Come to think of it, it’s amazing I managed to beat that thing.
From the beginning to the middle of the match, I was able to make it waste spiritual power thanks to the typical noble’s carelessness and arrogance. But if we fought again, I’d probably just turn into charcoal.
While I was thinking about this, the Dryad removed the wooden wall as the heat wave subsided. All that remained in front of us were charred, crumbling black trees. There was no trace of the Guardian. Without a doubt, it had been sent back.
“Ahaha, that was amazing. But maybe we could have held back a little?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry. I just…”
Celia gave a wry smile, indirectly suggesting that Leia had gone overboard, given the blackened room despite the wooden protection. Leia’s face quickly changed from triumphant to dejected as she hung her head apologetically.
Is this kid actually a bit of a klutz?
Come to think of it, I’ve noticed before that this junior tends not to worry much about spiritual power consumption because both she and her contracted spirits have large amounts of it.
When we fought before, I was able to win by making her use spiritual techniques that consumed a lot of power while dragging out the battle. She might have a bad habit of using spiritual techniques without thinking ahead.
“Well, we defeated the Guardian, and the mural is safe, so don’t worry too much! Come on, cheer up and let’s move on!”
“Y-yes. I understand. I’ll do my best!”
As Celia encouraged the downcast junior and pointed towards the door, urging us forward, Leia seemed to have switched gears. Though still slightly gloomy, she slapped her cheeks to regain her focus.
“Rourke kun, we’re counting on you too, okay?”
“Please don’t rely on me too much.”
If anything, I’m the one relying on you guys. Really.
Thinking this, I placed my hand on the next door and stepped further in. This time, we entered a space covered in colorful stained glass, just like the hall on the second floor.
For a moment, I thought we had returned to the previous room, but looking up at the impossibly high ceiling that seemed to have no end confirmed that this was a different room.
“There’s no door.”
Celia looked around and muttered, confirming the absence of a door.
“Is this a dead end?”
Leia voiced the possibility of a dead end. I thought so too for a moment, but the unusually high ceiling bothered me.
“Are you curious about what’s up there?”
“Should we ride the Salamander and go up to check?”
“…Wait a minute.”
Just as I was about to nod at Leia’s suggestion, it happened. First me, then Celia with a slight delay, and finally Leia noticed it.
“This spiritual power… is something coming?”
“Hmm, it seems I’m needed again.”
The Dryad standing next to Celia grew trees to cover us, preparing to intercept multiple spiritual powers rapidly approaching from above.
“More Guardians?”
Leia muttered in a somewhat deflated voice as she looked up and saw several Guardians falling at high speed towards us.
Indeed, the approaching plump knight-like spirits looked exactly like the Guardians they had just dealt with, but something seemed off. No, rather, this feeling is…!?
“Both of you, step back!”
“Ngh! This is-!”
“Eh…”
As I shouted and stepped back, the Dryad seemed to understand too. Before the two could react to my words, it covered itself with trees and grabbed the two with some branches it had prepared for interception, throwing them backwards.
Immediately after, the Guardians literally became bullets, raining down on the spot where we had just been, pulverizing the surrounding area along with the trees the Dryad had deployed.
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Rourke dispersed the dust cloud that obscured their vision from the impact by contracting with a minor wind spirit to create a gust.
“What!?”
What came into view after the dust settled were the figures of the Guardians, their bodies crushed and embedded in the floor. Leia and Celia involuntarily let out surprised gasps at the sight of the Guardians, who had enough power to face high-ranking spirits, now fused with the floor without any resistance.
“What on earth…”
“Above us.”
Like the two girls, Rourke was also confused, but only for a moment. Immediately sensing the presence of the enemy, he summoned his sword spirit and turned his gaze upward.
The one who had sent back the Guardians was slowly descending from high above their heads, like a deflating balloon.
Its massive body, with a pair of wing-like, horizontally spread pectoral fins that rippled, resembled a ray. Its figure, floating gently in the air, gave off a somewhat carefree impression, but the spiritual power it emanated was immense and… very ominous.
“Is that… could it be an ‘Evil Spirit’?”
“Probably. It must have been drawn to something in these ruins.”
Celia quickly identified the spirit’s identity by its ominous spiritual power, characteristic of the dark attribute, while still looking dumbfounded. Rourke nodded, breaking out in a cold sweat.
