I love time travel the most!

"What...what is that?!"

Kazuma Sato's pupils dilated and then contracted, his legs trembling as he took a step back, but his eyes remained fixed on the powerful enemy that had appeared silently. At the same time, the enormous figure that everyone was watching also took a heavy step forward.

The distance between the two sides did not increase but rather decreased.

Aqua, her teeth chattering, said fearfully, "You should have heard his name on the weather station every year around this time, ever since a long time ago."

Seeing the figure's utterly absurd appearance, Aqua didn't even need to say anything. But still clinging to a sliver of hope, he silently awaited the answer.

"—That's right! He is the Lord of Snow Spirits, and the representative of winter's charm, General Winter!"

Suddenly, a cold wind blew up.

The heavy, snow-white Japanese armor made it stand out against the icy landscape, complemented by the finely crafted, white jinbaori billowing in the wind. In his hand, he held a long Japanese sword that exuded a chilling white aura. The gleaming white blade was unmistakably sharp at first glance, constantly radiating a powerful presence and killing intent.

Without any opening remarks, it held the knife in both hands in front of its chest, its feet in a V-shape, barely touching the ground. Then it lowered its waist and shoulders, assuming a standard V-shaped posture.

Then, the gleaming white knife flashed in the sunlight and slashed at Darkness, who was closest to him!

Unbeknownst to them, Darkness recklessly charged forward to meet the attack. Kobayashi cursed under his breath, pushed off the ground, and followed closely behind to provide support. At that moment, General Winter's long sword had already fallen fiercely.

"Well!"

Darkness grunted and tried to block the attack with his greatsword.

but--

With a clear sound, the greatsword, which was reinforced twice by magic circuits and could withstand the headless knight's fierce attack, was actually cut in two at the waist.

"Ahh! My... my sword...!"

Darkness let out a wail.

At that moment, Xiaolin arrived just in time, grabbed her arm and pulled her back to prevent her from being cut in half.

He drew his longsword, ready to attack at any moment, prepared to flee.

At this moment, the goddess of wisdom, who knew the most, made an timely explanation: "General Winter is one of the specially designated monsters for which the state offers high bonuses. It is the spirit of winter... The so-called spirit originally did not have a specific form. It was the form that people who encountered the spirit unconsciously imagined, and then materialized it."

"So, in other words, some idiot with cheating abilities came up with this guy because talking about winter makes him think of General Winter, right?" Sato Kazuma immediately grasped the key point.

When Kobayashi heard his words, for some reason she thought of that Mediterranean guy with the ability to create fantasies.

Could it be that he created General Winter?

...The more I think about it, the more likely it seems!

"This is such a hassle! What are we going to do now? How are we supposed to deal with the Winter Spirit?" Sato Kazuma groaned in frustration, clutching his head and shouting to his reliable leader, "Kobayashi-senpai, quickly use your invincible Ryuu-shi to think of a solution!"

Kobayashi turned to the elegant waiter who had appeared beside him at some point: "That's what he said. Is there a way to solve it, Ryuu?"

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." The elegant waiter shook his head decisively: "Please, Lord Kobayashi, have some common sense. Lady Aqua said that General Winter is an elf, which means it has no physical form. My attacks have absolutely no effect on it and cannot cause any damage at all."

"So, even Liu Zi is out of options?"

"That's it."

This is bad. We've been relying too much on Ryuu's exceptional abilities and have completely forgotten the drawback of being unable to harm beings without a physical form.

Just then, the reliable Aqua offered a perfect solution.

She opened the small bottle in her hand, releasing the snow essence she had painstakingly captured: "Listen everyone! General Winter is very magnanimous! As long as we show proper courtesy and sincerely apologize, he will let us go!"

"What do you mean?"

"—Kneel down and kowtow!"

"……Aha?"

"Kneel down now! Quickly, drop your weapons too! Apologize now! Kazuma, apologize now too!"

As she spoke, she quickly lay down on the snow-covered field, pressing her head tightly against the snow, seemingly abandoning all sense of dignity.

Wait, is Lee Jae-gan some kind of supernatural being?!

You're a goddess, right? Even if General Winter is an elf, you're still a goddess, so why are you kneeling before him?!

And it was an incredibly standard kowtow!

Seeing Aqua kneel down without hesitation, Kobayashi wondered if he should change his faith. If this disgraceful state were seen by Mikami Hibiki or other Axis followers, their faith would surely crumble, leading to their own corruption, or they might simply stop recognizing Aqua as the true goddess of water.

When General Dong's gaze swept over, Sato Kazuma bent his knees and knelt down very decisively.

An extremely weak fellow.

Of the team, only Kobayashi, Darkness, and Megumin remained standing tall in place.

