Alraune, a plant-type elite monster inhabiting the western reaches of Durigarda.
A being that had bewitched not only men but even women, driving countless dark elves to their deaths.
And now it spread its arms toward Ian.
「Ahh… pretty child, hurry and come here.」
Her naked upper body was fully exposed.
Her lower body, hidden by petals, swayed gently.
The bewitching voice ringing directly inside Ian’s head paralyzed her thoughts.
Ian’s brow furrowed.
Because from the moment she heard that voice, she wanted to go to Alraune at once and be embraced.
Because she wanted to be buried in those enormous breasts.
To keep hold of her senses, she bit down hard on her lip until it bled.
「Do not resist. Hurry, come this way.」
“Sh-shut up.”
And then she aimed her staff at herself.
With trembling hands, Ian shouted.
Basic Magic Skill, Stage 1 Support Magic.
Status Ailment Removal.
“Cure.”
A small cluster of light appeared from the staff and settled into Ian’s body, and her heavy head gradually began to feel lighter.
Ian let out the breath that had been caught in her chest.
‘Good thing I built up at least a little resistance to a woman’s body.’
If she had not had a woman’s body.
If she had remained the same game-addicted shut-in from reality, she might have been dying in Alraune’s arms by now.
But Ian was able to endure it.
Because the so-called convenience features were so atrocious that every time she changed clothes, she was forced to see her own body.
For once, Ian was sincerely grateful for the worst convenience system imaginable.
「How pointless, your resistance.」
Of course, even then, the voice ringing directly inside her head did not disappear, but she no longer felt the urge to surrender her body as she had before.
In other words, she was ready to fight.
Ian’s staff pointed toward Alraune.
“Eat this.”
Basic Magic Skill, 1st Circle Fire Magic, Fireball.
A sphere of flame formed at the tip of her staff and shot toward Alraune.
「How adorable.」
However, her magic did not reach Alraune.
Because the dark elf with the bow, now completely reduced to a puppet, blocked the path of the fireball.
Even as his body turned to ash, he stood firm and protected Alraune.
「It cannot be helped.」
Countless bundles of tentacles appeared from behind Alraune.
「It would have been nice if you had obediently become my child. Shall I punish you a little?」
The bundles of tentacles spread in all directions.
Where the slender tentacles reached, dark elves who had become Alraune’s puppets appeared.
Ian glared at Alraune.
“How many did you kill?”
「Oh my, are you worried? But do not worry. You, too, will offer me your love. Now, bring me that child. My children.」
The dark elves that emerged from Alraune’s tentacles advanced toward Ian.
‘Ten in total. Can I win?’
Or should she run?
After a brief hesitation, Ian drew her sword.
The first to reach her were two dark elves holding a sword and an axe.
They swung their weapons.
Simple attacks with no sign of a skill.
Ian lightly dodged them and swept her sword horizontally.
—Slice!
The dark elves were cut apart as easily as sheets of paper.
And this time as well, no blood came out.
In the meantime, an arrow flew toward her.
A shield pushed in from the side, and a spear thrust forward.
As Ian calmly evaded the dark elves’ attacks, she was able to identify one particular trait.
‘They can’t use skills.’
There were three conditions for using skills in Arcadia.
First, one had to possess a weapon suited to the skill. Second, one had to build enough proficiency to use the skill. Third, one had to say the name of the skill aloud.
But the dark elves controlled by Alraune could not speak.
That was why, starting with the gauntlet-wielding dark elf who had first attacked Ian, none of the other dark elves’ weapons held any light.
‘Then I have a chance.’
The dark elves rushed toward Ian.
Her eyes flashed.
Her compressed body generated a fierce rotation.
“Top Blade!”
The dark elves charging without reason had their bodies torn to pieces by the spinning blue blade.
Even so, their march did not stop.
Even with their arms cut off, even with their legs severed, even with their heads lopped away, they moved solely according to Alraune’s command.