To think that a wild Evil Spirit would sneak into these ruins…
And judging by just a glance, its spiritual power is considerably high-ranking… In terms of simple spirit ranking, it probably wouldn’t lose even to Gares’ Beowulf or the Dryad.
“We’re retreating. I have no intention of facing that thing.”
“I agree.”
Rourke concurred with Celia’s quick decision. No matter how you look at it, this isn’t an enemy to face head-on in a place like this.
“Salamander!”
“Gaaaah!”
While Rourke was thinking about how to escape, Leia took the initiative to attack. The summoned Salamander immediately spewed flames aimed at the Evil Spirit.
The hellfire that erupted from the dragon’s mouth instantly filled the sky above where the Evil Spirit was with a sea of red, enveloping the surroundings in heat.
“Nice one, Leia. Let’s withdraw while we can.”
It probably hasn’t been defeated, but it should be enough of a distraction. Now is the perfect chance to escape.
“But leaving that thing unchecked…”
“We might be able to manage if we try hard enough, but it’s not an opponent worth fighting recklessly now. Besides, it seems to be hostile towards the Guardians, so it’ll probably be taken care of on its own eventually.”
Even for that Evil Spirit, it’s not hard to imagine that it would eventually run out of spiritual power and be exhausted in the face of the endlessly spawning Guardians. The wise choice here is to ignore it and quietly withdraw.
“…However…”
But Leia involuntarily gritted her teeth at Rourke’s judgment.
Evil Spirits, along with demons, are beings of darkness that pose a danger to this world.
While the decision might be correct, as a noble of Valhart and a spirit masters, she didn’t want to abandon the Evil Spirit before her eyes and flee.
“Both of you!”
“Come on, run!”
“…Yes.”
Although Leia decided to follow her seniors’ words after a brief hesitation, bending her own will—in this situation, that slight hesitation proved fatal.
Just as her vision seemed to distort slightly, suddenly her body felt as if a weight had been tied to it, becoming heavy, and she involuntarily collapsed to the floor.
“Kyaa!?”
—What is this!?
“Ugh…!”
“Tch!”
Turning her gaze towards the pained voices she heard, Leia saw Celia collapsed on the floor, as if being pulled down, just like herself, and Rourke desperately resisting while on one knee.
And this was no exception for the spirits either; although they hadn’t fallen, their bodies were also sinking towards the floor under the pressure from above.
“Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”
Looking up towards the source of the low-pitched cry echoing from above, they saw the Evil Spirit emerging from the flames, completely unscathed and in perfect condition, its pectoral fins fluttering.
“Damn you!”
It was the Dryad who became enraged at the sight. Enduring the pressure, she placed her hands on the floor and grew several large trees from the surroundings. The Dryad glared at the Evil Spirit and extended all of them like spears aimed at it.
Leia was certain that the group of giant trees advancing straight towards the Evil Spirit would make a direct hit, but contrary to her expectations, all of the trees unnaturally changed their trajectory just in front of the Evil Spirit, passing right below its body.
“Ngh!”
“Gravity, huh…!”
Rourke deduced the nature of the evil spirit’s power from the current scene. The pressure he felt and the previous sight left little doubt that the spirit was manipulating gravity through spiritual techniques. However, understanding the enemy’s ability didn’t improve the situation. The spirit’s binding was extremely strong, and even if he could break it on his own, he couldn’t move his body unless the restraint loosened.
“Kuh! Salamander!”
“Guoooooh!!”
It was the elemental spirit that moved to change the situation.
Under Leia’s command, Salamander forcibly broke the spiritual binding by releasing spiritual power from its entire body. With a mighty roar, it flapped its wings and charged at the evil spirit, wreathed in flames.
Faced with the red dragon approaching, spiritual power overflowed from the evil spirit.
The spirit activated its technique again to try and slam Salamander to the floor, but Salamander endured the intense pressure and closed in on the evil spirit.
“Gaaaah!!”
Salamander raised its arm, its sharp claws wrapped in flames, and swung down to slash and burn the evil spirit’s face.
However, just before the claws struck, the evil spirit activated another technique, deploying a barrier of dark spiritual power. The claws were blocked by the barrier.
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