Chapter 102 - Episode Twenty-Three - The Thing Lurking Deep in the Forest (4)
I let the World Tree’s Ortem stand in the vanguard and retreated to a position where I didn’t seem to be able to be reached by the roots.
Evil Bound glared at me but quickly removed me from its line of sight.
It seems that he has a mindset of breaking the Ortem as he declared.
With Evil Bound at the center, numerous black roots grow out of the ground.
Thick as a log, it swells like a snake as it points its sharply pointed tip towards the Ortem.
Hmph, you say it’s like a toy, but you’re being very cautious.
The fact that the nose was shaved off a while ago seems to be quite unbearable.
Evil Bound’s black roots are intertwined as he attacks the Ortem.
Ortem easily dodges it with a thin difference.
Each time Ortem dodges, more and more of Evil Bound’s rear end hangs up, revealing his frustration.
One of the black roots comes at Ortem at a speed slightly slower than the others.
Perhaps it was meant to be a feint that was supposed to make him avoid it.
Ortem doesn’t dare to dodge it, but stays and does a high-speed somersault.
Stingy psychological warfare is not an option against an Ortem’s opponent that only works within the bounds of what was originally built in as a command.
I’ve already introduced such an easy to understand feint countermeasures.
We cannot afford to be looked down upon.
The momentum-less root is played by an unexpected counterattack and slaps Evil Bound’s body.
Evil Bound’s face contorted. A hole in the shape of an eye glared at the part of the body that had received the blow.
Ortem pushed through the gap and rode to the tip of the black root.
He flexes the root, then flies with momentum and decides to hit the body of the blows to the main body.
In order to make sure that I don’t break it, I make it save the power a little bit.
“Guoooh!”
The tree leans heavily, and the roots growing from the base of the trunk are partially exposed to the ground.
Perhaps because of the impact to the body, all the roots that had appeared on the ground are momentarily stationary.
It was a good opportunity to make a series of attacks, but we decided to pull back to the original distance once because of the concerns that had been said.
I need to think about it for a moment.
At the same time that Ortem stops, the black roots are approached the main body with tremendous force.
It seems to have focused all the minutes it had been turning into an attack on its defense.
“G-, great! You could win with just one Ortem! As expected of an Ortem carved by Abel!”
Mea, who had been watching the battle between Ortem and Evil Bound with a bit of concern, gazed at Ortem’s easygoing mood and gazed happily at him.
Earlier, Mea had looked a little anxious.
The World Tree had been bought with a borrowed from Mea, so maybe she was thinking about what she would do if it was destroyed.
…… Some, someday, someday I’ll be able to pay it back!
“But…… that’s not so good.”
I muttered, and Mea freaked out and her shoulders shooked.
“W-, why? Because, look, the opponent’s attacks didn’t hit or anything at all……”
“Oh no, that black tree is slower than I thought it would be, or maybe it’s kind of a disappointment. I don’t know if it’s like that.”
“What?”
To be honest, there was a part where I would let Ortem take the lead to cut it apart in anger.
Thinking about it calmly, I was worried that the tree that the demon had so diligently nurtured and possessed would not be able to compete with an Ortem, who only moved according to pre-built commands.
That’s the one-sided tone of this.
Evil Bound saw the exchange between me and Mea and was angry.
I wish you would stop looking around and look more at Ortem.
You don’t have a lot of time to spare right now. Show me more of your good parts.
“…… Well, I don’t think it’s worth it to watch any more. Let’s not get hung up on the details, like its movement. I’ll know the quality of it later when I analyze it.”
I readied my wand and waved it at Ortem.
I switched Ortem’s behavior pattern from ‘wait-and-see mode’ to ‘fight mode’.
Ortem stopped for a moment and then jumped back to jump on him with aid.
“Vanish!”
Evil Bound extends two branches that resemble hands to Ortem, who is floating in the air.
It seems to have quite a bit of strength, and I can feel a strong magical power.
He must have been deathly searching for a moment when Ortem showed an opening.
As expected, was I too careless?
“Oh, this is probably bad.”
