How many times did I jump around to observe the situation, avoiding the mishap of getting caught between the vines?

Since it seemed Biryuho couldn't move while exerting its power, I considered aiming for it for a moment, but... I gave up after seeing the vines growing too fast.

If I floated into the air to cut those down, I might just lose my footholds for returning and plummet. Right now, holding out among the purple vines sprouting up like bamboo shoots after the rain was more important.

CRACK-CRACK.

Still, they weren't going to grow infinitely, as the growth rate of the vines gradually began to slow down.

It was then that I had the leeway to look around.

I checked my surroundings to see how far these wisteria-like plants had spread.

Fortunately, they didn't pierce the cloud layer.

"... Is it shorter than Jack's Beanstalk?"

Still, at this point, it could be compared to a fairly high-rise building. From my experience, standing on a building with over 100 floors felt somewhat like this.

If so, should I consider these vines to have grown around 500 meters or so? It was much better than last time, when we were thousands of meters in the air. Even if it still wasn't the ground.

I looked down, wondering when I would be able to step on the ground and run a raid.

The distance was vast and filled with vines, so little caught my eye... but at the very least, I could tell these stems had completely covered this entire forest area. And that it was a good thing I didn't bring people here.

Although DeB and the Young Lord of Camberer were evacuating to the rear, they were probably carrying the Young Lord of Ednium, so I figured they should be fine. Regardless of the depth of my worry, the reality was that I couldn't go see them right now.

Rather, if I had to pick the people I should be worrying about right now, it would be the ones I was fighting alongside.

Even if I saw the Inquisitor taking care of the Archmage earlier, I hadn't seen the Berserker since losing sight of her halfway through.

"Uwaaah! It's a giant tree!"

Let me correct myself. Worrying about the Berserker was a stupid thing to do.

"Thank you. If it wasn't for the Inquisitor, this old man's life would have ended today."

"Don't say such things. It was something I naturally had to do."

"More importantly, where are the others..."

"Ah, it looks like he's over there!"

I also figured out the locations of the Inquisitor and the Archmage.

Looking at the ones who survived well on a stem five or six levels below, I pulled out the sword embedded in the tree stem. It was the sword I temporarily stuck in to anchor my body.

CRUNCH!

Smashing through the purple wisteria-like bark, the silver blade popped out.

"But where did the tiger go?"

"The Berserker is over there too. But Biryuho is..."

"I'm not exactly sure about Biryuho's location. The corruption is vibrating from all directions..."

Well. Over there was the starting point, though.

I lightly spun the longsword between my fingers, changing it from a reverse grip to a standard grip.

'It's coming.'

My instincts whispered. The arm holding the sword quickly flipped, positioning the blade vertically in front of my torso. The forearm of my right arm supported the middle of the blade.

CRASH!

Immediately after, an intense force struck my blade. If I hadn't infused it with magical energy, the sword might have broken. It was a force so intense that the thought crossed my mind.

"Demon Knight!"

SWOOSH.

Fortunately, the force merely pushed me outward and didn't chase me all the way. The repelling force was also extremely strong, so there was no chance of me plummeting straight down.

My flying body spun around and stepped on a stem growing perpendicular to my trajectory. Tap. With a light gesture, my heavily sprung body dashed toward whatever had attacked me.

"Did you think a surprise attack would work?"

["I will make you regret not dying at once...!"]

CLANG!

My sword and Biryuho's claws clashed. Whether it awakened from Biryuho to (True) Biryuho, the repulsive force was fiercer than before.

One of its hands was still free, easily trying to aim for me.

"There!"

However, before Biryuho's fingers could reach me, the Berserker charged in. From opposite me, meaning from Biryuho's rear, she pounced while swinging her halberd in a wide arc.

I was also within the attack range, but thanks to that, I was able to avoid Biryuho's attack.

I stepped back and stepped on another stem. Biryuho, well, leaped upward and embedded its claws into the vines, looking like it was clinging to the ceiling.

["You who don't know your place, get lost!"]

