Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou

「……Is this SF? What the hell happened with the world’s setting huh.」

「Es, ef?」

The sight that leaped into their eyes when their sight cleared up made Hajime spoke those words even though he knew that it would confuse Yue.

The place they teleported into was just that foreign.

It was a room that was completely white with size as large as a gymnasium. Cylinders with magic circles engraved on them and height around Hajime’s waist were standing in large numbers inside. There was a huge transparent panel on the wall at the right side, while the left wall was stuffed with various devices that seemed to be measuring tools. At the center of the room there was a large desk with donut shape.

The desk was engraved with countless small magic circles in orderly placement. It made the desk resembled a console panel. There was an altar at the middle of the circle. A bluish white crystal sphere with the size of an armful was set there.

It was a futuristic looking central control room that controlled the whole facility. That was the impression that Hajime got.

「For now, there’s no sign of enemy.」

「It looks like there’s also no pursuer……there are, three entrances?」

When they went out of the cylindrical small room, they realized that similar rooms were also lined up at the left and right. One room was terribly damaged, but the other one looked like there was no problem with it.

「For now, let’s investigate this place.」

Hajime advanced toward the center of the room. Yue’s hand was holding on Hajime’s waist. Perhaps she was nervous.

「……Everything here, look unfamiliar to me. Even the magic circles, I never saw ones that are this detailed and complicated.」

「Yeah. The magic circles themselves seem similar with the age of god magic but……the atmosphere of the facility itself is really different from great dungeon. It must be from an era so long ago where even the culture was different.」

Perhaps, it was even older than the era of the liberators……a true age of god.

In any case, right now knowledge of age of god magic was the only clue to unravel the secret of the ruins. Hajime asked Yue to stand guard while he examined the magic circles with rapt attention.

「Tsu, Hajime! Look over here!」

Yue pulled on Hajime’s sleeve in surprise. When Hajime turned his gaze to her while wondering what was the matter,

「Skeleton?」

There was a corpse before the round desk. It was lying face down with one hand reaching out.

「We finally find a trace of people here. Though it’s strange that there’s only one person in a facility this large……」

「Yeah. Hm? This guy, is he holding something?」

Hajime crouched beside the corpse and observed it carefully. He then noticed something glinting under its stretched out hand.

Hajime carefully took it. From a glance, it looked like a rectangle glass fragment that was as big as his thumb.

「……This is, an alloy made from multiple metals. An artifact.」

「Eh, is that true?」

「Yeah. My guess is that it’s a data storage.」

Yue blinked. Hajime could make that conclusion because he knew about SD Card and the like at earth, so it was only natural. Even so he couldn’t fully analyze the thing, so he sighed. The things here were increasingly feeling like SF more and more.

「If this is a data storage like I guessed, there should also be a tool to read its content.」

「……There’s a slit that looks like that thing will fit in perfectly.」

Yue dropped her gaze to the round desk. Certainly it had a part that contained several slots.

The two looked and nodded to each other. Yue took a step back while Hajime carefully put the object into the nearest slot. The alloy plate slipped in. The effect from that was striking.

「Uoh」「Kyah」 Astonishment slipped out from the two’s mouths.

That was because sparkling particles burst up from the crystal sphere at the center. The particles that were tinged with faint silver light passed through Hajime and Yue and spread to the whole room. And then,

「A hologram display? Seriously? Well, it looks like that thing is definitely a data storage though.」

「Amazing……this kind of technology existed in the ancient time?」

Yue gulped. Hajime too couldn’t help but feel astonished by the technological level in display.

The particles slowly flowed to the surrounding. A part of them converged at various spots. They then circled like celestial bodies. Some kind of image started playing in the middle of those stars.

The noise was horrible. The image was of extremely bad quality. The spherical display itself was repeatedly dispersing and converging irregularly so the image became even worse.

But, there was no denying that they were displaying a fragment from the far away past.

「……There’s that monster. No, it’s not a golem? A living thing?」

「Yeah, looks like it. And most of all……oi oi, what the hell with that size?」

There was a grandeur grass field. That Centauros was there.

However, it had eight legs and four arms like a god’s war horse(Sleipnir). It had long hair and the fur of its horse body was also pure white. It had a huge body of a handsome and muscular man with the size that must be three times of that golem.

Its expression was very gentle and kind, with no ferocity at all in it. There were a lot of animals and birds, perching on its shoulders, head, and back.

There was a hilly area. There was the Serpent there.

However, its body was covered with pure white scales. It was tinged with faint radiance from the sunlight. Its figure as it coiled and slept even looked like a mountain with height around one kilometer.

This one too looked extremely peaceful. Wild animals could be seen snuggling close to it without any wariness.

There was a cloudy peak that was located in extremely great height. There, a Harpy could be seen.

However, it had pure white wings and hair. Its large breasts that had pale skin coloring were covered with feathers. As expected its size was also three times the golem. It had no obscenity or dirtiness at all like in the myth, rather it was so beautiful to a gruesome degree.

It cried toward the sky majestically. Its intellectual figure as it oversaw the sky creatures looked like the queen of the sky.

All of them looked divine and noble existences even from across the screen. And then, the last one,

「Hm? This is Urdia Lake, isn’t it?」

「Yes, it looks like it. ……Is that, a woman? How beautiful……」

The fourth spherical display showed a maiden with water body, dancing on a vast lake.

She was twirling around in joy. Sometimes her form would crumble back into water, then she would splash out again at other place and danced elegantly. Aquatic creatures like fishes and water snakes would also pop out from water and splashed around in delight along with the maiden.

Hajime saw an existence mixed in among those creatures and his eyes opened wide like saucers.

「L-Lee-san!?」

Yes, among the fishes that were swimming around joyfully were also a lot of human faced fishes. When he looked carefully, their faces were different from Lee-san. Perhaps they were his ancestors?

「What’s with you, suddenly shouting like that?」

「Ah, no, my bad. They look similar with my human faced fish friend.」

「A human faced fish is your friend!? Aren’t your circle of friends too wide!?」

There were vampire, dragon, rabbit girl, human princess. And then, human faced fish. Chaos.

They pulled themselves together and took another look at the existences that must be the base of the golems. Then another spherical display floated along those projections. It showed a civilization that seemed to be from the age of god.

「So it also has written data other than images huh.」

「C-can you read it?」

Hajime nodded while focusing on the information. The “Language Comprehension” skill helped him to comprehend the damaged and unclear data though the meaning that he got from it was vague. He read the information desperately.

「……Four, great spirits?」

The winged woman of the sacred peak who possessed the ability to rule over the weather, the spirit of four seasons who were in charge of the world’s climate, Leidia.

The great snake of the mountains and hills who possessed authority over the planet’s force itself, the spirit of creation who managed the land and magic particles, Grandia.

The centaur who possessed the authority of omnipresent space and time, the spirit of protection who managed the time and space, Fordia.

The maiden of the lake who possessed the authority of the transmigration of life, the spirit of life who managed the water and soul, Urdia.

