Appearance Of A Monster

Just when I thought that something's not feeling right...

"...Ahahahahah! Take this, and this, and this!"

As soon as she received the knife from me, she started hacking away the flowers from the plant.

"Hey, you're destroying the plant!" I yelled at her in horror as I see her maniacally chop down the hapless plant.

"...It's okay, big brother! As if the plant will complain, you know?" She replied with a grin on her face.

"But still, going with that kind of logic is kinda..."

Looking at her expression, I could only sigh as the plant's leaves and stems gets cut down.

"...Take this, and this, and this!"

"Hey, Aoi--give me back that knife! Aoi--"

As soon as she's about to use the knife to cut the roots, a large root-like appendage suddenly sprouted from the ground.

"Eh...?"

Then, the root quickly tangled itself around Aoi's arm.

"...W-What?!--Big brother!!!!"

She screamed when the root started to pull her down the ground.

"Hey!"

Grabbing the knife away from Aoi, I slashed through the root and freed her from its grasp.

"Are you okay?"

"....Uhh...yeah." She nodded lightly, unsure of what happened.

"W-What was that...?"

Looking at the root that I just cut, I noticed that it shared the same characteristics as the comfrey plant that Aoi nearly destroyed just a while ago.

"Let's get away from here, Aoi--"

"...B-Big brother! B-Behind you!"

At her warning, two large roots tried to lash us from behind. With me protecting Aoi in my hands, we leaped away from the place where we stood, narrowly evading the sudden attack.

"Seriously, what the hell are these?!"

At that moment, from the ground--appeared a tree-like monster. With root-like appendages on its feet and arms it looked like a tree covered in vines, except that on its head, sprouted the comfrey plant Aoi almost hacked to bits.

"Looks like the monster got angry when you slashed the plant, Aoi." I told her.

"...B-But, it's not supposed to get angry, right?!" Aoi complained in return.

Ah, you're saying that, but that plant creature is looking at you really mad right now Aoi.

"And looks like it wants to hack us too to bits! Run!!!" I shouted.

In panic I carried Aoi on my back and ran away from the monster in this maze-like part of the forest.

"...The ugly creature is still chasing after us, big brother!" Aoi screamed near my ears while looking behind us.

"We need to get out of this forest fast!"

As soon as I said that, the plant monster's root-like arm stretched towards us at a frightening pace.

Aoi hit my shoulders in panic. "...Dodge!!!"

Taking a quick turn on a nearby tree, I managed to evade the appendage of the monster. The arm then struck a large tree and toppled it easily.

"S-So close--?!"

I can't imagine myself getting pierced by that root.

"...There's more incoming, big brother!!!"

Two, three thick root appendages then followed after that first attack.

"Jump--"

As we jumped to a nearby shallow pit, all three roots brushed past just inches above my hair.

"...H-Hiiiiiihhhh?!"

Aoi yelped in terror as we hid inside the pit.

"...Why don't that guy give up already?!"

Lightly panting, I replied. "I don't think that it creatures like those are the types who would forgive that easily..."

When I take a quick peek, I saw that the monster is still looking after us as it uses its roots to look for signs like footprints.

"Until he gives up the hunt I think it's better if we stay here in this place for a while..."

"...Not until that ugly creature gets killed first."

"Eh?"

Suddenly feeling a strange aura coming from Aoi, I let out a puzzled expression.

"Hey, what do you think are you doing?!"

"...What? I'll kill that monster." Aoi answered with a serious face.

Climbing herself up the pit, she picked up a rock and threw it towards the monster.

"...You ugly one! I'm the one who destroyed your plant, you know? Come and settle things right away!" She shouted provocatively to the monster.

Seeing the little girl who hacked the plant on its head, the monster became agitated and released numerous vines from its body that acted like spears and aimed at Aoi.

While still hiding on the pit, I shouted at her. "H-Hey--"

"...Ahahahaha! Don't hold back, ugly creature! Release everything you've got!!!"

Before she got pierced by those vines, Aoi created a black magic circle on her hand and from it, a torrent of black flames came out and incinerated the vines in an instant.

With his vines burned to a crisp, the monster sent out another wave of vines from its body, each of them converging to the area where we are.

"...Naive!"

Aoi jeered at the monster after burning every vine going after her.

Did the monster reacted to her words right now? Judging from its looks, Aoi really overdid her banter towards it.

"...If you're not going to attack right now then I will!"

