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Dappled rays of sunlight painted the edges of the overgrown churchyard. And the trees and weeds had desecrated the holy ground.

Seyna placed both her hands on her hips and leaned backward in a stretch.

It was high noon. The perfect time for a showdown.

「Midday already? Let's make this quick then. That meeting was a monumental waste of time.」

I held my wooden club close as Melyn reinforced hers. I had no idea what properties she'd imbued inside of her cudgel.

Infusion magic. One of Melyn's specialties as an ina caster. It essentially allows her to enchant her weapons and armor before combat.

Question was—what kind of spell did she enchant her cudgel with?

「I'm ready.」

The thief girl balanced her cudgel on a single finger with a determined look on her face.

We stood twenty paces away from the Viridescent Queen. She hadn't brought out a single weapon.

「Took you long enough! To make things easy for you, I'll let you make the first move. In fact... throughout this entire bout, I won't even move from this spot!」

「W-without any weapons..? And without moving..?」

「What happened to that confidence of yours, Lorenzo? I don't need much in a fight against a couple of wriggling worms. I need only to squash you beneath my boots.」

I swiveled my head towards Melyn in search of confirmation. She too was slightly intimidated by Seyna's bravado.

「Zozo... from what I've heard, she's an ani caster like Rysef. Pay close attention to her movements.」

「Ani huh? It'd be a huge pain if she knew conjuration magic. I don't think I could take on an army of familiars...」

With no more words left to exchange, I treaded carefully towards the woman.

The cracked brick tiling that marked the churchyard was littered with wild weeds, making it hard to traverse. To lose my footing mid-fight would've been costly.

Then...

Schlit!

Something grazed my cheek. Touching the spot, I was met with a slight sting.

My finger was colored with blood.

「ZOZO! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!」

「Huh..?」

Schlink! Schlink! Schlink!

The brick tiles in front of me turned upright and transformed into a sturdy wall, acting as a shield against the invisible flurry of attacks. Melyn had her hands pressed against the floor.

I was caught off guard by how rapidly everything unfolded.

「How annoying. You're an ina caster huh? While I don't hate the idea of educating our sorcerers, I loathe the fact you're so well-versed in stone magic.」

「I thought you said you'd let us make the first move!」

「Is walking not a move, boy?!」

Melyn ran up beside me and continued to reinforce the brick wall.

「Zozo! Her power is a real nasty one... we came in unprepared...」

「W-what the hell's her power?!」

From beneath my feet, I sensed subtle movement. I had a bad feeling about it.

「Ani isn't only restricted to humans and animals...」

「Wait don't tell me...」

Thwip!

Suddenly, I felt something grab my leg. Lo and behold, the weeds had wrapped themselves tightly around my foot.

The animated greenery had slipped through the cracks of the dilapidated churchyard flooring.

「She can control plants?!」

Instinctively I tried bashing the weeds with my cudgel, but alas, only my ankles suffered. Unlike humans, plants couldn't feel pain.

「Zozo take this!」

She passed me a sharpened wooden knife. With ease, I cut the tightened weeds that had restrained me.

The speed at which she modified the wooden cudgel was impressive. Wood-based magic was one of the thief girl's specialties.

Crack!

As Melyn and I were preoccupied with the plants harassing us from behind our makeshift barrier, the wall itself began to break down.

We were totally overrun by the wild vegetation.

「Dammit! There's nowhere to run!」

「Wait, Zozo! Hold still for a bit.」

「Now?!」

「Shut up, just do it.」

I complied with her demands as the horde of weeds grabbed onto us again. She got on her knees and closed her eyes as she placed her hands on my boots.

For some reason, my feet began warming up.

「That should do it!」

The plants beneath my boots began to wilt and discolor. Whatever Melyn did, it worked.

「A fire enchantment on the soles of your boots. Simple, but effective. Dries out those green buggers in seconds.」

「Good god, you're scary!」

Melyn flashed a cheeky grin before reverting her attention to the brick wall. Her manipulation magic mended the damage inflicted.

「It should hold a bit longer. Got any bright ideas?」

「Isn't this the perfect opportunity to use that special move you brag so much about?」

The thief girl swiftly peeped her head over the brick wall and returned to me. A literal blade of grass nearly missed her, slicing off a few strands of hair off her head.

「No good. She has no balls to kick.」

「THAT WAS YOUR ACE IN THE HOLE?!」

The sharpened plants had begun creeping around the crumbling wall. We didn't have much time left.

「Is fire, stone, and wood all you're good at creating you primeval brat?! Don't worry! If you just stand still and accept your fate, I'll make sure to aim for your jugular! Aren't I merciful, granting you a painless death?! Hahaha!」

There was no talking ourselves out of this. Seyna was hellbent on eviscerating us.

At that moment, Melyn also pressed her head and donned a pained expression. The situation was worsening every second we stayed on the battlefield.

