Hopps, who was in command at the front, pulled out his sword.
　Then, he waved his arms to the side as the flow continued.

　In unison, the knights behind them begin chanting. If you look closely, the group was all dressed in light clothing and carried jeweled staffs. It was predictable that they were a group of knights with a penchant for magic.

　I take out my sword from my 'possessions' and increase my running speed, trying to ignore everything and pass by.
　As if to block my path, Hopes-san stood in the way, but--

　I didn't slow down to run.
　I was confident that I could cut down Hopes-san in a passing manner.

　I jumped in with the momentum and swung my sword.
　That's what Mr. Hopes is trying to do while backing away.

　It's not a move to try to beat me. What's beyond the retreat is my flash of momentum. The time of the slash is indeed extended, but that would be a deadly move in board game.

　However, that's only if it's one-on-one.
　When my flash is about to hit Hopes-san, who has lost her stance due to the repetition of the retreat - the magic of the knights behind her is released.

　First, all the water from the fountain floats in the air and falls towards me.
　I dodge it with a big sideways bounce. Of course, in the meantime, Hopes-san regains her stance and holds her sword again.

　Obviously, he's stalling.

　I ponder. If it's me now, I can freeze all the manipulated water. The groundwork for that has already been laid. The cold air of the magic freeze that has accumulated in my magic dimension decisive operation (gradient) has that much power.

　If you're thinking about the fastest, you can choose to do that.
　However, I wanted to leave it for the first-time 'Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) that would be left ahead of us. And it's not necessarily true that the magic of the knights in the rear is only water magic.

''Then--!

　I switch swords to my left hand, take out a reasonably hard stone that can be thrown from 'belongings' and throw it at the rear knight's brain with all my might.

　Hopes-san, who was relative to me, is surprised by the projectile I took out from somewhere. Then he tries to pay it off with his sword to prevent it. However, I block Mr. Hopes' movement with my left hand sword.

　Several knights eat the projectile into their brains and faint.
　The projectile stones released by my current muscle strength and skill were now a deadly weapon. However, there are some knights who don't faint even if they are hit. It's partly due to the high level of those knights themselves, but they're just rocks.

''All hands!　Double formation!

　To the knights in the rear, Ms. Hopes flew instructions to the knights in the rear.

　The knights quickly formed into two horizontal lines and split up their roles, with the one in front taking a defensive stance and the one in the rear chanting.
　It's a flowing movement like an army.
　While admiring it, I realize that breaking through that formation will not be easy.

　I throw a stone again, but it is played by the knights in the front row and does not reach the chanting knights in the rear.

　I break out in a cold sweat.
　I'm not in a hurry to get to the strength of the enemy.
　A cold sweat flows from the current situation where I can no longer hold back.

　If you just want to break through, you can just throw the spare sword in your 'possessions' with all your might. With that alone, you can skewer the knights in the front, let alone the knights in the rear. However, that would kill nine out of ten.

　I hesitate slightly and execute a compromise plan.

　You take out a spare sword from your "belongings" and try to throw it with all your might at an area that won't kill you instantly. Even if you avoid the vital point, there is still a good chance that there will be deaths. However, as long as he had made up his mind to save Rastiara, he couldn't get lost.

''--!

　As soon as Ms. Hopes sees me take out a blade from my 'possessions', she reverses her retreating fight and comes out on the offensive.

　I quickly slash the back of Ms. Hopes' hand and make her drop her sword. It was easy to take him down as he turned to attack instead of defending.

　After dropping his sword, Hopes-san immediately shouts out.

''Ko, I surrender!　I can't do this anymore!　If you're ready for it, I lose!

　Mr. Hopes raises his hands, which would have been painful, to show that he has no intention of resisting.
　The knights in the rear wonder that their captain has surrendered. They groan and even shout a protest at the end.

''There's more to come, captain!　This is where we come into our own--
No, no, no, I'm not playing with you!　We're going to be held back from getting hurt, and this is it. We couldn't even get through ten teams. Just drop it! The longer you stay here, the quicker people die. Oh, shit.