The new spherical display projected the great tree Ua Alto and the great spirits who peacefully served it with respect from the four directions. The great tree stood far taller than even its current self with height that pierced the sky. Its branches and leaves were luscious and gentle light enveloped the whole thing. It was radiating sacredness that made it worthy to be described as god tree.

Yes, the four great spirits were existences that the great tree gave birth to in order to keep the world in balance.

「An era that preceded even the liberators a long time ago……it’s truly a sight from the age of god huh.」

Supernatural existences that were offered the love and respect of every living thing. Sometimes these higher existences too would also gently approach the residences of this world as kind and loving friend.

The scene of every living thing coexisting in peace was displayed in the spherical display.

The sight was like a paradise that was told in fairytale.

It made both Hajime and Yue felt like they wanted to sob tearfully, as though the inside of their chest was tightened. At the same time, their cheeks naturally relaxed seeing such scene that was just too lovely.

But, that only lasted for a brief moment. The atmosphere of the projected past image changed 180 degree.

「What are, those guys」

They could see people living at the base of the great tree. They seemed primitive, but they lived with abundance and without conflict. But one day, a strange existence of unknown background suddenly visited.

As example, it was like when people wearing black suits of the modern era appeared in the middle of the ancient Rome people. A group wearing pure white outfit that looked like priest attire came to the settlement of the people who were only wearing a piece of fabric as their outfit.

Hajime and Yue opened their eyes wide seeing an individual who was mixed in among them.

There was a beautiful woman with silver hair. She looked really familiar.

「Why is Noint there!?」

「Why is Shirasaki Kaori there!?」

That woman certainly had the same face like the “god’s apostle” Noint. Yue looked at Hajime and asked 「Noint?」 with a confused face but, Hajime too was caught in his thought and had no leeway to give explanation.

「……She act really like human there.」

When thinking of Noint, what came to his mind first would be her cold eyes and expressionless face. But, the woman inside the projection was overflowing with emotion and didn’t look like a doll at all.

Her expression always looked sorrowful and she gave off an ethereal impression. But, she would smile beautifully every time she came into contact with the people in the sea of trees. There was undoubtedly affection in her gaze toward the children of the sea of trees.

She also looked different from the current Kaori. She radiated the charm of an adult woman that possessed both sweetness and sourness in combination. The people’s adoration toward her was clearly getting stronger from each interaction.

The four great spirits also weren’t an exception. It seemed Urdia was especially taken by the woman, to a degree that she often invited the woman to the lake where the two would have fun dancing on top of the water. The two certainly looked like two people who had formed friendship that surpassed the boundary of species.

(What does this mean? Was Noint originally a human? No, she was a part of the white clothed group, which means……Ehito was also among them? Does that mean the white dressed people were gods?)

Was the difference in civilization level the gap between god world and human world? Was this the record from when the gods descended to the lower world?

「……It seems, the white clothed group wasn’t monolithic.」

Yue’s words caused Hajime to escape from the whirlpool of his thought. Certainly, it seemed the white clothed group was divided into two factions. One faction favored proactive interaction with the local people, while the other faction favored passive interaction.

The scene of the “woman” from the proactive faction getting into argument with a man who seemed to be the leader of the “passive faction” was displayed. They had very complicated expressions. It seemed that “he” was someone special for “her”. “He” too seemed to feel the same for “her”. But exactly because they were special for each other that they were angry because of their inability to understand each other. The atmosphere was feeling stormy.

In the end, it seemed there was break up in the white clothed group. From there events developed tempestuously.

Yes, it was a recording of tragedy that occurred in the age of god.

「Tsu……war? Just what in the world……」

「The passive faction started it huh……」

The power of the white clothed faction that “he” led was so mighty that it convinced Hajime and Yue that they were really gods.

They exterminated the proactive faction that should be their brethren, created numerous humanoid golems and floating pyramid golems that cornered the people, and wielded multiple age of god magic casually to put every corner of the world under their rule.

The difference in fighting power was just too overwhelming and despairing.

The only ones who could resist were the great tree Ua Alto, the four great spirits, and then the only survivor of the proactive faction, no, the overlooked “her”.

The four great spirits resisted with their authority, the radiance that the great tree exuded became a barrier that covered the sea of trees to create a protected sanctuary, and “she” too was running about everywhere in order to save the people.

「That way of fighting……so she’s really Noint? But……」

“She” was strong. She wasn’t wearing the valkyrie outfit but, her wings and the way she fought using twin great swords were the same like Noint. No, she was completely the superior version. She was handling several age of god magic easily the same like “him”.

The fighting intensified to the extreme. Literal cataclysm made the world screamed many times.

Even so, the four great spirits were might as expected. “His” faction also only had few members and the fighting was even.

That was why, both sides wished for new combat force.

「T-the birth of holy sword and hero……this record will make the historians scream madly in joy.」

The sacred light that the great tree was emitting. A holy sword was created from there and bestowed to a young man.

“She” trained the young man. She also passed down age of god magic and battle technique to the people who didn’t have any way of fighting, forming the world’s first warrior group.

But, what “he” created was something that far outstripped the hero and the warrior group.

「Tsu, so it’s like that」

Giant golems that were modeled after the great spirits――Replica(Pseudo Spirit).

The Replicas could use the authority of their originals, at the same time they also had extraordinary ability that made the great spirits unable to display their actual power.

For some reason there were only three of them from the start, and before they realized it the figure of Urdia(Spirit of Life) had stopped appearing in the projection……

In any case, the flow of battle was decided. That result left behind the scars that still remained even until this era.

First, Fordia(Spirit of Protection) was taken down at the fortress of the southern continent. At his last moment, the Centauros who was able to freely control time and space made his authority went berserk and created the stagnation phenomenon of molecular movement, which resulted in the land of extreme cold within a limited area.

As could be easily guessed, it was the snowy region that was always freezing for thousands of years――[Schnee Snowfield].

Next, Leidia(Spirit of Four Seasons) was taken down at the [Northern Mountain Range]. The death of the Harpy caused the change of season to be lost to the world. In exchange the mountain range became the only place that was ruled by chaotic seasons for eternity.

And last, Grandia(Spirit of Creation) used up its life to divide the continent into the north and south before it ran out of strength.

It did that in order to protect at least the living things in the south continent from the effect of the humongous magic that “he” fired from the [God Mountain] toward the south. It created a great valley and disintegrated its body to seep into the valley, creating a barrier of magic dispersion. That was the origin of [Raisen Great Valley].

「It’s really a war of gods huh. The scale is in different level.」

「Indeed……to be honest, I still cannot fully comprehend it.」

Perhaps because of the degradation from the long years, or perhaps because of other cause, in any case, the strength of the current pseudo spirits was only around 30% of their golden age. They also could only use a small part of their authority. Perhaps that was why they needed to steal the memories of Yue and others to supplement it, but either way, it saved their lives, the two thought while getting cold sweat.

