The two women stared at each other for several long moments.
“Enough. Do what you will.” Leyfa folded first. “You really are a worthless pawn. You don’t listen to what you’re told, you act without orders...”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s why I’m not showing you gratitude as a tool, but as a fellow human being. Thank you. If you hadn’t come to save me, I would be dead.”
“Your...Highness...”
“Thank you, truly. For coming to save someone like me.”
That was the moment Sofie finally received her reward for all her long years of loyal service and unrequited dedication. She and Leyfa finally connected. This was the day Sofie Deanlurk was truly saved.
“I should be the one thanking you. Without you, Your Highness...”
“What are you crying for? I’m praising you for once. You should be pleased.”
“I am. I’m so happy...that I was able to rescue you. These are tears of joy.”
“How silly... Truly...”
Leyfa shakily lifted her right hand to cup Sofie’s cheek—a gesture that carried far more meaning than simply wiping away her tears. If possible, I wanted to watch over this touching scene forever. I wanted to celebrate Sofie’s joy. But floor 21 wasn’t the place for that. The demon that had killed Jin was right in front of us, and Force was facing it alone at the moment.
“You ready, Sofie?” I called.
“Yes. I can defeat anything right now,” she replied.
Her sparkling eyes turned to the boss of floor 21, and just like that, she was in battle mode. We were all in place now. All six Arrivers against the demon that had taken Jin from us. The boss fight was about to begin in earnest.
“It seems like that glowing sword is what’s sealing the use of holy arts,” Sofie reported, revealing what she’d learned via High Appraisal. “As long as we break it, Neme should be able to use her healing magic. Then we can save Princess Leyfa.”
That was great news. Once we broke the sword, the demon would only be half as intimidating.
“Erin!” I called.
“I know!” she called back. It seemed she’d already gotten the message, as she was pooling magical energy into her staff.
“Force and Sofie, you distract the boss. Everyone else, get the Princess’s Legion out of here.”
It was time for me to switch roles. I wouldn’t be of any use after expending both Spell Shots anyway. Roslia and Neme couldn’t fight properly without their holy techniques either, so the rescue operation would be up to the three of us.
“Force, Sofie! You two do whatever you can to hold that thing in place. Then I can destroy its sword,” Erin stated confidently. Her hair was fluttering with the flow of magic around her.
“You don’t want me to smash the thing for you?” Force asked.
“Don’t bother. I only need one spell to do it.”
“Hey now, let’s not exaggerate.”
“It’s not an exaggeration. It’s the truth.” With that, she activated her spell. “Transfer Zone!”
A transparent cube manifested in the air. Any nonliving thing inside it would be shunted through space. It was the strongest spell conceivable against inanimate objects, and Erin sent it forward with the intent to swallow the demon’s sword whole. However, the demon—the gatekeeper of the dungeon’s end floors—evaded it with a spin and closed in on her.
“Not a chance!” Force jumped between them. Magic sword clashed with cursed blade once more. “Whoa!”
Erin’s Transfer Zone hooked back around. It only affected nonliving matter, so it passed through Force’s body on its way to the demon. He shuddered in shock, and the demon seemed to sense the incoming danger. It lowered its sword, and both sides retreated in a rather anticlimactic end to their clash.
“Hey! Something strange just passed through me!”
“Don’t worry about it!”
“What do you mean?! What was that?!”
Force was bewildered by the spell he’d never seen before, but Erin easily dismissed his confusion. “It’s fine! You just focus on stopping that sword! I’ll send it flying in an instant!”
“You’ll send what flying?!”
“The sword, obviously!”
“I’m still not following...” For Force, who hadn’t seen how Erin had made a name for herself in the Seventh Sage Selection, Transfer Zone was beyond his comprehension. He gave up on trying to figure it out and turned back to the boss. “I just have to stop the sword, right? Then you can destroy it?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along!”
“Your explanation was kinda lacking...”
Force looked displeased, but his trust in Erin won out. When she said she’d do something, she meant it. Despite her recklessness and impulsiveness, she was good for her word. She was a genius mage who could back up her big talk, after all.
“All right! Let’s do this!”
Erin cast one Transfer Zone after another. The demon twisted this way and that, nimbly weaving between the incoming cubes. That was when Sofie made her move.
“Fuerte-Tierra-Cárcel.”
She petitioned the spirits to conjure an earthen prison around the demon. It tried to slip away with its incredible speed, but Erin’s barrage of Transfer Zones hampered its movement. Its right foot ended up caught. More transparent cubes quickly closed in on it.
“You did it!” Force cheered as the cubes passed through the demon and its sword. But nothing in particular happened. The boss simply tore its leg free and leaped into the air. “Hey, that didn’t do anything!”
“Bad timing! I’ll nail the next one!”
