–Besides ‘Bird Soar,’ there were several Magic spells in the game that were mostly useless. During my training, I investigated if there were any useful ones among them… and I discovered a Magic that seemed helpful, albeit locally.

That was the light-attribute Lower-tier Magic ‘Angel Bind.’ It’s an attribute-based Magic, but it has no power whatsoever. Its effect is to seal the target’s movements for a certain period of time.

However, this Magic is only effective against Human-type Demons and the Demon Race. In addition, there’s a condition that the success rate increases the lower the opponent’s remaining HP, making it difficult to use in the game and often forgotten. Well, a Magic that stops movement is powerful, so I can predict that some usage restrictions were necessary.

Furthermore, the Magic user becomes unable to move while it’s active, so it was useless during my training when I fought alone, but now that I’m in a support role, I can use it.

However, once used, it never works again–this wasn’t the case in the game, but it seems that once it’s used, even monsters become wary and the Magic no longer works… which means its effect is only that strong, but this one time was important.

Even against high-ranking Demons, it worked without fail once–it would definitely work on a weakened Redras, who was in a desperate situation. With that conviction, I activated ‘Angel Bind.’

Meanwhile, Redras showed signs of thickening his Magic Power to defend against the bravely approaching Alto and Sofia. At that moment, due to my Magic, Redras’s feet–his shadow glowed faintly.

“–What!?”

A cry of astonishment echoed. Redras’s movements slowed, if only slightly.

The opening created by that was more than enough time for Sofia and the others to attack.

Alto unleashed ‘Guilty Break’ first. Redras was late in responding and took the full impact. And then, the Magic Power emanating from Sofia surged even higher than before.

“That is–!!”

Redras seemed to feel it too, letting out a cry of astonishment.

Magic Power burst forth. Sofia unleashed a slash as if to strike Redras with that Magic Power, which seemed almost out of control.

“–YAAAAAAAH!!”

What was unleashed with a cry even louder than before was a massive lump of Magic Power, scarlet Magic Power, which swallowed Redras along with the slash, creating a shockwave with a roar.

“This is…”

I muttered without thinking. There’s no mistaking it, this is an advanced Earth Attribute Magic Sword Technique, “Dragon of Dawn.” Was I able to use it because I made a contract with Rokuto, who has high abilities even among Gnomes?

Redras froze with a mass of Magic Power. I thought he would be blown away, but he held his ground, broke free from the “Angel Bind” restraint, and I saw him grip his spear tightly.

A counterattack—it seemed Sofia and Alto instinctively felt it too, and immediately took a defensive stance.

Immediately after, Wind was generated. It wasn’t so much an attack as a sudden gust of Wind with no offensive power, meant to hold back Sofia and the others’ advance. Alto and Sofia both recoiled slightly from it, but—

“Ms. Sofia!”

Alto shouted and ran. Sofia followed suit.

Sofia must have consumed a lot of Magic Power with those Advanced Techniques earlier. She must be close to her limit… but she moves, determined to end this.

At that moment, Redras turned his head—and looked at me.

“Even those without power have constructed a means to defeat me—impressive.”

Were those words praise for me? It seemed he understood that I, who had only provided support, had been acting to prevent the tide of battle from turning in Redras’s favor.

His gaze seemed to hold an intention to launch a final attack on me—but he didn’t move. Perhaps he thought Sofia and Alto would stop him. The fact that he couldn’t attack, even knowing I was playing a part in the battle, might have been Redras’s biggest downfall.

In an instant, Magic Power overflowed from Redras. But this Magic Power was not aggressive like before—yet Sofia and the others used that Magic Power to launch an attack before he could act.

Alto’s “Guilty Break.” And Sofia’s “Clear Stream Flash”—two Sword Strikes erupted, and Redras finally dropped his spear.

—The Magic Power he emitted was not aimed at us, but rather concentrated his remaining power into the earth to fulfill the Demon King’s objective. We succeeded in defeating the Five Great Demons, but we couldn’t prevent his scheme—that was the situation.

Redras’s body began to crumble. Sofia and the others kept their distance and watched, but seeing his demise, they seemed to understand that it was over, and I saw them relax their shoulders.

“Did we… do it?”

Alto murmured. And then even the spear crumbled to pieces, turning to dust… Immediately after, Magic Power overflowed from the spot where Redras had stood.

Immediately after defeating the Five Great Demons, the Sage’s Power dormant within the Demon Race is released, and a white light is born… That power dwells within the Protagonist and becomes the strength to defeat the Demon King.

I watched that Magic Power intently. Sofia and the others seemed to see it too, and initially showed caution—

“…What a mysterious light. It doesn’t seem to be Redras’s power.”

“Could it be the power of Spirits or something that Redras had obtained?”

Alto and Stella said in unison. The light remained there for a short while, but then began to move—

And entered Sofia.

“…Huh?”

My eyes widened.

“…What was that just now?”

Sofia was surprised. She checked her body as if to confirm there was nothing wrong, but—

“The light entered… and I somehow feel like my Magic Power has recovered.”

“It probably was the power of Spirits or something after all. Could it be that it was absorbed by Ms. Sofia, who has contracts with Sylphs and Gnomes?”

While Alto was answering, an unpleasant sweat started running down my back… Hold on a second. Hey, just wait a minute!

While I was flustered, Alto and the others looked around. They seemed to notice that the oppressive Miasma around them had disappeared with Redras’s demise.

“The presence has greatly diminished… It seems there won’t be any enemies on the way back.”

“But it doesn’t feel like a triumphant return, does it?”

Stella said. She shrugged her shoulders, looked at Redras’s remains, and—

“Brother, even if we take this and tell the people at the Castle that we defeated the Demon Race, they probably won’t believe us.”

“That’s true. They probably won’t believe that just six of us defeated an opponent that even the Extermination Army couldn’t… Well, getting involved with the King is troublesome anyway, so it’s fine.”

Alto said to us.

“For now, let’s head back… Though it’d be tough to have no spoils at all, so if there are no Monsters, we might explore a little.”

Eventually, we left Redras’s Castle. It was just before evening. We had entered in the morning, so it seemed we had been fighting for quite a long time.

Also, Redras seemed to have created areas that we couldn’t enter by using Barriers and such, but with his defeat, those too had vanished. As a result, we succeeded in obtaining various items from there.

I wondered if it was a fitting reward for risking our lives, but Alto and Stella seemed satisfied, and by the time we left the Castle, they were smiling.

“Now… what do we do from here?”

He looks around at us and says.

“There must be other places where the Demon Race has strongholds besides this one… should we defeat them?”

“Just because we won this time, I don’t think we should underestimate them.”

Stella said. Ignos nodded slightly, seemingly in agreement.

“This time, it seems we were able to defeat them due to a stroke of luck… I don’t know if the other Demon Race members have similar characteristics, but simply challenging them won’t lead to victory. We need to investigate the Demon Race a bit more.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“More importantly, since when did you decide to fight the Demon King?”

Stella asked. Alto shrugged his shoulders in response,

“It’s not that I’m challenging the Demon King or anything… but I thought I should convey this experience as information.”

“But there’s a high chance you won’t be believed, you know?”

“That might be true…”

As Alto and the others conversed, I looked at Sofia… Although it was a possibility, power had truly awakened within Sofia. I thought to myself that it had turned into an unexpected development.