730 – Approaching the Magic Beast King (side: Treant)

After talking with Shuen-dono, Aro-dono and I survey the area around Lithovar base, hunting all of the four-eyes that we find.

『Now for [Ground Tremor]!』

I fly up, then dive head-first into the ground.
The ground quakes, throwing the nearby four-eyes into the air.

Then, Aro-dono swoops down at them and rakes her right arm through them.
Her arm is transformed into a claw through the walpurgis’ abilities.

Our strategy is for me to stop their movements with [Ground Tremor], and then for Aro-dono to strike in melee.
This is the best way we could find for limiting our consumption of HP and MP, as almost all of Aro-dono’s skills are too costly to use repeatedly.

After killing the last of the four-eyes, she lands next to me.

“Treant-san, I think we’ve killed enough of them around here.”

『…Yes.
Let’s leave the rest to Shuen-dono.』

I look up.
Filling my gaze is a monster as large as a mountain.

On its head are four giant eyeballs.
Below its eyes is a wide mouth, which it’s using to tear through the ground as it grazes on trees like grass.

It is the strongest of all time… The [Spirit Servant] of God’s Voice, and the Magic Beast King.

『Aro-dono…』

I call out, and Aro-dono looks at me.

I want to ask if she has any intent to reconsider.
It is unlikely that either of us will survive this coming battle.
It would take a miracle for us both to survive.

However, looking straight into Aro-dono’s eyes, I know that if I were to voice that apprehension, she would face it alone.

『Let’s survive, Aro-dono.』

“Yeah.”

She quietly nods.

Carrying me in her arms, she stretches her black wings and leaps up.
We fly towards the Magic Beast King.
The closer we get, the larger it seems to become.

In the air around the Magic Beast King, flocks of four-eyed birds are flying.
I had hoped that if we kept to the air, we could ignore the lesser beasts, but it seems we aren’t so lucky.

“AAAAh!”

One of the birds cries and flies towards us.

“It’s faster that I expected…!”

『Then it’s probably frail! [Clay Sphere]!』

My ball of earth slams into the bird.

“Aaah!”

Though its altitude drops, and despite its heavy bleeding, it quickly regains its balance and flies towards us again.

『I-it has a lot of health too it seems.』

“I can’t outrun it at this range…!”

I stretch roots out of my body to create a shield, using it to intercept the bird’s attack.
It’s my [Woven Armour] skill.

“Aoh!”

“Thank you, treant-san!”

Aro-dono reaches out with her free arm and rips through the bird’s chest.
Finally dead, it falls to the ground.

『…Such speed and toughness… It felt like it had a lot of attack power too.
I think it must have been a higher level than the ones we’ve fought so far.』

“Are the ones closer to it a higher level…?”

『It might be best to assume so.
More are coming, Aro-dono!』

Having witnessed the death of their kin, all the four-eyed birds around the Magic Beast King fly towards us enraged.
There’ll be no end if we fight them one-by-one.
Aro-dono changes course, flying away from them.

We still have a significant advantage in speed it seems.
As long as we focus on running away, it’s unlikely that they’ll catch us.
However, even if we lead some away, the number of them around the Magic Beast King will only continue to increase.

The Magic Beast King is still ignoring us.
It hasn’t paid any attention to the birds and is continuing to eat its way towards the Lithovars.

We need to do something to attract its attention.

“Treant-san…”

Aro-dono glances at me.

It seems she’s planning on attacking the Magic Beast King.
As a result, she wants me to be ready to react to the enemy’s counterattack… or to simply resolve myself.
Once we attract the Magic Beast King’s attention, it’s entirely possible that we could immediately be killed.

『…Yes, please go ahead, Aro-dono.』

I say, and she aims her right arm.
A magic circle appears, followed by a purple light in her hand.

“[Dark Sphere]!”

The magic slips through the incoming birds and explodes between the Magic Beast King’s eyes in a burst of purple flames.

『I-it hit…!』

I brace myself.

If the Magic Beast King does something dangerous, then I’ll return to my full size and protect Aro-dono.
But it hasn’t shown any sign of reacting.
As the blast clears, I see that its eyelids have closed.
There’s not a single scratch on them.

With a crackling sound, the Magic Beast King blinks.
It doesn’t look towards us at all.
Its path of destruction through the forest doesn’t slow at all either.

“My magic was stopped by its eyelids…”

Aro-dono mutters in surprise.

It’s not just its size, but also its stats that are too far beyond us… Its defence might even be far beyond master-dono’s.
I had thought we might be able to put up something of a fight, but it truly seems like we are ants trying to fight an elephant.
We can’t even attract its attention, let alone fight it.