In the end, we reached the Count’s Castle without encountering any monsters. Come to think of it, we didn’t encounter any monsters between the town and the Count’s Castle in the game either.

Then we stood before the gate, looking up at the castle. The white-themed castle, standing under the moonlight, had quite an atmosphere. It wasn’t a heavy, fortress-like type, but rather had several towers sticking up, giving it a visually appealing design.

“The gate is open.”

Balzard said. Just as he said, it opened easily when pushed by hand. It was almost too careless… was it an invitation?

Perhaps Aazack had sent spies into the town and was observing Ririsha’s movements—I thought, and then I spoke.

If they’re luring us in, we need to be wary of traps.

Yes, let’s be careful.

Eina agreed and drew her sword. Balzard likewise drew his sword… though it was a longsword, it was distinctive for having a thicker blade than usual.

And Ririsha, instead of drawing her sword, began an incantation in her mouth.

“Emerge.”

The moment I muttered a word, a light appeared. When the white light faded, a crude Iron Spear materialized.

A weapon created by magic… there is a method of creating and using weapons with magic. However, in the game, only high-class magic such as “Sword of the Wind God” or “Sword of the Ice King” existed.

Now that it’s reality, creating a simple, featureless weapon isn’t all that difficult.

I drew my sword and glanced at the spear. As expected, it seemed to be a normal weapon without any special mechanisms. It appears he intends to use the spear as his main weapon, rather than the sword at his waist.

We passed through the gate. Immediately after, a change occurred. Suddenly, a presence from the surroundings… as expected, monsters.

I don’t know if this is the same sequence of events as when Ririsha visited alone, but… in any case, it’s time to engage.

Several magic circles appeared on the stone path leading to the castle entrance. This is probably a type of magic that activates the moment an intruder steps in.

“For monsters to appear, the Count really isn’t normal,”

Balzard muttered. Eina and Ririsha nodded in agreement, entering battle stance.

The light from the magic circles faded, and monsters appeared. Skeletons dressed like guards and wielding spears… these were not mere skeletons, but a higher species called “High Skeletons.”

Even though they are higher-ranked, Sofia and her companions could easily defeat them. Now, what about Eina and Ririsha?

Ririsha was the first to move. Charging in a low stance, she preempted the skeleton that was about to attack us, sweeping her spear in a single stroke.

This is the low-tier generic technique “Rogue Slash.” Spears have a wide attack range, giving them a deterrent effect, but the High Skeletons caught within the attack range were all blown away without exception.

It’s a low-tier technique, but its power is sufficient. While it wasn’t a one-shot kill, it seemed to have dealt a decent amount of damage.

“I’ll follow suit.”

Next to move was Balzard. He easily parried the spear of a single skeleton that was about to attack and counterattacked.

His movements were very practiced… it was probably the intermediate generic technique “Blast Counter.” This technique is common to Longsword and Greatsword techniques; it blocks the opponent’s attack and then counterattacks with increased sword speed due to magic enhancement. It consumes a lot of magic power, so it cannot be used frequently, and the attacks that can be counterattacked are somewhat limited, making it difficult to use, but if it hits, it is an extremely powerful technique.

Also, perhaps he can use Greatsword techniques with his thick Longsword—his attack connected. As if it were a critical hit, the High Skeleton was shattered into pieces with a single blow.

—He had attack-specialized abilities in the game. However, there’s another reason why he’s called “Three Powers.” It’s related to the skills he possesses.

In the game, characters sometimes possess unique skills. For example, Kati, who became Phili’s companion, had a skill called “Herb Knowledge,” which increased the effect of healing items by five percent. That skill would strengthen as its level increased, eventually reaching ten percent. Also, as her level increased, she would gain a skill called “Magic Power Boost,” which would slightly increase her magic power stat through the skill.

In Kyarun’s case, for example, there were also differences such as “Escape Route Securing,” which slightly increased her escape probability, and “Evasion Rate Increase,” a skill that increased her evasion. However, few humans possessed such astonishing traits to give them individuality, so they didn’t stand out much.

Among them, Balzard’s skill was an exception. His skill was named “Adamant Body” and possessed the characteristic of not being knocked back by damage below a certain threshold.

Knockback—you’d flinch if you took an attack, but if the damage value was extremely low, you could move without flinching. However, in Balzard’s case, from the very beginning, he possessed the ability to not flinch from damage that was less than one-third of his total HP. This would eventually increase to not flinching from damage up to one-half. Unless something truly extraordinary happened, he could trade blows without being knocked back.

There was a possibility of being continuously attacked and overwhelmed, but that could be easily handled with his naturally high stats, HP, and equipment. On top of that, he also learned a skill called “Rage,” which increased his attack power the more he took damage.

This was enhanced by the number of attacks received, not the damage value, so his attack power would steadily increase even if he took no damage. How many enemies were defeated in the game by these two skills… he was undoubtedly a favored character.

Games reflect the creator’s preferences to some extent, so he must have been a very well-liked character… in fact, there must have been development staff who openly stated they liked Balzard. To put it negatively, he was a favored character.

However, what about now that it’s the real world…? The High Skeleton counterattacked. A direct sword strike should deal a decent amount of damage, but—

Balzard moved. But his posture was clearly an attacking stance. The monster’s sword hit… or so I thought, just before the High Skeleton’s sword slammed into his left shoulder.

“—It has no effect.”

After uttering a single word, Balzard unleashed a horizontal slash as if nothing had happened, blowing the monster away. He probably nullified the damage with a magic barrier… wait, is he still using brute force tactics even in reality?! This surprised me.

While observing this, I used “Holy Shot” with an output that wouldn’t leak magic power, accurately defeating the enemies Ririsha had blown away. Furthermore, Eina engaged the High Skeletons alongside Balzard. Unlike him, she didn’t use brute force, but instead dodged attacks and landed her sword strikes. Moreover, her sword was imbued with the low-tier Magic Sword Technique “Holy Light Sword”—her use of Magic Sword Techniques might be similar to Sofia’s.

Approximately five minutes later, all the monsters created by the magic circles were defeated.

“…Hmm, an easy victory.”

Balzard said. Eina nodded in agreement, yet her expression was stern. Ririsha also looked grim, radiating caution.

Given the presence of monsters here, they must have thought the Demon Race was involved. And they were right.

“Let’s move on.”

I stated. Everyone walked towards the castle entrance without a word.

Upon reaching the main gate, its doors opened on their own. As expected, it’s an invitation… at this rate, it feels like we could reach Aazack’s location in no time.

Inside, there were some lights, but the atmosphere was somewhat dim and eerie. Although they probably weren’t intimidated, Ririsha and the others looked around the interior, scrutinizing the situation.

There were no monsters in sight for now. Further straight ahead was a large door… which was also open. It seems they are indeed welcoming us.

I step inside the mansion. The temperature shouldn’t be low at all, but perhaps because of the miasma-like magic power lingering, it feels quite cold. That helps me maintain my tension as I slowly advance towards the large double doors.

At that moment, magic circles appear on the surrounding floor. Monsters—the instant I realized it, we naturally stood back-to-back, ready to face them.

Immediately after, high skeletons and black lesser demons appeared. There were many, but we could handle them—thinking that, I unleashed an attack on the approaching monsters.