“Everyone, are you—”
Before I could finish the sentence, Luminas-sensei pulled me into a tight embrace.
The weight of breasts larger than Chiyu’s pressed against my chest, and I was enveloped in the sensei’s scent and body heat.
“I told you! Please stop worrying us like this!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“I know how brave you are, but I wasn’t here just now, was I?! What if something had happened to you?!”
Because I could tell she was genuinely concerned for my safety, the only feeling that rose in me was guilt at being scolded.
If I had been prepared for a prolonged battle, there might have been other strategies available.
For instance, everyone could have boarded Fenrir Miyao’s back, using Luminas-sensei’s magic to snipe while watching for an opening in the enemy’s defense.
But in that moment, I truly believed that was the best option.
“I-I’ll be careful.”
As I said this, I gave her back a few light pats.
We stayed like that for a little while, but suddenly, as if she had realized something, sensei yanked herself away from me with a start.
Her face was dyed deep red.
“T-That just now, I mean, it’s different!”
I’m trying to explain the situation to Miyoo and Kamisono, but……
“Please don’t worry about it, Lady Luminous. It’s only natural that you’re drawn to Sou-suke. Besides, this is an desert island where there are no teachers or students. No one here will reproach you for your feelings.”
Was Kamisono trying to smooth things over?
The teacher’s face turned an even deeper shade of red.
“Sou-suke-san. Thank you from the bottom of my heart just now. For protecting me, who is so weak and helpless, you faced a giant enemy. My admiration for you has only deepened.”
Kamisono gently held my hand, looking up at me with her cheeks flushed.
“You’re… you’re welcome?”
”……Which road shall we take?”
Miyoo, who had reverted to human form, chimed in on the conversation.
I suppose I should say she brought us back to the point at hand.
I had noticed during the battle that this vast space also appeared to be a non-minable area.
But surely, if we took one of the three branching paths ahead, it would be minable?
“R-Right! So… which one shall we choose?”
“I will follow everyone’s decision.”
The teacher said, flustered and stammering, while Kamisono replied with a serene smile.
“In Fenrir state, my nose is pretty sharp. The one on the far left had a strong smell of Golem.”
Had she gained the ability to distinguish scents after sniffing them just once?
“Ooh, that’s impressive. In that case, we should probably avoid the left side.”
“By the way, Maboroshi-san, what about the remaining two?”
“The middle one has the faintest scent, but… um…”
“The master of this white void must surely be aware of your abilities, Miyo-sama. It’s either a test to see if I can detect the smell even in Fenrir form, or perhaps it’s a trap set on the assumption that we would judge by scent.”
“Y-yes…”
If it was the former, choosing the middle option would be relatively safe.
However, if it was the latter, choosing the middle might lead us straight into the trap.
“I-I see… That’s really a dilemma.”
“Thinking about it won’t give us an answer. I’ll cast my vote for the middle. It’s better to face stronger enemies in smaller numbers than to have them come out in swarms like before.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Besides, I don’t want you risking your life anymore.”
Miyo was staring at me with a side-eye, which was unusual for her.
If she hadn’t caught me, it would have been a disaster.
Mio must have had her heart in her mouth, too.
Thinking about what she must be feeling right now makes me feel awful.
But if something similar happened again, I probably would have moved on instinct.
Silently, I made a promise to myself: next time, I’d think clearly all the way down until the moment of impact.
“Then, let’s proceed with the middle path.”
And so, we continued our way down the bizarrely cylindrical corridor.
Mio transformed into Fenrir once again.
After some discussion, it was decided that Fenrio Mio would handle enemy detection while I took on the excavation.
“Alright, let’s give it a shot.”
The Sensei used [Heat Light Magic] to carve away at the rock face.
As if trying to make this third attempt count, large stones clattered and rolled down.
“It seems we can mine here.”
Kamizono murmured, seemingly relieved.
