Alot of plants were harm in the making of this chapter

Chapter 43

Defeated

Ok I manage to seal its movement, so now what do I do? None of the plants can pierce its tough skin. While I planned a way to put the creature down, I watch it attempt to break free from its restraint. Veins pop out of its left arm as it continue its futile struggle. A muscular man-shaped lizard thing…. This honestly got to be the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a lot.

“Give it up pal, you’re going to need more than brute strength to defeat me.” The creature suddenly stop moving like it was following my order, but I’m sure it just figure out that it won’t be able to escape.  

Did it give up? No, not with that look in its eyes. While it doesn’t have the smug look anymore, it also doesn’t have even a hint of despair on its face either. This bastard must still be underestimating me if it thinks that it’ll be able get out of this situation alive. I guess I need to remind it that I’m the one in control.

“You know, I was planning on tormenting you, but those scales of yours are too tough for these plants to pierce, and I’m pretty sure I’ll break my hand if I try to punch you, so you luck out on that, but you shouldn’t get cocky. Just because I can’t hurt you, doesn’t mean I can’t kill you.”

Purplish dots suddenly grew on the plants that was holding the creature. Leaves fell off as black smoke rose from their pores. The creature begin to struggle again once it notice the plants weird transformation.

“This is all your fault you know. These plants were living a perfectly healthy and normal life until you made me take control over them, now they have been inflicted with a disease that’s deadly to every person on the planet including you. Quite the ugly ability isn’t it? But hey, it gets the job done so I’m not complaining.” Well besides the fact that this ability is weakening me. Lucky for me though, controlling these plants doesn’t take much effort, so the strength drain isn’t on a noticeable scale. I just hope this doesn’t take too long, because if another monster suddenly jumps in this fight, then I’m pretty much a goner. If only I had another way to kill it without having to slowly kill myself too.

As I waited for the creature to succumb to the illness that the plants were infected with, I notice from the corner of my eye a bunch of low hanging branches swaying around erratically, signaling someone or something was coming this way.

Shit, whose coming? Human, monster or maybe Joseph? Whoever it is it’s a bad idea for me to stand here and wait for it to show up unprepared. If only I had a weapon, then I could deal with the thing here and the potential threat that’s heading this way. Wait I do have a weapon! Remembering Joseph handed me some crystal bombs, I quickly reach into my pocket and pull out three orange marbles.

“Only three huh?” This is enough for to take care of the creature and two of whatever is heading my way. If it’s an enemy that pops out the forest, I hope there will only be two of them, and that they suck at dodging.

Expecting the worse, I tighten my grip on the crystals ready to give hell to whatever was about to pop out the forest.

“I think the sounds came from over here!” Three men lead by the bald guy that nearly ran me over earlier came rushing out the forest. All four of them collapse on the ground the moment they saw me, I guess they must’ve been chasing me and hero since the moment he pick me up and drag me deep into the forest. Realizing these guys weren’t a threat to me, I sighed in relief while putting the crystals back in my pocket for later use.

“Hey, you’re that perverted girl from earlier right?” The bald man shouted while pointing at me.

“Huh, perverted?”

“You were the girl that was shouting ‘fuck me’ earlier right?”

“I didn’t mean that literally! I just realize that I forgot my…. You know what forget it, why are you guys here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We came here to finish this mission. Since all the other idiots went home, we don’t have to worry about anyone interfering with our mission.”

“Well the creature is right here, so if you want it you can have it.”

“You’re not planning on getting in our way are you?” The bald man’s eyes narrow as he look at me.

“Even if I wanted to, it’s not like I can do anything, I mean does it look like I can stop you?” The man quietly examine my body. It’s obvious that the bald man is far stronger than me. Unlike me, he actually has some pretty solid muscles, probably from swinging that heavy looking axe of his. Compare to him who has an intimidating appearance, I look like an easy prey thanks to my petite body and thin arms that doesn’t seem to have muscle in them. If we were to get into a fight I most definitely would lose, of course that’s only if we are basing the fight solely off strength.

“You do have a point there. A kid like you shouldn’t be out here. So why don’t you run on home like all the other cowards. Don’t worry we’ll take care of the rest.” The bald man tries to place his hand on my head, but I quickly swat it away before it could touch me. The three idiots behind him started to laugh at him for some reason.

