The Demon King evidently said that he had placed Aila in a safe location.
The reason she was with Tenji and the trainees would be revealed later.
The trainees had no actual combat experience whatsoever.
In contrast, Aila had a wealth of combat experience.
Although in a physical state that made direct combat impossible, issuing commands to soldiers was well within her capabilities.
Thanks to that, despite it being their first battle, the trainees survived without significant damage.
Although there were instances where they fled during the battle, everyone accepted it.
Aila likely minimized the number of engagements, only pursuing fights with a chance of success.
However, the trainees currently lost their commander who had been leading them until now.
“Has anyone seen where she disappeared to?”
“The last we heard from her was in that marketplace.”
“You all follow me.”
Though the war was nearing its end, danger still lurked throughout the city.
Undead soldiers had lost their control and were roaming the area.
Given Aila’s current condition, it was very dangerous for her to be wandering through these perilous places.
It was imperative to find her as soon as possible, so I decided to split up with Tenji and the trainees to search for Aila.
First, I tried to guess where Aila might have gone from the point of her disappearance.
It was Aila who had issued orders to Tenji and the trainees in the marketplace.
If she disappeared while fighting the undead soldiers in a disoriented state, she couldn’t have gone far.
Knowing her own condition, it was unlikely she would recklessly enter into danger.
The marketplace area originally had many alleyways connecting in various directions.
Currently, however, it had been intentionally directed towards one side in preparation for the war.
If she had kept moving through the alleyways, there would only be one destination.
Since Aila hadn’t attended the strategy meeting for this war operation, she wouldn’t know that information.
Hoping for the best, I began to fly towards the train station.
It was a place where I had been granted permission to use large-scale and powerful magic.
Even while in the air, I subtly amplified my magical senses to survey the ground, but Aila was nowhere to be seen.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As I got closer to the train station, I heard the light sound of something metallic tapping against the ground.
“Gather… Destroy…”
A cloaked figure was drawing something on the ground with a dark aura.
As the figure stood in the center of the drawing and tapped a staff, a thick black mist began to pour from the ground.
“Did you call for me?”
A skeleton, much larger than Pron, appeared on one knee.
“From now on, command my soldiers.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Its deep voice matched its large frame.
The creature that rose from the ground seemed to stand over ten meters tall.
With a single step, the earth seemed to tremble.
Thud!
It seemed that the cloaked figure had summoned a commander to replace the vanished Pron and the disappeared Gira.
With the urgent need to find Aila, the appearance of this being was not welcome.
Moreover, until the necromancer was dealt with, the war would continue unabated.
I rapidly descended from the air, clenching my fists.
Just as I was about to land a blow on the necromancer’s head!
“Ah…”
“I was sneakily preparing just in case.”
Inside a translucent black barrier, Aila lay unconscious.
“You know how to take hostages and you’re quite clever, huh?”
I spoke lightly to hide my surprise.
But since I had already stopped my attack, it must have noticed.
“Shall we have a little bet?”
The necromancer casually proposed a wager amidst the battlefield.
I wanted to refuse, but given that I was already holding a hostage, it was a proposal I couldn’t outright reject.
“What do you want?”
“A bet.”
As the necromancer removed his cloak, a bright yellow skull emerged from within.
“Let’s decide it with magic.”
“With magic?”
“If you win, I’ll return this girl.”
There was no guarantee that the opponent would keep their word, so I couldn’t accept blindly.
“You’ll likely break your word, so how can I trust you?”
“Hahaha! But we must, right?”
As the necromancer wiggled his fingers, Aila inside the black barrier groaned in pain.
“Understood. I’ll do it.”
A proposal I couldn’t refuse.
They were offering a magical duel instead of surrender or persuasion while holding a hostage.
“Then I’ll start. Lightning of Doom!”
A dark and ominous black lightning struck from above between the necromancer and me.
“It seems your specialty is lightning magic.”
I felt a jolting sensation rapidly spreading through my entire body.
Though I had never experienced an electric shock before, the current feeling was quite unpleasant.
The very uncomfortable sensation coursing through me was irritating.
“You’re holding up quite well, huh?”
I lightly flapped my wings, shaking off the black lightning as I responded.
“Now it’s my turn, right?”
“Yeah, hehehe.”
The necromancer smiled a rather unsettling grin.
From the beginning, he seemed full of thoughts to firmly suppress me with raw power.
Zap!
Boom!
Dropping a line of bright yellow lightning, I aimed to increase the purity of my attack and push him down.
“Fufufu!”
“That seems a bit against the rules.”
“It’s a magic duel! Isn’t it natural to block the opponent’s attack?”
The necromancer laughed, enjoying himself as he blocked my fallen lightning with his black barrier.
