To explore the interior of the building, we restructured our formation.
The knights of the Knight Order stood at the front with spears, while the sword-wielding knights took the rear, and the mercenaries capable of casting magic placed themselves in between.
As we entered the building, a horde of demons appeared without fail.
While the Knight Order bought time, one of the mercenaries unleashed a powerful ice spell.
As a large chunk of ice floated into the air, it began to freeze the surrounding area.
When the ground beneath our feet froze, the demons panicked and tried to flee.
On the slippery ground, they struggled to move properly, often tripping as they hurried.
The Knight Order seized this opportunity to finish them off by thrusting their weapons in.
Even after the battle ended, the magic used by the mercenaries did not dissipate.
“This is a sustained spell. It uses the user’s mana continuously while it’s active, but we can take turns maintaining it.”
As long as we have mana, we can maintain the spell indefinitely.
However, the Tooler urged us to hurry a bit.
Since the mercenaries’ mana is not unlimited, there is undeniably a time constraint.
The interior of the building resembled an ancient temple from mythology.
We saw a staircase and decided to go up.
Climbing the stairs, we emerged on a floor similar to the one below but slightly narrower.
The skill of the demons that appeared was not particularly threatening, so we dealt with them in the same way.
As we continued to ascend, we reached a floor with no more stairs.
“There’s nothing here?”
The demons that had been guarding the floors up to this point had disappeared.
We had clearly seen a large gem at the top of the building, yet no one mentioned it.
“What on earth is this place?”
“Let’s investigate the surroundings.”
Judging that there were no enemies, everyone began to disperse and search the interior.
While exploring inside, I saw mana swirling around.
“It’s nearby.”
As the bracelet faintly glowed, a translucent green fairy Wizel appeared.
“It’s been a while.”
“You didn’t call for me.”
It seems I have to call out for her for her to appear.
I hadn’t summoned her before as there wasn’t anything particular to ask.
“So, are you saying it’s here?”
“Yes. There’s a path over there.”
Wizel lightly flew into a room on one side.
Following her, we found only an empty room.
Wizel checked the walls back and forth before grabbing my finger to lead me.
Since Wizel didn’t possess the strength to pull me, I followed her.
When I placed my hand on the wall, the bracelet glowed, and roots extended out to touch the wall.
A hole appeared in the previously empty wall.
As we went inside, a long, narrow corridor stretched ahead of us.
At the end of the corridor, a hole appeared, and as we went outside, we reached the outer wall of the building.
“There are stairs!”
What I had thought were merely decorations from afar turned out to be stairs when seen up close.
The height of each step was only up to my knees, so I climbed up them with relative ease.
As I neared the top, I felt an inexplicable headache several times that nearly made me fall down.
“We’re almost there. Let’s go.”
“Wait, my head really hurts.”
“We have to go.”
Wizel urged me, pulling on my hand, which felt like it wouldn’t budge.
Finally making it to the top of the stairs, I faced a blue gem.
“Is this what the dragons left behind?”
“Yes. It’s an Ancient Heart.”
“What is that?”
“I don’t know either. Just absorb it quickly.”
I reached toward the gem, and with a jolt, I collapsed there, losing consciousness.
I opened my eyes.
Blue thread-like lights connected to my body surrounded me.
Wizel appeared in front of me, looking slightly dazed.
“It seems you’re being absorbed.”
“I feel like I’m the one being absorbed?”
“Focus. You should feel the power.”
Though I had been startled and hadn’t sensed it, as I calmed my mind, I could feel something slowly flowing into me.
It felt like another heart had settled next to my own.
The incoming power was gathering into this second heart.
“When will this end?”
“It will take a full day.”
At that, I started to worry that the members of the Raid Team would come looking for me.
If they discovered I was here, they would assume I was trapped.
Of course, that could only happen if they realized I was here.
The path I had entered vanished after I emerged onto the outer wall.
In other words, there was absolutely no way for them to find me inside the building.
“Shouldn’t we tell the others?”
“You can’t move at all.”
The power I was receiving was so overwhelming that I could barely even move on my own right now.
“If this is the second one, does that mean there are two left?”
“I know where one of them is.”
“Really? Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t ask.”
As time passed, I felt slight pain flooding through my body.
My bones ached, and strange memories flickered in my mind intermittently.
“Is this magic?”
“I don’t know.”
Wizel was merely an ordinary guide.
Unless one was the person receiving the power, they couldn’t even guess what was happening.
Several spells came to mind and faded away.
I wasn’t tired, but feeling bored, I decided to sleep.
When I woke up, I hoped the process would be somewhat complete.
“Wake up.”
“Huh? Is it over?”