These guys got death written all over their face. Was the only thing that was going through my head, as I watch them walk up to the creature while laughing like idiots, the fact that they called everyone who left cowards is proof of that. I’m pretty sure everyone who went home realize they were out of their league when they saw the creature and the carnage it left behind. The fact that they decided to chase after it even after seeing what its capable of doing means these guys are either strong or just idiots, and from what I seen I’m leaning towards the latter one. Oh well even idiots have some use. Now that they’re here, I don’t have to waste my strength trying to kill that thing anymore.

“What’s up with these plants? It’s like they’re alive.”

“Of course they’re alive! They’re fucking plants.” The bald guy slap his teammate on the back hard enough to make him drop his sword.

"I didn’t mean it like that. I meant the way these plants are moving is unnatural. It’s like… I don’t know, like someone is controlling them.”

Well it seems the guy with the sore back is the smart one of this team. I might as well tell them it’s me controlling them, since they’ll find out eventually if they keep using their brains like that.

“I’m the one controlling them it’s an elemental trick I created.”

“Elemental? I never heard of anyone being able to control nature using elemental type magic.”

“Obviously you wasn’t paying attention to what she said. She said it was a trick, which means she probably use elemental magic to control the water that’s inside the plants isn’t that right miss?” The bald man smirk at me like he knew what he was talking about, even though I’m sure he just pulled that explanation out of his ass. If he did I’m not going to correct him, since he gave me nice excuse.

“Yea… that’s exactly what I did…”

“I knew it, I seen a few nobleman perform the same trick before. It’s actually quite easy to do really, I bet even I can do it.”

I have no idea what he was on going about, but I do know he was lying through his teeth, and from the looks of it his team doesn’t realize it, since they’re all looking at him in awe.

“The fact that this creature fell for such a simple trick means it’s an idiot that thought it can take on humans. I guess that’ll teach you not to underestimate humans won’t it? Hey, are you listening to me?” The bald man wave his axe in front of the creature’s face to gets its attention.

“What the hell are you guys doing?! Hurry up and kill it!”

“Whoa, calm down miss. We’re just messing around with it since its trap. I mean it can’t break free can it?”

“No, it can’t….” At least it shouldn’t be able to. The fact that the creature looks calm and relax even though its trap and surrounded by enemies really concerns me, it also doesn’t help that it never stop looking at me since the moment I caught it. Even with the four men waving their weapons in its face it still hasn’t broke eye contact with me, it’s seriously starting to creep me the hell out.

“I was going to give you a nice long speech about why you shouldn’t underestimated humans, but it’s rude to keep a lady waiting, so I’m afraid I’m going to have end you now.” The bald man raise his axe and the air and swung it down at the creature. But before he could land his attack, the creature right arm break free from its restraint and grabs the man’s axe.

“Hey! I thought you said it wouldn’t be able to break out!”

“It shouldn’t! Those plants are strong enough to hold down a fully grown orc. There’s no way even a piece of him can break free from that.” Except… perhaps its right arm.

I look at the bald man who struggling to get his axe back from the creature’s grasp. Just as I fear, the right arm of the creature was the one that broke free. I didn’t bother reinforcing the restraint on its right arm since I was sure that Joseph broke it during their fight, but I guess it was faking its injury.

“You bastard, stop struggling in die already!” The muscles in the bald man’s arm inflates as he struggles to push the creature arm away and deal it the fatal blow with his axe. The creature lifts his axe in the air while the bald man was still holding on to it like it was trying to prove the strength gap between the two. A wide grin stretch across the creature’s face as he stare at the bald man dangling in the air holding onto his axe for dear life.

“What the hell are you guys doing?! Hurry up and help me!”

“We’re coming boss!” The bald man’s team sprang quickly into action. The three guys rush at the creature while screaming their hearts out, the creature responded by simply throwing their leader right at them knocking all of them to the ground. With its right arm free, the creature tore through all the plants that surrounded it, until it finally free itself. The moment creature feet touch the ground, it headed straight for the four men that was shivering in fear.

