"...peaceful,"

　As he drove in a carriage down the road leading to the dungeon, Arra murmured.

"That's true.But we don't have to fight in vain."

　Elena, who was reading a military science book, looked up at Arra's words and replied,
　The carriage had already left the road, and was on a deserted road.
　No, to be exact, the ground trampled down by those heading to the dungeon looks like a road.
　We all went on in the midst of this, but the road went very smoothly, as the bored Arra said.
　Originally, it takes about two nights from Gilmoo to Dungeon, but the magic item, the horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn horse-drawn.and Warhorse, who was originally leading a carriage, was one of the best horses in the kingdom of Milliana, so that the journey could not be avoided.
　Also, most monsters who attack the horse-drawn carriage as if they were prey, understand the difference in status and hide themselves when they see the set next to hide themselves.Some monsters, such as Iron Snakes the day before, attack because they are so low in intelligence that they cannot understand the difference in rank, but they are literally rejected by Seto and put in Ray's mysterious ring to save his life.
　and, as a result of his smooth journey, he was proceeding at such a remarkable pace that he would arrive overnight from Gilm to Dungeon.

"But, Mr. Elena,"If you don't do anything like this, you won't be able to maintain your nervousness, at least if you could attack me like a thief or something."
"Ara, you're a little too belligerent,"

　Custe, who was reading Dungeon's book on the sofa, muttered dumbfoundedly.

"Why, Custe has a habit of looking free,"
"Well, don't let me be with Arla.It's not like I'm free because I've gained knowledge of dungeons like this."

　Or perhaps one voice was a flag.The sound of whistles I have heard several times echoed through the carriage.

"Because you say strange things..."
"Don't blame me.And the Gryphon will clean everything up again anyway.'

　However, contrary to Arra's wishes, the whistle, which should have been played only for a very short time by Seto since the beginning of the journey, never stops.
　As Custe stood up from the sofa to ask Ver, who was in the cab stand, the door connected to the cab stand opens.
　From there came Ver, whose usual light expression had disappeared and a rare stern expression on his face.

"What's wrong with monsters?"
"...it might be a little clumsy,"

　Ver, who answered Custe's question briefly, understood all the people in the carriage that the matter was going to be unfunny.
　Custe picks up the evil spear, Arla picks up the sword, and Elena stands up with the connected sword.
　Of course, Ray, who is sent as a bodyguard, stands up so that he can always take his death size out of Mistilling.
　The reason why we don't present the death size here is simply a matter of carriage doors.Although the door was made rather large, it could have been difficult to keep it a death size longer than 2 meters.

"Is there any problem with the carriage going on?"
"I think it's a bit difficult."
"Why? Is it because of the enemy's speed?"He shook his head in silence at Elena's question, and while he was speaking, he kept his eyes on the road and manipulated the War Horse.

"No, I can't see the enemy in the first place.and yet the enmity of the carriage never stops."
"Are you aiming at this carriage from a distance that we cannot see, or are you unable to see it?"
"It would be troublesome if it were an undead ghost."

　She nods to Arra's words, and Elena decides on her policy.

"I don't think I can take the enemy with me to the dungeon, and above all, it's a pity to run away." -- Custe, stop the carriage.I'll intercept you here."
"Are you okay? I think I should run away like this."
"That's too much,"
"Yes, yes, my queen is brave, or rather daring... No, nothing."

　As Arra silently thrusts her sword into Ver's face, she calmly stops her carriage in a cold sweat.

"Ray, you don't have a good connection with us yet, so you don't have to move as you please."
"It's helpful. Then I'll be with you as usual."

　Elena nods slightly at Ray's words and turns to Arra, who knows what she is being ordered to do, opens the door as soon as the carriage stops completely and runs into it first.Behind him is Custe, holding a magic spear, and finally Ray jumps out and instantly takes his death-size out of the mistling.

"I can't find the enemy, Elena,"
"I'm the same,"
"Right? But the sense of hostility continues to ring."

　Ver, holding a bow from the top of the cabernacle, says so, looking sharply around him.

"...there is certainly no enemy.However, the reaction to the sense of hostility must have always been to somebody to see what was going on here.Keep an eye on each other."

　Listening to Elena's words, Ray also looks out for himself as he heads under Set, who was near the carriage.
　The surrounding area, or rather the area where the Lays are now parked, is a meadow, and there is a forest of trees growing a little further away.

(If it were suspicious, it would be that forest.)

"Seto, do you feel anything?"
"Grull".

