Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

165 – The Ninth Stratum – The Domain of Space-Time and Demons 2

Ewan’s movements have changed.

Looks like the number of strong Heroes has gone up by one.

No matter how strong the Majins are, this place is just filled with Heroes who have made contracts with high-ranking spirits or the Four Great Spirits themselves.

If the Adventurers follow their role well and support one another without dying, we are at a disadvantage.

In the end, while there were those who were injured, they managed to reach the Floor Boss with no casualties.

The more powerful a species is, the more they tend to ignore exploiting an opponent’s weakness and prefer to crushing them from above.

Like how when people step on an insect, they don’t tend to think up grand battle strategies to defeat it.

It is precisely because Majins are that strong that they chose to confront the Adventurers with their superior technique and overwhelming Magical Energy, and lost.

The Floor Boss area is mostly the same as the previous area.

The difference is that there is actually a floor. A round, white space made out of a hard material cut out in the blackness.

「The flow of time cannot be reversed.」

The silver-haired Majin who muttered that has his eyes hidden behind a mask.

And in each of his hands…was a head.

The head of the Alchemist Louie in one and that of Summoner Margret in the other.

「…!!」

The Adventurers looked on in bewilderment.

Those whose Job is not focused on combat will have a slightly inferior reaction time to others. Taking advantage of this, the Time Demon Agares most likely used his unique spell, Spatial Mobility, to attack those two and cut off their heads before the battle started.

A technique used to kill two excellent Adventurers before they do anything.

Even while being a powerful species, he is a serious man who will not hesitate to formulate a plan.

The viewers won’t be able to catch it, but this most likely used up a large portion of his horn Magical Energy to do that.

Of course, he does not show it on his face and continues to look indifferent.

「Therefore, I cannot feign ignorance to the crimes perpetrated by you lot, who dare approach in hopes to harm the Demon King.」

Magical imitation blood drips from the heads.

Blood sprays from the necks of the headless bodies which sway and then collapse.

「I, the Time Demon Agares, shall render judgment personally.」

「What’s all this about sins? We’re just here to fight!」

The two bodies crumbled and turned into Magical Energy particles. Right at the moment, they were defeated…

…and the Hero of the Cursed Sword Hervor moves as fast as Agares’ Spatial Mobility to strike him in the face…but it didn’t connect.

Before she knew it, Agares was standing behind her.

And was touching the back part of her clothes.

「Have you ever seen a meteor?」

「Wha?」

The figure of Herv disappeared.

「Fall to the ground from a realm higher than heaven itself.」

I managed to confirm her location. In the video room, there are cameras that film various places.

The Floor Boss area actually has another difference from the previous area.

It’s hard to tell from the scenery, but the ceiling is actually unusually high.

To be similar to the actual sky.

And now, Herv is approaching the ground like a meteor. Falling.

She was so high up that none of her allies could even sense her Magical Energy, let alone see her.

That’s right, he used Spatial Mobility to blast her away.

Among the Heroes who are taking part in this Raid Battle, she is the weakest to these types of attacks.

She has limited ways to handle falling from a height compared to the others.

Even if it was Herv, I wonder what would happen if she were to hit the ground from that height.

「To even think of fighting the Demon King with this level of strength, you all should know your place.」

His voice can be heard from a different place than it was a moment ago.

He was in front of Ewan.

「Oh…? You seem to be of use.」

Agares’s sword hand was repelled.

Ewan used Wraith’s Air Box trick that he used previously to protect himself.

「However, don’t think that I cannot kill trapped prey.」

「…Ah, kah…?!」

Ewan spurt blood from all over his body and collapsed to his knees inside the box that he created.

「My power can teleport things beyond spaces as well.」

He created a tiny Air Blade in his hand and teleported it inside Ewan’s Air Box and cut him up.

「…Got…you…」

「……」

Agares didn’t move. He couldn’t.

There was an odd feeling on his right foot.

It would appear that Ewan is grabbing onto it with an Air Hand or something.

Strong spells like Spatial Mobility consume a considerable amount of Magical Energy and their usage requirements are strict.

Since his clothes teleport with him, it’s safe to say that whatever he holds on to will also teleport with him.

The question is, how far will it go? What kind of state will it teleport in?

In conclusion, Spatial Mobility is done according to the configuration.

For example, if he has set it to teleport him and whatever he is wearing, he will move to the predetermined spot with his clothes as he configured it.

And so, if something were to be added to the configuration, it would deviate, preventing him from teleporting.

In order to teleport while an Air Hand stretching from the box growing out of the floor is grabbing onto him, he would have to configure the spell to teleport him along with that.

Unless he configures it to teleport him, what he’s wearing, and the Air Hand, he cannot teleport.

…This is bad.

Ewan is growing faster than expected.

Young Adventurers are eager to succeed. They seek flashy performances and prefer big skills.

Even the calm, collected and open-minded Adventurer, the Frost Hero Bella, felt that she had to make the audience acknowledge her in her first Clear, so she took care of all the Dream Demons on her own, but while she dropped her guard because she thought she had done a good job, she was defeated by the Demon of Love Sitri.

With things like that, they accumulate such failures and grow.

