I was Alraune, a plant monster girl.
I stood on the verge of a final confrontation with Big Sister Dryades, who had transformed into the Divine Tree and grown to a gargantuan size.
Looking up at the Divine Tree as it stretched as if to pierce the heavens, I watched its topmost branches spread out to shroud the very sky. The rain that had been falling since morning had given way to clear skies after we defeated Dora-ko, but now, those celestial branches and leaves blocked out the sunlight that usually made photosynthesis feel so wonderful.
A large bud was forming just below the canopy. Further down, relatively close to the ground, Big Sister Dryades’s upper body sprouted directly from the trunk. It seemed she had completely integrated with the tree.
This meant that unless I destroyed this massive, mythic timber, I wouldn't be able to defeat her. This was going to be a real headache.
Wearing a complacent smile, Big Sister Dryades looked down and mocked me.
"Now that it's come to this, you're just a tiny little flower, Princess. I could crush you quite easily right now."
A thick, massive branch of the Divine Tree swung down toward me. I manifested a Vine Shield to guard myself, but it was useless. I was trampled and flattened by the branch, which felt like the leg of a giant elephant.
It... it was so painful.
However, being a plant, I wouldn't die from something like this. Even tiny weeds can rise again after being stepped on by humans. Having immense vitality is the true strength of a plant, after all!
"I know you won't die from just that," she sneered. "However, if I keep you pinned like this, even the great Princess will eventually wither, won't she?"
She was right; this was bad. Being pressed by such overwhelming force, I felt like I was about to become a pressed flower at any moment.
"So... someone... help me..."
"It's no use. You saw the bud on the Divine Tree, didn't you? In my Divine Tree form, my spirit magic allows me to rob the consciousness of any living being that smells the fragrance of that flower. No one is coming to save you."
So that was why Nina and the others had suddenly collapsed. I had been worried about them, but if they had only fainted, I could breathe a small sigh of relief.
"But this is merely the beginning," she continued. "My Dark Spirit Magic, 'Waldschmerz Blume: Fragrance of the Proclaimed Death Flower,' works in stages. First, the bud robs nearby creatures of their consciousness. Next, when the flower blooms, it sucks the very life from them."
No way. That meant if the bud bloomed, everyone here would die. That was just cruel—killing people with nothing but a scent was totally unfair!
I wanted to save everyone, but I was pinned down and couldn't move. At this rate, that ticking time bomb of a flower was going to kill my friends. This was a massive crisis!
In the midst of my despair, I heard the sound of something running in the distance. Even as I was being crushed, I peered through a slight gap to see where the sound was coming from.
A Treant was sprinting toward us with sharp, disciplined form. It was my sister-figure, Amazoness Treant!
Come to think of it, she had disappeared shortly after being beaten by Dora-ko. Since she was a plant-based monster like me, she was apparently unaffected by the Divine Tree's magic.
Big Sister Dryades noticed her and let out a laugh, as if watching a comedy.
"What is that strange Treant? If you think you're going to help the Princess, I won't allow it."
I felt a giant branch looming far above, ready to strike. At this rate, Amazoness Treant would be flattened too. Don't worry about me—just run!
Suddenly, a third voice echoed through the clearing.
"I won't let you!"
It was the younger Lady Dryades. A wooden shield manifested through her spirit magic, allowing the Treant to escape the attack unscathed. It seemed that while the other monsters of the West Forest had been knocked out, the younger sister had managed to reach us as reinforcements. Since I and the Treant were still conscious, she was clearly outside the target range of the magic as well.
With Lady Dryades’s help, my sister-figure finally reached me. She was clutching several varieties of rare-looking plants in her branches. It was obvious she had been gathering them for my sake.
I was so happy I almost cried. As expected of my sister-figure!
Better yet, two of those flowers looked like they would work perfectly. I chomped down on the first small flower and then extended a vine toward the second, larger one.
That flower was massive—a meter in diameter and weighing ten kilograms. In my previous life, it was world-famous as the largest flower on Earth. Its name was the Rafflesia.
When the Rafflesia was first discovered, people feared it as a "man-eating flower" because of its size. In reality, it was just a big flower. However, it had merits that went beyond its scale.
Chomp.
I consumed the Rafflesia.
Seeing this, Big Sister Dryades taunted me. "What do you think you can do just by eating a flower?"
I knew I couldn't oppose her in her Divine Tree form just by eating a Rafflesia. That was why, just as she had used the Seed of the Divine Tree, I was going to use an item of my own!
Following the Rafflesia, I gulped down the Hero's Helmet with my lower mouth. This helmet contained a vast amount of mana from Light Magic. By absorbing that energy, I would grow!
"You're trying to take the helmet into your body? Useless," she laughed. "Neither monster nor spirit can steal the power of that helmet. Even I could only use a fraction of it to maintain a barrier."
It seemed she hadn't been able to control the Hero's Helmet very well. Normally, no one would think that I, touching it for the first time today, could do more than she had.
However, I had touched something very similar many times before: the Holy Sword held by my fiancé, the Hero. I understood the mechanism of that Holy Sword—a national treasure created by the Goddess—at least in part. Well, a tiny fraction related to Light Magic, anyway.
Still, if I applied that knowledge, seizing the power of the cracked helmet shouldn't be impossible.
First, I recalled the sensations from my time as a Saint. Then, I began to draw out the light energy through the cracks in the helmet. A vast power, far transcending the Light Magic of Nina or the Golden Birdman, poured into me.
This would work. I was going to grow big!
Using Plant Generation, I transformed my bulb's roots into a Rafflesia. My body, previously pinned by the Divine Tree's branch, began to swell before her very eyes. Brushing aside the branch, my Rafflesia body expanded as if it were exploding.
I ignored Big Sister Dryades’s scream of "That's impossible!" as I shot upward, my height quickly surpassing every other tree in the forest.
I had gone gargantuan!
My Alraune body was now nestled inside a giant bud that looked like a massive rounded dome. If I let the flower bloom all at once, I would reach my perfect form. Slowly, I moved the bud that was now part of me and allowed it to open.
The Giant Rafflesia was born!
My bulb and my Alraune body remained their original size, but we were now at the center of a giant red flower several times larger than a stadium dome. Having reached kaiju-sized proportions, I felt like I could actually hold my own against the Flame Dragon Lord.
Amazoness Treant and Lady Dryades looked like tiny toy dolls below me. The Dryades' Forest looked like nothing more than a patch of tall weeds.
Maybe I grew a little too much.
Big Sister Dryades stared at the beauty of my magnificent Rafflesia, her voice trembling.
"I can't believe an Alraune could grow so gargantuan... Princess, what did you do?"
"I am still a child," I replied, "so... I'm just in my growth period."
After all, I had only been an Alraune for a year and a few months. In terms of physical age, since I had recently returned to being a seed, I was only two days old!
Regardless, I had finally reached equal footing with her in terms of size. It was hard for a flower to be taller than a tree, so I lost in terms of height, but in terms of width, I was the clear winner.
The real battle started now!
And besides, it was too early for her to be surprised. Growing large wasn't my only strategy. Using a specific power of the Rafflesia, I had already begun a secret attack on the Divine Tree.
As you may have guessed, the giant flower the Corporal saw in the city was me.
The plant kaiju battle has begun!
Next time: Alraune vs. Dryades - Part 8.