Although Shirayuki-sensei called this the practical phase, I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Last time I entered a mental world, it was with Hina, and the goal was clear: exorcise the monster that was eating away at her mind and bring her back to normal.

But this time? I wasn’t sure what the objective was. Just as I was pondering this, Sensei spoke up.

“First, we need to find Aya-san within this world. The treatment using Resonance starts after that.”

“How do we find her?” I asked.

With Hina, we found her right away because it was in a confined space. But here? This was an open countryside, vast and sprawling. Without smartphones or GPS, I couldn’t imagine how we’d find Aya-chan.

As I scanned the surroundings, Shirayuki-sensei seemed to focus on something in the distance.

“This way, Itsuki-kun,” she said, confidently striding forward.

“You can tell where she is?” I asked in surprise, quickly following behind.

As we walked, Sensei explained, “When I connected the Silveit threads to Aya-san earlier, did you notice?”

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“That connection, or pass, remains active. I can still see the thread linking me to Aya-san, so I know where to go.”

Oh… that’s how it works. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed anything like that when I was with Hina. Maybe my Resonance skills were too weak back then.

After walking for about five minutes, Shirayuki-sensei stopped in front of a small stone torii gate and pointed.

“Here.”

“A torii gate?” I muttered.

Beyond the gate was a long set of stone stairs that seemed to lead up to some unseen place at the top.

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“Aya-san is at the top. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

We passed through the torii gate together and began climbing the stone stairs.

It had been a while since I’d climbed such a long staircase, not since my visit to the Kamiarizuki shrine, and the memory made me feel somewhat nostalgic. As we climbed, I turned to Sensei with a question.

“Sensei, do you think there’s a shrine at the top?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Why would Aya-chan be there?”

“Well, this is just my theory, but…” Shirayuki-sensei paused to think for a moment before continuing.

“I believe something that happened at this shrine a month ago is the reason Aya-san can’t use magic anymore.”

“Something at the shrine…” I echoed.

“It’s just a theory,” she said, smiling gently.

Just as she smiled, something in my peripheral vision caught my attention.

It was a neck—a long, long neck. It stretched from the top of the shrine and peered down at us, ending in the face of a woman.

“Welcome…”

The creature smiled widely, as if it found something amusing, and spoke in a sing-song voice.

“You’ve come all the way from the city to this countryside!”

With a booming laugh, the woman opened her mouth wide and, with tremendous speed, hurled herself toward us.

“…A Kamaitachi,” I muttered.

But before the monster could touch us, my magic decapitated its long neck.

Extending its neck was a foolish move—it only made it easier to target. I watched the severed head fall to the ground, but then I noticed something odd.

The head wasn’t turning into black mist.

…Wait, did I fail to exorcise it?

“Too bad, too bad! My head’s just for show!” the creature cackled.

“Is that so?” I replied.

Without missing a beat, I transformed my Silveit thread into a spear.

“…Homurabachi.”

The flame spear I conjured pierced the monster’s head, shattering it into pieces. This time, the monster’s body dissolved into black mist and vanished.

“What the…?”

Sure, the neck wasn’t its weak point, but if its head could be destroyed so easily, it shouldn’t have taunted us like that.

As I stepped back onto the stairs, Shirayuki-sensei, who had been standing beside me, spoke up quietly.

“Itsuki-kun… you’re really strong, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

I turned to her, surprised by the sudden comment. Her eyes were wide with astonishment.

“What’s up, Sensei?” I asked.

“N-nothing… I just found you very dependable,” she said with a soft smile before turning her gaze back up the stairs.

Still puzzled by her words, I followed her lead and we continued climbing.

At the top of the stairs, we passed between moss-covered stone guardian dogs and stepped into the grounds of a dilapidated shrine.

“Where’s Aya-chan?” I asked.

“She’s inside the building,” Sensei replied, pointing to the shrine’s structure.

So Aya-chan was inside? How did she even get in there? Then again, this was her mental world. I probably shouldn’t dwell on the logistics.

Just as I turned toward the shrine, the doors flew open with a loud bang.

“Is that… arms!?”

A mass of arms, each with six fingers, emerged from the shrine and reached for us.

But the arms never touched us. They were instantly caught by the Silveit threads I had already set up, slicing them apart like a grid.

This was my Jin’e, a protective magic barrier designed to exorcise multiple monsters at once by deploying the Silveit threads in a lattice pattern.

“…Jin’e.”

As the severed arms melted into the ground, I spotted the creature they belonged to. Peeking out from the doorway was a huge face, easily a meter in height, framed by the severed arms.

The face resembled a shy child hiding behind a door, but its immense size made it anything but cute.

“Let’s play hide and seek,” the creature said in a slow, eerie voice.

Its mouth was an empty void of darkness.

“…Play by yourself,” I replied coldly.

It was obvious that showing its head meant it had revealed its weak point.

I extended my Silveit thread toward the giant head and decided to try something different this time, adding a new twist to my usual magic.

I began to generate high-pressure water using Amaugachi, a technique designed to pierce through tough materials. Then, I intertwined the Silveit thread with it.

I infused the water with earth elemental change.

I remembered watching a TV program at home that showed how water jets could cut through metal by mixing in abrasives. If that was possible, then I could use something similar to strengthen my magic.

I mixed fine particles into the water, increasing the cutting power of Amaugachi.

The name of the technique would be…

“…Amaugachi.”

With a sharp slicing sound, the giant head was severed cleanly in two. The monster’s head and arms dissolved into black mist.

As the black mist faded, I saw Aya-chan sitting inside the shrine, kneeling with her legs tucked beneath her in a formal posture. She was trapped inside a cage-like structure of iron bars.

…What the heck is that?

I was about to step forward when Shirayuki-sensei turned to me and said, “Itsuki-kun, let’s free Aya-san!”

“Yes!” I replied, preparing to extend my Silveit threads.

But just as I was about to act, a girl’s voice echoed from above.

“Impudent.”

The next moment, I felt as if something had struck me, and my vision blurred as I was suddenly thrown backward.

“…Huh?”

Before I knew it, I was back in the library.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep