16 Chapter 16: Forbidden Garden (1/2)
”So, which of you ignorant fools would like to be enlightened first?”
Asura strolled across the grassy wilderness, his each step bringing with it a fresh bloom of flowers. The knights shrank back, afraid.
”He's coming!” one of them warned his comrades, holding his sword with both hands. Even from a distance, I could see that he was trembling.
”Hmm…there's so many of you. It'll take too much time to enlighten you one by one.” Swinging his katana, Asura took another step, his feet disappearing knee-deep into the wildly growing tall grass. ”It seems like…”
With a single slash, he sent dozens of heavily armored knights tumbling through the air. Emerald lightning crackled in the air, leaving behind a stink of ozone.
”…I must first eliminate those who lack the intellect to gather knowledge!”
”Ah!”
More knights were sent crashing down as plants and green lightning danced through the dense vegetation. Despite their armor, they were knocked off their feet.
”Whoa!”
”Ugh!”
I slammed my staff into the soil to prevent myself from being lifted off and hurled through the artificial forest. Taking a deep breath, I glanced around, only to see the knights slowly rising back to their feet. Despite being swept about, they didn't seem too hurt.
”This is Asura's anti-horde spell? Doesn't look like there are any effects…”
Even as I said that, I knew that it was a premature judgement. Surely there had to be some sort of effect, or he wouldn't cast it. Maybe not physical damage, but something more nefarious. I could see spores floating about.
Absolute Appraisal!
I had a bad feeling about the spores. Were they parasitic? Monstrous spores that entered our bodies through respiration and latched on, growing monsters inside our organs and killing us from inside? I probably watched too many Alien movies, but given how crazy this world was, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a demonic effect.
Pain Amplifier.
I blinked when I saw that single technique float before me in a blue holographic window. It seemed that the spores weren't as nefarious as I thought it would be, but that term still didn't sound very promising.
Upon being breathed in, these spores will enhance the sensory perceptions of the hosts and amplify the pain they feel by a thousand times.
What the hell?
That certainly didn't sound good. A thousand times? That meant even a slight injury such as a small cut or gaze would cause unimaginable, excruciating pain?
The knights didn't seem to care. Upon seeing that there was no negative effect after being bathed by Asura's attacks, they decided to go onto the offensive.
”Hoh!”
With a roar, his armored squad charged, their blades glowing with divine energy. Their armor remained proof against the thorns and vines of the wilderness, and they bashed through the foliage to reach Asura's position.
However, the demon remained standing where he was, completely unmoved by the aggression of his opponents.
”Kill him!”
As one of the knights closed in on Asura, a gigantic piece of wood burst out from the vegetation and slammed into him, its thorns digging into his armor.
”Hah! You think that such a weak attack can incapacitate me? This is but a scratch!”
Despite the protection the armor afforded him, several of the thorns had flayed open his exposed flesh in the joints. It wasn't just him. The comrades who were following behind found themselves spiked or struck by similarly barbed wood, which pierced their armor and dealt surface wounds.
However, despite the armor reducing the worst of their damage, the squad of knights dropped to their knees, writhing about.
”Ah!”
”Ugh!”
”It hurts! It hurts!”
”Oh, Goddess Evelyn, save me! Save me!”
”AAAAAAH! It hurts so much!”
They were screaming and flailing about from just minor wounds. Engulfed by red-hot agony, they writhed on the ground, unable to get up. Thanks to the Pain Amplifier curse, just a few superficial cuts were sufficient to incapacitate them.
Tears flowing from their eyes, the knights tried to rise, only to fall as pain coursed through their limbs.
”Goddess…it hurts so much…please let it end…let it end!”
”Idiots. So you're the first to fall to the sin of ignorance.”
Even without moving his sword, Asura took off the heads of the knights and mercifully ended their misery. The wooden spikes and creatures lurking beneath the foliage had consumed the knights, attacking the weak spot between chainmail and helmet and severing their necks.
”Fire!”
Upon seeing their comrades' demise, the knights in the backline had charged and prepared a powerful spell. Raising their staffs, they launched a bombardment of fireballs, icicles and lightning at the solitary figure of Asura.
