Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely

Chapter 81: The Day the Elder Treants Disappeared

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As I dove straight into the pack of Elder Treants, countless branches began attacking me from all directions.

 

They were dark branches that were splintered on the sides and sharply pointed at the end.

 

They were not ordinary plants.
These Demonic branches could easily pierce full-plate armor like paper.

 

I counted 27.

 

With Yuu’s support, my senses were sharpened to the point where I could identify all the attacks including the ones from behind.

 

Henry: “HAH!!” {sfx exhale}

 

I swing the Nyoiten Spear in a large arc twice.

 

I break off half the attacks with that, and the other branches were interrupted or blocked by the broken branches and veered off course.

 

[＄＄＄％”＃＃！＃＃]

 

On what looks to be the Elder Treant’s face, air blows through one of the holes, and a cursed incantation-like words echo into the air.

 

The sound may have just been a signal for the Spell to be released.
From below, stone spears that absorbed the poison from the Corrupted Poison Forest Territory erupted from the ground.

 

The spikes spreads quickly towards where I stood.

 

Henry: “That’s it?!”

 

I swing my spear at the ground, and I cut a deep gash into the earth that cuts off the Elder Treant’s magic and stops the Spell from activating further.

 

As I break away the remaining stone spears, I approach one of the Demonic Trees.
I ignore the branches that stretch toward me in vain as I accelerate faster than it can move.

 

I’m in range now.

 

I don’t need to put in too much strength.
I simply run my Magic Power through my spear and thrust forward.

 

……..just with that, the impact is twice my normal attack, and wind erupts in all directions as a hole about 1 meter (～3 ft) wide opens up in the center of the Elder Treant’s body.

 

The hole splits the Elder Treant in half horizontally, and the top portion of its body crashes to the ground.

 

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Henry: “Good.” I test my strength by gripping my fists two or three times.

 

…….it’s been a while since Yuu cast her Shimmering Rally on me, but it’s working like a charm as usual.

 

Yuu: “Hey, Henry! If you’re done testing your movements, help me over here!!”

 

She’s a little farther behind me, but Yuu makes a call for help as several Treants are attacking her.
She would be able to easily dispatch Mid-Tier packs with ease, but dealing with several Upper-Tier, Mid-Class Demonic Creatures would be difficult.

 

She’s blocking their attacks with her Star of Destruction reshaped as a short spear, but she won’t last for long.

 

Henry: “My bad!” The Elder Treants were all conveniently grouped into one place, so I threw my Nyoiten Spear, split it into clones, and destroyed them in one go.

 

The remaining Elder Treants attack me while I call my spear back, but I dodge all their attacks.

 

Henry: “Alright, let’s do this.” I got a sense of my body’s movements, and I decided to go into full attack mode.

 

In order to do so, I changed the Nyoiten Spear’s shape.

 

I change the blade to the length of a one-handed sword, but keep the handle long.
It’s not a form I like to use, but I shape it into a Glaive.
For dishing out powerful attacks, this is the best weapon for me.

 

I cast three [Strengthen] {Hazac} and two [Fire] {Ignis} and with a 5-layered enhancement, I run into the fray of battle.

 

Henry: “Fuh!!” {sfx exhale}

 

I swipe as I run and cut off two Elder Treants from their roots.

 

Henry: “Hah!” {sfx exhale}

 

I continue my attacks with a second swipe and take down a total of five.

 

Henry: “ORAAGH!”

 

I jump high into the air towards what I believe is the leader, an Elder Treant that stood 10 meters (～30 ft) tall and split it in half vertically with a single swing.

 

And after that…..

 

Henry: “……fwew.”

 

I take a moment to catch up my breath.

 

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Within a few minutes, the 40 or so Elder Treants in the area were completely wiped out.

 

I change the Nyoiten Spear into a short spear and survey the area.

 

The Elder Treants’ bodies transform into Corrupted Magic and dissolve into the air.
Looks like I took down all of them.

