Ch37. Fight vs the Evil Cursed Tree 1

Prepared for the upcoming fight, Solution glanced at Rei who nodded, showing he was ready too. Turning back towards the Evil Cursed Tree with determination and caution gleaming in her eyes, Solution turned off [Perfect Unknowable], letting the Tree feel her presence and aura... causing all hell to break loose.

As if burned, the Evil Cursed Tree suddenly shook while loudly creaking, causing the ground around it to split in multiple places as black roots tore their way up. The black miasma-like mist around its crown expanded and became a lot denser, more menacing, and threatening. The crown shifted as if aiming the leaves at the calmly waiting Solution. Two branches as thick as regular tree trunks moved in a way that reminded Rei of arms. They creakily turned in an almost impossible way and bashing the ground with their ends branched in five directions that imitated a hand, causing a small earth-quake.

There was no roar. No loud battle cry. The agitated shuffling of the leaves and loud groaning of the tree was a good substitute, however. The more the tree shook in an attempt to seem dangerous, the more fierce winds were generated by its movement, causing the trees on the edge of the clearing to groan from exertion too as these winds slammed into them, ripping some of them out of the ground and throwing them back. The black grass on the patches of ground that wasn't affected by the roots coming out was fluttering like small blades growing out of the ground, showing it was not to be disregarded.

Ylven desperately pressed her back onto a tree, that lost all of its leaves when the fierce wind swept past it, hyperventilating in fright. She wasn't even able to stand, shaking like a leaf from the massive magical aura she was feeling from both the woman and the tree in front of her. The only reason why she was fine was the ring the man, Rei, lend her. If not for the magical shield that even now kept the winds at bay, her body would have been torn to shreds by the sheer wind pressure. That only made the man and the woman seem even more monstrous in Ylven's eyes when she saw them calmly, even boredly, stand in their places while the brutal winds gave in and parted upon impacting their unmovable bodies, barely ruffling their hair.

The Evil Cursed Tree attacked Solution, sending its long black vine-like roots at her like whips, whizzing through the air so fast it shifted the air currents. These roots had enough brute power behind them that despite lacking a cutting edge, they could bisect trees as easily as butter. Yet, Solution didn't move.

The roots were about to smash into the woman and Ylven could already picture how they would cleave through her, smearing the ground with her insides. What happened next, however, utterly baffled the dark elf, changing her perception of what was possible.

The Divine Magic Shield became slightly more tangible as the roots were about to impact Solution's body, stopping them in their tracks as if they were just a weak love tap. Only the massive shockwaves that ripped the ground around Solutions apart every time a root landed on the magic shield showcased how much raw power was behind these roots. Solution wasn't even pushed back by an inch, however, her magic shield completely mitigating any force aimed in her direction.

And then, the secondary ability of the Divine Magic Shield activated. The Force Redirection. The roots didn't even manage to retreat before the Divine Magic Shield redirected the absorbed force of their attack back at them, shredding them into mush, causing the Evil Cursed Tree to let out a loud groan that sounded somewhat pained.

Properly enraged and realizing its opponent would not go down easily, the Evil Cursed Tree started rampaging even more with a renewed fervor. More and more roots ripped their way out above the ground, snapping in Solution's direction while being continuously shredded to pieces. The crown of the Tree started shooting uncountable razor-sharp black leaves at Solution like a gatling gun, littering the area around Solution in the ones that missed her and stabbed themselves into the ground while a pile of them was rising all around her because of all the ones that got deflected by her magic shield.

A clanging symphony played through the clearing as more and more leaves got deflected, and Rei couldn't help being somewhat disappointed. Yes, the attacks of the Tree were numerous but they were far from dangerous for Solution. Rei doubted she even needed the Divine Magic Shield. Tanking it with her body would probably do well enough.

'This is no raid boss... just a slightly stronger abnormal mob.' Rei realized in disappointment, deciding to not use his heavy-hitting spells against it as it was unneeded.

It was a slightly relieving realization too. If [Ifrit's Grudge] was now capable of burning the entirety of the Nazarick's sixth floor, Rei wasn't really sure if he wanted to see a raid boss capable of spamming such spells. He wasn't sure the Great Forest of Tob wouldn't be burned to the ground if the Evil Cursed Tree was indeed a raid boss.

Deciding to take this as yet another opportunity to experiment, Rei started to cast weaker spells, checking out their effects.

The Evil Cursed Tree was suddenly hit with a ball of highly pressurized boiling water, breaking and burning its bark as the ball splashed all around the area of impact. Loudly groaning as it noticed the second spellcaster further away, the Tree shook its crown in agitation.

'So attacking breaks [Perfect Unknowable] like in the game, huh?' Rei mentally noted down while observing the damage his fifth-tier spell did when it had over 200 Magical Attack enhancing it.

Rei suddenly felt a fluctuation in the Tree's magic coming from its crown and sidestepped on instinct, evading a spear made of condensed miasma that shot towards him in retaliation for his earlier attack. Clearly, the Tree was intelligent enough to notice that Solution was not an optimal target and decided to focus on Rei.

This surprised Rei as he noted down yet another fact. This was reality, not a game, hence there was no aggro mechanics. Kinda obvious if one thought about it but... well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. The Tree still attacked Solution with its black leaf projectiles but the roots now shifted their trajectory, passing by Solution and aiming for Rei who started running around, effortlessly evading them while casting spells in return.

A fireball smashed into the Tree, Rei jumped over a vine aimed at his midsection. Earth spikes speared through the lower part of the tree bark, burying themselves in halfway through their length before the Tree flared its magical aura, shattering them before quickly regrowing its wounds and Rei had to teleport a few feet away as the Tree now started to imbue the black sharp leaves with its magical miasma, enhancing their effectiveness. Rei shot a large condensed wind blade at the Tree, cutting off one of its arm-like thick branches in one swoop, following with [Chain Dragon Lightning], burning the wound shut. This gave Rei a breather as the Tree was too hurt to continue its attacks towards him.

'So it can feel pain.' Rei nodded, finding out yet another new fact.

As Rei briefly pondered about his findings, suddenly a white beam of light cut through the remaining arm-like branch of the tree, creating a large crevice in the ground for miles while turning everything it touched to ash. Only the exceptional magical resistance of the high-level being saved the Evil Cursed Tree from the same fate.

Rei blinked and turned towards Solution, instantly cringing as he saw her expression. He couldn't help but wonder... 'Ah... is she pissed she was ignored?'