The Violence Witch’s Yuri Harem

We followed Flanne deeper into the dense forest to the location where she believed Carol was. We arrived in front of an unusual set of ruins. Ahead of us was what used to be a house, but the only thing left now were loose and decrepit walls, tilting to the sides, ready to fall at any moment. We passed through an equally damaged stone fence, approaching the ruined building in the middle. There, was a massive tree pushing out against the ruined walls, as if it was the tree’s growth that led to the house’s destruction.

 

“Is that…?” Flanne pointed at a figure with yellowish-beige hair entangled by the tree’s branches and vines. She was tied to the middle of the huge tree, somewhat high off the ground.

 

“Carol!” We found her! There she is! Carol had her eyes closed, but started twitching when I called out to her.

 

“I- Iroha…?” She looked around, confused, with heavy eyelids. “Nghh… What are you doing here?” Carol tried to struggle against her restraints but quickly remembered her circumstances and gave up.

 

“I’m here to save you!” I gotta get her down from there. “You’ve been missing for a whole day now. Everyone’s worried about you!” Can I cut those branches? I gotta get her home as soon as possible.

 

“Stay away, Iroha!” Flanne’s voice stopped me in my tracks. “We don’t know what’s going on, we should approach more care-”

 

…

 

“Kyaaaaah!” I was about to turn back to look at Flanne when a carved pumpkin appeared in front of my face from above. “What the hell is that?!” I was so scared that I jumped back in a hurry and fell on my butt. When the hell did they add jump scares to this game? Are we switching genres to horror now? The pumpkin rappelled down from the branches above and fell to the ground along with the rest of its body. It’s a monster, huh? The pumpkin head stood up again with a roughly humanoid shape. Its body was made out of vines with two arms and two legs. It stood somewhat hunched over, and its limbs undulated in an unsettling way. Attached on top was a pumpkin with a classic Halloween-looking face carved on it.

 

“Looks like it’s ready for a fight.” Sarasa pulled out a set of daggers and entered into a fighting stance. “I’ve never seen a monster like this before. What a weird-looking fella… Any idea of how to fight him, Flanne?” I raised myself off the ground and followed Sarasa’s lead by readying my sword.

 

“There are all kinds of monsters in the Forest of Illusion, and I haven’t seen even half of them. Pay attention to its movements and keep your guard up. We’ll have to take it slow.” Flanne unsheathed the sword at her hip and gripped it with both hands, revealing a claymore with a standard design.

 

“Learning on the job, huh? I can get behind that.” Sarasa glanced at Flanne with a smile before focusing her attention on the monster.

 

“Wait, take this before you get started.” Ririna ran up to the three of us and handed potions to the other two.

 

“Aren’t these strength potions?” Flanne received the vial with hesitation. “Isn’t this overkill? Potions are expensive.”

 

“It’s fine. I made them myself, so they’re not expensive. They’ll make your fight easier, so don’t be shy. And for you, Iroha, I got this…” Ririna pulled out a very unappetizing, bubbling liquid.

 

“Is that a Torn Violence Potion? Are you crazy, Ririna?” Sarasa shouted at Ririna, and Flanne followed along curiously.

 

“It’s not crazy! I already know how to make it safe for Iroha, so she’s not gonna lose her mind. Uhmm… Iroha, I ended up making a few more of these for… practice… after the last time, so if you don’t mind… I’d like you to take this.” Ririna presented me the potion with both hands. “I understand if you say that last time was an exception and that you don’t want any more Torn Violence Potions. I can give you a normal strength potion if you’d prefer…”

 

I don’t think I have much of a reason to say no to the Torn Violence Potion. Ririna has shown me that it works, so I’m not scared. It’s better than a regular strength potion, and with Carol’s life on the line, I can’t afford to be picky. “I’ll take it.” I took the potion off Ririna’s hands and drank it. Flanne and Sarasa were both surprised at how little I hesitated. I don’t see any weak enemies around, and that means I won’t be able to make use of the Violence Impulse skill. Having some extra strength will be nice. I think I’m gonna need it. As powerful a skill as Violence Impulse is, without enough weak enemies around that I can kill in a row, it doesn’t really help me out a lot.

 

“Iroha…” Ririna’s face lit up with a smile as she saw me drink the potion. “Thanks… I’ll go to the back and stay out of your way now, okay? Good luck. Call me if you need my help.” Why is she thanking me? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Ririna waved as she pulled back and assumed a supporting role.

 

“Was that really the Torn Violence Potion? It really works? How do you feel, Iroha? Are you really not going crazy?” Sarasa asked in disbelief. Neither she nor Flanne were able to completely accept what was going on.

 

“I’m fine. Ririna knows what she’s doing.” Sarasa shot me a surprised look and swallowed her regular strength potion.

