Chapter 248: A Comedy Behind the Scenes

◆ Demon ◆

“Kukuku, it seems to be going well.”

Sensing that the contraptions we brought into the holy land had activated, a smile inadvertently spilt across my face.

“Finally.”

Yes, finally.

The holy land is an extremely important spiritual pillar for the humans, and invading and destroying it was an unavoidable issue for us to dominate this world.

However, troublingly, the barrier of the holy land is extremely powerful, making it difficult to attack with brute force from the outside.

But, however.

“If the barrier is strong, we simply need to use the humans to destroy the holy land from the inside.”

To that end, we disguised ourselves as human clergy and, over a long period of time, stimulated their desires to corrupt the organization.

And by providing various forms of assistance to satisfy those desires, we obtained the status of high priests and invited our brethren in as collaborators for the pilgrimage.

“Unlike the barrier of the holy land, the humans themselves are weakened now. To the point they don’t even realize we’ve slipped in.”

And we gave them magic items to destroy the holy land—items so powerful they would destroy even the users themselves.

“Kukuku, perish by your own desires, humans.”

“Now for the final spurt! Let’s do our best, everyone!”

Positioned at the very back of the group, I sent cheers to everyone.

I mean, since I’m the one who made this facility, I know where all the traps are.

If I were to run at the front, I’d easily clear every trap, making it unfair.

That’s why by having everyone who is taking the trial for the first time go ahead of me, I’m eliminating that unfairness.

Well, it’s just for my own self-satisfaction, though.

At the front is Meguri-san.

While increasing her speed with Wind Attribute Enhancement, she is detecting and evading places where traps are likely to be using her experience and knowledge.

Sometimes she misreads them, but she splendidly evades them with her speed-enhanced legs.

Proceeding next is Liliera-san.

Liliera-san seems to understand that she doesn’t have the same trap-detection ability as Meguri-san, so she’s intentionally letting Meguri-san take the lead to check for traps.

However, sometimes a trap that didn’t react when Meguri-san advanced would attack Liliera-san with a time delay.

Against such traps, Liliera-san used Ice Magic to freeze the movable parts of the trap, slowing it down, and brilliantly evaded the trap by sliding on ice created by the same magic.

“Nuooooooh!!”

The third one is Jairo-kun.

Jairo-kun emitted flames from his back, elbows, and the soles of his feet to generate thrust to propel himself forward, running at high speed.

Although the magic power consumption wasn’t small, that explosive charging power was second to none, not even yielding to Meguri-san’s Wind Magic.

However, he didn’t seem to be looking much at the surrounding traps and frequently took direct hits from them.

“Ouuuuch!! …But, I won’t loseee!!”

Yet, Jairo-kun stood up with indomitable fighting spirit and charged forward once again.

“Uwooooooh!!”

Hmm, it’s a bit different from the facility’s design philosophy, but… well, we’re using the facility for a pilgrimage this time, so whatever.

The fourth is Mina-san.

“Fuffuffu… hup.”

While maintaining a steady pace, Mina-san watched how everyone progressing ahead of her was doing and evaded the traps.

Furthermore, it seems Mina-san is timing the traps by enhancing her eyesight with Body Enhancement.

And similarly, by increasing her defense and speed with Body Enhancement, she acquired enough movement to evade the traps, though not on the level of warriors like Jairo-kun and the others.

It’s a truly solid scene of conquest.

You could say Mina-san is conquering this facility the most correctly.

“Uwawa!?”

The fifth is Norb-san.

Norb-san has been taking direct hits from traps over and over again since earlier, but every time, he continued forward without being blown away by improving his defense with Attribute Enhancement and linking his feet to the ground using Earth Attribute Magic.

Slowly, but surely, he moves forward.

Although his figure, enduring attacks from enemies to advance, is the exact opposite of Mina-san’s, it proves that he has trained his defense enough to withstand traps designed with enemy attacks in mind.

