Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  "I'm not a good match for him," Miyabi stated softly. "He's incredibly handsome and excellent. He's not someone an ordinary girl like me can hope for."

  "Don't say that," Yuuko chuckled. "You're quite beautiful, and the light novel you wrote received the Silver Award. Since you're both beautiful and talented, I don't think you can call yourself an ordinary girl anymore. Besides, it doesn't matter if you're ordinary or not when it comes to love."

  "I'm not very interested in romance." Miyabi averted her gaze.

  "That's such a commonly used way to avoid the subject. Your time in high school is quite precious. As a member of adult society who isn't as young as she used to be, I recommend that you should be more proactive while you're still young. Otherwise, you'll be likely to regret things in the future." Yuuko paused for a moment. "For example, I've regretted multiple times about how I never confessed my love to the boy I secretly fell in love with in high school."

  Miyabi remained silent.

  "It's not because I still want to become his girlfriend even today. I just can't help but think that if only I worked up my courage to confess, what would have happened in the end? Even if my romance failed in the end, which would probably have been the most likely conclusion, and I now had some bittersweet memories, that would probably still feel better than bottling my emotions up and never saying anything in the end," Yuuko continued.

  Miyabi still remained silent.

  "I apologize if I'm interfering with your affairs too much. At any rate, don't let yourself regret how things turned out. That's all I wanted to say." Yuuko ended the topic.

  "…I won't regret things," Miyabi muttered in a low voice only she could hear.

  After everyone followed the cluster amaryllis flowers for a while, a second wave of skeletons attacked them.

  This time, there was more than twice as many skeletons compared to the first wave. Not only that, the skeletons were also receiving endless reinforcements!

  "At this rate, we'll be completely encircled! Everyone, hurry and keep moving forward! Don't stop!" Seiji commanded their small group.

  Seiji had Matsutani lead the way as the vanguard while he himself acted as the rear guard.

  Everyone speedily progressed forward and soon reached a castle.

  That's right, a castle!

  This was an extravagant Sakura Island style castle with white walls and many layers of black roofs… or more accurately speaking, it was a Tenshuokaku, a type of castle!

  Well, this type of structure would only appear in a fictional girls' school.

  Ya-chan controlled one of its demons to slam through the castle door. Matsutani entered first, while Miyabi and the others followed after.

  Seiji entered last. Then, Ya-chan had the demon close the castle door again while Matsutani cast another sealing spell on the door to block off the skeleton army.

  "Is anyone injured?" Seiji inquired.

  Everyone said that they were fine and asked about him as well.

  "I'm also alright. It's great that none of us were injured."

  It seemed quite fortunate to him that nobody had been injured despite all that just happened. He hoped that this would continue to be the case.

  Their little team continued proceeding forward.

  Both Seiji and Matsutani paused in their footsteps when everyone arrived at a long corridor filled with faint red mist.

  Everyone else stopped as well upon seeing that they had stopped.

  "What's the matter?" Nomura asked.

  "I sense danger… everyone, remain here," Seiji said in a low voice as he withdrew his longsword and cautiously proceeded forward.

  When he reached the middle of the long corridor, a sharp blade suddenly thrust towards him from a paper door in the side of the corridor!

  This blade was extremely swift. It was quick to the degree that Nomura and the others couldn't even see it clearly! If any of them—other than Matsutani—had been ambushed by this blade, it was highly likely that they would have been sliced in half without even realizing what happened.

  However, this blade attacked Seiji, who had been on guard.

  *Clang!*

  He was able to block this powerful ambush with this own sword.

  The enemy immediately changed tactics, pulling the sword back, then slicing again from the opposite direction!

  Seiji dodged this attack as well and rushed through the paper door, which allowed him to see who his enemy was.

  The person attacking him was a… zombie girl wearing a cape and a girl's school uniform with a warrior's helmet on her head.

  Her face was pale white, her skin was decaying, her mouth was cracked wide open and revealed blood-red teeth. Her eyes no longer possessed eyelids, what should have been the white part of her eyes was black instead, and her pupils were gray. It gave her a frightening appearance.

