by Hiro Ainana
All the members responded to the executive’s words by raising one arm toward the sky, so I imitated them just to be safe.
Once we stepped into the circle at the center of the object, we were transported from the room to a vast underground cave.
The circle must be some kind of teleportation device. My radar was now showing the unexplored area where I’d seen Miss Sara’s marker.
I used “Search Entire Map” from the magic menu to learn about my new location.
As it turned out, I was in the deepest part of the labyrinth underneath the old capital.
There were no monsters in this maze, and the only people present were the ones in this large cave. It was shaped like an egg laid on its side, and it was almost two miles across in width alone. I was surprised it didn’t collapse in on itself.
There were several strange objects lined up in the enormous cavern, the smallest being about six feet across and the largest being upward of sixteen.
I touched one curiously; it seemed to be made of stone, about as hard as marble.
There was a noticeably brighter region in the distance, where the members appeared to be performing some kind of ceremony. I could hear voices chanting something, maybe sutras. It was somewhat different from the usual incantations for casting spells.
“So the ceremony has already begun…”
Wait, what?!
“Hurry! We must make it in time for the Rite of the Second Coming!”
At the executive’s words, the members all hurried through the forest of stone objects.
As I followed them to the site of the ritual, I gathered the information I’d need to rescue Miss Sara and escape. In addition to Miss Sara, there were two other girls around her age with the same “Oracle Priestess” skill. Like her, they seemed to be possessed.
There were a total of two hundred Wings of Freedom present. Most of them were below level 5, while three were above level 30, including the cult’s leader.
The leader could use Gravity Magic and Space Magic. On top of that, I noticed that the two high-ranking executives around the same level each possessed a short horn, so I’d have to be careful of those.
There were three escape routes to the top floor. The northern route seemed like the best way to lose anyone trailing us.
By the time I finished my information check, the ritual was right before my eyes.
In the shrine where the leader stood was a stone bed, where Miss Sara was lying unconscious.
As for the other two captured maidens, the high-level executives had tied their hands and were holding them over Miss Sara’s body. They each held one oracle priestess’s wrists in one hand and grasped a frightening ceremonial dagger in the other.
The pair of young women were stone-faced, probably because of their possessed condition.
All three of the captured women were entirely exposed, with mysterious purple patterns painted over their skin.
I absorbed all this information in a flash. However, before I could determine the best timing for my rescue operation, the ritual proceeded.
“We offer these pure maidens in prayer for the second coming of the great lord!”
“““The second coming!”””
The members echoed the leader’s shout.
The executives holding the two oracle priestesses raised their daggers.
Immediately, I shot forward like an arrow. There was more than six hundred feet of distance between us.
A loud crack echoed through the cavern, and I heard cultists shrieking behind me.
The recoil from my sudden launch into “Skyrunning” had probably blown a few of them off their feet. As I took my second stride forward, I threw a few pebbles from my pocket.
Startled by the commotion, the cult leaders turned toward me.
Before I took my third step, the pebbles smashed the ceremonial daggers to pieces.
However, this wasn’t enough to stop the executives, and the shattered daggers plunged toward the maidens’ hearts.
Almost there!
At that moment, I felt a strange sensation around my body, as if I were running through water.
The next thing I knew, I was right on top of the cult executives, kicking the daggers out of their hands.
> Skill Acquired: “Warp”
It seemed potentially useful, but given the urgency of the current situation, I’d have to postpone it for now.
The executives still hadn’t let go of the priestesses, so I sent each one flying with a strike to the jaw and yanked the young women away.
“Who dares?!”
That’s probably what the man who seemed to be the leader of the cult wanted to say, but before the words could leave his mouth, I fired a barrage of Short Stuns into his stomach to knock him out. No matter what rare skills he might have, it didn’t matter if I beat him before he got the chance to use them.
Paying no attention to the leader as he keeled over in a spray of blood, I took a bell out of Storage and directed it toward the possessed maidens.
It was the demon-sealing bell, of course.
A clear sound rang out, and two translucent shapes, one red and one blue, were driven out of the two young women.
For some reason, there was no effect on Miss Sara.
This chilled me to the bone with an awful sense of dread, but I decided to finish off the ones who’d been exorcised first.
Grabbing the blue and red shapes, I flung them far away from the site of the ritual and sent a pair of Fire Shots after them. If they were lesser demons, that should be enough to disable them.
The cult members closed in around us with staffs in hand, so I knocked them out with a shower of Short Stuns.
Unlike their leader, these guys would probably die from a direct hit, so of course I was careful only to graze them.
Behind the mob of cultists who were dropping like flies, two demonic figures appeared—the same two I’d just thrown away.
So they’re not lesser demons?
I felt the same intense power from them that I’d sensed from the greater demon I fought in the Seiryuu City labyrinth.
“What A Boorish Fellow, Interrupting Our Ritual, Indeed.”
“Truly A Vulgar Human, Yes.”
“Indeed” had red skin, elk-like horns, and was thirteen feet long from head to tail, while “Yes” was a little shorter with bluish-bronze skin, water-buffalo horns, and two sets of wings.
