Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

99 – The Big Four and The Centaur Archer

At the same time with the start of the match, Orobas shot an arrow.

We could hear the sound of the arrow being shot from beyond the silver wall that Berith created.

Furcus’ size is comparable to a giant, so even with a wall the size of our height, we could still see her movements.

「Well then, good luck, Berith.」

「You too.」

We bumped our fists together and then parted ways.

The wall was blown away by Furcus’ front kick.

Then, Berith, already clad in silver, striked against her foot.

「…So it wasn’t Lem, huh?」

Although we previously had a heated discussion, I’m not the one who’s going to be her opponent.

「Don’t sound so disappointed, since it’s also fun this way.」

「I shall be the judge of that.」

「Ok, then you can do that.」

I didn’t look back.

While flowing my Magical Energy into the staff, I went toward Orobas, the Centaur archer.

「Do you actually think that you can catch up with me with those two legs?」

Her lower half of the body is that of a horse’s and she’s galloping in a high speed across the field with four legs.

She is also talking to me in a reserved manner.

The sense of distance made it so that no one would ever imagine that we are actually working in the same workplace temporarily.

「Maybe you’re right, I might not be able to catch up to you.」

「Isn’t this the part where you’re supposed to say that you’ll definitely catch me even if it’s a lie?」

「I’m not good at lying.」

「Excellent. However, how are you planning to defeat me then?」

It doesn’t matter how fast she is, Black Magic can be cast as long as the existence can be recognized.

Centaurs are a race that has low Mmagical Energy resistance. It should be easy to cast a spell on her.

I used the Magical Energy flowing in the staff to cast Speed Down.

Her movements visibly slowed down. The Black Magic has been enhanced by using high-purity Magical Energy and applying a target restriction and time restriction.

I ran towards her at full speed.

She noticed the Speed Down, then she carefully placed the arrow on the bow and fired it, making sure not to make any mistakes.

She’s fast, but I can see every movement she makes, so I know exactly what she’s aiming for.

The problem is that there is nothing I can do to defend against it, even the slightest deceleration by evading it is too valuable in this situation.

So I won’t avoid it.

I put my hand on the expected trajectory of the arrow.

The arrow struck the palm of my hand and was repelled.

「…! …Is that silver?」

It takes Magical Energy and time to cast magic from a distance.

That’s why I got my fist to be covered in silver when I bumped my fist with Berith.

It can be concealed inside my robe, and for those who are curious about my equipment, the only thing they would see is the sword staff. It wasn’t too difficult for me to hide the fact that the arm opposite to the one holding the staff was covered in silver.

「Even so, to think that it couldn’t even slightly reduce your speed…」

Orobas put away the bow while saying so, then she pulled out a spear from the cloth hanging on her torso.

I’ve never heard of her being proficient in spearmanship, did she get a brief lesson from Furcus?

It’s the first time she has pulled out a spear in this tournament, so I can’t judge her skill.

The distance between me and Orobas is getting shorter.

I’m almost inside the attack range of her spear.

Just when I was about to take one more step, the attack came.

Even though I had predicted it, I wasn’t able to completely avoid it.

I somehow managed to protect my Magical Energy organ, but it still pierced my abdomen.

This is Furcus’ Magic Tool. A super long distance piercing attack by a spear that can shapeshift.

「…Did you think… that you can ignore this Furcus and leave just like that?」

While fighting against Berith, she found a momentary chance and attacked me. 　

A long, long spear extended from her hand to the back of my abdomen.

Alright.

There is no lie in the words I said before the match. I do think that if I’m together with Berith, we are capable of defeating Furcus and Orobas.

After that statement, I entrusted Berith to become her opponent and then I no longer paid any attention to them.

From her point of view, I would be full of openings.

That she would aim for the moment when my awareness is strongly focused on Orobas was one of the most promising possibilities I had considered.

That’s why I had told Berith.

I told her not to interfere with the thrust that was aimed at me.

As soon as the spear was fully extended, I…grabbed the shaft.

「Berith!」

「Yeah!」

Furcus’s spear is strange.

It’s possible to freely change the shape of the weapon as long as it does not deviate from the shape of a spear, and on top of that the parts that are worn out can be discarded.

