15 Episode 14 ~ A Strong Enemy Appears ~






We were able to leave the battle safely, but of course the demons were after us.


"Lord, protect us ...... 'Sanctuary'


As Commander Saran put his hand forward, a glowing wall blocked the passage of the labyrinth, and the demons disappeared from where they touched the wall.
It seems that the holy magic, the light magic, the higher level ward magic, just exists and the lower level demons disappear.

I mean, don't you need a brave man?
The Knights ...... No, I feel like this person alone could defeat the demon king and other things.

I'm not sure if he noticed my pensive gaze or not, but the Saran Commander smiled bitterly.


''I'll explain it properly later, including your doubts.


I knew Commander Saran was an esper.

After running for a while, I heard a scream up ahead.
This voice was, as I recall, Sano-san, the class mascot character.

I don't like that guy because he seems to be playing the cute kid, right?
...... If you think about it, there might not be anyone in your class who isn't bitter.


'I'm going to go check on him for a bit.'


Deputy Commander Ziel said and ran vertically down the wall.

The Saran Commander is also a Saran Commander, but he's also anything but a Saran Commander.
With his armor on, a normal person can't run the wall.
That of Vice Commander Ziel was the result of his speed, agility and balance.
Normally, that kind of nimble technique is the domain of assassins and the like. ......
I'm sure you're not the only one.
However, it's a little doubtful that you can do it while wearing armor.
So, it's amazing how lightly the deputy commander of Ziel can do it.


'Kyahhhhh !!!!'


Once again, a scream that cut through the silk echoed through the labyrinth.
The voices were closer than before, probably due to the increased speed of running.

This time it wasn't Sano-san's voice.
It's another girl's voice.

As I ran as fast as I could for the last sprint, I finally reached the source of the scream.


'...... What the hell is that?'

"...... and that's .......


Me, the leader, and the knights were also speechless.




...... hk!

'Keep your warders in place! He who can recover, let him recover to the highest degree he can!


What was there was a huge demon that couldn't possibly be in such an upper level of the labyrinth.
It's a cow's head and a human body ...... minotaur.


''Nonsense! It's at least fifty layers or less of demons!

......cch.


I clicked my tongue and ran to the minotaur's feet, leaving the mumbling knight's voice behind.
Commander Saran had already run out to Deputy Commander Ziel.

I caught a glimpse of him.
In front of his fleeing classmates, the figure of a brave man, painfully holding his sword in front of his fleeing classmates.

Sano-san's wards are barely in place, and Deputy Commander Ziel is drawing the attention of the minotaur, but he could turn his attention to his classmates at any moment.
They're dumb and crippled, but if they die, they're not going to wake up in their sleep.

Tsundere, you say?
...... leave me alone.




...... fast!



As I reached the front line with a wall run like Deputy Commander Ziel, I first struck a blow, slamming a silver dagger into the minotaur's throat.


''Ha! Huh?


The minotaur is so hard that the dagger shatters into pieces.
Strange.
It's a hardness that clearly defies the laws of nature.

I tossed it, which was now only a hilt, and landed next to the brave man.


It's ...... crystal.

'Oh ...... what's the state of affairs?'


As the pale light of recovery enveloped the brave man while he held his sword, which was snapped in half, the brave man began to speak in a patter.


────


After our group member, Katsumi Watanabe, a fist fighter, activated the traps in the labyrinth, we left the battle lines, leaving the Knights and Akira to deal with the demons.

There's no way the people of the Knights would be able to fiddle with a novice demon like that, but I'm worried about Akira.
Looking at him from the side, I could see that he was apparently a head taller than us, but I had no idea how strong he was.
Besides, if they were assassins, they shouldn't be good at many against one.

If something happened to Akira, it was Watanobe Katsumi's, and by extension, my responsibility as the leader of that group.
Of course, the same can be said for the rest of my classmates.

Just because I'm still in the upper echelon doesn't mean I can't relax.
That was well documented in the trap I just saw earlier.


While I was running away, the demons of the labyrinth would of course attack me.
There were only one or two of them, but for those of us who were in a hurry to get ahead, just being there was a nuisance.

Hurry, hurry, hurry.


'Come to think of it, didn't we get a smoke ball to keep the demons away?


When I heard that, I huffed.