　With stern words, Mr. Hopes ordered the knights to drop their weapons.
　The knights reluctantly drop their weapons on the ground with a look on their faces as if they've crushed a bitter bug.

　Seeing that, I give a small thank you to Hopes-san, and then quickly run out.

''Thank you.''

　I walked past Mr. Hopes.
　I'm really grateful that he didn't fight it out thoroughly.

"Sorry about that. I'm sorry," he said, "for sneaking up on your conscience. But I got nearly 20 seconds out of it. You'd better hurry up.

　I heard Mr. Hopes' voice behind me.
　His tone of voice was somewhat encouraging to me.

　Mr. Hopes' personality. And I felt as if I could catch a glimpse of his position at Hoosiers.

　I walked past the disarmed knights and hurried further down the road.
　I can't waste a second to respond to Mr. Hopes' encouragement.

　I finish passing through the main courtyard in the center.
　I've now crossed the halfway point to the cathedral. If I keep going, I should be able to see the grand staircase in front of the cathedral.

　The cathedral is located at the top of a hill, and from what I've heard from Dea, there are two staircases on the slope, a grand T and an inverted T. I've been told that the cathedral is decorated with jewels and flowers.

　After running through a long road decorated with jewels and flowers, I finally reach the front of the grand staircase.

　There, a battalion of dozens of knights is waiting for me.
　At the front of them is one knight with the appearance of an obvious strong man.

　His attire was light, and he was close to the magical knights from earlier.
　Decisively, he was carrying not only a sword at his waist, but also a staff decorated with jewels.
　Probably the 'Seven Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) of Heaven. The first type of 'Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) of the first type that specializes in magic -.

　He has long hair. He's a man close to me.
　He looks to be around forty years old.

　I try to 'watch' and stop him.
　If it's your first time, analyzing the enemy's strength is a given.
　But I dare not choose it.

　Fortunately, the conditions are in place.
　If I could determine that the opponent was the 'Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) of the first time I saw them, and that they were a magic-oriented opponent, I had decided to use new magic.

　Therefore, I would spare myself the trouble of 'gazing' and construct the magic.
　I was confident that this my greatest magic would be able to contain the opponent.

　I cast a magic.

''Magic [Dimension], magic [Freeze]--''

　The sensing magic realm envelops the entire enemy battalion.
　At the same time, the cold air of freezing magic also enveloped the entire enemy battalion.

　The idea of the new magic was exactly the same as the Dimensional Snow (Di Snow).
　The only difference would be the scale.

　The "Dimensional Snow" filled the bubble-shaped dimensional magic with cold air. This time, it's the dimension magic in the shape of a realm that is filled with cold air.

''-- Magic [Dimensional Winter (Di Winter)]

　A spherical area about fifty meters in diameter with me at the center will be winter (・・・・).

　In this winter world, my freezing magic would be much more effective.
　However, the drop in temperature is not the real value of this magic.

　The real value of this magic is in the inhibition of matter within its range.

　As usual, it's a compound magic born from the idea of duplicating existing magic. This time, it mimicked the soft wind magic used by Hein-san.
　Hein-san filled the area around him with wind and inhibited my magic, Dimension. It's a magic that reproduces that and also inhibits it in a way that only icy magic can.

　I'm going to be able to sense the knight in front of me who seems to be the "Celestial Knights" is trying to activate his magic with the "Dimension".
　I control the cold air composed of my magic power to inhibit it.

　The image is simple.
　Coming from a world where science has developed, I interpret freeze magic as a magic that manipulates molecular kinetic energy.
　If the molecular kinetic energy is reduced to zero, it becomes absolute zero. Based on this miscellaneous knowledge, I've been using freeze magic as an image to manipulate the vibrations of the molecules that make up matter using magic power.

　In other words, the magic that suppresses the molecular motion is extended to the magic that suppresses the enemy's magical power. Fortunately, the enemy's magic power can be grasped in detail with dimensional magic, so the image is easy to imagine.

