I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 110

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[110] Lenar, Queen of Flowers #2
Lenar made the first move.
The woman who had been gazing down at us with such arrogance flicked her fingers.
Vines erupted explosively from the inner walls of the Ancient Tree.
“Scatter—!!”
At my cry, the three of us bolted in different directions.
The vines obliterated the ground where we’d been standing, tearing away the solid wooden floor entirely.
‘…If I’d taken that head-on, there wouldn’t be bones left to bury.’
「Lenar, Queen of Flowers activates her unique domain!」
「The surroundings fill with her magical power! Everything here can become her weapon!」
The wooden floor, walls, and ceiling.
Whoooosh—!
Thorned vines erupted from all directions, and toxic sap poured down like sheets of rain.
I immediately sprayed neutralizing agent across my body—something I’d brought from town—and swiftly swung my blade to deflect the trajectories of the thorned vines.
As I parried the relentless barrage of attacks from every angle, Lenar began descending slowly.
The way she descended gracefully along the vines was like a predator leisurely walking toward its prey.
—It seems you’ve prepared well. But it’s futile! Now I shall crush you with my own hands!
As Lenar swept her arm, crimson flowers bloomed within the Ancient Tree Interior.
The flowers blazed a vivid scarlet in an instant, then detonated.
“Ugh…!!”
Had my evasion been even slightly slower, I would have died.
With unfamiliar patterns demanding instant judgment and reaction, every moment felt like walking on thin ice.
But in that instant, Nia kicked off the ground and charged forward.
Nia rushed with golden afterimages trailing behind her, throwing a punch toward Lenar—
Boom—!
Instead of her fist connecting, explosive magical power expanded from Lenar’s center, sending Nia flying backward.
“Gack…!”
Nia crashed against the wall back-first and slid down with a groan.
“Nia!!”
Radi rushed forward, but vines and summoned creatures poured in from all directions, seizing the opportunity.
「Elite Steel Rose Legion appears!」
「Elite Magic Lily Legion appears!」
「Elite Guardian Tulip Legion appears!」
「Elite Curse Plum Blossom Legion appears!」
‘Damn it… didn’t they say this spirit’s main body itself wasn’t much of a threat…!’
“Radi! Handle the summoned creatures!”
“Understood!”
As the flower soldiers flooded in, Radi stepped forward and fired her crossbow in rapid succession.
Click! Click! Click—!
The summoned creatures swarmed toward Radi, but she didn’t retreat.
Radi drew the soldiers to their limit, then scattered herbicide and caltrops among them before escaping the encirclement through Shadow Leap.
“Are you alright, Nia?!”
I rushed over to support her, and Nia wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand, muttering.
“Took one hit.”
Nia bared her teeth in a grin.
“But it won’t work twice.”
She pushed off the ground and accelerated once more.
Nia sprinted across the floor and walls, using the protruding vines in all directions, effortlessly shaking off every tendril that lunged toward her.
The moment she closed in on Lenar, another explosive surge of mana rippled outward—
Crack-crack-crack!!
Nia drove her claws into the plant stems for an emergency stop, then struck the instant the mana explosion subsided.
A primal, bestial fighting style.
—Grrk! How dare you!
Lenar staggered violently from Nia’s kick.
As Lenar summoned a vine whip and swung it, Nia was forced to retreat, but I seized the opportunity.
‘Shadow Leap…!’
I burst from the shadow of a stem and dropped down, rushing toward Lenar’s back.
By the time she noticed my ambush and turned, it was already too late.
“Die!!”
—Grrk!?
｢Lenar, Queen of Flowers summons a phantom clone to evade the fatal blow!｣
｢You severed Lenar’s right elbow!｣
Splash—! Petals scattered with vivid sensation.
As my blade grazed the spirit’s arm, a sharp cry pierced the air and transparent sap dripped down.
Lenar immediately counterattacked with a thorn whip, but a golden afterimage rushed in and snatched me from the air.
“Well done, Doran!”
Caught by Nia and pulled to safety, Lenar let out a furious roar at her failed strike.
In that moment, we both sensed it.
‘This is worth trying!’
We cooperated seamlessly, relentlessly exploiting Lenar’s openings.
While Radi lured the vine soldiers and kept them bound, Nia and I took turns pressuring Lenar.
When Nia charged from the front, timing the protective magic’s intervals, I burst from the shadows to strike her flank.
When Lenar turned toward me, Nia hammered her back.
