By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Episode 4: Forest Search 3

I sliced through the approaching roots as we ran toward the elder treant. Its bark was dark in tone, and the circumference of its trunk was at least ten meters. It looked to be around twenty meters tall. The trunk was lumpy or cracked in places, making it look more ominous than grand. The face on its trunk was round, and about twice as tall as a grown man. It was located near the base of the trunk. The texture and size of the creature made it look that much eerier.

“Ryoma, Leipin, stay out of range of the branches and provide backup! Cilia, support them!” Asagi commanded. We obeyed and stayed in place.

I used Pavement to cover the ground as I threw iron slime axes from a distance, mowing down the treants that crept toward us. Leipin supported me with magic, while Cilia sliced the roots that drew near to Leipin and me.

The rest of the group attacked the elder treant itself, but it could take more punishment than we anticipated. The size of its body, in tandem with a wood spell called Grow, made it quite an irksome foe. That wasn’t a spell which usually had healing effects, but elder treants were plant monsters, so growing themselves was effectively identical to healing. We still had the upper hand, but we had to remain vigilant.

The elder treant made a sound somewhere between a groan and a scream. I glanced to the side and saw that Mizelia had pounded its face with her axe. It looked like she’d already hit it a few times, but this blow dug deeper than the others. Welanna and Miya promptly followed up with their own attacks.

But the elder treant struck back with an unexpected counterattack. Its mouth spat a black orb at Welanna. She dodged it despite being taken off guard, but its branches immediately came after her, so she was forced to stop her onslaught.

That attack had to be Dark Ball, a dark spell. Welanna had to stop, but at least Miya was still going. Or so I thought, but then the elder treant exhaled some black mist. Seeing this, Miya retreated.

“What’s that?!” she cried. Her axe was rusting before our eyes.

“I’d love to know myself!” Asagi said.

“That last spell was Dark Ball!” Leipin explained. “This elder treant can use dark magic too! That reaction was likely also caused by dark magic!” That defied all the information we had.

“We’re too lacking in understanding!” Asagi declared. “Let’s retreat for now and come up with countermeasures!”

Thus, we were forced to retreat for the time being.

■ ■ ■

Once we were outside the elder treant’s range of attack, we took a break and talked amongst ourselves.

“Miya, how’s your arm?”

“Just fine, but this thing’s done for,” Miya said and showed us her axe. All of the metal had rusted, and the sharp edge was crumbling. “All thanks to that black mist.”

“This isn’t good,” said Asagi.

“Can’t fight with a weapon like that,” said Welanna.

“Leipin, how should we fight this thing?” asked Mizelia.

“Even I have never heard of an elder treant that can use spells apart from wood magic. I have also never heard of a dark spell which causes weapons to rust. Dark magic can be countered and recovered from by the use of light magic, and dark magical energy can be purged with light magical energy, but this cannot be done perpetually throughout the course of a battle.”

That dark spell could apparently cause metal to rust. Maybe that was what frightened my metal slimes, but that didn’t explain why the iron slimes were unaffected. With that in mind, though, this gave me an idea that I decided to relay to the group.

■ ■ ■

After I explained my hypothesis, we confronted the elder treant once again. There was a lot that we didn’t foresee about this monster, but it wasn’t strong enough to be that threatening, and we could always retreat if it got dangerous, so any plan was worth attempting.

“Here we go!”

“Pavement!”

After I paved the ground again to block the roots, we charged at the elder treant. When we got close, it began to spew black mist to defend itself.

“Here it comes!”

“Right, let’s give this a shot!”

I hurled an iron slime axe at the elder treant’s face. It passed through the black mist and hit the elder treant right between the eyes. Then, via the effects of our contract, the iron slime told me that it was safe.

“It’s fine! Looks like iron slimes aren’t affected by that spell!”

“Alright, then let’s give it everything we have!” Asagi shouted, charging at the elder treant’s face. Miya, Mizelia, and Welanna followed. Lastly, I cast Fire Arrow as I slashed at the creature.

My idea was to fight using weapons and armor made from my iron slimes. I reminded the party of how my metal slimes were intimidated before the fight with the elder treant, and came up with the hypothesis that they were instinctively afraid because they were metallic. But while the iron slimes were also made of metal, they weren’t scared, so I suspected they were immune to the mist.

I also brought up some knowledge I retained from Earth, claiming that my grandfather taught it to me. The more pure iron is, the slower it is to rust. And my slimes evolved into iron slimes when they consumed pure iron that I extracted with alchemy, so their bodies were also highly pure.

It seemed unlikely that the elder treant’s mist could cause all metals to rust equally, so we gave this idea a try. Magic could make the impossible possible, with a little bit of imagination, but that didn’t mean it could do literally anything. It had to obey the laws of nature to some degree. The more one tried to twist the laws of nature using magic, the more energy it would cost, so there were limits. Even with the effects of magic, I predicted that this spell would have trouble rusting pure iron.

