Chapter 18
“MIRA, I’M GOING TO USE the King of Seals. Protect me!” Wallenstein explained simply, having made a beeline for Mira and rushed straight to her side. He then immediately began preparing to use the spell.
It was a Veiled Art which used extremely powerful banishing magic to create a barrier through which monsters, fiends, demons, and anything with demonic power couldn’t pass.
“Great, you’re here. That’s exactly what I was hoping for!” Mira said, perceiving what he was planning just from those words.
Calling back Alfina and dispelling the holy knights that were fighting on the front lines, she then resummoned them around Wallenstein.
Wallenstein then began giving off vast amounts of mana, which he began converting to banishing power shortly thereafter.
Immediately afterward, all of the fiends in the area—including those that would’ve been planning their escape—turned their eyes toward Wallenstein.
Once that spell was complete, it’d be over for them. Or at least that was what the fiends’ remaining instincts were screaming. They needed to stop him, no matter what.
And so, the fiends attacked Wallenstein with even greater ferocity than they’d yet exhibited.
“I thought they’d come! Intercept them!”
Thanks to the rain that Undine and Anrutine were working to bring down together, the effect of the balls of fire that were raining down from afar had been mitigated.
Next, Alfina took care of any fiends that made it through and then leaped into battle against the ones that stood directly before her.
Nearby, Fenrir had slowed down several demons in their tracks using [Gleipnir].
And coming in from behind, Eizenfald attacked the fiends, who now both moved and attacked more slowly.
If they had any sense, they wouldn’t have allowed themselves to be so hopelessly outmaneuvered. And yet, having fallen back into exclusive reliance on instinct, they had turned their backs on the baleful imperial dragon.
What’s more, Christina and her sisters had stopped several other fiends, such that their charge had now effectively been halted.
Even so, they couldn’t possibly hold back dozens of fiends, and so several of the ones that managed to slip through drew toward Wallenstein.
“You shall not pass!” Mira cried.
“You won’t get to Mr. Emo!” Meilin added.
Waiting on the last line of defense was Mira along with Meilin, who’d made it back quicker than the fiends.
The pair then unleashed simultaneous crushing blows to either side of a fiend that was making a beeline to attack Wallenstein.
Having been hit with the attack, the fiend howled in pain and lurched forward. And yet, because it was tougher now, it held its ground. Straightening itself up, it quickly shot a blast of fire from its mouth.
It’d been aiming for Wallenstein and had shot it at great speed right after Mira and Meilin had unleased their attacks, such that they couldn’t block it.
“This one’s tough!”
“In that case, take this!”
Mira and Meilin ignored the flames erupting near Wallenstein and continued attacking.
Figuring that now was the perfect opportunity, Mira whipped one of her newly developed blasting stones into the fiend’s open mouth. Next, Meilin slipped beneath the fiend and, stomping so powerfully that the earth split beneath her feet, drove herself powerfully into its abdomen.
Having been launched high into the air, the fiend then burst into smithereens a few moments later. Afterward, the air was filled with lights which glittered like colorful explosions in the sky.
Having seen the entire thing right in front of him, Wallenstein commented, “You may be acting like it was no big deal, but that attack was pretty gruesome…” His face tensed up as he continued preparing the spell.
Meanwhile, Mira’s holy lords stood surrounding him with their massive shields raised. It would be no mean feat to breach the ring of steel around him. Even a powered-up fiend couldn’t hope to break through it, unless they managed an absolutely perfect blow.
Furthermore, so long as he had Mira and Meilin beside him, they weren’t likely to land any such blow.
Perhaps because of this, Wallenstein was able to focus on preparing the spell. If he did get a tiny bit distracted, it was to see the results of the dangerous combat tests taking place just in front of him.
And then, several minutes after this fierce fighting began, something happened.
“You, who hath disturbed the King’s slumber and entered this sanctuary of tranquility. Shall anything demonic step foot here, know that the path before you shall lead only to ruin.
Beyond here is the path of no return, and abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
In the prison of the void, may ye await the judgment of the unforgiving persecutor.”
[Banished Arts: Guardian of the Sealed Royal Tomb]
Having finished preparing the spell, Wallenstein chanted the incantation while activating his banishing powers.
A single ray of light shot high into the air, and everyone looked up at its incredibly bright glow.
It then burst high up in the sky, at which point the light which spilled from it washed over the land below. And the moment it did, an incredibly powerful barrier was created.
This barrier’s border consisted of light as white as snow. It was a barrier that kept in everything demonic, setting it up as the area where the final battle against the fiends would take place.
“Now we can fight without having to worry.”
Wallenstein’s barrier was complete, and so now they didn’t need to worry about any collateral damage to nearby areas. Nor were they concerned about how to handle fiends that were thinking about making a run for it.
Now, there was but one thing to do: eliminate every last one of the fiends that they had sealed within the barrier.
“I wouldn’t have expected any less, Mr. Emo! All right, we’ll be back!”
Now there was no need to worry about protecting the surrounding areas or keeping the fiends from escaping. And so, eager to fight her heart out, Meilin headed straight for the reichengiebel, as if it were obvious that that was what she’d take on first.
“I was hoping we might work together a little more, but oh well. If she can bring down the toughest one by herself, then I suppose I ought to let her.”
“True. Like this, the two of us should be more than enough to deal with the rest of them.”
Like usual, Meilin had pranced off before they even had a chance to stop her. Watching her go, Mira and Wallenstein went to deal with the fiends making their way toward them.
Perhaps because Wallenstein had activated his spell, the fiends’ ferocious attack was somewhat lessened. And now, it seemed that they had grown fearful of Eizenfald and Fenrir again, and about half of them began to flee.
Up until a moment ago, they would’ve hurriedly pursued them so that they didn’t manage to escape, and yet with the barrier up, the number of fiends attacking them had dropped quite a bit. Actually, those fiends having run away was working in their favor.
“All right, then how about we start with the ones in front?”
“Sure, we’ll handle the closest ones first.”
But right as they were about to get started, time was up.
“Oh no, Miss Mira, I apologize. It seems time is already up. Well, then, happy hunting,” said Fenrir, who still had several limitations placed upon him. Because of these, he could only be summoned for a certain amount of time.
Having informed Mira of this, Fenrir was dismissed as if he’d been forcibly sent away. This also meant that the fiends that he had been fighting up until then were now free.