I turned my head, and my pupils shrank instantly. A chill ran down my spine, cold sweat breaking out all over.
A gigantic white rolling ball, two to three meters tall, was crashing toward me with an unstoppable momentum. It was already right in front of me, its shadow almost completely engulfing me.
Even though Arona would once again offset and deflect the impact for me this time, the instinctive fear brought on by the sheer visual shock was still something I could not fully suppress.
But very quickly, a small and slender figure flashed into my field of vision and resolutely blocked my path.
"I will absolutely not let you hurt Sensei!"
"Wait a second, shouldn't that be my line?" Arona, who was about to brace for the impact, could not help but speak up.
The girl, who looked so tiny compared to the rolling ball, tightly gripped a light sword as tall as herself with both hands. With a loud shout, she seized the timing and swung it forcefully upward at an angle.
The immense power possessed by an android, comparable to heavy engineering machinery, used an electromagnetic cannon forged from the most advanced special alloys as its medium. That force was transmitted to the oncoming rolling ball, forcibly canceling out its original momentum.
And it did not stop there.
The remaining force imparted a vector nearly opposite to the original one, sending the rolling ball shooting back toward where it came from at an even faster speed and with even greater force.
Under the astonished gazes of the girls and myself, the rolling ball traced a graceful arc through the air and slammed heavily into the doll Shiro, who had just thrown several more bombs and was lowering its head in a snickering laugh.
Caught off guard and suffering the consequences of its own attack, Shiro stumbled. Saori and Momoi's group naturally did not miss this perfect opportunity and launched an even fiercer offensive against Shiro, knocking it completely off balance and sending it crashing backward onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Arisu, who had obediently refrained from firing the light sword, proactively protected me, and created a decisive opening, turned back around. Her big watery eyes locked onto me, and her upturned face was filled with a radiant smile.
Even without saying a word, her desire for praise was conveyed to me in full.
At a moment like this, for AL-1S, it could not have been more appropriate.
"Arisu is amazing. Just as expected of a hero. Thank you."
I returned her smile with one as gentle as I could manage and rubbed Arisu's head.
She squinted her eyes, her expression one of pure enjoyment.
At this moment, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Himari pout slightly. She looked like she really wanted to say something. I knew exactly what she wanted to say, but in the end, she said nothing.
From this, it was clear that compared to momentary verbal satisfaction, Himari still lusted after my good looks more. Truly shameless.
On the other side, Shiro, having suffered heavy damage, scrambled to its feet using the pinball as cover. Then, with two agile leaps, it jumped back onto the city wall at an astonishing speed and finally disappeared into the night.
Seeing that Shiro fled too quickly to pursue, the girls who had been engaging it head-on returned to my side.
"Sensei, are you okay?" Momoi rushed over first. "That was really close just now!"
Midori was too lazy to even argue with her sister, and nodded repeatedly beside her. "Thanks to Arisu-chan, otherwise Sensei would have been in danger."
Yuzu looked worriedly at her companion. "Arisu-chan, are you alright too?"
"Yes!" Arisu nodded vigorously and replied full of energy. "Arisu and the sword of light both have HP at 100%!"
After confirming that the one they admired and their companion were both unharmed, the girls finally let out a sigh of relief. Then they began chattering excitedly about what had just happened, their tone a mix of excitement and lingering fear, marveling that in the Slumpia there really were dolls like in urban legends, ones that would actively attack people and were clearly no pushovers.
Himari also joined their discussion with great interest.
Saori and I watched from the side. Our gazes happened to meet, and when she saw me smile and nod at her, Saori lowered the brim of her hat, looking a little shy.
Sigh, it must be because I am too handsome, causing her to end up like this.
Only after the girls' heated discussion cooled down did I speak again.
"Then, let's continue forward."
"What…"
Himari froze for a moment, then her eyebrows shot up as she questioned me in a mocking tone. "My, my, what's this, my dear Sensei? After personally encountering abandoned dolls that throw bombs and rolling balls, haven't you already gathered enough information?"
"We still need to make comparisons. What if the other dolls show the same conditions?"
I calmly met the eyes in her projection. "Besides, we still have plenty of time."
"You were the one who just said it was already very late, weren't you?"
The others nearby, though unaware of the real reason, could at least vaguely sense the tension between Himari and me.
Saori's entire body tensed as she waited for my instructions. The girls from the Game Development Department looked uneasy, not daring to intervene rashly.
Himari's gaze grew colder as she looked at me. After a long moment, she shook her head.
"Fine. You're the one directing the operation."
At least she was trying to restrain herself, both in words and actions. And to be fair, I also felt that what I was doing was not exactly decent.
Every test directed at someone close is an act that damages the trust between us. I understood that.
From the bottom of my heart, perhaps just as Arona said, I truly did not want anyone to get hurt because of this.
But if I did not test them, how could I know whether the other party genuinely wanted to be close to me?
As a student of Kivotos who did not understand my situation, Himari was ultimately unable to understand the suffering I could not speak of to others.
Moreover, this time it was not solely for testing Arisu, but also to avoid revealing any flaws in front of the Maestro.
In the end, with Himari's concession as the conclusion, our group set out once more. We passed through the passage connecting the two areas and arrived directly at the plaza of the next area, near the other location the Maestro had marked for me.
Another doll, wearing a top hat, dressed in a gothic princess gown, holding a staff, with wings and a bird's beak, named "Kuro" according to Himari, slowly descended before us amid countless crows that might also have been dolls. Just like Shiro, it launched a fierce attack without hesitation.
Its combat style matched its attire, commanding crows and even amusement park facilities. However, the time it took to drive it off was longer than with Shiro.
I watched as Kuro collapsed weakly onto the ground and was then carried away by the flock of crows.
Up to this point, Arisu still had not shown any abnormality, even though she had countless opportunities to do so.
A powerful sense of relief and joy surged up from my heart.
At last, it could end. With this, I could finally…
Suddenly, in my slightly hazy peripheral vision, I caught a familiar purplish-red glow.
Then I sharply turned my head, instantly feeling as though I had fallen into an ice cellar.
I saw it.
An activated Follower.