Come to think of it, I received that smoke ball personally from the princess before I left for the labyrinth.
As I recall, the knights and Akira weren't there at that time, so it probably didn't occur to them.
The princess handed the twenty-seven smoke balls to me and said, "I'll give them to you in case you need them. Please take care of yourself."
I smiled at her as I said that.
It was a beautiful smile.
I was almost distressed, too.


'Alright then, since we don't know the extent of the effect, let's use it for each group.'


First of all, Sano and his group slammed a smoke ball into the ground.

After a few tens of seconds, the effect appeared, and the demons stopped coming near us at all.
Occasionally they would come towards us, but after looking at us, they would flee in a hurry without looking aside.

I wasn't sure if the effect was against people or against the ground, so after a few minutes, this time the group that Akira belongs to hit the smoke ball.

After a while, when the last group of smoke balls were in the last group, they finally found the stairs to the upper level.
Just as the effect of the smoke ball wore off, dozens of small demons attacked us.


''Now!''


To get rid of them, our group hits the last smoke ball too.

...... Only mine seemed to be a different color than the others' smoke balls, but I wonder if it was my imagination.

Just as I had hoped, I was able to get rid of the little demon.
But.


'Kyah!


The first person I noticed was Sano.
He pointed at the wall ahead of us and screamed.
I looked in that direction and was immensely disappointed.

A huge demon came out of the wall.
A demon that clearly shouldn't be in this hierarchy.
Even I know this monster from Greek mythology.


'...... minotaur ......'


At the same time I muttered, he raised the club in his hand.
And as he swung it down, he saw Sano-san's figure.

I was moving before I could think.
I pushed Sano-san away and used the blade of my sword to nudge the huge club that fell to the ground.

This was a technique I had learned during my training with the leader of the Order.
He had heard that there were enemies with skills that could be blocked, so he simply wanted to try out how much he could do with his swordplay.
It was then that the Commander told me.
"When you are fighting someone who is superior in ability, don't think about accepting them. Think about taunting them."
If you use force against someone who is coming at you by force, the results are obvious.
But that doesn't mean you can't fight back by simply avoiding them.
That's why they taunt you.

In fact, all of the swords swung down by force were taunted in various directions, and one was easily taken out.

I tried to do it awkwardly against the obviously powerful minotaur, but the results were disastrous.


'...... kukk!'

Tsukasa!


My hands aren't just numb.
The bones in both arms were broken.
I barely let go of the sword, but the sword is also broken in half and the next time it attacks me, I will die.

With that thought in mind, the minotaur pulled out the club that had been slammed into the ground and raised it again, this time to hold his breath.

Behind him, someone else, not Sano-san, let out a scream.
If you have time to scream, you should have put one of your recoveries on me.


Then, just before I was swung down, something landed on the club.


'...... You barely made it in time,'


The one who said that while breathing on his shoulder and stood next to me was the Vice Commander of the Knights, Ziel.


I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this. I'll keep him in line until then, so step back.

'Yes. Thank you.

...... You did a great job.


Both of my hands are broken and I'm completely crippled.
As I drooped at the head, Deputy Commander Giel patted me on the head.

I'm not going to be able to get it right.


"Tsukasa-kun, your arm is ......

"Holy shield, protect us and save us. A barrier to protect us all in exchange for my magic: ...... "The Shield

...... This is.

Maybe it won't even hold a blow, but is it better than nothing?


A thin barrier was erected in front of me.
Of course it's Sano-san, the warder.
It's probably the highest level of warding that can be done now, but compared to the warding Commander Saran showed me earlier, there's a difference between an adult and a baby.

I changed my face, which was distorted by pain, into a smile and thanked Sano-san.

I looked at Deputy Commander Ziel and saw that he was barely able to cross the Minotaur with his magic and sword, but no attacks were coming through.


''Keep the wards in place, warders! He who can recover, let him recover to the highest degree he can!


Deputy Commander Giel glanced at me and instructed me to do so, looking at me with a blue face.
A soft, soft light enveloped me, and the pain finally eased.
If it had been a little later, I might have lost consciousness.


''Commander!''


Finally, it looks like Commander Saran is on his way to Deputy Commander Ziel for backup.
I'm glad I got there in time.

After that, a sign of the earliest surprise and tiredness suddenly appears next to me as well, without wasting any time.


'...... Akira?'


Honestly, I'm relieved that Akira came next to me.
I'm definitely not going to tell him, though.