Chương 18: Chapter 18: Blooming Buddha
The Blooming Buddha stood before me, quietly quivering in uncontrollable rage. He bore down on my comparatively puny figure, his eyes glowing ominously.
"Though I have no idea what you just pulled earlier, but I should at least praise you for being able to cut off my arms."
"Oh, that's easy," I replied as I rested my sword on my shoulder. "I simply disarmed you."
"…"
If the Blooming Buddha could roll his eyes, he would have done so just then. I shrugged and then got serious.
"Still…you're quite something yourself. Even though I've cut off your arms, you don't seem all that bothered or panicky."
"Oh? And why would I panic just because you cut off my arms?"
I didn't bother to stand still to throw out a reply. I was already moving and slashing with my sword as quickly as I could.
"Then you won't mind if I assume that you're still uh…armed and dangerous?"
The Blooming Buddha chuckled as he slightly turned his head to glance at me when I shot from behind him.
"Getting behind me for a sneak attack?"
"Yeah, I have no honor. If I fight you head-on, I'll lose for sure. My only way to win is by being sneaky." I glanced at my shoes. "That's why I'm wearing sneakers."
"…" The Blooming Buddha looked exasperated. "It'll be difficult to take you seriously if you continue making those horrible pun jokes."
"That's the point! I don't want people to take me seriously!"
I cut through his left leg and sent him toppling over.
I can't give him the chance to breathe. I've to keep attacking…like my zombies earlier, and make sure the damage I deal exceeds his regeneration rate!
As the Blooming Buddha fell, I jumped high up and stabbed at his chest, where the forbidden fruit lay protected. Without his arms and one of his legs, he was unable to evade my next attack.
If I don't screw this up, I'll be able to end this!
Unfortunately, I had made the fatal mistake of underestimating my opponent and getting ahead of myself. The Blooming Buddha merely stared at me impassively before armor appeared to parry my strike. My blade clanged against the synthetic polymer, which seemed to regenerate at a high speed and deflect my attack through sheer flexibility.
"…!"
The sheer power emanating from the Blooming Buddha's defense knocked me away. I sprang back and landed in a crouch, panting. The Blooming Buddha crashed heavily onto the foliage, laying on the grass that he had so painstakingly grown himself.
"Ah…you really are too naïve. Did you think you will win once you cut off my limbs and aim for my chest? Or did you think you could kill me by chopping me into countless pieces?" He sighed, almost disappointed. "You still don't understand, do you? In this forest, I am invincible."
What little Floras that survived the zombies and knights' counterattack were crawling back to the fallen Blooming Buddha.
"These familiars don't just serve as killing machines. Not only do my Flora consume my enemies, they can also be used to heal and strengthen my body."
I watched in horror as the Flora began to meld into his mangled body and shapeshift. Twisting, bulging and shifting, the Flora transformed into new, augmented limbs for the Blooming Buddha. In just under half a minute, the limbs I had cut off had grown back.
No…the Blooming Buddha didn't just restore his lost limbs. He had grown new, extra limbs. Six arms sprouted from his gigantic body, which had swelled to twice his previous size. New armor clasped around his belly, and his arms were coated in what looked like wooden armor. The new version of Blooming Buddha loomed over ten meters high, dwarfing even my largest zombies.
"In this Forbidden Garden of mine, I am invincible."
"He's using his own familiars as healing elixirs?" one of the knights yelled. Another of his companion slumped to his knees.
"With this level of regeneration, there is no way we can win…"
Amidst the despair of the human knights, I smiled to myself, alone in my confidence. I tightened my grip on my sword, which glowed darkly against the verdant environment.
"Heh."
I see. This is it. This unbelievable regeneration ability is also his weak point.
Even as I thought that, the gleaming blade of my sword seemed to writhe. Shadowy vapors wisped across its surface, dark phantoms that drifted across the forest.
"Stay there for a bit," I told my black sheath before tossing it to where my staff lay. Grabbing the hilt of my sword with both hands, I closed my eyes and allowed the innate skills of Dark Weapon Mastery to take over.
"Do you think your fighting method will be more effective if you use your sword with two hands?" The knight commander scoffed.
