Chapter 271

271 – Aro vs Grafant

Facing the incoming grafant, I kick off the ground and spread my wings as I leap into the air . Above the grafant, I flap my wings to shoot out four [Wind Slashes] aimed directly beneath me .

My targets are its hind legs and ass . If I can seal its rear legs, I can reduce the risk of being kicked to death where I can’t see them . By shaving away at its rear, it should be a little easier for them to inflict damage .

The first two shots scrape flesh out of its hind legs . Chunks of meat dance through the air and blood spurts from the wound . The grafant’s forelegs buckle as it compensates for the new imbalance .

“――――!”

Then before it has a chance to scream, the remaining two [Wind Slashes] scrape away skin from its ass . The look of rage its its eyes deepens as it glares at me in the sky .

“BuumoooOOOoooOH!!”

The grafant rages . Listening to its roar, I land on my forelegs a short distance away . My body weight sinks into the ground, raising a cloud of sand .

This much should be okay . In truth, I want to drop all four of its legs, but if I do that, there’s a good chance the experience points they can get would be reduced .

I’ve learned from training the ball rabbit, and from weakening the red ant nest with poison dangos . If it’s not a valid fight, then only a commensurate amount of experience will be awarded . I need to weaken it as close to the limit as possible .

I’ve reduced its mobility . I’ve also made a weakness in its blind spot . I’ve attracted its attention, and if it looks dangerous, I can intervene . With this much, even though they’re E- and D-rank, they should be able to safely take on the D-rank grafant .

“Bumoh! BumOOOH!”

Dragging its rear legs behind it, the grafant approaches me . As expected, its speed has dropped considerably . Behind it, Aro, the lesser treant, and the spiderlings prepare for battle .

“Earth, ma, gic… [Clay]”

Aro chants, and the ground swells to form a sharp pointed tip . The needle of earth pierces the grafant’s exposed flesh .

Frustrated by her attack, the grafant drags its lower half as it changes course . It turns to face Aro, who’s foremost of the group, and lowers its chin, aiming its vicious horns at her .

Just as I’m thinking I should help, I notice the ground deforming around her feet and stop moving my wings .

“Bumooh!”

Almost at the same time as its roar, Aro jumps backwards . She used [Clay] on the ground beneath her feet to propel herself through the air . Probably, she had already started preparing it before it turned to face her .

Rather than speed, she’s far more proficient in magic . Instead of moving herself, using magic to move certainly a lot faster .

She lands on a branch of the lesser treant behind her . Perhaps afraid of the grafant, the spiderlings scatter in every direction… They’re not monsters that I made so they’ve no reason to listen to me . Since they’re E-rank, it’s easy for them to evolve, so perhaps I should have found a more reasonable monster for them .

Failing to catch her, the grafant’s horn pierces deep into the ground . Its muscles become pronounced as its strains its forelegs .

Aro raises her hand to the its horn . Using the [Clay] skill, the ground deforms to cover its horn and hardens .

“Buh!?”

Without pause, she stretches the earth towards its mouth . I guess she plans on suffocating it to death . That’s a pretty brutal way to kill .

It raises its forelegs high into the air . Perhaps sensing danger, the lesser treant moves back, taking Aro with it . She stops manipulating the earth and raises a hand towards its face .

“…nd, magic, [Gale]”

A gust of wind rushes past its open eyelid and plunges into its eyeball . Zashuh! The blood vessels in its eye become bright red with congested blood . But its eye continues to glare at her without any lost function .

It slams its forelegs into the ground . The entire area shakes, and its huge body springs into the air . This is it, the [High Jump] . With its hind legs crushed, I thought it wasn’t going to be able to use it .

The lesser treant crawls with its roots, putting more distance between itself and the grafant . It creaks as it moves, its eye-like depressions fixed on the midair graftant .

“-th… magic, [Clay]”

As Aro chants, the vitality drains from her body . Her skin dries out, becoming more earth-like . It looks like she’s put all of her remaining MP into this [Clay] .

Pushing through the undergrowth, an extra-large needle of earth materialises from the ground . It stretches out two metres in length, pointing towards the falling abdomen of the grafant . She must be planning on using the force of its fall to inflict damage .

That could work…is what I thought, but the grafant tilts its body forward, shifting its trajectory to the direction she’s retreating . Feeling that her expression is clouding over, I judge that I should lend a hand here .

A faint light shines from the grafant’s body as it hangs in the air for an second . The next instant, its huge body is wrapped in flames and it suddenly starts rocketing downwards .

This’ll be the skill that’s paired with [High Jump], [Meteor Dive] . It looks like it’s a skill to drop onto your opponent at high speed while burning .

I shoot two [Wind Slashes] . The blades of vacuum fly straight and penetrate its armour of flame, striking its head and body . The first shot crushes its face, causing its forward-leaning posture to crumble . The second [Wind Slash] gouges out flesh from its abdomen .

“BumooOOOOH!”

As it lands, the giant earth needle pierces its wounded belly . Unable to withstand the impact, the needle of earth crumbles away part way through . The shock of its landing rocks the surroundings .

Cheh… It’s got more power than I thought . If I’d taken that hit as an evil plague kid dragon, I’d be on the brink of death . But since it jumped onto a pillar of earth with the force of its own attack, it should’ve taken quite some damage .

“Bu…”

The grafant’s crawls on its stomach, but soon manages to climb back to its forelegs . In the centre of its abdomen, the tip of the giant [Clay] needle is embedded . Blood gushes out .

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Species: Grafant

Condition: Enraged (major), bloodshed

Lv: 27/55

HP: 208/361

MP: 95/153

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

…I-it’s still got over half left . More than anything else, it’s a monster specialised in defence, so there’s no helping it .

Aro falls from the lesser treant’s branch, landing on her back . The lesser treant quickly picks her up and flees from the grafant . She’s at her limit for MP, then . It looked like that last [Clay] had a lot of magic power loaded into it, after all .

Should I finish it quickly…? I notice the spiderlings approaching the wound I opened in its rear with [Wind Slash] .

“Bumoh! Bumooh!”

The spiderlings spew out thread and stick to the wound . It tries to shake them off, but its legs are in tatters from the impact of its fall, so it’s unable to put much strength into it . Even if it tries to attack, it can’t do anything since they’re at its rear .

I smash its forelegs with [Wind Slash] . With a thud, it collapses to its belly . At the same time, the spiderlings start biting at its wound .

“Bumooh! BumooOOOH!”

…I guess I’ll leave it for a while until its strength runs out . Poor thing, though .