I’m an Alraune, a plant monster child.
Right now, a flock of bird-type monsters are about to pass my nectar around between them.


Why am I constantly attacked by nectar-licking monsters?
Because I’m a flower that produces nectar.
As long as I live as an Alraune, I’m destined to be targeted by countless nectar addicts.


Feeling a little sad, I looked up at the birds above me.
Countless bird-like monsters were perched on the branches.


These green bird-type monsters are called Weiss-Augens.
It’s like a Japanese white-eye that’s been scaled up to the size of an adult human man.

Like real Japanese white-eyes, Weiss-Augens are pollinators that carry pollen from flower to flower.
In other words, as pollinators, they’re a terrifying existence capable of fertilizing me.

All of the white-eyes were staring right at me.
Like hunters locking onto their prey.
Yep, I’m definitely the target.


Just when did I get surrounded by birds?
I was so focused on the child Alraune that I didn’t notice at all.

Birds can fly freely through the sky.
Being able to control the skies is a huge advantage in combat. I learned that when we defeated the lizards the other day.


Back then, the little witch used levitation magic to carry me in a bucket, and we wiped out the lizards from above in one fell swoop.
​​This time, it’s the opposite.

For a flower rooted to the ground, fighting a flock of birds soaring through the air is a completely losing battle.


If even one white-eye got to me, it would be a disaster.
Using its beak, the white-eye would force itself into my mouth and use its tongue to slurp out the nectar inside.


The flock, noticing my gaze, took off in unison.
These natural-born nectar addicts were charging straight at me.

Nooo! I don’t want my nectar passed around by birds!


I covered the area with poisonous pollen.
But with thirty birds flapping around, the pollen was blown away easily.


Having no other choice, I formed a protective cocoon from my poisonous thorns.
At the same time, I tried to strike the white-eyes with my thorns, but they managed to dodge perfectly.

Flying enemies are such a pain.
And fighting thirty at once? I can barely defend myself.
A grounded plant like me has no way to fight back.


Then—chii-chii—I heard chirping from behind me.
Looks like a white-eye got behind me!

One of them came hurtling toward me at high speed.
I have to block it with my poisonous thorns, but I don’t have enough time…!


Suddenly, a dead tree sprang up between me and the bird.
It was my little junior, the Treant.

The Treant stopped the charging white-eye with her branches, slamming it into the ground.
And just like that, she broke the bird’s neck.


Come to think of it, the Treant had stayed right here even after bringing me those plants.

Sorry about that.
I completely forgot she was here.
When she’s just standing still, she looks just like a dead tree, blending so perfectly into the background that it’s easy to forget she’s even there.


Still, it’s reassuring to know I have an ally.
Judging by that practiced move earlier, she must be pretty strong.
I’ll leave the rear to her, then. I’m counting on you, little junior of mine.


I wiggled and twisted my poisonous thorns, keeping the white-eyes at a distance.
But this is just a losing battle.

Outnumbered like this, we don’t stand a chance.
Neither the Treant nor I have any effective way to fight against flying birds
If only we could attack from a distance…


──That’s it!
Among the plants the Treant brought, there’s one that could help.

I rummaged through the offerings left besides me with my vines.
I grabbed the plant that seemed the rarest, second only to the Tahina, the suicide palm.

This plant had a long, oval-shaped fruit at the tip of its vine.

I remember seeing it in a plant encyclopedia back when I was a high school girl.
Its name is the squirting cucumber.


The squirting cucumber, as the name suggests, is a plant that shoots its seeds.
Inside the long oval fruit, seeds and juice are packed tight. Then, from a tiny opening, the seeds shoot out like a machine gun.


I fed the squirting cucumber into my lower mouth.
Now I can shoot seeds.
If I can launch them like a squirting cucumber, I might actually be able to hit the birds in the air!


Immediately, I generated a squirting cucumber fruit at the tip of my vine.
The fruit swelled like a cannonball as it formed.

With this genetically enhanced, oversized squirting cucumber, the seeds should be an effective attack against the white-eyes.


I fired the seeds like a machine gun.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
Seeds, accompanied by juice, shot out in rapid succession.

The white-eyes seemed too shocked to react, and one of them was hit directly by my seeds.
Yes! Finally, I have a ranged attack!


But it didn’t seem to be a fatal blow.
It looks weakened, but it’s still flapping its wings.

My attack power isn’t enough.
I need to improve my bullets.


I’ll genetically sharpen the seeds, making them as pointed as thorns.
While I’m at it, I’ll mix in yellow pollen that causes paralysis and blue pollen that induces sleep.
And just like that, the tranquilizer seeds were ready.


Regaining my composure, I fired the squirting cucumber machine gun again.
A few white-eyes couldn’t dodge the rapid-fire assault, and the seeds pierced them.
Thanks to the anesthetic effect, they fell to the ground.

There’s something thrilling about aiming at the moving targets and knocking them down.
It’s kind of fun. It’s as if I’m playing one of those shooting-gallery games at an arcade in my past life.


Getting carried away, I decided to increase the number of squirting cucumber machine guns.
Four machine guns this time.


I sprouted squirting cucumber machine guns at the tips of four vines, aiming the barrels at the sky.
Take this!

Pop-pop-pop-pop!

Under the fourfold hail of seeds, the flock of white-eyes were torn apart.
Thanks to the barrage of bullets, even I could hit them easily, and it felt amazing!


The birds plummeted to the ground, dropping one by one.
The tranquilizer seeds made it impossible for them to move properly, even after hitting the ground. They were flapping desperately, trying to stay upright.
And that’s when my little junior, the Treant, pounced on the dazed white-eyes.


Swiftly, she charged toward a fallen white-eye, grabbed it, and pinned it to the ground.
Then, in a furious display, she tore its feathers apart.

My little junior… turns out she’s insanely strong.
I couldn’t help widening my eyes at her wild, untamed appearance.


But that wasn’t all.
She uprooted a nearby tree and hurled it like a spear, bringing down more flying white-eyes. That’s a little too impressive.


When I accepted the Treant as my little junior, I did it like a knight’s oath ceremony.
Normally, she’d be called a female knight, but with this savage display, “knight” doesn’t fit at all.

She’s no longer a “female knight” or anything like that.
She’s strong, fierce, and brimming with wildness.


I’ve never seen a girl with this much raw power.
She’s more like a female berserker.
When I think of women from warrior tribes in the forest, the first thing that comes to mind is an Amazon.

I see now. So the Treant is an Amazon.
That makes sense.

But what should I do?


My little junior… is an Amazon!

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading

Next Time: The Forest’s Plant Warrior Sisters


TL’s Note: 

The fruit and flower of a squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium)