I am Alraune, a plant monster girl.
With the Stalker Four Heavenly King defeated, my next task was to capture the Poison Fairy with whom I shared a bitter history.
I should have had her secured within my Venus Flytrap, but she appeared to have slipped away during the chaos of the Heavenly King’s assault. It seemed she had fled far enough to remain outside the devastating range of Garda-fresvelg’s Heiligenschein.
Wary of me, the Poison Fairy kept her distance. Under normal circumstances, my vines wouldn't have been able to reach her from such a range. However, in my current, matured form, reaching her was a simple feat.
I extended a swarm of vines, ensnaring the off-guard Poison Fairy before she could react. I wasn't going to let her escape a second time.
"Hie?!"
I dragged the struggling fairy across the ground until she was right before me. Then, I delivered my final ultimatum.
"If you swear... your loyalty to me... as Kiri has... I will spare... your life."
Despite my current form, I was once a Saint. Since she was an acquaintance of Kiri’s, I didn't want to resort to eating her if I could help it. I decided to give her one chance.
"If I do that, will you really not eat me?" she asked.
"I will not."
"...Fine. I’ll be your fairy!"
The speed with which she surrendered was almost refreshing. If that was her answer, then we had to perform the ritual properly.
"Then... lick this nectar."
"Nectar...?"
"It is the ritual... to become... my fairy."
"Alright..."
I loosened the vines to grant her some freedom. The Poison Fairy approached the nectar-coated vine slowly. She stole a glance at my face, and I gave her a reassuring nod. She seemed to have resigned herself to her fate as she leaned in to lick the nectar.
Then, it happened.
Without warning, the Poison Fairy spat herbicide directly from her mouth.
"Sucker! Like I’d ever be a subordinate to some Alraune!"
She lunged forward, clinging to my face and attempting to force the herbicide down my throat.
"If you swallow this, I don't care how big you are—you're going to wither and die!"
Before I could seize her with my vines, the herbicide flooded into my mouth.
"Kyahahaha! That’s it, wither away! Fair-sama is going to be so pleased!"
The Poison Fairy’s jubilant laughter rang in my ears. However, her triumph was destined to be short-lived.
"Wait, what is this? Why is the herbicide being pushed back out...?"
In anticipation of such a betrayal, I had pre-emptively filled my mouth with Light Recovery Magic Nectar. The herbicide had been poured directly into a pool of purifying fluid. By simply expelling the nectar, I could flush the herbicide out of my system entirely.
Thanks to the Light Recovery Magic, the herbicide’s effects were neutralized instantly. What was once a deadly toxin now fell harmlessly to the ground in a series of wet splashes. The Poison Fairy stared at the puddle in stunned silence.
"P-Please, forgive me..."
"I... will not."
She had discarded the final mercy I offered her. More than that, she had tried once again to kill me by rotting me from the inside out. Even as a former Saint, my patience had reached its limit.
Besides, I was a Saint no longer. I was a monster—an Alraune, the predatory queen of the insectivorous plants.
"H-Help me... please..."
"I saved you... once. There will be... no second time."
I bound her tightly with my vines. I didn't want to see her despairing face. Since becoming an Alraune, I had known despair many times over—the worst of it being the moment this very fairy had caused me to wither. I had never experienced such agonizing suffering.
She had clearly never experienced the pain of being withered by another. Perhaps it was time she learned to consider the feelings of others.
"Fine... if that’s how it’s going to be, I’ll use my last resort...!"
The Poison Fairy bit down hard on a pendant hanging around her neck. It seemed she had been hiding one final trump card.
"If I use the Seed of Evolution my master gave me, I can turn the tables!"
She gulped down the tiny seed that had been set into the jewelry. I watched, wondering what such a seed could possibly do.
"An Alraune like you is nothing! Kyahahaha!"
Suddenly, her body began to bloat.
Bulge. Thump-thump. Bulge.
Her frame began to expand at a terrifying rate.
"Wait... what is this...? No one told me... I'd become this ugly..."
