Chapter 363 – In the Depths of the Fortress

We advanced through the interior of the Blazing Fortress, heading toward the Sealed Door. Instead of being swarmed by numbers, we were being attacked by fairly large monsters like the Elephas Soldiers… Well, they must be conserving their forces somewhere.

Even though our combat capabilities had increased, the monster attacks felt too mild for the Blazing Fortress. In situations like this, the standard tactic would be to let your guard down, draw you in, and then spring a trap.

Now then… The Demon-Slaying Knight Order’s training and our trips through Corulis’s Labyrinth. Both were progressing relatively smoothly.

Elliot and the others were becoming more proficient with their Aerial Combat Gear day by day, and while I thought it would be safer to accompany Corulis for a little longer, we were clearing the labyrinth with such high efficiency that it had started stockpiling ore in its nest. So much so that we could afford to space out our labyrinth visits. Therefore… we could focus on conquering the Blazing Fortress without worry.

As Sheila, Irmhild, and I advanced while detecting with our monocles—we reached a fork in the path, with one way leading straight ahead and the other to the right.

“Hmm.”

Sheila cautiously peered down the right path and stopped. She furrowed her brows slightly, likely because she intuitively sensed something unpleasant.

Beyond that was a large hall—with a straight path continuing toward the far wall. Looking through the monocle, I could see Bomb Rocks placed here and there. This definitely felt like a trap.

“There are Bomb Rocks everywhere.”

“Is it a trap room… perhaps?”

Rosemary frowned… but my opinion was slightly different.

“…I wonder. If it were a large room with traps, they would likely activate as soon as the door opened. The fact that there’s no door and you can see the path ahead clearly… could also mean they’ve gathered their forces here to prevent us from advancing.”

“So then… you mean it’s not a trap, but the real deal?”

“Possibly, judging from the pattern so far.”

I nodded in response to Ashley’s words.

The interior of the Blazing Fortress seemed designed with many wide passages, making it hard to get lost but also leaving no place to hide or escape from monster attacks—a structure that tested one’s true capabilities.

There were few indirect approaches, but conversely, that also made it difficult for us to utilize our creativity. The first half had more traps, while the latter half was a test of pure strength. Looking at the overall structure, it seemed designed to test all aspects of our abilities.

“Probably, if we go further in, we’ll face combat… From what I can see here, aside from the Bomb Rocks, there don’t seem to be any magical traps set up.”

“If they’re coming, could it be a pincer attack?”

“Then—from behind.”

I glanced back at the wall behind us. I could see a wall surface adorned with what seemed like meaningful reliefs.

“Could this open and monsters come out? I don’t sense any body heat beyond the wall—”

“No smell or sound… either.”

Irmhild frowned, and Sheila twitched her nose.

“If they’re armor-type monsters, we can’t detect them until they move. Seraphina, can you tell?”

“I’ll check.”

“I’ll help.”

Irmhild made her bowstring resonate. Seraphina, who was manipulating the sound, closed her eyes for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure. There are a bunch of humanoid ones on the other side of the wall… I can feel the sound resonating.”

That would mean Living Armors or Heavy Armors.

“What should we do?”

“We could fight them now… but there’s no guarantee the monsters waiting beyond the large hall won’t respond, so it might be better to block them before they activate.”

I used Earth Magic to seal the relief that would likely serve as the entrance for the pincer attack. I constructed a lattice of stones to create a cage, firmly sealing it so that even if the relief opened, they couldn’t get out. Once the cage was ready, we moved on to dealing with the Bomb Rocks. I created several magical lights and had them hover directly above the floor stones we could detect.

“First, we’ll clear the Bomb Rocks in our line of sight. We’ll set up a defensive position in the center of the room and deal with enemies coming from the front.”

“Understood.”

“If anything unexpected happens, give the signal. I’ll activate Teleportation Magic right away.”

“Okay. Let’s go then.”

We nodded to each other and stepped into the room. We advanced to the center of the room while crushing the Bomb Rocks with Solid Hammers—when a sound like rolling stones echoed from both ahead and behind.

As expected, the relief sections slid downward, and a horde of armors emerged from the hidden rooms within. The ambush from behind tried to charge en masse but found their path blocked by the rock cage.

As an extra measure, I had also set up a Snare Trap by creating a stone ring on the ground—so the leading group tripped as they tried to charge, got crushed together with the group pushing from behind, and made a cacophonous noise.

The armors that remained unscathed slammed their weapons against the cage, but it was futile. The cage’s strength was such that Living Armors or Heavy Armors couldn’t break through.

“Front—elephants and dogs. A mixed force of armors.”

Sheila issued a brief warning. There must be similar hidden rooms along the sides of the front passage as well. A formed group of monsters had appeared in the passage that had been empty until just moments ago.

