c23 (2/2)

“I appreciate your concern, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine”

“But…”

“Whenservices are needed, I’ll pull back I definitely won’t pushmore than my part, anyway”

“…Alright Please be careful, okay?” Galeo replied seriously

…Although he’d lost his head a bit earlier, he was nevertheless the leader of a caravan It looked like those merchants that traveled between cities were actually quite reliable when it came down to it

“—Well then, any time now”

“Yeah”

“…?”

Despite the vagueness of Suimei’s words, Lefille nonetheless replied without a second thought She took up a stance once more

While Galeo was trying to puzzle out the irl suddenly shouted

“Everyone! They’re almost here!”

Just as she finished speaking, the forest trees’ leaves began to rustle The sound of the wind and sothened the already nervous tension

An adventurer, seeing Galeo glance around, and realizing that he hadn’t yet understood that the battle was about to begin, called out

“Hey, Galeo-san! Hurry up and hide, the battle’s about to start!”

“R-right! Best of luck in battle!”

Galeo ju to where they were to hide like a fleeing rabbit

Afterward, the guards made their respective preparations

Lefille, however, broke formation and advanced

It looked like she, once again, planned to take care of it all by herself

“Hey, Lefille”

“Don’t worry This tiht here Suimei-kun, when the time comes, please support me”

“Not a probles with the others?”

“That, hmm—”

A one ain?

Just as that thought crossed his ain in confusion, Lefille walked out where everyone could see her and abruptly turned

In a grand, exaggerated gesture, she plunged her sword into the ground

The loud sound and unseen pressure turned all eyes to her

Then—

“…I’ll be the vanguard! Everyone else, foret past me!” Lefille declared loudly, her actions un to lose themselves to the fear of the Mazoku’s numbers

Her voice alhout the area

Her voice, like rolling thunder, and her fearless, eneral

Even if not a as heard in reply, this definitely didn’t mean that the silence was because they looked down on Lefille’s resolve-filled words On the contrary, the forhtened considerably

Having been infected by the young wo had already stopped A reh-spirited y filled them instead

…So this is her talent, the so-called charisma in action

Just as Lefille displayed this surprising ability, she suddenly turned to the west

At the sa flew out from the forest depths – that ithout a doubt, Mazoku

A piercing cry sounded

“T-they’re here!” someone cried out

Still flying, the Mazoku reached them in an instant

Suddenly, just as the Mazoku approached, Lefille dashed forward tointo the air

“HAAAAAAA!”

—Before the other guards could even react, Lefille had already taken the lead in attacking the enemy

Her blade flashed With a single slash of her sword, longer than she was tall, three of the attacking Mazoku were sent flying

As they touched down on the ground, Lefille and Mazoku faced off against one another

The start of this battle had been crushi+ng for the Mazoku

This left a strong, clear iuard alike

The guards shouted with both surprise and delight Fro, several of the merchants mirrored their excited cries

—Just as Lefille had seized the initiative with this stunning display

“—?!”

Mazoku presences suddenly descended from above

Sensing this, several people looked up

“From above!”

Thewas a second late as they were suddenly ambushed from above

The Mazoku had apparently distracted the to ambush them from above

They’re trying to throw the battlefield into chaos! shi+t, if they break our formation, on’t be able to fix it

This would destroy any advantage es and archers held, and if this becaht, then they likely wouldn’t be able to separate themselves from the enemy until the battle was over

If they were trained in how to handle situations such as this, as soldiers were, then things would be different, of course—

In any event, this was bad

Accordingly, Suiic, when suddenly—

“In that case…”

A calm and cold voice left Lefille’s lips

Acco happened

“Wha—?!”

What did she just do?

Lefille’s surroundings suddenly began to gloith scarlet light

A brilliant light that seeh it would sweep away the darkness radiated froht could only be described as the phenomenon commonly known as “aura”

Concurrently, an enore forth

This power bathed her body, sword, and surroundings in dazzling light

“—HAAAAA!”

Lefille slashed, as though to part to the heavens themselves

Her sas, of course, nowhere near long enough to reach her enemies from where she stood As far as her ene at the eht traced the arc she drew in the air with her sword and continued onward, slicing apart all the Mazoku before her Their corpses dropped to the ground

Not even stopping to take a breath between strikes, she swung her sword relentlessly As if a sudden storm, in an instant she’d attacked all the Mazoku who had encircled her with a tornado of slashes

For these Mazoku, having ed her attack distance, this sword storm was an unavoidable, demonic ind Without so much as a cry, they were transformed into a pile of corpses

“Wha…?” Suimei mumbled in shock

The words “one-sided slaughter” passed through his mind

The scene before him felt unreal If he had to say why, then it was that scarlet light

“Hey, wait…!”

