Even with the power of immortality, I have no desire to fight a qigong practitioner who has reached the Truth. The only saving grace is that the opponent is far too strong compared to us. A fight can only be established when there is some degree of parity. Even Blanka couldn't fully commit to the fight.
"Shay has already lost his masculinity. Even had an arm torn off once. So there's that."
It was when I had steadied myself and approached Blanka.
In an instant, the distance between me and Blanka closed. Pitch-black beast claws covered my face. A not-so-large hand grabbed my face firmly and crushed me with tremendous force. It was pressure that felt like it would snap my neck.
"Mmph!"
I don't resist. Because I can't win. Instead, I topple my own body, grabbing and pulling Blanka's arm. The balance of force misaligned for a moment, and my body spun half a turn in midair. Instead of the back of my head getting smashed, I fell to the ground back-first.
At the same time as hitting the ground, I uncurled my rolled-up body in one burst. Shaking off Blanka's arm, I rolled backward to escape.
Blanka stroked her claws and said.
"Not bad."
"Not at all."
"Next time, I won't hold back."
"Sneakily appealing that you weren't at full power. It may be true, but isn't that a bit petty?"
"Geez. Sorry. I'll grab you in a way that's not petty now."
Blanka kicked off the ground. A black afterimage rushed in, kicking up dust, along the branches of the World Tree.
However.
"You're a bit slow, aren't you?"
Her movements running atop the Tree of Origins were slower than usual.
The Tree of Origins is both a Demon God and the World Tree. It holds the vital essence of the World Tree. On this land—no, atop these branches—it is difficult to use Ground Qigong. This is because it is hard for mere human qigong to penetrate deep into the Tree of Origins, which is filled with vital essence.
Why would qigong practitioners learn Ground Qigong? Why would they pour precious qi into the ground?
Because without using Ground Qigong to fix their legs to the ground like stakes, they would slip, unable to withstand their own powerful strength and speed.
Therefore, no matter how strong a practitioner who has reached the Truth is, it is difficult for them to move as fast as me on these branches. Unlike them, who cannot properly deploy Ground Qigong, I can perform pseudo-Ground Qigong as a Demon God.
"Try and catch me!"
The direction I headed for was the edge of the branch. Seeing me looking like I was about to jump off at any moment, Blanka panicked.
"Where are you going? If you go there, you'll fall!"
"Don't worry. A monkey might fall, but I won't!"
The edge was almost like a cliff. I ran along the precarious boundary where the branch curved downward. My body swayed as if about to slip at any moment, but I moved as if on flat ground, never falling.
"Qigong? That can't be..."
Even Blanka, who had reached the Truth, couldn't properly use Ground Qigong. Blanka, now in the position of a dog chasing a chicken, saw the green wild grass left in my footprints and realized the secret.
"You grew small grass to stick your feet to the ground? You have a lot of tricks."
"It's nothing special."
"Geez. I'm genuinely impressed. Making grass sprout where you step with each footstep is a feat that's difficult even with qigong. Qigong only handles one's own body, but you're simultaneously operating both qigong and magic. Dummy, this is a skill honed to the utmost limit."
Even though she's an enemy, I feel proud. All this time, I've shown great skills but no one ever acknowledged them.
While I was running away feeling proud, Blanka's mockery reached my ears.
"—However, outstanding skill must be too delicate. That's the drawback."
Blanka lifted her leg up toward the sky. Her suit stretched as if about to tear, and her leg extended in a straight line. Like the hour and minute hands pointing to 6 o'clock, her two feet spread to the farthest distance her body allowed.
Sensing an ominous premonition, I looked back.
"W-w-w-wait a minute! Don't tell me!"
"Dummy."
The moment her two legs formed a dizzying straight line, Blanka forcefully stomped down her raised leg.
If one could see seismic waves with their eyes, this is what it would look like. Massive ripples originating from Blanka spread out along the branches of the World Tree. The branches of the World Tree, which were essentially the ground, heaved up and down violently. Small branches broke off, and ears of grain scattered down.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
"The tree is shaking!"
The shock created by a qigong practitioner who had reached the Truth putting in genuine effort was tremendous. Even people accustomed to living in the trees nearly fell from the impact.
And I, who was running along the edge, received an even greater effect.
The shaking branch pushed my feet away. I needed to step on the spots where I had grown grass, but this subtle disruption interfered with me.
"This is foul play!"
"Geez. You're the one playing more foul."
I screamed and reached out my hand. Instead of my missed step, I reached out my hand and touched the Tree of Origins.
A part of the shaking branch transformed into a vine. I quickly wrapped the vine around my hand and hung on. I was worried it might break since I made it in a hurry, but the vine grown with the vital essence of the World Tree was sufficiently tough and sturdy.
