Dancing Circles on the Horizon of Events

"... Ah, Mr. Sage... I knew... you were alive."

I just walked down the stairs, looking out at the sky, sage lying on the ground. Leah saw him like that and ran over with a soothing look on his face.

There is also Yuki next to such a wise man...... She seemed somehow bitterly smiling at Leah's behavior.

"Mr. Leah...... You don't worry about me..."

"What...? Uh... Mr. Yuki? Are you okay......?

And, as if I took it and attached it, the inquiring rear.

In response to that reaction, Yuki goes in.

"Isn't that question a little, deliberate?

"Er... the brave man... Yuki... says he's fine because he's so strong..."

"Was it...... I'm not convinced... well, fine. Sure, since I changed my body, it may be getting stronger, but all this time, I just thought," Exactly, I'm going to die (speaking of which, I'm... is it okay to fall from how high?

Yuki turns an indescribable gaze toward the invisible world tree of Heavenly Side while striking an association against Leah's words. That's what she thought about trying, trying to jump off the higher ground —— but she got scared, or she eventually decided to stop.

Next to those two, a brave man who came with Leah was questioning the wise man who was sleeping on the ground about his condition.

"Nicole... you're dead, aren't you?

"Leo...... You know I'm alive and you dare ask me that, don't you?

"Of course it is. It's like saying hello."

"Not at all...... In fact, once —— no, he said he died twice... The first time he bumped into Yuki... and the second time he fell to the ground, smashing all kinds of things..."

"Good luck with that. But thanks to that, I, Leah, and Master Yuki, were able to help. Thanks to Nicole for everything."

"You two may indeed be, but Yuki... honestly, I regret it now that I should have avoided it..."

"No, more than I don't know how high Mr. Yuki can withstand a fall from, I wonder if Nicole may have gotten something thanks to her straining her body and slowing down the fall. I guess it's too soon to draw a conclusion, huh?

"Nothing..."

A wise man who exhales deeply against the words of a brave man and wakes up his upper body. At that time, I was holding my neck because something was still uncomfortable there?

It's just that it's a very short time thing too. He gets up as soon as he switches his head from recovery mode to combat mode...... And he looked back at the brave and asked the other way around.

"So what happened to the bugs? After you flew up the stairs, didn't you get attacked?

"Yes, they attacked me, so I've fallen back in battle"

"You wiped them all out?

"No. I was given quite a bit of advantage in the fight because of Leah's backup...... I was finally able to escape because there were too many of them. Perhaps they are, and still are, looking for us… no, about Leah?

…………

"... anything to worry about?

A wise man who somehow shut his mouth and thought about it from right after he heard the brave man's report. To his actions as such, the brave man, the person who reported, inquired with a frown.

Then the wise man, slightly after it happened, closed his eyes as if he remembered something... And I started talking.

"…" Bugs ”are creatures that, according to one theory, are sensitive to each other's smells. In particular, aggressive bugs - for example, bees - seem to trace the smell of their bodily fluids to find out who killed them when their tendencies are noticeable and their companions are hurt or killed"

"I mean... those bugs might be sensitive to fellow killers," he said?

"Well, we're talking about possibilities. But an aggressive bug must have some kind of trait that specializes in combat. No way, there are only features that make the jaw tough."

…………

A brave man who listened to the wise man accidentally deepened the wrinkles between his eyebrows —— that was when it happened.

Zdwong!!

A loud noise echoes on the spot. That's nothing, because the brave man waved down the iron pipe against the bug that was there, or because the former demon king fell from above again and crushed the wise man. The trunk of the world tree blew up.

And from there ——

Casa casa......

Phew...

—— I hear a sound that causes physiological aversion.

It's also as if, while darkness melts out of the walls of the world tree to create a bright black river......