Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

141 – The First Stratum – The Watchdog’s and Hellfire’s Realm 3 Part 1

It wasn’t difficult for Wraith, Fran, and every member of the 3rd rank Hervor party to escape from the quicksand.

This wasn’t a trap to instantly defeat them, but simply to stall for time.

If they have to use their own strength or magic to get out, that can buy us a few seconds. That’s enough.

Herv grabs the arm or the shoulders of her nearby allies and tosses them out lightly to save them.

If you can temporarily seal an extremely powerful chess piece like a Hero, that is the best result of a trap.

But…

「Fran.」

「Yeah.」

An immediate decision was made.

They came to an understanding with just an exchange of looks.

Fran gently lifted her cloak and I saw a peek at what was underneath…it was a grotesque right arm.

It looked out of place, like a giant’s arm was sewn onto a young girl, but she had no issues with moving it.

She grabbed Wraith’s arm and tossed him straight up.

Her strength was unlike that of a young girl.

But that isn’t what I was concerned with.

Instead of helping Fran, he made her save himself.

Possibly because he doesn’t intend to use his magic to save his ally, but for something else instead.

「Cut off your arms…!」

That short cry was made louder using Wind Magic.

Loud enough to reach the separated Scathach and Theo.

He’s a quick thinker.

A Hero surpasses an ordinary person in everything.

From physical ability, magical talent, to how much they get back from their own efforts

Of course, this applies to how fast they think as well.

When Fenix was young, he would think about too many things in his head and not be able to speak well, and he was teased for that.

At the time, I cheered him up by saying that he’s just thinking about every single thing in careful detail, so he can’t turn it into words right away, and I genuinely thought that. Also, I wasn’t wrong.

Actually, thinking back on it, it’s possible that he was only showing a portion of it at the time.

Because he could think about things deeply in only a short period of time.

The right occupation is identified at the age of ten, but it’s not like being granted a miracle.

It’s just an identification.

In fact, Wraith studied under Aerial before his Job was identified, and his magic was tempered.

Anyway, it’s meaningless to measure the ability of a Hero by their age.

He instantly grasped the situation and made the choice that would bring him closest to the form of victory he envisioned for himself.

And then, his voice reached the leader of the 5th rank party, the Thunder Hero.

Theo, the one operating the strings, was staring at the approaching flames when he heard Wraith’s words and said「Who-whose arms…?」 in bewilderment. In that time, Scathach did the deed.

「This is the fastest way to save you.」

By the time Scathach finished his sentence, all ten of Theo’s fingers drop to the floor.

He cut Theo’s fingers off cleanly at the base of the fingers rather than the palm in order to limit the amount of Magical Energy leakage.

Particles of light leaked out of the place where his fingers used to be.

「…! I-I see! Certainly, the flames would not reach me this way! Splendid! However, with the loss of my digits, you must consider that I can now no longer operate the strings!」

Theo’s smile has a slight twitch to it, but he seems to have understood their decision.

「All that matters is that you don’t fall.」

Raid Battles are held with different rules from the norm.

Adventurers who have been defeated cannot return in the next stratum.

With only one exception.

And that exception is when you destroy two Floor Bosses.

There is, naturally, a Floor Boss at every stratum.

This means, if they finally reach her Highness, they would have gone through ten strata, destroying ten Floor Bosses, meaning that the maximum number of people they can revive is five.

In the Raid Battle, it isn’t possible to revive more than five times.

The Magic Arrow Archer Caleena, limited to the second stratum, cannot return.

It’s only natural for them to reach the conclusion that they cannot lose any more of their allies.

So long as they aren’t defeated, their Avatars can be repaired when they reach the next stratum. This is also allowed by the rules.

So even if you lose your ability to fight in this stratum, the decision to not let you be defeated isn’t wrong.

However, one person was defeated, and another person’s fighting ability has been cut short tremendously. There are only three people in the Scathach party that can fight at full strength.

