An orange flame danced gracefully in Hitori's heart. Hitori was using the cultivated mana he had cultivated in the fire element domain.
Although he had a total of ten thousand mana points from the fire domain and a total of thirteen hundred thousand mana points from every domain, Hitori thought he was wasting a lot of mana.
This skill was amazing and all but… it sucked a lot of mana and did not produce the expected results. This was… a waste of time and mana if he himself can not fight by their side.
For a second, Hitori opened his eyes. His eyes fell on something brown and dark that was displayed on the magic screen.
Hitori sighed, "Chibi… please." The tiny pixie was hidden behind a tree. She hesitated but took a peek at Hitori's command.
Hitori saw a figure sitting in a pile of dead leaves, mud, and sticks. Hitori could not see her face but he could see her white lab coat that had red splashes of blood on it.
Chibi turned her eyes when she heard a soft noise. She started moving her head all around the woods.
"W- what are you doing?" Hitori asked, "Look straight. The Duergar is straight ahead of you."
When Chibi heard it, she retreated quickly, "hey— let it be." Hitori had already got the translucent Duergar's glimpse.
"Wait, wait…" Hitori had calmed down and his voice was back to normal, "get me that berry, Chibi." Hitori saw a golden yellow berry that was dangling from a branch.
Chibi leaned forward and grabbed the berry– it barely fit in her tiny hands. She did not have to apply any strength to pluck the berry, maybe it was already plucked and hung down a branch.
Hitori changed his view back to Hime's point of view.
Hohn groaned as it tried to get rid of a tree vine that was trying to pull its arms and pin it down.
Hime threw another branch at Hohn but it used its hammer to swing that branch away. Hohn's hammer was pretty useless at this distance as vines took turns and curves on their way to Hohn.
It was not able to move since its feet were held together tightly by the ground. Hohn grabbed a vine and pulled it off its arm but it failed. The same happened for a few more seconds.
Hime tried to snap its armor off its body cause she seemed to know a thing or two about Duergars and their armor.
Hime knew she was supposed to attack at its bare stomach but she missed every time. Hohn had left no opening for her to enter– or even touch its stomach.
The vines that had grabbed Hohn's arms were slightly torn before Hohn flexed its arm muscles and the vines snapped completely.
Hime was taken by surprise when her vines snapped suddenly (she had not noticed that her vines were torn). Hohn took that chance to use its hammer's pointed ends to tear the grass.
Hime leaned back inside the tree. She lost her control over the grass so as soon as Hohn tore the grass strands, it was free to move.
Without any delay, Hohn charged at Hime's tree. She panicked, "Ryu-Kun, release your mana!" She raised her beautiful voice.
The burning flame suddenly increased– like an explosion– and Hitori released a total of one thousand mana points at once.
He could feel the mana flowing through his body and at the same time, he could feel the stinging pain in his chest, probably his heart.
On seeing Hohn, that ran towards her with long but average steps, Hime pulled both of her hands near her head, she closed her eyes.
"Mana Overdrive… Woodland Magic: Flora Manipulation…" The ends of her hands glowed in a deep green color.
Hime opened her eyes which were glowing bright green and jerked her hands forward.
The green energy was suddenly transferred into the tree she was in. From the ground, two of the tree's roots popped out, two branches glowing in deep brown color, and light green color vines.
Hohn came to a stop and fell face-on to the ground. Hime clicked her tongue diligently when Hohn's face missed the blunt end of its hammer.
Hohn groaned and turned to check its feet. The grass strands had got Hohn's feet. It went for its hammer. Hohn grunted and jerked its arm.
"Hm?" it looked down at its hammer with wide eyes. He could not pick up the hammer. When Hohn looked closer, its hammer was held down by the roots.
It heard the vines' and the branches' rustling sounds. Hohn raised its head then raised its body. It used its vambraces to block the vines.
The vines landed a few slaps on its forearm and tried to snatch it but Hohn pulled its arm before that would happen.
Suddenly, the vines swept through the ground and raised behind Hohn, before it could react, the vines grabbed its arms from behind.
One of the branches flew past him, then it appeared to pierce through Hohn's bare stomach.
Hohn dropped its head back and groaned, "Argh!" The branch went deeper till Hohn acted. It pulled its head back with a jerk and compressed its stomach.
Hime did not stop even when she heard her branch snap into two, she raised her second branch.
Hohn watched in pain as its blood dripped on a branch that emerged from below. Hohn grunted, "Argh!" and flexed its muscles once again.
The vines did not snap this time, they started tightening around its biceps. In the instant of the moment, Hohn struggled and managed to snap one of the vines.
Its hand raced to the branch that had reached its chin from below.
Hime moved her right hand across in a swift movement. On her order, the broken branch grew back and punctured Hohn's bulging bicep but that only slowed it down, it could not stop it.
As soon as a branch went through Hohn's bicep, it grabbed the second branch right below its chin, its tip touched Hohn's neck through the little gap.
But Hohn had it under control… or so it thought. Its power rivaled the branch's power. Hohn had grabbed the twig and gave his best to pull it away from its neck.
Then the branch that had pierced through its arm came out, another vine snapped a second later. Hohn swung its arm.
The branch broke into two and fell to the ground, the brown color soon disappeared. Hime did not even try to use her mana on that branch.
Hohn's hand was reaching for the twig that it held. Hime acted quickly. Two green vines rose behind Hohn.
Snap! Snap.
A vine went through the hole in its arm and the other went for its other arm. Both vines– like a whip– grabbed Hohn's both arms and tightened the tension.
Hohn groaned in pain but did not let go of that one twig. But the burning pain of its right arm was killing it.
Hime took its advantage and released all of her mana to try and move the branch out of Hohn's grasp and stab it into its jaw.
Hohn grunted, it took its head further back, away from the twig. The twig changed its course and touched Hohn's jaw. Hime grunted on the other side as she tried to pull the twig through.
Hohn pulled the twig back. Hime applied more force, and Hohn pulled it back with even more strength.
Hitori, who saw all of this from Hime's view, was getting impatient, "Just do it." He muttered as the corner of his mouth twitched.
The vine on Hohn's right arm tightened, and blood covered the green vine. Hohn lost its focus and Hime's twig slid forward into Hohn's jaw.
A drop of blood swam down the thin yet pointed twig from Hohn's jaw.
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only