Chapter 102
I let the World Tree’s Ortem stand in the vanguard and retreated to a position where I didn’t seem to be able to be reached by the roots .
Evil Bound glared at me but quickly removed me from its line of sight .
It seems that he has a mindset of breaking the Ortem as he declared .
With Evil Bound at the center, numerous black roots grow out of the ground .
Thick as a log, it swells like a snake as it points its sharply pointed tip towards the Ortem .
Hmph, you say it’s like a toy, but you’re being very cautious .
The fact that the nose was shaved off a while ago seems to be quite unbearable .
Evil Bound’s black roots are intertwined as he attacks the Ortem .
Ortem easily dodges it with a thin difference .
Each time Ortem dodges, more and more of Evil Bound’s rear end hangs up, revealing his frustration .
One of the black roots comes at Ortem at a speed slightly slower than the others .
Perhaps it was meant to be a feint that was supposed to make him avoid it .
Ortem doesn’t dare to dodge it, but stays and does a high-speed somersault .
Stingy psychological warfare is not an option against an Ortem’s opponent that only works within the bounds of what was originally built in as a command .
I’ve already introduced such an easy to understand feint countermeasures .
We cannot afford to be looked down upon .
The momentum-less root is played by an unexpected counterattack and slaps Evil Bound’s body .
Evil Bound’s face contorted . A hole in the shape of an eye glared at the part of the body that had received the blow .
Ortem pushed through the gap and rode to the tip of the black root .
He flexes the root, then flies with momentum and decides to hit the body of the blows to the main body .
In order to make sure that I don’t break it, I make it save the power a little bit .
“Guoooh!”
The tree leans heavily, and the roots growing from the base of the trunk are partially exposed to the ground .
Perhaps because of the impact to the body, all the roots that had appeared on the ground are momentarily stationary .
It was a good opportunity to make a series of attacks, but we decided to pull back to the original distance once because of the concerns that had been said .
I need to think about it for a moment .
At the same time that Ortem stops, the black roots are approached the main body with tremendous force .
It seems to have focused all the minutes it had been turning into an attack on its defense .
“G-, great! You could win with just one Ortem! As expected of an Ortem carved by Abel!”
Mea, who had been watching the battle between Ortem and Evil Bound with a bit of concern, gazed at Ortem’s easygoing mood and gazed happily at him .
Earlier, Mea had looked a little anxious .
The World Tree had been bought with a borrowed from Mea, so maybe she was thinking about what she would do if it was destroyed .
…… Some, someday, someday I’ll be able to pay it back!
“But…… that’s not so good . ”
I muttered, and Mea freaked out and her shoulders shooked .
“W-, why? Because, look, the opponent’s attacks didn’t hit or anything at all……”
“Oh no, that black tree is slower than I thought it would be, or maybe it’s kind of a disappointment . I don’t know if it’s like that . ”
“What?”
To be honest, there was a part where I would let Ortem take the lead to cut it apart in anger .
Thinking about it calmly, I was worried that the tree that the demon had so diligently nurtured and possessed would not be able to compete with an Ortem, who only moved according to pre-built commands .
That’s the one-sided tone of this .
Evil Bound saw the exchange between me and Mea and was angry .
I wish you would stop looking around and look more at Ortem .
You don’t have a lot of time to spare right now . Show me more of your good parts .
“…… Well, I don’t think it’s worth it to watch any more . Let’s not get hung up on the details, like its movement . I’ll know the quality of it later when I analyze it . ”
I readied my wand and waved it at Ortem .
I switched Ortem’s behavior pattern from ‘wait-and-see mode’ to ‘fight mode’ .
Ortem stopped for a moment and then jumped back to jump on him with aid .
“Vanish!”
Evil Bound extends two branches that resemble hands to Ortem, who is floating in the air .
It seems to have quite a bit of strength, and I can feel a strong magical power .
He must have been deathly searching for a moment when Ortem showed an opening .
As expected, was I too careless?
“Oh, this is probably bad . ”
The investigators said that the monster has a wind-blown attack .
