Chapter 483: Re-ambush

"That Dan En, you said your hiding skills are unmatched, even a ninth-rank couldn't find you, right?"

After a brief pause, Greta put on spare clothes from her spell satchel.

As she dressed, a sudden movement brushed against her wound, making her grimace in pain.

That man either did it on purpose or by accident.

After stripping off her magical leather armor, his hand precisely gripped her right breast.

Fuck, it hurts like hell!

Worse still, he grabbed her while she was in her bear form, yet when she reverted to human shape, he didn't even look at her!

"Mmm"

Dan En sat up over there.

He spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm.

Compared to Greta, he clearly suffered worse injuries.

He could barely get up.

He winced, clutching his cheek in pain:

"It's not that I won't help you—this guy's a pure monster. My hiding technique requires a split-second window when he's not looking, but this bastard acts like he has eyes in the back of his head. No matter where I hide, he locks onto me."

Greta secretly rolled her eyes.

If he weren't eighth-rank, she'd have mocked him mercilessly.

Right now, she just felt her chest was agony.

She lifted her collar and looked down—damn! A huge bruise!

Dan En added: "Are you still going through with this? I don't want to get involved anymore."

Large patches of his snake scales had been shattered and torn off, some flipped inward and embedded in his own flesh.

He looked utterly miserable.

"Of course we're doing it!"

Greta gritted her teeth, "While talking to Vivian during the day, I confirmed the hidden spell I planted earlier is still active. Once I activate it, I can enslave her."

"That warden held back this time—you still want to move against his people? You really want to die."

"Vivian's family was appointed by the two previous kings of Athelon as the official guardians of the Windwall Forest. The Royal Pact grants their bloodline natural authority over half the Windwall Forest. With her magic and ours as the Withered, we can draw natural energy from the forest remotely—no need to face the warden at all!"

"Half?!"

"Not half! If we take it all, Vivian will die instantly!"

Greta's gaze grew complex, even showing a flicker of pity.

Dan En clearly noticed and sneered:

"At this point, why are you still clinging to old feelings?"

"It's none of your business. Besides, the Bahadur Magic Academy's order is to contain the forest's expansion, not destroy it outright."

Dan En snorted.

He thought for a moment.

With a sneer, he pulled out a healing potion and poured it over his wounds, his snake face twisting in agony.

"Let's leave here first. We're too badly hurt—even if we carry out your plan, we'll need to wait until we recover."

Greta nodded.

"Let's head to Stormwind City first—I've got a small hideout near one of the nearby villages."

As she spoke, she stood up—and suddenly noticed a person standing beside her like a ghost.

Greta broke into cold sweat; her newly changed clothes were instantly soaked.

The figure stood before a large tree, wearing a long robe woven from silver-white moonlight silk, its hem adorned with fine spider silk.

Beneath the open robe was a slightly loose, sleeveless linen shirt for men.

Short, slightly curled blue hair ending just above the neck, and pointed ears like an elf's.

Most striking were those enormous eyes, filled with white light.

Flawless. Pure.

"V-Vivian?"

"Greta."

The tree spirit girl responded mechanically—just as programmed, she always replied when someone called her name.

Dan En was even more terrified—he screamed outright:

"What are you doing here?! Did the warden send you?! Those words weren't my idea!!"

Hearing this,

Greta nearly fainted.

Shit, this snake-man!

Her illusion of him as an eighth-rank master shattered completely.

She forced herself to calm down, sweating, recalling the gentle smile she once wore:

"Vivian, why are you here again? We just saw each other."

"Vivian, miss, Greta, meet."

The tree spirit's voice still held no tone or emotion.

But the fact she said this at all proved her place in the tree spirit's heart.

It also inexplicably pierced Greta's chest with pain.

She couldn't help but recall her druid days.

Back then, she wasn't filled with hatred and malice—she was gentle, kind.

Otherwise, she never would've become friends with Vivian.

"I—"

Greta remembered the painful experiences that followed, and clenched her teeth.

She stealthily reached into her spell satchel for the magic item to control Vivian.

Nothing.

Huh? Where's my spell satchel?

She looked down—and gasped. Countless sentient vines had wrapped around her, stealing the satchel without her noticing.

"Vivian?"

The tree spirit before her showed no expression.

As if she had done nothing at all.

Dan En, the snake-man, seemed to scan the area, confirmed no one else was present, then sneered again.

"Tree Spirit, if you'd brought the warden with you, I'd have respected you more. But since you're so foolish as to come alone, I'll teach you proper etiquette when facing an eighth-rank."

Greta, bound and helpless, was speechless.

Are you reciting a script? You said the exact same thing twice!

Vivian didn't even glance at Dan En.

As he tried to cast again and summon corrupted vines, she lazily raised a finger.

A slender, sentient thread shot into Dan En's body.

"Hahahaha! A seventh-rank's 【Shapechanging Spell】—you think it'll work on an eighth-rank?! Hahahaha! Tree spirits are just tree spirits—stupid!"

Before he finished speaking,

his face froze. He looked down in horror at his own body.

The next instant,

*Plop*—he turned into a sheep.

Vivian didn't stop. She raised her finger again.

A steel-hard vine burst from the ground, piercing straight through the sheep's body and hoisting it high into the air.

【Steel Vine Charge】 +13.

Immediately after,

a storm of green leaves swept past—each leaf a razor blade, relentlessly slicing the sheep's flesh as it screamed, stripping away blood and tissue.

【Leaf Storm】 +18.

Soon after,

only blood and wool remained on the ground—not even bones left.

Greta was terrified.

Watching it all, she finally remembered:

Tree spirits are extreme protectors of trees—they won't tolerate any threat to trees whatsoever!

The warden, Luo De, might reason with you—but with a tree spirit, there's no reasoning at all!

(End of Chapter)