The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 564
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- Chapter 564 - Did you come to this place?
The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I’m a “Farmer”, Not a Demon King! ~
Chapter 564 Did you come to this place?
“Still alive, huh? As expected of a Tenth Rank. Seems like you can survive quite well even with a non-combat occupation.”
Upon closer inspection, he seems to still be struggling, making creaking sounds.
And it’s not just Aluc, but the mutants as well.
I didn’t expect to take them all down, but it’s a bit disappointing not to have taken out a single one.
But they’ve stopped moving. Now, I can do as I please.
“You guys, take care of them while you can.”
As I give instructions to my subordinates, some immediately start working together, with those capable of creating barriers erecting ones specifically designed for dealing with curses to start disposing of the mutants. That way, there’s no risk of them resurrecting. Everything should be fine.
In the midst of this, after asking someone to set up a barrier for me, I lead a dozen or so subordinates toward Aluc.
“I-I’m in such a place… Guwaaaaaah!?”
“If you try to heal the wound without removing the plants growing inside, the flesh will swell up and cause pain, isn’t that obvious?”
It seems that the pain brought back Aluc’s consciousness as he sprinkled medicine he took out from the void on himself. It’s probably a storage-type skill. Being an alchemist, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be able to take out medicine.
However, trying to heal the wound with trees piercing through the body will result in the healed flesh being squeezed by the surrounding wood, causing pain as it tries to regenerate. It’s like sticking a stick into the wound and forcibly spreading it open; it’s no different.
“B-Burn… Burn!”
Even in such pain, he tried to change the situation somehow. Once again, he took out some kind of medicine and sprinkled it on himself.
But it didn’t end there. After the medicine, he took out a tool, activated it, and set himself on fire.
It’s abnormal behavior to burn oneself along with the enemy, but it’s probably because he had sprinkled medicine on himself beforehand. Aluc let out a small groan, but he endured the flames without much suffering.
However, the wood piercing Aluc’s body still didn’t burn.
“W-Why…”
“If you’re wondering why the wood isn’t burning, it’s because I’ve taken precautions. You need a specialized fire mage to burn wood like this. It’s already taken care of.”
The idea of burning oneself to get rid of something harmful is impressive, and doing what Cannon and Lina did together alone is also impressive, but unfortunately, the firepower is lacking.
In Cannon and Lina’s case, it was just liquid, whereas this is the magical plant body with fire resistance. If it were Cannon and Lina, they might have been able to burn it all while remaining unharmed, but with the amount of flames he prepared, it’s impossible.
Even if he had enough firepower to burn it, there wouldn’t be any equipment or tools to withstand it. In a situation where he can’t even move properly, it’s impossible to switch equipment.
“Help… please…”
“Well, considering we’re both reincarnated, I suppose I could let you live, for now?”
Seeing him ask for help, I decided to respond and brighten his face with hope.
To respond to Aluc’s smile, I decided to sprinkle some seeds on his head.
And then…
“Parasitic tree, take control of him.”
Activating the skill, I gave the command.
Upon hearing those words, Aluc widened his eyes and stared at me.
“Why…”
“I told you, I won’t kill you. You’ve got another hundred or two hundred years ahead of you, so hang in there. Being at the Tenth rank, you should be useful as an energy source.”
I can’t just let someone who tried to harm my people go unpunished, right?
Well, lucky you. You’ll live a very long life, at least in terms of just surviving. Being at the Tenth rank, you should be able to live at least a hundred years without illness, hunger, or pain. Oh, you won’t even need to breathe. As long as your brain isn’t destroyed, you’re practically immortal, with plants replacing the functions of your heart for blood purification and circulation.
Of course, whether that’s happiness is up to you. At least for me, that’s not a way I’d like to live.
“Now, all that’s left is to deal with the curse.”
Come to think of it, “Demon King” refers to those heretics who possess power. Those who use their power to harm humanity are called Demon Kings. Well, in reality, they’re more of a nuisance to the Church than to humanity.
