Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
Multiple vines rose up into the sky, attacking Louisa from many different angles, which made it impossible to avoid.
The vines moved swiftly, attacking in endless waves. Louisa manoeuvred her slender body skilfully while cutting down everything that attacked her. However, as she destroyed one vine, another one would attack her from behind or at another inconvenient position. "Ugh," Louisa groans as her beautiful face grimaced under the endless attacks.
However, Louisa didn't falter in her movements. She kept cutting down the vines as they attacked her in quick succession!
'What kind of magic is this?' She wondered. Louisa was a very knowledgeable person in the field of magic; she had spent hundreds or thousands of years studying different kinds of magic. As she wasn't very skilled in spirit magic, most of her focus was solely on magic.
She also learnt many different kinds of magic from the four basic elements and even the rarer ones such as holy magic and dark magic.
Among the many different types of magic, she knew there were some capable of altering the field and terrain. But the extent of the phenomenon happening right now was simply too vast.
'To spread the forest to such an extent must have cost up a lot of mana, shouldn't it? So how is he able to maintain it for so long?' Louisa wondered.
But a thought came to her mind. "This... is this illusion magic?" She said aloud. Indeed, if it was illusions that were capable of confusing the senses, then it would make sense.
"Hahaha... you finally notice. However, it is far too late." A familiar voice sounded inside her head once again.
Soon, a vine coiled around her legs; Louisa lost focus for a brief moment when she realised she couldn't move her limbs anymore. However, that brief moment was enough for her arms to also be caught by the many vines.
Both her arms and legs were now bound by the vines, making it difficult for her to move around.
"Tch," Louisa twisted and pulled her arms and legs, but no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free. All it amounted to was allowing the vines to tangle around her body more, and they clung around her with such force that she could feel the circulation of blood running through her body became slightly stagnated from the binding force.
"Hahahaha... your efforts are useless. These vines are not ordinary vines, after all. A weak little human like you can never break these vines." A voice laced with ridicule sounded right beside her head. Hearing the voice so close to her ear, Louisa turned her head to look over her shoulder.
However, what she saw only made her face pale, as her heart squeezed. A feeling she had never felt before in thousands of years began to take root within her.
And that feeling was fear. Indeed, it was "Fear" How long had she last felt such emotions? Louisa couldn't quite recall such things. After she became a demigoddess, the feeling known as "Fear" Became so distant to her that she had completely forgotten such a thing.
However, after seeing the appearance of the owner of the voice behind her, that distant feeling she had long forgotten had suddenly resurfaced after being absent for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
The person, or rather the thing that had just spoken to her, was a person-shaped plant that appeared from within a red rose attached to a rather thick vine.
The person-shaped plant opened up its large mouth, and an exquisite scent seeped through the air as a purple spore came from within.
Louisa inadvertently inhaled the unknown substance, and instantly she felt all the muscles in her body become stiff and paralysed.
Louisa no longer had complete control over her body; her tight and firm grip on her golden spear suddenly loosened as she let go of her spear, letting it fall to the ground.
"Cough." Louisa's beautiful face grimaced as she coughed out a mouthful of black blood. 'P-Poison?' She thought, indeed the spores she had just inhaled were poison.
'Me, poisoned? Impossible!' After Louisa became a demigoddess, she couldn't be infected with disease or poison. That was because of the divine protection of the goddess Udea. Protected her from such things.
'H-How can I be poisoned?' Her confusion was apparent on her beautiful pale face. She knew this was all an illusion, but the pain she felt was so real that she was having a hard time staying conscious.
"Those who inhale these spores shall become unable to move. You can feel it, can't you? Your limbs have become numb." The person-shaped plant spoke to her once again. A mocking sneer on its hideous face.
Louisa tried moving her fingers, but no matter how much she tried, her body wouldn't listen to her. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so helpless.
"... As much as I like watching you struggle, I think I shall feast now." While saying that, the person-shaped plant slowly approached her, opening up its huge mouth, bearing its large fang-like teeth.
The sheer size of its mouth was so big that it could probably swallow Louisa's entire body in one bite.
Louisa gritted her teeth as she saw its approaching mouth and quickly thought of a plan. She couldn't die like this; if she was going to die, then she would rather die while having fun on the battlefield!
Soon, her pink lip suddenly turned upwards into a beautiful smile as a thought came to her head. Meanwhile, the head of the plant was only mere inches away from her face.
However, 'Flame spear!' Louisa thought inwardly. And at the same time, the sound of heavy wind resounded.
"Urgh!" The person-shaped plant screamed in pain as the golden spear struck its back before engulfing its entire body in flames. The length of the golden spear was completely clad in red flames, which burned intensely as it moved around swiftly, slashing at the vines which had bound Louisa's limbs.
