Published at 26th of March 2019 2:42 am

Volume 13, Chapter 6 Gunner and Archer Part 2

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Entering Kalinsha's castle was not difficult.

All they had to do was hide in barrels and wait to be smuggled in as cargo. There would be checks, of course, but there were other barrels ― eight in total ― besides the ones they had chosen to hide in, so all they had to do was let the inspectors check those instead. The fact that they could get past security with such simple precautions was due to the diverse nature of the Demihuman Alliance.

The demihumans all came from different cultures and had varying social norms. If they had anything in common, it was that fighting strength meant everything. Therefore, when a powerful individual threw his weight around, he usually got it, and minor transgressions were all forgiven. To demihumans, their personal power determined their capacity for violence and in turn, their social rank. Those lower on the totem pole had no choice but to obey.

Therefore, a strong Zern could put an end to the cargo inspection by glaring at the inspectors.

Eventually, there was a loud thunk as the barrels were laid on the ground.

After that, someone knocked on the top of the barrel.

That was the signal that they had arrived at their destination. As planned, Neia counted out three minutes in silence as she listened to the Zern responsible for transporting them open a door and leave.

After the three minutes were up, Neia pushed up the divider above her. While the bigger pieces of raw meat did not fall when the divider tilted, the smaller chunks rained down on Neia. This barrel was constructed with a false bottom. Neia was below the divider and the fresh meat lay on top of it.

The reason why the barrels were filled with fresh meat and not vegetables or grain was so that they could use the scent of blood to mask Neia and Shizu’s scent.

While Neia found it a little uncomfortable to be soaked in blood and juices from the meat, she still felt happy that none of the countermeasures they had prepared had been put to use.

Neia slowly lifted up the lid of the barrel and peered outside.

She looked around the darkened interior of the room ― there was a faint light that might have been the glow from a magic item ― and after verifying that there was nobody around, Neia slowly climbed out of the barrel.

There were all kinds of foodstuffs and urns on the shelves of this larder. There were also many barrels like the ones which had recently been brought here.

It took a lot of work, but she managed to climb out safely. In order to make getting back in easier, she left the divider standing inside the barrel.

They would need to use these barrels to escape after rescuing the Zern prince.

Shizu, the other infiltrator, had just made it out of her barrel. She was shorter than Neia, so climbing out of the large barrel had been more tiresome. However, her physical abilities were far beyond those of Neia’s and even Remedios’s, so she had managed to get out by herself before Neia could go over to help her.

“Shizu-san.”

“...Hm?”

“There’s meat stuck to your hair.”

Shizu looked unhappy. While her facial expression did not change, that did not mean she had no emotions. Perhaps it was because she had been with Shizu all this time or because Neia’s eyesight was excellent, or perhaps looking at the Sorcerer King’s bony features all this time had honed her ability to scrutinize others, but Neia had a rough grasp of how Shizu felt.

Shizu fumbled around to try and get the small bits of meat out of her hair, but they were stuck to the strands on the back of her head and she could not get them out.

While I was told to cut my hair short because long hair could be easily grabbed in combat, it seems there are many other drawbacks to it.

Neia went to Shizu’s side and picked all the chunks out before tossing them into the barrel.

“...Thanks… Don’t want to infiltrate this way again.”

“We’ll have to do it again when we escape.”

“...”

Shizu looked despondently at the barrel, then pulled a towel out of nowhere to wipe herself off before handing it to Neia.

The moist towel had a softness and fineness which Neia had never felt before. Neia imagined that it must have been very expensive. How had she gotten her hands on something like that? Were they common in the demon world?

As all these questions and more ran through her head, Neia wiped her hands that had been made sticky by the meat, and then wiped down Shizu’s hair with the clean bits. While it only made her feel better, it was better than not wiping at all.

“...Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

While Neia was doing this, Shizu took out her weapon.

That strangely-shaped device was apparently a ranged weapon called a spell gun. It used mana to fire bullet-like bolts, and it felt like a crossbow. Shizu had said something about the gunpowder not showing any signs of combustion or something, but Neia had not understood any of it, so the explanation was wasted on her.