Fro that could possibly be found in the physical world

Generally speaking, unless so like that would never manifest physically

—The cries of the others were of a different sort than Suimei’s They, too, were unable to fully co, but their shouts were of joy

“A!”

“Hey, did you see that?! Lefille used that sae monster in tith one strike, you know?!”

“…That? Lefille’s used this before?”

“Eh? Yeah, she has… What about it?”

As the adventurer answered his surprised question in this manner, Suimei frowned Perhaps because of the ht of so

…The “huge iant that had been mentioned earlier

So it’s this power that defeated that thing, huh That makes sense If it’s this power, then she should be able to kill s with ease

Just as she was at that moment

“…So what about it? So you?”

“No, no It’s not like that…”

It was just that both his brain and his body seeh itto be feared

Looking at Suio off in the adventurer’s brain as he called out to his companions

“Hey, stop dawdling around! Let’s go help her!”

“Yes!”

Voices called out in agreement, not just those of the other uards as well

As this was happening, Lefille, still bathed in that bright red light, continued to slice the Mazoku in tith each strike of her sword

“…”

Suih frozen in place

Although Lefille had asked hi now, that didn’t seem necessary

If you were to ask why, again the ansould be the red light enveloping her In his home world, this poas known as “spirit”, “telesma”, or “the power of the spirits”

This was soether different from either s like angels or demons, a power that was far beyond huher dimension

—When it coht be a little confusing “High” here doesn’t refer to strength, but rather to the ability to interfere with, and resist interference from, other dimensions

Not to say that that th in any way either Described simply, a power that could not be stopped by physical objects wasn’t only incredibly suited for offense, it also would not fall subject to any of the opponent’s attacks either Such a poas practically cheat-like in its existence

While th of the practitioner in question, its power could siher-dimensional power

“Spirit”, on the other hand, was fundah order power

And so the scene before him—

Spirit transformation? No, Lefille’s a huht… Has there been a spirit living within her body or mind all this time…?

Fro the power of the spirits No, this was definitely a power she possessed all on her own

This hat had Suimei astonished beyond all belief

Froinal world, a spirit existing physically in theworld – was impossible

It was definitely the case that spirits had end, it was possible to confirs had occurred in antiquity

In els, and spirits – which were together known collectively as spirits – as well as deities both good and evil, had effectively been usurped by the expansion of science These supernatural existences of old had s possessing si outside of their world Aside fro ruling Gods, none others were left

Subsequently, if one desired use of their power, it was necessary to first communicate with them from this side and establish a contract before one would be able to manifest just a portion of their power

For this reason, as happening before his eyes, the sight of Lefille wielding this power as her own, completely unrestricted in any way, left him completely stupefied

Given what he was seeing, Lefillethe power of the spirit and the form of a human A truly rare existence

…Anyway, that’s just a wild guess, but still

That so like this can possibly exist… That’s a fantasy world for you

Still—

“No matter how you look at it, for her to be a spirit herself, that’s just cheating…”

His surprise was to the extent that his mind had practically frozen

That one such as he, whose goal was to delve into all the mysteries of this world, had been left in such a state was a testament to how surreal the scene before him was

“So of this level—!” Lefille roared as she sentto end every last Mazoku with a single strike

The Mazoku, on the other hand, though still deun to hesitate

“Good! Lefille, keep on doing what you’re doing! Kill theuards called out happily as they saw this

Doht for those assembled

At that moment—

“W-wait! So insanely powerful!”

Perhaps sensing thethe crowd shouted Iirl screa

“W-what is this?! It’s enor this way!”

Fro Mazoku, an explosive sound could be heard It was as though so in its surroundings This sound grew steadily closer

This was a dangerous presence Thethey’d encountered so far

Give s were finally just about to calm down, too…

Dammit!

Suiave off a dense, dangerous aura Lefille suddenly turned her head back

“Everyone, get back! It’s co!”

Next, as if to stomp out all hopes of their victory, the owner of that enor all trees in its wake, appeared on the battlefield

Loosing a roar that shook the ground, a Mazoku with frightening presence touched down as if striking the earth