 

If it was just me, these branches and Spells would be a pretty big threat, and there’s no way I could take them out so fast.
I relied mostly on my speed and power and fought in an unrefined manner, but even then, I was able to take them out with such rough tactics with Yuu’s support.

 

Yuu: “Good work, Henry.” Henry: “Yeah, you too.
I used up a bit of Magic Power, but are you still able to keep going?” Yuu: “Who do you think you’re talking to? I still have plenty of reserves.” Yuu has twice the Magic Power reserves than I do.
With the Shimmering Rally casted onto me, she can share her Magic Power reserves with me as I fight.

 

Because of that, I was able to use my 5-fold Magecraft Spell Enhancements and hold it as I fought.

 

Yuu: “But could you stop wasting Magic Power? You didn’t need a 5-fold Spell for Elder Treants.”

 

Henry: “True.
From that fight just now, I could do it without the [Strengthen] {Hazac}.
But I wanted to try anyway because if I don’t use my Magecraft, I would get rusty, and it was a great opportunity.”

 

Yuu: “Don’t use up people’s Magic Reserves just for that reason or out of simple convenience.”

 

No, no.
It’s actually really important.
The Kroseid Style Magecraft exponentially increases in difficulty with each additional Spell you combine, and at my current Skill Level, I can barely use 5.
If I don’t use it every once in a while, then I would find myself unable to use it at all one of these days……it’s a real possibility for me.

 

I know I retired to Flowtier, so if you ask me if I really need to retain such high amounts of skill, I would hesitate on answering that but….

 

Well, um, oh yeah! Remember that Highest-Tier that popped up….? For that…..

 

Yuu: “Oh, everyone’s coming this way.” I turn around to look with Yuu’s comment, and with Ageha leading the group, everyone is heading this way after seeing that the battle was over.

 

Ageha: “Heーy, good job taking down the Treants.”

 

Henry: “Yeah, Ageha.
How were the Demonic Creatures on your end?”

Ageha: “The Demonic Apes came at us again, but it was a small pack so we took them out almost instantly.”

 

Again, huh.
We’ve defeated quite a bit of Demonic Apes.
They actually drop a hide that is a good material for leather armor, so it might be worth collecting them for Teo.
I’ll have to discuss it with the group later.

 

Ferris: “But Mr.
Henry.
Barely any time has passed since you headed out for the Elder Treants with Miss Eustacia, and you took out so many already.” Henry: “Elder Treants by nature do not move around soー you don’t have to chase them down.
That saves a lot of time and hassle.” But because they root deeply into the ground, they are experts at creating Corrupted Magic Territories.

 

And as they expand their Corrupted Territory, new Elder Treants would spawn and……in that sequence, they don’t have to relocate and simply multiply to expand their territories.

 

Cyril: “So all that bright shininess isn’t just for show.”

 

Henry: “Cyril, who do you think you’re talking to….?” Sheesh.

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Henry: “Ohー yeah, Teo.
Could you map this area? We’ll need to ask for it to be purified later.”

 

Teo: “That’s true.
I’ll take care of it.” Teo takes out a notepad from her pack, and starts taking notes of this area.

 

Yes, the Elder Treants are gone, but the Corrupted Territory won’t return to normal on its own.
If left alone, Elder Treants will spawn here again, and we’re back to square one.

 

So we’ll have to ask one of the Purify Magecrafters to come here and clear out the Corrupted Magic in the area.

 

And with that, you can finally mark a Corrupted Territory as wiped out.
Back in the old days, when Purification Spells were still in development, it was said that people inherently held cleansing power within themselves, so Adventurers would camp out in Corrupted Territories for several days to cleanse the area.

 

Ageha: “Heーy, Henry, you jerk.
Don’t be bossing around my cousin like that.”

