——It was a sight that even Seren, who had lived for several hundred years, could never have comprehended.
An ink-black tree she had never seen before was moving through the forest.
The Spiritfolk were knowledgeable about plants. Seren had a complete grasp of all the vegetation surrounding Yggdrasil.
But this tree did not exist within any knowledge she possessed.
A bizarre plant that used its roots like legs and its branches like arms.
Its size was immense—greater than any of the great trees that composed the forest, with countless branches stretching out from its trunk like tentacles.
For an instant she thought it might be a Monster, but there should have been no Monster of that kind living near Yggdrasil.
At the tips of the branches stretching in every direction was Tino—who should have been acting alongside that Human.
She was desperately dodging the incoming branches by controlling her carpet.
The Great Black Tree was brimming with immense power—Mana Material and magical energy.
No—more precisely, that wasn't quite right. She forced her thoughts, which were on the verge of stalling out in confusion, to keep working.
"It's absorbing Mana Material…?"
The most noteworthy place was the trail the Great Tree had carved behind it.
Just as water flows from higher ground to lower ground, Mana Material in the air was streaming toward the Great Tree. The Mana Material that had been pumped up by the stirring device just moments ago was also being drawn in that direction.
It was pulling Mana Material toward itself. A current had formed.
That was, coincidentally, exactly what Seren and the others had been trying to do moments before.
"That's…!"
Lucia's eyes went wide and she cried out. But no further meaningful words escaped her lips.
It was clearly the reaction of someone who knew. As Lucia froze with a strained expression, the other members of the Mourning Specter continued.
"Krai-chan, that's flashy."
"……Mm."
"Ah, ah, ah… I see… so that's the trick. …No, there's no way I could do that normally!!"
"……It's pretty strange, but how has that weakling Human not gotten caught yet, doing stuff like that all the time?"
"……Maybe Humans are surprisingly open-hearted."
Skipping past Mires, she surveyed the situation. It seemed that Human was up on top of the black tree.
So this was the strategy Thousand Transformations had mentioned earlier—the Thousand Transformations' strategy.
Even the Mana Material stirring device had been a strategy Seren could never have conceived of, but this time she had absolutely no idea what was going on. Compared to Thousand Transformations' strategies, the plans Citry had come up with seemed positively modest.
Operating her carpet desperately to dodge the attacks, Tino screamed in a voice close to a wail.
"Citry sis-teeeer! Pleeaaase heeeelp meeee!"
"…! Tea-chan! You remember where we're going to place the southern device, right!? Draw the line!" Citry shouted.
Citry shouldn't have been able to see Mana Material, but she had likely understood the situation in an instant from Seren's words.
She intended to achieve their objective using a new method.
"!? Wh-why!? Whyyyy!?"
"Just do it, Tea! Or else trade places with me!"
"I-I'll do iiiit!!"
The branches extending from the tree weren't that fast, but there were simply too many of them. What would happen if she got caught was anyone's guess, but it was certain to be something unpleasant.
Her pale expression overlapped with how she herself had once looked, and Seren turned her gaze away. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell her to stop running. There was nothing Seren could do.
Then, just like that, the tree that had been chasing Tino came to a sudden halt.
The extended branches stopped pursuing Tino, and silence returned to the forest.
Clyus, who like Seren had been staring at the tree in blank amazement, raised a questioning voice.
"!? I-It stopped…? What does that weakling Human intend to do!?"
"…I don't even know what that thing is in the first place… is it something that can even be controlled?"
From the fact that Tino had been desperately fleeing, it hardly seemed controllable—but.
She reobserved the now-stationary tree.
A tree of ink-black that absorbed sunlight with both trunk and leaves. Its thick roots supported its massive body, and even compared to the ancient forest trees of Yggdrasil, its trunk was incomparably thicker. Staring at it, an indescribable sense of revulsion welled up from the back of her mind. One might call it a visceral disgust.
She didn't know where it had been brought from, but a tree that drew in the atmosphere's Mana Material without limit had no place existing in this forest.
"What a terrifying tree. Finis—the Guardian Spirit of Yggdrasil—is trembling."
Luin said, his expression rigid. Above his head, the depleted Finis was shaking with fear.
It was the first time she had seen that ever-composed, reliable friend make such an expression. It seemed Luin was seeing the tree for the first time as well.
Until now she had thought that even if it meant swallowing poison, it was worth it if it could stop the world's crisis—but perhaps that had been short-sighted.
