Volume 6 Chapter 7
Volume 6 Chapter 7: The First Trial
After leaving the city, we walked along the road stretching across the plains of the Spirit Realm.
It was a simple road, just soil hardened by repeated travel.
It was easy enough to walk on, and Lorie’s mana-powered chair rolled along it smoothly as well.
The area around us was covered in light green grass. The terrain looked much like the region around the Spirit City in the Human Realm. But it wasn’t all green—
「There are a lot of rough patches too. Big rocks scattered all over the place.」
Indeed, patches of brown earth that looked like the ground had been gouged up stood out between the grass, and boulders lay here and there.
In response to my comment, Lorie spoke up.
「This place used to be nothing but lush green fields. The rough parts stand out now because of the damage from the Ouroboros’s attack. It chewed through the flow of magic in the land.」
「I see. That makes sense.」
Even though the Ouroboros hadn’t rampaged directly across this plain, the damage it inflicted on the Spirit Realm itself had been significant.
…Lorie had said she still didn’t have a full grasp of how much the terrain around the Spirit City had changed either.
「Destroyed the Spirit Road, wrecked the terrain… he really caused us a lot of trouble.」
「I was truly relieved when you took him down, you know.」
With that kind of conversation, we kept moving forward, surveying the area as we went.
Before long, forest appeared in the distance.
At that moment, Lorie called out to us.
「According to the map, the first checkpoint is just before that forested area—」
She opened the map page in the Divine Codex and pointed ahead.
「—Ah, that must be it.」
Where she was pointing, we saw—
「——」
—a glowing orange sphere, floating in the air.
「That light… is it the checkpoint on the path we’re supposed to follow?」
「Yes. Since there aren’t any special instructions, let’s just approach it and touch it.」
We walked up to the glowing sphere together with Lorie.
When Lorie reached out and touched it—
*Shuun*
—it vanished, as if absorbed into the book.
「So we reached it, but… does that count as passing the checkpoint?」
Daisy asked Lorie, but she shook her head.
「No, not yet.」
Just as she said that—
*Shun*
—a new orange sphere appeared again, this time several dozen meters farther ahead.
「We have to keep following and touching those spheres until the Codex shows that we’ve cleared the checkpoint.」
She pointed to a blank page in the Codex, indicating the general area where the message would appear.
「I see. So we just keep moving straight.」
「Right.」
Lorie nodded, but didn’t move her chair forward.
「…Though it looks like we already have company.」
As she said this, her eyes turned toward the forest ahead.
Daisy and I followed her gaze—
「Sprites, huh.」
A group of magical beasts had appeared.
Their bodies were humanoid in shape, assembled from the bones of various animals.
Instead of flesh, faint lights floated around their bones.
And deep in their skulls, crystal-like cores glowed.
「So you’ve seen them before, Axel.」
「Yeah. I fought them a few times during the Demon King War.」
The creatures in front of me now were nearly identical to the ones I remembered.
But even if the name and appearance were the same, this was a different world.
Their traits might differ too—but…
…If they were the same as the ones from the Human Realm—
Before I could finish the thought, the sprites began to move.
「Shaaa…」
They drifted closer, slowly swaying.
The first to act was Lorie.
「So they’re not going to let us through peacefully this time either.」
She reached beside the armrest of her chair and pulled out her staff.
「Construct and deploy—Light Blade Bolt.」
She struck the air once with her staff.
A blade of light formed, then—
—!
—it surged forward, flying toward the approaching sprites.
A blade made of magical energy. It sliced through branches and foliage as it advanced, brimming with power—obviously a strong spell.
But—
*Clang!*
—the instant it struck a sprite, it was deflected.
◯
Lorie let out a quiet sigh as she saw what had just happened.
「As expected, magic doesn’t work on them.」
The sprites kept drifting closer, completely unscathed.
Watching them, Axel muttered,
「So just like the ones from our world—magic-based attacks don’t work on them.」
「Exactly.」
Sprites are composed of magical energy themselves, which makes them highly resistant to magic.
What’s worse, they swung their razor-sharp bone arms as they advanced—
*Crack!*
—splitting and shattering rocks in their path.
It was either a display of aggression or intimidation.
「Not only is magic ineffective, but they’re physically tough too… what a pain.」
「Indeed. That’s what makes this a trial of the gods.」
「This monster is?」
「Yes. According to all previous records, these things appear at a probability of over ninety percent along the route.」
Lorie recalled the records left behind by past travelers.
They’d written extensively about the danger posed by sprites.
