Chapter 2: Violent Attack! Protean Assassin
A song echoed through the forest full of dead leaves.
It wasn’t just a simple song, though. The songs sung by Fio didn’t have the mild effect of an ordinary song; they had the power of purification.
Matching his song, the music played by the Sword of the Unicorn repelled the wraiths like a giant barrier.
“Deyaaaaaaaaah!”
With a yell full of fighting spirit, Nowa plunged forward, rotating her rod.
Their opponents might have gotten overwhelmed by the roar and the frenzy that tore up the air, for the movements of the creatures swarming around the three of them stopped.
As soon as she noticed a gap, she rushed all at once. She couldn’t afford to check up on her enemies.
Looking at the dead leaves falling from the sky, the half-elf realized the giant trees didn’t have much time left. The foundation of the tree city was the evergreen trees said to never have scattered leaves ever since ancient times.
Yet now, the withered leaves danced on their way down; it was no exaggeration to say that it meant the death of the elven forest. It was only Fio’s ability that could overturn this situation. He had come to terms with the fact that he might be risking his life with his actions.
[What I should do now is to deliver Fio to the spirit tree. As fast as I can!]
With those thoughts deep in her chest, Nowa managed not to be intimidated before the crowding wraiths, and pushed on forward towards the main gate of the tree city.
“Amazing…”
Leina praised the girl’s vigor. She looked like one arrow full of energy, advancing straight ahead.
“Still, we shouldn’t be wasting our time admiring her.”
Fio muttered, while following after the running half-elf. As one would expect, not even he could pull off the feat of singing while running.
They had to run along the path Nowa was making before the wraiths moved to surround the three of them again. Even though her rod could diffuse the spiritual bodies that made them up, she couldn’t deal the coup de grace. The only thing able to completely defeat them was weapons or magic with sacred power.
As if to prove it, the wraths—their bodies now reconstructed after Nowa’s weapon scattered them by force—blocked their way again.
“Leina, it’s your turn, isn’t it?”
He smiled, prompting her to use the Sword of the Unicorn.
“Got it.”
In turn, she reached for the weapon. Able to take on otherworldly beings like wraiths, it was no exaggeration to say that the Sword’s power was unrivaled.
“Let’s go, Fio.”
“Yup.”
While running, Leina touched the rear end of the sword with her crimson lips. That was another way to draw out the Sword’s power, without singing. It was through the kiss of a contractor who had become its master.
“Ugh…”
As soon as her lips touched it, Fio fell behind half a step. Since the weapon shared some senses with him, the feeling of a part of his body being kissed was naturally transmitted to him.
“Nevermind, just blow!”
With blushed cheeks, he shouted for Leina to go on.
As the name of ‘serenading blade’ implied, a hole had been pierced in the grip of the sword, reminiscent of a flute. When Leina blew in it, a pure tone started flowing out.
A musical scale shook the air, becoming a wall of sound that spread in ripples around her.
“Gyaah!”
“Guugihaah!”
The evil spirits touched by the melody screamed, scattered as they were repelled away. Their diffused spiritual bodies vanished without ever gathering back again.
That was the miraculous power held by the Sword. However, the tone lost power as it traveled. It wasn’t possible to drown out all the creatures surrounding them.
“As usual, its power is wonderful.”
Leina’s lips parted from the tool, then she looked around.
The ghouls split into two types: those who had avoided extinction and, powerless, kept their distance to watch over them, or those who had run away. Clearly enough, they couldn’t be completely annihilated in a single blow like spirit orbs or lower spirits, but the weapon seemed to have had enough of an effect to make them hesitate on whether to keep getting in their way.
“We’ll take on the small fry, hurry ahead, Nowa!”
“Even if we say so, this tent feels awkward.”
Fio ran, slouching as he was. Every time they used the Sword, it became more difficult for him to run.
“This is… a double-edged sword, isn’t it.”
Since she was a woman, Leina couldn’t understand the real meaning behind his whisper.
***
Beneath the huge tree that was the center of the tree city, the underground space—supported by a huge root—was covered with shining pale moss, a vague solemn atmosphere to it.
That was the sacred place of the forest elves—found thanks to the wraiths continuing to absorb the life force from the forest—, the ground where the spirit tree existed.
“Oh my?”
The moment she caught a certain faint sound, her whole body was assaulted by a sensation like all her hair was standing on end.
It was a sound she had heard before, nostalgic yet hateful.
“This sound is… the Sword of the Unicorn?”
[There is no mistake.]
If she was directly bathed in that melody, even Airi would have difficulties maintaining her substance.
[If I’m hearing it somewhere like this… maybe the wraiths on the surface have already been destroyed.]
“Now I really need to hurry up.”
She muttered, and took a small stake she kept by her chest. It was an item her mistress, the Swamp Witch, had entrusted her with.
