Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce ignored the question thrown out by Leah, focusing on his next moves. From the information available, he was able to discern that she had been possessed by a Dryad, much like her sister Lianna.

What made it even more strange was that the Dryad which had possessed Lianna, was the sister of the one controlling Leah right now. It was as if some sick and twisted fate had merged together to create this kind of situation.

Once Jayce had heard the words Life Warden, he had understood the situation right away. The reason why this gorgeous town was not well known was because it was the dwelling place of Life Warden. The Druid who had gone mad and wreaked havoc across the continent.

What was it that had brought him and Lianna to this exact place on Earth? Was this the machinations of fate, or was their someone pulling the strings from above? Or, was this a whimsical result brought about by his insane luck stat?

Either way, he now had the responsibility to take care of this Dryad which had infected Lianna’s long lost twin sister. Were it another person, he may have just outright killed both the host and the Dryad, however Jayce would only do this as a worst case scenario.

Jayce shook his head, eliminating any useless thoughts within his brain. He had to neutralize the threat before she brought in anymore of her puppets that could possibly increase the difficulty of this fight.

He placed his hand within the bog, channeling his mana. The tremendous heat began to solidify the soil beneath him, allowing him to easily break out of the trap.

"Exploding Fireball"

Jayce muttered the name of his spell, feeling the mana within his hands shape itself into the fiery explosive. Having now thrown the spell a few times, he understood that the speed and trajectory was just as important in showcasing the power of the skill as the amount of mana used.

The faster the ball was thrown, the more damage it would deal at the point of impact. With this in mind, he wound up and threw the fireball like a major league pitcher, using the tip of his fingers to force it to spin.

Leah felt the hairs of her neck raise in response to the attack, causing her face to fall. ’I have to dodge this’ she thought, not wanting to tangle with the speeding ball of fire.

She quickly dove to her right, disregarding her image. With a controlled roll, she got to her feet around 3 meters from her original standing position, ready to cast her own skills. However, the fireball which had been released had not sailed past her.

Jayce had put so much spin on the ball, that instead of going in a straight line, it began to curve towards her position. It was as if he had predicted she would dodge it with all of her might, and she just happened to dive in the direction he had guessed.

"50/50 ball, GO!" He yelled, a smile creeping onto his face.

Leah tensed up, feeling the heat from the fireball even at around 5 meters away from her. With little time to think, she quickly summoned a shield made from vines which grew out from the ground.

The shield was woven together hastily, yet with all its layers it was at least half a meter thick. Jayce’s smile did not falter, watching on as the fireball made contact with the hastily constructed shield.

As soon as the Fireball touched the shield, a magnificent light illuminated the room, followed by the deafening sound of an explosion. Flames danced around the place, as if they were celebrating their birth into this world.

Jayce had shielded his eyes at the last moment, ensuring that he would not be blinded by his own skill. However, the sound of the explosion still made his ears ring. If his ears were ringing, it could be imagined how Leah would be feeling after being the target of such a skill.

A moment after the explosion hit, he quickly used his stealth skill, blending into the shadows which danced around the now fiery room. His eyes never left the figure of Leah who had been blasted back over 15 meters from the point of impact.

He could instantly tell that she had lost consciousness. While his Analyze skill had failed, he could still roughly gauge her total stats from the physical abilities she had shown, therefore he did not doubt that the exploding fireball would be effective.

Jayce did not instantly attack the woman who was unconscious, after all, she was never his target. He still had another 8 seconds until his stealth wore off, so he sat patiently, staring at the vines which had wrapped themselves around her.

After a few seconds his eyes widened, like he had expected, the vines began to unfurl themselves. They coalesced into a snake-like form and began to slither away speedily, probably looking for a way to escape.

However, before it got far, Jayce grabbed it with his bare hands and lifted it slowly. He heard a surprised screech before it began to struggle desperately within his hands.

"NO! LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD!" The vines screamed.

Jayce tightened his grip, forcing out another scream. "You’re going nowhere but hell, you bitch." He said soothingly.

At those words, the vines quickly stopped moving. Jayce had thought it had given up, however in the next moment it began to transform into its humanoid form, much like the one he had destroyed in the other tree.

"Hahaha! If you send me to hell, your friend will also be joining me." If it weren’t for the terrible words and attitude of the being within his hands, someone might have mistaken this beautiful creature to be a wood sprite, or a wood fairy.

However Jayce knew the truth. If he did not kill this Dryad, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people would lose their lives tragically. This was something that none of them could afford to pay, even if it meant that Lianna would never get to truly reunite with her sister in this life.

Jayce looked between the unconscious Leah and the Dryad within his grip, his face turning resolute. Much like how he had killed its sister, he began to channel his mana into his hands, burning the thing to ashes.

"AHHH! NO, STOP! I’ll do anything, I’ll remove the brand!" The burning figure screamed shrilly, yet her words fell on deaf ears. He would never trust a Dryad.