At that moment, the third cave mantis came at me from behind. I quickly change my backhand grip to a forehand grip as I rotate my body counterclockwise. I receive its blow with my right sword and parry it, as I do so the sword in my left hand mercilessly flashes by as it severs its head from its body.
Immediately right after, the fourth cave mantis came sweeping with its left scythe. As I dodge the approaching scythe, I receive it with my right sword and then I cut off its joint with my left. The cave mantis didn’t back off and came sweeping with its right scythe, this time, I block it with my left and then sever its joint with my right sword. Having lost both its scythes, the mantis was left with no weapons to fight with and had its head lopped off by me.
Having ended the battle, I headed back to where Elia and the rest were.
“Good job, looks like you don’t have any problems even with close combat. Ojou, bug type magical beasts are tough so please don’t be careless until you're able to separate its head or crush it like Ryouma did, ok?”
“I understand.”
“It’s good that you took extra measures and even used the hardening magic. With that, even if you were hit there would’ve been no problems.”
Elia gave me a glance of admiration and said
“As expected of Ryouma-san.”