Horde after horde of monsters appeared before us, trying to block our way. I could do nothing but attack, utilizing White Void over and over again. The spell that I once hated for my lineage, now allowed me to power through without breaking much of a sweat. The monsters in the tunnels gave me zero challenge. A single shot was needed to clear entire sections of the tunnels.

  “Emori, slow down!” One of the people behind me yelled. At this point, I didn’t really know who it was anymore. Everything had become a blur, my mind focused solely on getting to Fortis. But things weren’t looking bright. Despite being able to clear entire areas, I was still a far distance away from the underwater castle. At my current pace, I couldn’t arrive in time.

  “Your Highness, there are teleporters up front.”

  The path deviated into three, with both the ones on the left and right having a teleporter in them. I ran past them. Miss Naya had warned me before to not touch them, and honestly I didn’t have time to check them out even if I wanted to.

  “They’re… connected.”

  “Connected?”

  I noticed some more monsters coming up and bsted them with White Void, before running straight past their remains.

  “Yes. Some are connected to pces farther away from the demon king, while others can bring you closer.”

  “Which one should we jump into?”

  “Please give me time. I shall look for a route.”

  It wasn’t clear to me how he could do that. Fortis didn’t expin a lot regarding Soul Locker, but I decided to continue running as I let Mister Akaraseki concentrate on finding a path.

  Fortis, please wait…

  For the next few minutes, running was all I could do.

  “... Take the teleporter to the left, then after that continue running straight.”

  In front of me, the path splitted into two. I did as Mister Akaraseki said, turning to the left and jumping without the slightest bit of hesitation. I could hear the others yell my name as I went in, their voices disappear after I came out.

  Nothing changed. Not the light-blue colored rock forming the walls and floors, not the seemingly endless line of torches, nor the cramped size of the tunnel. It looked to be the exact same as the tunnel before.

  “Emori, slow down!” Maya came from behind, followed by the rest of the group. “Where are we? A different tunnel?”

  “There's another teleporter. Run straight, then skip the first one on the right. Go through the second one you see.”

  “Okay.”

  I continued running, propelling myself as fast as I could. I gnced back, finding the rest of the group running along with me. I went past the first teleporter, then continued on.

  “Maya, can you make sure everyone follows me?”

  “Sure.”

  Maya slowed down, checking on the others. I could hear shouts echoing throughout the tunnels, but I didn't put any attention on them.

  A group of monsters blocked the path to the teleporter, but I bsted them with a single shot of White Void. With the teleporter clear, I jumped in, finding myself in yet another narrow tunnel, looking the exact same as before.

  “Who built all this?” I groaned before taking off once more. One-by-one, the rest of the party stepped out.

  “This st one will get you to the castle. Keep going straight until you see a teleporter on your left.”

  “Okay.”

  I scanned the surroundings, looking for the first left opening. I passed three different teleport points on my right and two groups of monsters before finally reaching the teleport point Akaraseki mentioned.

  I checked on the rest, then turned to the teleport. “Fortis, here I come.” I jumped in.

  I arrived inside what seemed to be a throne room. To my absolute horror, Fortis lied down on the floor, not moving. I worry that I might be too te. I didn't even want to think about it, so I directed my attention to the figure next to him. Even without checking, I already know who he is. I formed White Void and fired it as fast as I possibly could.