Attacks that use roots can be reversed by spinning, but against the wind, they are also powerless .
It is impossible to avoid it while in the air .
A gale wind blew from Evil Bound’s outstretched hand, causing trees to fall and dust to fly .
When the dust cloud cleared, there was no sign of Ortem .
“The-, the World Tree, Ortem is…… the memory of Abel and Mea……”
Mea shows out with a stunned expression .
The trees had been reamed down by the gale wind, but the line that Ortem was floating in was particularly bad, and the ground beneath it was neatly gouged out .
“Did you see that!”
Evil Bound twists his body around to me .
“My absolute power!
Evil Bound was in desperate shape .
He must have released the wind with all his might .
“Just a mere wooden doll!”
“There’s room for improvement in the magic circle . If we can make it possible to use simple wind magic, we can evade it in midair……”
Let’s use this as a reference for the future development of the magic circle .
It will be quite complicated, but it shouldn’t be impossible .
But I’ll have to play around with Ortem to get it to work .
I’m sure it’s going to cost a lot of money to develop it .
Well, I’ll have to think about that some other time .
“Carry”
I wave my wand and quickly tuck it away in my pocket .
In response to the spell, the World Tree’s Ortem floats in my hand .
I held it in both arms .
“Ah…… it’s back . ”
Mea, who was half in tears, muttered .
Rest assured, there are no particular scratches on it .
It’s coated with magical power when in operation, after all .
As I put the Ortem on the ground, Evil Bound began to rattle the branches .
“That’s ridiculous!”
I thought about setting Ortem up against him again, but that’s enough .
Let’s just get this over with .
I’ve been playing around too much, and I’ve caused Mea some unwanted concern .
Evil Bound wiggles his trunk and slams a branch that resembles a hand to the ground .
Here and there the ground splits open, revealing new black roots .
Black roots began to cover the area .
The other party also seems to have decided to stop sticking to Ortem .
“Enough! Just die already!”
The black roots extend to me and Mea .
“Kyah . ”
Mea lifted the bow in her hand and shot an arrow .
The arrow hit the root, but the arrow did not penetrate .
I raised my wand .
A huge magic circle covers the entire area .
Let’s use a little more magic power .
“Oh earth, transform”
A light emerged from the magic circle and the black roots stopped moving .
It trembled for a few seconds, but it soon came to a complete halt .
“What! What happened!”
I changed the nature of the soil, making it hard and clinging to the roots .
Once this was done, it was no longer possible to move the roots at all .
Evil Bound tried to twist his body, but it seemed that he couldn’t even do that .
“Impossible! I’m not even able to keep up with mere human magic!”
Well, here’s the real deal .
Once the demon is dead, I need to take steps to prevent deterioration .
It’s just a matter of how fresh it stays .
I pull the wood carving knife from the knife cover and approach Evil Bound, avoiding the roots .
“Don-, don’t come here!”
Evil Bound’s palm is pointed at me .
That wind is coming .
I take out my staff with the opposite hand from holding the knife and wave it at Evil Bound .
I’ve got a good idea of the output of the wind that Evil Bound releases .
I can just use a bit more than what Evil Bound gave off against Ortem earlier .
“Oh wind”
The magic circle I used glowed green and the wind blew from near the tip of my wand .
The arm that had been thrust in front of Evil Bound was broken by the wind .
“Nonsense! I am…… by the god……”
Evil Bound pulls back his broken branch and brings a part of it in front of him .
He opens his mouth wide at the sight of the painfully snapped branch .
But with no time for Evil Bound to wallow in disappointment, the wind struck the main body .
“Uuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!!”
Evil Bound’s leaves scattered in an excruciating manner .
The bark peeled off, the branches snapped, and the trunk flexed heavily .
After the wind has passed, a bald black tree remains .
Its appearance does not have the arrogance it once had . Rather, it had the tragic look of a dead tree in the middle of winter .
His face should not have changed much, just a bit of skin peeled off .
But somehow, there was no sense of dominance .
Maybe that’s why he looked much older than when we first met .