Since parting ways with master-dono, Aro-dono and I have flown towards the forest that contains her hometown, with her carrying me in her arms. We concluded that it was likely that one of God’s Voice’s [Spirit Servants] would target her hometown.

“What…is that…?”

Aro-dono says, flapping her wings to hover in place.

It’s no wonder that she’s taken aback. Before our eyes is a colossal beast, its mouth crunching through the trees of the forest as it eats.

The beast’s skin is clearly very thick, with an earthly orange hue. It has four bulging eyes, and a huge mouth that splits its face in two. Its ears are long and flabby, and its snout is ugly. All six of its legs short and stubby.

But most strange of all is its size. It is easily over one hundred metres tall, making it look almost like a moving mountain.

『There was a large shadow hidden by the mist back in the Easternmost Land, but… to think it really was a living creature.』

I catch my breath.

The forest behind the monster is barren of trees, all having been eaten by the behemoth. It’s enough to make one think it intends to eat everything in the world.

Packs of smaller beasts are crowding around the behemoth’s feet. There are bears, wolves, and spiders, but the feature they all have in common is that their four eyes.

『It must be the Magic Beast King… Wh-what can we do, Aro-dono?』

I don’t think we’re capable of fighting it. If it was human-sized like Saint Jornes was, we could have maybe done something. But against something so large, we could get swallowed whole at a moment’s notice.

“…What you said was correct.”

Aro-dono mutters.

『What I said…?』

She nods.

“The objective of the [Spirit Servants] is to make dragon-god-sama hurry… So it won’t go all out while it’s just us. That was what you said.”

『I-I did say that, yes… But now that I’ve seen the real thing, I feel like that have been optimistic…』

“If that Magic Beast King were to go on a rampage, the entire Noah’s Forest would soon be erased. Your prediction was correct. It’s taking its time to destroy the forest. So if it’s not going to use its full power, it might be unexpectedly easy for us.”

Aro-dono says as she ponders the situation.

I-I’m not so confident… Even if the Magic Beast King is taking its time, there are those countless beasts around it. Judging from the pattern so far, each of them should be fairly high rank…

『I suppose that’s true… We didn’t come here in order to defeat it. All we have to do is alleviate the damage and wait for master-dono to arrive. It’ll be okay… We will never have to fight it directly, after all.』

I say to myself.

『…So what do we do now, Aro-dono?』

“It would be good if we could learn more about the Magic Beast King… But more importantly, we should find out how everyone’s doing. The smaller beasts might have already gotten into the village…”

『That makes sense. What’s important to us is the safety of the Lithovars. The Magic Beast King is nothing more than a hazard we must avoid… But, umm, is that okay? Didn’t you pretend to die when you left…?』

I have already heard from Aro-dono about how she left the forest.

Aro-dono had regained her human form through evolution, but became injured in battle against the soldiers of the Ardesian noble, Tolman, which outed her as an undead. After saying farewell to her parents, she faked her own death and left the village.

After struggling to return to her home, she was chased away as a monster. She is certainly strong-hearted, but there’s no way she wasn’t hurt by that. Returning to the village now would be digging up that wound for her.

“It’s okay. I can’t be selfish right now after all.”

Aro-dono says, stroking my head. 

“Thank you for being so kind, treant-san.”

From then on, We head for the Lithovar village while searching for signs of people. We skim above the treetops, scanning the ground beneath us.

“Ra…RAAAAAAAh!!”

Before long, we hear a loud roar. We immediately head towards the sound.

We quickly find the source, a giant rabbit around two metres tall, with long ears. Despite being a rabbit, its four eyes and giant body dispel any sense of cuteness from it.

“RAAAAAAAAh!”

“Guhaa!”

The four-eyed rabbit rams into a Lithovar warrior, sending him flying. There are three spear-wielding men present, and one magic-using woman, but the three men are already injured and sprawled on the ground.

『Upper C monsters are commonplace in this forest, so I had thought Lithovar warriors were quite well-trained. But for them to be defeated so easily…』

To make matters worse, there isn’t just one or two of these four-eyed beasts. The magic beast king was surrounded by dozens, or perhaps hundreds of them.

Aro-dono lets go of me and dives down towards the four-eyed rabbit.

“I’m your opponent now.”