738 – The Real Battle (side: Treant)

“Hah!”
“Take that!”

Aro-dono’s two clones attack a chimaera through the thick fog. As it loses balance, Aro-dono herself lunges in to attack with her free arm.

I point my wings at the reeling chimaera’s back.

『This is the finisher!』

Roots grow from my wings and wrap tightly around its body. It’s an application of my [Woven Armour] skill.

“A, AAah!”

It flails and falls. It’ll probably recover before it hits the ground, but it shouldn’t be able to fly at its full speed until it clears my roots from its wings.

Having dealt with another chimaera that caught up to us, we swiftly fly away again.

『This is working…! We can still buy time! Fu, fufufu, I wonder how surprised master-dono will be when he sees we defeated the Magic Beast King all by ourselves.』

I say confidently to Aro-dono, trying to encourage her.

But, she doesn’t reply.

『Aro-dono…?』

“[Darkness Kaleidoscope]… It might be better if I absorb them soon.”

『I-it’s that bad…?』

We’ve gotten used to fighting the chimaeras. But it’s not enough to make up for our critical lack of mana. Aro-dono is still having to cast [Gale] and [Fog of the Dead], and [Darkness Kaleidoscope] itself costs mana to maintain.

『You should take my my mana again…!』

She shakes her head.

“You’re almost out of mana too, aren’t you? Besides, when I use [Mana Drain], it doesn’t recover as much any more. My body’s too exhausted… I think the loss of your mana would hurt more now.”

『…I see.』

There’s a limit to mana recovery. I remember master-dono saying as much. It’s not as though you can keep firing off skills without limit as long as you have a means of recovery. It seems Aro-dono has reached that limit.

We’ve gotten the hang of fighting the chimaeras. But it might be too late.

Aro-dono’s clones have also been destroyed twice. That loss of mana has had major effect. At the beginning, we were too cowed by the chimaeras and the Magic Beast King, making us rely too heavily on [Gale].

If we could start again, I’m confident that we’d be able to keep running until the Magic Beast King ran out of MP. But with our MP so low, it might be impossible for us to keep running now.

I shake my head to dispel the creeping despair. We can’t change our strategy now. We’ve no choice but to cut down our reliance on skills even further to preserve our mana.

“One of you, come back! I can’t afford to maintain both of you!”

The clones look at each other, then one accelerates towards us.

But then, three more chimaeras appear behind us.

“They’re too persistent! Let’s deal with these ones first…!”

As we prepare to meet the chimaeras, I hear a sudden [Telepathy].

『[Inhaala].』

A huge magic circle has appeared in front of the Magic Beast King’s mouth.

“Th-that suction magic again… We already can’t afford to use much mana.”

『N-no, this is a good opportunity! Such a big skill must cost a lot!』

I point my wings at the two clones.

“[Woven Armour]!”

Roots grow from me, wrapping up the clones. This should be enough to avoid losing them before their mana can be reabsorbed. We can’t risk them being killed by the swarm of chimaeras behind us. It’s safer for them in my roots.

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“[Gale]!”

One of the clones fires a [Gale] behind us with all her might. The winds push the chimaeras into the Magic Beast King’s [Inhaala]. At the same time, the recoil pushes us forward, the momentum transferring to the rest of us through my roots.

Firing a full power [Gale] is painful in terms of mana consumption, but it’s worth it to deal with the chimaeras. By pushing us away from the [Inhaala], it’s killing two birds with one stone.

『Nice job!』

I swing my wings, releasing my roots with [Woven Armour]. I wrap the roots around the trunk of a tree in front of us.

I desperately cling onto the tree to withstand the winds of [Inhaala]. The three Aro-donos all hold onto me tightly.

『Ngggg…!』

After a few seconds, the [Inhaala] stops.

But I can’t relax yet. I know what’s about to come. I pull with my roots as hard as I can, flinging us forwards.

『Let’s run away, Aro-dono!』

『[Flare Ray]!』

Accompanying the Magic Beast King’s [Telepathy], I hear the sound of an explosion. Looking back, I see a thick pillar of fire hurtling towards us.

We’re right in the middle of the [Flare Ray’s] path…! It’s too fast for us to avoid…!

“[Gale]!”

Aro-dono’s clones cast [Gale] behind us at the same time, pushing us haphazardly forwards.

『This can work… [Gravity]!』

To follow up, I pull us down with [Gravity]. Combined with the irregular bursts of motion from the [Gales], we dive down to just above the ground. Right above our heads, the pillar of bright red light skims by.

『We made it…!』

We were forced to use mana, but if we hadn’t, we would certainly have been killed by the [Flare Ray].

The Magic Beast King’s mana reserves will have had to have taken a hit by the [Inhaala] and [Flare Ray] combo as well. Most importantly, almost all of the chimaeras got wrapped up in that attack and destroyed.

『This can work! Its MP can’t be limitless, after all. It might not be Upper Legendary, but just Legendary…! Its MP should be reaching the bottom soon…!』

It’s slim, but we still have a chance of victory. We’re certainly in a dire spot. It’s probably difficult for Aro-dono to even fire [Gale] now. But our opponent should also be struggling.

『If we keep doing our best, we should be able to win…!』

I declare enthusiastically, but Aro-dono appears worried.

“…Treant-san, the Magic Beast King is acting strange. It’s not following us.”

Aro-dono says, her eyes fixed behind us.

『Oh…?』

Certainly, it stopped to use [Inhaala], and hasn’t started moving again. Once it saw that it didn’t kill us, it should have quickly began chasing again, but hasn’t…

『No way, could it be planning on using the chimaeras to distract us and run away…?』

[Death God Seed] steals the target’s MP faster the closer I am to the target. Conversely, if I get too far away, it completely loses its effect, with the seeds eventually disappearing. If it runs, we’ll be the ones forced to chase it. We have a slight advantage in speed, but it would still be quite troublesome.

“I don’t think that’s it… I’m sensing an even more intense bloodlust.”

『…I admit that I underestimated you. To think those without divine skills could exhaust me to this extent.』

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The Magic Beast King’s four eyes glare at us.

『The orders in my head… They no longer command restraint until the dragon arrives. My instincts tell me that you are not a minor nuisance, but a serious threat… So prepare yourselves. The real battle starts now, fierce ones.』

『Th-the real battle starts now…?』

I don’t immediately understand the meaning of those words. After all, Aro-dono and I are already practically out of MP. And yet, the Magic Beast King was apparently holding back this whole time.