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Bang!
With a loud noise, the thick stone floor collapsed.
After the dust settled.
A large hole was visible in the first floor.
"What, what is this? It wasn't just a basement?"
As Leber said in surprise.
Beneath Davian, who was floating in the air, an unexpected sight unfolded.
A vertically pierced, endless passage.
A spiral staircase endlessly continued along the round wall.
The spiral staircase was only wide enough for three people to walk shoulder to shoulder.
Nubes Arbo, the strongest tanker of Elton Academy, returned to his cowardly self after a long time.
"I, I can't go down there."
There wasn't even a railing on the spiral staircase, where a single misstep could lead to a fall into the endless underground.
Literally.
A vertical passage where one wrong step could ruin your life.
"I'll go down alone."
Luna asked in surprise.
"Davian, you alone? We should all go together. You said we have to destroy the bloodline lab or whatever."
Davian pointed below.
"All eight of us going down that narrow staircase together? That's like running to the enemy down there and begging them to kill us."
Bonita stepped forward.
"I don't know how deep it is, but would we really die if we fell? Only the magic department, with their weak defense, will stay here. Nubes, you can stay here too if you're really scared. The swordsmanship department will go down with Davian."
Davian shook his head.
"Priests and paladins will be rushing here soon. You guys stop them here. The magic department alone isn't enough."
"Paladins?"
Paladin.
Only the name was known.
Civilians have no idea what they look like, what skills they possess, or what they do.
They are only known as warriors raised in the cathedral to punish those who interfere with the work of God, possessing tremendous fighting power based on God's blessing.
"Paladins...! That's right! This is the cathedral! There must be paladins gathered here!"
Leber slapped his head, looking like he hadn't thought of it.
"Why didn't I think of that! Davian was talking about it so casually, I thought it was another mission that wasn't very dangerous."
Davian, floating in the air, looked around at his friends.
"It won't be easy. But I know you guys can stop them."
Paladin.
A being that evokes fear as much as its existence is hidden.
A being that mercilessly punishes those who interfere with the work of God.
Davian and his group came to the cathedral, broke the floor, and discovered something that looked like a secret passage to anyone.
One corner of Bonita Portis's mouth curled up.
Slowly untying the hair tie around her wrist, she opened her mouth.
"Paladins... Sounds fun."
Bonita was burning with competitive spirit against the first opponent she would face.
Latia also fidgeted with the magic ring on her finger, loosening her wrists.
Karin raised her clasped hands above her head, then twisted her waist from side to side and said.
"If Davian's here, anyone who comes will be boring. Let's do it ourselves this time. I was curious about the paladins or whatever."
Nubes glanced sideways at the endless underground vertical passage, then took a deep breath.
"It's better to fight a paladin or whatever than go in there."
Leber just kept tearing at his hair, whether because he was scared or because he knew too much.
"No... Paladins. There's a story that they annihilated an entire noble family in half a day for committing blasphemy against God."
Bonita, who had roughly tied her red hair back, turned her head.
"Really?"
Leber nodded vigorously.
"I'm telling you, paladins are no ordinary opponents."
"Yeah, then it'll be even more fun."
She was already full of competitive spirit, but.
Bonita, who had obtained the Ego Sword, had become even more so.
Now, she waved her hand at Davian.
"Hey, Davian. Go and come back. But not too late. You can just jump down that vertical passage, right?"
Davian picked up a piece of broken floor material with telekinesis.
And dropped it into the vertical passage.
Crack! Crack!
The large stone fragment, which seemed to fall endlessly into the deep darkness, was crushed and broken by an unknown force.
"What, what is it?"
"It's turned to dust!"
"You can only go down the stairs. There's a protective device, whether it's magic or something else, in the middle space. It'll take some time."
Bonita nodded.
"Well, nothing can be done about it. It's not like I told you to come back quickly because I'm scared of the paladins. I just said it because I didn't want to miss lunch. If you don't come back soon, we'll go to lunch without you. After knocking down all the paladins, of course."
Davian chuckled and started down the vertical passage stairs.
"Okay, guys. Let's get ready."
Davian was gone, but.
It wasn't like they hadn't been a party before.
Facing the inner corridor where the paladins would probably rush in, Bonita stood at the very front.
Right behind her, Bellum and Nubes on either side.
Behind them, Leber and Luna.
At the very back, Latia and Karin stood.
"I... I didn't bring my gun."
Karin asked.
"Then what are you going to fight with, coming empty-handed?"
"Well, Davian always told me in advance if there was going to be a situation where I needed a gun. He didn't say anything this time, so I thought it was a mission that wasn't a big deal."
Latia opened her mouth.
"It's okay."
"Huh?"
"Leber, you're a genius magician who cast mental magic on a demon tribe's vice commander. You don't need to carry a gun anymore. That's probably why Davian didn't say anything."
Leber's expression brightened up.
"Really?"
"Try it again today. Cast mental magic on a paladin."
"Okay! I understand!"
The spiral staircase in the vertical passage.
