The Spearmaster and the Black Cat

Chapter 222

The instant I put the magic treasure map on the ground, a great number of magic sources explosively overflowed from the ground, as if we were holding some kind of ritual . A huge, silver-shining treasure chest appeared from the central area where the magic sources were spilling out . Next, a dozen stone people resembling gargoyles spawned around it .

There was no boom, but it was the sudden entry of a treasure chest and monsters . 1 The size of the treasure chest was different by one size compared to before .

The two arms of the gargoyles were thick rocks . They had wings at their backs which were shaped by a bundle of black rocks .

In the shallow lake, a magic crest of blood floated up at the feet of one of those rock bastards . Immediately after, the gargoyle's rock wings broke apart . At a glance, black tentacles could be seen pulling it in .

Right, it was an attack by RollodeenBlack Panther . Next, a second wave of tentacle bone swords destroyed the wings of a gargoyle on the other side .

"――How fast, Rollo-sama! We will get started as well!"

"Rollo-samaaa, please use our bones as shields!"

The black Burning Knight Zemetas and the red Burning Knight Adomos declared . They moved at the perfect time . Zemetas decisively slashed the rock arm of a gargoyle diagonally from his shoulder, completely cutting it off at the top of the gargoyle's shoulder .

With a slight delay, Adomos - with his bones rattling dynamically - delivered a shield bash, swinging his tower shield in the motion of a splendid hook punch, against a gargoyle's torso with a bang, blowing it away .

My partner and the Burning Knights cleverly fought while cooperating with each other on the left side of the treasure chest in such a manner .

Following, several large and medium-sized monsters spawned . They had oblong shell heads, similar to flattened gourds . Several tentacle arms extended to the left and right from their torsos . Their limbs were thick, supporting their torsos and lower bodies . The ends of those long, reinforcing bar-like limbs were tapered to a point .

At that moment a group of lion beastman monsters, possessing three huge, coiled horns and hair burning with blue flames, appeared . Their blue flame hair didn't have the quality of Rebecca's blue flames . There were many of them . However, probably because they spawned as if creating an inverted totem pole…there was a ridiculous group of lion beastmen caught in the cave's ceiling while crowded together in a confined space .

The weapons of those monsters, which spawned in such comical manner, were claws and morning stars .

Moreover, a remarkably big monster appeared . Its appearance was accompanied by a peculiar melody of a cymbal and percussion instrument ensemble . It was a huge monster with its entire body's skin covered by a sturdy, white carapace that reminded me of tiled walls and floors . Its oval head kind of seemed to have been formed with clay, I think . Somehow it looked as though countless, twisted white shells that were shaped like crooked hair strands were growing on its contracted head . Despite appearances, it appears to be conscious of its hair .

It had no eyes, nose, or mouth . A flat, featureless face . Four thick arms were growing out of its torso, but it had no legs .

That mysterious, huge, white monster crushed several of the lion beastmen, which had just spawned, with its thick arms while causing a thud within the cave . The monster was vulgar .

A thick cloud stood in its way as if blocking its path . Judging from its size and the magic source size spilling out of its entire body…it must be the guardian .

――I will start with this guy first .

I held up my left hand towards the huge monster, and shot out <Chain> from my wrists' <Chain Factor> which had changed into a dragon-like tattoo . 2 The chain flew straight through the air with the speed of a bullet, and pierced its white, tiled, carapace face . In response, a mouth came into existence, as if the face, which I had thought to be featureless, tore apart .

"Gyaaaaaaa――" It roared in a loud voice that seemed to make the cave vibrate .

Then the chain penetrated its arm and torso, twining itself around the monster's body . I pulled that guardian monster towards the open space on the right side . Its huge body tumbled as if bouncing on the shallow lake surface, squashing a lion beastman monster .

Alright ― I have succeeded in pulling the guardian away from the great majority of the monsters . It's a place where I can fight it one on one .

『Your Excellency, you succeeded in separating it . 』

『Yeah . 』

Immediately after speaking telepathically with Helme, Yui and Kaldo entered my line of sight . The katana-wielding parent and child were slashing away at the medium-sized bone monsters . Those monsters possessed several tentacles on the left and right .

At that moment,

"Nuhahaha! ――That looks fun! I can't hold back! I will assist you!" Rulizeze gallantly entered the fray while talking with a laughter .

