The Stonehearted Knight-Chapter 461: The Wrixians again (4)

"Who are you?" Sister Lily asked, her voice barely above a whisper as if weighed down by her fears. "Only Sins and Taboos are able to render a place devoid of elements."

’That...I didn’t know.’

Hex wouldn’t tell her that, of course. Instead, his mind went back to the times he used the Second Blessing and the Souldust. No one ever commented anything.

’But,’ Hex realized, ’I have not used it before someone who could tell it apart or cared to tell it apart.’

"Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is what we will do next," Hex replied. The other two turned toward Sister Lily.

"We could forget everything," she offered with a smile. She didn’t know when to give up, did she? Her smile didn’t work when it shone bright and warm, yet she believed it would work when dim and foul.

"I killed your friends," Hex countered, knowing well she didn’t care about the Druids. She truly saw them as pets to be used and discarded at will. Heck, not even that. Pets received compassion, at the very least.

"A deserved fate for the weak," she sneered. Her nose twitched as if the mere thought of them being friends offended her.

"You are weak," Hex said. "Doesn’t that mean you deserve a similar fate?"

"Haha. Weak?" Her gaze turned chilly. "You seem to underestimate us. I am merely acknowledging you as my equal. Don’t mistake my respect for my weakness."

She radiated power worthy of a Transformation Stage Knight, finally displaying her true might. Dryads were hard to gauge, Hex discovered. At least inside Wrixia. They fused with the surrounding nature elements, making it hard to discern between the two.

’Can’t say I am surprised, though,’ Hex mused. ’Her control over the element and the way she used to control the others requires understanding beyond what a Refined Knight is capable of.’

"So, what do you say?" Sister Lily pressed on. "Will you join us? Or part our ways until we meet again?"

Interesting choices. Hex sighed inwardly. Joining hands with them would increase his chances tremendously. Despicable as they were, he acknowledged their control and understanding of the nature element.

Parting ways sounded good too. In fact, it sounded better than joining people he couldn’t trust. Plus, chances were they would face either Sven’s or Althea’s team. Irrespective who won in those encounters, they would weaken the winner, leaving him at advantage.

And yet...he had to choose differently.

"I choose to...fight."

He moved as soon as the words fell out his mouth. Suppressing a groan of pain, he rushed toward Verda. She stood closest to him and exuded the least energy out of the three.

Battling the Druids and exerting his energy to render the place empty of elements put a strain on him. He wished to end the fight against the Dryads as soon as possible.

He reached Verda amidst the shouts of the other two, warning the girl. She was young. And...smiling. Hex cursed under his breath as his senses screamed at him.

The girl’s smile split her face open, literally. Hex braced to a stop. With barely half a meter of distance between him and her, he witnessed how her skin slid off her. The bark and wood left thereafter only aggravated the sight.

Stumped by the horrifying scene, he missed the incoming attack. Her arm, now a wooden stake, pierced his chest.

Hex groaned. The wood had splintered, burning and piercing inside. His body started to regenerate as soon as he pushed himself free from the stake but didn’t heal. The wooden needles twisted and turned, aggravating his wounds every time it closed.

The pain jolted him awake, evading the incoming stake in the nick of time.

’She threw her arm. Her freaking arm?’ Disbelief etched on his face.

Verda had pulled her arm free and thrown it like a spear, without as much as a whisper coming out of her mouth. She stood there, firm and grinning at him.

Each time she opened her mouth, wind passed through it, creating a foul flute sound. This was all kind of creepy.

"You forced our hand. Verda did well." Sister Lily said, joining the piece of human slash wood.

To his discomfort, the other two removed their skin too. Three wooden women, not resembling any female characteristics at all, stood before him.

And the sound of flutes intensified. It grated against his senses, and evoked irritation.

Hex realized Sister Lily stomped toward him when a single step divided them from each other.

Seeing the grotesque figure up close, the only question filling his mind was how he had missed her make a move. His mind came up blank. Nor could he remember feeling the ground tremble under her massive form nor having heard the creaking of the bark and wood that she was.

Realizing she had been noticed, Lily didn’t hesitate. She stomped against the branch they stood on and jumped toward Hex. The force behind her stomp splintered her legs.

