Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja~ Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sarani Tsuyoku Naru Tameni Tenseishimashita~-Chapter 319: Strongest Sage, Buys Time

I'm keeping an eye on the demon while putting up a [Wait] hand signal.

Then--the demon cast Material Detection magic.

A peculiar mana was discharged before flying off into the distance.

"What was that magic?"

While saying that… I calculate the object of the spell from its mana pattern.

And it's exactly what I predicted it would be.

--The [Key] to the [Coffin of Sealing].

Without the [Key], we won't be able to open the [Coffin of Sealing] nor can we carry it far.

The demon used that spell in order to ascertain that.

"Oh that was to clear people off. It would be a bother were someone to trespass in the heat of battle, don't you think?"

The demon looked satisfied while lying through its teeth.

Looks like it didn't find the [Key].

While keeping an eye on it… I made a gesture toward Giruas.

The route to the hidden room has been wrenched open thanks to the destruction we caused.

"…Got it." 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝒆𝘸𝚎𝙗𝒏oν𝙚𝘭.𝐜𝒐m

Giruas, visibly upset to be stuck with his luggage carrier role in front of a powerful opponent, was heading inside a hole in the wall when--

A high speed attack magic was shot chantlessly.

--High speed attack magic.

A magic that pursues cast speed above all else at the expense of power and accuracy.

However--when used by a demon of this class, the magic's power and accuracy exceeds that of magic cast by ordinary demons.

"Wha--"

Ordinary human can't even react to this magic.

Giruas noticed and reacted to it--but perceiving that he couldn't dodge it, he moved his center of mass to avoid a direct hit to his vital.

A moment later, the defensive magic I had cast took effect, repelling the high speed attack magic.

"Hou… You blocked that."

Demon Giwald sounded impressed.

It probably didn't think its magic would be blocked.

"Go now, hurry."

"…Yea."

Looks like the exchange just now has made Giruas realize that this battle is beyond his capability.

He ran toward the hidden room without looking back.

I shoot [Mana Jammer] at demon Giwald while taking a sidelong glance at that.

It's a magic to disarray mana control resulting in casting failure.

This magic usually gets augmented on arrows to compensate for range… But I shoot at it directly this time.

[Mana Jammer] won't work well on demons of this class.

It'll only make their magic construction 0.5 seconds longer at most.

That would have been enough time to deal great damage on ordinary demons… But against this demon, that much time gets us virtually nothing.

But it should give us enough time for Giruas to bring back the [Coffin of Sealing].

"Sooi!"

Following after me, Iris thrust her spear toward demon Giwald.

The demon gripped her spear and stared at me.

"I see… Buying time for your thieving friend huh."

--It found out our goals.

However, demon Giwald shows no sign of panicking.

Neither does it makes a move to deal with Giruas.

The demon understands that we don't possess the [Key] to the [Coffin of Sealing].

Hence, it must have chosen to slowly but surely kill us.

No matter how high up a demon on the ladder, a moment carelessness could still bring their ruin… by way of peculiar magic.

I have no means for such right now, but this demon Giwald has no way of knowing that fact.

Hence, it's going to make full use of its advantage in mana and stamina to surely kill us in a protracted battle…

That must be this demon's plan.

It's going as I anticipated so far.

As I analyzed the flow of battle, Alma's arrow flew off.

With the hand that didn't grab Iris's spear, demon Giwald caught the arrow.

"…Another jamming magic huh."

The demon shot a high speed attack magic over Iris's shoulder toward Ruli and Alma.

I clashed it with my own attack magic I instantaneously cast, diverting its trajectory.

"…What an annoying formation."

After having so many of its attack magic repelled.

Demon Giwald muttered in vexation. f𝑟𝑒ewe𝚋𝚗૦𝐯e𝘭.c𝗼𝓂

Our formation this time specializes in buying time.

In such, I take the advance position, Iris the support, while Alma and Ruli are holding the rear position.

Since I'm in charge of deciding our strategy at the forefront, this affords us aggressive yet flexible tactics to be deployed at will.