Manowa

Chapter 398 – Let's Retaliate

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Three hours had passed since the White Party was suddenly trapped in a mysterious space, and they had continuously opposed hordes of Ghouls during that time.

During that time, they understood that this road looped endlessly.
Also, while it looked like a large number of Ghouls were appearing, as a matter of fact, only a fixed number would appear at a time.

When Louise used her summoned spirit to check the state of the Ghouls that were distant from the carriage, it seemed that after the Indestructible Carriage passed by, the Ghouls crumbled into pieces and disappeared like they were clay dolls.
Ghouls appeared to assault Yumika and the others, while those that got too far away disappeared; that continued over and over again.

However, there had been no change in that behavior up to the present point.
Yumika and Jinrai had gradually become accustomed to the Ghoul assaults.
Currently, the other members were also taking turns battling and resting.

Even though such measures were being taken, fatigue was certainly accumulating, but at least for now, they were still enduring.

The problem was that they couldn't break out of this place.
Their only means of contact was Window Email.
However, they didn't know their current position.
Some kind of impetus to break that situation was necessary.

「Here.
Fruit-flavored water.」

「Ah, thank you.」

Yumika was dead tired on her white stone horse, which was running alongside the carriage, and from inside, Emily handed her a canteen.  Currently, Jinrai and Tiara's Flame Power were routing the Ghouls.
As they thought, their numbers didn't increase above a certain level, nor did they seem to decrease.
In that case, it was clear that they themselves would eventually become exhausted.

「Those Ghouls are probably summoned beings.
Moreover, a type that circulates and activates magical power within the barrier.
The Magic Power consumption may be almost nonexistent for the caster.
Troublesome.」

While grinding her teeth, Louise said that.

「I still have my Wolf God Transformation, so I can manage my fatigue, but…」

While saying that, Yumika looked at Jinrai.
All his movements had changed to become more compact than before.
In order to reduce energy loss, his movements had been whittled down to the minimum.
That was the same for Shippuu, who continued optimizing his movements with Jinrai.
But even still, they surely had a limit.
Without a solution, Yumika and the others would meet their end.

(Rather, shouldn't we have Louise-san hit the ground with her powerful technique?)

She had heard that Kazane broke through the Berserk Ogre's barrier with brute force.
Setting aside the sky that seemed to continue forever, if that was fired at the ground before their eyes…
the moment that Yumika thought that,

Fissures suddenly appeared.

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「Wha!?」

Yumika's eyes widened.
A fissure was widening just below Yumika.

Then, the ground where Yumika was located cracked, and the carriage started rising…
no, Yumika started falling.
She heard Emily's voice, but she felt that even that was becoming distant as she continued falling, and falling even more.

「What is this!?」

Yumika shouted.
The white stone horse was useless in this situation.
Yumika jumped off the white stone horse Hippo-kun High, opened a Window while watching the collapsing rock walls, then quickly selected and activated the Skill『Zone』.

(My horizons have broadened!?)

Then Yumika started feeling like her surroundings had stopped.
With her powers of concentration heightened, Yumika grasped everything in that place.
Yumika skillfully jumped over the rocks from the crumbling rock walls, and when she crashed into the ground, she used the Barnes style spear technique『Reflect』to offset the impact, then jumped to the side while using her spear to repel the rocks that continued falling towards her.

All of that occurred inside a mere moment.

Rocks crashed into the ground, and dust rose.
The white horse Hippo-kun High was swallowed up and pulverized, but Yumika managed to escape.
However, Yumika's gaze was pointed in a different direction than the rocks that crashed into the ground.

(Just now, surely…?)

During the fall, Yumika felt like she saw someone peeping at herself for a moment.
The powers of concentration sharpened by the Skill『Zone』had reacted to a slight sense of discomfort in an invisible space.

It was only intuition.
But it made sense inside Yumika.
Therefore, she took an Adamantium spear out of her Item Box,

「There!」

And with that intuition, she threw the spear into a space that should have been empty.
Then, the spear disappeared into that space that should have been empty, and immediately after she saw magical power sparks scatter from that place, a noise ran through the world.

