147 - - defeat and withdrawal

"No way ............ such ............."　

"What's going on?

Rummella's lips trembled in disbelief at the unexpected turn of events.

Kugase, who had been catching his breath next to Rummelera, let out a bubbly cry.

The black queen ant's body, exhausted, and Stratchia clinging to the sword that is stuck deep into its head.

Behind the scene, which seems to have been completely settled.

Behind the scene that seems to have been completely settled, an unbelievable situation is unfolding in the huge black roots buried in the back wall.

The rapidly swelling epidermis burst open and a shadowy mass emerged from beneath it.

Slowly, the mass begins to narrow and take on a familiar shape.

Six legs extend from the center of the three-segmented body, and the head sharply points out, giving rise to jaws and antennae.

With a faint movement, four black wings spread from its back.

A new queen is born from the large miasma pit, in a black frenzied state, just like the carcass that is lying on the ground.

This nightmarish situation was hard for the girls to accept, since they had been so sure of their victory until just now.

With eyes wide open, they are lost for words, unable to think.

It was Ninessa who brought them back to their senses with a gasping breath.

"...... calm down. It's not necessarily that there's only one ...... master of the labyrinth. ......"

"Miss Nine!"

"Sister Ninessa!"

Thanks to the fur of the flame beast, he can handle the high temperatures generated by the magic he unleashes, but he can't help himself until he runs out of oxygen.

The vice captain quickly assesses the situation as he rushes to get air into his lungs.

In the previous search, he had only confirmed the true master of the labyrinth, but he had heard that a phenomenon of backflow of the miasma had occurred after that.

It was thought to be due to the fact that the labyrinth master of the fifth layer had been defeated, but it is possible that he may have released the surplus that was no longer needed.

In other words, the labyrinth was originally prepared to summon multiple labyrinth heads against the intruders.

In the first place, it is not so rare that several labyrinth keepers are summoned.

Sacco, my uncle, once told me that he had to kill four giant centipedes.

With a small grit in her teeth, Ninessa flicked the wooden stopper of the container with her finger in rapid succession and slurped down three bottles of magic restorative in one gulp.

The current status of Ninessa's magic power was very low due to the upper branch magic technique she had just performed.

She is now struggling to endure the pain in her head that feels like it is going to crack and the nausea.

And the curse has reduced the number of times he can use the spell, so he can't shoot any more today no matter how hard he tries.

Judging from his terrible complexion, Rummella seems to be in the same state of deficiency.

Kugase still seems to have some magic left, but his trembling legs indicate that his physical strength is near its limit.

And Stratchia, the most important one, seems to have completely exhausted her strength, and is only breathing heavily while clinging to her sword.

"...... We have no choice but to retreat. But time is running short."

Already the body of the second queen ant is almost formed.

After reaching a conclusion in the space of a breath, Ninessa called out to the only man in a sane state in the room.

"Mr. Thor,...... can you give me 30 seconds of your time?"

"Is that enough?"

One minute.

Three minutes. You can do something with that."

Okay. Please do."

The girls, who had been listening to the exchange between the two, took a breath and shouted in astonishment.

"............ huh?

"What are you talking about?　Miss, old man!"

Thor, with his backpack pressed against Kugase's outstretched hand as he reaches out to grab it, walks directly to the back of the room.

Staggering under the weight of the bag, the brown-horned girl hurriedly called out to the back of the bag.

"Old man, at least give me a solution to this problem!"

"I don't want it. Just help him."

Pointing with his thumb at Stratchia, who still had white smoke rising from her armor, Thor drew the sword at his waist.

Then Rummella's urgent cries followed him.　

"What are you doing, you idiot!　I don't have enough magic power to heal you anymore. Come back quickly!"

At the girl's desperate command, Thor turns slightly to give a profile.

A gentle smile appears on his lips.

Then he turns around and closes the distance with the queen ant.

Unable to bear the obvious and hopeless result, Rummella looks away with a sad moan.

"I've missed you, sister!"

"Just get on with it and restore the prince's strength."

Rummella raised her face, which was stained with vermilion, and glared at Ninessa coldly.

The girl was well aware of the fact that if she did not escape now, she would be annihilated.

But it was absolutely wrong to force them to use disposable decoys like this.

Even if he is an adventurer on the verge of retirement.

And the most annoying thing was my weakness to accept such a situation in some corner of my mind.

I must not repeat the same mistakes as before.

