## Chapter 611: Rescue Operation

Initially, it was not me who faced Lily head-on in the main gate garden, but Miria.

If you wear the helmet along with it, the *Tyrant’s Armor Maximilian* is a piece of full-body armor that completely conceals the body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. In other words, you cannot actually tell whether there is a person inside or not. If it walked normally and my voice was heard coming from within, anyone would naturally assume that Kurono was wearing the armor.

That is why, wary of whatever trap Lily had undoubtedly laid, I deliberately asked Miria to act as a decoy… but to think she would be stopped in an instant.

No, seriously, it was a good thing I used her as a decoy. If I had fallen for that myself, Lily’s total victory would have been decided on that very first move.

“That’s the *Cocytus Rift*.”

The one stating this authoritatively was Simon, whom I was carrying on my back just like Sariel used to do. Having him whisper right into my ear tickled a bit.

As for why we were in such close contact, it was because I had wrapped the *Predator Coat* over both of us to keep us hidden. From the moment we set out toward this Destiny Land, I had been concealing myself alongside Simon, while the *Tyrant’s Armor Maximilian* walked ahead pretending to be me—that was the plan.

“If that’s the case, does it mean time is stopped?”

It looked completely frozen white, but even just looking at it from a distance like this, I could somehow feel that it was different from a standard seal using the ice attribute.

“I saw the one in the basement of Castle Sparda once in the past when I accompanied Sis Ria. It’s frozen in exactly the same way, so there’s no mistake.”

“Can it be undone?”

“It’s impossible. Even with normal sealing arts, interfering and undoing them is difficult.”

I suppose that was true. This sort of thing was outside my field of expertise, and even though Simon possessed the knowledge, he wasn’t a mage.

“The only one who can control it is Lily-san.”

“Right…”

I guess we had no choice but to give up on restarting the *Tyrant’s Armor Maximilian*.

Now, with our decoy stopped so quickly, what should we do next—before I could even think, the situation began to move.

“—Whoa! For someone so small, what crazy power!”

Already, Kai was slashing toward Lily.

Not just Kai, but every single member of the group.

“Good grief, to think we’d actually end up going with Plan B… bad premonitions really do have a habit of coming true.”

Understood.

Although it was unexpected for Miria to be stopped in an instant as a decoy, Falquius covered well and executed Plan B perfectly.

Plan B dictated that Kai, Falquius, Rudra, and Selis would work together as a four-man cell to hold Lily back, while I—who had deployed the decoy and remained hidden—would handle the rescue. Fortunately, from the moment she trapped the armor in the *Cocytus Rift*, the contents of the armor wouldn’t be examined. Lily was completely convinced she had captured me along with the armor. Since my hidden existence hadn’t been discovered, I was perfectly suited to act as the rescue operative.

“Let’s go, Simon.”

“Yeah.”

Praying for the safety of the four, I held my breath and dashed forward.

The sounds of fierce combat echoed out. The capabilities of the four were guaranteed, but the current Lily was on par with an Apostle. Though I felt like turning back multiple times, I focused entirely on what I had to accomplish and ran silently through the Land.

Our destination was the chalk-white castle standing right in the center like the symbol of the Land. The design was reminiscent of Japan’s most famous theme park, though this one was vastly larger. The brilliantly lit-up castle must have caught the eyes of crowds during its ancient operations, but closed away inside this red-sky dungeon, it was nothing more than an eerie, towering, vacant fortress.

“We should probably avoid the front entrance, right?”

“Sorry, I can’t figure out the exact location of the entrance just from the magical pathways.”

“No, it was originally a leisure facility building. There should be plenty of back doors or service entrances.”

According to Simon’s analysis, by tracing the pathways of magical energy supplied from Shangri-La, it was revealed that some sort of magical facility was currently operating in the basement of the castle. Based on the amount of magical energy being consumed, there was a high probability that this was where Fiona and the others were being held. If that failed, we would have to check the second and third candidate points in order… but somehow, I felt that if it were Lily, she would keep them right beneath her feet.

