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Arcreal returns his sword to his scabbard. 

Looks like we have somehow managed to succeed in taking away his fighting spirit. 

There’s no way we would have a chance of winning normally against a guy that has the same level of swordsmanship sense as Yugura Nariya who obtained the strongest of powers from creating multiple talents. 

That’s why what we should be breaking is not his sword but his heart; what we should be taking away from him is not his life but his spirit. 

Humans are creatures that can’t create worth in things that they have obtained without paying anything. 

For Arcreal who doesn’t know how to polish himself or become stronger, the spot of the strongest doesn’t have much worth to him. 

But that can become the vital point of Arcreal. 

Him not being able to defeat his opponent serves as good stress to stimulate his pride. 

He probably wanted to enjoy the change in his body by moving a lot with his talent and cutting down Ilias easily like the time when he defeated Yox. 

It was just on the level of ‘Aah, my body reacted more than I thought to this person. To think that my body would move to this degree. I am moved’.

But Ilias didn’t attack no matter what. 

I had her continue defending so that he wouldn’t be able to put his talent as Illegitimate to use. 

That’s where a small appetite was born from Arcreal. 

‘I want to defeat Ilias with my own strength. Not an easy win through retaliation, but a victory through my own offensive -my own hands’.

But the defense of Ilias was sturdy. 

On top of that, his small chance of winning through cheap tricks was sealed due to my intervention. 

Arcreal desired victory despite that. 

He wanted to win against Ilias no matter what. No matter the means. 

Arcreal will try to attack me as a last resort to bait an attack from Ilias. 

I predicted this, so I had Ilias promise me one thing: if Arcreal targets me, you must not react no matter what. 

If Ilias makes it in time and she swings her sword to protect me, she will get counterattacked and will lose. 

Even in the case she doesn’t make it in time, Arcreal will realize ‘this is an effective method’. 

That’s why there’s the need to take away the worth of targeting me. 

If Arcreal can’t defeat Ilias even if he were to kill me, him killing me would be more than pointless -it would be a burden. 

Whichever the case, if he can’t defeat Ilias, he will protect his pride of ‘I want to defeat Ilias fair and square’ that he felt before. 

“Are you giving up?” 

“Yeah, that’s right. No, there’s nothing to give up on. I just don’t want to waste time and energy on an opponent that I can’t kill no matter how long I take.” (Arcreal)

“You could have at least killed me.” 

“Slicing down the weakest guy and ending it there is more pathetic than not being able to kill anyone. Or more like, you are asking this while fully aware that I am that kind of guy, right?!” (Arcreal)

I of course know. 

But this conversation is a necessary action. 

Arcreal was persistently targeting the life of Ilias just a few moments ago. 

His spirit may be broken, but it is possible for it to be reignited in some way. 

This conversation that’s practically a reminder and rubbing salt on the wound also serves the purpose to further cool down the heart of Arcreal. 

“There’s the possibility you would be acting as if you lost motivation, but rush in for the kill when we lower our guard after all.” 

“I did think about that, but you would have seen through it if I were to think that.” (Arcreal)

“You could say that.” 

Arcreal sighed heavily and headed in a different direction from the ruins.

This must be his way of saying he is not going to get involved in this battle anymore and declaring he is giving up. 

“Just a piece of advice here, Arcreal. It would be better for you to find a hobby outside of battle. There’s nothing much of worth you can gain from making use of your talent as an Illegitimate. You got more heated up by blindly swinging around your sword, right?” 

“…Do you have a recommendation?” (Arcreal)

“Let’s see… I would recommend farming. Your swordsmanship would be of use in getting rid of the weed.” 

Arcreal waved his hand and left without responding. 

This should be good enough. 

There won’t be the danger of Arcreal on the people raiding the underground. 

Strength left my whole body once I relaxed, and Ilias caught me just when I was about to fall. 

Aah, you are the biggest contributor here, so you should be making a nicer face. 

“He didn’t stop! You said he definitely would stop his sword!” (Ilias)

“He tried to…but it seems like his stamina was taken away more than he thought. I may be able to read his mind, but I couldn’t read as far as how much stamina he would have left.” 

“Enough. We have to treat that wound quickly!” (Ilias)

It wasn’t a full swing, but the weakest took on the attack of the strongest, so I am not fine. 

Ilias hurriedly took out the medical tools from my luggage and began the treatment. 

There’s a lot that needs to be done like disinfection, stopping the bleeding, and stitching, since healing magic can’t be used, but she is doing it swiftly. 

“So you practiced.” 

