Chapter 836 - Chapter 5: Infiltration ④
According to the Demon Race, once Testament has been activated, one cannot leave the cave unless the activator dies or wins the battle against the Demon Lord. That applies to the Demon Lord as well, meaning he has been sealed within the cave. In a sense, it's fine even if we don't fight, but it seems the activator also loses if they eat through their food supplies and starve to death. For the activator to go outside alive, they have no choice but to win against the Demon Lord.
Seeing the Demon Race sighing heavily, it's probably true.
Certainly, I had heard that Testament was magic to seal the Demon Lord. However, I didn't hear that the activator would also be sealed.
He doesn't seem to know what will happen to the outside world. However, he doesn't think there will be any changes. He said it just means one can no longer leave this cave.
"Well, the ones on the second floor now are probably the activators. I'll crush them myself, so just wait until then."
Don't say that while you're all tied up!
"Is that so. Then, it can't be helped."
"Holy Over Flow!"
I release the eight-fold volley with the reflection plate at his head. Next, the heart, and one more at the heart. Utilizing the effect of the cat stone, I quickly jump back, and the two's Heaven's Roar caught the Demon Race.
Finally, Fiona slashed his throat with the silver knife.
After defeating him, I immediately offer a prayer. The Demon Race crumbled into dust and vanished, leaving only the rope.
He must have fainted with the first strike. Toward the valuable information provider, it's pitiful if I say so, but he can resurrect anyway if he feels like it, and most importantly, I think I was able to defeat him without making him suffer for long.
"We have to fight the Demon Lord just like this."
The Priestess, who came out of the stone after sending him off, sighed.
The fighting force is three people. Moreover, the main part of the attack is magic. The current heroes certainly defeated the Demon Lord by making full use of various magics. However, Roberts-sama held his favorite silver spear during the heroes' performance after the Demon Lord subjugation and said, 'Finally, it's Holy and this.' With a silver spear, it might be one thing, but can we win against that Demon Lord with just a single knife?
"I-I will hide my form and aim for the throat. Can you two somehow distract the Demon Lord so he lets his guard down?"
Fiona's voice is cracking. Her hands are trembling slightly. She must have recognized the gravity of the situation. Fiona has no choice but to deliver the finishing blow. The responsibility is heavy.
"That's the thing. Even if we hide our form, it doesn't work on the Demon Lord. Fiona knows too, right? We were easily found last time we met."
That's right. Despite being completely fused, we were easily seen through by the Demon Lord. Even though we weren't found out by the Vice-Demon Lord.
"Then, what should we do..."
A natural question. He's not an opponent we can win against by fighting normally.
"Let's just go to see him and try to talk."
"Talk?"
Even the Priestess's voice cracked, but there's no other way.
"What kind of talk are you going to have with the Demon Lord?"
"I'm thinking of asking about Testament."
"The Demon Lord?"
"Yeah."
He might not tell us. He'll probably push us away, saying to look it up ourselves if we want to know.
"From the content of the oracle, the wielder of Light magic has to confront the Demon Lord, right?"
"That's right. That's what I heard."
"What is a confrontation?"
Normally, it would be a duel. Even the Demon Race on the second floor said the seal wouldn't be released unless the activator fought the Demon Lord and won. But is there a need to kill each other? Can't it be resolved more peacefully?
"I don't think it's a discussion."
"Yeah. I know that. That's why we'll consult on how to have the confrontation. Preferably something other than killing each other."
"With the Demon Lord?"
"That's right."
"Pfft!"
I don't know why, but the Priestess suddenly burst out laughing.
"Eh? What? Did something happen?"
"Hahahaha!"
"Ufufufu."
Even Fiona started laughing. I'm answering in dead earnest, not as a joke.
"Understood. Then, let's do that."
"Right. Let's do that."
"Eh? Ah, are you two okay with that?"
"It's fine, it's fine, right? Fiona."
"Yes. I think Jeanne's idea is fine."
"Th-thank you."
I don't know why, but we're in agreement. Well, whatever.
If we're going to where the Demon Lord is, we have to break through the third and fourth floors. It would be better to defeat the Demon Race too. The Demon Race on the second floor said something about fighting and winning. Probably, the ones on the third and fourth floors are the same.
It's too early for a meal. However, we used a lot of magic power. After drinking the alcohol Diana-sama gave us and recovering our magic power, we'll challenge the third floor.
"Bugs come out on the third floor, right?"
