“Deyaaaaaaaah!”
Screaming in midair, Nowa came thrusting her rod.
“Leave this one to me, Airi.”
Melona took half a step forward, and inflated her body by a lot; it was too disadvantageous to fight an armed opponent with her current size.
[She might have gotten bigger, but she doesn’t seem to have any density to her. Is she playing at looking transparent to the opponent?]
“Again with that?!”
Angry at Melona, Airi raised her scythe towards the approaching half-elf.
[If she’s attacking through the air, it’ll inevitably come in a beeline. If I know what direction it’s coming from, it’s not difficult to dodge it and strike her down.]
“You must be tired already. Please take a rest.”
The maid’s scythe caught Nowa’s abdomen—bare of clothes or armor. But without so much as protecting her defenseless stomach, the girl swung down her staff at Airi’s head.
The redhead’s hands fell numb.
[This isn’t the reaction you get when you slice soft meat. This feels more like hitting hard metal.]
The pink-colored monkey firmly stuck to Nowa’s belly, holding down the tip of the scythe.
“Kuh!”
At the same exact time Airi regretted her own carelessness at forgetting the bodyguard that followed the girl, the rod came down from overhead with a humming sound.
[I have no time to avoid it.]
The tremendous shock made the redhead see flashes of light.
“Kuuuuuuuh~!”
Even when she closed her eyes, those lights like blinking stars didn’t go away.
She wobbled unsteadily, desperately trying to keep her balance so as not to fall down.
“Oooh, we might be screwed all of a sudden.”
Watching the fight between Nowa and Airi from a short distance, the other couldn’t help muttering so when she saw her colleague’s unforeseen predicament.
“That said, not much I can do~”
Her cross-shaped pupils captured the image of Leina, approaching while defeating the wraiths. Every time she swung her sword, it raised a gust that made the spirits disappear among flames with a scream. It looked just like a jet-black tornado.
Despite how the Devil Ring was supposed to be holding down the Sword’s power, getting hit directly was something entirely different. If Airi was to take a blow from that blade which had grown so gigantic, even she wouldn’t be able to laugh it off. And Melona wasn’t about to let a friend get exterminated.
In a hurry, she took to consuming the neighboring plants to increase the density appropriate for her size.
“Should have guessed plants wouldn’t be enough.”
She might have had to absorb plants because the situation called for it, but unlike creatures, she couldn’t digest them well, and the withered parts remained.
“Creatures are the best after all, amirite.”
Discarding the withered areas, Melona began to change her appearance. For now, she had been able to secure a fitting volume for the occasion.
“Now, how should I play this game?”
***
Led by Alleyne, Fio descended into the giant cave underground.
The spirit tree formed the backbone of the elven forest. As such, the sacred ground where the personified spirit of the dryad lived was right below the assembly hall. The gigantic tree that housed the assembly hall was a branch of the spirit tree.
“How could this happen?”
After descending into the dim underground cavity, Alleyne unconsciously clenched her fists tightly before the devastation: all was dried out. With every step they took, cracks spread throughout with dry sounds.
“Say, Miss Alleyne.”
“What is it, sir Fio?”
“Drop the ‘sir’ please, ‘Fio’ is just fine.”
He smiled friendly at her, and asked something he had been wondering for a while:
“If you spread the medicine you used on me here, won’t this get watered enough?”
“Unfortunately, the Soul Drop is something rare. We wouldn’t be able to prepare enough to water the whole spirit tree.”
The captain flatly shot down his idea, and advanced towards the center of the cave.
“I see~, so it WAS impossible, huh~”
As he was about to follow her, he took a good look at the central part: he could see someone’s shadow.
“Is that thing the one?”
“Don’t call it ‘that thing’. This is the reincarnation of the spirit tree.”
Even as she said so, Alleyne dropped her shoulders in discouragement. She had finally managed to bring Fio to the center of the spirit tree, and the dryad—root of the forest’s vitality—was discolored, completely brown by now, and so hardened up it seemed like it would fall down at any moment.
