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As soon as Mira’s feet entered the activation area, the black mist expanded in an instant, covering the entire floor.

「Eh… what’s happening?」

There was one more change. As soon as the Dark Knight and Holy Knights were touched by the mist, they broke down like something had corroded them.

「That mist is a curse that consumes spirits. Summoned spirit arms are probably affected as well.」

Mira heard someone say from above.

A spirit consuming curse. Because of it, the stillness spirit Worthramble and water spirit Anlutine had been unable to get close enough to rescue their friend residing inside the holy sword. And from what they had seen, the curse even affected summoned spirits.

Mira pouted as she glared at the skeleton. If he started attacking, she would be unable to fend off a close range fight, and since she was still unaware of the holy sword’s power, she wanted to avoid that at all costs. Yet the skeleton remained still. It was much more wary and attentive than before, but it appeared Mira was still out of range.

Seeing that, Mira once again set some summoning spots around her. Spirit class summons would be useless against the black mist, so Mira thought of the most suitable ones from other classes that could help her.

Summoning Magic: Galum
Summoning Magic: Arlawne
Summoning Magic: Popotwise

Three magic circles of different classes appeared, Mira’s reliable comrades appearing from them. A large wolf crawled out of the whirlpool of flames and stood next to Mira, then from the ring of light in the air came a small owl that perched itself on Mira’s shoulder. At the same time, luscious greenery covered the floor and walls of the shrine.

The wolf, Galum, had a body around three meters long, covered in black fur, and his tail was thicker than Mira’s arm. He looked intently at the skeleton, identifying it as their enemy, and then turned to look at his master, Mira. After he looked at her face for long enough, Galum turned to look ahead again. While his master’s mana and presence remained unchanged, Mira’s appearance looked like a completely different person.

「Master, you look so cute. Are you trying out a new look?」

A voice reminiscent of that from a young girl rang beside Mira’s ear. Galum also nodded thinking the same. The source of that voice was the owl, Popotwise. With the curious name of the wise Popot, it was one of the rare low level summons that were able to speak, just like Cait Sith.

「I guess you can call it that. But really, where did you learn a term like ‘new look’ anyway?」
「I learned a lot of new words, and also studied more magic. Was I good?」

Popotwise spoke while blinking her round eyes and tilting her head from one side to another.

「Ohh, you’re quite the clever girl!」

Having so much cuteness in front of her, Mira could not resist cuddling Popotwise to her bosom and petting her head, praising her like she would a granddaughter. Popotwise narrowed her eyes in joy, while Galum watched that with jealous eyes, before letting his tail stand upright and releasing roaring flames from it. Noticing that sudden red glow and heat, Mira turned to look at Galum, her gaze following the flames up until she saw the two spirits standing on the ceiling being heated up by the fire.

「Now now Galum, don’t be so impatient.」

Mira quickly tried to calm down the excited Galum, heaving a sigh of relief after seeing the two spirits protected behind a film of water. Meanwhile Galum hung his tail and head down, crying like a little puppy.

「Still, that was really amazing. I see you’ve been hard at work as well, good boy.」

Once the flames were stopped, she gently caressed his snout with a curious look on her face, realizing he had just shown a skill she had never seen before. Hearing that, Galum regained his spirits hearing his efforts being praised, the wagging of his tail sounding like a heavy object being waved through the air at high speed.

A short moment later, a vine crawled up Mira’s body and between her and the other summons. At the end of the vine stood Arlawne’s doll-like figure with a flower on her head.

「You look good as well.」 Mira told her, to which Arlawne replied by moving the flower on her head closer to Mira and letting out a sweet scent. Arlawne expressed her emotions through the scents of the flower. The game was unable to recreate any scents or smells, so Mira only got to truly experience that now.

(A sweet scent represented deep affection, if I remember correctly. But really… this is such a nice scent…)

Mira was deeply knowledgeable about all sorts of summons, so she started to recall Arlawne’s details while she breathed in more of that sweet scent. Their reunion after so many years quickly filled the place with harmonious voices and sounds, while the two spirits stood confused up in the ceiling.

「Anyway, it’s been a while since we all saw each other, but do you still remember how our combination goes?」

When Mira asked that, Galum and Arlawne nodded, while Popotwise replied with 「Time to kill monsters!」. It had only been a few weeks for Mira, but her summons had waited thirty years before being summoned again. Mira felt unsure if they still recalled their combined attack, but from the look of things there was no problem with that.

「Then let’s do it just like in the past!」

Mira gave them the signal and the air surrounding all of them changed drastically.

Galum faced straight ahead and lowered his body, letting out a strong growl like an earthquake while glaring at the skeleton. Arlawne vanished back inside the greenery, sending countless vines straight at the podium. Then Popotwise took off from Mira’s shoulder, taking hold of one of the vines and flying straight at the skeleton.

Due to his origin, Galum was ridiculously strong against undead enemies so he was the main source of damage, Arlawne filled the place with lush greenery that negated the unnatural grudge from the dead permeating the ground. Lastly, Popotwise, who was used to hunting under the veil of darkness and night, easily analyzed the fight status and reacted accordingly to fight off the curses. That was Danbulf’s exclusive battle formation against the undead.

Popotwise’s voice rang announcing everyone was in position, then Mira gave the order to attack and Galum charged on. Galum inched closer to the skeleton with a steady stride, his claws ready to dig in, but he was forcefully stopped. A barrier of light came from the holy sword the skeleton held, completely thwarting the lightning fast claws. But that was not enough to dissuade Galum, who growled again before swinging his front legs with more force. A grating sound like scratches on glass resounded, but the barrier remained unscathed.

As that continued, the skeleton began to cackle. A jeering laugh intoxicated by the power of the holy sword. That was purely the power hidden in that sword, but that also brought forth carelessness. Mira ran up behind Galum, using his back as a step before jumping high into the air to release Sage Art – Heaven: Refined Impact.

The whirlpool of violent energy overpowered the barrier of light, coming from slightly behind the skeleton and landing a clean hit. The strong impact shaking its entire body made the skeleton lose its balance. As he fell he swung the holy sword towards Galum’s claws, which deflected the attack and sent the weapon and its holder into the air.

An instant later the skeleton stopped in mid-air, caught by the long vines, which pulled at its feet slamming the skeleton against the floor and took a firmer grip of it there. The skeleton glared at the vines holding its feet, using the holy sword to free them. That action was done almost by reflex, so it was a swift motion. But that still created enough of an opening. Galum had stepped just in front of the skeleton’s eyes and nose, clawing through it with an upwards motion that gouged even a bit of the earth with it.

The sword was still busy swinging against the vines so it was unable to create the light barrier, so the skeleton had no way of defending against Galum’s claws. There was a loud noise as a result of the impact. Another set of claws dug into the skeleton, launching it even higher into the air.

Even when on solid ground the skeleton was unable to stand upright, so fixing his posture was nigh impossible now that he was in mid-air, having as much command over itself as a leaf in the wind. Mira was waiting for that in the air, circling around behind it with Sky Stride and holding the palm of her hand against the back of the skull.

Sage Art – Earth: Crimson Grasp

Mira focused her magic power and unleashed a skill. A thundering noise and a red flash of light shook the entire podium as the skeleton was launched downwards and crashed against the floor with a muted thud.

‘Flame Barrage!’

Not even an instant passed before countless fireballs rained down on the place the skeleton hit. That was Popotwise’s magic attack.

「Hmm, it’s quite a sturdy one.」