“You appear to have weakened considerably…”
She called out to the faint human silhouette by the center of the vaguely shining gigantic cave. There was no reply.
“Are you so weak you can no longer talk?”
Airi slowly advanced, canceling the magic circle—laid out to protect the silhouette standing by the center—by carefully tearing off every one of the veils in place.
If the magic circle had been alive and well, just by touching it, Airi’s clothes would have disappeared, and even her physical body would have been damaged.
Fortunately, such a thing didn’t happen, and she succeeded in reaching the center.
“How do you do, Miss Spirit Tree… Lady Dryad, spirit of the forest living since ancient times.”
A maiden with a skin color reminiscent of fresh green leaves looked up at her. She looked like a person, yet was anything but. The eyes of the spirit who had lived there since ancient times didn’t reflect Airi’s shape.
“And, I bid you farewell.”
Casually, like sticking a pin in a wall, she drove the stake she held into the dryad’s chest.
If Airi had been a human, she might have felt reverence for the dryad. However, unfortunately for the latter, the entity was the same as a garden tree for the maid.
The dryad’s eyes opened wide, and she released a big cry. The scream carried an explosive shockwave with it, which blew away the wraith’s clothing.
“Kyah!”
She reflexively moved her hands to cover her breasts, and the motion ended up with her falling to the floor out of balance.
“This scream… it’s a scream to drive away one’s soul.”
As she got up, she understood why it had been her who was given this role, instead of Melona; it was common for the death cries of magical plants to have the effect of separating the soul from the body of the unlucky victim who heard it.
Since Airi was a wraith, apparently her mistress had judged she would be less affected by it.
The dryad screamed soundlessly, its color changing from green to a dried up red in the blink of an eye. Right about now, the vitality it had stored was being transmitted to her mistress through the stake.
The maid didn’t know what her mistress was trying to accomplish with the enormous power that had kept on supporting the forest elves, however.
“My mission is complete.”
Airi remained in her underwear in the root of the withering giant tree, looking down at the completely changed dryad, now more like a sculpture made of old wood.
***
“I-It can’t be…”
A scream sounded faintly below them. It was so quiet that an ordinary human wouldn’t catch it, but for the elves, it had an entirely different implication.
“What’s… going on?”
The elders beside Alleyne had an expression of agony in their faces.
Around the time she realized, she started hearing a sound of people collapsing; the elves lacking the strength to support their own bodies anymore, here and there in the hall.
“What happened?”
The elf warrior muttered, checking up on them. Mother Elder didn’t reply.
“Do you want an explanation?”
Before Alleyne could ever notice him approaching, Hell Scream’s voice whispered in her ear.
“I do know what happened to them.”
Cold fingertips covered in a gauntlet caressed her hair.
“What do you mean?”
She moved her body away, and glared at him. Joy showing in his handsome pale face, he returned the stare.
“The elders living in this forest, Mother Elder included, have lived for a long time. There’s no other reason for it but them having received the blessing from the spirit tree that has existed in this land since times of old.”
He began speaking in a serene tone.
“The spirit tree holds immense power. It has filled this land with vitality, completely preventing any kind of invasion from the dark forces, including us wraiths.”
Alleyne felt killing intent in the Mother Elder’s eyes, who gazed at Hell Scream in silence. As far as the elf warrior was aware of, that was the very first time she had expressed hatred at someone.
“But, that wasn’t completely infallible. Even the spirit tree was a creature itself. Sometimes the giant trees have to fall for young ones to bud in their place.”
“Did you fiends invade us with that aim?”
“Of course. Every member of the council has always relied on the spirit tree, and not in their wildest dreams they’d have thought of us invading by taking this chance.”
*Ku-ku-ku-ku*, Hell Scream laughed.
Even as the Continent was in an era of war, the elven forest alone spent its time in peace. There hadn’t been a major conflict involving them for the last several thousand years, at the very least.
It came to the point where, among the council elders, the number of people talking about the dissolution of the warrior group wasn’t small in the least.
“If they managed not to die despite being fitted with the cursed collar that made them share their vitality with us, it was only because the life force given from the spirit tree made up for the one absorbed by the wraiths. So, what will happen if the supply from the spirit tree stops under these circumstances…?”
He joyfully pointed his thumb down.
“They’ll only wither like a flower without water.”
*Hahahaha*, his laughter was louder now. That harsh laughter echoed through the hall.
“Alleyne, there’s no need for you to listen to his drivel.”
After listening in silence, Mother Elder spoke to erase the laughter.
“Hell Scream, you are a specter. You aren’t a being that can remain here forever. I deny your whole existence.”
A strong mystical force was contained within the elder’s words. It was such a magical force that made even Alleyne—standing beside her—about to faint.
If it had been in the past, the specter might have disappeared with just those words.