Hex lowered his stance, pushing the confusion and wariness down, and pulled his muscles to the extreme and then swung his fist.

Like a spring unleashed, his fist snapped at the incoming upper half of Sister Lily.

Crunch.

The bark covering her shattered. The power traveled inward, destroying part of her torso.

The wood didn’t only cover her surface. Her flesh, muscles, blood, all had transformed into wood.

He wanted to destroy the remaining when a stake impaled his thigh. Shit. He had forgotten about Verda.

Puchi.

He barely pulled the stake out when a second one pierced his stomach.

He forgot again.

Hex froze for a second. The feeling of missing something nagged at him. His senses were tampered with.

Flex Step.

He increased the distance between them hastily. Something was wrong.

Despite their transformation into beings of wood and their affinity with the nature element, they evaded his senses too easily.

He had missed their movements and attacks in quick successions. The nature element started to permeate the air again but it wasn’t enough to explain the blindspot.

His eyes stared at the three. He didn’t dare to take his eyes off them. Lily crawled up as her limbs grew at a visible rate.

Verda stood on one leg. Three sprouts appeared at the spots her other three limbs were missing.

They would resume their attacks shortly. He had to find a way to take out the three.

Wait.

Three...

While he only fought two so far...

Lily filled the role of a close combatant while Verda attacked from a distance. And Leafsong...she remained in her spot, not doing anything, except opening and closing the holes all over her body in a certain sequence.

Now that he observed it from far, a pattern appeared in her action.

It dawned upon him. She had been part of the battle since the very start.

She influenced his senses with her music, if a noise so foul as hers could be counted as such, tampering with his senses and slipping into the gaps in his awareness.

Hex set off, aiming straight for Leafsong. Her abilities struck droned into his subconsciousness, hampering his senses.

As expected though, Lily understood this too. The moment he moved, she picked up Verda. Neither of them hesitated. They had been prepared for such a situation.

Verda threw four stakes at him, with a fraction of a second between each throw. Hex praised and cursed her fortitude under his breath. Pain held no meaning to her.

Hex jumped over the first stake, slapped the second one over his shoulder, and destroyed the third one with a punch. The fourth one swished smoothly through the air, and reached him just as he destroyed the third one.

The timing of the fourth one differed from the three others, throwing him a little off guard.

It hit his shoulders, shaving his skin. It hurt but not enough to let him slow–

Pang.

The stake exploded and its splinters nailed his back. They stung. A lot. Hex grimaced but didn’t slow his pace.

Second Blessing – Souldust blast

Even though his reserves of Souldust ran low – finding unrefined beast crystals inside Wrixia proved more difficult than finding divinity crystals somehow – Hex didn’t hesitate to draw it out.

Leafsong’s music blasted in his ears, rumbling his mind. Having anticipated it, Hex used his Ice element to freeze his hearing and mind.

Boom!

The punch connected...and then went through. Splinters flew off. He braced against the shockwave.

As soon as he felt the waves subside, Hex moved again. Leafsong would regenerate. He kicked her off, without checking which part it was. The more damaged they were, the longer the process would require. With a little luck they might not even recover by the time the round ended.

He unblocked his ears and welcomed the sweet sound of raging wind and a faint thudding against the ground. No foul music, again, if it be called music.

He would check with some music experts.

Lily drew close. She blew the dust-filled air apart, rushing toward him. Their gaze met. And then she thrust her spear at him, which turned out to be Verda.

Gone were her limbs. And head.

Second Blessing – Souldust punch

Hex repeated his attack, drawing even more Souldust. The rare, remnant soul energy, representing the menace of a soul, worked effectively against these freaks of nature.

Boom.

The spear snapped in half.

For the first time since their fight started, Lily roared, allowing her fury and madness to fill the space. The force behind her fury hit Hex square in the face, burning his flesh.

Hex gritted his teeth. His body ached, his mind seemed blank and mushy, his gaze a bit glazed, but he pushed through. He had to.

Pulling every ounce of strength he could muster and every grain of Souldust he had, he unleashed his final punch.

BOOM!

The impact of his punch flung him back. He heard the wind whistle and felt his ribs crack, before weariness and energy drain cut everything off.