“We’re too late…?”
In contrast with the mighty elf hanging her head, Fio’s gaze was full of curiosity as he carefully studied the dryad made into a dead tree statue.
“It’s not too late.”
He said, having noticed a stake embedded in the creature’s chest, shining faintly.
“What’s that?”
“This is only my guess, but I think it’s the same as the collar attached to the elders. In other words: if this is still active, doesn’t it mean the dryad still has some life force left?”
“I see…”
The captain put her finger on her chin, agreeing. As Mother Elder was saying, if the dryad was approaching the time to be substituted, it might be possible to start the regeneration if they removed the stake.
“Looks like it’s finally my turn.”
Fio placed the feet on the pedestal, as if hugging the dryad’s body.
“I have a question tho.”
“What about?”
“Does the concept of ‘virgin’ and ‘non-virgin’ apply to plants?”
She couldn’t help being surprised by the question.
“Ah, no, I’m not joking around here. It is important to me.”
“Sorry, but I don’t know.”
The elf answered frankly, not bothering to hide her confused expression.
“I figured~, well, might as well leave it to chance for now?!”
With that, he stacked his lips on the seemingly lifeless dryad’s.
[It’s cold…]
Despite himself, the absurdity of kissing what amounted to a lifeless wooden doll only made him smile.
[Will it have any effect? Even I have my doubts.]
“Ugh…”
He felt a sting as his lower body tingled. The pain mitigated by the Soul Drop was coming back.
[It’s no good… I can’t faint here.
I have to regenerate the dryad at all costs if I want to help Leina, who is still fighting above.]
The boy closed his eyes and reached for the stake embedded in the spirit’s chest.
“Gugah!”
A burning pain and a tremendous shock exerted on his chest.
[This is it. If I accept this in exchange, the dryad should start regenerating.]
Fio held down his chest, and decided to suppress the sharp chill that spread together with the shock inside his body.
“Fio!?”
Alleyne lifted the boy, crouching at the feet of the dryad. At the same time, the creature—covered in dead skin—began moving slowly.
“It’s beginning… to recover?”
Shedding its withered parts, a girl with green skin reminiscent of a tender sprout appeared from inside the statue. She looked around with a blank face, and upon finding Fio and Alleyne, she smiled happily.
“Dry... ad?”
The boy asked, still holding his chest. The girl nodded, opened her thin red lips, and started singing. A quiet, lyricless singing that echoed far nevertheless.
“A miracle is at hand.”
As if fulfilling Alleyne’s words, the dim cavities got wrapped in a spring sunshine along with the singing voice, plants sprouted from the withered walls and floors one after another.
As he watched it develop, Fio’s consciousness fell as if something was sucking it in.
***
Leina made her way to the front, mowing down the looming wraiths. The size of the Sword was the largest she’d ever had, there was no denying its power.
Now, the wraiths stepped aside from her, running about trying to escape from that Sword—which on the other hand, showed enough of a reaction to assure her that Fio was safe.
“Oh myy, have I been overwhelmed?”
Laughing at the wraiths’ movements, Melona stepped in front of the heiress.
“Eh?”
Leina’s movement stopped for a moment when she saw the other’s figure.
“Ufufufu, it’s been a while, Big Siiis!”
A girl wearing a battle dress with a pattern after tiger stripes and holding a spear was smiling at her.
That figure was that of Leina’s sister: Elina, the Vance’s Captain of the Royal Guard.
“What are you doing here of all places?!”
As she spoke cheerily, Elina advanced slowly. Leina made a faint smile, and without the slightest hesitation, aimed at the crown of her head and ruthlessly brought down her Sword.
With that blow that broke her skull, the upper body of Melona’s imitation of Elina scattered.
“Uhyaah! Geez, don’t get along with your little sister?”
Her pink body trembled, and the shapeshifter returned to her original form. Apparently, her basic shape was that with the transparent pink hair.
“Smiling while suddenly cleaving your sister’s head in two? That’s so crazy, it’s hilarious.”
