226 - - the fifth consecutive Order of Merit

"Not yet. It's not over yet!"

Shouting a warning, Thor was already running.

Bouncing off the mud, the witch's head emerged from a myriad of thick, tangled ropes.

Writhing like snakes, they lifted up all at once, and from their tips scattered black mass, this time in all directions.

Thor, who had gone and erased the lump that had pierced Bettina, slashed the black shadow that had flown toward him with his sword.

At the same time, he quickly checks on the safety of his companions who are still on the log floor.

The black mass headed for Yuril and Barconia stayed in midair or bounced back to its original position.

Rasel seems to have cut them down with his sword, as did Thor.

Garudo and Godan seem to have defended themselves with their shields, but the three vanguard members were not moving with any precision, perhaps as a reaction to their use of the Kamieda martial arts.

What is more problematic is that their swords and shields are melting as they twist and shrink.

Thor's sword, which had cut the black mass, was already losing its weight.

And that's not all.

The mud-like lumps scattered indiscriminately were rapidly melting the logs on the floor.

A strange smell immediately pervades the area.

"......?"

It is a dark technique that rapidly decomposes the target it hits.

Of course, Thor's can restore the object to its original state, but the problem is how many there are.

The witch's head, now positioned in the center of the log floor on top of a muddy pile, was now writhing with nearly a dozen hairs.

No, not a trace of her face remained.

What was there was an ominous mass of flesh with black tentacles outstretched.

"Is this the madness phase? Or is this the main body?

In front of Thor, who mutters to himself, the tentacles lift up all at once.

And again the black mass was scattered in all directions.

"Run!"

Thor's and Sora's magic techniques require a specific target.

Therefore, if the number of attacks to be prevented increases too much, the number of usable attacks will quickly run out.

Realizing that they are slowed down in this situation, Garudo and the others jump into the swamp as if they were rolling.

But Euril and the others are not so quick to move.

Bettina, who had stood up, stepped forward to cover them.

Then the rotten bullets poured down on them mercilessly.

A thin sword flashes, and the black mass is bounced away.

A few more of them stopped in mid-air, or turned in the wrong direction.

But still the number of bullets was overwhelming.

Bettina's flesh was rotting and her bones were beginning to twist from cheek to jaw, as well as her armor.

Her handsome face was contorted in pain.

But her hand is still firmly holding up the sword, the blade half-edged.

Thor quickly raised the strength of his snakeskin cloak to shield himself, but even so, a terrible stench of decay began to waft out.

It would be tough to catch the next one.

Perhaps Sola's and are almost exhausted now.

The number of times can be used is also limited.

However, the old ice master would not have stood idly by and let this happen.

Yuril's chanting had already ended.

"Moonlight, bind-- ".

A true circle of the frozen moon is invoked, and a wave of frosty water pours down on the witch's body.

No matter how formidable the opponent is, once she is iced, she is finished.

Immediately, the black, undulating tentacles did not stop moving.

The black hairs, which should have been bathed in the freezing light, begin to move even more violently.

They grew thicker and longer, and grew larger, wiggling and twisting.

At the same time, the silver space that had opened up above them seemed to distort and disappear as if sucked into the witch's body.

At the sight of this impossible situation, Barconia turned pale and muttered to herself.

"......Was it ............ or did she suck ...... magic power from the witch's body? ......?"

It is a hard phenomenon to believe, but that is all we can take from what has just happened.

Yuril also falls silent with his eyes wide open.

And the situation gets worse.

Mud is gathering again in the mass of flesh under the hair.

The log floor, which was already rotting away, has been restored, but it seems that in the short time it took to fix it, it had sucked up a lot of mud from the swamp.

Before the eyes of Thor and his friends, the witch was slowly regaining her original form.

The use of the trusty Kamieda magic technique would only cause her to absorb the mud and speed up her recovery.

The upper branch martial arts that seemed to work were already in use and could not be used immediately.

It seems that we were completely mistaken in thinking that we had him cornered.

