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Chapter 76: Dark Wraith, Part 1

 

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Wanaruta City Ruins: Second Layer.

Having come here multiple times, the scenery still looks very familiar, as there still aren’t many enemies around. That bastard Grain has been collecting demons for a while now. I can’t help but wonder how long it took for him to raise his familiar’s levels.

Because of that Grain’s excessive collection, we are stretched out when hunting here, not that I mind too much about that.

「Let’s do it, Zeph!」

「Yeah」

Milly began to chant Blue Gale, and I, using Time Square, matched her invocation and began to double cast it.

In a single hit the three tornadoes surrounded and caught the Wraith Master, destroying the surrounding Mist Wraiths as well.

「That technique really is amazing」

「It feels like you two could just do this by yourselves…」

「T-That’s not true at all!」

Contrary to what she’s saying Milly actually seems quite happy. The success rate of using combination magic’s with Milly was still very low. Right now, success only came around 10% of the time.

Attacking using a triple incantation on my own timing with my Treasured Sword was much easier than combining my attacks with Milly. Even though I was slowly adjusting to it, it was still considerably difficult.

Milly still didn’t possess enough experience to stabilize her timing. Other than casting ‘Blue Gale’, Triple incantations of other types of magic were impossible at this time.

However, Triple incantation ‘Blue Gales’ power was truly amazing, to the point where the power seemed to have more than doubled.

Hmm… if the power of a double cast is four times as strong, is the power of a triple cast nine times as strong?

Then, if we add one more, would it be sixteen times? Then twenty-five?

I grinned, that’s a very scary increase.  I shook my head, before I even think about doing that I need to raise my ‘Time Squares’ skill level. If I do that then I can extend the amount of time I have in my time stop.

Sadly, even the elementary magic I’m most familiar with, ‘Red Ball’ cannot be cast using a Triple Incantation at my current level. I was so engrossed in thinking about this that I accidentally ran into Lydia’s back.

「What’s wrong, Lydia?」

「That guy’s here again」

I looked over to where Lydia was pointing to see Grain and his two familiars in the distance. However, it seemed that he had already finished hunting. Having finished, he created a pale blue portal, and disappeared before he saw us.

「Did he decide to return…?」

I nodded, 「Seems like it. Anyways, it’s good, right?」

The stockpile of demons that Grain had caged began to scatter. I was slightly worried that our pace might fall into disorder, but I quickly shook that off. We’ll be fine either way.

After this, it would be impossible to talk about returning, anyway.

I pursed my lips, 「But, right now we should stick to hunting near the entrance. Milly’s coordination with me isn’t perfect yet, and there are too many demons to hunt solo」

She nodded, 「That’s right, going too fast would be unreasonable」

「Eh~. Even though this is a good situation?」

「Yes, yes. Let’s return, Milly-tan♪」

Lydia approached Milly from behind, wrapped her arms around her, and began caressing and stroking her chest. Milly let out a small scream.

「Hyaa!」 she jumped, 「Lydia, s-stop.」

「Fufu~ Then will you listen to what I say?」

「I just didn’t hear you!」 Milly pouted.

Milly writhed around, her arms flaying like an octopus, as she tried to escape from Lydia’s devilish hands. Unfortunately, she had no chance of escape, as Lydia wouldn’t let go until she was satisfied.

「Grandpa, I’m scared…」

Ain popped out of Claude’s chest and looked around, looking dubiously at Lydia. In response to this, Lydia’s movements came to a complete stop.

「Ahh, that’s right. Ain, If you get too close to her you’ll end up making that ‘A~a’ sound.」

「Understood!」

「N…no way… I’m not that scary~?」

As soon as Lydia loosened her hands, Milly made a break for it and ran away. Ain slowly slipped back into Claude’s chest. It’s like the story of hunting two rabbits at the same time and getting neither.

Holding back my laughter, we continued on to the entrance.

On the way, we fought several Mist Wraiths, although there wasn’t a problem as they came one at a time. However, saying that, battling two at once ceased being hard now. A considerable amount of time passed as we continued our hunt. Because of the amount of time spent battling, the level of our Growth skill increased.  Having experience using it, we never found ourselves in a pinch.

While walking and thinking about this, I noticed a pale blue light at the edge of my vision.

Was that… Grain?

While I was looking, Grain’s upper body emerged from the portal, and his two familiars showed up behind him. He looked around restlessly for a bit, before popping his head back into the portal and disappearing.

「Shit! Everyone, get back!」

「What’s wrong, Zeph?」

「Grain didn’t go back! He’s been looking for the boss」

This boss, being a second level boss , took around half a year to a year to revive. I never thought we’d have the bad luck for it to revive while we were here, so I never checked. I cursed at my carelessness.

