Crown.
The Fool. A humanoid monster.
"No way. Is that really The Fool?"
We were horrified.
Riv and Bid attacked first.
Riv had the Maia Blade. The blade turned red and unleashed a slash.
Bid fired a single arrow from a short bow. Halfway through, it split into multiple arrows.
A Relic.
But Crown.
That broken Dungeon Lord was laughing as he casually tossed something with one hand.
Some kind of half-assed throw.
And then that something — translucent, round spheres — erased both the slash and the multiple arrows.
"What is that?"
"Hmm... troublesome... a Relic."
That was — I was stunned. That thing just now, that was...!?
"Ugh, come on."
Bid jumped and fired again.
Several of the arrows hit the translucent spheres Crown had thrown, just as expected,
and vanished.
Va
nish
ed
.
Sure enough, that was—
"Wind Edge!"
Pakira formed several wind rings and spun her staff, launching them at Crown.
But every single one was erased.
"Child. Get behind me."
Lupinus raised her greatshield and put me behind her.
What a massive and beautiful round shield.
Covered in gold trim, it gleamed pure white like a polished mirror.
This was unquestionably an OOPArt. If I crouched, my whole body would fit inside it.
Huh? Wait, this...
...shield...
...she carries around with her?
No, forget that—more importantly, Crown.
What that thing had used was—Banish.
I was certain. Without a doubt, it was the Relic Banish.
"Ahahahahahahaha—tt—t—t—t—t!"
The laughter continued as the Clown conjured two more Banish, toyed with them in his hands, then flicked them away.
Had they left his hands? Phantasmagoria—no. Something was different.
He wasn't unleashing a countless number of them. Was this different from my ability?
But that was definitely Banish. If you touched it, you'd vanish.
A jolt of realization. Everyone was in danger! I leaped out from behind Lupinus's greatshield.
"Ah—what are you doing?! Stop, it's dangerous!"
I ignored Lupinus's shout to halt.
I'm sorry. But the ones in the most danger right now are those fighting.
They couldn't see the Banish. That was just how it worked.
Riv was boldly engaging in close combat.
From the rear, Pakira and Vid were providing support with their shots and wind rings. A splendid display.
Their frontline-rear combination was solid, backing the Clown into a corner.
Or at least, that's how it appeared.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The Clown laughed. A great, hearty laugh.
He easily dodged Riv's attack and laughed.
He used Banish to erase Vid's supporting shots and Pakira's wind rings, and laughed.
What an irritating monster. It was almost enough to make me angry.
Then, with a theatrical flourish, the Clown produced four semi-transparent orbs of Banish in his right hand.
He pretended to panic and juggle them with both hands, then with a snap, threw them.
"—!?"
An unbelievable fastball bore down on Riv.
"Watch out!!"
I counterbalanced the Punish about to hit Riv with my Banish... I did.
No, wait — my Banish hadn't disappeared. Huh.
"Hm... the boy... I see."
"Riv. The enemy is using a Relic called Banish..."
That was genuinely dangerous. Glad I made it in time.
"Hm... Banish..."
"It fires invisible orbs that erase whatever they touch..."
"...Banish, you say."
"And they can probably produce four of them."
"Hm... that's... too troublesome."
I shot the Clown a sharp look.
The Clown was still grinning, juggling four Banish orbs.
Testing the waters? Just feeling confident?
Or just messing around because he's a clown?
I looked at my Banish, still deployed.
It was semi-transparent and had shrunk to about the size of a baseball.
If the erasure power was the same, they'd cancel each other out.
But mine was still there.
"…………"
Could it be that the Clown's Banish was weaker than mine?
It was worth testing.
But if I was going to verify, I wanted to be in peak condition.
My Silence's cooldown still needed a bit more time.
"Riv. I can see those and block them."
"...That's... Danger Discernment...?"
"Yep."
"Hmm... Reliable."
"Kid! That's enough, it's dangerous. Come back here."
Lupinus. She was worried about me, and I was sorry.
But I still couldn't go back yet.
"Boy... hmm."
"Whoa!?"
Riv's face was suddenly right in front of me, and I was startled.
"Hmm... I see... you can't see it... huh."
With that murmur, Riv headed toward the Clown looking completely defenseless.
Wait, what are you doing!?
The Clown reacted and hurled four Banishes at once.
But it wasn't aimed at Riv.
The four Banishes bounced off the ground, ricocheting as they erased chunks of nearby walls along the way.
Banish allowed the user to freely choose what to erase at will.
The Clown used this to devastating effect.
From every direction,
invisible spheres
came hurtling toward Riv.
"Riv!"
"...
Constellation
Form...
Pleiades
...Taigete Blade!"
Riv's blade glowed green as she cut into the ground, tracing a circle around herself.
What was she doing? Then a pale green translucent wall materialized along the cut, radiating outward from where she stood.
The two Banishes had bounced and were just about to strike Riv.
They collided with the pale green, shimmering translucent wall and vanished.
The pale green translucent barrier then deflected and dissipated every remaining Banish.
Taigete Blade. Incredible. I had no idea she could do something like that.
Having its attack blocked, the Clown laughed as it hopped, bounced, tripped over itself, and tumbled backward in retreat.
Its movements were comical, but there was nothing funny about it.
Also, I was pretty sure its power was lower than my Banish.
If it were my Banish, to put it bluntly, even Riv's barrier would have taken damage.
When I looked up, the Clown was staring at me.
Then, with a showy, exaggerated pose, it raised its left hand.
What a pain. Because of Banish, I couldn't move freely.
It slowly bowed while swirling its left hand in front of its face.
So over-the-top it was practically nauseating.
"?"
Then a rumbling shook the ground.
"Gyaaah!"
"What the heck is that!?"
"An earthquake!?"
It burst through the ground — a giant treasure chest. No, a mimic box.
A teal-colored mimic box covered in eerie eyeballs and mouths across its surface.
Absolutely revolting. Terrible taste.
"A Monster Box!?"
"Oh great, that thing again!?"
"Riv… that… I hate…"
"Now of all times."
Just as everyone was getting fed up, the Monster Box opened.
One monster after another came shuffling out.
Oh, right.
So that's what the Monster Box was.