The next day.
Today, we’re hunting treants again. But because I’ve gotten used to it already, the fighting’s been going smoother compared to the first day.
If everything goes as planned, we’ll be finishing the hunt by tomorrow, and then we can go home to Gimuru. This morning we filled up Raypin-san's 'Dimension Home', so we've been using my 'Dimension Home' to store the treant lumbers.
"Ha!" [Ryouma]
I swung my sword down, cutting a treant's face from its forehead down to its chin in one stroke. Then with another swing, I cut another treant's face that was on its right, diagonally up, cutting it into two parts. At that moment, a different treant's branch whipped towards me. Quickly, I dodged to the left, and then I lopped its face off from the side.
No matter how many times I do this, I can’t help but think of its face as a mask every time it falls off like this.
While thinking of useless thoughts like that, I killed another three treants. Then after looking around me, I confirmed that there were no more treants left.
"Looks like Ryouma's gotten used to fighting treants already." [Wereanna]
"Ryouma has trained his body well in the way of the sword. That training also reflects in how fast he can learn new methods to defeat new opponents, de gozaru.” [Asagi]
“There are no wastes in your movements, nyaa.” [Miya]
"Thank you very much. My martial techniques were thoroughly beaten into me by my grandfather. I'm quite confident in it." [Ryouma]
The area we're in right now might be a bit dangerous, but we at least have the luxury to talk like this. Of course, letting our guard down too much is bad, but being too tense is just as bad. Something on this level is just right.
But then when we went deeper into the forest, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Using 'Magic Detection', I detected a great number of treants, almost uncountable.
"Raypin-san." [Ryouma]
"I know. There’s a lot of them… Unfortunately, it’s not possible to know exactly how many, de aru. Asagi.” [Raypin]
"There's most likely an elder treant ahead. Let's proceed while keeping our escape route open. In the worst case, we'll have to retreat and just return to the guild with the information we’ve gathered, de gozaru." [Asagi]
And so, we proceeded with our guards up.
"Ha!” [Asagi & Ryouma]
"Nyaa!" [Miya]
"--!" [Mizelia]
"Ei!" [Syria]
"Wind Cutter!" [Raypin]
Before us were the forests of treants. They creeped slowly, and they came whipping their branches at us. But with our efforts combined, we managed to subjugate them.
The women attacked the treants' faces with their axes and hatchets. Asagi-san slashed with his long sword, striking towards an area beneath the treants' faces, killing them. Raypin-san supported us with his magic, while I killed all those behind to keep them from surrounding us.
We struggled like this, killing one treant after another, but the treants kept pouring in from deep the forest. Fortunately, the treants weren't that strong. Moreover, because the treants are walking and are uprooted, when we kill them, they just fall over, keeping our field of vision clear of obstruction.
"We’re killing them just fine, but there's no end to them!" [Syria]
No one replied to Syria's remark, but deep inside, everyone agreed.
"According to 'Magic Detection', all the trees here are treants! Cut them all, de aru!" [Raypin]
"Don't push yourselves too much, alright? Remember, there’s no shame in retreat!" [Asagi]
"I know!" [Wereanna]
"Life's more important!" [Mizelia]
Although everyone was saying that, they weren’t really serious. They were just saying it to remind everyone. And after that, they all went to welcome the flooding forest of treants. As expected of A ranks and B ranks, something of this level can't even faze them.
I should also focus on my work. The treants headed here have also increased.
I put my sword away, and instead I ordered the sheath that was a big metal slime to separate. In the next moment, 100 metal slimes appeared at my feet. I took two from those, lifted them up, and ordered them to transform.
What the two slimes transformed into were throwing axes. Then I strengthened my body with ki, and motioning my body in full, I threw the axes.
"O..."
"O... Oo..."
The two axes flew through the air, drawing a beautiful arc in its trajectory. Two nearing treants tried to get me into their range, but the two axes flew into their foreheads, striking them dead. The two axes had successfully shot down the two treants.
After that I immediately took another metal slime, had it transform into an axe and threw it. Then i took another one, and another one, throwing the axes one after another towards the endless wave of treants.
After fighting with the treants all this time, I’ve finally come to understand that there’s a deviation in the distribution of magic power within the treants’ bodies. The distribution is generally equal, but there is one place that has a greater concentration of magic power compared to the rest of its body. And that place is its weakness, its face.
Apparently, within the physiology of treants, the face serves as an important cornerstone for the circulation of magic power. In terms of human physiology, it would be the heart as it gathers magic power for the treants. Hurting the treant’s face, causes that gathered magic power to leak out, thereby causing its death. If one takes the face of a treant as the heart, and its magic power as blood, then it’s really not that much different from humans.
However, blood is still different from magic power. Because magic power can be located with ‘Magic Detection’. That’s why as long as one knows how to use ‘Magic Detection’, it’s easy to spot its weak point. And just like now, one would be able to easily kill the treants. And at times when the face isn’t visible, using ‘Magic Detention’ to locate it would easily take care of it.
That’s why with all things considered, treants are easy to defeat. While I still think it’s not good to let my guard down, the truth is that I’m really not being pressured much in this battle.
I’m also not using magic power, so I won’t suffer the symptoms of magic exhaustion. Moreover, I’ve strengthened my body with Ki, making it hard for me to get tired. Now, if I was using normal throwing axes, then I wouldn’t be able to attack once I run out of axes, but since I’m using metal slimes for throwing axes, the slimes can just come back on their own after being thrown. Which goes to say that I will never run out of ammo. In fact, I don’t even have to pick them up.
On top of that, I know the position of their faces, so I can easily kill them in one throw. Moreover, when the slimes come back, the treants try to attack them. But at that moment, because their slow legs come to a halt, they become easy pickings. And I can then defeat them before they can get me into their attacking range. Honestly speaking, this is more work rather than actual fighting.