Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro�

In the afternoon, as the first day of special training approached the second half of the day, Feo and the others had finished the escort task and were in the process of completing the task at the reception desk of the administrative headquarters.

"Yu~p. With this, our task is done. So, what are we going to do now?"

"Yeah... I've seen the remaining tasks, but there aren't many left. For the time being, shouldn't we just intercept the party we met while doing the remaining tasks?"

"Eeh~! That's annoying. Why don't we attack a party like Irisdina who seems to have a lot of points? We can gain points and reduce our opponent at the same time. That's killing two birds with one stone."

Shina gave a safe answer to Feo's question. However, Mimuru raised a dissatisfied voice with her proposal.

Until now, they had not moved from the southern part of the training area to make full use of Shina's spirit magic. Her spirit magic, which specialized in base defense, fully demonstrated its abilities, and combined with Feo's swordsmanship and Tom's alchemy, they were strong enough to be called a fortress in the southern region. They were able to build a good base.

Perhaps because of that, most of the parties they encountered so far would only be defeated by Shina, Feo, and Tom's ranged attacks. Shina's accurate bow shooting and spirit magic, Feo's talisman technique that could monitor the situation from a distance, and Tom's magic that had increased its power by using a catalyst. Due to this abundant surveillance and ranged attack technique, most enemy parties were slaughtered without being able to get close to them.

As a result, Mimuru, who emphasized close combat, had accumulated frustration.

"...Mimuru, I know we managed to defeat the instructor who was the special target, but that's no reason for us to be negligent, right?"

"I know Shina. But you worry too much~."

Shina held her temple with her index finger. Maybe she had a headache with Mimuru's usual behavior. Tom, while seeing such a usual scene in front of him, make a bitter smile, then he spoke to Shina.

"Now now. However, I think Mimuru has a point. From now on, the only way to earn points is to fight the other parties..."

"That's true, but……"

Certainly, as Tom said, attacking was more efficient than defending to earn points from now on.

"More importantly, where do you think Nozomu is~? I didn't see him on the southern part of this training area..."

Feo still maintained his own pace even in front of the three of them. Shina felt her headache getting worse.

"Hey, why don't we go to the northern part this time? We haven't gone there yet."

"That's right! Let's go!"

Mimuru and Feo had started to harmonize completely. It seemed that the pace of the two 2nd-class troublemakers who don't listen to people will not change even in this special training.

"Haa, could you guys be a little more cautious?"

"But it can't be helped if we think about it. We've been in the southern part so far. Shina had signed a spiritual contract and intercepted enemies that came within the contract's range, so the number of parties had decreased and it was becoming very inefficient now. Also, we're done with the escort task, right?"

Eventually, Tom, who was supposed to be Shina's only ally, started to get in tune with Mimuru and Feo. But Shina herself understood that their previous strategy wasn't as efficient as before, so she had no choice but to nod at Tom's opinion.

"That is ... haa, I understand."

"Yeah! We'll do it!! Thank you, Tom."

"W-wait a minute, Mimuru... Uwa, pu~!"

Mimuru hugged Tom, probably satisfied with the way Tom persuaded Shina. When Tom's petite body fit snugly in Mimuru's arms, she started to rub her cheeks against Tom's.

Tom was embarrassed, but he was happy to be in close contact with his beloved woman, so he didn't resist, and Mimuru had done so occasionally.

"But it will be dangerous if we are ambushed, so proceed with caution."

Even though she had an amazed expression on her face, Shina looked at the two of them with a smile. Feo also smirked seeing something interesting.

After that, they headed to the northern part of the training area. Surprisingly, it was the place that became the fiercest battlefield right now.

===================================

As Shina and her friends were heading to the north, the battle between Irisdina's party and Lisa's party was on par with each other.

"Waa~!"

Lisa swung the saber in her right hand.

Her slash along with her overwhelming physical strength tried to reach Irisdina, but the rapier struck the belly of the saber and diverted its trajectory.

"Your back is left exposed!"

"Kuh!!"

However, in the meantime, Ken went around behind Irisdina and tried to swing the longsword he was holding.

Irisdina repelled Lisa's saber and without killing the momentum she blocked the oncoming Ken's attack, but she was pushed back by the longsword's momentum and lost her posture.