The former used Space Magic, while the latter used Gravity Magic. Both were level 63.
The blue-skinned demon howled, and Miss Sara appeared in his crossed arms.
Was that Teleportation Magic?
“Quite so. You must be incredibly foolish to interrupt the rites of my second coming, surely.” Miss Sara showed not an ounce of shame as she addressed me, using the kneeling demon as an armrest.
Her eyes flashed open, glimmering purple.
…That’s not right.
Miss Sara’s eyes were light green.
I rang the demon-sealing bell again, trying to banish the creature that had possessed Miss Sara.
This time, I tried putting magic into it to strengthen its effect like Arisa had done in the fight in Gururian City.
“Hmm. How unpleasant, surely.”
…But the result was the same.
The demon possessing Miss Sara was barely perturbed.
“Master, Leave This To Us, Yes.”
“Very well. You will defeat the hero, surely.”
The blue demon stepped forward, and a rift like a mouth opened up in his shoulder, unleashing a howl.
Without waiting for “Sense Danger” to warn me, I picked up the two priestesses and leaped backward.
The cult leader and two executives lying at my feet were crushed as if by an invisible hammer.
There was no way I could’ve helped them, and I had to at least save the two kidnapped maidens first.
To aid in my escape, I allotted some skill points to “Warp” and activated it.
“Rather Impressive Reaction Speed, Indeed.”
If I ran away, they would probably chase me.
With that in mind, I leaped back to put distance between the demons and myself, then created a series of barriers with the Wall spell.
“Earth Magic Seems Plain For A Human, Indeed.”
“But Walls Are No Use If I Can Fly Over Them, Yes.”
The winged, blue-skinned demon poked his head over the wall.
As soon as I laid eyes on him, I launched a salvo of Magic Arrows, Short Stuns, and Fire Shots right at his face.
It probably wouldn’t be enough to defeat him, but it should at least delay him for a moment.
Without waiting to see the results of my attack, I grabbed the maidens and escaped with “Warp.”
I was a bit worried about damaging the delicate young women by warping too quickly, but they seemed to be fine. There was no change in their HP.
“Warp” used some magical means to move the user like the Practical Magic spell Skyrunning, not a physical technique. Each “Warp” used about ten points of MP.
After using the skill over and over, I reached the northern passage in the blink of an eye.
I glanced back at the site of the ritual, but the demons didn’t seem to be chasing me. Laying down the unconscious maidens, I used Shelter and Wall to create a barrier to protect them.
This way, they should be safe even if the ceiling caved in.
When I returned to the site of the ritual, it had become a sea of blood.
“…You slaughtered them all? Weren’t they your followers?”
“As my devotees, their greatest desire must have been fertilizing my revival, surely,” the creature answered with Miss Sara’s body.
The red and blue greater demons stood behind her.
“You have no intention of leaving that body, then?”
“Hmph. This girl is important to you, surely?” The demon smirked and casually laid Miss Sara’s hand on one of her breasts. “Would you still say that if I were to cut these breasts, surely? Or how about this beautiful face?”
He held the dagger in Miss Sara’s other hand to her cheek threateningly.
Unfortunately, since the demon-sealing bell didn’t seem to work on him, my only hope to win her back was through a war of words.
I decided to take a shot at betting on his pride.
“Release Sara, and fight me yourself! Or are you afraid to take me on without a hostage…”
If this creature had greater demons as his servants, then he could be only one thing…
“…demon lord?!”
“Bwa-ha-ha, you dare to challenge me? Then you must be a hero, surely!”
Oh, that went surprisingly well.
“I may have lost once to the hero Shiga Yamato and the sky dragons but only when they worked together. I have no time to waste on mediocre heroes. If you wish to fight me, defeat my subordinates. If you win, then I’ll return this girl’s body to you as a prize before our battle.”
I’d gained the demon lord’s word, though I had no way of knowing if he would keep that promise.
If it came down to it, maybe I could get the holy woman of Tenion Temple to perform an exorcism.
“Be Careful Of His Magic, Yes.”
“Fear Not, I Have The Reflection Defense On My Side, Indeed.”
Just to be sure that Miss Sara’s possessed body wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire of our battle, I used “Skyrunning” to get some distance from the altar.
“You Shall Not Escape, Indeed.”
The red demon appeared before my eyes, splitting through the air itself. He was probably using his Space Magic.
I fired a barrage of Remote Arrows and Short Stuns from the magic menu to ward him off. Of course, I chose 120 arrows, the maximum amount.
“I Shall Return These, Indeed.”
The spells I’d fired at the red demon all bounced back toward me.
The homing arrows changed course back toward the demon right away, but the Short Stuns continued to fly right at me.
That had to be the “Reflection Defense” thing the demon mentioned earlier. That could be a bit of a pain.
I avoided the shots using “Warp.”
Behind me, I heard a rumbling as the Short Stuns struck the odd stone figures and knocked them over.
