Chapter 835 - Chapter 5: Infiltration ③
When I woke up, the two ghosts were blinking pale blue while floating in the air. They've become like wandering spirits. It was good that I had tied the three of us with the rope for restraining monsters, otherwise... no, it's the basement and there are no open exits, so it's not a problem. Basically, ghosts don't sleep, but they must have been very tired. It's better than if they had become evil-spirit-like.
While lying on my back, I gaze at the two floating. They look like giant fireflies, and this in itself calms my mood. It's much better than pitch darkness. Thinking about it, if the two of them were sleeping in this state, even the Orcs wouldn't be able to come near. It's a good monster repellent. It might be more effective than my barrier.
While I was gazing blankly, the Priestess must have woken up as she came closer. As expected of a priest, she's early in the morning.
"Good morning."
I think 'good morning' is a fine greeting. Probably.
"Good morning. Did you rest well?"
"Yeah, and you?"
"I slept enough."
I untie the rope that was tied.
I have no idea how much time has passed since we started resting, but since I'm hungry, let's interpret it as morning.
"Fiona is still sleeping. Then, I'll go scout above for a bit."
It's a grateful offer. I could never do it alone.
By the time the Priestess returned, Fiona had also woken up.
"I'm sorry. I should have gone too."
"It's fine, it's fine. Morning exercise is a daily routine."
What kind of ghost is she? Both of us burst out laughing.
As a result of the reconnaissance, the Orcs are apparently cooped up in the hangout. They must be scared. The frozen boss and Troll also recovered after time passed, but they were apparently terrified when they saw the Priestess's figure. For our part, it's better to avoid unnecessary conflict. Even when the Priestess ignored them and passed by, they were apparently sitting down and sighing.
If that's the case, it should be fine. We each eat one of the breads Diana-sama gave us, and since we're not using the alcohol we received, we drink our own wine and start our action.
In the complete fusion state, we head toward the wall that is presumably the exit. Perhaps because we are clad in pale blue flames, we were able to proceed without any interference. On the way, we passed in front of the hangout, but the door was closed, so we passed it by.
When it was time to go to the back of the passage, I thought the alarm would ring, but there was nothing in particular. It was pointless to worry about it, but since there was no problem, I stopped caring about it. We just need to get out safely.
We go to the end of the passage and slash with the silver knife, but not even a scratch is made. Even when the Priestess releases lightning, it's the same. It's confirmed.
It can't be helped.
"Light!"
I raise both hands and release it with all my might.
"H-huh?"
It's not disappearing!
Why?
"Then, maybe Dark. Shall I do it?"
I see. There was that pattern.
"Dark!"
The pitch-black mist moves toward the wall. When it spreads as if to cover it, the wall... doesn't disappear!
"Huh? Even with this, it's no good."
"What happened?"
"Hmm. Let's do both."
A combined technique of Light and Dark. Alright. If this doesn't work, there's nothing we can do.
In the end, it didn't work.
Even with the combination of Thought Communication and Undead on the other side, it was no good.
"Does this mean we can't get out from here?"
"At least not from here. The methods until now are no good."
"Right."
No good, huh. It's just as the Priestess says. After that, it's the entrance to the second floor. I don't really want to go there. There are lots of snakes and such there.
There might be a way, but I can't think of one. Therefore, we decided to go to the second floor. The Demon Race on the second floor is the one who was in the Northeastern Forest. I wish we could negotiate or something.
I was worried about whether it would disappear, but the wall disappeared without incident.
As I imagined, a long passage extends.
While searching with Sense Living, we fly on the Priestess's bowl. Fiona's Camouflage and my Almighty Guard. The preparation is perfect.
Beyond the long passage is a door. Beyond the door, the second floor was spreading out.
The second floor is a grassland. That said, grass taller than one's height is growing thick, and there are small groves here and there. There are many ponds, marshes, and wetlands too. The monsters waiting are expressionless types like snakes and lizards. For some reason, frogs are on the third floor below, but either is fine.
It's a place where you could never go on foot, but we have Flight Magic. For some reason, snakes find you even if you hide your form, but from the Wetlands Priestess's experience, we know that if we cool the bowl with Freeze, we won't be found out. Therefore, we decided to proceed with exploration while ignoring all the grasslands, marshes, wetlands, snakes, and lizards.
