Chapter 37
No wonder Lian Qi’s magic couldn’t budge it. After all, he’s one of that person’s subordinates, not an ordinary enemy. As I well know, Tier 5 mages are very rare.
The green-haired man who called himself “Sea of Trees” Adonis watched me with a smile, his eyes narrowed to slits. He gives me such an evil feeling!
“Little Saintess, don’t get a big head just because you beat a small rebel assassination organization. The main force of our Druid organization has two Abyss-rank, four Tier 5, and over a dozen Tier 4 mages. Enough to rival an entire country. I advise you not to throw an egg against a rock.”
A small rebel assassination organization? Is he talking about “Seven-Leaf Tree”?1 Fine…
“We’ll see who’s the egg and who’s the rock.”
Adonis squinted at me. “My little sister… was in your care before.”
“What? What?”
I stopped twirling my hammer, a bit baffled.
“The “Flower-Filled Collection” Miramini, the one you defeated… that’s my sister.”
He spread his hands and activated his magic.
First, several small, cyan-green whirlwinds kicked up on the ground. Then, one after another, Treants that looked exactly like the last one emerged from the whirlwinds.
Not just one, but eight of them, standing in a neat row, shields and axes at the ready.
“So he can summon more than one Treant?”
“Just one? My apologies.”
The moment he spoke, more Treants appeared, one after another. I suddenly remembered his title is “Sea of Trees.”
Speaking of which, he’s summoning the Treants from thin air, which means he’s not Manipulation or Enchantment type. Could he be Evocation or Transmutation/Illusion?
The first row of Treants, wreathed in purple magic, advanced on me and Lian Qi with uniform steps.
“Get behind me,” I instructed Lian Qi.
Because she’s usually the dominant one, saying this to her for the first time… I felt a little happy~
“Ah?” Lian Qi pursed her lips, her expression a little awkward. Just by her reaction, I knew she wasn’t used to it!
“It’s my turn to protect you this time.”
I swung my hammer in a gorgeous 180-degree turn, smashing the first Treant that got close to me to the ground.
Wood chips scattered in the air. The Treants paused, stunned.
As I spun the hammer like a pen, I made a “bring it on” gesture at them with my free hand.
“Nice hit.”
Adonis said, and then said to me, “Apologies.”
He immediately summoned a new Treant. At the same time, the Treants charged me, one after another.
I smashed a hammer into one Treant’s stomach. It flew backward in a < shape, slamming into a distant tree trunk.
One Treant leaped into the air, raising its axe high above its head to chop down at me. It’s been a while since I played whack-a-mole. I let the hammer roll over my shoulder, switching it from my right hand to my left… and smashed it down, embedding it in the dirt. Two.
The next second, without even looking, I backhanded another one, sending it flying.
Three.
I spun in place with my hammer, mowing down a huge swath of them like autumn leaves.
They tumbled in the air and crashed heavily to the ground, breaking into pieces.
Four, five, six, seven, eight.
“Nice hit.”
He summoned new Treants without stopping, quickly filling the empty spots. And the numbers were growing.
“Apologies.”
Why does he keep saying “Nice hit, apologies”? Is he mocking me?
As I sent one Treant flying with my hammer, I shot a cold glance at Adonis. Seeing this, he immediately re-armed himself with a Treant’s body and blended into the Treant crowd. Ha? Is he afraid I’ll beat him up?
I knew I had to attack the main body, but the number of Treants was a bit overwhelming. And now… a few seconds later, the Treant I’d sent flying fell back down, crushing several of its own kind. There was nowhere left to land. You can see how many there were.
“Nice hit.”
Adonis would pop out with that line from time to time, then mix back into the vast sea of Treants.
“Fei’er, it’s useless to destroy the Treants! You have to attack his main body!” Lian Qi reminded me.
“I know—”
“If you catch him—”
“—it’ll shut him up.”
I smashed a Treant with every word I spoke.
As far as the eye could see, hundreds of green Treants were lunging at us, one after another, completely surrounding us.
So what?
Does he think that just because my weapon is a hammer, I’ll be helpless if he bogs me down with a ‘human-wave’ tactic?
Too naive!
I gripped the end of the hammer’s handle, imbued it with softened Holy Light, and then… gently pulled it long, like a flexible rope.
Turning the hammer into a… “meteor hammer.”
This way, I can… swing it around like a windmill!
Dong dong dong dong dong—!
Everywhere the hammer went, it cut through them like rotting wood, smashing piles of Treants and sending them tumbling.
The Treants crowded and piled up together. I beat them back, wave after wave, repelling them, repelling them, and repelling them again! This is much more efficient, isn’t it?
Besides, he kept saying “Nice hit, apologies,” right? Doesn’t that just mean it’s useless for me to break the Treants, because he can just summon more?
What about clearing them out like this?
So satisfying.
“Are you in ‘Musou Mode’?”2 Lian Qi asked, silently watching me.
“Ah… what?”
“Don’t forget, he’s trying to stall for time.”
“Mm, I know.”
I swung the hammer, moving toward the direction the Treants were endlessly pouring from.
Because Adonis’s main body must be there, summoning them!
Even if they charge one after another, it’s just moths to a flame. When my ‘windmill’ is spinning, they can’t possibly get close.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying “Nice hit, apologies” anymore?”
Don’t be fooled by my smile. I’m actually really angry.
Now, I stopped swinging the hammer, preparing for a decapitation strike.
I spun the hammer in my left palm, passed it behind my back to my right, and raised it high to smash down on Adonis.
“You—That move!? You look like… Lord Demon King!?”
“Oh, do I?”
Come to think of it, that person did say something like “having just one student like me is enough.”
But so what?
I brought the hammer straight down—BOOM!—smashing his Treant body to smithereens.
But that was just his armor. Amidst the flying wood chips, a dark shadow tried to escape from the Treant’s body.
“Don’t think you can shed your skin again!”
I’m an expert at whack-a-mole. You think you can escape from my attack range?
I swung the hammer again, aiming for his main body. I don’t care if he’s a Tier 5 mage. I’ll still nail him into the dirt!
“All done.”
I symbolically dusted off my hands and turned to Lian Qi.
“No time to waste. Let’s hurry to Nature’s Home.”
Footnotes
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七叶树 (Qīyèshù) is literally “Horse-chestnut tree” (Aesculus chinensis), but it’s the name of the organization. “Seven-Leaf Tree” seems like a reasonable localization. ↩
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开无双 (kāi wúshuāng) means “to open/activate Musou.” Musou (無双) is a term from the Dynasty Warriors (真・三國無双) video game series, referring to a special attack that allows a single character to defeat hundreds of enemies, i.e., “going on a rampage.” ↩