Volume 6, Chapter 46 – The Terror of the Evil Treant (1)

“Ah! They’ve noticed us!”

Shortly after we began our retreat toward the town of Airoll, Lu-chan let out a short cry.

When I looked back toward the Treants, they all shook their branches simultaneously, scattering a powder-like substance.

Carried by the wind, the powder drifted toward us.

I see. It’s possible they had noticed us from the start and were simply waiting for their prey to move downwind.

“Mashiro!”

At Lu-chan’s request, Mashiro-chan summoned a gust of wind to blow the powder away.

“Lu-chan, nice work.”

“Yes! But at this rate…”

“Fiene-sama, let’s get out of here quickly! If we stay, we’ll eventually be hit by the Sleep Powder!”

The moment those words were spoken, a dark fruit ripened on the branch of a particularly large Evil Treant—almost as if I were watching a time-lapse video—and then burst open.

From the bursting fruit, countless black, bullet-like projectiles flew out and rained down upon us.

“Barrier!”

I blocked the projectiles with a Barrier, and the bullets deflected by it scattered across the surrounding ground.

Then, sprouts burst from the scattered bullets, growing into young trees about one to two meters tall in an instant.

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The surrounding trees and grass withered away, as if their nutrients were being sucked dry.

“Ugh… Treants!”

Beside me, Lu-chan let out an angry cry.

“That’s how they wither the surrounding trees! They’re enemies of the forest!”

Mashiro-chan unleashed a Wind Blade, slicing the young Treants down to the root.

However, despite being reduced to stumps, new trunks grew back in a flash, restoring the young Treants to their original form.

“Ugh…”

It seems they really have to be burned or pulled out by the roots.

*Gagagagagagagaga*

The Evil Treant fired another volley of seed-bullets into my Barrier.

The deflected seeds scattered everywhere, and new Treants sprouted all around the Barrier.

“Kuh… at this rate! Fiene-sama, we must withdraw immediately!”

Chris-san’s voice was tinged with panic, but it was already too late.

We were already surrounded by young Treants.

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Then, the young trees all shook their branches at once, scattering a massive amount of Sleep Powder.

Our escape routes were completely cut off.

“Shizuku-dono! Even if you were being manipulated by Suikyou, you were able to use Foxfire at will back then. You should be able to do it, Shizuku-dono!”

“Ugh, but I…”

As expected, Shizuku-san had lost confidence in her Foxfire Skill.

She had been putting in the effort—I’d seen her secretly trying all kinds of incantations and gestures late at night countless times.

However, it seemed she still hadn’t found the right answer. Since it was a Skill that no one had ever used before, it likely wasn’t going to be straightforward. Since the first time I saw her use it was at Tessai-san’s dojo, she had been stuck for about half a year now.

By the way, she told me that simply wishing for it vaguely, like “Using the Foxfire Skill, flame, come forth,” as I usually do, didn’t work either.

“Shizuku-san.”

I spoke to her, looking straight into her eyes.

“When you were manipulated and used Foxfire, you didn’t use an incantation.”

Shizuku-san gave a small nod and looked back into my eyes. I wondered what emotion was reflected in those eyes.

Fear?

Frustration?

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I couldn’t tell for sure, but it certainly wasn’t an expression of confidence. However, Shizuku-san was the only one among us with a fire-based Skill that could be used as an offensive means.

“And since this Skill belongs to the Black Fox that fused with you, I believe you can use it if you draw out the power of the Black Fox.”

“The power… as a Black Fox, is it?”

“Yes. Please, try to find the Black Fox that’s sleeping within you. Until then, we’ll struggle as best we can. I won’t let them inside the Barrier, and although I’m only Level 1, I have the Fire Magic Skill.”

When I said that, Shizuku-san nodded slightly and closed her eyes. She was likely concentrating to find the Black Fox within herself.

I quickly assessed the surrounding situation.

Young Treants were growing thick around the Barrier, and some already seemed to have grown into mature trees.

Sleep Powder filled the air around the Barrier, making the visibility slightly hazy.

Furthermore, the Evil Treants appeared to be slowly closing in on us.

At this rate, we’d be worn down. The moment my MP ran out and the Barrier collapsed would be our end.

In that case!

I took a barrel of cooking olive oil out of Storage, dumped it outside the Barrier, and relentlessly set it ablaze.

“Lu-chan! Use the wind to fan the flames. I’ll extinguish it with a Barrier later!”

“U-y-yes!”

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As Lu-chan fanned the flames with wind, they caught onto the withered vegetation and spread in an instant.

Enveloped by the red, smoke-filled flames, the Treants writhed in apparent agony before catching fire themselves, white smoke rising from their bodies.

After a while, once the flames died down, the young Treants surrounding us had burned away.

The area around us was charred black, and the fire had spread to the surrounding forest.

“Onee-sama! The forest!”

“T-the Barrier!”

I released the Barrier I had been using to protect us and cast a wide, impassable Barrier to prevent the fire from spreading any further.

“Now, if we just wait for everything inside the Barrier to burn out, the fire should go out.”

When I said that, Lu-chan looked relieved.

“That said, the Evil Treants are still here. It’s not over yet.”

“Yes!”

“Fiene-sama!”

It happened then. Along with a scream from Chris-san that was almost a shriek, something suddenly yanked my left leg with tremendous force. Before I knew what was happening, I was dangling upside down.