—Ethel POV

『With that said! Tentacle Guard! Begin!』

On Sharl’s signal, four tentacles in front of us began to move independently.

「Uoh, wha-!? “Wall”!!」

Just as the tentacles curled backward, they suddenly lashed down like a whip so I frantically created a “Wall” to block the attack. The tentacles were less powerful than I imagined, as it seems like one attack won’t destroy this “Wall”.

With the first attack being more tolerable than expected, I had the leeway to observe the other three. Right next to me, Team C’s Hermie is using wind and water magic to freeze a tentacle and slow its movement. She has a barrier of wind cast around the flag, so her defense seems to be flawless there.

On the opposite side, Aura appears to be trying to push away the tentacle with a large volume of water. If the enemy is the type to push on with numbers, then Aura’s choice wouldn’t be a mistake, and Team B undoubtedly chose her with that in mind but unfortunately, her enemy isn’t like that.

While the tentacle is overwhelmed by the strong flow of water, it gradually slithers towards Aura.

「! Stop, s-stay away!!」 With Aura’s shriek, the water current increased in pressure. Thanks to this, the tentacle that was close to Aura was once again pushed back and she somehow escaped her predicament.

Lastly, Team A who’s behind Lily and Selena, and on the side opposite of me. In regards to Suzy…… Hm? What the heck is she doing? Looking entranced, she’s running towards the tentacle with open arms!?

『What!? Suzy of Team A! She just willingly embraced the attacking tentacle!? What exactly is her plan!?』

No, really, what exactly is her plan!? Somehow, the tentacle stopped for a moment, seemingly surprised as well, but it immediately pulled itself together and entwined itself around Suzy who’s hugging it. It slithers its way from her ankle to her calf, thigh, and stomach, coiling itself around her. Ah, I can see her navel.

「!?」

While I was distracted by Suzy’s navel, the tentacle smashed through my “Wall” and rushed towards me. No, honest! I don’t have a fetish for that! I did think to myself, , but still!

While avoiding the tentacle attack, I hit it with the magic “Needle” to limit its movements. The tentacles attacking the other teams seem to have become more active as well; particularly, Aura from Team B is screaming a lot.

「! ! Stay away! Stay awayyyyyyy!!」

Stealing a glance, it appears that the tentacle has given up on swimming through the water and is now stretching its long body to approach Aura from above. Visible right in front of Aura is the tentacle coiling around Suzy, so she’s desperately avoiding the tentacle attacking her lest she ends up like her.「!? Stoppppp!!」 『Oops…… Aura of Team B fought a good fight, but she finally dropped out! Succeeding Suzy, she has fallen prey to the tentacles!』 「Don’t just talk there! Helpppppp!!」 However, this didn’t continue for long, as she couldn’t avoid the tentacle falling overhead and was captured. How should I say this? The tentacle is just coiling around her, but it’s awfully sensual…… It seems like the other boys in the training area feel the same way too, as I can hear the sound of breathing similar to a sigh.

I also feel just as many chilling gazes, so I stopped observing, and I can’t do it for long anyway as I have to focus on the tentacle right in front of me. Still, it seems that the other students are staring so closely that they don’t notice the cold gazes from the girls.

「Now then, it’s about time to stop messing around, don’t you think?」 「Yeah, big sis. Lil Shoggo!」 「「Please!」」

As Lily and Selena’s voice echoed through the training area, the large tentacles, as well as the small ones that were coiled around the two of them, began to attack. We already had a hard time with the big ones, now there’s more!?

「Kuh! I won’t fall here! Oh wind! Oh water! “Tornado”!!」 「Tsk! These big ones were already enough trouble! Like I’d let them near! “Poison Needle”!!」

Using my specialty, “Poison Needle”, a large number of spikes sprout out of the ground and intercept the tentacles. “Poison Needle” is a magic that produces heavily poisoned spikes. The poison applied is based on my imagination but this time I chose paralysis poison to stop their movements.

The needles pierced through the tentacles, blocked their path, and successfully stopped them on their tracks. Or so I thought.

Without being affected by the paralysis poison, the free tentacles slither through the spikes and the tentacles that were pierced through.

『Team D’s Ethel just made an attempt to keep the tentacles away with “Poison Needle” but it doesn’t seem like the poison is working!…… Why might that be, Lady Lily?』 「Ah…… Lil Shoggo is a magic lifeform Selena and I co-created, so……」 『I see! Being a magic lifeform, it’s the same as a golem then! In that case, poison naturally won’t work against her!』 「Is that even fair!?」

I couldn’t help but yell so; still, it makes sense, there’s no way tentacles are normal creatures, huh……

I stole a final glance at Team C and saw a small-scale tornado burst out with Hermie and her flag in the middle. The tentacles approaching Hermie couldn’t break through this tornado and were instead tossed about by the winds.

『With a “Tornado” splendidly controlled in size, the event is settled! The results are it! First place! Hermie of Team C! Second place! Ether of Team D! Third place! Aura of Team B! Fourth place! Suzy of team A…… Ah, before we finish up, Suzy? Why did you throw yourself to the tentacles?』 「Haahaa…… Ahn? Are we done already? Hm? Why? Why of course! It’s obviously because this is a magic lifeform created by Lady Lily! Even if you gather those that have great knowledge of alchemy, there is no one that can create a magic lifeform of this sort! And yet Lady Lily and Lady Selena summoned it oh so easily! How indeed? This truly is a magic lifeform, no mistake, but unlike a golem, which is command-response type, it even appears to have its own free will! No? Rather that will, is it intellect? I can even observe rationality from it! Ahh, before something of this sort-…………..」

『Er, right. It seems like this won’t end anytime soon, so I’d like to cut it here. After setting up the stage, we will proceed to event no. 3, Fall Towers!』