I ducked and ducked sideways as the flame-clad monster attacked me, swinging its fist.
　As soon as you turn around, the monster now fires a series of roaring fireballs.

''Danger!　"Light and light and light!　Be my protecting hand and ward off evil!　Crystal Guard!

　The fireball that flew in with a roaring sound is played by the priestess's defensive wards, making a beautiful sound as if a bullet had hit the wall. As it was, the fireball flew in a different direction and landed on the ground. A small explosion was created.
　Seeing an opening, Hetty-san slashes at it from behind, but even as she is attacked, she unleashes a punch with an uppercut. Hetty ducks it in the nick of time.
　Now I slash at him from behind, but it's hard for his attacks to get through.
　I was able to get a couple of shots in, but a powerful spinning kick sent me flying back to Hetty.

''d*mn ......!　Are you okay?　Mr. Hetty.
'I'm fine. Even so, ...... Jiro-sama's strategy was a hit. If he had let them fight in other spots normally, they might have been wiped out.
'Yes, sir!　I didn't expect to see this even come out: ......!

　What we are fighting is the sixth boss rush monster.
　The Hitotsutsuzuki's final monster, the one that should be .......

"Vo!　Not much!　Get hotter!　Come at me with the flame of life burning!

　Super macho with a bright red body.
　A hot, deadly old man.
　He is the Fiery Demon God, Efreet.



　◇◆◆◆◇



　Having defeated the second body, the Ratsuntian, with ease, we had a faint hope that it was worth preparing properly and that we might be able to make it.

　The third one was a huge snake with eight heads.
　It was an enemy that spoke words directly into my head and was an annoying monster with an annoying mental attack, but this guy was able to defeat it without much trouble.
　Perhaps it was because it was a monster that fell into the dragon category, but Rebecca's holy sword snarled all over the place, which was probably the reason for the victory. I never thought back then that the sword that was rusting in the antique shop would be so active.
　The drop item is the Naga Long Purse.
　It may sound like a joke, but it's said to bring good luck just by having it. In this world where there are gods, we can actually expect to see an effect that is not a joke.
　For now, it's not relevant to battle, so I put it next to the wyvern eggs.

　The fourth one was a demon.
　It was a big, half-naked man with a huge goat's head.
　He even had black wings and looked like a demon in any respect.
I am Baphomet, the devil. I am the devil. Bafoe.
　He was the one who introduced himself in a cursory manner, but he was a really troublesome fellow with a variety of special attacks.
　I wonder if it's called a spell-grudge type magic, 'You will become a stone! (Petrifaction),'' she shouted and pointed at me, and I was scared that the priestess was almost turned into a stone.
　Deanna's spirit magic saved us, but if Deanna wasn't there, I have no idea how to recover from the attack.
　The magic didn't work at all, and the other side attacked me with various attacks of fire, ice, wind, and earth, but it was a rather tepid force, and in the end, I was cut in both directions by Shero-san and destroyed in the end.
　Even so, I was still forced to use 7 spirit stones in the defensive wards.
　The drop item was an amulet in the form of a knight's sword, but when I was doing some recovery and stuff before appraising it, the next monster sprang up.

　The fifth one was--.
Gawd, gawd, gawd!
"Woof!
Wow!
　It was a huge, fierce dog with three heads, full of energy.
　Flames protruded from his mouth, roaring and trying to bite me with his big mouth. Cerberus, the gatekeeper of hell.
　So, I had quite a hard time with this guy, but I was active, if I do say so myself.
　The most compatible monster for a monster slayer.
　After all, its success rate of "absorption" is 100%. Attacks are critical if they hit properly. The Lionheart's roar can be nullified by the Lionheart skill.
　However, I got attacked quite a bit and got some recovery magic, but I was able to defeat it before it became a catastrophe. Ai also called out here, so I can say that I actually struggled a lot. And I finally used Deanna's recovery magic here, too.
　Nine spirit stones were used.
　The drop items were five metal ingots and one dagger.
　Only the dagger was appraised as 'Cerberus Dagger'. It's a great dagger with instant death and poisonous effects. However, it doesn't seem to have any effect against bosses, so I put it with an ingot. The appraisal of the ingot will have to wait.

'...... finally got here ....... Next to last or ......?

　Up to this point, the spirit stones had diminished a lot.
　Even though I've loaned them out to other spots: .......
　On the contrary, I'm really glad I got 100 of them from Efta.
　Without the Spirit Stone, I would have already been fully wounded. There were too many attacks that couldn't be prevented with just Priestess's bare defensive wards and recovery magic.
　In other spots, they are still doing well against wyverns.
　Up to this point, the elapsed time was 60 minutes.
　If there are only one piece left, they should be finished before noon.

