Monster Plant's Demise and the Absolute's Crushing Foot
Things had turned against Adam, the foot of the Absolute. His toad, which he'd barely managed to bring along, had been reduced to medium rare in the fight with Zeke. The chimeras he'd painstakingly raised stitch by stitch had all turned to ash. And Eve had lost her summon, Zodiac Signal. Having her around wouldn't help in this situation.
"Eve, get out of the Area."
"What?"
"You'll just get in the way of the fight."
"Hey, think about it. The rules say 'touch the summoner and you're out.' If I deliberately take a hit from the enemy..."
Adam laughed at that.
"I'd rather grab a briquette and head to the bathroom than win like that."
"...Ha."
Adam had a condition where he couldn't convey his true feelings. What he really meant was,
Don't do that—you could get hurt.
Eve, who knew him better than anyone as his brother, snorted.
"Win coolly and come back."
"Obviously. Just watch from outside."
Teren and Kim Eunhasu waited nearby for Eve to leave. Launching an attack while he was there would be poor judgment. Besides, if he left on his own, it was better to just wait.
"Teren, keep yer wits sharp now. That tree ain't no ordinary one, ya hear?"
"I know. But that thing on Adam's shoulder—it's a summon, right? And the tree next to him is a summon too."
After Eve left, Adam shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the two of them.
"Does this Adam kid have multiple summons?"
"Nah. Summoners can only have one summon, ya know. See that shriveled lil' thing next to his neck? Looks like a sun-dried dick, don't it?"
"Eunhasu."
"Whoa."
"Sometimes I have no clue what yer dialect's sayin'."
Kim Eunhasu cleared her throat and tried to speak as standardly as possible. Her accent stayed the same, though.
"Teren, ya wouldn't know since ya just transferred in recently, but he only has one summon. See that flower on his neck, up on his shoulder?"
"Pfft... sorry. Just stick to yer dialect. Puhaha!! Haha!!"
"Wanna get stabbed for real?"
Teren used the wolf's vision. On Adam's shoulder sat a skull-like flower: the Golden Flower Plant. That had to be the tree's main body. But why did the tree itself smell like the summon's true form too? And so strongly?
A werewolf's nose never lied.
That led to one conclusion. Both were the true body. It had split from one into many.
So he had to kill both the Golden Flower Plant and the tree to take it down!
-Grrrrr...
"For now, let's kill the one on his shoulder first!"
Teren charged forward on all fours in his Wear Wolf form, moving with blinding speed.
"Monster Plant! Attack the transfer student!"
The transfer student's summon was a fusion type. Since Teren and his summon were one body, attacking wouldn't violate the rules, Adam judged. He ordered his Monster Plant to strike.
A massive vibration spread around the tree. Roots burst through the thick ground, whipping like lashes.
"Sorry, but I can track movements like that."
As if to prove it wasn't bravado, Teren kicked off the ground and soared like a bird, dodging the root spearing up like a spear from below.
"Damn, he's agile!"
The roots stretched higher to hit Teren in midair, but he twisted his body midair as if defying gravity, evading them. Then he used one as a foothold to drop down and chomp the flower on Adam's shoulder.
"How'd he...?"
The severed Golden Flower Plant dangled from Teren's jaws. Of course, Adam didn't panic. He was impressed by the ability, but this wouldn't beat him. No, at least not inside the Instant Area, where corpses kept piling up and plenty had stacked within the golden hour.
"Sorry, but you can't win like this. I respect the precision of targeting just the Golden Flower Plant without touching me."
"What."
Teren faltered in surprise. He'd clearly bitten the summon's true body, the Golden Flower Plant. Yet a new one had sprouted on Adam's right shoulder—identical in look, smell, and aura.
"I'm at a disadvantage since Zeke burned up the summon corpses from the others I gathered. But even without them, I can beat you guys."
Adam's Monster Plant could revive and control fresh corpses killed within a five-minute radius. But it stopped if the parasitic plant somewhere on the host body was severed. There was a catch: revived corpses died after ten minutes.
So Adam's solution? Feed the corpses he'd revived to the tree.
Eve had said, "You think that'll work?" but Adam stuck to it stubbornly. The result: Monster Plant –The Wood–, a separate entity from his summon yet sharing life with it.
The Wood even stored corpses as fruit, extending their lifespan.