As I opened my eyes, I found myself lying at the top of the building.
“It seems to be over.”
“No.”
Wizel was swirling around my wrist.
Looking at my wrist, the olive tree bracelet had the gem I had just touched stuck to it.
“The power is still being transferred. It seems to have changed its form to continue transferring steadily.”
I nodded, then rose from where I lay.
I thought I had to show myself quickly to avoid worrying the Raid Team members.
Having received the gem’s power, I found it much easier to descend the previously high stairs.
Returning to the room, the surroundings were bustling.
It was clear they were searching for me, so I rushed out of the room.
“Did you all wait for me? I had something to deal with.”
As expected, the members of the Raid Team were rummaging around the building, looking for me.
“How long have we… Huh? Who are you?”
“It’s me, Ririan.”
“Ririan?”
Isaac slowly approached, wearing a slightly surprised expression.
For some reason, his gaze didn’t seem lower than before.
He felt a bit closer, as if he had drawn nearer.
“What happened?”
The Tooler held out a small mirror for me to see.
My appearance hadn’t changed much.
I looked just as I had with the transformation potion.
When the Tooler held the mirror at a distance, I could see my entire body reflected.
“Huh? Did I grow this tall?”
I hurriedly searched among the members for Isabel.
As I got closer, Isabel felt very small.
“Why are you so shrunk?”
“You’ve grown.”
Only then did I understand the Raid Team members’ reactions.
It was a result of the power of the gem altering my body.
Though the effects of the transformation potion were hiding my wings and tail, my body had grown significantly.
At this rate, I felt I was a bit taller than Aila.
“Shall we go back now?”
“There’s a bit of a problem.”
Isaac took me to a room on one side.
He showed me the outside through a window in the room.
Looking down from the window, I saw demons guarding the entrance of the building.
There appeared to be at least a hundred of them.
“So it’s not that we can’t go out, but that we can’t.”
“Everyone was looking for you because Lady Ririan had disappeared in this situation.”
If we couldn’t get rid of the demons, we wouldn’t be able to go out.
“Why didn’t you go out when you know how to deal with the enemies?”
“The Tooler said that the areas they can cover with their magic are too limited and won’t work on many enemies.”
The demons surely weren’t gathered there without reason.
A small number of demons could be dealt with using the mercenaries’ magic.
But when it exceeds a hundred, it would just be like walking into a certain death.
“We were looking for you just in case, as your magic worked well on them, Lady Ririan.”
“Hmm.”
Even for me, a solution wasn’t straightforward given the current situation.
For now, we decided to take the initiative and attack before the demons could enter the building.
The Raid Team would wait on the very bottom floor, and I would attempt a preemptive strike first.
Though it was hardly to be called a strategy, it was the only plan we had.
As I stepped outside the building, the demons let out eerie sounds as if they were furious.
“SSS- SSS- SSS-”
I felt a low rumble that lightly shook the ground beneath us.
“Wind Blade.”
A rough gust of wind converged in my hand, forming a sword.
“Huh?”
What had been a transparent and intangible sword now had a definitive shape.
Though its form had changed, it was ultimately the same magic.
The effect likely hadn’t changed much either.
Swinging the sword once, a whirlwind engulfed the demons.
The demons braced themselves against the ground, planting their weapons to avoid being swept away by the whirlwind.
The wind did not dissipate but remained there, swirling like a tornado.
As its strength grew, even I, positioned at a distance, felt that I might get sucked in and quickly retreated into the building.
“It’s truly fascinating that a storm arises from the ground.”
Leaning against the wall, I peeked outside.
The demons were remarkably resilient, sticking to the ground and holding strong.
But then one of them could no longer withstand it and got sucked into the tornado.
The aftermath was simply devastating.
With the tornado roaring, the demons were all sucked in.
Whoosh!
The tornado, which had made a sound akin to a vacuum cleaner, finally settled after a long while.
Stepping outside the building, I found magic stones scattered all over the ground.
“Did they all die?”
“Let’s go up while we can.”
As we moved toward the stairs, the mercenaries, including the Tooler, swiftly gathered the fallen magic stones as if they were disappearing.
Not wanting to leave it all behind, I used magic to pull some of them toward me.
The knights treated the magic stones as if they were nothing more than pebbles rolling on the ground.
Though the knights knew the value of magic stones, they didn’t pick them up.
They probably didn’t need them since they weren’t using magic, but even selling them would bring in a substantial amount of money.
Everyone rushed to hasten their steps up to the surface.
The reason was that the demons’ leader had yet to show itself.
That massive creature they had boasted of its size had not appeared even once from below.
It wouldn’t be surprising if it appeared at any location, so we hurried along.