The iron was indeed slow to rust, and while I feared that my iron slimes might be in trouble if the battle went on too long, the rest of the group solved that problem for me. The first step was to throw one iron slime to see what happened, and if that failed, we would retrieve that slime and retreat. It could simply be healed with a method that Leipin mentioned. The core of a slime was its most important part, whereas some rusting on the surface wouldn’t pose a serious problem. As long as the rust was stopped before it reached the core, the slime’s life could likely be saved.

If the slime was unharmed, we would continue the battle. We constructed a plan based on the information we acquired in the last battle and sought to make this a quick fight. Once the battle was over, we would heal with light magic, just to be safe. And if we couldn’t kill the elder treant, we could retreat again.

The rest of the party agreed to help retrieve the slime and retreat as necessary, so we challenged the elder treant to another fight. I joined the fighters on the frontline this time, so we were attacked with even greater ferocity. The elder treant first attacked us with its branches from above. Second, it cast Dark Ball. Third, it blocked the path with its roots. They also tried to ensnare me at the same time, so I sliced through the roots and continued to push onward.

The elder treant’s face was right in front of me. I tried to get close and attack, but the elder treant didn’t make it easy. It prepared another Dark Ball as it swung its branches down at me. I twisted out of the way, circling left and right as the branches approached. I severed the branches with my blade, sending them falling to the ground.

Next, I evaded the flying Dark Ball and closed in on the elder treant. Standing just below its face, I slashed at what would have been its throat if it were human. Coated in qi, my blade met no resistance as it sliced through the wood. Tons of magical energy gushed from the huge gash.

Now the elder treant seemed to know it was in trouble. It attacked with less frequency and began to heal the wound, but none of us were going to let that happen. Leipin hit the wound with a mid-tier fire spell called Flame Lance. Blasting its innards with powerful fire seemed to be quite effective, as one would expect. The elder treant’s recovery rate dropped precipitously. Not letting this chance escape them, the others all attacked the face and the parts surrounding it at once.

Meanwhile, I prepared for a followup attack. I had my big iron slime transform, and made fifteen of the iron slimes split off. Then, I swiftly made the big iron slime change into an iron ball small enough to carry in both hands. It was covered in sharp spikes and had a semicircular handle with a hole through it, from which I could grip it. Each of the fifteen other iron slimes formed a link for a chain around this loop for me to grab with my right hand. Within about five seconds, I’d changed my katana into a ball and chain.

“Ready when you are!” I said.

This ball and chain was made specifically for dealing heavy damage in a single blow, perfect for large monsters. When I pulled on the chain, it made a clattering sound. The ball was so heavy that lifting it required either considerable strength or the use of enhancing magic. By using energy meditation, I was able to swing it around. Once I worked up some momentum, the ball and chain loudly whooshed through the air. I had no experience with this weapon, but I could probably hit an immobile target.

“Alright, spread out!” Asagi commanded, and the group that had been attacking the elder treant promptly made some space. My target was the elder treant’s face.

The iron ball slammed right into its nose with a loud crack, leaving a fissure in its face from which magical energy spewed. The previous attack seemed to have made its face easier to harm. With all the damage it had sustained, it couldn’t handle this impact. I had planned to hit it four or five times, but as if it couldn’t fight any longer, its roots and branches came to a stop. It was still breathing a little, though.

“Ryoma, you do the honors,” said Asagi.

“You and your slimes did the most work here, after all,” said Cilia.

“Settle this once and for all,” said Welanna.

“Got it.”

I spun the chain again, this time striking the elder treant’s forehead with all my might. With a loud, blunt, sound, the elder treant’s face crumbled. The magical energy spurted out harder for a bit before gradually dying down, until I no longer sensed it.

“Is it dead?” Cilia asked.

“Yes, that takes care of it,” Leipin answered.

After confirming that everyone was unharmed, I used light magic to heal my iron slimes. They seemed fine, but I did it anyway just to be sure. Thankfully, it all ended well.

“And that’s that,” Asagi said as I was casting Light Ball on my iron slimes. He was looking at the treant corpses we left behind. I had no idea how long it would take us to gather all those together by ourselves. It wouldn’t even be able to fit them all in our Dimension Homes.

“Don’t worry,” Asagi said. “Once your slimes are healed, we’ll go back into town and report this to the guild. While we’re there, we can seek help with collecting and transporting the wood. The labor costs can be charged to the guild after we return to Gimul.”

Thus, we returned to town, reported to the guild, and put out a job request. The wood would be collected starting tomorrow. For now, it was time to spend the night resting.