She rushed to Ermes, who was still fighting.
He was locked in an almost even battle against two white bears. Naturally, he was focusing on defense, and minor injuries were gradually accumulating.
...But really, the fact that he was holding his own against opponents that the two of them had struggled against just moments ago was unusual, to say the least.
What made that possible was, as always, the number of cards he had to play. And his extraordinary learning ability.
She had thought she couldn't catch up.
That might have actually been true. Compared to him, who was building solid footprints at an incredible speed, what she could do now was painfully little.
...But.
That was never a reason to stop walking her own path.
"——Sing of peace on the eve of the end; dawn shall no longer come here; the age of salvation lies behind reality"
She chanted.
Her own magic. The magic she had been granted, the one that suited her body best.
...She had probably looked down on it unconsciously.
Compared to his Primal Inscription. She had envied its flexibility, thinking her own magic was nothing more than a limited, cumbersome thing with a single effect.
That was surely an insult.
Both to him, who had praised this magic, and to this magic itself, which had once been born from a wonderful wish and taken root within her.
(...I'm sorry)
One apology in her heart.
With reflection, gratitude, and respect, she called the name of that magic once more.
"Bloodline Magic — Netherworld of Salvation"
And so appeared the swarms of souls.
Both their numbers and the magic power they emitted were no less impressive than what she had shown during the previous decisive battle.
Those souls surged toward the two monsters.
"!"
Ermes noticed and created distance from the white bear monster. The monster noticed and gave chase, but the phantom soldiers suppressed it effortlessly.
"...Lady Katia. I can tell from the look of your magic, but — are you all right now?"
"Yes, I'm sorry for being a burden... Your master is truly an extraordinary person."
When she said that, Ermes looked momentarily surprised before breaking into a happy smile at having his master praised.
...She felt a twinge of irritation, but she held it in.
"This is more of an apology than anything, but... leave suppressing those things to me."
"!"
"You're going to finish them off with that sword, right? Then focus on your preparation. I can buy you that much time."
"...Understood. Then I'll take you up on your offer."
He must have judged that she would be all right.
Ermes bowed and withdrew to focus on generating his magic.
Left behind were Katia and the white bear monsters. They scattered the phantom soldiers and charged toward Katia, the caster, but she dispatched new souls to maintain the balance.
...Until now, she had thought this was not enough. She had been sure that she needed something new.
But that was wrong. Before even the question of necessity — such convenient things simply did not exist.
Without any preparation, without any resolve, no convenient power would descend the moment she felt she was lacking.
Rather than wishing for such a thing, she would focus on what she could do right now.
Netherworld of Salvation. A magic that summoned countless spiritual entities of superior endurance. She would increase its precision and buy even a little more time.
Naturally, she did not cut corners on the fundamentals either. Magic power flowed without obstruction. Control extended to the finest details. Output was pushed to the limit.
Only by layering her feelings upon that foundation did this magic have meaning.
She wished. For the power to protect herself, and him, from the threat bearing down on them. Just one step — that was all she needed — the resolve to advance beyond who she had been until now.
And what came to mind were Rose's words she had heard earlier.
"...You, you're way too into Ermes, aren't you?"
"...Shut up."
She murmured with an expression that could have been a wry smile or a pout.
Rose probably couldn't hear her, but she couldn't help but say it anyway.
Stoking the flames of her feelings, she answered those words.
"I already know that."
And before her eyes, a fierce battle raged between the white bears and the phantom soldiers, and in the end —
...Probably, the fact that Ermes had worn them down somewhat during the battle up to now had helped.
The white bears, though it took more effort than expected, broke through the wall of souls and closed in on Katia.
"Formula Replay — Ashen World Tree"
That was enough.
It was complete. His trump card, wielding enough firepower to slay both of them in a single strike.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Ermes leapt toward the monsters, switching places with Katia.
In his hands was a sword of purple flames radiating tremendous heat.
She judged that she could leave the rest to him and took a watchful stance — but.
"!?"
Something astonishing happened.
The white bear monsters made an unexpected move.
Those monsters should have understood that the sword he carried posed a threat to them.
And yet, one of the white bears charged straight at Ermes — neither retreating nor bracing itself.