“It seems you might not have understood the rules well.”
“No, now I understand clearly.”
I should not evade the opponent’s attack, but it appears blocking is permissible.
“It’s my turn. Try to block it.”
As the necromancer recited an eerie incantation, the ground beneath me erupted with a loud explosion.
I spread my shield to block his attack, albeit slightly delayed and sustaining minor damage that wasn’t significant enough to worry about.
“Now it’s your turn.”
We exchanged attacks one by one.
To win, I had to break through his barrier and land a hit.
“Flare.”
The necromancer’s gaze turned to the sky where a magic circle appeared.
Flames poured down from the sky, but it was a ruse!
Since he had just blown up the ground, I followed suit and caused pillars of fire to shoot up from below.
Whoosh!
Surprised by the unprepared attack, he screamed amidst the soaring flames.
The firepower was enough to melt a demon entirely, so he must have taken considerable damage.
“Hahaha!”
He jumped in place, laughing mixed with screams.
“This is fun! Enjoying this magical duel!”
With his body turned bright red from the flames, he grasped his staff.
“Blade of Rotting Water.”
Simultaneously, I initiated shield magic to defend against the necromancer’s attack.
I wasn’t sure how well this shield would withstand his assault.
What mattered was that I could endure the attack without suffering large injuries!
I infused mana into my shield in its natural state, without compressing it, making it sturdier.
The sword-like magic with black energy trickled down like rotting water and collided with my shield.
Boom!
“Impressive.”
“Hey, you have no intention of surrendering even now, right?”
“Why would I give up on a duel I can win?”
I believed there was no more time to delay.
I firmly decided to subdue him with one strong spell.
“Last Ape Descending!”
The pattern engraved on my palm rapidly absorbed massive amounts of refined mana.
Boom!
With lightning striking from a clear sky, a gigantic leg descended and began to stomp on the necromancer’s head.
“Grrk!”
Defying its considerable weight, the powerful lightning erupting from the Last Ape caused his lower jaw to rattle incessantly.
“Graaah!”
The dark barrier ultimately couldn’t withstand the fury of the Last Ape and began to crack.
“I think I won.”
“Not yet, it’s not yet!”
Desperately deploying his barrier, the necromancer began to recover the fractured parts.
The Last Ape had only revealed one leg so far.
As the full form of the Last Ape slowly became visible, the necromancer screamed.
“Hey! You crazy fool! Is that magic?”
“Summoning magic is indeed magic.”
From the very beginning, I had no intention of leisurely engaging in a magical duel with him.
Crackle!
As cracks appeared in the barrier, the necromancer reached out toward Aila, who had been held hostage.
Boom!
The black barrier encasing Aila was punctured by lightning and shattered into pieces.
Aila, who jumped out from within the barrier, disappeared somewhere amidst the lightning.
The Last Ape must have transported Aila to a safe place.
“Geh.”
As the necromancer saw Aila vanish before his eyes, his demeanor suddenly changed.
“Damn it! What the hell is this giant!”
The necromancer emitted black smoke from his entire body.
The Last Ape was an entity of nature that differed vastly from ordinary summoned creatures.
“If I kill you here, the end will also take a step back.”
“With my death, you will become the main enemy of the end!”
Crackle!
The necromancer’s form began to struggle to maintain its shape.
Cracks resembling spider webs appeared on his golden skull.
Unleashed in full, the presence of the Last Ape exuded overwhelming power.
The necromancer did not grovel or beg for his life, instead calmly accepting his death.
“Announce my death to the whole world…”
Though it was the necromancer’s last words, I had no obligation to convey them.
“Thank you for summoning me, but your opponent is too weak.”
“At your current state, no one in the world could even be your match.”
With the power of the Last Ape, it would be possible to single-handedly annihilate a whole nation.
Thud! Thud!
“Oh! You’ve departed for the world of the end.”
A skeleton giant crumpled down near the place where the necromancer had stood.
The skeleton commander summoned by the necromancer before he died.
The one whose name I didn’t even know did not seem to mourn the death of the necromancer at all.
“From now on, I will lead this legion!”
Even if I gathered all the undead soldiers scattered throughout the city, they would only amount to a single company now.
“My name is…”
Just as it began to say its name, the fist of the Last Ape struck.
Even a giant over ten meters tall was akin to an ant before the Last Ape.
In a single blow, it sent the skeleton commander flying.
“By the way, aren’t you getting tired?”
“I seem to be fine.”
“How strange. If I had fully summoned you, no matter how great a dragon you are, you would be exhausted.”
It seemed that the overflowing power and stamina I had prior to the battle had returned to a somewhat normal range.