Using her four swords, she severed a bone monster's leg with a diagonal slash, apparently reinforcing Yui and Kaldo . Moreover, she advanced . She delivered a powerful thrust kick, which was unleashed with a speed making it seem as if her leg had blurred, against the torso of a lion beastman monster . It was a cool kick in a front kick pose . The power of that kick didn't come from just her pose . It had penetrated through the dense chest of the beastman . Once I looked at her bloodstained foot which was protruding out of the beastman's back, I could see that she had pushed all her toes together like a ballerina as if to form a single blade . Rulizeze rotated her foot with a whoosh, blowing away the corpse to the left side .

"Thanks, but, don't obstruct my friends――" While loudly thanking Rulizeze for her help, I shot an 《Ice Arrow》 at a gargoyle, backing up Rollodeen and the Burning Knights .

At this point I shot <Chain> from my right wrist as well . It wasn't for the sake of assisting, but to fully wrap up the white monster's entire body . More thoroughly than before . The image was a bagworm dangling from a branch, a chrysalis .

I coil and coil it atop the carapace, as if spinning and spinning a thread, or nerunerune~3, finally immobilizing it by tucking it into a floor cushion of <Chain> . <Chain> wrapped up the whole body of the white monster, sealing its movements .

I think I can leave this fellow lying over there for now, and first annihilate the remaining medium-sized bone bastards and the smaller ones――

The instant I considered that, mana erupted out of the large monster .

Uwah! You're saying <Chain> doesn't work? Although I tightly wrapped it up like a pupa with the chain?

A white liquid oozed out with wet sounds through the tiny gaps of the chain which surrounded the monster like a bagworm or wrap in a bamboo mat . That damned thing, which I considered to be a white, tiled body, simply crawled out of there . The muddy fluid instantly squirmed and gathered in one place, and then transformed .

『In an instant…』

It was understandable for Helme to be surprised . The white monster apparently performed a complete metamorphosis as if really emerging from a chrysalis . The head-like object, its two huge upper arms, and the two lower arms didn't change, but…what had changed the most was its torso .

Countless breast clusters, similar to drooping fruits, bore fruit on its thick torso while hanging on multiple legs . It appeared as if plenty of milk was filling those udders, and they looked soft .

However, going with the Boob Research Society here was asking too much .

And then something like a mouth was formed at the lower part of its featureless face .

"Gyyaaaaaa――" It raised a voice similar to a cracked bell from its new torn-open mouth .

How disgusting .

The monster had apparently judged me, who shot out <Chain>, as a threat . It powerfully moved forward on its four, big arms like a gorilla, charging with a force causing the water of the shallow lake to blow up .

Whoooaaa, that breast cluster is bad news . However, although it's scary, it's also funny . As it keeps running, something white keeps shooting out…

I experienced dread and amusement at the same time . Watching that army of boobs blanketing its entire body was a fresh experience, I suppose?

I prepared myself for its ramming attack while indulging in such crazy thoughts, but…huh?

The white monster stopped in the middle of its rush, performing an unnatural braking . The swaying cluster of breasts…actually made sounds of gugugu, ku… .

Is it a tactic of irritating me by using its drooping fruits, err, drooping breasts…? The monster swiftly extended its two upper arms to diagonally above…

『Your Excellency, you must not be misled by its boob illusion magic! Please use me!』

『No, it's okay . 』

But, what is it planning here? Is it gathering energy to be sent to that boob cluster?

The moment I indulged in such questions, its two arms were split apart into four flesh parts in a cross shape . The eight flesh parts in total gave birth to white claws while trembling repeatedly, and those claws transformed into something similar to white spears .

The monster turned its transformed upper arms straight into my direction . I guess it's intending to shoot those spears, was what I thought, but it spread its two lower arms to the left and right side . Once it stretched open its hands on both sides, those palms approached me .

A fly swatter!? I won't let you do something like that .

First I manipulated <Magic Hand guided by Thought>, making it face the palm of its left arm . Next, I summoned several <Dusk's Stake> ― a barrage of darkness stakes towards the palm approaching from the right side . The <Dusk's Stakes> crushed its palm with the force of a machine gun .

I succeeded in blocking the fly swatter!

However, in that moment, the eight white spears extended, trying to stab me . I jumped backwards, trying to evade the approaching spears by taking some distance . But, those shitty claw spears divided into such small parts that I couldn't follow them with my eyes . They came at me while wriggling and bending .

