The castle of the devil king... It's bigger than the ones in Emas and Amleth! I can't believe that such a huge, scary castle can be built on top of a mountain! It gives off a sinister aura, something that no normal person can handle. In fact, some of the soldiers and adventurers have already been affected by it. There's no one from the Church to help mitigate the effects, as they're all busy helping Saintess Rumia, but

"The Empire has done something, otherwise there shouldn't be anything like this" [Head Knight].

"If it weren't for Diana, we might as well turn back and ask the Church for help" [Randy].

"Agreed. Diana, you should just focus on maintaining the spell. Dana, just focus on supporting Diana" [Sas].

"Already planned on that" [Dana]

It's a strong curse. Skin turning black and itchiness. Nausea and vomiting. Restlessness. Just approaching it is already hard without my barrier, and now, I have to maintain it throughout the journey. This will be difficult, luckily, my wand from the world tree makes it a lot easier. 

The Devil King Castle is about thirty minutes away. Bats that live in the castle are flying around. I tried to communicate with them, but to no avail. It's like they're ignoring me on purpose... No... That's not it... There is something strange about these bats. There are things attached to the bat, and it looks like it is trying to dive towards us.

[DANGER] [DANGER] [DANGER]

It can't be! 

"The bats! Those bats are up to something!" [Diana]

"!" [All]

My timely warning alarms them all. Our archers quickly shoot numerous bats. The bats have an explosive stone attached to them, which is triggered after a certain amount of time. What's more, the bats are covered in fat and numerous insects, all of which are fire-resistant. They plan to blow up the bats and let the insects eat us alive while we're on fire! Disgusting! 

One by one, explosion after explosion, we are being attacked. I tried to save the bats and the innocent insects. As I thought, they're controlled by the false Hydra. Not too surprising, considering how powerful the False Hydra command over the mirage magic, something as simple as controlling lower animals shouldn't be much of a problem.

There aren't many bats and insects left. Of course, it's just a tactic to slow us all down. Our mages' powerful barrier spells. Archers with pinpoint accuracy. Even water magic from Sas' wand, quickly extinguishing the fire. If anything, they plan to keep doing this to wear us down before we get to the castle.

Slowly, we all moved forward. The magical barrier was deployed from the front, and the knights raised their metallic steel. "Barrier" "Barrier" "Barrier". As they raised their spells, a powerful dome shielded us all. Arrowmen and mages in the center continuously use their arrows and spells to kill the numerous bats. Now there's even crows, flying arachnids, and the Imperial Soldier's arrows and spells raining down on us.

"The heavy arrow they use. They're elite, for sure"

"How the hell did those imperial soldiers not be affected by the curses!"

(Must be because the crazy side of the church joined them.) "Shut up, concentrate, and just keep moving forward! The longer we stay in one place, the more we are at a disadvantage!" [Nar]

"Follow my rhythm! Breathe like we train! Move as we normally do!" [Head Knight]

"RIGHT!" 

The head knight, he's using a very powerful barrier. The shield he's using, it's mana conductivity is good! Not as good as my wand nor Dana's Gungnir, but still impressive! He started using his own shield and spell. I'm sure he has an even more impressive spell to create an even more powerful barrier, but what he's done is still impressive. Stacking spell after spell, side by side, up and down, these barrier spells linked together to form a single powerful barrier in front of us. Nothing can get past it! It's solid! The other knights quickly do the same without any order, but this time they cover the sky above us.

"Behind us! More orcs and goblins!" [Kat]

"Damn!"

"Keep moving! Leave them to me!" [Nar]

"Barrier! Help Nar!" [Diana]

"Thank you Diana, I'll be back soon!" [Nar]

Nar, unsheathing his sword, quickly slice all the orcs and goblins hot in our trail. Precisely. I am not a swordman, but even so, even I can tell how beautiful each of his golden swing is. Like a spirit, his arms swing without hesitation. His footwork, quickly dodging any attacks from the orcs. One by one, the heads of the orcs and goblins decapitated by him. It's impressive! It's a spectacle to behold! 

Advanced! Advance! Head Knight with his mighty shield, Nar covering us from behind. Sas, leading the mage and archer from any attack above our heads. All of us knights and adventurers unite, and just as we see the gate of the Devil King's castle, Dana, charging all her spells into Gungnir, leaps forward and throws Gungnir. She uses a buff spell to further increase her throwing power. A wind spell to further increase her speed. A small explosive spell to accelerate the initial throw. Gungnir, covered in lightning, tore through the castle gate. Even the Imperial soldiers guarding the gate from above felt the impact as they stumbled and fell to the ground. Dana called Gungnir back to her hand.

"Powerful..."

"This teenage girl is even more powerful than us soldiers..."

"Damn... I'm impressed" [Randy].

"You're way too powerful, Dana!" [Diana]

"Thank you. Anything to protect my dear little sister!" [Dana]

"I wanted to protect you too!" [Diana]

"You already are. Without this spell you cast on all of us, we could be suffocated by this thick miasma" [Dana].

With this we enter the castle. It's hard. Much too hard. The thick miasma, I don't think it's coming from the false hydra or the imperial soldier. It's thick, it's evil. I quickly increase my spell power to further cleanse the miasma. Again, I can't believe how the imperial soldier is able to withstand it.

(Descendants of Aru, and that staff from the World Tree, given by that witch, Merlin... Even Titania's power). [?]

"Who are you?" [Diana]

"Is something wrong, Diana?" [Dana]

"Someone is talking to me... This is..." [Diana]

I might not have met him before, but, my blessing, it quickly gave the answer

"Devil king... He's talking to me" [Diana].

"!" [All]