Way of the Knights

Chapter 706: The Swamp

“Tch. Annoying pest…”

Inside a dark and murky environment, a woman clicked her tongue in annoyance. Her silhouette is hidden by the darkness but a vague outline of her can be identified. She was short and hunched-back. She was also releasing an ominous vibe, the type that can easily frighten the kids and adults alike. 

As she moved around, sloshing sounds could be heard, making for a strangely hair-raising vibe. It was as if she was walking through squishy mud or some sort of a paste. It sounded gross and it also doesn’t help the area where she was in is covered in a thick foul stench as well. 

She seems to be doing something in there but the darkness surrounding her was so thick that it’s hard to make out just what she’s doing. Well, judging from the occasional squeaks of what sounded like insects, squirrels and other type of small animals, it doesn’t seem to be interesting at all. 

Just now, a trail of black smoke arrived and fused with the darkness surrounding her. The woman froze for a moment, then she released another groan of annoyance. 

“Missed it again, damn.” 

She sounded upset but also helpless. That’s when she made a movement which was followed by the darkness. It seems to be being siphoned inside her body. Slowly but surely, the silhouette of the woman came to light, and her appearance was frankly unexpected. 

The woman looked emaciated. She was wearing extremely dirty clothing and was holding a wooden cane that has seen better days that’s for sure. The woman was old and wrinkled too, the kind that’s just a step away from dying. 

Despite this appearance of hers, there’s something strange with this old woman. Something about her feels…wrong, frightening too. 

The woman stared at a blank space for a moment before tapping her cane on the ground. All of a sudden, dozen of black vines filled with thorns and covered by a film of goo appeared and wrapped around her body. 

The vines lifted her and began transporting her to somewhere else. This movement is followed by that some gross sound that occurred before. 

The old woman that’s being carried by the vines doesn’t seem to mind this at all. She surveyed her surroundings despite having her eyes closed as if she could see something but in the end, she didn’t. She’s just patrolling this dull and murky swamp that’s been like this since she knew it. 

This old woman was the Eldest Sister – the first Hag of the Southern Continent so to speak, and this swamp is the core of this massive wilderness that spans all over the continent. 

The last trail of the tracking hex she released just returned and it brought back nothing which was slightly disappointing. Despite her mood though, she retained her motherly expression as she travelled using the vines. She can’t let this failure affect her that much. 

Eventually, the vines carried the Eldest Sister towards a certain place in the swamp. A massive tree with numerous thick roots that are buried underground, its branches covered the entirety of the swamp causing the desolate dimness of this place. 

Upon her arrival at the massive tree, the vines retreated and one of the thick roots of the massive tree rose up to claim her. Just like before, the hag didn’t look fazed, she allowed the roots to bind her body as it carried her closer to the trunk of the massive tree, 

Upon reaching a certain distance away from the trunk, the root placed her down and retreated. The hag landed softly on one of the roots and began scaling the rest of the way towards the main trunk of this massive tree.

This massive tree is a marvel unique to this land, it is hard to investigate how old this tree is by now but knowing that it managed to grow up this big and could even manipulate it’s body to do certain things, there’s no doubt that this tree is far from normal. 

The Hag eventually closed the remaining distance between her and main trunk. Once she’s there, she stood in front of it, looking at the swirling patterns around it has. At core of the main trunk, someone or something’s there. 

It looked like a young woman, wrapped around thick black vines which seems to be imprisoning her and preventing her from moving even a single inch. She didn’t seem to be in pain, in fact she doesn’t look alive at all. She was there, looking as if she’s fallen into a deep slumber. Her skin appeared to blend in with the tree as well, looking like bark and all. This trapped woman looked like a fair maiden, her eyes were covered by what looked like hardened wax, her mouth was slightly parted but she’s unconscious or rather, entirely frozen, embedded on the body of the great tree. 

The old man stared at the embedded woman with that motherly look on her face. Her ears twitched for a moment, noticing movement from above. Despite this she didn’t look up because she knows what’s up there. 

It was a creature, a snake – a massive one at that, that came. It flicked its forked tongue out, eyeing the hag as if she was a tasty but very toxic food. It slowly slithered down, its body wrapped around the trunk of the massive tree. 

It circled around the hag and opened its mouth wide, revealing two sharp fangs coated with green poisonous liquid. It looked like the snake was about to swallow the hag whole but the old woman didn’t move. 

All of a sudden however, the mouth of the snake suddenly splits into four partitions. From the depths of it’s body, she rose. A fair woman with bewitching looks and a fair complexion. She was naked, her jet black hair was covering her breasts. She had a pair of violet colored pupils and an aura of a dangerous existence emanated around her. 

This woman’s lower body is connected to the serpent, in fact, the serpent is her lower body. It just so happens that it also serves as her ‘armor’ if you will. 

“How’s your search?” The serpent woman asked. 

“Failed. Can’t trace the damn pest even with the tracking hex. It’s as slippery as a loach. I hate it.” The old woman replied to her without even looking away from the woman that’s embedded at the core of the great tree. 

“How surprising.” The serpent woman sounded amused. “This is the first time I heard about the tracking hex failing. Must be one hell of a pest then.” 

“Sure is.” The old woman sounded upset and irritated, “It managed to kill my sisters without trigger the traps I placed. I don’t know if its that smart or just unbelievably lucky.” 

“What do you think this pest is? Its been a long time since something openly dared to rebel against us.” The serpent woman sounded curious. 

“How should I know? Frankly, I don’t care about what it is. I just want it dead.” The Hag said with a groan. 

“Hmm, how about you bring it to me once you’ve caught it?” 

“Don’t tell me what to do, Witch.” The Hag swiftly turned her head and stared at the serpent woman with a harsh glare. 

“You dare to raise your voice against me, Hag?” The serpent woman returned the glare to her. “You want me to squeeze this bitch to death? Just tell me, I’ll gladly do it.”

“You dare to threaten me, Witch? Want me to blow this whole wilderness up along with this tree? Want me to go to your ‘Dear Brother’ and ask for his ‘help’ on doing that? I’m sure as hell that he wouldn’t turn me down, after all he’s so enamored with me that I have him wrapped around my pinky. What say you, bitch!?”

The Eldest Sister and the Forest Witch glared at each other for a good while. Two auras clashed and the whole swamp trembled under its influence. None of them seems to be interested in backing down. 

“Hmph!” The Forest Witch snorted and whipped her tail. Her attack happened so fast that the large gash appeared on the body of the great tree before the whipping sound occurred. 

Despite this, the Hag didn’t look away. She didn’t even look shocked by the attack nor did she looked back to check if the Forest Witch attacked the embedded girl behind her since the Hag already knew she didn’t.

In the end, it was the Forest Witch who retracted her aura. She ‘wore’ the serpent back and spoke: “You should pay more attention to your temper, Hag. Continue acting this way and one day I might just end up ruining our relationship, consequences be damned. I suggest you to think carefully who would be the true loser if that happens.”

After saying this, the serpent slithered back up to crown of the tree, disappearing to the Hag’s view. 

The Hag didn’t say anything. She simply turned back and looked at the embedded girl at the great tree’s trunk with that motherly expression.

…not knowing that there were a pair of eyes who saw the whole exchange happen just now.