The older Dryad sister had cast her spell.
So she still had another trump card up her sleeve.

The surrounding forest began to turn a deep purple.
Once lush and vividly green, the forest was now a shadow of its former self.

The older Dryad sister spoke to us in a taunting voice.


“As long as living creatures need to breathe to survive, there’s no escaping my Todesgiftwald.”


As if responding to her words, a blackish-purple miasma poured out from the forest.


One after another, insects rained down from the nearby trees.
Just before they struck the ground, their bodies crumbled into dust and disappeared.

It didn’t take a genius to realize the miasma’s poison had killed them.
It looked like it was destroying their bodies on a cellular level. This poison was more powerful than anything I had ever seen before.



The miasma drifted in the direction of a group of baby Alraunes who were close to the forest emitting the poison.
As it engulfed them, the baby Alraunes twisted in pain and cried out.


“Something… strange is… getting inside me…!”

“S-Stop…”

“Mama… I’m sorry…”


The heads of the baby Alraunes, numbering roughly ten, abruptly drooped as though they had lost consciousness.
Then they stopped moving entirely.
All of their eyes were closed, their bodies eerily still.


“Everyone… what’s wrong!?”


There was no response to my voice.
Don’t tell me the miasma just killed them?


As I thought that, I noticed that the baby Alraunes’ red petals were turning a deep purple.
And it wasn’t only their flowers. Their leaves, bulbs, and even their pistils, which were their human bodies, had all been stained the same color.

The next moment, a puff of deadly miasma gushed out from the baby Alraunes.
The miasma had spread even further.


“My Todesgiftwald turns animals to dust and kills them, but plants are different. The miasma turns them into masses of toxins that release even more miasma for me. In other words, those Alraunes of yours are already dead.”


N-No way.
My children… they’re dead…


Animals breathe through their lungs, of course, but plants breathe through the stomata in their leaves too.
So it seems to work on me, a plant monster, as well.


As the miasma continued to spread and envelope the forest, more and more plants were poisoned, expanding the poisonous forest wherever it reached.
Through this method, the older Dryad sister’s dark spirit magic gradually expanded its area of effect.


Because I had fired my squirting cucumber machine guns so many times, more than fifty baby Alraunes, my clones, had been born here.

When I stop and think about it, having this many people with the exact same face as me is pretty strange.
But maybe because I’ve been a plant for so long now, I was able to accept this bizarre situation without much trouble.

And that was why seeing those baby Alraunes die was such a shock to me.


“M-My children—!”


A wave of miasma swept through the baby Alraunes in the forest.
With no way to resist it, they were all rendered lifeless by the miasma.
They had all inhaled the poison and became part of the Todesgiftwald.

All of my children, all fifty-plus of them, were wiped out.


──This can’t be happening. It’s just too cruel…


As tears of nectar streamed from my eyes, I heard Mr. Drink Station shout from behind me, “We’re surrounded!”
We had been completely encircled by a swirling cloud of miasma.


Seeing this, Nina hurriedly called out to Mr. Drink Station.


“Sir Holger, what happened to the people from the town who were lying over there?”

“You don’t need to worry about them. We already guided them back to town.”


Apparently, after leaving the monsters to Lady Dryad, Mr. Drink Station and the others had been taking care of the humans who had been turned into trolls.

Thanks to that, the humans had managed to avoid losing their lives to the miasma.
Which meant the only ones left here were me, Nina, and the four adventurers, including Mr. Drink Station.


But also in doing so, Nina and the other humans had lost their chance to escape.
It’s fine for me, since I’m stuck here anyways, but I don’t want everyone else getting caught up in this too.


Come to think of it, how is the older Dryad sister protecting herself from this miasma?
Curious, I glanced over and saw that she was protected by the Hero’s Helmet’s barrier of light.


What? That’s cheating!
Give us a helmet too!


But if a barrier of light magic can block it, then maybe we can do something about it too.
After all, we have Nina, a saint apprentice, on our side!


“Nina… make a barrier… with light magic!”

“Leave it to me! Holy Light Barrier—Magdeburg!“


A barrier of light magic formed around Nina.
It was a defensive barrier that protected us from all directions.
Now we’ll be safe even if the miasma comes!


But that thought lasted no longer than a moment. In panic, Nina cried, “No way!?”

As soon as the miasma touched the defensive barrier, the barrier shattered apart.
From beyond the miasma, I could hear the older Dryad sister laughing gleefully.


“It’s useless. Light magic of that level could never stop my Todesgiftwald.”


It seemed the older Dryad sister’s dark spirit magic was an extremely high-level spell.
Unless we have light magic of an equal or even higher level, we probably can’t counter it.


“I’m sorry… I can’t use any light magic stronger than this……”


Nina began trembling as she clung to her staff.
She looked like she was about to cry.


