Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode3 (section)

===Part 8===

She was now a Voland.

If that was true, then Viocia’s group did not stand a chance.

“Your nine strings charm the nereids of the sea, the dryads of the trees, the muses of music, and all the many nymphs. Your human fingers control nature. Water, gather here. Form a twisted spear, Orpheus!!”

“Eep. Filling a hole in the ground with water or striking the water’s surface with a staff will create a great storm!!”

Melehe and Dorothea cried out together.

The water spear sent straight toward Demon Lord Snorri was a feint. Behind that, it supplied Dorothea with some of its water. This summoned wind magic which provided a blow as if from a wrecking ball.

Of course, neither of them thought this was enough to defeat a Voland.

Those were true monsters that not even Maleficium’s Benandanti could defeat.

The mangrove trees bent quite far as lots of fine sand flew into the air.

Melehe didn’t hesitate.

“Fall back! We need to get out of here for now!!”

They all turned 180 degrees and ran.

If they could at least save Freynir, the elf survivor, from the wicked witch’s clutches, that was the right choice. They had no real reason to risk serious injury settling things with Demon Lord Snorri.

However, they couldn’t just run in a straight line. They zigged and zagged and used the curtain of trees to its fullest and Melehe readied her Formula Broom.

Because…

“I don’t even need the 500m short-range runway. My broom can handle a direct vertical takeoff. No matter how powerful Demon Lord Snorri is, we can escape at our top speed as long as we get up above the forest’s trees.”

“No, don’t!!”

For some reason, failing witch Viocia grabbed at A-rank Melehe’s arm. Strongly.

At some point, all the sounds of wild birds crying and flapping their wings had vanished from the area.

Melehe was bewildered, but Viocia threw a stick as high as she could manage. It flew up above the tunnel of trees overhead.

It sounded more like vaporization than sizzling. After a flash of light, the branch vanished.

Dorothea’s shoulders shrank down.

“Eep!?”

“All of the birds that took flight earlier were killed. But the bunnies and crabs running around are fine. I think that means we’re done for if we thoughtlessly go up above the trees!”

“Witches cannot fly in Lady Elinalva’s territory.”

Something passed by overhead at extreme speed. The student witches couldn’t tell any more than that.

Freynir the elf spoke softly.

“There’s this ''zappy stuff in the ground'' created by the bedrock rubbing together and it makes compasses work, but if it’s thrown into disarray, it creates a special ‘wave’ and the reflections of that wave can be used to accurately determine the location of flying objects. The trees block it in the forest, but in the open air, an object moving up to Mach 9 can be shot down with 100% accuracy.”

“That means we can’t escape even with a Formula Broom.”

If they had to flee through the deep forest on foot, escape would be considerably more difficult.

Melehe ground her teeth together.

But just then, some light flashed.

An orange beam of heat attacked them from dead ahead. It was probably molten stone.

“!?”

Melehe immediately used water magic on a nearby river to construct a massive shield, but it ruptured before fully stopping the attack. The high temperature had triggered explosive boiling.

“I’m a bad match for this.”

The lava was thousands of degrees Celsius, but there was no sign of a wildfire starting. Even in a forest so thick with trees. The molten rock drew out serpentine S-shapes as it tore through the air, weaving between obstacles and accurately pursuing Viocia’s group.

“Eep. Bread crumbs are used to reach your destination in the deep forest and heated stone or brick is used to burn human flesh. This really is Hansel and Gretel!”

Zigzagging didn’t seem like it would be enough to avoid this, but trying to block it with magic alone would also just get them killed.

“Dorothea and the elf, this way! Viocia, hurry!!”

Melehe grabbed Viocia’s hands and leaped behind a large mossy boulder.

The four of them huddled together.

“We’ll never be able to stop every single attack. Elinalva – no, should I call her Demon Lord Snorri now? Regardless, she isn’t just staying put and firing projectiles. If we take too long, the Voland will walk right up to us.”

Just then, they heard a disconcerting sizzling sound. From right next to them. Demon Lord Snorri’s heat magic had pierced into the other side of the boulder they were using as a shield.

Melehe did her best to suppress her breathing and grinned.

“We need to move from cover to cover. Whether we’re putting as much distance between us and her as possible or we’re trying to circle around for a counterattack, we just need to ensure she loses sight of-”

The prep school ace never finished her sentence.

Because a sharp scattershot burst from only a few centimeters in front of her.

From the surface of the boulder.

Their shield had bared its fangs against them?