　He shook his head in response to Ray's question, and even though he had five senses as a Gryphon, he could not sense the presence of the enemy.

"If things go on like this, will they be attacked unilaterally?Then you need insurance.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Magic Shield."

　Use Magic Shield, which is one of the skills that Death Size has acquired by absorbing magical stones.The next moment, a shield made of light is formed next to the ray and automatically moves to an unobstructed position to swing the death size.
　All of a sudden, the eyes of Elena gather on the shield of light for a moment, but immediately the eyes are scattered here and there looking for traces of the enemy.
　However, even after a few minutes, there was no attack from the enemy, and he could not even find the enemy.

"Did you see the enemy there, Ray?"Elena approached him from the other side of the carriage, but he could not find the enemy, even though he felt Ray and Sett.

"There is no enemy here either..."
"Ray?"

　Elena asks again, suddenly interrupted in the middle of the conversation.
　But Ray turns a sharp look around him without answering the question.

"Glu".

　Seto must have felt the same way.He looked around with a groan of alarm.
　The surrounding area was grasslands and forests, and the distinctive crisp winds of summer to autumn.
　I heard that sound faintly.

"Ray, what's wrong? Did you find something?"
"What!"

　As soon as she heard Elena's voice, Ray was almost reflexively shaking his death-size down.
　and the metallic sound that echoes around.
　At that moment, indeed, Ray saw it.What's on the tip of the attack.That is to say...

"Be careful, Elena,"It's a huge mantis.It was as big as a carriage.It's transparent and it's aimed at us!"

　Ray's cry.Yes, what Ray saw was a huge mantis as tall as a carriage.The mantis appeared only for a moment when it launched an attack, and the scythe struck him death-sized, and disappeared again.

(Is it like an optical camouflage? But you didn't even hear anything? And with Seto, it could have been discovered by the sense of smell.)

　I doubt it privately, but I quickly melt down when I remember my knowledge of living in the country.
　The mantis basically ambushes and kills prey.In other words, the fact that there was no sound was simply that the mantis disappeared and ambushed us.and a ray accidentally fell within the range of the mantis to prevent it.
　The smell was still unknown, but I think we should think about it only after dismissing the attack.

"Oh, my dear!"

　I was looking for a mantis when suddenly I heard a scream.Going there, Ray saw Arra holding a mantis sickle with her sword, even though her right shoulder was destroyed.
　Here, for the first time, Ray checks the mantis carefully.
　It's probably about 4 meters in size.It covers the body and is equipped with something like a beetle's crust, and has two pairs of sickles, i.e. four arms.
　Now one of them was protected by Arra, and the other sickle was defended by Custe with a magic spear.The mantis tries to kill them with the remaining two sickles, but each time it is shot from a distant position, Ver's arrow and Elena's connected sword obstructed it.
　After confirming the war situation in an instant, Ray heads to Elena and screams.

"My dear Elena, I and Set will set about from above."
"All right! But if he's a mantis, he could fly.Be very careful."Ray heard Elena's voice at his back and straddled Sett's back.

"Seto, you know,"
"Ringling!"

　They sing briefly and run for a few steps to flap their wings.and he went up to the sky as if he had kicked up the air itself.
　He swirled sharply and headed over the mantis, which was neck and neck with the four Elenas.

(...not even.Because two avant-garde men were stuck in the mantis, they could not use the magic and attack of the ever-changing connected sword, which was the true height of Elena's body, or they could not demonstrate their power because their trajectory was limited.)

　The battle can be seen from above.and whether the mantis was reasonably intelligent or instinctive, they were just running around as shields for Elena.Ver's bow and arrow were not powerful enough to check the mantis around the crust.

"Well, a mantis would have a soft stomach.You're wearing something like that.Let's go, Seto. Follow me. It's a wave attack."
"Gruly!"

　When he saw Seto sing, he jumped off the back of Seto, who was straddling him.At the same time, it falls from just above the mantis as if it were waving its death size...

"What!"

　At that moment, Ray certainly saw that the mantis' face turned 180 degrees and caught him in sight.
　and, after blowing off Arra with one blow, wielding a sickle the size of a death-size scythe at Ray in the air.

"Hit!"

　It was almost instinctive to determine that the mantis's behavior resembled that of one of its death-size skills.But that decision saves Ray.It is a kind of attack that was fired from death size and a mantis.It collides just in the middle of a ray and a mantis in the air, offset each other.
　But don't forget.A mantis has four sickles compared to a single-death-size ray.

