Chapter 94

Volume 3 Chapter 24: The Spirits and the Relaxed Spirit

When Nectar raised his wand in order to fight the strange creatures that the spirit has produced, he could hear the sound of something breaking.

The tremors were so strong that the space itself was shaking violently, its ripples ready to swallow both Nectar and the spirit that was standing before him.

Having realized that, Nectar erected a protective barrier around him in order to protect himself.

Additionally, he could feel that there was something else in the room with them, something that made his skin crawl with fear.

It was then that the stiff Nectar saw volumes of thick and milky-white fog overflowing from somewhere around the back of the room which was covered in darkness.

As soon as it filled the corridor, the guardians of the floor began to act strange, before they eventually shut down and stopped moving.

Nectar was hesitant as to what he should do, but faced with both the spirit and the mysterious fog, he ultimately decided to turn around and run away from the corridor as fast as he could.

There was a loud sound of the siren ringing all over the place, probably signaling the emergency situation.

The appearance of the fog might have triggered the dungeon’s defense mechanisms, so they might be able to hold it back.

And even though the spirit was still there, the only thing Nectar was able to think about was that white fog.

It was slowly filling the entire corridor, to the point where it was about to clash with the defense barriers.

Suddenly, the protective barriers were scattered into pieces, and there was an explosion of white light, strong enough to force Nectar to squint his eyes.

The fog was still there, having completely eradicated the dungeon’s defense mechanisms.

It looked as though the protective barriers were sucked right into the white fog, broken and left without the slightest trace.

「No way, the spells were nullified!?」

The creature that the spirit has drawn tried to stop the mist from spreading.

Then the spirit brandished her brush again, this time turning her summoned creatures into a firm wall.

Her eyes seemed to have a golden glow to them at them moment, as opposed to moments earlier.

「That should do it, for a little while at least.」

Immediately after saying that the walls beside them crumbled away, eerie white fog spitting from inside of them.

Seeing that, Nectar swung his staff and cast the spell in a hurry.

「Wind Wall!」

It was one of the strongest defensive spell that ancient language could weave, but when it collided with the fog, it broke down as if it was a mere party trick.

The white fog was creeping closer and closer to them.

If that continued, Nectar and the spirit would be pushed into a dead-end with no way of escaping.

But Nectar couldn’t let that happen.

After all, he had a home and a certain dragon that was waiting for him to come back safely.

While Nectar was struggling to find a solution from this situation, he could see a sign of Teleportation spell appearing right in front of him.

From that circle, a song could be heard.

There was no lyrics to accompany it, but its range and volume were incredible, as was the magic power carried with it.

Nectar than realized that it was magic, and that magi was managing to keep the fog at bay.

Next, a young man carrying a lute stepped out of the circle, accompanied by a huge man with a huge two-handed sword on his back.

It took Nectar mere seconds to recognize that the young man was the one and the same that he had met in town not so long ago.

The young man smiled at the spirit with paintbrushes.

「Pallet, I came to help. Where is Belga?」

「She’s up ahead, fighting the intruders. What happened to our employer?」

「It’s really sad, but since he went back on his word, I had to take care of him.」

The spirit called Palette answered the young man, and then he turned around, noticing Nectar’s presence for the first time.

He smiled in a truly sad way.

「Ah, I see. So you are the companion of that dragon.」

「Do you know Lava?」

He did not answered that question, instead turning back to Palette.

「Right, let us collect Belga and be on our way. And since Palette is going to support us, and Bastard shall make a way for us. Pretty please.」

To the young man’s words, the two nodded silently and begun to work on their task.

Palette took out a couple of paintbrushes and begun to swing them at high speed, and in a matter of seconds huge golems appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the corridor.

Then the other man jumped onto the golems shoulders and brandished his huge sword towards the ceiling several times, with a force strong enough to destroy the walls.

The solid stones of the dungeon, normally immune to any kind of attack, gave up and were slashed like butter, creating a passage to the level above.

「Now then, you too, please come this way.」

Nectar was surprised that the young man invited him to use the escape route as well, but since the white fog was approaching fast, he had little to no choice in this matter.

There was no time for hesitation, and as soon as Nectar jumped onto the golem, it rose up its body through the hole, delivering everyone to the upper floor.

「Oh, that’s right. I forgot to introduce myself last time. My name is Lute. And what about you?」

「I’m Nectar. But, why are you even helping me?」

Nectar was almost entirely sure that this young man here, Lut, was the mastermind behind the artificial magic stones.

But, if that was indeed the case, than he should already know that Nectar was his enemy.

Lute laughed sadly, as if being able to read Nectar’s thoughts like an open book.

「I’m not exactly the same as those guys. We will probably never be friends, even though we are both the spirits.」

But before Nectar could ask him about the meaning of those words, they have already reached the upper floor and the conversation got interrupted.

***

At the same time, Kyle and Belga were locked in a fierce battle.

However, since they both were countering their attacks with maximum efficiency, they were in this perpetual state of stalemate, where neither side was clearly at an advantage.

However, Kyle noticed that Blega was becoming more and more flustered with every passing minute.

The reason for that was fairly simple: it was because Senjiro was managing to reduce the numbers of golems, so that less than a half of their initial number was left standing.

These one may have been weak, but golems were monsters that were classified as third or even the second rank in some cases.

Kyle knew that Senjiro was strong, but he was full of admiration for his skills, seeing how he was managing to hold his ground against opponents such as this.

Belga must have understood that as well, and seeing that the balance of power was soon to be turned against her favor, she was clearly looking for any possible way out of her predicament.

