Ch.260Monster Showdown

The cursed tree that had swallowed Kaiser moved slowly along with the pool of blood-red energy, flinging sticky magical power indiscriminately at anyone in sight.

No one was exempt—not outsiders like us, nor the Water King tribe villagers, not even members of the hardliner faction like Kaiser himself.

*Whoosh*

“AAAARGHHH!!”

Anyone struck by the extending red magical energy would scream horribly before immediately losing consciousness.

It didn’t matter if they covered themselves with long robes or wore thick armor, or even tried to block with shields—nothing helped.

Engaging in close combat with such an opponent was out of the question, even for a Seti, let alone the Water King tribe.

The only viable countermeasure was to maintain sufficient distance, prioritize evasion, and whittle down its health with ranged attacks.

“Stone Bullet!”

*Ratatang!*

*Tang!*

The problem was that our attacks weren’t inflicting any damage on the enemy.

While attacks could temporarily disperse the magical energy at the point of impact—making it possible to block the enemy’s attacks—any strikes aimed at the cursed tree’s main body or Kaiser’s face were simply absorbed and disappeared, like stones thrown into mud.

“That thing, doesn’t it look a bit bigger than before?”

“I was just thinking the same thing. Guess it wasn’t my imagination.”

“It seems to be continuously growing by drawing magical power from the totem. If Mina brings a countermeasure, we might have a chance, but…”

“The totem’s location is already submerged in that red pool. Approaching it is impossible.”

As Seti said, the cursed tree with its blood-red pool had already reached the totem shrine.

We had no choice but to retreat while fighting, as we needed to maintain enough distance to avoid its magical attacks.

Walking into that perilous pool of red magical energy—which could knock someone unconscious with just a touch at its edges, or perhaps even kill them—would be suicide.

Moreover, the stone totem, roughly the size of a delivery box, must weigh at least a hundred kilograms, making it impossible to simply pull out with ropes or nets.

After about 10 minutes of confronting the cursed tree without finding a suitable solution, Mina arrived riding Ancestor, accompanied by the heavy sound of hoofbeats shaking the ground.

*Neeeigh~!*

“Sorry for the wait! I’ve made magical shielding equipment!”

“You came faster than expected. Did Iris reach the carriage?”

“Yes, she’s guarding it now. The situation is… ugh, so the shrine has been taken over after all.”

“Yeah, our attacks aren’t working at all. And it’s getting bigger.”

While keeping my eyes on the cursed tree and focusing on evasion, I briefly explained the situation to Mina. She put on her Magiascope to examine the cursed tree, then grinned.

“Good, it’s just as Iris predicted.”

“Iris? What did she say?”

“She said this curse affects the soul rather than the physical body, so it probably won’t work on Ancestor. I need to attach the shielding device to the totem, so I’ll have Ancestor move that monster away first. Please, Ancestor!”

*Neeeeigh~!!*

As Mina jumped off his back, Ancestor transformed into his human form and approached the cursed tree guarding the shrine with large strides.

The cursed tree flung its sticky magical power at the giant approaching it, but as Mina had said, the magical attacks had no effect on Ancestor.

*CRASH!!*

Eventually, Ancestor walked into the blood-red pool and threw a heavy punch, causing the cursed tree to stagger backward with a sticky, heavy sound.

Whether it actually damaged the enemy was unclear, but it was definitely effective in pushing it back.

“Great job, Ancestor! Keep pushing!”

*CRASH! THUD! BOOM!*

Ancestor continued throwing punches to push back the cursed tree, even as he was doused with the red magical slime.

The scene resembled a monster showdown that allowed no human intervention.

Even the Water King tribe warriors who had returned after evacuating the children couldn’t bring themselves to shoot arrows or throw axes at the close-quarters battle between the cursed tree and the black giant.

“Stone Bullet, Break Enchant!”

Watching the powerful monster confrontation, Jessica suddenly cast an attribute enchantment spell on Ancestor’s gauntlets.

No matter how tremendous the force, Ancestor’s punches were still just physical attacks.

But with an attribute enchantment on those gauntlets, they could become excellent decisive weapons capable of damaging monsters.

*CRASH!*

*GROOOOAR~!!*

“It’s working!”

When the golden earth-attribute punch struck the cursed tree’s trunk, Kaiser let out his first scream as the cursed tree began to fall.

The root-like part submerged in the blood-red pool was completely uprooted.

Was the earth attribute its weakness, or was it the punch’s force multiplied several times by the added effect?