 

The pumpkin head monster is just staring at us. What is it planning? Is it stalling for time? Why did it capture Carol? I know they were worried they didn’t know what kind of monster it was, but we can’t just do nothing and give it the initiative… “Alright then… Me and Flanne should be able to take care of it by yourselves, so you stay with Ririna and protect her, Iroh- Wait! What? You’re going in?!” If they want to observe its moves, they can just see how it fights me.

 

“Iroha… You can’t…” I ran straight at the monster while Carol watched. She was trying to saying something, so I kept my guard up as I got closer. I sped up with Agility Burst, and the monster backed out, raising a pillar of vines in my path. I immediately cut it with Slash Flurry and watched as the vines fell to the floor. “No way… How is she so fast…” Wow… Ririna’s potion plus the ten extra levels I got are making all the difference. That was a breeze…  This monster looks much stronger than the ones from the valley too!

 

“What the hell?” I looked in the monster’s direction, only to see a bright light quickly approaching me. The pumpkin head’s mouth lit up, and many tiny firefly-looking creatures flew out in my direction. Is that an attack? The tiny fireflies glowed bright yellow and looked translucent, like they were part of a spell. I held up my sword defensively, and they crashed into me, popping like firecrackers. “Ouch ouch! Stop!” The little explosions weren’t that painful, but they left me unable to do anything else. I swung my sword around in an attempt to swat away as many of them as I could. “I gotta get out of the way.” These fireflies must be some kind of breath attack from the pumpkin head. I just need to get out of the way and close the gap! Agility Bur- “Huh?!?” I wanted to get out of the way, but it had wrapped my legs with vines. “I can’t move?!” Its breath attack eventually came to an end, and now there were vines about to crash down on me from above. Was that its plan? Use that weird spell to stall, then restrain me? Is that how it got Carol?

 

I couldn’t cut the vines at my feet and guard against the vines coming from above at the same time, so I braced myself for impact. This is gonna hurt… “Now, Flanne!” Sarasa dashed past me, slicing the vines entangled around my feet. Meanwhile, Flanne rushed in from the opposite side, grabbed me, and pulled me out of the way of the monster’s attack. The two vines smashed into the ground from above. We’re safe, at least for now.

 

“Whew… Are you alright, Iroha?” Flanne held onto my waist while helping me regain my balance. “What were you thinking, charging in like that? Didn’t I tell you we’d take it slow?” Her tone was calm and somewhat casual, even though it sounded like she was trying to scold me.

 

“S- sorry…” I may have been a bit too reckless, but it was worth it… “At least we learned something… That pumpkin monster is smart.”

 

“Yeah… No doubt about it… A lot of monsters here have a lot of tricks up their sleeve. This one’s no different.” Flanne faced the monster again and assumed a fighting position. Sarasa regrouped with us, and the three of us kept our guard up as we approached the monster—as we approached Carol.

 

“Stop it, Iroha! Just go get Hecate! You’re going to get yourself killed… That creep is too strong!” It’s too late to go get anyone else. What the hell is she thinking? Besides, we don’t need anyone else. With the three of us working together, we don’t have anything to fear.

 

We slowly closed in on it, and the monster clearly didn’t like that, so it lashed out by thrusting its vines at us, extending them at lightning speed. “Leave it to me!” I took a step forward and stopped the incoming vines with Slash Flurry, protecting Sarasa and Flanne.

 

“No way… Iroha…? She’s using a normal sword…” Carol was barely holding onto her consciousness, and she was having a hard time understanding if she was dreaming or not. Sarasa and Flanne used the opening I created to close the gap and strike directly at the monster. The vines making up the monster’s body were destroyed, but the head managed to wriggle out of harm’s way and get away from them.

 

“Come on, Flanne. You were supposed to get its head.”

 

“I don’t believe we agreed on anything like that.” Sarasa and Flanne were taking things lightly, but the fight wasn’t over yet. The tree’s roots started moving and made their way to the pumpkin, lifting up the pumpkin and creating yet another body for the monster.

 

“What? It’s back? We’re going to have to do all this again?” As if to answer Sarasa, the pumpkin’s face lit up and started laughing. “Nyah! It’s giving me chills!” The monster burrowed its roots into the ground, and five other pumpkins rose up around us, each supported by a body of roots.

 

No way… I know what this is… “It’s cloning itself!” Oh no… How are we gonna do this now? We’re getting surrounded. Wait… Could this be my chance to use Violence Impulse? No… There’s still not enough of them, and I wouldn’t be able to kill them fast enough anyway. Not if they’re as strong as the original. Flanne’s already saved me once today, so let’s not do something crazy again. I ran back to the other two, and we stood with our backs to each other. “Uhmm… What now?”

 

“Nyahahaha! Isn’t it obvious? We’re surrounded, so there’s only one thing we can do! We strike them down one by one!” Sarasa and Flanne prepared themselves for combat again. Huh… I guess we’re doing this… Can I handle it? I have no other choice. I’ll be fine if I don’t go too crazy. Wait for me, Carol… I’ll get you out of there soon enough.