　I suppress the magic power of the knights in the realm.
　I gradually shift - shift the jutsu - a little bit so that I don't let them compose the magic (...).

　The knights released their magic with some chills and discomfort.
　But when they saw the magic they released, everyone's face became surprised.
　The magic groups that were released were all declining to the point of no return. Some of them were even duds.

　Fire as big as a match.
　Water bullets with no flying distance.
　Shockwaves that only trembled slightly.
　Magical remnants of magic that were only undulated by magic power.
　All of them haven't reached me.

　The same is true for the captain knight who seems to be the "Seven Celestial Knights of Heaven".
　He was constructing exceptionally heavy magic, but he had succeeded in attenuating it by focusing his consciousness.

''Alright ......!

　I smile at the unexpected effect.

　As it is, he slashes at the lead captain knight while playing a weak magic with his sword in one hand.

　The captain knight hurriedly tries to draw the sword at his waist.
　He focused the cold air on his hand.
　As a result, the captain knight struggles to draw his sword.

　This is also one of the effects of the magic 《Dimensional Winter (Di Winter)》.

　While deploying a realm that refuses magical warfare, it also restricts the enemy's movement.
　Since it suppresses magic power, even the physical body can be suppressed. However, unlike suppressing something as delicate as magic power, there is a limit to suppressing the physical body. You can only inhibit it to the extent that you feel a slight sense of discomfort from the opponent.

　-- the degree of discomfort.

　How unsettling that would be to the person handling the blade.
　Even the slightest discrepancy occurs in the movements of the drawn sword, which must have been practiced repeatedly. Only those who have worked tirelessly and carved their skills into their bodies will this magic be of immense power.

　Probably, the captain knight would have taken twice as long as usual to draw the sword.
　In the face of my speed, it was deadly.

　The moment the captain knight held up his sword, my sword had been swung out mercilessly.
　The jeweled staff was cut in half from the side, and also slashed through my chest, albeit more shallowly.

　The returning blade slashed through the back of the hand of the one holding the sword, lightly flicking the sword away.
　This captain knight seemed to be a magic specialist who was weak in close combat, just as it appeared. I strike his pigeon tail with the hilt of my sword, paying off his legs and making him roll over.

　If he was struck by my muscle power, the impact would be enough to cause the contents of his stomach to flow backwards.
　The captain-knight fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

　The end.
　This squad must be the same kind of thing as Hopes-san, since they have been fighting a magic-centric battle.

　Sure enough, the knights who lost their captain are confused and can't stop me from trying to run through.
　They attacked me with some magic and swords, but the sparse attack with the broken formation was not a threat. I ran up the stairs, neutralizing the nearby knights.

　Up the T-shaped staircase, and then turn around - and then up the reverse T-shaped staircase.

　All that's left is a straight line of stairs.
　But the remaining straight staircase is long.
　There are close to a hundred steps, even if you can only see them.

　And in the middle of the stairs, a knight is standing.

　It's a huge knight wearing thick jet black armor.
　As he wears a full-face helmet, his gender and age cannot be seen. He has finished drawing a huge black sword and is staring at me through a gap in his visor.

　I knew intuitively that the knight was the 'Celestial Knights'.

　The repeated battles of the knights had honed my sense of smell to detect the enemy.
　Most importantly, I stood alone on the steps in front of the cathedral.
　That's the best proof of all.

　The great task of defending the last fort alone.
　That means--


[Status]
　Name: Persiona Quager HP421/434 MP105/105 Class: knight
　Level 27.
　Strength 10.98 Strength 9.72 Skill 8.55 Speed 10.09 Wisdom 9.32 Magic 6.56 Elemental 1.56
　Inherent Skill:.
　Acquired Skill: Swordsmanship 1.88 Sacred Magic 1.95


　This Black Knight Persiona Quager is the strongest knight in The Seven Celestial Knights in Heaven (Celestial Knights).