Hunting

"GUAAAAAA-RGHOOOOOOH…!"

In the depths of the ancient forest, a Wild Oak Ent raised his coarse voice and let out a threatening call.

Reaching over seventy feet tall, he wasn't the tallest of his species, but his trunk body and branch arms were more than two times thicker than those of the immobile trees he was passing.

The reason for his call and his journey were one and the same.

The answer to an ancient oath.

Intruders have entered the territory of the Forest Mother, and the Wild Oak Ent would never hesitate to answer it.

With each step of his rooty feet, the earth trembled. The other trees, although unable to move as he did, were doing their best to make way for him, pulling their branches away to the best of their ability.

Everything was connected.

Every plant was alive.

The entire forest was responding to their mother's call!

"GHMURHUUUUN!"

The Wild Oak Ent let out a low growl. His furious expression was causing the coarse bark, which gave his face distinct human-like features, to crack.

He was being summoned to the edge of their forest, closer to the human territory Forest Mither has ever been.

Something bad must have happened.

Something...

Unnatural.

Did it happen because the Forest Mother wanted to take a look at the wild storm that was ravaging their land?

That cataclysm felt both natural and something else entirely.

The cry of the sea that lost something precious.

Was Forest Mother feeling compassion for the suffering of her fellow spirits despite them being of different elements?

Was it then that she noticed trespassers and sounded the alarm?

The oak ent thought, taking another step…

*WHOOOOSH* *WHAM*

When suddenly, faster than he could realize, a brown-haired human in frilly fabric came flying from behind and slamming both of their feet in the back of the knee of the ent's leg still planted on the ground.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

The monstrous animated tree let out a howl and began losing its balance, while the human jumped away using the momentum of her hit and left the ent's range without wasting a single second in hiding.

"GRAAAGH! GRROO!!"

The oak ent let out a furious roar, planting his other foot down and leaning forward, managing to prevent his fall.

Too focused on that to notice a fist of a creature of similar size to him flying right into his face...!

*KA-WHAM*

"GHROUFGFGHRHGHFGH!?!"

The impact of the right hook tore the bark cleanly off the oak ent face, ripping off the human facade of the monster and sending him back spitting out sap.

"!!!"

As the monstrous tree fell back, the human covered in frilly fabric returned, this time running up to him and jumping—once again aiming at the back of the monster's knee but this time hitting it after spinning around in the air…

"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

…jumping to the side right after delivering a devastating roundhouse kick that almost severed the ent's leg and caused him to howl in pain as it fell.

The creature that punched the Ent didn't waste any time and stepped over the downed beast.

"!?!?!"

If they were still covered in bark, the hollow holes in the trunk that served as the Ent's eyes would widen at the sight of a giant nightmarish creature, both human and inhuman at the same time, with disturbingly long limbs and a mouth full of triangular teeth stretched into an impossibly wide grin.

The Wild Oak Ent didn't have much time to look either—the other giant raised both of his hands, joining them together to form a fleshy mace. Just like a mace, he brought it down on the ent's head, crouching down to add even more momentum.

"Gh-ghoough…!"

The hit was powerful enough to embed the Ent into the soil but not enough to finish him off.

"...!"

And that's when the brown-haired human came into the picture once again!

Taking a huge running start, the human in frilly fabric jumped up, pushing her feet forward, and slammed them against the head part of the oak ent's trunk body. The transferring impact shook off at least half of the leaves from the creature's crown of branches.

"Oh! I leveled up! He's done! Good job, Miss Adrianna."

The giant monstrous human, who was winding up another hit, stopped in place and called out to the brown-haired human below.

"I see. In that case, if you would be so kind, mister Zane, do you mind taking this one back too?"

The maid breathed out and nodded in acknowledgment while dusting off her uniform and fixing the headwear that had become crooked because of the last impact.

"That goes without saying~"

Zane nodded back while turning around and grabbing the dead Wild Oak Ent by its rooty legs.

Adrianna hopped on the corpse and let herself be sled away.

"I hope you will not take it the wrong way, Miss Adrianna, but considering your participation in today's encounters, your comment from the other day does not seem very believable."

"Which one exactly…?"

Zane pointed out with a smirk, and Adrianna tilted her head, slightly confused.

"You told our young lady that you haven't participated in a proper fight before - but you don't react to monsters' bloodlust that would paralyze newbies, and your hit-and-run tactic is on the level of a veteran adventurer."

The giant pointed out, taking a peek over his shoulder at the maid below.

"Mister Zane, you are forgetting that I am young lady's personal maid. I was by her side when she was training with Mister Beo back in the mansion, and I did try to gain some self-defense skills to aid my lady if the need arose… it's only that before, my body would not be able to keep up with what I wanted it to do. And now, after gaining some adequate levels, that is no longer the case."

Adrianna raised her head proudly before explaining with confidence.

"Pffft…!"

"What was that?"

The giant snorted, causing the maid to ask defensively.

"Nothing, really. I simply imagined you at the training grounds at night, lifting your skirt a bit and trying to learn how to roundhouse kick the training dummy."

"!!!"

Zane shook his head and pointed out, causing Adrianna to flinch.