A midday update!
The white bear's vicious claws slash horizontally.
"Ungh."
The distance was still too great. Even with a normal swing, there was no way those claws could reach him.
...Yet he already knew that assumption could cost him his life.
On instinct, he leaped high. A split second later, something luminous was launched from the tips of the white bear's claws.
——It tore through and gouged the ground where he had been standing just an instant before.
"...Troublesome."
This was most likely the white bear's magic.
At its core was wind magic or some enhancement-type spell. It sent a cutting slash along the claws, extending their already considerable reach to an extreme degree.
And on top of that——
"GROOAAARGH!"
As if timing it to Ermes's leap, the second white bear swung its thick arms at him.
"——Tch!"
A wall of light for defense. On top of that, he adapted the wind-based General-purpose Magic to create a cushion, softening the impact—but even so, a tremendous shock still reverberated through his body. He was sent flying and slammed into the Dungeon wall, a lingering numbness coursing through him.
"Erm!"
Katia shouted, deploying ghost soldiers from her 'Netherworld of Salvation' to provide covering fire. That staved off any follow-up attack, but one misstep could have been fatal.
*I see*, he thought.
A single one of these white bear Monsters was already a serious threat. High agility and raw strength, plus that powerful extending slash.
His assessment that they were on par with a Tortoise-shell dragon hadn't been wrong.
And this time there were two of them. Moreover, these Monsters even employed coordinated tactics.
Just moments ago, the first bear's slash had forced Ermes to dodge by jumping, and the second had exploited that opening. The fact that such powerful Monsters could execute a combination this sophisticated—
——They were, without question, formidable enemies.
"...But still."
Ermes murmured.
Even so, he and Katia together should be able to win, he judged.
The usual process. Analyze the enemy's behavior to the point of predicting their moves. Accumulate information, raise the accuracy of his readings, and play purely defense until the moment arrives to strike back.
Then, once that moment comes, finish them off decisively.
With Katia's Bloodline Magic providing support, and her defensive capability, it would be entirely feasible. Once enough information was gathered, he would have her create a significant opening. In that window, if he activated his 'Ashen World Tree,' victory would be his. These Monsters had impressive durability, but once he generated that sword, he could overpower them through sheer firepower.
He laid out the path to victory with precision, shared it with Katia, and all that remained was execution.
Thinking this, they continued battling while observing their foes.
——Yet.
"Kuh—"
For reasons contrary to expectation,
Ermes and Katia were gradually being driven into a disadvantage.
The analysis itself was fine. In truth, he had read the white bears' behavioral patterns quite well and was able to respond accordingly. Soon, depending on how Katia positioned herself, an opening to deploy a spell would appear—but...
...The crux of the problem was that Katia's magic was performing terribly.
Both the number and quality of her ghost soldiers had fallen well below what she had shown during her fight with Aster.
Because of that, her defensive capability couldn't be fully realized, leaving no room to mount any counterattack at all. They were stuck purely on the defensive.
Even for Ermes, being flanked by such powerful Monsters in a high-level combination, while simultaneously being denied the support he should have been receiving—it was far too harsh a situation.
And finally, the moment their fraying defense reached its breaking point came.
"Hah!"
With a shout, he drove a 'Magic Bullet Archer' accelerated charge straight into the white bear's snout. The damage itself wasn't particularly great, but the nose was a biological weak point. The white bear recoiled with a shriek, and at least one front of attack was temporarily halted.
However, the cost was that Ermes had exhausted his magic mid-air. Seizing the opening without hesitation, the other bear lunged. This was Katia's cue—the ghost soldiers meant to stop the bear and cover Ermes's gap—
——Never came.
"Shi—"
"!!"
This time, with no time to even mount a defense, the vicious claws raked across Ermes.
He was sent tumbling and rolled to where Katia stood. She rushed over, tears in her eyes.
"Erm! I'm sorry, I, I don't know why—"
"...Rest assured. I avoided any direct hit to a vital area."
That said, a deep claw mark was carved roughly from his left shoulder down to his upper arm. He had staunched the blood with emergency first aid using General-purpose Magic, but no matter how you looked at it, this was no minor wound.
More pressing, however, was Katia. From the looks of it, she herself didn't understand the cause of her slump.
He had no intention of blaming her. 'Netherworld of Salvation' was an exceedingly delicate magic to begin with. He suspected something on her end was affecting the spell, but if she couldn't identify the cause, an immediate fix would be difficult.