「Milly, get ‘Teleport’ ready in case we come across him. If we get hit by even one of his magic attacks, we could die. Lydia, I’m counting on you to help Milly if anything happens」 I say, while grabbing onto Claude’s hand.

Claude looked at me in surprise, and grasped my sweaty hand as she trembled. I could feel the tension transmitted through it. With the exception of Claude, I casted ‘Safe Protection’ on everyone. Although it was only for peace of mind, it was better than nothing.

「Same as always: if the situation gets bad, don’t worry about me. You’ve all gained experience so I refuse to let you die in vain. Don’t worry about me and just go」

All three of them went silent.

I pondered for a bit. “Hmm..? Did I scare them a little more than necessary?”

Everyone, including me, had been too relaxed lately. We needed to prepare ourselves a little more.

「What? I don’t understand what we should do. There’s no problem as long as we run from the boss. Regarding the ‘Teleport Seal’, there’s no way he’d use it unless he goes into berserk mode. If we scatter, we can meet at the entrance.」

「I…I know.」

Lydia led the way as we moved quickly.

Being on the second level of Wanaruta was a strong advantage, as it was extremely complex. As we turned the corners, we could hear our hearts beating. Lydia peeked around the corner and looked, seeing nothing there she gave us an ‘OK’ sign.

With Lydia in front, we begin moving quickly.

Somehow we had managed to make it to the last straight hallway leading to the first level. Even if we met the boss here, it was likely that we could escape and make it to the first level, before we teleported out. While we were carefully advancing down the hallway, an explosion resounded from the side.

「Hiyaah!?」

Claude clung to my arm, and Lydia scooped Milly in her arms and jumped back to the wall.

「So…so surprising」

「Grain must’ve started fighting with the boss」

I sighed with relief. If that was the case, then we were safe.

I started walking faster. After leaving, everyone will be much safer.

Chirin Chirin.

I turned to where the sound was coming from, and saw a Wraith Master.

I cursed. It seems Lady Luck had really forsaken me. Of course it appeared now. Truth be told, I’m not surprised at all.

「Milly!」

「I know already♪」

Milly began to cast ‘Blue Gale’, and I started ‘Time Square’ in preparation for when her palm shines.

I caught my breath. “…was my timing a little late!?”

Even though I missed the timing for the simultaneous invocation, I still doubled casted ‘Blue Gale.’

After all, even without the double casting the power was still mind-blowing.

The ‘Time Square’ was released, and the tornado was formed.

I frowned. It seemed to be a failure, for some reason.

My double invocations, along with Milly’s attack, hit the Wraith Master, however only the followers were affected.

Because there was no helping it, Claude separated her hand from mine and prepared to participate in the battle.

「Claude, Lydia, don’t go too far!.」

「Yes!」

I began to run forward while invoking ‘double White Crash’.

The white sphere wrapped around the Wraith Master at the same time Lydia attacked.

「Blue Gale!」

In an instant, Milly’s magic blew away what was left of the Wraith Master.

With a roaring sound, the wall that was lying sideways was blown off. A pitter-patter sound could be heard as bits dropped against the stone pavement.

An arm the width of a tree, and a small foot that didn’t seem to match it, could be seen through the giant cloud of rising dust.

Crimson lines stretched across several folds of the big, black body. The face of a person could be seen wriggling around on the surface.

My face paled, this creature in front of me matched the description of the second level boss.

The Devil, Dark Wraith!

「GOOOOOOH!」

The Dark Wraith’s body began to swell, as he let out a roar to the heavens.

The atmosphere trembled, and everyone was frozen in surprise.

The eyes, that were all over the body of the creature, were focused on Milly, and magical light was beginning to shine.

Not good! I think because Milly destroyed the Wraith Master with her ‘Blue Gale’, he established her as his target?! Milly was still frozen from the Dark Wraith’s roar. It seemed that she was in no condition to concentrate and use teleport!

「Milly, run away!」

I began to cast ‘Teleport’, moving in front of Milly, in that instant, two projectiles of white light shot piercing the Dark Wraith.

The lights twisted and spiralled together, scraping against the Dark Wraith. The light began to fade, and one of Grain’s familiars appeared.

「Oi, oi. Aren’t you the stupid brats from before? Aren’t you Zeph? Yeah, sounds about right」

Grain appeared through the smoke. After seeing me his smile spread from ear to ear.

They came out from the remnants of the wall, they were probably in battle with this Dark Wraith on the other side of the wall. I could see the tremendous traces of destruction from their fight.

This is bad.

It seems that we were dragged right into the middle of battle between the Dark Wraith and Grain?

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