Therefore, Fiona was definitely here.

Suppressing my rushing emotions, I carefully circled the perimeter of the castle.

As expected, it wasn’t a real castle or a secret military facility; it was a prop castle. I quickly discovered an entrance that looked like it was meant for staff. There were no guards standing watch. No familiar servants could be seen monitoring the area either.

However, it was locked.

“Wait a moment.”

Right beside the door was a terminal like the ones seen at subway stations. Simon, with hands that were by now thoroughly accustomed to it, connected his device.

“It’s open.”

It unlocked effortlessly.

If we broke in by force, the noise might alert them. Thanks to Simon, we successfully achieved a very smart infiltration into the castle.

This area was likely what you would call the backstage. Contrary to the extravagant exterior of the castle, the interior of the back corridors meant for staff operations was built incredibly simply. A corridor with bare concrete-like gray walls stretched out, and notices or warning labels written in ancient characters could be seen here and there.

Since our target was the basement, there was no need to open the doors of offices, breakrooms, or warehouses to check inside one by one. As I ran straight down the corridor, we quickly discovered a staircase.

“……From here on out, there are guards.”

Before heading down the stairs, I detected a presence. Stopping temporarily at the staircase, I sharpened my senses further, probing the invisible floor below.

“Two people nearby.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We break through. I’ll take the lead, and once I eliminate them, follow me.”

Gulping down his saliva, Simon nodded firmly as if resolving himself.

Counting down three, two, one in my mind, I steeled my resolve and leapt onto the stairs.

*Thump, thump*, I lightly kicked off the steps and charged down into the lower floor. Hearing that noise, the two guards turned their attention—too slow.

I had already unleashed the blade of my great hatchet.

“……!”

I cut them both down together. The figures assigned to guard duty didn’t even raise a voice, their torsos and waists cleanly severed in two as they collapsed silently into a sea of blood.

“Now then, what on earth are you guys?”

After ensuring they were dead, I stared closely at the appearance of the guarded men.

On top of a black full-body suit resembling the assassin suit worn by Seria, the guard maid, they wore gray armor… Hmm, this outfit looked like a soldier appearing in a near-future FPS. Was it a power suit?

Though a sword hung at their waists, what they held in their hands was, no matter how you looked at it, a rifle. Furthermore, instead of lead bullets, it had the appearance of a ray gun that looked like it would fire lasers or beams.

Presumably, it was ancient infantry equipment borrowed from within Shangri-La.

However, rather than the equipment, what I needed to pay attention to was who they actually were.

“As I thought, homunculi?”

Removing the full-face helmet, what emerged from within was, as expected, the well-featured face of a young man with silver hair and red eyes.

Just like Ein, who had visited as Lily’s messenger, the two who died here possessed the exact same face.

“The fact that they don’t have a ‘Nameless’ title means…… she created new ones in addition to those nine.”

Shangri-La was a super-dreadnought ancient weapon. Within a sky battleship that brought together the essence of magical civilization, it wouldn’t be surprising if a homunculus manufacturing facility was included.

“But considering they aren’t attacking in a massive army, it seems they can’t be mass-produced in such vast quantities.”

If Lily were leading a homunculus army armed with ancient weapons, we would have absolutely zero chance of winning. On our way to the castle, I hadn’t seen a single one walking around on guard duty, and since they only appeared for the first time down here in the basement, they likely only had enough numbers to deploy as security for critical facilities.

Based on the sensation of defeating them just now, if there were only ten or twenty of them, eliminating them wouldn’t be much of a struggle. The only terrifying thing would be being attacked at a moment when we were completely exhausted, like Fiona’s group.

“Let’s go.”

There was no longer any need to hide our presence. Since combat with guards was unavoidable, the Predator Coat would only get in the way.

With me leading the way and Simon following slightly behind, we advanced through the castle basement.

The basement was considerably wider than I thought. It consisted of the same gray corridors with doors scattered all over. If we had to search through them one by one, we wouldn’t have enough time. Fortunately, the location of our destination was roughly known.