“Hey! Hurry up and trap it again, before it catch us!” Even though we were both in a shitty situation it was amusing to see the guy who said I didn’t belong here, now begging for my help.

“You idiot. If I could do that, don’t you think I would’ve been done it?” Unlike these guys, this creature possess some form of intelligence. The same trick isn’t going to work on it, it’ll mostly likely tear all the plants apart before they could trap it. This is my fault, just like how the creature underestimated me because of my appearance, I also underestimated it because I saw it as nothing more than a simple-minded beast. Making a mistake like this can be extremely fatal. Lucky for me I have a way out of this situation. I felt myself smiling at the creature as it got closer to the down men.

There’s no logical reason for me to risk my life to kill this thing. The moment it takes its eyes off me to attack them I’m going to make a run for it. So hurry up! Sink your teeth into their skin, tear them into pieces. Do whatever the hell you monsters do.

“Come on hurry up already.” I whisper to myself as I slowly back away from the men who begging for my help. Why is it taking so long to attack them? Is it toying with them? My idiotic smile vanish, when the creature took a step pass the men.

In that instant when the creature walk past them, I felt our roles reverse. The men who were panicking were now sighing in relief, while I who was silently laughing at pitiful fools was is the one in trouble now. This must be what they call karma.

I let out a sigh to calm myself down, panicking in a situation like this would just get me killed. Right now I need to concentrate on how to take this thing down since running away from it is impossible. I reach into my pocket and pull out my three crystal bombs.

These three crystals are the only offensive tool I have. Even though they’re small and look like something a child would play with, they will most definitely cost some serious damage, of course that’s only if I’m able to hit it directly with them.

The creature stop moving and stare at my right hand which held the crystals. It seems this thing knows what these things are capable of. No doubt it’s waiting for me to throw them. If it is, then it’s going to keep waiting, since I know it’s impossible for me to hit it with its insane speed. If I want to overcome the massive strength difference between us I’m going to need to use every cheap trick I got.

I raise my right arm to my side making sure the creature knows exactly where crystals are at. With a confidence smile on my face, I open my hand up letting the crystals fall to the ground. The moment the crystals left my hand, a vine breaks out the ground and grabs the creature left leg.

“Idiot, you were so worry about the crystals that you forgot about my other ability, now your mine.” I run towards the creature as fast as I could. Using the momentum I gain from running I charge into it shoulder first. With the plant holding its leg down, combine with me throwing my entire body weight at it, the both of us fell to the ground. More plants sprung out from the dirt and grab the creatures remaining limbs the moment it touch the ground. Seeing the creature all tied up again, I sat up and look at my work with a satisfy grin.

“Would you look at that, we’re back to square one again.” The creature squirm around trying break free from its restraint, but with me sitting on top of it, and the plants holding its limbs down it was impossible to gather its strength to break out like it did before.

“I made sure to reinforce your restraint, so it’s impossible to escape now you’re better off giving up.” The creature ignores my advice and continues to struggle.

“You really are persisted. I guess killing you slowly would be bad idea since you’ll probably find a way to break free eventually, so how about we end this fight now?” Three more vines pop out the ground near us. The creature’s eyes widen when it notice each one of the plants were carrying a crystal I drop. The plants wave the crystal at the creature’s face like they were taunting it.

“That look on your face is hilarious. I didn’t think it was possible for a monster to look so confuse. I bet you want to know how exactly these plants got a hold of my bombs. It’s quite simple really. The moment I let go of them I commanded a few plants to grab them and carry them underground while I charge at you. Quite an ingenious plan don’t you agree?”  My smile grew brighter and brighter the more I talk about my clever plan. Realizing I was losing track of my goal a plant wave their stem in front of me and then pointed it at the creature who was trying still to break free.

“Sorry about that. It’s a bad habit of mine to mock my defeated opponent before killing them, but I think I humiliated you enough, so why don’t we get right to your execution.” The three vines wrap themselves around the creature’s limbs. The crystals gave off a reddish glow as the vines tighten their grip on the creature’s limbs.

“Seeing that my arm is still sore from slamming into you, I doubt regular attacks will be able to harm you, but can you survive three bombs going off at once? Let’s find out.” I jump off the creature’s stomach and walk until I felt I was out of the explosion radius. The creature violently shook his body trying everything it could to escape its doom. Seeing such a pathetic display made me want to taunt it even more, but it would be unwise to drag this out. Especially since I have no info on whatever the hell it is.