The scene changed completely. The spherical display projected two images at the same time. The image of the warrior group that was led by the hero fighting the white clothes, and the image of “her” stealthily going through inside a white facility.

「It’s this ruins huh. Based from the flow of the story――」

「Yes. “She” infiltrated into here while the hero is acting as diversion. Into this facility of “him”.」

Her objective immediately became clear. In a place that looked like a gigantic hangar, there were innumerable golems of various types and sizes and also imprisoned people. She must have come to save them.

At the center of the room there was a large stone plate with an eye drawn on it. The moment it was covered with silver light, a huge magic circle formed in the air.

「Is that it-. Is that the way to steal memory!?」

Hajime’s eyes flared. His expression that was overwhelmed from the mythological war became like a hungry beast instantly. Hajime immediately took out a glasses and activated it. It was an artifact to record image.

Right after that, the prisoners collapsed one after another. In exchange lives were breathed into the golems that hadn’t even stirred at the slightest until now. They started to move.

This was exactly the recording of the creation of autonomous golems using memory transfer.

「Hand over the information-! You left behind this kind of video record! You must let behind information too-」

「P-please calm down, Hajime!」

Hajime yelled that there should also be written information like the detailed record of the four great spirits. He looked around with bloodshot eyes. He was looking so unhinged that Yue grabbed his arm and urged him to calm.

Hajime took a deep breath. He grasped Yue’s hand and regained his calm, then right after that, information appeared before his eyes. It was as though it was responding to his demand.

The data was horribly damaged as usual. The letters also belonged to the age of god and he couldn’t read them smoothly.

Even so, he didn’t know when it would vanish and desperately read it. As the result,

「……Combat ability succession system……”God’s Eye”?」

According to the information, it was originally an artifact for prolonging life span through soul copying. This artifact was adjusted so the emotion and will were suppressed as preventative measure against rebellion, while only autonomy in regard to battle was maintained.

The demerit was doing the copying from human to human would cause turbidity to the soul and turned the human into an invalid, so the soul transcription could only be done to golem. The merit was that because it was golem, the soul wouldn’t be separated even if it received damage that should be fatal for living thing, and the golem was easy to repair and could be sent back to the frontline quickly.

Apparently there were several of this “God’s Eye” all over the world where they were used to form army.

Also, as a safety measure apparently the artifact was set so it wouldn’t work against the white clothed group. 「Maybe, earthlings are too different from this world’s people that we got categorized in the same group with that white group?」 Hajime’s thought immediately leaped to the cause of why their souls didn’t get taken away too. But,

「Hajime, “she” is doing something!」

Yue pulled at his sleeve strongly and he came back to his senses. The spherical display was showing how “she” destroyed the “God’s Eye” with disintegration magic. The magic circle of soul transcription vanished, while at the same time “she” lifted up her hand. Then, a similar but different magic circle formed in the air.

The collapsed prisoners got up on their feet, while the golem army powered down.

「Soul recovery magic huh……shit, the image is too blurry-. Can’t it increase the image resolution!?」

「What an amazing magic circle! It’s too complicated-」

What they sought was right there. It was an absolutely necessary information. If they could reproduce the magic circle inside the image, their problems would be resolved all at once.

The two desperately analyzed it but……

The magic circle inside the image suddenly vanished. It wasn’t because the spherical display went out of order. It was because “she” got attacked.

The opponent was “him”. He noticed the diversion and returned.

“He” got enraged toward “her”. “He” yelled something angrily before holding out his hand immediately after that. Perhaps it was just their imagination but, his expression looked like it was somewhat pleading despite being colored with fury.

But, “she” didn’t take his hand. “She” simply shook her head sadly.

And then “she” held out her hand instead. It was a gesture that asked “him” to take her hand instead.

“He” looked enraged once more and bared his fang toward “her”. “She” fought while protecting the prisoners――

「That’s a lethal wound.」

「Even so, she managed to let the prisoners escaped. She’s an amazing person.」

Her regeneration magic must be being jammed. “She” fell from the light spear that pierced her chest. However, she kept advancing forward even when her life was like a candle light in front of blowing wind. She crawled on the ground while vomiting blood.

She must have a reason why she couldn’t possibly give up. It was a terrific willpower.

Perhaps that was why, it occurred.

“She” herself must not have realized what she was doing.

Richly colored light was emitted from “her” as she crawled desperately. Hajime and Yue didn’t know what it was. They had no knowledge of it.

When they looked at “him”, it seemed that “he” knew what it was. It must be a divine act. But, apparently it was something that should be completely impossible based on how astonished “he” looked.

“He” attacked in a panicked hurry, but all of his attacks were swallowed by the richly colored light and didn’t reach “her”. Far from that, it seemed that he couldn’t even touch the light. He was getting cornered toward the wall as the light kept spreading.

“He” turned a gaze that was a mix of resignation and anger toward “her” who wouldn’t even look at him anymore. At the end his face turned expressionless and he teleported away to somewhere.

After that, “She” arrived at this place, the central control room with desperate effort. But,

「So, this is her huh.」

「……I wonder what did she want to do.」

She didn’t reach. She was crying while reaching out with her hand, her expression was dyed with guilt. In the end she expired while her mouth was saying something. Mysteriously, the richly colored light that denied everything from reaching her still remained even after that.

Seeing how “him” also didn’t come back, it must be a type of barrier.

「As expected it seemed like it didn’t last until this era.」

「It vanished far away in the past. And then this facility degraded from the passage of time that was so long, that even the geography on the surface had changed. And then a part of this facility got unearthed by the fighting of the monsters.」

The projection vanished. In exchange, what “she” tried to accomplish even at the cost of her life was showed.

A part of the control panel lighted up by itself, then the wall at the deepest part of the room in front of them started shining. A magic circle formed up and the wall was gradually becoming transparent. An immense area at the other side came into view.

「It’s big……is it an underground lake?」

「What is that at the center? A pillar of crystal?」

It must be several hundred meters high and had four sides that reached two kilometers in width. Only the walls and ceiling were pure white, while there was no ground. Everything was water surface. It seemed that there were waters bursting out here and there, so there were countless ripples overlapping with each other.

At the center of it, there was a huge crystal pillar that connected the ceiling and lake. It was emitting faint rust colored light.

Their eyes, met. With something inside the crystal.

In that moment, something like thought flowed in. A thought that was like a beautiful lake and intense grief, a thought of longing that sought for the great tree and mother, resentment that was blazing deeply toward “him”, and thought of sorrow toward a friend.

Those were enough to learn her identity. The two called that existence’s name together.

「「Spirit of Life ――Urdia」」

The two were shocked right now. They found the answer of why she herself vanished from the war against the white clothed group.

She alone was captured. The reason for that could be guessed if they thought about her authority.

A new spherical display appeared in reaction to the name.

「As expected huh. It looks like they couldn’t steal the great spirits’ souls just with “God’s Eye”.」

「That was why, they made use of Urdia’s power that hold the authority to interfere with soul wasn’t it?」

With that they increased the artifact’s output, but even then they still couldn’t take away the great spirits’ souls completely.

