Before long, we reach a place where we can see the Stronghold. Eina and the others don’t react much, perhaps because they’ve seen it before. But,

“This is…”

Alto and the others gaze at the Castle in surprise… Even Sofia, who had heard information beforehand, shows a shocked expression.

The Castle’s color is black. It has no City Walls and lacks a sense of grandeur. It’s more like a large Tower stretching towards the heavens.

And even from a distance, it’s clear that numerous Monsters surround the Stronghold, guarding it. It seems difficult to enter unless we break through them.

“If the Monsters can continue to spawn from around the Castle even after we defeat them… it will be a difficult battle.”

Eina states, her expression stern, but seemingly prepared.

Here, Ririsha calls for the Knights to advance. Since the front of the Castle is a Plains, the only way to assault the Castle is to defeat the Monsters and force a path through.

“Just don’t get hurt.”

Eina tells us. Well, this is what you could call a Preliminary Skirmish. Getting injured here would only make us a burden inside the Stronghold.

With Ririsha at the front, the Knights advance. The Monsters react and begin to move.

Furthermore, Monster shadows appear from the left and right of the Plains… It’s unclear if they’re spawning from around the Castle, but at least for now, they seem to be calling them back.

“How should we move?”

Alto asks, gripping his Greatsword. Eina glances at him once, then says,

“Coordinate with your companions and respond accordingly.”

“Is coordination with the Knights okay?”

“Ideally, that would be the case, but it would be difficult without training.”

“Right.”

“So, in that manner… Lady Sofia is–“

“The same goes for me. I’ll be with Lord Ruon and Eina here.”

She casts a glance at me. I nod immediately.

I’ve observed Eina’s movements when we were involved before, but she’s probably grown as a Leader since then, so coordinating smoothly will likely be difficult. Well, this is a play-it-by-ear situation.

While I’m thinking, the Monsters draw closer. The Knights enter combat stance, and we also ready our weapons—the battle begins.

Upon re-analysis, the Monsters’ strength is roughly the same as when we reached the third of the Five Great Demons. In game terms, they’re enemies that appear from the middle to late stages of the scenario. Given Sofia’s current level, she can sufficiently counter them, or rather, Sofia’s power is even higher, so repelling them isn’t that difficult.

What about my other companions…? While I’m providing support, Alto’s Sword Strike detonates.

“Disappear!”

Against a Jet Black skull… a ‘Dark Skeleton’, Alto unleashes ‘Grand Cannon’, an Intermediate Technique for the Greatsword. It’s a skill that unleashes an explosive Shockwave on the enemy with a thrust, and it’s one of the easy-to-use skills with a wide attack range.

It directly hits the Dark Skeleton, sending it flying and involving other Monsters. Ignos then provides magical support. The Magic he casts is ‘Dragon Claw’, an Intermediate Wind Magic. Sharp Wind Blades, shaped like claws, directly hit the Monsters’ bodies, defeating them.

The Magic used by Ignos, a Priest, is ‘Divine Magic’, and its power is undoubtedly inferior compared to ‘Spirit Magic’ and the like. However, his Magic Power has grown during the battle, and he is able to exert sufficient power against the current enemies.

Furthermore, his coordination with Alto is superb. Eina seemed to share the same assessment, uttering a voice of admiration.

“Splendid.”

“Thanks.”

Immediately after Alto’s reply, Eina slashes at a Monster approaching her.

A being of only armor, wearing red armor and wielding a sword wreathed in flames. It’s a Monster belonging to the headless armored Dullahan lineage, named ‘Hellfire’. It appears from the middle of the scenario onwards, and its balanced abilities make it a formidable foe.

Against this Monster, Eina unleashes ‘Angel Blast’, an Intermediate Light Magic Technique. It’s a skill that diffuses light with a series of attacks, and it’s also Hellfire’s weakness attribute—the Monster that takes the full brunt of the attack takes significant damage or stops moving.

Eina then pursues with an additional attack. The next one was a normal attack, but its power was sufficient to defeat the Monster.

Eina’s abilities are also high. Especially if she can defeat Hellfire alone, her abilities might be higher than Alto’s and the others’.

Furthermore, Kyarun moves here. Gripping Daggers in both hands, she charges towards a Monster with blue fur, a larger version of a Wolf, named ‘Blue Howling’. It’s a Monster that temporarily stops movement by letting out a roar—but she bravely charges straight at it.

First, the Blue Howling unleashes its claws. But Kyarun evades by moving sideways. It was a close dodge, so close that the phrase “by a hair’s breadth” would fit, but I understand that it was the result of her moving in a way that didn’t kill the momentum of her charge.

The close-range attack she unleashed was a flurry of blows using two Daggers. Each strike seemed imbued with Magic Power, as particles of light danced around her with every swing.

This caused the Monster to flinch greatly—could this be, perhaps,

“It seems Lord Ruon understands.”

Ignos, who was nearby, spoke.

“She apparently underwent extremely tough training from her master. But thanks to that, she gained offensive capabilities on par with Alto’s.”

—Kyarun’s technique is “Phalanx,” one of the Dagger’s general-purpose Advanced Techniques, which delivers consecutive attacks with a charge, making it one of the Dagger’s high-attack power techniques.

I see, so she honed her skills enough to be able to use Advanced Techniques… While I was still in shock, she single-handedly defeated the Blue Howling.

And Ignos is not only coordinating with Alto but also accurately supporting allies by observing the battle situation. Although she uses basic, lower-tier magic, her movements are very good because she adapts to the situation on the field.

Next, Sofia came into view. She was facing a Dark Skeleton, which Alto had also fought. Eina called out to her, but I wasn’t worried at all.

“—Lightning Flash!”

With those words, Sofia unleashed “Lightning,” damaging the Dark Skeleton. From there, she fluidly closed the distance and finished it off with the lower-tier magic technique “Gale Sword.”

Her fighting style, centered around the sword, hasn’t changed, but her magic power has increased due to her contract with the Four Great Spirits. Furthermore, the power of her Magic Sword Techniques has also risen, and they are becoming her main focus. Well, this is only natural considering her method of handling four spirits simultaneously.

Against the demons that attacked consecutively, Sofia responded with the water attribute lower-tier magic technique “Water Stream Sword.” She blew the demons away with a slash, creating distance—and then Eina’s support arrived. With a concentrated slash of light, they were splendidly defeated.

“Excellent, Lady Sofia.”

“Thank you, Eina.”

As Sofia expressed her gratitude, I moved. I unleashed “Holy Lance” at a monster trying to charge from behind, obliterating it.

I was holding back, but even so, the magic’s power was sufficient. Alto, who had been watching the attack, exclaimed “Impressive” as she defeated the monster in front of her.

Our level is sufficient—however, the Knights fighting at the front seemed to be struggling a bit.

Should I circle around to the front line and provide support? While I was pondering, Eina spoke.

“Defeat the monsters and head to the front line.”

“Is that alright?”

Alto’s question. Eina nodded slightly.

“Yes. Let’s rendezvous with Ririsha.”

—It seems she intends to approach her and decide how to act. Alto also nodded, seemingly having no objection.

Thus, we headed to the front line while defeating monsters. As we fought, we gradually started to cooperate with Alto and the others, further increasing our speed in defeating monsters.

We arrived at the front line shortly thereafter. While Ririsha was at the forefront, dealing with the situation, we began attacking the monsters alongside her and the Knights.