CL—CLAAANGGGG!!

A hard, rigid sound rang out across the sacred ground of the spirits.

It was the impact sound from when the Spirit King’s staff—flung down with the momentum of a leap from the hollow of the giant tree—collided with the arm Emi Rune raised to defend after noticing the ambush.

At the same time, a shockwave erupted.

Originating from the point of contact between the Spirit King’s staff and Emi Rune’s arm, it expanded outward in a spherical blast that became a terrific storm wind, ripping apart and blasting away the glowing flowers of the flower garden, and mowing down trees.

Forest Spirit King Cocoririon—his ambush blocked—landed as-is and backstepped.

He opened distance from Emi Rune.

In that span, the Spirit King’s staff... ignored physical laws, hung in midair, and attacked Emi Rune while spinning rapidly in a vertical rotation!

“HAH!!”

Against that strike—which would have shattered bones and rendered an ordinary person combat-ineffective in a single blow—Emi Rune met it with her fist.

In other words, she punched back!

And in that exchange, the one that lost on strength was the Spirit King’s staff.

It flew far away, scattering fragments from the collision point... and yet once again it ignored physical laws, abruptly altered its trajectory mid-flight, and returned beneath the Spirit King.

SHKRRSH!!

The upper portion of the staff stabbed into the ground with a sharp sound, completely shattered and shortened... but in less than a second, it returned to its original length.

Multiple branches extended from the edges of the damaged section, twisting together while bracing one another, repairing the staff!

Grabbing the restored staff and taking a fighting stance against Emi Rune, Cocoririon finally opened his mouth here.

<<<I will not demand you state your name... You have invaded on this scale. It is unthinkable you would leave any trace that connects to the heavenly ones behind you, so plainly>>>

Those words were saturated with killing intent, and if an ordinary person had been present, they would have died of shock from the Spirit King’s 【Intimidation】 alone.

That was how much tension filled this place.

Emi Rune’s response was—

“......What are you talking about?”

It was an utterly plain, simple line, thick with bewilderment.

...And of course it was.

Forest Spirit King Cocoririon had convinced himself Emi Rune was an apostle sent in by an opposing faction to Spirit God Peereesyu, and that her purpose was to harm Cocoririon’s beloved child Mishutire and thereby deal damage to Cocoririon—and, by extension, to Peereesyu.

But that “truth” existed nowhere.

Emi Rune was just a traveler.

Just a traveler who’d carelessly wandered into the Spirit Forest and ended up in conflict with the spirits.

She had no background like “targeting the beloved child’s life” or “being a divine apostle” at all.

...The fact that, as the result of her counterattack, she had practically singlehandedly hunted the spirits living in the Spirit Forest to extinction was far too violent a feat for “just a traveler,” but...

Anyway, that being the case—

Emi Rune could only stare blankly at Cocoririon’s one-sided assumptions.

<<<Even so, do not think you will die easily. Even if you will not spill information over loyalty, I will not stay my hand in making you suffer... That vile nature of yours, to dare target my beloved child! I will never forgive it!!>>>

“What are you talking about?”

But Emi Rune’s blank look only seemed like an act to Cocoririon.

“Playing dumb to mock me.”

That was all he could see.

The flames of rage swirling in Cocoririon’s heart began to burn even more fiercely!

<<<I fight for love!! For this love that scorches my chest... I will annihilate evil like you, down to your very soul—!!!>>>

The moment he shouted that, Cocoririon sprang backward with tremendous force... kicked off the trunk of the gigantic tree towering behind him to add momentum, and swung his staff to strike Emi Rune!

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOOOOUT—!?”

Emi Rune was confused by Cocoririon’s incomprehensible way of speaking, but she kept batting away his staff attacks!

She retreated to evade the blow that came down from diagonally above her right!

Then Cocoririon carried that momentum into a full spin and unleashed a horizontal sweeping strike!

Emi Rune swung her left arm hard upward from beneath the staff’s path, knocking the trajectory up and avoiding a direct hit!

Cocoririon, having his blow redirected, would normally lose his balance... but he didn’t!

The Spirit King’s staff, knocked upward by the impact and leaving Cocoririon’s hand, still ignored physical laws and was immediately drawn back into Cocoririon’s grasp!

And then Cocoririon... thrust the sharply pointed tip straight at Emi Rune’s face with all his strength!

Emi Rune... bit it and stopped it with her teeth!

Then she chewed it up with CRACK-CRACK sounds, swallowed it, and shortened the staff’s reach!

<<<Tch... What are you!?>>>

Apparently shaken that his weapon had suddenly started getting eaten, the Spirit King retreated once along with the staff, grinding his teeth.

