Shini Yasui Kōshaku Reijō to Shichi-nin no Kikōshi

Chapter 40: Burial Chamber of Angels (part six)

Klaus stared at me with a gentle smile which was unlike him.

“Erica, I’m glad I made it here in time.”

He was wearing a black robe above his gray clothes.

There was a magic amplifying staff in his hand.

At the first glance, there were lots of spell cards inside of his robe.

“T-thank you very much, Klaus-sama……!”

“You seem fine……hm?”

Klaus glanced at me and furrowed his eyebrows.

“……That’s right, Erica, you, why are you in a place like this?”

“It’s complicated. More than that, how did you know about this place, Klaus-sama?”

Pretty sure he was doing a top secret investigation with Eduart-oniisama, right?

And even though the hidden passage was opened, this is the deepest part of the intricate cathedral.

I wonder how he found this place.

To my question, Klaus glanced at my bag.

“I came pursuing Ann’s emergency Alarm.”

“Alarm……huh.”

I wonder if I brought it with me unintentionally.

No, at that time I didn’t put things inside or bring anything out.

……By some chance, did Ann stick the Alarm on me?

However, Ann didn’t have the chance to touch my bag.

(Aah! I see! When she shook hands with Tirnanog, did she put the magic on his hand!?)

Awesome.

Did she already call for reinforcement at that time, assuming the possibility that Tirnanog and I wouldn’t be able to do this by ourselves?

Klaus is a skillful person who knocked out the monstro Zaratan almost single-handedly.

As a reinforcement that appeared in a situation like this, no one is more reliable than him.

“I thought Ann was involved in something dangerous. Since it’s about Ann, I needed to be quick.”

“I-I’m terribly sorry about that.”

“When I said that my sister is in danger, that Eduart immediately let me out of the investigation. It was humiliating that the other investigators looked at me as if seeing someone of the same kind……this is bad for my reputation.”

Both of them love their younger sister, I wonder if they understood each other in that aspect.

It might be fortunate for me that the head investigator is Eduart-oniisama.

Klaus was able to come here because a lot of good fortune and people’s kindness were intertwined.

He wouldn’t have been on time if the situation was slightly different.

I grabbed the hem of Klaus’ robe in reflex and stared at him.

“Klaus-sama……I’m really glad you came……”

Something resembling nervousness ran through Klaus’ expression for a moment.

He turned away curtly with a shaky appearance.

“Hm, thank Eduart for that.”

Oops, if I hold the hem, it would be hard for him to fight.

I hurriedly let go of Klaus’ robe.

“But, I want to avoid fighting a monstro while protecting you, and although I want us to escape immediately……Erica, is the unconscious girl over there your acquaintance?”

“Eh, unconscious girl……”

The only one who is unconscious is Auguste, what did he mean by that?

Aah, I see.

Klaus hasn’t met Auguste yet, huh.

It seems that he mistook him as a female because of his long hair and seemingly delicate appearance.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then we can’t abandon her. Especially since she is a friend of my friend.”

Yosh, he misunderstood and now we are going to rescue Auguste.

I didn’t tell a lie.

I just hid the truth and tricked him.

“Klaus-sama. Let’s do our best to help that person!”

“Erica, you still have no sense of danger as ever.”

“Yes, Ann-sama also said that.”

“You don’t have such crisis management ability, so why are you stuck in a dangerous situation again……I want to ask questions, but I will do it later. That monstro obviously will not wait for us.”

Klaus held up his staff and took out two new spellcards.

On the other side across the Protective Circle, Palug was laughing in delight.

『Well, how lovely. Such a little knight.

I am envious. I also want a cool boy to say ‘I will protect you’ to me.

But—』

Palug swung her claws vertically and horizontally.

Cross-shaped scratches were made on the Protective Circle that was set in front of me.

In an instant, the spellcards on that area were destroyed and they burned out.

『You are a poisonous sight for my soul, so I will have you disappear.』

Klaus hurriedly launched additional spellcards and strengthened the spell by casting something.

“What’s with this monstro……”

“She is a phantom beast, an angel, a lion, and a guardian beast, a man-eating monstro who can grant any wishes.”

“What’s with that. Whatever, you can talk about that later.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Instead, explain why exactly is it that remains resembling the monstro Zaratan are wriggling over there?”

The one thing that shouldn’t be exposed the most, got exposed.

What should I do?

I wanted to lie, but it is impossible, so I had to speak honestly.

“Klaus-sama, you said I can do whatever I like with it, right?”

“I thought that you would like to bury it, I didn’t think you would actually unseal it!”

While speaking, Klaus gradually made the Protective Circle thicker.

There were five, six, seven layers……no, eight layers on the thickest part.

“Klaus-sama, wouldn’t it better to turn them into offensive power?”

“Aah, this Protective Circle is strong against mental attack, but has low defense power.”

“Is this a different set of spell cards from before?”

“This one is more than 800 years old. I don’t know why, but if we’re talking about mental attack only, it seems that the old spell cards are stronger.”

As he said, the moving speed of these spellcards were somewhat slower than the ones in the Ruins of Visitor.

Speaking of 800 years ago, that was when vampires were still around.

Perhaps the high mental defense was to protect themselves from magic such as fascination and mind control.

“But, nevertheless, right now wouldn’t the modern ones with high physical defense or thermal protection better?”