Ian clicked her tongue.
‘It’s impossible to cut off all the tentacles on this many of them.’
She did not even know where they were embedded in the first place.
Subduing them while checking each one individually was close to impossible.
Then there was only one method.
Ian swung her staff.
“Ice Spear!”
Spears of ice that rose above her head rushed toward Alraune.
At the same time, Ian created another spell.
“Fireball!”
Spheres of flame moved along the spears’ trajectory.
The colliding fire and ice created a tremendous amount of steam.
「How amusing.」
Steam blanketed the area around Alraune.
Taking advantage of the moment when her vision was obscured, Ian took the enemy’s back.
‘I’ll end it here.’
Her target was the main body of the tentacles, Alraune.
Ian’s staff spewed flames once more.
Wind swirled around her.
“Wind Cutter!”
The storm of flame born from the meeting of fire and wind surged toward Alraune.
The steam trapping Alraune dispersed, and the surroundings blazed with scorching fire.
A continuous use of magic.
Ian’s mana bottomed out in an instant.
But the scene before her made pouring in all that mana worthwhile.
“Hoo… hoo…. Did I get her?”
At that moment, the flames scattered, revealing Alraune completely unharmed.
Because she had used all the dark elves under her control as shields, her main body had taken no damage from the flames.
Alraune’s voice rang through Ian’s head.
「That was a fairly decent struggle. But do you have anything next?」
Ian’s brow furrowed.
She had never imagined she would fail to inflict even the slightest damage.
But Ian gripped her sword again.
‘Right, let’s think positively. There’s nothing protecting her now.’
And if it came to close combat, she was confident she could win.
However.
「I am sorry, but I have many children.」
As if she had read Ian’s thoughts, Alraune smiled leisurely and spread her tentacles wide once more.
More dark elf puppets appeared from the tentacles and gathered around Ian.
Cold sweat ran down Ian’s cheek.
‘Just how many are there?’
Even if she burned them all away again, there was no guarantee the next puppets would not appear.
No, judging by Alraune’s composure, it was only right to assume there were more puppets.
Ian quietly stepped back.
Now was the time to retreat and devise a countermeasure.
「Oh my. Are you trying to run? You mustn’t.」
But before Ian could, Alraune’s tentacles passed over her head.
As though fruit were ripening, dark elf puppets appeared behind Ian.
She had to break through the escape route.
Ian bit down on a mana potion and ran.
The dark elf puppets blocked her path.
“Sword Rush!”
A blue trail cut down the dark elves.
However, their interference did not stop.
“Top Blade!”
Even when she swept them away with an area skill, more dark elves appeared from the tentacles and blocked her.
She set them on fire.
She spread ice beneath them.
She cut them apart with wind.
Thus, countless dark elves fell.
However.
—Crash!
Another empty mana potion shattered.
“Haa, haa….”
Ian panted for breath.
But the number of dark elves had not decreased at all.
‘That was my last mana potion. But….’
Her escape route was still blocked by dark elves.
Now was the time to make a decision.
Looking at her mana, which had recovered by about half, she steeled herself.
「Huhu…. Are you still trying to resist?」
“No.”
Wind began to blow around Ian.
“I’m going to catch you.”
The final trump card she had kept until the very end.
Wind-type Support Magic, Haste.
「No matter what you do, it is meaningless—!」
—Boom!
Ian’s body shot forward like the wind.
At the speed that was different from before, Alraune’s expression filled with shock.
But the distance closed in an instant.
And before a puppet could appear, Ian’s sword slashed at Alraune.
“Slash!”
Her target was Alraune’s neck.
Ian’s sword bit in sharply.
Alraune hurriedly raised her arm and blocked Ian’s sword.
But in exchange, Alraune’s arm flew through the air.
「Kiyaaaaaak! How dare a mere human!」
Alraune raged.
Ignoring the shriek ringing through her head, Ian raised her sword back over her shoulder.
Basic Swordsmanship Skill, Fourth Form.
