A Demon's Journey

While Noah, Luna, and Aria were concentrating on annihilating the Dragon Tiger Palace's fighters, Laura and Zena were still engaged in combat with their respective adversaries, who were the enemy commanders.

Laura had closed the distance by moving up ahead to fight against the enemy commander. This man was quite dangerous, and not even her Wood Element could suppress him.

Laura had decided to deal with this guy first before attacking the other warriors.

However, her opponent remained at his spot. Four other warriors stood around him, forming a sort of rectangle with their commander at the center.

Unlike the other commanders who were fighting alone, this man was fighting with his subordinates.

Laura snorted coldly as she attacked these warriors with her Wood Thicket attack. Two branches rose from the ground as they attacked the two warriors right ahead of Laura.

She was having them sweep to the side while fighting against their commander.

However, the two warriors pulled out their swords and Axe before slicing off Laura's Wooden Thicket attack.

The two branches were immediately sliced apart, and they fell to the ground.

Laura raised her brow and used another technique. This was Wood Rock Thorns.

The earth split apart as dozens of Wooden Thorns shot out of the ground, stabbing the two warriors ahead of Laura.

The two warriors were initially startled before they moved from their spot.

Laura raised her brow as they were coming closer instead of moving to the sides.

It was only then she focused on the enemy commander who was holding a spear in his hand.

He clenched his hand tightly and threw that Spear with all his might. The dozens of Wooden Thorns that had gathered to attack those two warriors were immediately destroyed with that single throw.

Laura was taken aback by that Spear Throw, but she had a wooden branch pull her away from that attack.

Laura now knew that this enemy commander was most skilled at these throws and not close-ranged fighting. For this reason, he had gathered four warriors of appropriate skill around him.

She thought 'He can only attack in a straight line. If my attack has a wide range, he won't be able to counter easily.'

"Heavenly Wooden Cage!"

Around that warrior, countless wooden stakes grew out, forming a huge prison 200 meters wide. All these five warriors were trapped inside this prison.

"Hundred Wooden Thicket!" Laura coldly uttered as she clenched her fists.

Hundreds of branches were shot out from those Wooden Stakes as they targeted the warriors trapped inside.

These branches were attacking them from so many sides that the opponents couldn't parry them all.

However, the four warriors around the enemy commander immediately moved as they began to slice off as many wooden thickets as possible.

Their speed was quite impressive as Laura noticed that they were slicing the wooden branches quite quickly.

However, a few of the wooden branches stabbed their bodies soon enough. Laura smirked at that sight and knew it was just a matter of time before her opponents fell.

Suddenly, she noticed something strange.

None of her wooden branches had been successful in stabbing the opposing leader. When a wooden branch would stab the enemy leader, one of his subordinates would either chop the branch off or take the attack on his body.

She then noticed the enemy leader picking up another Spear from the ground as he got into a very familiar posture.

When Laura saw that posture, she pulled out an arrow from her quiver. There was a determined look on her face as she stared at the enemy leader.

"Dragon Throw!" This time, the enemy leader had used his strongest technique along with both his energies.

The Gold Ardor and the Metal Ardor were fiercely glowing over this particular Spear.

Meanwhile, Laura took a deep breath as she thought 'Let the power of nature flow through me.'

She absorbed Nature's Energy from her surroundings, and a greenish hue covered her arrow.

A moment later, both of them released their respective attacks.

The Enemy Leader's Dragon Throw was such a strong skill that the spear seemed to have disappeared, and only the black-colored metallic energy could be seen.

The shape of this energy appeared to be similar to a Dragon that was coming to swallow you whole.

In turn, Laura's arrow seemed to give off a calming aura. It looked rather fragile compared to the enemy's attack.

The two attacks clashed soon enough. When they did, a loud explosion occurred in mid-air.

This was so loud that it caught the attention of all the warriors fighting nearby.

It remained an equal battle for a couple of seconds before the enemy leader's Spear suddenly got stronger and pushed back Laura's arrow.

Laura raised her hands and pointed them in her arrow's direction. She began to release strong Nature Ardor that was absorbed by her arrow.

Her arrow began to get stronger, and now it was pushing back that Spear.

While this battle between the Spear and Arrow raged on, Laura noticed that her opponent had picked up another spear.

He didn't waste any time before throwing the Spear towards Laura.

Laura immediately used her Bloodline Skill to fuse with the ground underneath her and allow that attack to phase through her.

Her opponent was utterly surprised when he saw his spear passing through Laura's body without injuring her.

Soon, Laura increased her input of Nature Energy within her Arrow. Her arrow shattered that spear in its way.

The arrow stabbed his right arm before the enemy leader could pick up another spear and launch it.

His other subordinates were busy chopping off those Wooden thickets. They were also injured, so they no longer possessed the physique to jump in and take the attack on their bodies.

Meanwhile, the enemy leader was too shocked by what he witnessed. He was utterly sure of his victory a few seconds ago. However, the enemy's attack had reached him now.

He endured the pain while picking up his spear with that very same arm.

He noticed that Laura hadn't pulled out her arrow yet. If he was fast enough, he could kill her before she got the chance.

Thus, he went into a familiar posture to launch this spear at Laura. This time, he was focusing more on speed than on power.

Laura noticed what he was doing and snorted, "Hmph. Not while I have anything to say about it."

"Bloom now!" Suddenly, multiple branches of wood were created from that Wooden Arrow that stabbed the enemy commander.

It retrained his body before Laura spoke up, "Wooden Spikes!"

Those branches suddenly created large spikes that appeared similar to wooden blades. Many wooden blades pierced the enemy's body from different angles.

A wooden blade even pierced his heart. His body began to turn cold as he realized his death was imminent.

His body was trembling in fear. However, he didn't let go of the spear from his hand.

Instead, his hold over that spear tightened as he began to move his arm.

Laura was startled to see him move. She immediately created more Wooden Spikes to prevent his arm from moving any more.

The enemy commander coughed up some blood and knew this was the end. He closed his eyes for his impending death.

However, it never came. Instead, his body was slowly getting warmer.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that he was surrounded by Golden Flames.

Moreover, an individual completely unknown to him stood ahead of him. This person was Azaroth, and he had a smile on his face.

"What an impressive willpower you possess. It would be a pity to allow someone with your potential to die so soon," Azaroth spoke with a wide smile.

These were the last words that he heard before he fell unconscious. His body was exhausted, and he had pushed himself beyond the limits to battle against Laura, so falling unconscious was only natural.

Azaroth turned towards Laura and spoke, "Take care of this guy. He will be my seventh retainer."

Laura absent-mindedly nodded her head. She didn't know Azaroth was watching over her battle and was internally happy about it.

~~

A/N: I hope you guys like it.