Way of the Knights

Chapter 709 - Missing

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"...who the hell is this person!!!" Maria exclaimed to herself as she watched Vendrick in horror. "How can he get this strong so fast!? It doesn't make sense!"

It's been roughly three months since Maria became a prisoner. Despite being restricted in a small cage, it isn't so terrible really, just a little uncomfortable that's all. Since she's a spirit, she didn't require the basic needs of a mortal such as food, clothing, shelter and etc. This small cage is enough to sustain her and her state while in here isn't deteriorating despite her being away from her body, which is somewhat surprising to her. 

Aside from their initial interaction, Vendrick never spoken a word to her again. He focused all his attention into his own training, keeping it balanced with enough rests in between. She would sometimes see Vendrick step out of the base, leaving her alone. 

Maria never tried to escape though. She was convinced that there's no way out. Even with that little interaction she had with this man, she knew that he's not so careless to leave her alone without planning some contingencies. He was sly and strong, there's no way that he'd allow her to escape since according to him, she still has some uses.

What really threw Maria off this the freakishly fast improvement of this person. 

She knew that he works very hard in his training so it should be obvious that his progress will be fast, however his rate of improvement is just extremely outstanding. 

It seems like he's getting stronger everyday, which sounds absurd but its true. Maria could feel the fluctuations on his body, every time she checked, its always greater compared to the last time she checked. 

Still, those improvements were nothing compared to the thing she's witnessing right now. 

Vendrick sat in the middle of his base, surrounded by crackling lightning and thunder. It looks like it is the usual one but in reality is isn't. 

The lightning and thunder he has are no longer the ordinary kind. Along with the completion if his Dragon Heart, the Lightning Laws he had evolved to a level where he could now invoke the power of Lightning Tribulation at his beck and call. 

The punishment of the Heavenly Laws itself, now could be wielded freely by Vendrick. Just now, he achieved the threshold that will allow him to fight against the Hag and the Forest Witch as well. He might even be able to take them on at the same time. 

Maria was naturally flustered. She had no idea what Laws are since her sister never wielded that kind of power, neither does the Forest Witch. Still, she's sensitive enough to realize that if a single spark of that thing hits her, she'll dissipate instantly without much trouble. 

She never imagined that a mere human could reach this level. Although she was once human too, she couldn't recall if there was a human back in the past civilization that is as powerful as Vendrick. In fact, she's thinking that he's one of a kind. 

Now, he has all the capital he needs to pick a fight with Maria's sister and Forest Witch. The question is, what are his plans exactly? 

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"...damn! Damn! Damn! Where is that bitch!?"

At the crown of the Great Tree, the Forest Witch who's in her serpent form anxiously muttered to herself as she watched over the vicinity of the swamp. Her snake-eyes narrowed, trying to search for traces of the person she's looking for, all while maintaining a blank expression. She didn't allow her anxiety to be reflected on her face since the Hag will surely notice it, and that's something she can't allow. 

The Forest Witch knew about Maria's sudden disappearance. Her being able to see Maria in spirit form is a secret that she kept to herself. In fact she even went to the point where she purposefully ignored Maria's attempts of communicating with her since she didn't want to expose herself. 

She kept is a secret in hopes that she could use this a trump card in some way in the future against the Hag. She has plans for that old bat, but it requires slow and methodical ways to initiate it. Maria was an important tool for that plan, which she hoped will free her beloved, but now she's missing. 

At first she thought that Maria was trying to figure out ways to free herself once more and that she'll be back after a day or two, the longest would be a week since she can't stay out longer than that. Even if she couldn't see Maria around, she could see the silver lining connecting her spirit to her trapped body, all she needs to do is to follow that and she'll easily locate where Maria is, but now, even that silver lining is missing. 

She's not on her body either, if she was, the forest witch would've sensed her presence there. Her body is just an empty husk right now and the Forest Witch has no idea where she ran off to or what happened to her. 

"I swear, if you got yourself killed, I will kill you." The Forest Witch mumbled to herself, she was biting her nails in anxiety since it's been months since she went missing. She has no idea where to search for her since she's been to where Maria frequently went and she's not there. 

"Hmm?" The forest witch suddenly felt something strange. 

She turned her body towards the spot where she felt the alarm. She squinted and to her amusement, she saw a visitor, quietly sneaking about their territory. 

"A human? My, how strange." The Forest Witch was curious. "It's been a while since I've seen these little things. I thought they went extinct already." 

The matter about the missing Maria was forgotten, now her focused was attracted to the human who's trying to sneak his way through here, possibly not knowing that he attracted her attention and the Hag's as well. 

"My, he smells tasty as well." The Forest Witch's forked tongue caught taste of the human's aura which whetted her appetite. This made her remember fond memories of her swallowing human flesh, back then they were prized delicacies. 

"I remember that they taste better if they experienced severe trauma and distress before they died." The Forest Witch was really tempted now. It has truly been a while since she had eaten human flesh and she missed its flavor. 

She was about to climb down the tree when she suddenly felt the Hag moving. The Forest Witch clicked her tongue and said: "Tch. The damn Hag smelled him. As expected she's going for him as well. She'd probably use him for her experiments, ugh. She's faster than me." 

The forest witch shook her head and ended up staying. She chose to give way to the Hag, she didn't want to have an argument with her right now, especially when Maria is still missing. 

That being said, she couldn't help but grow curious. She wanted to see what the Hag planned on doing to the Human. Thus, she watched their interaction at the comfort of her home at the crown of the Great Tree. 

The Hag transformed herself into an old human lady, making herself look like a kind old dear to make this dumb human trust her. 

"My, you aren't from around here. What brings you to this place, young man?" Wendy asked, smiling kindly to the human when they 'coincidentally' crossed paths. 

"Is this for real!? There's a human here! I thought I was the last one!" The young man said, rich emotions were displayed on his face. 

Seeing this, the forest witch snorted to herself and thought: 'Well, that was easy.' 

"My, my. How could you possibly think you're the last one?" Wendy asked with her face still smiling and sounding all mysterious. 

"Wait, there's more of you!?"

"Well, that depends on the reason why you came here, young man." 

"Ah!" The young man looked embarrassed, he scratched his head, smiling foolishly and appearing all innocent and carefree. "I've met someone who lead me here. I cam to see what's going on." 

"Hmm? How can that be? My tribe never left this swamp since there's only death out there. Those who stepped out of this place are exiled. And as far as I know, we haven't exiled anybody recently."

"Ah, well let me explain it more clearly okay?" The young man took a deep breath and looked solemn. "I-I've met a spirit." 

"!!!" - Forest Witch

"...her name is Maria. She asked for my help. She said that a Demonic Serpent had her as a captive and had been using her as a tool against her dear sister."

"!!!" - Wendy

"She also told me that the serpent was so strong that she can't defeat it. She begged the serpent to let her and her sister go since they didn't do anything to her, but the serpent never listened. She also told me that she doesn't have much time left, her soul is nearly dissipating, she told me that when her spirit weakened enough, the serpent will devour her and will posses her body to harm her sister as well."

"I was worried you see." The young man scratched his head. "I could tell that she's desperate so I came here to see what I can do." 

"FOREST WITCH!!!!!!!"