She had wanted to test it out, but Shizu refused to part with it, so Shizu’s fighting ability was still an unknown. Still, she was a difficulty rating 150 demon, so Neia felt that there was nothing to worry about there.

“...Hm.”

Shizu produced the Ultimate Shootingstar Super and a quiver of arrows out of nowhere like a stage magician before handing them to Neia, and in turn Neia returned her the dirty towel.

Initially, there had been a discussion on how Neia would bring her bow along. The bow’s stave was very long, and when one added camouflage on top of that, she would not be able to close the lid on the barrel, and if the barrel were opened she would be exposed.

While they could have let the Zern carry it in, the bow was a magnificent piece of work and it would have left an impression on people who saw it. In addition, the Zern had also refused, for fear of being drawn into all this if the rescue mission failed.

In the end, when everyone had told her to leave the bow behind, Shizu said that she could store her weapons in a mysterious space in the air, so she could put the bow in there as well.

The uneasiness of bringing a valuable item lent to her by the Sorcerer King on a mission in a dangerous place blended with the reassurance of not having to part ways with her weapon. Neia thanked Shizu for her kindness as both emotions filled her. It would seem Shizu had accepted Neia as her junior back then, and after that Shizu had occasionally acted like her senior.

Part of that was how Neia had to address Shizu as “Shizu-san,” because Shizu would make a fuss if Neia did not. However, Shizu was a pretty girl, and when she made a pouty face ― she could tell even though Shizu did not show expressions ― Neia actually found it kind of cute.

After they had each readied their weapons, Shizu was the first to move.

Neia pricked up her ears to listen for any movement outside the door, but there was nobody there.

“...Let’s head out.”

Time was short, so Neia nodded.

The Liberation Army was approaching Kalinsha while the operation to rescue the Zern Prince was in progress, so the battle for Kalinsha would begin soon.

1: Neia and Shizu would infiltrate Kalinsha and rescue the Zern prince.

2: The Liberation Army would approach Kalinsha and begin their attack.

3: If the Zern prince was rescued, the Zern would act as a fifth column within the city walls.

4: If item 3 failed, then instead of the Zern opening the city gates and guiding the Liberation Army in, Neia and Shizu would have to handle that task. However, that was far too much for them to take on, so they would only do what was within their capabilities.

Those were the key points of the battle plan.

The important thing was that if they could rescue the Zern prince, then they could count on the Liberation Army and the Zern to relieve them even if they were forced to hunker down and defend themselves. This was good for the Zern as well; if the rescue succeeded, they could release the prince after Kalinsha was taken back.

In other words, whether or not they could take Kalinsha back simply and with minimal casualties all hinged on successfully rescuing the prince.

As she felt the weight crushing down on her shoulders, Neia groaned as her tummy hurt again.

Therefore ― there was not much time. Once the Liberation Army began their attack on Kalinsha or if they were detected before that, security in Kalinsha would be tightened.

In accordance with what they had planned, Shizu produced a bottle of what looked like perfume out of nowhere and sprinkled it on Neia and herself. It seemed to be some kind of consumable magic item that contained the first tier spell 「Odorless」. There was not much of it, so they had to conserve it as much as possible.

Shizu cracked open the door, peered around outside, and then slipped out.

They had selected their route and decided on how to deal with various situations after consulting the map of Kalinsha, and they had already discussed what duties each of them would be handling.

Neia exited the room as well, then carefully closed the door so as not to make noise before running after Shizu.

Though I’m not really helping much…

Frankly speaking, under the present circumstances Neia was nothing more than a burden. That much was instantly clear when one looked at Shizu’s running stride. She ran like her father moved through the woods ― no, she was far better, being both swift and silent. She was definitely using some kind of technique there..

She’s a demon, but she uses techniques like a human… It’s always the ones you can’t judge by their appearances which are the scariest, huh?

While they could have left everything to Shizu, Neia’s presence was both to keep an eye on Shizu and also to ensure that it was a joint effort between the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Shizu ― assuming she was truly bound to the Sorcerer King ― and the Holy Kingdom’s Neia that rescued the prince. That way, the Holy Kingdom could act like they had contributed to it.

The passages were dark. It was nighttime. Moonlight streamed in through the windows ― or rather, the only thing which entered was the moonlight. There were no other sources of light here, no magical illumination or torches.