At that moment, the blood drained from Lucia's face, which had been frozen at the sight of the strategy her brother had pulled off.
Lucia, who had faced off against Luin without so much as changing her expression, let out a desperate cry that echoed through the forest.
"E-everyone, run! That thing—it's coming after strong magical energy!!"
"!?!"
"It hasn't decided on a target—it's torn between us!!"
The tree began moving again. A branch lashed out with whip-like force, mowing through the earthen soldiers Mires had left standing, and stretched toward Seren.
Its speed, when faced with it directly, was beyond what she had imagined. She threw herself sideways in a desperate dodge.
The forest had turned into a scene of hell.
It seemed the tree, unable to settle on a single target, had decided to chase all of them at once.
Lapis called out in a sharp voice.
"Guh… r-run! Don't let it catch you, no matter what!"
"!? You gotta be kidding me! That stupid Human!!"
The members of Star's Holy Thunder broke into a sprint all at once. The branches were already reaching toward them. A split second later, Luin took off, and Seren scrambled to push off the ground as well.
The branches' speed wasn't that great—but they weren't slow enough to be careless about either. If they didn't run at full speed—they'd be caught.
Being chased were Star's Holy Thunder, along with Lucia, Luin, and Seren.
Lucia fired ice arrows while dodging the attacks, but the tree's movements weren't slowed in the slightest. Riiz, who apparently wasn't being targeted, was running alongside Lucia.
"Keep your formation, people! You remember the device placements, right!? Guide the Mana Material flow!" Citry shouted from behind a tree where she had taken shelter—the tree apparently wasn't targeting her. There was something almost cheerful in her voice.
And so began the hellish game of tag from which there must be no capture.
§ § § "Ku… ku-ku… So this is Thousand Transformations' divine strategy and鬼謀. I'd heard the mission completion rate was one hundred percent, but… impossible!!"
Adler trembled at the scene displayed in the Live Mirror.
The first encounter had been by chance. When it occurred to him that Thousand Transformations might be a kindred spirit, he had felt shock alongside excitement. When he had been assigned to the Phantom army, the bitter taste of defeat came alongside joy at the possibility of newfound power.
He had felt fear at the skill shown in rescuing Luin, but at the same time had drawn from it the means to command Phantoms.
But now, Adler and the others watching that scene had no composure whatsoever.
The move that Thousand Transformations had finally played—because of the overwhelming, incomparable gap in power that could be glimpsed within it.
It was not a gap that could be bridged by leading even somewhat powerful Monsters.
The ability to devise strategies was important for a Guide, but it was not the thing to prioritize most. That was what he had believed. The most important thing was to travel the world and subdue powerful Monsters.
But this ability… he couldn't win. Adler himself bore the title of Demon King. He had a certain confidence in his command abilities, but he felt absolutely no sense that he could catch up.
Truly—divine strategy and ghostly scheming. A stratagem permitted only to gods and spirits.
Cards in hand, ability to control the situation, and even courage—everything was different. He had understood that there was a difference in power, but that had only ever been an understanding, nothing more.
When he closed his eyes, the scene that had been reflected in the mirror moments ago came vividly to mind.
Thousand Transformations, riding a carpet alongside Tino, landing near the Treasure Hall.
The summoned ghost becoming the Black Knight. And then, the moment that staff was enlarged and the Phantom was restored to a Spiritfolk—to think it would try to save them all…
"I can't believe they'd try to save everyone… How did they lure out only the former Spiritfolk?"
"…That tree is also a mystery. Whether it's a Monster or not… it doesn't seem like they can control it."
"It must have been dormant in the form of a staff. Using an uncontrollable Monster—I never would have even considered it… So this is what they call a 'Dragon Gambit,' huh? Damn it."
Quint clenched his fist and spat the words out.
The Dragon Gambit was an ancient strategy—one that involved directing the rage of a dragon and the movement of Monsters with supernatural abilities to overwhelm and defeat an enemy with overwhelming military superiority. An extremely high-risk stratagem.
It was the very strategy Adler had once laughed off.
That a high-risk strategy was necessary was proof of weakness—and moreover, for Adler and the Guides, powerful Monsters were beings that should be subdued. If they proved beyond one's control, that was nothing other than one's own inadequacy.
He had apprenticed under Thousand Transformations to absorb that power and one day surpass it. But now, the Thousand Demons Night Parade had lost without even fighting—they had lost in their hearts. Neither Uno nor Quint had any fighting spirit left.