"We still gotta kill both the tree and the Golden Flower Plant on his shoulder at the same time!"
That tough condition had made even Zeke give up and go hunt Thanatos.
"Keep attacking, Wood."
As Adam kept ordering attacks, the tree assaulted Teren relentlessly like a summon itself. No matter Teren's superhuman stamina from the wolf's power, it would eventually run out. Leave it to the tree, and it'd end him.
But the problem was Kim Eunhasu. No summon in sight, no matter how he looked.
Hmm... no summon visible at all. Hidden inside her body like Eve's?
Then Kim Eunhasu spoke up.
"Teren, ready to attack? Can ya time it?"
"Obviously!"
Suddenly, she cupped her hands to her mouth like a megaphone and bellowed.
"Rock in the Sky! Come downna!"
Three seconds after her command, a shooting star plummeted from the sky. An innocent kid might've made a wish, but Adam had no time for that.
Because... damn it, that shooting star was heading straight for the tree he'd nurtured so carefully.
"M-Meteor!!!???"
Adam's tree thrust roots skyward to form a massive shield. With all its power devoted to defense, no one blocked Teren. He closed in on Adam easily.
"Damn! Wood, you at least block the meteor!"
But the space rock's heat was beyond the tree. It pulverized the shield effortlessly and smashed into the trunk.
At the same moment, Teren sliced the Golden Flower Plant's neck.
The Golden Flower Plant and The Wood died together. Monster Plant became a star in the sky.
Team 7, eliminated.
"Yer brat! Don't explode like last time! Just bury yerself nice an' deep in the ground!"
Kim Eunhasu ordered Rock in the Sky, and it obediently embedded in the earth.
"Phew! Dodged a bullet there. Thought it'd blow like before."
Kim Eunhasu's Rock in the Sky had insane destructive power, but once it locked a landing spot, it couldn't change. And its speed let anyone quick dodge it. That's why it'd only been used twice in this team evaluation.
Those two uses massacred monsters for 120 points and wrecked Adam's Monster Plant –The Wood–.
It had squeezed every drop of value.
"Haha, I lost."
Adam let out a hollow laugh and slumped to the ground.
Teren approached him.
"Yer summon was awesome. Show me again at the Academy sometime."
"Heh... thanks."
Adam brushed the dirt off his butt and stood.
"If Zeke hadn't killed my hosts, I'd have beaten you guys."
"Haha, you think?"
Zeke uprooted two nearby trees and tossed them at me like we were playing catch. I flicked my fingers lazily, making them vanish.
Man, this guy's impressive. Those muscles are insane.
"Hahaha! Incredible! The Immeasurable-rank summon, huh!"
Zeke closed in and hammered my gut with a flurry of punches.
-Thudthudthudthudthud!
Oof... solid punches. Maybe cop a feel of those biceps.
Ooh! Nuts!
"Got time to grope my arm?!"
Zeke snatched my hand off his bicep, spun me like a shot put a few times, and hurled me toward the mountain.
-Boom!
The mountain got a missile-sized hole.
"Ha! Nice flight! This technique catches dragons in one go—Death's Death Rolling..."
That flying thing was fun earlier. Do it again.
"Y-You just flew off!!!"
Zeke jumped back in shock when I reappeared right behind him, putting distance between us.
"A fake? Clone? No, same presence as before. Then how're you here?"
I flew back right after. Simple.
Anyway, better than a roller coaster. The thrill's unreal. This guy's a walking amusement park?
"D-Don't come closer!"
Sigh... fun dies when they get scared. Can't hit 'em for real. Mantus was the same.
Fine, maybe I'll return the gift with an attack.
Foot of the Absolute, crush Zeke flat.
At my call, a massive blue foot plummeted from the sky at insane speed.
"The sky... is falling...?"
Nah, just the Absolute's right foot.
Zeke saw the giant foot descending and tried to flee in shock, but realized its speed and size made it impossible. He thrust his arms up to block.
-KABOOM!
"GRAAAAAAAAAAH~!!!!"
Zeke's arms met the foot, and the crushing pressure made him scream.
Hmm... holding for two seconds already? Impressive. How much does this thing weigh again?
Oh, right. Forgot. Can the ground take it?
Before the thought finished, a massive earthquake hit the entire Instant Area. A giant sinkhole formed around Zeke.