There was no time to hesitate.

Scylla alone was a dangerous opponent, yet the Lamias were still launching simultaneous attacks.

If I couldn't handle at least one of them—

I don't really know much about magic.

It's undoubtedly the same technique used by the Demon King Malcosias, but how much spiritual energy it consumes, and whether it can distinguish friend from foe, remains completely unknown.

For example, Darkness Fog affects both enemies and allies alike—it acts upon space itself.

But Light, the spirit magic of light, supposedly doesn't feel blinding to the caster.

Yet when Reflair used it, I, as an ally, felt its glare painfully.The darkness fog is just as much a shadow to me, the spellcaster, but it isn't so pitch-black that I can't see the other side. I can clearly see through to the far side, so there's no unease in my vision. I used to think this was because I had night vision, but maybe that's not it.

In truth, spellcasters can see normally. That possibility exists.

I don't know whether Fiare or Dispel affects only enemies, or everyone except the spellcaster within that space. I can't just blindly test it.

"Refirea! Jeanne! Hold it for a moment!"

I shouted, wrapping myself in the darkness fog and dashing toward the innermost part of the nest.

Jeanne might be unaffected since her spirit magic doesn't work on her, but Refirea would be in danger if caught in the spell.

New lamias emerging from the depths spot me in the darkness, their elongated eyes gleaming as they alter their course toward me.

I can't handle dozens of lamias at once.

The straightforward approach is to deal with them one by one.

But—

"Fear!"

Having confirmed I was far enough from Refrea and Jeanne, I unleashed magic while surrounded by twelve lamias.

It felt utterly different from shadow spirit magic.

As if all vital essence were draining from my body, leaving me hollow.

"Gh…! Seriously…?"

It hurts.

Far worse than Create Undead.

There was something fundamentally different about this magic compared to shadow spirit magic.

Magic is essentially the chaotic spirit energy— not a single attribute like darkness, but a mixture of fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness all blended together.

The spell forcibly ripped chaotic spirit energy from my body and instantly dispersed its effect throughout the space centered on me.

Magic.

Fear surged through me, coursing through the bodies of the monsters that swarmed toward me—

"A... Gya... Ga..."

"U... Ga..."

All the lamias surrounding me collapsed to their knees, emitting sounds like broken machinery.

I myself was utterly drained, trembling in my knees from just a single spell.

But I was still able to move.

"Aaaaaaaaaa!"

I strained my voice from deep within my organs and swung my sword.

Under these circumstances, there was no need to sever the vital flow of spirit energy.

The heavy blade of hellfire steel swept sideways, decapitating the snake-woman who trembled in terror.

"—One, two, three, four, five!"

An opponent unable to move poses no threat.

When I was hit, I was rendered nearly powerless for at least thirty seconds.

There were twelve of them. That’s more than enough.

"Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve—!"

The final snake-woman had begun to move, albeit slowly, but that was all.

In the blink of an eye, all the snake-women transformed into spirit stones.

Only twelve spirit stones lay scattered around.

"Is this... magic?"

A technique that creates an overwhelming advantage.

It consumes a significant amount of spiritual power, but its effect is immense.

It may not work against opponents who feel no fear—such as skeletons, for example—but even accounting for that, this is...

"Dark Sense"

Let's use the technique to scan the surroundings. It seems the twelve we just defeated were the last of the lamias in this nest.

Looking toward Refrea and the others, the remaining lamias had just been defeated by the Dark Knight and Refrea.

We'd feared there were more lamias than expected, but now only Scylla remains.

"I held them off! The lamias are gone! It's just the final blow now!"

Scylla is a giant, powerful monster, but lacks speed and doesn't use magic. In that sense, it's a relatively easy opponent to handle.

Here we are, with the Lizardman Zombie having returned and Dark Knight also present.

"Mii---a---a---aaah!"

Scylla wildly flails its tentacles, forcing us to keep our distance.

It seems to dislike being approached.

Only Jeanne can block the tentacle sweeps with her shield, while the others cannot.

As long as this remains, it's difficult to close in and land effective strikes.

In that case, there's only one option.

"First, let's get those tentacles down! Shadow Bind!"

Dark tentacles wrap around Scylla's remaining limbs, binding them tightly.

Binding is a convenient technique that effectively works even against massive monsters. Though, with Scylla's power, it would only last a few seconds at best—but those few seconds are exactly what they need.

Watching the tentacles get restrained, each of them moves swiftly.

They surround the enormous Scylla and begin attacking together.

First, the tentacle temporarily pinned down by the binding is severed—two by Refraya, one by Jeanne, and one each by Dark Knight and Lizardman Zombie.

With its attack tentacles gone, Scylla is now little more than a large Lamia.

"Darkness Fog!"

Even without its tentacles, Scylla still has a large mouth on its belly and sharp claws.

According to guild strategy guides, the conventional approach to defeating a massive monster isn't to recklessly target its vital core, but to relentlessly attack within range until it falls.

Indeed, aiming for the vital core is dangerous. But—

"Dark Knight, I'm counting on you!"

A silent understanding. My summoned beast grasped my intent and, defying its heavy armor, leapt from behind at Scylla with surprising agility.

A disposable combat asset capable of operating flawlessly even in darkness.

The value of the Dark Knight is immeasurable.

A single flash of the obsidian blade.

Scylla's spiritual core was severed, its massive form transformed into a gemstone that imprisoned a kaleidoscope of colors, like a universe contained within.

