Suddenly, the shaky children in the tunnel started screaming. Probably because she knew that an attack was coming at the same time as her planned prison escape, Mefuri was the only one looking at the ceiling calmly.
Her attention wasn't on her surroundings, and her vigilance level was somewhat reduced – this is the best chance for an ambush.
"Go!"
I pushed on Claudia and Rashiok's backs. One human and one beast…… or should I say two beasts? They jumped out soundlessly from the rubble as if they were shot out of a slingshot.
The sounds of the children screaming increased in level and kept echoing as the tunnel fell into complete darkness. While blocking my ears with the collar of my coat, I focused all my attention on what was happening in the darkness.
I could barely make out the figure of Rashiok lightly tossing aside and gently throwing them against the wall in the commotion. I couldn't tell what Claudia was doing.
"Shut up!! My head hurts, so you bastards need to shut up immediately!!"
Mefuri was shouting hysterically above the din. It seems that she was still childish in this aspect. As expected, her voice echoed in these tunnels, and I was able to roughly guess her position.
Like this, I might be able to defeat her…… But yep, it happened just when I was feeling a little relieved.
Pop, there was an unsettling sound. Just then, one of the children that Rashiok lightly bit and was tossing away, turned into a small explosion by his nose.
Boom, and since Rashiok received such an impact at a close distance, he started howling.
The smell of burnt flesh spread wider within the tunnels. I realized that Rashiok had instantly distanced himself from the remaining children by taking huge strides.
It was silent for a moment. And then, the children became more panicked than earlier, as Mefuri made her move.
"……Heh, ahahaha! Idiots!! You're really idiots!!"
The girl who was laughing in a high-pitched, sarcastic tone of voice moved around the area of the explosion. What is she intending – why was she able to accurately create an explosion and injure Rashiok in the darkness, even though I know I'll be at a disadvantage if I'm passive and let her be the proactive one, I can't make any reckless moves until I understand her power first.
"At the very least, even if I can't see anything, I 'know' the location of my own bombs!!"
The girl's tone was mocking as if she wanted to incite me, and popping sounds kept going off around her.
And then boom, boom, with sounds of something exploding, small sparks lit up around Mefuri, and illuminated the shivering children that were clinging to the walls.
……Is she unable to control the power of her explosions, and the power depends on the "material" she uses?
And the reason why the explosion that hit Rashiok wasn't as powerful as the earlier ones, wasn't because she wasn't trying, like the ones that had enough force to blow apart stone walls, ……but it was probably because the child's body that was the "bomb" had already been torn to pieces before Rashiok tossed it.
And in place of a light, she lit up countless small pieces of flesh and blood, and a horrendous sight now entered my view. Flesh and blood were blown everywhere, ……the girl's horrifying "magic" gave me an impression I'll never forget.
She definitely wasn't using anything like bombs concealed in her stomach, she had the ability to freely explode body parts like arms and legs or any flesh, this was most definitely some type of magic power. Just like Diferis that I killed before, she has a power that's beyond human comprehension.
With the makeshift lighting, Claudia who had been concealing her presence made the first attack and attempted to ambush Mefuri, jumping out at her. However, Mefuri quickly noticed her presence, and lightly shook her right hand.
I heard some slight popping sounds again, and Claudia must have detected danger as well, because she instantly jumped backwards right as the location where her feet just were exploded.
"Is it really alright if you escape in that direction?"
Pop. With a boom that rocked the air, the child standing closest to Claudia exploded. That child didn't even have the time to scream.
"-Urgh!!"
Together with the exploding flesh and blood, Claudia was blown away by the explosion. -This is bad.
"See, you were blown – wah!!?"
I hurriedly jumped out of the rubble mountain with my sword drawn, and slashed at Mefuri. She twisted her body greatly in order to dodge me, and had a look of surprise on her face for an instant as she looked at me, then she attempted to put distance between us.
……As I expected, it seems that she herself was also vulnerable to her own explosions. In that case, it will be fatal for me to allow her to put distance between us. I pressed the attack and pursued her closely, while Mefuri retreated even farther back with an impatient expression on her face.
"Stop following me!"
Mefuri picked something up from the ground and threw it at me. It violently exploded in midair, and I was forced to retreat.
"Rashiok!!"
Rashiok's wind magic answered my call, and managed to scatter away the pieces of flesh and blood from the explosion – that most likely came from a child's arm.
"Take this-!!"
At almost the same time as the flesh explosion, I threw my short sword into the bloody mist surrounding Mefuri, and it pierced into her shoulder.