I look at the 10 black swords floating around me. The swords that were just floating absorbed and nullified the rays of light that Kuruwasebana had just unleashed. I can’t figure out why it absorbed it. I wonder if there’s something in that black miasma… ?

「… I’m in the middle of a battle right now…」

I’ll think about this later. With that thought in mind, I turned my attention back to Kuruwasebana, who was trying to untangle its own tangled Ivy in front of me.

「… How do these swords work… ?」

The description of the skill said that they could be manipulated, but it didn’t say exactly how… What should I do… ?

「At any rate, like that time…」

The only way I can think of right now is to just remind myself to move. This is the method I used to fly using the dragon wings when I fell from the top of the Tower of Trials. I consider this to be the best option.

「……….」

Move, move, move, move, move… !!

───Piku…

───Byun!!

「! That’s dangerous!?」

Since I had not set a specific direction of movement, I avoided the sword that flew towards me. This is how it works, I thought, but one thing remained bothering me.

「………. 10 of these…」

I don’t have the consciousness of 10. No, I might be able to make 10 of them do the same movement, but I can’t prompt each of them to do different movements.

「I’ll take care of that!」
「Ah, Iris!?」
「I’ll handle the swords!」
「Eh? But…」
「Listen, La!!」
「No, it’s okay, but how are you going to… ?」
「Fufufu, you’ll know it when you see it!」
「? Okay」

I listened to Iris while gently picking her up when she suddenly leaped forward in front of me. I was curious about how she could control the swords, but she said I would know by watching her, so I decided to take a look.

「Okay, I’m going!」
「Un」

───Gaku…

「Wait!? Iris!? Are you okay!?!?」
「…」

Iris, who had been standing in the palm of my hand until a moment ago, suddenly crumpled and fell. I helped her up, but she didn’t react in any way. Her appearance was that of a doll again.

A few seconds after she fell…

───Hyuhyun! Shupapapapapa!!

The swords suddenly started moving energetically. Each one was moving in a different way. They sliced through Kuruwasebana with erratic movements.

「… Oh… ohoh… ?」

I thought it was amazing, but I couldn’t hide how upset I was that Iris was no longer moving. And there…

「Ayaaaaaaa!!!!!!」

───Djidjidjichidjidji!!!!!

Suzu appeared in front of me in an instant and hugged me. When I saw that Suzu’s hair color was a gradation of yellow with a silver base, I realized that she had transformed.

「Were you able to defeat the boars?」
「Un! So I’ll take it from here!」
「Okay! Now that those swords are attacking and their attention is turned away, isn’t now a good time?」
「Yeah, that’s right! Okay! Take this, [Thunder]!」

One of the buzzing balls of electricity behind Suzu disappears and drops into Kuruwasebana.

───Pishaaaaaaaan!!!!

「──────!??!?!!?!」
「There’s more! [Thunder] [Thunder]!!」
「Uwaa…」

───Dogooodogoooooon!!!

「──────!?!!?!?!!?!?」
「 [Thunder] [Thunder] [Thunder] [Thunder]!!!」

───Dogogogogoooooooooooooon!!!!

「─── ………. !!」
「Fuuu… I’m tired…」
「……」

I looked at Kuruwasebana with pity. It had already turned black and was no longer moving, so I looked at it with my 《Appraisal》 and sure enough, it had 0 HP.

…… Suzu… Isn’t that a bit much… ?

It was almost as though the swords floating around the deceased Kuruwasebana were also retreating.

Author-san

Ryouka-senpai, you’re too much… N- no, I didn’t say anything. Yes… (whisper)