However…
“You can’t deny me.”
He kept existing, with an air of composure, as if nothing had happened.
“It’s no longer you people who get to decide that, Mother Elder.”
He said, punctuating his words.
“You might get called the strongest sorcerer in the elven forest, but you can’t erase me with that magical force of yours—the same you used to place a curse on yourself to go back to your child appearance.”
Consternation showed on the Mother Elder’s face.
“You cur, how…”
Before she could ask how he knew that much, she reached for her neck. The collar had tightened around her throat.
“You have lived so long and possess such mighty magical force, all thanks to the spirit tree. So to speak, you all are like insects feeding off the spirit tree.”
He pointed at the young-looking elder’s collar with a smile.
“Are you in pain? Hahaha, it might be painful, but that level of pain is what the people you lot despised tasted once and again!”
He shouted loudly, and reached for Alleyne’s collar.
“You can’t mean that you intend to…”
His face shone bright, intent on showing the elven warrior his scorn.
“I have only one purpose: to kill all the elders. Slowly but surely, dragging it out as much as I possibly can!”
As he stated so, he removed the collar wrapped around Alleyne’s neck.
“The clan that has lived long by rejecting others since the days of old will finally meet its demise.”
With a spring to his voice, he released the captain’s binds.
“Grab a sword, Alleyne. You’re not an elder. So I’ll give you the mercy of finishing you off by my hand.”
Never losing her resolute attitude, she grabbed hold of her war staff.
“Unfortunately, I have no intention of using a sword.”
[I can’t fight very well for long here. I have to defeat Hell Scream and check the safety of the spirit tree before Mother Elder and the others run out of energy.]
***
Capitalizing on the wraiths’ fear towards the Sword, they arrived at the base of the tree city, with Nowa in the lead.
Each gigantic tree spread its branches to a vast area. So that each one’s leaves didn’t overlap with one another, the interval between the trees that had been formed over the thousand years was about one kilometer per piece. Quite a painful distance to traverse in a dash.
“It was unexpectedly far.”
Her rich breast heaving with tired breaths, Leina leaned her back on the tree’s barrier.
She was the one with the heaviest equipment of them. Not to mention, dashing at full power while blowing the Sword of the Unicorn was nothing short of unreasonable.
“Your sense of distance gets skewed.”
Fio leaned on the tree while panting, the same way as her. Every time the warrior used the Sword, his important part reacted, making the act of running more difficult than it needed to be. If it hadn’t been a girl’s dress what he wore, and was instead a boy’s pants, he wouldn’t have been able to run straight.
“Say, Fio.”
“What?”
“If I remember correctly, this reacts to your songs, doesn’t it?”
“Shall I sing a song?”
A bright smile floated in his lips, humming a song that had popped in his mind.
“It’s a brave one, so I’ll go ahead.”
“Behold!
The sky burning red, in the eastern skies
Together with the shining sun
They came
Tearing through the darkness
Melting the cold night with your light
Changing despair into hope
Aah, three swordsmen of the sun
Meet here!”
The Sword of the Unicorn played a heroic melody matching his song.
As long as that holy sound existed, the wraiths wouldn’t approach Leina.
[At the very least, it should buy us enough time to take a break.]
“Listen up!
The neigh of Pegasus, soars through the sky
Riding on wings shining white
They came
Drowning out the voices of resentment
Cheering up the desolate flames with your sword
Changing crisis into opportunities
Aah, three swordsmen of the sun
Meet here!”
Perhaps revitalized by the melody from the Sword, a young bud started to grow from a part of a huge tree even as leaves fell down—as if dancing.
“This is Fio’s power…”
[If we have this, we might be able to recover the vitality the wraiths drained from the forest.]
Nowa felt a pleasant shiver down her spine, and hugged herself with both arms.
“Roar!
The sound of arms tearing up the ground
Holding the blades of justice in their hands
They came
Cutting down the lord’s ambition
Turning the sad tears into a smile
Making flowers bloom in the wasteland
Aah, three swordsmen of the sun
Manifest yourselves here!”
“Wonderful, that was wonderful, way to go~”
At the same time Fio finished singing, clapping sounded from overhead.
“Who are you!”
Nowa quickly took a defensive stance, rod in hand.
“Oh my, your singing voice is as splendid as ever.”
A cheerful voice overlapped with the applause.
Leina looked around them. The wraiths were frightened by the melody coming out of the weapon, and should have all escaped.
The only ones able to leisurely listen to the music were either undead with enough power to endure the tone from the Sword… or some other kind of creature.
“Over there!”
Fio pointed toward one of the air corridors.
There, among wraiths dressed in black robes, there was a girl in a maid dress with a short skirt.
“Airi?”
His eyes bulged out in disbelief.
Red hair gathered on both sides behind her head, maid clothes with black as the basis, a scythe in her hand.