No matter how you looked at it, it was suicidal. Perhaps its intent was to crush him before he could swing that sword, but the distance was far too great. It would certainly take a point-blank blast of purple flames and be burned to nothing —
"——No way."
Katia realized what those monsters were after.
One of the two monsters intended to sacrifice itself.
Unable to block that sword, they had decided that rather than both being burned at once, one would sacrifice itself to definitely stop the first strike.
At this distance, the purple flames, which should have spread outward, would be entirely blocked by the white bear's body. They would not reach the second one waiting behind.
And exploiting the opening after that single strike, the second one would finish him off.
This is bad, she thought.
Katia knew. That sword possessed fearsome firepower, but at the cost of being neither durable nor easy to handle.
After firing a single shot, a significant opening was unavoidable. Given their coordination so far, there was no way they would let that opening pass.
But at the same time, she could not retreat at this juncture. In the face of this unexpected crisis, Katia was about to shout —
"Relax."
A voice rang out from behind.
"— Lady Rose."
"It won't turn out the way you're worried about. Just watch."
There was no room for doubt in her words.
At last, one of the white bears had closed in to a distance that could no longer be ignored.
Upon confirming this, Ermes did not raise his sword overhead as before —
Instead, as if performing a charging motion, he held the hilt at his waist.
He lightly raised one foot, shifted his center of gravity from back to front, and in one powerful motion drove forward, as if releasing all the stored force —
"— Hah!"
A thrust.
Like a strike from a thrusting sword, he drove the purple-flamed blade straight forward.
The result:
The purple flames that had always radiated outward from the sword did not spread; instead, they converged to roughly the size of a white bear's head and shot toward the monster.
Naturally, the monster in front had no way to block it. The beam of flame pierced through its heart —
— and without stopping, embedded itself in the neck of the monster behind it.
Without losing any momentum, it blew a massive hole through the dungeon wall.
A beat later, with a heavy thud.
The sound of both white bears hitting the ground echoed through the chamber.
"...Wha."
Without a doubt, it was astonishment. Katia stared at the sight.
She had never seen that before. It was a way of using the purple-flamed sword that had not existed even as of yesterday.
"— I see. He added the convergence property of Apocryphal: Breath of the Flame Dragon. Since they share the same fire attribute, the compatibility isn't bad at all. That's a fine idea."
Rose, who had accurately grasped what had just happened, spoke.
"That just now..."
"Ermes takes magic very seriously... and he's incredibly competitive."
Rose continued, laughing as if she found it both amusing and endearing.
"Yesterday, that guy — even if his opponent was me — was utterly defeated in a head-on magical duel with his greatest creation. Not even a full night has passed since then? No way he didn't make any improvements."
He had been advancing, step by step.
Even when they didn't know, even when they weren't watching — ceaselessly.
Unlike her, who had clutched at something sudden and hoped for a convenient answer, he was always, steadily moving forward.
The strain must have been considerable; the sword, which had crumbled after a single strike, dissolved in his hands as he returned.
...She realized once more just how far away he was.
In both ability and mindset. She was surely still nowhere near his level.
— And that was precisely why she wanted to chase after him. In her own way, with her own stride.
Now, she could think that. She looked at him with feelings of longing and admiration.
"...I must admit, I'm exhausted."
He said with a wry smile upon his return.
"Good work, both of you. Fine magic — that completes the dungeon conquest."
"Ah, thank you."
"Yes... Well, we still need to defeat the monsters on the way out, so we can't let our guard down."
Rose, seeing this, cheerfully praised them both and healed Ermes' injuries as promised.
The two gave different answers, and Ermes indicated that he still could not let his guard down.
"Don't worry. This is my thanks for showing me something nice. You two must be worn out, so I'll handle all the monsters on the way back."
Rose told them that with a smile.
...That was, honestly, incredibly welcome. But — Ermes arrived at one concern.
"That would be a great help, but... Master. Please, whatever you do, don't destroy the dungeon itself."
"...I'll do my best!"
"Lady Rose, what was that pause just now?"
After that, under Rose's guidance and with the children's supervision, they set about leaving the dungeon.
Rose was in such high spirits that she somehow got carried away and tried to use Bloodline Magic, which they had to stop with all their might, but they made it out of the dungeon without any real trouble from the monsters themselves.
The three-person dungeon conquest came to a fruitful conclusion.