Returning to the desolate classroom, we found Heavenly Turtle Nahan still in the midst of casting a spell. The Sword of Conviction, Strass, remained in the hallway following his recent victories against the skeletons.
“Ah, could there be more enemies coming?” I asked.
Strass’s helmet turned toward me and nodded. Peering down the hallway, I saw four Night Skeletons sprawled on the ground. As I watched, they vanished one by one, turning into two blue gems each, for a total of eight gems.
Just as we rounded the corner, another four skeletons appeared. They quickly spotted us, drew their swords, and charged. Strass calmly unleashed another one of his shockwaves, and the skeletons fell to the floor in a clatter of bones.
“Are we stuck in some kind of endless loop? This would be great for experience points,” I muttered, and as soon as I said it, I thought of Mia. It was just the kind of thing she might say.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the next wave of skeletons stopped just short of the corner.
Behind the skeleton troops, I could hear voices—and although they were distant and muffled, I could understand them thanks to Many Tongues.
“Can you make out what they’re saying?” I asked Coeurl, curious. After all, he was a fellow monster.
“I cannot comprehend the conversations of the undead,” Coeurl responded, his ears drooping apologetically.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nahan was still uttering his long incantation, which reminded me of the Heart Sutra.
While our immediate goal might be a war of attrition, it would be crucial to whittle down the enemy’s forces whenever possible, especially since they could call on reinforcements.
Once we’d secured the Wedge, the need to augment our forces would become even stronger.
“Summon Familiar: Divine Winged Apostle Penusa,” I called. In response, the quintessence of an angel materialized inside the classroom. Her divine aura overshadowed even her physical allure—she wore a garment that looked like celestial robes, and above her luminescent white hair hovered a soft halo.
Legends speak of Penusa as a divine emissary, a beacon of salvation dispatched by the gods to alleviate the sorrows of the world.
“I am at your service, my lord. Command me as you wish,” she invited, and her voice sounded as if it was carried on a celestial melody.
“My request is for your protection over us here. Strass, your orders have changed: annihilate the enemies that are hiding around the bend in the hallway!”
The animated armor acknowledged with a metallic nod before sprinting away—a surprisingly swift occurrence given the heavy armor adorning his form.
Before Strass could engage the skeletons, Rushia successfully vanquished the Gevshar Helix Skeleton, prompting level-ups for both herself and Arisu.
Their victory also granted Rushia access to a derivative skill. “I’m choosing the synthesis of fire and water magic,” she decided.
Achieving Rank 9 in two separate magic attributes unveils the potential for composite magic—a fusion of two elements in which the whole is even more powerful than the sum of its parts.
After she’d decided what abilities to acquire, the discussion shifted to the synthesis of magic. “Shall we opt for Cold Inferno and Water Flare Shield?” These composite magics, although technically categorized as abilities, essentially enabled one to learn new spells. Just like frontline combat abilities, each had its own rank.
For instance, Cold Inferno, a spell that would have found itself right at home in a Dragon Quest manga, combined mana of ice and fire. Taking this spell up to Rank 3 allowed for a significantly more potent attack compared to its Rank 1 counterpart. However, it demanded a proportionally greater MP expenditure: 10 for Rank 1, 15 for Rank 2, and a steep 20 MP for Rank 3. Pairing this with mana release would result in an enormous consumption, necessitating careful management to mitigate the strain on the body. The balance between attack magic’s one-hit power and MP cost seemed strict, though one might wish for loopholes that allowed for easy victories without such considerations.
Water Flare Shield, much like Deflection, created a barrier embodying both fire and water attributes, and it offered formidable resilience. Given what we knew we would be facing soon, Rushia and I had already agreed we would need a defensive spell like that soon. Like Cold Inferno, this spell also scaled up to Rank 3, increasing MP consumption accordingly. Other potential skills included a sword imbued with fire and ice attributes and a bind combining fire and water—though prioritizing pure offensive and defensive capabilities seemed wise.
“Arisu, Tamaki, are you both managing things on your end?”
“Yeah, we can handle it! Just the two of us should be enough to push through!”
With Arisu and Tamaki holding down the fort, I asked Rushia to join us at the school building.
