"..."
For a split-second, Saria simply blanked out, staring with pure disbelief at the space where the trio was performing a scene out of a romantic play less than a heartbeat ago…
"FILTH! MY LOVE WAS TORN AWAY FROM ME, AND YOU DARE FLAUNT YOURS IN THE OPEN!? I DON'T NEED SOMEONE LIKE THAT!"
*WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*
With an ear-piercing scream of an unseen individual, the moldy root split in two and unleashed a barrage of frenzied attack at the spot where the trio landed at…!
"...!"
Instead of focusing on them, Saria turned around in search of the roots' origin.
Despite their obvious looks, they did not sprout out of the ground, merely slithering along its surface, tracing back to a single point.
A disheveled woman with her body covered with a cobweb of white mold that was turning black around her stomach.
She didn't seem to have human legs anymore, merely a mushroom-like stem that her torso was growing out of, and the enormous moldy root was simply branching out of it…!
"!"
Without uttering a word, Saria gritted her teeth and waved her hand, sending out all of the active ephemeral blades.
The blades stabbed into the root with suspicious ease, swirling around and slicing it into ribbons before completely detaching it right beside the clearly deofolized human.
But, when they were about to pass right by it…
"Tsk."
*THUMP*
The deofolized human clicked its tongue, and just that seemed to unleash enough pressure to slam all the ephemeral blades to the ground, where they dispersed into white light that got immediately sucked up by the sliced roots…
"...ivable…"
"!?!?"
Before Saria could decide on her next move, the separated parts of the moldy root appeared to be melting, before rooting itself into the ground and….
"...unforgivable…"
"Unforgivable…!"
"UNFORGIVABLE!"
Sprouting out the copies of the doefolized human.
The copies were far from perfect, looking as if they were plants merely wearing a hollowed-out skin of the woman they were based on… even though it was impossible, seeing that the original still had hers…
…but, either deofols or their contractors, weren't creatures that followed human reasoning in the first place…!
To make matters worse, each copy sprouted its own root-like appendage, whipping it around and forcing the silver-haired girl to frantically back off in an attempt to dodge!
"Descent of the Silent Night!"
The sight alone was enough for Saria to pull off all the stops right from the start as she chanted the spell she had been working the hardest to gain proficiency in.
The next moment, the temperature of the surroundings dropped significantly. The ground, both the original and the copies were growing out of, frosted over, and the sky became slightly opaque…
Well, the last one was simply because the dome that the spell itself created, though~
"It's not on the level that can kill me… EVEN STUDENTS THINK I'M USELESS NOW!?"
"...!"
The original deofolized human growled in rage while the silver-haired barely dodged the onslaught of the attacks thrown at her by the copies.
"SNOWBALL!"
Without even attempting to engage in a conversation, Saria chanted another spell, one that she had cast so many times before…!
*WHOOOSH* *CRRRRK*
Only that this newest one came out incomparably more powerful than any other!
A ball of silvery-white light that was half as bright as Rotsard's version shot out of Saria's palm and struck one of the copies, instantly turning it into cloudy ice.
*CRACK*
And the ephemeral blade that followed the initial spell, hidden in the shadow of its glow, struck and shattered it into nothing more than powder.
"Wha…?! HOW!? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"AS IF I'D TELL YOU!"
Former teacher Hervolst screeched as even its copies stopped from sheer shock, but Saria's furious snarl left no place for doubt.
The prodigy of the Vallhall family was finally taking something completely serious.
"SNOWBALL! DESOLATION OF THE FROSTED FIELD!"
Without ever stopping or even hesitating for a split second, Saria launched the same spell and moved on to another, this time causing a matching amount of ice puppets to rise against the copies of the doefolized human straight out of the frosted ground as if they were always there and only waited for her command…!
"...what is going on…? More than one puppet at a time? And the Descent of the Silent Night… it isn't actually instant-kill magic…? But the one I saw…!"
The baffled former teacher Hervolst gasped, still unable to grasp what was happening…
…or rather it was unable to because of the overpowering cold sipping into its corrupted flesh and slowing down its thought process…
"~!"
After a quick glance to confirm the situation, with all copies being engaged by ice puppets and the original still confused, Saria grinned and…
"JOY OF THE FIRST SNOW!"
She roared using the full chant!
*UMPH*
Instead of orbs, several beams of silvery-white light descended from the dome-like barrier and engulfed all of her opponents while further empowering her ice puppets!
*rustle*
"...!"
At the same time, Saria noticed a movement in the corner of her eye, at least one of the three people who were taken out by the initial attack of the deofolized human were attempting to get up!
"WAIT A BIT MORE! I'M ALMOST DONE! SNOWBALL!"