The Poison Fairy sounded genuinely bewildered. Whatever was happening, it seemed the results were far outside her expectations. With a look of total defeat, she wheezed her final words.
"Why... why is this happening...?"
The vines restraining her snapped as her body doubled and tripled in size. Poison Fairy Oin was gone; in her place was something that could no longer be called a fairy.
She had become a Troll. Her flesh was a mass of swollen, distorted muscle that looked entirely unnatural. With her grotesque appearance and patches of coarse black fur, she looked like a nightmarish, bipedal bear. In an instant, she had transformed into a three-meter-tall mountain of fat and muscle.
"BWAAAAHHHHH!!"
Her reason had vanished entirely. She was now nothing more than a mindless beast.
What was that seed? I had never heard of anything so miraculous—or so horrific. I vaguely recalled reading that Trolls were considered a type of fairy in a very broad, mythological sense, but this creature was a far cry from any fairy I knew. Even a common Troll would look adorable compared to this.
"BWAAAAHHHHH!!"
The Troll lunged at me. I had to defend myself.
I unleashed a rapid-fire volley from my Teppou-uri Machine Gun.
Zupopopopopon!
Dozens of poison seeds tore into the Troll's flesh, but to my surprise, the wounds began to close almost instantly. That was right—Trolls possessed incredible self-regeneration. No matter how many limbs were severed, they would simply grow back. My poison didn't seem to be doing much, either.
However, even a Troll wasn't immortal. They had one glaring weakness: fire and light. If a wound was cauterized with flame, it could not regenerate.
Using eucalyptus leaves and friction heat, I ignited my vines. Having grown from a young girl into my current form, my flames had intensified into a raging inferno suitable for combat.
I riddled the Troll with seeds once more, turning its body into a honeycomb of wounds. This was my chance. Before the beast could heal, I lashed out and coiled my Flame Vines around its body.
"BWAAAAHHHHH!!"
The Troll’s agonized scream echoed through the clearing. My Flame Vines prevented its wounds from closing while the fire—its natural weakness—seared its entire body. After a few moments, the creature stopped moving. It had been reduced to a heap of scorched charcoal.
With the body destroyed, I knew the Poison Fairy inside was gone as well. I was stunned that a single seed—a "Seed of Evolution"—could cause such a transformation. She had been a persistent, hateful enemy who tried to kill me time and again, but I never imagined her end would be so grotesque.
Since she was nothing but cinders, I couldn't even consume her for nutrients. She would simply return to the forest as ash. For a fairy, perhaps that was a fitting end.
—Wait, this wasn't the time to be reflecting on her life!
The Flame Vine was a double-edged sword. I was literally on fire!
Before the flames could reach my bulb, I used my Lithops Molting ability to shed my burning outer skin along with the vines.
Phew. That was a close one.
"Alraune!"
I turned toward the voice and saw the Withered Tree Treant sprinting across the clearing with surprising grace. The Little Witch and Fairy Kiri were clinging to its branches.
It looked like everyone was safe. The Little Witch leaped from the Treant and used her levitation magic to dive straight into my arms.
"I'm so glad you're okay!"
She nuzzled her head against my chest. Looking down at her from this height felt strange. I realized that the first time I had ever hugged her, I had been in my young girl form. This was our first embrace since I had returned to being an Adult Alraune.
Even though I called it "adult," I looked to be about seventeen. Compared to a ten-year-old, however, I was certainly the "big sister" now.
"Alraune, why are you so big again...?"
"I... grew."
"I know plants grow, but that was way too fast!"
"I did... photosynthesis."
"...What's 'photosynthesis'?"
It seemed the Little Witch wasn't familiar with the term. I suppose a girl who had never been to school would have no reason to know about the science of plants.
She was my little sister now. As her older sister, I would have to act as her teacher and explain the world to her. We would have plenty of time for that, after all.
The enemies were gone. Finally, I could live a quiet, peaceful life with the Little Witch. We would spend our days together in the tranquility of the forest.
At long last, peace had found me.