And just before the Berserker leaped up in a single breath to slash its body.

Simultaneously with Biryuho's roar, something translucent shot out from its body.

It was an effect a bit like a spirit body popping out... but it seemed to possess physical force. The whitish thing's body slam threw the Berserker off balance.

Unable to achieve her goal, the Berserker plummeted back down to the vines below. The whitish spirit took the shape of a tiger, its eyes glaring brightly as it targeted the Berserker.

It seemed to be some sort of clone pattern or whatever.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

["Keuk...!"]

Then that's a thank you for me. We weren't the type of people to fight in perfect sync anyway, but experts at dividing and conquering.

Confirming that the magical energy spears I had thrown during the timing Biryuho made the clone—I didn't know what it was trying to do then, but I just threw them anyway—had firmly embedded themselves, I prepared my second attack.

The sword energy slashed the spot where Biryuho had been. A heavy stem cracked and shifted out of place. It felt like it barely avoided collapsing only because it was tangled up with other things.

CRACKLE!

"...!"

But that wasn't the problem.

I frowned at the grass that suddenly grew from the surface of the vines. It was because they had seized my ankles.

And Biryuho lunging at me in sync with that...

"Demon Knight!"

"The distance is too far to help...!"

I didn't particularly need any help.

I threw my longsword upwards and drew my two-hander. Is it hard to match the timing because of the time it takes to draw? I could just use my inventory for that.

Because I also have a touch-based inventory instead of a bag-type inventory.

The magic power consumption is quite large, so I can't use it often, but once or twice is no problem.

So I touched the two-hander with my right hand, stored it in the inventory, and summoned it again in my left hand, which had thrown the longsword. The two-hander plummeted straight into the tree stem.

Ground Crash. Magical energy expanded in all directions, shattering the wisteria I was stepping on and pushing Biryuho backward.

CRUMBLE.

I jumped from the foothold that was about to collapse. By catching the falling longsword in the process, everything was back to normal.

I ran across the vines, mindful of getting my feet caught by the plants. Biryuho, who had been pushed back, also half-transformed into a beast and tailed me.

"Uwaaah! That's cheap, comrade! You're fighting the fun guy all by yourself!"

Whether the clone was luring her in the opposite direction or what, the Berserker's voice grew distant.

Now there really was no worry about friendly fire. Because the Inquisitor and the Archmage had also drifted away, I couldn't expect their help either, though.

["ROAR!"]

At that moment, Biryuho swung its hand. In sync with that, the massive front paw of a tiger smashed the spot where I had been.

SLICE. With that single blow, the stem was cut into four pieces. My body quickly stepped on the airborne fragments and jumped off, firing a few pieces of sword energy in counterattack.

A clump of vines, chopped too finely to support themselves just by being entangled, plummeted to the ground.

TAP-TAP-TAP.

It didn't matter, though. Biryuho and I continued moving forward. This forest of stems was exceedingly vast, and there were also means to go up or down.

SLASH!

I sliced through Biryuho's next foothold and moved upward.

Then, as if to exact revenge, Biryuho cut the base. The vine naturally fell downward as the supporting part was cut off and left suspended in mid-air.

Well now, this had a different feel compared to fighting the Sea Dragon.

The fact that I had to fight relying on thick, twisted cylindrical footholds while keeping a fall in mind was similar, but that was exactly it.

I took a huge leap as I watched the vines thrash about in this manner. The hems of my clothes spread out to both sides like a swallow's tail, and a suddenly overgrown branch acted as if it would skewer me.

Not to mention, the maw of the beastly Biryuho was waiting right behind me.

When my body spun, cutting through the wisteria, and I locked eyes with Biryuho during the rotation, I thrust my sword forward and faced it head-on.

Bombard. A line of magical energy pierced through Biryuho's throat. Of course, as if it was willing to endure this much pain, the pushover kept approaching me.

Tap.

Did I have to dive into its mouth again like this? The moment that thought crossed my mind, the foothold I had been trying to cross over to finally touched my feet.

