Chapter 200

Chapter 200 Strongest Sage, Acts as Decoy

"What's the matter?"

" . . . I found the location of a weapon that could bring us victory against the demon . It's at a place we all are familiar with . "

"Familiar place?"

I immediately replied back to Alma .

"Yeah . The capital of Eis Kingdom . . . Iris, can you fly?"

"Yes! My wings are fine now, going to the capital should be no problem at all!"

"Let's go now! Hurry! It's an emergency!"

I ran up the wall vertically after saying that and left the ruin behind .

The girls followed after .

And when we got to a space big enough to spread her wings, Iris transformed .

"Please get on!"

"Ou!"

We got on board and then Iris accelerated rapidly .

Since her wings have gotten a bit better, the acceleration is stable too .

"Can we make it in time?"

" . . . Hard to say . The time for the seal to get undone depends on Dragon Vein's movements, so we've got to go the place for a precise guess . . . Well, I think it's about 50-50 chance . "

"Do you know where in the capital is the sword at?"

"Not to that extent . . . but it wasn't in the capital when we were there, so it must have been brought there recently . My guess is it's in the royal palace's treasury . "

That treasury contains everything from useless toys to stuff that are too powerful to be usable unearthed from ancient ruins .

Since no one is able to tell apart those that are usable from those that aren't, they probably bring everything found in ancient ruins there indiscriminately .

I have no idea why that thing got brought to the capital at this timing . . . but it's probably a coincidence .

"Treasury . . . Looks like it won't be easy even after we get to the capital . . . "

"Yeah . And there's a chance it's not in the treasury, so we may be forced to look for it . . . That's why I'm giving these to you two . "

I hand over small magic stones to Alma and Ruli .

" . . . What's this magic stone?"

"They're magic stones with mana reaction of our target magic sword infused inside . If the sword isn't in the treasury, look for mana reaction similar to it . . . If the sword is in the treasury, we'll have to talk directly to the king . In the worst case scenario, we might have to break our way into the treasury . "

It's a fortunate coincidence for the sword to be at the capital .

As it's relatively close, and the great barrier in the royal capital should hold out for a while even against Zaridias, it's a good location to have a fight at .

Thanks to the great barrier, there's a slim chance of demons coming out from inside the city as reinforcement .

Weak demons might be able to deceive the barrier and slip inside the city, but the fact that no powerful demons would come to our enemy's aid is quite a big help already .

"B-break our way–wha!"

In the middle of her speech, suddenly, it was as if the two were pushed aside as they broke their posture .

In reality, nothing was pushing them . They were hit by a powerful mana wave, and mistook it for the sensation of getting pushed .

The mana wave just now was strong enough to be felt by ordinary people . It must have felt like a sudden gust of wind to these two who have trained their ability to detect mana .

"What . . . was that just now?"

"The seal has been broken . Will Zaridias get to us first or will we get the sword first . . . It's a fight against time from here on . "

"Zaridias will be coming after us?"

"No mistake about it . Since we pose the biggest threat to Zaridias . He can do anything he wants once he killed us . "

Full flight creates too much openings, so Zaridias is probably coming after us with normal flight .

However, normal flight of a high-ranked demon is faster than the current Iris .

Zaridias probably has started his pursuit .

Will he get to us in the middle of the way or not, now is really a critical timing .

"We'll jump off Iris once we arrive at the capital . You know how to defend yourself from the fall right?"

"Yes!"

"Just falling is a piece of cake!"

The capital would probably fall into panic when they saw Iris .

But that's good .

Of course, we're doing this to get there faster, but having it obvious how much of an emergency we're in should make it easier to secure the magic sword from the treasury also .

We can use fighting Iris as an excuse to get the magic sword after all .

" . . . It's about time . "

The capital is still not in sight yet, but we've gotten quite close .

The fact that we still haven't got caught up must mean we're pretty lucky .

"Let's get ready to jump . . . Iris, slow down to about 50M/s right before you pass the capital . Make sure to decelerate right before you did . "

At Iris's current speed, we'd have passed over the capital in an instant .

And yet, slowing down too much would get us there late, that's problematic .

At the current situation, arriving even a few seconds late at the capital could change the end result .

"I got it! Please direct the timing for my deceleration!"

"All right . Iris and Alma, get yourself ready to endure the deceleration . "

I probe the surrounding mana .

Since I know the mana reaction in the vicinity of the capital well, I can get our exact location through it .

A few minutes later .

"Decelerate now!"

"Yes!"

I gave the instruction at the last second, and Iris began to decelerate .

And then, just when the capital came into view, Iris slowed down just enough for us to jump off .

"Let's get off!"

"Yes!"

"Gotcha!"

Ruli and Alma jumped off when I gave the instruction .

Perfect timing . The two landed right in the center of the capital .

. . . However, I didn't jump off despite saying 『Let's get off』 myself .

Instead, I instruct the two through comm magic .

『You two, get the magic sword and throw it at me from inside the barrier!』

『Eh, Mathi-kun, you're not coming!?』

『Zaridias is coming here fast! I'll buy us time, so get the sword in the meantime!』

The two went outside the comm magic range right after I said that .

Zaridias's mana reaction is already inside our detection range .

He should get here anytime now .

"Now then, let's go buy some time . "

True enough, the capital's great barrier is useful to prevent mana intrusion .

However, a demon of Zaridias's level would easily destroy it if he's allowed to attack it freely .

Even if I went myself with the intention of breaking our way to the treasury, we still wouldn't make it in time .

And our plan would be obvious to him, he could even secure the sword ahead of us which would be the end .

Rather than taking on such a hopeless race, our chance of victory is bigger if I let the girls to get the sword while I buy them time .

Even Zaridias should have a hard time destroying the barrier while getting obstructed .

. . . Forget obstructing him, Zaridias would probably go after me when he saw me, so the barrier should be safe so long I'm alive .

『Iris can you shoot your breath?』

『I'm okay with one shot! As for the second one and later . . . I'm not sure unless I've shot the first one!』

『That's good enough . Fire your breath once when our opponent comes into view, then immediately transform back to human form and get inside the barrier . 』

I told that to Iris while locating the mana reaction .

We're currently pretty close to the capital since Iris made a u-turn after arriving at the center .

It should be simple for her to go back there after transforming into her human form and got on the ground .

『Eh, I'm not going to fight?』

『Iris, it's difficult for you right now to go against Zaridias . I'd have an easier time with Iris inside the barrier than fighting while protecting Iris . 』

Even if she's not in her top form, Iris is still a high-ranking dragon .

Her breath should be quite a menace even for Zaridias .

If she takes shelter inside the barrier after showing off the power of her breath once, our opponent would have a harder time in the fight .

Since if he were to stop moving near the capital, Iris in her dragon form could possibly poke her head out of the barrier and fire a breath at him .

The capital's great barrier is a barrier that only prevents demons from entering, and nothing else .

I'll make use of this convenient location to fight to the fullest .

『 . . . I understand! Then, I'll run in a way that makes it obvious I'm inside the barrier!』

Zaridias showed itself up in the distant sky right when we were done discussing .

『All right, let's go buy some time!』

『Yes!』

I made a declaration at Zaridias who was charging straight at us .

–Now then, it's time to fight .