“You’re joking,” spat Kaguya, lying flat on her back. Her arms trembled as she reached up, peeling the dazed Aiz off her stomach and tossing her aside. “Glutton’s swordplay? She’s supposed to be a mage!”
It was Alfia herself who provided the answer.
“I can reproduce any technique if I’ve seen it even once before,” she explained. “While I cannot pretend to possess Zald’s physicality, I can imitate his swordplay, at the very least.”
The girls of Astrea Familia couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Least of all Noin and Asta, who gulped in terror. As frontline fighters themselves, nobody understood better. The witch who stood before them made a mockery of hard work and effort.
“The Monstrously Gifted…” muttered Lyu.
“You’re not human!!” screeched Kaguya.
It was then that Gareth crawled to his feet. “No point in comparing yourselves to her, girls! She’s exceptional even by Hera’s standards! A mage who fights on the front lines, but not as a magic swordswoman! A category unto herself! An avatar of destruction, dominating with sheer talent!”
“I know not if that is insult or praise, dwarf, but it is noise either way.”
Alfia tired of the adventurers’ words, and raised Aiz’s sword to shoulder height, testing its weight.
“This weapon does not suit me, after all,” she said. “How ridiculous it looks in these twigs I call my arms. You may have it back.”
She tossed the sword, dumping it carelessly onto the ground at Aiz’s feet. The golden-haired girl stooped and took Desperate in both hands, her brow dripping with sweat.
“My heart’s pounding… I’ve never felt scared of another person before!”
“Rest assured, I despise your kind as well, girl. All I ever evoke in the eyes of children…is fear.”
A wave of sound marked the recommencement of hostilities. Aiz and the other adventurers did their best to leap out of the line of fire.
A horrifying melody of silence. Swordplay, magical ability, inborn talent: none of it mattered against the Monstrously Gifted. She was the storm, and all the adventurers were the sailors clinging to their ship for dear life. That was simply how powerful Hera’s Level 7 was.
“Alize! Girls! Get back!”
“The chant’s complete! Get ready!”
Lyana and Celty shouted, their voices cutting through Alfia’s ceaseless barrage. As back-rank fighters, they had been spared the brunt of the attacks so far. Together with Riveria, they raised their staffs, unleashing a vortex of magical energy.
“Wynn Fimbulvetr!”
Fire, lightning, and three blasts of arctic wind that far outclassed the rest. This magical bombardment could fell a floor boss, but all Alfia did was extend her arm and speak a single word.
“Ataraxia.”
The magic dispersed as though colliding with an invisible wall.
“Wh-what the…?!”
“All our projectiles are being nullified just before impact!”
Celty’s and Lyana’s faces paled.
“Grh!” Riveria scowled. “She can use that barrier even after she’s just cast a different spell!”
The mages had timed their combination attack for the precise moment it would be impossible to block—right after Alfia had unleashed her magic on the frontline fighters of Astrea Familia. Alfia, however, had seamlessly pivoted to defense in mere moments.
“You never learn, do you?” Alfia said. “How many times do I have to silence your paltry spells? I was under the impression the elves were a wise race, young one. Is that not the case?”
“Young one?! I’m older than you!!”
Of course, Alfia was by far Riveria’s senior when it came to adventuring, and the high elf understood that. That didn’t stop the witch’s remark cutting her to the bone.
“That makes it worse,” Alfia shot back. “It means your years have taught you nothing, you ill-tempered spinster.”
The high elf snarled, her anger so plain that it startled the young Aiz, who jumped in fright.
“Rrrrrrrrrrrrghhh!!”
“Don’t lose your head!” cautioned Gareth. “To think that anyone could set you off like Aina did…”
But more concerned than anyone else by Riveria’s outburst were her fellow elves.
“Lady Riveria’s lost it!” cried Celty.
“Wh-what do we do?!” asked Lyu.
“Drop the comedy act, numbskulls! We’re in the middle of a fight, here!”