In the battle with Fenix, the part that was caught on fire was cut off and so it avoided being entirely burned down.

But then there’s something I’ve been wondering.

The discarded part will no longer be a Magic Tool. It’ll just be a part of the spear. This has been verified. 　

Then, what separates the main body from the part?

It’s not the tip of the spear. This part had been discarded multiple times. The same goes for the end part of the spear’s shaft. In other words, it’s not defined by both ends of the spear.

As far as I can see, there were no special decorations or markings.

I didn’t ask her about it. No matter how good the relationship is, there are some things you should never ask without consideration.

That’s why it’s going to be a gamble from here on out.

Furcus must not have imagined this because it’s an action that I would usually be unlikely to do.

Since it’s not very Lem-like to plan a strategy based on something that hasn’t been confirmed or revealed by prior information gathering.

It’s exactly because the strategy is like this that it was able to work on her.

「You seem so relaxed that you can even afford to look away, Furcus!」

Berith struck the shaft of the spear that Furcus had thrusted toward me.

「!」

Furcus’ body movements are still nimble even if she is wearing armor.

In the previous matches, not even a single person was able to touch her armor.

But, how about the spear?

Of course, it’s different. A spear is a means of attack. A weapon. No matter what, it has to touch the opponent and sometimes even the opponent’s weapon.

If Berith had tried to hit her at this moment, she would have reacted. Or rather, Furcus would have predicted that.

But as for the spear… Since it is a weapon that is supposed to be used for attacking and because it can be regenerated, combined with this situation, the degree of caution for it must have been lower than for her body.

A single blow was struck at that point.

The spear was crushed and broken.

Normally, there would be no problem.

She could have immediately extended it again and skewered Berith.

But she couldn’t.

「Come.」

It was me who gave the command.

I won the bet.

The spear… the longer part will become the main body.

She pierced me with it, who was far away from her, and Berith broke it just a short distance from her hand.

The part of the spear from that point until it reached me was much longer.

The spear shortened as I wished and I pulled it out of my abdomen.

…Somehow, just like that time with Alba, I keep on snatching away other people’s Magic Tools.

No, Lemegeton did it once and Lem did it once, so there should only be a limited number of people that would think so.

I held the spear with one hand while maintaining Speed Down.

「As expected, I wasn’t able to catch up.」

「…Since the beginning, you…」

Extend.

Furcus’ spear pierced Kei’s chest.

「Give it back.」

The voice was near.

A gigantic black knight is approaching this way, while destroying the silver wall and ignoring the liquid silver that is coiling around her.

「Don’t just go and ignore me…!」

Just because she’s huge doesn’t mean she’s slow. Since she has a large stride, it’s difficult to catch up to her when she runs.

Inevitably, it’s also difficult to run away from her.

But I still ran away.

Furcus’ fist hollowed the ground.

At the place where my body was until a moment ago.

I’m no longer there now.

I had moved away by rapidly shortening the spear.

However, in order for me to do this, the tip must be fixed in place.

The tip of the spear that had pierced Orobas had barbs on it so that it won’t be easily pulled out.

That’s why I’m now heading towards Orobas, who hasn’t left the field yet.

「…What a cruel thing you’re doing.」

「I’m sorry.」

「It’s okay, I also won’t just accept this damage without doing anything.」

She threw the spear. I threw away my staff to try and catch the spear and turned my hand that was clad in silver toward it.

「…Ugh」

The momentum of that single blow penetrated through the thin layer of silver and pierced my hand.

But I still tried to grasp the spear.

Because Orobas was already holding her bow.

There should be enough time for her to shoot an arrow. Maybe even two.

I repelled one of the arrows that she shot with the spear that I received from her.

The second one pierced me in the shoulder.

Just like that, we crashed into each other.

I pulled out Furcus’ spear and once again aimed at her- no, there was no need for me to do that.

The burden of throwing the spear while being seriously injured, the crash, and the discharge of Magical Energy due to the spear being pulled out.

Her body was crumbling due to these factors.

Although she got influenced by a powerful Speed Down spell and was on the verge of leaving the field, she was still able to pull off that movement. She is a splendid archer. 

As I listened to the footsteps of the black knight approaching behind me, I made my next move.