◇
Time rewinds slightly.
"Carol!"
Sophia dashed forward to chase after Caroline and Lurea, who had been thrown outside the deepest part.
"—! Sophie, below!"
Logan—who had been fixing his stance after being kicked by Lurea—sensed something and called out to Sophia.
Hearing his voice, Sophia instantly changed direction.
Immediately after, a massive jaw rose from the ground.
"…A crocodile?"
Luna muttered upon seeing the thing that had emerged.
It was an enormous crocodile that looked as though its entire body had been made from rock.
"Heh. You noticed well, boy."
Oswell raised an impressed voice toward Logan, who had detected the crocodile's appearance in advance.
"I feel zero joy being praised by you. I will smash that smug look off your face soon enough, so prepare yourself. I will never forgive you for all the pain you caused Carol!"
"Hahaha! Such spirit. But do you really think a kid like you can reach me?"
Completely unfazed by Logan's murderous glare, Oswell provoked him while snapping his fingers.
The space around Oswell distorted, and a massive number of magic beasts crawled out from within.
"With this much difference in forces, the outcome is already obvious, right~? If you do not resist, I will kill you quickly and painlessly~?"
Frederick spoke to Logan in his usual drawling tone.
Behind them loomed the giant crocodile; ahead stood a horde of magic beasts and Frederick. The numbers overwhelmingly favored Oswell's side.
However—
"…Disadvantage? This much?"
Logan tilted his head as if he could not understand what was being said and spoke plainly.
"This level… I could handle alone. And on top of that, Sophie and Ruu-nee are here too. I cannot see any way we lose. I am only worried about Carol. We will wipe you out quickly."
In the past, Logan had defeated Lurea—albeit by surprise attack.
Because of that, a part of him had grown complacent.
He was fully aware that complacency had led to his rift with Caroline.
The current Logan had not a shred of carelessness left.
He simply stated facts and roused himself to break through this situation as quickly as possible so he could reunite with Caroline even one second sooner.
"Heh~ Quite the confidence~!"
Hearing Logan's words, Frederick let out an impressed sound and activated his magic.
His specialty: debuffs through support magic.
The three should have dropped to their knees under the debuff. —Or so it should have been.
"—All Stats Up, Triple!"
In an instant, Logan applied buffs stronger than the debuffs to himself, Sophia, and Luna—canceling them out.
"Tch! You had that!"
Frederick clicked his tongue irritably when his debuff failed.
At the same moment Logan used support magic, the giant crocodile behind them began to move.
—but Sophia's Psychokinesis obstructed its movements,
"—Shadow Swamp."
Logan's Shadow Manipulation turned the shadow beneath the crocodile into a swamp-like state.
The crocodile was gradually swallowed by its own weight.
"—Heavenly Thunder Hammer Mjolnir!"
From above the completely immobilized crocodile, a massive lightning bolt summoned by Luna's magic struck down.
Even so, the special-grade spell dealt almost no significant damage to the crocodile.
Having watched the entire exchange, Sophia solidified their strategy.
"Ruu-nee, take the giant crocodile! Log, handle the swarm of magic beasts! I will face that boy! If either of you has any leeway, support your teammate!"
"「Understood!!」"
Following Sophia's instructions, Luna immediately distanced herself from the two and began firing mid-grade attack magic at the crocodile while activating her original magic toward her own path forward.
"—Decoy Magic Light Induction!"
With this series of actions, Luna drew the crocodile's aggro toward herself.
Confirming that, Luna was about to shift to offensive action when a youthful voice echoed in her mind.
'Hey Luna, if you're gonna wreck this ugly thing, let me help destroy it too.'
The earth spirit Gnome—who disliked the rock crocodile created by Oswell—voluntarily offered cooperation to Luna.
Luna had noticed Gnome's presence but assumed it would simply observe as usual, so she was surprised by the offer.
However, since it was difficult to secure the cooperation of a whimsical spirit, she accepted immediately.
'…Yes, understood. Gnome, please!'
'Thanks, Luna.'
With Luna's consent, Gnome intervened in this world through her.
'—Something that ugly doesn't belong in this world. Shatter!'
Cracks spread across the crocodile's entire body due to Gnome's power.
"It couldn't be destroyed by Gnome…"
Gnome was an earth spirit.
Interfering with earth and rock was second nature to it.
And Gnome had intended to scatter the rock crocodile completely.
Yet it had only managed to create cracks across its body.
'…Heh. So this is what the princess mentioned—something created by humans trying to step into demonic reasoning. Interesting creation!'
'I am sorry to interrupt your admiration, but this is not an opponent we can take our time with. I will defeat it with spirit magic. Gnome, please cooperate.'
While Gnome was impressed by its own failure to fully destroy it, Luna—who had finished constructing her spell formula—called out to it.
'Yeah, that one. Fine. It's interesting, but I still hate its existence. Let's smash it quickly.'
"Then let us begin! —Volcanic Fall!"
Volcanic Fall was a composite special-grade spell based on the earth-based Meteor, with fire added.
It dropped boulders melted into magma by ultra-high temperatures.
The crocodile tried to burrow into the ground to escape the magma.
'Don't run, idiot.'
But Gnome turned the surrounding ground into an ultra-hard material, preventing the crocodile from escaping underground.
While that happened, the magma made contact with the crocodile. With an impact, the magma covered it.
This magma had originally been boulders created by Gnome and turned into magma by Luna's magic.
In other words, this magma was the easiest thing for Gnome to interfere with.
'Hahaha! I'll burn it from the inside!'
Magma seeped into the crocodile through the cracks across its body.
Even if its outer shell was covered in hard rock, its interior was closer to that of a normal crocodile.