Forming another dark magic circle on her other hand, she fired a black fireball at the monster. It tried to defend itself using its arms, but the fireball quickly exploded on the monster upon impact. The resulting explosion caused thick black smoke to cover a small area in the forest.

A few seconds later, Aoi proudly declared: "...Hmph, mere creatures like those deserve to burn to obli--"

"Aoi, look out!!!"

From behind the smoke, a tree vine thicker than before burst and swept a large area, hitting Aoi who didn't notice immediately the impending attack aimed at her.

"Aoi--!!!"

The sweeping attack caused several trees, small and large alike, to topple down and fly in different directions. Luckily I took cover under the pit, if not I would be sent flying away from the blow just like Aoi.

Still,

"Aoi! Aoi!!!"

I called out to her as I look to where she got blown away.

-----

Like a bullet, Aoi's small body flew from the force created by the monster's attack. Toppling down several trees on her trajectory, she finally stopped her unfortunate flight after crashing against a tree whose thickness is incredible.

"...Uuuuuu...that monster is too troublesome."

Regaining her composure, Aoi groaned as her head still ached in diziness.

"...I need to go back there and kill that monster--Ah..."

Just as when she's about to return to battle, Aoi noticed that she got stuck in a troublesome situation.

"...Looks like," Aoi let out a dry smile on her lips. "I'll stay here in this place for a while."

-----

"Hard?!"

Using the cheap sword hanging on my waist, I tried to cut down the roots that are going after me. It felt like I'm hitting a rock. I couldn't even make a dent with my strikes.

"Tsk, I need to find Aoi as soon as possible..."

I wanted to rush to where Aoi got blown away right now, but with the monster's attention diverted at me, I can't do anything but to fend off its attacks.

"If I can't cut you using this sword, I might as well use that--"

Creating a small, black fireball in my hands just like what Aoi did earlier, I fired it at the monster, but it got blocked by its roots.

"So weak?!"

As it turned out, the [Death] Arcana that Aoi bestowed upon me has an inconsistent damage output.

One moment I could easily defeat a horde of Demon Cows but on the next, I could only create a black fireball with the deadliness of a house fly.

And right now, my fireball is on the short end of the damage spectrum, amounting only to negligible damage against the monster.

"But it's better against just hiding and running away!" I told to myself as I fired black fireballs from my hand continuously.

Seeing that my attacks are apparently useless, the monster didn't tried to dodge this time, but...

BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

Of all ten hits on the monster, six of them dealt considerable damage.

"Okay! I guess I should use that opportunity to look for Aoi..."

Then suddenly, I felt something crawled on my feet.

"Hmm?--W-Whaa?!"

Sprouting from underground, a root coiled itself on my feet and dragged me down.

"*cough* *cough* W-What the--"

Holding me by the foot, is the tattered figure of the monster looking really furious because of my attack. Swinging the root down, my body crashed on the ground with a loud thud, then the monster swung the root around to make my body collide with the large trees surrounding us.

"Gaaaaahhh--!!!!" I gasped my breath as blood came out of my mouth.

Just like a ball on a string, the monster threw my body against the hard tree trunks. With each collision, a bone or two gets broken.

"Guuuuhhhhhh...Aoi..."

While lying down on the ground, I called out her name with a faint voice.

Then, I felt danger coming from underground.

"Shi--"

Rolling on the ground, I dodged a bunch of sharp roots that tried to pierce me. With my clothes already covered in blood and dirt, I stopped giving a care about my appearances.

"I need to defeat this monster fast..." I said as I wiped the blood from my mouth.

Struggling to stand up, I grabbed the sword that hung on my waist.

I'm not sure if this will work, but I have no choice.

As if sensing that my death is apparent, the monster then launched dozens of roots coming from all directions. But before they could kill me,

*whooosh*

In an instant, all of them got cut into pieces while burning at the same time in a black colored blaze.

"It worked..." I muttered in apparent shock.

What I did was--to cover the sword in my hand with the black flames of death. I got worried at first that the damage would be inconsistent as always, but...

Each swing of the sword, a part of the monster gets staved off cleanly.

Ten, twenty, even hundred roots coming from all directions--I easily cut all of them.

Looking at the monster, I shouted my rage against it.

"Now, I'll have you pay for what you did to Aoi--!!!"

-----

After I defeated the plant monster I rushed to the place, only to see Aoi...

"A-Aoi! I found you--Wha--?!"

My spine shuddered the instant I found her.

"...Big brother, you came!" Aoi happily smiled at me. "...You see, I'm stuck in this tree for a while now."

