113 Chapter 113: Costly mistake

Derik's eyes squinted as he pondered on what to do next and how to save these elves without hurting them as well. His corrosive death aura could not differentiate between friend and foe and his control was really lacking. He wasn't really willing to leave behind in order to rescue the others, he knew that the young lady has zero fighting capabilities and will most likely get captured the moment he takes his eyes off her.

"Take a step back!" Derik's fiery eyes lit up as an idea crossed his mind.

Hearing this, Elsa who had her hands wrapped around her bosom nodded and took two steps back while watching Derik with hopeful eyes.

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Bang!

Crack!

Derik leaped high into the air and descended with a clenched fist. His body was protected by a thin darkish purple halo of death aura and he called forth all the werewolf strength he could muster. His fist smashed into the ground and broke in, going even deeper until it couldn't proceed anymore.

"Rot!" Derik roared and his darkish purple death aura powered out and the full extent of its corrosive power was revealed. The once hard and mighty earth which he had to put in a lot of energy to break into it suddenly became as soft as jelly and turned greyish in color.

"Spread!"Derik roared and his death aura spread forth like a plague, covering over 400 meters in a few seconds. His aura dissolved all the vines which restricted everyone withered away gradually. As the death spread underground, it attacks vines beneath the earth ruthlessly.

Puff!

Derik spat out a mouth full of black blood and his body trembled greatly. He has eyes narrowed and he screamed out in fear!

The forest could only manifest its powers in the form of nature itself which made it easier to deal with. But deep within was an immeasurable amount of pure nature energy which completely overwhelmed Derik's corrosive death aura, thereby dealing a massive amount of damage to him. Derik quickly retracted his energy from the earth and quickly urged his death energy to combat the streams of nature energy that invaded his body.

His body looked paler than ever and black blood occasionally gushed out of his nostrils and lips. He wrapped his hand around his tummy and shivered greatly before dropping to the ground like a log of wood.

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!" Elsa screamed in fear.

Thanks to Derik taking action when he did, majority of the elves that were captured by the malicious vines were set free and the others soon regained their freedom but then he was attacked by a surging wave of nature energy which even terrified the elves who are rumored to be natures, favorite creatures. Elsa and the other elves knew that the wave of nature energy quickly overpowered Derik's death energy and some of it slipped into his body trying to destroy him from within.

Who knew that the forest was a living being which had its own aura and life force?No one really expected this, no one really thought about this! At this moment, they knew they have made a costly mistake.

Splash!

A small stream of water rolled out of Elsa's lips and completely consumed Derik. It lifted him off the ground and soon took the shape of an orb. This was the same technique she used to heal Derik during that period when he was suffering from the backlash of combining two techniques that were above his realm! This happened so fast even before the others could warn her, the nature energy in Derik's body reacted.

Puti!

Elsa's water orb exploded and she was sent flying a few meters back. Thick red blood trickled down her lips and her nostrils as she rolled on the ground a couple of times before stopping. Her eyes were filled with fear and sorrow as she stared at Derik's body.

"Vanish!" Derik's voice rumbled like lightning and all his death aura burst out.

Initially, Derik was put in a disadvantaged situation because the nature energy had already spread wide, making it more difficult for him to combat. But when Elsa interfered with her healing spell, the nature energy was distracted for a second when it tried to counter the power, giving Derik the chance to counterattack.

The nature energy was caught off guard by Derik's counter-attack and could not resist for too long. It quickly attempted to retreat and return to the soil but Derik wasn't planning to let it off easy. His death aura entangled it like a serpent, preventing it from escaping and then consuming it entirely.

Rumble!

Rumble!!

Rumble!!!

Crack!!!!

The earth quaked fiercely and visible cracks began to appear. It felt like the world was going to collapse soon and after a few minutes, calmness returned to every part of the mysterious forest.

"He damaged its soul... The nature energy which invaded his body carried a wisp of the soul of this mysterious forest... As he completely consumed it... He damaged its soul directly!" Isabel cried out in fear!

The others instinctively took a step back as they watched Derik get on his feet with a sinister smile on his face. This was simply because his harvest this time was massive! He absorbed a portion of the soul of this mysterious forest and the pure energy he received from it was quite abundant. He knew it won't be too long before he breaks into the peak grade of the bronze realm if he continues this way. His thoughts dwelled on the harvest he had gained and then a thought flickered through his mind.

"Elsa!" He muttered and vanished, reappearing right in front of her. She looked slightly pale and her body still shivered, it was clear she's yet to recover from the mysterious forest's attack! Her body and soul were shaken and she needed more time to recover. Seeing that the ladies' life was not in danger, Derik heaved a sigh of relief and his mind could finally rest easy. He stroked her hair with his palm for a while and stared at her with strange emotions boiling up in his heart.

"Thank you" He muttered

"No... Thank you... If you didn't take action when you did, I don't know how many members of my race would have survived this... You got really hurt because of my request... For that reason, I must apologize" Elsa grabbed on to Derik's head and whispered into his ear.

Her intoxicating nature like scent left Derik craving for more. He trembled as her firm bosom slammed onto his rigid chest and his eyes widened in shock. He enjoyed all this for a short while and was a bit reluctant when Elsa withdrew herself from him. Her emerald green eyes sparkled brightly under the sun and she looked like a goddess.

"You didn't answer my question... The forest prevented you from speaking your mind back then" Elsa said with hopeful eyes.

Hearing this Derik's visage changed and his face turned indifferent again. His gaze becomes so cold and chilly, even Elsa didn't feel comfortable under his gaze and could only look away.

"No... My answer is no... I'm not willing to give up my magic for you... I have my goals and for that reason, I cannot rest easy until they are fulfilled... I'm sorry but I must disappoint you this time...I cannot agree to your request" Derik said and left not giving her a chance to respond.

The mysterious forest has suffered a heavy loss under Derik's assault so it restrained itself from bothering the elven expedition troops as Derik was still with them. Unless Derik made the same mistake once again and poured his energy into the earth, the mysterious forest knew it won't be able to harm him so it didn't try to attack them anymore. During that period, Derik and the elven expedition troops rested for a few days in a bid to regain their lost strength. Within that time, Deriks internal injuries which he received from the mysterious forest's attack healed and his lost energy was recovered.

"It has been five days now... We have to move or we will fall behind" Derik who had remained seated in a cross leg position suddenly yanked his eyes open and spoke. His gaze drifted like the wind and stopped at the west of their current location.

"Can you feel it?" Derik looked perplexed for some reason.

"Yea" Isabel muttered.

Beside her were the other 4 low-grade silver realm mages, they all wore stern expressions and a few of them actually looked frightened for some unknown reason. They muttered amongst themselves for a while before approaching Derik with gloomy expressions.

"After we leave this forest, our temporary alliance will be broken and you will most likely lose our support... Those people, at the western part of this forest, are the lizardmen from the kingdom of Baldmar! We definitely cannot afford to offend them! Should you come in contact with them after we leave the forest and insist to compete against them for the treasures of this dungeon, I'm sorry but the elves of Alda will not aid you!" Isabel said with fearful eyes.

No one knew what she was scared of. Was it the lizardmen of Baldmar or Derik's death magic which has proven to be more lethal than her assassination skills, they all believed that they will soon find out who she feared the most!