Whoa! That was four times more banshees than I was expecting! I couldn’t decide if we should back off, or if I should give the others a hand or something. While Allo and Treant had the stats to take on one or two banshees at a time, they were both quite slow. The banshees could gang up on them and attack.
‹Maybe we should retreat and—›
“Leave it to us, Master Dragon!” one of the Allos shouted. “We can’t waste too much time on these guys! We’ve got this!” The other two balled their hands into fists to show their determination.
Allo’s one tough cookie, that’s for certain… Sure, splitting into three costs a lot of MP, but that shouldn’t put her at too much of a disadvantage…right?
‹Yes! Let’s continue the fight!› As Treant chimed in, one of the banshees lunged at it using Ghost Step. Treant was knocked over. It rolled around on the ground for a moment before getting to its feet, winded. Three banshees surrounded it immediately.
‹Treant!› I shouted.
‹Ah! Master…›
‹Go ahead! It’s okay! We’ll just have to run when Ymir shows up!›
Treant tilted its head for a moment in confusion, but then its eyes widened and it nodded. ‹V-very well! I’ll take your word for it!›
Immediately, Treant’s figure expanded, shooting high into the air, as it took on its World Treant form. Multiple banshees gathered at the base of its trunk, scrabbling at its bark with their claws, and Treant shuddered with the force of the attacks.
Allo looked at me, panicked. “M-Master Dragon! In that form, Treant’s just a huge target!”
‹Don’t worry, Miss Allo! These attacks are nothing! Wood Counter!›
Treant’s massive branches swiped at the banshees, sending them flying. Before Treant evolved, Wood Counter hadn’t been that strong, but coming from a World Treant, it did major damage to the somewhat frail banshees. Sure, they were high-level and had balanced stats, but Treant outranked them; it shook them off like puny flies. There was just too much of Treant for any of their attacks to deal a reasonable amount of damage.
“Whoa… Treant’s strong,” Allo muttered, dumbfounded.
‹Have no fear, Miss Allo! I’ll draw the enemies to me!› Treant said proudly, stretching its trunk to full height.
Th-this looks really encouraging! This might have been the first time Treant has looked so confident. More than that, it was the first time it’d shown me I could depend on it in a fight. Whatever it was, Treant, who until now had always seemed like it was at a loss for what to do as a durable tank-type monster, seemed like it’d finally caught its stride for the first time.
Our battle with the group of banshees continued, now with big Treant leading. And Treant did beautifully. It blocked the incoming banshee attacks and sent the banshees flying with Wood Counter over and over. Although Wood Counter couldn’t kill them in one hit, it did enough damage for the three Allos to kill the banshees with their Dark Spheres as Treant flung them away.
With this strategy, Allo and Treant could manage even the dozen banshees with ease. When Treant’s HP started to get low, I healed it with Hi-Rest.
One of the banshees crawled toward me instead. I quickly backed off, made a wide turn, and led her toward Treant instead.
Allo and Treant were in complete control against this banshee horde. They really had gotten stronger. When there were five banshees left, though, they all suddenly disappeared. At first, I wondered if they’d all run away…but I doubted it. None of the enemies we’d encountered with the Mad God effect seemed lucid enough to flee.
The next moment, an ear-splitting shriek rang out from the trees. It was different from the cries we’d heard before; this shriek felt like it was grabbing my brain and shaking it around. Was that…their Cursed Song skill? The one that temporarily reduced the stats of whoever hears it?
The five banshees all appeared again, surrounding Treant. Black light gathered at each of their fingertips.
Oh, crap. They’re working together. They must have realized Treant would just smack them away with Wood Counter, so now they’d lowered its defense with Cursed Song so they could all hit it with a barrage of magic attacks at once.
‹Treant! Get outta there! That’s gonna hurt!› I called.
‹Don’t worry, Master! I can take it!› Treant’s bark thickened, becoming stronger and more durable. As a World Treant, it should’ve been able to minimize damage from magic attacks, but that didn’t mean it could negate damage completely.
I looked on anxiously as five shots of Dark Sphere crashed into Treant, shaving off chunks of bark.
‹Hnnnnnnnnngh!›
‹Treant!› Oh man. That really had to have done some damage.