Guuaaah .

The spears penetrated my legs and waist as if having received a strange needle shower .

"That huuuuurt . "

Bright red blood trickled down onto the lake's surface . First with Rulizeze and now this, I guess today's a bad day for my lower body half . Well, it's no wonder as I didn't wear the Evil Dragon King's armor, even if it's torn . I pay for my own mistakes .

While reflecting a bit, I extracted the white claw spears stabbed into my body . I forcibly pulled them out while feeling the pain, and jumped backwards .

At the moment I retreated ― I suppose I will go with the strongest spell I can use at present! ― I glared at the white monster .

I activated the crest magic, 《Freezing Splash》 . A light blue, round magic crest that seemed to be transparent deployed in front of me . Ice beams as tall as I am were created on its surface . The ice beams transformed into an overlapping mesh, and expanded while rotating .

The revolving, big ice net flew towards the monster as if capturing the air in the cave . The monster had a large build, hence there was no way for it to dodge the crest magic's ice net . The net directly hit the monster, covering the area from its face to its torso, with a peculiar sound . In an instant the ice blades of the meshes permeated deep into the monster's body, also including those drooping breast clusters .

Immediately after, the monster's face got disconnected while maintaining the net's shape, and then dropped towards the lake's surface .

《Freezing Splash》, which had scattered the monster into pieces, tore even the lake's surface apart without losing any of its force, creating a small valley that reminded me of the Niagara Falls . The unique white smoke also rose from that waterfall .

Something like a white jelly part of the monster also flowed down like syrup . It was a tough monster, but I guess I defeated it?

…Huh? It's still squirming around .

The white chunks of flesh, which were washed away by the waterfall, gathered in one place as if regenerating in reverse . They repeatedly transformed with smacking sounds, like clay .

I'm not so dumb to wait for it to finish transforming .

I invoked two instances of <Chain Spear of the Ray System>, and fired many 《Ice Arrows》 . However, the light spears ended up piercing through the white goo . The 《Ice Arrows》 also pierced through it with dull sounds .

『You can't take it lightly . What a life force . Is it a magic life-form…?』

The magic worked and then again not…the white goo turned into a monster with a white, tiled skin once more . And it metamorphosed once more…

Its size has become smaller compared to its previous medium size, and it changed into a humanoid shape . It shook the head-like part, which had grown out all of a sudden, as if saying, "That was a really good attack . "

The great amount of breasts having vanished is a relief, I guess . However, its head had a shape similar to a smooth cotton swab, giving it the vibe of being the final form of a boss . It looked composed to me .

Well, it means a guardian that spawned from a treasure chest on the 20th floor cannot be dealt with by ordinary means .

The monster, which had shifted its shape into that of a humanoid, formed a face, which was far from being beautiful, with a new mouth that reminded me of a Slit-Mouthed Woman and something like sickening, yellow eyeballs .

The guardian glared at me sharply with its eyeballs, which had conspicuous yellow capillary vessels, as I was confronting it from the front . Its yellow blood vessels also stood out . A strong, lingering light dwelt at the bottom of its eyeballs, and it spread its mouth as if warping it while allowing a needle-like light to peek out .

"Guogeeeh"

Oh? A scream that seemed to squeeze one's guts and sounded like language came out of its mouth .

White protuberances sprouted out all over its body . Those protuberances instantly grew into spears . And once again those damned white spears drew arcs in the air, heading for me .

I immediately released <Chain> from the <Chain Factor> on my left hand, forming a shield with it . At the same time, I invoked <Blood Path - Open Third Gate> and <Blood Acceleration> . The <Chain> adopted the shape of a tower shield, a simple version because I visualized it in an instant . Using that chain tower shield, I repelled the first wave of white spear tentacles coming from the front .

I invoked <Magic Hand guided by Thought> as well . Designating the approaching spears as pesky flies, I smashed them from above with <Magic Hand guided by Thought> .

I put footwork based on the image of a ninja into effect, running across the lake's surface . I evaded the white spear attacks while sending sheets of spray flying .

Now then, the defensive actions end with this .

I suddenly changed the direction of my body that had been running in a zigzag line . After sending a glare at the white monster, I summoned Magic Sword Beet into my left hand .

White spears drew closer from the upper left, left, right, upper right in succession .