This was because many demihumans were indifferent to the darkness. However, there were different degrees of being able to see in the darkness. While some species had complete darkvision, most of them simply had superior night vision. Therefore, Neia and Shizu avoided the moonlight and slunk from shadow to shadow.

As a human being, Neia had to focus herself and sharpen her senses. Not only could she not see clearly due to the darkness, the patrolling guards did not carry light sources either, so she could not spot them from afar.

While she did not quite understand why the larder had lights, that was probably for the sake of those species who lacked darkvision.

The two of them kept their footfalls as quiet as possible while they ran through the castle towards their destination.

Considering Shizu’s physical attributes were far superior than Remedios’s, even a pace which left Neia panting and barely able to keep up was probably slower than a jog to Shizu.

They occasionally spotted demihuman guards, which was their cue to hold their breath and quietly wait for the opposition to move on. They could not kill them, because that would mean having to take care of the corpses and hide their traces. Since they were in the midst of the enemy, it would be best not to be spotted at all until the rescue was a success.

Fortunately, Neia and Shizu were not spotted, and they continued forward.

There were few guards within the castle thanks to most of the personnel being assigned to the walls and the watchtowers, as well as the city’s prisons. The Sorcerer King had killed a great deal of demihumans, which meant that they could not set up a tight security net. Thus, vigilance within the castle had grown lax, according to the Zern.

The reason why they could proceed safely was because the Zern had reconnoitered the area ahead of time and made near-perfect preparations, but Neia still felt a twinge of uneasiness.

There were two challenges in their way.

The first was the long passageway they had to traverse in order to reach the tower.

The second was the bridge to the tower ― the aerial walkway.

There were no hiding places in either location, and obviously there would be sentries standing watch as well. They would not be alone either. In addition, at least one of them would be stationed out of the line of fire for ranged weapons because they were on guard against ranged attacks.

While they had discussed the matter in a big group in front of Gustav’s map, they would still have to pass through both these places in order to reach the tower.

If we could use 「Invisibility」 to deceive their eyesight and 「Silence」 from the priests to deceive their hearing, we would be able to infiltrate perfectly… that’s why adventurers ― who form groups that can take on all kinds of situations ― are so highly valued.

Eventually, the two of them reached their objective.

This was the first challenge, the long passageway. If they tried to run straight down it, they would be spotted before they could cover the distance. In order to avoid that, they needed to reach a location where they could execute ranged attacks while not being spotted by the opposition.

That was why they had come here, the level above the long passage, the room directly above where the guards were stationed.

If they lowered a rope from here and rappelled down the outer walls, they could take a shortcut without being detected.

“...Here?”

In response to Shizu’s question, Neia consulted the map in her head and the route they had taken, and nodded a yes.

“...Hm. Not bad.”

Shizu’s reply sounded like she was praising a junior, and then she pressed her ear to the door. Then, she quickly and silently opened it.

While the room was filled with various sundry items, it looked like it had not been used in a long time, and there was a white layer of dust on the ground. However, there were traces that the Zern scouts had been here. They had moved between the window and a very large shelf.

Shizu produced a rope out of nowhere. It was the same color as the castle wall.

After that, she secured it to the large shelf. She used all her strength to tug on it to see if it could take the weight of Neia and herself, but it did not budge, and it showed no signs of fraying.

The size ― and weight ― of the shelf was a factor, but the web-like strands stuck to the shelves was probably more important. The Zern who had come to this room beforehand had fixed it in place with sticky threads taken from the Spidans.

The window opened easily, and Shizu looked at the city walls outside. After verifying that there were no patrolling guards in sight, Shizu slung her weapon onto her back and said, “I’ll go first.”

She threw herself out of the window and slid down the rope to the window below.

She took her weight on one hand and used the other to push open the next window, which opened easily. That too had been the work of the Zern.

Shizu then slid inside. Her skillful movements had only taken a few seconds.

After confirming that the room below was safe, Shizu poked her face out and beckoned to Neia.

Neia grabbed the rope and leaned out of the window.

While the window on the floor below was only four meters away, they were now over a hundred meters off the ground. If Neia fell, she would meet with a horrible death. No, it would be worse if she did not die. She would surely be tortured until she gave up what she knew and then she would be killed. Falling to her death would be a merciful alternative.

