"Hey, young girl." I spoke to that kid who was responsible for the vines grabbing onto my legs.
"Eek..!" The girl was scared from just hearing my voice and as a result, she forced the vines to spread throughout my body.
"This much won't stop me." I strengthened my arms to burst through the vines before it could trap me in it.
The girl trembled after seeing me break free and released a green fog toward me.
[Player '555' has activated the Hidden Skill, 'Poison Ivy' Lv. 2.]
'Damn. Why does it have to be poison?!' I thought, grunting toward the incoming fog.
With the fog traveling closer, I ran as fast as I could to avoid it.
Even though I could use 'Discharge', I didn't wish to activate it since it draws out a lot of my Mana.
Thus, I needed to run without using any skills to support me.
Unfortunately, the fog continued to chase after me without pausing for one second.
I could spawn a portal in front of me to block off the fog but I already wasted a whole bunch of my Mana which meant I won't be able to generate a big portal to catch all the fog.
Within a situation like this, I had to come up with a plan while escaping from the fog.
"I must get that amulet." I mumbled before drawing out my sword as I rushed at the girl.
The girl again became afraid of me and tossed a lot of seeds in the ground almost near my feet.
[Player '555' has activated the Skill, 'Wall of Thorns' Lv. 1.]
After a split second of recognizing the seeds, I immediately leapt back while looking behind to check the fog, making sure I won't land into it at all cost.
A wall made of leafy vines, being covered by sharp thorns with a red tip to every thorn, was sprouting from below the ground.
With a wall so thick that one couldn't be able to break through it even if they tried.
When I got back on the ground, I instantly sprinted toward the 'Wall of Thorns'.
Along with the wall having a lot of deadly sharp prickles, I climbed up the wall by using the spikes as support for me to safely get to the top as quickly as possible.
While climbing upward, the fog was giving me a hard time to navigate, thus I had been attempting my best not to accidentally fall down.
After safely arriving on top of the wall, I looked down on the other side of the wall, then I spotted the girl having an anxious expression on her face as if she was afraid that someone could kill her.
Knowing that the fog was still after me, I slid down from the 'Wall of Thorns' while cutting off the prickles with my sword, so I couldn't get infected by one touch of it.
The moment I landed, I pulled out an apple from my inventory and threw it at the girl. "Catch."
The young girl was surprised by a fresh red apple falling down on her, naturally, she tried to catch it with her hands.
However, unable to catch it, it made a 'Bump' sound when it fell on her head.
Then she crouched down, holding her head from the pain of getting hit in the head with a fruit before seeing the apple rolling onto the ground.
The girl was about to pick up the apple but then a shadow was shaded upon the apple.
I was already in front of her with another fresh apple in my left hand, and I offered my right hand for this young lady to stand up.
Although the girl seemed frightened, she still accepted my hand and I helped her to stand up straight.
I even dusted away the dirt that was on her skirt before giving a fresh apple to her.
Afterwards, I picked up the apple that was on the ground and threw it at one of the tip of the thorn.
When the apple got penetrated by the thorn, it started to rot away like a rotten fruit in mere seconds.
"Hello young miss. I'm not here to harm you in any way shape or form." I spoke toward the girl so I could befriend her.
"..." She trembled as she looked down instead of having eye contact with me, holding firmly onto the apple I gave her.
I bent my knees, gently patting the girl's head while being cautious of her.
"Why did you use your skills on me?" I said in a kind voice, making certainties that I won't startle her.
The girl finally talked but struggled to stop stuttering every word. "..I..I am scared.. I w-want to go back to m-my dad and s-sisters.."
"I'll help you get outta here if you give me that amulet."
"N-No.. t-this is my mother's precious jewelry..!" The girl's shaky hands that were holding onto the apple, let go of it and held her amulet instead.
"You do not know what danger resides in that amulet. So please, hand it to me before we all die here."
When I turned around, I discovered the fog finally catching up to me and rushing extremely fast toward me as if it was tired of chasing me.
[Imitation of 'Portal' Lv. 3 has activated.]
Due to this, I spawned a portal as wide as the fog and got it to swallow the fog without leaving a single inch.
To be honest, I didn't have enough Mana to activate portal before, but while I was taking out the apple from my inventory, I also took the medium MP potion that I received as a reward from Stage #8 and drank it to replenish some my MP.
"I w-will not t-trust a stranger like y-you..!" The girl ran away while I was dealing with her 'Poison Ivy'.
"I shouldn't act nice with my face looking like an evil villain." I exhaled a long sigh, locking my eyes on the girl's back.
At that moment when I was second away from using 'Bodyjack' on that child, a chilling breeze rustled through my body.
I knew too well where this breeze was coming from, and when I looked up to see the person responsible for this.
Those two angels must have allowed 'her' to participate, even though she wasn't a player to begin with.
The Empress was already casting something to shoot at me while descending down to the ground.
"Frostina.." I muttered out her name after having a look on the Empress.
['Iclyn Frostina' has activated the Hidden Skill, 'Fusillade of Icicles' Lv. ???.]
The Empress showered down a bombardment of icicles above me, expressing her joy through her cold smile as if waiting for me to turn into swiss cheese.
"Don't worry. I'll free you from the control of the archangels." I said while gripping onto my sword's hilt as tight as I could.
I directed my sword at the raining icicles before having an irritated expression on my face, knowing what I'm going to do to counter this 'Fusillade of Icicles'.
Accompanied with a swing of my sword emerged an outflow of white flame, overtaking all the icicles that were approaching the wall of flame I created.
[Imitation of 'Divine Flame' Lv. 3 has activated.]
Thanked to HwanGi's 'Divine Flame', I managed to melt away almost all of the icicles but with a few icicles being blocked or cut into half by me.
This sight caused the Empress to get enraged by me, forcing her to shoot out icy particles at my direction.
In a situation like this, I dashed toward the Empress to avoid letting her freeze that young child over at the corner of the arena.
['Iclyn Frostina' has activated the Hidden Skill, 'Winter Blizzard' Lv. ???.]
The Empress scowled, summoning a blizzard to stop me from getting close to her.
Out of the blue, a whole lot of snow drizzled down from the sky, along with insane wind that could make one get blown away if not careful.
As if what the Empress anticipated, the snow layers entirely covered my feet, she then scoffed at me, telling me this. "If no one can not defeat you, then I might as well do it myself."
I bitterly stared at her, clenching fists tensely which caused my blood to bleed out.
My blood dying the white snow to pure bloody red while my sword's hilt having blood dripping from the tip of the blade.
Lucifer swiftly transformed himself into a whip and I utilized him to whip the cord at the Empress, wrapping it around her body completely.
When I caught the Empress, I grasped the handle and pulled her toward me with all my might.
After dragging the Empress near me, I glared at her enraged face as I gritted my teeth, then I got my feet off from the snowy layers and smirked. "You'll get punished when you come to your senses."