The world is monochrome.
This phenomenon hadn’t been happening lately, but I feel like it’s happening more since I grabbed the staff.
I get up with my full stomach, and head to the forest. I just sort of know where to go, the forest tells me if I go this way, a powerful enemy will be waiting.
It’s not hiding either, and we both walk towards each other.
“Brrr.”
Hinata is riding Fuuma, and both are following me like that’s natural.
I’m not even telling them to stay behind anymore. They follow me anyway, and if it’s an opponent I can’t beat, Totaro probably can’t either.
And so, I tell them to stay out of the fight.
Basically, if I go down, we all will. Suffice to say, I have no intention of letting that happen, but what I’m about to face isn’t soft enough that I can say I’ll definitely beat it. Surely.
I’ve been through this over and over, so I’m not nervous anymore, and I feel like I can be pretty relaxed as I fight.
Color returns to the world.
There’s an indescribable sadness to the forest painted with autumn colors. It’s like the summer full of vitality is gone, and life is getting weaker.
There’s no such thing in the dungeon, but I feel that way as someone who grew up in a country with four seasons.
A boulder comes flying, crushing trees, not caring at all about how I’m feeling.
I point the staff at the boulder, and control vines to stop it.
I don’t feel magic energy in the boulder, so I can tell it was thrown with brute strength. It must be stronger than me in terms of physical power, because it threw a boulder hard enough to crush trees.
I can see what threw it. It’s walking between the trees, and it’s slow, maybe because of its large body.
My impression of the monster is that it’s black and fat. Its two arms are strangely long and thick, and its legs are strangely small.
Its legs seem bent like a gorilla’s at a glance, but they’re not. Its legs are about as long as mine, it’s just that the body on top is about ten times as big.
Its face looks like a dragon’s, but its mouth isn’t protruding, and seems human-like. It has five horns on its head, and on its knees too.
Hm, not that scary.
It has a fiendish face, but I have nothing really to say about its fat body and moves.
It’s creepier and bigger than me or Totaro, but that’s all. I’ve fought bigger and faster than this fat monster.
Well, I can’t let my guard down, I think as I hold up my staff and fall.
What happened?
My confused brain works as fast as it can, I use Limit Break, and use my whole body to get up and jump to the side to get away.
The next moment, the fat monster falls where I was.
The ground is broken with a loud noise.
I get up and hold the spear, and fall again. I try to get up immediately, but this time I’m hit with a slash. I block with the staff, but the impact almost crushes me.
I clench my teeth and hold the attack of the thick sword.
That sword is stretching from its fat arm, and I can see it growing one from the other.
I sense danger and fall into the deep hole opened in the ground, as a flash that carves the ground passes above me.
That flash’s power scared me. It’s my first time feeling fear of this fat monster. But that’s all. And I have a question.
Why did I sense danger but didn’t feel anything else?
Normally I would observe it more, use Trace, learn its abilities, and look for a weak point.
So why?
I’m thinking that in the moment when I fall, but the next thing I do is grab the staff and use Earth Magic.
Parallel Thinking is telling me my thoughts and actions don’t match, but I still don’t stop using magic.
The staff has a few abilities.
The magic energy wave attacks the oni used. The pure destructive magic energy balls. The ability to control plants.
And I learned two more. One is to increase the power of magic I control. That’s simple, but very important. It can even boost magic circles.
The magic I’ve been using can go two or three steps further. It’s definitely useful.
I increase the range as much as possible, and raise the trees on the ground even higher towards the sky. There’s a very loud sound as a lot of dirt and the trees are raised, and the fat monster is also taken up.
I know something’s off, but it will end if the monster is down, so I move to keep attacking.
I kneed magic energy, and activate five magic circles with the staff.
I create rock spears like usual, and fire after taking aim at the rock monster.
Or at least I’m about to, when I notice I’m aiming at Fuuma.
Uooh!? I yell as I rush to change the trajectory.
It’s too late to cancel the magic, so that’s all I can do.
The magic misses Fuuma, the air shakes, trees go down, and the ground is destroyed as they move far away.
That magic was boosted by the staff. I used it, but it’s still scary.
Fuuma noticed I was targeting them, and used wind on itself to dodge before I changed the trajectory.
If it didn’t do that, even if it wouldn’t have hit directly, the shock wave would have pulverized them.
“Hihin!!”
Fuuma is complaining.
Hinata looks surprised, with eyes wide open. It probably doesn’t understand what happened.
Neither do I.
I was aiming at the fat monster in the sky. So why was I pointing at Fuuma to the side?
I have no idea what happened.
I look at the fat monster still up there, see the earth I made rise being encroached by something black, and feel the control of magic being taken from my hand.
I click my tongue, move the earth under my control, and send it to the fat monster to try to crush it. And the earth I’m supposedly controlling comes down.
I didn’t mess up, it still feels like I’m controlling it. But it’s coming down to crush me.
What!? What’s going on!?
I use the staff’s ability to control vegetation, and create tough trees around me to protect me.
Fuuma and Hinata already moved away, so they’re not in range of the earth falling.
I try to use my confused head to understand what’s happening, but my thoughts digress when I think about the fat monster. My thoughts are a mess and I can’t think of a plan.
That fat monster is among the weakest I’ve fought in this forest. I could just take it down without thinking of a plan, but my confusion means I can’t.
I’m not doing what I’m thinking, making me feel like I’ve gone crazy.
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