The rope had evenly spaced knots along its length ― handholds, in other words ― and there had been no problems during the several practice sessions they had conducted. However, training felt completely different from the real thing.

Ahh, I really don’t want to go…

But she had no choice. If only there was something like a balcony that she could just jump down on―

Neia gripped the rope tightly as she pushed her entire body out of the window. She crossed her legs to firmly clasp the rope between her thighs.

After this, all she had to do was descend slowly.

The ground’s just a little lower. The ground’s just a little lower.

She slowly went down the rope, reminding herself not to look down over and over again.

She shifted her weight from her right hand, and then to the left, just what like she had practiced. The wind blew and made her body shake at an intensity that could not be compared to training at all.

Come on, come on, come on, me! Shizu should have been more scared than this!

The window was open because of the Zerns’ help.

However, if someone had locked the window after the Zerns opened it, then Shizu would have had to climb back up. With that in mind, Neia ― who only needed to make a single trip ― had it easy in comparison.

She finally approached the window, and Shizu reached out to grab Neia’s body. Thus, she pulled Neia in with incredible strength.

“Thank, thank you.”

“...Mm. But, too long… I’m taking it in, hold this.”

“Yes.”

Shizu leaned out of the window and raised her spell gun. Neia held the rope as indicated. There was a pop-hiss of expelled air and Neia felt a force tugging on the rope. Shizu had cut it with her weapon.

She pulled the severed rope back into the room and dumped it in the corner. They would not be using this route on the way back, so she had pulled it back in rather than let it dangle freely, but there were merits and drawbacks to that.

The merit was that it minimized the risk of being spotted by the sentries on the walls.

The drawback was that if anything happened and they could not exfiltrate by their planned route, they would not be able to climb to the upper floor with this rope.

In the end, the two of them had decided that the drawbacks of being spotted outweighed the merits.

“It’s done, Shizu-san. Next we need to get past the first obstacle…”

“...Mm. Let’s go… Got to kill them. Can you do it?”

“Mm. I think I can.”

Once they stepped out of this room, they would be in a position to shoot the sentries stationed along the passage.

If they could not kill them before they raised the alarm, all their effort would be wasted.

Neia took out her bow and nocked an arrow. Shizu raised her magic gun as well.

“I’ll take the right, you take the left, Shizu-san.”

Shizu formed a circle with her thumb and her index finger.

The two of them exchanged looks, and then Shizu pushed open the door.

Neia made eye contact with a nearby demihuman, about one and a half meters away. He did not know what was going on or who they were. The demihuman was so surprised that he could not parse the situation, but Neia did not hesitate and put an arrow into him.

With a katsun, the arrow pierced his skull through the forehead.

I did it!

While Neia’s skills had played a part, most of the work had been done by the Ultimate Shootingstar Super.

Thank you, Your Majesty!

Just as Neia’s arrow pierced the demihuman through the head, Shizu’s spell gun blew off half of the other demihuman’s head.

The demihumans made more noise when they collapsed than Neia had expected. Neia hurriedly pricked up her ears. Fortunately, she could not hear anyone running towards this place. It would seem nobody had spotted them yet.

“...Hurry.”

They had already assigned their tasks beforehand. As Shizu dragged the corpses into the room they had just entered with the rope, Neia used the smell-clearing item Shizu had lent her. After that, she reached for the waterskin on her belt and poured the powerful wine within all over the place, washing away the chunks of meat, brains, skull and bloodstains on the ground. As the stench of alcohol filled the air, Shizu emerged from the room, then produced an empty wine jug and poured a little bit of the jug’s wine inside before quietly ripping it up and leaving it in place.

“...Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

While they had tried to cover it up, it was very likely that the next shift would sense something was up when they came to take over. She would be able to relax if they could put the bodies into Shizu’s mysterious pocket dimension, but Shizu said that she would not do so, thus they left the corpses in the room. Of course, they had made preparations there too, but there was no way to make sure that they would not be found.

They had to assume that they did not have the luxury of ample time.

Eventually, they reached the second obstacle, the aerial walkway. Of the several scenarios they had come up with, this was the closest to being ideal. They still had time and nobody had spotted them yet.

