I Am Not the Heroine

“Huff!”

Rapirie quickly caught her breath and glanced around her.

Not a single ally was in sight around the black staircase where she had fallen.

“Could it be that the castle gate was enchanted…?”

This was not our land but the territory of the Demon Race. Being left alone in a fortress with no information was extremely dangerous.

Goooor…

The fortress let out an ominous groan that shook her heart.

With her bowstring already drawn, Rapirie slowly began to ascend the stairs, recalling the bracelet she had given just moments ago.

“That’s right.”

She definitely mentioned that this bracelet had a spell to track the Hero’s location.

“Could it be… that she knew about this…?”

Nah, there’s no way.

It must purely be a coincidence, or her cautious and calculating nature was just at play.

As she came to that realization, her racing heart quickly settled down.

Zap!

As she touched the bracelet, a golden arrow appeared that spun around before stopping in a specific direction.

Could it be that the Hero is that way?

Rapirie carefully took a step forward, causing the arrow to slightly adjust, still pointing in that direction.

Since it was moving even while stationary, it seemed the Hero was on the move.

Finding out the target in a space with no information was a huge win.

Thanks to that, Rapirie was able to steady her resolve.

“Everyone, be careful.”

This was the lair of the Demon Race.

*

“Which way is this hallway…”

The Hero party had been scattered due to the magic in the dimly lit fortress.

As a result, I woke up in some corridor of the fortress.

‘I wish I had dispelled that magic by now.’

But that would have required too much time, so I created a tracking bracelet instead.

The Hero, Ariya, Serelin, and Rapirie must have started searching for each other.

Actually, in cases of being scattered like this, non-combat roles are usually the most disadvantaged.

So ideally, I should have a priority to regroup with Ariya first.

However, this place was a fortress built by the Demon Race.

And she was a Saint who wielded a holy power that the Demons despised.

Leaving a trace of holy energy with every step, lesser demons would dare not approach her.

Only those who were at least the owner of this fortress or of similar standing could challenge her.

And those kinds of beings were mostly too arrogant to act directly.

Moreover, since I had given them the tracking bracelet unlike in the original, the Hero would surely regroup with Ariya quickly…

The remaining Serelin and Rapirie also had the power to stand against demons, so there was no need to worry too much.

“Ugh.”

So then, what should I do until then?

I need to gather information about this fortress. To be precise, finding a way to bring it down.

“The bricks of this fortress were definitely made in the demon realm.”

Setting a master key, I began to craft a small drill-like magical tool at my temporary workspace.

“Extract.”

Vrrr…

The drill soon started to hollow out a section of the fortress wall.

I began analyzing the debris with the master key.

The results would be useful in favor of the Hero party’s battles.

Beep.

Soon, the analysis results of the black bricks appeared.

“…Yup, they have some weird tastes.”

The bricks seemed to be made from a substance presumed to be demon realm soil, red liquid, and soft organic matter.

Put simply, it was a mix of animal corpses and their blood.

And yes, humans were included among those corpses.

Basically, this fortress was made from bodies.

I was honestly a bit surprised since such information didn’t come out in the original work.

I put the analysis device and master key away, starting to walk in one direction.

‘There was barely any description of this fortress in the original.’

While the Hero party being scattered had taken up a lot of the narrative, most of it was related to battles or demons.

So it was up to me to gather the information about the fortress myself from now.

“To eliminate such an area… there are basically two ways.”

Either attack the one who created the area or target its weaknesses.

I aimed for the latter.

Clink.

I rummaged through the Space of Space and pulled out two small orbs.

Then, I threw one in each direction opposite to where I was moving.

“Synchronization.”

I then drew a large dot and two small dots in the air with my pen and recited the spell.

The two orbs glimmered and began moving forward.

Accordingly, the two small dots drawn in the air started shuffling as well.

This was a small magical tool for mapping; it wasn’t perfect but at least roughly indicated the path ahead.

‘I’ll need to study the fork in the path later.’

For now, even if a fork appeared, I couldn’t move in multiple directions.

So I couldn’t fully gather information about this space, but it was still better than nothing.