“That’s my line...”

CRACK-CRACK, CRUNCH-CRUNCH—while chewing on the staff, Emi Rune was utterly fed up.

He came at her while saying random nonsense.

It was completely pointless to talk.

Come to think of it, every spirit in this forest was like that.

＜I told you, didn’t I? Spirits are idiots.＞

Emi Rune, now agreeing from the bottom of her heart with those words from Omake—the roommate living in her head—held only that conviction.

They prized themselves and looked down on others.

There were exceptions, but this was the basic posture of spirits.

Because they believed they were right.

Because even if they were wrong, they believed they could just crush it with power.

In other words, because they were convinced they were an excellent, superior species.

That’s how you end up like this.

...When you face someone with equal strength—or greater—you get paid back brutally for it!

<<<GRAH—!?>>>

The next instant!

From the back of the battle armor Emi Rune had formed out of her own magical power, nozzles deployed!

Jetting dark, pitch-black magical power as propulsion, she closed the distance on Cocoririon in a furious burst and drove a fist packed with her irritation at spirits straight into his gut with all her might!

Cocoririon flew back, dropping his staff, and slammed his back into the giant tree that was his dwelling!

But his eyes never stopped glaring at Emi Rune.

Even as he was being blasted away, those eyes kept staring straight at her—and Emi Rune perceived it.

She perceived the unbroken hostility!

“RAAAAAAAH—!!!”

And that was why she followed up!

Only a few instants after Cocoririon crashed into the giant tree, Emi Rune reached him and punched his gut again!

<<<GH—>>>

And when Cocoririon’s right arm twitched, she punched his right arm immediately to stop whatever action would follow!

<<<G—>>>

If his left arm moved, she punched his left arm!

<<<G—>>>

If his right leg moved, she punched his right leg!

<<<GRAAAH—!?>>>

If his left leg moved, she punched his left leg!

Total shutdown!

And in the meantime, she’d punched his gut many times over.

A hellish belly-punch rush!

The impact of Cocoririon getting pummeled carried into the giant tree too, and from overhead large leaves shining like jewels drifted down, glittering as they lit the sacred ground!

<<<MY STAFF—!!!>>>

But Cocoririon wasn’t just letting himself be turned into a punching bag!

Even while taking the raging belly-punch rush, Cocoririon ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) screamed that!

“!!”

What suddenly attacked from behind Emi Rune was the Spirit King’s staff!

Spinning rapidly in a vertical rotation, it swung in to strike Emi Rune!

Sensing it, Emi Rune reflexively turned and punched the staff dead center!

The Spirit King’s staff snapped cleanly in half—but this opening was, for Cocoririon, time worth a fortune!

<<<HAH!>>>

Using that time, Cocoririon escaped Emi Rune’s rush.

Cocoririon’s body turned into countless leaves and vanished completely from the spot.

Then he reappeared again at a position far away from Emi Rune.

The Spirit King’s staff, snapped in two, flew after its master... and each of the two pieces stabbed into the ground at Cocoririon’s feet.

And then, again, each piece twisted out branches to repair its damaged section...

Becoming two staffs.

Cocoririon seized both and held one in each hand, then roared in fury!

<<<YOU—!!! Even if you are an apostle, as a lowly life-form you dare commit such violence against me... Forest Spirit King Cocoririon!! I will not forgive you—!!!>>>

＜Ah, so this man was the Spirit King!?＞

It was very late to say it, but—

Only now, at this point, did Emi Rune and Omake realize that the spirit they were currently fighting was the master of this forest... the Forest Spirit King.

“Forest... Spirit King...”

No—she’d had a faint sense of it.

The enormous magical power constantly spilling from him as if to flaunt it.

The durability that didn’t seem to care no matter how much she hit him.

More than anything, that arrogant attitude.

Somehow... she’d been guessing that this guy was the Forest Spirit King of this forest... or at least a spirit in a very high position.

But—

“Aren’t you kind of weak for that?”

The reason Emi Rune and Omake hadn’t been able to be sure Cocoririon was the Spirit King was his weakness.

Somehow, this guy looked like he was fighting seriously, and yet he was weak.

It felt like he wasn’t using the talent residing in him at all.

＜Well... he’s the king. If his subordinates can fight for him, then he doesn’t need to be strong himself, does he?＞

Omake said that, showing a tentative understanding.

Emi Rune... understood that logic too.

She understood it, but—

“Even so, Akashitaru earlier was way stronger, and more like a king.”

The thought slipped out of her mouth.

<<<K... KIKIKIKIKIKIKIKIKIKIKI... YOU—!!!>>>

And that single line... sent Forest Spirit King Cocoririon into a rage!