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I snap my finger commanding the plants to detonate the bombs. A fiery explosion engulfs the monster and the plants that held it down. The explosion wasn’t as big as I expected, but it was still quite the spectacle.

“Told you fighting me was a bad idea.” Satisfy with the little light show. I bid my annoying adversary farewell and before headed back to the Athens.

“Hey wait.” Someone softly touch my shoulders to get my attention. I turn to around to see it was the bald man and his team. All four of them were looking at me with their eyes wide open like they were witnessing a miracle.

“….What?”

“Did you just defeat an ‘S’ class threat?” The bald man spoke slowly like he was trying to make sure he knew exactly what he was saying.

“Yea… I guess I did.”

“That’s incredible!” I was taken aback by the men praises. I thought they would’ve been upset that I stole their kill, or that I try to abandon them so I could escape safely. I guess they were so amazed by the creature’s death that they forgot about that little fact, let’s hope it stays like that.

“To be able to defeat that thing so easily, who trained you?”

“No one really trained me…” I took a few steps back from the bald who was getting way too close to me, only to walk into someone who was standing behind me. Before I could turn to see who it was, they grab my right arm. A dull pain ran though my arm as the guy rub it.

“I find it hard to believe that someone who looks like they don’t have an ounce of muscle defeated that thing.”

“If you don’t want to believe then don’t. Now let go of me, my arm is still hurt from when I threw myself into that thing earlier.” I shook my arm free from him only to immediately be grab by the bald guy. He swung his arm around my neck and pull me in close to him.

“Let me go!” The bald bastard let out a loud laugh as I tried to free myself from his grip.

“No need to be shy miss! Since we survive this fight together we’re comrades now. So how about we get a drink to celebrate our newest member.”

“Member?! When did I join you guys?”

“Hey, hey guys!” One of the bald guy members slowly back away from us. His entire body was shivering in fear as he stare at the fading smoke. Seeing the terror in his eyes, I knew exactly what was going on.

A human figure could be easily seen through the smoke. Even though the smoke made it impossible to for us to see who the silhouette belong to, we all knew who it was. Especially me, since alike the others I can clearly see through the smoke.

The creature manage to survive the explosion, but it didn’t escape unscathed. Three of its limbs is missing, and its body is completely charred. I’m not sure how it survive, but it doesn’t matter, since it’s no longer a threat to me.

I remove the bald guy’s hand while he was focusing on the creature. The bald man quickly grab my arm before I could even take a step away from him.

“Ow, what the hell you doing? I told you my arm is sore!”

“You can’t leave yet, we need you to defeat that thing!”

“Are you serious? I just did half of your work, and you’re telling me you still need me to kill a wounded creature? Are you guys seriously that incapable?”

“That thing manage to kill a team of knights that were train to deal with ‘S’ level threat. And it manage to survive that explosion. We can’t afford to underestimate it, even if it’s injured.”

“You might have a point, but unfortunately even if I wanted to I can’t kill it. Those crystals I used were my only weapon, and I have no intention of using anymore of my power to fight it. So I’m afraid you guys are on your own.”

“But…”

“Boss just let her go. If she have no intention of fighting then we can’t keep her here, she’ll just get in the way.”

“….Yea, you’re right.” The bald man shove my arm away from him. I sigh in relief as the intense pain from his grip slowly started to fade away.

“I was wrong about you. Seeing you fight I thought you were proud a warrior, but you’re just coward who cares about yourself.”

“Heh…” I laugh at the bald man’s insult. “I somehow manage to disappoint someone I just met, that’s a new low me, but you know, I can say the same thing about you. Seeing you command everyone and leading them through the forest, I thought you would have a little bit of pride. But you were so quick throw all your burden on me the moment you found out how strong I was. Don’t you think that’s a little pathetic?”

“You…” The bald man walk closer to me while clenching his fists.

“What, you want to fight me? Are you sure that’s the smart thing to do right now?”

“C’mon, we need to kill that thing before it can do anything.” One of his teammates grabs his shoulder trying to pull him away from me.

