63 62. The beginning of the end of the sacred festival.txt (2/2)

I spread out my magic 《Dimension》 and pick up all the small voices that are buzzing around.

Seeing the figure of the person receiving the ritual resolutely refusing, the number of people trying to get their hands on it seems to have decreased.

In the midst of it all, wobbling, Rustyala begins to walk.

Looking only at me, she slowly tries to get off the platform.

Finally, it's over.

The place is mixed.

All that's left is to act.

Nearby Feydert tries to stop Rastiara, and me and Palinkron try to move to stop him - and Reki, who is further up on the stage, stops him with a voice.

'Wait!　Don't move now!　Fedelt!

Fedelt responded to the woman's voice, his body trembling and stopping.

As a result, Rastiara walks on the carpet in the center of the temple without being blocked by anything. Me and Palinclone missed the timing to storm the place and stopped.

The timing was missed - but it was also decisive.

Reki, who was probably one of the organizers of the occasion, gave up his involvement in Rastiara.

Hence, the surrounding guests, the priests, and the knights would not try to touch Rastiara. No, they couldn't touch him.

Wobbling around, Rastiara continued to walk.

In the midst of that, he picks up the talk of the two people on the platform with magic 《Dimension》.

''If you try to stop them here, Palinkron will definitely move ......

But I'm sure he can do it.

''That boy is probably no ordinary person either. Above all, we can't let a melee between the 'Seven Celestial Knights' in this situation.

But as long as Leki-sama is in the war, we can have as many as we want.

If even one of our country's important people is killed or injured, we will lose. Besides, it hurts to lose seven knights in this place. There's nothing we can do in this temple. It's impossible to keep that boy and the Jewel Cruze at bay without making any sacrifices.

The woman shook her head and continued to admonish Feydert.

'Even if you get the piece called Saint Tiara, it will be a complete loss if you have too much to lose ....... For the sake of your plan, endure this place. If you endure, there is still a chance that both the 'Magic Stone Man' (Jewelculus) and the 'Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) will someday return to Hoozeyer's. --This battle is lost when Palinkulon and Hine betrayed us and that boy appears here unharmed.

The woman calmly finished telling Feydert about the situation.

Feydert bites her lip and glares at me.

She is glaring at the irregularity that is me with a gaze that is a mixture of anger and hatred.

It seems that he has finally acknowledged the inferiority of this place.

The man called Feydert is no longer a threat.

I remove my gaze from the platform and turn to Rustiala.

Rustiala arrived at me unhindered.

Exhaustion makes Rustyala laugh weakly.

While laughing, she laughs, small and blunt - just one word of thanks to me, her companion.

'Thanks ......'

I give a small laugh back and pull Lastiara's hand away without saying a word.

From behind her, a somehow grumpy-looking Dia comes out. Apparently, she seems to have followed behind Rustyala. However, I don't know why she looks so grumpy.

Although Dia didn't show any obvious disobedience, he was certainly interfering with the ceremony. There's no doubt that the position has deteriorated. I return Dia's intentions with a nod and agree to follow her.

When I looked back behind me, there was Raydiant-san in wolf form.

He turns his back to me and urges me to ride.

It seems that he decided to become a leg after seeing Rastiara's condition.

''Mr. Raydiant-san. If you can, can you take Dia on board as well?　I'm on Rastiara's side.

Making sure the wolf's head hangs down, I encourage Dia to get on.

It seems that Dia also understands that her physical abilities are low, and she easily rides on Raydiant-san's back along with Rustyala.

At that time, I thought I heard the angry voices of Dia and the priests who were accompanying her from behind. Ignoring it, I look at the entrance.

The four 'Seven Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) standing at the entrance, and Hein-san and Palinclone, who are checking them out, are glaring at each other.

Mr. Hein speaks to his former companion as if to threaten him.

'Please get out of the way. If you don't step aside, I will have to unleash my magic here. If that happens, there is a chance that this temple will collapse. You're the one who would be in trouble if the guests are harmed, right?

Mr. Hein turned his palms to the four of them and coldly told them what Palinkron was going to say.

In response, the Black Knight exhaled deeply and shifted off to the side to clear the way.

The other three follow suit.

Then I give a signal to all of them.

''Let's go. We'll run through.

The first one to run out was Raydiant-san.

With unnoticeable speed, he kidnapped the two girls and ran out of the room.

Following that, me, Hein-san and Palinclone also run through and out into the corridor.

The four ”Celestial Knights” also follow us. However, they don't attack us right away. They probably think they are still close to the temple. If we fight here, there is a possibility that the aftermath will reach the temple.

However, the four such 'Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) and the other four don't care about their worries, Hain-san chants a magic while running and releases a storm magic.

''--【Canon Zea】ah!

Hein-san's magic, released as if to turn around, blows away the four people behind her.

Confirming the distance between us, Hein-san looks ahead and speeds up his feet.

I run as fast as I can to keep up with that.

I go through the corridor, down the stairs and back the way I came.

As I'm running as fast as I can so that the knights don't catch up with me, I find Leidyant-san stopping outside the entrance to the cathedral.

