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Chapter 287 part 1

In the wilderness strewn with fragments of Vengitta blasted by mines and shells, Black Rose buds emerged quickly one after another with a sound akin to a scene from a picture book, and in the blink of an eye, a black territory spread across the land.

The Black Rose buds embellishing the feet of countless Vengittas, including Atelietta and Smitta, who were in charge of repairs, manufacturing, and modifications, were, of course, not ordinary plants. They were part of Diadora, the Spirit of the Black Rose, who managed the botanical gardens in the Barony of Berne and was the fiancée of Dran, the aide.

Now, Diadora’s buds, arguably the strongest among the Flower spirits, not just the Black Roses, proliferated with each passing moment. Even the Vengittas noticed the anomaly and blinked in surprise, even though they were puppets!

Soon, they entwined around the hulls of the giant land battleships of Atelietta and Smitta, ensnaring the surrounding Vengittas with sharp thorns and bewitching roses as stunningly beautiful yet dangerous restraints.

No matter how much they looked like living humans, the Vengittas were, in fact, puppets, animated by demonic allure and magical prowess. Their soft and warm skin was harder than Mithril of the same thickness, and whether women or children with their slender arms or men with their stout ones possessed the herculean strength that could easily snap the necks of wild beasts.

The Vengittas were bound by the Black Roses with inescapable force. Men and women, old and young, humans and elves, Reptilians and Tigerpeople – puppets without distinction of gender or race all were immobilized, and they were gazing intently at the Black Rose vines without any expression of shock or sorrow, just impassively!

「O Black Rose, sprouting and nurtured in Ente forest before taking new root in the land of Berne. Even if you don’t know us, we know you. We know you very well. Even with the actions of the golems who prevented us from reaching this place, I – we – Vengittas know you.

O sprite of the Black Rose, bearing the name of a heroine who was once told in some human land. If you were to perish here, it would be a fate befitting that name.」

Under normal circumstances, Diadora’s Black Roses would either strangle or poison their captives to death. However, the ensnared Vengittas showed no signs of this, even though Diadora’s poison was so potent that it would dissolve even inorganic matter without mercy.

Rather than the Black Rose stopping their movement, it seemed instead as if the roses themselves were afflicted by poison. They trembled as if suffering, vitality, and magical power apparent earlier now waning.

「I see you’ve prepared quite thoroughly for me, haven’t you?」

Diadora’s voice, devoid of irritation or agony, resonated with pure admiration and conviction as if it were only natural.

While scattering black petals, the beautiful Diadora – the bewitching Black Rose – cast her shadow behind Atelietta and the others.

Whether she had come through underground tunnels like the Black Roses filling a corner of the Wilderness or had simply concealed her presence all along was unknown even to the Vengittas.

「Of course. You, the dwellers of the Barony of Berne, are a threat equivalent to natural disasters. When you know a storm is coming, it’s only natural to prepare for it. Just as water flows from high to low, and wind makes fire burn more fiercely, it is perfectly, perfectly natural.」

「Hmm, our reliable aide tried to keep the information from you, but it seems it wasn’t perfect. Would you be so kind as to tell me how you obtained the information? I’m having trouble judging whether you are an actor or a playwright.」

「I am the actor, the playwright, too. I’m the director, sculptor, painter through and through. We are I, and I am we. No secrets can you get, even by tweezing me. O beautiful Black Rose, on our hands, how should they be graced? On our hands, how shall they be displayed?」

「You things are quite the talkers. But well, since you’re saying that to me, you must be confident in your abilities, don’t you?」

「I am most honored. Therefore, I shall return your compliments with all my heart. Please accept them, oh, the lovely one.」

Voices of the freed Vengittas from the Black Rose restraints – Young and old, men and women – sang in unison. They rushed at Diadora, leaping and attacking her.

A centaur, wielding a mighty bow that could take ten men to draw, released an arrow like a shooting star, a prostitute from a run-down district tavern brandished a poison-dripping dagger, and a young, stern minotaur swung a mace that could crush even boulders.

Faced with the diverse attacks from the various races, Diadora responded with a cold gaze, extending the Black Rose vines that grew from between her black hair and crushing those who approached her one after another.