The information about Urdia and the pseudo spirits came out.

It seemed that Urdia could interfere with the souls all over the world with the intermediary of water. If that authority wasn’t controlled, it would be impossible to continue binding the souls of the great spirits inside the golems, and, it would also be impossible to use the authority of each pseudo spirit through proxy if not through the intermediary of magic circle that acted as the replacement of water and receiver.

「I see. “She” destroyed the “God’s Eye” here. Then, right now Urdia’s power is the only way to get back the soul. The long rain is caused by that.」

「Looks like just a single touch is enough for it. Really, what a crazy ability. But, isn’t it far inferior compared to her golden age?」

「Our souls aren’t completely taken away after all. ……But it’s understandable with her in that state.」

A liquid form was weakly undulating inside the crystal pillar. The once beautiful maiden of the lake couldn’t be found anywhere. The passage of time that was almost no different than eternity had weakened her to the extreme.

Most likely she had weakened to a degree that the system even needed to send the pyramid floating object to investigate and find the coordinate of the target. Surely there were pyramids infiltrating into the town yesterday night.

There was no sound, and also no will. No wonder Hajime and others didn’t detect them.

「More importantly, where is the information about the soul recovery magic?」

In the end their objective was taking back the memories. While Hajime was concentrating on the information browsing, Yue kept up her guard to the surrounding while raising a question.

「Was it as I thought, that we were attacked because of the facility’s self-defense action and not because of someone’s intention?」

They had entered until this far and learned this much, and yet there was still no reaction. Yue tilted her head, wondering if Hajime’s instinct that said that the golems’ actions seemed scripted was correct.

「I guess. Nobody would be able to enter this place while that richly colored barrier was still up. Then by some chance a lot of monsters warred near the ruin, died in droves, and then their souls got collected which resulted in――」

「Urdia reacting and the ruins activating?」

Maybe, when Hajime was about to reply like that,

「Tsu, Yue!」

They learned that the ruins’ defense system was still active, regardless whether it was by someone’s intention or not.

Pure white light suddenly filled the inside of the room. A presence of death approached from behind. Hajime grabbed Yue’s waist in his hold while immediately jumping to the side. Right after that, the space that they occupied just an instant ago was mowed by a flash.

「Amanogawa……you bastard, what are you doing?」

The culprit of the brutal assault was Kouki.

The other teleportation room that Hajime and Yue didn’t use was shining. He must have come here from a different route.

Why and how he came until this far? In the first place, why did he attack them?

Hajime asked his question with a grave expression. Kouki relaxed his posture from his attacking stance and turned his face toward them. His expression lacked any human emotion and there wasn’t any light of human will inside his eyes. Hajime narrowed his eyes.

Beside him Yue asked 「He is?」 with surprise filling her tone. At the same time Kouki stepped forward with no intention of talking. He closed the distance quietly, with footwork that was just too smooth. A track of light was drawn in the air, heading toward Hajime’s neck.

「Tsu, you-」

A strange sound of clashing resounded. It was the sound of Hajime blocking the slash with Donner. Hajime’s expression twisted. Not from anger because of Kouki’s assault, but because the attack was so polished that there was no room for him to dodge.

「――”Lightning Snake”!!」

Yue casted lightning magic that fired countless lightning. It was a lightning speed counter attack from point blank range. Her timing was perfect despite her lack of real battle experience.

But, Kouki was unusual as expected. He back stepped with super speed a moment earlier as though he had predicted it. He also unleashed consecutive slashes with extremely flowing movement, cutting apart all the lightning snakes without missing a single one.

Not only that, he also pushed his hand forward after that,

「――”Lightning Spear – Seven Lines”」

And counterattacked in return. Seven spear of lights flew in the blink of eye.

「Don’t look down on me-」

Hajime leaped to the side with Yue in one arm while firing four shots in succession. He only shot the cores of the spears that would hit them and dispersed them. Naturally the remaining two shots headed toward Kouki. They aimed at his arm and leg. But,

「Tsk. Whose memory got installed in him? This ain’t a joke.」

The sharpness of Kouki’s technique was out of the norm. Astonishingly, he diverted the trajectories of the bullets with the flat of his blade. Although they weren’t fired as railgun bullets, a godly technique would still be needed to pull off such feat.

His footwork caused the opponent to have difficult to get a bead of the distance between them, and the timing of his step slipped through between the interval of the opponent’s consciousness. They were clearly not the movement of the Kouki that Hajime knew.

Kouki easily slipped past his guard and slashed with a terrifyingly sharp move. Donner and holy sword clashed over and over. Sparks bloomed profusely in between them.

「Hajime!」

Yue gave backup with lightning once more. The current Yue didn’t have the skill to aim only at the opponent in a high speed close range combat. But, because there was a bond that had been rebuilt between them even only through this short time together, she believed that if it was Hajime he would be able to defend against it.

「Nice! I love you Yue!」

Hajime diverted the lightning using “Lightning Clad”. Kouki never even expected that Yue would attack her ally too along with him and the lightning splendidly hit him. Hajime let out a powerful front kick as Kouki was petrified for a moment.

Kouki was sent flying and crashed on the wall. His mouthed vomited out blood. Normally the damage would make him crouch and became unable to move. But, the current Kouki apparently was extraordinary not only in martial art but also mental strength.

He didn’t even take a breather, and his face didn’t even twist in pain. He pointed his sword toward Yue who let out a strange voice 「Nnhyuu!?」 from Hajime’s words.

「――”God’s Might”」

The attack was only as thick as log because it was done in short notice, even so it was still a bombardment with the highest class of killing power.

Yue could only open her eyes wide.

Her lack of real battle experience came back to bite her in the ass. Even though she understood that she would have no problem with attack of this level because of her “Automatic Regeneration”, her body froze――but, that too was only for an instant.

「……Believe me I get it」

A large back filled Yue’s sight as though it was only natural for him to be there.

But, Yue couldn’t immediately say her thanks. Kouki too couldn’t continue attacking immediately.

「You aren’t doing this by your own will. Yeah, this isn’t your fault. But you know」

A monotone voice. A quiet atmosphere. But, a chill ran on her back. The crimson aura that was the proof of the activation of “Vajra” simply felt ominous.

Red sparks ran over the two guns. Kouki instinctually sensed the danger and yelled.

「Tsu――”Limit Break”!!」

「It’s fine if it’s just your limbs right?」

Pure white radiance whirled around Kouki. The red flashes gouged it in an instant.

It was terrific that Kouki could react. But, the shots that were electromagnetically accelerated and also with “Foresight” behind them were nearly impossible to be dodged when it was Kouki’s first time encountering such thing. And don’t even mention diverting their trajectory with a sword.

As expected, one shot pierced through Kouki’s flank with another shot piercing his thigh. The bullets hit the moment he stepped forward, so Kouki tumbled on the floor in a big way. Even so he still moved, like a broken marionette that didn’t feel any pain, as though he was made to dance following the will of his controller.