The investigators said that the monster has a wind-blown attack.
Attacks that use roots can be reversed by spinning, but against the wind, they are also powerless.
It is impossible to avoid it while in the air.
A gale wind blew from Evil Bound’s outstretched hand, causing trees to fall and dust to fly.
When the dust cloud cleared, there was no sign of Ortem.
“The-, the World Tree, Ortem is…… the memory of Abel and Mea……”
Mea shows out with a stunned expression.
The trees had been reamed down by the gale wind, but the line that Ortem was floating in was particularly bad, and the ground beneath it was neatly gouged out.
“Did you see that!”
Evil Bound twists his body around to me.
“My absolute power!
Evil Bound was in desperate shape.
He must have released the wind with all his might.
“Just a mere wooden doll!”
“There’s room for improvement in the magic circle. If we can make it possible to use simple wind magic, we can evade it in midair……”
Let’s use this as a reference for the future development of the magic circle.
It will be quite complicated, but it shouldn’t be impossible.
But I’ll have to play around with Ortem to get it to work.
I’m sure it’s going to cost a lot of money to develop it.
Well, I’ll have to think about that some other time.
“Carry”
I wave my wand and quickly tuck it away in my pocket.
In response to the spell, the World Tree’s Ortem floats in my hand.
I held it in both arms.
“Ah…… it’s back.”
Mea, who was half in tears, muttered.
Rest assured, there are no particular scratches on it.
It’s coated with magical power when in operation, after all.
As I put the Ortem on the ground, Evil Bound began to rattle the branches.
“That’s ridiculous!”
I thought about setting Ortem up against him again, but that’s enough.
Let’s just get this over with.
I’ve been playing around too much, and I’ve caused Mea some unwanted concern.
Evil Bound wiggles his trunk and slams a branch that resembles a hand to the ground.
Here and there the ground splits open, revealing new black roots.
Black roots began to cover the area.
The other party also seems to have decided to stop sticking to Ortem.
“Enough! Just die already!”
The black roots extend to me and Mea.
“Kyah.”
Mea lifted the bow in her hand and shot an arrow.
The arrow hit the root, but the arrow did not penetrate.
I raised my wand.
A huge magic circle covers the entire area.
Let’s use a little more magic power.
“Oh earth, transform”
A light emerged from the magic circle and the black roots stopped moving.
It trembled for a few seconds, but it soon came to a complete halt.
“What! What happened!”
I changed the nature of the soil, making it hard and clinging to the roots.
Once this was done, it was no longer possible to move the roots at all.
Evil Bound tried to twist his body, but it seemed that he couldn’t even do that.
“Impossible! I’m not even able to keep up with mere human magic!”
Well, here’s the real deal.
Once the demon is dead, I need to take steps to prevent deterioration.
It’s just a matter of how fresh it stays.
I pull the wood carving knife from the knife cover and approach Evil Bound, avoiding the roots.
“Don-, don’t come here!”
Evil Bound’s palm is pointed at me.
That wind is coming.
I take out my staff with the opposite hand from holding the knife and wave it at Evil Bound.
I’ve got a good idea of the output of the wind that Evil Bound releases.
I can just use a bit more than what Evil Bound gave off against Ortem earlier.
“Oh wind”
The magic circle I used glowed green and the wind blew from near the tip of my wand.
The arm that had been thrust in front of Evil Bound was broken by the wind.
“Nonsense! I am…… by the god……”
Evil Bound pulls back his broken branch and brings a part of it in front of him.
He opens his mouth wide at the sight of the painfully snapped branch.
But with no time for Evil Bound to wallow in disappointment, the wind struck the main body.
“Uuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!!”
Evil Bound’s leaves scattered in an excruciating manner.
The bark peeled off, the branches snapped, and the trunk flexed heavily.
After the wind has passed, a bald black tree remains.
Its appearance does not have the arrogance it once had. Rather, it had the tragic look of a dead tree in the middle of winter.
His face should not have changed much, just a bit of skin peeled off.
But somehow, there was no sense of dominance.
Maybe that’s why he looked much older than when we first met.
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