“Stubborn.”

Forest Spirit King Cocoririon had taken Emi’s ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) full-power blow, so he should have suffered serious damage.

And yet, the fighting spirit burning in his eyes hadn’t faded at all.

Internally fed up, Emi sighed and issued a warning.

“You’re not weak... I won’t say that. But I’m stronger. Fighting is pointless. Surrender.”

<<<This— I— would never bend my knee to something like you, you lowly creature!!>>>

But Cocoririon refused to accept Emi’s words.

His face flushed red with rage as he rejected her!

<<<I know what you’re after! You struck at this timing— it’s my beloved child, Mishutire, isn’t it!? My defeat means my beloved child’s death... I will never, ever accept such a thing!!>>>

And he screamed it.

Cocoririon was, in every sense, a spirit-like spirit—he did not, as a rule, consider that his own thinking could be wrong.

So he had no doubt at all that Emi was an assassin sent by the gods who were targeting Mishutire.

Emi’s abnormal strength also served as “proof” for that belief.

But in reality, Emi was absurdly strong and still nothing more than a traveler, so...

She tilted her head at Cocoririon’s assumption.

“Who’s Mishutire?”

<<<Behold... the power of my love for Mishutire!!>>>

The next instant!

Ignoring Emi’s question completely, Cocoririon floated lightly as he lunged in to punch Emi!

If this story took place inside the human novels Cocoririon had devoured, this would surely be the scene where a miraculous “power of love” would dwell in his fist and annihilate the evil enemy Emi in a single blow!

But—!

“..........”

<<<GUHAA!?>>>

Cocoririon’s body right now consisted of nothing but chest and above.

In that state—floating only with magical power manipulation—there was no momentum at all behind his fist.

Without a word, Emi controlled her 【Black Tentacle】 and casually swept Cocoririon aside.

Cocoririon flew off and slammed into the giant tree again.

“That’s... ‘the power of love’...? Pathetic... and seriously, who’s Mishutire?”

Expressionless, Emi watched Cocoririon’s miserable figure and sighed as if exasperated...

Then she clenched her fist tight.

To crush Cocoririon.

Even after she advised surrender, this was his attitude.

If she left him alive, there was no telling how much trouble he’d cause later.

She needed to kill him properly. Completely.

Magical power poured into Emi’s fist from her pitch-black soul.

What she was about to unleash was a 【Magic Strike】.

And the power behind it was on a completely different level from the one Luctoria had happened to fire at Falweasel earlier.

A mighty right straight that could finish a Spirit King—the apostle of a god.

(This is bad... bad, bad!!)

Forest Spirit King Cocoririon stared at Emi’s right fist as it kept building pressure while wrapped in a pitch-black haze, gritting his teeth and sweating in fat drops.

Even for a Spirit King, getting hit by that fist was bad.

With how much magical power he’d lost and how much of his body he’d already lost, Cocoririon would be erased without a trace!

But surrender...

His pride as a spirit would not allow it!

And he couldn’t run either—he couldn’t leave Mishutire in the cave chamber!

What should he do!?

How could he destroy the evil right in front of him!?

To the point that Emi’s movements seemed slow, Cocoririon kept thinking at high speed.

He thought and thought, and thought...

At the very least, bitter as it was, he understood the enemy was not someone he could defeat with his power alone...

And there was no time now to beg Spirit God Peereesyu for help...

Something.

Something—anything.

Something that could be used as a weapon to destroy evil...

As he thought that—

<<<Ah.>>>

Cocoririon realized it.

<<<Kuh... hahahah!!>>>

A single move to reverse everything!

That move was, so to speak, a forbidden move.

If Spirit God Peereesyu noticed it, it wouldn’t end at mere scolding!

But Cocoririon was cornered so far that he didn’t hesitate to take it anyway.

“......!!”

Seeing Cocoririon suddenly smile and laugh, Emi got a bad feeling and immediately swung her fist to crush him.

But she was a moment too late!

Cocoririon’s body turned into countless fallen leaves and vanished from the spot, and Emi’s fist instead slammed into the sturdy trunk of the giant tree.