“My duty is to protect you. If I can do something else aside from swinging my sword, it is only a matter of course that I would learn that too.” (Ilias)

I definitely would get reckless somewhere -she must have begun thinking this the whole time around the time when I went to the cave of the Scarlet Demon Lord and the castle of the Green Demon Lord. 

The musclebrain Ilias learning medical treatment outside of healing magic… She must have done a lot of hard work in the shadows. 

She would not only need to learn, but also find someone to learn from after all. 

“…I planned to not be as reckless as possible though.” 

“No statement as untrustworthy as that.” (Ilias)

“It is true. Now I owe you again, Ilias. I was paying it back bit by bit, but it went back up again.” 

This wound might have been pretty dangerous if Ilias hadn’t learned emergency treatment. 

Basically, she has once again saved my life. 

I was slowly paying back my debt of her giving me a safe place to live in this isekai, but now it is questionable whether I will really be able to pay all of it back. 

“You… No, it is fine. Let’s have that talk some other time. This medicine should work fine, right?” (Ilias)

“It is a hematosis agent. It is weird for me to say this as the one who mixed it, but it is super bitter… No, I am going to drink it, okay? Don’t glare at me.” 

Uoh… It is so bitter. 

My wound hurts just from swallowing a pill. 

But pain is the proof of life. Let’s just take it as that. 

The rough treatment was done, and Ilias let out a sigh of relief after judging that there’s no danger to my life. 

She must have been pretty agitated internally. I am impressed she managed to endure. 

“Fuuh… I felt like my soul left me more than the time when the Scarlet Demon Lord cornered us. Telling me to endure despite you -the person I am supposed to protect- being almost killed… Moreover, Arcreal couldn’t stop his sword properly.” (Ilias)

“…Thanks for enduring. We succeeded in keeping the strongest man in place thanks to that. The achievement is all yours, Ilias.” 

She was allowed to stand up over and over as long as her body allowed at the time with the Scarlet Demon Lord, but this time even the desire to do so was not allowed. 

It was necessary, but this method must have been a heavy burden in her mind. 

“Don’t throw it all at me so easily. The resolve to take on this wound is a contribution of yours that no one is allowed to take away.” (Ilias)

We moved all the way to the entrance of the ruins, and activated the communication crystal. 

We got the signal from the chains of Ekdoik, but we really do need words for the specifics. 

I have told them to activate the communication crystal when they are in a state where they can’t fight, so it should connect soon…

<<Comrade?! Are you okay?!>>

<<Mister Friend?! Are you okay?!>>

The voices of Ekdoik and Mix reverberate in my ears. 

Could it be that they were on standby in front of the crystal? 

“You are so in sync despite being in separate teams, oi.” 

<<You should be alright since you can talk, right? We have already finished sharing the information. How did it go with Arcreal? Did you manage to defeat him?>> (Purple)

“We didn’t defeat him. We just had him leave.” 

<<So you managed to make him retreat… As expected of you, Comrade.>> (Ekdoik)

“I would like to summarize the information. What happened to Nektohal?” 

I share information with all the teams and confirm the developments. 

Seraes is dead, Ritial and the others have retreated. Rakura’s body was stolen by Raheight, but they have succeeded in restraining him.

And Nektohal has perished…huh.

So he couldn’t become a Demon Lord with the body of a demon. 

Well, if it were possible, Colorless would have become a Demon Lord too.

“Mister Friend! Are you not okay?!” (Mix)

“Oi, you definitely must not shake me or smack me. I will cry.” 

The first ones to return were the team of Mix. 

Everyone is pretty injured aside from Masetta-san. Especially Haakudoku. I can visibly tell he is gravely injured. 

There’s no risk of him dying thanks to the emergency treatment, but it was a situation where he had to be prioritized over everyone else. 

“Contact Prince Washekt and use the medical facilities of Serende. Can I ask you to tag along with him, Masetta-san?” 

“Of course. Seriously, even though he was on the verge of dying, he is sleeping with such a peaceful face…” (Masetta)

Haakudoku must have fainted after things ended and the tension was gone, but his sleeping face was filled with a sense of accomplishment. 

He defeated a main boss which was Ritial, so I gotta give him a proper reward.

“We are ba—S-Shishou?!” (Wolfe)

“I understand how you feel, but be more worried about Haakudoku who is gravely injured over there.” 

The next ones to return were Wolfe and her team that headed to the lower layer. 

Ekdoik and his team moved to the upper layer to move the hostages of Raheight to a safe place, so it seems like they are taking a bit of time here. 

The knights and the Butler Army will be the ones that will be doing the rescuing and restraining in the end, but we do need to enable that a bit after all.

I confirm with Purple what happened after the battle against Nektohal for now. It seems like everyone aside from Purple, who was sharing the information with the other teams, were investigating the lab of Nektohal. 