“You should listen to the man. Don’t you want to claim your reward?” The bald man click his tongue before turning his back towards me.

“Good riddance.” While the bald man’s party went to finish the creature off, I headed back Athens. Well at least that was my plan. Thanks to the hero carrying me around like I was package that needed to be quickly deliver, I have no idea where the hell I am anymore.

I check my surroundings hoping I can spot the mountain the city was built upon, but the dense forest block out everything that wasn’t directly front.

“Damnit.” I walk towards a knock down tree, where the creature sent the hero flying towards. Behind the down tree was a path of destruction. Unfortunately no tree or anything else in that general direction was spare from the hero’s flying body.

Obviously there’s no way a human could survive such an absurd attack. But I’m fully confident that Joseph manage to survive it. The real question is what state is he in? Even if he receive Athena’s blessing there’s no way he took that attack without suffering some form of injury. And in a forest like this where there’s a carnivorous creature hiding behind every tree. Walking around injured is a death sentence.

So what do I do? Should I go looking for him and see if he can lead me out of this forest, or did I go back and ask for the bald man’s party for help. Both sounds terrible and goes against my principle, but there’s no way I can leave here safely if I just randomly wander around.

“Quick, hold it down! Stop it from moving!” The four men shouted at each as they tried to hold both of the creature’s arms down.

Are they seriously having a hard time killing a thing that only have two limbs? If they’re this incompetent I’m better off asking the hero for help. I walk towards the destroy path, the creature sent the hero crashing into. As I climb over the falling tree, a disturbing question suddenly pops into my head which completely stop me in my tracks.

Wait two? I look back at the men that were struggling to pin the creature down, and sure enough the creature still had two of its arms. Was I seeing things? I swore three of its limbs got destroy in that explosion.

A new leg suddenly sprouts out of the creature’s body. One of the men quickly respond and jump on its newly form leg.

“Hurry up and kill it, before it completely heal!”

Huh? It can heal itself? Then that means it wasn’t faking its injury earlier. The creature’s arm was actually broken when I capture it. It was just simply waiting for its arm to heal before breaking free.

As I watch in disbelief the bald man raise his axe and the air and struck the creature in the chest with his axe hard as he could.

“What the…” The bald man’s eyes widen as his axe bounce of the creature’s body. “I didn’t even scratch even though I hit him with everything I got.

“Of course you didn’t fucking hurt it! That thing manage to survive an explosion, if you want to take that thing down you need to use magic. Enhance your strength, or command your weapon to pierce it skin, do something damn it, quickly!” After everything I said to him, I thought he wouldn’t listen to me, but it seems he fully understood the situation.

The bald man raise his axe once again, but this time I could sense magic flowing through his weapon. The bald man swung his weapon down at the defenseless creature. Just as axe was about to deal it the fatal blow, the creature quickly throws one of his teammates that was holding its arm into the axe’s path.

“It’s over….” The moment his axe struck the back of his teammate head, I knew they couldn’t defeat it. I guess I have to fight it…. Again!

Since I knew the creature was going to come after me moment it was done with them, I waited and watch as it shook off the two men that holding was its arm and leg down. While his teammates was getting toss around like chew toys, the bald man stare blankly at the man he killed. With all four of them incapacitated, the creature was able to grow back its right leg.

Fully recover, the creature unsurprisingly spares the defeated men and walks towards me. Accepting its challenge, I jump off the tree trunk and waited for it to get closer to me.

“You know as much as I admire that persistence of yours, it’s really starting to get old. So how about we end fight once and for all?” I envelop my entire right arm in a black aura and punch the ground as hard as I could.

[Summon: Blighted Golem]

A web of plants suddenly erupted from the ground. As the plants stretch towards the sky, they twisted themselves together forming a giant arm.

I really didn’t want to use this move, since now I can’t use the “water element excuse” anymore. Once I finish this creature off, I’m going need to kill everyone that’s still alive here, but of course that’s easier said then. Since the golem’s arm was made of mud and rotting plants, its already falling apart even thought it was just created. Obviously, it won’t last long.

The creature unfazed by the giant arm, place both of its hands on the ground and knelt on one knee. The ground where the creature stood crack apart as it legs swell up.