After that, we crossed two more descending staircases and arrived at the lowest level, the third basement floor.

“The guards have suddenly multiplied.”

It seemed this third basement floor was the actual area where the magical facility was being utilized. Judging by the presences, even if we wore the Predator Coat, it would be impossible to deceive the eyes of the guards and infiltrate.

We had no choice but to go with a forced breakthrough.

“Swift—”

Instant decision, instant execution. With *Kubikiri* in hand, I charged into the third basement floor all at once. Before they could notice the raid and take the hostages, I would reach their side.

Maintaining my momentum, I first cut down a pair standing in the corridor in the exact same manner as before. As expected, their physiques and equipment were completely identical. They were homunculus soldiers.

I defeated those two before they could react to me, but another pair standing around the corner ahead in the corridor had immediately moved to respond.

There were no words of warning like ‘halt,’ nor was there any sign of surprise at the sudden intruder. Mechanically, without exchanging a word or a hand sign, they pointed the beam rifles they held toward me.

*Ping, ping*, a high-pitched firing sound echoed. Along with the muzzle flash, a faint purple electricity scattered.

“It wasn’t a beam rifle; it was a railgun?”

Judging by its appearance, power, and the aura of magical energy, it seemed to be a lightning-magic style railgun utilizing the exact same principle as my *The Greed*. It was a bit disappointing—or perhaps a relief—that a pink beam didn’t come flying out with a sci-fi sound effect.

“『Bullet Arts』“

Come to think of it, this was my first experience in a gunfight. The only ones who used guns were me or Simon, and the only things fired at us were arrows and attack magic.

Well, since the attack magic of this alternative world and the martial arts of the bow and arrow concealed an absurd power equivalent to or greater than the guns of Earth, even if the opponent ruthlessly let loose with a railgun rifle on full-auto, I could handle it the exact same way as always.

To escape the line of fire, I drove my feet into the wall of the corridor and performed a wall-run of several meters. For something of this level, even without a mobility-type martial art, I could manage with raw physical ability and momentum.

While passing over the countless bullets slicing through the center of the corridor by running along the wall, before they could shift their aim toward me, I drew *Dual Eagle* from the shadows and fired. They weren’t loaded bullets, just standard magic *Bullet Arts*.

“Ugh!”

“Guh!”

I fired two shots, and both hit their mark. One struck the head and the other the chest, but the matte-gray armor seemed to be quite sturdy. It cracked loudly, and though the impact of the landing shot was enough to make even an emotionless homunculus soldier groan, it didn’t manage to penetrate.

It was defensive power of a degree where a hatchet could sever it, but *Bullet Arts* alone couldn’t shatter it. If I fired repeatedly I could probably destroy it, but it would be faster to just slash them like this.

With the two homunculi heavily losing their posture from the direct hits of the *Bullet Arts* and rendered incapable of firing, I completed a leap from the wall-run right near the ceiling, closing the distance. Maintaining the momentum of my dive, I cut the two down and pressed further down the corridor without stopping—

“Whoa, 『Schild』?!”

Around the corner, four homunculus soldiers were already waiting for my appearance with rifles raised—two in the front row kneeling, and two in the back row standing.

The firing sound resonated through the entire corridor alongside the muzzle flash of brilliant purple electricity.

Because the bullets seemed likely to arrive before I could escape the line of fire, at times like this, I relied on defensive magic. The pitch-black square *Schild* deployed instantaneously was a single-action magic I had been using since my experimentation days, so its activation was the fastest. It was incredibly useful for sudden defense like this.

However, its defensive power wasn’t all that high.

When the rushing railgun bullets slammed into the pitch-black shield, cracks formed across it in an instant. This wasn’t going to hold up against many shots.

As for the individual power of this railgun, it was probably around the level of a mid-tier attack magic. It was stronger than a *Bullet Arts* unleashed empty-handed, but inferior to a shot fired from *The Greed*.

