The day of battle. The sun had come out in full brightness and the sunlight poured down as if to cheer on Rei and the others.

The last few days had been good weather, but today was the best yet.

「It’s still morning, but it’s already this hot.」

Miroir glared at the sun with a fed up expression, which continued shine down strongly.

「Well that’s how it is, Miroir-san. If you consider that this is a port city though, it should be a lot more comfortable with the sea breeze than further inland.」

Aside from his usual sword, Hendeka carried a bow and quiver of arrows as he told Miroir to just accept the situation.

「It might be cooler with the sea breeze, but it’s not enough to ignore the heat.」

「Hm? This heat isn’t that bad. Rather, I’m feeling great because I can finally fight the Lemrace. Especially since my opponents yesterday were too weak and I’ve built up too much stress. I would really like to loosen up my body before fighting the Lemrace.」

Miroir gave a sigh at Egret’s wish that monsters would suddenly attack them as they walked along the road.

「Seriously, you. Why do you suddenly feel so motivated when it comes to fighting the Lemrace? ……Oh, because you’re Egret.」

「Exactly!」

Those words could have been taken as an insult, but for some reason, Egret just smiled as he threw out his chest with pride.

「Was there something to fight yesterday? I didn’t hear anything about the city being attacked by monsters?」

Hendeka asked, not knowing what had happened yesterday. However, Miroir just went up to him with a smile as she stroked his cheek.

「Hendeka, there are some things that you shouldn’t need know, you know?」

「Y-YYYY-Yes!」

Hendeka’s cheeks went bright red in embarrassment and shame at her sudden action.

To Hendeka, although Miroir was less than five years older than him, she was a B rank adventurer who was even higher up than Rei in a sense. In addition, Miroir had decent features. If such a good looking woman approached him so closely that cheek to cheek contact was possible, it wasn’t surprising for Hendeka, who wasn’t used to such interactions, to get into a fluster.

「E-Egret-san……」

In order to break out of the current situation, Hendeka called out to Egret for help. However, for some reason, Egret just happily held Shen up in one of his arms as he fed him some dried meat he had taken out from his pouch.

「Kyi, kikiki!」

Shen ate the dried meat it was given and gave a cry in a happy mood.

(Ah, I’m fine.)

When he saw what was happening, Hendeka thought that in his mind. There was no way that Hendeka would have been able to support Shen on one of his arms. No, rather, he could hold Shen up for a minute, but it would be impossible to do so for much longer. That was why Hendeka felt a sense of envy when he saw Egret hold Shen up on his arm as if were nothing.

「Hm? What’s wrong? Already can’t handle Miroir? I’m sorry, but she can be difficult to deal with. I can help you out a bit as long as I don’t get hurt……」

Miroir swung her whip to interrupt Egret’s words as the sound of the tip striking the ground echoed out.

「Egret, if you’re looking for a fight, I’m more than happy to give you one.」

「……My bad. Miroir is a very wonderful woman and you should really try to understand her charms.」

As expected, Egret didn’t dare disobey Miroir, who usually took care of everything he found to difficult, and immediately changed his words.

In fact, there were many things that Egret would find inconvenient if he had to work separately from Miroir. In some sense, it could be because he recognised himself as a muscle brain.

「A-Ahahaha. That’s right. Miroir-san is definitely an attractive person.」

Seeing that, all Hendeka could do was mumble out something to cover up the situation.

As they continued talking with each other, they finally arrived at the clearing that they and Rei had chosen to fight the Lemrace at.

「Well, all that’s left is to wait for Rei to use his magic item and move the Lemrace here.」

「You know though, that’s a ridiculous magic item to be able to forcefully transfer an attacking enemy.」

「That just shows how strong of an enemy the Lemrace is. In fact, a monster that could attack from nowhere and not be seen would be impossible to deal with without such a crazy magic item. Moreover……」

Egret looked puzzled as Miroir stopped talking after speaking up to that point.

Hendeka was probably also confused. He called out to Miroir with a concerned expression.

「Miroir-san?」

「No, I’m probably just imagining things. Anyway, the task we were given was to hold the Lemrace here until Rei arrives.」

Seeing her partner’s dissatisfied expression, she continued with a sigh.

「If we can kill it before Rei gets here that’s fine, but otherwise, we should keep attacking it to stop the Lemrace from leaving here……speaking of which.」

The space above them opened into a 10m sized eye……or mouth. Beyond the opening, they could see the bottom of the sea.

Strangely enough, although the space was connected to the bottom of the sea, no seawater fell from the space crack.

The three of them were momentarily caught off guard at the unimaginable sight. In the end, it was Egret, who was most looking forward to fighting the Lemrace, who was the first to recollect himself.

「It’s here, prepare for battle! Hendeka, back up and cover us with your bow! Shen, hold it down from the sky. Miroir, attack from short range as usual. I’m going in to smack it!」

At Egret’s instructions, Hendeka fell back with his bow in a hurry as Shen flew up into the sky. Miroir readied her whip as usual while Egret took his poleaxe off his back.

