Frieren: I Reject My Humanity!

Chapter 309 309: Falling Down (Bonus Chapter)

"So we've simply arrived at the Demon King's Castle just like that."

"Mm, not a single obstacle..."

"Though we haven't encountered a single Greater Demon yet. They must all be gathered inside."

"Let's go in. We've come this far — there's no reason to stand around."

Standing before the imposing Demon King's Castle, the subjugation party exchanged a few brief words before Himmel, as the Hero, took the lead and pushed open the great doors.

"..."

From the threshold, they could already make out the shape of a throne in the distance — but strangely, the hall was empty. No sign of Fíliya. No sign of any demon at all.

"Any mana signatures?" Himmel asked, glancing toward Frieren.

Frieren only shook her head, then mirrored Himmel's gesture and looked toward her own teacher.

"Nothing. Not a single response. This place is a ghost town," Flamme said, her expression faintly troubled.

She knew her wayward student's character well enough to have some read on her. If Fíliya had gone to the trouble of sending word — I'll be waiting at the Demon King's Castle — then she wouldn't resort to something as petty as concealing herself and launching a surprise attack. Whatever that child had envisioned, it had to be a head-on confrontation with the subjugation party.

So what was the meaning of this empty castle?

"Let's look for clues. Based on what we know of her so far, this freshly-minted Demon King might be trying to play a rather cheap game of hide-and-seek with us."

The elven warrior monk offered his assessment. A being of however many centuries, he had certainly met his share of individuals with eccentric tastes.

"Mm..."

Everyone agreed. After everything they'd been through to get here, simply turning back was out of the question. Even if Fíliya had set some kind of trap or trick inside the hall, it was a trial they had no choice but to face.

Himmel took the first step forward. Whatever lay ahead, he was willing to test the waters for everyone else.

But the moment his foot was about to touch the floor, his body lurched — sharply, unexpectedly — like someone who misses a step coming down a staircase.

Frieren noticed it first. She immediately reached out to grab his cloak — but Himmel was falling at an unnatural speed, and she couldn't catch him in time.

What shocked her even more was that Himmel didn't hit the ground.

Instead, as if falling into some kind of water's surface, he sank directly into the floor beneath him and vanished.

"Stay calm, Frieren."

Seeing her instinctively move to follow in Himmel's footsteps, Eisen and Flamme called out to stop her at once.

"This floor... it's strange. There's genuinely no mana response. Can something like this even be classified as a magic spell?"

Flamme crouched down and poked at the spot where Himmel had disappeared. From her fingertip, ripples began spreading outward in slow, steady rings.

"This..."

The bizarre sight left everyone speechless. What had appeared to be solid ground was, in truth, liquid in nature.

A burst of ordinary attack magic struck the floor — Fern's shot. But it disappeared exactly as if it had been dropped into a deep sea, without leaving so much as a trace.

"So this is her first trial...," Frieren murmured.

Then she stepped forward without hesitation, leaning into the fall.

"Miss Frieren..."

This time, it was her apprentice Fern who looked at her with worried eyes.

"What is it, Fern? You saw it too, didn't you — that thing swallowed Himmel. So I have to go and save him."

Frieren looked back, her gaze carrying quiet, unwavering resolve. Seeing it, Flamme and Eisen said nothing more, and instead stepped silently to her side — it seemed they intended to dive in together.

"...I understand."

Fern gave a small nod as well. Then, almost unconsciously, her eyes drifted toward Stark.

If it were Mr. Stark in danger — I wouldn't accept anyone holding me back, either.

Fern understood that much in an instant.

"Looks like everyone's made up their minds."

Flamme swept her gaze around the group, then let it settle on the one girl who had practically no direct combat capability to speak of.

Bringing her along into whatever lay below would make protecting her exponentially more difficult. Reason told Flamme it would be better to leave the girl here.

But at this point, no matter what she said, it would fall on deaf ears — that much was obvious.

"P-please don't leave me here... We agreed, didn't we? When facing unknown situations, isn't that exactly when you need me to maintain the [Party Link]?"

Edel, catching Flamme's gaze, had already assumed she was about to be talked out of coming again.

"Fair enough."

Flamme gave a small nod. She admitted Edel had a point.

"Then that settles it."

Frieren tilted her body forward and dropped into the [pool] before her.

Seeing Frieren go first, the others followed one by one, stepping up to the edge and sinking into the floor.

Darkness. A darkness with no visible bottom.

Was she falling? The sensation of weightlessness wasn't particularly strong, but Miss Edel could still feel her body drifting slowly downward.

At first she didn't dare open her eyes. Then she realized, with surprise, that despite having plunged in, there was no moisture in the air around her — and no sense of breathlessness, either.

Once the feeling of falling began to ease, Edel slowly opened her eyes.

"There's a light source..."

She fixed her gaze on it and tried to swim toward it, dragging along the deadweight beside her — the one who had gone completely limp.

She couldn't begin to understand how she was managing to "swim" in a space this dark, where she could feel no material substance whatsoever — but she could tell, unmistakably, that she was getting closer to that light.

When she finally reached it, Edel also found the feeling of solid ground returning beneath her feet. The simple sensation of standing on something real was deeply reassuring.

And at least she wasn't entirely alone. There was a perfectly good meat shield right beside her.

Edel thought this, and glanced sidelong at the blank-eyed demon at her side.

She started walking. It didn't take long before, within the light, she spotted a door.

She placed her hand on it, swallowed instinctively, and turned the handle. After a brief moment of surprise — it actually opens — she composed herself and stepped inside.

"Fíliya...?"

She peered carefully into the room, searching for the figure she had been hoping to find.

But she wasn't there.

The space resembled a tearoom — clean air, and even windows, with clear light streaming through them from outside.

A spatial magic spell... Where exactly have I been transported to?

Edel immediately tried to cast a spell, but received no response. The [Party Link] she had been maintaining had already been severed by some unknown force.

"The Demon King instructed me to wait for you here, human."

A voice made Edel's entire body seize up. She raised her eyes.

The demon who had been sitting with its back to her had turned its chair around and was now watching her with a cold, indifferent gaze.

If there was one thing that managed to take the edge off Edel's nerves, just slightly — it was that the corners of this seemingly aloof, dark-skinned demon's mouth were unmistakably smeared with what appeared to be crumbs from some kind of cookie or biscuit.

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