The Paradise of Reincarnation Begins with Eriri.

Another snowball came hurtling towards her, and Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't dodge it in time, getting hit directly on the forehead.

"Ouch, it hurts so much..."

Without the headband to protect her from injury, the senior student suddenly tilted her head back, stumbled and almost fell, and her forehead became visibly red and swollen.

Whoosh whoosh!

More snowballs, like bullets, shot out from the gloomy forest.

"Be careful."

Kiyono Makoto decisively lunged forward and tackled Kasumigaoka Utaha to the ground. Fortunately, the ground was covered in snow, so the fall didn't hurt.

Puff puff.

Several snowballs missed their mark and landed on the snow with dull thuds.

boom!

A snowball hit Kiyono Makoto squarely in the back, and the spot immediately burned with pain.

"No, we have to hide."

Kiyono Makoto took a deep breath and decisively decided to relocate his position.

Seeing his senior's teary eyes, red and swollen forehead, and obvious dizziness, Kiyono Makoto didn't say a word. He grabbed her legs, hugged Kasumigaoka Utaha in his arms, and then ran away, quickly hiding behind a rock nearby.

Bang bang bang!

Several snowballs that came chasing after them hit the rocks with a dull thud.

"Senior, how are you feeling?"

Kiyono Makoto asked in a low voice.

"I'm fine..." Kasumigaoka Utaha took a deep breath. Although her forehead was red and swollen, she was much stronger than expected. "It must be the monsters in the dungeon throwing snowballs. Should we take a detour?"

"No."

"The temperature is too low. We need to get to the cabin as soon as possible, otherwise we may suffer from hypothermia."

Kiyono Makoto quickly shook his head, his eyes sharpening, and whispered the order:

"Senior, you stay here and wait for me. I'm going to deal with what's in the forest."

Kasumigaoka Utaha wanted to get up:

"I'm going with my junior..."

“No need, I can be more discreet by acting alone.” Kiyono Makoto shook his head slightly. “Wait for me to come back.”

After the team was successfully formed, although the senior's physical fitness improved, it was still too poor to be of any help as before.

Kasumigaoka Utaha gently bit her lower lip, not persisting any longer:

"Understood... Junior, please be careful."

"..."

After settling Kasumigaoka Utaha in place, Kiyono Makoto crouched down and quietly retreated, then used the rugged rocks as cover to slip into the forest.

The snow was dark and the forest was dense, with very low visibility. Coupled with the howling wind, an ordinary person would not have been able to endure it. Fortunately, Kiyono Makoto's physical fitness had been enhanced, which enabled him to keep moving.

"The target is in the area ahead... Hmm?"

Kiyono Makoto suddenly bent down and lay prone in the snowdrift, looking at two unsteady figures walking towards him.

"It's a snowman?"

Kiyono Makoto quietly held his breath.

Okay, okay, so it's a dark version of the Snow Brothers, right?

No wonder they use snowballs as weapons!

Two eerie snowmen staggered over, their eyes were black, empty sockets, and their mouths were stained with a dark color, as if it were dried blood. In short, they were quite terrifying.

Kiyono Makoto held his breath and continued to lie in wait.

The two eerie snowmen, unaware of his presence, staggered past him, their aim clearly set to continue their attack.

Kiyono Makoto let the first one go for the time being, and when the second one passed by, he suddenly darted out, his right hand clenched in the air, and the samurai sword he had bought earlier appeared out of thin air. Then he slashed out diagonally with force.

The katana whistled through the air as it sliced ​​through the snowman's body, the resistance it generated being surprisingly strong, much like the resistance felt when testing a piece of pork at a sword-forging competition.

Fortunately, Kiyono Makoto was strong and heavy, and he had also learned a little kendo in physical education class. In the end, he managed to cut the snowman in half with one stroke.

The snowman walking in front quickly turned around, grabbed its body with its hands made of twigs, and swiftly rolled out two snowballs.

dead!