“We investigated the lower layer carefully, but we couldn’t find the catalyst that’s assumed has been left by Nektohal to show the way to construct the resurrection magic, you know?” (Purple)

“They made it so that the routes of Raheight and Ritial couldn’t be crossed to begin with, so I doubt he has given it to them already. What I can think of is that they would use a hole that a small critter can go through to bring it to the mid layer. We managed to incapacitate the two that tried to obtain resurrection magic, so there’s no need to get impatient.” 

The investigation afterwards will be performed by the trustworthy knights of Taizu and the Butler Army. 

The Butler Army can’t use resurrection magic on themselves and it is only a troublesome spell that creates new superior beings. They most likely wouldn’t try pulling some trickery here. 

I will have Haakudoku, Masetta-san, Gradona, and Ban-san leave first. 

I wanted Mix to also go rest quickly considering her wounds, but she said she would be tagging along with me until I went back, and didn’t listen to reason. 

“You can’t use magic to heal yourself, so I really want you to take care of yourself-desu zo!” (Mix)

“You don’t need to tell me. I plan on refusing every job I get for a while and take a break. Maybe I should tour Serende.” 

“Allow me to accompany you at that time. But you have poked your head out in a good number of troublesome matters whenever you step into a new country, Mister Friend…” (Mix)

I haven’t been caught in trouble in Mejis yet, you know? 

We just passed by and there was the matter of Yox, but let’s ignore that one. 

Ekdoik and the others came back in the time I had the wounds of Mix and Purple checked just in case. 

Blue was walking at the back of Ekdoik, who was carrying Rakura on his back. 

As for Dokora…well, he must have left already. 

I wanted to apologize for the fact that the name I gave him in Taizu was a pen-name, but we are talking about him here, so he must have noticed that much. 

“Comrade?! Were you not okay?!” (Ekdoik)

“You too, Ekdoik? Aah, damn it. Haakudoku has already been carried away. Oh well, it should be fine.” 

“I don’t think you are fine at all being cut by Arcreal though… But you have been treated well. That’s impressive, Ilias.” (Ekdoik)

“More importantly, how’s Rakura? I heard that her body was taken by Raheight…” 

“Yeah… Can you do something about that?” (Ekdoik)

“I can. I had Barastos analyze the magic crystal he used at the times when he was cornered by Archbishop Ukka in Mejis and when he was in Taizu in the body of Lilisa. It might put a bit of a burden on the soul he has possessed, but we have the means to tear him away without any issues.” 

I have made preparations for countermeasures in the case something like this were to happen the moment I learned that Raheight could possess bodies. 

The classic move of bad guys when cornered is to take hostages after all.

It would be weirder to not be prepared for that.

“I see. That’s a relief… That Dokora guy really did whatever he pleased… Geez, I don’t want to call him ever again.” (Blue)

“And keep it that way. I am the one who proposed this to have as many cards as possible, but it really doesn’t feel good to use the dead.” 

Chasing after Ritial…is not needed just yet. 

According to what they have told me, Ritial also got hit with the trump card of Haakudoku, and his whole body has broken bones in a complicated manner. 

He is still alive despite receiving an attack that can destroy the barrier of Rakura, so he is a monster just from that fact though. 

What we should be wary of is Ritial returning to Serende and securing the record of the resurrection magic that Nektohal must have left behind. 

It would be faster to investigate these ruins rather than chasing after him. 

The remaining one is Raheight. 

He is a guy that can become a soul and escape even if we were to kill him, so after we tear him away from the body of Rakura…we should put him into the body of a criminal and seal him in some manner. 

“…Hn.” 

Speaking of the devil…no, I was just thinking about it, but Rakura -Raheight- has woken up. 

Ekdoik has paralyzed the body, and we have made it so that he can’t move or use magic. 

That said, I don’t want to be glared at with resentment with the eyes of Rakura. Let’s have him go to sleep once mo—

“Ekdoik, this is Rakura, not Raheight.” 

“?! Is that true?!” (Ekdoik)

Rakura’s gaze was directed at me. 

It is the same as the ones Rakura usually directed at me. 

This is not the distance that could be created if she were possessed by Raheight. 

Raheight had his freedom taken away by the slow acting paralyzing poison that Rakura took beforehand. 

And he should have regained consciousness just now, but in that case…

“His soul was still conscious even when the body was unconscious, huh. And there’s a way to move even without a magic crystal, so he used that.” 

I whip my hurting body and stand up slowly. 

I can’t stay put here. 

Leaving aside what body Raheight has possessed, it is clear what he is trying to do. 

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