“If I hadn’t prepared this in advance, I would have had to search everywhere…”

The spaciousness of the dimly lit fortress differed greatly from its exterior appearance; walking through it was virtually impossible.

The fact that the Hero party couldn’t regroup for a considerable time in the original was partly due to the fortress’s scale.

Beep.

The orb ahead found a fork in the path.

I needed to check whether it led to another corridor or a room.

After a moment, the place indicated by the orb was a dark room.

“Smell.”

The source of the stench that made me scrunch my face was dozens of containers inside the room.

These spotless white containers emitted a horrendous smell.

I opened one lid and discovered what was inside.

It was blood.

“…Was this a food storage?”

These Demon Race folks must really love blood.

Feasting on it, breeding on it, moving through it, and deriving pleasure from chasing after it.

So if this room was filled with blood that could be considered food, it must be incredibly important to them.

“For now, I should get out of here before they show up…”

“Huh?”

But just my luck, I ran into a Demon while entering the room.

A humanoid demon with striking white skin and impressive white fangs.

“Human.”

It was a Vampire.

*

As depicted in many artworks, Vampires were among the elite in the Demon Race in this world.

Crack!!

As soon as the demon I encountered moved its hand slightly, its robe’s protective barrier activated.

“What’s this? I thought it was just a lost child.”

‘To cast three types of magic with just a hand gesture…’

Indeed, a Demon.

“This isn’t just a snack, is it? What a shame.”

The male vampire tossed his head back, letting out a hollow laugh.

Even though he reacted so lightly, he must have been quite wounded in pride.

Vampires in this world could be summed up like this:

Puddles of blood soaked in pride and arrogance.

Their magical prowess transcended humans enough to easily unleash three types of spells with just a hand gesture.

Yet here I was, some ordinary human, blocking all his attacks, crushing any pride he had in magic.

As proof, faint veins began to surface on his white skin.

“I’m no ordinary human.”

“Not an ordinary human… then what are you? Oh right, something was said earlier about you… So, you are…”

The vampire suddenly began muttering to himself before grinning broadly at me.

“You’re part of the Hero party, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

Boom!!

As I responded casually, a magic spell came flying at me.

Confirming it was blocked by the robe’s protective barrier, I quickly pulled out my pen and eliminated the thick smoke.

“If I had known this would happen, I would’ve listened to the conversation properly. I have no information about you whatsoever.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“I heard the Hero is a guy, so… you must be the trash along for the ride.”

Thud!

“Right. So how about we switch places? The one behind me isn’t your food, after all?”

With those words, I threw a huge object from the Space of Space at him.

Boom…

It was the celestial device I had used to kill and disassemble Akturas in Intrel Village.

Unfortunately, unlike Akturas, who had died quickly, this vampire showed impressive resilience.

Mana sensitivity, magical capacity, and physical abilities all appeared to be superior.

“Alright. Your suggestion is valid.”

The celestial device that had struck the fortress wall swiftly flew back to me.

Summoning the Space of Space, I captured it and faced the writhing vampire emerging from the rubble of the fortress wall.

Even though it was a crushing weapon that had obliterated one Demon, he appeared perfectly fine.

‘Didn’t expect it to be this ineffective; he might be stronger than I thought.’

It seemed like this vampire could be a challenge.

“Master Key.”

I recalled the pen and pulled out the master key.

Just then, he introduced himself.

“Alred. The third bloodline of the great blood aristocracy.”

The third bloodline, huh.

That’s a ranking system among vampires, where a lower number indicates greater strength.

If the fortress’s owner was first bloodline, then Alred would be roughly the third strongest.

‘Looks like this won’t be easy.’

The Hero and heroines had ways to exterminate the Demon Race, but I didn’t have any sharp solutions.

Especially since the regenerative abilities of vampires meant there was no current way to completely eradicate them.

Still, well, I guess I have to fight.

“Rui. The Mage of the Hero party.”

Because after all, I was the Mage of the Hero party.

“Rui, what a smooth name that suggests your blood would be soft. And a Mage too. Splendid.”

With that, Alred snapped his fingers.

“Then, do your best to struggle.”

And in the next moment, part of the fortress began to wobble and transform.

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