"No," I replied.
The next thing I knew, the newly augmented Blooming Buddha attacked. I dodged his gigantic fists and slashed at him…
…only for my sword to break.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The Blooming Buddha laughed as he swatted me away. Rather than parry his vicious attacks, I threw myself across the distance and landed next to my staff. The black sheath had disappeared along with the sword, but that was all right. I didn't need it.
"As I thought, this weapon suits me more."
I didn't care if I had some Dark Weapon Mastery or whatever. Tsukishima's staff suited me far more than any sword. I was the Wizard Tanaka, not a swordsman or warrior or paladin. Of course I would be more adept with magician staffs than a combat weapon.
To hell with Dark Weapon Mastery.
Taking a deep breath, I summoned more than a dozen staffs. Unlike Kijima, I wasn't being fanciful and summoning golden blades. Normal staffs, made of dark mahogany wood or iron, materialized from the shadowy discs surrounding me and fell to the ground. The moment they embedded themselves into the soil, wisps of shadows drifted out of their shafts.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The Blooming Buddha snarled as he waved away a wisp of air, but found that they had no effect on his behemoth body. He burst out laughing.
"A…curse? Or some sort of spell? Did you think you'll be able to defeat me with such a pathetic technique?"
"I combined my summoning technique with Corrupting Darkness, that's all." I frowned. "Hmm, I thought it would have more of an effect…"
"Ha ha ha ha! Fool! You think such a weak curse will affect my massive body? You'll have to do better than that!"
"Well…" I shrugged and held up my staff. "We can try."
Blooming Buddha snorted as he glanced at my staffs.
"What is with those staffs? You could have summoned swords or even deadlier weapons. Why staffs?"
"I felt that I was understaffed, so I decided to hire plenty of staffs."
The guy snapped at my joke. Losing his patience, he charged at me with a bellow. Closing my eyes, I took one, deep breath, and then met his charge.
The Blooming Buddha swung a massive, meaty fist at me. I dodged the first one, only to find myself unable to evade the next one. Raising my staff, I parried the punch, but the immense impact sent me flying across the air and tumbling through several trees. I mercifully blacked out from the overwhelming pain, but my regeneration brought me back to full consciousness and allowed me to flip my body in midair before landing on my feet.
What incredible strength! He's several times stronger than before!
Huffing, I righted my stance and kept a wary eye on my opponent. This was going to be extremely troublesome.
But…there's still a chance of winning.
I glanced back at my staffs, which continued to keep the Flora at bay. My zombies had retreated, shielding the surviving knights from the remaining Flora, but they no longer aggressively attacked and ripped apart the Flora.
The Flora didn't seem affected by the Corrupting Darkness that wafted out of the staffs. Good. That was precisely what I intended.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pay much more attention to them. The Blooming Buddha was bounding toward me, closing the distance and swinging his massive fists in my direction. Making use of my smaller size and superior agility, I weaved through his pattern of punches, using my staff to deflect several of his attacks.
"Phew…"
I exhaled as I ducked under what promised to be a devastating hook, then jumped over a low sweep from another arm. Landing on the appendage, I ran along the length of that particular arm and dove at the Blooming Buddha.
"You…!"
The Blooming Buddha was Booming bestially. I ignored his outraged bellow and jumped over another arm that tried to swat me away, and then slammed my staff into his helmeted head. The armored helm repelled my attack, and I wasn't able to dodge his next swipe in time.
"Gah!"
Despite planting my head on his protected forehead and twisting around to allow my staff to bear the brunt of the attack, the Blooming Buddha's palm struck me like a sonic boom, sending me hurtling across the air and plummeting heavily into the densely forested garden. I tore through several trees and branches, losing consciousness from the overwhelming pain but brought back to full wakefulness abruptly when my Regeneration kicked in.
"Ugh…"
I slowly picked myself up, leaning on my staff as my body bent back to shape, bones repairing and mending while bruises and cuts disappeared. Taking a deep breath, I stared at my enemy and steadied myself as the last vestiges of pain faded.
The Blooming Buddha Boomed with laughter.
