Tree Stump Monster

(Sun Yao)

I looked up.

Through the sparse gaps between the leaves, I could vaguely make out the blue ring forming in the sky, and the profound, abyssal darkness at its center.

“…This is way too frequent.”

Three invasions in four days. Based on past experience, this frequency was definitely abnormal.

Ever since Miluno made her debut in Changkong City, the number of invasions across the entire city—especially in Sector D3—had plummeted. For the past six months, it had dropped to about once or twice a month. Miluno had only fought sixteen battles since her debut, and the peace had been so consistent that even Yang Yan’s income from bounties had dropped.

The Association’s drones buzzed over and deployed communicators to both Miluno and me. Since the worldwide broadcast doesn’t start until the official engagement begins, Miss Miluno and I had already summoned our battle gear. I had also changed my hair back to its original fluffy, voluminous pink look.

“Hey, Sailuno, how did you run into a wormhole again?” Yang Yan’s voice quickly crackled through the earpiece.

“Um… maybe I’m just unlucky…”

“You’ve encountered more monsters in two days than I have in two months,” Yang Yan noted. She spotted Miluno through the drone’s lens. “And why are you still with Miss Miluno?”

“Miss Miluno took me out to clear my head. This area is a scenic spot, right?”

Yang Yan spoke with a hint of jealousy. “Oh? I didn’t realize she actually cared about her juniors that much.”

“Yeah, hehe.” Just thinking about Miss Miluno’s kindness made me giggle, but Yang Yan immediately scolded me.

“You look disgusting when you smile like that.”

Is my laugh really that weird? I wondered.

“Sector E2 has always been handled by a magical girl called ‘Loud-Roar,'” Yang Yan continued. “You’d better wait for her; she’ll be there soon.”

Miss Miluno chimed in, “No need to trouble her. We’ll take care of it ourselves.”

As expected of Miss Miluno—talking about dealing with an External Invader as if it were as simple as swatting a fly.

But Yang Yan started lecturing. “That won’t do, Miss Miluno. I know you don’t care about the Association’s bounty, but this is another magical girl’s turf. These monsters are their source of income. Stealing a kill like that will only earn you resentment.”

Miss Miluno’s expression remained unchanged, but it was clear she didn’t care for these unspoken professional rules. I felt the same way… fighting over money wasn’t what being a magical girl was about in my mind.

Miss Miluno replied, “…I’ll wait until the monster lands, at most.”

“So you’re not planning to wait for backup at all!?” Yang Yan barked.

Ignoring the complaint, I turned to the icy beauty beside me. “Miss Miluno, I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“Um… could you let me have this opportunity?”

In other words: let me handle this one solo. Based on the equation of Monster = Bounty, I was essentially asking Miss Miluno for money, but I knew she wouldn’t mind.

“Of course,” she replied. “I’ll watch from the sidelines.”

I got the affirmative answer I was hoping for. “Thank you!”

My bubble membrane can do more than just “allow” things to pass through; it can “block” or “reject” them. When it does, the membrane becomes extremely rigid relative to the rejected object, resisting deformation and withstanding attacks it normally couldn’t. Soft bubbles lacked destructive power, but hard bubbles were a different story. Combined with my magic’s lack of a physical trajectory, I could manifest these hard wedges anywhere within my line of sight.

That was the theory, at least. Putting it into practice was difficult because my magic couldn’t directly target internal components of an object yet.

Whoosh—

“It’s coming!”

Miss Miluno flipped onto a nearby tree, moving so fast she vanished from my sight in a heartbeat. A towering blue pillar of light descended, and with it came a monster that looked like a gnarled tree stump. It was short and stout, possessing facial features but no branches or leaves—it was perfectly camouflaged for a forest battlefield.

Yang Yan grumbled through the comms, “Hey, what kind of tree spirit is this? Looks like an easy mark.”

Indeed, the monster seemed like it would be completely countered by Yang Yan’s fire phosphorus. After landing, the stump-creature stared at me for a few seconds, then crouched. Root-like appendages began to burrow into the muddy ground. In no time, it had effectively “planted” itself. This was troublesome; because I couldn’t see its entire body anymore, I couldn’t fully wrap it in a bubble.

“Hey! Watch out!”

A whip-like branch grazed my arm, leaving a stinging pain even through my bubble’s defense. Thanks to Yang Yan’s warning, I instinctively raised my guard, avoiding a direct hit to the head.

“Why are you always so careless?” Yang Yan snapped. “Can you stop zoning out during a fight?”

“Sorry…”

“Looks like this guy manipulates the surrounding flora,” she observed. “Predictable.”

“But I’m having trouble hitting it!” I cried out.

The surrounding trees began to stir, swinging thick branches like sumo wrestlers slapping at me. These branches were unnaturally soft and flexible, lacking the usual rigidity of wood. The mountain forest was its home turf. It seemed “the other side” had deliberately deployed a monster suited to this specific environment.

“What’s the matter?” Yang Yan mocked. “Talked big to Miss Miluno, but you can’t even land a counterattack?”

“Time to run!” I shouted.

I started sprinting toward the mountain ridge. The stump-monster paused, stunned, then pulled up its roots and gave chase. It wasn’t fast; its tangled root-feet weren’t built for sprinting. As it moved, the surrounding trees stopped their assault.

Its ability had a limited range and only worked when it was rooted. It was likely channeling energy underground.

“This guy… seems pretty weak,” Yang Yan noted.

Like magical girls, External Invaders had a massive gap between their power levels. Both Yang Yan and Miluno could have ended this in seconds. But I couldn’t. Without a direct attack method, I had to be creative.

The ridge was covered in bare rocks, unsuitable for burrowing roots. The closer I got to the summit, the sparser the trees became. I reached an open clearing, depriving the monster of its primary weapons.

“Wait, Sailuno, it stopped,” Yang Yan said.

I stood on the treeless ridge. The stump-monster had halted on a wooded peak further back, refusing to pursue me into the open.

“It figured out my plan.” Even with a wooden head, it wasn’t stupid.

Yang Yan suggested, “Why not just wait for Loud-Roar to handle it? This thing doesn’t look like it needs to breathe much, so you can’t drown or suffocate it. Your magic is useless until you develop an actual offensive move.”

“No rush,” I replied, looking up. “I still have one trump card left.”

“…What?”

I pointed my wand at the cloudless, blazing sky. “The sun!”

“Huh?”