NBAA Vol. 7 Chapter 4 Part 6
Reito gritted his teeth and opened the bag to see what the mercenary’s leader was trying to tell him at his last moment.
“This is…!?”
“Reito! Watch out!!”
Hanzo’s voice rang out from behind him. The Demon Tree released its broken branch towards Reito.
“Damn!”
“Jululu!”
Reito grabbed something out of the leader’s bag and barely succeeded in evading the attack, but part of his clothes were cut off. The branches of the Demon Tree were unusual and strong like steel.
Reito put what he grabbed in his pocket and began cutting the branch thrown at him again.
“Gale Strike!”
“Julaaah!”
The branches, which boasted a hardness exceeding that of steel, were easily cut through by Reito’s Extermination Blade and Reflection Sword, causing the Demon Tree to let out a scream.
Confirming this, Hanzo and her friends moved to rescue the captives.
“‘Unsheathe’!!”
“‘Fist Strike’!!”
“Juluuuu!”
Hanzo slashed one of the branches with the short sword she pulled from her waist, and Gonzo hit it with his Gold and Silver Battle Fist. Although the damage was not that great, the huge body of the Demon Tree shook as a result of the multiple attacks, freeing several of the mercenaries who had been restrained by the branches.
“Dammit, don’t move!! Shadow Bind!!”
“Jululululu!?”
Dain’s shadow entwined with the Demon Tree, restraining its entire body.
“Dain, hold it down!! This is the finishing blow, ‘Golden Stark Strike’!!”
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gonzo swung his arms and slammed his fists together.
A powerful blow was unleashed at Demon Tree’s face (wrinkles), causing a severe crack.
“Whoa!?”
“Aguu!?”
“I’m saved!”
The mercenaries trapped by the Demon Tree were released one after another and fell to the ground.
Even after it received Gonzo’s powerful and unparalleled blow, the Demon Tree did not die, and let out a roar as if to counter Dain’s shadow magic.
“Julieiiiiiiiiiiii…!!”
“Whoa!?”
“Oh!?”
“Noo!?”
The volume of the voice caused everyone present to cover their ears, and even Dain couldn’t help but let go of his magic staff.
Freed from the restraints of shadow magic, the Demon Tree seized the opportunity and shot a branch with a sharp tip like a spear towards Dain.
“Julu!!”
“Hiek?”
“I won’t let you!”
However, before the branch could reach Dain, Reito swung his Extermination Blade and severed the “branch spear”.
While the roar from earlier still clouded everyone’s consciousness, Reito was the only one who slashed at the Demon Tree bravely.
『I’m glad you learned the ‘Soundproof’ skill.』
“It’s learning method was the toughest, though!!”
“Julaa!?”
When he was a child, Reito acquired a “Soundproof” skill that made him resistant to noise. He learned it by having Ullr bark at him repeatedly at close range in the forest every day, and he found it more challenging to learn than the “Mind’s Eye” skill.
However, thanks to that, he could move even if he heard roars to a certain degree.
Reito slammed his blade against the Demon Tree over and over again. Unlike the branches, the Extermination Blade and Reflection Sword blades could not cut the tree’s main body, and only caused a small crack.
However, Gonzo’s blow was effective, and the damage was steadily inflicted.
Reito overlapped the blades of both swords and slammed them together.
“Gale Strike!”
“Julaaaaaah!”
“Y-You did it?”
Reito’s blow sliced through the body of the Demon Tree this time. The main body, snapped in half, sank into the waterway. At that time, all the mercenaries the branches had restrained were also released and fell into the passageway.
“Huh…that was dangerous.”
“You did it, that you did?”
“As expected…”
“Ugh…”
“*cough cough*”
“Gosh…I thought I was going to die.”
The mercenaries who were released from the Demon Tree coughed. Unlike the mercenaries’ leader, they were not seriously injured.
When Reito approached them to heal them, countless bubbles appeared from the waterway.
“―*blub blub*”
Myriads of branches were ejected from the water at high speed the next moment.
Reito and the others quickly avoided them, but the mercenaries, whose clothes had absorbed the water and whose physical strength was exhausted, could not avoid the branches, which pierced various parts of their bodies.
“Gaaaah!”
“Gyaaah!?”
“Ghaa!?”
“Oh, shit!”
“They’re sucking all the fluids out of you!”
“Fuck!”
The number of mercenaries was over ten. It was impossible to destroy all the branches before the fluids were sucked out.
Reito, in order to deal with the main body that had sunk into the water, took out the item he grabbed from the mercenary’s leader bag earlier – a magic stone with a fire attribute.
“Enchantment Boost!”
“Reito?”
“What!?”
Reito used Enchantment Boost on the magic stone and poured fire-attribute magic power into it without worrying about getting burned or scalded.
A magic stone consisted of magic power, and if excess magic power was sent into it, it would cause an explosion. After Reito had pumped in enough magic power into the stone, he threw it into the water.
The moment the magic stone entered the water, a large explosion occurred.
The explosion caused the temperature in the water to rise at once. As a result, the Demon Tree, which had been submerged underwater, screamed and appeared.
“Juraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…!?”
“It came out, that it did!”
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s all attack!!”
With Reito’s words as a signal, the three of them unleashed their battle techniques.
“Test Strike!”
“Golden Stark Strike!”
“Gale Strike!”
“Juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”
When the three battle techniques hit, the main body of the Demon Tree was shattered into pieces and scattered around.
The branches that had stuck into the bodies of the mercenaries also fell apart, turning into dust and dissipating into the surrounding area.
After confirming this, Reito breathed a sigh of relief.
“I was wondering if there was a way to use ‘Enchantment Boost’ like this… It’s all thanks to you.”
Reito looked at the mercenary’s leader, who had turned into a corpse, and thanked him.