Early Release!!=================================

"It's not good!"

When Nozomu arrived at the square where he encountered the demon beast yesterday, what jumped into his eyes was the sight of Shīna being caught up in the explosion of her own arrow and being blown away.

"Uoooooooooooooooo !!!"

Immediately, he activated Instant Move with full power. He ran in a straight line, cut in between Shīna and the demon beast, and drawn his katana out. He cut through the mouth of the demon beast with Qi technique *One Billion Severance*.

"Gabyaau !!"

The demon beast let out a pained voice probably because its mouth was attacked for the second time. Its head was torn off and was bleeding more. Nozomu grabbed Shīna's collar and dragged her away.

Shīna was shocked with her eyes wide open, maybe she couldn't believe the scene in front of her. However, since Nozomu was here now, she forgot her own circumstances and looked at him with a fierce look.

"Y, you! Why are you here !?"

The first voice that came out of her mouth was, as expected, a swearing towards Nozomu.

"That's my line! You fool !! Why did you rush into something without a chance to win! Aren't you a lot more reckless than me !!"

"Wh, what! A fool you say?! I was thinking of a way to win!"

Due to her angry voice, Nozomu also swore at Shīna in a loud voice, and Shīna was also annoyed by his answer, so she retaliated further.

"Then, why are you in a desperate situation!"

"Sh, shut up! I just messed up a little !!"

"Messed up !? In the end, it doesn’t mean anything at all !! "

Tit for tat. To be clear, this is a scene that doesn't look great in this situation, but both are very serious.

Before she knew it, the out-of-place conversation began to reveal her heart, which had been filled with regrets and repentance.

"Gagyaaaa !!!"

A demon beast's roar resounded in the forest. The two who regained their composure glared at the black demon beast while holding their weapons.

"......"

Nozomu tried to take the Flash Ball and the Noise Ball out of the pouch so it could cover the demon beast's vision, but the next moment, the black demon beast closed the gap in an instant and swung its greatsword-like tail towards him.

"Kuh !!"

Nozomu quickly flew to the side and dodged the tail that was swung straight from above. He drops the Flash Ball and the Noise Ball that he took out. It seemed, the hand he used yesterday couldn't be used anymore.

Yet another tail is swept away to cut off Nozomu's body. Nozomu crouched down and dodged the approaching tail, but the tail that had just been swung attacked Nozomu again without a gap.

Looks like, the demon beast decided that Nozomu was more threatening than Shīna, so it ignored Shīna and attacked Nozomu instead. Its way of attacking had changed from the simple attack as before to repeatedly checking with its tail and waiting for Nozomu to be exhausted.

Nozomu manages to dodge the attacking tail, but the demon beast is ready to jump out at any moment, and if Nozomu shows the slightest gap, the demon beast will attack him.

Nozomu, on the other hand, continued to dodge the approaching deadly tail with minimal movement.

"Uwa!"

Nozomu avoided the demon beast's tail that was swung diagonally from above with minimum movement, but as the avoided tail was driven into the ground, the soil rolled up and got into Nozomu's eyes. The black beast rushed toward Nozomu who had stopped moving for a moment.

The demon beast rushed with all his might toward Nozomu in a straight line.

"Take this!!"

However, Shīna made up for that gap.

she aimed at the demon beast's forelegs with the bow drawn to the limit with all her might and shot an arrow. The arrow pierced the demon beast's left foreleg accurately, and the demon beast's movement slowed down for a moment.

In that gap, Nozomu threw himself to the right side, the side of the leg where the arrow had pierced. When Nozomu looked at Shīna, unlike yesterday, he saw a calm light in her eyes. Her body relaxed because she had a fight with Nozomu in a loud voice earlier.

When the demon beast's attack dodged and passed by Nozomu, the demon beast shot two tails towards Nozomu while scraping the ground with its limbs.

Nozomu rolled and jumped backward so as not to kill the momentum, and the tail of the demon beast pierced through where he had just jumped.

The demon beast turned around in the meantime. This time, it turned towards Shīna and casually shot one of its tails as if a cow was repelling a noisy fly.

Shīna jumped backward to get past the tail that was being shot, took four arrows from the quiver between her five fingers, and pulled them out. She filled the arrows she picked up with magical power and nocked the arrows to the bow again.

In front of her, Nozomu was once again cornered by the demon beast. Shīna shot four arrows in an instant.

The arrow that was shot pierced the ground between the demon beast and Nozomu, and exploded instantly. Spreading a cloud of dust all over the place between Nozomu and the demon beast, hiding Nozomu from the demon beast's field of vision. 

"Go!!!"

Nozomu runs with Shīna's shout. He rushes toward the demon beast with Instant Move and broke through the smoke.