“This area is the center of the mental interference that is covering the Kingdom, you know?”

“Ah……”

“Good grief. It’s truly enviable to be insensitive to this kind of attack.”

Speaking of which, due to Auguste’s mental interference, people with low magic defense couldn’t even move, while people with high magic defense wouldn’t get close to the cathedral.

Even though Klaus could come here, he was fine thanks to this old Protective Circle which is superior in mental defense.

“Since that is the case……Erica, unwillingly, I need your power.”

“Yes!”

“I will rely on you to attack. Do you have the wands for that?”

“What about Klaus-sama?”

“I will concentrate on defense. If there is a chance I will also attack, but do not expect too much.”

“Yes.”

I chose the wands while adjusting the angle of the bag so that Tirnanog who is inside wouldn’t be seen by Klaus.

But, what kind of attack can we do to a monstro who knocked Tirnanog down with a single blow?

……No, I can’t be timid.

Even if she is a formidable enemy who is beyond the standard, I have to at least try to win with all my power.

『Hm~? Are you done? Can I interrupt the eyesore couple soon?』

Palug, who was considerately waiting for us to adjust our postures, said so while stifling a yawn.

At first glance she seemed to be unmotivated, but she had no gap which could be exploited.

When I was bewildered on how to proceed, Klaus advanced a few steps to shield me.

“Sorry for making you wait, monstro. I will be your opponent. Bring it on.”

『My, my.

Well, I am impressed by your words.

Since I am being invited by a cool and lovely boy with great trouble, I will have to accept and enjoy myself a plenty.』

As Palug said so slowly, she put strength on her feet in a half-step forward position.

Klaus held his staff up in determination and activated the amplification ability built in the staff.

His staff was not the expensive one like the one he had when we went into the Ruins of Visitor, instead it was a mass-produced general staff like those of the mages in the tournament venue.

Still, a great mage does not blame his staff, and even though I am an amateur I can feel the overwhelming increase in magical power in him.

As soon as I thought that, the chunk of that magical power was instantaneously scattered.

“Ehh!?”

Klaus’ staff was breaking from the middle of its axis.

There was a golden hair-covered hand squeezing the staff.

Palug who was in a place more than 10 meters away just a moment ago, and was supposedly being blocked by the Protective Circle, was suddenly standing between me and Klaus.

Certainly, the spellcards didn’t completely cover us.

But, she shouldn’t be able to slip through the countless spellcards flying around us at high speed.

The humanoid lion laughed innocently.

『Don’t do that. Aiming such dangerous things at a girl.』

“Impossible……!”

Klaus had a startled expression but immediately released the crushed staff from his hand and drew out additional spell cards.

A spark of magical power scattered between his hand and the hand of Palug.

Klaus blocked the red hot claws of Palug with Protective Circle.

The barely cast spellcards became ashes in the hands of Klaus and the other spellcards were scattered all over the floor.

Palug clad her other hand in flames and attacked Klaus with it.

Sparks flickered many times between them like a light.

Each time, several of Klaus’ spell cards were destroyed.

If the battle continues like this, the Protective Circle will lose.

I rushed out quicker than they could notice.

The defense is quickly becoming worn out.

I went around to the side of Palug and swung an offensive wand.

From this position, Klaus wouldn’t be hit.

Bullets made of pure magical power were fired from the magic circle surrounding the Wand of Magic Missile.

To make them harder to avoid, I aimed at different places and rapid-fired five bullets.

However, Palug dodged them easily without even looking this way.

“Well done!”

I couldn’t get a hit on Palug, but the hands that were busy with close combat became slightly lax.

It seems that it was enough for Klaus.

Turning the situation around, Klaus swung his fist which was wrapped in spellcards while Palug was the one on defense.

An especially intense white light burst out from a magic circle.

When the light dimmed, the left hand of Palug which blocked Klaus’ fist was covered with thick ice.

The magic of Freeze was suppressing the nails of flame.

Klaus lunged with the same attack.

Palug avoided the attack with a back step.

I was shooting Magic Missiles toward Palug who was trying to get away.

Klaus also sent out the spellcards that were used for defense to attack and caught up with her.

My attack, which was aimed at the moment of unprotected landing, missed due to the fact that Palug didn’t come down to the landing point.

She jumped again with Klaus’ spellcards which arrived in an instant as her foothold.

We aimed towards Palug who was in the air, but our attacks were intercepted and erased by her right claw.

Her bright red dress fluttered as Palug landed elegantly.

『Good grief, even though I don’t want to waste my remaining power.』

Palug put power into her right hand.

When flame burst out of her frozen left hand, the ice evaporated instantly and disappeared.

It was not a direct damage, but we succeeded in wasting some of her power.

But, how much more can we cut down?

Gradually, I became frustrated.

I was also concerned about the burden on Klaus who had been in a bewildering close combat with Palug.

Right now, he must be feeling a lot of burden.

How much of his magical power, which was continuously used to maintain a thick Protective Circle, is remaining?

“Klaus-sama, can you still go on?”

“Aah, this is nothing. You must have one or two trump cards left, right?”

“Yes.”

“We will decide the victory on the next move. Use it. I will give you a little time.”

Saying so, Klaus launched the spellcards with a different magic from the Protective Circle.