「I see. So you can still move even after that……」

Hajime raised an eyebrow without pointing away his gun muzzle from Kouki. Seeing that gaze that was just too chilling,

「H-Hajime! Those children――」

Yue reflexively raised her voice. Yue didn’t know about Kouki, but she had been told that he was a childhood friend of Shizuku and others. She felt hesitant to allow their friend to die.

But, it seemed that result-wise, she didn’t need to say anything. Because a voice and an impact that were louder than Yue drowned what she was going to say.

「Nagumo-kunnn, waitttt-!!」

「Dowaaaaaaaah」

The voice that cut in with panic came from Shizuku. And then, the one who blew away Kouki in order to distance him from Hajime’s gun muzzle was Ryuutarou.

「Oh? Oo! Nagumo-donoo! Yue-dono too! Both of thee art safe!」

「Wawawah, they are still chasing us!」

There were also Tio who hopped in happiness with joy filling her whole face, and the panicking Suzu who was riding on her back while putting up barrier. It seemed they also came out from the same teleportation room that Kouki used.

「Get down.」

The faces of Shizuku and co spasmed seeing Hajime pointing his gun at them and they dived to the floor. Crimson flashes passed above their head. Sounds of destruction resounded from behind them in succession. In addition, a thunderous roar and shockwave also followed behind a beat later. It felt like their eardrums would burst.

When everyone fearfully looked back while still lying on the floor, they saw the teleportation room was half-destroyed. Hajime stopped it from functioning using hand grenade.

Kouki stood up during that time. He was mostly standing on just one leg, even so he charged forward with unbelievable speed. His holy sword shined and light spheres floated around him――

「Right」

「――tsu!?」

There was no falsehood with the warning. There was a chakram floating at Kouki’s right side before he realized it. It was opening a “gate”.

Kouki was able to lift up his holy sword as shield was thanks to the warning as expected. No, perhaps it should be said that he was made to use his sword as shield. The bullet that leaped through space dealt a great impact on the holy sword.

Although he was given a room to put up defense, the attack was still coming from railgun. The holy sword possessed astounding toughness seeing that it didn’t snap. But, naturally there was no way the holder could keep its hold to it.

The holy sword was blasted away while Kouki stumbled. Then in an instant, Hajime’s artificial arm grabbed Kouki’s face with an eagle grip that slammed his head on the floor. In addition he activated “Lightning Clad” and mad Kouki’s body convulsed fiercely.

「Waaii-, wait! Stop it Nagumo! Kouki isn’t in his right mind!」

「That’s right! You understand already from fighting him right? Kouki isn’t that strong!」

「S-Shizushizu. Your wording……well, doesn’t matter. Please Nagumo-kun, change your mind!」

Ryuutarou and others came running and desperately begged for Hajime to spare Kouki.

In addition, even Yue came to him. She grabbed his sleeve.

「Hajime, it’s enough already right? I’m unharmed. Because you protected me.」

She calmed Hajime down even while looking somewhat happy. Her expression was really soft.

「Yue……」

「I’m undying in the first place you know? And yet, you’re getting too angry just from me getting attacked a little-. Just how much you……that, l-, l-, love me! Geez!」

Confusion oozed out from Shizuku and co. Oh? Isn’t the atmosphere really sweet for some reason?

「Even though thou were so wary toward him before this. What’s with that lovestruck face now.」

「I-I’m not looking lovestruck or anything though!?」

Tio-chan scoffed. It seemed she was in a really bad mood.

「W-what happened with you two in just this short time?」

「They feel like, the usual Nagumo and Yue-san. Even though it doesn’t look like she already get her memory back.」

「In other words, Nagumo-kun and Yue-oneesama will never change no matter what happen. This must be what the saying “not even dog will eat it” mean.」

It felt like the serious atmosphere had completely vanished from the area. There the light that covered Kouki vanished quietly. His “Limit Break” had turned off. It seemed that he was also unconscious, seeing that he wasn’t struggling or anything.

Hajime restrained him with “Bola” just in case, then he got up and smiled wryly.

「Really you guys, from the start I wasn’t planning to kill him or anything y’know?」

「「「「「Eh?」」」」」 Everyone’s eyes widened.

It was only natural for him to be misunderstood from his usual lack of mercy, but in the past Hajime had also spared Tio even after she got brainwashed and attacked them. This was the same with that. As expected, he wouldn’t kill the current Kouki without care.

「I even overlooked the head maid right?」 He said to Yue. It made Yue realized that it seemed she had overreacted. Her face reddened and she crouched down.

Shizuku and co also realized that they had jumped to conclusion and averted their gazes awkwardly. Hajime glanced at that before narrowing his eyes at Tio.

「You guys are safe……though not completely huh. But, it’s great that we can link up.」

Looking closer, Tio and co were looking ragged. Shizuku and Ryuutarou were covered with cuts, while Tio’s outfit had become risqué.

Surely she had used her body to shield the others. Hajime kindly wiped the dirt on Tio’s cheek with intention to show his appreciation to her. It made Tio embarrassed and she covered up her face with her sleeves.

Hajime kept it a secret that the gesture made him reflexively wanted to slap her. You ain’t someone like that right, he thought. He cleared his throat.

「Did you guys chase after Amanogawa?」

「Indeed we art. We were almost checkmated but, his expression changed just before that and then he left.」

「We thought that something happened.」

「Either way we couldn’t just let him went off like that. We somehow shook off the floating thingies and reached this place.」

「So he left in order to stop you Nagumo-kun. We narrowly escaped death there. Thank you.」

Hajime nodded 「I see」 while he seemed to recall something when he saw Suzu started using healing magic. He turned toward Yue.

「Yue, I know you aren’t good with it but use healing magic.」

「Muu. ……I think, it’s not really improper to teach a girl so casually like that though……」

Well, it’s fine right now, Yue who was pouting seeing his exchange with Tio said that before she too started using healing magic. Seeing that, Tio said 「W-why art thou not relying on me! Even I couldst do something like that-」 and started competing with Yue. It was unusual for Yue and Tio to have sparks like this between them.

「So……Nagumo-kun, what’s this place?」

Shizuku ran her gaze at the surrounding and put on a bewildered look. Suzu and Ryuutarou also looked confused by the room’s foreign layout and the underground lake behind the transparent wall at the back.

「What’s, that……is something there?」

「What the? It feels like something’s entering my head directly……」

Urdia’s thought must be transmitting. Their bewildered faces were gradually turning into frowns that were sympathizing with the suffering in Urdia’s thought.

Hajime didn’t answer the questions and turned toward the transparent wall instead. He activated “Telepathy”.

『Urdia, can you hear?』

It was a method to communicate the thought not through the vibration in the air but through mental wave. Tio and others were taken aback hearing the name that Hajime mentioned.

『We aren’t enemy. We can free you. That’s why I want you to return the taken soul fragments back to where they came from.』

Hajime strongly, strongly thought of how important it was for them.