“...It’s a race against time now.”

“I know. If I slip, don’t worry about me.”

The path from the castle to the tower was roughly two people wide.

There were no walls on either side ― it was open to the air. Apparently several people had fallen off the side before, and after seeing this, all she could think of was that it was only to be expected.

This aerial walkway was the reason why this place was the final redoubt when engaging invaders during a siege.

A large force could not pass through here, so an advantage in numbers would be nullified. At the same time, there was also the risk of falling. If there was a spear line at the end of the path, breaking through would be very difficult. This design was the kind that attackers hated. One would need magic casters with attack spells like 「Fireball」 to take it down.

Using ranged weapons for a sustained attack was disadvantageous for Neia’s side, which was operating stealthily and under time constraints. Therefore, all they could do was charge into close range and finish off the enemy, while the enemy could hit them with ranged weapons and they did not have the benefit of cover.

In that case, they would need to close the gap before the sentries spotted them. But at a closer look, the path was uneven. It was designed to slow down anyone trying to run across and force them to slip and fall off the sides.

This is dangerous… if an enemy runs into me and grabs me... I’ll fall off and die. If I’m not careful…!

After screwing up her determination, Neia realised Shizu was staring at her. Although they were of the same sex, being stared at by Shizu, the doll-like beauty, made Neia a little embarrassed.

“W-What?”

“...Using it… Neia, wait here.”

“Eh?”

“...I’ll take care of the door guards. No matter what happens, don’t come out.”

“―Eh?”

Before she could get an answer, Shizu vanished.

She had disappeared. This was not some kind of high speed movement. Shizu had been standing here until just now and then she had vanished into the air like she had been an illusion.

A wave of confusion assaulted Neia. However, Shizu had already told her to wait, so she ought to stay here and wait.

Neia concealed herself at the entrance to the aerial walkway and listened carefully to the tower and the path behind her for anything out of the ordinary.

Several seconds later ― something happened at the guard post.

She heard a scream and then the sound of a guard collapsing.

Neia poked her face out to see what was going on and saw Shizu emerge from the guard post. Shizu waved to beckon Neia over.

As Neia began to panic and wonder what was happening, Shizu’s waving gesture grew larger, until her entire body was moving.

Could she not go, now that Shizu had done that much?

Neia bent low, then ran across the windswept, frightening aerial walkway as she paid attention to her footing.

After she was across, she could smell blood from the guard post. Several dead demihumans lay on the ground, and Shizu stood inside, with her usual blank expression. She held what looked like a very sharp and large knife in her right hand. The blade was smeared bright red, and she had her spell gun in her left hand.

“...Clear. Move in.”

“Ah, yes…”

“...Can’t disappear again today. Be careful.”

“Got it.”

It would seem there was no need to explain, so Neia did not ask, but merely followed behind her.

That’s a maid demon for you, Neia thought.

She could not have come all this way without Shizu.

And this is also thanks to the order His Majesty gave to Shizu.

Only the Sorcerer King could inspire greater respect in people even when he was not present.

Honestly, the fact that he was undead or whatever was a trifling problem.

I need to let everyone know, after all. I need to tell them how great a person His Majesty is!

The tower was almost completely made of stone and it only had a small window for light. It was darker than the castle that they had pass through earlier.

The passage inside the tower was quite spacious, big enough for Neia and Shizu to walk side by side. It spiralled up along the inside of the tower’s wall.

Their objective, the Zern prince, ought to be near the top, so the only thing they did when passing doors along the way was check for movement inside while the two of them continued ever upwards.

About two circuits later, Shizu raised her hand to signal that they should stop. This happened almost at the same time as Neia’s keen hearing picked up some creature’s footsteps.

It would seem it was wearing metal armor, because she could hear the sound of metal striking stone.

“It’s alone, Shizu-san.”

“...Yes. But… heavy footsteps.”

Neia could not tell, but if Shizu said it, then it was probably so. In other words, whatever it was, it was not human-sized.

“What… should we do? Should we hide behind one of the doors we passed along the way?”

“...It’s already here. Kill it.”

“Got it.”