Her next move was ——

She dispersed her magical guns all over the place and makes them fire simultaneously.

Kyle responded in king, sending his lightning to intercept the magical bullets, but once they clashed they produced a flash of light that made them both unable to see anything for a short moment.

Just then, Belga came out right in front of Kyle, her magical guns ready to fire.

Fortunately enough, Kyle managed to avoid the bullet that came out of the muzzle and he caught Belga’s arm while she was still thrown off balance.

She broke into cold sweat when he caught her arm, but the feeling of her skin only made it clear for Kyle: this was definitely Belga.

But then she fired another bullet right into his face, to which his eyes open wide in surprise.

Kyle felt a chill run down his spine.

It was only thanks to his new demonic senses and reflexes that he somehow managed to dodge the bullet.

It missed him just barely and hit the nearby wall.

However, this was enough for Kyle to let go of Belga’s hand, and once she was free, she continued her assault.

Kyle was about ready to counterattack, but just then the whole corridor tuned red and there was a loud sound of sirens ringing.

It was a disturbing alarm, one that most probably signaled an emergency.

As Kyle and Senjiro were shocked by the alarm, hordes of monsters began to overrun them from the sideway passages.

Kyle saw that that Belga was initially astonished as well, but then she managed to pull herself together and calm down.

「I must go.」

It was shocking for Kyle to see Belga falling back, disregarding the monsters which began to flood the corridor.

Even the golems stopped fighting Senjiro, as if without their controller they lost all will to fight.

「What the hell is happening!?」

「It has awoken. I must go and help Palette!」

Belga put her guns away and began to fall back further down the corridor.

「Senjiro, I’m sorry, but I’m going ahead!」

Belga took out one of her guns, long enough to be used as a means of transport, and accelerated, while Kyle mounted his own staff and gave chase.

He was so fast that soon enough he managed to catch up to her.

However, monsters came into his way, so he had to dodge them and reached out his arm towards Belga, trying to take hold of her long gun and make it impossible for her to run.

Then, once they have reached a certain intersection, one of the door there suddenly collapsed with no sound at all, volumes of thick, white fog seeping out of the room into the corridor.

Belga’s gun was engulfed in said fog.

And once it touched the fog, it broke down into tiny pieces.

The monsters that were chasing them didn’t manage to stop in time, falling right through them and diving straight into the fog, and once they did they all turned to specs of dust.

「Why, why did you help me?」

Belga looks at Kyle with visible confusion on her face, seeing that Kyle took hold of her right before she was about to be engulfed by the fog herself.

「It’s just that I have a whole lots of things I want to ask you about. This fog is one of them.」

Belga opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but at that moment there was a loud roar coming from behind them.

Looking back, there were two giant holes in the floor, and there was something emerging from inside of those holes, raising tons of dust in the air.

「Ah, there she is! It’s good to see that you’re safe, Belga!」

For a moment out there Kyle thought that his ears were playing tricks on him, but upon seeing Belga, the young man standing on the golem’s shoulders smiled broadly.

But the exact moment Belga saw the young man, she pulled a gun on Kyle and rushed to the young man’s side.

For some reason, this reaction made Kyle really irritated and he felt something similar to instant hostility towards the young man.

「Lute, you came for me! And Palette!?」

「She’s here with me.」

「Bastard is here as well.」

「I see, it’s good to hear.」

Aside from the young man and Belga, there were also a tall man and another woman standing on the golem’s shoulders, but Kyle was paying the other two literally no mind at all.

All of the anger that’s been boiling down inside of him finally hit the breaking point, and was about ready to overflow.

Kyle readied his staff and covered himself in lightning, pointing his staff towards the young man, his eyes full of killing intent.

「You, what the hell did you do to my wife!?」

But before he could get any answers out of him, Belga pointed her gun at him again.

「I won’t let you hurt Lute!」

Seeing just how hostile she was towards him made Kyle bit his teeth in anger, so much that he failed to notice Bastard, who came off the golem and swung his gigantic sword at him with all of his might.

However, having caught up to them, Senjiro rushed Bastard without much thinking.

Despite being in a tough spot, Bastard still raised his sword and managed to block Senjiro’s attack with ease.

Seeing that his opponent was no amateur, Senjiro jumped back towards Kyle, putting some safe distance in between himself and Bastard.

Kyle and Senjiro could only watch the two golems, but then they noticed that one of the people standing on their arms was in fact Nectar.

「Wha, Nectar!? Why the hell are you with them!?」

「I will explain it later.」

Just as Kyle was surprised beyond belief, Belga jumped on one of the golems.

There was a sad melody of the lute ringing throughout the corridor, and Nectar looked up towards Lute.

「If it was only about you, I wouldn’t mind helping you out.」

「I am not going to simply forsake my friends!」

「Then I guess it cannot really be helped.」

The moment Lute stroke the strings of his instrument, the magic circles appeared under the golems and engulfed them completely.

Looking at the magic circles under the golems Nectar was amazed just how swift Lute was with operating such complicated magic, as well as the fact that he found himself within its range.

「Let me give you some advice. Don’t try to fight the monsters. This phenomenon is caused by magic and only magic can resolve it.」

「Wait, Belga!!」

Kyle tried to reach out his hand towards Belga, and for a brief moment she turned towards him, but before anything else could happen she disappeared in a bright light of Teleportation spell.

「Right, until we meet again.」

The young man said in a low and strange voice, and at that moment Nectar felt that he began to move.