　As expected, everyone seems to still have plenty of energy to spare.
　I don't care if it's because I have to absorb the magic sword, Marina should be exhausted, but she's still in good spirits. Everyone else is just like a seasoned ex-mercenary. Shamash-san is indeed using a lot of magic, though he seems to be mentally exhausted.

　The only times that I've received strong injuries and taken care of Deanna's recovery magic was once, once by me, once by Marina, and once by Rebecca-san. No Hetty-san and Shero-san. That's as good as it gets.
　Before the battle, I was aware of the effect of the recovery magic if my memory flew off, so I was able to return to the front lines immediately.
　I'm sure he was injured pretty badly, but his memory is gone, so he can return to the front line of battle with ease. If the memory of the injury was still there, there's a chance I would have been unable to move due to fear.

　Five minutes after defeating Cerberus.
　I asked the priestess to heal my scrapes with her spirit magic, ate the cookies I had prepared and drank the non-carbonated cola I had prepared from the influence of a certain manga.
　My belly is a bit fuller, and even if it isn't, my stamina is full thanks to the amount of energy I've absorbed from Cerberus.

　Or rather, the Last Monster is in every spot, and only in the fastest spot.
　That means that there's a good chance that nothing else will appear.
　Huh?
　You think this might be the end of it?
　No, Cerberus was a powerful enemy. There's nothing funny about that last one, but .......

"Deanna, are we going to get another monster?　Even if it's out, it's the next and last thing, right ......?
'I'm sorry to hear that ......, Master. Reason keeps reversing itself. You're going to get another one.
Seriously?

　Does that mean that we were the fastest in the world to defeat the sixth one ......?
　We're that good, we are.

Yeah.

　A pillar of light rose up in the monster spot, signaling the appearance of a new monster.
　But if there's only one more, we have to do it.
　Defeat this one and the Hitotsutsuzuki will be done!

'Even ...... is wrong. It's not like the way the last monster springs up in the lore.

　Deanna's mutterings were almost drowned out by the exclamation of the monster that had appeared.

'Vo-----!　I am Efreet!　Get hotter!　Go get your ass in that body!

　A thick body that blazed bright red.
　Dignified twisted horns. Half-naked.
　The brain muscle of the flame.



　◇◆◆◆◆.



　Efreet came at me right away, but he's fast, clever, and has a variety of attacks.
　Shero-san and Hetty-san are handling it, but even they are being pushed around.
　Me, Rebecca-san, and Marina are also desperately biting, and we're trying to get through their attacks little by little.

　Efreet is a powerful monster.
　Its body is so hot that you feel like you're going to get burned just by getting close to it.
　It's a burning giant. Such a thing buzzes in with force. It will kick away. It shoots out flames.

"Hahahahahahahaha!

　While working through Efreet's attacks, he somehow managed to use his magic sword to attack a little at a time.
　A last-minute battle for his life. I move my limbs with all my strength, my heart beats fiercely and my breathing becomes ragged.
　Still, I stand again to defeat the huge enemy standing in front of me.
　Looking at myself objectively like that, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

''Lord-dono!　Is it okay for you to laugh at a time like this!　It's too early to despair!　I'll make sure that Marina will protect you from the Lord!

　Marina worried about me.
　I despaired at the situation and said, "I'm just going to have to laugh now! He misunderstood that he had become.

'No, no, no. It's just that before you came to this world, you didn't even get any exercise. Before you came to this world, you were lazy and didn't even get any exercise, and now you're holding a magic sword and fighting a burning demon god like that!　The wonders of life just made me laugh!

　Even as he speaks, he avoids Efreet's iron fist and fights back.
　Just getting close to that burning body is enough to make you feel like you're going to get burned.
　But it's a burn of this kind. I can use magic to heal it again.
　I was completely on a battle high.

''Whoa, whoa!　I could die already!　Go!

　And so the back-and-forth offense and defense continued.
　Efreet's method of attack was punches, kicks, body blows, and fire magic.
　He also grabs the body and bungles it.
　All of these attacks are at a level where you would normally die no matter which one you eat.
　To begin with, this guy is nearly 4 meters tall, and he's a monster that's more than twice as big, so it's pretty tough to fight him.
　If you think that you should fight away from it, then magic is not going to work.
　Shamash-san happily threw ice magic at me, thinking that if it was a flame monster, ice would work, but the ice evaporated before it could reach my body.
　No matter how many times I tried it, it was the same, which means the ice magic didn't work. However, the same would be true for flames and wind. In the end, the only thing that seemed to work was Ai-chan beam.

