Chapter 623 – Monsters of the Central Hub

The Paladin kept its gaze fixed on me as it took a fighting Stance with its blade. It seemed—it had decided to make me its first prey. Yes. That’s fine. I’ll handle this one.

“Well then—”

I held Ouroboros at the ready, channeled my Magical Power, and measured the distance.

From beyond the corridor, I could see the Monsters that had been waiting in the large room charging toward us. They must be the Monsters of this section led by the Paladin.

—Fight or retreat. If we retreat, Teleportation Magic would be our only option.

The path to the exit was a straight line, but there were alarm and teleportation Traps along the way. If we couldn’t shake them off—especially the Paladin—the enemy would activate the Traps, and we’d be caught in a pincer attack. Judging by the Paladin’s earlier flight speed, it was highly likely we wouldn’t be able to escape in time.

Claudia’s Teleportation Magic placed a heavy burden on her within the Last Guardian’s domain. It was an option I’d rather not use unless absolutely necessary.

“Let’s fight, Theo.”

“Indeed. If we retreat now, we’ll be stalled until the moon phase changes unless we can complete the strategy.”

“Right now—we can prepare to intercept them before the enemy forces arrive.”

As Grace spoke, Rosemary, Ashley, and Marlene all nodded.

…Right. Retreating here would make defeating the Last Guardian seem unlikely. And if we’re talking about increasing our chances of victory, this timing also allows us to prepare for interception.

Sheila, Irmhild, Seraphina, Pietro, and Helvorte—judging by their expressions, everyone’s fighting spirit was high. Claudia looked at me and nodded.

And… if I defeat the Paladin, that alone would significantly tilt the situation in our favor.

I widened my eyes and charged at the Paladin, and it responded in kind, kicking off the ground and rushing toward me.

Head-on. Ouroboros and the blade crossed, clashing violently. Sparks flew. Without pause, the Paladin raised its left arm toward me. It held the blade in its right hand, so what about the left arm—?

I twisted my body following my intuition. A pale Light Bullet shot through the space where I had been.

“Solid Hammer!”

I expanded a Magic Circle in sync with my body-twisting motion. Swinging a massive boulder as if slamming it down from behind my back, the Paladin leaped and spun its body vertically. The boulder that passed by in a crossing trajectory was bisected by the blade. Magic Circles flashed on the soles of the Paladin’s feet and its back, and it came slashing down from the air while spewing Magical Light.

I jumped diagonally. Kicking off a Shield to alter my trajectory, I evaded the blade. The battle shifted from ground combat to aerial combat. I slammed Ouroboros against the blade as we passed each other.

The Paladin was accelerating and controlling its posture by spraying Magical Power. Its speed and accompanying Power during a Charge were tremendous, but I had the upper hand in maneuverability.

I jumped finely left and right, evading the blade and Light Bullets. I tried to slam Ouroboros into it from a blind spot, but the Paladin accelerated, pulling away with ferocious momentum.

Its lower body had transformed into a flight Form. Drawing a large arc while trailing a brilliant tail of Magical Light with incredible acceleration, it charged toward me while scattering Light Bullets from its left arm.

Slow-speed homing bullets—!

The Light Bullets changed trajectory toward the direction I dodged, but even faster, the Paladin came at me with a Slash Attack from its blade. As I deflected it diagonally backward with Ouroboros, the delayed homing bullets swarmed in. This was why it fired them scattered during the initial volley—to shower me with homing bullets from different trajectories.

Multiple Light Bullets detonated, causing an explosion on the spot. I—had already escaped the area riding Balor, which I summoned just before the detonation.

I pinpointed one of the bullets flying in from all directions, slammed Ouroboros toward the homing bullet, deployed a Shield, and broke through the blast head-on.

I had lured the homing bullets approaching from behind until the last possible moment, then rode Balor to make a swift escape.

The homing bullets were quite troublesome—but above all, it was fast. It couldn’t be directly compared to Helvorte, which accelerates through teleportation… but in terms of sudden acceleration, it was among the top I’ve fought so far.

I had no choice but to counter with high-speed combat riding Balor. Channeling Magical Power, I accelerated as well. The Paladin, now in semi-flight Form, and I clashed at absurd speeds as we passed each other.

During one of our many crossing moments—the leg that should have been transformed kicked upward from below, grazing my chin. A kick while focusing on the blade, huh.

The vector of the Magical Light spray changed. The Paladin went spinning off in an unexpected direction—or so I thought, but it released its transformation and finely controlled the jet points to regain its posture.

It forcibly corrected its trajectory as if ignoring inertia, assumed a Stance with its blade in humanoid Form, and charged at me.

It was a reckless move only a Golem could perform. It didn’t seem to be using Levitation. If a flesh-and-blood human attempted such maneuvers, they’d likely lose consciousness. But fine by me. I’ll smash this thing and move forward—!

