Not long after I ran toward the screams and billowing dust, I reached the source.
The battle must have already begun. Dull impacts rang out one after another, loud enough that anyone who was not deaf could tell something was happening deeper in the alley.
Thud!
Along with a heavy impact, something brown came flying through the settling dust. Fortunately, I had sharpened my senses in preparation for a fight, so I caught the blow without much trouble... or tried to, anyway. The impact was stronger than expected, forcing me to stagger back.
"Ow, ow. I got startled by someone showing up and took a hit."
"Are you okay, Tiona?"
"Huh? Oh, it was you, mister?"
"Yeah, it's me. Hup!"
I scooped Tiona up in a casual princess carry, then leaped over the attack of the new monster trying to swat us.
Tione must have been fighting this thing together with Tiona before I arrived, yet neither of them had a noticeable injury.
...Just how tough is this thing? It feels like my attacks will not work either.
For now...
"I'm throwing you, Tiona!"
"Huh?"
"Hraaah!"
I hurled Tiona, whom I had been holding in my arms, at the thing like I was putting the shot!
"Waaaaah! Miiiiiister!"
"...Farewell, Tiona. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten!"
Somehow, even while flying through the air, she managed to strike a pose and flew in like Superman—
Bam!
She smacked the back of its head squarely with both hands... Was that its head? It was the opposite side of the flower bud, at least.
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!]
Looks like that hurt quite a bit, judging by how hard it was screaming.
"Nice shot!"
"Just you wait!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Dodging the endlessly swinging vines, I drove my full strength into its outer shell with every strike.
The instant I ducked, I locked my eyes on the vine whistling past me, stepped forward, and threw a straight punch.
I sprinted at full speed toward the base of the thing's vine, where it connected to the ground, and hit it with a shoulder tackle.
I dodged a vine that came crashing down from above at a speed I could not ignore, retreating again in the process. Then I followed up with an elbow drop.
But it took no damage. At most, the spots I hit had caved in so slightly they were barely visible.
Meanwhile, it looked completely unharmed, while my hands, shoulder, and elbow—each of which had struck it with full force—were scraped open and bleeding. And that was with my durability enhancement.
Before I could lament such unfairness, enormous vines began lashing out nonstop in every direction.
I dodged the incoming vines and slammed my fist into it again, but it still had no noticeable effect.
"Fuck, why is this thing so damn hard?!"
"That's what I've been saying!"
"What? When did you get here, mister?!"
"A while ago!"
As I narrowly evaded the violently swinging green vines, I even managed to confirm which side was which with the Hiryute sisters.
...As expected, Level 5 combat-class adventurers really are different. I was barely dodging every attack, while those two were avoiding them with plenty of room to spare.
"A ray of liberated light, a bowshaft made from sacred wood, thou art a peerless archer."
As I kept drawing the thing's aggro with attacks that did not work, an incantation sounded from behind me. That elf was named Lefiya Viridis, right?
"Mister, get back! It's area-of-effect magic!"
...Right, I'm getting back. Toward where that elf is!
"Take aim, fairy archer; pierce through, arrow that never misses!"
Magic power converged as a scarlet magic circle unfolded—
The flower-headed thing spun its head toward the elf at a speed fast enough to make the wind howl.
At the same time, I arrived in front of Lefiya Viridis—
"—Huh?"
I heard the dumbfounded elf's voice.
Squelch.
Overlapping with it came the crisp sound of flesh being pierced.
With a crunch, searing pain spread from my abdomen. Ignoring the agony that seemed to seize my entire body, I lowered my head to look at my stomach in an effort to keep myself conscious. One of its roots had been driven into my unprotected abdomen.
Something wet was slowly running down my back, so it must have pierced through to some extent.
I tried distracting myself with pointless thoughts to escape the pain, but it did not fade in the slightest.
"Gghhh..."
"Mister!"
I must have looked seriously bad, because the Hiryute sisters both screamed.
Holding the root sprouting from my abdomen with one hand to keep it from going any deeper, I turned around. The elf bitch could not do anything. She was just sitting on the ground, trembling.
Ha... So this was that [What do I do? What do I do?] thing I had heard so much about in my previous life...
Just as I was about to shout at her to do something, anything, the tentacle-head's flower bud bloomed fully.
『Oooooooooh!』
A monstrous shriek like a broken bell being struck by a ruined hammer rang out and echoed in every direction.
At the same time, its root pulled out of my stomach, seeming as though it would burrow back into the ground...
『Oooooooh!』
Using the many tentacles on its vine and the roots emerging from the floor, it began crawling toward Lefiya behind me and me.
Grrrraaaak!
The sound of the ground scraping beneath its massive body assaulted my ears.
The Hiryute sisters seemed to be shouting something as they tried to come over, but they were swallowed up by the mass of tentacles rising all around them, and soon disappeared from sight.
...More importantly, what the hell was this elf doing?
I turned and reached out to grab the shoulder of Lefiya Viridis, who seemed too dazed to think—
"Eek! D-don't touch me!!"
"..."
The elf who had been sitting on the ground shivering and unable to do anything until now was gone. In her place was an elf twisting her body away with all her strength.
Ha... I was hit with a surge of self-loathing. Did I save this bitch just to be treated like this?
When I turned back around, the flower-head was already right in front of me.
I raised my head and peered inside. A vividly colored magic stone sat deep within its mouth.
...Ah, I really do not want to use this. But do I have a choice? I only just made it, and I am already using it.
Maybe because I had lost so much blood, my head was spinning. It should be about time for someone to come. Who?
Ignoring the cry in my head insisting that someone was coming, I tightly gripped the rod hanging at my waist.
Just as the drooling head lunged down at me, I was about to activate it—
『Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?』
A golden flash streaked through my field of vision. The severed flower-head crashed into one corner of a building, while the headless vine writhed convulsively before falling backward.
"Hey, Ais... You're late. I almost missed my date with the potato boy, you know?"
"Sorry I was late, mister. Does it hurt... a lot?"
"It's a little rough... I'm okay, so stop looking like you're about to cry."
With one hand plugging the hole in my stomach, I waved with the other at Ais, who had thankfully arrived in time.
But apparently the others were too pressed for time to let us have a happy reunion.
The ground started shaking, and [four] flower-heads rose up... What?
"Fuck, why are there four of them?"
"Mister, are you okay?!"
"Yeah, I'm not dead yet. Anyway, let's stop those things first."
"Stay still, mister! You have a hole in your stomach, and you do not even have a weapon! What do you think you can do?!"
"Then it's fine if I have a weapon, right?"
"What?"
Ha... This is expensive. But I have no choice.
"[Flying Thunder God Technique]."
As I poured magic power into the [Three-Pronged Kunai] I had been gripping and softly spoke the activation phrase, a flash of light appeared, and in its place stood an enormous stone sword.
Calling it a sword felt strange. It was a huge, single-edged blade with an appearance less like it had been sharpened and more like two stones had been smashed together to forcibly create an edge—a crude chipped-stone tool.
It was enormous, larger even than Smith, who stood over 180 centimeters tall.
At this point, it looked closer to an axe than a sword.
"...Huh?"
"Like you said, I've got a hole in my gut, so I'll stay here..."
I glanced behind me, where that elf bitch was still too out of it to think straight.
"I'll hold them off until she gets herself together and can use magic. Got it?"
"Oka—"
『Screeeeeeeech!』
Without even getting to form a plan, I faced the ugly flower-heads charging toward us.
"Come on, time to pick some flowers."