The owner of the underground workshop, Irumokwi.
Aiden stared at her intently.
Right now she appeared as a girl who looked roughly eleven or twelve years old.
Light brown hair common across the continent, blood-red eyes that glowed like rubies, a face brimming with mischief and playfulness, and a wine-colored suit that dragged along the floor in a way that did not suit her small frame.
It was the appearance most frequently mentioned in the original novel as Irumokwi’s preferred form, so he recognized her at a glance.
Dorothy stepped forward.
“Your ambitions end here, Your Highness Crown Prince Yustasio Wiblet Leonor. If you surrender now, we will treat you as humanely as possible.”
“Humane treatment? You mean you’ll kill me quickly and painlessly? How laughable.”
“Do you really think you can escape this dead end? Let me be clear—the Wiblet Imperial Palace is already on our side. By now, the elite knights of the Servante Defense Order should have the guild house completely surrounded.”
“Yus is saying he doesn’t need to run anywhere, you stupid little saint girl.”
Irumokwi, who had identified Dorothy through her Garnet Eye (A), taunted her. She looked perfectly relaxed.
Aiden, who had memorized Irumokwi’s character sheet and personality, felt a flicker of doubt. It was hard to imagine that this mere clone—not the main body—had any way to turn this hopeless situation around.
The reason for her composure soon became clear.
One holy knight narrowed his eyes and asked,
“…Wait, what is that behind them?”
“Interested in my masterpiece?”
<Rainbow Light>
With a mocking remark, rainbow-colored light burst from Irumokwi’s hand and flew toward the ceiling of the underground cavern, illuminating the bleak space.
What it revealed was unspeakably horrific. Behind Yustasio and Irumokwi lay a pile of neatly decapitated corpses.
“Th-that’s…”
“…Praszkeak’s grunts.”
Irumokwi shook her head.
“The corpses aren’t important. Look behind them.”
Upon closer inspection, a pitch-black substance was rising from the headless bodies. It was the power of the demon Terpartizan. The ominous energy flowed toward the area directly behind where Yustasio and Irumokwi stood.
There, something enormous and pitch-black waited.
A black body that flickered like candlelight, dozens of eyes studded across its form. A monster so grotesque it could haunt nightmares was absorbing every last drop of energy flowing from the corpses.
Dorothy glanced at Aiden.
“…Aiden, what is that?”
Aiden quickly recalled the methods used by the demon contractor ‘Pan Damutz’ from Ciencia in the original story, but nothing similar came to mind.
“I’m not entirely sure either. It’s probably a monster created by exploiting Terpartizan’s specialized ability to store external power.”
“Hmm…”
It was hardly surprising, given that Irumokwi was the most scholarly of the Five Heroes. One thing was certain, however: the Praszkeak Guild had no intention of fleeing this fight.
“Since the fight has already begun, there’s no avoiding it.”
The underground cavern brightened thanks to the <Rainbow Light> Irumokwi had just cast.
The brighter the light, the deeper the shadows. It created the perfect stage for a great spirit of darkness to run wild.
“Perkag.”
Sh-sh-sh-sh-shk!!
Shadows stretched from beneath Yustasio’s feet and shot toward the holy knights. Most of the combatants dodged them easily, but a few slower priests were bound.
However—
‘Infecting’
Kuuuuguuuung!
The Resonance Shatter Art’s secret technique, executed with terrifying precision, pulverized only the shadows of Perkag that had restrained the priests.
“Thank you, Lord Mirvana!”
Instead of replying to the priests’ thanks, Estriel advanced and shouted,
“Aiden! I’ll leave the doppelganger girl and the monster to you—spread our forces appropriately!”
“Got it!”
Estriel felt a surge of reassurance at the confident reply.
He then turned to face Yustasio.
“………”
“………”
The brief standoff ended when Yustasio moved first. He murmured the name of the contracted great spirit, and the shadow at Estriel’s feet surged upward to bind him.
Tight!
The shadow coiled around his body.
But Estriel remained utterly calm.
“The great spirit of darkness, Perkag. I had quite a hard time because of this thing last time.”
“You knew about my power and still came without support? Foolish.”
“From the look of it, that little girl over there seems like quite the mage too. Besides… I didn’t come completely unprepared.”
Estriel answered leisurely and muttered something under his breath.
“At the end of the cycle, return to nature.”
Fwoosh!
Yustasio’s eyes widened. A mysterious energy burst from Estriel’s body, and Perkag’s shadow melted away helplessly.
It was the power contained in the Circulation Church’s holy relic, the All-Circulation Tablet (S).
The tablet held the authority to return energy forms that had escaped the natural cycle back to nature. Its power was halved against beings with clear physical forms, but against spirits it was practically a natural predator.
“A holy relic… How annoying…”
Yustasio’s face twisted.
He moved Perkag once more.
Sh-sh-shk!
This time it was not an attack. The shadows of the thirteen Praszkeak executives who had followed Yustasio underground transformed into armor-like shells that wrapped around each of them.
“All forces, charge!”
“We’ll take care of you too!”
At the simultaneous shouts from Yustasio and Dorothy, the Praszkeak executives and the Holy Nation’s holy knights clashed in a chaotic melee.
Clang! Clang! Boom!
Fierce metallic clashes rang out continuously, and flashing magic spells crossed in midair.