Thank goodness it didn’t possess an overwhelming piercing power that would punch through without question. Thanks to that, while blocking with *Schild*, I could calmly counterattack.

“—『Grenade Burst』“

While deflecting the bullets with the shield, I slid beneath the line of fire during the interval. As I slid, I fired a grenade from the horizontal double barrels of *Dual Eagle*.

With four of them clustered together in such a narrow corridor, it was practically asking to be wiped out in one fell swoop.

Impact, explosion.

Bursting through the blasted wind, I dove into the black smoke. Though visibility was poor, I could immediately grasp roughly where the enemies had fallen.

Some had likely died instantly, but while delivering a finishing blow with a single slash to all four fallen soldiers, I ran through the corridor without stopping.

Thus, while clashing with the guarding homunculus soldiers along the way, I finally reached our destination.

“Yeah, it’s probably here.”

Whether it served as a large warehouse or something else, Simon and I stood before an entrance that was closed off by what looked like a thick metal shutter. Since it was locked as usual, I had Simon access it to unlock it. With a metallic click, the heavy shutter slid open surprisingly quietly.

“……Fiona.”

The sight stretching out ahead was exactly identical to the scene Mia had shown me when I was granted the Sixth Divine Protection.

Inside the strangely dim room, glowing faintly and eerily, were three large water tanks. It might be appropriate to call them pods for cold sleep. I recalled that the red liquid filling the interior was referred to as ‘ether’ or something similar, so it was likely a special magical medicinal fluid meant to preserve the human body for eternity.

And inside those cylindrical pods, contained like specimens, was Fiona—my lover.

With her in the middle, Sariel was submerged on her right, and Nel on her left within completely identical apparatuses. Looking closer, there were two empty pods inside the room that weren’t operating yet… could it be that I was scheduled to go into one of those?

“Big brother, for now, I’ll try to see if I can open that apparatus. From the look of it, it resembles a freezing-seal type magic, but if we force it open, it might leave aftereffects, or worst-case scenario, they might remain asleep permanently.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on you.”

Suppressing the desire to pull them out of a place like this immediately, I left the release of the pods entirely to Simon. While Simon headed toward the *Zero Chronicle* terminal in the corner of the room, I stood before the pods.

“……I’m sorry, Fiona.”

Touching the cold pod, those words leaked out naturally.

I didn’t even know what I was apologizing for. However, there was no mistake in my inadequacy for allowing her to head into battle against Lily and end up enclosed in something like this.

“Sariel, Nel, I’m truly sorry… that’s why, with this, I’m going to bring it to an end.”

It couldn’t be helped. There was nothing that could have been done. If I wanted to make excuses, I could make as many as I wanted. However, the fact remained that I had dragged them into this mess, and it was also the result brought about by my inability to do anything.

Yes, that is why now is the time to settle it.

“Alright, unlocking the seal. Opening!”

At Simon’s voice acting as a signal, the red ether medicinal fluid filling the interior of the pods began to drain away. The water level lowered bit by bit, and along with it, Fiona’s body—which had been floating loosely within the liquid—touched the bottom with her feet, then her hips, and when it became completely empty, she lay there naked.

“Fiona!”

With a sharp click, the transparent glass-like pod slid open.

Without a second thought, I scooped up Fiona’s wet body—and the warmth touching my hands, the beating of her heart, and hearing the small sleeping breaths leaking from her mouth, I finally felt at ease.

“Big brother, you should hurry. Lily-san will probably notice immediately that this place has been unlocked.”

Saying that, Simon stood at the open entrance with his back turned toward us. He was positioned as if keeping watch over the corridor… but this was likely a consideration for the fact that they were naked.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Setting the sense of relief aside for a moment, let’s accomplish what needs to be done.

I lightly dried the bodies of the three with a towel I had prepared in advance. I was used to it with Sariel, and since Fiona was my lover it was fine… but for Nel, seriously, I’m sorry.