Single-Strike Thrust.
“Linear!”
The sword drove into Alraune’s shoulder.
「Kkiyaaaaaak! No, nooooo!」
Alraune screamed in pain once more.
To sever her neck, Ian twisted the sword embedded in her shoulder.
“It’s over!”
But in that time, Alraune’s puppets caught up to Ian.
The dark elves’ hands seized her arms.
“Uaaaaaah!”
Arrows pierced her back, and the dark elves’ weapons dug in to tear apart her arms and legs.
Her vision dyed crimson, and a dizzying current ran through her lower back.
But Ian did not let go of the hand gripping her sword.
“S-Sla….”
If only she could use the skill, victory would be hers.
Squeezing out every last ounce of strength, Ian shouted.
“Slash!”
—Shaaak!
Fresh blood spurted.
Bright red blood stained Alraune’s body.
However, what flew through the air was not Alraune’s neck, but Ian’s arm.
At the same time, an axe embedded in her abdomen sent her body flying.
Ian rolled across the ground with a wet thud.
Under an impact that surpassed her limits, her body collapsed powerlessly.
Alraune approached Ian.
Her leisurely expression was nowhere to be seen.
Consumed by rage, she stretched her tentacles toward Ian with a chilling gaze.
The tentacles wrapped around Ian.
Her body, barely clinging to breath, rose into the air.
「You…, you alone I will kill painfully. I will tear your entire body to shreds, drain out all your blood, put you back together, and make it so that even in death, you cannot die!」
The enraged Alraune’s tentacle tightened powerfully around Ian’s neck.
At that moment.
Ian’s eyes snapped open.
She shouted.
“Fireball!”
Ian’s fire magic pierced through her cloak and struck Alraune.
「Kkiyaaaaaak! My, my body!」
Scorching heat burned Alraune’s body.
However.
「I cannot forgive you. A mere human dares to do this to me…. I cannot forgive you!」
Even as she burned, Alraune’s tentacles steadily put more strength into crushing Ian’s neck.
‘A-air….’
She did not have enough blood.
Her brain lacked oxygen.
Within her fading consciousness, she had only one chance to use magic.
With this one chance, she had to cut off Alraune’s breath.
‘But how?’
There was no guarantee that she could successfully combine fire and wind in her current state.
Nor did she possess any powerful magic.
If it were a sword, perhaps, but having lost one arm and her weapon, she could not use a sword.
Was she going to die like this after all?
Just as her eyes were about to drift shut.
[Notification: Magic proficiency has reached 150!]
[You have acquired 2nd Circle Fire Magic, “Flame”!]
A notification window appeared before Ian’s eyes.
‘2nd Circle Fire Magic?’
She could not know exactly what kind of skill it was.
In a situation like this, she had no time to leisurely read the description window.
But one thing was certain.
Her fate depended on this newly acquired skill.
Then there was no time to hesitate.
Her life should have been over anyway; at this point, even if she gambled, she had nothing to lose.
Desperately holding on to consciousness, Ian shouted.
Basic Magic Skill, 2nd Circle Fire Magic.
Continuous Emission Type.
“Flame!”
Flames surged from the staff.
Unlike a sphere, the flames stretched out in an endless stream, dyeing Alraune’s body with fire.
「Kiyaaaaaak! Hot, nooooo!」
The flames did not stop.
The magic called Flame was a skill that burned the opponent as long as mana allowed.
Until Ian’s mana ran dry, the stream of fire continued to coil around Alraune’s body.
“Gghhhaaaaaaah!”
「How dare you! My body…. No. Nooooooooo!」
At last.
Ian’s eyes went unfocused.
Her body fell to the ground.
And.
The green skin burned black.
The tentacles, the petals in full bloom, all crumbled away.
And so.
—Thud. Thud….
Alraune scattered into ash.
As her vision blurred, a window appeared before Ian’s eyes.
[Notification: You have leveled up!]