Lisa chased Irisdina further, who was out of shape.

Lisa turned her saber around and tried to hit Irisdina's body with her full blow.

However, Irisdina deployed a magic barrier with the ability "Immediate Deployment" to prevent Lisa from pursuing.

"Not good enough!"

Ken has attacked to replace Lisa again. Perhaps Irisdina thought that being surrounded by two enemies was a bad thing, she tried to take a step back, but Ken persistently followed because he didn't want to let her do that.

However, Tima's magic stopped his legs.

A large fireball attacked from Ken's side. *Calamity of the Sinner* faithfully carried out its master's orders and flew towards Ken who was trying to catch up to Irisdina.

"Kuh~!"

Ken gave up chasing and tried to dodge the magic by jumping out of place with all his might. As soon as he jumped, the huge fireball landed on the ground.

Tima's immense magical power that conjured *Calamity of the Sinner* exploded at once to show off the immense power hidden in her body. The rapidly dispersed flames caught up with Ken, who should have been quite far away, and the flames attacked him.

However, Ken was also a student who had reached rank A. He immediately put up a barrier and tried to block the effects of Tima's magic.

"Kuh~! As usual, such a tremendous power!"

However, the attacking flames tried to engulf Ken's magic barrier with its overwhelming power.

Originally, Tima was the strongest when it came to magical power only. Her magic wasn't easy to block. When Ken's magic barrier cracked, Lisa cut in between Ken and the approaching flames.

She quickly deployed another magic barrier and pushed back the flames that were trying to engulf Ken.

"Camilla !!"

"I know!!"

This time, Camilla, who was chanting a spell in the back, activated her magic. It wasn't comparable to the huge fireball Tima had created, but she created several fireballs and fired them at Tima who had just activated her magic.

"I won't let you!"

Irisdina immediately deployed and gathered the surrounding wind. She released the wind that gathered in a spiral towards the fireballs that flew towards Tima at once. The *Wind Tunnel of the Hungry Beast* activated by Irisdina swallowed Camilla's fireballs and dispersed them.

Irisdina stood in front of Tima to protect her while looking sideways at the falling pieces of the fireball.

Lisa and Ken stood with their respective weapons to protect Camilla who had just used her magic.

"Didn't we just go back and forth repeatedly? ..."

"Yeah. My party is superior in terms of numbers, so I thought it would be resolved quickly since Camilla is here, and if we continue our attack and defense like this, we will be able to overwhelm you."

Lisa replied to Irisdina's voice.

Certainly, Lisa's party had the advantage in terms of numbers, and if they thought about it normally, they would think that Irisdina and Tima would end up being overwhelmed eventually.

In fact, it was difficult for Irisdina to beat Lisa and Ken at the same time. Moreover, Camilla supported them from behind with magic.

However, it was somehow balanced because Irisdina was supported by Tima, who was behind her.

Despite the fact that Lisa and Ken had the advantage because of Camilla, Irisdina and Tima managed to fight because of their fighting experience.

Previously, they had to fight a powerful S-rank enemy named Rugato to save Somia. When Rugato fought to take Somia's soul with the contract as his pretext, they literally fought for life and death.

Magical power, experience, and fighting techniques far surpassed themselves. A battle with an opponent who could easily destroy what they had cultivated so far.

Even if they were unable to reach Rugato's heights at that time, the experience of fighting for their loved ones was engraved in their blood.

(Ai, what are we going to do? At this rate...)

(I know……)

However, frontal confrontation was still disadvantageous to Irisdina and Tima. Irisdina thought about how to manage their situation.

However, Lisa's party didn't give them much time. Lisa immediately doubled the effectiveness of her body strengthening magic with *Niveei Witch*. She rushed towards Irisdina to end their fight at once.

After the activation of Lisa's body strengthening magic, Camilla also started chanting a spell.

"Tima! We're running away!"

Upon seeing the situation, After seeing the situation, Irisdina immediately activated her magic with *Immediate Deployment*.

The next moment, darkness spread all around and engulfed Irisdina and Lisa in the blink of an eye.

"Kuh~! This is ..."

Lisa stopped in a hurry as her vision was obstructed by the darkness that enveloped her. Ken, who was right behind her, also stopped and observed his surroundings.

