We live at the foothills of Dragon Peak.
In a deep fog.
“Damn it, wait up!”
“Hey, Slaton!”
Slaton runs off into the mist, chasing after Alex.
Listea also enters the mist, following her partner.
“Elnea, I appreciate it. But, we can’t afford to abandon Duranel.”
Just before disappearing into the thick mist, Listea looks back and bows her head to me.
“Damn it! If only I had been more prepared!”
Frustrated, I stomp my foot.
But doing that won’t solve anything.
I take a deep breath to calm myself.
“Cerise-chan and Naimi, watch from outside to see if anything changes. We will definitely save Duranel!”
“Elnea-kun, please do your best.”
“Leave it to meee!”
Leaving Cerise-chan and Naimi, who were lagging behind due to the sudden turn of events, I steel myself and leap into the mist.
Everything is pure white, and I can’t even see my own fingertips.
A mysteriously thick mist.
In the first place, it’s strange that it’s pure white even though it should be midnight.
I probe the unseen ground beneath my feet cautiously as I advance into the mist.
No, I can’t even tell if where I’m heading is deeper in or out.
Still, I move forward.
I search for presences.
Because vague presences are filling a wide area, I can’t accurately grasp everyone’s location.
These presences filling the surroundings must be the presences of the mist monsters.
While being aware of the mist monsters’ presences, I continue to search for other presences.
Then, in the distance, I sense a human presence.
I run.
Soon, the clamor reaches my ears.
“Tch, you insolent little pests.”
“Haa!”
The angry shouts of men.
They are warriors of the Dragon Race.
I plunge into the clamor.
Suddenly, the mist thins.
The visibility broadens slightly.
And then, I saw it.
Instead of the fog that obscured the view ahead, I saw a landscape of human-shaped figures formed by white mist battling with warriors of the Dragon Race.
“Orazzzz!”
A stout warrior, naked from the waist up, swings an iron club.
The human-shaped figure, struck by a sharp and heavy blow, is effortlessly dispersed.
However, the scattered mist gradually gathers again, forming a human shape.
“Just like mist, it’s endless, isn’t it?”
The warriors of the Dragon Race seem to have enough leeway to make such a bad pun.
“Everyone, where is Duranel?”
While blasting away the humanoid mist, a warrior of the Dragon Race answers my question.
“Probably that way. But be careful. The gentleman of the Divine Race has already gone that way.”
“Thank you!”
I’ll leave this situation to the warriors.
I run towards the indicated direction.
Soon, I enter the thick mist, and my vision becomes pure white.
I swing my Spirit Tree Wooden Sword, saying “Yaaah.”
Then, the mist that touches my Dragon Energy-imbued wooden sword disappears.
However, the surrounding thick mist writhes eerily and quickly fills the void.
Certainly, this is endless.
No matter how much I clear it, the thick mist doesn’t thin and continues to fill the world.
Do I really have an answer to separate Duranel from this indefinable monster?
However, I can’t imagine the Demon Lord lying in that situation.
Even if he deceives or toys with people, he wouldn’t tell those who received his advice the wrong way, that Demon Lord.
So, what exactly do I possess?
I carelessly brush away the mist before me and advance through the world dominated by thick mist.
Then, I emerge into another area where the mist has thinned.
“Listea, Slaton!”
The next people fighting humanoid mist were the two who had chased after Alex.
“Oh, Elnea!”
“Elnea, are you alright?!”
“I’m fine, but…”
Hmm, I don’t understand the meaning of Listea’s words.
I just ran through the thick mist.
Even if humanoid mist had attacked me along the way, I could easily repel this much.
They are not opponents that even warriors of the Dragon Race would struggle with.
Listea and Slaton were also easily cutting down several approaching humanoid figures to the right and left.
At that point, I feel something is wrong.
“Slaton, why are you bare again? What are you doing?”
“Don’t be an idiot, I’m not naked by choice!”
“Huh?”
Because he’s not wearing anything on his upper body, and his lower body too…
“Elnea, be careful. This Yōma is a monster that melts and eats us.”
“Wh-what did you say?!”
So, Slaton wasn’t deliberately naked, but his clothes were melted away!
When he was wandering east of Dragon Peak, it was after he was attacked by a mist monster and his clothes were melted, wasn’t it?
I hurriedly look back at myself.
“Huh?”
However, my clothes, which I wore through the thick mist, were not melted.
No, it’s not just me. Looking around, Listea is also properly dressed.
The only one here who is nearly naked is Slaton.
“Damn it, Listea. You’re being unfair.”
“I can’t help it. I was fighting Lord Alex until just now, and I don’t have enough fire magic power left to spare for you.”
Ah, I see now, I realize.
Listea is faintly enveloped in flames all over her body. That’s why the mist monster cannot touch Listea.
Conversely, Slaton, who has no means to clear the surrounding mist, is gradually being melted.
And the reason why the weapons I, and the two of them, are holding are intact.
Presumably, the mist monster cannot melt weapons imbued with strong power.
This explains why Slaton, found almost naked, only possessed his long sword.
Incidentally, my clothes have a little bit of Teruru’s thread used in them.