Neia readied her bow after Shizu. Her plan was to shoot first and not bother with questions. She had heard that the Zern prince was about the size of a human child. In addition, he would not be wearing metal armor.

A massive object came into view, and Neia and Shizu attacked without hesitation.

The arrow and bullets entered its body, as though they had been sucked in.

“Gaaahhhh!”

The massive object stumbled, and backed up along the path.

Since it had retreated along a curved path, it was no longer in the line of fire.

The fact that it had survived their attacks ― particularly Shizu’s ― suggested that it was a very tough demihuman.

“What! Who are you!?”

An angry cry echoed from the depths of the passage.

“What should we do, Shizu-san?”

“...Can’t sit here and wait… Close in and attack before the enemy gathers the tower guards.”

“Understood.”

Neia and Shizu broke into a run.

Since it could survive Shizu and Neia’s surprise attack, they could assume that it was the guardian ― a Vah Un. Vah Uns were beings which possessed very good overall fighting power and a shocking amount of stamina.

As they ran, the humidity in the air seemed to increase as well ― Neia’s nose picked up the scent of rain.

“Goooaahhh! To think there’d be humans here!”

After closing in, they saw a massive demihuman.

While it possessed the savage air of an Ogre, it looked much more intelligent than an Ogre.

Its skin was bluish-white, though it looked more demonic than unhealthy.

It had a single thick horn on its forehead. It carried a mace that was bigger than Neia.

Judging by its physical appearance, it was quite similar to the descriptions of the species known as Vah Uns.

While it was not as bad as Buser, it was still quite a dangerous opponent. The arrow and bullets had clearly hit it, but it did seem to be wounded. There was no smell of blood either, so it would seem it had not covered it up with illusions.

Somehow, it had negated their attacks ― particularly Shizu’s.

“So you’re here for my life, are you!? You’ve got good eyes on you, humans!!!”

It seemed very happy.

In that case, she would let it remain mistaken―

“...No.”

Shizu fired as she spoke.

There was a pop-hiss of expelled gas as something flew through the air. After that, part of the Vah Un’s body dissolved into mist and the bullet passed through.

“...Hm.”

“Wahahahaha! Ranged weapons are useless against me!”

Neia loosed an arrow at the Vah Un’s forehead, but its head also sublimated into mist and the arrow sank into the wall behind it.

“―Useless! It’s useless! Now quiver in fear of me, for I am the bane of all archers, and then die!”

“...Immune to all ranged weapons? On something that’s only that strong?” Shizu muttered. “There must be a trick.”

Neia glanced at Shizu and shook her head. Unfortunately, the Zerns did not know any details about its abilities.

“What are you blathering about!”

“Back up!”

The Vah Un closed the gap. The sight of its massive body approaching them felt off, like her sense of distance was messed up.

Neia would not be able to survive a single hit from it, so she obediently listened to Shizu and fell back.

Shizu stood on the frontline, and the mace slammed down on her. The strike was like a howling storm, but she elegantly evaded it.

The Vah Un’s strength was extraordinary, given that it could swing a weapon that was as tall as Shizu with one hand. The stone was shattered where it had struck the ground, and cracks radiated in all directions. It felt like the massive tower was shaking.

“Tch!”

Neia loosed an arrow.

While the Vah Un was locked in melee with Shizu, there was a huge difference between their body sizes. If she aimed up, she could strike the Vah Un without hitting Shizu.

As expected, the Vah Un transformed into mist in order to avoid the arrow whistling through the air.

“Useless! Useless! I told you arrows are useless against me! Foolish ― uwoooooh!”

The Vah Un roared even louder than before. Shizu seemed to find it annoying and hacked at him.

While Shizu’s shooting skills were far superior to Neia’s, she was not as skilled in close combat, so unfortunately, her strike was blocked by the mace.

Neia nocked and drew back another arrow.

This time, Neia aimed for the hand holding the mace. While it was very likely that the weapon would not drop even if it turned to mist, she decided that she had to try, however small the possibility.

In the end―

The mist-formed arm did not release the mace.

“Aren’t you going to stop, human!?” The Vah Un presented a palm to Neia. “「Water Splash」!”

A ball of water flew out at Neia.

Something hit her right shoulder. Neia was sent flying and fell to the ground.

