733 – [Teeming Reincarnation] (side: Treant)

Aro-dono flies with all her might, taking us away from the Magic Beast King.

From what it said to us, it’s clear the it has noticed the threat posed by the [Death God Seeds]. Its priority should switch from invading the forest to killing us.

But, all it seems to be doing is standing in place and glaring at us.

“Is it not going to chase…?”

Aro-dono looks back wonderingly at the Magic Beast King. Then, it suddenly happens.

『[Teeming Reincarnation]!』

From the centre of the Magic Beast King’s huge body, a circle of pale light expands. The stone, soil, and trees that are touched by the light all lose their outline and transform into countless monsters.

“Maybe that’s the skill that made all the four-eyed monsters…”

Aro-dono mutters.

『Th-they look bigger than the ones in the forest…』

The monsters surrounding the Magic Beast King all have four-legs, and have a body span of around ten metres.

They have a lion-like bodies, with goat horns, a snake-like tail, and four large wings. Four eyes mark their faces, much like the Magic Beast King.

They’re clearly a step up from the four-eyed beasts we’ve fought so far. More than a hundred such monsters have been produced.

『You shall be hunted down by their strong flight ability. They are different from the small monsters I produced to ravage the forest. Each is upper A rank.』

『Each of them are upper A!? 』

In other words, there are over a hundred threats of the same rank as us.

But I am at maximum level, and Aro-dono is almost at maximum level. Monsters produced by skills like these are usually below the maximum level, so our stats should still be overall higher.

But, by simple calculation, their combined stats are still over fifty times ours, and that’s without considering the Magic Beast King itself.

『Go… behema chimaeras!』

The countless chimaeras leap into the sky and spread their wings, flying towards us as a vast flock of upper A rank monsters. They’re slowly but steadily catching up to us.

“Those chimaeras… They’re faster than us…!”

Following its chimaera army, the Magic Beast King begins to move towards us too.

The Magic Beast King is much faster than before, although it is still slower than the chimaeras. It’s trampling through the forest, each step sending quakes through the ground as it runs straight towards us. At the pace it’s going, it’ll catch up soon if we stop to fight the chimaeras.

“I knew running away wouldn’t be easy, but…”

Aro-dono bites her lip anxiously, glancing backwards. I follow her gaze and look back too.

Blotting out the sky with their wings is a giant flock of chimaeras. Behind them is the overwhelmingly massive Magic Beast King. It’s hard to believe that all set on hunting us down.

『I hadn’t thought it would be this bad. It looks like a scene out of a nightmare…』

『Even those who had divine skills could not pass God’s trial by challenging me. Die in regret for having angered me!』

The Magic Beast King’s [Telepathy] hits me.

“Treant-san… How long do you think until the [Death God Seeds] activate?”

Aro-dono asks me.

『I-it’s slower against targets with stronger magic than me… It’s also more effective when the opponent uses MP to fight, but since we’re just running away, it probably won’t use many skills… Also, it’s just a feeling, but even though it looks like a physical type, I don’t think its magic is very weak.』

I’m not feeling much feedback from the [Death God Seeds] as they shave away its MP. The Magic Beast King’s magic is probably several times stronger than mine. With that in mind, Aro-dono’s guess that its maximum MP is low might also be wrong.

“Bearing all that in mind, how long do you think?”

『I-if we’re lucky, maybe three hours… I can only imagine that [Teeming Reincarnation] skill used quite a lot of MP…』

“Three hours…”

Aro-dono repeats with a mutter.

That number is an optimistic estimate, and it could easily take twice as long. If I could check its status like master-dono, we could come up with a more definite strategy.

We’ve no choice but to stack assumptions on top of assumptions as we fight. I knew from the start that we would be no match for the Magic Beast King, but seeing the degree of the difference between us is still mentally draining. It’s not just my life, but also Aro-dono’s that depends on the effectiveness of the [Death God Seeds].

“…Let’s try our best. It’s bad, but I don’t think it’s impossible for us to win.”

『Y-yes! There’s nothing else for us to do but fight… I don’t plan on giving up now! 』

“Compared to waiting several days for dragon-god-sama to arrive, this is much better. After all, if we can keep running for three hours, it’ll die… Look, treant-san.”

Aro-dono points. I look at the massed chimaeras again.

“AAAA!”
“AAAAAAAh!”

Their shrieks overlap as they fly towards us. Behind them, the Magic Beast King’s four eyeballs glare at us with intense anger.

『Th-they’re desperate…』

Aro-dono nods.

“Yeah. At the start it completely ignored us, but now it’s desperately chasing us. I think it knows it’s cornered.”

『I see…』

“Our situation is bad. We’re fighting a Legendary monster, so it’s inevitable that we’d be in a pinch. But thanks to you, I think the one that is truly feeling cornered right now is the Magic Beast King.”

I catch my breath.

Certainly, for its rank, the Magic Beast King is fatally slow. Judging by its current movement speed, it’s only the same speed as us, or perhaps a little slower.

I suspect its stat distribution is tilted heavily towards toughness. That’s why it’s wrong to think of it as us has having been cornered by its the powerful monsters it has produced. Its own speed is so low that it has no choice but to rely on them to catch us. This situation has arisen precisely because it knew it would die to [Death God Seed] if it did nothing.