Published: August 2, 2025
Today, nine chapters are updated simultaneously.
This story is chapter 7.
Cutting away the attacking roots, we rushed toward the elder treant.
The elder treant had a dark surface, with a trunk circumference of over 10 meters. It appeared to be about 20 meters tall, a large tree with both size and dignity. The trunk was swollen in parts and cracked in many places, giving off a sense of ominousness rather than grandeur.
Furthermore, the face attached to the trunk was oval-shaped, about twice the height of an adult, located near the base of the tree. Its texture and size made it even more eerie.
"Ryoma and Reipin, provide cover without entering the branch range! Syria, support those two!"
In response, we stayed where we were, replying with a simple "Understood" and acting accordingly.
While paving the ground with Pavement, I threw the iron slime's axe, sweeping away the sluggishly crawling treants. Reipin-san supported us with magic, and Syria-san cut the roots heading toward Reipin-san and me.
...The elder treant's main body was being attacked by Asagi-san and the others, but it was tougher than expected. Besides its size, the wood magic "growth" was troublesome.
That magic usually doesn't have a healing effect, but since the elder treant is a plant-type magical beast, it seemed to gain the equivalent of healing by growing its own body. For now, we had the upper hand, but it wasn't a situation to be careless about.
"Ooohhh!"
A sound that was hard to tell if it was a groan or a shout.
Glancing sideways, I saw Miseria-san driving an axe into the elder treant's face. It seemed she had struck it several times already, but this blow sank deeper than before. Immediately, Wellanna-san and Miya-san rushed in for follow-up attacks.
However,
"Tch!"
"Unya!?"
An unexpected counterattack from the elder treant. A black orb appeared at its mouth and was shot toward Wellanna-san. Although caught off guard, she dodged it, but had to stop attacking due to the branches following up.
That was a dark orb from dark magic!
Wellanna-san stopped, but Miya-san was still there... Then a black mist was expelled. Seeing that, Miya-san also took a step back.
"Nya-nda!?"
She sounded surprised. Looking at her axe, it was rapidly rusting.
"What was that just now?!"
"That was a dark orb! This individual can also use dark magic! And that reaction is probably due to the effect of the dark magic!"
...Hey, we weren't told about that.
"So many unexpected things! Let's retreat for now and come up with a countermeasure!"
Thus, without pushing ourselves, we decided to withdraw.
Taking a break away from the elder treant's attack range, we discussed.
"Miya, how's your arm?"
"My arm's fine, but this is hopeless, nya."
Miya-san showed us her axe, and the entire metal part was rusted, with the blade crumbling away.
"If you touch that black mist, this is what happens, nya."
"This is terrible."
"With our weapons like this, we can't fight properly."
"Reipin, don't you have any countermeasures?"
"I have never heard of an elder treant using magic other than wood magic. Nor do I recall any dark magic that causes weapons to rust. As a countermeasure or treatment for attacks from dark magic, casting light magic to dispel dark attribute mana with light attribute mana is possible... but it cannot be done constantly during battle."
So that dark magic’s effect is to rust weapons, or rather, metals? Could that be why the metal slimes were so scared? But then, why...? Come to think of it... It’s still just a hypothesis, but let me share it.
After explaining my hypothesis to everyone, we decided to try fighting the elder treant once more.
This elder treant had many unforeseen elements, but its strength itself was not particularly threatening, and since it was an opponent we could retreat from if it became dangerous, it was fine to try if we had a strategy.
"Let’s go!"
"Pavement!"
Once again, I paved the ground to block root attacks and charged forward. As we approached the elder treant, it seemed wary of us and began to expel black mist again.