The Stonehearted Knight-Chapter 460: The Wrixians again (3)

The lifeless eyes stared at him, awaiting their orders.

"I didn’t know the nature element could be used to control the life of someone," Hex said, ignoring the chill creeping up his spine.

"Oh, really?" Sister Lily flashed him a bright smile. He had to confess, her smile could kill...or raise the dead.

"Life is but a part of nature," she continued. "Some scholars even claim that all aspects of life are nothing but a manifestation of the nature element. There is little proof to back their theories, however, if you see such an effect of the element, we are inclined to believe they hold some truth."

’She is crazy,’ Hex concluded, as he listened to her. It had nothing to do with the theories or their validity. But...who the hell explains stuff mid battle. The Druids just stared with blank gazes.

He disliked the Druids. He, however, would not wish such a fate upon his worst enemy. To live without being alive.

They weren’t dead. He sensed their lifeforce, stagnant and dim, but very present. They weren’t alive, either. Vonhorst’s wariness, Vonfang’s fears, and Vonbeak’s fury, none could be found in their eyes.

"I didn’t think you would pity your opponents," Sister Lily said, rousing him from his thoughts. She smiled ever so bright at him. "You could surrender? I will allow you to keep the treasures. And if you join us, I am even willing to allow you to keep the flags you gathered up to this point."

"Sister–"

One of her fellow sisters tried to stop her but a sharp glance silenced her. The exchange revealed enough. Sister Lily, for all her smile and pleasantries, dominated them. The lowered head and shivering fingers of the lady who had interrupted the conversation just now, screamed the fear she felt at the moment. The third member tried to hide it but her worried gazes at her poor sister added to Hex’s observation.

"You think they will approve?" Hex asked, cocking his head at the Druids. To be treated like this, only to end up with a compromise? No self-respecting person would accept it.

"They will," Sister Lily smiled. She sounded confident. "So?" She pressed on.

"They might be willing," Hex said, for the first time returning her smile with his own. "But I won’t."

Flex Step

He pushed with more force against the ground, creating a small indent in the branch, and shot through the air. He reached Sister Lily before his afterimage had dissipated. Up close her smile radiated even more.

Despite his speed, she remained unflustered. Hex’s arm shot like a snake toward her, yet she blocked it with her staff. The force of his attack threw her back a couple of tens of meters.

Hex landed and clenched his fist, without looking at the blood dripping from it. He eyed the staff. The strength behind his attack would have snapped a tree in half but the staff appeared undamaged. Not even a splinter came off of it.

Sister Lily stood up, arranging her hair and robe. The shockwave ruined her appearance yet failed to wipe the smile off her face. How annoying.

Hex stepped to the side just before Vonhorst’s hooves landed on top of him. Without delay, Hex dropped to his knees and kicked them, before the centaur’s hind legs landed. Vonhorst tried to keep his balance, flailing his arms. Hex, however, didn’t allow it. He jumped, copying Vonhorst’s style, and landed a kick on the shoulders.

The loud ’crack’ sound indicated he broke the shoulder of his opponent. Hex sensed the incoming Vonfang and Vonbeak. He used his elbow and rammed into Vonhorst’s ribcage. The strength in his attack pushed through the bones as if they were dried twigs.

’There it is.’

A surge of nature element rushed to Vonhorst, who stood imbalanced. No fear or pain showed on his face. It was alarming. Even the pain of broken bones didn’t push the guy out of his befuddled state.

Hex evaded Vonbeak and slung Vonfang away in a single move. The surge of nature element required his attention. No matter how much damage he inflicted, if the Dryads continued to heal his opponent, he might suffer.

There might be some sort of limit to the number of healing Dryads like Sister Lily could perform. Now wasn’t the time to test that limit, though. He had to end this.

Flex Step

Hex took a step back. The smiles on Sister Lily’s face blossomed even wider. No doubt, she believed to have her grip on his mental state. She could believe it for a second longer.

Second Blessing – Energy Blast 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

His energy flowed to his fist, focusing on a single point. A black wisp swirled inside the energy stream. Souldust, just for good measure. He unleashed his punch, sensing the surrounding twist and trying to fight for a fraction of second, before being blasted away.

Boom!

The air exploded. Despite expecting it, he failed to withstand it. The shockwave threw him a good distance away.

Amidst the chaos, a scream, shrill and ugly, reached his ears, putting a bright smile on his face. He betted he looked even better with it than Sister Lily.

The destruction didn’t limit to the leaves and surface of the branch below them. It was much worse than that. Inside a radius of at least a hundred meters, no element existed, especially no nature elements.

Ignoring the pain of burnt flesh and scraped skin, Hex jumped to his feet. After a couple of seconds everything would return to normal. He had to make the best of the time earned.

Flex Step

Hex appeared on top of Vonhorst, grabbed his head and twisted it three sixty degrees. Hex felt little remorse. Cruel as it appeared, he rather twisted his opponent’s head than see his head being twisted. Plus, he had given them a chance.

He picked the corpse up and threw it down.

He spread his senses but there was no trace of Vonfang. Either he had been swept away by the blast or he fled, coming by his senses due to the shock and distance from them.

Vonbeak lay not far from him. She squirmed and moaned in pain. Her feathers had burnt off.

"G-O...’way." She struggled to speak with a torn throat. Hex didn’t reply. He clenched his fist and slammed her face, breaking her beak and skull in a single punch. The bones were too brittle and shattered easily. He threw her lifeless body away too.

He walked through the debris and found the three Dryads on their stomachs, bracing against the blast. They crawled up as soon as they heard him come.

Seeing them, Hex felt no pity. If he left them like this, the kills just now would have been futile, wouldn’t it?

Leave nothing half done. He smiled at them.

"And then there were three."