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「I did it…
guess not, huh?」

Yumika murmured.
It seemed that hadn't returned her to her original location.
And when she looked around, it looked like she was at the bottom of a cliff.

She looked up, but it seemed completely impossible to climb.
All the rock walls seemed to reach to infinite height, with only darkness beyond.

However, the red moon wasn't there either.
She didn't feel any signs of being seen or any kind of will.
Only the controlled world was there.

「Master and the others…
are fine, aren't they?」

Yumika thought.
Since she was fine, she had unconditional trust that Jinrai was also fine.
She didn't know about Emily and the others, but at the very least, they hadn't fallen at the same time that she had, so they should have stayed in that place.

Then Yumika summoned Kuromaru, and after checking the surroundings once, she sat down.

Ghouls weren't appearing either.
Yumika saw that at least at this point in time, the enemy's assault had stopped.
Yumika concluded that the spear she had fired had produced some kind of effect.

After that, Yumika changed her『Metamorphosis Divine Protection』Skill from『Dog's Sense of Smell』to『Intuition』.『Intuition』was more useful for reacting when something suddenly happened.

Then Yumika made Kuromaru stand watch, messaged Kazane and Ao, and started resting to recover her stamina.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Meanwhile, a scream was resounding outside the space Yumika and the others were imprisoned inside.

「GUAaAAAAAA!?」

That scream was from Madoru, the leader of the Borgiana Clown group that was aiming for Tiara.
Before the members' eyes, a spear had jumped out of the red orb and pierced Madoru's shoulder.

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「Kukuku.
As expected, you're capable, young lady.」

「This isn't a laughing matter!」

As he pulled the spear out of his shoulder, Madoru angrily yelled at Ijika, who was suppressing a smile.

「Beautiful …」

The mass of meat Marie was happily looking at that wound, but during that time, smoke started rising from Madoru's shoulder wound as it started healing.
Then Madoru observed the spear in his hand.

「I see.
It's made of Adamantium?」

He gripped the spear more tightly.

「It doesn't seem to be endowed with any particular ability, and its manufacturing is half-hearted, but the material alone was enough to slip through the barrier?」

So saying, he planted the spear in the ground.
And as if breathing out his anger, Madoru exhaled, and his expression returned to normal.

「It's clear that you'll have to go inside, Ijika.」

The corners of Ijika's mouth rose after Madoru spoke.

「She's grown since before.
I won't be able to win as my natural self.」

Ijika said, but his expression was filled with joy.
Madoru smiled a little at seeing Ijika's expression, but when he looked at the red orb in his hand, he sighed.

「However, there's a problem.」

The red orb in Madoru's hand was slightly cracked; a slight amount of magical power light was leaking from it, and at irregular periods, it brightened with faint light.

「Due to that attack just now, the connection has become unstable.
I can't interfere.」

After Madoru spoke, everyone in that place made noise.

「Perhaps that means you can't connect right away?」

The small man Mobaro said, and Madoru nodded.

「Having said that, I can't cancel and reapply the barrier either.
Searchers from Jiran City might come as well.
Just in case, we'll leave this place before I start repairing.」

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So saying, Madoru instructed his companions to  withdraw from that place, and they left it behind.
Their bonfire had also been extinguished, and all traces of Madoru and the others disappeared at the same time.
A few hours later, Tsuvara's Griffon Riders passed above that location, but they couldn't find even the traces of the bonfire.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator, Guardian

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 39

Health: 155+20

Magic Power: 363+520

Strength: 78+45

Agility: 80+39

Endurance: 44+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 53

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Kick Decapitation Wave』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King's Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv3』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』『Flexible』『Magic Power Absorption』『Red Body Transformation』

Kazane:「Huh? As I've been advancing according to the map, my speed has gradually been falling.」

Naoki:「Aneki, the flow of the magical power river is thin, so unless we take a detour, it seems to be impossible.」

Kazane:「Seriously?」