The Black Roses that she had bloomed by extending her hair root from the ground had been neutralized by the countermeasures that the Vengittas had taken, and now they lay withered and pitiful in the Wilderness.

The effects of whatever had caused this must have reached Diadora herself through the withered Black Roses, but she showed no sign of pain or suffering as she extended countless vines in all directions, repelling the Vengittas one after another.

Yet, those close to Diadora, especially Lynette, would never fail to notice the slight hesitation in her vine movements.

Normally, she would have been able to intercept the Vengittas, who were surrounding her in multiple layers and attacking her from all sides with even fewer vines. The fact that she was moving an unnaturally large number of vines to respond was because it was difficult for her to move each vine with precision.

She was compensating for the decreased accuracy by having countless vines perform the simple action of 『Thriving.』

Innumerable sounds of explosions, like the breaking of a sound barrier, resounded as Diadora’s vines, imbued with the Black Rose’s magic, mercilessly tore through Vengitta’s bodies that were harder than thick plate armor and pulverizing them. Some Vengittas, already damaged by mines, were literally blown to smithereens.

Diadora counted the number of Vengittas who had turned around to her instead of continuing their march towards Fort Nerodim.

With Dran at Fort Nerodim, numbers were irrelevant, but since Bern’s army mostly consisted of new combatants, the smaller the number difference disadvantage, the better, psychologically – even the inhuman Diadora could comprehend that much.

「You think a mere thirty thousand of you can handle me? I think it would be wiser to focus all your efforts on me rather than heading to the Fort.」

Even as Diadora uttered those words, the Vengittas attacked her in perfect unison, which she countered with thirteen vines.

A beautiful rabbit-eared Vengitta, who had been cut in half from her right shoulder to her left hip by a Black Rose vine, grabbed the vine with her severed body and replied. Her lovely voice, like tinkling bells, did not reveal even a shred of agony.

「You, who must fight thirty thousand of us, have the right to call us cowards. But, we are capable of handling you」

Immediately after she said this, the rabbit-eared girl’s upper body was pierced by thick, sharp thorns that extended from the vine, and she stopped moving.

「Cowards… You are multiple bodies, yet one entity, is that right? Then, whether thirty thousand are against one or one against one makes no difference. I’m sure you don’t feel any guilt about it. Am I not an enemy worthy of that?」

Diadora smirked confidently, and at that moment, when the surrounding Vengittas perceived her smile as a threat rather than something incomprehensible, 『using the withered Black Roses on the ground as nutrients』the Black Roses that Diadora had secretly entwined once again went through rapid growth and sprouted from the ground.
In the blink of an eye, they pierced the countless puppets surrounding Diadora from below. The Roses bloomed inside, thorns extended out from their eyes and mouths, and the fully bloomed Black Roses graced their entire body.

Diadora immediately severed the Black Rose vines before whatever had caused the Black Roses to wither could flow in. In exchange for destroying the numerous Vengittas, the second wave of Black Roses also withered, their fragments scattering in the wind.

Having had her avatar wither twice, Diadora finally grasped the true nature of Vengitta’s countermeasures. The ominous wrinkles etched between her brows indicated the troublesome nature of that thing.

「I don’t know who or where you are, but I can’t bear to die alone. I want everyone in this world to suffer and die like I did, or even more so – Is this the kind of rotten curse you hold?」

「You finally understand. It’s the same curse that our Demon King Yaheim used to kill Bijuranium, the King of Demon Flowers!」

With a loud whoosh, a massive object moved swiftly, stirring the air and resonating through the Wilderness as if it were striking Diadora’s whole body. At the same time, a giant shadow loomed over Diadora.

The one who cast an even blacker shadow over Diadora – the Spirit of the Black Rose was Atelietta, who raised her countless arms from her starboard side.

Faced with Diadora, who was at the rear of the massive land battleship, the answer to Atelietta’s overly quick change of direction was the countless legs that had, at some point, extended from the central bottom of the ship. Legs capable of supporting the massive body weight enabled Atelietta to make an instantaneous turn right there.

Atelietta’s appearance was like the goddess statues that bear sailors’ prayers for safe voyages and protection, but all that could be seen on her was a frigidness like a god passing judgment upon humans.

