"Haaahhhhh!!"
Tsuruno swung her flaming fan with all her strength, burning the monster before her to ashes. Yet dark figures quickly emerged from within, swiftly filling the gap.
"Ugh, there's no end to them no matter how many we kill... Little Red, are you okay over there?"
"..."
Red Ponytail swept her greatsword through the shadows before her, reducing them completely to charred husks, then nodded.
"Don't use that move from before. Master Yachiyo said there might be a lot of people inside this barrier."
"..."
Red Ponytail silently nodded in response. In fact, she had already sensed several faint life signatures earlier. That was why she had not simply burned this strange witch away with one strike the moment it appeared. After all, she could not be sure whether one of those faint signatures belonged to Kozue's little sister.
"But these things just keep coming no matter how many we kill!!"
Although these shadows were as weak as a witch's familiars compared to the two of them, their sheer numbers were incredibly irritating. Red Ponytail and Tsuruno had killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, yet the monsters outside had not decreased in number at all. On the contrary, as if provoked by something, they became increasingly frenzied.
"Ughhh, what are we supposed to do now—?!"
Watching the familiars charge at them as if they had gone mad, Tsuruno became more and more flustered. Even Red Ponytail's expression darkened slightly as she looked at the greatsword in her hands and tightened her grip.
"—!"
However, just as Red Ponytail was about to unleash her ultimate move, the familiars that had been madly attacking them suddenly vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.
"What happened?"
Looking at the empty shrine before them, both girls froze. Tsuruno was the first to