Lyra chided the two elves, then turned her attention back to her foe, a cold sweat making its way down her neck and into her clothing.
Still, that high elf is right; her abilities are crazy! She can put up a wall so quickly after batterin’ us with spells!
It was unreasonable. It was unfair. It defied magical common sense. Even Alfia’s level wasn’t enough to explain it.
There’s supposed to be limits to what ultrafast casting can achieve! She’s practically castin’ two spells at the same time!
Such a feat was supposed to be impossible. One of the central rules of spellcraft stated that spells could not be cast without performing the corresponding chant. And it was impossible to recite two chants at once, no matter what rare skills a mage possessed. If one tried, the words would become muddled and both spells would fail.
“There’s gotta be some trick to what she’s doin’! How’s she able to mix offense and defense so easily?!”
Lyra glared at the witch, unable to unravel her mysteries. Alfia looked down on her with disappointment and spoke a single word.
“Gospel.”
This spell contained more energy than all the previous ones. Sound transformed into pure destruction, breaking the ground apart and sending everything flying.
“It’s a wide-area attack!!”
“We can’t evade it!!”
“Grrrrrhhhh!!”
Alize, Lyra, Lyu, and the other girls of Astrea Familia were engulfed in the blast. The entire floor shook, and the sound of shattering crystals filled the air.
Soon, only the distinct sound of a tuning fork lingered. The dust cleared…revealing two dwarves, protecting the party with their shields.
“E-Elgarm, you saved us…” stuttered Neze, seeing the old dwarf’s damaged state.
“Is everyone okay? You did well, too, young one.”
Gareth’s words were directed at Asta, who stood alongside him, her own shield up and at the ready.
“W-well, I’m a dwarf, too, after all…!” she replied.
“Do you have a spare shield? I’m afraid this one won’t do anymore.”
“O-of course! Here you go!”
“Appreciated. However, I fear for our prospects. We shall have no weapons or armor at this rate…”
Gareth tossed aside his shield, of which very little now remained, and Noin passed him a new one. Alfia was burning through their equipment faster than a floor boss. The party’s sound-cancelling accessories could only accomplish so much. One look at Asta’s full plate made this obvious, seeing how it was cracked from head to toe.
“There’s no gap in her attacks to exploit!” cried Riveria. “And there’s not much time! Soon—!”
But right on cue, there was a sound so loud it outclassed even the Level 7’s spells.
“Another attack from below! It’s a big one!” cried Kaguya, barely managing to stay upright. But she didn’t get another word out before an enormous explosion drowned out all sound.
Like a waterfall in reverse, a column of fire erupted from the ground, spanning the entire height of the cavern.
“It’s coming through the ground!” cried Aiz, raising her arms to shield her face from the blistering heat.
“What is this monster supposed to be, a volcano?!” yelled Lyra. She watched as the great tree at the floor’s center was consumed by the flames and crumbled to ash.
“There’s a big hole in the center of the floor!” shouted Lyu.
The attack left a void about twenty meders in diameter, and a rumble like the horns of heaven announcing the creature’s arrival.
The adventurers all turned to stare at the abyss in shock.
“Oh no… It’s here!”
“…A demon wreathed in flames,” Alfia calmly declared.
And then…
“The Dungeon’s cry made manifest. A monster’s first birthday.”
“Grh…!!”
A divine voice wormed its way through the labyrinth of suffering until it reached Lyu. She spun to face its source.
“The birth of evil. A nightmare made real. In the name of primordial darkness, I have upheld my oath.”
Framed against a pillar of flames that seemed to go on without end, a single figure approached, a contingent of troops at his back. Lyu froze when she saw him, and her lips trembled.
“It’s you… Erebus…!”
The dark god stepped out of the veil of scarlet and into stark relief.
“Here I am,” he said. “And I brought the apocalypse with me.”
Three pillars of flames erupted behind him, and a harbinger of destruction climbed out of the abyss.