——For a moment, Subaru mistakenly thought that time had stopped.
It feels disgusting, but I have an impression of this illusion. It is a moment of hesitation squeezed out by the brain in obedience to the survival instinct when life is on the verge of crisis - just a few seconds are the key to deciding the outcome.
Why is Elsa here? I don’t even have time to think about this question.
What you should think about is not why, but how to deal with it. Be calm and grasp the situation as much as possible.
The black-clad killer standing at the entrance of the parlor, Yuexing, Subaru and Frandelica sitting on the sofa in the parlor, and Ram standing still with the staff - but that's not all of them.
"————"
——Because there is Petra
Elsa opened the door completely, and next to her stood the young Petra. The girl whose neck was pressed with a blade had big tears pouring out of her round eyes.
It is understandable that it was Petra who brought her here. She was forced to lead the way and was not even allowed to cry.
Now, Petra's heart should be filled with huge fear, her life is threatened, and she is forced to take gangsters to where people are. She should want to shout "Help me"——
"……sister"
Petra called to them in a trembling voice
What can I do when I hear that voice? Nod to reassure her and tell her that it’s okay to cry——
"——Run away!!"
"————"
At that moment, what Petra shouted was not "Save me", but "Run away"
"El Fla——!"
The first one to attack was the wind blade used by Ram, who was already threatening people with his staff.
The gathered mana turned into an invisible slash and approached to cut the calm Elsa. The wind blade could not be stopped with a physical attack, but——
"It's such a cool breeze, but the weather is sunny and sunny today, so there's no need to be so considerate."
Erza just dodged the wind blade that was a fatal blow by lying on her back with her upper body soft. The black shadow continued to easily dodge the successive attacks, as if she could see the wind - no, it's not like that.
When Ram sent out the wind blade, he avoided Petra who was being treated as a hostage. Elsa took advantage of this and got into the blind spot between the girl and the wind to avoid the wind blade.
"If this little maid was also killed, the situation might be different."
"——It's a pity. The servants of the Roswaal family will help each other and complement each other. This is our creed!"
"Alas"
Elsa caressed Petra's cheek from behind, making the girl's slender throat freeze. Elsa raised her eyebrows. Frandelica moved her wrists, getting into a fighting stance, ready to tear apart Elsa's body.
Her attack is to bend her five fingers and make a punch similar to the Southern Fist and Tiger Claw. The only difference from the Tiger Claw Fist is that Frandelica's hands really turned into animal claws.
The originally white and thin fingers turned into strong claws of beasts, and her hands turned into weapons for tearing skin and flesh. Elsa's Kukli scimitar and Frandelica's claws played a fierce song. Knocking sound and sparks
"Partially transformed into a beast...! The demihuman bloodline is awesome!"
"Thank you for the extremely complicated compliment... you can do such a thing! Petra!"
Elsa was delighted by this unexpected offensive and defensive battle, and Frandelica in front of her tilted her body, and Petra's round eyes widened when her name was suddenly called.
The golden belt stretched out in front of the standing girl's eyes. It was connected to the bottom of Frandelica's skirt and covered with soft golden hair.
"——!"
The moment she understood what it was, Petra flew toward the beast's tail. Frandelica, who knew it through her senses, put away her tail and pulled Petra back, holding the girl out of the killing range.
As soon as she jumped, Elsa wanted to use her blade to make up the distance, but Ram wouldn't allow it.
"Let's turn into pieces and fly!!"
After retrieving the hostage and losing her safe zone, Elsa was surrounded by the wind. The wind blades expanded into a ball and closed the retreat. They shrank towards the prey in the center and the strong wind began to rage.
"————"
The timing was just right, the blood flew away, and the sharp wind did hit Elsa, but——
"With your hands...!"
"Ah, it hurts so much... I thought I was going to die."
Elsa raised her arm where several pieces of flesh had been dug out, and gently licked the blood flowing from the horrific wounds.
The injury was miserable, but only one hand was broken. Elsa used her hand as a shield to hit the wind blade, minimizing the damage. At first glance, it seemed brave and foolhardy, but it was the most correct thing to do——
"nasty woman"
"I really admire you, maid"
Elsa used the hand that was still intact to spin the Kukli scimitar and pointed it towards the unhappy Ram. The faintly shining blade reflected the four people except Elsa one by one.
"The big, middle, small, three maids, and the men, I'm going to line you up on the table and compare your internal organs."
"My skills in inviting people are even worse than Jiafei's, so I say - Huang Yuexing!"
"--coming"
Frandelika, who was holding Petra, landed behind her, and Ram signaled at this moment.
Yuexing, who was sitting on the sofa, suddenly stood up and stabbed the killer in the face with the long knife in his hand.
The sound of metal colliding sounded again, and Elsa jumped back following the impact of the collision.
"Why don't you use your strange moves? Big sister, I have carefully prepared a plan."
"Of course - enough to hold you back"
"——Sha——curtain!!"
The sound came from behind Elsa's landing point
Black mist bursts out from Subaru's right palm like an explosion
The darkness, which is deeper than the shadow, swallows the target woman in black whole. It is a magic that forces the creatures inside to lose all senses and completely deprives them of their ability to think and act.
Before he could finish speaking, Subaru fell into great pain.
"——Go first!"
After holding up the collapsed Subaru, Yuexing immediately shouted to Ram
"I want to be a little rough!" "Ah! Sister, sister...!?"
Ram quickly ordered a retreat, and Frandelica hugged Petra under her arm without hesitation.
"Anyway, from the window——"
Frandelica retreated further into the reception room. As long as she broke the window there, she could jump to the front yard of the mansion. The veil could not last long, so now she needed to make a decisive decision and execute it immediately——
"——Ugh?"
Holding Subaru's Moon Star, he felt a slight impact on his back
There was a strange feeling in the right shoulder and shoulder blade. I gasped and turned my neck to check the shoulder. There was something like a bamboo stick inserted there. The tail end of the slender object was still vibrating, which proved that it had been poked just now.
——Countless numbers of these things shot towards this side from behind the black mist.
"——Gan!"
Sharp flashes of light burst out, and the sounds that penetrated the soft flesh continued——
"——Uh-huh!!" "——Ul-Fra!!"
——The roars of ghosts and beasts overlapped, and the entire reception room was blown apart.