We struck and withdrew ceaselessly, twisting the trajectory and pattern of our attacks into chaos.
Like a natural flow of water, as if we’d synchronized our breathing over countless years.
“Is this all you’ve prepared?!”
“No wonder you’re a plant—you’re as dull as they come!”
—Silence! You insolent wretches!
Lenar’s breathing grew increasingly ragged.
The intervals between her protective magic widened, and the vines’ movements dulled.
Evidence of her mana depleting.
The more it happened, the more we pressed our assault, driving Lenar further into a corner.
‘If I keep pushing like this just a bit longer, I can win!’
In that moment when victory seemed within reach.
The Flower Queen suddenly unfurled wings she had hidden behind her back.
And at that same instant──.
─How dare you, mere mortal.
A voice trembling with rage.
─Dare you insult.
The very air itself.
─With such contempt?
Rang out with a deafening resonance.
─$&@#$*$#@*@&%*#@$*!!!!!!
「Lenar, Queen of Flowers manifests her true authority!!!」
「An ancient power that defies the natural order descends upon the surface! It cannot be resisted!!」
The moment Lenar cried out in the ancient tongue, flowers bloomed in all directions.
From the walls
roses
sprouted, and from the vines
lavender
burst forth.
Everywhere my vision reached,
hydrangeas
and
azaleas
bloomed in profusion.
And not only that—between sword and boots,
water lilies
grew. Across the robes,
anemones
spread their dominion.
And then──.
Flowers began sprouting one after another from our arms and legs, our eyes, our organs.
Petunias.
Oh.
Daisies.
This
It is.
Pansies.
It.
Karen.
Water.
Light.
Illusion. Flowers
of
hope.
And… hundreds upon hundreds of
thousands
of
unnamed
flowers.
“Gaahhh─!!”
“Cough─!!”
“Ugh─!
Doran, Radi, and Nia collapsed simultaneously, coughing up blood.
An overwhelmingly alien force—the power of a high-ranking spirit.
The Ancient Tree Interior transformed in an instant into a kaleidoscopic hell.
An unbearably fragrant aroma permeated the space.
‘How… how is this possible…’
A searing pain erupted from deep within my body.
Dandelion roots spread across my skin, and I felt flowers blooming and swaying inside my organs.
A sensation impossibly vivid and cruel beyond description.
But my suffering did not end there.
「Parasitic seeds are beginning to forcibly germinate!」
「By the caster’s command, the seeds are rapidly consuming the host’s interior! Extreme pain accompanies this process!」
「The [Disguise] ability is sealed! All stats are drastically reduced!」
My knees buckled.
A burning agony radiated from deep within my joints.
Clang─! The sword slipped from my hand.
As my vision blurred and I collapsed to the ground, a voice filled with madness whispered in my ear.
─Now do you understand? What lies within you is mine.
“….”
─As payment for a mere mortal daring to challenge me, you shall lie there helplessly and watch your companions wither away one by one.
Vines sprouted like tentacles from behind Lenar, Queen of Flowers, seizing Nia’s legs.
She hurled the woman aside with a violent snap.
Nia screamed as she was slammed against the Ancient Tree, but Lenar was not satisfied and continued to manipulate the vines relentlessly.
Up and down. Left and right.
Like a child playing with a toy, she battered Nia against every corner of the Ancient Tree.
Each time her small frame collided with the massive trunk, crimson stains bloomed and spread in all directions.
And then.
Crack—
Nia’s leg shattered.
—Tch, it’s broken?
A vile, viscous whisper slithered into my ears.
Tentacle-like tendrils unfurled, now creeping toward Radi.
“Gaaahhh!!!”
I thrashed desperately, screaming for the vines to release my comrade, but my body refused to obey.
As I coughed blood, flower petals mixed with it.
Squelch—! The sound of Lenar’s tendrils piercing through something echoed.
—Suffer all you wish. But fear not. It will be over soon.
As Lenar forced my head upward, I saw Radi collapsed in a pool of blood, her limbs grotesquely pierced, yet still reaching toward me even as consciousness fled.
Even in her darkness, she extended her hand toward me.
But Lenar swept her away like refuse into the corner of the Ancient Tree.
Witnessing that sight, I was consumed by a bitter, gnawing regret.
I couldn’t save even a single comrade who had trusted me and followed me here.
Rage. Rage. Rage.
I felt as though the fury would drive me mad.
