271 – Aro vs Grafant

Facing the incoming grafant, I kick off the ground and spread my wings as I leap into the air. Above the grafant, I flap my wings to shoot out four [Wind Slashes] aimed directly beneath me.

My targets are its hind legs and ass. If I can seal its rear legs, I can reduce the risk of being kicked to death where I can’t see them. By shaving away at its rear, it should be a little easier for them to inflict damage.

The first two shots scrape flesh out of its hind legs. Chunks of meat dance through the air and blood spurts from the wound. The grafant’s forelegs buckle as it compensates for the new imbalance.

“――――!”

Then before it has a chance to scream, the remaining two [Wind Slashes] scrape away skin from its ass. The look of rage its its eyes deepens as it glares at me in the sky.

“BuumoooOOOoooOH!!”

The grafant rages. Listening to its roar, I land on my forelegs a short distance away. My body weight sinks into the ground, raising a cloud of sand.

This much should be okay. In truth, I want to drop all four of its legs, but if I do that, there’s a good chance the experience points they can get would be reduced.

I’ve learned from training the ball rabbit, and from weakening the red ant nest with poison dangos. If it’s not a valid fight, then only a commensurate amount of experience will be awarded. I need to weaken it as close to the limit as possible.

I’ve reduced its mobility. I’ve also made a weakness in its blind spot. I’ve attracted its attention, and if it looks dangerous, I can intervene. With this much, even though they’re E- and D-rank, they should be able to safely take on the D-rank grafant.

“Bumoh! BumOOOH!”

Dragging its rear legs behind it, the grafant approaches me. As expected, its speed has dropped considerably. Behind it, Aro, the lesser treant, and the spiderlings prepare for battle.

“Earth, ma, gic… [Clay]”

Aro chants, and the ground swells to form a sharp pointed tip. The needle of earth pierces the grafant’s exposed flesh.

Frustrated by her attack, the grafant drags its lower half as it changes course. It turns to face Aro, who’s foremost of the group, and lowers its chin, aiming its vicious horns at her.

Just as I’m thinking I should help, I notice the ground deforming around her feet and stop moving my wings.

“Bumooh!”

Almost at the same time as its roar, Aro jumps backwards. She used [Clay] on the ground beneath her feet to propel herself through the air. Probably, she had already started preparing it before it turned to face her.

Rather than speed, she’s far more proficient in magic. Instead of moving herself, using magic to move certainly a lot faster.

She lands on a branch of the lesser treant behind her. Perhaps afraid of the grafant, the spiderlings scatter in every direction… They’re not monsters that I made so they’ve no reason to listen to me. Since they’re E-rank, it’s easy for them to evolve, so perhaps I should have found a more reasonable monster for them.

Failing to catch her, the grafant’s horn pierces deep into the ground. Its muscles become pronounced as its strains its forelegs.

Aro raises her hand to the its horn. Using the [Clay] skill, the ground deforms to cover its horn and hardens.

“Buh!?”

Without pause, she stretches the earth towards its mouth. I guess she plans on suffocating it to death. That’s a pretty brutal way to kill.

It raises its forelegs high into the air. Perhaps sensing danger, the lesser treant moves back, taking Aro with it. She stops manipulating the earth and raises a hand towards its face.

“…nd, magic, [Gale]”

A gust of wind rushes past its open eyelid and plunges into its eyeball. Zashuh! The blood vessels in its eye become bright red with congested blood. But its eye continues to glare at her without any lost function.

It slams its forelegs into the ground. The entire area shakes, and its huge body springs into the air. This is it, the [High Jump]. With its hind legs crushed, I thought it wasn’t going to be able to use it.

The lesser treant crawls with its roots, putting more distance between itself and the grafant. It creaks as it moves, its eye-like depressions fixed on the midair graftant.

“-th… magic, [Clay]”

As Aro chants, the vitality drains from her body. Her skin dries out, becoming more earth-like. It looks like she’s put all of her remaining MP into this [Clay].

Pushing through the undergrowth, an extra-large needle of earth materialises from the ground. It stretches out two metres in length, pointing towards the falling abdomen of the grafant. She must be planning on using the force of its fall to inflict damage.

That could work…is what I thought, but the grafant tilts its body forward, shifting its trajectory to the direction she’s retreating. Feeling that her expression is clouding over, I judge that I should lend a hand here.

A faint light shines from the grafant’s body as it hangs in the air for an second. The next instant, its huge body is wrapped in flames and it suddenly starts rocketing downwards.

This’ll be the skill that’s paired with [High Jump], [Meteor Dive]. It looks like it’s a skill to drop onto your opponent at high speed while burning.

I shoot two [Wind Slashes]. The blades of vacuum fly straight and penetrate its armour of flame, striking its head and body. The first shot crushes its face, causing its forward-leaning posture to crumble. The second [Wind Slash] gouges out flesh from its abdomen.

“BumooOOOOH!”

As it lands, the giant earth needle pierces its wounded belly. Unable to withstand the impact, the needle of earth crumbles away part way through. The shock of its landing rocks the surroundings.

Cheh… It’s got more power than I thought. If I’d taken that hit as an evil plague kid dragon, I’d be on the brink of death. But since it jumped onto a pillar of earth with the force of its own attack, it should’ve taken quite some damage.

“Bu…”

The grafant’s crawls on its stomach, but soon manages to climb back to its forelegs. In the centre of its abdomen, the tip of the giant [Clay] needle is embedded. Blood gushes out.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Species: Grafant

Condition: Enraged (major), bloodshed

Lv: 27/55

HP: 208/361

MP: 95/153

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

…I-it’s still got over half left. More than anything else, it’s a monster specialised in defence, so there’s no helping it.

Aro falls from the lesser treant’s branch, landing on her back. The lesser treant quickly picks her up and flees from the grafant. She’s at her limit for MP, then. It looked like that last [Clay] had a lot of magic power loaded into it, after all.

Should I finish it quickly…? I notice the spiderlings approaching the wound I opened in its rear with [Wind Slash].

“Bumoh! Bumooh!”

The spiderlings spew out thread and stick to the wound. It tries to shake them off, but its legs are in tatters from the impact of its fall, so it’s unable to put much strength into it. Even if it tries to attack, it can’t do anything since they’re at its rear.

I smash its forelegs with [Wind Slash]. With a thud, it collapses to its belly. At the same time, the spiderlings start biting at its wound.

“Bumooh! BumooOOOH!”

…I guess I’ll leave it for a while until its strength runs out. Poor thing, though.

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