‹Allow me to return the favor!› Five black orbs of light appeared in a circle around Treant—the same number of Dark Spheres it just took. Each of them shot toward one of the banshees and exploded, engulfing them in black flames. But Treant didn’t know Dark Sphere…
Wait, was that…Fairy Curse?
Special Skill “Fairy Curse.” When hit directly with a magical attack, forest fairies will come to the rescue, counterattacking by casting the same spell back at its user. Their magic will be as powerful as the original attack, regardless of the skill owner’s magic power. The fairies’ magic will only affect the attacker.
Yeah, it had to be. Those Dark Spheres were way stronger than they would’ve been with Treant’s magic stat. Its usability was limited, but Fairy Curse was in fact a vicious skill.
‹D-did you see that, Master?› Treant asked, wincing in pain.
Y-yeah, it was pretty cool, but kinda sloppy…
I used Hi-Rest on Treant again. After that, Allo and Treant finished off the weakened banshees with Dark Sphere and Heat Beam, respectively. When the battle was finished, Treant reverted to its tree spirit state, and Allo deactivated her Dark Kaleidoscope.
‹I…! I actually actively participated in the battle this time, Master!› Treant flapped its wings happily. ‹I did it!›
‹Yeah, you sure did! You both did a great job. I’m sure you both got a bunch of levels from that fight.› I hadn’t expected them to do so well against that many high-level rank A monsters with almost no assistance from me.
Suddenly, Allo’s eyes narrowed, and she looked around anxiously.
‹Allo? What’s up?›
“I just…heard more crying, but…” At that moment, a final banshee dropped from the branches of a nearby tree. She opened her mouth wide and stretched her claws out, reaching for Treant.
C-crap! There was still one hiding in the trees! I lunged to kill it with Dimension Claws, but before I could, the banshee’s body tore open with a sickening rip, spraying blood and guys everywhere. What looked like a tiny tree root poked out from its torso. The banshee rolled over on the ground, twitched a few times, and went still. Then a beautiful flower bloomed out of her head.
‹Th-that startled me… I’m glad I thought to use Reaper Seeds.› Treant looked back at the mangled banshee corpse and shuddered, branches rustling.
It was a handy skill…but it left quite the impression. The flower growing from the banshee’s head was now in full bloom, swaying from side to side in the breeze.
After things had calmed down and we’d taken a moment to clean up, I checked Allo and Treant’s levels again. Treant had gone from Lv: 69/130 to Lv: 91/130, and Allo went from Lv: 76/130 to Lv: 94/130.
Nice. They were both in the second half now, where leveling up started taking way more experience points, and they’d both gained around twenty levels. They were in sight of their max levels now. Taking out a bunch of rank A monsters at over level 100 meant earning a delicious buffet of experience points. The fact that they managed to take them out with no assistance from me had helped a lot too.
“That was awesome, Treant! You did amazing!” Allo praised.
‹R-really? You think so, Miss Allo?!›
Treant and Allo chattered happily. It warmed my heart to see the two of them so cheerful.
‹Um…Master? How did we do?› Treant asked, glancing at me.
‹You guys were great. Judging by that fight, I think you’ll be a key part of taking down that giant in front of the tower.›
‹Oh, Master! Now you think too highly of me!› Treant wriggled, its leaves shaking.
I suddenly snapped my head up and peered into the distant sky.
‹Ah…Master? What is it? Did you sense something?› Treant asked.
‹Nah. I was afraid I’d see Ymir charging at us because I praised you.› That was what had happened last time… And after we’d pulled out our World Treant, I wouldn’t be surprised. I was starting to feel like Treant succeeding at things was bad luck…
Treant fell to the ground with a thud. ‹Just what kind of monster do you think I am, Master…? Don’t joke about things like that. You’ll jinx us.›
‹S-sorry. But don’t worry, we’re pretty far from where we found Ymir the first time,› I assured it, sheepishly scratching my head with my claws.
Now we were ready to take on the Origin Matter. After taking a short rest to make sure we were all in top condition, we’d take to the skies to challenge it.
“Um…Master Dragon? Do you hear something?”
‹What? Another leftover banshee?› I scanned the area.
Then, in the distance, I heard a booming ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud that sounded all too familiar.