18 Chapter 18: Blooming Buddha (1/2)

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.”

”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.”