I"m fine with ghost or apparition, but I"m scared with faces of the characters who got into spasms in terror.

◇

The enemy who suddenly springs up comes from the direction of the owl just before.
Appearing from the stretched shadow behind the owl, it"s a figure of a person wearing black robe. I can"t see its face because its wearing a hood and long sleeves.

"I"ve come to pick you, Mia."

Mia who"s beside me is trembling.

"...No."

This man with the bent back is, without a doubt, the magician. The owl from earlier is nesting on the man"s shoulder. Is it a pet or a familiar?

I put myself to protect Mia behind me, and check on his status. His name is Zen, level is high at 41. Skill is--- [Unknown].

This unpleasant feeling, is he the same kind as Arisa and the heroes?
While agitated I continue to read his status--- What is this?!　Skill [Unknown] also appears there.

Mia is trembling behind me.
I can roughly understand the details. This guy is too dangerous for anyone but me. Let"s deal with him carefully. It seems impossible, but I"d like to settle this with discussion if possible.

"Nice to meet you, magician-dono. I"m Satou, a merchant."
"I don"t have business with someone like a merchant."

The magician doesn"t seem like he"d even bother to introduce himself.
I wonder if it"s because he looks down on merchants or he just has low communication skill.

"Even if you don"t, I have a duty to protect this girl. I won"t pa.s.s her to a suspicious man."
"Fumu, you seem to be protected by generous and skillful mercenaries, but if they stand before me it will become a bloodbath, do you understand?"

The magician points his cane here while keeping his back bent.

"It"s no good! Master, this guy is too strong."

Arisa warned me from behind.

"I am the great King of Night. It"s good that you know your place, but trashes don"t have any place to call me "this guy"."

This is bad, the magician"s attention is directed toward Arisa.

"■■■■　■――"

The magician begins to chant magic toward Arisa.

I don"t want to leave Mia, but I can"t afford not to now. I rush toward the magician, and strike his stomach with my fist.
But the strike is unable to stop the magician"s chant.  My fist has penetrated the magician"s robe, but there is no response at all. Is it this guy"s unique skill?

"---Shadow Whip."

When the magician finishes his chant, shadow stretches from his foot to form something that look like a spear that plunge toward Arisa. Is that the shadow whip?
I"m back stepping away from the magician, and I cut myself between the shadow whip and Arisa.

I block the shadow whip with my whole body. The shadow whip coils around my body, at that time I feel some small p.r.i.c.ks.

>[Shadow Magic Skill Acquired]
>[Shadow Resistance Skill Acquired]

What do you mean with shadow resistance.
Ah, it"s been a while since my scientific blood denies the fantasy.

But I"m profiting from this trouble.
I feel like the resistance skill will be of small importance in this situation, but let"s increase the chance to protect Mia even if only a little.
I allocate points to shadow resistance and activate it.

◇

"Fumu, that"s an unbelievable body. Are you really a merchant?"
"A friend of mine calls me nimble merchant."

From behind our conversation, I can hear Arisa whimper.

"It"s useless, it really didn"t work."

Did Arisa counterattack when the magician started to chant? Her magic power decreased for a bit. There is absolutely no change to the magician, he probably has resistance.

"To put yourself in front of a woman to protect them from my attack, you have my praise."
"If you admire me then won"t you back down?"
"That"s a different story. Mia is needed to achieve my goal."

I"m finally able to free myself from the shadow whip. This shadow whip only gives me insignificant p.r.i.c.kly damages but it had no substance and no reaction so I couldn"t tear it off. Yet it could be used to restrain thing, some fantasy substance it is.

"What is your goal?"
"There is no meaning to tell you that. If you want to save Mia, then bring a hero along."
"Do you have some grudges on heroes?"

The magician doesn"t answer and laughs loudly while looking up the sky.
Accompanying his laughter, countless shadow whips appear from his feet. Does the spell earlier retain its effect?

It"s going to abduct Mia who stands listlessly. If physical attack isn"t working then how about magic attack.
I take out magic guns from the pocket, equip them on both hands, and set the power scale to the MAX.
For someone of this guy"s level, this much probably won"t kill him.

"Way off the mark."

Following the magician"s word, the magic whips expand toward me and Mia.
I intercept the shadow whips with the magic guns. Dual wielding guns feels like a chuunibyou from somewhere, I don"t like it.

It"s working.
I succeeded in destroying every magic whips that had went toward Mia, while I let the one that came toward me to coil itself on me. I wasn"t able to destroy them all as expected.

"Those are quite good weapons."
"Is that so? If you leave Mia alone then I will give you one, how about it?"

While offering the trade to the magician, I smash the shadow whip coiling my body with the magic guns.
I hear Mia"s short scream from behind.

I turn just my head, Mia is being restricted by shadow appearing from her feet.
More shadow whips appear from the magician and restrict me.
The magician begins to chant a new magic.

I can"t let him casts more magic than this, I fire the magic guns to the magician. His health decreases but immediately recovers before the next shot. Is this guy"s unique skill invincibility?
I change my aim to the cane, and fire the magic bullet.

