The magical stone floating in the center of the banquet hall’s ceiling…
It was a treasure passed down through generations since the founding of Rubetia… in a way, you could say it was a family heirloom.
As a meaningful object in its own right, it was also regarded as a symbol of the Royal Palace, hence it was prominently displayed in the banquet hall.
The reason this would later bring about disaster was simple.
All the grudges from those who lost in the war against Rubetia gathered right there.
Whatever the principle behind it, it must be growing well as a seed of the Demon Race.
And that seed would sprout with a certain probability whenever a banquet related to the Demon Race was held here.
When that happens, some of the people in the banquet hall would suddenly find themselves infused with demonic power, turning into makeshift demon-like beings.
The danger of this was not just about turning into demons, but primarily because the targets were completely random.
There were no exceptions for the Emperor or Empress, and if luck turned truly bad, even the protagonist or Seria could become demons and immediately trigger the bad ending.
Of course, the chances of that happening were low. I knew that from trying dozens of times to achieve certain feats.
But just the possibility itself seemed quite absurd.
If it were just a typical magical risk, the former Archmage, Empress, would have resolved it with just a flick of her finger, but this cursed type of risk was a different matter entirely.
In fact, even if something dangerous appeared, it simply looked like an odd aura to my game eyes and didn’t seem particularly threatening.
Still, considering the disaster that could happen later, it would be better to remove it in advance.
I hadn’t paid much attention to it recently… but in a world where the difficulty had increased, it seemed wise to eliminate risks as much as possible.
‘But how should I deal with it?’
When it came time to actually remove it, that too was quite troublesome.
I was the only one aware of how dangerous it was.
If I suddenly asked whether it was okay to break a royal heirloom, it was only natural that I’d be refused.
That was what I was thinking.
“Well, do as you please.”
I never expected it to be accepted that easily.
“I know you’re not the kind to just break something for no reason. Or should I be the one to break it? That would probably make cleaning up easier.”
Not only was she suggesting to take charge of what I intended to do, but I also wondered if she had eaten something strange.
Seria must be aware of the value of that magical stone.
Isn’t she accepting it a bit too readily?
She always said she trusted me, but I never imagined she would trust me this much.
Before I had the chance to stop her, Seria cast a spell.
It was an unusual level of focus, and the result was certainly deserving of such intensity.
‘Is she already using that?’
The spell she just used had already transcended ordinary concepts.
It launched something through a magic circle, which was basically how magic works.
But the magic she used now was clearly different.
The magic circle was merely an input tool; the launch location was entirely adjustable.
It was Bluetooth magic! With this, she could create a Bluetooth shower! It was magic that could enable such nonsense.
And it was developed by her to become stronger after experiencing various challenges and shortcomings at the Academy.
This was something learned in the mid to late second year of the original story. Really fast.
They say a tree destined to grow tall shows its leaves early, but shouldn’t the fruits come after it becomes an old tree?
We were still only first-year students. And we had just barely finished our midterms.
Challenges? Seria hadn’t faced any particularly tough ordeals.
Considering that, her growth rate was astonishing. At this rate, surpassing the original story would be quick, and who knows, the protagonist might not even be needed.
‘Maybe that’s not the case.’
Perhaps there’s something that must exist for her to grow this much.
For now, I was following the known flow, but given the differences in difficulty and character growth rates, it wouldn’t be strange for things to go awry at any moment.
The thought of that made her growth seem unreasonable.
But that was all there was to it. No matter how she can soar, breaking that magical stone would be difficult.
There was a reason it was displayed like that. It was completely protected by magic.
Could even the unmatched magic of the Empress be easily breached?
No matter how capable Seria was, it would be tough.
Crack-
…She broke through?
What? How did she do that? Was the protective magic weaker than expected? That can’t be right.
I was planning to use a trick if Seria failed, but that was no longer necessary.
“Why are you staring like that? Did you think I couldn’t do it?”
She seemed to read my expression and wore a satisfied smile.
It seemed she was pleased about exceeding my expectations.
She then began to explain how she broke through that protective magic.
“Rudion, did you read the book I lent you?”
“I did. I stopped reading halfway through, though, at the part where the protagonist was about to start their journey.”
“Then you must know about the ‘Energic Distortion Hypothesis through the Resonance Dynamics of Magical Existence Location.’”
“Uh. I think there was something like that.”
I vaguely remembered skimming through something that sounded like that since I didn’t understand it.