Despite being outnumbered, Praszkeak held their own surprisingly well, thanks to the toughness of the shadow armor and the doping effect of their pseudo-demon transformation. Of course, there was still a clear gap in overall strength between the two sides, and the pope-level priest Dorothy was focusing entirely on support.
The imbalance was obvious to anyone watching.
There were two variables.
The unidentified monster and Irumokwi.
“The situation looks worse than expected. I should wrap this up quickly and go help Yus… huh?”
“If you can, that is.”
Flora drew her signature holy relic, the Balance of Good and Evil (S+), and activated the spell stored within it.
<Karma Scale>
The spell reduced damage taken and increased damage dealt the closer the opponent was to evil and the closer the user was to good. Against neutral or good-aligned foes its effect was negligible, but against utterly wicked villains it could bridge even a five- or six-level gap.
Flora’s title trait, Judge Against Evil (S+), created powerful synergy.
Shaaang!
Light poured from the Balance of Good and Evil and wrapped around both Flora and Irumokwi. Irumokwi, who had experienced the relic’s power in the distant past, clicked her tongue.
“Damn blood-soaked bitch, acting all high and mighty… Terpartizan! Devour that woman first!”
—Gwoooooooaaaah…
Dozens of wriggling legs extended from the candle-flame-like body of the monster—Terpartizan. Despite its massive size, the creature’s speed as it began crawling across the ground was anything but ordinary.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud…
Terpartizan charged with ferocious momentum.
The group scattered quickly.
Boom!
Terpartizan smashed straight through the sturdy wall of the underground cavern and burrowed deep inside. Aiden whistled at the terrifying physical force. The monster had just casually shattered the barrier Irumokwi had placed around her workshop.
「Mana analysis complete. There is a mana stone core at the center of the formless energy. The moment it is damaged, the demon will lose control of its power.」
“So it does have a weak point. How strong is that pseudo-demon colony?”
「Estimated to be at least as powerful as the boss of Praszkeak.」
“…No wonder Yustasio didn’t use any of the demon’s power in our last fight. He poured everything into that thing.”
More accurately, it was far beyond simply pouring everything in.
Praszkeak had the cheat of the Obsidrol Serum Pills. They had used it to amass power far beyond normal limits, storing the vast reserves inside the bodies of guild members as external hard drives.
They had now withdrawn every last bit of that saved power.
Aiden shouted,
“Lady Flora! We’ll handle the monster—you focus on the mage!”
“…!”
Flora nodded and moved toward Irumokwi. Irumokwi’s unique trait Recognition Needle (U) was extremely troublesome, but with the Balance of Good and Evil fully active, a mere clone was no match for her.
“Chesa, aim for its core.”
“Got it.”
Chesa compressed fusion without hesitation. Energy of every possible property gathered in her hands. Countless elements merged and disintegrated, gradually losing their individual traits until only darkness remained.
<First-Void>
A sphere of void that disintegrated everything shot forward in a straight line. It pierced straight through the heart of Terpartizan, which was still twitching where it had embedded itself in the wall.
“D-did it work?”
“…Don’t start chanting a revival spell, Linia.”
“…Huh?!”
Terpartizan, pierced by the Void, unbelievably crawled out of the wall completely unharmed. Its regenerative ability was absurd; the puncture wound was already closing rapidly.
Chesa clutched her purple-tinged fingers and asked,
“Did Nano Eater’s aim miss?”
「The core moved approximately 1 meter from its previous position. It appears capable of relocating at will, Master.」
“…Hmm.”
There was a clear limit to the size of Void Chesa could create. No matter how destructive it was, she could not hit a moving core.
“Clara, heal Chesa’s fingers.”
“Yes, Brother.”
“In that case… Plebelziam! Let’s use <Prometheus> and burn the whole thing!”
[Did you not see how that demon moves? At your speed you’ll be skewered by tentacles before you even get close. What kind of suicide squad is this?]
“I’ll revive even if I die anyway!”
[That’s not the—]
Ignoring the sword’s grumbling, Terpartizan’s dozens of eyes gleamed. It seemed wary of the Blispiel group. It must have judged the earlier Void strike as a sign that they were formidable opponents.
Aiden said,
“Epio, Ray. I need you two to step up.”
If they combined Ray’s Life Incineration (S) strike with Epio’s ultimate flame spell <Prometheus>, they could completely vaporize the pseudo-demon colony.
The only problem was that the demon was so powerful that anyone below Triple Star level would have trouble even approaching it. This was Irumokwi’s workshop, and a mage’s workshop was normally equipped to counter spatial magic, rendering <Padio Blink> useless.
But there was a way.
“I’ll make up for the speed deficiency.”
Aiden grabbed Ray with his left hand and Epio with his right.
<Dragon Skin> <Elemental Cross Chain>
He cast protective spells on the two of them, then Chesa used the last of her mana to temporarily restrain the monster’s massive body with Over Zero Bag (S).
The next instant, veins bulged across Aiden’s entire body. With muscles overloaded to their limit, he hurled Epio and Ray forward.
The two launched figures saw the world turn into countless streaks of light. They flew through the air at a speed far beyond normal reaction time, but Epio and Ray were natural-born warriors. They knew exactly what to do in this situation.
『Life Incineration (S)』
<Prometheus>
The power to slay demons and the flame of myth exploded against Terpartizan.
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