Redras’s Castle—the entrance door opens. The room that peeked through with a heavy sound was, like the exterior, a single eerie shade of blue.

The inside was illuminated by magical light, so there didn’t seem to be any need to secure visibility… and no monsters were visible near the entrance.

There was a possibility of a trap. But I know that there are no monster encounters near the entrance.

“Is it thinly guarded?”

Alto speaks, looking inside.

“However, when it’s this wide open, it makes me suspicious.”

His words are valid… My information is based on the game, so the situation could have changed. I need to be careful.

That said, there are definitely fewer monsters than when the Extermination Army attacked… Alto looked around the room for a while, then took the lead and stepped forward.

Alright… I’ll now put into action what I discussed with Lefin beforehand.

First—the moment I entered the room, I suddenly collapsed. I sat down, kneeling on one knee—

“…Hey!?”

Alto was the first to react. Immediately after, Sofia rushed over to me.

“Lord Ruon!? What’s wrong!?”

“No… I’m sorry. My head just felt dizzy the moment I entered.”

I say, trying to stand up. If my act is exposed, it’s all over, and I was worried if I could successfully deceive the perceptive Sofia… but in an instant,

“…It seems you have a bad compatibility.”

Lefin’s voice was heard. This was as we had planned. With her words, she appeared.

“Some humans have low resistance to the miasma emitted by certain Demon Races… Right now, Ruon’s magic power is significantly weaker than usual. It must be a very poor compatibility with the Demonic Miasma in this stronghold.”

“Does that mean my abilities are restricted?”

When I questioned her, Lefin nodded.

I won’t know how effective it is until I test it…

I see… but you’re not planning to retreat, are you?

Are you sure?

Alto confirmed. I could see a hint of concern for me, but–

With things so sparse… isn’t it now or never?

Yes, it is.

It seems my abilities have only been lowered, not that I can’t use Magic anymore… I’ll protect myself. I’ll provide support, so go all out.

Then, could you give us instructions on how to fight from the rear? Since this is the Demon Lord’s Castle, we’ll have to fight with a lot of intensity… and when that happens, Stella and I won’t be able to see anything but what’s in front of us.

Are you sure I’m the right person?

Yes. I know from fighting together that you have a broad perspective.

…Understood.

I agreed to Alto’s suggestion. Sofia, on the other hand, looked anxious, but… she nodded slightly, as if to follow my will.

This was the idea to provide support, considering the possibility that my abilities could be conveyed to Redras by me emitting Book energy. And there’s another reason for this. It’s the Underground Investigation we conducted last night.

The Doll King, who possessed a large amount of Redras’s Magic Power, seemed to have grasped my abilities through his attack. I don’t know if a weakened Redras can do the same… but if I attack with a certain amount of intensity, there’s a possibility it will be exposed. Furthermore, Lefin advised that I shouldn’t reveal the situation yet… and as a result, we decided to put on a show.

Of course, I’ll deal with it if things get dangerous… the premise is that everyone returns alive. I’ve also given them emergency Bracelets, so I think it’ll be fine… but I’ll prepare myself and move to the rear of my companions.

Then I look around the room. Miasma hangs in the air, making it feel suffocating.

Perhaps because Alto, Sofia, and Stella are of the Sage’s Bloodline… they don’t seem to be too affected by the Miasma. On the other hand, Ignos frowned, and Kyarun also pressed her hand to her chest once, as if she had heartburn.

I felt the Miasma on my skin and stared straight ahead. In this place, which could be called the Entrance Hall, there was only one path leading deeper… so we proceeded down it.

Eventually, we encountered a Monster. It looked like a jet-black leopard. In the game, its name was “Shadow Panther”.

Watch out!

I immediately shouted. This Monster’s abilities weren’t much different from the Monsters we’d encountered so far… but it was a nasty type that was highly evasive, quick, and attacked relentlessly.

These kinds of opponents are more likely to injure us and are very troublesome… We also found a “Goblin Knight,” an armored intermediate Goblin-type, following behind. These are enemies we’ve encountered in this Nation before, but they’re problematic when they coordinate their attacks.

Alto and Stella, deal with the Goblins in the rear! Kyarun and Sofia, defeat the leopard-like creature!

Understood!

Alto ran towards the Goblin Knight. The Shadow Panther reacted, but Sofia stepped forward and unleashed her sword, blocking its movement.

Next, Kyarun moved–but she lacked her usual sharpness. It seemed her movements were somewhat dulled by the Miasma’s influence.

Just as I was thinking of using auxiliary Magic–Sofia’s sword struck the Shadow Panther.

It wasn’t a one-hit kill, but the blow seemed to have considerable power, and the Monster flinched greatly. Next was Kyarun’s attack. However, perhaps it took some courage to get close with a Dagger, so the Sword Strike she delivered with dulled movements was shallow.

I thought a counterattack would come–but Sofia skillfully maneuvered and succeeded in a follow-up attack. She then unleashed an Aerial Sword and a Sword Strike in quick succession, successfully defeating it.

Sorry, you saved me.

No problem.

Kyarun and Sofia exchanged a brief conversation–meanwhile, Alto coordinated with Stella to intercept the Goblin Knight at once. Their movements were precise, and perhaps because they were siblings, their teamwork was splendid. They overwhelmed the Monster, which only used direct attacks, with a one-sided assault.

As long as they don’t use Magic, there probably won’t be any problems… Fortunately, the Monsters that appear in this Stronghold are primarily direct attackers. If they can coordinate well, it should be entirely possible to fight without taking any damage.

These Monster characteristics are influenced by Redras, the master of this Castle… Since he himself is primarily an armed combatant, the Monsters also inherit those traits.

However, if you face them in the later half of the Story, they are all high in ability, and their attack power is quite high, or they have characteristics such as a high critical rate. But at this stage, they are still manageable, so they can be dealt with relatively easily.

After that, we encountered Monsters several times, but we dealt with them without taking any damage. I also used Magic as a test… and explained to everyone that the power of attack Magic had greatly decreased, while auxiliary Magic hadn’t changed much.

As we moved further in, I began to think about the confrontation with Redras. In the game, there was no phenomenon where enemies suddenly became stronger in the middle… so, if we continued like this, we would definitely reach Redras.

However, currently Sofia and the others haven’t learned Intermediate Techniques yet. While it’s not a lack of firepower, there’s a high possibility that they’ll struggle if things continue like this.

Furthermore, Redras’s attacks… many of his attacks are combined with Wind. Especially troublesome is his Magic Sword Technique. Redras’s weapon is a spear, but the most troublesome is probably the intermediate Magic Sword Technique, “Blast Lance”.

This technique attacks the opponent with a powerful thrust imbued with Wind… it has a high critical rate, and if it hits a bad spot, it’s a technique that can even defeat you in one hit in the game. The countermeasure is to use the Magic “Air Shield” to increase Wind resistance. However, once this Magic is cast, it cannot be cast again until its effect completely disappears, and its potency weakens over time.

There’s no doubt that even one direct hit would inflict enough damage to force me out of the fight. The timing of my Magic to cast a shield will be crucial.

As I pondered, Alto led the way forward. Redras’s Castle has a few branching paths, but all of them lead to Treasure Chests, and it’s essentially a single, straightforward path. For now, things are going smoothly… but this means Sofia and the others won’t have time to learn new skills.

At this point, we can only hope they’ll grow during the Battle with Redras… In the game, they learned skills after the battle, but from Forest’s request after seeing Sofia fight, we know they can learn during battle. So, then—

Just then, we reached a familiar place—the door to the hall where Redras is.