Ashley constructed a Defense Field, and Ignis stepped in front of it.

“Alright—let’s go!”

Me, Sheila, Grace, and Dullahan formed the Vanguard. We charged into the horde of monsters pressing toward us in front of the Defense Field.

“You’re not their opponent.”

Grace’s chain, imbued with Fighting Spirit, wrapped around the thick neck of an Elephas Soldier trying to bypass the Vanguard and head for the Rearguard. With a powerful pull on the chain, the elephant soldier’s massive body was sent flying through the air.

Grace kicked and shattered the floor stones, leaping into the air. She crossed paths with the elephant thrown into the air, leaving behind an afterglow of Fighting Spirit. With a Flash of her axe, she cleaved the Elephas Soldier in two, along with the scimitar it tried to block with, and it came crashing down.

Remaining airborne, she swung her two axes as if yo-yoing them, throwing them at the monster horde below and pulling them back. With each impact accompanied by the sound of tearing wind, monsters were sent flying.

“Over here—”

Another elephant soldier trying to charge into the Rearguard—the moment it was distracted by Sheila suddenly appearing before it and immediately retreating, Irmhild’s giant arrow pierced it from the side, causing it to collapse from the knees.

The spear-like giant arrow easily Penetrated the elephant soldier and continued with tremendous force down the passage. After a brief pause, the giant arrow returned at a gentle speed, flying over the monster horde.

A Hellhound lunged at Sheila as she moved while invisible. After a momentary crossing, Sheila slashed it as they passed by. Taking the Slash Attack directly to its flank, it turned around as if unable to comprehend what happened, only to be struck by Eclair’s Lightning Strike from above and rendered immobile.

“Mmm, feels good.”

Sheila bent and stretched her arm, extending and retracting the blade concealed in her elbow, checking how it felt to use. She seemed to be already making good use of her new equipment, the Invisible Blade. She switched her Pearl Sword between hands, distracting, feinting evasion while delivering Slash Attacks—seemed to be her style of usage.

Dullahan ran rampant with momentum, swinging its Greatsword and scattering the dogs and armors.

Well. Let’s leave any enemies that break through to the rear to them. I should get serious too. To crush as many monsters as possible—that’s right. Why not launch a pincer attack of our own? I leaped over the monster horde in one go and charged from the far end of the passage toward the large hall.

An Elephas Soldier roared and charged, raising its scimitar with thundering footsteps.

The moment it swung down, I deflected it diagonally with a Magic Shield. While shifting Form, I swung Ouroboros. The sound of the scimitar shattering the ground behind me. The feedback through my arm told me I had shattered its knee.

That alone wouldn’t be enough to take down an Elephas Soldier known for its Toughness, but as it collapsed from its shattered knee, Balor leaped from my shadow and shot it through the forehead.

The timing of our Coordination was perfect. Using the momentum of the charge and the weight of its collapse, I hit with Balor as if performing a Counter. Keeping magical power consumption to a minimum, I retrieved Balor after delivering the blow. Kicking off the Shield, I flew. Activating Mirage Body. My clone and I split to the left and right.

We then clashed head-on with the mixed force trying to respond to us. The clone made contact first. Attacking a clone that was merely an illusion was pointless. It passed right through a Heavy Armor swinging its sword down.

I applied sudden braking and changed direction. Charging into the Heavy Armor that had finished its swing, I slammed a rock mass into it as we passed.

Another armor, having realized the clone was a decoy, fixed its gaze on my real body—but that was naive. Balor, having transformed into a Light Bullet, flew out from among the clones and easily shot through the Heavy Armor from behind. Two, three of them—leaving trails behind, threads of light weaved through the monster horde.

The fired Magic Bullet returned while tracing a sharp-angled trajectory like lightning. Balor opened its eye, and our gazes met.

“Let’s go.”

I rode on top of the retrieved Magic Bullet—I secured my body and posture to Balor using the Shield. I flew at the same speed as Balor, which had become a Light Bullet. Using Levitation to kill inertia, I sent armors flying with Ouroboros as we passed by, roaring, and sliced through Elephas Soldiers with Nemea’s Claw and Capella Horn.

The moment I delivered the Slash Attack and stopped its movement, I activated Resonance Mine. The sound of magical Shattering chased from behind, and the Elephas Soldier, crushed from within, sank down. Breaking through the center of the formed monster horde, I shattered their formation and flew out into the center of the room.

“Quite fun, this is.”

I was testing a new combat method using Balor… and it was working well. The sensation of flying at high speed wasn’t bad either, and since I was flying while replenishing, there was no worry of running out of energy.

I could still apply variations—like separating mid-flight to change trajectory or attacking with Magic Bullets. I decided to add this new combat method to my repertoire of options.