Chapter 24

“Boom! Crash!”

The first floor of Magung Academy’s gray forest.

A massive root, having descended from the dark clouds, began to burrow into the gray forest ground here and there.

“W-what is that?!”

Seron’s voice echoed in panic.

Others around me wore equally shocked expressions at the unexpectedly large scale of it all.

But that was just the beginning.

I dashed out, my eyes quietly fixed on the root’s center.

Squish!

Suddenly, the bud sprouting from the root began to open up.

Drip—drip—

A thick liquid flowed out between the opened buds.

There, an unsettling creature that resembled a bizarre mix of a human and an insect, made from gray tree bark, emerged.

The creature unfurled its insect wings from its back, beginning to dry them.

Once that thing takes off, things are going to get real messy.

That meant our task was set in stone.

“Everyone, spread out and chop that root to bits!”

“Are you crazy? You want us to cut that?!”

Seron gaped in horror at the roots embedded in the gray forest.

They were clearly absurdly thick.

No way we could cut them easily.

But we couldn’t let it be.

The essence of the gray forest—

The Forest Guardian absorbs all the energy from the gray forest.

A gray forest drained of its energy would literally transform into a lifeless gray wasteland.

That means every step we take would be a debuff zone, draining our stamina like there’s no tomorrow.

“What? You doubt yourself?”

Seron had been mumbling about going down to Magung since earlier.

When I provocatively asked her, she bit her lip angrily.

“Who’s scared?!”

With a loud shout, Seron charged like a madwoman at one of the roots.

Whoosh!

As she pulled out her axe, an ignition sound erupted, followed by a burst of flames.

For Seron, who had an advantage against roots, cutting them should be no problem.

“Aisha, you can handle this too, right?”

“Of course!”

Aisha had already drawn her great sword and was swinging it around.

Aisha, known as the Iron Queen of Greatswords.

With her strength, she could surely slice through roots.

Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as if she had been waiting for a day like this.

“Poara, what fire spirits can you summon?”

“I can summon up to intermediate spirits!”

“That’ll do. Don’t summon the Sovereign yet. There will be a time for that.”

“Yes!”

Poara responded enthusiastically and materialized a fire spirit.

A gigantic fire lizard that appeared behind Poara opened its mouth and breathed fire at the roots.

“Saint!”

“I’m ready.”

Meanwhile, Sir Miel finished her prayer and reached her hand up to the sky.

At that moment, a white light enveloped not just me but everyone around.

My body filled with vitality.

I felt lighter than ever.

It was the effect of the blessing granted by the Saint.

As expected, the stats soared significantly thanks to her.

“With this…”

I kicked off the ground and dashed towards the roots, soon reaching my target.

Up close, the roots were immense, almost resembling a baobab tree.

It was no wonder Seron looked horrified.

Originally—

This part would be relatively easy if Lucas were with me and my comrades.

They could easily remove the roots.

Especially since Lucas’ indomitable spirit was a huge weakness for the Forest Guardian.

But we couldn’t rely on what we could wish for.

Sometimes you just have to fight with what you have, even if it’s your gums and a stick.

As my hand raised, my fingers jutted out like blades.

Thanks to my steel skin, my body became a natural weapon.

Combined with the blessing from the Saint,

my physicality was better than most weapons right now.

“Even if it’s not on the level of a true aura…”

I could now slice with the sharpness of a famous sword.

Slice!

My hand plunged deep into the root, tearing it apart.

The strength of the root wasn’t much different from ordinary wood.

So, with my hands planted, I pulled up my other hand as well.

My hand began to wildly dig into the root.

Like a mole tunneling through the ground.

In this moment, I transformed into a digging machine, unearthing the roots.

As I dug indiscriminately, after a while, I spotted the outside world.

Still in that position, I turned and kept on digging through the roots.

Rip, rip!

Ultimately, a central part of the root connecting to the ground was completely hollowed out.

Debris from the torn roots scattered everywhere around me.

There was no time to catch my breath.

As soon as I confirmed the root was entirely torn out, I kicked off the ground and took off running again.

I then extended my hand towards the next root.

With all the strength I had, I started chopping through the roots.

Slice! Boom!

The sound of roots breaking echoed from afar.

Others were also lending their strength with the same sounds.

Certainly, we weren’t the main party.

But that didn’t change what we could do.

“If we can fend off the Forest Guardian, we’ll advance to the next phase of this scenario with the highest number of survivors possible.”

Even without the most valuable asset, the main character, Lucas.

We could bring more students to fill that gap.

“To turn a bad ending into a happy ending.”

We’d employ any means necessary.

“Senpai!”

Just as I severed another root, Aisha’s voice rang out.

A single root appeared right in front of Aisha as she sprinted!

No other roots were in sight.

This was the result of everyone desperately smashing the roots.

With my hand still embedded in a root, I began to run again.

My arms were already starting to feel the strain from all the digging, but I was still good to go.