“Hiii!?”

And lastly, Tracy-san.

Tracy-san is barely keeping up with everyone using Body Enhancement Magic.

She doesn’t have the leeway to check the traps while watching everyone else like Liliera-san and Mina-san do, so she looks like she’s dodging by the skin of her teeth.

“Ugyu!?”

Sometimes she can’t completely dodge and gets hit, but she’s barely enduring it with the defense-improving effect of Body Enhancement Magic.

“H-HIGH HEAL!!”

And when the damage accumulated, she managed to advance by treating herself.

Yeah, lecturing her on magic other than Body Enhancement Magic—since she doesn’t run during meals—really paid off.

But I was surprised that Tracy-san hadn’t trained much in Recovery Magic.

When I asked her about it, it seems that due to the low number of priests, they spend too much time dealing with the believers, leaving them with insufficient time for training.

Hmm, this is a negative effect of the Temple of the Chief God losing its influence.

That’s why we have to win this trial brilliantly and make the name of the Temple of the Chief God roar across the Holy Capital, proving it is still going strong!

If we do that, the believers of the Temple of the Chief God will increase, and though it will take time, Tracy-san and the others will eventually have the leeway to focus on their training.

“Tracy-san, the goal is just a little further!”

“Y-Yes!”

And Tracy-san finally reached the goal, where the Divine Artifact was located.

Everyone had already arrived and was waiting for her.

” ” ” ” Goal!! ” ” ” “

“Congratulations, Tracy-san.”

“Th-Thank… you, very… much.”

Gasping for breath, Tracy-san collapsed to the floor.

Now then, it’s great that we reached the goal, but what are we supposed to do now?

Thinking that, I turned my gaze to the priests of the holy land who were waiting at the goal, but for some reason, they were looking at us with bewildered expressions.

“Umm, is something wrong?”

“Hyai!?”

When I called out, the addressed priests jumped, trembling.

“A-Ah, yes, thank you for your hard work, everyone from the Temple of the Chief God…”

“Umm, to everyone who has overcome the trial, um, please pull out this Divine Artifact here…”

Saying that, the priests guided us to the pedestal where the Divine Artifact was enshrined.

“I totally thought the Temple of the War God or the God of Commerce would win, though…”

“To think the Temple of the Chief God would win…”

People in the distance were secretly muttering, thinking we couldn’t hear them, but with our Body Enhancement still active, we could hear them perfectly clearly.

Exhausted Tracy-san didn’t seem to have the leeway to listen, but it probably wouldn’t feel good to be surprised that the temple you belong to won, so maybe it’s for the best she couldn’t hear.

We pretended not to hear those remarks and turned our gaze back to the pedestal where the Divine Artifact was enshrined.

A magnificent sword was enshrined there…

“Hm? That’s…”

And there, seeing the Divine Artifact up close for the first time, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

It had the shape of a sword, but its blade was flat; it wasn’t blunted, it never had a blade to begin with.

Furthermore, the Divine Artifact had uneven surfaces and decorations adorning its exterior, making it look completely unusable in actual combat.

And rightly so. After all, that thing is…

“Isn’t that the control device for the defense mechanism that protects the entire facility?”

Yes, that was literally the master key for the defense mechanism of this facility called the holy land.

Yeah, the reason it looks like a weapon is because of a request from the princess who received this facility as a present from her father, the king.

She said a normal key would be uncool, so she asked me to make it look cool.

But why is this being treated as a Divine Artifact!?

“Now, please take it in your hands.”

Even if you tell us to take it in our hands…

” ” ” ” “…” ” ” ” “

We exchanged glances, wondering what to do, but everyone had a look on their face that said, I don’t really want to hold this.

Ah, only Jairo-kun wanted to hold it, but Mina-san stopped him.

In that case, the only one left is…

“Tracy-san, please go ahead and hold it.”

