With Alice on his back, the forced march continued.
　Due to Humpty's magical explosion, the demons in this area were gathering one by one.

　Multiple demons were closing in on them from the progress, and it was impossible to avoid them.
　I'm not sure how many of them are left, but I'm not sure how many I'll be able to count, and that's when the legs of Ars and others slow down. It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with them.

　And the biggest reason for slowing down Ars and the others was Tesfia, who had been at the back of the line for some time. The initial pace had been thrown off by the streak after streak of battles, and the speed had slowed down significantly... or could be said to have stagnated.

　Probably even with an ordinary B-rate, her usual self would have been able to fight a good fight; with a C-rate, she wouldn't be struggling even more, which was supposed to be the case. She has that power.

　However, the current Tesfia was fighting a dangerous battle, even with C-Rate alone. Even if they were to defeat it, they were too inept. In the meantime, the demons were only increasing in number.

　Ars catches such a red-haired girl at the edge of her vision coldly. There is no such thing as pampering in the outside world. I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to do anything about it.
　While they are the objects of protection, they must be given the ability to survive in the outside world.

　This had never happened before. Ars felt an uncomfortable feeling in the area of his heart, as if he had heartburn. Yes, so far, he had abandoned mages like Tesfia.

　Ars moved only his body to slaughter the demon, and his head sank into a blur and emptiness.
　Tesfia would not be able to move directly. Either the demon would attack him, his magic power would run out, or he would lose his strength, but either way, if he matched the one who was stuck, he would only put his troops, or even himself, at risk. The decisions made there will make the difference between life and death - so decisively.

　The current situation of not being able to do so makes Ars's chest tighten. No, it's not that he can't, but he won't let it. I won't let him die. That determination has been cultivated so far. It made the actions that he thought were right stray.

　After all, the outside world is the place where Ars has devoted half his life to. He knows how to live there by heart.

　I asked Loki to back up Tesfia, but this is jittery. I'm sure Loki is already aware of this extraordinary number of demons.
　A miscalculation, but not an uncommon one.
　But the techniques that Ars has to break through are simply useless with this group of men.

　It had become impossible for Tesfia alone to deal with even D-Rate. And while Alice's wounds were shallow, the blood hadn't stopped yet. I put it in my head, there's also a lot of distance to some resting points.

　Currently, Tesfia couldn't keep up with Ars and Loki's speed at all, and her speed was not enough to let the demon go.
　Even her robes are damp and sweaty, her bangs stick to her forehead, and she won't even be able to squeeze out her voice. Its mouth would not open for anything other than to breathe in.
　She wielded her sword incessantly, as if she was being stubborn. The way he was trying his best, without giving up his weaknesses, was within the inner survival zone - the academy would have praised him.

　Ars didn't feel anything more to Tesfia, who was desperately trying to bite him. His eyes only analyzed her condition as if he had even lost interest.

'Loki I'll do that. I need you to stop the bleeding on Alice.
--!

　Stopping in his tracks, Ars sets Alice down beside Loki, who has landed on a branch of a huge tree. The silver-haired girl understands the power of that thing, and the need for it. But more than anything else, Loki bit his lip a little bit as he did so.
　I'm sure you're aware of the fact that the inefficient series of battles have drained your strength and magic power as well. If this continued for a few more minutes, not only would Tesfia be unable to move, but also herself, she thought.
　Because she could see that, she let out a small "I'm sorry".

　Immediately, Loki focused his mind and exercised the maximum range of detection he could now.
　At the same time, he ran at once to Tesfia, who was running at the tail end of the line, and leaped with her running with her legs in a tangle.

　When she danced back onto the branch, Ars jumped down lightly in her turn.

'Al, two and a half kilometres around, demons below B-rate, total.......seventy-five and one. There are no magicians in the area.
..........

　Choking on his words for a moment, Loki tells him the exact total number of demons. But the number of demons is higher than I expected.

　--That's strange. I defeated them so much, but where did they spring from........

