The Witch (2)

The queen ants numbered a mere three, but the soldier ants swarmed so thick they looked ready to overflow the entire boss room. It was, without question, a force large enough to justify the smug confidence on her face as she declared her sincerity.

Choco glanced at Gejina — who was staring this way, flushed with exhilaration — then turned her head.

"Yeon, what wouldst thou have me do?"

"H-huh? What do you mean, what would I have you do?"

"Wast thou not looking forward to a boss fight?"

"Well, yeah, but... that many, by myself?"

Yeon said it with a distinctly sour look. Of course, Choco had no intention of making her face those numbers alone. She placed a hand on her chest and spoke.

"Tara, art ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thou listening?"

"No. Too much trouble."

"...And how wouldst thou know what I was about to say?"

"It's obvious. You want me to help that human, Yeon. Did you think I wouldn't figure that out?"

"Nngh..."

Sharp as ever, huh. And as if reading her mind, Tara pressed on.

"Besides, they're just a bunch of trash mobs. You could handle them yourself, couldn't you?"

"That may be so, but... would Yeon not be disappointed?"

Choco murmured it under her breath, glancing sideways at the girl. Yeon had been looking forward to a boss fight. If the stage hadn't been set, that would be one thing — but with everything already laid out like this, the decent thing to do was to give her full support.

Tara muttered in a voice thick with disbelief.

"Just what is that human to you, that you'd go this far..."

"I ask this of thee. In return, I shall grant thee whatever thou desirest next."

"Whatever I desire, you say?"

"...I amend that. Within the bounds of what I am able to do."

"No? You said whatever, didn't you?"

"Wai—"

Choco hastily tried to walk it back at Tara's strangely pointed tone, but the familiar had no intention of listening. Even as she spoke, white motes of light spilled from Choco's chest and gathered, coalescing into the shape of a woman.

Sweeping her silver hair — which cascaded all the way to her waist — back with one hand, the newly summoned Tara opened her eyes.

"Hm?"

And at the end of that gaze stood Gejina, looking somewhat startled. The witch stared at Tara with an expression of sheer incredulity and muttered,

"Fox bitches... two of them?"

"Who do you think you're calling a bitch, you piece of trash."

"Wh-what?"

"Hmm. If 'trash' doesn't sit well, how about 'mongrel'?"

Gejina's face flushed crimson at the sudden barrage of insults, but Tara didn't so much as blink as she went on.

"I could sense it faintly even from inside, but seeing her like this confirms it. That thing is carrying a Dryad's power."

"A Dryad... those tree spirits?"

Dryads were something Choco knew well enough. Most of the ones she'd encountered had the word Fallen tacked onto their names, but one thing was certain — they hadn't looked anything like a human. More like rotting trees that walked around on their roots. She had seen an ordinary Dryad once, though. A dying old one, who'd asked her to purify its kin and then handed over its core.

An effect that permanently increased every stat and accelerated the growth of nearby plants. If Gejina was carrying that kind of Dryad power, it certainly explained the attacks she'd been using.

As Choco was thinking this, Tara cut in flatly.

"Well, that thing isn't a spirit and it isn't a human. Just a mongrel."

"M-mongrel? That damn bitch...!"

"Stop picking fights and get going already."

"Yes, yes~"

Choco shoved her toward Yeon, and Tara shuffled over with a reluctant gait. Then she slung an arm around Yeon's neck and murmured,

"Well then, shall we?"

"H-huh? Just the two of us?!"

A flustered Yeon looked back this way, but Choco merely waved.

"Go forth and do thy best."

"W-wait—"

Good. Those two were sent off. Choco turned back toward Gejina, who was still trembling with rage.

"My thanks, for waiting."

"...Of course I waited. How else am I supposed to kill you and that damn fox bitch too?"

Gejina muttered as if she wanted to chew the words to pieces. For all her bluster, though, she had to know — that Tara, while not quite on Choco's level, was still a powerhouse who wouldn't lose to Gejina herself.

Knowing the witch's words were nothing but empty bravado, Choco slung the Exorcism Wand over her shoulder and said,

"Is that so? Then by all means, try. From this moment forth, this one shall face thee without using a single spell."

"Don't you dare look down on me!"

She screamed and swung her staff in the same breath. The aftereffects of Sky-Piercing Vine had already faded, so wielding the staff was no great difficulty. Magic launched along the path of the swing.

Four Ice Lances materialized in an instant and shot toward Choco. Instead of dodging, she swung the Exorcism Wand.

Gejina had assumed the wand that shattered her barrier possessed overwhelming physical force, but that was a misunderstanding. In truth, the force behind the swing itself wasn't particularly strong. Choco's Strength stat barely scraped past sixty, and the Exorcism Wand, while unbreakable, was neither heavy nor especially hard. In terms of raw power, it was no different from a wooden stick of the same size.

The reason the barrier had shattered anyway was the wand's nature. It was a weapon imbued with divine power. Trivial magic like this could be broken without even channeling spirit power into it. No matter how powerful, mana that hadn't even reached the threshold of true mastery could never overcome the divine power that encompassed the world.

The Ice Lances had been fired in sequence, with a slight gap between each arrival, so Choco swung the Exorcism Wand three times. Each swing erased one spell without fail. Three swings, three spells gone.

And the last one — instead of swinging the wand, she flicked it aside as if brushing off a fluttering sleeve. Crack — the Ice Lance shattered into white crystals that sparkled as they cascaded over Choco's head.

"Wh-what..."