「With the death throes, hatred, and curses of Vanzelnyura, Queen of Bewitching Flowers. We turned it into a massive curse against other flower and tree Spirits!」

At this moment, Atelietta’s arms, numbering five hundred on each side for a total of a thousand, swung mercilessly toward Diadora while still holding tools to repair their own damaged bodies.

Diadora folded up the Black Rose vines that she had previously used to bat away the countless puppets, creating a makeshift barrier to intercept the approaching vast barrage of the five hundred arms of wall-like density.

The impact and noise generated when the combined force of the land battleship’s engines and massive weight was unleashed against the Black Rose defense wall were incredible!
The ground cracked and buckled under the force that flowed through Diadora into the earth, and the shockwave propagated through the air, reaching even the far distant horizons.

The deadlock between the irresistible force and the immovable object continued. Diadora extended the Black Rose barrier’s thorns, intending to riddle all five hundred of Atrietta’s arms full of holes.

Sensing the imminent danger of Diadora, Atelietta’s arms retracted just before the thorns could extend, and instead, the five hundred arms on the port side attacked Diadora from the right for a side blow.

Faced with the relentless barrage unleashed by the power that could move even the land battleship, Diadora countered not with a defensive barrier but by creating a Thorn Quilt using the thorns of the Black Rose to cover her own right half and intercept the attack.

Atelietta’s power would be able to crush this Quilt in one blow, but in exchange, the five hundred arms on the port side would be riddled with holes and rendered useless.

Diadora had resolved to first take half of the thousand arms, but just before the Thorn Quilt hit them, through the Black Roses, she could sense that Atelietta had let go of the tools and grasped the thorns, realizing her plan had been thwarted.

Diadora’s eyes also caught sight of Smitta, waiting behind Atelietta, continuously repairing the damaged Vengittas one by one – the Vengittas that she had destroyed.

The pace of Diadora’s destruction speed was currently faster than Smitta’s repairs. However, the balance could easily tip in Smitta’s favor if Diadora got entangled in a prolonged struggle with Atelietta.

「Tch, your countermoves are working perfectly.」

The reason Diadora wasn’t dominating the battle stemmed from the withering curse of the Wicked Flower Spirit she received initially, now wreaking havoc within her.

Even with her resistance to the demon realm’s miasma, the curse brought on overwhelming fatigue, chills, fever, numbness, and pain, significantly reducing her concentration and agility, leading to her movements lacking greatly in finesse.

「Diadora Diadora, don’t resist, don’t stand up, fall to your knees and collapse. Lie down on the ground, look up at the sky, and close in your eyes. That is the easiest way for you to find relief.」

Atelietta whispered gently, to which Diadora responded with a look as though seeing an utter fool because those words revealed a complete lack of understanding about her personality despite claiming to have investigated her.

「To ask such pointless things, you might not have done your important homework. Too bad for you, but, I’m not so weak a woman that I’d keel over from just a trivial withering curse like this.」

A chilling dread ran down the artificial spines of all Vengittas present, including Atelietta.

As black and blue lights emanated from Diadora and all the Black Rose vines extending from her like will-o’-the-wisps, everything from the wrists down on Atelierta’s five hundred arms that were in contact with them turned into countless particles of dust.

Just before they turned to dust, Atelierta felt a great amount of power being sucked out of her. The Vengittas immediately saw through that, unlike Diadora’s innate power, this was the life-draining power she had plundered from the demon realm’s flower Spirits.

Perhaps the reason she hadn’t used this power from the start of the battle was that she had been prioritizing the analysis of the curse that was corroding her and finding the right moment to deploy her strength.

「Are you using that power now because you’ve figured out the withering curse? Even so, you can’t completely nullify it, can you?」

「That’s sufficient. I will thoroughly show that even the mightiest general of the Demon King’s Army can lose to a single Black Rose.」

As Diadora smiled defiantly and arrogantly, all the Vengittas present uttered the same words.

「Regrettable. To think we must pluck you with our own hands, what a pity.」

「Me too.」 Diadora muttered briefly, Diadora muttered briefly, and the new curtain of the deadly battle, rose.