Saria shouted, hoping that whoever it was was conscious enough to realize that they should stay down for their own safety, and then went back to the shortened chant.
While the empowered version was still active and the sphere of silvery-white light appeared within her palm, she grasped it instead of letting it shoot out, enveloped herself in swordsmanship energy, and rushed at the preoccupied original former teacher Hervolst!
The silhouette of the deofolized human was barely visible within the pillar of light, but it was still enough for Saria to strike at its' head for a fatal injury.
But then…
"That should be enough, shouldn't it…?"
"Eh…!?"
*BOOOOOM*
All of a sudden, the former teacher Hervolst's voice reached Saria from behind, and as the girl gasped, attempting to hurriedly turn around, everything shaped like Brice Hervolst blew up, shattering Saria's spell while she herself was also caught up in the concentrated explosion…!
With the dome burst open, the rapidly fading cold barely lingered despite being almost overbearing just a second ago…
With the fine particles of ice and dust mixing in the air, it was almost impossible to tell who survived…
With the exception of the character that was responsible for the explosion, that is.
With stringy, almost cobweb-like moldy roots squirming as they gnawed at the human flesh beneath, a mushroom-like stem was growing out, alone reaching six feet tall. And that was not even counting the human-like torso with monstrous proportions, with a pulsating organ looking just like a sickly white morel mushroom instead of a head.
"That's it…? Hey! That can't possibly be it!?"
The monstrosity screeched, and each flap of it deformed head trembled in the rhythm of the words for a rather nauseating display.
*whoosh* *SHIN-DING*
While the deofolized human, that didn't seem to be just another copy, was thrashing around in anger, a single ephemeral blade shot at it from behind, aimed at its neck, but got deflected at the last possible fraction of a second!
Although not completely…!
*thump*
The hand that the monstrosity defended itself ended up so damaged that it detached from the rest of the arm and fell off.
"?"
For a moment, the monster froze up, staring at its severed limb…
*kssss*
"!"
And flinched as it began sizzling and melting away…!
Not with heat, but through corrosion!
"Tsk! I hate that she was right…"
"...!"
Then, from beneath the remains of one of her ice puppets, Saria Vallhall clicked her tongue and stood up as the monstrosity's head flaps fluctuated from the annoyed scoff it let out.
"What is the meaning of this…? Aren't you the Essence of Winter user? How are you using darkness attribute spells?"
It asked while ripping out the melting stub to allow the proper regeneration kick in.
"I am an Essence of Winter user, and I can't cast any spells from the standard magic system."
"Liar!"
Saria pointed out, shrugging her shoulders dismissively, which enraged the monstrosity and prompted it to grow several whip-like tendrils out of its stem and unleash a hail of attacks on the girl.
On the other hand, Saria, with one of her ephemeral blades in hand instead of an actual sword, began once again dodging and parrying frantically…
"..."
And yet, despite the clear advantage, it was the monstrosity that ceased the onslaught and hesitated, unsure about its next move.
*kssss* *thump*
As if to vindicate its decision, a few of the appendages melted through with a fizzling sound before plopping on the ground!
"If it's not a darkness spell, then what else could it possibly be?!"
The monstrosity screeched in fury.
"I mean, you've already seen the answer."
*SHING* *SHING*
"...!"
Taking the advantage of its distress, two more ephemeral blades made their way to the monstrosity, ignoring the thrashing appendages and instead cleaving into its torso.
"...oho…~?"
"...!?"
But when, instead of recoiling and screaming in pain because of the severe wound, the monstrosity merely let out a gasp of wonder and reached to the ephemeral blades sticking out of it, Saria realized that she might have been too optimistic about her chances in this encounter…!
*SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING*
But, she wanted to make sure of it and sent out more ephemeral blades!
"..."
"?"
Once again, the monstrosity did not make a sound, instead straightening its back while the ephemeral blades were stuck firmly inside of it.
"...haaa…"
It then let out a sound sounding just like a bothered sigh…
"!!!"
Only for the flaps of its head to shiver and unleash a cloud of dust, causing Saria to frantically jump back!
Because that couldn't possibly be just dust!
Those were spores!
And not some negligible amount but a smokescreen comparable to a full-blown duststorm!
"YOU…! You were bullshitting me! You know how I used the darkness attribute against you!"
Saria shouted in desperate anger while running away at top of her speed just to keep her distance from the spores.
Whether that was on purpose or there was some hidden weakness, two feet above the ground appeared to be free of spores, and as Saria jumped and rolled over an obstacle, she ended up catching a glimpse of the three bodies the monstrosity was growing out of.
"...!"