"Help me nodesu!" "Help~?"

Pochi and Tama seemed to try to do something to the shadow whips but they slipped through it. Even just slipping through the shadow whip seems to give them damage, the two jump back while screaming.
Liza and Arisa are looking here from a cover while waiting for their chance and eluding the magic whips.

All the magic bullets that I fire are blocked by the shadow whips that appear from the magician"s feet.
Then, finally the magician"s magic, [Shadow Portal], is activated.

Mia"s body is sinking into the shadow.
I give up on shooting the magician, and hold Mia"s upper body from sinking with brute force.

"I"ll have you return this girl. Since it"d trouble me if you"re careless, I"ll say this, if you try to forcibly pull her, Mia"s life will be no more."

The magician is sinking into shadow too. I still can"t see his face.

"You are no match for a transcendent being like me, resign from your unreasonable struggle. If you wish for death then you"re free to visit my maze, I expect a show of courage and wisdom to break through it."

The magician disappears into the shadow while laughing loudly. He didn"t see through Mia"s sinking until the end, is it because he has allowance to do so or because of carelessness.

My body is almost dragged into the shadow too, but maybe because of my resistance, it stops at 1 cm deep.
The pulling power of the shadow for Mia is strong. My pulling power is even stronger, but Mia"s health gradually decreases. If I put more power than this, Mia"s body would break.

I have decided.

"Arisa! When morning comes, go ask for a.s.sistance at the worker"s guild manager."

After telling her that, I let myself sink into the shadow with Mia.

Arisa and the girls should be able to deal with the shadow stalkers somehow. If possible without injuries I hope.
That manager is unreliable but this time it"s a crisis of a person from his tribe, Nadi-san should be able to arrange for it.

◇

After I"m sunk, there is only jet black s.p.a.ce around.
There is no sound or light, it truly feels like inside shadow. Of course there is no air too.
It is indeed a bit painful. My health decrease faster than from the coiling shadow whip. Still, probably thanks to self-healing, it comes back up at fixed interval. Perhaps, I"ve become unable to die by suffocation.

Even with air, a person would go mad if they spend too long in this place.

Thanks to the lack of oxygen, I can"t concentrate well.

Yes, how about Mia.
Since I can"t even look at my own body, it goes without saying that I can"t see her either.

I take out Light Drop from Storage and pour it magic power.
I thought that I could see my body then but it didn"t work. The radar shows only me too.
I use [All Map Exploration] after a long time of not using it. But unfortunately, radar display remains as it is. It might really be only me around.

I open the map and see it.
There, something is written-- [It"s an area with no map].

"What"s this a game!"

I retorted.

And then, as if the voice is echoing back to back, the shadow s.p.a.ce with no sound is breaking, like a gla.s.s, vanis.h.i.+ng into fragments.

◇

I"m in a place like the one n.o.bles use to have audiences with people. It"s a vertical room, like a school gymnasium cut in half. The floors are made of stones, fat circular stone pillars are lined up along the wall, and candlesticks attached to the wall are emitting LED-like magical lights. There"s a throne in the furthermost of the interior, and in that interior a sphere 2 meter big in diameter is blinking rainbow lights while floating at knee-high height.

Mia who is made to sleep is sitting on the throne. Beside her, an unknown beautiful blond woman is nursing her. Her face looks exactly like Mia, but her b.r.e.a.s.t.s are outrageously big. No, such thing doesn"t matter now.

The magician who is running his fingers through something that looks like a music stand beside the throne notices me, before I could rush to him.

"Absurd!"

Even while surprised, the guy is not loosening his fingers from playing the music stand.

"Yes, absurd! How did you escape from my prison of shadow!　It"s something that shouldn"t be broken by a group of low level people like you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

Are you surprised, boasting or looking down, be clear about it.
My feet are a bit unstable, I wonder if it"s the effect from the shadow s.p.a.ce earlier.

"I have a light amulet with me. Shadow magic isn"t going to work."

Oops, I wasn"t going to tell him the true reason but even for deceiving him the detail was too appropriate. Is it thanks to deception skill?

"I see, I cannot permit unfairness. This room is only allowed for people who have captured the maze, those who earn it can come here, that"s the rule."

The magician stops there, and nods to his own words.

"And then, the hero who is able to get here, is the one who is qualified to annihilate me, the King of Immortal."

What is this guy saying?
Capture the maze, does he want to kill himself?
Furthermore, didn"t he say that he"s a King of Night initially? He can"t decide the name for himself.

But, rather than that, I feel slightly mad at this guy"s excuse. He got our girls and Mia in trouble for such reason?

"If you want to die then go do it yourself. Don"t involve other people."
"Fuhahaha, I have received blessing from the G.o.d, I am immortal."

It"s unpleasant, but if I continue this stupid talk, my feet will recover soon.
But, the other guy doesn"t seem like he intend to continue.

"Well then, I"ll have you leave from the master room."

The door located beside the throne is opening and then--