“How Annoying, Indeed.”
The red-skinned demon gave a howl, and a crack appeared in the air before the Remote Arrows, destroying them.
I pulled the Holy Sword Durandal out of Storage.
I normally would’ve used Excalibur, but it was chockablock with magic as part of an “Overload” experiment, so I was reluctant to start waving it around.
The last thing I wanted was to throw away a Holy Sword like that.
Durandal wasn’t quite as powerful as Excalibur, but it was still much stronger than Gjallarhorn, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
My “Sense Danger” skill alerted me to something on my left, so I used “Warp” to get away.
The ground where I’d been standing just moments ago suddenly caved in.
“Don’t Keep All The Fun For Yourself, Yes.”
This must have been the blue-skinned demon’s Gravity Magic.
I used “Warp” to teleport around, landed directly in front of the blue demon, and sprang up to slash my Holy Sword—
Suddenly, an enormous pressure weighed down on me.
> Skill Acquired: “Gravity Magic: Demon”
> Skill Acquired: “Gravity Resistance”
I forced my sword upward against the powerful gravity, but just as the Holy Sword was about to slash the blue demon, I stopped abruptly and jumped back.
“This New Hero Has Sharp Intuition, Yes.”
“If Only He Had Cut Me, He Would Have Been Sliced In Two As Well, Indeed.”
So both of them had Reflection Defense.
If my “Sense Danger” hadn’t sounded an alarm at the last second, I would’ve been in trouble.
Just then, I felt my body being pulled slightly toward the red-skinned demon. The log told me he’d used a spell called Attract, another technique you’d expect to see a boss use in a game.
> Skill Acquired: “Space Magic: Demon”
> Skill Acquired: “Space Resistance”
I activated my two new resistance skills.
“For Such A Low Level, Magic Hardly Works On Him, Indeed.”
“Har-Har-Har, You Are Making Excuses In Your Old Age, Yes?”
While the two greater demons bickered among themselves, I decided to try my next trick.
I fired more Short Stuns at the two demons. Sure enough, they reflected back at me, so I avoided them with a light backstep.
When I observed the trajectory of the attacks, the reflected shots didn’t move in the exact opposite of their original direction.
Once again, I fired a bunch of Short Stuns at the two.
“No Matter How Many Times You Try, It Will Not Work, Indeed.”
So this Reflection Defense didn’t have limited uses… What a pain.
The red and blue demons’ extra mouths each howled incantations.
My “Sense Danger” skill tingling, I dodged to the side.
A deep crack opened in the ground where I’d been, and an invisible gravity hammer struck large craters in the ground, moving toward me.
I dodged with “Skyrunning,” then made more walls between the blue demon and myself to buy time.
First, I wanted to defeat the red demon so I wouldn’t have to deal with that troublesome Space Magic.
When the attacks stopped for a moment, I made my next move.
I used the Wind Magic spell Blow from the magic menu and scattered salt from Storage into the gale.
The fine grains floated through the air.
“What A Poorly Planned Distraction, Indeed.”
But the whirling salt did render the red demon’s Reflection Defense visible to my eyes.
Old-fashioned as the method was, the results were excelle
nt.
Instead of a perfect reflector, Reflection Defense seemed to be made up of countless holes that floated around the user at random, some absorbing objects and others ejecting them.
Each hole was smaller than a dust particle, which was why I couldn’t see them.
The salt grains were clearly larger, but as soon as one made contact with an absorber, it would immediately be transferred to an ejector. So they weren’t physical holes but minuscule teleportation gates.
Just to be sure, I threw a thin nail toward a gap between the absorbers.
As soon as it started to pass between them, it was sucked into the nearest absorber and spat back out by a nearby ejector.
So even a rapier or an arrow wouldn’t be able to get through.
Noticing that the blue demon hadn’t attacked in a while, I looked around and saw that he was standing off to the side with his arms folded, watching my fight against the red demon with great interest. He seemed unworried.
I pulled out a wad of thread from Storage. It was made from the fibers of Mountain-Tree fruit, with excellent magic conduction.
I poured magic power into the wad, creating Spellblade in all the threads.
“Making A Hedgehog, Hero? If You Think That Thread Will Pass Through The Gaps In My Reflection Defense, Go Ahead And Try, Indeed.”
The red-skinned demon chuckled confidently.
Laugh it up while you still can, pal.
I leaped in front of the red demon with “Warp,” jabbing him with the ball of Spellbladed thread he’d called a “hedgehog.”
“A Suicide Attack, Indeed?”
As soon as the countless bits of thread shot back at me, I used the Shield spell that I’d already invoked to block them.
The Shield broke in an instant, but that was all I needed.
Got you.
I canceled the Spellblade in the threads but left alone the magic power strengthening them. Next, I grabbed a handful of the thread shooting back at me from the ejectors and gave it a sharp tug to the side.
The countless holes filled with the thread went along with it.
The confident sneer vanished from the red demon’s face and was replaced by an expression of surprise.
The free absorbers moved to fill the gap—but it was too late for that.