Determining that wasn’t particularly important right now.

*Creak…*

“Ooooh~”

As the taciturn black giant began to lift the entire cursed tree, exclamations of awe spontaneously escaped from the Water King tribe warriors watching.

True to their warrior tribe that worshipped strength, they seemed enthralled by Ancestor’s overwhelming power.

*Whoosh*

Finally, the cursed tree was airborne.

Thrown by Ancestor’s overwhelming 8-magic power, it flew through the air in a slow-motion parabola, dripping sticky magical energy.

*THOOM—-!*

A heavy collision sound.

In truth, the throwing attack probably didn’t damage the cursed tree.

Unlike the enchanted punch, the throw was merely a relocation rather than a physical attack.

But what mattered was the fact that its position had changed, and that the blood-red pool had moved along with the cursed tree.

And the relocation of the blood-red pool meant that the totem shrine was no longer within its range.

“Now, Mina!”

“I know!”

The totem shrine being outside the blood-red pool’s range meant, of course, that Mina could now attach and activate the magical shielding device on the totem.

The cursed tree, finally realizing what its relocation meant, desperately shot magical energy bursts at Mina without even managing to get up, but—

“Shockwave Splasher!”

“Diamond Dust!”

*Ratatatatang!*

*Swoosh!*

Thanks to the quick responses from me, Jessica, Phyllis, and Seti, who had been prepared for such attacks, not a single strand of magical energy reached Mina’s body.

“Magia Disturber, activate!”

*Vrrrrm-*

As the magical shielding device attached to the totem’s surface began operating, the sticky red magical energy forming the ancient tree shape quickly began to dry up.

And that meant Ancestor’s earth-enhanced punch power would be delivered directly without any buffer.

*CRACK!*

With a distinctly different impact sound, the cursed tree shattered like cookie crumbs.

It took only 5 minutes to turn the cursed tree into “what was once a cursed tree” and extract Kaiser.

~ ~ ~ Water King Tribe Village, Matriarch Marinda’s House ~ ~ ~

After defeating the cursed tree and sealing the totem, we were invited to Matriarch Marinda’s house to receive thanks and a lavish meal.

Most of the food on the table was made from ingredients we had brought from Westend Sevens, as the Water King tribe had suffered from poverty for a long time.

“I sincerely thank you, adventurers. Not only did you suppress the hardliner faction’s rebellion, but you also informed us about the curse on the totem, and even defeated Kaiser after he transformed into a monster…”

“We were lucky in some ways. More importantly, how are the people who were attacked by the monster?”

“They’re quite weakened, but there are no particular aftereffects or physical abnormalities. Once we can use the totem again, they should recover soon.”

“And Kaiser?”

“He survived as well. However, he’s lost the use of one eye and both arms, and his legs can barely walk, so his life as a warrior is over.”

“I see.”

I’m not sure whether Kaiser’s survival is a good thing or not, but that’s for the Water King tribe to judge, not us.

Right now, there’s a much more important issue to resolve.

“What will you do with the totem?”

“We have no choice but to destroy it. I was the one who decided to use that stone as totem material, so I will reveal the truth to everyone in the village and begin making a new totem.”

After thorough investigation, Jessica and Mina determined that the curse absorbed from the spirit had completely integrated with the totem’s functions over the years, making separation impossible.

If they were a tribe with good relations with the settlers, like the White Earth tribe or Silver Wolf tribe, they might have been able to temporarily rely on the settlers’ help, but that’s impossible right now, whatever the future might hold.

In the end, their only option is to completely destroy the cursed totem and install a new one to rebuild, but… the problem is that Marinda is the only shaman in this village who can create a totem.

“Is that realistically possible? I’ve heard that even for a healthy female therianthrope, creating a totem twice is extremely difficult…”

“This might sound harsh, but we also need to entrust you with the important role of improving relations with the settlers.”

“Regarding that, Kaiser made a plea. He asked to take responsibility for nearly bringing the tribe to ruin.”

“That means…”

“He’s offering his life as priority sacrifice for the totem creation. It’s a forbidden technique used only when an aging shaman must create a new totem.”

So that’s how it is.

Whether Kaiser’s plea truly stems from remorse for his actions, resignation over losing his life as a warrior, or an attempt to escape the criticism he would face—I cannot tell.

For now, I can only feel relieved that we resolved the situation with minimal casualties, and hope that the future of the Beckya Water King tribe and the settlers moves in a better direction.