He understood. Urdia had no freedom. Because she had been reduced into a part of the system for carrying out the function of the ruins which was the expansion of army as well as defending it.

Even so, she was a great spirit. An existence that was akin to god who loved all things in existence, and governed over the cycle of life. Then, perhaps she would respond to the sincere request of human children……

It felt like, the crystal was flickering slightly. It felt like something that looked like a warped face was looking over here.

But, that was all. Hajime opened his mouth once more, but,

「Tsu, it’s, impossible……」

He was interrupted by a voice that was groaning in pain. It was Kouki. His wounds still hadn’t been closed completely, so he was sweating heavily while gritting his teeth.

Hajime and co felt wary and on their guard toward him because his atmosphere was different from before. Kouki lowered his eyebrows.

「Nagumo, and everyone too……sorry. But, I’m alright now.」

「O-oi, Kouki? Are you Kouki? Do you know who I am?」

Kouki nodded. They could see a faint light of will inside his eyes. It was surprising.

「Kouki, you……you have your memory?」

「Yeah. It was the holy sword that was receiving the influence. I just got dragged into the holy sword’s running out of control.」

According to him, last night, he felt a strange uneasiness in his chest while sleeping in the inn and opened his eyes. There he noticed how the holy sword was shining.

And then, the moment he took it in his hand while wondering what was up with it, an intense storm of thought entered his head and rendered him unconscious. When he came to himself, it felt like he was inside a dream and he had lost control of his own body.

「Urdia sought the holy sword. As though she had finally found a long lost family member.」

「……Is it because, it was another existence that was born from the great tree like her?」

It seemed that Kouki had knowledge of what was going on to some extent. He nodded briefly.

According to him, it wasn’t like the holy sword had a clear will on its own. Because of its deep relationship with Urdia, it receiving Urdia’s maddening broadcast of will and tuned into it. It was helplessly draw toward her in order to respond to her call.

At the same time, the holy sword’s function that didn’t allow it to separate from this era’s hero, Kouki was also still running well.

As the result of being put between a rock and a hard place, tremendous amount of will flowed into Kouki through the holy sword. As the result, he got drawn toward the ruins as the holy sword’s wielder.

「I see. That’s why you came back to your senses after your hand let go of the holy sword.」

「That’s how. I got teleported when entering the mountain range and came here. After that……I don’t really remember but, it felt like I was flooded with sense of duty to protect Urdia no matter what from external enemy.」

「……The hero should be considered as enemy by the ruins but……no, perhaps that’s why?」

The hero’s brain luckily became muddled because of Urdia’s influence. If the target of his feeling of “protect the noble being” got switched toward the enemies that came from outside the ruins, he certainly would become usable as useful guardian.

(Though that feels like something that’s a bit outside the script for the defensive action……)

Hajime walked to pick the holy sword that had gotten thrown to the corner of the room. He carefully observed the blade but it wasn’t even scratched. Even though it had just gotten hit by a railgun bullet.

(Holy sword that is extremely hard to break. And the hero who would appear in the next generation even if the current one got killed.)

He saw it now. It was troublesome. After all the first generation hero was so powerful he could even fight against the white clothed group, so perhaps this ruins also had a defensive script against hero.

「Hey, Kouki. What’s with your sword skill before this?」

「I think, it was from the memory that got engraved in the holy sword.」

「You mean……」

「Yeah, I think it’s the memory of the first generation hero. It felt really hazy and I don’t have any definite proof though……」

Just like how most of the time people’s memory of dream would fade when they were awake, Kouki said that right now he only vaguely recalled the memory. 「But……」 Kouki continued with a strong frown.

「There was this frustrated feeling that got passed to me. A frustration from being unable to come back here anymore even if he wanted to save someone. Because of the barrier that looked like rainbow.」

He must be referring to the richly colored light. Based from what Hajime watched, even “she” herself didn’t put up that barrier intentionally. As expected, that barrier still wouldn’t let anybody come closer even after the caster’s death.

It lasted for so long that it even made “him” forgot about this ruins, or that “he” decided that he didn’t need this ruins anymore and abandoned it.

The barrier didn’t even allow its own supposed ally the hero to enter.

「Anyway, Urdia’s feeling and the holy sword’s function got taken advantage of.」

Kouki gritted his teeth. Hajime sighed seeing that and released him from Bola’s restrain. Kouki got up and glanced at the holy sword in Hajime’s hand, but he didn’t tell him to return it back.

「And? What do you mean by impossible?」

Kouki’s face warped with sadness. His voice was trembling.

「……I felt it through the holy sword. Urdia……is already dead.」

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the crystal pillar. The body with indeterminate shape, face and limbs with terribly twisted shape that sometimes came into view, like the dead that was writhing in hell. It made everyone accepted Kouki’s words without protest.

「My best guess, is that crystal pillar is forcefully maintaining her existence.」

A gear with the purpose to pillage and make use of her authority. As long as she wasn’t freed from it, she would be unable to die fully. That must be the situation. There was only the thought from when she was still alive remaining behind, but she herself had definitely lost any will of her own.

「……What a terrible irony. “Her” strong will to protect was what caused help to fail to arrive in time.」

Yue shook her head in her inability to accept the truth. The tragedy of the great spirit that was being kept as a gear to run the facility even after her death made even Shizuku and others who didn’t know about the situation in detail to look bitter.

「Then, let’s free her.」

Hajime threw the holy sword into Kouki’s sheath and walked toward the control panel.

He couldn’t deny, that he felt sympathy. He thought of her as pitiful. But it was the thought to disable the authorities of the pseudo spirits that occupied his mind the most. That would also prevent the system to steal everyone’s soul again after regaining it.

「Free her, how?」

Kouki needed to borrow Ryuutarou’s shoulder to stand up because his foot’s injury wasn’t fully healed yet and there was also the aftereffect from using “Limit Break”. He asked Hajime with a doubtful expression.

「There’s no way the last thing that woman tried to do was just inserting a data storage. Perhaps that thing is a type of hacking device isn’t it?」

It was a talk that Shizuku and others couldn’t follow at all because they hadn’t seen the past recording. Even Kouki who had vaguely learned about the great spirit and first generation hero didn’t know the situation in detail.

Only Yue nodded in understanding of the words that Hajime was speaking to himself in order to sort out his thought.

「”She” is well versed in “their” technology, so that sounds plausible. Perhaps, “she” also left behind information and recording just in case she failed……」

「Perhaps. Now then……this place has gotten quiet. Perhaps the ruins has run out of plan after Amanogawa’s summoning, or perhaps having teleportation as the only method to come here is coming back to bite them in their ass.」

Either way, the data storage that had finished projecting the past information was sending written information to a new spherical display. It seemed to be worthwhile information for Hajime to spend his time analyzing it.

「The damage in the data is horrible like always. I’ll try making sense of it somehow.」

Hajime frowned and his eyes followed the lines of letters from age of god with a glare. He poured magic power into several magic circles on the control panel, erasing some of the spherical displays or calling out other displays.