The sheer guilt of a male friend who wasn’t her lover looking so closely at a princess’s naked body was intense. Wow, her chest is more than a full size larger than Fiona’s—no, I mean, I truly feel apologetic. But if I idiotically and honestly say ‘I have viewed your Highness’s body, I am sorry,’ wouldn’t that hurt her instead… Whether I should apologize honestly later or keep quiet as if it were an unnecessary detail, the fact that I’m already worrying about this shows I really am a spineless, indecisive guy.

“……Phew.”

In any case, I successfully secured the three of them. They still seemed to be fast asleep and didn’t wake even when called, but for now, I finished drying their bodies and dressing them in clothes—though they were just large, easy-to-wear robes. Despite it not being much work, it felt like an incredibly strenuous labor.

Looking around briefly, their equipment—like Fiona’s witch robe, Sariel’s nun outfit, and Nel’s shrine maiden clothing—couldn’t be found. Lily probably had them. Deciding that recovering the equipment could wait, it was time to escape.

“Come out, Hitsugi, it’s your turn.”

“Haaay! The super maid who devotes herself to you, Master—the amazing, cute, and clever Hitsugi has arrived!!”

Shouting a bizarre introduction, what rose up from the expanded *Shadow Gate* wasn’t a cursed glove, but a petite girl clad in a maid outfit. Fluttering her incredibly long black hair and striking a mysterious pose with a smug face was none other than Hitsugi, who had obtained a body capable of mimicking a slime via pseudo-water attribute magic to disguise herself in human form.

“You’re in high spirits… Do you understand the situation?”

“Of course I do! Hitsugi was waiting anxiously and excitedly in the dark shadow, wondering when Master’s call would come! Now, now, Master, command this Hitsugi as you wish!!”

My anxiety was as vast as a mountain, but since I absolutely needed Hitsugi’s hands—her power as a humanoid—it couldn’t be helped. I had explained things in advance, so let’s trust she’ll be fine.

“Hitsugi, take Fiona and the others and escape this place.”

Staying here indefinitely was far too dangerous. If their persons were taken back, the rescue operation would be meaningless. Escape was the highest priority. For now, if we could slip into the subway station at the entrance of this area, we could buy some time.

However, carrying three people created a physical problem of how Simon—who possessed no special power—would traverse that distance. Therefore, I decided to leave it to Hitsugi to act as the transporter and as a guard in case they were intercepted by homunculus soldiers.

“Listen up, listen to what Simon says and act accordingly. You can’t wander around on your own, okay?”

“Understood. Though it’s frustrating as the head maid, I shall obey Simone-chan here.”

Is she really going to be alright? Once you leave the castle it’s an amusement park, and I have an image of Hitsugi darting out driven by curiosity… Wait, what is ‘Simone-chan’?

“Now, let’s go, our household’s Maid Number Three, Simone-chan! Please guide the way properly!!”

“Hey, is Maid Number Three referring to me? What is Simone?”

Leaving aside Simon, who was completely bewildered because his retorts couldn’t keep up, Hitsugi quickly transformed her long hair into tentacles, wrapping them around Fiona and the others to lift them. Although she looked like a primary school girl, her power was that of the cursed glove *Black Chain Binding: Iron Cage* itself. Carrying just three humans was no trouble at all.

“Well then, I’m counting on you, Hitsugi.”

“Yes, please leave it to Hitsugi!!”

Answering with a full smile, Hitsugi then followed up with a slightly anxious expression.

“Master, please take care of yourself as well. Hitsugi believes without fail that Master will return bringing Lily-sama along.”

Ah, yeah, that’s right, Hitsugi. You really are an excellent maid.

“Thank you, Hitsugi—”

Alright, the real thing starts now.

Without the *Tyrant’s Armor Maximilian* and without Hitsugi, it’s a battle with just me alone for the first time in a while. But if it weren’t that way, it would be meaningless.

Because this isn’t a war where it’s fine as long as you kill the enemy; it’s a battle of love to capture the opponent’s body and heart.

“—I will win. I will absolutely make Lily mine.”