Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

This is Satou. Watching videos of building demolitions really makes it clear that even destruction requires calculation. Seeing a building collapse straight down without damaging the surroundings feels almost artistic.

◇

"Alright, let's inform the prefect."

"Got it. I think evacuation will take at least two or three hours."

"Understood."

I arrived at Labyrinth City Selbira with Hikaru, using unit placement.

I chose this labyrinth city first because of its excellent urban defense capability, as I was about to carry out the king's request to destroy the Purple Tower.

The rest of the team remained on standby in full gear aboard the airship.

"Hello~"

Hikaru cheerfully greeted the gatekeeper at the Prefect’s Mansion and entered.

The king should have already communicated the order to destroy the Purple Tower to the prefect via city core communication, but judging by the local timeline, it was expected that nothing had been done yet.

So, I had Hikaru act as a messenger to ensure rapid evacuation.

"Well then—"

I used unit placement to move to the Purple Tower near the labyrinth city.

It was just on the opposite side of the city from the labyrinth.

"—Whoa. Wh-who are you?!"

A young soldier guarding the Purple Tower was startled by my sudden appearance, raising his spear and questioning me. The fact that the spear was reversed front-to-back was amusing.

"Fool! Lower your spear! This person is Hero Nameless of the Shiga Kingdom!"

"Huh? Oh, purple hair and a mask—"

An older soldier reprimanded the younger one.

If they hadn’t seen me in person before, his reaction was understandable. After all, a suspicious masked man suddenly appeared before them without warning.

"I-I’m sorry!"

The young soldier lowered his spear and apologized loudly.

"It’s fine. By the way, —what are those?"

Near the Purple Tower, many injured people were receiving first aid.

"Explorers."

Well, that was obvious just by looking.

"When the mound grew larger, curious explorers showed up, saying things like 'We’ll cooperate with the investigation' or 'Treasure!' and went inside."

"Didn’t you stop them?"

The older soldier shrugged and said, "We were outnumbered."

There were dozens of explorers receiving first aid, including some high-level ones. A few average soldiers could never hold them back.

Currently, reinforcements were building barricades near the entrance.

"How many are still inside?"

"I don’t know the exact number. What we do know is that there’s a mixed party of over 30 led by Koshin, a group of 9 led by Dozon, and just under 30 elite members of ‘pendora’, the subordinate organization under Count Pendragon."

Pendora too, huh...

They aren’t exactly a subordinate group, but I can’t say that while in Nameless’s form.

Still, this was a problem.

If there were people inside, I couldn’t use anti-god magic to destroy the Purple Tower from outside.

We’d have to clear out—or rescue—the people inside first.

Well, evacuating citizens and strengthening defenses would take time anyway, so I could do that in the meantime.

"When did they enter?"

"First thing this morning!"

Although some time had passed since their entry, the parties led by the capable Koshin and veteran Dozon wouldn’t have been wiped out.

The ‘pendora’, who learned survival-first tactics at the explorer school, were the same.

"Alright then, I’m going in. Make sure no one gets in."

"Understood."

The older soldier saluted.

I returned the salute lightly and entered the Purple Tower.

◇

"—Just to be safe."

I cast the spatial magic ‘One-Way (One-Way Delineator)’ on the stairs of the first floor.

This prevented anyone from going up from the first to the second floor.

I trusted the soldiers, but if some explorers who came down to the first floor used another stairway to ascend, it would complicate recovery efforts.

Once I reached the second floor, I used the “full map exploration” spell.

"There are many casualties..."

I used spatial magic ‘item summoning (Aport)’ to pull bodies toward me and stored them in my storage.