episode_0162

162. 2nd layer (8)

“Intermediate magic stone?”

A magic stone that has a different shine and size from the lowest and lowest-grade magic stones.

The only people who know what it means that an intermediate magic stone has emerged from the second tier right now are me, Claude, and Juri.

With a serious expression, Claude picks up the magic stone and hands it to me.

“Hey, Cain, this is….”

“ha….”

It has been confirmed by the level of the magic stone.

The layer we are exploring now is an unusual one.

And another passageway visible behind the collapsed fountain.

“What do we do now?”

Julie approaches us with serious expressions and asks.

“What should I do? The next passage has appeared, so I should go there first.”

“Huh~”

We returned to base camp, packed our bags, and continued exploring.

“What the heck is that?”

After walking through a winding passage for a while, what appeared in the open space was a structure that looked similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The words written there are.

‘In commemoration of Leon, a warrior from the Kaisen Empire who defeated the Demon King in the Third Invasion of the Demon World.’

‘Continental Union.’

“Isn’t the name of the empire now the Kindred Empire?”

“Oh, that must be the name of an empire from 2000 years ago?”

Julie answered my question.

“Really?”

“Oh, I heard it from my grandmother.”

Lauren also nods at Julie’s words.

Following the structures believed to have existed when Earth was still around, this time they’re from 2000 years ago?

Above all, the word warrior stands out.

“I thought the common language would be the same 2000 years ago.”

“That’s right? It seems like humans change quickly when you take your eyes off them for a moment, but this kind of thing doesn’t change.”

“Still, I’m relieved that it’s not like it’s a structure that shoots out something like a fountain…”

Hoooow-

As I was joking with Julie, light poured out from the arched door of the structure.

Crunch!!

“Oh my…”

And as the halo of light faded, a knight in pure white armor began to walk toward us.

He was wearing a helmet so his face couldn’t be seen, and the sword he was holding looked flashy, as if it was a set with his armor.

“It’s not even a death knight, what should I call it?”

A Death Knight that is only rumored to be seen from the depths, below the 4th layer.

There’s no ominous aura coming from him. But something…

“Check…!”

Claude looked at the sword the bastard was holding and rushed forward blindly as if he was possessed.

Iron Man-!

“……”

The armored knight aimed his sword at Claude without saying a word.

“Claude. Be careful…!”

BANG!!!!

“Ughhh!!!”

Boom!!! Thud-!

“Claude!!!”

“Gyaak!!”

Claude bounced out in an instant.

The swords clearly met, but Claude fell against the wall, blood flowing from his nose, mouth, and ears.

“Warrior Leon?”

“Ms. Jury? What is that..?!”

Juri continued her explanation while glaring at the article with narrowed eyes.

“Leon, the warrior written on that monument. There are no detailed records, but it was said that more people died spitting out blood than dying from swords.”

“….”

“That’s an ability I had before I got the Holy Sword… Be careful!!!”

grasp-!

Juri pushes me aside with an urgent voice. And then a sword extends to where I was standing.

Kiiing-!!!

Phew!!!

Thanks to Juri, I was able to dodge the sword, but I heard a strange sound in the path the sword took, and then an invisible energy exploded over my body.

“Ugh!!! Juri! Please, Sia… Cool!!”

Sound waves? Or vibration waves? I don’t know what it is, but it must be pretty annoying.

I quickly shook my head, stood up, and turned my head to look at Claude.

Luckily, Juri had stolen Sia and brought her to Claude, who was using a healing spell on her.

Still, if the two of them are going to fight, they need to buy some more time-

Crunch-!

Phew-!

The armored man takes up his position again and comes out.

Crazy, it’s a two-handed sword, but it’s stabbing like a rapier at crazy speed.

I forced my body, which had not fully recovered, to move, and tried to avoid the sword, rolling my feet and jumping.

Taat-!!!

Ki-ki-ki-ki!

Phew!!!

“….!!!”

He sees my jump while the stab is going in and immediately changes the path of the sword.

A loud noise rings out from the armor, and the sword bends abnormally, sending the blade hurtling towards me as I float in the air.

What if I do this…?

“Yaaap!!!”

At that moment, Lauren, who was behind him, jumped at him with her shield outstretched and blocked the path of the sword.

Drop it drop …

“Lauren…! Damage!!!”

Kiiing-!!!!

Phew!!!!

“Wow..!!”

A stream of blood ran down the corner of Lauren’s mouth as she staggered, shield in hand.

Soon she wipes the blood away and turns around to shout at me.

“B…hold on! I’ll hold on, so hurry up and come up with a plan…!”

“Tch..!! Sorry Lauren!!”

Her scream made me back away further.

“Le…Leon! I’m disappointed that I’m disqualified as a warrior. Come on!!”

Knock knock-!

Lauren stood in front of the armored bastard, tapping her shield with her dagger as if trying to draw his aggro.

I’ve never seen Lauren get hurt in combat.

The occasional wounds that were occasionally allowed by the monsters’ blind attacks were so minor that they could be completely eliminated with a single hit of Sia’s healing protection, and even when hit, the skin would only slightly turn red, but the current situation where he was coughing up blood was serious.

But even though he was hit head-on like Claude, that’s all the damage he suffered.

I hurriedly approached my other colleagues.

“Ms. Jury!!”

“Oh, wait. Lauren!! Block and hit him over the armor if possible!”

“Coolook-! Ah…got it…!”

Kiiing-!!!

Phew!!!

Lauren, who was spewing blood out of her mouth from the bastard’s attacks every now and then, was still hitting the area around her armor.

