Three giant ants are coming at you.

(Fast!)

　Even though he is nearly 2-med huge, his movements are very quick, using his six legs.

　It's opponent is an insect.

　Unlike animals, these insects have tremendous mobility.

　They can move objects dozens of times their weight, and there are many things that the human eye cannot track, such as their movement speed.

　It's human-sized.

(You can never let your guard down!)

　The Tetet adventurers and soldiers who were ahead of us confronted the three giant ants before we did.

　Gasp! Geez!

　The wielded blade sparks and bounces off the black outer skin.

　Gasp, thump, thump.

Geez!

　The soldier was bitten and his arm was torn off as it was.

(Don't!)

'Merle is right!　Irna is on the left!

　Mr. Kilt gave us instructions as we ran to the giant ants that were attacking the soldiers.

　We nodded and split off in three directions.

　Ta-tah.

　Slipping through the adventurers in tow, I slash at one giant ant with my 'fairy sword'.

''Hey!''

　Guinn.

　Fierce sparks fly.

(!)　(Hard!)

　The blade was only able to cut off about half of his legs.

　The amount of movement made it more difficult than slashing a shield.

　Regardless of the injury, the large scissors in the jaws of the giant ant attacked.

(Kook!)

　clank

　He barely catches it with the 'silvery white cuirass' of his left arm.

　Guong.

Wah!

　Instantly, my body was lightly lifted up with my arm between them.

　What power!

　Right underneath my panicked face, an emotionless black compound eye is staring at me.

　Dopapang.

　Then the 'Flame Butterfly' hit me.

　Unable to bear it, the giant ant released its scissors and I landed on the ground.

　Looking behind me, I saw a girl pointing a large red shining staff at me.

(Solstice, thanks!)

　Grateful in my mind, I turn to face the giant ant.

　Thud.

　The giant ants attacked from the front, scattering snow on the ground.

　''Don't lick it!

Coro, I need you to help me!

　In response to my shout, the 'divine armor' in my pocket becomes rainbow-colored particles that gather into the 'Fairy Sword'.

　The finished product is the 'rainbow-colored machete sword'.

　I hold it at the upper level.

　It's heavy.

　If I miss, I won't be able to swing it back in time.

(One strike is a must!)

　Extreme Concentration.

　In the midst of the gray world, a huge black demon approaches.

　In response, I took a step, a step forward.

　Just as the giant shears were about to pin me down.

Yeah!

　I shake off the 'rainbow-colored machete sword'.

　Cudon.

　A rainbow-colored sword flash slipped between the scissors, severing the massive head and knocking it off intact.

　The remaining torso runs past me and hits a nearby stone.

　Gagone.

　The sound of a crash echoed.

　The body struggled for a moment, then stopped moving.　

　Color returns to the world.

(Phew.)

　The pure white snowy earth is sprinkled with the green blood of demons.

　Peek, peek, peek.

　The legs of the giant ant that had been lifted up were twitching finely.

''Hey, what's with that kid?''
Great.....

　The Tetet people who had been watching looked at me and looked at me in amazement.

　Feeling their gaze, I turned my head towards the other two.

''Demon Sword, Thunderbolt Slash!''

　Zugaaan.

　With a blue thunderbolt, Kirt-san was burning a giant ant to death.

(--strong)

　As expected of Kilt-san, he won by a comfortable margin.

　And Iltimina-san's side had been settled as well.

　Huh.

　A white spear that spins.

　From its tip, green blood flew out.

　In front of her, a giant ant with six severed legs, further divided into three parts: head, chest, and abdomen, was doomed to die.

　I look at the traces of snow at her feet.

　Apparently, she hadn't moved a single step.

　It seems that she intercepted it on the spot and took it down without even allowing the giant ant to approach.

(As expected of Illtimina-san)

She is a fighting force that lives up to the title of 'Golden Mark Demon Hunter'.

　Noticing my gaze, she gave a small smile.

''Yes, this will be fine.''

　When I looked over, I saw that the soldier who had been chewed off his arm was being healed by Solstice's recovery magic.

　The soldier opens and closes his own hand, which is connected, with a surprised face.

(Yes, thank goodness.)

　Solstice is smiling with satisfaction.

　And I'm so proud of our success.

"--whoa!

　In the snow-covered 'Fairy Land', the cheers of Tetet's soldiers and adventurers echoed loudly.


　◇ ◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇


　The giant ants that had appeared on the ground had managed to get rid of them.

　Until now, the soldiers and adventurers in the 'Fairy Land' were said to have been able to stop the spread to the ground in this way, at the water's edge.

　Nevertheless.

I don't know what's going on in the basement, though.

　Solstice muses.

　'Yeah,'

(That's why we need to kill the queen ants and wipe them out as soon as possible.)

　I make a new decision.

"I guess I'll just have to go through the front door.

　Mr. Kilt is troubled as he looks at the drawings.

　The distance to the space where the queen ants are expected to be located is about two kilometers from the entrance of the tunnel.

　It would be very difficult to move for two kilometers while killing an endless stream of giant ants.

But we don't have a choice.
Yes.
I'll have to do it.

　The three of them seemed to be ready to go.

　The captain and the adventurers also said with a sad face, ''We'll cover you as best we can.

(...........)

　I said as I looked at him.

'Isn't 200 maids better than 2000 maids?'
Hmm?
What?
What?

　The faces of everyone who had been struck by the news turned to me.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


This is it.

　The Tetet army captain led us to a spot a little further up the mountain.

　There is a large hole in the ground in front of us.

　It is an air hole.

　The flow of air in the tunnels is so slow that it is easy to run out of oxygen while people are working.

　This hole is designed to prevent that from happening, to create a flow of air.

(It's bigger than I thought it would be.)

　Its diameter is about 3 meters.

　There was a large pulley on the ground level.

They use it as a loading dock.

　I see.

　There is a space right below this one where it is believed that the queen ants are, but I remember saying that this space was originally used to store the materials we mined.

　Solstice looks into the deep, dark hole.

　Huoao.........

　A cold wind blew up and shook the girl's purple hair.

'Are there any giant ants coming out of here?'
Yeah.

　The captain nodded.

'The bedrock near the ground here is smooth. Apparently even a couple of them can't climb it.

(Huh?)

　I squatted down and touched the wall of the hole, and it was definitely slippery.

　It was like polished metal.

　Even the giant ant's jagged feet would not be able to support that much weight.

　Congratulations!

　Ms. Illtimina also tapped her white hand lightly to check the feel of it.

'So, Marle,'

　Mr. Kilt called out my name.

"How do we get down this hole?
Hmm?
You're going to be hard pressed if you take the pulley down. As long as you go underground, the strata will change, even if it's near the ground. There's a good chance that the giant ants will be able to climb halfway up the air hole. If the pulley rope is cut there, it's all over.

(Yeah, I know.)

　I agree with you on that possibility.

　But it's not a problem.

"Mr. Quilt, you're forgetting something.

　I laughed.

　Mr. Kilt said, "What? I raised my eyebrows.

　The sisters also have a strange look on their faces.

　I take out a rainbow-colored sphere about an inch in diameter - the 'Divine Armament' - from my pocket and clutch it.

(Please, Koro.)

　As I wished in my mind, the iridescent sphere glowed and shattered into fine particles.

　It converges on my back.

　Vo on.

　Iridescent metal wings were spawned, and they were spread wide open, reflecting the sunlight.

　The three of them and the captain look dumbfounded.

　They laughed at that.

I can still fly, you know?