「Melyn, what's wrong?」

「Agh... I-I overused my magic a bit—the headache is setting in.」

「Crap... how the hell are we supposed to defeat this overpowered garbage? Her powers are unbalanced beyond comprehension!」

「T-that shouldn't be true... at least according to the main laws of the world...」

「The what..?」

Crackle!

The killer plants managed to poke holes into the solid brick wall.

「Long story short, she's only able to control objects she can touch... My guess is, she's tapped into the grasses via the stolons and rhizomes. There's also a limit on how much she can use them...」

Crash!

The brick wall finally collapsed, leaving us without protection.

The array of plants in Seyna's vicinity had broken through and began scraping us up. In response, Melyn hastily constructed another brick wall.

It was smaller than the last.

Her left arm was stabbed by a stray blade of grass. I miraculously made it out with a few cuts.

「Melyn! You okay?!」

「B-barely... This wall's our final stopgap measure. We need to devise a counter-plan and fast...」

「You were talking about Seyna's weakness...」

「Ah... right... she shouldn't be able to produce plants of this strength and caliber without a proper energy source. That's one of the laws of this world. You can't create nor destroy energy.」

「An energy source?」

I looked to my feet and realized what she was implying.

「A groundwater system... paired with the sun above us would produce enough nutrients needed to buff up these destructive little bastards...」

「Haha, like it said in one of the books back home right Zozo?」

Melyn chortled only to pull back and clutch her injury. I feared she was at risk of bleeding out.

Using all of my brainpower, I tried conceiving a scheme that could turn the tide of battle. As Battleshift's top player, I was no stranger to thinking under pressure.

Eventually, it hit me.

「Melyn! I got it!」

「Y-you actually thought of a plan?!」

「First thing's first, remove all your armor.」

「H-huh..?」

The thief girl's cheeks reddened. She was visibly flustered.

「W-w-w-what?! N-now's not the time to fool around! We're seriously in a bad spot!」

「Naturally. I need your armor for the decoys we're making. Our woolen shirts and trousers should be enough for this operation.」

「I-I suppose in a life-and-death situation, biologically, it'd make sense you'd have such thoughts but—wait... decoy?」

Using my knowledge of Melyn's powers and the environment around us, I hatched the perfect plan to foil Seyna's endless barrage of attacks.

I gave the thief girl a certain set of instructions to follow—her skills were key in making this plan a success.

Subsequently, the brick wall had again weakened to its breaking point.

「By now, you should already be too weak to cast any spells. Buying time only delays the inevitable, brats. Mull over that in the afterlife!」

「I'll see you there, bitch!」

BOOM!!!

The ground beneath us exploded; chunks of dirt were launched into the air as a gust of steam came gushing out from within the ground.

A hail of loam scattered dirt all over the church grounds.

Thanks to Melyn's infusion magic, we managed to superheat the groundwater system and cause a steam explosion. The weeds were obliterated in the ensuing destruction.

The first step played out beautifully.

「What the hell?!」

Seyna jumped up and landed on a pile of soil that had formed.

A steam fog descended onto the devastated remnants of the churchyard. It created the ultimate smokescreen against the Viridescent Queen.

Since the area-visibility tanked, we could move around freely.

「Hiding yourselves in the mist huh? Not bad!」

Conditions for the second step were met.

We scuttled around Seyna, setting the foundations for the third step of our counterattack. All the while, she scanned the area from her dirt mound.

「Sure, I can't see you from afar, but as you approach me...」

The Viridescent Queen reached into her pockets and pulled out three small icepicks.

「I can make out your figures!」

Thip, thip, thip! Thud!

With great accuracy, she landed three shots on a nearby shadow.

「Hahaha! Too bad! One down, another brat to go! I suppose... wait a minute...」

Seyna squinted her eyes and became cognizant of the trick.

A wooden dummy. Made more believable by wearing my black leather regimentals. Melyn used her manipulation magic to reshape our cudgels into vaguely human mannequins.

And I mean vaguely.

「Damn you... Making a fool out of me!」

In her seething fury, she desperately scoured the foggy dirt wasteland for any signs of life.

Capitalizing on her short-temper, we took this chance to launch the fourth and final step of our plan.

「Over here, idiot!」

The Viridescent Queen pivoted her whole body towards the taunting voice of the thief girl. Another figure stood amidst the fog. This time, moving.

「I'll slice you up!」

Her yells of intense irritation were followed by the same burst of ice pick throws.

Thip, thip, thip! Thud!

The second dummy had fallen to the ground.

As expected, she stubbornly remained at her spot. Taking advantage of that, I jumped out from behind to land the first and final blow.

Wooden knife in my hand, I aimed for her neck. In the heat of the moment, I didn't hesitate to go in for the kill.

「Got you n—ack!」

My otherwise flawless plan had been thwarted effortlessly.

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