Aisha began spinning her great sword, using her body as a pivot.

Once more, the cutting power returned to my steel skin.

Slice!

Aisha’s great sword and my hand struck the root simultaneously.

We both tore at the root wildly.

The remnants of the root were ripped apart without restraint, scattering everywhere around us.

With our blades weaving through the roots, after a considerable effort, Aisha and I leapt out simultaneously from between the roots.

Rip—rip—rip!

The remaining root couldn’t withstand the force and crumbled away.

Aisha and I rolled through the debris of the roots.

We sprinted out, avoiding the areas turned gray.

“Ugh, I think my arm’s gonna fall off!”

In the distance, I spotted Seron sprinting towards us, an axe resting on her shoulder.

Her red hair was covered in remnants of the roots.

It was proof that she had also been battling fiercely.

“I burned all the roots!”

Poara shouted, riding in on her fire lizard.

I quickly scanned the area.

Fortunately, the gray forest wasn’t entirely a gray zone.

That meant we had successfully halted the Forest Guardian’s arrival phase.

But the battle with the Forest Guardian had only just begun.

Grrrrrrrr!

The Forest Guardian began to rise as it severed the roots tethered to it.

It should have grown considerably larger by absorbing the essence of the gray forest, but…

Thanks to our quick actions in severing the roots, it hadn’t grown much.

That meant it was significantly weakened.

“Saint, could you pour some blessings onto Poara?”

“No problem.”

The Saint wasted no time in granting my request.

He began his prayer.

“Poara.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Prepare to unleash the Spirit Sovereign as soon as the Saint’s blessing hits you. Go all out.”

“Can I really do that?”

Poara looked startled, her face questioning whether she could utilize her trump card.

Of course, she could.

“Yeah, give it your strongest shot.”

After hearing this, Poara nodded firmly, her expression serious.

“What’s the plan?”

I replied to Seron while looking up at the Forest Guardian.

“Oh God, please, accept the prayer of Your little lamb.”

In the meantime, Sir Miel finished her prayer.

Though we were in Magung, her prayer reached the heavens.

At last, a fierce beam of light descended from the sky upon Poara.

All of Poara’s stats shot up explosively.

The Spirit Sovereign exists beneath the ranks of a deity.

That means Poara could receive divine protection like no one else.

As a result, the God’s blessing led Poara to realms unattainable in her current state.

From the intense concentration of power, Poara started to sweat profusely as she clasped her hands together.

At that moment, a spirit energy erupted from her body like crazy.

A halo began to form above Poara.

“Whoa!”

“This is amazing!”

Seron and Aisha were left in awe, unable to conceal their astonishment at the flow of power.

The wind began to whistle.

It was so strong we had to duck down just to stay steady.

Amidst the roaring breeze, the Spirit Great Forest’s master slowly lifted its head.

Sparks began to spread around the area.

A massive bird made of wind and sparks took flight, spreading its enormous wings towards the heavens.

Its wings were so grand they cast a shadow over the sky.

The Spirit Sovereign.

A being that had reached the maximum domain accessible to spirits screeched into the sky.

The sight was utterly overwhelming.

In terms of firepower, the Spirit Sovereign was comparable to a grand mage.

Before such immense power, everything felt futile.

I slowly grinned.

The first phase of the Forest Guardian was fraught with many headaches.

It was optimized to drain players of their strengths and items, so it was filled with annoying patterns.

That’s why I used Poara.

“Let’s push through the first phase with a killing blow.”

Hit it hard.

“Spirit Sovereign!”

With her cold sweat, Poara swallowed hard as her energy flowed away.

Then she pointed her hand at the Forest Guardian.

“Please!”

With Poara’s cry, the Spirit Sovereign flapped its wings.

In that moment, winds and lightning swirled wildly, flying towards the Forest Guardian.

Ka-pow-pow-pow-pow-pow!

As soon as it opened its eyes, the Forest Guardian screamed at the sight of the spiraling winds and lightning.

It tried to struggle for its life, but it was all in vain.

The swirling winds and lightning tore the Forest Guardian to shreds.

The shredded remnants of the Forest Guardian flew around us.

The huge roots that had invaded the gray forest were utterly beastly, now unrecognizable in form.

“Ugh, haah.”

Poara, who had exhausted all her power summoning the Spirit Sovereign, collapsed to the ground.

Well done.

Seron, staring blankly at the aftermath, asked,

“Do we even need to worry about this anymore?”

“Don’t worry.”

I answered Seron while adjusting my grip on my shield.

Whoosh!

At that moment, small fruit-like objects began raining down from the shattered roots.

Thud! Boom!

As the fallen fruits hit the ground, they cracked open like eggs.

From within, smaller Forest Guardians appeared, this time without wings, but still resembling what we’d seen earlier.

Seron looked at this in shock as she lowered her axe.

She understood that the fight was far from over.

“There’s still a lot to do.”

Having skipped the first phase with a big hit, it was time to break into the second phase.