While recalling the movements I used during my training, I put strength into the one-handed half-sword in my left hand, and made the crimson magic sword move as if drawing a C in the air . I severed the spear approaching from the left as if cutting through butter . Meanwhile I drew an 8 with the Magic Halberd in my right hand, bisecting an approaching spear with the red ax blade .

The attacks of the white spear swarm got stronger the closer I got to the monster, but I had no intention to stop advancing .

As if being the founder of the Kagari Sword Spear Style, I brandished the magic sword, thrust the Magic Halberd, slowly sidling up to the monster while perfectly knocking down all of its spear attacks .

The instant it entered the range of my spear, I let the Magic Combat Style circulate through my whole body, and compactly pulled back my right hand with the Magic Halberd while firing a series of <Chain Spear of the Ray System> at the monster from point-blank range . Three light spears penetrated the white monster . While watching the light nets, which split apart from the light spears' butt ends, seizing its white body, I intensified the Magic Combat Style .

Having increased my speed by one stage, I powerfully kicked the ground with my left and right foot in alternation, and advanced . My feet dug into the ground with a force of crushing the lake's water .

"Here I go――"

I twisted my waist while in motion, thrust my halberd in front, and invoked my finishing technique, the Peerless Killing Spear <Darkness Drill - Evil Destruction Lance> .

The <Darkness Drill> of the intensely spinning thrusting technique tinged with the darkness attribute seized the white monster . Immediately after <Darkness Drill> pierced through a part of its torso, Destruction Spear Gladopalus manifested . The spear of darkness, Gladopalus, intruded into the monster's body with a terrifyingly fast spin while releasing a sound similar to a groaning from the abyss of darkness . Once Gladopalus gouged out the medium-sized monster body while dragging the white matter into it at a speed surpassing the spin of <Thrust> and <Darkness Drill>, and came out of the body's interior, it disappeared with a poof as if opening a hole in the dimension .

I'm sure this was effective against the monster .

At least that was what I thought, but even though a scar as if a drill had bored through its upper body was all that was left, some white, gooey stuff started to squirm, seeping out of that wound .

Does it plan to regenerate once more? How annoying .

I shoot a barrage of <Dusk's Stakes> in a hurry . A great number of stakes struck the gooey monster mass . However, the monster's recovery speed was abnormally high .

I guess I have to use the technique that defeated the deidan!

As if waking up the Buddha statues of darkness deep within my soul, I invoked <Thousand Palms of Darkness> while consuming a great amount of mana . A swarm of darkness stakes appeared out of thin air in an instant . I poured a multi-chain attack, similar to a shower of darkness, artillery of darkness, or palm heels of darkness on the gooey monster mass .

The white mass was continuously whittled down, and finally something like a pure white crystal body containing an ominous mana came into sight .

――That's the heart? I have to hurry and destroy it .

Once again I powerfully stepped onto the ground below the lake's surface at the front with my left foot, using a force that caused an earthquake . Making use of my standard weapon, the Magic Halberd, I struck a <Thrust> into the crystal .

The crystal, which got penetrated by the red spear, emitted an eye-dazzling flash . A flash like the force of a pink mist net that discharges electricity into the air . The sound of a peculiar buzzing loudly roared as well .

I had destroyed the crystal . The white flesh, which was in the middle of regenerating, fell like an avalanche into the lake, apparently having turned into real jelly . It looked as though I had defeated it completely . Any hints of its mana fully vanished, too .

But, for me to not be able to destroy it with Destruction Spear Gladopalus, it was sure powerful . For me <Darkness Drill - Evil Destruction Lance> registers as my strongest lethal killing technique, but it's also a matter of the range it covers, I guess…

『Amazing! You annihilated a monster, which made me consider it as gigantic, tough king of evil, with your magic and spearmanship!』

『It was truly strong…its powerful boob illusion magic was a heavy mental blow . 』

『Your Excellency…I shall heal you afterwards . 』

While holding such a conversation in my mind within the span of an instant, I confirmed that a very large magic stone fell out while being blended in between the chunks of white jelly meat .

However, with this I can finally assist my friends in their battles .

"――I killed what seemed to be the guardian, so I'm going to join you . "

"Okay ― this side is doing fine . "

"――We are dealing with them through combined tactics . "

"…Since I'm only moving the golem, I can't fully grasp the situation . " Mysty said, but the golem operated by her had become a linchpin .