"Ha ha ha ha! Did you think you could beat me? You can't even leave a single scratch on my flesh!"
"Yeah, you really are much stronger than before," I admitted sourly. Twirling my staff around, I slowly strolled toward the Blooming Buddha, who approached me with large, broad steps. As he looked down on me, I sighed. "I made a mistake. I'm not a warrior. I'm a magician, a spell caster. Tanaka the Wizard. I shouldn't be fighting you in close combat."
"Hah! It doesn't matter how you fight me! You have no chance of victory!"
Guffawing, the Blooming Buddha sent down a barrage of palm strikes with his six hands. I refused to move from my position, instead coming to a stop and raising my staff.
Doombolt.
A large, black spell seared the distance between myself and the Blooming Buddha and obliterated a large chunk of five of his arms. He screamed as he toppled over, an entire segment of his body literally gone.
"I told you so," I replied and I resumed my approach, hopping over to his fallen body. "My strength lies in magic, not in close combat."
However, before I could unleash another spell, the Blooming Buddha's remaining hand lashed out and almost crushed me to the ground. fortunately, I had already anticipated that and had evaded it with astonishing ease while counterattacking with another Doombolt that disintegrated not just the offending hand but also his shoulder and a large part of his chest.
"…!"
Just when I thought I had gained the upper hand, several thorny vines and wooden spikes surged from the forest, whipping or thrusting at me. I spun around and knocked several of them away with my staff, but was forced to retreat from the Blooming Buddha's downed body.
"You…"
I turned back to the Blooming Buddha, somewhat impressed. Despite dealing so much damage to him, he could still unleash such a devastating counterattack.
"It's far from over, boy."
I watched, mesmerized, as the large numbers of Flora crawled back to him, fusing with his body and restoring him once more. The colossal figure of the Blooming Buddha rose back up again, more armored and larger than before. This time, there were massive, leaf-like wings jutting out from his back and gnarled, wooden-like horns from his forehead.
The guy really resembled a real demon right now.
"I am one with Nature. No matter how many times you destroy me, Nature will restore me. You cannot win!"
"Yeah, I'm sure you're showing your true Nature right now," I replied dryly. "And let me tell you a secret. I'm also a good-natured person."
"I'll make sure you shut that mouth of yours! Do you think you're funny?"
"I do, actually. In fact, I'm surprised that you don't think I'm funny."
Roaring in both fury and exasperation, the Blooming Buddha charged at me. I dodged his first strike, weaving through his barrage of palm thrusts and dancing around his arms. Raising my staff, I blasted him with a Doombolt.
"!"
This time, my devastating spell didn't even leave a mark. Smoke surged from the green skin, but it showed no sign of damage.
"Every time I call upon the forces of Nature and regenerate, I grow stronger! This is the essence of Nature itself – evolution! Natural Selection! Survival of the fittest!"
"Look, I don't know where you read Charles Darwin from, given that this is Restia and not Earth, but it seems that you're completely misunderstanding his theory of evolution and natural selection. The whole survival of the fittest, law of the jungle misconception is utter BS. Darwin argues that the species most likely to survive are not those who are strongest, nor the winners of each struggle, but the ones most adaptable and amenable to change. Why do you think dinosaurs went extinct, even though they should be stronger than mammals today?"
"What are you rambling about?!" the Blooming Buddha boomed. My mistake. Seemed like he wasn't making a reference to Darwinism after all.
"Never mind."
I jumped away again, dodging yet another barrage of punches from the hulking, green goliath, and then released a second Doombolt that left nothing more than smoke. Guffawing, the Blooming Buddha brushed off my attack and slapped me away.
This time, I wasn't able to dodge. I somehow managed to parry the strike with my staff, but I was sent flying several meters away.
"Ooof!"
Again, I blacked out, and then was brought back to consciousness again through my healing ability. Crawling to my feet, I stood up and waited for my body to repair itself.
"…! Koho, koho!"
I began coughing out blood. I stared at my glistening palm, confounded by the new injury. Didn't I just heal…?
"Oh, surprised? I guess you didn't realize that you've inhaled all the Cursed Pollen that has been floating around my Forbidden Garden."