What was activated was magic called *Thick Fog of the New Moon*.

As the name implies, it generated a thick black fog that robbed the opponents of their sight.

"...They didn't attack?"

"I see, are they going to run away like this?"

At first, they thought Irisdina would launch an attack when the *Thick Fog of the New Moon* blocked their vision, but Lisa was skeptical that there was no such thing.

Ken wondered if they had escaped, but Lisa didn't think so.

"No, it's not ... I see! I understand!"

Lisa turned around. Her destination was where Camilla was.

When Camilla started to appear beyond Lisa's field of vision, as she had expected, a shadow rushed over from Camilla's side.

"I won't let you!"

"Kuh~, just a little bit more!"

Lisa plunged into the shadow creeping at Camilla and cut into it with the saber and dagger in her hand, but the shadow jumped away while parrying her attacks. It was Irisdina, who was creeping from the darkness, trying to attack Camilla from the side. The reason why Irisdina shouted earlier was to show the pretense that she was running away and let the other party be on guard, but she gritted her teeth when she was found out. Moreover, Ken and Camilla tried to attack her with magic, but Tima's magic activated before them. The *Wind Tunnel of the Hungry Beast* passed between Irisdina and Lisa's party, and they were going back to square one again.

The two parties glared at each other. At that moment, Irisdina heard a faint sound from a distance.

===================================

In the vicinity of Irisdina's fighting place, Nozomu's party was also in combat with Kevin's party.

"O-ra~a !!"

"Fuh~ !!"

Nozomu parried Kevin's fist. He swung his katana as soon as he parried Kevin's attack, but his katana was blocked by the back of Kevin's hand and was repelled with a high-pitched sound.

Kevin made a full turn on the spot and tried to do a roundhouse kick into Nozomu's flank, but Nozomu jumped back and dodged the roundhouse kick.

On landing, he stepped forward again and tried to launch a slash, but just as Nozomu was about to move forward, Kevin was already approaching in front of him.

"Too slow !!"

"Tch~!"

Kevin aimed his fist at Nozomu's face. Nozomu decided that it was too late to swing his katana, so he jumped to the side and dodged Kevin's fist. However, Kevin, who was superior in terms of physical ability, caught up to Nozomu in a blink of an eye.

"I told you, too slow !!"

"Kuh~!"

Kevin caught up with Nozomu and he jumped lightly without killing his running momentum. Using the strength of his entire body, he tried to kick Nozomu while twisting his whole body.

"Drop dead!"

A roundhouse kick with even more power than before was launched at Nozomu. Even a high-class student would be seriously injured if got hit directly. Nozomu calmly matched the timing while observing the oncoming kick that tore through the air.

"Fuh~ !!"

In the next moment, Nozomu activated *Instant Move -Curve Dance-*. Using a circular motion originally used for a curved motion, he parried Kevin's kick with his katana.

"Wha~!"

Kevin, who did not expect his kick to be blocked, was very surprised by the sudden event. Moreover, when Kevin lost his posture, Nozomu crouched while twisting one of his legs so as not to kill his *Instant Move -Curve Dance-* momentum, then launched a kick from below.

"Guh~!"

"Take this~ !!"

Kevin blocked Nozomu's kick with the back of his hand, but Nozomu put all of his strength into his leg. Kevin was slightly lifted by Nozomu's kick. Mars chased further from behind Kevin.

"Uoooooo!"

"!!"

Mars swung the wind-enveloped greatsword. Kevin tried to block Mars' slash with his leg while twisting his body again in the air.

"Haaa!"

"Gah!"

However, Kevin couldn't maintain his posture in midair, and it was impossible to completely block Mars' slash under such circumstances.

Kevin was thrown and slammed to the ground. However, he did a backroll and got up with a jump. His face was dyed red with the color of anger.

"Damn it! These guys!!"

Kevin glared at Nozomu and Mars with a murderous gaze.

He thought he could win easily, but he was forced to struggle unexpectedly. Because of that, he was furious.

On the other hand, unlike Kevin, Nozomu was more concerned about Jin and his friends' situation.

The four of them fought against two of Kevin's party members, but their situation wasn't good.

