CH 110

[Other Pov]

"Everybody! Stop running away. Let's stop here."

Sister's voice roused all of us.

"Ho. You look a little better. Come on."

Vertex opened his arms as if welcoming us.

The first to cut into him were the four "parts" holders.

[Magic Legs: High-Speed Contraction]

The two with "legs" quickly break the gap between them.

The girls are not fully proficient with their legs, so they have to vocalize every time they move them, but the effect is real.

A flash of daggers from both sides. They are stopped midway.

It is probably a defensive magic [Wind Shield]

Of course, this is expected. The other two open their abilities.

[Claws of Hardening]

[Claws of Stabbing]

The demon's claw, imbued with magical power, sliced through the barrier, and the other claw extended at once and pierced Vertex's throat.

"!? I feel a reaction..."

Before the girl who penetrated him with the claw could speak, Vertex, who was behind her before she knew it, gently held out his hand behind her back.

There were multiple small explosions, and her upper body was obliterated.

The pierced Vertex faded away and disappeared.

...A mirage.

Next, another one caved in her head as if struck by an invisible mallet.

"Are you an idiot? I'm basically a rear guard. There's no way I'm going to go forward."

With that said, he launches [Water Ball] at the two remaining Foot Holders.

From chanting to completion, the speed was unbelievable. In addition, the water ball he created was large.

The two girls managed to avoid it without a hitch. No matter how fast it is, the two "legs" cannot catch them. A huge water ball bounced on the floor.

I clicked my tongue and ran while shooting arrows.

While running, I checked my surroundings. There were only three people left, including my sister, who had a part.

The other girls who seemed to be able to move were... six, including me. The rest were too injured to move.

When I turned my gaze toward my sister, she closed her eyes and concentrated, and the staff in her hand glowed faintly in response.

I nodded in agreement. I'm going to draw him in until she finishes her "reservoir".

I shot arrows one after another. The other girls who could move were also concentrating on drawing attention with their throwing daggers and weapons.

Vertex, while blocking all attacks with a barrier, takes a glance at his surroundings.

"Well, that's okay. If I reduce them, they'll come out."

He mutters, and again creates a ball of light around him.

Oh, that one again.

But if I know it's coming, I can avoid it.

A flash of light.

Everyone ducks just in time. A few people are wounded, but it does not affect the battle.

The power and speed of the projectiles were tremendous, but as long as we knew they were coming at this distance, we could handle it.

Two of the "legs" took advantage of the gap after firing to close in on him.

That magic is powerful, but the reason he didn't fire in rapid succession and used another magic in between was probably because he couldn't do that.

The two swung their weapons through the gap after firing, and blood splattered.

However, of the two who plunged in.

They were skewered by ice spears that suddenly grew out from under their feet. It was an instant death, needless to confirm.

I knew that the magic was fast, but it was too fast for any amount of time. There was no preliminary action at all.

"It's faster than making ice from scratch."

...The [water ball] from earlier?

I looked closely and saw that the water around my feet had turned to ice.

"I mean, you should have noticed. If you didn't, I wouldn't have shot at you with a water ball that didn't even hit anybody."

Vertex snickered mockingly.

"The woman who is secretly gathering magic there afterwards. I can see you, you know?"

Before we can react, he snaps his fingers.

The grating sound of metal scraping against metal echoes loudly.

"Ugh...gh!"

Everyone in the room, including me, except for Vertex, immediately crouched down, holding their ears.

"If you stop, you will die."

Vertex made enough fireballs for the number of people in the room and fired them.

I threw my body forward, carelessly.

As soon as I rolled on the floor, the fireball hit me and the heat burned my skin.

When the sound stopped, I held my aching head and looked around to see that everyone except me and Sis had been hit by the fireballs and were burning up like torches.

Even Sis, who was unharmed, was only able to defend herself in time and was hardly unscathed.

She was able to defend herself thanks to the magic power she had saved up from her abilities, but her staff was broken and her hands were burned.

It was not in a condition to fight.

I can manage to move, but now that all of my friends have been killed, I can't....

Vertex held out his hand to put the finishing touches on Sis, who could not move.

I quickly stood in front of her with my hands outstretched.

I was not thinking about anything, just the thought that I had to protect my sister.

And the magic...didn't fly.

Instead, I heard Vertex's tongue clicking.

"I guess he didn't come out after all."

As soon as I heard him muttering this, a spear was thrust between us and Vertex.

When we looked in the direction from which they flew, we saw a group of people in yellow full-body armor surrounding the building.

"We are the 'Knights in Yellow Armor' who protect the security of the Royal Capital! We have come to inform you that this store has been attacked by bandits! Bind them! Or we will cut you down!"

The knight who seems to be in command of the lead is holding his sword against Vertex and shouting loudly.

"Help me, sir! Knight! The store was suddenly attacked and everyone was killed!"

I hugged my sister and called out to the knight for help.

The commander nodded, and his knights quickly approached us and stood in a position to protect us.

