Ch.262Witch

Farewell of the Underworld.

In the game, that power was originally implemented as a kind of gimmick system.

A mechanic that made Isabella absolutely unbeatable until certain story conditions were met.

No. Rather than story conditions, perhaps they were map conditions.

Isabella’s final battle wasn’t supposed to happen in underground waterways like this, but after bringing down the wyvern Nidhogg in the Fire Mountains.

The protagonist’s party led by Demian would drive Isabella back relentlessly until she fell into the volcano. That was the end.

Even if she revived in the river of lava, she would just melt again and again.

Afterward, while enjoying Isabella’s screams, all you had to do was press down around her with holy barriers to ensure the witch couldn’t escape.

Until Isabella, having exhausted all her lives, perished with her death throes.

It was the ending that concluded Episode 4, commonly known as the Baptism of Fire.

Of course, there’s no volcano in these underground waterways.

Digging down to magma zones would mean delivering Isabella right to Nidhogg’s remains.

Besides, if the backflow of magma spread throughout the waterways, I’d be half-destroying the empire with my own hands…

In other words, I can’t defeat Isabella using the original, straightforward method.

…Though that doesn’t mean there’s absolutely no way.

A bug-like strategy accidentally discovered by a player with poor control skills.

When first revealed, no one believed it could work… but after everyone who tried succeeded, it became the standard approach for defeating Isabella.

Whether it was an Easter egg planted by the developers or truly just a bug was never clarified.

—-

“Seriously? Eight thousand men? Were you spreading your legs in the imperial barracks or something?”

“Hehe, that’s what you should be doing, dear.”

Water splashes wet the floor, and the broken ceiling collapses with a rumble.

Isabella’s attacks were growing increasingly fierce, as if she was starting to enjoy herself.

She had moved beyond playfully swinging her insect legs and was now coming at me in earnest, using her full power.

『Bow down and scream. Sing of the darkness of night, and dance as if for eternity!』

“Procumbe et Clama. Cantate Tenebras Noctis et Salta Quasi Sine Fine!”

A spell uttered while spreading the arms of her main body.

Swirls of dark mana filled the air, manifesting all sorts of mysterious formulas.

The anti-magic blessing residing in my body screamed warnings that shook my nerves.

Right. That insect woman is an old witch who’s lived for over a century. Even without her powers, she’s strong enough to face most masters with magic alone.

From the beginning, fighting hand-to-hand was nothing but play for her!

“Ophelia! Lacy! Intercept as much as you can!”

I turn around and shout urgently.

I can’t tell what each formula will do, but just from the concentrated energy, they’re clearly not trivial. And there are dozens of them.

This is literally like having a battalion-level artillery force aimed at us!

“You think that’s easy? Duodecim Sagittas!”

Arrows of mana created by Ophelia collide with the swirls of dark mana, scattering them as they twist.

The heterogeneous mana interferes with Isabella’s formulas, disrupting the manifestation of her magic. Some spells shattered before they could even form.

“Night is fading and day approaches. We cast off darkness and don armor of light!”

The holy light Lacy emits forms a spherical barrier surrounding Isabella.

An anti-magic barrier.

If cast toward us, it would interfere with Ophelia, so she deployed the miracle to completely envelop the opponent instead.

“The light of Elpinel… truly, it irritates my eyes every time!”

Isabella clicks her tongue and swings her mantis forelegs in all directions.

Four blades wrapped in dark mana create deep cracks in the barrier of holy light as they thrash about.

“What’s irritating is your body!”

I dash toward Isabella like an arrow.

If left alone, Lacy’s barrier won’t last long.

“Why? Are you getting wet for me?”

“As if that would happen!”

The Sword of Oath swings with a blue afterglow.

Durandal’s blade penetrates the sphere of light as if seeping through it.

Jin.

A blessed metal that disperses mana and dark mana, but doesn’t react to divine power.

“The naked body of someone over a hundred years old would rot my eyes just from looking!”

My slash, which passed through the anti-magic barrier as if ignoring it completely, decisively cut off Isabella’s foreleg.

“Then I should pluck them out before they rot!”

A black typhoon erupts.

Dark mana spewing in all directions shakes Lacy’s barrier, and more than a dozen completed spells activate simultaneously.

