The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

At that moment, including Shien and Diere who were whispering to each other, everyone of Vivian's party looked forward.

However, the next second, everyone involuntarily froze for a moment.

"There's nothing here though…"

Lumia blankly muttered such words.

Indeed.

Before everyone, other than a decapitated street like a thousand others, there was nothing at all to support Vivian's confirmation.

"Wait…"

Only Shien, who had the [Magic Detection] skill, clearly felt the abnormality of this location.

Vivian looked forward and spoke up to everyone.

"It's not that there's nothing here. It's just what we can't see it is all."

Vivian's statement instantly got confirmed by the party's mage.

"I can feel magic power faintly flowing here." Melika seemed to have thought of something and spoke as if she had an epiphany, "Could this be a boundary?"

"Correct." Vivian gave a smile and spoke, "There should be a boundary set by someone here."

"And it's a very high level boundary at that." Diere spoke coolly, "Hiding, disguise, protection, and misdirection. There are four effects just on the surface alone."

"That is to say…" Lumia spoke uncertainly, "It really is here?"

The answer was obvious.

If it wasn't here, then why would there be such a high leveled boundary here in the middle of nowhere?

Just who would believe that there's nothing off about that?

"Therefore, we've found the right place." Vivian continued observing the location before them and then turned to ask Melika, "Melika, can you dispel this boundary?"

"Ugh…" Melika instantly showed a very difficult expression, "For such a high level boundary, it's very rare to see even in the elf village. I don't have much confidence at all."

"Then can we just destroy it outright?" Diere shifted her gaze onto Melika and spoke, "If I were to use [Magic Sword], I should be able to forcibly destroy the boundary."

[Magic Sword] wasn't just a very powerful skill after all. Given its makeup, it could even cause damage to things without physical forms that could normal negate all physical damage.

A boundary is also a kind of non-physical barrier. Therefore, if the power of a [Magic Sword] was high enough, it was completely possible to use it to cut apart a boundary.

Melika considered it for a bit and was about to nod.

At that moment though…

"I think it'd be better not to do something like that."

Shien who had been staring at the boundary from the start suddenly spoke up.

"Eh?"

Melika involuntarily stopped.

"Eh?"

Lumia was also startled.

Even Vivian and Diere showed a change in expression, turned around, and looked toward Shien.

"What is it?" Vivian got serious and spoke, "Did you discover something wrong here?"

It was obvious that Vivian took Shien's words quite seriously.

However, this time, Vivian did somewhat overestimate Shien here.

"I don't particularly understand much about boundaries or stuff like that, nor do I have any relevant skills on this topic, so it's not that I discovered something wrong here." Shien shook his head and with somewhat tired words, continued, "Only, if my guess isn't wrong here, this boundary was probably created with space magic. Even [Magic Sword] can't cut apart space itself, right?"

"Space based magic boundary?" Vivian was shocked, "Seriously?"

"N-No way, right?" Vivian was also shocked, "Does that mean that the person who made this boundary could use spacial type magic?"

"Space magic…" Lumia spoke timidly, "Isn't that a very rare and high difficulty magic?"

"Oh?" Shien's eyes turned slightly and asked, "Is that magic that difficult?"

The one to answer that question wasn't Melika or Vivian, bur rather Diere who seemed to have thought of something after hearing Shien's words and had fallen into deep thought.

"Space magic is famed for being a high difficulty rare magic. Supposedly, it was a magic system that the Demon King personally created back when she was alive. It's a style where even within the demon race, very view high level existences have touched this kind of magic." Diere spoke in a heavy tone, "Space magic users are even rarer within the mortal races compared to the demons, and even across all of history, you still might not be able to find more than 10 users of it."

"Yeah!" Melika followed up on what Diere had said and spoke exitedly, "Within the mortal races, the moment a magic capable of using space magic appears, they'd instantly be treated like national guests. They'd be invited into the royal palace to become the official royal mage. Even the gods would pay special attention to anyone capable of using space magic!"

"… Oh. That's a pretty common setting too." Shien had nothing to say to that for a while before finally sighing, "Well, it's interfering with space itself after all. Rarity and difficulty are going to be pretty natural, all things told."

Unfortunately, just because Shien could understand that doesn't mean other people would.

"If our target is a high level mage capable of using space magic, then we might have some trouble here." Vivian got serious and spoke to herself, "Should we go back and consider a longer term approach?"

From the looks of it, since she had seen a bit of their target's true capabilities, and for the sake of their own safety, Vivian doesn't quite want to charge in from the front.

The rest of them probably have similar thoughts.

"I agree." Melika was the first to give her opinion, "Our opponent is a space magic user. Plus, we don't know if she has comrades. If we just charge in, in the case of a conflict, it's very likely that we'd all be wiped out."

"… I'm fine either way." Diere considered it for a moment before evenly stating, "Since even [Magic Sword] can't break through this boundary, I don't have any other way of dealing with it myself."

"I… I agree too." Lumia raised her hand and spoke in a quiet voice, "Just charging in like this, it seems rude."

None of the members of Vivian's party wanted to act rashly. It could be seen from that just how high the position of a space magic user was in their minds.

That scene made Shien scratch at his cheeks.

"Um…" Shien tried asking, "That person is someone you have to see, right?"

That sentence drew everyone's attention.

"Indeed." Vivian looked toward Shien, and after gazing at him for a brief while, seriously nodded and spoke, "We absolutely have to have a proper conversation with this person."

It can be called an urgency.

Shien also detected Vivian's determination from the tone of her voice.

Thus, Shien crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and thought.

He thought about the great amount of consideration that Vivian had shown him up until now, as well as the fact that she obviously had figured out his secrets, but she still helped him hid it. Considering all that, Shien had the thought.

(It wouldn't be bad to return the favor here)

As he thought that, Shien opened his eyes, raised his head, and looked forward.

Then, Shien took a deep breath.

"Boiler inspection————!"