Chapter 14: VS Weed Monster

Original: Chapter 14: VS Weed Monster

I ventured into the thick, overgrown grass.

The other high school girls wearing tracksuits under their skirts definitely had the right idea. The sensation of the grass attacking my legs was intense.

I was wearing black tights, but I wasn’t sure if they’d be enough protection… They might tear, or I could end up with tiny scratches on my legs that would itch.

I tried to take big steps, stomping down on the grass from above as I walked. That significantly reduced the strain on my legs.

I am a high school girl, after all—I don’t want my legs getting too banged up. But this walking style was pretty tiring.

“Huh? I stepped on something.”

I felt like I’d stepped on a living creature. Even though it clearly looked like just ordinary grass, for some reason, I could feel the warmth of life through the sole of my foot.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

The grass I’d stepped on instantly shot upward, coiling tightly around my left thigh. This was a Weed Monster. It was completely indistinguishable from the other grass.

“Gross!”

But at least it wasn’t wrapped around my neck. If it had been my neck, I might have panicked and found myself in a real bind.

Recalling the attacks from the high school girls earlier, I figured I could defeat this Weed Monster by attacking the round part of its roots.

Oh, a Message Window popped up.

[‘Walking Weed has appeared’]

“Seriously, that’s late. I’m already under attack.”

First, I needed to pull the roots out of the ground.

I lifted my left leg, which was tangled in the grass. Surprisingly easily, I managed to yank the Walking Weed right out of the soil.

Grabbing the Hammer I had tucked in my backpack, I gave the Walking Weed one solid, satisfying whack.

That seemed to do the trick. The Walking Weed slumped to the ground, its Life Force fading away.

The grass coiled around my left thigh slowly loosened and fell away.

“Huh, that was it?”

It didn’t seem like much, really. I didn’t think it warranted four high school girls fighting desperately. The Fire Ants were probably stronger than this.

“Gyaaaaaah! I’m gonna die, die, dieeeee!”

“I’ll save you now!”

The high school girls from earlier were shrieking and making a racket as they fought.

It looked like several strands of Walking Weed grass were wrapped around one girl’s arms, torso, and legs.

Two others were trying their best to rescue her.

And the remaining one was—

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Since when is grass this strong?”

—facing off against a single Walking Weed.

Several strands of grass extending from the roots were slapping her back and forth. The high school girl had a nosebleed gushing down her face. Her cute face was totally ruined.

“They seem to be having a hard time…”

Oh, there was some grass coiling around my left arm. So even if you don’t step on them, Walking Weeds can initiate attacks on their own.

I grabbed the grass and pulled out the roots.

I had a feeling a punch might work.

“Ready… go!”

I delivered a right-handed punch to the round root of the Walking Weed, now dangling in mid-air after being yanked out.

Yep, a punch did the trick. I took it down with what felt like my weak, kitten-like punch.

“Piece of cake~♪”

I could hear the voices of the struggling high school girls.

“Hey, someone help me!”

“Ahahaha, your face is a mess!”

“Wait, I’ll be there in a sec!”

The girl getting slapped by the grass was getting more and more battered. Maybe out of frustration, she bared her claws and Counterattacked the roots. Pretty wild. But she was getting beaten back.

…… Hmm. Those girls… they’re getting wrecked, but they seem to be having fun. Maybe screaming and fighting while being scared is more like what a high school girl should do.

…Nah, but that’s just not my style.

I’ll stick to steadily getting the job done.

Whoops, I stepped on the next Walking Weed. As the grass shot toward me, I offered my arm to let it coil around, then pulled out the roots.

And then, I stomped on the roots.

“If that root was a masochist, I probably just defeated it in a way it would’ve loved.”

The sensation under my foot was oddly satisfying.

“What even is a masochist weed? Hehehehehe…”

I set up the joke and delivered the punchline all by myself. It felt hollow, but fun.

I wish I had a partner to banter with. Not that I think I could ever have someone like that. Ah, that’s another hollow feeling.

Well, time to take down the remaining two.

One slapped my butt, so I retaliated by kicking it away like a soccer ball. The other one, because I couldn’t fully dodge its attack, ended up having its extending grass flip my skirt up dramatically.

I blushed furiously, even though no one was around to see.

“Eek! And today of all days, I wasn’t feeling very confident about these…”

Feeling embarrassed, I went a bit overkill, pounding it repeatedly with my Hammer.

Phew, I managed to finish. Quest Completed.

The high school girls were still shrieking and having fun, fighting hard. I really don’t think their opponent was that tough.

Should I help them? …Yeah, right. If I could say something like that, I wouldn’t be a loner in the first place.