Kazuma Sato urged anxiously in a low voice, "Kobayashi-senpai! Darkness! Megumin! Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up and kowtow to apologize!"

"I do not want."

Darkness tossed aside his broken greatsword, glaring resentfully at General Winter, and said angrily, "I'm a paladin, after all, and I still have my dignity. Even though no one is watching, how can I, as the true paladin, bow down to a monster out of fear...!"

"Well said, Darkness! No wonder you're a follower of Eris!"

Kobayashi patted her on the head in a praising manner, while simultaneously verbally provoking Aqua.

Although Darkness usually follows monsters around seeking thrills, although she misses her targets, is always a liability to the team, and is an incurable psychopath.

But as a knight, she was qualified.

"Huihui, what about you?"

"I will absolutely not kneel!"

Huihui is more decisive than Darkness.

Huihui is strange. When she can unleash explosive magic, she's the most powerful person in the world, but when she can't, she's more natural than anyone else when she's pretending to be dead.

That's how confident I am with explosive magic.

"So, Huihui, do you want to know if the Explosion Magic can harm General Winter?"

"So, this means my chance to use my explosive magic to save everyone has arrived?!"

Upon hearing this, Huihui's eyes flashed a bright, scarlet light, a sign of her excitement, as she had been eagerly anticipating this situation.

High enthusiasm is a good thing; at least it prevents people from surrendering before the battle even begins, unlike others.

Kazuma Sato became even more excited upon hearing this, shouting, "Wait, wait! I know Megumin's Explosion Magic is very strong, but will it also work on General Winter? After all, it had absolutely no effect on the Headless Horseman before!"

"It will work."

Kobayashi was certain.

The headless knight's attack was largely ineffective because the explosive magic's attributes were not mutually exclusive, but this time, the ice-attribute Winter General was clearly the one being countered.

So not only will it be effective, but the effect will be doubled!

Kazuma Sato became even more uneasy, worrying, "I understand elemental weaknesses, but can a single explosion spell really do the trick?"

"Wait, Kazuma, what do you mean? If you don't believe my Explosion Magic, then let you experience it for yourself!"

Huihui immediately became unhappy when questioned.

The petite girl glared at Kazuma Sato with her head tilted back, her angry expression suggesting that if he didn't apologize, she would unleash a burst of magic on him.

Kobayashi did not deny this point.

"One burst spell might not be enough."

"……Eh?"

"But there's nothing that one burst spell can't solve. If there is, then two will do!"

His wide-open mouth was tinged with hot blood.

Kazuma Sato, who had been infected, silently got up from the ground, brushed the snow off his body, and said in a relaxed tone, "Since Kobayashi-senpai has said so, then I have no reason not to help. After all, it was my carelessness that caused this."

"Oh, so you knew that."

"Sorry, I was wrong."

He apologized as quickly as he knelt down, truly befitting the scum and genuine despised by everyone in Axel.

Aqua quickly stood up and shouted, "Me too! Me too! I'm a goddess, a goddess! With me here, I can definitely help you easily defeat General Winter!"

"Heh, I wonder who was the first to kneel down just now, and still has the nerve to call themselves a goddess? A goddess is disqualified, a goddess is disqualified." Sato Kazuma seized the opportunity to mock, and he didn't hold back at all.

"What did you say? Say it again?!"

Aqua was furious and wanted to retaliate.

I really don't know what they have to blame each other for. After all, they both knelt down at about the same speed. It's just a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

He turned to look at General Winter, who remained motionless.

Kobayashi licked his slightly chapped lips, his mouth stretching into a wide grin: "You actually let us discuss countermeasures to boost morale. I don't know whether to say you're overconfident in your own abilities or just naturally arrogant? Anyway, I'm grateful for that, so we'll take care of you!"

The team members dispersed.

Darkness remained at the forefront, maneuvering against it with Kobayashi's longsword. Sato Kazuma, wielding a longbow, continued to harass it, firing arrows as he circled around.

Kobayashi and Megumi were behind them.

"Huihui, how many magic crystals are left?"

"Three."

Three?!

Kobayashi was dumbfounded.

In case of emergency, he had ordered a hundred magic crystals from Wiz as a backup, but he didn't expect that less than a month later, only three were left!

Is this game as addictive as XX?

Xiaolin patted her on the shoulder and said earnestly, "You're still young, you need to restrain yourself. You should quit in the future."

"No! The Crimson Demon Clan will die if they don't have sex with us every day!" Huihui's resistance was fierce.

"No matter how unsatisfied you are, you can't have it every day!"

"I don't care! I want it! If Kobayashi can't satisfy me, then I'll go find someone else!"

"What did you say! You're not allowed to go!"

During the battle, the two had a disagreement.