Anyway, it's wide. However, the goal is the shrine where the entrance to the tower connecting to the third floor is. Even if the grass is tall, it probably won't be enough to completely cover the shrine. Therefore, we decided to hit the groves one by one.
There are two people whose night vision is effective. Since illumination is not necessary, I focused on releasing Sense Living to scout.
In the grassland, there are long ones and thick, short ones, all over the place. Just how many are there? Since they are on land, I don't think they have two heads, but even so, it's extremely dangerous. Just in case, I decided not to fly over ponds or wetlands. Those who challenged the Demon Lord in the past must have broken through such a place. It must have been very difficult.
"Is this all also the influence of Magic Stone powder?"
If you sprinkle soil mixed with Magic Stone powder on the floor, the monsters don't need food. They'll eat it if it's there, but they can live without it. According to Violet, she didn't think there was such a mechanism. There is a sense of hunger. That's why she caught bats and such to eat. But mysteriously, it seems she didn't have a situation where she was too hungry to even put out strength. The fact that the Orcs on the first floor are in the hangout and the defeated Demon Race was chewing on small Magic Stones must be what that's about.
"The first grove is ahead. Right number one."
Fiona, the map-making person, spoke up.
We've been proceeding along the right wall from the entrance. The first grove we hit is right number one.
"Can you see anything?"
"I can't see anything."
"Then, right number one is a miss."
There's no need to land. If we look closely around the grove, including directly above, and there's no shrine, it's a miss.
My right hand, regardless of my will, writes a mark on the map. Like this, we crush them one by one. Eventually, the shrine will be found.
The shrine was found surprisingly quickly. Predicting that it would be far from the entrance/exit of the tower connecting to the first floor, we went all the way to the back along the right wall, and the shrine was there. It feels too easy, and I end up thinking it might be a trap.
Even when searching with Sense Living, there's nothing around the shrine. If the Demon Race is coming and going, I can understand.
We get off the bowl and scout. As a result of Fiona going on an exploration, it's almost certainly the tower connecting to the third floor.
"Then, was the Demon Race there?"
"Yeah. There was one."
"What kind of guy? Did he look strong?"
"That's..."
Apparently, he was lying on the floor, snoring and sleeping.
No mistake. It's definitely that guy.
"Hey, Priestess."
"What?"
"Shall we try to negotiate with the Demon Race ahead?"
"Eh?"
The three of us appear together and descend the tower stairs fair and square. Of course, since walking is hard, we're on the bowl. Since the two are raising pale blue flames, there's no trouble with light. Moreover, it should be obvious to the Demon Race. If he's awake, that is.
"He's sleeping. He's got some nerve."
It's stupid that we specifically flew slowly along the stairs to be discovered. Since it's troublesome, we decided to descend to the bottom all at once.
We jumped down with a 'suton' sound, but there's no sign of him waking up. A familiar one is sleeping with his mouth wide open and drooling.
"What should we do? This guy, shall we just do him in already?"
Certainly, that seems faster. Such an unguarded guy should be destroyed early on.
However, there's something I want to ask. Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that he's sleeping, we used the power of the three of us to hit him on the head with the silver staff, knocking him into a deep sleep, and tied him up with the rope for restraining monsters.
"Wh-where is this!"
The Demon Race, who no longer knows even his own location because of the blindfold, is making a fuss.
"Where do you think it is? Hihihihihi."
The Priestess, who had protected the border in the guise of an old woman for a long time, is whispering in his ear. Since she has years of experience, she's different from Erikson-sama.
"Wh-who are you! Who do you think I am!"
He's shouting, perhaps unable to hide his irritation.
However, the one called a ghost doesn't answer anything.
"Oh, you're a ghost, aren't you? Where did you get in from!"
Hoho, he knew in one go. He's quite good.
"I wonder where from."
She's poking his forehead with her fingertip. No, since the finger is buried up to the first joint in his forehead, can it really be said she poked it?
"Ah, you bastard, you're a ghost, aren't you? Where the hell did you get in from!"
Can an ordinary upper-level Demon Race do such a bold thing?
