The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
There were no eyes on the figure.
No nose, no mouth either.
It had a human shape—just that.
It lacked several essential features needed to be recognized as a person. It was like the base model of a doll.
And it wasn’t just one of them—there were several.
The dolls slowly approached us.
“What the heck is that? Looks mighty strange.”
“That is a guardian of the heart.”
“A guardian of the heart?”
“Something like an instinct for self-preservation. Right now, you lot are foreign entities. It might be trying to eliminate you... Hm? But still, that form is awfully distorted. The guardian of the heart reflects its master, so it shouldn't take on such a form…”
“In that case, perhaps it’s due to the curse as well.”
“Yes, that’s very likely.”
“Is it alright to defeat them?”
“There’s no problem. In fact, since the mind is already being corrupted, those things can be considered part of the curse. Destroy them all!”
“I’ll… do my best.”
Nina showed her determination to heal Nokia.
She held out her palm toward the approaching dolls—
“Come forth, flames from beyond!”
But before she could act, Iris’s attack erupted.
Countless bursts of fire, powerful and fierce, were summoned and struck the dolls.
With a whoosh, they exploded.
“……”
The dolls were annihilated without even a chance to resist or escape.
“Ugh…”
“What’s wrong?”
Nina cast a resentful glance at Iris, who flinched.
“Iris… that wasn’t cool.”
“I think so too.”
“I… wanted to do my best…”
“W-Why am I the one being blamed here?”
She could have read the room a little better.
Well, she’s always lived freely on her own until now, so it’s probably not her strong suit.
A surprisingly unexpected discovery.
“Still… Iris, is your power really weakened? You sure didn’t look like it.”
“That was just a standard attack. At my current level, something like that poses no problem. However, summoning my other self or activating transformations at will is quite difficult…”
Even weakened, she still had that much power.
She was incredible.
We can’t afford to fall behind.
To avoid making her shoulder all the burden, we have to do our part too.
“Tina, are there any more enemies?”
“Uhh… probably not. But I can only check within about a hundred meters around us, so I can’t say for sure.”
She floated up high to survey the area.
Since we couldn’t tame animals, relying on Tina was our best bet.
“Miss Al. Do you know how to locate the stakes?”
“That’s a bit much to ask... The world of the mind is different for each person. What it’s like or what’s where, I couldn’t possibly know. But the stakes are part of the curse, so they should give off a magical reaction. Track that.”
“I see.”
The only issue is figuring out how to detect that magical reaction…
“...Rain.”
“Yeah? What is it, Nina?”
“Let… me do it.”
“You can sense it?”
“Mm. I… can’t let myself lose either, right?”
She glanced over at Iris as she spoke confidently.
A bit of healthy rivalry.
And, like me, a desire not to burden Iris alone.
I could clearly see both those feelings in her.
“Alright then, I’m counting on you.”
“Mm!”
I instinctively patted her on the head, and Nina wagged her three tails busily.
She seemed happy to be relied on.
“Mmm…”
Nina closed her eyes and focused.
She had the ability to manipulate subspace.
And it seemed she could sense the flow of magical energy while doing so.
I see.
If that’s the case, she might really be able to locate the stakes.
“This way… maybe?”
After a short while, Nina began walking eastward.
Everyone followed behind her as she took the lead.
Of course, we stayed on guard in case of another sudden attack from the dolls.
“Is that...?”
After walking for about ten minutes, an unusual object came into view.
It was a massive tree, towering so high we had to look up at it.
But its trunk, its branches, and even its leaves—everything was black.
As if the darkness of night had been condensed, as if it had been painted over with shadows.
It was a completely black giant tree.
Around it gathered a number of dolls far greater than what we had encountered before.
They had surely noticed us already, yet they made no move to attack.
They were probably guarding the tree.
“Could that be…?”
“Yes. A fragment of the Black Blessing... the stake.”
A towering giant tree.
A horde of dolls, nearly a hundred in number.
This was going to be a problem.
“I don't know much about the stakes either. They apparently change their nature depending on the host they've parasitized... it's a truly infuriating characteristic. Be careful.”
“Understood.”
“Shall we clear out the surrounding rabble for now? With those nuisances around, we won’t be able to properly examine the stake.”
“Right. It looks like a pain, but being thorough is more important.”
“No, everyone, please stay on alert. I shall take care of the rabble myself.”
With that, Iris spread her eight wings wide.
I recognized that stance—it was her attack formation.
“Wait a sec, you're not going to just—”
“Come forth, White Blast of the End.”
In an instant, the world was dyed white.
Iris’s ultimate attack, a massive magical shockwave of devastating power, erupted.
A GAAAAAAHH!! tore through the air, deafening and violent.
The ground trembled as though an earthquake had struck.
And yet she said she couldn’t even use her full power. Just how strong is Iris?
I mean... I actually beat her once, didn’t I?
Kind of makes me want to pat myself on the back.
“Phew.”
After a moment, the light of destruction faded away.
Deep cracks were carved into the earth.
Most of the doll horde had been obliterated—completely gone, not even a trace left.
However... the stake stood untouched, as if nothing had happened at all—unscathed and imposing in the center of it all.
Comments
Post a Comment