“It’s an application of that. I always understood it, but I couldn’t actually use it until now because of some circumstances, and now I can.”
I had no idea what kind of circumstances allowed her to suddenly use it, but that was impressive.
So all her magical ideas did come from that book.
She turned out to be a successful geek; a true success story that brought fictional concepts to life.
I used to wonder why she liked such a difficult book; it turned out it wasn’t that difficult after all.
I guarantee it. Once she broke through the Empress’s protective magic, Seria’s power level was already at the end-game specs.
If things went as they did in the original story, she would handle most of the upcoming events. There was no need to worry about the future.
Turning my head back, I looked at the magical stone that Seria had shattered.
A disturbed and ominous energy was gushing out through the cracks.
I wondered if only I could see this; Seria seemed unaware.
I held her back to avoid any contact with it and observe the movement of the energy.
When the magical stone was forcibly destroyed, unlike when it happened during the victory banquet, the results could be quite varied.
Surrounding erosion, explosions, widespread mental attacks… all those kinds of things.
These were inevitable side effects of forced occurrences.
‘Still, I wish it would be something simple… ah.’
I unconsciously thought of something I shouldn’t have.
As soon as I realized that, it was already too late.
The energy that flowed like smoke from the magical stone soon coalesced, taking on the form of a human female… and thus was reborn as a living creature.
“Oh crap.”
The probability of a demon appearing here was nearly 0.4%, yet this happened?
No, wasn’t the probability adjusted due to the difficulty?
Whatever it was, it was clear that it was a big deal. The existence of demons should never be taken lightly.
Not knowing how it would move, I grabbed my sword first, scanning the wriggling form in front of me.
Although it was said to take on a human female form, it was an odd sight to call it human.
Overall, it had a long, lanky appearance, resembling an eight-foot ghost.
“Gya gya gya gya.”
Its cries sounded grotesque enough.
But it wasn’t particularly a strong demon. It was unstable due to being forcibly generated from the broken magical stone.
If we were to rank demon levels, this one would be classified as grade C.
Just how low grade must it be to not even have a name set in the game?
It merely bore the label “demon.”
But I didn’t relax. No matter how low the grade was, a demon is still a demon.
If I truly let my guard down, I could be done for.
‘I’ve caught demons before, but…’
The circumstances now were different.
The demon I caught before, Crumple, had strong durability but lacked any standout physical attributes, making it easy to handle. What if it were a boss without gimmicks?
In fact, a demon that pushes with raw physical might would be my Achilles’ heel. I couldn’t dodge and deflect for a lifetime.
To be honest… fighting these demons was more dangerous than when the magical bullets rained down as a test yesterday.
Well… I did this because I had a reliable backup.
‘No matter how late it gets, it should be around ten minutes.’
Fortunately, this wasn’t out in the world but inside the Royal Palace.
If I could hold out just a little longer, reinforcements would arrive soon. This level of demon could be handled by several elite soldiers of the knight order.
To put it bluntly, if the demon Alkiné encountered hadn’t been Crumple but this one, she could have handled it alone.
If the commander of the knight order came, the situation would be resolved in an instant.
This place was filled with talent. If I just buy time, everything will likely work out.
Comforted by that thought, I casually called out the name of the girl next to me, who was tense.
“Seria.”
“…Yes?”
“If I say to run, will you listen?”
“No.”
She was a real problem.
Even in this situation, she gave me a typical protagonist’s response.
“Gya gya gya gya!!!”
It was impressive to be so stubborn right in front of such a hideous sight.
“Then just stay put.”
“Understood.”
Demons are inherently aggressive.
No matter how much cover fire you provide from behind, they focus more on the opponent right in front of them.
While the clever demons that can mimic human speech are a bit different, this one didn’t seem to fall into that category.
“Gya gya gya. Gya gya gya gya!!!”
What’s more, it was just screeching away.
That meant as long as I remained, Seria wouldn’t be in danger.
There was naturally no thought of running away.
“Just standing still and casting spells, right?”
She might not even have that.
No choice; I drew my sword and approached the demon.
The demon’s gaze locked onto me. That took away any worry of it targeting Seria.
As the demon seemed ready to pounce, I prepared myself to respond, glancing at Seria.
“If you misfire, I’ll be in trouble.”
“What do you take me for? Don’t get hurt again.”
As Seria said this, she instantly unfurled dozens of magic circles… Wow, that’s impressive!
I don’t know how she managed such explosive growth, but I felt reassured.
In the next moment, the demon sprang toward me.
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