Part 1
Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 5th Day, 02:30
The flickering flames of the barrier had no heat at all, making it seem like an illusion. The adventurers standing at the front exchanged glances with their parties, and then they gathered their courage and plunged boldly through the firewall.
Even though the supporting priests from the temples had already cast spells of fire protection on them, they still held their breath, for fear that their lungs would be burned
...even though they already said the flames wouldn't cause any physical harm.
That thought ran through Lakyus' head as she watched the wall of fire from the rear of the formation.
Still, it was too soon to celebrate the fact that the flames were harmless. If they were not meant to cause injury, then there must have been another reason for Jaldabaoth to conjure them. That was what she had to puzzle out.
If I can't figure it out, there's no point wasting energy on it. Who was it who said that I should be using my head for better things... Evileye, or Uncle?
The barrier of magical flames was like an illusion, offering no resistance and bearing no heat, and just like that, she was through.
Lakyus looked around at the worried faces of the adventurers who were stepping through the barrier.
The plan had called for the formation of a defensive line, but forming a neat line of battle in the middle of a city was very difficult. Therefore, they had used four parties of orichalcum ranked adventurers as the linchpins of the formation, assigning each of the adventurers to one of them. Someone looking down from above would see something like a beast with all four legs spread.
Since they were the cores of the formation, it was only natural that the orichalcum-ranked adventurers would become the leaders. But right now, they were filled with unease and tension. Lakyus hoped that they could hide their fear and inspire courage in the others around them.
Should I take to the front after all?
Certainly, if an adamantite ranked adventurer like herself stood at their head, morale would surely increase. But right now, Lakyus had no reliable allies by her side. Even if she was adamantite ranked, a lone Blue Rose was less effective than an orichalcum-ranked party. As such, she had handed command of the vanguard to them.
Even if they trusted me, running in and making a fuss would only fill them with unease. But... ah, I should just go to the front and see what happens.
With that, Lakyus stepped through the wall of fire.
A freshly silenced world spread ahead of them. The streets were the same as those of any other in the capital, if you overlooked the fact that there was no presence of human life and many of the residences had been destroyed.
"What happened to the residents? Are they hiding? There’s no smell of blood.”
“Impossible. Look, the doors have been broken down. I fear the people might have been taken somewhere."
"We need to be wary of demons lurking within the houses, should we do a room-to-room search? That will take a lot of time."
"It'll be safer to contact Lakyus-san and wait for further instructions, right?"
"Then, let's hurry up and—"
"There'll no need for that."
Straightening up by reflex at the sound of the voice, the speaking adventurers turned to look behind them. They stared in goggle-eyed surprise at Lakyus, who had just arrived.
"The iron and copper-ranked adventurers will stay behind to search the houses. One mithril-ranked team will remain behind to supervise. The people behind will spread out into the formation and advance. Any objections?"
The shaking heads said there were none.
"Then, let us advance."
Lakyus walked in line with the orichalcum-ranked adventurers. An uncomfortable silence settled around them. It was hard to believe that there had been life here until this evening.
"...speaking of which, Momon-san will be alright, won’t he?"
Lakyus understood how uneasy they were with pinning all their hopes on Momon.
"He'll be fine. Evileye herself admitted that he was even stronger than her. The real problem is the one that fought him to a standstill, the enemy leader, Jaldabaoth. How strong is he, anyway..."
The nearby adventurers heard this and their faces drooped in despair.
"Ah, sorry, don't worry about it. We just need to do what we've been assigned to do, that's all."
"Aye, that's true. It makes me jealous as hell to admit it, but I guess each of us has been tasked to do what we're most suited for. In that case, everyone, forward!"
Standing at the head of the group, together with the orichalcum-ranked adventurers, Lakyus stepped forward
Her hand gripped the Demonic Sword Kilineyram. Its surface was like a stretch of night sky, speckled with sparkling stars.
They had not walked for long before the sound of a distant explosion carried over softly from the distance. The ones who trembled were the lower ranked adventurers. The ones who prepared for battle were the middle ranked adventurers. The ones who scanned their surroundings were the upper ranked adventurers. And the ones who looked straight ahead were the highest ranking adventurers. Amidst this sea of reactions, Lakyus stared out into the distance with a piercing gaze.
"The party on that side has entered combat."
Probably not Tina's group.
"If they've been moving in at the same rate as ourselves, we ought to be encountering enemy resistance soon."
"...What about from above?"
"We have scouts in place, and none of them have reported anything so far."
"That's good. Demons have a lot of flying-type creatures among their numbers. If they spread out in the capital, it would be pretty bad. So we need to draw their attention to the ground where we are now."
"Which means that the plan is essentially unchanged."
"That's right... hm, what's that, did you hear something?"
"Aye, I hear it. Dogs barking. Hey, what's that?"
The arcane magic caster answered the question.
"I haven't confirmed it with my eyes yet, but I think it's a hellhound. Its special ability is fiery breath. I think it has a difficulty ranking of fifteen or so."