Flower Freak

Receiving the signal from the Demon King whose face was half-swollen, I created a dimensional portal behind the creature made of flowers, called the Flower Freak. As if it had eyes in the back of its head, the Flower Freak immediately noticed the dimensional portal that appeared silently behind it and showed a vigilant stance.

[Continuous Great Explosion―――!]

As the Demon King used magic, the area around the Flower Freak began to explode continuously, as if a missile bombardment had been unleashed. However, when the hazy smoke cleared, the Flower Freak, whose body’s flowers had all turned purple, absorbed the Demon King’s magic and used it against us.

Kwaaaang―――!

But since we already had information that the opponent could reflect magic, we used space magic to leave the area before the explosion could reach us. Moving behind the Flower Freak, we unleashed a coordinated attack as planned.

[Burning Skin―――!]

A heat haze rose around the Flower Freak, and its body was engulfed in invisible flames. However, the flowers that made up the Flower Freak did not wither or burn; instead, they only turned redder, as if adapting to the heat of the fire. Before it could reflect the magic, Ellie’s composite magic attacked the Flower Freak, and I seized the opportunity to stab a spear into the Flower Freak’s body.

Pook―――!

“…?”

The sensation felt through the spear shaft was strange. There was no resistance on the spearhead, as if I had stabbed into an empty tree trunk. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, the spear had pierced a gap between the flowers.

“Ah, it’s also good at dodging physical attacks due to the nature of its body.”

There wasn’t even time to argue about why he was telling me that now, as I barely dodged a fist coming at an incredible speed by bending over. Judging from the speed and the pressure I felt, my skull would have been completely shattered if I had been hit properly.

The Flower Freak swung its other arm to attack me, but the Demon King, who had deliberately used me as bait to create an opening, used magic continuously.

Toong-! Toong-! Toong-!

It wasn’t magic that directly damaged the Flower Freak. It only exploded before touching the Flower Freak’s body, creating a shockwave. But, as expected of a dungeon expert, the effect was certain. Since the magic didn’t touch the flowers, the Flower Freak, unable to absorb the magic, didn’t take damage, but its body was pushed back little by little due to the shockwave.

And the place where the Demon King intentionally pushed the Flower Freak was where the dimensional portal I had created earlier was located. After we moved to the Flower Freak, the coordinates had been modified to the highest position in advance, as I had requested.

“Ellie, push it in!”

“Okay!”

Koong-! Koong-! Koong-!

As the two mages created shockwaves in succession, the Flower Freak was gradually pushed back and eventually sucked into the dimensional portal. The Flower Freak, which had moved above our heads, struggled for a moment before regaining its balance and began to fall straight down towards us, extending both arms.

“Ross, get out of there with Ellie!”

I immediately used space magic to get out of the way with Ellie. The Demon King, left alone, used magic against the Flower Freak falling at a terrifying speed.

[Burning Skin―――!]

To use magic that doesn’t work again, what is he thinking? The Flower Freak’s body turned red from the Demon King’s magic, looking like a meteor entering the atmosphere.

“Dange, dangerous!”

Ellie shouted urgently at the sight of the Demon King not avoiding the Flower Freak falling above his head at all, but the Demon King only stared at the falling Flower Freak. Like a hunter waiting for the perfect moment.

And finally, the Demon King moved.

“Now.”

At the same time as the Demon King snapped his fingers, the fist of the Flower Freak, which had fallen at a terrifying speed, touched the Demon King’s crown. A loud noise erupted along with hazy smoke.

Kwaaaaaaang―――!

“Ross!!!”

Ellie urgently waved her staff to push away the smoke. But upon closer inspection, it wasn’t the hazy dust caused by the fall, but water vapor created when water evaporates.

In the place where the smoke was pushed away, there were only scattered flowers. No blood or flesh was visible. If a passerby saw this, they would be mistaken for a flower garden, as it was full of flowers.

“…Could he be dead?”

“No, I’m fine.”

My voice returned from somewhere. Ellie and I quickly looked around, but there was nothing visible around us. Then we noticed the road surface under our feet wriggling. The Demon King, who suddenly split the road surface like a mole and appeared, spread his arms towards us without even shaking off the dirt on his body.

“Surpri―”

Ttaak-!

Ellie’s staff struck the Demon King’s head. Judging from the sound, either the staff or the skull must have broken.

