T/N: Happy New Year!!! May the New Year bring you happiness, peace, and prosperity!!! Thank you for your unwavering support over the past year. I was able to post weekly updates because of your heartwarming comments. Knowing that there were people out there enjoying my humble translation brought joy to my heart. Your support means the world to me, and I cannot express my gratitude enough.

I truly appreciate your support and will continue to work diligently to provide the best translation I can.

Thank you,

Eliza.

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The exterior was clearly a tower. But inside, there was no staircase leading to the upper floors. There was just a new door on the opposite wall. 

A new and unique pathway. With a clear destination, there was no need to think. Slowly, the Knight Order made their way across the hall toward the door.

“It’s as cold outside as it is inside.”

Lumen was right, it wasn’t warmer inside than outside. In fact, the desolation and tension of the landscape gave him chills.

He kicked hard against the slippery floor and listened intently to even the slightest sound of wind. Lumen went forward while keeping a lookout for his surroundings, but there were no special devices or enemies in sight.

However, no one expected that they would be able to reach the door safely.

And just like that, they were in the center of the hall.

Thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump, thump.

A noise like a giant hammer pounding on the tower echoed through the air. Immediately, the men drew their weapons and took up combat positions. The tension was palpable, and the regular ringing repeated itself.

And a moment later. Elvie’s voice echoed through the hall.

[If, if possible, I wish everyone would die here…… I wish…….]

At the same time, the immaculately manicured wall of ice began to crack. One after another, the square walls collapsed. In the gaping hole, instead of the snowfields outside, lay the creators of the noise.

“Hmm, it reminds me of the battle at Baskin Village. Am I getting back what I didn’t fight for back then?”

Hundreds of them, by all accounts. The goblin horde’s green bodies were covered with ice in the form of armor.

Parallel legions of goblins marched forward, slashing their long spears with every step. On their own, the goblins were an easy enough foe to kill, but in this quantity, they were a different story.

As Cadel infused mana into the pendant, scale armors covered the Knight Order as well.

“You guys make a path to the door, Lydon, you’re with me for a wide-area attack.”

“That’s bold, darling! In addition to my body and mind, Do you want to be intimate with my mana now?”

“……Don’t twist my words.”

No matter how wide the hall was, it was still an isolated space, blocked on all sides. Keep your enemies organized or you’ll find yourself skewered by countless long spears. This was where the magicians came in.

Cadel took the center of the hall with Lydon, keeping his eyes peeled for the approaching monsters as they widened their strides. Cadel, quickly relaying the plan in his head, caught a glimpse of Lydon.

“You can’t make any mistakes. Can you do what I just said?”

“Only if Cadel wants it.”

“Okay, then let’s get ready.”

It must contain the destructive power to wipe out this army of monsters at once, but it must not cause any damage to allies in one space. A perfect joint attack without a single error.

Cadel stood by Lydon’s side as he began to chant, slowly building up his mana.

* * *

While the magicians prepared to attack, the swordsmen had to clear a path for the only way out.

“Wow, this armor is tougher than I thought?”

It was possible to shatter the ice and cut through the goblins’ flesh, but it took too much energy to do so. Goblins were supposed to be a race that died easily from a sword wielded for fun.

Lumen landed beside Garuel as he pulled his sword from the corpse of a fallen goblin. Ahead of him, where he had been a moment ago, a blue flash cut across the goblin horde.

“Since you don’t use light mana, you’ll have a harder time breaking armor, and if you strike so ignorantly, you’ll only break your sword.”

“Haha, you’re worried about me, Sir Lumen? That’s sweet, I feel a sense of camaraderie.”

“I’ll disappear then.”

With an irritated snort at Garuel’s rude remark, Lumen’s figure disappeared into the gap between the monsters again. Laughing lightly, Garuel pulled down the patch covering his left eye.

“I’ve decided to redirect the line of my power, but I can’t seem to get my hands on it.”

He opened his reversed eye, and a flame of demonic energy engulfed his left half. As he shifted his sword from his right hand to his left, the demonic energy spread to his blade.

“Hmmm. I guess I need to practice.”

He spun his sword once and pointed the tip at the enemies in front of him, and the next moment, the demonic energy that had been burning his body shot out like a whip.

The hard, rigid energy pierced through the goblins and lifted them up. Goblin after goblin was pierced in its wake, following the demonic energy’s trail. The stem of the demonic energy with dozens of goblins hanging on it began to hit the ground indiscriminately and annihilate the enemies.

It was an effective technique, but poorly executed. This was evidenced by the vicious cursing of Van, who narrowly missed the demonic energy.

“Take care of your damn demonic energy properly!”

“I’m sorry, Sir Van! I’m just a newbie!”

Hearing Garuel’s smirk, Van furrowed his brow.

“That’s one is also demonic energy too, huh.”

As soon as Garuel unleashed his power, Van felt his aura react. Although it was less than when dealing with real demons, controlling the aura was becoming more difficult.