It could not withstand ultra-high-temperature magma, and the crocodile quickly turned into black mist.
"My opponent is stepping forward on their own—quite the confidence, Sophia Clodel."
Frederick spoke toward Sophia, who had faced him.
Hearing that, she shook her head.
"I have no confidence. After all, I am the weakest in Twilight Moonbow… But that is exactly why… I will be your opponent!"
"…So even the weakest of you thinks she is enough to face me~?"
"You can take it that way."
Frederick asked with an unreadable expression, but Sophia replied calmly.
"…I see~. Hahaha! Then allow me to accept!"
With Frederick's voice as the signal, a battle of magic began between the two.
The lightning arrows Frederick unleashed were forcibly diverted by the force field created by Sophia's ability and passed harmlessly beside her.
Sophia's force field was inspired by the defense method used by the Empire's Hero Felix—which Orun had told her about. Though far from the original, it was capable of diverting ordinary attacks before they reached her.
"Tch! An ability user!"
Frederick clicked his tongue irritably upon seeing his attack diverted by her ability.
"Rock Bullet!"
Next, Sophia fired rock bullets toward Frederick.
Frederick activated Agility Up and evaded.
In magical combat, Sophia—who was active on the lower levels of a great labyrinth as a mage—held the advantage over Frederick, whose main role as an enchanter involved covert operations and debuffs.
The situation gradually shifted in Sophia's favor.
"—Shadow Legion."
To counter the sheer numbers of the magic beast swarm, Logan responded with numbers of his own.
When Logan used his ability, shadows around him took form as a wide variety of animals—dogs, birds, even elephants and bears.
The shadow animals moved exactly as Logan imagined, and the shadow legion clashed with the magic beast swarm.
Logan himself joined the legion, using both magic and spear techniques to turn magic beasts into black mist.
By employing a diverse array of shadow animals, Logan could single-handedly adapt tactics and strategies to any situation. He could already be evaluated as comparable to an A-rank explorer party on his own.
On top of that, he personally possessed strength on par with an S-rank explorer.
The swarm of magic beasts Oswell had summoned was no match for Logan.
—However,
"…Damn it, the magic beasts aren't decreasing at all!"
Logan had already defeated more than the initial number Oswell had summoned.
Yet Oswell kept adding new magic beasts at a steady pace, so the total number showed almost no change.
Logan grumbled at the situation.
"Log! I will join you!"
"Thank you, Ruu-nee!"
Luna—who had defeated the giant crocodile—rallied with Logan.
Sophia's side held the advantage but had yet to reach a conclusion.
With Luna joining—now with Gnome's cooperation—the rate of exterminating the magic beast swarm surged dramatically.
"Come on, keep it up. There are still plenty of magic beasts left~"
Oswell's amused voice echoed through the deepest part as he watched Logan and Luna fight.
"We know that without you saying it! Ruu-nee, any headaches?"
"No, I am fine. I still have plenty of stamina left!"
A considerable amount of time had passed since Logan and the others began fighting.
There was still no sign of the magic beasts decreasing, and from Oswell's relaxed attitude, it seemed he still had plenty in reserve.
Logan and Luna had also tried direct attacks on Oswell while fighting the magic beasts, but every attempt was intercepted by magic beasts stepping into the line of fire—so not a single attack had reached Oswell.
The magic beasts themselves were not particularly strong.
However, as humans, their stamina and concentration inevitably declined over time.
And finally, Logan overlooked one magic beast that closed in on him.
"—! Damn…!"
Realizing he could not evade the magic beast's attack, Logan moved to at least protect his vitals.
"—Don't hurt my comrades!"
At that moment, Caroline leaped in between Logan and the magic beast, swinging both short swords and turning the beast into black mist.
"Carol…!?"
"That was close, Log. You okay?"
Turning toward Logan, Caroline spoke with her usual bright smile.
"Y-Yeah. —Hey, Carol, behind you!"
Stunned by Caroline's sudden appearance, Logan shouted upon seeing another magic beast approaching her from behind.
Immediately after, that magic beast was struck by multiple slashes.
"Caroline, do not charge ahead alone and stand there carelessly in front of the magic beasts."
A woman's voice came from behind Logan. When he turned in surprise, there stood Lurea.
"Ehehe~ I knew Neechan would protect me~"
"Good grief…"
To Logan, the woman who had seemed intent on killing Caroline moments ago now looked only like an older sister helplessly wrapped around her little sister's finger—deepening his confusion.
Oswell felt the same. The magic beasts stopped moving as he asked Lurea in surprise.
"Just to confirm—why did you come back all friendly with Caroline?"
Under Oswell's cold gaze, Lurea broke into a cold sweat but forced a fearless smile as she spoke.
"Exactly what it looks like. Sorry, but I cannot help Doctor anymore."
"What a shame. I was quite fond of you—!?"
Oswell's voice—sounding anything but regretful—cut off abruptly.
He gasped in shock, a lightning arrow pierced through his chest.
"Well then, I guess I am quitting too~. Doctor, this is thanks for taking care of us all this time~. Did it make you happy~?"
The culprit behind the attack on Oswell—Frederick—spoke to him in his usual drawling tone while walking toward Lurea.
Sophia made no move to stop him. She too moved to Luna's side.
Frederick and Sophia had not been fighting seriously.
Frederick could not kill Sophia because he needed to change sides depending on the outcome of Caroline and Lurea's battle.
Sophia, for her part, could not kill Frederick—Caroline's brother—against Caroline's wishes and had limited herself to stalling.
Both had sensed the other was not serious and had simply prolonged the fight as a farce.