In her naivete, she hoped that Penelope, Felix, and Ren could be saved, but what she saw was more akin to a grotesque, half-crushed, dried fruit than humans that had a chance at survival.
"Descent of the silent n-OH SHIT!"
Saria tried to fight an area of effect attack with an area of effect attack, but was unable to complete a cast as the whip-like appendages that she had forgotten about burst through the spores and lashed out at her.
She managed to dodge them all, but judging by the deep grooves in the ground each attack left very little to the imagination about what would happen if even one properly connected…!
"Former teacher Hervolst! I am giving you your last chance! Stop this madness at once!"
"Pffft…! AHAHAHAHA~! Oh, how cute of you~"
The silver-haired girl frantically tumbled to gain as much distance as possible and shouted, only causing the monstrosity to snort and laugh with amused cruelty.
"I warned you!"
"Just give up~! I'll present your corpse to your cousin… stuffed to the brim with my spores. You'll make a great host. And, you will get back at him, right? You don't like him anyway~"
Saria called out, but got mocked in response.
"Fine! So be it!"
The silver-haired girl scoffed, gritting her teeth as if even she wasn't thrilled about her next move, and then…
"SPITE! I RELEASE YOU FROM YOUR FALSE NAME!"
"...?"
She roared as the moment she was waiting for had finally arrived, and managed to make the monstrosity flinch…
"FENRI! COME FORTH!
*THUMP*
"!?"
Saria's call was followed by something slamming against the ground right next to the monstrosity, causing it to flinch and raise its guard.
"Eh…? Pfff…t Ahahahaha~ AHAHAHAHAHAHAH~"
Although that didn't last long, replaced by an outburst of laughter once the monstrosity spotted a motionless sheep costume sprawled on the ground…!
All deflated and motionless.
"You really thought summoning your fae right in the middle of gedwyld pollution was a good decision~?"
It laughed while actually shaking its deformed head in disbelief.
"You think it wasn't?"
"...?"
And yet, when Saria smirked and asked back, the monstrosity froze up.
The silver-haired girl was far too calm for someone who made such a ridiculous mistake…
"!!!"
The thing was, something was wrong, a presence above that the monstrosity somehow missed until that very point, and once it realized it, it was already too late…!
With six enormous jet black arms that could be easily mistaken for spider legs spread apart around the area, a mass of darkness shaped like a wolf's corpse was hanging down at its center, looking as if it wasn't the main body but merely a prey of a horrid insect!
And yet, it was the main body.
And it was alive…
And it was staring down at the monstrosity, with its glowing crimson eyes!
A glare so haunting, even the monstrosity cowered and attempted to look away!
"You know, there is a mistake with the categorisation of fae. At least with categorisation of the darkness attribute."
Interestingly enough, Sarai no longer looked tense and seemingly stopped caring about the spores she was so desperately trying to avoid just moments earlier.
*goo-blublblblblblblb*
Even though it was clear Saria wanted to say some more, her fae didn't seem interested in following along and instead attacked, unleashing a downpour of viscous darkness that spilled out of its core like an outpouring blood...!
"Wha...!? UGPFGH…!"
The monstrosity gasped, but it reacted too late! The darkness that reached it would cling to its body, and on top of that, it would bind the spores!
It could even be said that it was sucking them in as it spilled out.
The silver-haired girl wasn't bothered by the spores anymore precisely because they stopped being a threat!
"FBLGHUAGH…!"
The monstrosity screeched as the viscous darkness enveloped it, drowning it in its embrace.
"You see, faefolk that from the start were born with the darkness attribute are just as susceptible to gedwyld as the rest of their kind."
As the spores were consumed by the flow of darkness and the monstrosity that unleashed them was pathetically splashing around in the corrosion, Saria breathed out and continued the explanation.
"Things are different with fae that were of a different attribute, got severely wounded by gedwyld and then got their physical form destroyed before it could kill them, well.. They end up reforming to be like this."
She pointed out, looking up at Fenri's true form, that has begun sucking in all the darkness it spilled, pulling up both the gedwyld and the monstrosity.
…it made for a truly nightmarish scene, honestly…
"..."
Turning away from it, Saria's gaze ended up falling on the three dried-up corpses, and her golden eyes saddened.
"We need to hurry back to the Royal Academy. Instead of just Rotsard, as Amelia claimed would happen, there are at least two more deofolized humans running around. We need to either warn the others, or at least go try to save them if it's too late."
She then declared, looking around until she spotted the rooftops of the…
"WHAT THE!? WHERE'S THE MAIN BUILDING!? SPI… I mean, Fenri! We need to hurry!"
Only that, once she found it, there were only two rooftops visible, even though there should be another, even more distinct one, in-between them!