"Hime, what should we do?" I asked Hime as I drew my sword from its sheath.
The five of us were completely surrounded from all directions by elves that looked more like zombies.
There was no way to escape other than defeating them and immediately finding a way to leave this settlement.
The problem was… there were too many of them, and if they really were zombies or Undead, that would be even worse.
"We don't have any other choice, do we? We have to defeat them and leave this place," Hime replied as she prepared her magic staff as well.
Luke drew his small sword, Yuu-chan was already holding her magic staff, and Iris prepared herself to cast magic by chanting several spells.
It seemed… the five of us were truly determined to defeat them first before escaping.
"In my opinion, there's a high chance they're Undead," Iris said as she stared sharply at them.
"Undead?" Yuu-chan replied as she turned her head and looked at Iris with a slightly confused expression.
Iris nodded while looking back at Yuu-chan.
"Yes, they all look like living corpses. Because of that, it seems we can only defeat them using light-element magic," Iris said.
She was right. If we attacked Undead using light magic, it was the same as purifying a wandering soul.
It was true that the weakness of Undead was light magic. However, its effectiveness depended on the strength of the magic and the level of the Undead itself.
"All right, I'll try it. Second-tier spell, light sword!" Hime said as she attempted to attack the zombies.
The spell Hime had just used allowed the caster to create a magic circle directly in front of their body.
And by chanting the spell, that magic circle would fire small swords toward the intended target.
Of course, the color of those swords resembled small beams of light being shot forward.
When the spell hit its target, it caused an explosion as it collided directly with the physical body of the enemy.
The explosion produced a bit of smoke from the direction of the zombies, and naturally, I immediately felt a little happy, thinking that the attack had been effective.
"Nice one, Hime! Your spell worked—" just as I was about to praise Hime for her spell, she suddenly pointed toward the zombies.
Her expression wasn't that of someone who had just defeated a monster, but rather someone who was still on high alert.
"Wait a moment, Yukito-san… I don't think my attack worked…" she said.
I turned around and looked toward the zombies as the smoke around them slowly dissipated.
The zombies were still standing calmly, as if they hadn't been hit by Hime's attack at all.
Tch, so her spell wasn't strong enough…
——
After that, Hime, Yuu-chan, and Iris repeatedly attacked them using light magic.
Luke and I could only attack the zombies that tried to get close to them, because that was all we could do with the swords we held.
The zombies weren't disturbed in the slightest by all the attacks we threw at them.
All of our attacks did land on their bodies, but they kept getting back up as if nothing had happened.
Because of that strange ability they possessed, we were all being overwhelmed.
On top of that, the three of them continued using magic nonstop, draining their Mana and leaving them extremely exhausted.
"Hah… Hah… how much longer do we have to keep this up…" Hime said, gasping for breath while still trying to remain standing.
She was truly exhausted now, but if we just stood still, the only thing left for us to do would be to watch ourselves get defeated by the zombies.
I shifted my gaze and looked at Yuu-chan. Her legs were trembling as if she no longer had the strength to stand.
Slowly, with her weakened body, she collapsed to the ground, drawing everyone's attention to her.
I hurriedly left my position and ran toward her, immediately trying to lift Yuu-chan's body.
I supported her head and realized that she was almost unconscious.
"Luke! Hold them off for a bit!" I shouted.
Thud.
The sound of something falling was heard again, and I looked around.
"Iris!" I shouted her name, hoping she would respond and hold on.
She had just collapsed, lying weakly on the ground. Hime immediately left her position and checked on Iris.
If this kept going… we would all die without a trace.
I had to think of any way possible, at least something I could do to help us survive a little longer.
Maybe… should I try using magic? No, no, that would be a terrible choice at a time like this.
Instead of improving the situation, I would only make things worse.
"Yukito, behind you! WATCH OUT!!" Luke shouted at me with such force that my ears could hear nothing but his voice.
I quickly turned my gaze to see what was behind me.
Why was Luke shouting at me like that? I was busy thinking about Yuu…-chan.
Swash.
Without me realizing it, while I was holding Yuu-chan's body so her head wouldn't hit the ground, the zombies had already drawn close.
One of the zombies holding a sword stood behind me, and when I looked at it, it swung its sword and slashed toward my neck.
The last thing I heard was Hime's scream, sounding deep and desperate, and the only thing I could see was Luke running toward me, trying to save me.
As my head was severed, I briefly saw my own body spilling bright red blood from within.
That blood poured out, staining Yuu-chan's clothes that had been in my grasp.
The pain was so overwhelming that I could no longer feel it.
In the end, I sank into this unbearable agony, before my vision went dark and it was certain that I had died.
————
...
...
...
It was a beautiful night. I was standing on the balcony with Iris, gazing at the night sky filled with stars and a shining moon.
The cold air made me want to savor moments like this for a long time.
This was already the second time I felt as if I had been sent back to the past. Time seemed to be repeating itself—w-wait a moment… it seemed I had misunderstood the situation.
I had thought that I would be on the balcony with Iris again, but that assumption turned out to be wrong.
Because in the first loop, the turning point had been when the two of us were on the balcony, I had assumed that I would start again from there.
That assumption was completely wrong, because that wasn't what I was seeing with my own eyes right now.
I had returned to the time when Iris and I were taking a walk after my brief morning training.
As far as I remembered, on this very day, Iris would invite me to enter the underground space beneath the ground.
I had gained some important information in the previous loop, so I had already decided on my objective.
All I had to do was go to the ruins, enter the hidden room there, and ask Luke to destroy the magic circle.
Just like back when we were still in Vannis, Luke had once planned to eliminate a magic circle that summoned monsters according to its creator's will.
Yosh… my mental state was still extremely shaken right now, and my legs and hands felt like they were trembling, almost numb.
Faintly, I could still feel the sensation of my neck being cut off before its time, repeating itself.
My neck was fine now, but the lingering sensation made my breathing restless, as if my severed neck had been reattached.
But… if I didn't try to escape this strange cycle, then I would be trapped forever.
That was why… the only way forward was to keep trying, even if it meant experiencing death or witnessing the deaths of my own comrades again.