“Bring it on!”

“Oh Elpinel!”

The blue blade dances like a whirlwind, and pure white holy light spreads like a veil.

A wave of shadows covers it all—

And an entire section of the waterway collapses.

—-

“Cough! Cough…! Is everyone alright?!”

I spit out stone dust from my throat while scanning the surroundings.

All I could see was rising dirt dust and piles of rubble covering the waterway.

Isabella’s spells certainly demonstrated power worthy of calling herself a witch.

Black flames poured down like a waterfall, and lightning tore through everything.

Ophelia tried to counter with similar spells, but the difference in output was too great to completely neutralize them.

And that wasn’t all.

Spears and whips, hooks and axes—a parade of all kinds of weapons made of dark mana.

Hersella and I somehow managed to deflect almost all of these.

Though we had to use even our special techniques that we’d been saving.

Deadly poison seeping into the air.

By the time I noticed, my internal organs were already in agony.

Lacy purified it, but in that moment when my feet stopped, I had to take the next spell head-on.

Shadow binding our feet.

Black hands extended from our shadows to grab our legs.

Persistent even as they melted in the holy light.

All sorts of curses including blindness, silence, and frenzy.

I endured with my magic resistance and Lacy withstood with blessings… but I’m not sure about Ophelia.

She did say she could handle ordinary curses, but…

A net of dark mana crushing down from the ceiling.

We launched fierce attacks at the ceiling to break it, and that was the problem.

We attacked so vigorously that after tearing through the net, we had enough power left to slash through the ceiling itself.

And then, all the flesh fragments scattered on the floor exploded simultaneously.

I knew about corpse explosion magic, but I didn’t expect it would apply to fragments left over after revival.

We managed to deal with everything somehow, but each spell was powerful.

Not just the magic itself, but the aftermath was threatening too.

In the end, the waterway couldn’t withstand it and completely shattered.

[What a disaster.]

That’s exactly right.

A collapse no different from a localized landslide.

With a deafening roar, a ceiling wide enough to fit two mansions came crashing down all at once.

Boulders rained down like hail, striking and shaking the passage, while rising water splashed around like a tsunami.

A calamity like a mountain and sea simultaneously venting their fury.

I managed to cut through magic and deflect rocks to somehow avoid them… but my limbs still ached. It was impossible to avoid everything perfectly.

Ironically, Isabella, who cast the spells, also ended up buried under the rubble.

—-

Blood flows down my leg.

A rock fragment the size of my palm was embedded in my left thigh, and my right arm showed clear burn marks.

The blessing Lacy had cast was healing my wounds, but it couldn’t do anything about the pain.

Besides, I had to remove the embedded fragments myself first.

Not just my thigh—small fragments were also lodged in my abdomen and cheek, causing a dull pain.

“Ugh…!”

Frowning, I pulled out the fragments one by one, and as blood gushed out, new flesh began to grow.

“…That was dangerous.”

Lacy sighed as she approached, clearing away rubble with her cross spear.

Her clear face was dirty with dust and waterway filth, creating a strange appearance with only her clothes remaining pure white.

“I’m glad you don’t seem hurt. What about the others?”

“They’re over there—”

Lacy pointed in the direction she had come from.

“Haaaah!”

“You think Elpinel’s sword would break this easily?!”

“Brother! Please come to your senses! You went off on your own showing off, and now look at this mess!”

Beyond the part of the waterway untouched by the collapse, three people and one enemy were still engaged in fierce battle, creating dazzling flashes of light.

Nigel’s upper body was covered with cuts, and Valkers’ armor was half-destroyed.

In contrast, Leonore didn’t have a single wound… was that because Ernst was desperately resisting?

Or perhaps she simply received fewer attacks for being less threatening than the other two. It was impossible to know.

“They seem to be holding up… but where’s Ophelia?”

Could she have been swept away?

I brought her along because we needed magical firepower, but she was the least skilled among us…!

“Ophelia… you mean this child?”

A sweet voice responded with mockery.

– BOOM!

The pile of rubble exploded outward as eight legs suddenly emerged.

Isabella, revived from being crushed, rose up laughing.

And in her arms…

Ophelia was nestled, smiling as if in ecstasy.