I froze, and for a second I thought I could see countless pollen particles drifting around me. Try as I might to hold my breath, it was too late. It seemed that I had already inhaled too much of them. I could feel my body burning – particularly my chest.
"It's useless. You realized too late." The Blooming Buddha chuckled. "And your healing ability will not help you. Yes, you'll eventually be able to purge the pollen from your system – unlike those humans, who are doomed – but you'll need to leave this Forbidden Garden first. But to do that, you'll have to defeat me…which is an impossible task."
"If I defeat you, will the humans be saved?" I asked, wiping the blood from my mouth. The knights were falling to their knees now, having felt the disastrous effects too late. The knight commander alone remained standing, but even he had a strained and pained expression on his face.
The Blooming Buddha laughed. "Yes, of course. Just like my Forbidden Garden, the Cursed Pollen is a curse. Kill the caster, and the spell will automatically dispel."
"Thanks for telling me that."
I rose to my feet shakily and pointed my staff at him. Black, eldritch energy crackled around its rounded tip.
"Then I'll just have to defeat you before anyone dies."
"Are you sure you possess the ability to do so?" The Blooming Buddha sneered, his colossal figure bearing down on me. I shrugged.
"I won't know until I try, right?"
"Try surviving this first!"
With a roar, the Blooming Buddha raised several of his hands. Emerald lightning danced from his Forbidden Garden and traveled along the length of his arms before he unleashed them from his fists and blew several craters in the temple grounds.
"…!"
Despite erecting a Dark Barrier, I found myself buffeted by the massive shockwaves. As I endured them, I watched with keen interest as the eldritch lightning flowed from the Blooming Buddha's Forbidden Garden and into him.
So that's how he makes his attacks so powerful.
I wasn't given much time to admire my opponent, though. I coughed out some blood and dropped to a knee. My body felt heavy, weighed down by the pollen that coursed through my lungs and system. It was getting increasingly difficult to breathe. Even with Regeneration, it was all I could do to barely stand, never mind fight.
But I had no choice. Forcing myself to my feet, I ignored the discomfort. It was a good thing that this wasn't agony, or the Pain Amplifier would have turned it into excruciating suffering and incapacitated me for good.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The Blooming Buddha burst out laughing when he noticed my predicament. He closed in, even as his previous arcane attack dispersed.
"From my estimation, you probably only have three minutes at most before you succumb to my Cursed Pollen. Both you…and those pitiful human worshippers of Evelyn.
Glancing back, I saw that he was right. Most of the knights had kneeled over, gagging as they tried to breathe. They were still conscious, but barely. Even my zombies seemed to be affected, their movements growing sluggish as they fended off the last of the Flora. It was good thing they were already dead, so they didn't need to breathe. That didn't stop them from inhaling the pollen in the manner as me – their undead master – did.
I clicked my tongue as I glanced back at my Dark Barrier. The Blooming Buddha's attack was so powerful that my arcane defense had begun to crack. Just a little more output of energy and the Blooming Buddha would have shattered my Dark Barrier completely.
And I knew this wasn't even his strongest attack.
"Impressive! Let's see if you can withstand this attack then!"
With the green lightning flowing from his artificial forest and into his multiple arms, the Blooming Buddha pulverized my Dark Barrier while attempting to squash me like a bug. Without hesitation, I jumped away when my barrier was destroyed and landed on one of his right arms. The Blooming Buddha seethed and tried to swat me away, but I ran along the length of his arm before hurling myself above him to avoid a second strike.
"You…!"
The Blooming Buddha boomed in fury, but I didn't falter. Despite witnessing his power firsthand and knowing that I was completely outmatched, I felt no despair. Instead, my mind whirred as I did several last-minute calculations and schemes.
As I thought…his regeneration and power supply from his Forbidden Garden, while being his greatest strength, is also his greatest weakness.
I couldn't help but smile as I sailed above his head. Swinging my staff, I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang at the bumbling Blooming Buddha. A crescent-shaped arc of black demonic energy streaked from my staff and slammed into the colossal Blooming Buddha's neck at near pointblank range, engulfing him in a huge explosion.