Perhaps because their opponents were students of the first class, the swordsmen and spearmen of the enemy party were dominant against Jin and Cami, Tommy and Hamria, respectively. They were holding out pretty well, but it was only a matter of time before they were defeated. And if Jin and his friends collapsed, the rest of Kevin's party would turn to support Kevin. When that happens, Nozomu and Mars can no longer win.

(The question is how can we overcome this situation as quickly as possible...)

"……Mars"

"What?"

Nozomu spoke in whispers to Mars, while keeping an eye on Kevin. Upon hearing his proposal, Mars was surprised and opened his eyes wide at the crazy idea.

"……Are you serious?"

Mars asked Nozomu to make sure. Nozomu nodded to answer his question and started sending his Qi throughout his body.

Mars, knowing that Nozomu was serious, looked a little doubtful. But he also began to make up his mind and released Qi throughout his body.

Kevin's entire body started radiating in the same way as the two who released their Qi. The next moment Nozomu and Mars moved.

The Qi released by Nozomu was sent to his feet and exploded at once. A rising cloud of dust enveloped the three and covered their field of view.

"Damn! So you intend to hide yourself with that?!"

Kevin spat out curse words, but suddenly he heard a sound, *Bam!*. He reflexively put himself on guard because of the sound.

The next moment, he saw something in his vision tearing through the soaring cloud of dust. Kevin clenched his fists to confront it.

However, the one who rushed, passed by Kevin without doing anything.

" !? "

The sight that jumped into his eyes was Mars trying to attack his companion who was fighting Jin and his friends.

Mars mustered all his Qi to strengthen his body and activated the Qi technique *Dust Blade* with the wind-enveloped greatsword. A roaring sound was produced as he ran and released the wind from his feet as propulsion. He aimed at the swordsman who was fighting Jin and his friends.

Nozomu's proposal to Mars was for him to ignore Kevin and go to support Jin and his friends.

If they think about it normally, they wouldn't have thought that Nozomu alone could suppress Kevin who had already reached rank A. No one would ask Mars, who was the most powerful person in Nozomu's party, to ignore Kevin.

But, that's why Nozomu dared to take that approach. As a result, Kevin and his party members were surprised because no one expected it.

In front of Kevin's vision, Mars blew the swordsman off with a single blow and driven him into an incapacitated state, and started chasing another member of Kevin's party, namely the spearman.

"Wha... damn it!"

The ignored Kevin rushes to help, but Nozomu interrupted his path and slashed Kevin as if not letting him do so.

"This guy !!"

"Sorry, but this way is closed!"

Nozomu swung his katana swiftly. He swung his katana down towards the head. Then he swept the katana sideways.

"Don't get in my way... Kuh~!"

Kevin tried to get past Nozomu's katana. He tried to run past Nozomu's side, but this time he was blocked by the scabbard that Nozomu swung.

Nozomu tried to stop Kevin by mobilizing not only his katana but also scabbard, kicks, and other physical techniques.

Nozomu swung the scabbard in succession after he swung the katana, and he used the recoil to turn his body and launch a roundhouse kick.

Kevin was agitated by the unexpected fierce attack. Each blow was not heavy, but he retreated unconsciously as the slashes and strikes were aimed accurately at the gaps in his defense.

Meanwhile, Mars hunted down the female student who used a spear. Perhaps she was agitated by the sudden development, her movement was clearly lacking. Eventually, her spear couldn't fully block Mars' slash that was swung up from below. Without being able to stop it, her spear got flicked upward and exposing her defenseless upper body.

"Heyaah!"

Mars swung his greatsword towards the unprotected upper body. Of course, he aimed the belly's greatsword towards his opponent so as not to injure her. Even so, if she were to receive it head-on, she would be forced to become incapacitated with a single blow.

"Kuh!"

The female student gritted her teeth due to the unavoidable situation. However, the next moment, a flame bullet that had flown from somewhere landed and struck Mars and the female student.

"Ma, Mars-kun!?"

"W-what the !?"

A shocked voice escaped from Jin's mouth due to the sudden event. Nozomu and Kevin, who were fighting, were also distracted by the exploding flame bullet and stopped temporarily.

"D-damn! What the hell was that !?"

Mars popped out of the smoke from the explosion of the flame bullet. He didn't appear to have been disqualified, but he had burns all over his body and his clothes were stained here and there. Perhaps he was defending himself by sending Qi throughout his body.