Since the golem, which reminded me of a black steel man, was confronting the medium-sized bone monsters with four of them latched to it, it was creating an environment that made it easy for Yui and Kaldo to fight .

A bone monster was thrown off-balance after having one of its legs cut, but it caught itself by using a new grown leg like a tail .

You could call Mysty's current way of fighting the exact opposite of how she fought in the battle against Evil Domain Monk Kire's . Back then she hid behind her golem while being scared .

Yui, who jumped out of the golem's shadow, skillfully cut down the thick, upper tentacle arm of a bone monster . That monster counterattacked by releasing a tentacle towards Yui . However, the thick steel arm of Mysty's golem splendidly blocked the tentacle heading for Yui .

Their coordination is magnificent .

Next, Kaldo moved on the opposite side of Yui . Having stayed hidden at the golem's feet, Kaldo cut the right tentacle of the bone monster while advancing . However, he didn't unleash a return katana slash . Seemingly taking the coordination seriously, Kaldo swiftly turned around, and ran back behind the golem .

Mysty's golem is the core, huh? The assassin family cleanly executed coordinated sword techniques with their magic katana and magic sword while using the golem as shield .

It was the same for Rulizeze, too . She used the golem as advance guard and as shield . She used her vermilion curved swords and silver straight swords, making sure to not hinder Yui's and Kaldo's coordinated sword attacks .

Cutting down one and then two of a bone monster's tentacles, she backed up Yui and Kaldo by cutting off the pursuing ranged spit attacks while rotating once .

On the other hand, the gargoyles fighting against Rollodeen and the Burning Knights had been annihilated . While holding an arm of a rock gargoyle in her mouth, Rollodeen turned over another arm, which she had probably plucked off, by delivering cat punches against it .

My cute partner was chasing after the arm rolling along the lake's surface . She has started playing around as a cat rather than acting like a divine beast . It's her usual ice hockey game . She sure loves that rolling game…

After saying something to the playing Rollodeen, the Burning Knights assisted in the battle against the medium-sized bone monsters which Rulizeze, Yui, Kaldo, and the golem operated by Mysty continued to oppose .

Rollodeen allowed her beast nature to come out, but that can't be helped .

At that point I turned my eyes towards the numerous lion beastman monsters . Since there were many of those, it didn't have any particular impact when several of them were crushed by the guardian .

Viine was using her Rasheena's Bracelet against those beastmen . She had summoned a number of small, arm-shaped darkness spirits from the magic gem of darkness . Those spirits restrained several of those monsters . And, Viine was holding her Jade Snake Bow, shooting green beam arrows .

Beam arrows pierced the foreheads of the beastmen that couldn't move because of the restraint . She continued to defeat them one after the other with her bow .

Rebecca brandished Gulphon's Wand . The flames surging out of the wand spread in all directions while roaring, creating several fire walls . The beastmen went up in flames after being swallowed by the flames . Given that their hair had been burning with blue flames to begin with, the fire of Gulphon's Wand didn't spread to their hair, but their torsos went ablaze .

Eva released her violet mana, and deployed a swarm of metal blades into the air . She made those blades swoop down on the beastman monsters in one go .

Dozens of beastman monsters were instantly turned into corpses by the two's ranged attacks and fire spells . However, there were also beastmen who moved cleverly and thus managed to avoid the attacks .

They plunged at Viine, Rebecca, and Eva, trying to hit them with iron balls, which were burning with blue flames, and flourishing the morning star flails they held in one hand .

Viine stored her bow on her back . She drew Blacksnake and the silver sword from her waist, bisecting an iron ball as if performing an iai slash . Eva repelled an iron ball by turning it back with her black tonfa . She might be a good player in baseball .

"Let's fight back!" Viine jumped forward after releasing an encouraging yell, making sure that it could be heard by her comrades .

While making the blades of the swords in both hands gleam, she charged into the beastman monsters in a forward-bent posture, cutting the flank of a beastman that tried to hit Eva with an iron ball .

She roughly cut through a gap in its black armor . The weapon she used for it was Blacksnake, eh? The wound was transforming into a venomous green .

The beastmen gathered to launch a concentrated attack against Viine who unleashed sword flashes that left bewitching green traces behind in the air . Before getting surrounded, the clever Viine retreated into Eva's vicinity .

The instant she pulled back, a blue fireball with a size of three meters fired by Rebecca crashed into the beastmen who had gathered to surround Viine and stab her with their claws . The blue flames devoured their burly torsos along their armors . Several of them were slaughtered altogether in one go .

