Chapter 1243: Oh No... A Trap...
(MC POV)
We packed up our camp as the sun was starting to rise on the horizon.
The five of us did a quick check on our equipment before finally setting off on our journey towards the demon king's castle.
We could see the castle located across a valley atop the mountain opposite the one that we were currently on, where a small mountain trail would lead us down to the valley before going back up towards the castle.
Truth be told, I actually found the composition of our party rather amusing.
In case you were wondering, I'm not occupying the position of the hero of this party but Eris was.
Her equipment consisted of the stereotypical sword and shield combination which Eris was quite vocal about.
"Why do I even need to use the shield? And why is this sword so short?! Some hero sword this is! What is the me of this World thinking? My old sword is so much better!"
I guess she's just too used to using a single longsword compared to a sword and shield.
Bait gave a bark of laughter and waved her greatsword around, "Wahaha! Aye' have no complaints 'bout mine! Dis' is awesome!"
No doubt Bait was supposed to be the berserker of the party, though that's just no different from usual.
Laverna was not as thrilled about her equipment, "Why... This...?"
In Laverna's hands was a bow and a quiver of arrows, meaning she was obviously the ranger of our party.
"This one... Is not using a sword either," Denna pointed out, looking down at the magic staff in her hands.
Needless to say, she was the Mage of our group.
We're in a typical hero's journey World, so of course we would need to occupy the standard roles of a hero's party right? There's no way that all of them would be swordswomen.
As for me...
"Master looks just like usual, eh?" Bait commented.
Eris puffed her chest, "What do you mean?! Master looks different in those robes and that hat!! Master looks so sexy!!"
"Agreed..."
"This one humbly thinks it would be better if Master wore your normal robes..."
In case it wasn't clear, I'm the party's priest.
No, it's just a position and skill, there's nothing to do with religion so it's not like the me of this world was serving a certain god.
I cleared my throat, "We should get going girls... Otherwise we would not have enough time to reach the demon lord today."
The four of them quickly got themselves ready and we resumed our journey towards the castle.
Eris took the lead as the hero with Bait following behind her, I was next as the centre of our formation while Denna and Laverna were behind me in that order.
Descending down the path, we reached the entrance of the valley where it was just an empty stretch of land in between the two mountains.
Eris and the others took one look at this before nodding in unison.
"This is a trap..."
"Definitely..."
"Do we hafta' go through dis'?"
"This is the only way through."
Eris looked unsure and turned to me, "Are we ready, Master?"
I grinned, "No need to worry, you can count on me for healing and support in any of your battles~"
Her attitude completely changed and pointed straight ahead, "Alright! Let's go kill ourselves a demon lord! With Master here, we can't lose!!"
The moment she took a step into the valley, the ground suddenly cracked and split into two, opening up a fissure that swallowed us up.
"Oh no~ We fell into a trap!" Eris screamed monotonously.
All of us fell into the inky blackness of the ground, falling into a large cavern that was lit up with an ethereal blue light emitted from some mushrooms on the walls.
"Denna!" I called out to our mage.
She nodded at me before proceeding to cast her magic to slow down our descent so that we would not splatter into meat paste on the ground.
Our descent slowed down to a crawl until we landed softly inside the cavern without a sound.
"Where are we?" Bait asked while pulling out the greatsword on her back.
"I suppose it might be a cave underneath the demon lord's castle. Should we fly back up or explore this?" Eris asked.
All of them turned to me.
Err... I'm just a priest in this party you know? The real leader is Eris so shouldn't you be the one deciding what to do?
I ended up just shrugging at them, "Since they made this trap for us, why don't we just see what they have in store for us?"
It's not like we are in any danger anyway, especially considering the power level between us and the demon lord.
Bait laughed, "Wahaha! Well said, Master! Let's go and kick whateva' butts dats' inside dis' place!"
Once again, Eris took the lead at the front with her sword and shield but now Bait took the rear of the formation to watch our backs.
I was stationed in between Denna and Laverna so that I was in the safest spot and could protect both sides of the formation as their priest.
We proceeded deeper into the cavern and it soon got so dark that I had to Summon a light ball to illuminate the area around us so that we could see.
The moment I did so, red eyes belonging to imp sized demons appeared in the darkness numbering in the thousands.
"Ambush!!" Eris yelled, sounding a little more excited than she should be at the perceived 'crisis'.
The demons screeched at us before they started to charge, scrambling over each other to claw their way towards us.
Eris and Bait gave a warcry before meeting them with a charge of their own, cleaving through the horde of demons like they were nothing but paper dolls.
Laverna also started shooting her arrows wordlessly, covering the backs of the two swordswomen. Despite this being her first time using the bow, she was exceptionally good at it.
Denna also joined in by casting her magic spells from the rear, sending fireballs and lightning bolts flying past the front lines to decimate the demons at the back.
These two must have made use of the memories of themselves in this World to help them get used to their new roles.
As for me, I should be casting healing magic on Eris and Bait whenever they suffer an injury from the demons but... The two of them were so good that none of the demons even managed to land a hit on them before they were cut down mercilessly.
Thus, I didn't really have anything to do except to watch them from behind.
It did not take long before all the demons were slaughtered, leaving nothing but their decapitated bodies behind.
I errr... Did absolutely nothing...
Just as the four of them turned to me, a loud roar echoed through the cavern which forced us to cover our ears.
When we looked up again, a giant demon with bulging muscles appeared from the darkness, standing so tall that its head reached the ceiling.
Ah, this must be the final boss before the demon lord.
But how should I say this...
Compared to Eris right now, this guy looks really weak...
I think I failed to consider the power level difference when creating this World...