The Assassin

(Sun Yao)

Until the wormhole in the sky closed, no Monster fell down, while I was still suffering from mosquito bites down below.

"Are you kidding me?!"

He angrily threw the wand to the ground.

Then I picked it up again.

"Ceruno- chan, we can't let our guard down."

Miss Sirius and the drone circled above me before landing beside me. She retracted her Wings of Light, and an angelic halo appeared above her head for illumination.

"It's not that nothing came down; you saw that light too, didn't you?"

When any object passes through a wormhole, a corresponding point of light should fall through the ring, but this time there was only a point of light, nothing else fell.

Could it be...?

"Monster can turn invisible?"

"I think so too. It might be lying in ambush in this grove, but it's really hard to find at night... Let's go back to the mansion first, and don't go out alone."

"Is there nothing Miss Sirius can do?"

"The solution is found in battle. If you're asking now, I really can't do anything, since we don't even know the opponent's abilities. But once we actually fight, things might change. I have a lot of experience with the concept of adapting to changing circumstances."

The lights in the mansion were all on, standing out starkly in the dark night. If that Monster intended to do something, he would definitely target the mansion.

"Wait, don't move."

Sirius called out to me from the road I had to take back to the mansion.

This made me nervous because not knowing the enemy's location was more unsettling than a direct confrontation.

But I still pulled back the half step I had taken.

"W-What's wrong?"

"There's a trap..."

She pointed to the ground in front of me.

A narrow, bluestone mountain path is traversed by an inconspicuous steel cable on either side.

"... What is this? A tripwire?"

"No, it's a fuse."

Miss Sirius parted the bushes on both sides and found a square box. Although it didn't say "This side faces the enemy" on it, I recognized it based on my knowledge from the game...

"Directional explosive mines; the military equipment on the 'The Other Side' is about the same as here."

"Is this Monster an engineer? He set up all the traps in such a short time... Are there more along our path?"

"Be careful, move this to the side of the road."

After encasing the landmines in bubbles and collecting them by the roadside, I asked, "Can you tell anything from them?"

Miss Sirius shook her head.

Her expression was quite solemn; I had never seen her with such an expression before.

"However, this fighting style reminds me of someone."

Her tone was no longer light.

Although I don't know who it is, I have a vague idea of what it is...

"Is this Monster a witch?"

There was neither affirmation nor denial.

Sirius said, "We'll have to hear what Spica has to say, but the island's communications are being disrupted, so we need to go back to the manor first."

Bang--

A muffled gunshot rang out, its direction indiscernible. The Association's drone plummeted from the rainforest sky. This was just the beginning; the gunshots were like the death knell, each one taking a drone with it.

"Monster who can snipe drones?"

Ordinary Monster wouldn't specifically target harmless drones during combat.

"It's trying to keep us out of sight and avoid acting alone."

So, Yezi is still alone in the guest room, right?

I need to go back and remind him.

"Careful!"

In that instant of distraction, along with Miss Sirius's shout, came the sharp, cold glint of light right before my eyes—a jet-black arrow stopped a few centimeters from my temple.

It was a fair, right hand gripping the arrow shaft...

"Miluno?!"

She brought the arrow in her hand to her eyes to examine it.

"Ordinary crossbow bolts, not magic."

I was still in shock when Miss Sirius made a lighthearted joke.

"Miluno- chan, you've arrived just in time! Is this the knight who protects the princess?"

"It's not that exaggerated. This arrow can't penetrate Ceruno's protective membrane, so it won't cause any damage..."

I'm not entirely sure about the power of crossbow bolts, but Miss Miluno is right; conventional weapons are unlikely to be effective against me. As my understanding of magic deepens, I'm becoming more and more confident in my defense.

I sighed, "While it won't pose much of a threat, it's also impossible to track back; the crossbow bolts are just too quiet."

It seems the invisible assassin has already moved to a different location.

Miss Sirius added, "This arrow was just a test; next time they'll pull out something much more powerful. So hurry back to the mansion; it's always safer inside."

It might be safer than the jungle, but it's not that much safer.

This assassin even pulled out directional explosive mines; what could the wooden walls of that mansion possibly withstand?

With Miss Miluno by my side, I felt much more at ease, and my tension eased. Even if the enemy really was a witch, we still had a fighting chance...

Boom--------

The deafening roar shook the ground violently. The intense shockwave felled some trees, and the mansion at the epicenter of the explosion was engulfed in flames. The air was thick with the smell of burning wood, and it took a while for my hearing to return. I could still hear the crackling of burning firewood.

Oh no, our base has been raided.

Did that Monster stealthily traverse wormholes, block signals, use traps to restrain us, and destroy the drones acting as informants, all with the ultimate goal of detonating the entire mansion? Or was this merely one step in her process of achieving her objective?

There are still so many people inside the mansion! The magical girl maids might be able to easily escape a fire of this size, but Yezi...

Will he survive this fire?

Without uttering a word, Sirius spread her wings and soared into the sky towards the mansion. Fearing she might be ambushed by enemies hiding in the woods, I quickly put a protective shield on her, so at least we wouldn't have to worry about the kind of sneak attacks we'd just seen.

"Ceruno."

Miluno patted me on the shoulder.

She remained calm even under these circumstances, which is truly remarkable.

She said, "Use your magic to wrap us up together."

"... Um."

I took Miss Miluno's hand and let the Bubble Membrane cover us.

"Time-Freeze."

Then, Miss Miluno accelerated the time flow of the bubbles.

Everything around fell silent; even the distant flickering firelight slowed, almost stopped...

This is the first time I've experienced such acceleration.

It turns out that for Miluno, it wasn't that she was too fast, but rather that everything else was too slow. She was simply walking, running, and fighting in this extremely slow-moving time.

Through my magic, she shared a world that only she knew with me.

Although it's romantic, the most important thing right now is to get back to the mansion and check on everyone's condition.

Please, please make sure nothing happens to Yezi.