Each of them readied themselves to fight at any time. Suddenly, something fell from the space rift, making a loud sound as it hit the ground. The three of them were shaken by the earthquake like impact.

「This is……」

Was it Hendeka or Miroir who said that? Those words were mixed with fear and awe as both of them held intense expressions on their faces.

Only Egret looked at the fallen monster with a fierce smile. But even he was unable to stop cold sweat from forming when he saw what it was.

The monster was large and long. Maybe due to the danger it felt after hitting the ground, a purple liquid was being secreted from its body. It was close to 30m in length and had a body so thick that it would take 5 large men to wrap their arms around it.

Its mouth took up half its face and numerous sharp fangs extended past it. At first, fear showed in its eyes, but it soon turned to anger. That was proof that the huge monster in front of them had a certain level of wisdom and intelligence.

「A Sea Serpent? No, it’s size and shape is very different.」

Miroir muttered in bewilderment, but soon reached an answer.

「In other words, it’s a high ranking or rare species of Sea Serpent!?」

Sea Serpents. Normally, they were a C rank monster, not exceeding 10m in length and 3m in circumference. No poisonous purple liquid could be secreted from their bodies and their teeth were only as big as their mouth. And above all, they relied purely on instinct and had no real wisdom or intelligence.

「It’s not good for such a big catch to show up. Sea Serpents are considered C or B rank when in water. This one is clearly at least B rank no matter how you look at it. In the worst case, it might even be A rank.」

This was the monster known as the Lemrace, which previously had never been seen before. Miroir desperately scraped her will to fight together as the monster glared at them threateningly, talking rapidly as she tried to stop her body from trembling.

At Miroir’s fast explanation, Hendeka, who was only a D rank adventurer, could only give a small nod. He had already forgotten the what had been said just a few seconds ago as he was lost in the giant presence before him.

If his state of mind had continued for several more seconds, Hendeka might have given up without being able to do anything more. But……

「UOOOOOOH-! B rank would be the same rank as us. There’s nothing we can’t deal with! Besides, our job is to just hold it here until Rei arrives. I’m not scared!」

Shouting as if to rouse himself……no, shouting to rid himself of his own fear, Egret gave cry as he struck the Sea Serpent with his poleaxe. Returning to reality, Miroir swung her whip while Hendeka drew back his bow, despite his trembling.

「Kyi, kikikiki-!」

Even Shen, who was flying in the sky, attacked the monster which made it seem insignificant in comparison.

All to protect Hendeka, his beloved master.

「SHAAAAAAAA-!」

However, the Sea Serpent simply sat there as it took all their attacks.

「UOOOOOOH-!」

The blade of Egret’s poleaxe, which was swung with a loud shout and great force, slipped on the purple liquid the moment it touched the Sea Serpent’s skin, deflecting it and causing an uncomfortable feeling in Egret’s hands as the blade started to visibly corrode.

At the same time, an arrow shot by Hendeka slid off in another direction without piercing the Sea Serpent’s skin as soon as it touched the purple liquid.

The only weapon causing any real damage was Miroir’s whip. The moment the whip’s tip struck it’s skin, the snap back would pass the impact into the Sea Serpent’s body. However, it wasn’t possible for a whip to cause significant damage to a monster with a body over 30m in length. Instead, it only served to draw the Sea Serpent’s attention.

「Hey……I don’t know how to deal with this……」

Miroir murmured to herself as the Sea Serpent’s eyes looked towards her.

From now until Rei arrival, the three of them would be locked into a desperate strugle.

 

 

Going back in time, as Rei and Set were still flying over the coast of Emoshion.

Reaching a point far enough from the city that the port was only a dot, Rei looked around before speaking.

「Grimm, it’s about time isn’t it? Fortunately, I haven’t been attacked by the Lemrace yet, but I’m afraid it won’t be long. Before that happens, I’d like to ask you to move it.」

『Hmm, that’s true. It’s hard to stay under the sun for long. At the very least, it would have been better if there were clouds around.』

Rei gave a small gasp as Grimm somehow appeared floating next to Set without him noticing anything.

He had called out to Grimm, but Rei hadn’t actually expected him to appear so suddenly.

『Hohoho, don’t be surprised. Since I had agreed to meet here, I was ready to start at any time.』

「……Is that so? Or should I say, as expected.」

Maybe only a Lich who had lived for such a long time would have been able to appear without him or Set noticing anything.

While convincing himself in his mind, he calmed Set down by stroking his neck, who was a bit spooked after Grimm had showed up like that.

Grimm smiled at the two of them, though neither Rei or Set were aware of it due to his skeletal face. However, he was still uncomfortable due to the sunlight that continuously burned him.

If Rei and Set were as calm as they usually were, they would have noticed something black slowly leaking out of Grimm’s body.

For a Lich, sunlight was the same as poison. Even if Grimm had lived for so long, it didn’t make a difference. Even as he spoke, he was still burning, albeit very slowly.

『Well then, there’s no time to waste. Let us get started.』

Muttering that, Grimm started focusing his magic power. Right here, the magic of Grimm, who had lived for thousands of years, was about to appear.

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