It wasn't a slow pace, but it wasn't a full-speed pace either.
Paladins.
They are powerful opponents, and their numbers are not small.
They protect their bodies with armor imbued with divine power.
They easily cut down black stone pillars imbued with divine power like mushrooms.
Combat priests who are always with them cast all kinds of buffs based on divine power from behind.
Davian alone going down this vertical passage, leaving his friends above.
It's a strategy that couldn't have been used in the previous run.
But.
The armor imbued with divine power will be pierced by Bonita's sword.
The sword imbued with divine power will only leave minor scratches on Nubes' body.
Latia and Karin's magic will make the disadvantage in numbers pale in comparison.
And even if they are careless and get injured, Luna Pueri is standing guard at the very center of the party.
Bellum has also grown into a swordsman who can do his part.
And Leber will probably...
Become the first magician to cast mental magic on a paladin in the cathedral.
A party of 7 excluding Davian.
Even if they fought against 130 classmates, 7 against 130, they would never be pushed back.
'Those guys now can buy enough time.'
From the beginning, he was going to go down here alone.
Because that's what happened in the last run.
While dealing with the monsters created by bloodline experiments on the ground, he discovered this vertical passage according to the quest directive, and went down these stairs alone to destroy the bloodline lab.
He barely succeeded in destroying the bloodline lab back then, so he should be able to destroy it without much difficulty now in the 4th run.
'Bonita now might have been able to handle it on her own if I had sent her down alone.'
However, the reason why he chose to leave the upper part to his friends and go down alone was.
'There was definitely something fishy.'
In the process of discovering and destroying the bloodline lab, the moment he was about to have a question.
Paladins poured down, and he had no choice but to avoid the spot.
It was impossible for a magician to face paladins alone.
'His name was... Nikola Jorge, I think. I have to find him.'
How far down had he gone?
He heard hurried footsteps coming up from below.
The sound of several people coming up the stairs in formation.
Paladins aren't just on the ground.
Although they aren't swordsmen who have professionally trained in swordsmanship.
Their tremendous defense and speed, and the sharp blade imbued with divine power are threatening opponents.
In addition, they have various buffs based on divine power, which is different from magic.
He had so much trouble with them in the 3rd run.
'I almost died.'
He thought he would die when his body touched the black space next to the stairs that crushed everything.
However.
Now is too different from then.
"There he is!"
"It's one guy!"
Paladins emitting golden light from all over their bodies began to come into view.
Just because they are followers of God's will doesn't mean they need to hesitate.
They are just guys who contributed to experimenting on and creating monsters out of children.
Whoosh!
Flames flickered in Davian's right hand.
Flames that Latia or Karin would have been surprised to see.
Flames that felt completely different from the flames created by human fire element magic.
The flames of Davian, which had become closer to pure, that Red Dragon Ignis was finally able to praise not long ago.
Swish.
With a light flick of his right hand, a small fireball flew towards the foremost paladin.
Was it Davian's illusion that he saw a sneering corner of the paladin's mouth for a moment?
The paladin swung his sword as if nothing was wrong.
Thinking of cutting the fireball as it was.
However.
The small fireball that touched the paladin's sword swallowed the sword blade as it was.
Swallowed the paladin.
And then swallowed the paladin again.
Eventually, it swallowed the spiral staircase and the walls of the vertical passage.
Kaboom!
Causing a tremendous explosion.
If it had been a fireball created by normal fire element magic, it would have disappeared into the air with this explosion.
But.
Even with the tremendous explosion, the power of the flame did not decrease at all.
Rather, it spread out further with the help of the explosive power, showing off its flames.
Tap.
Davian, who had jumped lightly, landed in the middle of the paladins climbing the stairs, jumping over the blown-out stairs.
"Oh my God!"
"Kill him!"
"The blessing of Deus!"
"Get rid of him!"
The paladins, who shouted mismatched exclamations, reached out their swords towards Davian.
It was a narrow staircase, but their movements were as light as can be.
Shwaa.
At the same time as a light stream of water spurted out of Davian's hand.
An ice sword was created.
Shwaak!
The transparent ice sword cut through the dark space.
With one movement, the bodies of three paladins were cut off.
Taking advantage of the gap, a paladin behind him thrust his sword at Davian.
Just before the tip of the sword with divine power touched Davian's back.
Thwack!
Davian, who had turned around, kicked.
"I hate being stabbed in the back with a knife the most."
Wooong.
Davian's ice sword vibrated.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa!
A mana sword poured out, bursting and tearing apart the bodies of the paladins lined up on the narrow staircase.
Only then.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
"Oh my God!"
"This place is unfavorable! We'll face him again from below!"
"As Deus guides us!"
The paladins, each shouting, threw themselves into the space of darkness in the middle of the spiral staircase.
It was clearly the middle space that had turned the stone fragments into dust.
The paladins fell down without being affected in any way.
In an instant, only Davian was left alone on the spiral staircase again.
"Annoying guys."
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