“All right, let’s continue as planned, then!” I said.
Now that we were getting closer to securing the Wedge, we had to start thinking about what we would do next—and that meant additional combatants were needed. Penusa’s role was to safeguard the group, while Strass would protect our forward position by preemptively dispatching any enemies lurking around the corner.
With the scene set, we all prepared for the challenges that lay ahead, each of us ready to play their crucial part in the unfolding battle.
The preparations in this area had been completed before we set off. Even if we could control the Wedge, its potential uses were unclear. Nonetheless, we absolutely had to get to it before our adversaries did. During it all, Arisu was accumulating plenty of skill points.
After a brief discussion of our strategy, we returned to our original position.
✦ ✦ ✦
When we arrived back in the classroom, we were greeted by the sound of clashing swords from down the corridor.
Oh, they’re on it, they’re on it…
Suddenly, the sound of leveling up resonated in my mind.
✦ ✦ ✦
“We meet again, Kazu!” Tamaki beamed enthusiastically.
“It’s always like this, but it feels kind of awkward and wasteful to come back to the White Room so soon, like there’s nothing to do.”
“Kazu, you’re such a penny-pincher…”
“Just leave me alone, Arisu.”
I quickly peeked into the hallway through the window.
The Sword of Conviction, Strass, had just defeated a skeleton near the corner and was now cutting deeper into the enemy ranks.
The sounds of sword fights echoed, mingled with the chanting of spells. As expected, it seemed there were enemy mages among them… but then the chanting abruptly stopped with a slash. Strass must have taken down a Mage Skeleton mid-incantation. And just like that, back to the White Room we went.
✦ ✦ ✦
This time, Tamaki and Rushia had leveled up.
Given that Arisu and Tamaki’s experience points were close, Rushia leveling up simultaneously suggested a significant amount of experience had been gained.
“Kazu! We took down a big bone!” Tamaki exclaimed.
“Yeah, Tamaki and I almost at the same time,” Arisu added.
Ah, they got a Gevshar Helix Skeleton on their side, too.
Whenever multiple monsters were defeated almost simultaneously, it seemed we all ended up in the White Room together due to the lump sum of experience points. The ambiguity of this system still baffled me a little.
“Grab the jewels, then come back here,” I advised. “There’s no need to engage with other monsters any more than we have to.”
The skeleton airborne troops were likely to continue invading the school, so there was no time to dawdle.
Since I hadn’t accumulated enough skill points yet, I decided to just check the essentials, then head back to the fight.
✦ ✦ ✦
As Strass returned, clanking in his armor with jewels in hand, the chanting of Heavenly Turtle Nahan finally concluded.
“There’s a vast space underneath this building…” he reported. “Something like a complicated labyrinth.”
Whatever kind of labyrinth might be down there, it really doesn’t matter to us.
“Can you dig through?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“All right, go ahead and start. Is this the best place to do it?”
“No, we need to go a bit further.”
The hallway was still safe for now. Following Nahan’s lead, we were about to move when Rushia appeared at the window.
“Perfect timing,” I greeted her. “Rushia, you’re coming with us.”
“The others should be getting here soon,” she said.
“We’re racing against time; it’s best if we hurry.”
Exiting the classroom, Nahan stopped in the middle of the hallway and began chanting a digging spell. Unlike before, the chanting finished quickly, and the floor in front of us began to disappear as if melting away.
“Kazu!” Tamaki called. She and Arisu had just entered the building through the windows of another classroom.
“Good timing, Arisu, Tamaki. We’re about to head underground.”
We all peered into the hole. It was pitch dark inside, so I activated night vision for everyone using the Deflection Spell from my night sight. About twenty meters down, it looked like there was a large stone-lined space.
“So there really is an underground…”
“I’ll go check it out!” Tamaki, who had gotten Wind Walk earlier, immediately jumped down—or rather, ran vertically down into the hole.
Hey, wait a minute! Ah, seriously, I’ve stressed this in the White Room so many times: don’t rush ahead!
“Let’s follow her. Nahan, give Wind Walk to Strass, too.”
“Will do.”
The Winged Apostle Penusa could fly on her own.
One by one, we descended into the hole.