I was Alraune, a plant monster girl.
Facing me was the self-styled human gourmet, Beast King Marticolas.
For the sake of the people in Tower City and the Kingdom of Gardenia, as a former Saint, I couldn't allow this Beast King to leave the forest. Even if I remained safe, I didn't think I could ever forgive myself if the outside world was devastated by his hand.
Furthermore, if I let him escape now, I would never be able to pursue him again. I was unable to leave the forest on my own, and I couldn't bear to wait for the country's destruction while filled with regret.
Therefore, I decided to fight with everything I had.
To start, I launched a constricting attack with my Gajumaru vines. However, the Beast King didn't even try to dodge. He spread his arms wide and intentionally took the blow. My Gajumaru had crushed the Beastman squad like scraps of paper, but it had no effect on Marticolas. His body was protected by incredibly tough muscles.
He shredded the Gajumaru with his claws, posturing as if the attack hadn't even registered.
"Just a mere weed, as I thought. Even if you defeated the other Demon Race or the Four Heavenly Kings, it seems you’re no match for a truly strong individual like me."
Beast King Marticolas pointed his scorpion tail toward me. The needles at the tip were fired like bullets. I wanted to dodge, but I couldn't. I had learned Teleportation, but my body was still as inconvenient as ever.
I defended with a wooden shield, but the Beast King’s needle-bullets punched right through it. The needles spun like real bullets as they flew, gouging out my stomach.
"You're just a plant, after all. This is effortless."
A needle barrage flew from the Beast King like machine-gun fire. Not only the petals and leaves at my waist and my lower bulb, but even my human upper body burst apart, piece by piece.
Under the relentless needle-fire, my body as an Alraune was almost completely blown away. All that remained were my roots in the soil. I could see nothing; I could hear nothing.
"How trivial. Since I heard you defeated the Four Heavenly Kings, I was looking forward to some entertainment, but a weed is a weed after all."
By the time the Beast King spread his black wings to take flight, my sight and hearing had already recovered. Through Super Recovery Magic, I had instantaneously regenerated my original body.
"Is... that... all...?"
The Beast King’s gaze slowly shifted back toward me. I smiled at him, my expression a deliberate provocation.
"Those... needle-like... things... that flew... my way... Were you... perhaps... doing... some... needlework? Since... the Beast King... seems... unfamiliar... with... such things... I shall... specially... teach you... myself."
"Impossible."
Marticolas crossed his arms and began to observe me intently.
"I should have blown your entire body away. What on earth happened?"
"Since... I am... a weed... perhaps... my life force... is simply... that... strong?"
If he were to lose to a mere weed, it would be quite a stain on the name of the Beast King, wouldn't it?
"I knew plants had high regeneration capabilities, but for it to be this much... It seems I must destroy you from the roots, just like any other weed."
The Beast King seemed to have realized the condition for my death: the total annihilation of my root system.
"I’d like to play with you more, but I'm starting to get hungry. It’s a waste to use this on an Alraune, but let’s end this."
An ominous magical power began to radiate from Marticolas’s body.
"It’s been since I fought the Demon King two hundred and fifty years ago that I’ve used this."
The magical power within his body exploded. He opened his mouth wide, and a red flash of light emitting sparks began to writhe between his fangs. Mana condensed within his maw. The air trembled, and the ground began to vibrate. The Beast King was about to unleash his ultimate attack.
"Beast King's Roar (Vahnsinn Start)!"
A red-black lightning bolt erupted from Marticolas. I conjured a wooden shield to defend myself, but it was erased like a scrap of paper. The blast carved a massive trench into the earth, as if the ground had been bombed. The attack reached far beyond the edge of my forest, seemingly striking all the way to the vicinity of the Dryades' Forest.
About half of the forest behind me had been erased. Because of that extraordinary destructive power, my Alraune body was blown away along with the roots in the ground. It was an unbelievable level of power, reminiscent of the Flame Dragon Lord’s beam. I was truly shocked.
"Phew... Since you forced me to use my trump card, you should be proud, weed though you are."
"I’m... not... particularly... happy... about that."
