Chapter 101
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Falling Flowers (3)
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Boom!
"Ugh!"
I reflexively raised my arm to block it.
The crystal shard decomposed the roots in an instant, but because it was so close, I couldn't fully block the attack.
My body was flung away, rolling several times over the thorny vines before tumbling out onto the ground.
"Urgh."
By the time I managed to groan, my entire body was screaming in agony.
I couldn't feel my left arm, and it felt like thorns were embedded all over me. Even so, I gripped my staff tighter.
"Anything else you're curious about?"
Kaella spoke in a gentle voice as she stepped right in front of me. She was close enough to touch if I reached out.
I focused on breathing, trying to push the pain aside as I clutched the dirt.
"...Yeah."
"What is it?"
Kaella looked down at me with a kind expression, as if she were about to grant my final wish.
"The black dragon... how did you control it?"
"Ah, that pathetic lizard."
A chilling smile crept across Kaella's lips.
"I never controlled it. Even a dimwitted thing like that is still a dragon, a crystallization of mana. Turns out I couldn't dominate it."
"Then how did the dragon...?"
...end up following a mage like you?
"That thing was wandering the Cornick Ruins all alone. In a half-baked, ridiculous form that was neither human nor dragon. Ever heard of the ghost of Cornick? That was it."
Kaella giggled as if it were some hilarious joke, but my insides turned ice cold.
Wandering Cornick? In a form that was neither human nor dragon?
"I just thought it was some mutant, but it turned out it couldn't return to its true form due to a lack of mana."
"For a magical beast, if you're short on mana, you raid human villages, right? But no, it was roaming empty ruins. That's when I knew. It was a total idiot."
"So you gave it mana in exchange for Berthrot's power?"
Kaella nodded, chuckling softly.
"Exactly. It lent me its strength in return. But I didn't expect it to be such a coward that it'd run away like that... Oh, have I ever mentioned the dragon's name?"
"No."
As those words left my mouth, my fingertips touched Kaella's ankle.
"What the...?"
Kaella startled and looked down. In that moment, I concentrated my mana at my fingertips and began mutating her body directly.
Blue crystals started from my fingertips, climbing up her leg... and shattered the red ecronium embedded above her knee.
Crack!
"Kyaaahhh!"
Kaella's face twisted in pain as she screamed and staggered wildly.
I quickly got to my feet and retreated from the spot.
With Kaella's mana destabilized, the thorny vines and black tree roots became easy to decompose.
"You... you little punk...! Don't you dare run!"
Kaella's furious shout echoed behind me.
I ran into the shadows of the dark garden trees, ignoring the pain.
Clang!
When I created a sphere of light to my left, a surging black tree root from behind smashed it.
Another root shot out from the darkness at terrifying speed. I twisted my body, drawing in a sharp breath.
'Liberic!'
Ash, cloaked in silver mana, burst from the shadows and slammed into the root, deflecting it.
"Ash!"
After smashing the root into the ground, Ash pivoted and charged straight at Kaella.
But Kaella crossed her arms, refusing to let him get close.
Crunch...
Tree roots sprouted from the earth, wrapping around her body.
The ecronium in her knee was shattered, her leg blackened and immobile. Instead, the tree filled the void, forming a new leg.
Ash lunged for her arm, but a side root knocked him away.
"Annoying mutt!"
Kaella snarled irritably, and countless thorny vines lashed out at Ash.
I dashed in front of him and raised my staff.
The crystal defense spell crystallized and dismantled every approaching magical effect.
"We need to shatter the red ecronium."
I said to Ash while focusing on the spell.
Thanks to his remarkable recovery, the injury looked fine, fortunately.
"Is Mr. Miles okay?"
'I dropped Wedin off. More importantly, is your crystal magic safe?'
"Blue ones are fine. The spells are complex, so the power isn't overwhelming. I'll clear a path—shatter the red ecronium."
'Got it.'
I took a short breath, gathered my mana, and switched the defense spell to an offensive one.
Flash!
Countless blue crystals sprouted, extending toward Kaella.
Kaella watched them and drew in even more mana. The surrounding air seemed to be sucked toward her.
"Wanna have a contest of strength with me?"
Kaella scoffed mockingly.
"Let's see who uses it better."
Even more tree roots layered up as her shield.
My crystals shattered the roots and made them vanish, only for new ones to sprout immediately.
As expected, drawing on the hot spring's mana was more efficient for Kaella. She could even use the garden environment here.
I let her arm herself with roots and vines while conjuring wind with my left hand.
Using two spells at once made my head feel like it would split, but there was no time to complain.