Not just stuck, but--

A long tree branch pierced through Aoi's chest, rendering her crucified on the tree trunk.

Seeing her gruesome state, I hurried to free her from the tree.

"...Ah, hafuuu--!!! I-It hurts, big brother!!!"

"Please, endure...I'll do this fast and careful..."

Each time I try to pull her body from the tree branch, blood gushed from her chest as Aoi gnashed her teeth in pain.

"...Waaaaahhh!!! P-Painful!!!"

Her screams of pain made my heart crush, while feeling regretful that I didn't acted immediately when the monster appeared.

It took me about half an hour before Aoi got freed from the branch that impaled her.

"It's okay, Aoi...you're safe now." I whispered on her as if swallowing my words.

-----

"...S-Sorry big brother for what happened earlier..." Aoi apologized to me shortly after we received the reward personally from Alisha.

"Just because you're immortal it doesn't mean you'll just ignore your safety like that. Please, don't."

Even so, I'm amazed at how fast Aoi's injuries healed. If not for her not being a normal human being (or a human at all), she would be dead by now--and I don't think I would endure it if that really happen.

I hate seeing impaled people.

Seeing people in front of me got their bodies pierced by sharp objects from different directions, with no certainty whether it will hasten or prolong their demise...those scenes suddenly flashed on my mind after seeing Aoi impaled to that damned tree.

I don't want to see that again.

"...Ah, by the way big brother...how much did that woman gave to us?" Aoi asked in a sudden change of pace of our conversation.

"Hmm? Let's see...one, two...ten silvers in total."

Two silver coins for the plant and another silver coin for the shiny rock. Being the one who directly made the request, Alisha gave us the reward straight from her pocket. It's like we were paid by her to pick up some strange things in the forest just because her arms got bruised and broken but that is the nature of being an adventurer: doing various things in exchange of money.

Also, Alisha considered the appearance of the monster to be an error on her end, so she added seven silvers to our reward, making it ten in total.

Still, that's a bit little for a first time experience, I guess? Ten silvers are already enough to cover expenses for a day--or two at most--for a single person, but I'm not sure if that amount would suffice to our daily needs.

"...That's...disappointing..." Aoi said.

"Don't be like that, Aoi", I cajoled her. "What's important is, we earned this money from our own efforts. It isn't that disappointing if you think of it that way."

Now that we're now capable of having an income, we should learn more how to make use of it properly.

Aoi slightly nodded at my words. "...Y-You're right, big brother. Maybe, we'll get more money if we do more challenging missions, right?"

"Nn, that's right!" I replied.

As we made a turn to a less-populated street on our way to the inn, we saw a stall selling meat buns on the corner.

"Shall we buy some snack for us to eat on our way back?"

"...R-Really? I heard from Saki that their meat buns are good, but..."

Noticing that her way of looking at the coins on my hand look somewhat troubled, I immediately understood what she wanted to say.

"It's fine. After all, eating a hot and steamy meat bun while walking is a good way of celebrating our first day as adventurers, right?"

Saying that, I held her hand and placed a coin on it. "This silver coin is a proof of your hard work. It's all yours, not mine, so use it on whatever things you like."

After thinking for a while, she silently nodded and headed straight towards the stall. As for I, I waited for her while leaning on a wall and thinking of ways to maximize our remaining budget.

A few moments later, Aoi returned and greeted me with a big smile while holding two meat buns in her hands.

I looked at her in surprise. "Eh? I thought you'll only buy one for yourself?"

"...But you said earlier that I'm free to use my money on whatever way I like? Here, I bought one for big brother too!"

Since it's pointless to argue with her about something like this I accepted the meat bun with no objections.

"Thanks."

Aoi chuckled. "...I never tried being generous of this level before, so...thank you too, big brother."

"Seriously...well, never mind. Let's go home quick before it gets dark."

Continuing on our way, Aoi immediately sank her teeth on the buns that she never experienced having one ever since we came into this town.

"...Mmmm...so good! I'm so happy I had the opportunity to try this...*nom*"

With her face already melting in pleasure just from a few bites of her food, I could say that our meager income for day one was still, worth the trouble.

'More than the money, I think the greatest reward for me is to see her look really happy like that...' I muttered to myself.

Of course it won't be an easy task, but as long as I have that vision in mind, I believe I could make her the happiest she can ever be.

"Okay, I have to work even harder starting tomorrow!" I said with a burning determination while raising my arm up.

When she heard that Aoi almost dropped her bun due to surprise but she smiled at me once more and said, "...Nn! Let's do it, big brother!"

.