Rebecca, whose entire body was clad in blue flames, repeatedly acted as vanguard and rear guard, blending in with Viine and Eva . She easily brushed away the iron ball of a morning star to the left with her burning fist .

As she glared at the monster, who had attacked her, she swiftly drew close to it, and directly bashed the monster's face with her fire-clad fist, blowing it away .

"Ouuuch!"

Did the arm she used to hit break? She held her hand as it scattered blood like an oleander flower .

However, the lion beastman she blew away with her punch also clashed against its friends behind it, and continued to tumble while dragging more of them into it .

Rebecca is small . Since even a medium-sized beastman is large compared to her, it's hard to say anything, but it's definitely no talk about willows being weak but binding other wood . Is she so strong because she's a high elf with the lineage of the Blue Flame God, on top of having her power as a Lucival's <Head Servant Leader>? Well, it's probably not like she's become so extremely strong that she would break her arm .

Seemingly as reaction to her pain, Rebecca fell back to Eva . There she started to ceaselessly defeat beastmen approaching from another direction with her blue fireballs .

Eva dealt with the claw attacks of the beastmen with her tonfa after moving them out of the sleeves after it turned into a melee battle . Skillfully brandishing her tonfa as if drawing circles in the air, she blocked the claw attacks . At the same time, Eva, whose body was engulfed by violet mana, separated from her magic wheelchair and performed a vertical rotation . Capitalizing on the motive power of that rotation, she hit her tonfa against the head of a beastman who had unleashed claw attacks .

Divine Punishment! Such a voice couldn't be heard, but she pulverized the beastman's head in such a manner, and then immediately sat back down on her wheelchair . Eva had a posture with her spine stretched . That sitting posture was extremely adorable .

In the next moment, that cute Eva sharpened her look . That look was adorable as well .

She released the mana-clad chakrams from the wheel parts of her wheelchair towards a beastman which had closed in on her . The chakram cut its blue burning hair, and then severed its torso along the armor while also cutting off its three coiled horns . Her violet mana was exceedingly powerful . I didn't know what metal the chakram used as base, but they were sure powerful .

Eva, Rebecca, and Viine dealt with their opponents while skilfully cooperating with each other . However, there was still a big number of beastmen left .

It would be fine to crush them one-by-one as it happened so far, but I guess I will finish them off altogether .

"――Eva, Rebecca, Viine, bring them over here while pulling all of them along . " I instructed them with a loud voice .

"Okay――"

"Nn, got it . "

"Please leave it to us . "

Magnificent . They naturally carry out any kind of battle and tactics as individuals . Viine independently launched surprise attacks when Eva and Rebecca pulled back . After pulling off that surprise attack, Viine immediately retreated .

"Guoooooooh . "

"Gujuuuuuuh . "

The lion beastman monsters chased after Viine while roaring in frustration . At that moment, Eva and Rebecca, who had withdrawn, assaulted the pursuing monsters, allowing Viine to comfortably fall back to the rear .

After Eva's and Rebecca's assault, they smoothly retreated . Of course the monsters were chasing after them . At this moment Viine launched a raid again .

The number of chasing monsters was definitely continuing to drop .

"――Sorry for having kept you waiting . The rest is all yours . "

"Master!"

"Nn, there's still a lot . "

When the three withdrew to the rear, "Leave them to me, and don't step out in front of me . <Blood Path - Open Third Gate>――"

It will probably decrease the number of magic stones, but I don't care .

I confirmed the designated coordinates, and invoked <Beginning of Dusk> .

In an instant, darkness was born within the specified range, encroaching the cave .

"Guoooh . "

"Gyuoo . "

"Gagyuuu . "

The beastmen plunged into a huge havoc over the suddenly manifested world of darkness . While they went back and forth, unable to go forward, they started to brandish their morning stars, pummeling each other .

I also stepped into the darkness, the world of madness . I guess even monsters can't escape going insane in that darkness .

After revealing an evil smirk…I activated <Dusk's Stakes> . The stakes of darkness suddenly appeared from the ground, skewering the bodies of the beastman monsters as if creating landmarks . The beastmen seemed to be dancing because of the storm of stakes .

Next I invoked <Dimension of Darkness Blood Chain> . Crimson blood chains came into existence from thin air within the darkness world that was linked to my senses .