  Seiji figured that she was probably originally a beautiful girl character in Shousei Maishi's story. However, she must have become this way after this environment was corroded by Rinura's skeletons.

  *Shing!*

  The zombie girl once again sliced with her sword at him.

  Seiji blocked this attack with his sword and was about to counterattack when he saw this zombie girl move using flash steps which caused her to instantly disappear from his vision!

  "What…"

  He felt a chill behind his back before he even had the time to be surprised!

  *Thud!* Seiji's [Mana Barrier] that he cast before the fight blocked this surprise attack for him.

  However, his opponent speedily wielded her sword and sliced through his barrier in just two or three slices!

  Seiji turned around and brandished his sword, which caused the zombie girl to back up. She sheathed her longsword back into the scabbard at her waist and made a pose that obviously seemed like she was preparing for another powerful attack.

  Was this… the sword-drawing technique!?

  The sword-drawing technique was incredibly famous in the realm of swordplay. Seiji instantly recognized it and sensed danger, so he hurriedly put some distance between them.

  "Hell's Transient Dream Sword…" The zombie girl actually began to mutter in a low voice. "Snow Slice."

  The next instant, her figure vanished as she drew her sword and attacked!

  Seiji saw a clear white line.

  At this moment, he felt as if he was stuck in a land of ice and snow, with a sharp white light slicing through the snowflakes and approaching him, threatening to slice off his head!

  Fortunately, he still possessed…


  [Bullet Time]!

  *Clang!*

  After his life-saving ability activated itself, Seiji was then able to clearly see his enemy's sword, which he was then able to block.

  However, the power behind her sword-drawing technique was immense! Seiji was unable to block it completely. He could only mitigate the force the best he could while simultaneously backing up and dodging.

  Seiji then immediately cast [Evolved Body-strengthening Technique] on himself, transforming into his golden form.

  The zombie girl chased after him.

  Seiji blocked the quick succession of her sword attacks with his own sword and managed to land a kick on her shin. He took advantage of her momentary lapse of balance to slice at her neck!

  The zombie girl rolled on the floor using her momentum to dodge this slice which could have beheaded her. She backflipped and stood up again.

  Seiji didn't chase after her. Instead, he cast [Evolved Mana Barrier] on himself and activated his magic longsword's defense-piercing mode, causing his longsword to glow silver.

  Once again, the zombie girl sheathed her sword, and posed for another powerful attack.

  Both of them stood still for several seconds.

  Then, both instantly rushed at each other simultaneously! The battle was decided in just an instant!!!

  Seiji's [Evolved Mana Barrier] was shattered, and a sword slice injury appeared on his arm.

  A faint red mist started spewing from the zombie girl's waist as her upper body slowly slid off and smashed against the floor.

  "Wonderful…" she spoke again in the same low voice.

  Seiji turned around and spoke sincerely, "You were amazing as well."

  He had only won due to his magic spells. He knew that he wasn't even slightly close to being an opponent for her if he relied on sword techniques alone.

  The zombie girl chuckled upon hearing his praise. Then, she stopped moving or making any more sounds.

  Seiji took a good glance at her.

  'Things will be quite difficult if all the monsters in this castle are on her level.

  'I was only barely able to deal with her after using my evolved form and barrier. If I met a group of opponents just as strong as she was…'

  Just thinking about it seemed like a bad situation to him.

  'Aren't these characters far too powerful for a romantic comedy story!? Maishi-san, just what type of story did you write!?'

  Matsutani appeared and asked him, "Harano-kun, are you alright?"

  "I'm fine… I was just lightly injured." Seiji cast healing magic upon himself.

  'I shouldn't fight by myself. I need to rely on my companions as well,' he thought to himself as he canceled his golden form and went back to where the others were waiting for him outside the long corridor.

  "Everyone, I'd like to tell you about what just happened."

  Seiji explained the fight that just occurred to Miyabi and the others.

  "If that zombie girl was one of the main female characters in 'Legend of the Sengoku Girls', then I figure that there's probably at most five or six more characters with her power level. But if she was only a side character, there might possibly even be a mob…" Seiji sighed. "We need to prepare a plan for combat."