***

While moving with the Demon King’s guidance to find the moving door, which was the condition for going to the 8th floor, the Demon King, who was rubbing the bump on his head, opened his mouth slyly, as if his cooldown had returned.

“Do you understand how we caught the Flower Freak just now?”

“With trickery?”

“Ehehey, you can’t kill a monster on the 7th floor with simple trickery. It’s a guy who absorbs magic and ignores physical attacks! If it dies just by falling from the sky, how ashamed would the transcendents who have died to that guy be until now?”

Certainly, now that I heard it, that was true. At the desperate look in his eyes, as if he wanted me to ask the reason quickly like a puppy asking for a snack, I said as if I was really curious.

“No, then how did you do it?!”

“Hehe, you still don’t know. It’s actually difficult to know if you’re not a mage. The opponent is a creature with the property of absorbing and adapting to magic. First, I intentionally used the Burning Skin magic to adapt it to a body with fire resistance. Then, I created a fake clone using water and hid underground.”

“Clone?!”

“Yeah, it’s Tarantula’s specialty.”

I was just giving a rough reaction, but I was really surprised by the name that came out of the Demon King’s mouth. It was a name I was slowly forgetting… What kind of relationship did the Demon King have with Tarantula?

“You know Tarantula?”

“Of course. That person was also my teacher.”

“What?!”

This time, Ellie was also surprised and showed interest in our conversation. Although it wasn’t the topic we were talking about, the Demon King started to tell the story excitedly when Ellie showed interest.

“In the first place, he’s the Green Magic Tower Master, right? He’s also a mage, but he’s a unique mage who knows how to make a lot of money. His personality is quite bad, but his skills are certain. He saw my talent, which proudly won first place in the academy duel, and accepted me as his disciple.”

“He was a bad guy in this world, so Ross killed him. Even when he was a freshman.”

I thought that was a pretty lacking explanation, but I didn’t bother to argue.

“Oh, I also killed Tarantula before I went up to the second grade. Does this mean that Tarantula and we can’t mix after all?”

“…Didn’t you just say he was your teacher?”

I had no choice but to argue. The Demon King shrugged nonchalantly and looked at Ellie with an expression that said, “You understand, right?”

“It’s common for eccentric magic teachers to try to devour talented disciples.”

“Ah, then there’s no choice.”

I scratched my head at Ellie’s nodding and agreeing. It seems to be a topic that only mages can relate to. It seems that he tried to make the Demon King’s things his own, just like Tarantula did to Rotten, but failed and died.

“Anyway, back to the original story! The clone was created based on water. That’s why steam was created when it touched the Flower Freak, which used the Burning Skin magic.”

Now I could finally understand the reason why steam suddenly appeared. The Demon King continued.

“Because my clone was made with water magic, the Flower Freak, which touched the clone, adapted its body instantaneously. But Burning Skin is a damage-over-time skill. Because two magics were absorbed and adapted at once, cracks formed in the body’s balance. It’s like the water’s surface tension overlapping on the Burning Skin. In the end, the Flower Freak couldn’t absorb the damage from the fall.”

So this is why he’s a dungeon expert. The Demon King had meticulously planned the Flower Freak’s hunt from the beginning. When I sincerely admired him, the Demon King gave an awkward smile and rubbed under his nose.

“Then how did you catch it when you didn’t have space magic?”

At Ellie’s question, the Demon King nodded as if it was obvious.

“You just have to shove in various magics until it can’t absorb any more. If you absorb about 5,000 magics, its body eventually can’t withstand it and explodes, like its stomach bursting.”

“…You know that many magics?”

When Ellie asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously, the Demon King snorted in disbelief.

“Did you forget that one magic can be derived into hundreds depending on how it’s used? Even Burning Skin has dozens of different variations. You, whose specialty is composite magic, forgot even that― Eup!”

I quickly stepped in for my friend who had fought hard, before she could get hit by Ellie. But for some reason, the Demon King, whose mouth was blocked by me, frowned instead.

This bastard… Does he actually like getting hit by Ellie?

When I released the hand that was blocking his mouth, the Demon King, who roughly wiped his lips while spitting out saliva as if he had touched something dirty, tried to say something but suddenly raised his finger and pointed at something.

“It’s behind you!”

A raccoon with a small bag on its back was walking slowly on the road we had passed, and when it saw the Demon King pointing at it with his finger, it quickly turned around and started running.

“It’s running away! Catch it!!!”