I examined the fragments that crumbled down from above, but I couldn’t distinguish their types by sight alone.
Fukaho had taught me a little about them, but this was completely beyond me.
Since all we needed for this time was just one of each type, I placed a single fragment into my basket and Kamizono’s before moving on to the next extraction point.
We continued this process of mining at various spots for a while.
“Mm. That should give us five or more varieties.”
Just to be safe, I gathered about seven different types that looked visually distinct.
There were whitish ones, reddish-brown ones, ones resembling crystal, white lumps streaked with black veins, bluish ones, and so on—a real variety.
It seemed like you could only mine the same-looking ore from the same spot, which made things take longer than expected, but this should guarantee we pass.
The condition to clear was to “carry it outside,” so I couldn’t be at ease until we returned to the entrance from here.
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work.”
Kamizono offered words of appreciation.
“Thanks to you and Miyao, everything worked out in the end.”
“No, I only managed it thanks to your cooperation.”
Perhaps it was because the atmosphere had grown so harmonious that things took a turn for the worse.
Fenrir Miyao let out a low growl, a warning to stay on guard.
Everyone followed Miyao’s gaze.
There, a female figure stood.
Or rather, that wasn’t quite right.
She had the silhouette of a human woman, and her skin possessed a human-like texture, but her joints resembled those of a doll.
Her face was covered by a metallic mask, yet hair grew from beneath it; if one could ignore her skin, she would be indistinguishable from a human.
She wore rags that looked like they were on the verge of falling apart; without them covering her, I might have been unable to look directly at her.
It was undeniably obvious she was a doll, yet her proximity to humanity made her a beautiful and somehow terrifying presence.
“A-Is that also a Golem?”
Kagino’s voice trembled.
She was likely provoked into fear by this abomination that was so strikingly close to human form.
“Attack if you come closer!”
The teacher warned.
She too seemed to have a certain reluctance when it came to attacking humanoid forms.
For Fenrir Miyao, she should have been able to tell it was a Golem by the smell.
In reality, she lunged immediately and delivered a strike with her sharp claws—she just couldn’t land it.
A semi-transparent, disc-like object appeared and deflected Miyao’s attack.
Fenrir Miyao’s body was slammed into the rock face.
“Miyao-san! Grrr… I will not allow my student to be harmed!”
Professor Luminas pointed at the enemy with her index finger.
Something felt off.
He looked at Miyao.
It had been hard to see through the red fur, but he finally noticed it.
There were gashes that resembled a Fenrir’s claw marks.
In other words, the enemy hadn’t used a barrier-like ability to block the attack.
It must have used a completely different ability to reflect the strike.
By the time he realized this, I was already sprinting toward the professor.
He knew it would be impossible to stop her from casting the spell in time.
A line of light began to trace across the air.
The female Golem deployed a disc to block the heat beam.
The heat ray struck the disc and reflected off, nearly piercing through the teacher’s head.
“Guh!”
—Make it in time…!
By a hair’s breadth, I managed to shove Sensei out of the way.
“Kyah…!”
It was good that Sensei had dodged the heat beam’s trajectory, but I certainly hadn’t saved them with any grace.
In an instant, a burning pain shot through my body.
I collapsed, then immediately pushed myself up to check the source of the pain.
A hole where the heat beam had passed through was open in my left shoulder.
“T-ta-kuji-kun? W-wait, no way!!”
”……It’s good you’re safe.”
Sweat erupted from every pore of my body, my heartbeat thumped so loudly it was deafening, and the pain was unimaginable, but I forced a smile to reassure Sensei.
I worried whether that smile looked twisted or not.
It would be a lie to say I didn’t think about death, but Chiuyu is with me.
Now isn’t the time to focus on the pain; I reminded myself that my priority was defeating this Golem as quickly as possible.
So, what do I do?
You may already know this if you’ve been reading up to this point,
But don’t worry; the characters might hit a rough patch, but they breezed through it with ease!
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