“..........”

Emi immediately sprang off the giant tree, landed in the flower garden, and kept her attention on all directions.

Cocoririon had already used that kind of teleport-like ambush earlier.

That was what she was guarding against.

But one second, two seconds...

Even after several seconds passed, there was no ambush.

“.........?”

Unable to read the enemy’s intention and confused, Emi couldn’t move from the spot and kept her battle stance, perfectly still.

It wasn’t all that long a time.

But. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It was more than enough time for Cocoririon to move on to his next action!

And because of that, in the next moment—

GOGOGOGOGO!!

A massive tremor erupted across the spirits’ sacred ground and the surrounding area...!

“!!”

It shook so hard that even Emi staggered and lost her balance.

The source of the tremor was...

The giant tree towering at the center of the sacred ground.

The Spirit King’s dwelling!

The giant tree shook wasawasa, dropping heaps of its multicolored, shining leaves...

As it rapidly stretched its height toward the star-studded night sky.

At the same time, its trunk thickened more and more...!

In other words, the huge tremor was caused by the giant tree’s sudden rapid growth!

“Raa... raa!”

And it wasn’t only fallen leaves coming down from above.

Compared to the giant tree’s overall size, they were small...

But to Emi, they were huge branches, snapping with bakibaki sounds as they broke and started to fall!

Unable to endure it, Emi was forced to retreat beyond the spirits’ sacred ground...

All the way into the Spirit Forest.

“......!!”

Then Emi jumped up onto a suitably sized tree branch and looked back at the giant tree, and she lost the ability to make a sound in surprise.

The rapid growth seemed to be over, but that giant tree—still slowly extending its branches against the night sky...

Its original height should’ve been close to 300 meters, but...

It had grown to a size that couldn’t even be compared to before!

A giant tree so immense that even from a distance, looking up, she couldn’t see the top!

That giant tree stood there where the spirits’ sacred ground had been just moments ago...

Its leaves gleaming with magical power.

It looked like the flower garden’s brilliantly shining flowers had been completely wiped out, shoved aside and crushed by the trunk as it kept thickening.

<<<Hahaha... HAAH-hahahaha!! Splendid...! Such a splendid power...!!>>>

Now, as Emi stared up at the giant tree in a daze, Cocoririon’s booming laughter reached her.

At the same time, a bulge began swelling in the middle of the trunk with bakibaki cracking sounds.

Eyes, a nose, and a mouth gradually rose to the surface of that bulge...

Forming Cocoririon’s face.

<<<So that’s it... so that’s what it was... Peereesyu— no, Peereesyu forbade this for that reason!>>>

Cocoririon’s face, which had risen up in the middle of the trunk, wore a twitching smile as he opened his eyes wide, making them shine fiercely.

Amber-colored sap dripped from his mouth like drool...

In any case, that expression was grotesque—he was obviously not sane!

<<<No longer am I a Spirit King subordinate to a Spirit God!! This... vast... power... hahahah!! My power... will no longer accept it!! Now I am no longer a spirit— it is no exaggeration to say I am a god in my own right!! I shall announce myself anew, in the ancient words of the age of gods, in proper classical fashion!! I am, I am...!!>>>

And then, with an expression of ecstasy, Cocoririon arrogantly... declared it!

<<<I am a new Tree God... who supports the world and distributes its power!!>>>

Abandoning the role given to him by Spirit God Peereesyu by using a forbidden move, and making himself into nothing at all...

Cocoririon!

<<My name is... World Tree Odo-okat Se Cocoririon!!>>

That was how he defined himself.

【World Tree Odo-okat Se Cocoririon】

The name Cocoririon proclaimed in the “words of the age of gods” used in this story’s world.

However, while Cocoririon’s race was long-lived, he was not a survivor from the age of gods.

He only knew it as education required of a Spirit King.

The “Cocoririon” in Odo-okat Se Cocoririon was, of course, his name.

As for the meaning of “Odo-okat Se”...

I don’t know, but a character with a similar name has already appeared.