Chapter 243

Liche was rolling on the floor without mercy.

“Ugh…!”

“Liche, are you okay?”

“Y-Yuri, the blood…!”

But Liche, ignoring the fact that she had been rolling on the floor in a daze, looked at Yuri and shouted.

At Yuri, who had shielded her and bled in her place.

“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. More importantly, please continue the magic incantation.”

Yuri forced a smile and urged Liche to continue the incantation. Hearing this, Liche looked at Yuri with trembling eyes, then quickly regained her composure and continued the incantation, gathering the scattered mana.

Clang.

Clang.

But as if to deny Liche’s incantation, a shadow approached.

The Golem, as if to finish off Liche and Yuri who were lying on the floor, approached the two who were still chanting. Yuri spread her arms to protect Liche, standing in front of her.

“You can’t go any further! If you want to pass, you’ll have to stab me first!”

As the Golem raised its arm to strike Yuri, who stood in its way…

“You shall not harm them any further!”

“How dare you touch Yuri!”

The two who had been roughly pushed aside by the Golem earlier caught up and charged at it.

Forced to turn and face the two, the Golem blocked their attacks and countered.

Clang!

“Ugh…!”

“Ahhh!”

Though they might have been able to withstand the Golem’s attack if they were at full stamina, the two, already physically exhausted, could barely block one attack before being flung back.

Having dealt with the two, the Golem turned again to finish off Liche, raising its spear.

But…

Yuri threw herself in front to protect her,

And Aila and Arisa clung to it like water ghosts,

Creating a single moment.

In that moment, all preparations were complete.

“Gather and condense… Done! The trigger is ready!”

“Got it! Dispel… Enchant!”

At the same time, Daria’s Dispel Magic hit the Golem in the form of a transparent wave.

Though the wave caused no physical impact, it seeped into the Golem’s armor. Seeing this, Daria immediately shouted to Liche.

“Now!”

“Idolrn’s Blue Thunder!”

In an instant, the world turned white, and all sound was lost.

In that white, silent world, a streak of blue lightning struck the dagger embedded in the Golem’s shoulder.

…

…

…

As the blue lightning struck, sound returned a beat later.

Kwaaaang!

Piiiiiiii────

The deafening noise left their ears ringing for a while. Only after some time did their hearing gradually return, and they checked the Golem’s condition.

The Golem, which had not even a scratch from Liche’s magic until now, was kneeling, blackened and charred around the dagger in its shoulder.

“Did we really defeat it this time?”

“Yes. It’s no longer emitting that red light.”

If Liche’s magic hadn’t worked initially, the Golem would have taken advantage of their shock from the lightning spell to attack.

Arisa, still cautious, approached the Golem and kicked the spear it was holding, causing it to drop. The Golem made no reaction, weakly letting go of the spear.

“We really… really defeated it.”

“That’s not what’s important! Yuri’s condition…!”

“Ah…! Yuri!”

But their victory was short-lived.

Arisa immediately ran to check on Yuri.

“I-I’m fine. Ouch…!”

“Don’t lie! You’re still bleeding like this! You don’t have to force a smile!”

“Ugh…! No, I really am…!”

“Yuri!”

“Let me check!”

Daria, without hesitation, tore the cloth wrapped around Yuri’s arm to check the wound.

“Ugh… Yuri, you shielded me…”

“I told you I’m fine. Don’t worry. Ohohoho…”

“Ugh… You don’t have to force a cheerful laugh when you’re so weak…!”

“Yuri’s wound…”

“Daria! How bad is Yuri’s wound?”

“It’s really nothing serious.”

“…Huh?”

Upon checking, Yuri’s wound was fortunately just a long cut that bled a lot but wasn’t deep, as she had said.

Seeing this, Arisa and Liche sighed in relief, and Daria quickly applied first aid to Yuri.

“I told you, it’s really nothing.”

“…Yeah.”

“With this first aid, the wound shouldn’t get worse, but if you move too much or don’t get timely treatment back in Astram, it might leave a scar.”

“Okay. Got it.”

After confirming Yuri’s wound was treated, Arisa curiously asked Daria.

“By the way, Daria, why did Liche’s magic work on the Golem just now?”

“Ah, I was curious about that too.”

“That’s because I temporarily dispelled the Dispel Enchantment engraved on the Golem’s armor.”

While Arisa, Aila, and Liche distracted the Golem and looked for an opening, Daria hadn’t been idle.

Though she had discovered that the Golem’s armor had magic-nullifying properties, she realized that alone wasn’t enough to secure victory.

Indeed, her judgment was correct. While they managed to deal some meaningful damage initially, that method was soon blocked.

So, Daria secretly used magic on the Golem, without anyone, not even the Golem, noticing.

It wasn’t some grand spell that would even surprise Liche.

Rather, it was such a basic spell that it didn’t even have a name.

A spell that generated a static shock, barely enough to make a finger tingle.

She repeatedly cast this spell on the Golem’s armor, unnoticed.

Of course, her intention wasn’t to electrocute the Golem with static.

By continuously changing the pattern of the static shocks, she observed how the Golem’s armor dispelled her magic and, based on that information, analyzed and understood the nature of the dispel on the spot.

While it might sound simple and unimpressive, it was akin to a high-wire act.

Without directly dismantling the Golem’s armor or seeing its internals, she deduced the countermeasure just by analyzing the static patterns.

This feat was only possible for someone like Daria, a Holy Maiden of the Holy Kingdom with deep and extensive knowledge of the Ancient Empire, and among the Holy Maidens, one of the top in Dispel Magic.

In the end, the Golem noticed her Dispel Magic and immediately tried to eliminate Liche, the mage who posed the greatest threat.

“…That’s what happened. I tried to hide the Dispel Magic part as much as possible, but I couldn’t keep it hidden until the end, putting Liche in danger. I’m really sorry.”

“Well… It’s okay. We won thanks to you.”

“…Good grief.”

Daria bowed her head apologetically to Liche and Yuri. Yuri accepted the apology with a resigned expression, but Liche was utterly shocked.

As the most knowledgeable about magic among them, Liche understood just how absurd Daria’s feat was.

It was like hacking into a program’s firewall with a script written on the spot, and though she was caught at the end, she still succeeded.

Though the others, being laymen in magic, didn’t grasp how monstrous this was.

It was a feat even Liche, a Wizard, couldn’t replicate.

Liche stared at Daria in disbelief, and while she was still stunned, Arisa, having sorted out the situation, turned to the group.

“We can’t stay here. Kurt and Mari’s group are still fighting that Golem. Kurt is strong, so we might not need to worry about him, but Mari’s group is the weakest in both numbers and individual strength without Kurt. We need to go help them now.”

“…You’re right. Let’s go help them as soon as possible.”

“I hope we’re not too late…”

With that, Arisa and Daria stood up with heavy expressions, and without time to savor their hard-fought victory, the group rose to face the second battle, looking towards where Mari’s group was.

“Uh… What’s that?”

“…Yeah.”

They muttered in a drained voice, seeing a battlefield completely different from what they had imagined.