Chapter 76: Forest Wave, Last④: The Stars Dance in a Spiral④

A little earlier.

The trade city of Heizen.
My uncle’s hideout… the rooftop.

Some kind of imposing launch platform had been set up there.

At its center was a large pitch-black spear.

Dozens of black square plates were stacked together.

At first glance, it did not even look like a spear, but it was a newly completed Spear.

“Well then, Miss Mineha. Are you mentally prepared?”

“…Hey, I have a lot of things I want to ask.”

“Oh? What might that be?”

Mineha asked while feeling increasingly irritated by the witch, who was grinning like she was enjoying herself.

“Is this really… safe?”

“Mm-hmm. Absolutely safe.”

The witch said it with a huge smile.

Mineha swallowed the words, You damn swindler.

“…………”

Mineha was inside the spear.

She was seated at the center of the large black Spear.

Its structure had her straddling it while gripping two control sticks.

There was a monitor in front of her, and nothing else.

The control sticks could only move it forward, up, down, left, and right.

There were no brakes.

“Still, still, your father truly was a genius.”

“He was just a huge idiot!”

Mineha snapped back.

As she and the witch had inspected and maintained the memento spear, her opinion of it had reversed.

Sema, her real father, had died before she was born, so she had never seen or met him.

In a sense, she had held a sweet fantasy of him as a good father.

It was only natural for her to feel that way about him.

Sema had not been a bad person.

But whether he had been a good person was another matter.

Mineha said with a sigh,

“How did he know the relic of a daughter who hadn’t even been born yet?”

“Well, well. There are various ways to do that.”

This large, strange black spear.

Astonishingly, it was a Spear made specifically for Mineha’s relic, Spiral.

It was a groundbreaking Spear powered by the relic Spiral.

“…He didn’t put Spiral into me, did he?”

She knew about relic plates. That was why the thought occurred to her.

The witch shook her head slightly.

“No, no… that is not the case. Sema was not the kind of man who would do that.”

“If he had, he’d be the lowest piece of shit.”

“Hmm, hmm. That was ten years ago. It was a curse. That much is certain.”

Ten years ago.

Because of the curse Ruriha had received, both mother and child had been in danger.

“Hey. Back then, the elixir Master brought was able to break the curse. But Luma’s curse couldn’t be broken by an elixir. What’s the difference?”

At Mineha’s question, the witch looked thoughtful before answering.

Her three tails swayed.

“Hmm, hmm. Simply put, the quality. Ruriha’s curse was normally weak enough that it would not threaten her life. But she was pregnant, Sema had died, and she was weakened both physically and mentally. For Ruriha at that time, even a small curse became life-threatening.”

“I see… Hey, this Spear is mine alone, right?”

“Mm-hmm. This… Spiral Dawn is the one and only Spear in the world, made by Sema for his child yet to be born, Mineha-san.”

It had been unfinished, but they completed it.

With all the sleepless nights, it had been difficult.

Mostly for the witch.

“…………I see. Witch. I’m ready.”

Mineha lowered her head.

The hatch closed.

The pale-blue Spear, Manifested Demon-Star Spear, which had been inserted diagonally, began to glow.

Then red, blue, and white light began shining around Mineha where she straddled the machine.

The outside view appeared on the curved monitor in front of her.

“Good, good. It has been set to go straight to the target, so you only need to hold those.”

“I still don’t really understand this ‘high reaction in the Great Forest of Heizen’ thing.”

“Well, well. Think of it as the place with the strongest soul power. Wof-boy and the others will definitely be there.”

“…I’m worried.”

When the witch smiled cheerfully, Mineha’s anxiety only grew.

“Mm-hmm. It will absolutely be fine. I’ll start the countdown.”

“Slowly, like three, two, one.”

“Very well, very well. Three-two-one, start.”

“Wai— you witch! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Bye-bye. Off you go.”

Spiral Dawn released pale-blue spiral light and became a black shooting star.

Its speed was like light.

“Well then, I wonder if this will end safely.”

The witch murmured as she watched it go.

I had completely forgotten.

It had not entered my head at all.

We were short one red crystal.

Not only that, we had one extra red-green crystal.

But putting that aside, there was Mineha.

She suddenly appeared and smashed the Dimensional Distortion Wall.

That huge black thing was… no doubt about it. It was the Spear left behind by Mineha’s father.

The one inserted diagonally must be the Manifested Demon-Star Spear.

That was where the spiral pattern had been.

Still, even though it had been so battered… it looked brand new.

On top of that, parts of it were shining with red, blue, and white lights.

It was already the same kind of non-fantasy weapon as Liv’s.

And the same went for Mineha’s outfit.

It looked just like Liv’s sci-fi suit.

It was a black suit that clung tightly to her skin, with gold trim engraved here and there.

The chest area was open, and there were slits at the waist.

On a gravure-model body like Mineha’s, it wrapped her in overwhelming sensuality.

Together with her softly flowing honey-colored hair, she shone.

The colors were different, but it really did look similar.

“Mm… pilot… technical… suit…”

So I thought it looked similar, and it turned out to be the same kind of thing.

“It was inside the Spear, and the witch forced me to wear it.”

“That’s another incredible outfit.”

“Your face is bright red and your tail is wagging, Nabel-kun.”

“Eh? No, that’s not—!”

“Both of you, Mineha is ten years old.”

