Deep Drop Danger

Roko crawled through the kitchen's ventilation duct. Thankfully, it wasn't too complex, more or less a straight line that definitely lead in towards the center of the castle. A cover was set at the end of the vent, moonlight leaking through the slits and highlighting how much left of the small tunnel Roko had left to crawl through. As Roko crawled, he kicked up layers of thick dust that was thankfully blocked by the handkerchief. Roko made a note to thank Momo for the idea again later. The crawl couldn't have lasted more than a minute or two but it felt terrifyingly long. A minor sample of claustrophobia toyed with his perception, heightening his senses and drawing his breathers shorter as he neared the end of the tunnel. Doing his best to peer through the grate, Roko could only see a large block of white crystal, similar to what he saw of the white tree before but that was all he could see. No matter how Roko struggled to shift his view, he could only see white. With nothing left he could do, Roko tugged the rope that was tied to his body a few times and once he felt the rope pulling him back, he began to make his way backwards along the vent.

"Good job Roko!" Momo called as Roko dangled his body down from the ceiling vent, "I'll catch you!"

"Can't you just use protect on me?"

"I thought you wanted to save mana."

Roko grumbled and allowed himself to drop from the ceiling, Momo catching him in midair before landing was a smile.

"Good work in there." Momo said as she put Roko back down on his feet and began patting the dust off him, "Dinner's ready so you can tell us what you saw over a nice plate of roasted vegetables and boiled shrimp with soy sauce."

"I thought we were going to have some Momokan cuisine, what happened?"

"Turns out Murasaki isn't THAT good at cooking."

"Are you sure about what you saw?" Rokusho frowned.

"There wasn't much else to see." Roko replied as they all ate, "All I could see was the white crystal surface of the tree. It wasn't blocking the vent or anything. There was still a good distance away."

"So what does that mean?" Murasaki asked.

"The tree has grown." Roko answered, "It's huge. Titanic. Just from what I saw, I'd say the base of the tree has overgrown the majority of the courtyard already.

"How are we going to get rid of it now?" Momo gulped, "If we cut it down, it'll tear down an entire part of the castle."

"We can always rebuild that." Roko replied, "The problem is getting it to stop propagating. Given how it has killed other humans, allowing it to spread out of the castle might doom the entire city."

"I know." Momo bit her lip, "But can we cut down a tree of that size?"

"I don't suppose you all have invented chainsaws in this world?" Roko asked.

"What's a chainsaw?"

"Yeah, that's what I figured." Roko sighed, "We'll just have to brute force it."

"Some tactician you are." Murasaki smirked, "What an intricate and complex plan."

"Given the few tools we have and the little amount of time we have to deal with this, we don't have the luxury of more detailed plans. Getting to the tree has been enough of a hassle."

"We could always find a way to subdue the tree until we find a way to defeat it." Rokusho offered.

"If you find a way to subdue a living tree, go ahead and tell me." Roko scoffed, "If that's what we're trying to do, our best option is to abandon Momokami, evacuate all the citizens and seek refuge in another city while we research options."

"We can't do that." Momo said immediately, "There isn't any city around ofcomparable enough size to hold all of us."

"Split up the population." Roko replied, "Not everybody has to go to the same city. If we split up the population we can house what we can in towns."

"If we split up the citizenry, it'll become difficult to convince them all to return even if we do manage to liberate Momokami." Momo bit her lip, "What's more, it'll be difficult to pool our research efforts together across so many different locations. The best case scenario is to bring the tree down now."

"The best case scenario is if the tree gets rid of itself." Roko scoffed as he finished off the last of his midnight lunch, "But if we're done discussing options, we have a battle to fall into."

After finishing their meal, everyone reconvened below the vent, anxiety haunting the group as they stood there, preparing themselves.

"So who's first?" Rokusho asked.

"I'll stop you there." Roko spoke up immediately, "The order is me, the old man, Murasaki and then Momo."

"You want me to be last?" Momo blinked, "I figured I should go first since I have the strengthening spells. We're going to have to remove the grate after all."

"You can just use rally on me." Roko answered, "What's more, we're going to have to move fast so once I get the grate off, you're going to have to cast haste so all of us can get out before the tree reacts and then protect to allow us to survive the fall."

"That's a lot of spells but I can handle it." Momo nodded.

"If you feel that you need it in the slightest, you can get a mana potion from the old man before joining the battle."

"My name is Rokusho." His teacher frowned, "And can I ask for the reasoning behind this order?"

"If any of the girls go first, we guys will end up staring at their butts." Roko sighed, "You especially we have to avoid."

"You don't trust me?" Rokusho said in a mockingly hurt tone.

"You are the last person in this entire city that I trust." Roko scoffed, "Especially in this matter. This order was decided to minimize the enjoyment anyone can have from this situation."

"Wait, is that why I'm third, in front of Momo?!" Murasaki cried.

"I've seen the way you look at her."

"Out of respect! It's out of respect right?!"

"Anyway, Momo, I'm going to need a rally to get back up to the vent. Once I'm up there, we'll use the rope for the rest of you to climb up without having to spend more mana."

