Chapter 663: Getting Better Already

Mina felt strangely agitated. It was not excitement, it was something else, like an impatient urge that had been building inside her for a long time.

Every day, she had trained until her muscles burned and her body could barely move. She had returned to her living quarters exhausted, only to wake the next morning and push herself even harder.

Training had become her routine and for a long time, she only imagined the moment when she could finally prove that all of it meant something. Now that moment has arrived.

She wanted to prove herself to Jack, but more importantly, she wanted to prove something to herself. She wanted to show that she was no longer the helpless girl Jack had saved and seen killing her parents. She could fight now. She had become stronger!

So Mina moved first. Her body shot forward like a released arrow with incredible speed, crossing the clearing in an instant.

Crimson energy flickered around her legs as she activated Crimson Step. Her figure blurred between the trees, leaving behind only a faint red trail as she moved.

One of the guardians didn’t have time to turn its head. Mina already appeared beside it.

The creature resembled a massive wolf fused with a tree. Thick bark covered its body, roots twisting around its limbs like muscles. Long thorn-covered vines grew from its back, whipping through the air whenever it moved. Its jaws opened wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth buried beneath layers of moss.

It lunged, but Mina vanished, and reappeared behind it and immediately drove one dagger into its side.

She uses Venom Bloom. Dark green energy spread from her blade and seeped into the creature’s body. Vein-like patterns appeared beneath its bark-covered flesh as the poison rapidly spread through its system.

The guardian staggered, its movements becoming slower and more erratic in the next second.

Mina did not give it time to recover or even do something else. She moved around it like a shadow, attacking from different angles while avoiding its claws and thorn-covered vines.

Every time the creature attempted to turn toward her, she was already somewhere else. Her daggers flashed repeatedly, cutting open its leg, struck its shoulder, pierced the exposed flesh beneath its jaw.

The creature roared and swung wildly, but Mina continued moving with precise footwork and controlled bursts of speed.

Clyde watched from the side. Another guardian charged toward him, but Clyde barely paid attention to it at first. His eyes remained on Mina.

She was fast. More importantly she was using her skills intelligently. She did not waste Crimson Step by constantly rushing forward but used it to control distance, reposition herself, and create openings.

Her Venom Bloom skill also worked well with her fighting style, allowing her to weaken an opponent before finishing it with precise attacks.

Clyde’s eyes narrowed slightly. She had improved more than he expected.

Mina was not relying entirely on her skills anymore. She had begun to understand how to combine them with her natural body movement.

The guardian finally reached Clyde and swung its claws toward his head.

Clyde turned his body aside, allowing the claws to pass within inches of his face. He raised his sword and blocked the creature’s second attack before pushing it away.

Lightning crackled along the blade of his sword, a layer of Pure Lightning wrapped around the edge, sharpening its destructive power until the sword could cut through the creature’s bark as easily as flesh.

Clyde stepped forward and slash. The lightning-coated blade tears the guardian’s chest. The creature died before it could make another attack.

At almost the same moment, Mina delivered her final strike as well. Her dagger pierced the weakened guardian’s throat, and the creature collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Mina landed beside its corpse and immediately turned toward Clyde.

But the remaining guardians had already moved. Those creatures rushed toward them from different directions, their bodies crashing through bushes and tearing apart vines as they charged angrily.

Clyde and Mina stood in their position. They didn’t need to say anything, and just moved together.

Mina disappeared with Crimson Step and reappeared behind one of the creatures, cutting its exposed joints before driving both daggers into its head.

Clyde intercepted another guardian, blocking its claws before sweeping his sword across its body and releasing a burst of lightning that burned through its flesh.

Another monster attacked Mina from behind.

Clyde noticed it. "Mina!" he shouted, but did not panic.

She immediately ducked. The creature’s claws passed over her head.

Mina spun beneath its arm and drove a dagger up while Clyde finished another guardian beside her.

Within moments, the clearing was filled with the corpses of the strange plant-beasts fusion.

Mina stood among them, breathing heavily but remaining on her feet.

She had done it. She had fought them without freezing, without panicking, and without depending on Clyde to rescue her.

But then Clyde noticed something. One of the guardians remained in its place. Unlike the others, it did not resemble an animal fused with plants. It looked almost human.

Its body was tall and thin, covered in layers of rough tree bark. Branches extended from its shoulders and back, small flowers grew from cracks across its chest and arms.

Its face resembled a distorted human face. Its eyes were completely unnatural. Thorns filled the empty sockets, twisting around clusters of small flowers that bloomed where its pupils should have been.

The creature stood completely still. Unlike the others, it did not roar or charge, just watched them.

Clyde frown. Something was different about this one.

The creature slowly raised one hand. Dark green magical energy gathered around its fingers.

"What is it doing?" Mina asked, tightened her grip on her daggers.

The answer came immediately. The corpses scattered across the clearing began to move. Their bodies twitched. Roots crawled across the ground and wrapped around their bodies. Cracked bark began knitting itself back together as dark green energy poured into the dead creatures.

One by one, the guardians that Clyde and Mina had already killed began to rise again.

Mina’s eyes widened. Clyde stared at the human-like creature with a long sigh, when he realized the fight was not over. This is troublesome.

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