I don't know why he's stopping there.

I approach it with my doubts.

Mr. Hein and Palinkron seemed to be the same as me.

However, that question is broken when I see Deere standing on Mr. Raydiant's back.

To be precise, I saw the pillar of magic fire rising from Deere, and I understood.

As soon as the three of us pass through the cathedral and past Reidyant-san's side - Dia's compression upon compression of dense magic finishes building up.

''--[Flame Arrow, Scattered Flowers (Fall Flower)]''

Dia wriggled a pillar of magical fire and scattered petals of flame in the air.

Next, she transformed it into over a thousand arrows of fire, filling the sky and causing all of them to rain down on the cathedral like rain.

Dia's magic, Flame Arrow, was no longer the laser-like magic of before.

After receiving a lesson from Arti, she was able to control her firepower. It retained the shape of the flaming arrows that were considered common.

Its swarm of flaming arrows destroys the entrance to the cathedral.

They also destroyed the windows, the windows in the cathedral, and crushed all the entrances and exits to the cathedral that could be seen from here.

In addition to smashing the cathedral, the flames make a lid on it.

With this, my pursuers won't be able to come out from the inside so easily.

With that confirmed, I turn to face forward.

There's Dia, who is very good at it, looking at me as she kneads more magic.

'Christ, should I do more?　You can break it if you want to, right?

'Yes, no, I've had enough. Any more of this will only cause resentment.

All right. All right, wolf, that's enough. Just go ahead.

Dia calls out to Mr. Raydiant and runs ahead of him.

Palinclone bursts out laughing and Mr. Hein's eyes widen.

I'm in a similar frame of mind to Mr. Hein.

'Let's go, Mr. Hein. This has bought us some time.

But I can't remain stunned.

He immediately resumes his escape.

As we run down the grand staircase, the knights are waiting for us there.

However, against the three of us, the terminal knights are not even enough to stop us.

They cut down the knights one after another as if they were passing each other, and then go down the stairs.

The same seems to be true for the female group in front of them.

In the first place, there is no existence that has the speed to follow Raydiant-san who has become a wolf, and even if they could get close, they would be shot out by Dia's magic on their backs. From the looks of it, they seem to be safer than the three men over here.

I'm relieved.

As I reap the knights, I feel the response of being able to escape.

I make a joyful smile and talk to Mr. Hein.

It's to confirm our plan after we get out of the Hoosiers.

'We're going to flee to Gliard, the southern country, as it is. What do you and Mr. Hein and his team plan to do?

'Do you want to run south?' ....... That's wise. If I could, I'd like to follow you. I can still look good in this and I'll show you how useful I can be.

Mr. Hein heard my plan and asked to come along.

”Oh, I'm going to leave on the way out. I'll follow you halfway through, though.

Palinkron gives a different answer.

For me, it was a helpful answer.

It may sound heartless, but I don't consider this man Palinkron to be an ally, but in this case, we just have the same interests, and I don't want to be with such a dangerous man for a second. I don't want to spend one second with such a dangerous man. I haven't let my guard down yet.

I nodded to them to show my approval.

Then I kicked off the knights around me and ran through a courtyard with a fountain and down a path between conifers.

Ahead of them, a group of knights, one in number, were waiting for them.

They seemed to have gathered many knights at the gate in front of the drawbridge, but Mr. Raydiant easily jumped over their heads.

We couldn't jump over it, so Hein-san released his magic to make a breakthrough and try to force his way through.

The drawbridge hadn't gone up, so we succeeded in getting through with no problem.

If it had gone up, it would have saved us from having to freeze the river with our dwindling remaining MP.

Thus, the six of us made it through the drawbridge without incident, but next we were blocked by a wall of citizens waiting for the Nativity. A giant wolf suddenly appeared and the citizens retreated backwards, but there was no immediate way out because the back was clogged up.

In front of the anxiously buzzing people, Mr. Raydiant stops and peers at us.

To that, Mr. Hein answers immediately.

'We have no choice but to force our way to where the building is. From there, let's run on the roof of the building.''

Hearing this, Mr. Radiant forced his way through the street, crushing the outside lights, signs, and roofs of the stalls, forcing people to avoid them.

People screamed and became confused against the wolf's forced action.

Taking advantage of the confusion, we, who are walking on the ground, also chase after Mr. Radiant in between the people.

After some progress, we reach a group of buildings that could be used as a path, and we climb onto the roof.

There, the six of us huddle together and proceed with our escape from the Hoosiers, keeping an eye on our surroundings.

There are people below who are happily pointing at us as we run through. They seem to have mistaken us for a Nativity display or something.

I turn around and look at the back of the room to check on my pursuers.

I see the knights trying to chase them, but they are stuck in the middle of a wall of citizens. No one seems to be physically capable of climbing to the top of the building to chase them.

I'm relieved and call out to Mr. Raydiant.

I'm going to ask you to head to the Wald. I want to stop by your house and meet up with my friends. After we meet up with my friends, let's flee in a straight line to Gliard, the southern country.

Mr. Raydiant nodded when he heard that.

'Feng ......'