　In terms of physical time, it was quite a long time.
　In fact, if you look at the clock, the attack and defense continued for about 15 minutes.
　As expected, there was a limit to my ability to maintain my high tension and fight.
　The damage would be in, but I don't feel like I'm getting any effective hits in.
　Ai also tried summoning long ago, but the fluffy floating was aimed at with a fireball and dropped immediately. Ai is strong in attacks, but she's soooo weak to flying objects.

'd*mn!　How are we going to beat that guy?

　As you would expect, it makes me want to swear. It's a difficult enemy that is difficult to even get close to.
　Only Hetty-san, Marina and Shero-san with their long-handled weapons have been able to give them any effective hits. In the first place, just getting close to a blazing hot fellow like that is enough to make you lightly sour.

"Ice magic isn't going to work either ....... You have to be able to extinguish the fire at least ...... hmm?

　I see something red at the edge of my vision.
　I had really prepared all sorts of things for this Hitotsutsuki, but there were so many items that I had left unused and forgotten about.

Oh ...... that ......!　I don't know if it works, but it's worth it!　Marina!　Rebecca!　Come here for a minute!

　I call Marina and Rebecca, who are desperately trying to bite the efreet.
　I'm not sure about the number, but I still had just three bottles ready to go. I prepared them because I thought I needed them since I was dealing with gasoline, and I didn't intend to use them for this kind of use, but .......
　I handed it to them and explained how to use it.

'Pull this pin out and fire the nozzle at the efreet. Don't let go of the lever until the white stuff stops coming out!　Let's go all three at the same time!
Okay, okay, what does this all mean?
It's a white powder that comes out to put out the fire.

　In other words, it was a fire extinguisher.
　I had a fire extinguisher ready in case the gasoline burned in an unexpected way.
　Of course, I had thought of the possibility of firing it against a monster.
　In that case, however, it was just a thought that it would be an effective distraction.
　I didn't think I'd be using it to extinguish the monster itself: .......

'Etowah!　When we're somewhat close to the monster, tell Mr. Shero and Miss Hetty to leave. Two seconds after that, we'll fire!''

　He gives instructions to Etowah on the walkie-talkie.
　Shamash-san is next.

"Mr. Shamash!　Summon four golems while you're at it. Also, I'm pretty sure you said that you could summon a Durahan if you used the big Demon Crystal, right? Please summon those as well. It's time to use the magic crystal!　When we start attacking, give them the order to attack at the same time!

　With that instruction, Shamash-san began to cast a summoning magic.
　Of course, the golem had already been summoned several times, but it was too slow to move against the efreet, so it was completely useless. However, depending on the timing, it could be used.
　It wasn't that he had forgotten that he could summon Dullahan with the summoning by the big demon crystal, but he didn't have the luxury of using it like a disposable at a time like this.
　Dullahan is the same kind of monster as the last monster of the second day. It should be powerful in its own right.

　Etowah used the microphone to tell Shero and Hetty to move out.
　We all three fired our fire extinguishers at the same time as they pulled out.

　Bashu!　
　And a white powder was shot from three directions with great force, enveloping the four-meter tall giant.

''Vo!　Vah---!　What is this?　Disappear!　My body!　My strong body blazing with melancholy!

　Efreet looks more distressed than I imagined.
　I'm just bombarded with fire extinguishers, but shards of light fly out to tell me that the damage is being done.
　I thought I was going to get away from him as soon as he got out of control, but he continues to writhe in agony and eat the fire extinguisher attack.

"Seriously? It's usually working!

　In the meantime, the golems summoned by Shamash-san come in and start hitting Efreet from four directions.
　Further--.

'They'll make this spear rust!　The lunge!

　Suddenly, I thought I heard the lady's words, and then a headless knight on a horse charged at Efreet with intensity.
　It crashed into him with a bang, sending shards of light flying off violently.
　We turn that Dullahan, the golem, and even Efreet white with a fire extinguisher.
　As for Efreet, he was still writhing in agony from the pain of having the flames of his body extinguished.

　Come to think of it, Yumegami-san said that the secret of magic is to know 'reason'.
　So, he said, attacking in accordance with that reason is the correct answer in that world.
　That world, in other words, is this world.
　And the reasoning against fire is that 'if you run out of oxygen, it will disappear'.
　If your whole body is exposed to powdered fire extinguishing agent, it is the inevitability of reason that the flames will be extinguished.

'There is no more powder!
I'm with you!
Then throw it away and resume the attack!