“Eh?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

She really does not look it.

Not at all.

“More importantly, what is that spear?”

“It destroyed that defensive relic.”

“Mm… it interferes… with dimensions…”

So it really does interfere with dimensions.

The giant spider was not moving.

“We can talk later. This is our chance. This time, we settle it.”

“Yes!”

“We’ll do it.”

At Garad’s command, Nabel and Hoss responded.

The three of them charged straight toward the giant spider.

Small spiders began pouring out from around the giant spider.

Though “small” meant they were about the size of us.

A spider attacked Nabel from his blind spot.

But its forehead was shot through.

“Leave support to me.”

“Mm… let’s go… Gesuo… Knight-girl…”

“Fine, fine. I’ll accept that, gesu.”

“I am Gwyne, but I like that nickname.”

Liv was followed by Thousand Faces and Gwyne.

What even is that strange trio?

In terms of weirdness, they lost to the rest of us, but they were still odd.

“That is the dungeon anomaly?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

“By the way, that Spear…”

“…It’s called Spiral Dawn.”

Mineha held up Spiral Dawn.

It was a little shorter than Mineha herself, but about as tall as me.

“Spiral.”

“In other words, it’s made just for me. Blue Star, deploy.”

When she chanted, part of Spiral Dawn separated.

Small triangles spun around, emitting pale-blue light.

I knew those “stars.”

They were part of the Manifested Demon-Star Spear, controlled by the relics Remote Control and Spiral.

The power of the “stars” dancing through the air while spinning was overwhelming.

There had been nine of those “stars.”

But here, there were clearly more than nine.

There were twelve.

Mineha clicked her tongue.

“Victory is certain, but those spiders are in the way.”

Perhaps desperate, the giant spider was mass-producing servant spiders.

That slightly slowed Garad and the others’ fierce attack.

It was focusing especially on Nabel, putting him under pressure.

The Spider-Cutter he held was a weakness for the giant spider.

It likely did not want him getting close and wanted to eliminate him.

“Grr. If only I could use my relic.”

Pakira grimaced.

Her cat ears and her long and short tails were drooping, making her frustration obvious.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Because of the enemy’s relic, most relics cannot currently be used.”

The only ones I could use were… Fortune’s Ring and Knife Magic.

Vanish and Vibration were unusable.

“Because of that, I can do nothing.”

“I can only use Battle Cry.”

“I’m no good at combat.”

“How troublesome. What is Battle Cry?”

Lupinus explained.

“That can be used. Do it right away and gather them. Then I’ll blow them away all at once.”

“Can you do that?”

“I can. With this Spiral Dawn.”

She was full of confidence.

Lupinus nodded and looked as if she had made up her mind.

She placed her shield on her back, spread her feet slightly, clenched both hands into fists, and pressed her elbows against her sides.

The pose resembled a cheer squad from my previous life just before shouting.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Lupinus’s elven ears moved as if catching the wind.

Then her eyes snapped open.

“Battle Cry, here I go! Uooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The spiders all reacted at once to the shout released with fierce spirit.

Even the giant spider reacted, and a huge number of spiders rushed toward Lupinus.

The spiders that had been persistently and boldly attacking Nabel also came toward her.

Mineha stood in front of Lupinus and raised Spiral Dawn.

Then twelve Blue Stars formed a beautiful ring at the tip of Spiral Dawn.

As they began spinning rapidly, it truly became a pale-blue glowing ring.

Mineha gripped Spiral Dawn with both hands and held it forward.

The Blue Stars moved at the same time, and the pale-blue ring began drawing a spiral.

What was she planning to do?

“…Spiral Dawn, mode: Judgment.”

Sections of Spiral Dawn opened, revealing thrusters.

The diagonally inserted Manifested Demon-Star Spear began spinning at high speed, becoming a pale-blue flash.

A strange gyuiiiiiiiiin sound echoed.

Still holding her stance, Mineha ran.

No, she jumped and floated.

The tip of the spiraling Blue Stars touched Spiral Dawn…

A drill.

It was a drill.

It had become a giant pale-blue drill.

“Lupinas. That was a very good voice.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Now then, I shall pass judgment upon you sinners. Death penalty. Spiral Dawn, mode: Judgment Pile—”

“Eh?”

With a gakon, the central part of Spiral Dawn pulled back with full force.

“Bunkeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!”

No way.

The central part shot forward at terrifying speed, and Mineha disappeared from sight.

In the next instant, a roar that shook the forest and a tremendous shockwave assaulted us.

Uwaaaah!?

I could not help but mutter.

“…Terrifying…”

That enormous swarm of spiders was gone.

Not only that, the trees were snapped, the ground was gouged out, and a round scar of destruction had been carved into the earth.

The trail of destruction continued far, far into the distance.

Surely it had not crossed the entire Great Forest of Heizen.

Surely not.

If it had, just how powerful was that attack?

It almost made me laugh.

“Are you all right, Lupinus?”

“Yes, I somehow managed. Pakira, are you injured?”

“You protected me at the last second, so I am fine. Still…”

Pakira looked at the destruction and continued in disbelief.

“I believe there is such a thing as limits.”

“Yes, indeed.”

The two of us smiled wryly.

Then I noticed something.

“By the way, where is Wof?”

“Hm? Wof?”

Pakira raised her ears and looked around.

That was strange.

Wof was nowhere to be seen.