　Ars, who landed on the ground without a reply to Loki's report, opened his eyes thinly as if to search his mind to see what he was thinking.
　Another release of magical power. [Predation] A predator created by that single point of desire. It is even thicker and more disastrous than before. The indeterminate form like mist danced madly around Ars, as if it had been given a definite form.


　The wounded Tesfia looked down on it with a single mind. Exhaling heavily to the point of being snatched, Tesfia again regretted her helplessness and gritted her teeth.

''Violent predator........''

　Tesfia listens emotionlessly to Loki's voice as he mouths that. A chaotic mass of magic power that seems to be sucked in. The magic power that covered Ars with his hands spread out to the left and right, with a movement that even his ego can be seen, he stretched out a number of snake-like heads.
　It was like being swarmed by a horde of hundreds of snakes, and if so, it seemed that it would never attack its host, Ars.

　It wasn't magic, nor was it pure magic.
　The more I look at it, the more I feel as if my soul is being sucked out of me - I feel as if I'm becoming less and less conscious.

　But the misery seems to Tesfia to be the cold-hearted Ars of sometime ago, even the root of it. Because of that, he said, there is a back and front like duality in Ars.

　In order to tame that group of snakes that were swelling up next, Ars returned his wrist and thrust forward.

''Eat it [Violent Predator (Gla Eater)]

　The strange magical power that tilts its sickle-neck as if reacting sensitively to the word "eat" starts running at once as if it had found a bait. The predator is unleashed on its target in the shortest possible time.
　It runs in all directions, with Ars in the center.

　The only way to describe the phenomenon that just happened underneath Tesfia, Alice and Loki would be nothing but a pitch black murky stream.
　The black snake-like swarm running through the trees was like a rope. It has many heads, and it is growing steadily like peristalsis.

　Even now, the momentum that is constantly being created has never waned.
　The enormous rush of magical power that accompanied the form, opened its mouth and swallowed up its prey. A strange ability to devour all magic power in an instant.

　Loki detects that the number of demons is decreasing at a terrific rate while detecting it.
　But it happened suddenly. No, perhaps it is because it is Loki that he was able to notice it.

　The torrent of magic power, its momentum is only increasing. It seems to keep spreading until the magic power has no end.
　If that was Ars's intention, Loki would not have noticed.
　However, the arm of Ars that raises its arm, the wavelength of the [Violent Predator (Gla Eater)] that clings to it was significantly disturbed.

　Despite Loki's concerns, Ars pulls back all 【Raging Predators (Gla Eaters)】.
　Loki's worries may have been right. Although the number of demons she detected and grasped was decreasing, they had not been wiped out.

　That may have been an area that even Ars couldn't detect, though.

　Ars, who flew back in a flash onto the branch, looked at Alice's condition after the bleeding was stopped.
　The wound on her head looks serious, but the wound itself wasn't deep to begin with. That's why there is quite a bit of blood, though.

I think we bought ourselves some time. Let's get out of here. Loki, we need to adjust our posture once. We're going to lose all day if we don't.
''Yes, then let's move it to the resting place we originally decided on. It's a bit far from the mission's [Night Meeting] projected position, but it's the closest from here.

　Arth sits in the middle of the room and takes Alice on his back.

'Wait, Al. Even though it's the closest thing we have to a distance, I thought we should slow down a bit with Fia now.
It's okay, Loki. We'll be right behind you.
But...

　By all accounts, Tesfia's fatigue has reached its peak. There was no way she would be able to recover in the small amount of time that Ars had wiped her out.
　Loki swallowed the words of persuasion and returned his face to look for Ars's instructions - his eyes were anxious.

　Ars, who turned away with Alice on his back........

'Do as you please.'
--!

　It was Loki himself who was most surprised by those words, and he guessed Ars's words. Loki knew that too.

　The dry, emotionless voice stabs Tesfia coldly.
　She opens her eyes and slumps down. She regretted her helplessness and still tried her best to do her best. And yet he directs cold words at her, as if disappointed.
　Tesfia grabbed his left arm with her right hand and gripped it tightly.