BOOM!

If there was space to step on, there was nothing to fear. Applying enough force to crush the stem that acted as my foothold, my body shot forward like a ray of light.

Activating even Three groups, the sword strikes attempting to cleave the tiger now became three.

["Keuak!"]

It could endure a piercing wound like Bombard, but I guess it couldn't endure sword energy carrying the momentum to chop its face into four pieces.

Watching Biryuho change its appearance back to a human form, I hung onto a single vine.

Biryuho, who until now had shown little sign of damage in its human form no matter what injuries it suffered in its beast form, covered its face with its hand for this injury. Blood was streaming down from between the skin covered by its hand.

CRACKLE.

The black hole right in the middle of its chest was larger than before.

Its murky red eyes ground its teeth before it let out a screeching roar.

Its hair stood up like a lion's mane and then lengthened like a piece of silk. It was exactly like a Jangsan Beom.

CRUMBLE.

What pattern was it this time?

Confirming that the vine I was hanging on was suddenly withering, I urgently jumped.

But the next one I stepped on was in a similar state. More precisely, every stem formed above a certain height was.

CRUNCH!

However, it didn't stop there and newly grew. Then it broke again. Creation and destruction, it was a repetition of that.

'It would be convenient if I could just burn it all down.'

No, this is a bit too much! Even when I used flying species as footholds, they moved irregularly, but at least they didn't crumble away when I stepped on them!

Furthermore, the criteria for creation and destruction aren't even consistent here! Is it random?! Are these gacha footholds?!!

I gritted my teeth at the curse-inducing difficulty. I was slightly curious about what had happened to the others, but even that was immediately pushed aside by the impending crisis.

Biryuho, who alone enjoyed the freedom of footholds, charged at me like a wild dog.

My body spun around.

SLASH!

Even if I didn't have the blessing of the stems, I had claws too. Launching three half-moons to keep Biryuho in check, I stepped onto a crumbling foothold.

Survival Instinct? I activated it the moment the cooldown was up.

I never considered my spatial awareness to be lacking, but it wasn't to the point where I could be confident even in a situation where wood debris was falling like rain and it was impossible to distinguish between the withered and the grown.

It would be a different story if I were just running, but it was even harder now while fighting Biryuho.

「Poison 7%」

At that moment, a notification that seemed like it had been a while popped up, indicating my poison gauge. The intermittently blooming flowers seemed to be the cause; wow, it really was pulling all sorts of tricks.

My teeth clenched tightly as I dodged what grew out like a tentacle and chased me. And then I ran, using the thickest of them as a path.

It rapidly crumbled from the part I stepped on, but fortunately, my body was nimbler.

["Die!"]

My feet launched off the vines, crossing my sword with Biryuho's claws. Sparks flew hundreds of meters in the air, and the magical energy spears I barely created while enduring my dizziness pierced through a part of Biryuho's body.

The damage trade was my win. Dammit, I was scheduled to plummet now, though.

「Poison 10%」

FLUTTER.

The wind battered my body immensely, causing my clothes and hair to flutter. The flowers blooming on the purple wisteria were spreading pale red powder in all directions.

It was fragrant enough to make my head dizzy.

And after I spun a few times and somehow dispersed the impact, BANG, my legs collided with a thick stem below.

Thanks to reinforcing it with magical energy, my body wasn't shattered, but the stem was sloped, causing my body to slide down.

It wasn't like I was riding a snowboard. Sawdust fluttered like snowflakes.

SHNK.

How many dozens of meters had I slid down like that?

I barely managed to cross over to another stem and begin my mountain climbing again. Biryuho was running toward me very comfortably, making the branches grow intact only right beneath itself.

["Human—!"]

"Die, you bug."

I, who was going up, and Biryuho, who was striking down, momentarily intersected and swapped positions with each other.

My firmly gripped two-hander cleaved Biryuho's side, and Biryuho's claws slashed my shoulder.

SPLAT.

Streams of blood splattered everywhere.