Chapter 7
“SO THERE AREN’T ANY lesser demons, but these guys are here, huh?” Mira said.
“And they’re stronger than the ones outside! I wonder how strong they’ll be in the deepest part. This is looking promising!” Meilin added.
After ten or so minutes of searching the castle for a path that led underground, they occasionally came across the bizarre monsters. What’s more, they were clearly much more powerful than the ones they’d fought in the walled city.
That said, they were up against three of the Nine Wise Men, the top mages in all the land. So even if they were considerably more powerful, the monsters couldn’t harm any of them.
“Hm, strange… What is this…?”
And yet, something about them seemed to be bothering Wallenstein. Though he was able to eradicate the bizarre monsters with his impressive skills, something didn’t seem to be sitting right with him.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” Mira asked.
“It’s just that…” Wallenstein began.
Apparently, banishment spells didn’t seem to be working very well on the bizarre monsters. According to him, since he had a good idea of the monsters’ sizes and resistances, he should have been able to adjust the power of the flames he used to incinerate the monsters completely into ash. And yet, each time he used it, some parts of the monsters weren’t fully reduced to ash.
“Oh ho, that is a bit odd.”
On of the primary advantages of banishing was that it was particularly effective on most monsters, or anything possessing demonic power.
And yet, even the Spirit King didn’t appear to know much about these bizarre monsters. All they knew about the monsters, who had fought alongside the Monster-Ruling God and were both quite powerful and different from normal monsters, was that they all were shaped similarly and had a similar aura.
The Spirit King and Martel had said that, while they were indeed monsters, they were also somewhat different from typical monsters.
“Perhaps they have some kind of special ability or something. Or maybe they have some kind of resistance that we don’t know about,” Mira guessed while she looked at what remained of one of the monsters’ charred corpses.
She could tell that part of its corpse had been burnt white. That being visible was a sign that Wallenstein’s banishing spell had been effective, which meant that the bizarre monsters did indeed have demonic power.
But just like Wallenstein had said, part of it hadn’t been burnt into ash. The most plausible reason for this was simply that Wallenstein had made a miscalculation when he used the spell.
However, since he’d made those calculations hundreds of thousands of times, it didn’t seem very likely that he’d make such a simple mistake.
In which case, it was reasonable to conclude that the answer must have lain within the bizarre monsters themselves.
“Well, that certainly seems likely. After all, there’s still quite a lot that we don’t yet know,” Wallenstein said.
While they were still unsure of the reason behind this, it wasn’t as if they couldn’t defeat the monsters. And so, ever vigilant, Wallenstein incinerated what remained of the bizarre monster’s corpse.
“Good point. We may know a heck of a lot about spells, but given how we can only really wander about the human realm, we’re always gonna have a lot more questions than answers.”
They may have been members of the Nine Wise Men, who were celebrated as the top mages in all the land, but that didn’t mean they could rest on their laurels. Having said all this, Mira and Wallenstein decided to stop worrying and buckle down.
However, Meilin, who was going ahead of them, turned around and shouted back, “Quit chitchatting about all that obvious stuff, and hurry.” She’d said it as if impatiently wondering why they needed to discuss such things now and urged them to pick up the pace.
Perhaps because she was so intuitive, it was actually Meilin who figured things out the quickest. Looking at each other and then sharing a smile, Mira and Wallenstein did as Meilin ordered and dashed forward.
Figuring it better to be safe than sorry, they incinerated any of the bizarre monsters that happened to cross their path.
And so, quickly yet cautiously, Mira and her companions proceeded through the castle. And while they couldn’t find a passage that led underground, they relied on Meilin’s intuition and ran back and forth down the castle’s winding, maze-like passage.
If it didn’t work, then they’d just have to think up another way to handle the search.
Perhaps unable to bear seeing the exact same scenery over and over again, the Spirit King said in Mira’s head, “It seems like you’ve been running around in circles.”
“…I’ve been thinking that too,” Mira agreed.
Meilin’s intuition also seemed to have reached its limit. Perhaps they should discuss what their next plan might be?
And yet, just as Mira was thinking this…
“I thought this place was kind of weird,” Meilin said, stopping dead in the center of a passage that they’d passed through several times.
The passage was like some dark labyrinth. They must’ve gone past the same exact spot several times. This would normally make one think they were lost, but that wasn’t the case with Meilin. Having deliberately passed through the hall several times, she now spoke as if she were on to something.