As the leading party, how will they get out of th-

「No way.」

A single thought suddenly crossed my mind.

There is a way.

With the Scathach party as the central figure, there is a way to turn this situation in their favor.

They’ll need someone’s support and Scathach must reveal something.

It’s clear from even the few moves he’s done.

Wraith is just like me.

Roughly speaking…an Adventurer fanatic.

It’s beyond the level of understanding because we spent the same time together in training.

There is no way he watched only Unyielding Hero videos.

Perhaps he thought of Scathach as a rival to surpass, so he researched.

What should I call what happened just now?

It took barely a second to wet the ground a little…Rain started and stopped in an instant.

It was Wraith’s Water Magic. Although, it’s not Spirit Magic.

He hasn’t officially formed a binding contract with the Spirit so he isn’t bound to any specific element.

The invisibility extends to what the target is wearing as well. So it affects not just the clothes, but also any attached matter on them as well.

Therefore, their location won’t be revealed by the water.

But how about the places that don’t get wet?

For example, when a four-legged beast is bathed in water from the sky, a small space under their abdomen avoids getting wet, which creates a small empty space.

Of course, it’s the dashing Hellhounds. Even if you could tell where they were, it was only for a short amount of time.

But for the Scathach party, it was enough.

The Faceless Archer Suuri’s Godspeed and the flying slashes from the Far Reaching Swordsman Hamill’s Magic Sword,

take down the Hellhounds.

Also, even the Thunder Hero Scathach made a move.

「I’ll be back for you after you blink.」

He left Theo and did as he said.

Cashew, who was watching the screen next to me, went「Hya-!」and grabbed on to me while trembling. Her ears twitched upright.

A thunderous roar like getting hit by lightning and a flash of light sped across the field.

「……」

Behind my mask, I stared intently at the screen. I might have made a slightly grim expression.

Before I realized it, Scathach joined up with his allies. Along with Theo.

And they were not far behind the Aerial party, meaning that in the time that the Scathach party was in charge, countless glittering Magical Energy particles were released.

Wraith has only just begun his descent.

It truly was just a moment.

All the Monsters that were aiming for them were completely annihilated.

A combination of Spirit Magic and slashing that is made possible by the abnormal amount of Magical Energy, precision in manipulating said Magical Energy and the body, coupled with stamina.

Scathach went around slashing Monsters in an instant with his one-handed Holy Sword.

「As I live and breathe…I thought something unsightly would fly forth from my mouth…」

Theo, who joined up with his allies after a blink of an eye, looked a little nauseous.

「…Thunder Domain.」

Carmilla muttered hoarsely.

Originally, it is a skill that refers to an indiscriminate wide-area attack while wreathed in lightning, but Scathach uses it differently.

He has complete control of it and uses Spirit Magic to gain super acceleration.

However, he didn’t use it in the beginning because it comes with its disadvantages.

Naturally, it requires an enormous amount of Magical Energy, but it also requires the utmost concentration.

Even he can’t cut down enemies that he can’t see in the first place. Even though it was for such a small period of time, it was because of the technique used to confirm their whereabouts that he decided to take the plunge.

If possible, he probably would have liked to save it.

It’s possibly closer to that of a final attack or an ace up his sleeve.

It’s not comparable, but it might be easier to think of it as like Fenix’s Flames of the Gods.

I could say that forcing him to use it before a Floor Boss battle is a good enough result.

But the fact that he used it here means that…

「…You have my thanks, Water Hero.」

Using his own Wind Magic, Wraith landed gently as Scathach called out to him.

「Heheh, your welcome.」

These two were at each other’s throats before.

But they aren’t the kind of people who would not lend a helping hand for that reason or refuse to give their thanks when they are helped.

「Sorry to interrupt this bonding moment, Scathach. May I?」

The Storm Hero Aerial’s words were seeking confirmation.

「…Yeah, I leave it to you.」