In the echoing roar of the waterfall within "Lamia's Nest," it was us who survived.

"Good work, Reflair and Jeanne. Are you both alright? Did you get hurt?"

"We're fine. That was intense—never expected Scylla to appear out of nowhere. I was actually pretty scared inside, but still managed to take her down."

"I'm unharmed too. The number of Lamias was definitely unexpected, but Scylla was surprisingly straightforward as a boss. It's a relief having a one-hit kill weakness."

I had planned to exchange the points we earned earlier for a healing scroll if either of us had any injuries, but it seems we're not badly hurt.

Minor wounds can be healed with potions sold at the shop. Jeanne, having taken 'Natural Recovery Boost,' seems remarkably resilient—even minor injuries don't faze her.

After collecting all the spirit stones, we began our retreat.

Grapeflour waited without using a barrier stone, and in the end, the net result was quite positive.

I obtained an enormous amount of spirit stones, and possibly gained experience points and advanced in rank as well—I even learned a new spell, and after defeating Scylla, I could be promoted to 'Gold Rank (Gnome).'

I didn’t get injured either, and gained experiences beyond just experience points.

"This was quite enjoyable. It’d make a great place to earn money, wouldn’t it? There’s no other place where I can fight so many monsters at once like this."

On the way back, Jeanne said with a satisfied grin.

"There were quite dangerous moments, though… I need to get stronger. I was saved by Hikaru several times already."

With that many of them, they're definitely a threat. We should just be grateful we got lucky this time. On the other hand, Scylla seems manageable on her own.

She's a brute-force type monster, so she's actually pretty compatible with me.

Darkness works generally well, and when combined with Dark Fog, it makes Dark Coffin particularly effective.

If I had plenty of spiritual energy, I might even feel capable of taking her down alone.

　

"If we're heading to Gran Alismaris, maybe we should earn as much money here as possible first. We've probably made around ten gold coins' worth today, right?"

Jeanne smirks. Ten coins' worth of loot—over a hundred Lamias and Scylla's stone.

We fought nonstop for nearly an hour, but we definitely got our money's worth.

Especially, Scylla's stone is said to be bought at an extremely high price. Since only a limited number of parties in Meltya can defeat Scylla, that's understandable.

"……Anyway, Clo. What was that technique? I only caught a glimpse of it."

"Ah! I was curious too! I was worried since you went off alone toward the back!"

"Ah, sorry. Actually, I've gained the ability to use magic."

"Wha—what?!"

"Magic?!"

Both of them stop in surprise, but honestly, I'm a little startled myself right now.

I never expected that I'd be able to use something like the magic the Demon King once wielded.

"I figured that since 'Magic' was added to the point exchange system, it must be usable by humans too. But to be able to use it without spending points—just by yourself—Clo, you must be a genius at spirit magic."

"It's not like I've ever heard of someone gaining the ability to use magic... Maybe the Great Spirit knows something about it..."

"Perhaps it's because they're a transmigrant. Either way, it's best kept secret. Please keep this between you and Flora, Raya."

Still, it's probably better not to tell anyone.

Well, I don't really have anyone to tell it to anyway.

"As for self-reliance, you earned points for learning it on your own. All spirit magic is now intermediate level, and two of them give you eight points."

"Eight points? That's lucky! Well, it's understandable if you've learned magic. So, what will you use them for? You can spend them on boosting yourself, you know. You could put them into spirit power enhancement, or you could level up your stamina—haven't you only got level one so far? With one point, you can upgrade to level two for two points."

"You're right about that."

The key points for increasing stamina are 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20. With level 1, you can raise it quite affordably up to level 3.

As you can see from Jeanne, the effect is tremendous.

Raising spirit power is also an option.

Due to our ability to learn increasingly powerful spells, even with abundant spirit favor, we're beginning to run dangerously low on spirit power.

Spirit power increase level 1 grants 5 points.

Natural recovery amount (spirit power) is 3 points at level 1.

Then there's whether to upgrade stamina to level 2,

or save the points for later, or spend them on recovery items.

There are many ways to use the points, each highly useful.

I'm torn.

"Well, there's no need to rush using them right away. As I've said before, conserving points is crucial. Even I always keep six points in reserve. I believe that very margin can create life-saving moments... Of course, simply using them for enhancement could also prevent such crises altogether. So there's no absolute answer... But in any case, you should probably keep at least three points in reserve."

I hadn't had any point buffer, so I'd relied on Jeanne to cover for me in terms of points. I can't afford to use them all up here.

Especially, having backups of the "Barrier Stone" and the "Scroll of Great Healing" is like having life insurance. You can grow stronger by leveling up. That means we shouldn't prioritize alternatives.

We've already acquired a decent amount of power, and even if we were to encounter the 'monstrousized Homura Ape' I once faced, we should be able to hold our own.

We've already surpassed normal human limits.

In the end, we left the labyrinth, leaving the use of our eight points for later.

We reported the slaying of Scylla to the guild.

"We've confirmed it's definitely Scylla's spirit stone. The slaying party consisted of three members from 'Battle Junkie': Reifrea, Hikaru, and Jeanne. Is that correct? Then, we'll schedule your promotion assessment to Gold-class explorer at a later date. Would tomorrow or the day after be convenient for you?"

That's how it turned out.

To become a Gold-class explorer, it seems we must accompany a guild member on a four-layer exploration to prove we truly possess that level of strength.

I don't want to show how to fight, but there's no choice.