"...What!?"
I had already regenerated my body on the ground behind Marticolas. My primary roots had vanished, but the network extending from them had already spread throughout the entire forest. By becoming able to move my consciousness through Teleportation, I could now regenerate from locations other than my primary bulb.
In other words, as long as a single tree in the forest remained, I could regenerate my body from anywhere.
"My Beast King's Roar didn't work...? Or did you teleport?"
"Now then... I wonder... which one... it was."
Now, it was my turn to attack. If Beast King Marticolas’s body was protected by steel muscles, I simply had to attack from other places. A living creature's body is naturally full of holes that serve as weak points.
Good day to you. It was time for the routine checkup I personally conduct for the Four Heavenly Kings. Following the Golden Birdman and Big Sister Dryades, he was my third patient.
As Nurse Alraune, I would examine the condition of the Beast King’s body.
I began with a palpation, bringing my Dodder Stethoscope close to Marticolas. Perhaps because he wasn't used to being examined, the patient resisted by firing scorpion needles. I ignored them and accepted the attack. After all, I could treat my own body immediately.
His body was too hard, however; my tentacles couldn't pierce him anywhere. Protected by hard muscles and thick skin, he seemed immune to external attacks. But if the outside was no good, I just had to enter through the holes from which the needles were fired.
Watching for the split-second opening when the scorpion tail loaded the next needle, I inserted the Dodder into the tip of his tail.
"Ugh...!"
Marticolas tried to dodge with his wild instincts, but his movements suddenly stopped. I had secretly wrapped sticky Sundew vines around his feet like bandages.
You mustn't run away!
"Something is inside me... and it's eating its way deeper!?"
"It tastes... delicious."
By using the parasitic roots of the Dodder—the "Yellow Vampire"—I could eat the opponent's flesh from the inside. Previously, this would have been the end of the move, but since undergoing half-spiritization, there was a technique I wanted to try.
It was the Spirit Magic "Energy Drain" that Lady Dryades had once used on me. Since I was now a half-spirit, I figured I could apply it through the Dodder.
"Energy Drain, activate!"
Through the Dodder, a golden source of vitality flowed into me. It was a success. So this was life energy. It was full of nutrients and incredibly delicious!
Oh, please excuse me. I had gone and not only absorbed the precious patient's nutrients but sucked away his life force as well. I had essentially taken an intravenous drip directly from the patient. Since this was my first time acting as Nurse Alraune, I hoped he would forgive me.
"Let go!" Marticolas shouted, slicing off the Dodder with his claws. However, the countless fragments of Dodder remaining in his tail continued to erode his interior.
"Do you intend to eat me from the inside...? I won't let you!"
Gallantly, the Beast King used both arms to rip out his own tail. The Dodder was thrown far away along with the limb. Then, with a grunt of exertion, a new scorpion tail grew back instantly.
What was that? He wasn't a lizard; he shouldn't be able to regenerate like that!
"It seems you tried to suck away my power, but how unfortunate for you."
No, it wasn't unfortunate at all. For some reason, by using Energy Drain, the red flower on my head began to activate.
It seemed that while I had absorbed Big Sister Dryades’s power to become a half-spirit, I hadn't released its full potential yet. By using Energy Drain, nutrients finally reached the flower on my head for the first time. I could feel my body evolving once more. I wondered if Big Sister Dryades felt like this when she swallowed the Seed of Evolution and became a Divine Tree.
Then, I remembered. I had eaten a branch from Big Sister Dryades, and that branch was a part of the Divine Tree itself. That meant I possessed the power of the Divine Tree within my body. As a half-spirit, I probably couldn't undergo a complete Divine Tree Transformation, but I might be able to handle a fraction of it.
While activating Plant Generation, I awakened the power of the Divine Tree sleeping deep within me.
And then, I understood. I had used Spirit Power and skills many times before, but I had never used their full extent. A limiter had been placed on my abilities until now. But now, saturated with the nutrients of stolen life energy, I felt the limiter break.
The Alraune was evolving.
Next time: Half-Spirit Alraune.