"Ugh!"
Bellowing in pain, the Blooming Buddha toppled over from the immense impact and crashed into the ground facefirst, throwing up dust, trees and twigs as he carved a colossal crater into the ground. I landed several dozen meters away, and swiped the dust and blood from my face. Taking a deep breath, I righted myself and lifted my staff.
"Guaaaaah!"
Behind me, the Blooming Buddha forced himself upright, bellowing in fury. I didn't even need to spare him a glance to know that he was attacking. Our eyes met for a moment, and without turning, I jumped in reflex – just as his fists smashed the ground I was standing on, reducing it into ruins and splinters.
"…hmph."
Righting himself, the Blooming Buddha reared up to his full height before he clutched at his bleeding neck. Blood dribbled from the cut green skin, seeping through his fingers. Pulling his hand away, he glared at me venomously through that mask.
"You cut me a little, brat."
A little?
I narrowed my eyes as I studied his superficial wound. It was nothing more than a slight graze. I wasn't counting on my Shadow Lunar Fang to defeat the Blooming Buddha, but I had expected a lot more damage than that…
I hit him in the neck with one of my most powerful spells, and it only cut him a little?
Cold beads of perspiration dripped down my face and spine, and I tightened my grip on my staff. The Blooming Buddha moved, and this time he was so fast I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of his attack. The next thing I knew, I was already flying in the air, with the pain so immense that I blacked out before I landed.
I woke up at the base of a broken tree, blood streaming down my broken body. It was a good thing that my body was already on the mend, with my arms and legs straightening themselves and my cuts closing up, or I would have snapped from the pain.
Leaning on my staff, I tried to rise, but the Blooming Buddha loomed over me.
"Doombolt."
I blasted his face with my spell. His helmet protected him from the worst of the damage, but he staggered back.
"Gah!"
"Don't think you've defeated me just yet," I warned as I pointed my staff at him. Black energy crackled around its round tip. "Not when you haven't even unleashed your strongest technique."
"Heh."
The Blooming Buddha smirked and clapped his hands.
"Very well. In honor of your courage, I'll show you utmost respect by destroying you with my ultimate attack."
Raising his hands, the Blooming Buddha began drawing all the green energy from his Forbidden Garden into his body.
"Seiryuu."
A green dragon materialized above him, roaring ass it took form. The Blooming Buddha gazed down on me, his eyes still sparkling emerald behind that black, demonic helm.
"Of the five Celestial Creatures, Seiryuu's element is wood."
"Huh, so you're summoning a familiar to take me out?" I glanced at my enhanced zombies, who were suddenly bereft of opponents when the Flora all disappeared. The Blooming Buddha had swallowed all his Flora in his attempt to execute this ultimate technique.
"Oh, don't be mistaken. Seiryuu isn't a familiar. He's just a buff that increases my attack power to the absolute maximum." He glanced at the natural forest in front of the temple, sympathy in his eyes. "When I'm done with this, the whole forest will be leveled."
"Are you sure you should be telling me all that?"
The Blooming Buddha shrugged. "You're about to die anyway. I might as well give you some closure and honor you with my ultimate attack."
This guy talks too much.
I couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. Typical villain, always intent on showing off and explaining his schemes or attacks. No wonder they could never win.
"To be honest, I'm disappointed. I expected more…but you fought well for someone your age. I'll admit that your skills are impressive."
"Thanks, I guess?"
Not sure how that praise was going to be of any comfort to me when he was on the verge of killing me, but whatever. The more time I bought, the better.
The Blooming Buddha didn't seem to notice. Cocking his fists back, he got ready to punch me into oblivion. The green dragon settled on him, wreathing his body.
"Farewell."
He threw the punch, his verdant fists crackling with unbridled fury and unleashing sonic booms from the sheer speed. The visage of the dragon roared as it traveled along with the punches.
None of the fists ever hit me.
"…eh?"
The Blooming Buddha sounded shock when his arms began to blacken, rot and fall off. He stared at his stumps in disbelief, and then glanced back at me, as if half-expecting me to be wielding that sword that I first used to cut off his arms.
Nope. I was still holding a staff.