It was far too brilliant, far too free. Always composed, never so much as changing his expression even when facing the eyes of a god.
It was a gap in talent too vast to even harbor admiration. Adler now feared Thousand Transformations—just as the Hunters and armies that had once stood against Adler and his kind had trembled at the sight of Yuden.
A Guide used no arts when commanding Monsters. The Monsters followed a Guide solely because of that charisma.
Therefore, a Guide was obligated to be the absolute sovereign among Monsters.
A Guide who had lost his standing, a leader who showed weakness—the Monsters would not follow.
He was cornered. The World Tree's rampage could probably be handled. No—that man would surely make it happen. But even if everything ended safely, Adler and his group would be finished.
A loser could lead nothing. He had to change the situation somehow.
But Thousand Transformations was too strong. Even in perfect condition, they hadn't been able to win.
"That tree… it didn't have the power to directly interfere with the Ley Lines and absorb Mana Material. I think that's why Thousand Transformations simultaneously pushed forward with the stirring device strategy. To have the tree absorb the Mana Material that the device had disrupted—and then to grow it. Lord Adler, perhaps if we use that—we could take the Source Temple."
Uno said to Adler with a serious expression. Her eyes asked about the Thousand Demons Night Parade's next move.
Uno Silver was a clever girl. She understood the situation precisely. Adler found himself murmuring.
"…A hero, is it?"
He was certain. That man would one day make history.
And within that history, how the Thousand Demons Night Parade would be treated depended on Adler's actions.
He watched the quietly operating Mana Material stirring device and thought. Thousand Transformations and the black tree were tracing the points where the devices had been placed. Before long, they would reach Adler and his group as well.
He had to decide his position. If he simply joined up with Thousand Transformations now, the Thousand Demons Night Parade would surely be defeated and become nothing more than a group that had merely apprenticeship. A pitiful position—neither enemy nor ally.
But in a situation with no chance of winning, he couldn't simply make an enemy of them either. Yuden had absorbed Mana Material and grown stronger. There was also Ripper's Spatial Severance. But those abilities had already been accounted for by Thousand Transformations.
No—or perhaps, if that man had even succeeded in subduing the Phantom of the Source Temple— "…No, there's still a move. One move only—one that could beat that man—"
"!?"
His hand gripping the spear was trembling before he realized it. At the horrifying "strategy" he had just conceived.
It was a flash of inspiration worthy of being called divine revelation, accompanied by a shock like being struck by lightning.
His heart was pounding like a drum. His fingertips were so cold they felt like they were freezing. He felt a powerful wave of dizziness and gripped the spear tighter.
This was a strategy the Adler of just a few hours ago would never have come up with. That he had managed to think of such a insane plan—it must have been influenced by the moves Thousand Transformations had made.
Adler, who had dominated Monsters and confronted countless nations. If he had never become involved with the Mourning Specter and simply continued his advance, the name Demon King Adler would surely have spread across the entire world before long.
By fighting the Mourning Specter and coming all the way to Yggdrasil, that future had been cut off. But if this strategy succeeded, it wouldn't be on the level of mere Demon King.
Adler would become the enemy of all humanity.
He steadied his breathing with effort and considered the strategy's viability.
The outcome was uncertain. The risk was extreme.
No—it didn't matter if everything didn't go smoothly. As long as he could strike back at that man even once.
What he needed was Uno's cooperation.
He took a deep breath and looked at his companions.
The strategy was far too dangerous. He had to steel himself, or he would lose to his own hesitation. Adler shouted.
"Uno, Quint. We are the Thousand Demons Night Parade. To lose without doing anything—that is unforgivable!"
He spun his spear and brought it crashing down on the Mana Material stirring device with force.
Once, twice, three times. The glass tubes shattered to pieces and rained down like fragments.
Uno and the others watched Adler's actions without a word.
"Hostility. Compliance is the same as death! Our apprenticeship under Thousand Transformations ends here. The Thousand Demons Night Parade will now challenge that man to battle! Will you follow me?"
"Th-that's perfectly fine, but is there really any chance of winning?"
"…Damn right. Fine. If we end up doing nothing, I won't be able to face the dead Zork. Let's do this!"
Neither of the two responding showed any hesitation. Uno was calm and composed as always, and Quint's courage remained intact.
The Thousand Demons Night Parade was not yet finished.
Adler wore a genuine smile and began explaining to his companions the insane strategy he had just moments ago conceived.