So I take a deep breath.

The operation is a success.

It's one of the best results I could have imagined.

I'd like to call it a great success.

There were more holes in the ritual than I thought. That's a good thing. No, maybe it was simply the fact that I was too strong. It is no longer possible for the people of this world to stop me. It was such a success that it seemed so.

As I ran on the roof, I looked around at my achievements.

No one is missing, no one has been killed by the enemy, and Rustyala is here.

Even though I knew I shouldn't let my mind wander just yet, I could feel my cheeks naturally relax.

Dia and Rustyala noticed this and smiled as well, looking at us. Their dresses were fluttering in the wind, and combined with that, their smiles were fantastically beautiful.

--Ah, good.

I'm so glad I was able to protect their smiles.

All that's left to do now is to regain our poise in the south country and explore the labyrinth again.

Moreover, by the looks of things, there's a good chance that Hein-san and Raydiant-san will also help us explore the labyrinth.

All at once, they will have more friends and the labyrinth search will surely progress.

The characteristics of the two of them are suited to exploring the labyrinth.

Hein's wind magic, which is an effective means of attacking flying monsters, is an added bonus. Raidiant's beast form is a reliable ability in group battles.

It's foul that he can fight while carrying someone on his massive body.

By fighting with a slow-footed, magic-specialized companion like Dia, like now, the overall strength of the party will jump up significantly.

If this is the case, it's not a dream for even Maria to join in.

The self-defense ability, which was the biggest bottleneck, can be provided by Radiant-san.

The thought of being able to give Maria a good report makes my cheeks smile even more.

I can now confidently say to Maria that we can explore the labyrinth together.

--I'm really glad.

The operation to retake Rastiara.

I knew that the risk was high.

But when it was over, there was no downside to it, it was just an increase in the number of friends I could rely on.

Dia made a full recovery and returned as a wizard, even more so than before.

Rastiara has redeemed herself and is back to adventuring with me again.

I'm sure Hein-san and Raydiant-san will be able to help with that as well. Their loyalty to Rastiara is evident. They are trustworthy as friends.

If you add Maria to this (・・・・・・・), there are six of them.

This is a large group for a party, but for me, a large number of people is not a bad thing.

With my magic ”connection”, I can change parties as I go. There's no need to always stick to the challenge of all six members.

It's not a good idea to have a newborn baby.

From now on, as more and more people join us, we will be able to explore the labyrinth in various rotations.

My dreams are expanding.

I feel my options in the labyrinth increasing, and I can't help but laugh.

''Hmph.''

Everything is going well.

I'd like to show the reluctant me of a few days ago how well I'm doing now.

Now I can say it out loud.

I can say out loud that if I have a little bit of courage, I can do something even better.

If you work hard enough, you'll get the results you deserve - that's what you get.

That's what I want to tell them.

Even if it is a different world where you can't believe in anything - that's why an ending like a story is waiting for me.

I want to tell that to the past me.

I keep running with a body that has become light as a feather.

No more pain, no more anger.

Anything is possible, I thought.

And so we continue along the road of the roof of the building and cross the border of the Huzjaz.

I lead the way down the Wart road to the hill where my house is located.

Maria is waiting for us at the house on the hill.

I feel like I can face Maria now, too.

I would be able to face everything I had avoided for a long time and solve Maria's problems.

I had the confidence to do so.

That's how much room I had in my heart.

That's why I wanted to see Maria.

I couldn't wait to meet Maria, and then...

What I saw was.

It was smoke - rising from the hill where my house would be (・・・・).

Something was burning on the hill and a lot of smoke was rising into the sky.

--What?

Seeing this, I feel as if I've dropped the margin I had in my heart into a puddle.

Something black mixes with the uplifting feeling and I suddenly feel uneasy.

I don't think about it, I just hurry and head for home.

I run to the outskirts of the Valt, up the hill, and reach the source of the smoke.

It was burning - it was my house (・・・・・・).

Two girls are watching the house crackling and burning like a campfire.

Sensing our presence, the two girls looked at us.

They are Arti and Maria.

Arti smiles and tells Maria, ”Christ is here.

Maria finds me and smiles.

But that smile quickly fades.

She looks at the five people behind me and her expression contorts.

Arti whispers something and pats Maria's head.

--It's funny.

Funny how they are both unconcerned in front of the burning house.

Funny how Arti's eyes love Maria.

Funny to see Maria looking at Rustyala and the others and harboring a killing intent (...).

Everything is strange.

My mind is going blank.

And a clear voice passes through my blank head.

A very clear .......

Crying, sad, painful .......

Maria's voice.

'--Return your master, te ....... Ka, esithe ......--

Maria was looking at me.

She was looking at me with her empty 'eyes'.

My heart jumped loudly - making a thumping sound.

I felt a small pain in my chest.

It was the first pain (damage) I had felt in the operation to retake Rastiara.

Then it occurred to me

Come to think of it, the only person who could inflict pain (damage) on me today is Maria.

Only Maria there: .......

That fact sent a chill through me.

I was terrified in front of Arti and Maria, who were supposed to be my allies.