"Hey, avoid it!"

　While Elena's voice echoes, Custe is blown away like Arla.for Elena, too.
　Elena was trying to block the attack on Ray, but if she continues to attack him, Custe gets involved.If it is avoided, it is judged that there is a high possibility of injury to the cuspe from the speed of blowing, and the choice is to accept it as it is.
　I really wanted to avoid the fact that Custe, capable of performing recovery magic, was blown away and injured and out of action when dealing with monsters that I had never seen before.

"Slapnil's shoes are on!"

　Not knowing that this was happening on the ground, Ray immediately launches Slapnil's shoes that can kick through the sky, and instantly kicks through the sky to get ready in the air.

"Grunt!"

　Seto made a sharp noise, flapped his wings, caught Ray with his back, and landed at a distance from the mantis.

"Seto, you're saved."
"Grull".

　He thanked Seto briefly and looked at the mantis with his death size in his hand.
　Next to it, Elena, who had been receiving the blown-off Custe, is lined up.
　Looking around quickly, Custe is trying to get behind the mantis with a magical spear, and Ver is shooting arrows to keep him in check.Arla was knocked unconscious by the impact of the earlier blow.

"Ray, I'm afraid I'll be in trouble if I take more time.I'll kill you all at once."
"All right.It's troublesome to fly away from the mantis alone.""Yes. Then can you thin him out for a while? I want to magically knock him down at once."
"No problem.Well... here we go!"
"Don't miss this signal,"

　With Elena's voice in his back, he stepped into the range with his death-size position.

「……」

　The mantis silently waits for such a ray, lifts up four scythe, and shakes it down!
　Four attacks of the same quality were made to offset the flying sword that he had just fired.and even though he sensed that they were coming towards each other at a slight time difference, he simply went forward regardless.

(If you know it's going to be different, there's plenty of counter-measures!)

　The first attack is avoided by slanting the body, the second one is slashed with a death-size blow through magic, the third one is crushed with a death-size handle, and the last one is offset by a magic shield that was not used in the previous air battle.Look sideways at the remnants of the Magic Shield, which disappeared like a haze, and move forward.There was already a mantis waiting for Ray.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

　Ray also attacks the sickle of the mantis, which is shaken down.
　Death-sized and mantis-edged blades through magic were shot at each other... the moment Custe, who had been watching the gap from behind, thought so, the mantis-edged blade struck off the mantis' sickle, not particularly resisted.

「……」

　A mantis wielding the remaining three sickles silently, instead of screaming in pain, even though his upper right arm had been cut off.
　and another flash, avoiding the sickle.He slashed off the sickle on his left upper arm.

[What's wrong with this?]

　It is true that some insect-shaped monsters have no pain.However, if they are shocked or fatally damaged, they usually react in some way.But the giant mantis in front of Ray, when two sickles, both his arm and his weapon, are cut off, makes no threatening sound and starts his next attack.
　I was momentarily distracted by such a mysterious sense of incongruity... that moment gave me a mortal break.
　It was a mantis that shook off the remaining two sickles, as if the left upper arm of the mantis had been cut off.
　It's not that difficult to avoid if it's a real ray, but I lost sight of the timing because of the discomfort I felt in the mantis...

"Don't be dumbfounded in the middle of the battle!"

　Custe's evil spear, thrown from behind the mantis, strikes a blow from the sickle that was supposed to carry him to Ray.
　The sickle-blowing spear passed Ray's side and pierced the ground.
　Even Ray jumps sideways without missing a chance in a thousand years, and an arrow shot from Ver interrupts the mantis trying to chase him.
　And...

"Get rid of me!"

　Elena's voice echoed around her.Hearing the voice, Ray reflexively kicks the ground and quickly distances himself from the mantis.
　Already, there is only Ray around the mantis.Custe kept a quick distance after throwing a spear, and Ver was originally at a distance because he was attacking with a bow and arrow.Arla fainted and was beside the carriage.
　When Elena finds out that Ray has distanced herself, she invokes a magic spell after finishing her chanting.

"Lightning tornado!"The moment the magic is released, the wind gathers around the mantis to form a tornado as if it were a circle.The tornado was originally only large enough to stop the mantis, but it rapidly increased to cover a mantis itself by 4 meters, and it grew even bigger.At the same time, the tornado was magically entangled with lightning, and the mantis in the center continued to eat two types of attacks: tornadoes and thunder until the tornado disappeared.