On that point, Wraith and Fran are exceptional beings.

Ewan is a prospective newcomer who has both ability and power.

While he hasn’t been able to showcase much of his ability up to this point, he still has it. He wouldn’t have graduated second in his class from the School if he didn’t.

But to be able to not only defend but to stop his enemy from moving after taking a large amount of damage…

His style up to now has changed. He must have reached a major turning point.

「Good job, Ewan.」

The sound of thunder could be heard.

First came the flash. The Thunder Hero Scathach, who unsheathed his Holy Sword, dashes forward.

A little later is the sound of thunder.

Normally, the enemy would scatter with the thunder.

However…

「I suppose to man, the lightning spears that fall from heaven are something to be feared.」

Agares stops the Holy Sword with a kick.

He immediately cut off his right foot that was grabbed, and kicked with the stump, releasing a Wind Blade from it.

However it was done, the thunder and lightning cause sparks to fly in the Wind Blade, not affecting Agares in the slightest.

「The only thing we fear is the wrath of our Demon King.」

He teleported.

Along with Scathach.

Agares appeared in front of the Destroyer Fran.

And Scathach was dropped in a straight line between himself and the Hunter Suuri.

This way, he can disrupt Suuri’s line of fire, albeit slightly.

In that slight time, he plans to end his fight with Fran.

「Be they old or young, man or woman, it makes no difference on the battlefield.」

「Of course.」

「Well said.」

Fran swings her massive right arm at Agares.

It was a swing and a miss.

Because Agares appeared behind her.

But she already saw him do this with Herv.

Perhaps expecting this, her swing kept going.

She made it look like she was swinging at the Agares in front of her, but she actually swung aiming for when he appears behind her from the beginning.

Fran turns with her fist, a swing that could bore through space.

But once again, he isn’t there.

He appears upside down above Fran.

He reaches out a hand to Fran and unleashes a massive explosion magic spell.

And then he teleports.

Overwhelming.

The last of the Big Four is dodging all of the Adventurers’ attacks, whittling down their numbers, and toying with them.

It’s an onslaught fierce enough to cause the viewers to think that the Adventurers might almost get wiped out here.

That onslaught…ends abruptly.

「…? ……Wh…at…?!」

There are two surprises.

The first was that Fran was unharmed.

In an excellent display of timing, Wraith unleashed Wind Magic to save his childhood friend from the explosion.

It would’ve been fine if that was all. I know what Wraith is capable of. He can pull off things like that.

The other surprise was…

Agares’s body was disfigured as if he had been scraped.

「The Spirit Magic known as Sky Garden. Able to cut and rearrange space freely.」

A circle was cut out of Agares’s upper half and it was floating in front of Aerial.

This was a strange sight.

「It’s strange how there’s no blood, huh? Even now, this is still connected to your body. But if I were to do this…and break that connection.」

「…」

Silently, blood spurted out of Agares’s body.

An Esoteric Spirit Magic that rivals that of Fenix’s Flames of the Gods.

More so than Spatial Mobility, it is a high-ranking Spirit Magic that should be called Spatial Dominance.

「You did well, Time Demon Agares. I am not particularly fond of this Spirit Magic. In fact, it has been twenty years since I last used it.」

The magic of the four elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. This is magic.

Spirit Magic that has been diluted to the level that people can handle.

And then, the people crowned the existences who gave this to them as thus;

The Earth Spirit, the Water Spirit, the Fire Spirit, and the Wind Spirit.

From the people’s viewpoint, they are the beings who bestowed magic upon them.

「But it seemed particularly hard to cut you with Wind Magic.」

However, it might go without saying, but there exists Spirit Magic that is on the level of Spirits.

The Earth origin, the mother sea, the one wind, the primordial fire.

These may be true, but they are mostly man’s imagination.

They govern over something far greater.

Like that fire-shaped thing that burns anything by just getting close to it in the Flames of the Gods.

Limited to only those with who they have high compatibility, Esoteric Spirit Magic is magic that transcends that of the four major elements.

Spatial Domination is not Wind Elemental Magic.

It is the power that the existence that is called the Wind Spirit lends to Aerial, who is the Contractor.

One of the many miracles that the Main Four Great Spirits bestow upon special people that they take an interest in.

「…I…can still…」

Agares, who had a circle cut out of him, still hasn’t been defeated.

He is just a head and neck with what is left of his left shoulder connected to his lower half.

While in such a state, he activates Spatial Mobility.

Just who will he teleport to, I wonder?

When he reappeared, it was only to a space right next to him.

「My apologies. I replaced the spaces next to my allies with the space right next to you.」

「…」

No matter where he tried to teleport to, Aerial had scrambled all the target spaces.

If the destination and the actual teleport position are misaligned, it is impossible to demonstrate the true power of Spatial Mobility.

「We will have an audience with the Demon King. It is for that reason that we came.」

「…My deepest apologies, Demon King.」

With that, Agares’s body…scattered.

Aerial used Spirit Magic to end things quickly in order to Clear the stratum before Ewan succumbed to his injuries and to avoid Herv crashing into the ground in the near future.

The ninth stratum was Cleared.

As a result, all the Heroes were alive.