This is the part where we yield to Tracy-san, an official participant from the Temple of the Chief God.

We’re only here as helpers, after all.

…Yeah, it’s totally not because we don’t want to stand out strangely, okay? Really!

“Fueh!? Hold what?”

Suddenly being spoken to, Tracy-san jumped and looked at me.

“That thing over there. It seems you need to hold that after reaching the goal.”

“Ah, I see… Whoops.”

“Are you okay?”

I supported the stumbling Tracy-san and took her to the Divine Artifact.

Hmm, seeing it up close, it really is the master key.

Huh? But looking closely, this master key is out of magic power, isn’t it?

Is the built-in Magic Storage Stone empty?

Umm, if I remember correctly, considering emergencies, this thing was designed so that humans with usage rights could directly charge it with magic power.

At this rate, the holy land’s defense functions will only operate at the absolute minimum, so let’s secretly charge it.

While pretending to support Tracy-san, I charged the Divine Artifact she received with magic power.

Then, the jewel indicating the magic power level began to shine.

“Wh-What on earth is this!?”

Seeing the Divine Artifact begin to shine, the priests raised voices of surprise.

“Eh, what!? What is it!?”

Tracy-san was bewildered by the priests’ sudden reaction.

“It’s fine, Tracy-san.”

I mean, it’s just being filled with magic power.

The light indicating the charge is complete will turn off soon, so there’s nothing to worry about.

…Or so I thought, but the light of the Divine Artifact didn’t disappear; instead, the glow spread across the entire blade, and red and blue lights began to blink alternately.

“Eh!? Eh!? I-Is this really okay!?”

“This reaction is…!?”

If I recall, this should be the light for the mode that shifts the facility into a full interception state!?

But why did it suddenly enter full interception state!?

Ah, could it be that before it ran out of magic power, someone activated this mode, and it ran out of magic power while the command was still inputted, entering standby mode!?

At this rate, it’ll enter the super attack state meant for anti-demons and… and…

“Well, there’s no problem even if it does.”

Yeah, come to think of it, even if it enters this mode, its enemies are demons and monsters; it’s a mode that doesn’t fight humans, so there’s no particular problem.

After all, the highest authority of this facility is the princess who owns it. I set the attack targets to only demons and monsters so it wouldn’t accidentally attack humans.

Against hostile humans, the barrier alone should be more than enough.

Thinking about it that way, there was no need to panic.

While I was feeling relieved like that, I felt a strong magic power being unleashed from outside the building with a loud sound.

Hmm, is there a monster nearby that triggered the warning system?

For now, let’s set the Divine Artifact’s mode back to normal alert status.

If I leave it like this, it’ll enter a merciless Destroy Mode if a demon or monster approaches and just blast all the surrounding monsters, which would be a nuisance.

As I secretly adjusted the Divine Artifact’s settings, the Divine Artifact’s light quickly became gentle, and then quietly faded away.

“I-It disappeared. Th-Thank goodness…”

Tracy-san, who had been startled by the sudden glowing, let out a sigh of relief when the Divine Artifact’s light finally subsided.

“O-Ooh… A miracle.”

“For the Divine Artifact to shine so brightly, it’s an event not seen since the pilgrimages began!!”

Conversely, the priests of the holy land who were watching this scene were super excited by the Divine Artifact’s light.

Ah, come to think of it, these people are researchers.

Of course they’d react like this when encountering a phenomenon they’ve never seen before.

“This is undoubtedly because the Divine Artifact has acknowledged this person!!”

“Ooh!! In other words, this person is the rightful successor to the six young people, the one to unite the believers who serve the gods!!”

“Eh? Eh?”

” ” ” ” ” The second coming of the Saintess!! ” ” ” ” “

Surrounding Tracy-san, the priests raised voices of excitement.

Watching that scene, we quietly backed away to put some distance between us.

◆Demon ◆

Soon. The time of ruin for the humans will come soon.

