We set foot in Margarita canyon and proceeded onward, defeating the undead that stood in our way.
"Yaaaah!"
"Oooooooooooh!"
Nagisa swings her sword, and a pale, translucent wraith is sliced in half. The wraith disappears into the void with an enraged expression on its face.
Normally, intangible enemies such as wraiths and ghosts would have been natural enemies for swordsmen and warriors.
However, Nagisa, equipped with a sword that is effective against undead monsters, has no blind spot. She slashes through the monsters that appear one after another.
"Give salvation to the wandering dead... Turn Undead!"
Of course, Aeris, the priestess, is even more active.
Each time Aeris casts a spell, a dozen or so undead are purified at once.
"Gagagagagaga… Ah!”
The undead, enveloped by the white light, scream in pain for a moment, but this is soon replaced by the joy of release.
The souls ascending to the heavens bathed in the purifying light, are freed from the long spell of death, and they all have peaceful expressions on their faces.
"Hmm..."
The two of them are playing an active role in the battle... but on the other hand, my presence in the battle has decreased to a surprising degree.
The dark magic I'm good at is not very effective against the undead. Although I wear light-attributed equipment, Nagisa, who is faster than me, is always ahead of me, so the game is over before I can make a move.
All I have to do is to spray holy water to drive away the enemies when they increase in number, and to support the two girls by using potions.
Well, the score of the practical test is given to each party, and is divided equally among them.
I'm not at a disadvantage just because I didn't perform well, but... Somehow, I feel inexplicable.
"Huff... How many have we killed so far?"
"About 150 so far. That's quite a lot."
Nagisa answers my question by checking the card she was given.
It has been three hours since the start of the practical test. But we had been able to defeat a good number of enemies.
Our party is now in the middle of the lower part of the canyon.
We ran into other parties before we arrived here. Some of them were able to fight with some strength left, while others were injured and waiting for help.
Since Aeris wanted to heal the injured as we went along, our pace was a little slower, but we were able to make up numbers.
"At this rate, we should be able to go deeper, don't you think?"
"But... isn't that dangerous? I think we should be more careful."
Aeris rebukes Nagisa, who is in high spirits.
Well, we had been able to fight so far without any danger and I think we can go to the area where stronger enemies appear.
"...I agree. Let's proceed a little more carefully."
Still, I adopt Aeris' opinion instead of Nagisa's.
"Hmm? May I ask why, Master?"
Nagisa's lips twitched in frustration when her opinion was rejected.
Apparently, this girl with the qualities of a mad warrior is eager to fight a stronger enemy.
"Because the ghost of Queen Margarita is deep in this canyon... I want to reduce the probability of encountering her as much as possible."
Queen Margarita is the boss monster of this canyon.
The queen, who was executed for a crime she did not commit, is located in a place called 'the queen's execution platform' at the deepest part of the canyon, but there is a very low chance that we may encounter her wandering in the middle of the lower part.
For the note, the random encounter, called 'The Queen's Walk', has a fatality rate of over 90%. It is a calamity that has plagued many players.
"The deeper you go into the canyon, the more likely you are to encounter the queen. I don't want to gamble with my life on a school test."
"Hmm? I don't understand, but I'll believe Master's words."
Nagisa tilted her head, but at least she agreed with me.
The monsters in this dungeon are not so strong. The enemies in the lower part are easy as long as you are prepared for the undead. Even the enemies in the lower part can be defeated with no problem if you have the skill level of the intermediate level.
In spite of this... for some reason, only Queen Margarita is unusually strong.
Her strength is as strong as that of the boss characters in the latter half of the game, and in some cases, even as strong as that of the "Four Heavenly Kings" who are subordinates of the Demon King.
So, although we have taken sufficient countermeasures against undead, we will have no chance to win if we encounter her.
"...I hope the other students are safe. Especially Leon."
Leon was motivated by his defeat and seemed to be very enthusiastic about this practical test.
That's what I'm trying to do, but... I hope the motivation I've brought out of him won't spin out of control in a bad way.
"...This is not good. I've got a feeling that this is going to be a flag."
I have a bad feeling about this.
With this thought in my mind, I looked up at the ominous purple sky.
