Volume 6, Chapter 48 – Awakening

“Ah… I couldn’t do it…”

I slumped to the ground. It was the typical symptom of MP depletion.

Once it came to this, even escaping with Mist Form was out of the question.

The branches of an Evil Treant coiled around my body.

I was hoisted into the air, and then my throat was squeezed.

“Onee-sama!”

“Ah… Lu-chan, run!”

With my consciousness fading, I desperately told her to flee.

Since Lu-chan is one of the Forest Folk, she should be able to escape.

I just wanted her to at least reach the Silver Village.

Then my vision was blocked, and everything went dark. I could no longer hear Lu-chan’s voice.

I’ll probably just end up as nutrients for the Evil Treant at this rate.

What a pathetic end. And after acting so high and mighty when I rushed out here, in the end, we were the ones who let our guard down.

Ah, if I’d known it would end like this, I would’ve spent more time in the hot springs.

Like a piping hot sulfur spring—I hadn’t tried that in this world yet.

I bet it would have felt great, and it would’ve been fun if I’d gone in with everyone.

Yeah… just like this tingling sensation against my skin…

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Wait, it’s hot! Hot! HOT!

I screamed as a sudden heat assaulted my body.

“B-Barrier! Water!”

I forcibly cast a Barrier around myself and splashed water on my body to cool down in a panic.

In the next instant, everything around me crumbled away, revealing a scorched forest stretching out before my eyes.

“Guh, *cough* . Bleeegh!”

I involuntarily threw up.

It seemed to be the backlash from forcing myself to use magic while my MP was depleted.

“Ugh, *hack, cough* .”

Once I had finished vomiting everything in my stomach and calmed down, I looked around.

To my right was Chris-san, still clad in crushed, broken armor, with burns covering her face and limbs.

In front of me was Lu-chan, trembling as she held Mashiro-chan in her arms, surrounded by a swarm of Treants.

Those Treants had likely come this way because my Barrier vanished.

And to my left stood Shizuku-san, bleeding from her stomach and thighs, shrouded in pale blue flames.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Shizuku-san let out a beast-like roar and charged toward Lu-chan. In her right hand, she gripped Kirinagi.

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Perhaps due to her injuries, Shizuku-san’s movements lacked their usual sharpness, but she continuously generated pale blue flames and hurled them at the Treants.

Then she wreathed Kirinagi in those pale blue flames and cut the Treants down.

The sliced Treants burst into flames in an instant, turning into charcoal and ceasing to move.

I forcibly pulled an MP Potion from Storage and, fighting back the nausea, gulped it down.

At least it had to be better than nothing.

“Ugh, I feel sick…”

As soon as I finished, a wave of intense nausea hit me, making me want to vomit up every drop of the MP Potion I’d just drunk, but I endured it with all my might.

Then, contrary to my expectation that it would be “better than nothing,” my MP recovered slightly.

Apparently, that was the difference between an MP Recovery Medicine and an MP Potion.

With my MP recovered just a tiny bit, I staggered over to Chris-san.

I drank another MP Potion to force my MP back up, and then I cast Healing Magic on Chris-san.

She had burns, and fractures all over her body.

It was a fairly extensive treatment. If I’d been any later, it might’ve been too late.

“Chris-san, are you alright?”

“Ugh… Fiene-sama?”

Chris-san opened her eyes.

“Hah! What about the Evil Treants!? Ugh!”

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Trying to stand up before the treatment was finished, Chris-san grimaced in pain.

I eased her back down and answered her question.

“I was captured too, so I’m not entirely sure, but it seems Shizuku-san saved us.”

“Shizuku-dono did?”

Chris-san looked at me in puzzlement, so I answered by pointing toward Shizuku-san.

“Is that… Foxfire…?”

“Probably…”

While we were talking, it seemed Shizuku-san had turned every single Treant surrounding Lu-chan into charcoal.

“Is… is it over now?”

Chris-san asked me, her face still twisted in pain.

“Yes. Probably.”

The moment I said that, my left leg was grabbed again, and I was hoisted upside down.

“An Evil Treant! Fiene-sama! Guuh!”

Chris-san tried to stand, but her face distorted in agony and she collapsed.

Then she grabbed the Holy Sword lying at her feet and forced herself back to her feet, her whole body trembling.

Even though her fractures weren’t fully healed yet!

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“Fiene-sama! I… will save… you now!”

As Chris-san tried to face the Evil Treant with unsteady steps to rescue me, I hurriedly called out to her.

“Chris-san, don’t push yourself!”

“Ku… uuuugh!”

Beyond Chris-san, who was groaning in pain, Shizuku-san glanced our way.

Just like before, numerous pale blue flames floated around her.

However, unlike usual, her eyes were glowing gold, and the pupils were vertical, just like a fox’s.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Letting out another beast-like roar, Shizuku-san charged toward us.

Then, as if she didn’t care at all that I was being held captive, she hurled pale blue flames straight at us.

“S-Shizuku-dono! Fiene-sama is right there!”

But Shizuku-san’s expression didn’t change at all, and the Evil Treant moved me in front of the flames to use me as a shield.

At the very last second, I used Mist Form to slip free of its grasp.

Having lost its shield, the Evil Treant took the flames head-on and burst into fire.

Shizuku-san relentlessly hacked away at the burning Evil Treant—”mincing” would be the perfect word for it—while continuing to burn it.

And with that, the Evil Treant was reduced completely to charcoal, leaving behind only a magic stone.