 

Henry: “I’m not.
She’s part of my Party, so she’s helping us fulfill a role we need.
And Ageha, if you have time to gripe, go search for the next Elder Treant territory.”

 

Ageha: “Fine, fine.
I’ll go.”

 

I asked Ageha, and she went out to search for more territories.
She was more agile and adept at moving around on top of the trees than the Demonic Apes and disappeared in an instant.

 

…….she was probably bored and decided to pick a fight while Teo finished mapping out the area.
She really doesn’t like to just sit around and do nothing.

 

And after a while…

 

Teo: “I’ve finished mapping out the area.”

 

Ageha: “I’m back!”

 

Teo finished her map, and Ageha came back almost at the same time.

 

Henry: “Thanks, Teo.
Ageha, how was your search?” Ageha: “You’re not going to thank me?!” Henry: “Right, right.
Thank you.
You’re a huge help.
And?” Ageha: “There is one that way and that way.
Both would only take 5 seconds to reach by foot.”

 

Don’t calculate distance with your speed.
So……I guess about 10 minutes to walk to each location?

 

Ageha: “And there are two in that direction, and a little ways away, there’s one with about 100 of them, and the last one……..oh, here, Teo, can I borrow that.” ……Ageha is most adept at assassinations, but she’s also a monster when it comes to scouting.

 

In this short amount of time, she scouted at least a third of this forest.
On Teo’s map, she starts marking the territories she found accordingly.

 

I look at the map and memorize their locations.

 

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Henry: “If we know this much, then Yuu and I will go on our own and take care of them.
We can regroup afterwards.”

 

Ageha: “Sounds good.
Alright, you guysー there was a huge pack of Demonic Apes that way, so we’ll head over there!”

 

We split the group into two and part ways.

 

We didn’t decide on a place or time to regroup…..but we should be fine.

 

Henry: “Jend, take the lead on this one.
…..oh, and order around Ageha however you like.”

 

Jend: “Ahー yeah, I don’t know about Miss Ageha, but leave the rest to me.” Right now, I’m the Party’s leader, and Jend is the sub-leader.

 

If I’m not present, Jend is supposed to take charge.

 

Henry: “Cyril, do you best.” Cyril: “Yes, leave it all to Miss Cyril! Good luck, Henry!” Henry: “Thanks.” Cyril throws her fist in the air to cheer me on, and I respond with a thanks.

 

Cyril: “Oh, and Miss Eustacia, good luck to you too.
Please take care of Henry for us.” Yuu: “Yes, I will.
Thank you so much.” And with a “Alrightー Here we go you guysー” Ageha raises her voice and Cyril runs over to that group.

 

And as I’m turning around to head to our next destination….

 

Yuu: “That Miss Cyril, she’s adorable.
She seems to like you a lot, Henry.” Henry: “Yeah? Well, maybe.”

 

I would never tell her directly though.
She would get all uppity from the compliment.

 

Yuu: “And Teo is cute too, and Miss Ferris is also beautiful.” Henry: “……what are you getting at?” Yuu: “I told you this in the letter, but don’t overstep boundaries and get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of.” RUDE.
Like I would!

 

Henry: “Like you’re one to say.
As far as looks go, that’s the only thing going for you, and I was able to keep adventuring with you for a while without incident.”

 

Yuu: “‘Only’ is not true, but it doesn’t feel bad to be complimented by you.”

Yuu chuckles happily to herself.
She seems to be having a lot of fun.

 

Henry: “Whatever, c’mon.
Let’s go already.
I want to crush all the spots Ageha looked up before the sun goes down.” Yuu: “Yes, let’s.” And with that Yuu and I headed to each Elder Treants’ territories one by one.

 

And that day…

 

In this area, the Fallwood Forest is considered one of the top most dangerous areas, and half of it was successfully conquered.

 

The next day, the Purify Magecrafters were dragging their exhausted feet across the forest to follow up with our efforts.

 

………..oh……..we may have overdone it a little bit.