That’s the same attack it use on Joseph. I guess it plans on ending this fight in one move. Good, I don’t want to prolong this fight either, especially since its exhausting keeping this golem’s arm together.

The creature launch itself towards me at an incredibly speed. My golem falls in front of me and opens its hand up and preparation to catch the creature. Undeterred by my golem blocking its path, the creature rams into it, instantly destroying the hand. As the golem’s arm fell apart, the plants latch onto the charging creature.

“Yup, figure this would happen.” I already knew my half-assed golem I created couldn’t stop it. Its main purpose was just to slow it down, and it did it beautifully.

As I watch the creature try to get through all the plants that got in its way, I felt a small quake beneath my feet which was my signal for victory. I lightly tap the ground with my foot, which cause a sword to shoot out the ground.

I guess you could call this stealing, but the person who once wielding this sword is now dead, so I’m sure he don’t mind. If anything he’s probably rooting for me right now. And if he is, then I guess I shouldn’t let him down, since he was kind of enough to let me use his weapon.

Every plant under my control wither away and die, as I focus my human magic into my sword. With no more plants in its way, the creature continue charging towards me.

“Well aren’t you cocky? You clearly see a sword in my hand, and yet you still choose to face me head on? That regeneration ability of yours must be going to your head.”

I admit its regenerative powers is quite annoying, but it’s something I dealt with before. All I need to do is repeatedly tear it apart until it use up all of its energy, or just simply cuts its head off. If the brain is destroy all activity in the body will halt, including the ability to heal. Obviously, I have no intention of letting this fight go on any longer, so the moment it enter my range I’m taking its head.

[Enhance: Rend]

My sword swiftly cuts through creature. Expecting to see its head flying about, I look up at the sky to see the creature entire upper torso in the air. My blood ran cold when I saw the creature’s head was still attach to its body. Two new legs grew out before it lands behind me.

Shit! That bastard must’ve sacrifice both of its legs to protect its head. Which means this thing is fully aware of its weakness.

I quickly turn around and held my sword in front of me waiting for the creature’s counterattack. If this thing is protecting its head, the only way I’ll be defeat it is by breaking its guard.

[Command: Repel]

The creature’s arm flew right towards me, I quickly move my sword in the path its arm was heading, just as the creature was about to touch my sword, it quickly change its path and grabs my arm.

A sharp pain runs throughout my arm as the creature tightly grips it. In fear it was trying to tear my arm off. I repeatedly punch the creature until my left hand felt numb. Unfazed by my weak attacks, the creature forcefully shook my sword out of my hand.

Did I just lose? I collapse onto my knee as I watch the creature kick my sword away me. No not yet, I’m still alive which means I still have a chance to turn this around, but why am I not dead yet? Earlier this bastard was trying its damn hardest to kill me, but now it’s just standing there holding my arm, like its waiting for something. Well whatever it is reason, I’m going to it use to my advantage. I’m not going to stop fighting until I die.

“Amazing! Simply Amazing!” The sound of someone clapping and cheering completely interrupting any strategic thought I was creating.

“You got to be fucking kidding me….” I let out a pitiful laugh as look behind me to see more creatures approaching me. One was bad enough, but now there’s two more of them…. And to make things worse, a man wearing a white mask that had a simple smile draw on it was accompany them. Despite his stupid appearance I could tell from first glance that he was commanding them, and probably was stronger than them too.

“That was one hell of fight you put up miss. I was thoroughly surprise when I saw you give my pet a hard time, even more so when you use the power of corruption.”

“And the who hell are you supposed to be? A clown?” The guy chuckles a little bit.

“Seeing the situation you’re in, surely you most know that I’m the only one who’ll be asking questions and getting answers too. So tell me darlin… “The man grabbed my hair and pull me closer to his face.

“Are you working for Alexander?”

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A/N: Welp I broke my promise I said I would update weekly, but it took me thee weeks to write this.What can I say writing a fight scene is hard, even when you know what's going to happen in it. Well I hope liked it, and if you didn't tell me what you hated about it. Next chapter the fight coming to an end. And hopefully that chapter doesn't take me three weeks to complete either.

Thanks for reading!