Chapter 237

237 – The Forest’s Pruner

I run back the way I came . With how large my body is, I’m way too big to roll around without altering the local terrain . I can run fast enough, so it’s not so bad, but my body is itching to roll around . I miss the desert, where I could roll as much as I wanted .

One day, I’d like to compete with the black lizard in another [Rolling] competition . That girl, I wonder how she’s doing now…

As I draw closer to where I left the wight, I use [Presence Detection] . In that location, I feel an intense bloodlust, as well as the presences of three demon beasts . Probably, two of them correspond to the wight and treant . The third must be a stray .

They’re in battle . Shit, this is bad . No, I should be glad I was able to get back before it was too late . I’m almost there .

Going by the presences, one of the sides isn’t moving around much . It seems they’re moving in such away as to keep their opponent in check . Which means it must be around the same rank as them . It would be great if it’s a good level to for them to gain experience .

“Guuouh!”

With a roar, I jump towards the three presences, mowing down a tree as I land . The shock of my landing reverberates through the area .

As expected, I see the wight and treant . Fighting the two of them, there’s a yellow-ochre coloured giant crab . It’s a little smaller than a human .

The crab’s carapace is covered in barnacle-like things, making for a rather weird appearance . There’s an extreme mismatch in size between its left and right pincers .

Judging from their positions, the treant is acting as the front line, while the wight is providing covering fire from the rear . The treant has a few scratch wounds, but the wight is undamaged . Shocked by my brash entrance, the three of them are frozen in place .

I’ll take this opportunity to check its race . If it looks dangerous, I’ll move to kill it right away . Although the treant has been wounded, so looking at it the other way, its attack strength must be low enough for the treant to survive being hit several times . Besides, at this distance I can kill it in an instant . The danger to the wight or treant is minimal .

【[Giant Forest Crab]: D-rank monster . 】

【It uses its differently-sized pincers to unleash an irregular stream of attacks . 】

【Its carapace is parasitised by a colony of doranks, which, in exchange for sucking out magic power, fortify its carapace . 】

【There are some individuals on which the doranks have multiplied too freely, resulting in death through magic power exhaustion . 】

Doranks? Ah, those barnacle things . It doesn’t sound like it has any particularly dangerous traits, and its rank’s not all that high .

Seeing me, it must have decided it’s at a disadvantage, as it’s side-stepping away . I think it’s trying to run away . We can’t be having that . The wight is only level 1 now . She could die in a heartbeat . Sorry, but there’s no way I can let such juicy prey get away . I swiftly circle around to cut it off .

Seeing my movement, the wight nods her head with a sound . She seems to have understood my intent .

The giant forest crab turns on the spot, rotating 90 degrees .

“Gishaaaah!”

The treant swings a branch down at the crab . But, the crab cut the branch with its giant pincer, then darts past the treant towards the wight . It’ll be planning to escape by pushing past the wight, I suppose .

The wight raises her arm towards the oncoming crab . The wind stirs around her, creating a mini tornado . The tornado moves towards the crab, sending fallen leaves and bits of earth flying . By elimination, I guess this must be her [Gale] skill . It’s wind-manipulation magic, it seems .

The crab swings it’s giant pincer into the oncoming whirlwind . The whirlwind is violently snuffed out . Surprised by her attack being cancelled out so easily, the wight takes a step back .

I can’t tell from her expression, but judging by her movements, she wanted to end this fight in a hurry . To beat the D-rank giant forest crab as an E-rank herself, she’s under a lot of pressure .

Turning its body, the crab wards off the impact of the whirlwind without slowing down . It rotates its body again as it draws closer to the wight, swinging its giant pincer .

The wight jumps up, neatly landing on top of the pincer . Before the crab can shake her off, she jumps again . She’s nimble . She’s able to do stunts like that because she has no flesh to weigh her down I suppose .

Towards the wight still in midair, the crab swings with its smaller pincer . It suddenly pauses mid-swing . Falling for the feint, the wight raises her arm to guard, but the pincer darts below to pierce her abdomen . Compared to the large pincer, the smaller one can move much faster .

That’s enough . I flap my wings, stirring up the wind with magic . It’s the standard [Wind Slash], the skill I’m most comfortable with .

The blade of wind many times faster than the crab . The smaller pincer that it had extended is sent flying . The crab pushes its stump of an arm with towards the wight, but loses its balance and falls over . Upside down, the crab’s legs wriggle in the air . That’s the battle over .

Landing on her back, the wight falls into a backwards roll and springs back up . Upon seeing the defeated crab, she leans against a nearby tree and sink down .

She must be quite exhausted . With her MP total, a single use of magic is enough for her to run out .

“Gaah!”

With my partner’s cry, the treant is enveloped in light, its wounds gradually closing .

As for the wight… It doesn’t look like she’s injured . I move closer to check on her . Noticing my approach, she turns her head to look up at me with her empty eye sockets . It seems she’s feeling released from the mental strain of battle .

Well done, you did a good job holding out . The treant also protected the wight nicely . If the wight was by herself, she might have been killed .

Well then, we should finish off the giant forest crab . I look towards where I left it . But it’s not there any more .

Huh? Did it get away? But that sound I’m hearing is… I hear a crunching sound coming from beside me . Looking to the side, I see my partner eating the crab, shell and all . As she faces the sky to gulp it down, its giant pincer falls and sticks into the ground .

I-mean, I don’t particularly mind . But I do wish you’d talked to me first… If the treant or wight were to deal the finishing blow, they might have gained more experience points .

【14 experience points have been acquired . 】

【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 14 experience points have been acquired . 】

…Ah, it was in the range for me to acquire experience points . I’d thought D-rank would be too weak by now . It really is a tiny amount, but it’s better than nothing .

Though what I care more about now is the wight’s and treant’s statuses . They fought it to some extent, so they should have gained some experience points too .