The Branded Female Fencer

n and a black mist sprayed out.

「It’s a Breath!」

「Tsk!」

As soon as the two of them avoided it, the trees around them rotted into goo all at once.
It’s the breath of corrosion.
It must have a taken less than a minute from the time the Archfiend appeared to the time of the attack.
But it was a dense exchange of lives that felt as if they had been fighting for hours.
Of course, Alfiris had never experienced a battle like this.

「(It was one hell of a fight.
I’m certainly not strong enough.)」

Alfiris forgot to shoot the arrow and looked at it somewhat.
Lisa murmured behind her.

「… Oh no!」

「What’s wrong, Lisa?」

「I can’t find anything that looks like a weakness in that fiend.」

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「What do you mean?」

「Normally, any living creature has a weak point.
I can detect it by the flow of its body, its presence, or even its chi, or the way it protects itself… The contents of that fiend are always moving, and there is no definitive weakness.」

「What did you say!?」

Lisa is upset.
It seemed that the Archfiend in front of her was a monster beyond her imagination.
But Albert cut off three of its arms a while ago, so it’s not like it can die.
Yet,

【Summon】

As soon as they thought they heard an eerie voice, something that looked like a magic circle appeared around the fiend.
Then, the goblins and orcs are summoned from there.
They didn’t know that it could do this, they’re now that in front of them is truly a Archfiend.

「I see, so this is how you summon your minions.」

「This is no time to be impressed, we can’t afford to deal with the other fiends!」

「No, summons are not a problem… What the?」

Anorn raised her voice in astonishment.
Instead of using the summoned fiends as a fighting force, this Archfiend grabbed them and it started to them from the head up.
As expected, Albert was stunned, but what was even more surprising was that the amount of food it ate, the arm he cut off regenerated.

The newly-summoned and slow-moving fiends are screaming and running away from this unusual situation, but the Archfiend doesn’t seem to want to let any of them go, and is devouring them one by one.
The Archfiend seemed to be interested in eating the fiends it had summoned, leaving Alfiris and the others alone.

Alfiris and the others forgot to fight and watched the scene in amazement.

「…None of the survey team should have come back.
We’ll never make it back with this thing chasing us.」

「Hey, hey.
Is this the kind of creature the Archfiend is?」

「No, I’ve had my share of pricks, but never one this ugly.
To be honest, I’m fed up with it too.」

「It doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses.
What should we do? I think this is a situation where running away is an option to consider.」

Lisa, as expected, was a little uneasy.
But after a few moments of hesitation, Anorn replied.

「There’s a way.
It’s dangerous, though.」

「And I’m not sure if I can escape.
There is one eye that has been constantly looking at us.
If it starts to run away, it will come towards us at once.
Apparently, its intelligence is reasonably high.」

Albert, who was about to slash at it when he saw an opening, pulled back to Alfiris and the others.
And when Alfiris looked at the point where he was pointing, she noticed that apart from the eyes that were moving rapidly as they chased goblins, there was another eye that was looking at them without even blinking.

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「Then, I’ll come back at once when I’m done eating.」

「Right.
Then let’s fight for now.
Lisa, can you use your sensor ability to get its attention?」

「I can do that, but… you want Lisa to take the bait?」

Lisa looked incredulous, but Anorn’s expression was serious.

「I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is.
Alfie will take the role of an escort instead.
You can find a slightly open area about 300 meters back from here.
Can you lead her there?」

「It’s not the most pleasant thing in the world to have a large woman as an escort, but… we have no choice, let’s do it.」

「Good.
You’ll be able to find a lot more than just a few of them.
Albert, just think about cutting its torso in half.
If it’s still alive, or if you can’t stop it, retreat at once.
Any objections?」

Everyone replied with their eyes that there was no dependence.

「Okay, Lisa, you have 30 seconds to do it.
Me and Albert will get to that point first, but good luck to all of us!」

After confirming that they all nodded to each other, the two of them ran ahead.
The remaining Lisa sighed.

「I knew it was going to be difficult request, but I didn’t expect it to turn out like this… Do it right, Alfie.」

「Leave it to me! … It’s not like I would be able protect you that much, but I’ll try my best to protect Lisa.」

「I trust your words more than your confidence.
I’ll give you a perfect score, Alfie.」

「Oh, that’s unusual.」

Lisa remembered how she had backed off the female swordsman in front of her at the guild, not Anorn nor Albert.
She felt that the two of them were overwhelmingly strong, but her instincts had told her that this female swordsman was the most reliable.
Why did she talk to the swordswoman in front of her and accept the request without asking her what it was? Lisa was not convinced of her actions.

However, after parting ways with her, she tried to reconsider her decision, but while her rational mind knew that this request was highly dangerous, her instincts told her to go.
Lisa had never gambled on a request based on instinct, but for some reason she felt she should do it this time.

She had only been with Alfiris for a day or so when she accepted the request, but she had a feeling of certainty.
She was sure that she would continue to involve with this female swordsman.
There was no way she would die here.
Before that, there were circumstances that required Lisa to return to Mysia no matter what.
And Lisa made up her mind.

「So much for joking around.
Let’s go, Alfie.」

「Anytime, Lisa!」

Lisa’s senses flew like sonar to attract the Archfiend’s attention, and instantly the Archfiend’s eyes all turned towards Alfiris and Lisa at once.
From here on, it’s a deadly game of tag.