A lance looked like an arrow pointing the way—this was the most ridiculous reason Bagpipe had ever heard.
But she still handed the lance to the shrine maiden.
Yae Sakura was also the type to wield heavy things with ease. She held the lance one-handed as though it were a ceremonial gohei, one of those little wooden wands wrapped in paper streamers that shrine maidens often used to exorcise unclean things through physical impact.
She pointed the spear at the three people opposite her.
FrostNova watched the shrine maiden for a moment, then gladly stepped aside. Out of consideration for a colleague, she placed a small shield of solid ice in front of Mephisto so he would not have to face terror directly. But it would not do much—at most, it would only prolong Mephisto's suffering before death.
What came next?
A surge of heat?
A vortex of flame would swallow Mephisto whole. Before the solid ice melted, they could listen to his rabbit-like screams. That sounded rather nice.
That was what FrostNova thought.
Faust, on the other hand, reacted intensely. Without hesitation, he raised the crossbow in his hands. At this distance, a sniper held no advantage whatsoever against a group of melee maniacs. With a slight swing of her arm, Hoshino used her still-unrefined spear technique to knock every bolt aside.
"You're swinging a lance around like a katana?"
Bagpipe complained, "If you don't know how to use a lance, then draw your sword. Your right hand is empty. Don't be so cocky—be careful not to miss one of their arrows."
Though her words were rather harsh, Bagpipe really was correcting Hoshino.
It was probably a habit left over from her cadet days.
What puzzled them most was that they had expected the shrine maiden to do something