Chapter 4: The Hero’s Retreat and the Saintess’s Rumor ④ (The Mithril Monster)
When the Mithril First swung its folding sword, it was never revealed during the battle that an acceleration-type time magic was at work. All I felt was despair at how fast it was—nothing more. This was the Labyrinth of Time, and given the prior knowledge that our enemy could use time magic, perhaps I should have anticipated such a situation.
However, aside from Sword Saint Eris, how were we supposed to respond when the enemy attacked in ways we couldn’t perceive? Ultimately, it could be said that we were left with no options—no, perhaps we could have considered retreating before the damage escalated in the early stages of the battle.
The ultra-fast attacks scraped across the room from one end to the other, producing a horrifying screech. The party composition meant nothing in the face of such overwhelming force.
Yet, amidst this desperate struggle, it was a small relief that no woman screamed in panic. However, it was true that a mysterious figure’s scream of “Uwaaaah!!” echoed through the air, and that person collapsed, paralyzed with fear and wet themselves—
Regardless, for Eliza, who was focused almost entirely on the enemy monster in order to survive this crisis, he was already beyond consideration. What was needed now was just one thing: how to deal damage to the enemy.
Calculating with the strength of Caduceus, it seemed utterly impossible to inflict damage on the Mithril, which likely had some magical buff applied to it.
Naturally, it felt like too much of a burden even for the newly minted S-rank Wandering Zephyranthes.
Eliza would soon regret this even further.
Why hadn’t she taken stock of the strengths of the other members of the Hero Party? Regret was futile at this point.
The battle had already begun, and thanks to the capable healers accompanying the two parties with the heroes, there were no fatalities, but many were injured, including some seriously.
The Hero Party consisted of twelve members. Already, half of them were incapacitated.
If the Holy Knight, deemed incompetent by everyone, had been here, he would have quickly discerned what the party’s greatest miscalculation was. But he was not present.
One of the Three Divine Myth Stones, known for its highest hardness, is the Divine Stone (Orichalcum).
Eris had once fought alongside her master in the labyrinth against the fearsome monsters known as the Moving Board (Check Mates)—among them, the most powerful was the Queen of Divine Stone (Orichalcum Queen), whom she had defeated and torn apart along with her Orichalcum whip. So, to her, the likes of Mithril was something she could never utter in words.
This was because there were two significant differences between the Eris of then and the Eris of now.
The first was that she was simply lacking in her swordsmanship. After conquering the Blade Labyrinth, Eris had been wearing a somewhat gloomy expression, but upon returning from training with the Hero and the Guild, her face had lost even more vitality. This was evident in her swordplay.
The second was that for some reason, she was unable to wield the Holy Sword passed down to her by her master, Ryuguin. One of the two swords hanging at her waist was the Holy Sword, a national treasure of the Arcana Kingdom—but while she carried it, she was unable to draw it.
If she were to draw it—
After a while, Sword Saint Eris deflected the folding sword, and the deflected blade was blocked by Jessica, the tank of Caduceus, and Tommy of Wandering Zephyranthes. Even so, some attacks slipped through, but the healers from the two accompanying parties managed to restore balance.
By that time, the Hero had finally calmed down and issued a command to Angelica, who had been eagerly awaiting his instructions.
“Ange! Use that lightning magic! Burn it to ashes!”
The Hero shouted his command, but in reality, he had no idea what kind of magic Sage Angelica could use; he merely instructed her to use the most impressive spell he had seen.
“Understood, Hero-sama!”
However, the diligent Sage Angelica nodded in response. Watching her from the side, Eliza found it strange that the supposedly intelligent Sage Angelica was so fixated on the Hero’s command.
Yet—Eliza shook her head three times to dispel her uneasy premonition.
No way. I’m overthinking this. That can’t be true. After all—Angelica, known as the Sage who surpasses all sages, had once been the talk of the town for having obliterated a super-class monster known as the Angel with a single strike of her lightning magic, which she was now chanting right before our eyes.
However, Eliza couldn’t shake her doubts and only grew more anxious as her thoughts became increasingly chaotic. Meanwhile, the other party members were relieved, believing they could finally escape the dungeon.
It was then that it happened.
The body of Mithril First wavered. At first, Eliza thought she was mistaken. It wasn’t uncommon for one’s vision to blur under extreme concentration during battle.
In the Nexbee Labyrinth, deemed the most challenging in human history, a mere second of misjudgment could lead to fatal consequences.
The wavering form of Mithril First solidified. It was the moment a second Mithril First was born.
Despair loomed before Eliza and the others.
What they couldn’t handle as one was now two—
As nearly all the members of the accompanying parties grasped what had just happened, they braced themselves for death. But despair continued. The true despair arrived in the next moment.
In the hands of the newly born Mithril First were not folding swords, but shining white Mithril spears. Without any preparation, it spun its shoulder around. That was all it needed.
The silver spear was thrown with terrifying speed.
As a streak of light, it struck Jessica, the main tank of Caduceus, and pierced through her shield without resistance, impaling her abdomen. Yet, the momentum did not wane, and it lodged itself into the door of the boss room, along with her.
The Mithril First, as if signaling that its warm-up was over, spun its shoulder around once more—at the same time, it launched another spear.
This one pierced through Tommy’s shield, which had been functioning as a secondary defense, and impaled her against the wall near the entrance.
Thud.
Tommy’s heavy shield slid off the spear that had pinned her.
All of this transpired in less than a minute.
This isn’t good! I need to focus on the battle—Eliza gritted her teeth and returned her gaze to the monster. In the hands of the Mithril First, there were already two spears that had been thrown.
The Mithril First spun its shoulder around for the third time.
—Booom!!
The spear, thrown at a speed surpassing the previous one, sliced through the air with a sound, targeting a member of the Hero Party—
“Ah—”
Angelica, the only one deemed capable of defeating the enemy when considering the party’s attack power—was pierced through the abdomen by the first spear—and before she could even react, the second spear was thrown and pierced through her chest, where her lungs were.
Gulp.
Blood-soaked, Angelica collapsed to the ground.
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