"Are you sure you can hold onto the rope without help?" Momo asked.

"That's why the old man is second." Roko replied, "Once we get more people up there, the easier it'll be to get the rest of us up. If it doesn't work out, you might have to use rally on me so I can hold onto the rope."

"I'm sure I won't need to." Momo smiled.

"Right well, just make sure that everybody sticks to the order." Roko sighed.

Everyone entered the vent in the order prescribed and in a few anxiety inducing minutes, Roko was back in front of the grate. He gripped the cover with one hand as he took a few steadying breaths.

"Ready?" He whispered back.

"Ready." Momo's voice came back a bit faint but still audible.

"On your mark then." Roko nodded.

A few moments passed as the group readied themselves.

"Haste."

Power coursed through Roko's body but that was not the signal so he steadied himself once more.

…

"Rally."

A different kind of power filled Roko's body and he pushed forward, ripping the cover off from the wall. Roko jumped forward with his legs and was propelled several feet into the air from the wall. Rokusho and Murasaki followed suit, practically a blur as they too shot out from the vent. Momo escaped last, joining them in midair as they began to plummet the height of almost 7 stories.

"Protect!"

A protective force seeped over Roko's body. Not exactly like a barrier but before Roko could ponder the nature of this spell any further, he smashed into the ground.

He was dead. Every logical part of his brain said that he was dead. But the fact that he could think that was proof that he wasn't dead. So he forced his head up and pushed himself up off the ground as three more impacts landed beside him.

"You just decided to land face first?" Murasaki smirked as everyone else stood back up again from landing on their feet.

"I don't have to take this from you." Roko growled as he stood back up.

Roko expected for there to be a frenzy the moment they landed. Roots surrounded them on all sides and branches covered the sky above them. And yet nothing happened. Looking at the tree now, Roko could see the tree had in fact consumed the majority of the courtyard as he suspected. Its trunk stood taller than the vent that Roko had escaped from, almost reaching through the open roof. In sheer width, the trunk was more or less the side of a large community swimming pool. Their swords would barely make a scratch on it. If the durability of its roots and branches were the same as the tree, it wouldn't be that durable. Even Roko could cut into it if he tried. But turning it into a stump would be impossibly difficult, like a trio of ants cutting down a large oak tree. For one, they would have to actually enter the tree to cut into it further and entering its body could provoke an attack from any direction. Not that they weren't already surrounded. Though strangely, no attacks have come towards them yet. Looking around, Roko could see roots covering the earth and branches poking into the floors above them but none of them showed any hint of attacking them. As he looked around for any sign of an attack, Roko was struck by the crystalline beauty of the tree. It's giant size and clear surface that would not reflect anything in front it. The unearthly glow that radiated from every tip of its form gave it a divine aura that was unlike any of the monsters Roko had seemed before. Those disgusting mockery of flesh was all the more gut wrenching when compared to the pristine and breathtaking tree in front of it. Its simplicity, in complete opposition to what came before, was almost alluring. Roko could felt himself being drawn in by some mysterious force the longer he looked at it.

"Roko, I'm ready!"

Momo's voice snapped Roko out of his trance. Momo tossed aside the empty remains of a mana potion to the ground as she grabbed her sword and began to rush towards the tree, "We just have to cut it down right?!"

"Momo, wait!" Roko tried to call out.

"Rally!"

Momo swung her sword and cleaved a giant gash across the tree's width. It wasn't quite that deep but it's width was quite large, almost half of the visible width of the tree. A rumbling screech immediately echoed through the air, shaking the ground with its unearthly sounds as roots tore themselves off the ground and burst out from the earth, rearing up to defend its main body.

"Here it comes!" Murasaki called out, "Get ready!"

The roots attacked all at once. If it had been just Roko alone, he would have been skewered numerous times in a few seconds but between the four of them, the amount of attacks were split enough for even Roko to defend himself. Momo and Murasaki were handling the attacks from multiple directions easily, dodging and parrying with ease. Even Rokusho was dodging about breezily with an entertained smile on his face. In comparison, Roko found himself desperately moving about, dodging and blocking every second he gets, desperately looking over his shoulder for the next attack to come and unable to find a moment for him to think for even a second.

"Protect!"

A familiar force enveloped Roko's body as the next root launched towards him and bounced off his reinforced body.

"That should make things easier for us." Momo said as she and Murasaki sheathed their swords and grappled onto a few of the roots, restraining them as the rest of the roots smacked ineffectively against their bodies, "Roko, what do we do?"

"Huh?" Roko blinked as he blocked another attack.

"We've got our hands full with the roots right now." Momo explained, "If one of us goes on the attack, their roots will go after the rest of us. Murasaki and I can handle it. If you want, we'll distract them so you can go in and start cutting the tree down. I can use ral- strengthening on you if you want!"

Roko thought it over for a moment before he sliced off the head of a root and turned towards them, "As soon as we attack it, it'll start defending itself again. There's not really a limit to how many attacks it can make. This battle is a matter of slipping away and landing attacks where we can so we need to make each attack count. For that reason, either you or Murasaki are the best to deal enough damage in the moments where we can. Use rally if you have to. I can handle the distractions."