The female student was thrown several meters away, probably because she couldn't defend herself from the explosion.

Her pendant didn't glow red and didn't seem disqualified, but she struggled to get up, probably because she was badly injured.

Furthermore, several arrows were now coming towards Nozomu and Kevin.

"Kuh~ !!"

"Wha!"

A group of arrows pierced the ground as Nozomu and Kevin jump out from the spot. Furthermore, a shadow jumped out of the bush and attacked Nozomu. What was the true identity of the shadow?

"I found you, Nozomu!!"

"Feo! So, it's you!"

It was Feo who belonged to Shina's party who attacked them. The fox-tailed boy who stepped into Nozomu swung the staff he held in his hand at once.

"Damn!!"

Nozomu jumped back and dodged the staff, but Feo turned his body and stepped forward again, and the staff was swung towards Nozomu again.

Nozomu crouched down and dodged it. He immediately swung his katana as the staff passed over his head.

"Don't ignore me!"

"Damn! This one too!!"

However, Kevin was attacking from Nozomu's side this time. Nozomu tried to intercept Kevin by changing the trajectory of the katana he was trying to swing.

Nozomu's katana collided with the back of Kevin's hand and scattered red sparks.

"Ora~a !!"

"Guh~ !!"

In addition, Kevin immediately launched his next attacks. He straight out launched an elbow strike and connected it with a palm strike, a low kick, and a high kick. Nozomu blocked the elbow strike with his katana guard, then he twisted his body along his right arm that was holding the katana to parry the palm strike that was shot towards him, and thrust the scabbard into the low kick trajectory. But he wasn't in time to prevent the high kick. The high kick approached in front of Nozomu. Kevin's kick was aimed at Nozomu's face. However, Feo who was beside him parried the high kick with his staff.

"This stupid fox! Damn you!"

"Don't bother me! Nozomu is my opponent!"

Feo got in the way of Kevin who was trying to defeat Nozomu. Kevin decided that such Feo was also his enemy, so he tried to defeat them altogether.

The three continued their offense and defense while getting mixed up with each other. Before they knew it, a three-way battlefield was taking place there.

The battlefield where Mars and the others were also had a three-way battle.

Mimuru intruded on Mars and the female student, who were initially fighting, and stirred them up by taking advantage of her agility.

Jin and his friends tried to surround Mimuru by taking advantage of their numbers, but Shina's shooting and Tom's magic didn't allow Mimuru to be surrounded from behind.

Mars, who had wielded the greatsword, was in a fierce battle with Jin and his friends around him, so he couldn't swing his greatsword with all his might.

The situation changed even further.

Suddenly, a roaring sound resounded and a nearby tree was crushed as the ground was gouged out. Five shadows broke through the rising cloud of dust as pieces of wood and soil scattered.

"Tima! Are you okay!?"

"Y-yup! Somehow!"

"Lisa! Did you get them!?"

"No, they slipped away!"

Five women and a man, Irisdina, Tima, Lisa, Ken, and Camilla, appeared after breaking through the rising cloud of dust.

"What!? I-Iris!? And also... Lisa!?"

"No-Nozomu!?"

"This is...~!!"

"... Hee."

Nozomu, Irisdina, and Lisa who were looking at each other made startling voices. Everyone seemed to be taken aback by the people who had invaded their battle.

Nozomu, Irisdina, Lisa, Shina, Kevin. All five parties that defeated the special target in this special training were gathered in one place.

============================

"Gurururu ..."

Even now, it continued to sleep. The darkness that surrounded it never changed, wrapping around its body to protect its sleep.

Its body moved slightly. It turned its body over as if a human who was difficult to fall asleep.

What was bothering it? Looking closely, something fell from above it. It shook its head to shake off what had fallen, probably because something had fallen on its body disturbing its sleep.

Perhaps it still wasn't awake, it just moved its neck and its eyes were still closed.

And it tried to return to its deep slumber again. However, this time, a banging sound echoed in the darkness.

Its body moved again due to that sound, and its sickle-shaped neck lifted up. And its eyes, which had been closed for a long time, opened. Its pupils glanced towards above itself. It was aimed at the ceiling of the cave where it was sleeping.