Chapter 54: Witch (2)

Chapter 54: Witch (2)

“Huh?”

Elora, slammed into the ground, let out a puzzled sound.

The first thing she felt was pain.

It hurts.

Not just her face, hit directly by the fist, but her back ached too.

TRICKLE.

Blood flowed from her nose.

Getting hit square in the face and only ending up with a nosebleed was practically a miracle.

Though she didn’t primarily deal with the physical body, she had reached a certain realm.

It was natural for wounds to end at this level.

But…

Did I get hurt?

The witch slowly turned her head.

Snowflakes falling onto the ground where she was embedded, staining it red with blood…

No one else’s, but her own blood.

Had she seen such a fate?

No, she had never seen it.

For the witch Elora, wounds and pain were like daily life.

The witch Elora reads fates of ruin.

That included herself.

From the moment she was born, a destiny to lead others to ruin and head toward her own destruction.

The world always sought to kill her, the complete opposite of the beloved shrine maiden.

It didn’t feel bad.

After all, the shrine maiden Elora and the witch Elora were the same person.

Though from different dimensions, their souls were essentially the same, and the shrine maiden’s joy was soon the witch’s joy.

Still, if she didn’t fulfill her assigned fate, overwhelming impulses would take over, so she occasionally emerged.

But.

Getting hurt despite no fate of injury—this was the first time.

A weakness even she didn’t know!

“Ahahaha!”

Elora burst into mad laughter.

This feeling was new.

She wiped the nosebleed with the back of her hand.

Licking the blood smeared on her lips with her tongue, Elora stood up.

“More, more! Do it more!”

Elora spread both arms.

The inverted pentagram engraved on her slowly rotating pupils spun and emitted light, and a technique unfolded above her head.

[Celestial Magic Unique Technique]

[6th Tier]

[Golden Bell of the End]

SCREEEEECH~!

A tearing sound like shattering a bell.

A golden bell appeared above the golem’s head and tore left and right.

The golden bell symbolizing fate.

A magic modeled after the bell said to bring the end in the future, it selects one of the opponent’s fates—the ‘worst hand’—and brings it to the present.

If they raise a hand, the hand breaks; if they walk forward, the leg breaks.

Even a tiny probability doesn’t matter. As long as probability exists, it can be forcibly summoned.

But.

RUUUUMBLE…

No change occurred to No. 5, quietly raising its fist again.

“Ha, hahaha!”

Inanimate golems have no fate.

Even if they possess slight self-awareness.

Fate is given to living beings, a privilege granted to those born under the gaze governed by the stars.

It is not bestowed upon golems born through creation by alchemists.

If it had used some kind of magic, it could have blocked it, but No. 5 was a golem made solely for hand-to-hand combat.

It was sufficient to exploit the relatively weak physical abilities of Elora.

This feels like they prepared to catch me.

The corners of Elora’s mouth rose as if to tear.

BOOM!

“Ahahaha!”

Before she could even stand, the fist struck again.

Elora blocked with both arms while bursting into laughter.

Elora slammed back into the ground, and No. 5 jumped above her, clenching both fists tightly.

Simple, brute hand-to-hand combat without technique or finesse.

Each hit shaved away at its own body.

But for No. 5, carrying out its master’s orders, such things were trivial.

Everything was for its master.

No. 5’s dual fists smashed down onto Elora.

BOOOOOOM!

A roar like an explosion erupting.

Evan, watching this, did not look pleased.

…As expected, it’s holding up well.

The witch Elora’s power is at least 7th tier.

Equivalent to a Sword Master.

Depending on the situation, she can exert even greater power, capable of killing a future demonic duke.

Now, 6 minutes left…

Can it hold out that long?

ZIIIIING!

HWIIIIIIING!

A magic circle floated above the ground where Elora was embedded, emitting red light and beginning to absorb the nearby blizzard.

A swirling blizzard as if to create a tornado.

Lapis, who had wrapped Purity in mana threads and moved him behind Evan.

She clenched both fists and stood up.

“…I’ll help!”