Suddenly, he realized that Garuel might be able to help him solve some of his own stubborn problems.

‘……It wouldn’t hurt to try.’

Collecting his thoughts briefly, Van launched himself at the goblin horde. Ducking to avoid the spears flying at him from all directions, he swung his greatsword low to the ground. He sprinted forward, the blade slicing through the ankles of those whose armor failed to protect them.

The goblins who lost their balance and fell were crushed by Garuel’s demonic energy, which was almost rampaging, and exploded. The three men’s attacks, while at first seeming to be working separately, were in steady synchronization.

After slaughtering countless enemies, they succeeded in reaching the exit.

However.

“How many monsters are hiding there?”

A steady stream of monsters marched out of the hole in the wall, and the path they’d managed to squeeze through was cramped, obscuring Cadel and Lydon.

At this rate, they would be split into two teams and surrounded without even making a path. With a bad feeling in his stomach, Lumen ran his hand over his scabbard.

“We have to go back and get Leader.”

“If it’s dangerous, won’t Sir Lydon take care of it? Because he’s a winged fairy.”

It was true, but Lumen didn’t trust Lydon with Cadel’s safety, and that went for Van, whose body was honestly moving away from the exit, as well. Garuel shrugged, unable to help himself at the impatience of the two men.

“Our Knight Commander must be frustrated. Even though his skills are so outstanding, his members are so overly anxious about his safety. Doesn’t it seem like you have no faith in your leader?”

“……Who has no faith in who?”

“I’m not sure. Our Knight Commander, Sir Van?”

The innocence in his tone made Van glare murderously, but Garuel just smiled back.

“Shouldn’t we stick to Knight Commander’s orders until new ones come down? Anything less and his plan could be disrupted, and, crucially, Knight Commander isn’t weak enough for anyone to worry about.”

As much as they hated to admit it, they weren’t wrong. They’d seen Cadel push himself too hard too many times before, so they were naturally worried. But as they all knew, Cadel wasn’t the kind of man to get caught up in a crisis like this. It was too soon to worry.

Eventually, Van and Lumen agreed with Garuel and decided to wait.

And at the same time. The two magicians finished preparing for a joint attack.

“Is that……?”

A familiar flame flickered through the mass of goblin hordes. It burned nothing, floating beautifully in the air. A tiny flame, shaped like a butterfly.

Fire Butterfly Dream.

Lumen remembered seeing it once already.

“Hmm? Pretty magic, just like its owner.”

“Don’t touch it carelessly.”

Quickly cutting off Garuel’s curiosity, Lumen called out to the two men with their backs to the exit.

“It’s a chain explosion spell. If you touch one of them, you’re going to be wiped out.”

“A wide-area weapon that is perfect for clearing out legions.”

“The problem is that we, too, are likely to be wiped out.”

Why would Cadel choose such a dangerous technique out of all the magic he had to offer? Once started, the explosion would not stop until the entire hall was destroyed.

Cadel was not a person who forced himself into battle without ensuring the safety of his comrades. While they were questioning his uncharacteristically extreme tactics, Garuel stood in their way.

“No matter what, I will protect you. Even if it burns, this body of mine will regenerate anyway.”

He already had a record of enduring Cadel’s [Soul Explosion] in that way in the past. Although Van and Lumen, who fainted back then, wouldn’t remember.

With that, Garuel plunged his longsword into the ground, amplifying his demonic energy. The horde of goblins that had been closing in on the Knight Order stumbled over a single butterfly.

Surrounding it were dozens of other butterflies. Lumen and Van reflexively covered their ears in anticipation of the bombardment that would ensue.

However.

“……Amazing.”

What followed was not a loud explosion, but a chill that instantly swallowed up the explosion. The explosion that started from a single butterfly spread at an insane speed, but a powerful chill followed, freezing everything in its path.

The exploding flames filled the hall in a spectacular wave of ice. Moreover, Lydon’s chill bent the path of the flames, directing the explosion into the wall, and protecting the doorway.

A goblin corpse froze in midair, bursting like a firecracker in the midst of the Fire Butterfly Dream, while everyone marveled at the flawlessness of the magic spell.

Cadel and Lydon appeared along the path that the three men had previously cleared.

“It’s not going to last long, we need to get out of here.”

Cadel stood in the doorway, impatient. Above the only door on this floor was a number, just as it had been when they first entered the tower.

What was different was the value of the number. This time it was 4 instead of 5.

Cadel checked it and bit his lip gently.

‘The strategy is the same as I know.’

Nothing had changed. This meant that the plan that had been made in advance could proceed without a hitch, but Cadel didn’t look happy at all.

Slamming the door in annoyance, he looked back at his subordinates. His gaze slowly swept over them, a mixture of impatience, displeasure, and bitterness, before finally settling on one.

“The maximum number of people who can advance to the next floor is four. The other one…… must remain here and continue the fight.”