Chapter 290: Magic-Using Monsters (Patreon)

The Demon Race are monsters that have shed most of their savagery, gaining reason in its place.

This was only a guess of Nanoda's.

"Screech!!!"

The red flower atop the canopy shrieked, its huge mouth lined with jagged teeth looming over the group.

"This tree's roots must be thick enough for thirty people to circle arm in arm, though it's grown rather short for its girth," Lois said, trying to sound reassuring.

In truth he was tense as could be. If Nanoda hadn't been there, he'd have bolted long ago.

As a near first-rate court Mage, he had no confidence he could beat something like this alone. Its sheer bulk alone left him at a loss for how to even start, not to mention the blood-sucking vines that could burst up from the ground at any moment.

"Lady Nanoda, should I act as bait so everyone else can hit it with Magic from range?"

The burly monk, who usually did nothing but flex his muscles, spoke with unusual gravity, his low voice careful. He could feel every muscle in his body trembling at the sight of such a creature. This monster seemed even stronger than the small dragons they'd fought before.

"No. Everyone stay close together. Setting aside the danger of what's buried underground, you need to protect the other two support monks. Lois and I will take it head-on."

They were all decent people, and Nanoda didn't want anything to happen to them. Still, this was also a good chance to see the Church of the New God's combat strength firsthand, and to build some teamwork among the group.

Nanoda decided to hold back some of her power, focusing instead on studying what this new type of monster could do.

If it were Frieren, she'd probably have the skill and nerve to trust her teammates to buy time, then unleash one big attack.

Nanoda herself specialized in close combat, so she made the better bait anyway — and could finish off the prey while she was at it.

During that brief exchange, the monster ran out of patience and struck first. The vines hanging from its branches turned into whips, sweeping through the air toward the group.

Not only that — mounds of earth began shifting across the ground as vines hidden underground raced toward everyone's feet, about to burst through the surface!

"Know why the plum tree blooms plum blossoms? Because it's a plum tree — plum blossoms!"

Lois rattled off the bad joke, and the ground within ten-odd meters of him frosted over. Cold crept toward the monster-tree's trunk, threatening to freeze it solid!

"Screeeech!"

The terrifying red flower atop the canopy shrieked again, this time far more piercingly. A ripple spread outward from its pistil, and an invisible gust shattered and blew away the frost climbing the trunk!

"Ngh..."

Lois hastily raised Defensive Magic — he hadn't expected the monster to have a sonic attack too.

At the same moment, a thick vine slammed into his Defensive Magic, and cracks began spidering across the polygonal barrier.

Such tremendous force — the Defensive Magic wouldn't hold much longer!

"Cut."

Nanoda vanished from where she stood. The next instant, she appeared before the vine — over a meter thick.

One clean strike split it in two. Green sap sprayed out from the cut like rain, and Lois, who'd thrown Defensive Magic around his entire body, ended up looking like a green ball.

Nanoda had already vanished again before that happened. Her Severance Magic cut toward the mounds churning across the ground.

Boom! With every strike of Severance Magic, another mound split apart. The vines, each now missing a section, writhed as if in agony as they surfaced, spattering red blood.

The vines above ground bled green sap, but these underground ones bled red — were they not vines at all, but roots?

Running to meet the vines attacking from above and below, cutting some down and dodging others, she closed to within two or three meters of the trunk in an instant!

Thirteen golden light spears and a barrage of stones, large and small, streaked over Nanoda's head at that moment, hurtling toward the red flower atop the canopy!

"Screeeech!!!"

The monster's branches shook violently as countless vines sprouted from them, desperately reaching to intercept the projectiles. The boulders were smashed to pieces, but the light spears punched straight through.

Just as they were about to strike the canopy, the ground around the monster split apart inch by inch, and several red roots shot up to wrap the flower in layer after layer.

Gold and red clashed and flickered, but in the end the light spears couldn't break through that shield and dissolved into scattered light.

"Lady Nanoda, watch out!"

At the shout from behind her, Nanoda — already close to the trunk — sensed something too, and fixed her eyes on the flower shielded by the roots.

A magic circle.

This wasn't Magic Lois had cast to support her, and it definitely wasn't hers either.

A blob of green was emerging from the circle, aimed straight at the top of Nanoda's head!

Nanoda barely had time to swing once before vanishing from the spot. Where she'd been standing, a column of dark green liquid poured down, hissing with a sizzle the instant it touched the ground.

A huge gash opened across the monster's trunk at visible speed, but red roots quickly surged up from underground to cover and fill it in.

"Guess I went too easy on it."

Nanoda retreated back to Lois's side.

"That was a magic circle — this thing can use Magic too?"

Looking at the small pit eaten away by the green liquid in front of the monster, Lois wondered whether his Defensive Magic could withstand this corrosive Magic.

"Hey now, you've got to be kidding — is this thing a monster or a Mage?"

The next moment, ten green magic circles appeared out of thin air, all of them, without exception, the monster-tree's handiwork.

"Look at it this way — the monster's Mana consumption is speeding up. The longer this drags on, the better it is for us, since we outnumber it."

"Lady Nanoda, you're not still holding back, are you?"

Seeing Nanoda looking so composed, Lois couldn't quite hide his exasperation.

"A chance to really fight a monster this powerful is rare. At this level, it's at most a bit troublesome."

Nanoda glanced back at the three monks. Under the direction of the nun's Heavenly Eye, the burly monk carried her while dodging the vines' sudden strikes, hurling boulders at the monster along the way. The one-armed monk had raised a barrier and was gathering the New God's light spears.

"What about you, though — why haven't you used any attack Magic? You've just been cracking bad jokes."

"I'm about to, actually."

Lois unleashed ten magic circles all at once, firing off white attack Magic in a barrage.

The white pillars of light met the green columns of liquid head-on, sending corrosive droplets splattering everywhere and white smoke billowing off the ground.

It was merely corrosive, not toxic — it didn't even call for the monks' Purification Magic.

Nanoda felt the monster was somewhat weaker than she'd expected. It was just its tough hide and incredible regenerative ability that made things a bit of a hassle.

The red flower atop the canopy was most likely the monster's core — and its weak point.

After one exchange of Magic died down, the monster conjured up another batch of circles.

"Lois, I'll deal with the troublesome vines. You go compete with it in Magic."

Nanoda decided to conserve a bit more Mana and hold back.

"When it comes to a battle of Mana attrition, I'm at least a little confident."

Lois immediately conjured ten more attack circles. As if in response, the same number of circles appeared around the monster.