My teeth clenched together, my fingertips trembling.
My vision flooded crimson.
Blood wept from my eyes.
Blood seeped from my nails, digging into my palms.
If I could only punish this spirit.
If I could only save my comrades.
I would gladly offer my life.
My life—I would surrender it willingly.
The moment I steeled my resolve—
Ding—!
「Extreme desperation detected!」
「In your past life, you saved people from a burning building.」
「You rescued countless lives from the brink of demonic sacrifice.」
「You prevented the calamity that befell the Coastal City and punished the wicked!」
「You never abandoned your resolve to protect your comrades, and you resisted your predetermined fate.」
「Your ■■ stat temporarily awakens!」
Suddenly, something scorching surged through my entire body.
As if I’d swallowed a fireball, my body ignited with heat, my breath opened, and my vision sharpened.
Power flooded through me as though I’d become a different being entirely.
This strength, this sensation…
Strangely unfamiliar, yet somehow intimately familiar.
I felt an inexplicable force rapidly healing my wounds and incinerating the parasitic plants that had grown within me.
「The parasitic seeds embedded in your body burn away! The spirit’s curse cannot harm your sacred form!」
“Your desire intervenes in the mortal realm, bringing forth change! A powerful force heals your companions!”
“Radi’s lost limbs and right eye, along with Nia’s legs, rapidly regenerate!”
I stared blankly at the message that appeared in my status window.
None of this felt real.
Everything inside the Ancient Tree seemed to shrink away.
No—I was hovering in midair, standing on nothing but empty space with both feet.
“….”
Lenar, who had been about to sever the lives of Nia and Radi where they lay, froze as she witnessed the radiance beginning to shimmer above them.
─This… how is this possible…?
“….”
─No, you wretch! My ■■! This cannot be!! That belongs to me!!
Lenar, Queen of Flowers, rushed toward me with bloodshot eyes, her voice a hysterical shriek.
Like a maddened beast—a form so hideous it was impossible to believe she was a spirit.
Yet as I looked down upon her, I found myself possessed of a calm that even I found surprising.
I gazed directly at Lenar, Queen of Flowers, and spoke.
“…Vanish, unclean one.”
“Your presence overwhelms the mana of all territories in this region!”
In an instant, a burning greatsword erupted from Lenar’s chest.
The flower spirit stared in disbelief, her eyes darting between the blade piercing her body and me.
Transparent sap slowly spread outward from where the sword was embedded in her chest.
Realizing her death, Lenar let out a final scream.
─No, no, no, no!!! This cannot be how it ends!! The eternal life I finally found! Defeated by a mere mortal─!!!
In the next moment, as I swept my arm, Lenar was consumed by flames and vanished.
A faint smell of charring hung in the air, and silence descended upon the Ancient Tree Interior.
“….”
I quickly surveyed the now-silent Ancient Tree Interior around me.
It didn’t feel real. I was utterly dumbfounded.
I had no idea by what principle I had wielded such power, or how I had been capable of manifesting such an ability.
But one thing was certain…
“The spirit… has been annihilated.”
But in the next moment, I collapsed like a puppet with severed strings.
Every sinew felt torn at the cellular level—I couldn’t move a single finger.
The backlash of forcibly drawing upon power beyond my capacity came crashing down all at once.
As if on cue, the log window updated in rapid succession.
“Your objective complete. The ■■ stat returns to a dormant state.”
“You have dealt a fatal blow to Lenar, Queen of Flowers!”
“Lenar’s influence over the region rapidly dissipates!”
“The Ancient Tree is beginning to collapse! Escape immediately!”
Crrraaaaaack─!
The vines and petals that composed the Ancient Tree Interior began falling away one by one.
Cracks that began at the floor spread across the walls, and the ceiling rotted and twisted in an instant before collapsing entirely.
I had to leave this place. Right now.
But I couldn’t move a single step.
After defeating that malevolent spirit, to meet such an end—it was utterly pathetic.
Then at least….
“Darkness… Leap.”
Squeezing out my last reserves of life force, I appeared beside Radi and Nia.
If I was going to die, I would die beside the comrades I fought alongside until the very end.
Perhaps then, in the next life, the probability of meeting them again would increase, even slightly.
“…Thank you for following someone as inadequate as me.”
The faces of Malton and Karen, and comrades I had yet to meet, flashed before my eyes.
Then the remains of the Ancient Tree came crashing down upon me.
And with that, my memories ceased.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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