Chapter 26

What Harold said sounded simple enough, but the dryad was like a flash, he and Irene couldn't land a hit on it, but luckily it's physical strength wasn't enough to kill them instantly.

However even if it wasn't enough to kill them, it definitely wasn't a pleasant experience to be hit over and over. With the roots and vines adding onto the chaos, the group naturally fell into a disadvantage.

Isla saw the issue and hastily spoke "Leave the dryad to Sila and I. As long as you can keep the rest of these vines from affecting us".

Harold knew the twins were speed oriented so he could only helplessly accept Isla's proposal "Be careful. If it gets too much, retreat back to us".

Isla gestured that she understood, "Come on Sila".

The twins rushed out towards the constantly moving dryad. Locating it by the sound of its shrieking, they began to use their tried and true hunting method, testing the opponents weakness from side to side, back to front.

Only this time, although they managed to cut through the vines that the dryad was made of, they soon saw the roots regenerate.

The others that were dealing with the vines could only see flashes as the dryad and the twins attacked each other at superhuman speeds.

Harold remembered that the twins hadn't met a dryad before, so naturally they weren't experienced in finding its weakness, "Girls! Remember the dryad doesn't have organs to attack. Its magic core is what binds the roots that make up its body. Look for a gem on its body, it should be exposed" he shouted out.

The twins heard his words and stared at the dryad in front of them. The only place where they could see any gems were the eyes that looked at them with malicious intent.

Guessing that the eyes were probably connected to its core, the two finally had a direction they could focus on.

Unfortunately the dryad seemed to know that its weakness had been discovered, so it began to flee back towards the burning corpse tree.

The two followed it, not letting it put any distance between them. Their attacks constantly aimed at its head, which it did its best to avoid.

Seeing the twins heading deeper into the cavern towards the corpse tree, the rest of the group who had experienced many dangerous tasks, felt that the dryad seemed to be inciting them to follow.

They could only swing their weapons faster, trying to reach to that area before anything bad happened.

The twins only realised the problem after it was too late. The dryad had stopped attacking them, only choosing to defend its head, which caused them to tunnel vision and ignore their surroundings.

Isla looked at where the dryad had disappeared in frustration, and noticed that at some point, the corpses that were hanging on the tree had silently encircled them.

Their dull eyes showed lifelessness, revealing that they were truly dead, but the vines attached to each of them acted as strings to control the corpse, like a puppet.

Dodging the magic beasts attacking them, as well as the spells cast at them by the corpses. They couldn't believe that the corpse tree could use the abilities they had before death.

By the time Harold and the others made their way to the base of the corpse tree, Isla and Sila had been cutting through the corpses that were encircling them.

This was the first time they had seen a dryad with this ability. The ones they had dealt with before were imbued with the power of nature, but this one seemed evil.

The dryad hid as it watched the humans deal with the corpses it had taken so long to collect. It knew that this group was not something it could beat. It had used tricks and small illusions to trap the weaker humans, until a strong team appeared. Luckily this team didn't take the other humans disappearance seriously, which allowed it to attack them by surprise. Although only half of them were caught, it was enough for it to strengthen its territory.

What it hadn't expected was that before it could fully absorb the power of the corpses it had collected, the half of the team that had escaped, returned and not only interrupted its strengthening, but also caused so much damage to its territory.

The dryad felt furious that everything it had built up was lost to this team, but it knew if it wanted to survive, it had to escape. Because after those corpses were dealt with, it would be almost defenceless. The constant use of the vines, as well as regenerating its injured main body had depleted the magic reserves it had built up after so long.

It stretched out its hand to the roots of the corpse tree and using what was left of its magic reserve, dug out a seedling. The dryad had a twisted smile on its wooden face. As long as it had the ability to plant the corpse tree again, it would definitely take revenge on these humans that had destroyed its hard work.

While the others were busy dealing with the rest of the corpses, it fled at its fastest speed towards the Staircase.

Sila was the closest to the path the dryad took and quickly yelled "The dryad escaped up the stairs".

It was too late for the twins to rush out at this point. They still had to deal with the last of the corpses down here.

Edrii raised her hand and a ray of light rose through the small gap at the top of the cavern. Seeing the doubts on the faces of the twins, Edrii explained "This is a warning we use when we split the group. It just means that danger is heading their direction and they need to be ready".

Just as Edrii said, Rale and Andir outside the Staircase saw the warning beacon and looked towards the entrance.

Rale whispered "Something is coming up".

Andir picked up his staff. Even if he was told not to act, he wouldn't just sit back and watch his comrade be in danger, in front of him.

The dryad was already at the end of its strength. Relying solely on its physical attributes to escape. However the moment it reached the top, it was blindsided by the attacks of a speed based warrior and a fire magician.

It didn't even have time to react before the only thing left laying on the ground was the still smoking emerald core.