"Oh my, you're energetic. If I felt like it, I could even stir up your brains with the finger I thrust into your forehead."
Are you serious? That's incredibly scary!
"If you can do it, try it! You idiot!"
"Is that so, is that so."
"C-cold! Wh-what the hell did you do?"
"I just released a tiny bit of cold from my fingertip. Directly into your brains."
While saying that, she's freezing his forehead by releasing Freeze from her other finger.
"Next, I'll release lightning with all my might. It'll surely be painful. No, since your head will go crazy, it might even feel good. Ihihihihi!"
"St-stop! No, please stop. I beg you. I'll apologize! L-let's talk. No, let's talk, please!"
He's still being a coward. He fell easily.
Questions about the Demon Lord's army are taboo for the Demon Race. However, if it's a story not directly related to the Demon Lord's army, he should be able to answer.
The first question is whether there are frogs on the second floor. The answer was no.
"Frogs? If you look, you'll know. Were there frogs on the second floor? Frogs are only on the third floor. Why on earth are you asking such a thing? Are you, by any chance, someone who hates frogs?"
"That's right. I hate frogs. Just thinking they're there makes me shiver."
"Then give up on conquering the third floor. Because they're all over the place."
He's smirking, but with this, I found out that there are no two-headed ones on the third floor. If there were, the frogs, which are their food, wouldn't be all over the place.
The second question is that I think this is Medioland, but how can one go to the Medioland Royal Capital? The answer was to go south.
"Did you get lost or something? In the first place, what business does a ghost have in the Royal Capital? Just get out quickly and settle in a fortress around there."
"Where is there a fortress?"
"Two new ones are built on the southern mountain, so go there. And, are there still things you want to hear? At least keep it to about one more."
He's laughing as if mocking us, but with this, it's proven to be the Medioland cave.
The last question is the method to get out of here. If even a ghost can get out, naturally a human should be able to get out too.
"Then finally, I want to ask. Actually, I don't know the way to get out of this cave. Won't you tell me? I've even become unable to understand how I got in. I don't want to get old."
This is the critical moment. With this, the escape method will be known.
"What, old lady. You don't even know that?"
"That's right. That's why I thought I'd have you tell me."
"Then, if I tell you, will you undo this restraint?"
"If you tell me. I'll undo it."
Alright! As expected, a thousand years of experience is different.
"Can you use Light?"
"Listen, how could a ghost use Light magic?"
"Wait a minute, old lady. How the hell did you get in without Light? Without Light, you shouldn't have been able to come to the second floor, let alone the entrance."
Entering is with Light, huh. But this is a bit bad. He's starting to get suspicious.
"There were humans."
"Humans?"
"Yes. When I found the entrance and peeked in, there were exactly three people going inside. Since I'm a ghost, I vanished my form so as not to be noticed and slipped in with them. After that, the wall was blocked, and I became unable to get out. From what you just said, they must have erased the wall with Light."
Good! I barely managed to make it work.
"Heh, so you were walking behind the humans after that too?"
"Actually, I don't want to get involved with those priests. They try to destroy me immediately. So, I vanished my form and followed their tracks. Since I don't know the exit."
"I see, I see. So there are priests. And then?"
"Um. The Demon Race on the floor above. They defeated him. They're quite capable."
"The three of them?"
"Um. Right now they're exploring the grassland above. I separated from them to escape from the frogs and found the shrine above by following the ceiling. Speaking of which, they erased the passage to come to the grassland with Light magic. Is it the same as that? They might come soon. If you're taking a nap, you'll be defeated too."
"Sh-shut up, I was just a bit tired."
"I want to ask a bit, can that wall be erased with Light from the other side too? I was illuminating the wall of the cave entrance with Light from the inside, but I couldn't erase it. That's why I didn't think the entrance wall opened with Light."
"From the inside, it's Dark. Can you use Dark magic?"
"No, wait. I am a Dark magic user, so I released it thinking I'd get out. But I couldn't erase it."
"R-really?"
"It's true. Because I actually tried it."
"Then you can't get out. Not just you. Me too."
"Eh?"
"It's Testament. Humans, of all things, activated Testament outside. This place has been sealed. Once you're in, you can't get out."
Wait a minute. Is that true?