Anyway, this guy had the power of an alchemist, and his ideals were far from world peace. Depending on his path, he might have been called a Demon King. There have been Demon Kings from other worlds in the past, so in a way, he was a fitting candidate.
Well, he’s dead now though.
“I heard you gathered those who can use ‘Purification.’ Where are they?”
“Right here. If you give the order, we can start ‘Purification’ right away.”
“Alright, do it now.”
Ignoring the fact that he’s already dead, let’s get this done quickly. First, let’s purify this place. Even if we prioritize saving Lilia, if she touches this cursed air right after we save her, it might cause some trouble.
But with this, we can consider Lilia’s situation resolved.
“Now, all that’s left is the source of the curse. What about that?”
“I’m sorry. We’re currently searching for it, but we haven’t found it yet.”
The source of the curse… meaning the trunk of the sacred tree.
I don’t think they would just leave such a massive trunk lying around… or even could. I mean, that tree is huge, even for this church. Where would they hide something like that?
So, I thought they might compress it or carve out only what they need and store it away, but it seems it’s not that simple.
But I’m pretty sure it’s nearby. I mean, this place is filled with such a dense curse. Instead of assuming it flows in from somewhere else, we should assume it’s nearby.
“I see… Flora!”
“Yes! What is it?”
“This place is near the source of the curse, right? Do you have any idea where it might be?”
“Um… yeah. It just feels really unpleasant all around here.”
“All around here, huh… Well, I guess it’s because we’re close to the center. Can’t be helped.”
I asked Flora, thinking we could trace the reaction of the sacred tree. However, Flora frowned disappointingly and shook her head.
“But you know what? It really does feel weird around here.”
“Then, if we search around here as the center, we’ll find it somewhere in the church. Just knowing that is enough. We just need to thoroughly search this place.”
But even if we decide to do that, the church soldiers are in the way. The Pope might be gone, but they’re still fighting.
Granny is participating in the front, so we shouldn’t lose, but the enemy numbers are likely overwhelming, and I asked Granny to act as a diversion. If we show overwhelming force, the enemy might retreat, so I’ve instructed her to hold back.
So the battle should still be ongoing.
I checked with the plants, and indeed, the battle between Karakas and the church is still happening at the front.
I feel like I could tell them to finish off the church soldiers already, but we should wait a bit longer. If I communicate now, there’s no guarantee that troublemakers won’t come here afterwards.
Let’s wait until we retrieve Lilia before informing Granny and the others. Then we’ll find the other elves who haven’t turned into ‘trees’ yet.
While discussing and contemplating, and observing the purification process, after a while, something fell from above with a squelch.
“——Huh? Is that… the Pope? Did he come here?”
“Are you counting on the alchemist? Or something else?”
Although we’re underground, this room has an open ceiling. It’s so dark that even looking up, the ceiling isn’t visible due to the height.
From the open ceiling of this room, where I thought the Pope had disappeared to somewhere, he fell down.
While his body maintains a somewhat human form, the majority of it has mutated. Even the trees I planted are partially consumed by the mutation.
Despite this grotesque transformation, the Pope was already on the brink of death, and falling from above just now has further hastened his demise. He seems to be alive, but barely moving and twitching faintly.
“What will you do? Lilia is nearby.”
“…Should I… go help? The curse has mostly dissipated by now, hasn’t it?”
Ideally, I wanted to retrieve Lilia after the curse had completely vanished, but something strange has appeared.
Ignoring it might not pose any immediate problems, but it’s better to deal with it just in case. Despite any discomfort or fatigue, it’s crucial to proceed with retrieving Lilia. If the curse is at this level, Lilia should be fine with some minor discomfort.
And this time, let’s deal with that thing for good. It would be troublesome if it caused any more trouble.
As I moved to rush in to rescue Lilia, the Pope suddenly moved and hugged the container where Lilia is stored.