This is getting out of hand. ......

　I asked Paula and the others to join in as well as the stone-faced frog, but the result was the same.
　In less than thirty seconds to a minute, the hand on the ground would grow back almost to its original state.
　However, as usual, only the hands appear, so if you don't approach them, they won't be damaged.

"Hey, you're too persistent. There are too many of them.
"It doesn't look like it's buried. No, actually, it's really buried. ......
"Whee!
Yuck.
Well, that's a problem. How may I help you?　You.

　Paula, who usually has a good idea at this point, seemed to be out of ideas this time.
　No matter how many times I defeated her, she always came back, so I didn't even make it to the front of the stairs, let alone enter the room.
　And even if I could get to the back, I couldn't go any further without climbing the bars.

　It was around noon when we arrived here, and two hours had passed since then.
　Well, thirty minutes of that time was spent having lunch while looking at the creepy hands.

　These days, I finish my search by six o'clock, so I have about four hours left.
　I was hoping to save some energy, but it would be a waste of time if I kept getting stranded.

"Okay, let's play our trump card. Kuu, come on!
Kuh?
Let's just blow them all up. If that doesn't work, maybe next time.
Unh!

　If the bars don't open even after you've wiped out all the hands, then there's something wrong with them.
　In that case, it might have something to do with the path you've taken or the number of demons you've defeated along the way, so you'll need to check them out one by one.

　This would definitely take an enormous amount of time.
　Therefore, I would like it to open in one shot.

　As I gazed at it with a feeling of prayer, the bird child buzzed the wings on its back and flew up lightly.
　It was a good thing I took my time, and it seemed to have lost all fear of the mud.
　Well, it's not like he's going to fall apart if you hit him lightly.

　Kuu flew to the center of the dimly lit room, where he made a cute little goo with his hands and curled his body up tightly.
　Immediately, purple lightning bolts covered his entire body like thorns.

　Every inch of the space in front of the stairs was illuminated by the glow emanating from Kuu.
　As I had expected, the ground was filled with mud hands without a single gap.

　Kuu looked down at the swirling mass of hands and spread his feathered arms vigorously from side to side.
　Then, without hesitation, he shook it off.

　--
　A small storm instantly erupted, slamming the purple-electrified wings to the ground.


　The feathers in the storm quickly attacked the crowd of hands and shattered them at the touch of a hand.

　Centered on the ground right underneath Kuu, a void quickly spreads across the room.
　It's a very pleasant view.

　Thanks to the increase in magic attack power, the power has also increased considerably.
　The blizzard of feathers swept away all the hands in less than a few seconds.

　We watched with bated breath.
　And then, slowly, it lifts up--five fingers.

"What?
"Oh?
Nya!

　What emerges from the ground again is a hand covered in mud.
　Only this time it was only one finger.

　As I watched in stunned amazement, the muddy hand began to grow.
　Just as I thought it had passed my elbow and reached my shoulder, a round head appeared.
　Then the other arm and torso appeared in a single breath.

　After sweeping away the hand of mud, what came out was a familiar mud corpse.
　It was only one of them, but it seemed to be larger than usual.
　Could this be the boss?

"Akas, Rime!　Come out!

　In response to Noemi's voice, two red slimes leapt into the center of the room.
　Red flames are already spewing from their bodies.

　Slowly shaking their bodies, the demons swung their arms made of mud at each other.
　But the two that were waiting for them intercepted them in the opposite direction.

　In an instant, the wrists of the mud corpses are incinerated and vanish.
　In the next instant, the creature with both knees pierced falls backwards in a heap.
　On its back, the red slimes are relentlessly hovering.

　The mud corpse, whose whole body has been shaved as if by an iron, flails its shortened limbs around.
　But the slimes didn't hesitate to burn the whole body of the demon.
　In a matter of seconds, the battle was easily settled, and the iron bars lifted quietly.

　I let out a slow sigh of relief.
　It seems that I didn't have to go through the troublesome verification.