A deep look of despair covers the faces of the adventurers who have been watching breathlessly from the rear in the face of the unfathomable power of the beings of lore.

The witch raises her black tentacles high in the air in front of the crowd, which has lost its voice.

The four men left on stage have nowhere to run.

Many of the young people turned away and fell on their faces in horror at the tragedy that was about to befall them.

But Thor, standing in this absolute predicament, looks up straight.

He his rotten and twisted sword and lifted it up to the sky in the air in high spirits, as if defeated by the witch.

Then he called out a single word.

"Good, shoot him!　Moo."

The cheerful voice of a young child suddenly rang out from overhead.

At the same time, a large number of somethings are pouring down on the witch all at once.

Perhaps the air is shaken by the movement, and the presence lurking just above Thor and the others is revealed.

Floating in the swampy sky was a large flying dragon.

Fluttering its wings, it stayed dexterously in the air.

Leaning out of a small boat attached to its abdomen were Moo, his purple eyes shining, and Sora, his staff outstretched.

Upon closer inspection, the child's body is tied to the girl's with a cord, with no space between them.

In fact, they have been participating in the battle from above.

And now, when the flying dragon let go of the large cloth that held her legs, Chita's wind concealment was lifted and she appeared.

Something white, tightly wrapped in the cloth, fell one after another toward the witch.

It was a big, fat, and magnificent mushroom.

However, inside the mushroom was a flammable and dangerous gas.

Perhaps sensing the presence of danger, the witch scattered indiscriminately without a moment's pause.

Naturally, the black mass is directed at the exploding mushrooms that are falling from directly above.

"Rairai!"

With a childish shout, a space with a mixture of purple electric currents appears unexpectedly just below Moe.

--

Objects that enter this space slow down rapidly.

In an instant, the white mushrooms and the black stop moving.

More fly toward Thor and the others, but suddenly disappear as if drowned out in mid-air.

.

This is a new skill that Sora has learned.

The black mass that could not be erased is hit by a flying from the opposite direction and bounces off.

.

The magic technique whose use had been unknown had now been transformed into a powerful technique that could create at will what had been erased.

Thor nodded to them as he ducked.

Thora smiled and waved back, and Moe tapped his cage and waved his index finger down.

A very small purple current is produced from his fingertip.

The child's sparkle falls down, glistening and shining.

It penetrated the electric cage and reached the mushrooms where it stayed.

Without a sound, one of the mushrooms hit by the lightning bursts into red, engulfing the one next to it.

The flames accelerate at once, spreading brightly...

An explosion engulfed everything around it and the sound of the explosion shaking the air was heard right above the witch.

The bright red flames erupt, engulfing all of the black tentacles.

The tremendous blast sent Ulir and the others, who had been lying face down, flying off the ground and rolling violently on the log floor.

Thor thrust his sword again and managed to hold his body in place.

When the fierce wind died down, all that remained was a charred and shriveled mass that had lost most of its tentacles.

It was still smoldering in places and a white smoke was rising.

There was no trace of the muddy soil that had gathered, either evaporated or was blown away.

Shaking his head, which still rings in his ears, Thor puts his hands on the floor, keeping his eyes on the monster in front of him.

The black tentacles, though slight, were writhing faintly as they burned themselves.

The tentacles crawl desperately on the floor, looking for safe mud to protect them.

Then, as if spitting out a black mass, they rotted a log and inserted their outstretched bodies under it, one after another.

But all that awaited them was a solid stone floor.

Thor, who has just finished his , stands up, exhaling quietly.

According to the scattered Central Region history, the perimeter of this prison was covered with walls and cobblestones at that time.

The records had already been read.

All we have to do now is to find the time when we need it and put it back.

Surrounded by the log floor, which is now on fire, the remnants of the witches are on a deadly rampage.

But the cobblestones cannot be allowed to rot, and there is nowhere to run.

Thor watches the Legendary Monster, a monster of folklore coiled in flames, freeze in place, until the very end.