[Her features are definitely Airi’s, but…]
“We have nothing to fear from wraiths.”
Leina didn’t hesitate in putting the Sword to her mouth.
“Hyau!”
The sudden feeling made the singer twist his body reflexively.
The clear sound spread like ripples, the wraiths overwhelmed by it running every which way. The blonde had been using the Sword since they arrived because the opponents had been wraiths so far.
With Leina’s smooth tongue licking his sensitive part, a breath-taking feeling assaulted his body without a break.
He didn’t know what would happen to him if she continued, but he couldn’t help feeling he didn’t really want to find out.
“L-Leina…”
While slouching, he lightly poked the back of the warrior blowing the Sword.
“You’re kinda, overdoing it…”
As he breathed roughly, he looked at Airi over Leina’s back. The wraiths were drifting around her, running to try to escape the Sword’s sound attack… but the maid was just standing on a tree dignified, watching.
“Eh!?”
The Vance daughter looked alternately between the tired-sounding boy and the redhead.
“That girl… isn’t Airi.”
Still out of breath, the boy pointed at the Airi lookalike.
“Bingo!”
She must have heard him, because the ‘Airi’ looking down from the tree distorted her figure, as if undulating. The copycat turned into an irregular, peach-like shape, as she scattered a mucous liquid around.
“W-What the…?”
Leina didn’t know what to make of the sudden change.
“She’s not a wraith, that much is sure.”
Fio stepped further away from the blonde.
[I have to take enough distance not to get in the way of the battle, or I’ll just be a burden.
Since the opponent is not a ghost, I can only leave this to Leina’s own strength.]
“She’s coming!”
Nowa stood against the translucent object that fell from overhead.
“I’ll keep you company until Airi accomplishes her goal.”
Her body waved, flabbily, wiggling itself into a voluptuous woman.
“Whoa…”
Fio couldn’t help but gasp at her new appearance.
It was a jiggly, soft body full with tension and elasticity, a female body composed of plump curves, breasts included; it exuded a different kind of charm from Leina’s and Cattleya’s, bodies forged to fight.
But, that wasn’t all. The main problem was her outfit.
Usually, the clothes a woman wore would cover her private bits, more or less successfully. The women Fio had met so far—even Nowa, Echidna or Menace—did hide their private places properly.
But now, the clothes she was wearing in front of him didn’t completely hide those parts. Although the tip of her round breasts—reminiscent of the full moon—were covered by some sort of hands, as if massaging them, most of her clothes were made up of a translucent material that only emphasized her womanly figure.
“Fufufu… how is it? Am I sexy, Fio? I wonder if I can tell without you saying it.”
Her gaze turned to Leina’s hand. Looking at how the Sword of the Unicorn’s blade was growing longer and longer, she gave a satisfied smile.
“Why do you know my name?”
“Fufun, you don’t get it yet…”
Grinning, her whole body shook again, her appearance changing.
“Wha!?”
“Eeh?”
She transformed into Airi again, before the surprised eyes of Nowa and Leina.
“Nfufu, we’ve known each other since Gainos~”
Looking at the cross-shaped pupils of that Airi in front of him, the boy finally understood who she was. That was the Airi who had chased him back in Gainos.
“Nowa, take Fio and move ahead!”
Leina gave one step forth, holding her weapon. *Throb*, the Sword went in her hand.
“But…”
“Let’s go, Nowa.”
The boy called out to the hesitant girl, pushing on her back.
“Airi has come as well, hasn’t she?”
Fio asked the imposter facing Leina.
“Oh ho? In case you haven’t noticed, It’s only wraiths in here. Wouldn’t it have been weirder if she *hadn’t* come?”
As she answered in a friendly tone, the right hand of the girl taking on Airi’s shape shook, transforming into the scythe Airi liked to use.
“Thanks for answering honestly.”
With a blooming smile, he reached for the wooden talisman tucked away in the pouch by his waist.
[If our opponent is Airi, I might be able to convince her somehow. And even if I can’t persuade her, I have the means to force her to listen to me with this charm.]
“Leina, can we leave her to you?”
As an answer, the blonde shook her sword.
“But, just Miss Leina alone…”
“Nowa… it’s Leina, she’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, leave this to me. Just rush ahead with Fio.”
Leina repeated, to clear the girl’s doubts.
“There’s no time, right? If we don’t hurry, it will be too late. Only you know where to go, Nowa.”
Positioning the Sword that had grown to the size of a two-handed sword, Leina readied herself for battle. Lou hopped on the half-elf’s shoulder, doing his part to convince her, in a way.
“Yeah… you’re right.”
After a small moment of indecision, Nowa held Fio’s hand.
“Miss Leina! You have to come back with us later.”
At the same time she said so, she pulled on the boy, rushing into the tree city.
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