The heat magic piercing into the boulder had exploded, the shockwave had propagated through the boulder, and the rear side of the shield had burst where the girls were gathered. Were Viocia and the others even aware that thin and sharp blades of rock had been launched at them from extreme close range?

“Kah!”

“Melehe!!”

Viocia heard the sound of someone coughing up blood.

Melehe collapsed onto her side atop the fine white sand and convulsed unnaturally. It was clear she had taken more damage than the other girls huddled behind the shield.

Melehe Superlative had used her own body to protect the other three.

As the prep school’s ace, she had noticed what was happening before the others, giving her the chance to act.

“Ee hee hee.”

Laughter echoed from the depths of the forest.

No, there was a rustling coming from the thicket. Demon Lord Snorri was approaching from the front. Showing no caution regarding the girls.

“Ee hee, ha ha ha. Ah hah hah ha ha ha ha ha ha hah hah!! What’s wrong, little witches, aren’t you going to fight back? If not, you will all be killed and I will take the elf girl anyway!”

Acquiring Freynir wasn’t even his goal.

Demon Lord Snorri and Wicked Witch Elinalva were completely different people.

So Viocia and the others didn’t understand why he was still fixated on the elf. Perhaps it was all just a game for someone who didn’t care one way or the other.

“Wait!”

Someone grabbed at him from the side.

Freynir Nineworlds – probably the only elf remaining in the Dazzling Forest. The slender girl dropped the staff she was carrying and clung to the old woman’s hips.

She forgot all else and shouted.

“Don’t kill them! Killing them has nothing to do with your goal of bringing prosperity back to the elves!!”

Elinalva wanted to prevent the extinction of the elves and see them prosper once more, no matter what that required, so she couldn’t be violent with the only only surviving elf. That was Freynir’s reasoning and she was probably correct. Or maybe she was counting on the fondness that would have formed during the significant time they had spent together.

But it wasn’t going to work.

That might have worked with Elinalva, but it was meaningless with Demon Lord Snorri.

“''Shut the hell up.''”

That was all.

He rejected her plea, tore her off of him, and looked down at her with irritation in his eyes.

Then a dull impact rang out.

Followed by more. Many more.

“Uhh….”

“Are you gonna fight or not? If you wanna stop me, then you’ll have to kill this old hag.”

During this horrific display, Viocia found she could only hold onto Melehe’s limp form and watch the tragedy play out.

It wasn’t an issue of winning or losing.

Freynir didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Viocia only saw Elinalva as a scary old woman, but Freynir had lived with her and had to care deeply for her. Even if she was a dangerous person who intended to slice Freynir apart once the time was right.

Yet the Voland occupying her body attacked her so readily.

The elf girl’s skin and hair were covered in sand. She held her hands to her gut as if hiding something, so was she holding something there?

For example, the insignificant note Viocia had left with the plate of food?

“If you’re gonna be a nuisance, I’ll just havta break your arms and legs and tie them into knots. Is that what you want?”

Viocia and the other witches couldn’t do anything. Neither could Freynir the elf.

They could not defeat this Voland.

The situation was tumbling toward destruction beyond anything even Elinalva had wanted.

“Or how bout I tie all four of you together? Tie your hands together into one big, happy circle! Then you can cry and scream and bicker to your heart’s content without ever being separated again. Gya ha ha ha ha ha!!”

He would probably do it.

He wasn’t bound by any of this world’s rules or morals.

He would delight in any fleeting entertainment he thought up, even if it would devastate his host’s body. In fact, it would be unusual if he didn’t try out the destructive ideas that came to mind.

“Ah, ah…”

“Well, elfie!? Aren’t you gonna go crying to your Granny Elinalva who you betrayed and fled from? Of course, even if that old hag did want to stop me, she couldn’t take back control of a single damn finger!!!”

His palm rushed in.

From Freynir’s position down on the ground, it looked like a massive suspended ceiling. No one could escape that. The poor victim would simply be crushed, her bones shattered.

So.

When that palm stopped just before reaching her, it wasn’t Viocia or Freynir’s doing.

A steel baton had done it.

“?”

Just as the Voland questioned it, a massive explosion erupted.

It blasted Demon Lord Snorri straight back for several meters. The mangrove trees along that path could be heard breaking.

So who had caused this miracle?

“Sigh.”

His sigh was filled with exasperation.

He had unnatural blond hair and wore a boy’s sailor uniform and slacks. With just a bit of armor and a corset.

He held a special collapsible metal baton.

His other hand pet a large canine familiar he had likely borrowed from one of the prep schools and the tutor boy spoke with annoyance in his voice.

“What are you doing, Viocia?”