Chapter 275: Infiltrating the Castle
“Wow, so this is…”
El, looking around with keen interest, was momentarily overlooked as we gazed down at the Majin Tribe’s Castle from the back of the mountain, a place we hadn’t visited in several days. The ground surrounding us was a reddish-brown, and as before, not a single blade of grass could be seen. The sky above remained as gray as we had last seen it.
“Well, let’s head down to the castle.”
“Right. First, we should aim for that room where the Summoning Array was located.”
“Exactly. It would be nice if the hole we made when we escaped was still there.”
Even if it had been repaired, we knew the location, so we could just create another hole if necessary. With a determined flick of magic, we floated gently into the air, and Nil grew to a suitable size, allowing Ivan and Phonia to mount his back. As we soared toward the castle, El kicked off the ground and leapt into the air behind us. Although El had a status more attuned to magic, it seemed she couldn’t manipulate Gravity Magic, preventing her from flying like us.
As we approached the castle from above, the scene within the castle walls came into view. Scattered around the outbuildings were the fallen forms of both monsters and members of the Majin Tribe.
“Is that the building where the Summoning Array was?”
“Looks like it. I didn’t think the ones we sent in were that strong, though…”
The Majin Tribe members we had previously appraised had impressively high statuses. While we hadn’t assessed the monsters we sent, I doubted they could defeat the Majin Tribe. Yet, seeing several of them down and nearby monsters as well, it was clear they had been defeated.
“Could it be that they were granted some kind of power when summoned?”
“Huh? Oh, right, Shu and the others experienced something similar, didn’t they?”
As Rio pondered aloud, Ivan chimed in.
“That seems plausible. If it was a god, they might view humans and monsters equally.”
“Let’s make our way to the Summoning Array while we can.”
“Agreed.”
Fortunately, it seemed all the monsters had ventured outside, and there was no sign of them within the outbuilding. There appeared to be a few Majin Tribe members inside, but we should try to avoid them as much as possible.
“The hole we made before… Is it blocked up?”
“Looks like it. But wouldn’t it be faster to enter from here?”
“Is there really no option to enter through the main route? If we make a hole, stealth will be out the window…”
Ivan pointed out, but since we were aiming to be as discreet as possible, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem as long as we weren’t noticed immediately.
“I think speed is more important than stealth right now.”
I wanted to destroy the Summoning Array as quickly as possible. So, I quickly cast a Soundproof Barrier and began to excavate the ground, placing it into the Dimensional Box.
“Alright, let’s go.”
As I looked around, everyone nodded in agreement. However, El tilted her head in confusion.
“Is something wrong?”
“Um…”
When Rio called out to her, El hesitated, twisting her head to the side.
“It’s too conspicuous here. Let’s go inside first.”
“That makes sense.”
Realizing it wasn’t wise to discuss things in such an obvious spot, we all moved into the storage room. Of course, I made sure to cover the ground we had taken with the Dimensional Box.
“So, what’s the issue?”
El raised her index finger and concentrated for a moment, igniting a flame at its tip.
“I finally got it to work… But magic is really hard to use here.”
“Is that so?”
I tried to manifest various spells at the tips of my five fingers.
“It feels pretty normal to me.”
“I can do it too!”
Phonia lit a flame at her fingertip as well, showing no signs of struggle.
“By the way, didn’t the god mention something about skill systems?”
Rio suddenly recalled, and memories resurfaced.
“Yeah, they said some skills might not be usable.”
“Wh-what?!”
El’s face lit up with surprise, but her gaze shifted from her own hands to us.
“Did you all practice?”
“Nope, the god made it so we could use them.”
“Huh?”
El looked bewildered, but it didn’t seem to be a critical issue, which was a relief. It might be important for her, but all I could do was encourage her to work hard. Still, it felt like the term “master” was becoming more ingrained in her vocabulary.
“Anyway, shall we move on?”
Looking around, I noticed some supplies had been brought in. Inside, just like before, there were Tungsten Ore. Perhaps it was a specialty of this country.
“I’ll take some again.”
“You’re merciless, you know.”
“The Majin Tribe is our enemy, so it can’t be helped.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“There’s a door over here too?”
Just as I was about to step into the hallway, Phonia discovered another door at the back of the storage room.
“Oh, I didn’t notice that before. I wonder what’s behind it?”
I tried to gauge the layout beyond the door, and it seemed to lead to a small room. The back room of the storage area piqued my curiosity. I casually broke the lock and peered inside. Just like the storage room, there were boxes, but they contained similar ores.
“Was there treasure in there?”
Phonia asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, but I had no idea what these ores were. When I appraised them, they came up as “Obstacion,” a name I had never heard before. Nevertheless, our mission remained unchanged.
“I’m not sure what it is, but it might be treasure hidden in the back.”
“Treasure, treasure!”
As I patted Phonia’s head in delight, we decided to leave the storage room and head toward the room with the Summoning Array.