Instead of retreating, Kiyono Makoto advanced swiftly, closing in on the enemy and suddenly slashing out with his sword.

puff.

The second snowman's raised hand suddenly stopped, then its body split open diagonally and crashed into the snow.

at the same time.

A notification popped up quietly in front of Seino Makoto's eyes:

You have defeated an evil snowman clone and earned 100 points.

You have defeated an evil snowman clone and earned 100 points.

"Just a clone?"

"So... there's also a main body?"

Chapter 17 A Trip for Two

"I am back."

After defeating the two evil snowmen, Kiyono Makoto quietly returned the way he came.

"...Junior?!"

Utaha Kasumigaoka, hiding behind the rocks, was shivering with her arms crossed, a faint frost forming on her long eyelashes. Upon seeing Makoto Kiyono return, the girl's wine-red eyes suddenly brightened:

"You're finally back. Are you hurt?"

"No injuries."

"That's good..." Kasumigaoka Utaha breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes filled with resentment, "I thought my junior had forgotten about me."

Even a cool and aloof literary girl, after being left alone for so long, can't help but feel a little wronged and resentful.

"Actually, it was already quite fast." Kiyono Makoto complained upon hearing this. "I didn't expect her first words to be about me. I thought she would say, 'You're so slow, why did it take you so long to get back?'"

“Heh~” Kasumigaoka Utaha raised her eyebrows slightly upon hearing this, “I’m not some useless young lady.”

"It seems like the senior student has a strong prejudice against Eriri."

"Wasn't someone just judging me based on school stereotypes?"

"I was wrong, I'm so sorry."

Kiyono Makoto, realizing his mistake, extended his right hand:

"Get up, let's continue."

"Mmm, so warm..."

The moment Kasumigaoka Utaha grasped Kiyono Makoto's right hand, she felt a warmth gently envelop her frozen palm, and her long eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Can you still move around?"

Kiyono Makoto helped his senior up, and then just in time opened his right hand.

"……no problem."

As warmth departed, a biting chill returned, filling Kasumigaoka Utaha with a sudden mix of reluctance and longing.

If only my junior could hold my hand forever...

The thought only flashed through her mind for a moment before Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly suppressed it.

The senior student, being a reserved person, quickly adjusted her mindset and looked up at her:

"Junior, what's that throwing snowballs?"

“You might not believe it…” Kiyono Makoto spread his hands, “They are two evil snowmen.”

"Huh?"

Utaha Kasumigaoka's beautiful eyes widened upon hearing this, and she subconsciously retorted:

"The snowman you're talking about, is it the kind of snowman that elementary school students make in the park around Christmas?"

"Perfect understanding." Kiyono Makoto cast an approving glance at him. "However, the evil snowman is much larger, only half a head shorter than my senior."

"I understand." Kasumigaoka Utaha hugged her chest with both hands, her voice trembling slightly from the cold, but she still couldn't help but complain, "She's as tall as that useless rich girl."

You two are definitely sworn enemies, always making sarcastic remarks about Eriri!

"...In short, that's the situation."

Kiyono Makoto quickly recounted the details of the ambush.

"Ha~"

Kasumigaoka Utaha breathed gently into her palm, her breath quickly condensing into white mist in the air as she pondered deeply:

"Since it's an clone of the evil snowman, it most likely also has a main body."

"The monsters will attack on their own, so even if we enter the cabin, it doesn't feel safe..."

"Let's get through this difficult time first; that's something to consider later." Kiyono Makoto walked forward against the wind and snow. "Let's go, let's continue crossing the Aotai Line."

Kasumigaoka Utaha: "...Sorry, I've never heard of it before."

The wind and snow grew stronger, visibility dropped to less than ten meters, and the cold wind felt like a dull knife cutting into flesh.

Fortunately, Makoto Kiyono went all-in to enhance his four main stats before entering the dungeon, so he's barely managing to hold on.