“Here I go!”

Ashley plunged the tip of her Mace into the floor, expanding a large Magic Circle. A Defense Field spread from the Magic Tool—simultaneously, ice spread widely from Ashley’s feet, filling the entire corridor. A Water Magic Boost. As her Circlet shone, water enveloped everything up to the ceiling as if dominating the entire space, instantly freezing, with countless icicles and pillars protruding. It was as if an ice Castle had been born centered around Ashley. It became a difficult choke point for both ground and air forces to attack in large numbers.

A low temperature that crippled the mobility of those not protected by the Spirit’s Blessing—Ashley’s domain, both offensive and defensive. Within it, Marlene’s Saucers and Rosemary’s Magic Slaves floated.

“Shall we begin, then?”

“Yes, Princess.”

Claudia and Helvorte expanded Magic Circles. As Helvorte struck the ice with the butt of its Spear, a teleportation Barrier spread around them.

It didn’t have the range of the Castle’s simulated battles, but it was sufficient to intercept those approaching the defensive position. With Claudia’s cooperation, it seemed Helvorte could create localized Barriers even outside the Castle.

As for the enemy forces—first, countless Tears advancing in formation through the air. They seemed to have clear role divisions based on the differences in their equipped Weapons.

Compared to the unified air force of Tears, the ground forces were diverse. There were several types of large and medium-sized Monsters. First, the Bone Troopers we fought earlier.

Then, leading the vanguard from the ground, charging forward, were half-human, half-horse—Golems with Forms reminiscent of Centaurs, clad in white armor, unified as centaur-like entities.

“Centaur Knights. Large Golems mainly accompanied by Paladins.”

Claudia furrowed her brows upon seeing them.

So, the Paladin, capable of high mobility in the air and both close and long-range combat through transformation, and the Centaur Knights, accompanying it to dominate the ground.

They wielded long-handled Weapons of unique shape, like having combat rings attached at both ends. Since they aren’t Guardians, their combat ability is supposedly inferior to the Paladin’s, but they are quite large, and they’re opponents we can’t allow to breach our defensive position.

Floating and flying just above the ground were Monsters clad in Robes. Their appearance, holding a Khakkhara, was very much that of a Magician type, and beneath the hood—as if some kind of joke, a starry sky twinkled. They seemed to be Monsters called Star Sorcerers.

Following them, Monsters in black attire, holding knives in reverse grip, with an Assassin-like appearance, came running. The eyes peeking slightly from their black hoods—were bulging out prominently, moving busily and incessantly. Eyes characteristic of a chameleon.

“I’ll—handle that large Monster.”

“Then I shall defeat that Magician.”

Grace would deal with the Centaur Knight; Rosemary and Ignis would handle the Star Sorcerer.

“That lizard-like one with the bulging eyes—probably has good compatibility with me.”

Sheila said. The remaining hordes of Bone Troopers and Tears—Dullahan, Helvorte, and Belius, as Midguard, would provide support to prevent the Vanguard from being surrounded, or stop enemies from heading toward the Rearguard.

The quickest way to Silence the Tears was to smash them with brute force. Their numbers could be compensated for by Helvorte’s high-speed teleportation.

And the Rearguard, from the defensive position, would support the Vanguard and Midguard while intercepting any who broke through.

The battle between the enemy forces and the Party Members began—with Belius. After luring the enemies in as much as possible—he took a deep breath from deep within the defensive position. The corners of his mouth twisted into a grin, and he fired three lines of fire toward the space where the enemies were particularly concentrated.

As the fire lines, each at slightly different angles, pierced through, a massive Fireball swelled there and exploded the next moment.

Into the gap where the following ranks were disrupted and separated from the Centaur Knights—the Vanguard and Midguard groups charged in.

“That’s far enough.”

Grace, brimming with Fighting Spirit, shot out like a cannonball and collided with the Centaur Knight. She stopped its Charge, fueled by its massive body, with her Fighting Spirit and physical strength, and immediately exchanged Slash Attacks with the Centaur Knight’s combat-ring staff using her twin Axes.

From behind, a Bone Trooper that had closed in took aim with its Spear—but it never launched. Because Helvorte, having teleported above it, pierced it through with its Spear.

“Keep going. Focus on the battle before you.”

“Yes!”

Grace and Helvorte’s eyes met for an instant. As Helvorte kicked off the Bone Trooper it had slain, the close-combat type Tears swarmed in.

If Helvorte stopped moving, they’d spread out from all directions and slash at it. But by the time the Tears slashed, Helvorte was no longer there. It appeared elsewhere via Teleportation Magic—and instead, a rain of projectiles from the defensive position poured down, engulfing the group of Tears.

Good coordination. They could sync up because they’d seen each other’s movements once. Well then. It seems everyone has begun their battles.