Rummella wiped away the tears of regret that had been welling up in her eyes and fixed her gaze on the scene.

What we need to do now is not to condemn, but to find the best way out of this situation.

To the girl who was about to open her mouth in haste, the red-haired beauty spoke back as if admonishing her.

"So calm down, Ram. What is the reason for your being here?"

"What do you mean, ......?"

"You're trying to help everyone. Then at least do your job. Don't let me down."

When Rummella held her breath at the unexpected words, Ninessa added more.

"And you are the one who is missing out."

"What?"

"Look, look."

The girl looked fearfully back at the tip of Ninessa's lifted chin.

Her eyes widen to their fullest at the unbelievable sight that unfolds once again.

A tired, middle-aged man, who had to have been tired, was braving the onslaught of the black queen ants.

The black mass flying at high speed is closing in on Thor.

Just as it seems to collide with Thor, his body has already finished moving to a safe position, and at the same time, the tips of the monster's antennae fly off.

"What!"

As I recall, Thor's sword was a cheap piece of white hard copper.

There was no way he could slice the body of a queen ant, which is as hard as a vajra stone, by any chance.

Just as Rummella was thinking that, the tip of the queen ant's front leg was sliced off.

"Why, why ......?"

"I didn't tell you, but he's the prince's brother. But I didn't think he'd go this far. ...... That's great. ......"

Although they both looked up to Dadaan as their master, there was a clear difference between the swords of the two students.

Stratchia used a gracefully curving sword that could be easily blocked.

Thor, on the other hand, uses a straight, offensive sword with minimal waste.

Thor, who has just barely discerned the huge body approaching at high speed, moves the shortest distance at an unbelievable speed while avoiding with paper-thin precision.

He exhales as he steps forward and strikes the blade at the exact spot where he has sighted it.

At the moment of impact, he tightens the inside of his hand and concentrates his maximum strength on a single point.

A high-pitched sound is produced, and the monster's black, glowing body cracks and shatters.

Kongo-seki, from which the Kongo-ants get their name, is insanely hard, but surprisingly fragile upon impact.

But the black Kongo-seki overcomes even this weakness.

The outer shell boasts the strongest hardness and toughness.

However, it was still not perfect.

As the ants' shells are crystalline bodies, there are always knots in them.

Thor had accurately aimed and struck a point in the midst of the fierce battle, a point that is even difficult to grasp with the eyes of an ordinary person.

For twenty-five years he has wielded his sword almost without a break.

His opponents are moles, birds, small demons, and other weaklings worthy of the Midori-okashi class.

But the target is of no importance.

What is important is the fact that he has wielded his sword repeatedly.

Sharply and precisely.

The groundwork that has been built up by his enormous training will blossom from the battles with strong opponents that he has met in the past three months.

What Thor has lacked so far is an opponent with whom he can wield his sword with all his heart.

They were evenly matched, and already Thor was surpassing even the true master of the labyrinth.

The queen ants fly around furiously, but their attacks are not even grazed. On the contrary, the tips of their wings and legs are being lost little by little.

It looked as if the queen would win the battle, but unfortunately, the time that a human can move at full strength is not so long.

Moreover, even though the sword was struck at high speed, the sword was reaching its limit.

With a light touch, the tip of Thor's sword finally shatters.

Almost instantly, he feels the power in his body disappear.

Reaching his limit, Thor falls to his knees and exhales deeply.

Then, without mercy, the queen ants attack to finish off their exhausted prey.

But it seems that the expected time has been bought enough.

At that moment, Thor's ears were filled with the words of a prayer.

"Scatter and bewilder, O leaves of the tree of fire... ."

The next moment, Thor's body shakes several times.

The phantoms that suddenly appeared, all looking exactly like Thor, stood up and began to move at once.

One after another, they kicked the ground and walls and attacked the queen ants.

This magical technique is the hidden gem of Ninessa, who has dramatically increased the survival rate of the "Platinum Flame" until now.

and can create a large number of illusions for only one minute.

The shadow of Thor, cut by the wings of the queen ant, splits into two and each moves as a new phantom.

The endlessly growing shadows keep the monster skillfully at its mercy.

The phantoms do not have the strength to fight at all, so they do not gain a single wound, but they are allies enough to buy time.

A soft, warm sensation rushes up from inside Thor, who has been crouching down.

He looks up to see Rummella nodding her head, her face wet with tears.

Thor, having regained his strength, nodded back and ran to the exit of the room.