“No, Lapis.”

Evan stopped Lapis.

“Please protect me.”

“…D-don’t gooo…”

Lapis shook her head.

She was visibly anxious.

“It’s ominous…”

“Lapis.”

Evan firmly grasped Lapis’s hands and met her eyes.

No. 5 can win precisely because it’s inanimate.

Lapis, a living being with fate, cannot defeat the witch.

And if you go, I might die!

It’s a bit annoying that even this emotion is visible.

As calmly as possible, without showing it, in a reassuring voice.

“Will you trust me?”

“…Yes. Okay.”

“…I shouldn’t step in either, right?”

Aegis gave a bitter smile.

“I’m seeing too many unsightly things.”

“Elder Aegis has already done enough.”

“No. At this age, being pushed back this much… means I failed. I know my limits, but it was just that much.”

Her trembling hands.

Evan looked at Aegis for a moment and opened his mouth.

A good idea came to mind.

“Then, will you help me once?”

“What is it?”

“Please create a path toward that sky.”

Evan pointed to the sky.

The open rift.

Entering there would immediately exit the dungeon.

“Together, let’s fly and escape.”

***

…Fly and escape?

Aegis let out a hollow laugh.

“Will that work?”

“Yes.”

The exit happened to be in the sky.

So he planned to hold out, but if Aegis stepped in, it’s different.

If I forcibly recover mana here, I won’t be able to move for a month.

Aegis is the only hope.

This kind of gamble doesn’t suit his personality.

He planned to endure, but Aegis is visibly depressed.

He said it thinking he could use that a bit.

If it succeeds, it’s profitable.

“Path clearing.”

Aegis didn’t refuse.

Standing up abruptly, she hid her shaking hands behind her back.

“Alright. Let’s try one more time. Do you have any elixirs or mana recovery potions?”

“Yes.”

Evan handed over a mana recovery potion.

Mana recovery is quite difficult, so he couldn’t make many, but this should be fine.

He also passed two low-grade elixirs obtained from the arena.

Lucky.

Without these, he would have had to endure 10 minutes no choice.

“…Heh. You really anticipated everything, huh?”

Aegis gave a silly smile, took the potion, drank it immediately, and chewed both elixirs at once like swallowing pills.

No time for Evan to explain.

RUUUUMBLE!

Mana exploding outward.

“Oooooh…!”

Breath and mana leaked from her mouth together.

Aegis crouched, touched the ground, and looked up at Evan.

“You can recover No. 5 and Felix, right?”

“Yes.”

Evan took out an item along with potions.

Ananke’s fountain pen.

An artifact engraved with spatial movement technique.

Originally, it shouldn’t be used inside such a dungeon.

Not a normal dungeon, but twisted space inside.

If mishandled, a limb could fly off.

That pain is indescribable.

Like being dragged by a car on asphalt, skin and muscle all ground away.

For the golem No. 5, it doesn’t matter.

Pain doesn’t disappear even if the body is gone, so just protect the core.

“Good, then—”

Aegis’s swirling mana gathered in her hand.

“Going now.”

[Alchemy]

[Decomposition]

[Reconstruction]

RUUUUUUMBLE!

Soil and rocks under the snow mountain mixed wildly, and the ground we stood on shot upward.

Our bodies rising straight toward the sky like an elevator.

Evan looked down.

Incredibly fast…!

At this speed, reaching in 1 minute is possible.

“Lapis!”

“Yes!”

Lapis emitted mana threads, raising her hand upward.

She pulled up the mana threads pre-wrapped around No. 5, still fighting, and the unconscious Felix.

No. 5 and Felix rising to the sky.

Felix, an upper-tier knight, should be sturdy, and No. 5 has no worry of injury.

Their positions approached instantly.

Evan assisted with alchemy, landing both bodies on the ground.

Felix unconscious, No. 5 with both fists completely shattered.

Dragging more time would have been dangerous.

The speed of the rising ground remained fast.

Aegis’s expression brightened.

“We’ve arrived…!”

At that moment.

BOOOOOOM!