It hurt like she had been savagely beaten. She might even have broken bones.

After nervously trying to move her right arm, she found that it could move without issue. However, a torrent of pain spread from her shoulder inside her body. She touched her shoulder and found that it was wet. While she was afraid that it was blood at first, she immediately realized that it was water.

“Hmph! You made me use a petty spell!”

The Vah Un swung its mace as it spat its reply at them.

Shizu muttered quietly to herself as she nimbly avoided a deadly stroke that could have smashed Neia to bits.

“...Why that girl? Why attack someone who can’t hit you? I don’t get it.”

“Hah, you idiot! That’s because she’s a pain―”

“―Because it was effective? Limited uses?”

The Vah Un’s face changed. In other words, Shizu was right.

“Neia!”

“Got it!”

Neia loosed an arrow, which the Vah Un avoided by turning into mist. After that, she fired again ― and the arrow pierced into the Vah Un.

As the Vah Un grunted in pain, Shizu spoke.

“...I understand. You can only defend against seven ranged attacks. Is that… per day? Per hour? ...Doesn’t matter. You’ll die here.”

The Vah Un could not catch up to Shizu, who dodged with amazing skill. In other words, if this kept up, it would take a one-sided beating and die. Perhaps the Vah Un had sensed this would happen, because its face knotted up.

“Damn you! 「Fog Cloud」!”

A bank of fog sprang up.

It was thicker than the fog she had seen in the Sorcerous Kingdom, and Neia did not even know her own location. While she could not see Shizu fighting against the Vah Un, she could hear Shizu’s spell gun going pew pew pew.

When she thought about it, that was obvious.

Even if the Vah Un conjured fog in the middle of the passageway, she still knew where it was. All she had to do was keep shooting. Neia followed Shizu’s lead and launched arrows. She was a little worried. so she aimed up high; that way even if she missed, she would not hit Shizu.

The arrow she loosed melted into the fog, and it was followed by the sound of something striking the wall. It would seem she had missed.

“It’s moving behind you now.”

As Shizu said that, Neia thought Eh?

When one considered the size of the passageway, it was impossible for the massive Vah Un to get behind Shizu and Neia without bumping into them. However, along the way here, Neia had come to realize that Shizu was a trustworthy demon. Or rather, she did not trust Shizu so much as she trusted the Sorcerer King which she served.

Neia turned, and while the fog was still so thick she could not see anything, she loosed another arrow.

Just like before, she heard the sound of an arrow striking a distant wall.

“Where, Where is it!?”

“..Mm. You’re looking in the right direction. It’s trying to run… get down!”

Neia instantly dropped prone as Shizu spoke in a tone that was very forceful for her.

“...Reloading… full burst.”

There was a piercing kyuuuuun and then a cacophonous dakka dakka dakka dakka thundered down the passageway. Unlike the pew pew sound from before, this was a sound that was filled with an oppressive brutality.

“Gobooh~” There was the sound of someone coughing up something, followed by a crash as a massive body hit the ground. After that, the mist cleared, and she could see the body of the Vah Un lying along the curved passage.

Its body was covered in holes, and it looked like it had been blown apart. There were similar marks all around the nearby walls. What had happened to cause this?

As a demihuman assigned to guard this place, it should have been quite strong. In truth, Neia alone would not have stood a chance at all. Yet Shizu could instantly kill a demihuman like this as long as her weapon was effective against it. That was a difficulty 150 maid demon for you.

“What… was… no. With magic, you can do anything, huh.”

Neia worked her stricken shoulder. She had forgotten the pain during the excitement of battle, but now it was starting to hurt more and more.

“...Okay?”

“Mm. But it hurts to draw a bow. I don’t think I can aim well.”

“...Got a healing potion?”

“No, but I have a healing item His Majesty lent me.”

Neia could only use it once during that battle, but now she felt like she could use it more often. Still, that did not mean she could waste mana, because she might need to heal Shizu if the situation called for it.

“Don’t worry. We just need to rescue the hostage and retreat.”

“...Mm. Then let’s hurry.”

Neia nodded and ran with Shizu. The Vah Un, which was most definitely a worthy opponent, had been defeated.

All that remained was to rescue the prince and return to the larder.

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