Transfer Zone was an incredibly difficult spell to use. Its power was second to none, but if a living creature entered its area of effect by even a hair, it would fail to activate. That was its biggest drawback. In order to match the demon’s maneuverability, Erin was casting Transfer Zones quickly. Thanks to that, her window of opportunity to land the spell was short. She’d just missed her chance this time. Transfer Zone was a sure win against unmoving objects in a Decafight, but it was tough to use against mobile targets like the boss. It was guaranteed to work when it hit though, so we had to keep trying.
“So get out there! Quit complaining and hold it in place already!”
Erin spurred on our front line as she cast more Transfer Zones. This round of cubes was slightly smaller—they couldn’t destroy as much in one go, but Erin would have an easier time targeting the sword specifically. It was a gutsy move. Was she going on instinct? The demon was still wary of her innocent-looking cubes. It used both rapid footwork and flight to dodge them, and whenever it had a spare moment, it would take a potshot at Erin. But the silver-haired mage had two solid walls to protect her—Force and Sofie deflected each attack that came her way.
“Now!”
When Force blocked the demon’s blade again, it was momentarily stopped in place. Erin sent a Transfer Zone cube zooming after it. Just as I thought she was about to succeed, the demon suddenly leaned forward. With its body in the spell’s zone now, it failed to activate again.
“Y-You...!”
Was that dumb luck on the demon’s part? No, that’d be too much of a coincidence. I didn’t know how, but the demon had already seen through Erin’s Transfer Zone. It had accurately parsed its strengths and weaknesses. It seemed we’d no longer be able to catch it by surprise. We had no recourse but to overwhelm it by force instead. Just as I was thinking that...
“Fuerte-Tierra-Pilar.”
A strike came from above. It was one of Sofie’s spirit arts. She’d used the roof as a catalyst to conjure a pillar that crashed down into the demon’s back. Not even the boss of floor 21 could withstand such a heavy blow while still off-balance from shifting its weight. It thrust its sword into the ground to stay upright—leaving the blade wide open.
“Good job, Sofie!” Erin’s staff glowed. A perfect cube appeared in front of it. “Transfer Zone!”
The moment the cube came into contact with a section of the blade, they both disappeared as though they’d never existed. With its support now gone, the demon toppled to its knees under the crushing weight of the pillar. In an instant, the purple aura cloaking the area disappeared.
Someone was eagerly awaiting that moment—the priestess of the Arrivers.
“Saint’s Wonder!”
The miraculous spell Neme unleashed undid all the damage wrought by the demon’s blade. Leyfa’s severed leg was recovering before our eyes. Mille, who was barely clinging to life thanks to a magic artifact, began breathing normally. A powerful healing spell capable of bringing even those on the brink of death back to the land of the living... Not many people could cast something like that. It was a good reminder that Neme wasn’t just our party mascot, but a full-fledged member of the Arrivers.
Next came the sound of crumbling earth. Sofie’s pillar collapsed as the demon rose up. Its blue-black body began transforming. I could see its veins swell as the monster physically rearranged itself into a more streamlined physique with smaller wings. In their place, it now had much larger legs and talons that clawed into the ground. It looked like it was built to run down opponents with greater speed and force than before. The arms, which had formerly held its magic sword, were now glinting blades themselves. This was the boss’s second form—a transformation that optimized offense after losing its weapon.
An evil aura burst forth from its body. The moment I realized it was attacking, the demon had already kicked off the ground. It made a beeline for Erin— No, it was going for Neme. Rather than the mage who’d broken its sword, the demon had determined that the priestess with extraordinary holy magic was a bigger threat.
That caught us all off guard. Not just me, but Force, Sofie, and Roslia too. As we kicked ourselves for not being prepared...someone else made a move.
“Hammer of Judgment!”
Neme and Roslia weren’t the only ones who’d been sidelined without their holy arts. Moreover, the Arrivers weren’t the only ones facing the demon now. The man who’d landed a hit heavy enough to rip open the demon’s torso was none other than the strongest war priest, Gilbert Einzach.
“You have my thanks, Arrivers.”
In one hand, he wielded a silver-white mace as big as a person. He was shrouded in a holy aura as he channeled more of his magic power. And behind him, his compatriots rose one after another. Thanks to Neme’s healing spell, the members of the Princess’s Legion had recovered enough to rejoin the battle.
With Enemy Search, I could sense that the demon had entered its second form the moment the magic sword was destroyed—but the Arrivers were prepared to take it on now that holy arts were back in play. Furthermore, the Princess’s Legion would be joining the fight now. It felt like we couldn’t lose.
The first round had been a battle between me and time. The second was between Erin and the demon’s sword. And now the third was upon us—the final tag-team round with the Arrivers and the Princess’s Legion against the boss of floor 21.