"What did you do to me?"
"Unlike a certain someone, I'm not in the habit of explaining my techniques to my opponent."
"W…what?!"
Then the Blooming Buddha noticed that his stumps were blackening. The rotting rapidly spread all over his body, causing his green flesh to decay and his bones to soften internally. Falling to his knees, even as his legs decomposed, the Blooming Buddha let out a loud shriek.
"What did you do to me?"
I remained silent, but the Blooming Buddha's head whirled about and caught sight of the staffs that I had summoned – staffs that stood in the shadows of my thousand and eight giant gravestones and emanated a black wisp of corruptive energy.
"…! Those staffs!"
"I told you earlier, didn't I?"
I sighed and shook my head before tapping my staff against his decaying body, which broke down further.
"I combined my summoning technique with Corrupting Darkness. The effects might seem insignificant at first, but I've been infecting your Flora and Forbidden Garden with corruption."
I smiled, knowing that it was safe to explain now. The Blooming Buddha's body had rotted to the extent where only his head was left intact, perched precariously on his decaying shoulders. His flesh had peeled away, revealing putrefying organs.
"No way…!"
"No matter how powerful your Natural Regeneration is, you were relying on your Forbidden Garden to provide you with the energy and…should I say materials to restore yourself. So once those energies and materials such as your Flora are infected and corrupted, what do you think will happen when you ingest them?"
"…!"
The Blooming Buddha fell silent when he understood what I had done. He gritted his teeth as his head finally teetered off and dropped to the ground.
A hole opened up in his rotting chest, and the Forbidden Fruit fell out. Alone, untouched by the corruption and decay, the fruit shone brightly, still as pristine as when the Blooming Buddha first revealed it.
I instinctively caught it before it fell to the ground, and ended up staring at it blankly. I had no idea what to do with it.
It's interesting how it's totally unaffected by my Corrupting Darkness.
"You planned all this from the start!" The Blooming Buddha spluttered, and then his emerald eyes lit up when realization dawned on him. "That's why you provoked me into using my ultimate attack! To increase the rate of which I draw energy from my Forbidden Garden!"
The guy was certainly astute. Then again, he was a fellow follower of Lyia, the Goddess of intelligence, so I wasn't surprised.
"Yeah." I nodded. "I noticed how you were using energy from your Forbidden Garden to charge your spells and attacks, and realized I could increase the rate of which you draw from it by forcing you to use more demanding attacks."
"You had me dancing in your palm this whole time!"
There was dismay in the Blooming Buddha's voice. His disembodied head lay in the grass, staring haplessly at me. All around us, the grass, trees, foliage and artificial forest were disappearing, leaving behind only the temple grounds.
With the Blooming Buddha defeated, his area of effect spell was dispelled.
"Phew."
It wasn't just the Blooming Buddha's Forbidden Garden. My chest felt a lot lighter and my movements were faster and easier than before. I was no longer coughing out blood or uncomfortable. It was evident that the Cursed Pollen was gone.
"Oh?"
"Ah…"
The knights felt it too. They were rising to their feet and gazing around in disbelief as the forest melted away, disappearing right in front of our eyes. Several of the sharper ones turned their eyes on me, having witnessed the whole thing from start to finish.
"I don't believe it…!"
"The kid won. The kid actually won!"
"I knew that rascal had it in him! I knew he could do it!"
"Don't lie! You were in despair and moaning about death just like the rest of us!"
"That was you, not me!"
Regardless of several banters, the surviving knights were cheering. Moving amidst my zombies, who had stopped and stood completely still, the knights exchanged high-fives and whooped, delighted to be alive.
"Great job, kid!"
"Amazing! He's just like the heroes!"
"Who is he? Where is he from? Why haven't we heard about such an amazing guy?"
"Well…for one thing, he's a necromancer. Of course no one would know about him."
"Eh? So is he an enemy or an ally?"
"Don't be silly...he just saved our lives, didn't he?"
Ignoring the knights' chatter, I focused my attention on Asura's head, which had shrunk to its normal size.
"You've won," the Guardian of the temple admitted grudgingly. "You're the real chosen of her holiness Lyia."
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