The bombardment crashed down onto Asura with the fury of gods, enveloping the entire place in multiple explosions. I shielded myself as the shockwaves buffeted me, trying to keep my eye on the expanding inferno that voraciously consumed the vegetation.
”Close combat attacks have no effect, so they're now resorting to long range spells, huh?” I shook my head and sighed. ”Unfortunately, long range spells aren't effective either.”
”Eh?”
The knight closest to me blinked and stared at me. I merely pointed at where Asura stood.
The demon seemed to have been wounded, but plants and vegetation flowed into his body, repairing the gaping holes that the explosions tore through him. In mere seconds, he was whole again, completely unscathed.
Even his armor was repaired.
”No way…he regenerated?”
”How is this possible!?”
”Even though we wounded him, he instantly restored himself?”
The shocked cries of knights filled the dense foliage as they backed away in disbelief, trying to wrap their minds around the amazing sight.
”That's not surprising,” I replied as I studied the situation and analyzed it. ”This guy…he's controlling plants and vegetation with his Forbidden Garden. As long as there exists plants and trees around him, he'll be able to draw a nearly infinite supply of nutrients to regenerate himself from even the worst of wounds with his Natural Regeneration ability. That's why I didn't want to fight him by myself. But even now…things don't look good.”
I narrowed my eyes.
The gigantic Venus flytrap-like monster from earlier, and the heavily wooden spikes that can penetrate defense…he can manipulate and control wood-element magic freely. So it would be a given that he can use wood spells to restore himself. And that armor…
I watched as his armor wove and repaired itself. Rather than metallic chainmail, it looked like some sort of polymer-based fabric. Thousands of microscopic threads weaving and bending over each other and hardening into multiple protective layers.
In just a few seconds, he was fully regenerated.
”What are you talking about?”
”Then is he invincible? Doesn't that make him immortal?”
”No…” I was thinking hard as an idea came to my mind and I smirked. ”That Natural Regeneration special ability just exposed all of Asura's vulnerabilities.”
I was staring at his katana. That was the single part of the Guardian that did not regenerate from drawing the power of Nature. Either it wasn't part of Forbidden Garden or his affinity to wood magic – a weapon that was completely separate from his self.
I wondered if it was the source of his power. If it was…
”If we can destroy that weapon, we should be able to eliminate the boss monster.”
However, none of the knights were paying any attention to a ”civilian” like me. They had launched another series of attacks that leveled the entire foliage around him, only for the vegetation to regrow and Asura to fully regenerate once more.
”Damn it! He completely restores himself whenever we hit him! Is he immortal or something? How are we supposed to fight a monster like that?”
I chuckled to myself. They were overestimating the power of Regeneration. As someone who possessed a similar ability, I knew its limits. Regeneration relied on magical energy. Run out of it, and I would lose the ability to regenerate.
Asura should be no different. The problem was that Asura seemed to possess an endless well of magical energy.
His eyes crackling with emerald eldritch energy, the Guardian crouched down and plunged his sword into to rampantly growing foliage. His body glowing with magic, Asura issued a single, chilling declaration.
”It's my turn now.”
”Whoa!”
The knights scattered when a single colossal redwood tree burst out of the arcane forest, as if to pierce the heavens.
”I will show you hell.”
But that redwood tree was just a diversion…no, a single pillar to fence us in, trapping us in the forest with a murderous demon. Asura had lunged from the thick vegetation, disappearing into a green blur as he streaked across the air.
Swinging his sword, he descended upon the clustered group of knights, who grimly raised their swords and shields to brace themselves for his attack.
It was futile.
Upon landing, Asura obliterated an entire squad, reducing them into pieces and gore. Heads and limbs flew, blood splattering all over the plants, who seemed to go into a frenzy as they twisted and turned to thirstily drink the crimson fluids.
”Aaaaah!”
”Ugh!”
”Noooo!”
My jaw dropped as I backed away in reflex, battered by the shockwaves of Asura's descent. Biting my lip, I studied the massacre, almost unable to believe my eyes.
How terrifying…in just one move, he killed so many knights! An entire squadron, wiped out in just one second!
However, the knight commander didn't hesitate. Even as his men reeled from the catastrophic losses, he alone stood firm and led the charge.