Nina’s provocation caused Tomoe, who had fallen, to stand up.
Elana, soaring high in the sky, unleashed a fireball from above. A red line drew an arc and struck the giant centipede writhing on the ground. I instinctively hid behind some nearby rocks. Piyo also rushed towards this way from the sky in a panic.
“Piyo, too!”
“Auugh!”
The moment I was crushed by Piyo’s charge, a blast of hot wind swept across the entire area. When the wind stopped, I cautiously peeked from behind the rocks. The dry ground was further heated, like an iron plate.
The giant centipede, which had taken Elana’s attack head-on, lay defeated on the ground. No matter how huge it was, it couldn’t get up after taking so much damage. Wait, what happened to Tomoe?
“Hah! Tomoe?! Hey, Elana, what happened to Tomoe?”
Just then, Tomoe emerged crawling from beneath the centipede’s body.
“You catwoman! Are you trying to kill me?!”
“Oh, I thought you’d dodge it yourself.”
Elana landed on the ground with a calm expression and licked the back of her hand. Tomoe trembled, her fur scorched, and was furious.
“Damn it! What’s so good about her, you beast!”
Now, to rescue Pauline. Just as I thought that, I felt something move behind me. Could it have survived even after taking all that? Tomoe also couldn’t believe it, looking up at the centipede as it stood up.
“This is bad, it’s still alive! Run!”
The enraged centipede’s fist descended mercilessly from overhead.
“We’ll distract it. You and Lauren go search the nest.”
“Us? Damn it, I have no choice. We’ll go around the other way.”
While Tomoe and Elana kept it busy, I had to somehow sneak into the nest.
“Lauren, what about the first one you used?”
“Uh, that, its thread snapped while I was running away. I left it inside the centipede’s nest.”
So it couldn’t be used because the thread was broken. Would now be the time, when I’m lacking in composure? No, if they notice our presence by any chance, all their efforts will be in vain.
“Can’t something be done?!”
“Th-there’s nothing I can do! I can’t control it without the thread.”
“Then we have no choice but to go directly. I can do it.”
Sharin stopped Nina, who had declared she would go. Nina’s irritation grew with those words.
“Grrr, what should I do? Mugu… Haa, it’s no use, I need to calm down. It’s a bad habit of mine to get heated. Lauren, is there really no other way?”
She pressed her forehead, trying to calm herself down.
“Th-there isn’t, well, actually…”
“What is it! Speak clearly… Do you have any ideas? If you do, let’s try it.”
Nina held back the urge to scream. She was growing too.
“Y-yes, but I can’t do it. Or rather, I’m unable to.”
“Nn, aah, forget about whether you can or can’t do it, just do it! If we don’t do it now, nothing will move forward! What are you going to do if you can’t believe in yourself? You’re not the novice necromancer you were when we first met! You’re the real deal now, not like before when you hid in the shadows and grumbled.”
Nina’s encouragement made Lauren’s eyes widen in realization. Sharin nodded vigorously.
“That’s right, you’ve surpassed the stage where you were just doing it as a hobby. You have the skill to control Arisugawa. Don’t run from your limits, we all believe in your power.”
“Ev-everyone, everyone believes in me? But, but I always complain and am useless… But, yes, I’m sure Pauline believes in me. I was the only one who didn’t. I’ll try. If Gothmol could do it, I’m sure I can.”
With that, Lauren extended both her hands towards the nest where the corpses lay. Gothmol could do it too? Could it be remote control? Indeed, he had manipulated corpses without threads.
Lauren furrowed her brow, concentrating the power in her fingertips. Transparent threads extending from iron claws seemed to stretch taut.
“Hiroaki, it’s coming your way.”
“You guys, be careful!”
Elana and Tomoe’s voices jolted me back to reality. I saw the centipede crawling towards us. Had it discovered us?
“It’s probably a wild instinct. Sharin, we’ll hold it off.”
“Ah, ah. Arisugawa, stay by Lauren. Here, this is your sword.”
Sharin had picked up the Enchanted Sword I had dropped. However, the current giant centipede was like a runaway train with broken brakes. If we carelessly interfered, we’d be run over and torn apart. But Lauren couldn’t move from here.
Nina dodged to the side and attacked.
“Take this! Ugh!”
Before her dagger could reach, she was blown away by the approaching colossal body. Sharin, seeing this, stopped in his tracks.
