---

Truthfully, is this necessary?

The scent of the air burning and the ringing echo in my ears, the tingling flowing across my skin from the narrow miss of the lightning strike---

I'd only just managed to dodge.

Is it truly necessary to give us such a test?

Really?

I press my lips together as my feet hit the ground, adjusting my grip on my katana as my eyes fix on the next opponent. Large. Armored. It looks like steel.

It'll be difficult to strike anything vital with such a big target. My supplies---

I can't get that right now, and it would be far too difficult to set it up in time to take a shot.

---The Edren men are taking initiative at least. I suppose I can't complain about that.

I suck in a deep breath. My best chance at doing any sort of harm, even minor, is to aim for any of the gaps in the armor, or if I can pinpoint them the eyes. Blinding the enemy and injuring them at the same time would be one of the best ways to open them up for further damage, but they're hardly an easy target.

---Mathiassen-san has the right idea. I'd been coming to a similar conclusion myself already.

We'll approach from multiple angles, keep his focus from centering on any one of us, and wear him down so that greater damage can be done to end this unnecessary fight all the more swiftly.

I lean forward, my free hand reaching into my bag---

And the green world blurs as I move. My kunai may or may not slip through the gaps, but the mere possibility of them doing so would at least draw some attention.

With a flick of my wrist I release one, then two, then three, their black points piercing the air as they hurtle towards the draconic monster.

The fourth, however---

Sagramore is too close for me to use one of the bombs, but that doesn't mean I can't do something like this.

Heat flows from my fingers and over the edge of the black blade. Build it. Build it. Build it. Build it. Until the edge is white hot, until the air is sizzling, until that heat has become compressed into a miniaturized firestorm within my kunai.

---And release.

It hurtles towards the armored monster's flank, promising to release a concentrated burst of flame on impact! Even if it doesn't do much damage, the impact can't just be ignored!