Melona complained, disregarding her own morphing capabilities.
“We get along just fine. I was just a bit angry.”
“Angry?”
“Your transformation ability is certainly impressive. I’d have been deceived easily if I didn’t know her better than you do.”
“Well now, being praised isn’t half bad.”
The slime girl’s body trembled again, copying Elina once more.
“Can you tell what’s different now~?”
“Well, let’s start with the mistakes that are the most egregious!”
Leina swung her Sword, continually advancing vigorously as she checked Melona’s body.
“First, Elina’s boobs aren’t that big!”
“I see~, I was thinking with my own standards.”
As she withdrew, the breasts of Melona/Elina deflated.
“Better?”
She took up her spear, her chest now flat like a boy.
“Then, the abdominal muscles. They sag a bit more, don’t they? That girl craves her greasy meat.”
“I see.”
Elina’s figure changed according to her observations.
Leina could barely keep herself from bursting into laughter when she saw her sister with a flat chest and a loose waist, and nodding, swung her sword once more.
“Uhyou!”
The slime girl dodged the tip of the sword with a movement impossible for vertebrates.
“I knew it! You don’t get along well!”
With a complaint, the figure of the bizarre Elina changed again.
[This is a troublesome opponent. Should I use the Sword’s healing power to repel her, like in the previous preliminary?]
Ignoring Leina, who didn’t know how to proceed, Melona took on the figure of a warrior priestess from Hinomoto, clad in a crimson hakama and a pure-white jacket.
“Tomoe now?”
“Yeah Miss Exiled Warrior, I hear the two of you are good friends, so I bet it’d be hard for you to attack her… right?”
“Wrong!”
Leina flatly yelled, bringing down her weapon.
“Hyau! Juust kidding! Barehanded Blade Block!”
The Sword’s blade stopped with the swift clapping.
“Normally, you’d stop a blade by holding it between your palms.”
Leina glared at Melona, putting her strength into pulling out the firmly clenched Sword.
“Don’t make such a scary face, I'm still holding it between my palms, aren’t I~?”
Both of Melona’s hands were held together over her head, as if in prayer.
What was actually holding down the blade was her pink hair, which had transformed into some sort of hands.
[Even after she changed to Tomoe, it seems she can change any part of her body instantly, and with such strength, too.]
“Buuut you, Miss Leina, you're acting pretty merciless~, do you usually attack people’s heads all of a sudden?”
“If I know it’s a fake, I won’t hesitate.”
Leina flatly declared, sending a kick at Melona.
“Owawawah.”
The other dodged her attack with yet another mysterious movement. At the same time, she stopped exerting force on the blade, and Leina tumbled out of balance.
“I see~, so there’s no point in transforming in front of you, is there~?”
From Tomoe’s appearance, she changed to her original form, nodding her agreement with herself.
Leina managed to steady herself just on the verge of collapse, and looked at Nowa, fighting Airi ahead of her.
The girl was moving around, trying to maintain a range favorable for herself. In turn, the wraith kept going back and forth at her. Their strengths were about equal, it was hard to deal a decisive blow.
As she watched, they received some shallow wounds.
“It’s similar to our battle…”
[What’s the best thing to do to defeat this ever-changing body of hers, that combines offense and defense? I can’t keep doing this forever.]
The Vance girl started feeling frustrated at keeping the fight going while lacking a definite plan.
***
He was being washed away by a terrific mud stream. That was the way Fio’s consciousness interpreted the situation he was in.
He wasn’t having a dream. Only his consciousness departed from his body, swept far away.
In a sudden flash, his sight widened as if it was the dawn of night.
He saw a small island floating in the rough seas under his eyes. With no trees and only a desolated rocky surface, it was an island of ruins where only old residences remained.
[Where is this?]
With no time to look around, his consciousness flew again.
This time, he could clearly hear a bubbling sound. Apparently, he had gone into water.
[No, not just water.]
The body that had captured his consciousness was floating inside a huge glass cylinder filled with liquid.