The blood chains pierced through the world of darkness . They tore through everything with an orchestra of mirror-shattering sounds reverberating . Then there were no traces left of the beastman monsters . Only a few, but large magic stones had dropped on the floor .

『It's a power befitting an Emperor of Darkness . 』

The tiny Helme cheered by lifting her syringe into the air while nodding at the edge of my visual field .

"Nn, scary, but exciting . Is it because it's the same blood as ours?"

"Abyss-like darkness…chains of blood?"

"I had seen it before as well, but this divine technique makes me feel dread…"

The girls, who had watched the technique of darkness from nearby, were scared, and at the same time,their Lucival blood was apparently boiling .

The bone monsters, which had fought against Rulizeze, the Burning Knights, Kaldo, Yui, and Mysty's golem at the other fighting spot, had been completely wiped out as well .

"I guess that was all of them . "

"Nn――" Eva made her magic wheelchair transform, attaching the wheels to the sides of her feet, and thus changing it into its Mk-1 mode .

While turning around on the spot, she smiled with her eyes sparkling, making me vividly remember an iris flower .

"Yahoo! Mysty and the others did their best as well! Or rather, the numbers on their side were numerous . " Rebecca maintained the state of blue flames covering her entire body .

"Yes . As expected, taking on a small-scaled army was hard . "

"Everyone, well done . "

I walked towards the treasure chest with everyone .

"――Nyao . "

Rollo, who had returned to her usual kitten form, climbed on my shoulder while meowing . It looks like she got bored of playing ice hockey .

Rulizeze also drew close while sheathing her swords .

"Shuuya was obviously overwhelming, but you guys are amazing, too . Completely…like Dead Sea Knights . "

"What's Dead Sea Knights?" I asked .

While putting her eye-pad back on, Rulizeze answered, "Hmm, you don't know them on the surface? They are famous knights in the spirit world . They are the strongest knights under Tyrannical King Boshiado-sama . If Boshiado-sama had seen your movements, he would have likely tried to pull you over into his camp . "

A god of the spirit world, huh? He was depicted in the Picture Scroll of the Gods of Sebdola, wasn't he? Going by his picture, he's a macho-like handsome god . Even if I'm invited into such a filthy faction, I don't wanna go there .

The foundation of the Boob Research Society was shaken by that boob cluster, almost developing into a trauma, if I'm going anywhere, that boob goddess, err, Goddess of Magic Poison Misea would be nice . I would launch a trampoline club or sleep atop those huge tits .

"…Shuuya, what are you thinking about?"

"Ah, sorry . Leaving that aside, Rulizeze, thanks for helping us with the magic treasure map battle just now . "

"N-No problem, but it's the first time in several thousand years for someone to thank me normally…" Rulizeze started to mumble with her cheeks becoming red .

"Nn, nyao . " Rollo fixedly stared at Rulizeze while tapping my shoulder . Her face seems to be interesting to her since it's slightly different from the others . After looking at Rulizeze's face, "N, nyano――"

Rollo jumped off my shoulder and transformed into a black panther with a poof .

I worried that she might do something to Rulizeze, but I was wrong . Rolldeen landed on the lake's surface and started running . Her destination were the remains of the guardian, the very large magic stone laying among the cluster of white meat scattered across the lake's surface .

She extended her tentacle towards that magic stone, grabbed it by twining the tentacle around it, and carried it over to my chest with her tentacle drawing an arc in the air while holding onto the magic stone . Then she passed the magic stone that seemed to be wrapped up by her pad to me .

While gently massaging the pad of her tentacle as thanks, "Thanks, Rollo . "

"Nyao . "

Once she replied with a meow, she put power into her limbs, and returned at my feet . After rubbing and hitting her head against my shin, she raised her face .

Her red, round eyes are cute . I crouched down, matched my eye line with this cutie, and gently caressed her head . Rollodeen purred happily, and twined her panther head around my arm . Using her hind legs, she stood on two legs, and bumped her head against my cheek, apparently jumping a bit .

After smiling at the lovely Rollodeen, I took my eyes off her . With one knee on the ground, I looked at the silver treasure chest in the center of the cave .

The treasure chest's silver light was reflected by the lake surface, giving the vicinity a divine air with its glittering radiance .

Let's see, I wonder what unknown treasures are hidden within that silver chest . I'm looking forward to it in excitement .