The demon beast that noticed him approaching, rushed in with two greatsword-like tails.

Nozomu dodges the first tail with *Instant Move -Curve Dance-* and moves forward while parrying the second tail with his katana.

While moving, he sheathed his katana, sends his Qi full power, and compresses it extremely.

The demon beast tried to eat Nozomu with its huge jaw, but its body was already inside of Nozomu's attack range.

"Fu~ !!"

Nozomu pulled out his katana while passing each other.

The katana with extremely compressed Qi was pulled out, and it deeply tore the right shoulder to the right flank of the demon beast.

"Gugyaaaa !!!"

With a roar of agony, a large amount of blood spurted from the torn wound, but the sludge covering the demon beast's body immediately tried to seal the wound.

"I won't let you !!"

Nozomu thrust the scabbard on his left hand into the wound before the wound was completely closed. He tried to release *Breaking Strike* to destroy the demon beast's internal organs...

" !! "

However, just before Nozomu was about to hit it, the demon beast's tail attacked to shook him off. Not even willing to let Nozomu injure its body, the demon beast lashed its butcher-like tail towards Nozomu.

"Damn!!"

Nozomu tried to dodge it by letting go of his scabbard, but couldn't. He had no other choice but to hold onto his katana and try to parry it, but he couldn't fend off the tail's full force of momentum and he was blown away.

"Gah~ !!"

Nozomu was blown to the edge of the square and slammed against the trunk of a tree. The impact caused him to groan and the air in his lungs to leak out. Nozomu's movement was slowed down because he couldn't take a defensive posture when he was struck by the trunk too vigorously.

The demon beast couldn't miss that opportunity. It rushed towards Nozomu who had been blown away and tried to stab him.

However, at that moment, a shining arrow pierced the right side of the demon beast. Nozomu also stabbed the wound that was about to close with his scabbard. The next moment, the pierced arrow exploded. It further pushed the half-closed wound open, and the shockwave blown Nozomu's scabbard away, which was about to be buried within the demon beast's flesh.

"Gagyau !!"

The demon beast groaned in pain and glared at Shīna, dyeing the myriad of eyes all over its body red with hatred. Even though the wound was getting worse, the demon beast spread its huge mouth open. Magical power with black light converged in its huge mouth. Shīna, who felt the chill down her spine, flew away from her spot.

"Ga~uoon !!!"

The moment Shīna jumped away, a black ball of light was launched along with the roar of the demon beast.

"Kyaaa !!"

The launched black mass of magical power went straight and landed on a large tree at the end of the square. A roaring sound and a black flash are scattered around, and the blast that generated causes Nozomu and Shīna to hide in a hurry.

"Na!"

After the blast had subsided, what came into the sight was a large tree that had been blown away, and a gouged damp ground that gave off a rotten odor.

" !! "

Perhaps because she remembered her hometown, Shīna gritted her teeth.

Nozomu calmly assessed the situation while keeping an eye on the demon beast in the meantime, but their situation was quite bad.

(This is bad! If it can also attack at a long distance, there will be no way to escape at all !!)

They didn't know how often it could unleash that ranged attack, but at least they knew, it wasn't safe to keep a distance. It was an enemy that overwhelmed them with its abilities. What's more, as soon as the advantage of distance was lost, the flow suddenly leaned towards the black demon beast.

The demon beast rushed towards Nozomu again.

Nozomu was still numb, and Shīna hastily nocked her bow with an arrow, but it didn't seem like there would be time to charge the arrows with her magical power strong enough to hinder the demon beast's attack. 

"Ga~uaaa !!"

(Damn !! Do I have to use that !?)

Nozomu touched the invisible chain that bound him, but he couldn't tear it apart.

Release of Ability Suppression. Nozomu's survival instinct calls for the release of the ability suppression against the looming threat of death, but anxiety about Tiamat and his survival instincts clashed in his heart. The fear that he will get out of control and massacre many lives.

Every time the demon beast took a step forward, the conflict inside his heart intensified. Only the feeling of impatience increased, and the inside of his head was about to turn white. 

( !!! )

Nozomu continued to hesitate like Shīna. He grabbed the chain that bound him tightly, but by the time he realized it, the demon beast was in the corner of his eye.

(Damn! This isn't the time to hesitate anymore !!)

A huge mouth filled his field of vision and tried to cover his body, but against his will, Nozomu's hands still didn't let go of the chains binding him, and he simply closed his eyes and refused to move any further.

(W, why !?)

Nozomu was upset with his own hands which were not moving against his will.

"……Ah"

"Nozomu-kun !?"

A surprised voice escaped from Nozomu's mouth. He realized that his death was inevitable and his hands would not move against the impending death.

When the huge fangs approached to tear Nozomu's body apart…….