He heard a woman’s laughter over the glass. She was covered in a long cloak with a black hood, and he couldn’t appreciate her shape, let alone her expression.
As she laughed, looking at the glass cylinder, he felt like his eyes met hers, even as they hid inside the woman’s hood.
‘It’s still early…’
As she said so, she cast a short spell while drawing a magic circle with her fingertip on the cylinder’s surface.
The magic poured into the magic circle when the finger started to shine green. With no keyword necessary for activation, the magic circle activated its effect.
[What is this power?]
As he couldn’t avoid being bewildered at the other’s magic power, his consciousness retraced its steps in time, and got pushed into his own body again.
***
Still in the spirit tree’s territory, Alleyne firmly lifted up the boy.
“Fio, wake up!”
Even if she called out to him, there was no reply, and the dryad was fascinated with singing, not even sparing them a glance.
[It seems no one can help me here.]
“Excuse my rudeness.”
The elf untied the ribbon decorating Fio’s chest, and exposed it bare. On his thin chest, heaving up and down with his rough breathing, an ominous pattern had surfaced. His body clearly showed the curse the boy had inherited from the dryad.
Alleyne made a quick decision, took off her coat and exposed her upper body. As soon as she saw the tips of her breasts standing up—betraying her intentions—she became red in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, no one was around to see this time.
“This is treatment, just a treatment.”
Muttering as if convincing herself, she dripped a drop of the Soul Drop Mother Elder had entrusted her with on Fio’s chest.
When it came in contact with his body temperature, the Soul Drop gave off a refreshing aroma of fresh green.
[Applying it by hand would be easy, but I can’t do that.]
Alleyne pushed down her breasts against his chest, as if to cover the lying down boy.
“Ah…”
His heart beating became a fine vibration that stimulated the elf’s sensitive protrusions. The stimulus spread like ripples, concentrating in her lower abdomen.
“Kuu…”
The captain gently bit her lips, suppressing the strange feeling that was welling up.
“Nh…”
Shortly afterwards, his eyelids opened and his ice-blue eyes reflected her face.
“Did you wake up?”
“It’s the second time this happened, can’t say it surprises me anymore.”
The boy’s words reminded her of her appearance, and her cheeks dyed red.
“Thanks, now, not that I mind or anything... but I should be good to go now..”
He slowly got up.
“It’s us who should thank you. The forest was saved thanks to you.”
“Now, I have to help the ones who brought me here.”
With a manly expression, he lent a helping hand to Alleyne.
“Let’s go to where Nowa’s party is.”
***
“Sir Fio has worked a miracle.”
A singing voice sounded as if ascending from the bottom of the earth, echoing in the walls and ceiling of the assembly hall.
Upon receiving the song of life—which had become extinct after the wraiths’ invasion—, several of the councilors that had been brought to the brink of death came back to life.
“Mother Elder…”
The elders who regained consciousness looked up at the crystal ball to ascertain the situation.
As the dryad’s song spread, the life taken by the wraiths was recovering. The ball showed how new buds were growing on the huge trees and the youthful leaves were expanding.
“What happened… to the wraiths?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Mother Elder pointed to the ball.
“The wraiths that imprisoned us were defeated by Alleyne, and the spirit tree was revived as well.”
The object showed the ongoing battle of Nowa’s party.
“That guest there… is she a mere human who was brought to the city?”
Some of the councilors frowned when they saw Leina.
“She’s no mere human. She’s the “pair” partner that sir Fio found.”
All the others nodded in agreement with Mother Elder’s words.
Honest to a fault, even at that time, they weren’t about to break their own norms; ‘if one can’t live with pride, one should die with pride’. It was only proper judgment for the ones standing on top of the clan which had honorably maintained its solitude in a world full of human beings.
“Now, let us do what we should.”
Mother Elder stood up straight, and spread both arms to give a command as the chief.
“Let us all join in chorus for a song, a song that welcomes the awakening of the spirit tree and drives the wraiths away.”
***
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