Chapter 71

Chapter 71 Strongest, Treated Like a Sham

『 . . . Huh? The concealment"s gone . . . Can I shoot him?』

Alma who received an arrow from Ruli asked me with a bewildered look when she saw Elhart"s concealment magic getting completely removed .

『Yeah . And you"d better do it quick . He might find out that he has lost his concealment magic if you take too much time . 』

As we"re communicating through telepathy magic, we probably look like we"re just standing around and clueless about the enemy from the demons" perspective .

It"s only a matter of time before they notice the incongruity and realize their situation .

『Go . . . Got it!』

Alma set up the arrow and shot it at Elhart .

Seeing that, Elhart collapsed into a strange posture and barely evaded the arrow .

Looks like Alma didn"t use the 【Wire-guided Enchant】 .

『Even if your enemy looks like a fool, you should always use guided enchant on your arrow . They could evade it like just now . 』

『Sorry . I knew that but . . . What"s that?』

Alma turned to look at Elhart with a perplexed expression on her face .

It seems to be a hard posture to maintain, his neck is trembling .

Since his location would get found out by the unnatural movement of the arrow if he touched it .

He"s far too late though .

『He"s probably trying not to expose himself . Looks, he"s being careful not to make a sound with his feet now . 』

It appeared that Elhart had reached his limit, he slowly put his hands on the floor and returned his posture .

He probably didn"t think in the slightest that his camouflage was already gone, and that Alma only shot the arrow randomly .

『That means, it"s the second round!』

『I"ll hit him this time!』

The arrow Alma shot homed in Elhart who tried to evade it, hitting him right in the face .

" . . . How foolish! My camouflage should have been perfect!"

Elhart who was. .h.i.t by the arrow shouted with a face that looked like he couldn"t believe it .

"You"re the fool here . "

That camouflage vanished around a minute ago .

If this was perfect, just how bad are these demons . . . .

If all demons are all like this, I can understand why humanity hasn"t gone extinct yet .

『Huh? It doesn"t seem to be working at all . . . 』

True, even though Elhart looked surprised, he didn"t seem like the arrow hurt him .

Even with the support of magic, Alma currently lacks the strength needed to break through a demon"s defense .

However, that is according to plan .

『There"s no problem . It"s working alright . 』

It would be hard for Alma"s arrow to directly shoot through a demon"s defense .

We really have to rely on the power of the inserted magic .

" . . . Mu? Why aren"t you attacking?"

Elhart had an inexplicable expression on his face as he looked at me .

And then, that expression suddenly turned into a grin .

" . . . Oh I see! That"s how it is!"

"What"re you going on about?"

"If you were the real Mathias I should have died already! However, I"m alive! This can only mean one thing! You aren"t that monster Mathias! You"re a sham!"

" . . . Ha?"

This time I"m the one who"s bewildered .

What the heck is with that leap of logic .

"Kuku . . . . I thought it was strange . It"s impossible for humans to reach our domain in such a short amount of time . The dragon we detected isn"t attacking either, it must be just a sort of illusion magic . "

No well, that dragon is currently flying right above this building though . . . .

You can"t see it with naked eyes since the ceiling obstructs, but you should know it as soon as you use 【Pa.s.sive Detection】 .

" . . . There is no reason to hide now we know you"re fake . Come out Arias, let"s kill this faker together!"

Elhart called out toward thin air but there"s no reaction .

Well, the other demon hiding here (apparently called Arias) doesn"t seem to be that stupid .

It"s exceptionally better at camouflaging than Elhart, and it has a high chance of escaping here without being found out .

"Arias won"t show himself? . . . I see . I alone is enough huh . That"s exactly--true!"

Elhart rushed toward Alma .

I moved before him and blocked his sword .

--Heavy .

Even if he"s hurt, a demon is still a demon .

It doesn"t seem like I can block him easily without Physical Reinforcement .

Well, if I were to completely overwhelm Elhart, this wouldn"t serve as a field practice for Alma and Ruli, so this is fine .

『I"ll be the vanguard . You two, keep shooting at the demon like earlier . 』

『I-I got it!』

『Un!』

" . . . Tch, my sword got blocked huh . Looks like even a sham is strong enough to act as a subst.i.tute of a monster . . . . "

I"m the real one though . . .