With that, the others realized that Hajime was trying to fiddle with the ruins’ function.

Shizuku and co were shocked and impressed, even so they themselves had nothing that they could do so they were staying idle. Because of that, it was only natural that they became worried for those who weren’t here.

「Kaori and Shia-san……I wonder if they’re okay.」

「They’re fine.」

Hajime answered the question so casually that Shizuku’s expression became a bit sullen.

「……Don’t speak so easily like that. Aren’t you worried?」

「Somewhat. But, this is Kaori and Shia we’re talking about.」

It was you guys and Tio who was with you that worried me the most, Hajime replied with a straightforward answer. He was being so blunt perhaps because he was allocating the majority of his brain resource for analyzing and controlling the system.

「It’s Tio after all. I thought she wouldn’t hesitate to risk herself when it’s really necessary.」

「Uu, Suzu can’t deny that. Suzu got protected a lot by Tio-san even though Suzu is the barrier master.」

「She’s more or less a proud member of dragon race after all, so it stands to reason. I’m really glad you guys are safe.」

Tio was blushing and fidgeting. He really understand me……she said. It was also conveyed that Hajime sincerely worried for her. She was looking both happy and embarrassed.

「What doth thou mean more or less! I am a proud dragon, proven and true! Furthermore! I am the daughter from the Clarus family that art the example for all dragons! I am a true lady!」

「「「「「……」」」」」

「Umm, Hajime? And everyone else too, why are all of you fell silent? Why are you all averting your gaze?」

Yue too was puffing up her cheeks slightly from hearing Hajime’s confident words, but her confusion won out because of the awkward atmosphere that was filling the room. Of course, Tio-chan too was extremely confused.

Shizuku who was great with reading the atmosphere returned the talk back on topic.

「Just because they are Kaori and Shia……well, certainly the current Kaori has the apostle body though.」

「There’s also that, but Kaori is a healer. She can use regeneration magic and soul magic. If it’s just a matter of toughness than she’s superior than even the current Yue.」

Even though she was inexperienced in the matter of combat, it was unthinkable that she would blunder with healing her comrade when push really came to shove.

It seemed that Hajime was convinced of that. Shizuku nodded 「Certainly……」 with a bit of vexation.

「But, what about Shiashia? She can’t fight right?」

「Yeah, Nagumo. Rabbit race originally is cowardly right? Even if Kaori can heal her, ain’t her mental state unreliable right now?」

「That’s exactly the thing that you don’t need to worry at all. There ain’t anybody more courageous than her in this world. Even if she return back to being a good-for-nothing rabbit……her heart won’t yield, absolutely not.」

And most of all, Hajime’s lips formed a fearless smile.

「These bunches are the best friend and love rival that even Yue acknowledged. There’s no doubt that they’re still alive and kicking.」

Everyone was exasperated with how naturally he slipped in some boasting about his lover in there, even so, they sensed how confident Hajime was that if it was Kaori and Shia then they would overcome a difficulty of this level. That was why it also sounded persuasive enough for Shizuku and others.

In conclusion, Hajime held deep trust for Yue and others.

「……I, see. Then surely, they’re fine.」

For some reason, Yue and Tio went 「Mu?」 and sent suspecting glances at Shizuku. That was because they felt something similar to envy in Shizuku’s tone.

Although it was something that they detected only for an instant. There was also no change in her expression. Rather tension left her shoulders in relieve just like Suzu and Ryuutarou. The two shook their heads, thinking it was just their imagination.

There, Hajime apparently found what he was looking for.

「Is this, it?」

Particles gathered in front of Hajime. They didn’t form a sphere, but a square display.

The corner of Hajime’s lips curled up when he saw the age of god letters that were displayed there.

「Yue, I’ll hand you the image of the record from before.」

He said that and tossed a glasses. In addition he took out a leather bound memo from “treasure warehouse” and tossed that too. Yue caught them in her arms hastily before she tilted her head.

「The magic circle for pillaging soul that is used in “God’s Eye” and the magic circle for recovering soul that woman used looked really similar to each other. I think that they are the inverse of each other.」

「Certainly, that might be the case.」

「The memo recorded the magic circle for passing down age of god magic that we ran into at the great dungeons. I think the knowledge transfer and memory browsing should be similar with this magic circle.」

「In other words……you’re telling me to reproduce the soul recovery magic?」

Hajime nodded. There would be no problem for them to spend time researching if they could free Urdia and depowered the pseudo spirits with that.

「It’s fine even if you don’t reproduced it. As long as it’s effective then making a new magic entirely is also fine y’know?」

「Don’t speak like it’s so simple. This is a magic from the age of god, perhaps even a magic that the gods personally used you know?」

She didn’t know just how amazing of a magician she was before she lost her memory. But, right now she had no real battle experience at the very least. She was a little girl who had only lived for ten odd years.

Yue protested because Hajime simply asked for too much. Hajime smiled.

「Even without memory, you’re still the world’s greatest magician. A genius without compare.」

「Nnah-」

It was a straight punch of unwavering praise and trust. It made Yue swallowed back her words.

Hajime added even more words as though it was only natural. With eyes that looked slightly dead.

「Even if you’re the worst instructor ever who explained the trick to learn magic with despairingly shitty explanation like “Just go kyuun and then zooi!”, and when you tried to give theoretical explanation you blabbered mysterious theory that even language comprehension cannot comprehend, and to finish off you smashed your student’s heart to pieces by saying “Why can’t you understand something this simple?”.」

「What are you talking about!? Or rather, do you have some grudge with me!?」

「Barubaru……gyun……sooi-……uu, my head-」

「Tio-san!? Is there something wrong with you!?」

Tio was holding her head in pain at the corner of his sight but Hajime ignored it and declared to Yue.

「If it’s Yue then you can absolutely do it. I’ll protect you while you’re doing it so……I’m counting on you yeah, partner?」

「Uu……you, are really an unfair person.」

She averted her gaze while going puih, even so her lips were threatening to break into a happy smile from being relied on.

Hajime squinted his eyes seeing that, then he warned Tio and others 「Back off a little」.

He hadn’t managed to read all the information accurately but, the data storage that “she” prepared was really something to break through the firewall of the ruins’ system and free Urdia as expected.

Although, it wasn’t absolute. Perhaps an unexpected situation would occur or there might be lethal counterattack from the facility.

Yue guessed Hajime’s thinking and made Tio and the others who were looking puzzled to back off. Just in case, she asked Suzu to deploy double layers of barrier.

After all those finished, Yue nodded. Hajime looked back across his shoulder and nodded back. He took a breath, then he poured magic power into the magic circle of the control panel.

Immediately a light flashed brightly. The ceiling of the slightly gloomy underground lake radiated light. Not only that, this room was also becoming bright as though electricity suddenly flowed into it.

It was as though the facility had a breath of life blown into it. Tio and the others were holding their breath behind him.