Of course, a mist monster of this caliber can’t melt it.
However, if I stay in the thick mist for too long, my exposed skin could be melted.
The reason Slaton had burns like injuries was because he was melted and eaten.
“You guys are unfair!”
“Now, now, calm down, Slaton. More importantly, it’s about Duranel!”
I have to hurry to Duranel’s side.
Otherwise, Alex might really seal the mist monster along with Duranel.
“Damn it. You’re in the way!”
Slaton swings his long sword.
The humanoid mist, bisected at the torso, disperses.
But humanoid figures are born one after another.
“I’ll make a path. Slaton, Elnea, run!”
Crimson flames condense on Listea’s Holy Sword.
Then, Listea swings down the flames with a war cry.
The crimson flames become a single band, cutting through the thick mist.
A path opens up in the dense fog.
I, Slaton, and Listea, running from the rear.
The mist writhes, trying to fill the void.
Even Listea’s flames cannot annihilate the widespread dense mist.
The three of us run desperately.
The mist monster tries to stop us and prey on us.
But our legs were faster.
Beyond the void opened by the flames, we found Duranel.
However, he was in a state of having lost consciousness, with his eyes rolling back and endlessly spewing mist from his mouth and nose.
The mist didn’t stay around Duranel but spread thickly into the world.
Because of that, the place where we arrived had relatively thin mist, and we could see far into the distance.
“Duranel!”
Duranel doesn’t react to Slaton’s call.
“What should we do…”
I was able to reach Duranel.
However, I still haven’t found the answer.
“Where is Lord Alex?”
Listea cautiously surveys the surroundings.
Alex, who should have gone ahead, is not here yet.
“We have to do something quickly before that bastard shows up…”
As Slaton says, we need to do something.
However, we had no time to spare or room for thought.
“I apologize to you all, but I will seal him along with the dragon.”
Alex appears, parting the thick mist.
“Damn it!”
“We won’t let you!”
Slaton and Listea ready their weapons.
Alex, who confronts us, hasn’t even had the hem of his clothes disturbed, despite coming out of the thick mist.
Of course, in his hands, he holds the Divine Sword and a crystal-like jewel.
A desperate crisis.
The mist monster possessing Duranel also sensed the crisis, and attacks Alex with formless mist.
“Exorcism, White Fading.”
Alex utters powerful words.
With a rustling sound, the white mist recedes from Alex as if it were a frightened living creature.
Alex, having repelled the mist monster with a divine language imbued with divine power, looks at us with determined eyes.
“You may resist. However, I cannot turn my back on this duty.”
If Alex had been serious from the start, Duranel and the mist monster might have been sealed by the current divine arts.
However, Alex deliberately gave us an opportunity to resist.
It was a gesture of mercy, and also an expression of absolute confidence that he would not be defeated, no matter what obstacles stood in his way.
“If the mist monster continues to prey and grow larger, not only the frontier of the Empire and the small villages in Dragon Peak but also your capital could be affected. You understand that much, don’t you?”
“Sorry, but I don’t know about such uncertain futures. All I know is a future where we save Duranel and you are defeated!”
Alex mutters “Foolish” mixed with a sigh at Slaton’s vituperation.
“Does the Dragon King have the same opinion as him?”
“I…”
I understand Alex’s point.
I understand Slaton’s feelings.
And I am acutely aware of my own foolishness.
To be unable to find the crucial answer at a time like this.
What was the point of all the trials and experiences I have overcome so far?
No matter how powerful I am or what forbidden techniques I can use, they are meaningless if I cannot protect what is important before my eyes.
To have the answer but be unable to reach the correct solution is too pathetic.
If, in the end, I can do nothing and cannot save the future, it is all just emptiness.
The Demon Lord took something precious from me.
But the White Sword will eventually be returned to my hand. I know it will be returned.
However, if I take Duranel away from Slaton now, it will be irreversible.
A life taken is gone forever, there is no substitute, and Slaton doesn’t want such a thing in the first place.
Then, the choice I should make is…
“Alex-san, please step aside. I will definitely resolve this.”
“Unfortunately, this is the second time I’ve heard such words. And you have failed once already.”
Yes, I failed.
Despite being given time by Alex and advice from the Demon Lord, I couldn’t reach the answer.
So, if I had a little more time, could I find the answer?
Honestly, I don’t know.
However, this is all I can say.
“I will not accept a solution that involves sacrifice. If there is an answer to be found somewhere, I will grasp that answer no matter what. So, Alex-san. If you are going to forcibly seal the mist monster along with Duranel, I will oppose you.”
I surely cannot hold back against Alex.
If I am to oppose him, I will be left behind if I don’t use everything I have.
However, I held nothing in my right hand.
Alex, perhaps sensing this, looks at me with questioning eyes.
“You intend to stop me with only that wooden sword? I seem to recall you were carrying a pure white sword until we parted at first.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. I have other means. Ares-chan?”
In response to my call, Ares-chan materializes.
Then, from a mysterious space, she retrieves a sword.
“That is…!”
Alex gasps.
A twisted, jet-black sword.
I received the “Soul Spirit Seat” from Ares-chan.