Louisa's golden spear wasn't a spirit weapon. However, just like spirit weapons, it had a consciousness of its own. As long as Louisa called for it, it would obey her commands without fault.
Freed from the vines, Louisa's body fell helplessly as she was unable to move due to the poison circulating through her body. However, Louisa forcefully clenched her fist as her entire body was shrouded in a bright light!
"Heavenly rupture!" She chanted to herself. The light illuminating her silhouette suddenly increased, covering the area and destroying all the vines around her!
The world cracked and shattered like a mirror of glass, and the fragments fell to the ground.
...
Meanwhile, back inside the forest. A handsome pale face man with slightly long white hair slowly approached Louisa with calm steps.
There wasn't even a trace of caution in his indifferent eyes.
Not only was he known as the most talented spearman, but also, he was the most skilled at illusion magic.
Similarly, the spear he had always carried with him was also enchanted with illusion Magic. In the past, there were many who fell victim to his deadly illusions.
Louisa was no different; the moment she had looked at the silver spear, she had fallen into one of his illusions unknowingly.
After reaching a distance of one meter, Owen finally came to a stop. In his hand was a small dagger he always kept on him at all times.
"Even the most dangerous beast can easily lose their life to an ant if careless. Unfortunately, for me, I'd rather be the ant than the beast." Owen said as he placed the blade of the dagger at her delicate neck and slashed forward.
With the distinct sound of flesh being cut, along with the red blood that gushed out and stained his blade, Owen yawned lazily as though he had expected this outcome.
However, as he was about to put the dagger back into its sheath, something unexpected happened. Louisa's slender figure was enveloped in a white radiance as she disappeared from his field of vision.
"Tch, what happened?" Owen muttered, confused. He was certain he had slit her neck, so how was she still alive? He contemplated various possibilities. However, he couldn't come up with a logical answer. Unfortunately, she didn't give him much time to think about it clearly either.
"... I found you!" From behind, he heard a familiar voice; his body subconsciously moved to the side at the same time as a golden spear stabbed forward!
Looking behind him, he saw a beautiful woman with long golden hair and blue eyes. "You almost got me," Louisa said curtly. From the tip of her neck, there was a small slit wound, and red blood could be seen seeping through, trickling down to her lower neck.
She had missed decapitation by a mere second; had she not broken free from that illusion just now, she would have already lost her head.
"You! How did you break free?" Owen questioned. Hearing his question, Louisa smiled beautifully. "I broke free by using force, isn't it obvious? Unlike the others, I don't have any protections from mental attacks. So, I focus all my attacks to destroy your illusions." Louisa replied as though it was only natural.
"You... used force to break my illusions." Owen's brow twitches from that casual response. He had never heard such bullshit before. However, his pride felt wounded from her response. 'As expected, I should have killed her from that earlier attack.' He thought that if his spear had taken her head back then, he wouldn't have had to go through such trouble now.
Without missing a beat, Owen pulled his spear from the ground and got into a battle stance. "...I won't make the same mistake twice. This time I will kill you!" Owen declared, in a resolute tone.
However, Louisa did not stop him, nor was she annoyed by his words; quite the contrary, there was a faint smile on her face. She didn't like the game of hide and seek; fighting in the open was what she liked more than anything!
Even if she died, as long as she got to have fun, she didn't care, is what she wanted to say, but...
"Unfortunately, I can't allow that... you see, this life doesn't belong to me. It belongs to my goddess; she is the one who made me who I am today. I swore I'd be her spear until the end." Louisa said, pointing the tip of her golden spear towards Owen.
"I see. Well then, shall we see which one of us the God of fate will bless today?" Owen said.
Both Owen and Louisa stayed silent after that as they prepared themselves.
Swoosh!
Finally, a dust cloud was raised beneath their feet as they closed the distance between themselves and thrust their spear forward!
Soon, the sound of metal echoed throughout the forest as their spears clashed together!
Louisa shrouded her figure in a faint light as she moved swiftly and gracefully, stabbing her spear at Owen's vital areas.
She knew Owen was an intelligent undead, and so she activated her trump card, "One hit kill", to destroy his soul.
However, the spearmanship of Owen wasn't something to scoff at; Louisa was amazed by his mastery as he effortlessly parried all her attacks with an indifferent expression on his face.
He patiently waited for an opening before thrusting his spearhead forwards. However, before his spearhead could reach her, Louisa lowered her upper body, and while crouching down, she thrust her spear with such vigour that it easily tore through the flesh of her enemy. But "You... Ungrateful child." A horse voice sounded in her ear.
When Louisa heard that voice, it was as if she was struck by lightning! That voice how could she ever forget that familiar voice? When she raised her head, Louisa's pupils shrank.
The person who reflected in her deep blue sapphire-like eyes was the person she once called father.
The tip of her spear was stuck inside his chest.