"Ahhhhhhh !!!"

A voice of a girl different from Shīna broke into the square, and the next moment, a black shadow popped out of the forest.

The shadow that jumped out of the forest plunged into the black beast with tremendous force and slammed its supple legs against the demon beast. This is the so-called dropkick.

Perhaps she was using some kind of wind or spirit magic on her legs, the demon beast kicked off by the shadow was blown away with a tremendous force while shouting "Gyann!" and the demon beast disappeared into the bush.

"... What?"

A shocked voice escaped from Nozomu's mouth.

The shadow that kicked the demon beast turned around in the air and landed on the ground.

With the characteristics of the ears and tail of the Wild Cat Tribe. And big eyes that seem to work well at night. It was Shīna's friend, Mimuru.

"Shīna~a~a~a~a"

Then she turned her heels and jumped towards Shīna, who was just as shocked as Nozomu. 

"What? Eh?"

"This idiot Elf ~~~ !!"

Mimuru jumped towards Shīna, pushed Shīna down to the ground, and pinched her white, soft cheeks.

"N, no ~o, d ~on't! ~stop it !!'!

"Who's going to stop! Stupid elf! You ran ahead by yourself, left without telling me... Tom and I are angry that you made us worry!"

“……………..”

"Are you okay? Nozomu-kun"

"Tom ..."

When Nozomu was confused by the sudden development, he was called from behind. He turned around and found Shīna's friend and Mimuru's lover, Tom.

"... Why are you here ..."

"We can't leave you two alone. And we also want to complain to Shīna..."

Tom held Nozomu's hand and cast recovery magic on him, and

magic power began to heal his body and removed the remaining numbness in a blink of an eye.

"T, thank you"

"Yeah, well, I've been taken care of by Nozomu, and thanks to you, Shīna survived... but later I have to scold her properly..."

While Tom said so, he looked at Mimuru and Shīna who were still chattering. He had a scary face, but his eyes were relieved that Shīna was safe.

***

Tom's POV

When Nozomu rushed to the forest to find Shīna who was gone, Mimuru and I were just stunned.

“…………..”

"Mimuru ..."

Mimuru only paid attention to the letter that Shīna left behind. Her hands holding the letter trembled, and her face was not visible as she was facing her head down, but she desperately clenched her teeth to endure something.

"... Mimuru"

I called her again. I know her very well. Because she's my beloved person.

"... It's my fault ..."

"……yes?"

"Shīna went out alone ... it's my fault. Because I blamed her so much ... I knew she wasn't looking right ... I know that, but I still blame her for Tom's injuries and for pushing Nozomu-kun to clean up her mess..."

A drop of transparent liquid fell on the letter Mimuru was holding. The drop that fell from the shadow of her hidden bangs fell on Shīna's letter, creating a small round of stain.

Mimuru regretted for getting emotional and blaming Shīna because of my wound.

"... Mimuru. I regret it too."

"……Eh?"

“Because it wouldn't have become like this if I didn't rush to release my magic back then. If I had fought a little more decently, even if I was injured, I probably wouldn't have been a burden to everyone so far."

Until now, I've been busy with research and study, and I'm not quite fond of combat, so I didn't try to improve it. That's my regret.

It might have been a little better if I worked hard, but studying, experimenting, and reading books was much more fun than that.

However, as a result, when I encountered such a demon beast, I ended up paying the price. Since the magic I was pursuing was only about strength, I blew my own ally, Nozomu, and because of that, he couldn't move due to the pain inflicted.

Besides, I was injured as a result of my own actions. It was impossible to fight while protecting the injured in such a situation. In the end, we put an extra burden on Nozomu to let us escape, which cornered Shīna even further.

"I regret it. Very much so..."

"Tom ..."

Mimuru lifted her face and looked at me with teary eyes.

The wind blows through the forest. For a moment, silence flows between us. 

"... If we think about it. We don't know much about Shīna before she enrolled in the school ..."

"... That's true. When I met her for the first time, she was always grimacing and holding her anger..."

"That's right. Even though she is so beautiful ... That's why her anger was so intense. I was a bit scared ~~"

"Yea ~~. I wonder if it's okay to say that to her. I don't know what Shīna will say later ~~"

Mimuru grinned and made fun of her friend with mischievous eyes. Little by little, she seems to be back in shape.

"... It might be bad. Then, we should try to shorten her nagging even if it's just a little..."

After that, I stare at the depths of the forest where Nozomu ran.

"... That's right. Then I should ask Shīna directly. It's not good unless I ask her everything about what happened. Even if she hates me, I will never give up on her!”

We said so and ran. The destination is that square where we encountered that demon beast yesterday. To be true friends with her, whom we consider as a companion.