I survived. As I hung dangling from the vine and breathed a sigh of relief, Blanka slowly approached in my field of vision.
Standing upside down with her feet on the branch.
"Huh? How!"
"Dummy. I got inspired."
Blanka slightly lifted one of her legs. Claws protruding from inside her shoes were dug into the branch.
"That's something only a leopard would do!"
"If I know the method, I can do it too."
"Dammit, this is why geniuses!"
"Then I become the shabby one. Compared to the feat you performed, what I did with my claws is just child's play."
Blanka walked like a bat in a world turned upside down. I had no choice but to watch while hanging from the vine. She persistently made her way to the vine.
"Goodbye, Dummy. The person who almost became my master."
"Aaaaaah! Stop!"
Ignoring my screams, Blanka crushed the vine with one hand. The vine snapped and fell far to the ground below...
"Huh?"
But I didn't fall. The vine Blanka had broken was different from the one I was hanging from.
It wasn't that Blanka made a mistake. Blanka genuinely intended to drop me, and she actually broke the vine she was looking at. But what broke was a different vine.
What was misaligned was Blanka's senses. A shimmering butterfly flew in front of Blanka's eyes.
"...A butterfly?"
Feeling a sense of dissonance, Blanka bristled her fur and spread her senses. Only then did Blanka feel the heavy flower fragrance hovering around the tip of her nose. She saw that the branches extending horizontally, vertically, and diagonally were unnaturally broken. She also realized that the sounds reaching her two ears had subtly changed.
Her five senses had been distorted. Blanka, with her beast-kin instincts, thrust her fist toward the space within the gaps of her senses. With a crisp sound like tearing a curtain, a witch wearing a hat appeared like a phantom from within.
"I believe I told you not to do anything conspicuous."
No, actually, she didn't appear. There was no one there. However, the scent made from burning flower petals, the faint smoke, and sounds inaudible to human ears were creating the illusion of a woman.
Magic that can confuse even the senses of a qigong practitioner who has reached the Truth is rare. This is the work of the Witch of the Night, Walpurgis. Scattering catalysts imbued with magical power into sight, hearing, and smell, and creating the illusions she envisions—that is the power of the Witch of Pleasure and Illusion.
Blanka recognized the true nature of this illusion and said.
"The Witch of the Night has appeared in person. Is this man really that remarkable?"
"This is a separate matter from Him, Blanka. We helped you, but you ultimately failed in the subjugation of Ende. You should be savoring your failure and waiting for the next opportunity, so why are you attacking Him?"
"Because... someone who can tell me why I shouldn't kill these people will come, right?"
You attacked because you couldn't be bothered to ask? Extreme, but efficient.
"It is not a matter of who you kill. It is a matter of 'your' authority. Do you know how many meat fruits were consumed to feed the Wolf King and his pack? Furthermore, we even provided you with people to assist you. Yet you suffered a massive failure, and even lost the Wolf King."
"The ones who stopped us at Ende were precisely these two. If not for these two, the path to the Empire would have been open."
"That cannot serve as an excuse for your failure. If you had succeeded, you would have brought Him here sooner."
At the piercing, cold words, Blanka's body stiffened.
YW9peUx5cktZYXhyU2hzY1VsMkQ0WFY2TS9md1VwTG5aUjJDYjNOWXlwYys1Q3Q2QmRMRUJ4RkFVdjBiY2NjVQ
Walpurgis's phantom scattered in an instant. Her phantom, transformed into a flock of dozens of bats, flew to my side and hovered around me. I could hear the buzzing of thousands of insects. Amidst the bizarre noise made by the bats, my body slowly rose.
"You must not go out without any notice. If you wish to go out, please appoint me or another witch as your guide."
"I did bring one along on the way here."
"Thanks to that, I arrived in time. However, in the future, I hope you will take me with you if possible."
Walpurgis's flock of bats briefly protested and lifted my body. The ride quality of the bat cloud was poor. The bats' feet pinched my entire body, and the constant shaking was so severe that I felt each and every cell moving separately.
Just as I was about to rise past Blanka, she pricked up her ears and looked at me. She, having been reprimanded by Walpurgis, was unexpectedly delighted.
"So the human king Maximilian spoke of, is you?"
Was I found out? Well, it's meaningless to hide it now. The rumors have spread everywhere.
"How about it. Have you changed your mind now?"
Blanka hid her claws and smoothed down her fur. Blanka, with her hand on her chest and one leg pulled back, bowed politely and answered, even while hanging upside down.
"Let's meet again next time. Master."