"...Got it." Momo nodded, "Then, I'll try to cut it down as fast as possible. Murasaki, you help Roko out."

"If I must." Murasaki shrugged.

"If you're so ambivalent about helping me, you can go cut the tree with your favorite princess."

"Can I?"

"No, Murasaki, I need you to stay here." Momosaid sternly, "I'm trusting you to protect everyone."

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Good. Now then. Haste."

Power surged around Momo as she disappeared, crossing the space between her and the tree instantly, avoiding all the moving roots and appearing right in front of the slash she had already made.

"Rally!"

Momo slashed again, deepening the scar that she had made but the progress she made was comparatively minimal. The tree reacted again, branches shooting down from above to try and attack Momo in tandem with the roots but Momo's heightened speed allowed her to dodge in between the multi directional attacks, though it left her with little chance to make another attack.

"It reacts quickly and strongly." Rokusho mused as he watched the melee from afar, "With this kind of progress, we won't make it for dawn."

"Mmm..." Roko tried to push away the roots, the number of ones he had to deal with having nearly doubled. The branches haven't tried to attack the defending parties yet thankfully but thinking of some sort of plan was even less viable now. Before Roko could even ready himself, Momo shouted out loud, "Lightning!"

Electricity blasted the point where Momo was fighting, disintegrating the tips of the tree parts attacking her. With the attacks halted momentarily, Momo fired one more bolt into the center of the gash that she made and reapplied rally before charging back in to hack at the wound.

"We'll have to deal with less enemies if we stick together!" Murasaki cried, "Come on!"

"But-" Roko tried protesting.

"I'll be fine, young'n." Rokusho called, "Go on the attack!"

Roko gritted his teeth and followed Murasaki as she charged through the regenerating roots and branches, to Momo's side.

"Lady Momo! We're here to back you up!" Murasaki called as she stood with her back towards Momo, taking a stance against the tree's defenses.

"You two!" Momo gasped, turning her head around for a moment, "It's dangerous here!"

"We need to get this done." Roko scowled, "Focus on cutting down the tree, you're the only one who can."

"But-" Momo bit her lip before changing her mind, nodding and turning back to hack away at the tree.

Fortunately, the effects of Momo's large scale lightning attack was still being felt, with the roots and branches recovering slowly but attacking immediately when they were recovered which meant the attacks were coming in small waves, giving Roko and Murasaki enough opportunity to destroy them again before they could be overwhelmed. The stymied attacks were certainly felt as Roko was able to maintain the defensive position with Murasaki with relative effort. But from what Roko could glance from Momo's efforts, her cut was starting to become triangular, digging deep into the tree rather than wide, leaving the sides of the trunk alone. Just as they gained a foothold, their progress was starting to diminish. Leaving it all to Momo was starting to prove inefficient but there was no way that he could defend against the tree by himself. It might come down to having to take shifts between Momo and Murasaki. Roko could try cutting the tree as well but with his lesser strength, he probably wasn't going to make much progress. That didn't mean he couldn't take over to give them a break. Or as much of a break as defending from roots and branches could be.

"Momo!" Roko turned to order a shift change until he noticed Momo stepping into the inside of the tree, straining to cut deeper still. An immediate sense of dread quickly overwhelmed Roko, "Momo, no!"

"Huh?" Momo turned around just as the tree suddenly regenerated the outside of it's bark, trapping Momo inside behind bars of bark.

"Lady Momo!" Murasaki cried, turning around and trying to slice away at the bars. The bars gave way easily but regenerated quickly. And in her desperation, the roots and branches Murasaki was fending off was able to freely attack her, grabbing Murasaki's arms and legs and lifting her up. Murasaki strained to try and slice off one of the restraining appendages but the tree quickly shoved her inside it's new cavity, pushing her inside its body next to Momo.

"Li-" Momo tried to cast a spell but a new root sprout from inside the tree and covered her mouth, preventing her from casting her spell.

"Momo! Murasaki!" Roko cried, running forward as the tree regenerated it's bars again.

Roko tried hacking away at the restraints as well but he wasn't able to cleanly cut them like Murasaki did, doing little until he was forced into the air in the same way as Murasaki. Roko pulled and tugged against the branches and roots lifting him but they did not loosen at all. But the crevice that Momo and Murasaki had been stuck into was closing and the tree didn't seem interested in throwing Roko in there as the tree pulled him further up, preparing to slam him into the ground. As Roko braced for the worst, something landed on his back and snatched the sword from his hand. Rokusho slashed in a circle, cutting Roko free as the two fell onto the ground. Roko landed face-first and immediately doubled over in pain as Rokusho landed on the ground beside him.

"We must escape." Rokusho stated calmly.

Roko struggled to pull himself up before he grabbed his sword from Rokusho and charged at the tree again, stabbing it into the bark. The branches and roots reacted, moving to restrain him again. Rokusho quickly jumped in and pulled Roko away, leaving his sword embedded in the tree as he dodged more of the tree's body. Rokusho jumped easily around with Roko in hand until he ran up a root and jumped onto a balcony, retreating into the castle as they left Momo and Murasaki trapped inside the tree.