“Oh ho, what do you mean by that?” Mira asked.
“What’s the matter? Did you find a trap or something?” Wallenstein added.
Their collective curiosity had been immediately piqued by Meilin’s reaction.
“Hmm, I feel like this place is the closest to getting there. Anywhere else just doesn’t feel right,” Meilin said.
Perhaps because she herself was relying on her intuition, she was struggling to explain what she meant by saying it felt weird. And while they didn’t really get it, they figured that there must have been something off about that area and began checking it out.
Meilin was most certainly not just trying to cover up the fact that she’d gotten them lost. Knowing this full well, Mira and Wallenstein joined her in searching the area for whatever was making her feel like something was off.
“Weird, you say… Then perhaps something is here,” Barbatos said, following his companions’ lead and searching the area for whatever might be there.
So, what on earth was this “weird” thing that Meilin had mentioned? Was it something physical? Without having so much as a hint, the group scanned the surrounding area.
Not knowing what exactly they were searching for, they spent about ten minutes looking around.
Then, even without knowing what this “weird” thing that they were looking for was, the group nevertheless began to figure that they were looking for some way to get underground in any case.
They then began closely inspecting the wall, checking for some kind of hidden passage.
“Huh… What’s this…?” Barbatos muttered, having noticed some faint marks on this wall.
“Oh ho, what is it?” Mira asked.
“Did you find something?” Wallenstein added.
“What happened?” Meilin asked last.
Perhaps because they’d been making so little headway, coupled with the heaviness of the mood, the group immediately seized on what Barbatos had muttered. Finally sensing a glimmer of hope, they rushed over to him.
Though he felt a bit of pressure at how excited the three got, Barbatos answered, “Well, it’s this spot right here…” while pointing to a specific part of the wall.
While it was extraordinarily old, there had apparently been demonic magic cast on it.
Barbatos continued on that, what’s more, he could figure out exactly what kind of magic had been used there. After a short moment of silence, he explained to them what he’d learned.
First off, the magic that’d been deployed there had been used for both sealing and concealing.
Next, there were very few who could use or detect this magic. In fact, only a single race could do so…namely demons.
“…There are no traces left of the mana that was used, so at the very least, this magic is well over a thousand years old. I’m curious as to what seal it is and why exactly it’s concealed, but the strangest part is this restriction on who can interact with it. If it was something they really wanted to hide, then they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to include a method of allowing anyone to interact with the seal. But they did exactly that,” Barbatos explained, adding that this was what he found most mysterious.
Having analyzed the magic, he’d figured out which group alone was able to interact with it. He found it quite curious that anyone of the same race as him could do so.
“…I get it now! Right now, dark demons and light demons are completely different. But Faust said before that he’d got caught in a trap that only allowed dark demons to pass through unhindered. So, if it only lets beings of the same race disable it…” Wallenstein said, having seemingly picked up on what Barbatos was implying.
Mira also more or less figured out what the situation now was.
“Hrmm, then you’re saying it must’ve been a light demon who placed that seal, correct?”
The seal used magic that only light demons could interact with. And seeing as Barbatos could do so, it stood to reason that the one who’d used the magic was none other than a fellow light demon.
But that brought them to the biggest question.
“That’s correct. However, this seal is at least well over a thousand years old. I managed to revert back to a light demon thanks to Wally and his comrades, but it’s safe to say that such methods of reverting demons to their original state only came about rather recently. And so, a thousand years ago, there ought to have only been dark demons around.”
This was true. As Barbatos had explained, the ability to transform dark demons into light demons was only possible thanks to a secret technique that Wallenstein and his comrades had devised as a result of extensive research.
Therefore, only dark demons should have existed during the time when the seal appeared to have been placed.
And yet, the magic there specifically targeted those of the same race as Barbatos. In other words, it was aimed at light demons.
So, what on earth was going on?
Having begun to ponder this, Mira suddenly struck on one possible answer.
“In that case, could that mean the seal is from even farther back…from before demons became dark?”
For some yet unknown reason, demons had become dark demons. And it was precisely because Mira knew about this that the idea occurred to her.
“Yes, exactly. That would make the most sense,” Wallenstein said, nodding in agreement.
He had apparently been thinking the same thing as well.
“I think so as well. But that’s exactly what makes this so confusing. What on earth would they have wanted to seal away…?”