After proceeding inside the castle for a while....

''Whoa!　There's no floor from here!

　Lara rolled her eyes and paused.

　It was dark in all directions, with only small, starry white lights dabbling in the space.
　It's just a strange place, as if you're being thrown out into the night sky.

No ... look closely. There's a floor.

　Stepping out into the seemingly empty space.

　.........hmm, there is still an invisible floor.
　However, if I don't 'see' it properly, I might fall into another dimension, though.

'It's true........it's a strange feeling.
It's like walking in the night sky...

　Lara and Cynthia also seemed to be afraid and stepped out into the empty space.

　That's when it happened.


''It's finally here. Those stupid lambs.''


　Suddenly a man appeared in the center of the space.

''Aurelian's vassal... or is it?''

　When I mentioned it, the man nodded with a coy smile.
　Seeing this, Lara and Cynthia are alarmed.

'Move. I can let you off the hook as long as you don't get in my way?
'Ho-ho-ho, it sounds scary to make an enemy of you. But I also have an order from the High King Aurelian. You cannot get rid of him so easily.

　The man continued, lifting the hem of the cloak he was wearing.

'Good day to you. My name is Romer. I am a subordinate of the beloved High King.

　The man who said so gracefully........Romer had a mysterious form of magic that could hardly be called human or demonic.
　It's because he's in the midst of his demonic thoughts.........

I don't have time to be bothered by you. I'm going to hurry on ahead. Lara and Cynthia will go too.

　Walking out again, I urge them both to do so.

'Uh-huh,'
If I was behind Kurt I wouldn't have to worry about...

　In a hurry, Lara and Cynthia followed behind.

　However.

''We won't let you through this.''

　Magic power rushed out of the Romer.
　Immediately, countless bat-like demons were summoned around us, surrounding us like bats.

''Mm, swumbad?''

　The total number is ... something like three hundred.

''Do you really think that this level of demons can stop me?
It'll buy us some time, won't it?

　From the look on Romer's face, it looks like he's got something else on his mind.

'It won't buy us much time,'

　Just in time.

Lara, Cynthia. I've given you two the task of cleaning these things up.
What?
'I'm not going to stop walking. Until I reach the edge of this space you'll have to protect me from Swambud.

　The end of this space is not more than a hundred meters at most.
　It wouldn't take much time if you were walking normally.

''Uh-uh!　All right.
'Cynthia and her team protecting Kurt....a refreshing change of pace...'

　The two men rush into battle positions.
　That's reassuring.

　As I began to walk slowly, several Swambuds flew at its neck.
　Just as they were about to bite me with their sharp fangs the swambuds hit the invisible wall and fell to the floor.

'Cynthia, good warding magic. Swambud is a demon that tends to swarm, but the attack power of each one of them is not low. And yet, to create a warding spell that completely prevents it is brilliant.

　When I praised her, Cynthia grinned happily.

'But ... what do you plan to do now?'

　At that, Romer sounds slightly annoyed.

'That's all Swambad. It must be quite painful to deal with them all at once. I think you, too, will have to slow down your walking speed.

　After all, he's a man who misses the point.
　It's true that defeating the three hundred Swambuds one by one would be a waste of time, as Romer had intended.

　Then..........

Lara, what do you think?

　I ask Lara as she walks next to me.

'Uh, well...'

　Lara seemed to be in a hurry and began to think with her fingers over her mouth.
　Even while doing this, thanks to Cynthia's warding magic working, we are able to walk forward in peace.

'One by one, do you want to knock them off with the Fire Spear?　And there's no end to the amount of things that could be done...

　It didn't take long for Lara to give her an answer.

'....Yeah. I wish it was that magic.

　Lara's eyes were filled with power.
　In the next moment, Lara assembled a single magic formula at high speed.

''Mu........what's that magic?''

　Romer realized what the magic was and immediately tried to counteract it with his disobedience magic.

''No ... stay quiet.''

　But there was no way that Cynthia, who was skilled in analyzing magic, would not be aware of this.
　She also tried to counteract it and thwarted Romer's disobedience magic.

　During this time, it wouldn't take more than three seconds.

''Efreet Flare!''

　A roar that seems to echo throughout the space in response to Lara's cry. With that, an explosion occurs.
　The scorching heat and shock caused every single one of the Swambuds that were there to be exterminated.
　We don't have a single scratch on us, though, thanks to the wards that Cynthia constructed.

''That's great, both of you.

　We made it to the edge of space without wasting a second of time, as declared.

'Ehehe, Kurt gave me a compliment. Glad to hear it.
"...Cynthia.......you did great....

　Their voices bounced happily.

　But.


'You think I'm going to let you guys get away with it?'


　Romer's voice came from behind me.
　When I looked, I saw Romer, who had prevented the earlier explosion with his own warding magic, his face was contorted with anger.

''And you guys misjudged one thing,''

　Romer wobbled and held out his hand.

'I didn't have to stall for time. That was just a decoy to catch you off guard.

　The corners of Romer's mouth twisted ugly.
　The magical formula he had assembled was completed.
　It summoned a huge demon in the form of an odd shape.

''Hahaha!　What do you think!　This demon is said to have existed 5(0)0(0)0(0) years ago. No matter how much you are, it is impossible to defeat it!

　500 years ago.....................Therefore, if you add it up, it's 1000 years ago. So you're saying that this is the era I was in in my previous life.

　I see.
　I've seen this demon with tentacles reaching out from its mouth a thousand years ago.

　But...


"Huh. This is the monster that children used to hunt when they were practicing their magic.


　I unleash a single fire spear.
　It pierces through the demon and penetrates Romer's chest without losing any more momentum.
　Romer's body slowly collapses.
　As it was, he stepped off the invisible floor and fell like he was sucked into another dimension.

''Come on you two, let's get on with it. That wasn't even a prep move for me.'

　I say that to both of them, and turn forward again.

'What the hell was that man all about?'
Come on.

　We were out of the space with the two stunned people.