"Ash!"
The moment Ash rode the wind, he leaped sky-high in the blink of an eye.
By the time Kaella looked up, he was already above her.
Crunch!
His bared fangs clamped down on the red ecronium embedded in her nape.
"Aaaahhh!"
With her scream, cracks spiderwebbed across the red ecronium, and it soon shattered, drained of mana.
She clutched her nape, her face pale as she staggered.
Now.
In that instant, I gripped my staff properly, exploiting the disruption in her mana to shred all her spells and charge straight at her.
For the brief moment I pressed the staff's tip against the red ecronium in her hand's back, it was engulfed in blue crystals and shattered.
"Kyaaaah! No!"
Kaella let out a beastly shriek.
Her inhuman voice sent chills freezing through my body.
Only one red ecronium left— the one embedded in her chest.
Kaella curled up to protect it, wildly pulling in surrounding mana.
Fierce winds whipped the trees toward her, and the ground quaked as it gathered at her feet.
'Liberic, too close is dangerous.'
Ash yanked me back, pulling me away from Kaella.
"She's... mutating."
I couldn't tear my eyes from Kaella's form.
Chilling mana swirled everywhere, making my skin crawl.
"Aaaahhh!"
Kaella's skin was turning dark and rough like tree bark.
The shattered ecronium spots morphed into wooden knots, and black stems sprouted across her body.
Her golden hair fully reddened, transforming into thorny vines that stretched to the ground.
Her beautiful face was hideously covered in cracked wooden skin, and her eyes burned scarlet.
She looked exactly like a demon.
"There it is! It's a demon!"
Knights' torches appeared in the distance—the ones who'd stayed at the branch office.
The moment Kaella turned her red eyes toward them, black tree roots erupted beneath their feet.
"Argh! Dodge!"
The roots seized the knights and flung them indiscriminately.
A few drew swords and sliced the roots, but Kaella, drawing on the hot spring's vast mana, could regenerate them almost limitlessly.
They had no way to evade or fight back effectively.
"Ash, help the knights!"
'On it.'
Ash, assessing the situation, bolted toward them.
I turned back to face Kaella.
She clutched her face with both hands, staggering toward me step by step.
Her red eyes stared at me in confusion.
"You... what are you?"
I bit my lip and focused mana into my staff.
First, block the tree roots with a defense spell...
Boom!
The world shook suddenly, my vision blurring.
It happened before I could even deploy the defense spell or shape the mana into magic.
A tree root surged from underground, striking me dead-on. My body launched into the air... and crashed into the branch office wall.
"I'm asking you. What are you?"
Before I could recover, Kaella's voice rang out, and a thick root hurtled toward me again.
I barely gathered mana to block, but the force was overwhelming.
Cracks spread across the wall behind me, followed by crumbling sounds.
Thud.
Under the immense pressure, the wall exploded outward toward the street.
I was hurled into the middle of the road.
Screams of fleeing people echoed faintly.
My hazy vision suggested I'd blacked out for a moment.
But as consciousness returned, all I could think amid the searing pain was that I had to get up.
The wide street's center. Fortunately or not, few carriages passed by.
Pedestrians who'd glimpsed Kaella's horrific form approaching step by step from beyond the ruined wall fled in terror.
Shopkeepers emerged, staring alternately at me and Kaella in shock.
I hugged my throbbing body with my left arm and staggered to my feet.
Kaella stepped out from beyond the collapsed wall.
A demon entwined in tree roots.
Her bark-like skin gleamed ominously, the chest ecronium blooming like a red flower.
"...Run away now."
I finally forced out the words. The frozen people screamed and scattered.
This street might be better than the garden.
I clung to my fracturing focus amid the pain, raising my trembling staff.
Kaella's mana dominated the area, making my spells hard to extend...
"Guess you're not planning to answer my questions nicely."
Kaella flicked her hand, and black thorny vines erupted from the ground toward me.
I raised my staff, blocking with a blue crystal defense spell, but the momentum sent me staggering back.
"Guess I'll have to tear you apart and see for myself."
Kaella muttered eerily, sending more thorny vines at me. I gripped my staff tightly, barely holding them off.
Pain scattered my focus; the blue crystals weren't spreading properly, shattering against the vines.
"Urgh..."
As my mind teetered on the edge, a sharp blue line slashed across my vision.
The black thorny vines were severed, dropping to the ground in pieces. At the same time, warm, large hands steadied my staggering form.
"Lib, you okay?!"
Shuren's voice came from right beside me.
The one swiftly slicing through the vines and charging forward was a Silver Guard Knight.