CHAPTER 99 – ADVANCING

Zaza zaza zaza
Running through the huge tree on Ado’s back…
What appeared before us is… a flock of monsters.
Swarmed by the monsters… in the center… Aisha?

「Eei, nuisance… Soiya」
Bashu
Aisha is fighting butterfly-like monsters.
Although they look like butterflies, they aren’t lovely at all, they are human-sized butterfly monsters.
Considerable amount keeps on coming at Aisha even though she cuts and kills them one after another.
They seem to be attracted by something.

「Nu, leave it to me」

En-san jumps forward.

「Aisha, I’m flying above」

Sasa
Hearing En-san’s voice, Aisha immediately gets away from the monsters.

The next moment.
Bowa~
En-san’s opens his mouth wide and spews fire.
It’s Dragon Breath.
The flames eradicate the monsters around Aisha.
All that’s left is fire dancing around.
The monsters turned to ashes.
En-san’s Dragon Breath is not a joke.
He cleaned up the enemies instantly.

Aisha approaches from within the dancing flames.
「I’m indebted」
「What, don’t sweat it. That was just a breath」
Apologetic Aisha and ahem-faced En-san.
But, I’m glad we caught up with Aisha.
Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to be injured.
I thought she might be seriously injured from fighting Virgo.
「Aisha, are you okay?」
「No problems here. However, Virgo ended up running away. He agitated the monsters and made them attack me」
Aisha says with a frustrated expression.
She tightly clenches her katana.
「Being able to fight him alone is amazing. So, where did Virgo go?」
「He just escaped through that passage」
Aisha points at the passage.
Considering the size of this tree, the passage will be long.
In addition, there are countless paths inside, there are also crossroads.
「Then, shall we pursue?」
「Deshu ne~」
「Leave it to me, I feel his presence」
「I will fight too」

We advance through the huge tree.
Zaza zaza zaza

◆

Virgo had run further inside the huge tree.
On top of having a constitution that needs mana more than anything, his weapons also need mana to be used, so he’s searching for a mana point.
He would like to submerge into the mana point and absorb slowly, but…
He can’t afford it.
He has no time to take it leisurely.
Enemies are surely chasing after him.

Therefore, he has to escape from them first.
The total amount of mana that can be supplied in a short time is limited.

(Besides… I have felt like this for some time now, but strangely, the amount of mana is scarce compared to the size of this tree. It may be dispersing to the air, but… it’s still lacking. It seems as if the mana entirely vanished)

While running, searching for the mana point…

(An? This is… What? I feel a large amount of mana. There seems to be mana point nearby. But, it’s different from the other places. Let’s take a look)

Virgo moves to the mana point while having a strange feeling.

The place he arrived to… is a small hall-like place.
A small room with a dome form.

(This place. The quality of mana is obviously different from the other places… the walls, the structure is also different)

When he looks around…
There’s a pedestal in the center, but… there’s nothing on it.
Originally, something was definitely placed there.

「!?」

When Virgo quickly observes the surroundings.
He notices… the path on which he entered disappeared all too soon.
The path he came from is blocked by a wall.

(It looks like I got trapped inside this room…)

Kotsukotsu
He knocks against the wall, but they seem quite strong.
He tries to break it with his thunder katana, but…
Biribiribiri bashu
There’s not even a scratch left on the wall.

(Fuu~ Oh well. If it’s like this, the enemy won’t be able to enter the room. Replenishing mana comes first. Fortunately, this place is overflowing with mana)

At the center of the room.
Virgo is sitting down on the pedestal where the mana gathers.
He places the thunder katana and spear beside him and touches the pedestal with both of his hands.
Su~Su~Su~ Su~Su~Su~
He starts replenishing his mana.