"Yeah. It's a forest conquest. Since many trees are growing and the ceiling is low, let's fly on a plate instead of a bowl."
"Understood."
Camouflage, Magic Reflection, and then cooling the plate, let's set off.
"Light!"
While lying on my stomach, I chant Light with all my might and erase the wall. We set off toward the black forest underground, which is in a sense nostalgic.
Flight Magic that hides one's form and eyes that see through the darkness. With just these, even the cave where the Demon Lord resurrects is not scary. Since there's no need to hurry, we devoted ourselves to searching for the shrine slowly.
"So this is the third floor. There are many bugs."
"Truly. I wonder if those are moth monsters. They're on the leaves."
It's the first time for the two of them to come to the third floor. Or rather, this is the first time for me to have such a leisurely third-floor conquest too.
"Be careful of the ponds."
"Are the two-headed snakes that were swarming in the Northern Gram wetlands there?"
"They were in the Engrio cave. Since there are many frogs, I think it's fine, but it's better to be cautious."
"Ponds and wetlands are off-limits, then."
"Yeah. Let's detour."
I don't think they're there, but just in case. It's hard to distinguish between snakes and two-headed ones if there are several. It would be terrible if water suddenly flew and we were shot down.
Because we don't pass over ponds or wetlands, it takes more time than expected to move. I realized that the third floor was truly wide. Especially the depth is too much. When we went all the way to the back while detouring around mountains and ponds and came back on a slightly shifted route, nearly two hours had passed. Not even a quarter was done.
"This means even if we find the entrance to the tower leading down to the fourth floor, the battle with the Demon Race will be tomorrow."
"I suppose it can't be helped. We have time, so let's do it slowly."
"Fiona and I are fine, but Jeanne needs water and food, right? Are you okay?"
Originally, I have a certain amount of food. Moreover, I have the bread and alcohol I received from Diana-sama. Most importantly, I'm the only one who needs food and drink. However, Diana-sama's bread and alcohol might have additional effects. We received enough bread for four meals for the three of us, and enough alcohol for ten cups. Therefore, for example, we decided to eat and drink together when we need to replenish physical strength and magic power before or after a battle with the Demon Race on each floor, and as for water and other food, I'll be the only one eating and drinking.
Resting is inside the tower. For safety, we decided to return within the time the bowl can be maintained. Of course, we frequently cast Freeze... it's Fiona's spiritual art, so it's ice... to cool the bowl. Honestly, it's troublesome, but we had a hard time when we rescued an ally who was shot down by a surprise attack before. Now it's just us. It would be terrible if we fell into a pond, so we put safety first.
Incidentally, I had them release upper-level lightning, but the ants didn't come out.
Like that, we explored leisurely without rushing, and on the fifth sortie, we finally found the shrine. In the end, it really took a whole day, and we decided to challenge the third-floor Demon Race on the morning of the second day of the third-floor exploration... I think. Honestly, I don't know well. Since I used my stomach clock as a standard, it's ambiguous.
Against the Demon Race, we aimed for a complete surprise attack. With the three-person complete fusion, moving with the cooled bowl, Camouflage, and Almighty Guard, we approached while hiding our form, added the first strike to both legs with my Over Flow volleys aimed by the Priestess, and once his movements were dulled, we moved and dismantled the bowl, unleashed the two's Heaven's Roar while I released Over Flow for strengthening, followed up with the eight-fold volley and simultaneous Heaven's Roar to stop his movement, and finally Fiona slashed his throat with the silver knife to deliver the finishing blow.
I have the two enter the stones, send off the Demon Race, and the operation is complete.
I have the two come out and we make a toast with the alcohol from Diana-sama.
"Fiona, good job."
"We did it! We're getting used to it now."
"We won again!"
We won easily. Since it would be a battle in pitch darkness for me, we practiced once on the third floor.
We repeated only the movements inside the tower many times to let our bodies remember. On top of that, we drew a magic circle for Light on a parchment, tied it to a tree branch, activated it to gather bugs, and released the over-ultra-high-level continuous technique. Of course, in the practice, there was no finishing blow from Fiona, just up to where she pulled out the knife and left the body. The bugs we used as targets were blown to pieces.
"As I thought, we're the strongest."
Just the three of us broke through to the third floor. There is no damage at all. Up to this point, aren't we more amazing than the legendary eight?
"Next is the fourth floor. Can we finish just the exploration?"
