Our group’s course of action was decided: we would keep watch over the battle with the boss while staying alert to the surroundings.

One of the surviving Giant Apes was also eaten, while the other was taken down by August and Luban. We had already defeated it before the boss fight, but if it’s not a Demon Lord species, it might be fairly easy to take down.

Now, the boss Mantis. Having eaten the two Giant Apes, its scythe has already regenerated. I’m curious about what’s going on with that thing inside the 【Hideout】, but I don’t think it will disappear.

“You’re doing well so far, holding it down.”

Standing at the front, Alec draws attention with the 【Red Shield】, skillfully deflecting the scythes on the left and right with his shield and club. Then, when the boss seems frustrated and tries to jump, Luban and August immediately crush that movement. Zighart, who is a bit farther away, is concentrating on gathering his power… Looks like things are under control, right?

“Yes… But the Mantis still seems to have some energy left. If it truly gets cornered, it could always escape without caring about its image.”

“Ah… If it escapes, we can’t stop it, huh…”

Indeed, if it truly tries to escape, we wouldn’t be able to destroy its legs or hold its body down. That’s probably why Alec and the others aren’t attacking now, unlike earlier—they’re just calmly taking it on and waiting.

…I wonder, aren’t they scared?

“Good!”

While thinking this, I kept watching, and it seemed like Zighart was ready, signaling to the other three.

The problem now is how to land the magic. Except when it tries to jump, the Mantis tends to keep a low stance, protecting its unarmored abdomen with the ground. I need to figure out a way to lift its body…

If I go and distract it by moving around near its head, maybe I can get it to lift its upper body. It’s risky if I let my guard down, but I’m not tired, so I don’t think I’ll make a mistake.

But it turned out that I was worrying for nothing.

Having fended off the scythes, Alec quickly slid in and delivered a scoop-like strike to the open jaws of the Mantis just as it was about to bite. It must have hit hard because the boss Mantis instinctively lifted its body up. In anger, it raised both of its scythes.

The display was impressive, but…

“It’s done.”

Fiora echoed the words that popped into my head. Then, as if to prove the correctness of her statement, a bright light suddenly appeared in the dimly lit room of the boss. The source of the light was Zighart.

Since we were in the middle of a boss fight, I didn’t close my eyes, but I turned my back to him. The preparations were flawless.

Then, Alec and the others, who had used sound earlier, now used the light as their signal and quickly distanced themselves from the boss. They weren’t concerned about their posture; they were avoiding the boss by any means necessary, but it couldn’t be helped.

As soon as the three of them backed off, a red line, not as thick as during the fight with Cymodoki but still intense, was drawn straight toward the boss, followed by the sound of a massive roar a moment later.

“…Wow.”

I couldn’t help but let out a voice as I watched the boss Mantis’s huge body fly away.

With a roar even louder than the magic earlier, it rolled along the ground. It flew about 20 meters, I think…? It was a bizarre sight, seeing something the size of a large truck getting tossed like that.

While I was stunned, Fiora spoke up beside me.

“The fact that its body is still intact means… we must not have destroyed its core… Sera, did you get the Holy Coin? I didn’t.”

“…Oh!? Uh, I didn’t get one either.”

If that thing was like the boss ape, then if we dealt the finishing blow, we should have gotten the Holy Coin, even if its body remained. But neither Fiora nor I got one. I glanced at Teresa, and she shook her head. She didn’t get one either…

So that means… it’s still alive? That thing?

◇

Zighart’s magic hit directly, and the boss Mantis was sent flying. Honestly, I thought it was dead, but none of us, nor the men who had been fighting it directly, got the Holy Coin. It seems that only the time we fought the boss ape did we all get it—otherwise, it’s possible only the one who delivered the final blow would receive it, but Zighart didn’t get it either.

So, the three frontliners cautiously approached the boss’s fallen body.

We didn’t want to get too close too soon in case we were wrong and it wasn’t dead, and it might spring to life again!

“What!?”

During the boss fight, I had been using both 【Fairy’s Eye】 and the Snake’s Eye to keep an eye on the fallen monsters from a distance. Naturally, I’d also been observing the boss, but for some reason, I hadn’t been able to see any kind of aura, whether from humans or monsters.

However, just when Alec and the others had closed the distance to within a few meters of the fallen boss, I saw red, green, and black auras that had previously been invisible.

I don’t know what’s happening, but I was about to warn them when…

“…Huh?”

My vision suddenly spun.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera ・【Hideout】 +1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind Clothes】 ・【Floating Orb】 +1【Shadow Sword】【Crimson Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lungs】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】 ・3 cards

Seriana ・【Area Identification】 ・【】 ・28 cards
Elena ・【】 ・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】 ・3 cards
Alec ・【Strong Strike】 ・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・5 cards