The poisonous mist produced by the jewel will eradicate many of the humans inside, and the large golem summoned simultaneously will destroy the anti-intruder defense mechanisms while rampaging.

Then, hellfire and a storm will burn the surviving humans along with the facilities of the holy land to ash.

Finally, as the finishing blow, the annihilation explosive magic tool will activate, blowing the holy land away from the inside without a trace!!

“Kukuku, I can’t wait for the sight of the humans perishing due to their own greed.”

” ” ” Fuhahahaha! ” ” “

Now, let us witness the moment our long years of secret maneuvers bear fruit!!

“Hahahaha… hm?”

It was then that I felt like I sensed a strange magical glow.

“What is it?”

“No, I just felt like something shone just now…!?”

It wasn’t my imagination.

Before we knew it, our field of vision was enveloped in a dazzling light.

” ” ” !? ” ” “

And having recognized the light, we were annihilated without even realizing our own deaths.

◆ Fluffy◆

I am Fluffy, the [ruler] of all beasts… well, whatever.

I was very bored right now.

After all, my masters are making a fuss doing things I don’t really understand.

It’s a little funny watching humans get blown away, though.

That being said, there are no tasty-looking monsters around either, so I am bored.

…And so, I came outside.

Mmm, the air in a place without my masters is so delicious!

Because if I carelessly stay near my masters, they’ll make me go on a diet!

Besides, I can smell something faintly delicious.

Sniff, sniff, is it this way?

It was then.

Suddenly, an unknown shockwave assaulted me from behind.

Mu!? What is it!? Has someone terrified of me launched an attack!?

The range of the shockwave is incredibly wide; evasion is impossible.

It cannot be helped, I shall take this head-on!!

I used Body Enhancement Magic to solidify the defenses of my physical body.

Come at me!

But surprisingly, the damage wasn’t a big deal.

It was impressive that it bypassed my Body Enhancement, but there’s no need to worry about damage of this level.

The problem is who attacked me.

Without letting my guard down, I searched for presences in the surroundings.

Sniff, sniff…

…However, the enemy did not attack at all.

Mumu? Are they waiting for my concentration to break?

I continued to sense without letting my guard down, but there were no enemy reactions within my detection range.

Sniff, sniff, sniff…

Could this mean… they ran away?

Realizing they were at a disadvantage because their attack didn’t work on me, did they run away before I could discover their location?

Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff…

Or was I not their objective?

An attack of that wide range must consume a ridiculous amount of magic power, so it would be far too inefficient if they were only targeting me.

Thinking about it that way, perhaps that wasn’t aiming at me.

Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff…

Or rather, I should say…

I’ve been smelling something really delicious since earlier…

Umu, leaving aside the enemy who won’t attack no matter how long I wait, I shall go confirm the source of this smell.

Fortunately, the source of the smell seems to be nearby.

I climbed up a nearby small hill.

Oho, from here I can overlook the place where I was with my masters until just a moment ago.

The source of the smell seems to be ahead, likely at the top of the hill.

Erasing my presence, I moved at high speed from cover to cover.

There’s no need for a king like me to hide while moving, but this is a hunt.

If so, there should be proper etiquette for a hunt.

Suppressing my excitement over the smell with my hunting instincts, I reached the summit of the hill.

What I saw there was…

” ” “…” ” “

Tasty-looking demon wings.

Uhhyooo! It’s a demon! And with good-looking wings too!

Muu, I don’t know why, but they’re all dead.

However, they seem to have just died recently and are still fresh.

And the figure of the one who defeated them is nowhere to be seen.

Since there are no bite marks, it seems the one who defeated these demons left this place without taking a single bite.

Uumu, what a waste!

Being wasteful is no good, right? Because it’s a waste!

Therefore, I shall deliciously partake in these demons.

It wouldn’t do for their freshness to drop, so I’d better eat them quickly.

And so, thanks for the food!!