"W-Wait... Yuriiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?"
Rest cried out involuntarily at the sight of his friend being swallowed whole by a snake right before his eyes.
The one that had swallowed Yuri was a second giant serpent.
It appeared there had been two giant serpents from the very beginning.
The newly appeared serpent was a size smaller than the first — perhaps its child, or perhaps they were mates.
"GYAAAAAAASHAAAAA!"
"Damn... I need to save her... quickly!"
This was Yuri they were talking about.
Just because she'd been swallowed whole didn't mean she'd die right away.
If he could make the serpent spit her out quickly, he should be able to save her.
"I need to take it down in less than a second... without hurting Yuri inside...!"
Yuri would be somewhere in the creature's midsection.
If that was the case... what he needed to crush was the creature's head — its command center.
"GYAAAAAAASHAAAAA!"
"Shut up! Just die already!"
Rest used the magic of Super Acceleration and dashed swiftly down the hill.
The giant serpent noticed his approach, glared at him, and spat some kind of liquid from its mouth.
"Earthen Wall!"
He hastily conjured a barrier and blocked the mysterious liquid.
The earthen wall let out a sizzling hiss as if being scorched, and half of it had melted away.
"Poisonous liquid...!"
He couldn't afford to be hit.
The giant serpent opened its massive jaws, preparing to spit more venom — but Rest cast another spell.
"[Wind Bind]!"
It was the same binding spell he had used earlier to capture the four-legged beast.
Wind wrapped around the serpent's mouth and forced it shut.
"Gishuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!?"
"Now you can't spit any more venom... Time to finish this!"
Rest kicked off the ground and leaped at the giant serpent.
At the tip of his right hand, he materialized a black sphere — the Dark Star, which devoured everything — and smashed it into the serpent's head.
"[Star Eater]!"
"Gish..."
The giant serpent's entire head was swallowed by the Dark Star and vanished from this world.
The remaining neck thudded to the ground, blood streaming from the severed end.
Just to be safe, he surveyed the surroundings with presence detection, but there didn't seem to be any other monsters around.
"Yuri, are you alright?! I'm coming to save you!"
He could sense Yuri's presence within the serpent's body.
She's still unharmed, alive.
Rest carefully cut through the serpent's body to avoid injuring Yuri, attempting to free her from within.
"Huh...?"
But... before he could finish cutting with magic, the serpent began to move.
It was supposed to be dead for certain, yet the remaining torso was twitching and convulsing...
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"
Moments later, the serpent burst open from the inside.
Scales and chunks of flesh scattered in every direction, and Yuri emerged from within.
"Phew... ah, Rest! Are you alright?"
"......That's my line."
The blood-soaked Yuri smiled at Rest.
It was her usual smile, yet... it only made her grisly appearance all the more striking.
"To think I let my guard down like that. I'm sorry for the troub——"
"[Water Sphere] [Amplify]!"
"Wah!"
He drenched her from head to toe with a massive volume of water, washing away the flesh, blood... and the serpent's gastric acid clinging to Yuri's body.
Then... turning his face away, he tossed the jacket he'd been wearing to Yuri.
"What's this?"
"......Please, just put it on. Can you not see what you look like right now?"
"Hm?"
Yuri looked down at herself and widened her eyes.
Yuri's clothes had been dissolved by the giant serpent's stomach acid, leaving only her underwear barely intact.
The parts that shouldn't be seen were exposed, and she was in a state where it was absolutely impossible to walk under the sun.
"Oh, what a shame. I went to all the trouble of dressing up nicely, and now it's ruined."
"...Show a little more embarrassment, would you? You're a young lady, after all."
"Hm? Is there a problem if it's just Rest who sees? After all, he's going to be my husband!"
"..........."
Rather than trying to cover her naked body, Yuri stood there proudly with her chest puffed out.
Her large chest bounced softly and spilled out from her underwear, but she didn't seem to care.
Seeing her like that, Rest felt the walls closing in, thinking, "Is that decision already final..."
"Well... it's fine, I guess. But how do we get back from here...?"
Yuri had draped Rest's jacket over herself... but how were they supposed to return to the mansion in this state?
In the end, only Rest used high-speed movement magic to return to House Rosemary.
He brought back clothes for Yuri and avoided any major incident... but later, when Viola and Primula found out about what had happened, they subjected him to a severe interrogation about the details.