*swish* *swish*

Several shadow blades shot through the air as they made their way towards Emery. The witch had taken advantage of her cover, the congregated sphere of dark roots and the wooden golem, to launch her own attacks without worrying about a sudden counter attack by her opponent.

The sphere roots, the wooden golem she was standing on, and the 5 other wooden golems created some kind of an impenetrable shield.

These six wooden golems were a summon that was really suitable for a defensive purpose. Emery was sure that even hundreds of knights would not be able to break through such defense.

These half a dozen wooden golems didn't stay idle as they moved toward Emery. Even though the golems themself were quite slow, their roots were a different matter altogether. They were as fast as him!

Fortunately, the distance they could reach was limited, especially with dozens of other trees blocking their way.

Bamm!!! Bammm!!

Loud sonorous sounds resounded when the half a dozen wooden golems were crashing over the trees, creating even more loud noises as their hands tried to reach out to him.

At the moment, Emery took and kept his distance carefully while blocking the incoming shadow blades that were flying towards him.

He began casting his [Enfeeble Blade] spells, which apparently were able to nullify the witch's shadow blades.

Bam! Bam!

The two spells had roughly the same strength, so when the shadow blades and darkness blades Emery casted hit each other they both disappeared into nothingness.

If one took a closer look at the two spells, they would definitely notice several similarities in them. However, in reality, Emery knew hers were a stronger version of his.

The only reason his spells were able to nullify hers was because of his unique dark core. If it wasn't because of the dark core, which made the strength of his shadow spells more powerful, the [Enfeeble Blade] wouldn't be able to match that tier 4 [Shadow Blade] spell.

Bamm!!

The showdown of spells continued as Emery and Maeve kept their streaks of casting. Dozens of shadow blades and darkness blades shot through the air, cutting down every tree laying on their path.

The woods around the two figures started to disappear as the clearing became more apparent, causing Emery to have fewer space at his disposal to dodge the incoming roots and wooden golems, which were clearly doing their job to keep him from attacking freely.

Thus, Emery currently stood in a predicament. His shadow mist, which should be able to mislead others easily, was ineffective. His means of attack, the [Enfeeble Blade] spell, wasn't strong enough. His method of constraint, the shadow roots, was overwhelmed by the wooden golem's roots.

Emery had run out of spells he could throw at her.

If only he could cast his rank 4 spell [Dark Matter],

Alas, he couldn't because of the damned restriction!

As if that wasn't bad enough, he also had a limited amount of spirit force to use!

When he tried to forcefully fight the witch using his battle power, Emery only ended up being hit by the roots. There were just too many things for him to fight!

Realizing his usual method of attacking wasn't going to work, Emery was left with his one last remaining card.

He made up his mind in no time, as Emery immediately carried out his plan. One more time, the familiar dark-colored mist engulfed the area as his figure blurred and split apart.

[Shadow Mist]

Seeing that, Maeve guffawed, "Hahaha! Why do you keep doing that?! Are you running out of ideas now, child!?"

Emery ignored the witch's taunt and kept doing his own things. He moved around the area and led the 5 wooden golems to stretch out, away from the witch.

When the timing was right, he casted [Blink] and appeared just behind the huge wooden golem where the witch perched on.

Naturally, Emery was quickly discovered by his opponent.

"Same trick!! Not going to work!"

The roots around Meave started entangling his body. Even so, he at least managed to arrive within just a few steps distance to Maeve. It was at this moment that Emery used his trump card.

His transformation ability.

[Fey Transformation - stage 1]

[Battle power increase by 10]

[Current battle power: 67 (52)]

Emery's body swiftly transformed into that of a fey. Silvery furs emerged on his legs and arms, his canine teeth grew into sharp fangs, while his nails gradually turned to menacing claws. He roared and clawed himself out of the entanglement, startling the witch with the sudden increase of strength.

However, instead of panicking, the witch opened her arms wide.

"Yes! That's exactly what I have been waiting for!! Come!!"

She was already prepared and bursted out as many shadow blades as she could while Emery was clawing his way through the wooden golem's roots. He pulled, tore and slashed all the roots coming at him and separating them.

"Die! Give your life to me, Emery!!" Maeve roared as she launched the dozens of shadow blades she formed.

Seeing the incoming blades, Emery didn't even try to dodge or anything as he quickly casted his defensive skill. He had mastered the stage 1 transformation, making only his arms and legs change. So, he was still able to cast his spells.

[Granite Skin]

A black layer surfaced on Emery's skin as the strongest defensive spell he could cast at the moment took effect. Unfortunately, the protection that the [Granite Skin] provided was only enough to absorb half of the [Shadow Blade] spells, leaving the rest at his own discretion.

Emery swiftly deflected those that were aimed at his head while ignoring the others. As a result, they landed on his body and injured him.

Meave could only watch in shock as Emery still kept his charge through and out of the roots with his bleeding body.

Without wasting any second, Emery leaped to the air and arrived next to Meave, where she was still surrounded by the defensive sphere made out of roots.

"Impressive! Very impressive!" Meave commented while clapping her hands, as if she couldn't see Emery was destroying her protection at breakneck speed.

Moments later, Emery's claws finally tore the last layer of the sphere, leaving him with just one more step to send the final attack. But what puzzled Emery was the fact that the witch didn't run. Instead of that, she took out a bag and threw out a green powder towards Emery's face.

"You are mine now!!!' shouted the witch with a proud grin.

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,