Gejina muttered in a dazed voice at the sight. It was surreal. Even if they'd been meant as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠probing shots, Choco had swatted them all aside — and the last one, she'd blocked with her clothes. She hadn't used magic, either. Gejina had been watching carefully, wary of a counterspell, but Choco had done exactly as she'd declared — blocked everything with nothing but raw physical ability. At a speed no mage should ever have been capable of.

This is impossible. How is that even possible?

The thought that Choco might actually be a swordsman rather than a mage never even crossed her mind. In the memories the mana stone had shown her, the scene of Choco wiping out a pack of Kobolds with a barrage of Fireballs was something only someone who'd devoted themselves entirely to magic could have pulled off.

But that didn't explain this. The Choco from those memories had been a perfect mage. The one standing here now was moving like a seasoned swordsman.

What the hell is going on?

While Gejina was screaming internally, Choco was doing her best to calm her own pounding heart.

Thought my heart was gonna give out...

That last bit, brushing it off with her sleeve — that hadn't been intentional. At first she'd figured her Agility stat was high enough to swat them all with the wand, but once she actually tried it, she'd been wrong. The last Ice Lance had come at her before she could even react, so she'd just gone for it on a screw it impulse — and it had happened to work.

Choco wiped away a cold sweat where Gejina couldn't see and forced a leisurely smile.

"Is that all?"

"Kh... eat this!"

She raised her staff, and a green light bloomed in the air. Dryad power and mana intertwined, activating a spell.

This one's gonna be a pain.

Choco kicked off the ground, intending to strike before the spell could finish. But Gejina's magic completed just a fraction faster.

Something poked its head up in a wash of green light. At a glance it looked like the cross-section of a tree stump, but then a sprout bloomed from that surface — and grew at a terrifying rate, countless branches stretching out toward Choco.

Watching it spread with monstrous speed, as if determined to fill every inch of the witch's chamber except the space Gejina occupied, Choco raised the Exorcism Wand.

I said I wouldn't use magic, but I've got no choice.

Among the Five Elements, Metal represented the property of transformation. It also meant iron — the natural opposite of wood.

She swung the Exorcism Wand, and the densely wrapping branches went limp, dissolving into sap and scattering. Melting through the oncoming branches like that, she pressed forward.

Of course, Gejina wasn't about to just sit there and watch her approach.

"Hup!"

Without warning, a branch erupted from the floor and grazed past Choco's chin. If she hadn't dodged in that split second, it would have punched through her from the jaw up — a one-hit-kill ambush.

Dodging it was fortunate, but that wasn't the end. In that brief opening, branches poured in and wrapped around her in layer after layer. From the outside, it looked like an enormous ball of interwoven wood. Gejina cut off World-Supporting Branch and immediately shouted,

And with that, the massive sphere compressed in an instant. If there was a person inside, their entire body would have been crushed beyond broken — pulverized.

Watching the branch-ball shrink down to about the size of an exercise ball and roll across the floor, Gejina smiled a nasty smile.

"Ha! All that showing off, and look at you now, you stupid fox bitch!"

Going on about not using magic — that's what you get for putting on airs. Gejina cackled for a good long while, then glanced toward the sounds of ongoing combat drifting in from outside and muttered,

"Well, don't feel too cheated. I'll do the same to those bitches outside soon enough."

"Do the same how, exactly?"

"Why, I'll wring them out just like you... wait, where are you talking from?"

"Where? There's only one place, isn't there?"

At that, Gejina whipped her head around toward the shrunken ball. But all that remained was a sphere split in half, its contents empty.

When did she get out? Frantically scanning the surroundings for Choco, Gejina looked up at the ceiling with a dawning sense of dread.

"Hey."

Somehow, a fox was standing on empty air, looking down at her. A fox with three tails.

"You fox bitch...! How did you survive?!"

"How? I just shrank my body to match the shrinking space. Though I suppose it's more accurate to say I returned to my original form."

"That's ridiculous...!"

"Well, that's enough playing around."

With a tap, Choco flipped through the air and landed, already back in human form. She slung the Exorcism Wand over her shoulder, grinned, and looked at Gejina.

"Hast thou anything left?"

"Kh...!"

At that sight, Gejina took a step back. Her mana was currently running on fumes. The Dryad's power had consumed a considerable amount, and she was in no condition to keep fighting.

But Choco wasn't about to cut her any slack.

"First — one!"

A whoosh of wind, and then — WHACK! — the Exorcism Wand slammed into Gejina's right cheek.

"Guhhhk!"

It was a blow that felt like it knocked her soul clean out of her body. Not an attack that damaged the flesh — one that struck the soul itself.

"Two!"

"Ghk!"

The impact against her left cheek actually made her consciousness flicker out and back in.

I-I'm going to die like this!

Gejina stared in terror at Choco, who was grinning as she swung the Exorcism Wand around. Instinctively, she knew that taking one more hit would kill her.

"And three—!"

As the attack came whistling down, Gejina gritted her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠teeth and scraped together every last drop of mana.

It didn't work on that other fox bitch either, but I have no choice!

If I do nothing, I die! With that thought, she launched her brainwashing spell.

A spell that made the target recognize her as their master and kneel. A secret technique she'd spent long, fierce years researching.

Perhaps that desperation reached the heavens, because the spell struck Choco's head dead-on.

"Ugh?!"

"D-did it work?!"

Watching Choco clutch her head and stagger, Gejina let out a cheer. But then Choco tilted her head as if nothing had happened, and Gejina's hope crumbled.

Choco seemed to ponder for a moment, then started swinging the Exorcism Wand again and shouted,

"I know not what thou didst, but now — die!"

"Wai— gaaahk!"

THUD! The wand came down on the crown of her head, and Gejina's consciousness went out like a light.