…Some even complained that it was worse because the appearance rate wasn’t 100%—you couldn’t prepare properly.
As Lorie thought that, Daisy spoke up.
「So the gods are the ones sending them? But aren’t spirit-kind like you—and phantom beasts like us—specialists in magic?」
「That is so.」
Even though Daisy was currently in human form, she was a Carbuncle.
That made her similar in nature to spirits like Lorie.
Which likely explained the look of distaste she’d had ever since the sprites appeared.
「And yet they throw us straight into a fight with enemies that shrug off magic… This is a pretty rough opening.」
「A trial designed to break spirits. Fitting for something bearing the name ‘trial of the gods,’ right? It’s not like every step is like this, but you can’t exactly prepare for everything. Against sprites, there’s really only one effective method—smash them physically until they break.」
So, once again, that’s what we’d have to do.
…It would be draining, but we had no other choice.
The sprites weren’t aggressively charging at us—but they were circling around, clearly guarding the checkpoint light.
That made slipping past them difficult.
…We’d have to attack first.
Just as Lorie was preparing her weapon—
「Then I’ll take care of it.」
Axel stepped forward.
He had a sword at his waist and placed a hand on the hilt.
「You sure? That sword’s infused with magic. Might make it tough to use against them.」
「Transporting things safely is also part of being a carrier. …Also, you can tell the sword has magic in it?」
「Yes. The reaction is faint, but the magic it holds is very strong. Far beyond just a high-grade weapon. Honestly, it feels like it could push through even the sprites’ resistance.」
Sprite resistance had its limits.
And Axel’s sword felt like it could overcome it.
「Oh? You can tell that much?」
「Spirits are sensitive to magic bound to physical objects. But… what is that sword?」
There were many magical weapons in the castle’s treasure vault—made by humans, spirits, and others, from all sorts of quality levels.
But Axel’s sword didn’t feel like any of them.
So Lorie asked.
「I got it from a king. Supposedly, it’s a divine sword passed down in the royal family—said to be a gift from the gods.」
At that, Lorie narrowed her eyes.
「A divine sword… That explains it.」
「Well, it’s not doing much right now.」
「What do you mean?」
「I used it during my time as a dragon knight, but to unlock its real power, you have to go through multiple steps and use several skills in sequence. As it stands, it’s just a sturdy blade. So yeah, your assessment is right—I could fight with it, but it’d be tough. I fought these things during the war, so I know that well.」
Axel said this casually, stretching his limbs as he spoke.
「Then… what are you going to do?」
Lorie had assumed he’d slice them apart with that divine sword. But—
「No, I’ll just go with this.」
With his warm-ups finished—
—!
He took a step forward. Or rather, a leap.
It was so fluid and quiet that it sounded like a normal step, yet in one motion he closed the distance of several meters and reached the sprites.
「Hup—!」
Then drove his fist straight into the face of the nearest sprite.
「…!?」
It reacted only after being struck.
By then, its skull had already been shattered—its crystal core, the weak point deep inside, crushed by Axel’s punch.
「…!」
Without a sound, it vanished.
「He—he just punched through something harder than stone…?!」
And Axel didn’t stop there.
He punched out the remaining sprites nearby, one strike per head—each core crushed.
In the blink of an eye, the checkpoint was cleared of enemies.
「Yeah. Definitely easier to go barehanded than use the sword.」
He shook out his hand lightly as he said this.
「A-Axel. Is your hand okay?」
Sprites are harder than most rocks. Beating them to death with fists wasn’t exactly safe.
Especially since magical reinforcement wouldn’t even stick—it’d be dispelled by their resistance.
In response to Lorie’s concern, Axel showed the back of his hand.
「Hm? As long as you punch right, it’s fine. I did this plenty during the war.」
「…Which means you did mess up a few times, huh.」
「Sure. Early on, I went all out and nearly sprained my hand. But once you get the hang of it, it’s all the same. Their toughness varies a bit with magic density, but—」
As he spoke, he caught a sprite sneaking up behind him with a spinning backfist.
It was fast, precise—and broke the core cleanly.
「—the method doesn’t really change.」
All that remained were the magic stones the sprites left behind—and the checkpoint glowing behind them.
「Well then, that’s one checkpoint down.」
「Yes. Thank you, Axel.」
「Nah, we’re just getting started. Let’s keep it up.」
And so Lorie, together with Axel and Daisy, passed the first checkpoint and continued into the forest.
Sensing that this journey would be unlike any she’d taken before.
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