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Actually, if you think about it carefully, it's clear.
If both Yukino and Yuigahama had fallen into this space, then according to the order of their disappearances, the owner of this space, which had been present for at least three days, naturally couldn't be Yukino, who only disappeared today.
But to say that Yui Yuigahama created this space, Asakura found it emotionally unacceptable.
As for why...
"It's too normal."
What he meant, of course, was not that a space made of desserts was normal, but rather, on the premise of accepting this reality, the desserts that made up this huge underground grotto were too normal.
Although the cookies forming the grotto's ceiling looked bumpy, they were dotted with wheel-sized chocolate chips, and occasionally, cream filling seeped from the cracks above. Coupled with the aroma of butter and sugar, they tasted exactly like the most authentic Danish cookies.
The material of the ground was largely similar, except that clusters of giant ladyfinger stalagmites stood everywhere, and there were also matcha chiffon cakes, likely simulating quicksand pits, and upon closer inspection, cocoa underground rivers gurgled, and macarons replaced pebbles everywhere.
All these desserts were perfectly normal, of the common type that could be found in a dessert shop—but in other words, they were excellent enough to be sold in a store.
Asakura found it somewhat difficult to accept that the barrier created by Yui Yuigahama, who could bake cookies that looked like that, was so normal.
"Never mind, rescuing them is more important..."
Asakura mumbled, trying to ignore these desserts, and instead searched for the objective of his adventurous entry.
He hadn't walked many steps when he saw a massive figure slowly emerge from the stalagmite forest made of ladyfingers.
It was an existence that could barely be described as humanoid; its entire body was composed of various pastries (mainly cookies), but its form was incredibly distorted and bizarre, filled with an indescribable sense of despair.
How despairing was it?
Perhaps it was like eating cookies baked by Yui Yuigahama and being told to keep eating them until she could bake cookies that humans could normally consume.
Asakura, who had stopped observing the baking process at the Service Club since the next day, suddenly felt a pang of guilt: Could this distorted dessert giant, whose despair was practically overflowing, have been created by Yukino Yukinoshita after she was stuffed with Yui Yuigahama's cookies...?
The enormous cookie stitched-together monster let out a roar, then charged towards Asakura while playing a sweet song often heard in dessert shops.
"Snake."
Asakura pointed in the air, and one of the cookie monster's legs abruptly shattered, turning into a cluster of small Snakes.
The cookie monster, which had been charging, fell heavily to the ground, crushing several small Snakes that hadn't managed to escape into a messy pulp of flesh and blood, then slid several meters due to inertia, scattering cookie crumbs everywhere.
Asakura checked his Magic and found that quite a bit had been consumed, which made him frown.
It made sense; a cookie monster that could move like a living creature naturally couldn't have formed on its own. As a supernatural entity, it must possess 'mystery,' and mystery can resist Magic. For Magic to be effective, he would naturally have to expend more Magic than usual.
Before Asakura could make his next move, the cookie monster, covered in small Snakes, struggled to its feet, absorbing many desserts from the ground as raw materials to reconstruct a leg.
Seeing this, Asakura couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Based on the Magic consumption ratio, he could afford the Magic to turn the entire cookie monster into Snakes.
But the problem was, even if he destroyed the cookie monster in front of him, would this strange dessert cavern not continue to generate such giants with despairing faces?
Thinking this, Asakura abandoned the idea of completely destroying the giant in front of him. Instead, he ordered the small Snakes to entangle the monster and distract it, while he took the opportunity to advance deeper into the cavern.
Originally, Asakura had prepared himself for the cavern to be full of monsters. After all, such a deep, narrow terrain, full of hidden places, a landscape that would make Hidetaka Miyazaki ecstatic, it would be a waste not to pile a few disgusting monsters there.
Fortunately, as the creator of this dessert cavern, Yui Yuigahama clearly didn't like playing games, which allowed Asakura to safely reach the deepest part of the cave.
"Bingo..."
In the deepest part of the cave stood a pillar, probably made of French caramel almond shortbread. The missing Yui Yuigahama and Yukino Yukinoshita were both embedded in the pillar. Their eyes were closed, but fortunately, they were still breathing, so they should only be unconscious.
Yukino was in a slightly better condition; only most of her body was embedded, and one of her hands was theoretically free to move. In contrast, Yui Yuigahama was in a much worse state, with only her face exposed.
No, rather than being embedded, it looked more like they had been absorbed...
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Asakura felt that the French caramel almond shortbread in front of him looked incredibly delicious and tempting. A craving for sweets filled his mind, making him want to break off a piece and taste it.
Just as his hand was about to touch the pillar, a sense of incongruity shot up his spine, making him realize something as if he had been electrocuted.
"Scale!"
Invisible Scale wrapped around his body, forming an indestructible defense, causing the tentacles, which suddenly stretched out from the pillar and smelled strongly of toffee, to return empty-handed as they tried to pull him in.
Startled, Asakura took a few steps back. He cautiously examined the pillar, then pulled out a ladyfinger cookie from the ground beside him.
Asakura wiped his left hand across the cookie, and instantly, the ladyfinger cookie was covered with a faint, almost air-blade-like substance.
As the saying goes, if the skin is gone, what can the hair attach to?
Theoretically, Scale and hair are pretty much the same thing.
The Scale Magic is also like this; Scale cannot exist in thin air; it must be attached to something.
But in other words, as long as there is something to attach to, the rest of the Scale can be freely manipulated.
For example, the ladyfinger cookie acting as the attachment might only be forty centimeters long, but the invisible Scale on it could be forty meters long.
— Incidentally, forty meters is just the limit of his spell's range, not the limit of the Magic itself.
Coupled with Scale's indestructible and almost weightless physical properties, if the leading edge of the invisible Scale were shaped thinner and sharper, it would be the best blade!
Asakura waved his hand, and the Scale blade easily pierced through the sugar crust on the French caramel almond shortbread pillar.
The pillar hummed, as if screaming, and thick, crimson liquid splattered from the wound. Judging by the sweet aroma in the air, it seemed to be high-quality strawberry jam.
Asakura carefully rotated his wrist to prevent his forty-meter-long blade from accidentally cutting the two people embedded in the pillar.
After several attempts, the section of the pillar where Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama were located was finally cut down by Asakura.
After turning the pursuing toffee tentacles into Snakes with Magic, Asakura ordered the Snakes, which would be terrifying pythons in the real world, to bring the two unconscious girls to him.
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