The fourth floor is intricate, but it's not as wide as the third floor. Probably, it's about the same as the first floor or a bit wider.
"I found the exit alone last time."
At that time, thanks to the hard work of the strongest scout Fiona, we were able to send the heroes to the tower. Because the feint drew the magical beasts' attention, the heroes successfully won the consecutive battles against Number One and the Demon Lord.
"The fourth floor has narrow passages and many flying monsters. Since they are magical beasts, they react sensitively to even small changes, right? But since trees and grass don't grow, you can't hide or let them pass, and you can't even hide your form. So, it's faster and safer to pass through walls than using Flight Magic. If the opponent is a magical beast, even if they attack, it won't hit a ghost."
"Then shall Fiona and I take turns going out for reconnaissance, and have Jeanne rest?"
"Yeah. I think that's fine."
Um, am I staying behind alone? Honestly, it's scary. Moreover, it's fine until I erase the wall with Light and send them off, but if the wall returns to normal after that, I won't be able to contact them at all. I think it'll be fine, but if something happens to the two who went out scouting, I won't be able to rescue them.
"Then let's take turns. I'll be first."
Therefore, the first scout for the fourth floor was the experienced Fiona, and the Priestess and I were left behind.
I erase the wall that should be the exit to the fourth floor with Light. At the point where she moved forward from the wall and went out to the fourth floor, Fiona camouflages with ultra-high-level Vision, I use Dark, and furthermore, the Priestess covers it with Wind Barrier. Since you can see the outside from inside the cover, if Fiona returns and blows a pale blue flame with spiritual arts, we just have to cancel it. Once the first reconnaissance is over, we'll go inside and rest. If the duration of Dark or Wind Barrier passes and she hasn't returned, the Priestess will go out to search. Having decided that, I sent Fiona off.
Fiona returned just when there was a little leeway in maintaining Dark and Wind Barrier; she returned at truly the perfect time.
"I found it!"
Wonderful!
"As expected of the strongest scout!"
"Is this what you call an experienced person!"
Whether it was last time or this time, Fiona is really amazing.
According to Fiona, the fourth floor is roughly divided into three blocks lined up vertically, and those blocks are connected by a single passage in the middle.
"So, if you go straight through the middle while passing through walls slightly to the side, you can reach the innermost block."
Since the entrance to the tower leading to the lowest floor is somewhere in the back block, you just have to repeat passing through walls horizontally after that to reach it.
Hmm. Wonderful. I participated in the complete conquest at Engrio, but I didn't see through it that far. Perhaps because we were turning everything into rubble, I don't remember the structure.
"But there's one problem..."
"A problem?"
"What?"
Now that we've come this far, let's just resolve all the problems.
"As I said earlier, there's a passage connecting the blocks..."
"A Behemoth is in the first one, and because its body is large, there's almost no gap with the passage. So, the Priestess and I can manage somehow, but Jeanne might not be able to pass."
"A Behemoth, huh. Yeah, yeah... wait, a Behemoth? The boar monster?"
"Yeah. One was there before too, right?"
"Does it have one head? Or two?"
"Eh? It has one. Are there ones with two?"
It seems it's not the new model that was in Engrio.
When I listen closely, it seems to be the conventional type like the one from the previous Demon Lord subjugation battle or the one defeated in Finis. The size is sufficient, and it apparently has plenty of width too.
"A Behemoth is a famous magical beast, right?"
The Wetlands Priestess hasn't seen one. Well, normally that would be the case. They should only be in the cave where the Demon Lord resurrects and in Finis.
"Was it sleeping in the passage?"
"Yeah. It was probably snoring."
As I thought. It's the fixed position. It must have buried a huge Magic Stone in the ground. I don't know where he procured it, but the Demon Lord brought something troublesome too. For a moment, I thought he brought the one we jumped to the Ice Island, but that one had two heads. It must be different. I hope it's not the mate of the one we defeated in Finis or something.
"Shall we fight? It's B-rank, right? I think we can do it."
It's just as the Priestess says. The Demon Race on the fourth floor is Number One. Since he was the fourth executive in the previous ranking, he's an upper-level Demon Race executive class, so his rank is A-rank. If we put out our full power, we could defeat him. However, after that is the problem. If we defeat the Behemoth and my magic power runs out, I'll be a mere hindrance. I don't think we can easily escape from the middle of a swarm of magical beasts. A consecutive battle between a Behemoth and the Demon Race on the fourth floor is even more impossible. Let's think about it a bit.