Silver magic circle floated at the center of the transparent wall. Right after that, the transparent wall itself transformed into particles as though it had been hit with disintegration magic and vanished.

Next, the lake surface froze. Not the whole surface. Ice was piling up in many layers that entangled with each other into a complex structure, forming passages that stretched toward the ice pillar. It was a magic circle.

「So it activate!」

Hajime’s face was colored with delight. The magic circle that was made from ice started shining brilliantly.

Right after that.

A loud noise started ringing. In addition, red light started to blink on the whole lake surface.

「Nagumo-kun!? Isn’t this a red alert!?」

「O-oi, Nagumo! Is this really alright!?」

Shizuku and Kouki made a startled look, but Hajime was concentrating on the control panel and didn’t respond.

He was slowly manipulating the panel, like someone who wasn’t familiar with a computer and typed on the keyboard by pushing the button one by one with index finger. Spherical displays formed up one after another and he ascertained each one.

It was a terrific concentration where he even activated “Light Speed”. It brought success to Hajime.

The red alert suddenly died out.

Another particles converged before Hajime, displaying two palm sized magic circles side by side.

The words that were written under each one were simply, so Shizuku and others who also possessed “Language Comprehension” could somehow read them. Those were options of “Yes” or “No”.

Options for what? It was obvious. It was whether to free Urdia or not.

Hajime touched the “Yes” magic circle. Red magic power flowed in. The ice magic circle on the underground lake reacted and radiated red light. And then,

「Nuh, there art cracks!」

Tio pointed with her finger. The upper part of the crystal pillar became cracked. *Crick crack* The cracks spread out like spider’s web.

It’s working, as everyone thougth so――right after that.

――A, AA, AAAAAAAAA-

Urdia suddenly shrieked. There was agony mixed in there. It was the voice of screaming in tears.

At the same time, a thunderous sound and shockwave that were similar to explosion rocked the underground lake fiercely.

「What!?」

Cracks ran. Not on the crystal pillar, but at the underground lake’s wall at the right side.

Another thunderous sound, impact, and cracks. This time the ceiling at the far back cracked.

「Don’t tell me……」

Hajime’s eyes opened wide and he muttered. And then, as though to answer the continuation of those words, a silhouette floated up above the crystal pillar. The silhouette was fuzzy. It was human shaped with contour like a shadowgraph.

But, both Yue and Hajime felt sure the moment their eyes saw it. It was “him”.

Naturally it wasn’t the actual person. It was a soul fragment, or perhaps copy. Either way, it must be something like the caretaker of “his” facility.

“His shadow” that was forced to come out focused at the corpse just for a moment before laughing at Hajime and others. Or that was how it looked like. Its lips split into the shape of crescent moon. It was a way of laughing that was exuding ill will.

Another quake.

The wall was pulverized. The ceiling collapsed. The underground lake’s cage that boasted absolute defensive power against magical approach that could even repel great spirit’s authority, was broken through with the pure destructive power that was generated from that huge body. It was a last resort.

「Oi oi-. Is it saying that it won’t hesitate to even damage the facility rather than allowing Urdia to get taken away!?」

What appeared from the destroyed wall were two huge bodies. The Centauros and Serpent.

「For Replica(Pseudo Spirit of Protection) and Gran Replica(Pseudo Spirit of Creation)!!」

For Replica that was resting its war hammer on its shoulder waded through the water of the underground lake that was flowing out like waterfall.

Gran replica crawled out from the large hole at the ceiling, while regenerating its broken head part. Most likely it created a vertical tunnel and dived down through it to tackle the ceiling. Its huge body that was as big as a mountain range’s ridge freefalling until it hit the bottom. The impact from that was definitely in no way inferior compared to the war hammer.

That pseudo spirit of the land reared up its head and saw Hajime and others.

The central control room was completely a dead end. The material of the wall was extremely difficult to destroy. And then, the sensation of magic power dispersion effect.

Everyone’s hair stood on its end. This was a really bad situation they found themselves in.

「Everyone get behind me-」

Hajime yelled while summoning a great shield. Yue and others turned pale and jumped to behind Hajime, at the same time the gathered jet black magic power became a “dragon’s breath” that would be fired――right before that.

「「Kyaaa~~~~~~~!?」」

Pathetic screams that came from two people fell from the large hole in the ceiling.

The corner of Hajime’s lips unconsciously curled up. He didn’t even need to think where did those screams came from.

「Beat it up! Shia! Kaori!!」

Although he didn’t think that they would be able to hear him, he couldn’t help but yell. Because, he was sure that those two would definitely do so even if they didn’t hear him.

A thunderous sound reverberated to answer that expectation. Gran Replica’s head was slammed on the underground lake. The impact created high waves that distracted even the For Replica.

「Hii, hiih. I-I thought I was going to dhiee~~」

「Zee zee, it was really bad for my heart when the wings suddenly vanished in midairrr-」

The two who gathered everyone’s attention were on top of Gran Replica’s torso. Shia’s face was messed up from tear and snot, while Kaori was powerlessly sitting on the ground.

They really didn’t look like someone who had just saved their comrades from a crisis, but their hands were keeping a tight hold on their weapons――the war hammer and twin great swords.

Surely they were in a similar situation like Tio and others. They ran into Gran Replica, but it suddenly moved away and left them alone. Seeing that caused the two to assume that it left because Hajime and others did something, so they chased after it.

On the way, the magic power dispersion effect caused Kaori to lose her wings and they fell. They were panicking, even so they made use of their falling momentum to land a full powered blow on the enemy. Those two then noticed Hajime.

「Hajime-kun!」

「Nagumo-saaan!」

It was adorable how the first thing Kaori did was calling out the name of the man she loved. The bright smile that bloomed on her face was like a firework that lit up the night sky. Even her best friend swallowed back her words after seeing that.

「Stay right there! Be careful with For――the horse golem!」

Kaori and Shia readied themselves for a fight, at the same time Hajime gave instruction to behind him.

「Let’s go! We’re just a cornered rat if we stay here!」

The importance of the central control room couldn’t serve as their shield anymore. In that case, the underground lake would be more advantageous because they would be able to use Urdia as shield there.

Hajime made that judgment and jumped out while carrying only Yue under his arm. Behind him Tio yelled 「T-thou art taking care of Yue alone againnn!」 in dissatisfaction while following his back along with the nervous Shizuku and others.

But, naturally For Replica also wasn’t just watching quietly.

The enemy made its next move.

「Tsu, the underground lake is your lifeline right!? Do you mean that you don’t care of anything else as long as the pillar is safe!?」

His sight became distorted. No, what got distorted was the space.

Hajime’s group and Kaori’s group, their surrounding was enveloped with distortion that intended to gouge them out along with the underground lake.

It wasn’t an attack that was like the space blasting perhaps because there was the crystal pillar nearby as expected.

In any case, they had no way to escape from the range of the forced teleportation.

The field of visions of Hajime and others were forcefully replaced by another scenery at the next moment.

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