The rising ground shook violently.

The ground stopping instantly.

It needed soil and rocks forming the mountain range, but they were gone.

He hurriedly looked down.

A massive crater formed below…

As if a meteor had fallen.

A huge crater had appeared.

The witch, Elora, face smeared with blood, looked up.

The glow from her eyes gradually brightened and flashed red.

“Who permitted escape?”

“…!”

RUUUMBLE!

As if gravity strengthened, the ground began descending slowly.

Aegis gritted her teeth, pouring mana.

But the ground, far from rising, was falling.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Cracks forming, the floor beginning to shatter.

Aegis poured all her mana, Lapis emitted mana threads, weaving multiple strands into ropes to support the ground.

“Monster… bitch…!”

GRIND—

The ones being pushed back were Aegis and Lapis.

How much distance left?

Still a bit to the rift entrance.

How to arrive like this?

An idea suddenly came.

His face briefly frowned.

This… is a bit too scary.

But he has to do it?

“…Elder Aegis. Give up the rest.”

“What?”

“Just raise the ground we’re standing on.”

“!”

Aegis widened her eyes as if realizing the method late.

Insufficient stability can be filled with Lapis’s mana threads.

Honestly… can’t be certain with this, but still have to try.

GRRR.

Hati and Skoll bit Evan’s pants as if saying not to worry.

He stroked their heads instead of answering, signaling Aegis with eyes.

Aegis nodded, releasing the mana poured into [Reconstruction].

“…!”

RUUUUUUMBLE!

Rocks and soil began falling downward, and the witch Elora felt momentarily hesitant.

Now.

BOOM!

Only the ground we stepped on shot upward.

Bodies rising instantly.

The moment the rift approached right before them, the side space shattered like glass.

[Spatial Magic Unique Technique]

[5th Tier]

[Blink]

“!”

“I don’t care about others, but you—no!”

The witch reached out.

Appearing right in front of Evan’s nose.

No time for Lapis, Hati, Skoll to react.

“Play with me a bit more~!”

The witch’s hand grabbed Evan’s hand.

GRAB!

“Huh?”

The moment she grabbed the hand, the witch made a blank sound.

Evan reflexively shook off the witch’s hand.

THUD, the hand falling.

Huh?

Surprisingly too easy.

Elora falling downward as is.

Evan’s body touched the rift.

He felt his body gradually pulled outward.

Dungeon exit. Opposite feeling from entry.

Like noise interference, blurring vision between.

“…Ahaha, this far. Didn’t think time would be this short… Didn’t expect escaping by flying in the sky.”

Eyes met with Elora, voice clearly conveyed even while falling.

One corner of Elora’s mouth rose.

“You already knew, right?”

“?”

“Didn’t think you’d know my weakness that even I didn’t…”

Elora’s voice whispered.

“Just how much do you know?”

CRACK CRACK!

“See you again. Kid… no.”

With those as last words.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, young alchemist.”

We were expelled from the dungeon.

***

The pure white snowflakes pouring from the sky gradually stopped.

Elora lying sprawled in the center of the crater, arms spread.

The dungeon entrance Evan had just escaped.

As reward for conquering the dungeon, the core vanished, imbalance disrupted, and it felt readjusting.

If left like this, she’d escape on her own.

-…Give it back now.

The shrine maiden’s voice full of complaint.

Instead of answering, the witch asked another question.

“You felt it, right?”

“Just now, the moment bodies touched… our fate disappeared.”

The powerless fall was for that reason.

Both witch and shrine maiden derive essential power from ‘fate’.

Unless extraordinarily dull, Evan must have felt it too.

Yet he showed no panic.

Just stared with an expressionless face.

“That guy. He knew everything.”

Evan.

He knew all this and had planned it.

“You think so too, don’t you?”

The shrine maiden, who felt the same.

Instead of answering, chose silence.

The witch waited leisurely.

Waiting for this much answer wasn’t a problem.

Perhaps sorting it out.

1 minute until expulsion.

The shrine maiden opened her mouth.

-THE…….