Bang! Clang!

A hollow sound was heard, and Lauren began to vomit increasing amounts of blood from her mouth.

“No way… Sister Lauren…!”

Sia bursts into tears at the sight of Lauren vomiting blood for the first time and tries to run away.

I grabbed Sia’s wrist and tried to calm her down.

“Sia, just a moment. It’ll be over soon…!”

Clank-!

I immediately took out the freezing potion and handed it to Juri.

“Please.”

“Just leave it to me. Lauren!! Get out of here!!!”

Wheeek-!!!

Clang-!

Kkwaddeuk-!

While Julie threw an ice potion at the armor with all her might and it froze, Lauren barely managed to retreat towards us.

“Recovery!! Reward Jade!!!’

Woofwoof-!!! Woofwoof!!!

Sia quickly put on a protective mask while crying as she watched Lauren, whose ears were starting to bleed.

“Whew… Sia, it’s okay… I’m done.”

“Sister…!”

The armor was frozen in a giant block of ice created by the potion, and now that they had some time, they were going to discuss how to deal with it.

Kiiing-

Bam-!

Kiiing-

Jeez-!

“Fuck. This is driving me crazy.”

A strange sound was heard around the guy who was stopped in the ice block, and the ice that was encasing him began to crack little by little.

“Lauren. Take the fire potion.”

“Uh…yeah..!”

I gave Lauren two fire potions.

“You know, like when you break a fountain?”

“Okay..!”

“And when you throw, aim for the bastard’s leg, the area around his pelvis.”

At first I was going to tell him to aim for the shoulder, but he used a strange technique a little while ago when he was frozen, so I should kill his mobility.

“Yeah!!!”

“Until then, we’ll see how we can hold out. Sia is hiding behind Lauren.”

“Everyone…don’t get hurt…!”

We formed a formation with Sia standing behind Lauren, Claude in front, and Julie and I standing on either side of Claude.

Kiiing!!!

Paaang-!

The moment we formed up, the ice completely shattered like glass and the guy started moving again.

However, perhaps due to the effects of the ice, its movements seemed a bit dull.

Claude runs towards the man who is raising his sword and taking a stance while creaking.

“Claude! Don’t hit me head-on, deflect it!!”

“Okay!!”

Kuung!!

“Hey you piece of shit…!”

Claude was told not to confront the guy head-on, but he stomped his feet and ran towards him with all his might.

The armored man soon recognized Claude and swung his sword at him.

Just before their swords met head-on.

“Keep going…!!!”

Puddle, thud!

Claude’s ankles and lower body bend excessively, and his upper body bends back to avoid the bastard’s sword.

“You thought it was a head-on showdown, you idiot.”

Tear-!

Sway-!

And the armored guy’s body sways greatly as Claude swings his sword.

“Die!!”

Kyaaang-!!!

Bullfight-!!

“What the…!”

Claude, who had seized the opportunity, swung his sword through the gap between the helmet and the armor as if to cut off the bastard’s neck, but the blade bounced off.

While Claude was confused and hesitated.

Snap-!

“Ouch…!”

Kiiing-!!!

Kwaaang!!

“Ugh…!”

dump-!!

Soon, the bastard grabs Claude’s sword blade and uses his technique, causing Claude to fall to the floor as if he were collapsing.

And then the armored man raised his sword and tried to cut Claude.

“Ms. Jury!!”

“Ugh!!”

We were already running when Claude failed to cut off the armor’s neck.

Julie’s hand glowed a fiery red, and I quickly slid away, grabbing Claude by the nape of his neck.

“Get behind!!!!”

Kwaaang-!!!

Juri clenches her fist and strikes the gauntlet of the hand holding the sword.

The armor seemed to crack slightly, but the damage was minimal, and the bastard began to aim his sword at Juri.

“Wow, you’re so cool.”

“Hey.. guys, it’s done!!!”

“Wait a minute. Cain! Take Claude and get back first.”

“Yes.”

Claude’s injury was too much for me to run quickly, so I carried him and ran.

Meanwhile, Juri engages in a battle with the guy.

All that could be heard was the ominous sound of the technique slicing through the gap, and there seemed to be no damage to Juri at all.

By the time Claude and I had fallen far enough behind to approach Lauren.

“Ms. Jury. It’s done now!”

Juri glanced at us at my shout.

“Lauren. Think I’m not here and throw me away!!!”

“Huh?”

“Quickly!!”

“Ah…Okay!!!”

At Juri’s shout, Lauren holds two potion bottles and glares at the armored man.

The contents of the potion bottle were compressed even smaller than the explosive potion, and Lauren quickly threw one bottle with all her might.

Shhh-!!

The moment Lauren threw the bottle, Juri’s figure disappeared into the darkness, and the potion was struck in the pelvis of the guy who suddenly stopped when the target of the attack suddenly disappeared.

Clang-!

Whaaah!!!!

There was no explosion more violent than that of an explosive potion. Instead.

Whoosh whoosh-!

The armor began to melt in the blinding flames.

Crunch-!! Crunch!!!!

The guy who quickly lost his lower body fell over and started moving strangely like a broken robot.

Crunch! Creak!

Crunch! Creak!

He began to crawl towards us, holding a sword in one hand and supporting the ground with the other.

“That’s scarier than a ghost.”

I get goosebumps from the behavior of this guy, which is almost like madness.

“Lauren. Throw it away.”

“Yeah.”

It didn’t take long for Lauren to throw the remaining vial of potion at the creature, hitting its helmet and melting most of its armor and chest plate, rendering it motionless.