Chapter 339

339 – Coordinated Attack

The chimera lich momentarily stops moving and turns its gaze to Aro. As expected, when Aro with her long range magic steps away from meguard, it’ll switch to prioritising her. So far it seems to be going according to our plan. The problem is what happens next.

The chimera lich leans forwards and flaps its one wing, then launches itself off the branch toward Aro. Probably because it wants to conserve MP, it doesn’t seem to want to use [Dark Sphere] for anyone other than me. It stretches out with its large claw.

Aro enlarges her left arm with [Flesh Transformation]. Perhaps struggling against the weight, her posture drops slightly. She’s made it even bigger than usual. She might be trying to prevent the damage from reaching her body, but… But even if she blocks, I worry that her HP will still be entirely shaved away…

D-does she really want to fight the chimera lich in close quarters? Even among others of the same rank, her attack and speed stats are low. Her HP is high, but that’s not enough to put up a proper fight.

I prepare a [Wind Slash]. Before the chimera lich can reach Aro, a thick fog spreads around her. [Fog of the Dead]… Although if it were to attack wildly, it would still pressure her a lot. With it the visibility reduced, it’s also harder for me to see if she needs saving.

“Shishishiih!”

From the silhouette of the chimera lich in the fog, I see it about to hit Aro. T-this is bad, with it that close there’s nothing she can do. I’m about to shoot my [Wind Slash] towards its back, but then notice that there’s something strange about Aro’s appearance and hold back just before firing.

Her head and enlarged arm splatter apart… No, that’s wrong! That was a dummy made with [Clay]. The reason she enlarged her arm was so that her silhouette would more recognisable and so easier to mistake.

“Shishishishi… Shi?”

The shattered Aro dummy transforms into countless arms which wrap around the chimera lich’s arm.

The fog fades. Aro appears, standing on a foothold made with [Clay] and reaching out towards its exposed brain. It seems her plan is to launch a point-blank magic attack at its weak spot.

“Shiiiiii…”

The chimera lich’s body trembles. Looking closely, I see that not just its arms, but also its body being held down by arms. They’re coming from the earth that scattered around from the giant earth needles she made. It looked like she was using [Clay] quite wastefully, but it seems she was actually strategically preparing to be able to use [Clay] freely up here. Even if it takes a lot of work to produce, it’s no problem if she can prepare it beforehand.

On top of the restraints of earthen arms, spider thread is wrapped around it several times. It seems the petit nightmare also took advantage of the fog to set up a trap.

“Shiaaaaah!”

But because of the difference in status, if the chimera lich struggles, the thread will loosen and the arms will break. But Aro can cast her magic faster – that should be the case, but the chimera lich’s abdomen splits open vertically, and countless dark red intestine-like things appear. It’s the chimera lich’s characteristic skill, [Tentacle]. Holding down just its body and arms wasn’t enough.

One of the tentacles stretches out towards Aro’s chest. A sudden circle of black light rapidly expands from the treant. In the blink of an eye, the light engulfs me and the chimera lich.

It’s one of the skills the treant gained from the fruit of wisdom, [Gravity]. I’ve seen it a number of times. It places a burden on everyone in range, pinning them down. With the treant’s magic power, it won’t do much to the chimera lich, but… Together with the arms of earth and the spider thread, it’s a three-layered suppression.

The chimera lich’s upper body is forced down by gravity. The trajectory of the tentacle headed for Aro is diverted and only brushes against her robe before stopping.

“Shi… Shi, shi…”

Nice! Nice assist, treant-san! That was without a doubt, nice!

“U, u…”

…Aro’s also is in the range and so is now lying face down, but anyway, nice work, treant-san!

“G-[Gale]!”

Aro once again reaches out towards its head. A mass of compressed wind slams into its exposed brain.

Repelled by the blast, its body shakes and sways oddly. The hit landed. That should have done good damage. Green blood dribbles from its head.

“A… Aaaah!”

But, as its defence stat is too high, it doesn’t look like that was enough to bring it down. Its four eyes glare at Aro. Just then, a loop of thread descends from above and catches its neck, then jerks up. Its head is raised.

“Ogaah!”

It pulls its head down, tearing the loop of thread. But a faint red line remains at the base of its throat.

“Shiiii… A, aah…”

It touches the base of its throat with a pained expression. H-how vicious, petit nightmare…

The treant stands in front of it as though it’s been waiting for this opportunity. Treant-san, your skills are a bit too weak, it might be better if you fall back…

The treant closes its eyes. A gentle light wraps around the chimera lich… Eh? [Rest]?

“AaaAAAAAAh! AAaaaaAh…”

Its expression contorts in extreme discomfort as it howls hoarsely. Then, as though the strength has faded from its body, it slumps to the ground and stops moving. It seems [Rest] dealt the killing blow while it was weakened.

T-treant-san… Well done knowing that healing magic would damage undead.

Aro looks at the triumphant treant in dissatisfaction. It averts its eyes from her a bit apologetically. T-treant-san, by any chance did you use [Rest] on Aro by mistake before…? N-no, there’s no need for me to pry…

【469 experience points have been acquired.】

【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 469 experience points have been acquired.】

Oops… I got about a quarter of the experience. I was able to protect them, so I guess it’s fine. Now then, how much have their levels gone up?