If Nina can’t do anything, then we’ve got no way left to protect ourselves from the miasma.
And if that happens, we’ll all be wiped out.
She must be blaming herself for that.


I gently stroked Nina’s cheek with a vines.


“Nina… don’t worry. I’ll… take care of… the rest.”


I wiped away her running tears, then turned towards the adventurer, Mr. Drink Station.


“Mr. Drink Station… cast water magic… on me.”

“You’re really not going to stop calling me that, are you? Well, this isn’t the time to argue about it. All right!”


Mr. Drink Station’s water magic poured into me.
Water is delicious!


As a plant, I can’t use light magic.
But I can release nectar infused with light magic.
It’s time for transpiration!


I released water vapor mixed with nectar from my leaves.
With this, I should be able to fight back against the older Dryad sister’s miasma!


Just as I expected, when the nectar mist created by my transpiration came into contact with the miasma, it neutralized the miasma, purifying the area.
Yes! Keep it up!


“Enough of your futile struggling. You alone are no match for this forest, princess.”


Just as the older Dryad sister said, my nectar mist was gradually pushed back by the miasma.
No matter how much nectar mist I can produce, trying to compete against all the trees in the Forest of Dryades was just too much.
I simply couldn’t fight against the sheer volume they could put out.



Eventually, I ran out of nectar mist, and it didn’t feel like I could produce any more.
It was all over.


If I let the miasma engulf me like this, then as a plant, I’ll die and become part of the Todesgiftwald just like the baby Alraunes.
I won’t be able to transfer myself into a seed, nor will I be able to regenerate with my recovery magic.
Has my time finally come…?


Mr. Drink Station and the others seemed to be thinking the same thing, as they began to give up, saying, “Are we going to die here?”
Nina remained frozen in place, still crying.


Seeing the humans like that, I managed to pull myself together.
I have to do something.


I’m a former saint.
When I was alive, I was everyone’s pillar, the one that supported their hearts.
That’s why I can’t let myself break at a time like this!


Believing there had to be a way out of this, I looked around, searching for anything that could help.
That’s when I noticed a familiar blue flower lying on the ground.

It was the forget-me-not that fell from Lady Dryad’s hair.
Maybe because it had been absorbing a spirit’s energy, it still hadn’t withered yet.

I grabbed the blue flower with one of my vines.
Nina, who was standing behind the flower, came into view.


──That’s it! I can still do that!


There was only one way to break through the older Dryad sister’s Todesgiftwald.
We just need to hit it with an ultra-high-level light magic spell powerful enough to surpass it.


But Nina is the only one here who can use light magic.
And as an ordinary saint apprentice, Nina can’t use light magic of that level.
She probably doesn’t have enough magical power either.


In that case, all I have to do is give Nina my light magic energy!


But there’s still another problem. Even if she has enough magical power, Nina can’t cast ultra-high-level magic.
So I’ll just force Nina to use it!


──Chomp.


I consumed the older Dryad sister’s blue forget-me-not.

With that, I acquired the flower’s mind control ability.


Ideally, I didn’t want to use the power of this blue flower.
I don’t want to forcibly control other people like the older Dryad sister does.


That said, this isn’t a situation where I can afford to worry about that.
If the alternative is for all of us to inhale the miasma and crumble into dust, then I’ll even make a deal with the devil.

After all, I swore that I would do whatever it takes to survive until I can fulfill my dream of living a quiet plant life while photosynthesizing!


“Nina… there’s one way… we can survive.”


When I called out to Nina, she looked up and said, “Really!?”
I felt bad when she gave me such a happy expression, because this plan was going to put quite the burden on her.


I explained to Nina the general gist of the plan I had come up with.
I was certain she would hate the idea, but Nina tightly gripped my vine, as if to blow those worries away.


“Long ago, I was saved by Iri… by the Crimson Flower Princess. So no matter what it is, I’ll accept it!”


I could see the strong determination in Nina’s eyes, glowing with an aura of light.
It seemed Nina had made up her mind too.


──All right, I’ve decided.

We’ll work together and pull this off!


There was only one thing we needed for this plan.
Simply put, if I, who was once the greatest saint of my generation, control Nina, then I should be able to make her use ultra-high-level light magic.
And to do that, the two of us would have to become one.


“Will you… trust me… and accept me?”

“Yes, of course!”


I made a blue flower bloom from my dodder vine.
Then I wrapped it around Nina’s arm.


“But this is my first time experiencing something like this, so please be as gentle as you can…”


Nina murmured with flushed cheeks.

It’s my first time too, so I don’t know how well I’ll be able to control it, but I’ll do my best to be as gentle as possible!


My dodder dug into her skin and slowly pierced its way deep into Nina.
The moment Nina cried, “Ow!” our nerves connected.


Nina and I had become one.

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading.

Next Time: Alraune vs. Dryad (Part Five)