　The three of them simultaneously emptied their fire extinguishers.
　At that moment, they charged at Efreet, who had turned into a pure white giant.
　As for Efreet, the flames being extinguished may have caused more damage than I imagined, but he landed on his knees on the ground and was unable to move.
　If you leave it alone, it might self-burn again and revive, so you can't let this opportunity pass you by!

'Whoa, whoa, whoa!　Die!

　The other members of the team are the same way.
　The other members are similar.
　The other members are similar. All you have to do is to smash them with all your might.
　I'm not going to forget the nasty things I do when I attack a potential weak point.

　Me, Marina, Rebecca, Shamash, Hetty and Shamash, the six of us attacked with all our might, and even the Demon God couldn't stand it.

''I'm burned out to white, ............

　With a line that sounded like it was heard somewhere, the efreet disappeared into a number of red pieces.

　Then, the shattered bright red shards turned into fist-sized stones, and a number of them fell to the ground in bots.
　The demonic crystals did not drop, and only that massive amount of stones were left in their place.

''What ......?''

　I touch a stone sparkling in crimson with my finger and try to appraise it.

　 ---------------------- ...
　[Type]
　spirit stone

　[Name]
　Spirit Stone (Ruby)

　[Commentary]
　The most rare crimson spirit stone
　The special red color of the ruby spirit stone

　Reddish brown gemstone

　[Magical characteristics]
　None

　[Spiritual blessing]
　None

　[Owner]
　Jiro Ayase　
　 ---------------------- ...

Oh.

　What ......?　Are these all spirit stones: ......?
　Moreover, the 'Scarlet Red Jade' should have been a special one. That's what it says in the appraisal results.
　Well, regardless of the type, it's honestly helpful to have a spirit stone drop on me.

''Ah...... ahhh!

　Suddenly, Deanna screams and cowers with her head in her hands.
　I'm surprised because I was in the middle of retrieving the spirit stone.
　The priestess's face is also blank and she is staring at the moon in the sky, stunned.

　Before I can run to a slumped Deanna, the area darkens as if the sun has been blocked out by something.

'What?　What?　What is it?
It's suddenly nighttime!

　The sky, which had been gray, suddenly turned jet-black and only one moon was floating in the sky.
　It was as if I was looking up at the round sky from the bottom of a well, and it was the only thing floating in the pitch-blackness.
　Instead of the sky being black, the earth shone thin and white, and it was strangely not dark.

'Di, Deanna!　What is this?　What happened?　What's going to happen?　I thought that Efreet was the last one!

　I cram into Deanna.
　So many things are happening in rapid succession that I can't get my head around it.
　I thought it was over and done with, wasn't it?

　Deanna looked up at me with a pale face and told me with her trembling lips.

'The reason has been turned inside out ...... all along. The stars and the earth have been ...... turned upside down, ...... and it's just as the lore says, master. Be careful ......, from now on, the real last monster will be ......

　The real Last Monster.
The last monster in "Konoishi(Globe) Meguri(trotter) Hitotsutsuki".
　The pillar of the light which has extended as if it were shot from the moon which floated just above the head is connected with the monster spot in a straight line.
　It's like an elevator leading to the moon.
　And in the middle of the moon, a black spot of light occurred, blinked again and again, and slowly descended down the elevator in a straight line.
　In a world where there is no sound, I am stunned by the spectacle of the celestial show.

　Hitotsutsuki is the marriage of the male moon "Miss Mikandar" and the female moon "Linkle Me".
　And the monster that springs up there is their child.
　I'm sure that's what I heard from Deanna on a beautiful moon night before.

　With a thud of the earth, it lands on the ground.
　The impact is so shocking that a cloud of dirt smoke springs up.
　The smoke clears.
　There was a huge white silver knight standing there, holding a huge sword in his hand.

''Shu...... guardian knight's armor......?''

　Rebecca fights. But wasn't the guardian knight's armor from the previous regular Hitotsutsuzuki?
　As I recall, it came out during Furi(Fall)ko otoshi(pen) and dulum(dulum).
　Is there such a thing as ...... at the end of a large scale Hitotsutsuzuki like this one?

"...... Rebecca, that's not the 'guardian of the fullplate'.

Then what is it, then?　I've certainly been there before, that guy!

That's not ...... a spiritual alter ego, the 'Guardian Knight's Armor', it's the Guardian Knight (Guardian) itself!

　Under the moonlight, the 'Guardian Knight' (Guardian), who shines dully, takes a step forward.
　It's not a magical creature, but a knight with weight, coming towards you step by step with a sure-footedness.

　The real, final battle is about to begin...