Volume 3 Chapter 116: Searching the Forest III (1/2)

We ran for the Elder Treant while brushing aside the roots that attacked us.

The surface of the elder treant was dark and the circumference of its trunk was greater than 10 meters. Being around 20 meters tall, it was a large tree and had a grace about it appropriate for its great stature. But because of the swollen lumps and cracks on its trunk, it looked more sinister than majestic.

On top of that, the face on the trunk of the elder treant was an ellipse as big as an adult and was positioned near the roots. The texture and the size of it only served to make the whole tree appear spookier.

“Ryouma, Raypin! Stay away from branches and support us!　Syria, you support them!” [Asagi]

We confirmed that we received our orders and stayed where we were just as we were ordered to.

While the ground was paved via Pavement, I turned my iron slimes into axes and threw them at the slow treants to wipe them out. Raypin-san supported me with his magic, while Syria-san cut the roots that approached me and Raypin-san.

…Asagi-san and the others were attacking the elder treant, but it was a lot more tenacious than expected. On top of its large body, the wood magic, Grow, was particularly troublesome.

Originally, Grow wasn’t a healing magic, but because the elder treant was a plant type monster, Grow could make it grow, thereby causing an effect that’s essentially the same as healing. Right now, we have the advantage, but we can’t let our guard down.

“OoOOOO!”

I heard a strange sound I couldn’t make heads or tails of. I don’t know if it it’s supposed to be a groan or a scream, but when I looked to the side, Mizelia-san had struck the face of the elder treant with her axe. They’ve been hitting the elder treant for a while now, but this last attack was deeper than anything they’ve dealt to it yet. Without a moment’s delay, Wereanna-san and Miya-san attacked the elder treant again.

But…

“Tch!” [Wereanna]

“Nyaa!?” [Miya]

The elder treant suddenly counterattacked. A black ball appeared from its mouth and shot toward Wereanna-san. Despite being taken by surprise, she was able to dodge, but because the elder treant followed up with an attack from its branches, she had no choice but to stop attacking.

That spell just now… That’s the darkness-type spell, Dark Ball!

Wereanna-san was forced to stop, but Miya-san was still continuing. This time the elder treant released a black mist from its mouth. When Miya-san saw that, she jumped back.

“What is going on, nyaa!?” [Miya]

She cried out in surprise. When I took a closer look, I saw that her axe was quickly rusting.

“What was that just now!?” [Wereanna]

“That was a dark ball!　This elder treant can use dark magic too　That effect is probably from dark magic as well, de aru!” [Raypin]

…Hey, hey, this wasn’t written in the intel.

“There are too many unexpected things surrounding this elder treant!　Retreat for now! We need to come up with a plan first, de gozaru!” [Asagi]

At Asagi’s behest, we didn’t try to forcefully defeat the elder treant and instead decided to retreat.

After leaving the attacking range of the elder treant, we rested while talking.

“Miya, how’s your arm?” [Mizelia]

“My arm’s fine, but this axe is a goner, nya..” [Miya]

When Miya-san showed her axe us, the metal part was clearly rusted and the edge of the blade was already crumbling.

“When that black mist touched it, this happened, nyaa.” [Miya]

“This is terrible.” [Asagi]

“If our weapons get turned into this, there’s no way we’ll be able to fight.” [Mizelia]

“Raypin, can’t you think of a way?” [Wereanna]

“I’ve never heard of an elder treant that can use any magic other than wood magic. I’ve also never herad of a darkness-type spell that can cause weapons to rust. One way to deal with dark magic is to use healing magic as light magic to purify the mana, but… That’s not something we can regularly rely on during battle, de aru.” [Raypin]

So the effect of that darkness-type spell is rust?　…Could it be that’s the reason why the metal slimes were so scared?　But in that case, then why? Wait, now that I think about… It’s still a hypothesis, but I should mention it to the others.

When I told everyone my hypothesis, we decided to go back and fight the elder treant.

There’s a lot of unexpected things surrounding this elder treant, but it’s not actually that strong. And even if things do get dangerous, we can easily run from it, so it wasn’t all that risky to try out my plan.

“Let’s go!” [Asagi]

“Pavement!” [Ryouma]”

I turned the road into pavement again to block the elder treant’s root attacks. When we neared the elder treant, the elder treant started releasing black mist. Looks like it’s wary of us.

“It’s here!” [Mizelia]

“Let’s try it!” [Ryouma]

I threw an iron slime throwing axe. I aimed at the face of the elder treant and threw it with all my strength.

The axe drew a parabola in the air as it plunged into the black mist.

“OOOOO!”

The iron slime axe splendidly landed on the forehead of the elder treant.

Due to the effects of the contract, I could tell how the iron slime was feeling. Because of that I knew that it was alright.

“It’s unharmed!　As I thought, that spell can’t affect the iron slime!” [Ryouma]

“Good. Now, let’s finish this treant, de gozaru!” [Asagi]

As Asagi-san said that, he moved for the elder treant’s face. Miya-san, Mizelia-san, and Wereanna-san followed too. The last to follow was me, as I was casting Fire Arrow while attacking.

The plan I proposed to everyone was to use the iron slime weapons and armor to fight.

When I recalled how the metal slimes were so scared before fighting the elder treant, I figured that the metal slimes must’ve naturally feared it because it was metal. Raypin-san could see where I was coming from.

As such, since the iron slimes weren’t scared, then I figured they must’ve had some way to resist that mist. But it wasn’t all conjectures too. Another reason for my plan was fueled with a piece of otherworld knowledge, which I taught to them under the excuse that it was my grandpa who taught me.

The purer the iron is the harder it is to rust. And the iron slimes evolved after eating nothing but the iron produced from my alchemy. In other words, they possess a body of super high purity iron.

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