...Which meant.
There was no way to deal with the Monsters currently charging at them in full force.
No solution came to mind, but he couldn't simply ignore them either. Clutching his wound, he squared off against the Monsters once more when—
"...I suppose it's about time. Any more than this would be asking for trouble."
Stepping forward from between the two of them came Rose, who declared as much.
"...Master."
Ermes murmured, while Katia looked at her with a frustrated expression.
The white bears, for their part, eyed the red-haired woman who had appeared so suddenly with caution—but their instincts drove them to lunge again regardless.
"——Oh my. Sorry, but would you mind being quiet for a moment, Mr. Bear?"
A chill ran through the air.
The magic power she radiated in an oppressive wave froze them in their tracks.
They hadn't completely lost their will to fight, it seemed, but they understood. That red-haired woman was the most dangerous thing in this place.
Glaring at Rose but unable to act rashly, the white bear Monsters stood their ground.
Rose, having forced this stalemate through sheer pressure alone, was then addressed by Ermes.
"...You'll be lending us a hand?"
"Mmm, that works too. But—what about you two? Do you still want to win on your own?"
Rose turned the question back on them. Ermes considered for just a few heartbeats, then—
"...Of course, I'd like to win together with Katia, just the two of us. If Master says she can help, that's all the more reason."
He answered honestly.
Katia reacted to his words as well, looking down with an expression that couldn't hide her frustration—
"...Me too. But...!"
"——Good. That's all I needed to hear."
She had been about to mention her own unexplained slump, but Rose cut her off before she could.
Then—
"All right, Erm, I'm borrowing Katia for a bit. While I do—"
"I need you to"
"stall those"
"monsters"
"on your own."
"............Come again?"
It was a request with many points one might want to question. Of all the things worth pressing on, there was one he needed to confirm first.
"...Master, do you perhaps have an idea what's causing Katia's slump?"
"Well, I do. Or rather, I had a feeling something like this might happen."
Both Ermes and Katia's expressions colored with surprise.
"It depends on Katia, but if we talk it through, we can probably work it out. More importantly—what about you, Erm. Can you do it?"
Rose asked with a provocative glint.
...Stall those two white bear Monsters alone—creatures that he and Katia together had struggled against despite her being in top form.
It was a staggeringly difficult task. Even if he had managed to read their movements to some degree, the gap in raw physical ability was considerable. To make matters worse, he was outnumbered. And they would be exploiting that advantage to the fullest with their coordinated tactics. To put it mildly, the odds of success were low.
But—
"I'll do it."
If he hesitated at a challenge like this, Ermes would not be standing here right now.
It wasn't as though there was zero chance. As long as even the slightest opportunity existed, there was no reason not to push himself to grow.
At Ermes's answer, Rose nodded with a satisfied smile.
"That's my disciple. Making me fall for you all over again."
"That said, coming out completely unscathed is unrealistic. If possible, I'd appreciate proper treatment afterward."
"Easy enough—I'll even throw in a lap pillow for free. ...Now then, I'll be taking the master, if you don't mind."
With that, Rose guided the still-flustered Katia and stepped back.
Perhaps because the threat they posed had diminished, or perhaps simply because of the shift in positioning—the Monsters directed an intense killing intent toward Ermes, now standing alone.
"...Well then."
Looking at them, Ermes quietly reflected.
Up until now, he had been relying on Katia too much.
Come to think of it, even the initial strategy he had devised to take on these Monsters had been premised on Katia's presence.
Not accounting for a scenario where Katia wasn't at full capacity had been, in a sense, his own failing.
Depending on someone else wasn't inherently wrong. But when you took that person's presence for granted as a baseline assumption, it led to situations like this one. It wouldn't be a positive influence for either of them, either.
...He ruminated on various rationalizations, but in the end—
——Fighting alone was exactly what he wanted.
He sharpened his awareness, purging extraneous information from his thoughts and sinking deeper into the sea of concentration.
He let out a long, slow breath and immersed himself further in battle. The objective was to buy time, but he couldn't afford a defensive mentality. He would go in with the resolve to put them down.
Whether they sensed the shift in Ermes's aura, the white bears charged—cautiously, yet without hesitation.
At the same time, Ermes kicked off the ground, smoothly activating his magic.
The second round of battle had begun.