I had to get out of here while I still can.

I stood up, lending my shoulder to my sister as naturally as possible so as not to attract any attention.

Vertex did not react in particular, but whispered something and produced a white ball from his palm.

[A water ball]? It feels like that....

The knights stooped low and braced themselves.

Vertex held up the sphere and it exploded, causing a white smoke-like substance to spread all around it, making it impossible to see.

From the feel of it, was this fog?

Before my vision completely faded to white, I saw a knight slash at Vertex.

Either way, this was an opportunity.

I left the place dragging my sister behind me.

I couldn't break through.

I, Jelchi, was not able to get over the wall named "Roe" in front of me.

He seemed to be trying to stop me, and instead of aggressively attacking me, he would use his weapon if I approached him, and if I moved away from him, he would launch the unidentified long-range attack I saw earlier.

I don't understand the invisible attacks, let alone the weapons.

The distance between the attacks is similar to that of a whip, but it is unnaturally heavy and flexible.

The weapon is reminiscent of the tentacles of a large monster, and the weapon itself seems to be a magical tool with a function similar to a tentacle.

I can't imagine how it works, but I'm sure it's something out of the ordinary.

Other than that, I found out that he always held out his free hand or moved it before attacking.

In other words, some kind of control was needed at hand.

If I didn't miss that pre-movement, I could manage to avoid it.

There was no sign that my "breath" was working either.

It was true that his movement was slowing down.

But somehow, I recovered quickly and now things are completely back to normal.

I am in a hurry.

I'm worried about Helga and the others who escaped first.

Let's take a chance here.

I'm going to close the distance, lure the attacker into my space, and then go down through the side of the building.

We'll kill this guy someday, but it won't be now.

Don't make the mistake of prioritizing one thing over another. First is the lives of my sisters.

Now, let's go.

"That's it."

Then he puts away his weapon.

"What are you doing?"

"Just what I said. The client has asked me to leave."

What's that?

"I'm supposed to take your word for it after all you've done?"

Roe shrugged his shoulders.

"You can take it however you want. If you want to continue, I'll be your partner, but if you want to leave, I won't do anything."　

What are you going to do? He asks, unspoken.

I have no choice.　

"I will pay you back."

With that, I run out of the room.

As I did so, Roe moved to the side to make way for me.

I run down the stairs from the hidden passageway, passing by him.

I heard something breaking behind me, but I ignored it.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the underground passageway was filled with rubble, just as Roe had said, and wall after wall had been destroyed.

Literally, nothing remained in its original state.

There are no sisters in sight, but instead a dozen or so knights in armor, who appear to be the country's knightly order, are digging through the rubble.

There are melted remains on the rubble and floor. There is also a considerable amount of melted debris on the floor.

Oh no....

My knees tremble. How did this happen?

Is it because I messed with Vertex? It can't be helped. Because he stole parts from Tuke...

Or is it because I'm in this kind of business? It can't be helped. There's no way we can survive if we don't do this.　

When the knights saw my stunned appearance, they rushed over to me.

"Are you all right, miss? Miss?"

"Yes...yes..."

I nodded my head, although I was a little late in replying due to the spectacle.

"Are you related to this establishment?"

"Don't worry about me. Is there anyone else who survived?"

I asked with a ray of hope.

The knights looked at each other in response to my question.

One of them spoke up in a difficult way.

"There were some, but they disappeared..."

What?

According to the knights, there were two women who were almost killed by the bandits, but they disappeared when the bandits fled.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to know what happened..."

I pushed aside the knights who were trying to ask me what was going on and ran outside.

I ran, ignoring the voices calling out to me.

They are alive. The girls are alive! Then I must hurry and join them!

I hurried to the rendezvous point that We had decided upon beforehand.

Someone was watching from the top of a nearby building as Jelchi shook off the knights' restraints and left the scene.

There was no figure, but the space shimmered unnaturally like a flickering flame.

"No chance...huh? And that ability is apparently the power of the arm he took from me. He seemed to have noticed me, and he seemed to have an eye in his hand, too. It's getting harder and harder to get it back."

She - the woman who identified herself as Stephanie - muttered in a troubled manner.

"Jelchi-chan is ...... that's no good. Vertex, you should have killed all those girls, too... what a mess you're leaving behind."

I muttered inwardly, hoping that would motivate the enraged Jelchi.

The deadline is set, so I can't just say, "It didn't work out, so goodbye," which is the hard part of being a palace worker.

Why did I even come to this strange world, and why am I being forced to work in such a state?

I felt unreasonable about that fact, but this is for the sake of my life and my purpose, so let's do my best to get my arms and eyeballs back.

"Hmmm... would it be tough to do it alone?"

I'm sure there's nothing I can't do, but... the man he has with him is strangely interesting.

He looks very different from a mere adventurer.

"I need to get ready, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see, huh?"　

After muttering this, the sign vanished.

It was as if nothing had happened from the beginning.