Sorry, busy yesterday. I'll try to post that chapter later...
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"AH!" Liu Ying let out a short scream before being swallowed by the mud.
Bloed's expression changed. "Liu Ying!"
The next instant, Tito turned into armor and covered Bloed. Bloed charged towards the place where Liu Ying disappeared and brandished his saber.
He could see Liu Ying's location through his thermal vision, so he calculated the location of the enemy dragging Liu Ying down and filled his saber with psychic energy.
"EEEEKKKKKK!" An ominous cry resounded in the forest and assaulted Bloed's ears. The saber attack had cut whatever it was.
Unfortunately, it was not dead.
Bloed clenched his teeth and ignored it. After that, he pulled Liu Ying's out of the mud.
*Cough cough!" Liu Ying vomited a mouthful of mud and took a deep breath.
But then, something attacked Bloed from above.
"Careful, master!"
Regina formed an energy sword in her hand and slashed the attacker. She then spun swiftly and cut another thee attacks that were coming from different directions.
But by then, tens of projectiles were flying towards them.
Bloed held Liu Ying in his arms and jumped aside. The brown and grey projectiles chased after them, coming from the mud and the trees and cutting their routes of escape.
"It's the trees!" Bloed exclaimed. "The trees are alive!"
"Master, behind you!"
Bloed did not hesitate and jumped aside, barely evading a spear-like branch. He then shook Liu Ying's body. "Liu Ying, get a grip on yourself! We need to fight!"
"Y-Yes!" Liu Ying wiped the mud off her face and entered into a fighting stance.
The branches and roots of the surrounding trees pierced towards them. Hundreds of spear-like branches and roots attacked at the same time. The power behind each attack was comparable to a bullet!
Although Bloed was confident that his armor could endure the attacks, he did not want to bet with his life and blocked each blow. Plus, even if a branch alone could not pierce the energy shield of his armor, hundreds of branches would eventually overwhelm his defenses.
Moreover, the trees were not only trying to pierce them. Some roots tried to entangle their bodies and drag them into the mud to be used as fertilizer.
Bloed's expression turned grave. They were completely surrounded by trees, and the number of attacks was so overwhelming that they had their hands full just defending. It was impossible to attack. Moreover, he was not sure how which trees were monsters and which were trees.
Bloed estimated the trees' strength as D-Grade. Normally, Bloed could kill tens of monsters like these easily, but the number of trees was too great, and the attacks were coming from every direction, making even defending very strenuous.
In the end, Bloed knew that he had to use Leto, even if that meant that Leto would need more time to regain the ability to fly.
"Leto!" Bloed shouted.
Instantly, the metallic wolf's body turned into thousands of high-speed oscillation blades. The blades spread on the surroundings as small insects, cutting the branches and trees until making them sawdust.
*EEEEEEKKKKK!* Under the attacks of Leto, the spear-like branches were unable to reach the group.
With that, the group finally got a brief respite.
"Regina, how many enemies are there?"
"I don't know." Regina shook her head. "They are mixed between the normal trees and I'm unable to differentiate them before they attack. Their killing intent is very well hidden."
Bloed nodded with a dark expression. He realized that the attacks were not decreasing despite Leto destroying tens of trees. Instead, he got the impression that more and more branches were trying to skewer them.
At the current rate, Leto would use up its energy before killing all the monsters.
Hence, Bloed decided to end everything quickly.
"Leto, come back!"
*Woof!*
Leto's metallic particles joined again into a metallic wolf. The trees took advantage of that opportunity to attack them again, but Bloed was already ready.
Cutting a branch with his saber, he looked at Liu Ying and asked something.
"Hey, Liu Ying, do you know what trees hate the most?"
Liu Ying tilted her head in doubt. "… Fire?"
Bloed smiled excitedly.
"Leto, burn 'em down!"
With Bloed's order, a ball of super-compressed energy formed in Leto's mouth.
Then, Leto unleashed it with a roar.
*ROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!*
This time, the plasma breath did not fly in a straight line. Instead, it descended as balls of fire that rained in the surroundings.
*EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKk!*
The demonic trees screamed in pain. The extreme heat caused by the plasma evaporated the water and burned the trees in seconds. A fire grew quickly, spreading to the trees nearby and licking the water of the swamp dry. Bloed and the others saw many trees unrooting themselves from the ground and trying to run away.
Unfortunately, they were too slow to escape from the fire.
But the trees were not the only ones affected.
The heat of the fire was quickly spreading to Bloed and the others.
"Get up on Leto, quickly!" Bloed shouted and took out Leto's remaining nanorobots. Leto quickly grew in size until becoming a three-meters-tall, enough for the three of them to ride on it.
Then, it unleashed another plasma breath that created a path between the flames and charged out.
In seconds, they had left the fire behind.
Liu Ying heaved a sigh of relief. She then looked at Bloed with a complicated expression and bit her lips.
"… Hey."
"Hmm?"
"… Thank you. You saved me again."
Bloed was startled before smiling gently. "Don't mind it. Just be more careful next time."
"… I will."
Liu Ying then smiled.
This was perhaps the first time she smiled since meeting Bloed, since her last family died.
Regina, who watched their interaction from a side, wrinkled her brows.
She did not like it. Her master was becoming closer and closer to the demon, and that was not something good.
Her master was gentle, so he easily trusted others. Even although he just met Liu Ying a few days ago, she could feel that his wariness towards Liu Ying had diminished considerably.
In fact, Liu Ying was unable to harm Bloed in the slightest. Plus, with Regina here, Bloed's safety was guaranteed regardless of Liu Ying's intentions. Bloed knew it, so he was even less wary of Liu Ying.
But Regina could not trust the demon so easily.
If Liu Ying and Bloed become closer, Bloed will be in much pain once Liu Ying betrays him.
Once she learns Bloed's secret.
Regina could not allow it. She could not let the demon hurt her master's feelings, not again.
For an instant, a slight killing intent flashed in her eyes.
However, Regina hid it quickly.
[… Master, Liu Ying will leave us once we exited the exiled land, right?] Regina spoke directly into Bloed's mind so Liu Ying could not hear their conversation.
Bloed was startled, but he nodded. Regina then furrowed her brows and looked at him.
[… Master, don't trust her too much.]
Bloed fell silent. He looked at Liu Ying briefly and furrowed his brows before nodding. [I know, don't worry.]
Regina fixed her gaze on Bloed. When she saw that he understood, she sighed in relief. [I trust you, master.]
She then looked at Liu Ying and her gaze turned ice cold.
"Demon, how long are you planning to make us endure the stench of your clothes!"
"Huh?" Liu Ying looked at her mud-filled body reeking of rotten meat and eggs and her face turned bitter.
Finally, she could only look at Bloed with a pitiful look.
Bloed let out a tired sigh.
"Regina, can you lend some of your clothes to Liu Ying."
Regina was surprised. She then looked at Liu Ying gently a nodded.
"No, master."
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