the scout Bonnie. The priest is me.

The second group's elemental magic users are the Wetlands Priestess and one knight order member who can use ultra-high-level water magic, plus Fiona. The warrior is Eowyn-sama, and the priests are Sianya and me.

The third group's elemental magic users are the Wetlands Priestess and Eleanor-sama, the warriors are Edward-sama and Henry-sama, and the priests are Price-sama and me.

And in the fourth group, Wilson-san accompanying Erikson-sama finally appears. Along with the Wetlands Priestess. The warrior is Roberts-sama, and the priests are Harrison-san and me.

The knight commander merges with Gwyn-sama, and others merge with warriors, scouts, and Harrison-san, who is also a warrior.

The point is the first group. Besides the Priestess, they can only use high-level elemental magic. Others have ultra-high-level ones organized. And the ultra-high-level attributes the second group can use are only water and lightning. Moreover, since she probably won't use Heaven's Roar, lightning is ultra-high-level only in terms of magic control power.

This is because if even one is botched, it'll be a redo. If so, we organized the weakest... only in terms of the level of elemental magic... into the first group to challenge first, thinking that if they and the second group can break through, we'll be able to break through all of them. It's too sad to go full blast at first and retreat at the fourth. That's the kind of organization it is.

"Then, I'm opening it."

The four princes push open the door. It didn't seem as heavy as expected and opened easily.

While being seen off by the second group and below, we open the exit of the Goddess's small room and enter the passage. Going straight, we came to a three-way junction. From there, four passages extending in a fork shape, two on the right and two on the left, can be seen. We chose the leftmost one for clarity and proceeded. As promised, there is a stone door. Beyond this wall, one of the four attributes is waiting as some kind of trial.

We're facing the critical moment all of a sudden, but I wonder what's waiting.

"Then, I'm opening it."

Gwyn-sama and Will push. Whether the merged ghosts are also helping, pale blue flames rose from the two's bodies.

With a rumbling sound, beyond the opened door is a passage. Going to the leftmost passage and proceeding ahead, it's a dead end and there's a Teleportation Circle. The password is written on the front wall, so we activate it and jump as it is. From there, a cave like a limestone cave continues. This, apparently, is likely a trial modeled after the earth spirit.

"Is it earth?"

"It's earth, isn't it?"

My opinion matched with the Wetlands Priestess's.

Earth has good affinity with fire. And it has extremely bad affinity with wind.

"Let's attack with fire magic here. Wind is strictly forbidden."

Based on the spirit of coexistence and co-prosperity, that's how it goes.

"What, my magic is suddenly forbidden?"

Harold-sama is grumbling, but it can't be helped. Not only that, the magic of one more ghost is also forbidden.

"Hey, Jeanne. I wonder if lightning will work?"

The Priestess asked. Lightning is treated as a fire attribute for now. It was denied by Dune and Mel, though.

"Lightning? I wonder? It might be effective after fire."

"Eh? Lightning is fire attribute, right?"

"Yeah. Humans treat it that way."

"Is it different?"

"It was denied by Dune."

"Eh? Then, what attribute?"

"That, I don't really know."

Ah! Is that how it is?

"Hey, Priestess, let's break through here with something other than lightning. So, it's fire. Let's try our best somehow."

"Hmm. If Jeanne says so, that's fine. It's a long shot anyway."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay, let's just do what we can."

"Thank you."

We proceed further. As a result of the knight order member's advance reconnaissance, as expected, a Golem appeared. A Stone Golem.

"We just have to defeat that fellow, right? Then, shall we have the Priestess do her best like that time?"

It's Harold-sama. We've defeated Golems with Gwyn-sama and the others. At that time, the Priestess fixed its hands with Dark so they wouldn't move.

"This fellow has its arms crossed in front of its chest from the start. The previous method might be a bit difficult."

According to the knight order member who went to scout, it's not the type that can move. It's in a shape like a cone with the top cut off and a head placed on it, and it has no legs. And the crossed arms on the chest don't seem like they'd move freely either. The shape is triangular, with the pointed part facing here. In other words, it's likely protecting the chest part where the weak point magic stone is embedded. He's saying that if you thrust with a sword or spear, it'll probably swing its arms up and down while still crossed to brush them away. Since that strange thing is standing in the way of the narrow passage completely, we can't bypass it either.

"Since we could not break through the surrounding walls, the exit is likely only there."

Troublesome. We have no choice but to defeat the Stone Golem with fire magic somehow.

Among the mages of the knight order, there is one who can use Fire Storm. Let's have him do his best.

"Then, I'm going. Flame Stream!"

I see. The ghost's spell name is Flame Stream.

At the same time as it's cast, a roaring tornado of fire rises from the Golem's feet. But, however, that was all. The Golem just stayed quiet and took the magic without resisting.

"Is the firepower insufficient?"

Harold-sama is also disappointed, but wouldn't Prominence be dangerous inside a cave?

"Well, that's true, but this cave should be long. If it's a single shot rather than rapid fire, it should be fine."

Is that how it is? I think so, but that's probably how it is. However, that doesn't mean we can mobilize a Prominence user.

"Then, let's devise a way to increase the firepower."

"What's that? Is there such a way?"

"Yes. I think it'll increase a little."

Fortunately, there are two wind users. Harold-sama and a knight order member.

We make a funnel-shaped thing with Harold-sama's Wind Barrier and send wind into it with Favorable Wind. The tip of the funnel is, of course, the base of the Fire Storm.

"Fumu. It's an application of metallurgy. You knew well."

I was admired by Harold-sama. Actually, I used this method in the fire battle with the Fire Dragon. At that time, I joined in to help the Fire Dragon who was trying to counter Megiddo Fire, and it gained quite powerful firepower. Thanks to that, I was able to become friends with the Fire Dragon too.

"Then, I'm going again. Flame Stream!"

It's the same as before. A tornado of fire envelops the Golem.

"Wind Barrier!"

Harold-sama deployed a Wind Barrier and immediately made a funnel and added the tip to the base of the flame.

"I'm going. Gale!"

The wind howls. And the Flame Stream makes a roaring sound. The red flame becomes orange.

The ghost flashes. It's maximum power.

"All right, I'll release part of my Wind Barrier too."

With a 'whoosh' sound, the Flame Stream becomes larger. The orange color has become close to yellow.

"How's this?"

The Priestess releases a pale blue fireball. Furthermore, the other knight order member also imitates her and releases a fireball.

A flame of an incredible color, a mix of pale blue and yellow, rises.

Can we do it? If it reaches the temperature where rocks melt, I think we can.

The wind howls from behind us as we watch, and the ghosts flash. If there were no wind from behind, it would be quite hot. I hurriedly cast Resist on the humans.

"Ah, the surface has melted a little!"

The Priestess shouts. I can't see it, but can ghosts see it?

"Gwyn-dono, Bonnie! Wilhelmina!"

Harold-sama calls the three in a loud voice.

"Something?"

"Yes!"

"What is it?"

"The finishing blow! Please shoot silver arrowheads toward the inside of that funnel!"

Saying so, he turned his back to Will to have her take his bow and arrows.

The three notch arrows and draw their bows.

"All right! Fire!"

With Gwyn-sama's signal, three arrows are sucked into the funnel with 'whiz' sounds. Since they disappeared into the flames, I don't even know if they hit.

"All right! We did it!"

At the same time the Priestess said so, the Golem crumbled away.