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Chapter 56 Part 3 – Mr. Queer Witch and I are reading each other, causing sparks to fly around. And what are the seven phantoms!? And then, the third person from the five heroes!! Enter the fray, the melee, the great chaotic battle!

「Whoa!?」

「What is this!?」

「It’s hindering our movement!?」

The imperial guards were stumped by the sticky liquid.
At first glance, one might think that the viscosity of the mucus was hindering the Trident formation from rushing forward, but this is not the case. If the vines cannot stop the charge of the knights on horseback, there is no way that mucus can.

「Ignore the liquid that sticks to your body!! Just be careful not to fall!!」

The real aim of Mr. Queer Witch is to make them fall down.
He wants to draw their attention to the eye-catching mucus in front of them and make them forget to pay attention to their horses’ feet.

Looking closely, I can see that the liquid is gushing out not only from the vines that the imperial guards have cut off, but also from the vines ahead of them. The ground is already covered in mucus, although it is skillfully camouflaged by the thriving vines. It is like an oiled rink that is expanding.

Just as a huge trailer might tip over in an accident due to slippery road conditions, even a cavalry charge can slip due to the slippery ground, fall over, and waste all its energy on the ground.

The imperial guards had already reached the middle of the green field.
At that moment, the horses were about to fall.

However, as one would expect from the imperial guards, they live up to their title of being the most powerful knight’s order in the kingdom.
After hearing my warning, they tightened the reins and quickly regained their balance.
Moreover, since they were all equipped with spears on horseback, all of them were all able to do so with just one hand.

Un, I’m glad they are on our side. I wouldn’t have felt alive if I had been attacked on the battlefield by such a group of men charging through. Please continue to strive for justice for the world, for the people, and for my ambition to become a shut-in. You guys will forever be my friends!!

…… Well then, now that we’ve done the groundwork.
Let’s go on to our next move!!

「That’s amazing of you to be able to see through my true aim, red-eyed young lady. But I wonder if it’s okay to spread out the attack power. I’ve stopped the knights in their tracks and I’m not going to hesitate to destroy each and every one of them …… Uwah!?」

As he was about to make some kind of move, Mr. Queer Witch bent his body backwards.
An arrow grazed the tip of his nose.

「…… Meandering Bellows ……!!」

Mother released an archery technique that avoided obstacles by twisting up and down, left and right.

In front of Mr. Queer Witch’s eyes, there was the dispersed imperial guards, which blocked his view and created many blind spots. Mother’s arrows, which can freely change its trajectory, hid in the shadows of the imperial guards, slipped past them, and attacked Mr. Queer Witch from all directions.

Mr. Queer Witch is not the only one who has another card to be played in case the first card was defeated.

「That’s unexpected. There was no such skilled archer, even in my lifetime. And I never thought you were going to use the knights as a cover. That was a great move, princess. But how about this?」

Mr. Queer Witch snapped his fingers and the shafts of the flying arrows were quickly covered in green.
The spreading leaves applied a brake in mid-air and all of mother’s arrows lost momentum and crashed down on the way.

「…… It would be impossible to do this if the shape of the tree has changed as much as becoming clothes’ fibers, but if the tree retains some of its original characteristics, there is no problem with making leaves grow from it.」

Mr. Queer Witch happily laughed in the midst of the plants.

Although I was dumbfounded, I had to admit it.
Arrows won’t work on him ……!!
When an arrow gets close to him, he would turn it into branches and leaves.
I didn’t expect this ……!!

「But it seems that I’ll have a bit of a hard time if I only use the plants. I’ll have to use my other cards as well.」

Ehh, you still have more cards in your hand?

I heard the sound of wings buzzing. The moon was obscured. A black fog-like thing was rising from all over the forest, heading toward us. Could this be a swarm of insects!? I shuddered and my skin was covered in goosebumps.

「I combined the vines with a component that attracts insects as well as creates mucus. This forest is rich and abundant. There’s quite a number of insects in it. Be prepared. I wonder if you can still give orders when their vision gets obstructed.」

Mr. Queer Witch was right. Allies who are disconnected from the chain of command will have their combat strength drastically reduced. Their field of vision was becoming obscured as if they were plunged into a black cloud. I must hurry, time is running out.

「Imperial guards!! Retreat ……!!」

「I won’t let them do that!! I’ll finish them in one go. …… Cage of thorns!!」

Mr. Queer Witch shouted and cut off the rest of my sentence.

A wall of thorns appeared through the sea of vines, dividing us and the imperial guards. It reached a height of two meters in the blink of an eye. With the exception of my crazy father, who is proficient in cavalry combat techniques, even the imperial guards would not be able to jump over it. Don’t underestimate those thorns. The intertwined natural thorns have become like barbed wire, it is a defensive wall that can hold off even wild animals.

The imperial guards were immobilized.

Moreover, the clarity of the forest at night is at its worst due to the flying insects. Now they can only see shadows vaguely. The sound of the wings buzzing and the smell of the insects made it impossible to locate where the opponent was by their sense of hearing and smell. It was a heinous move that made their radar become crushed.

「…… Uwaahhh, no way!! I never thought he could do something like this!!」

I stomped on the ground and shouted loudly. I tried to sound as frustrated as possible.
I had to do it this way, or else the sound of insects’ wings would be too noisy and Mr. Queer Witch wouldn’t be able to hear me.
Bradd looked at me in surprise.
He must have been taken aback by my realistic acting.

「I was surprised at how bad it was. I’ve never seen such trashy acting before.」

Shut up!! I’m not doing it because I like it!!
I’m just trying to get Mr. Queer Witch let his guard down!

That’s right. We were not sitting idly by either.
The imperial guards are actually a decoy. While they were buying us time, we were able to finish placing the〈Lawless Crew〉on the tree above Mr. Queer Witch’s head.

Thank you. I’ll buy you a drink next time.

After exchanging looks with me, mother nodded and once again fixed an arrow at the bowstring.

「Can you do it, mother?」

「…… Nothing is impossible for me when it comes to archery. As long as there is a path, even if it’s as narrow as the size of a single thread, there is no sky that Melville’s arrows cannot fly through. Pierce through!! Meandering Bellows!!」

The arrow slipped through a narrow gap in the wall of thorns and rushed toward Mr. Queer Witch.

「To think that you’d be able to do this in the midst of this poor visibility, I admire your skill. You should be proud. However, it won’t work on me.」

The same thing happened as before. The flying arrow sprouted, slowed down, and fell in the blink of an eye. But that’s okay. This arrow is to attract the attention of Mr. Queer Witch and also a signal to the waiting〈Lawless Crew〉.

Before the arrow reached the ground, nets thrown from all directions by the〈Lawless Crew〉fall on Mr. Queer Witch from above. The nets bloomed in the air like a huge black flower.

「Melville’s archery is truly divine.」

「Then, we too, in the name of the〈Lawless Crew〉, shall do the same.」

「…… Ensnaring technique,『Spider Haze』.」

They are trained to operate in the dark in all kinds of situations.
Even in the midst of being hindered by insects, they performed their duties splendidly.

「…… W – What is this!?」

Mr. Queer Witch, who was thoroughly covered with nets, gave a cry of surprise.