VRMMORPG: The Other World Online

Cheng Xiu cut at the roots of the screaming Demonic Treeman that leapt at her.

The gilded sword went through the creature's roots the way that a hot knife would go through butter.

The creature screamed in pain.

Cheng Xiu kicked it away when it neared her.

The creature fell off the branch that she was in.

Two others jumped at her one after the other.

Cheng Xiu raised her sword overhead, its tip pointing to the sky and brought the weapon down.

The creature split down the middle.

The monster behind it leapt at her through the gap between the cut off sides of the first one.

Cheng Xiu reacted with fast precision. She raised her sword and cut off the creature from the middle of its "Head", just as the cut off piece was reforming, she sat on her hind legs and slashed the root of the Treeman.

Both the creatures fell to the ground in a heap of wooden bodies and caught fire.

Cheng Xiu frowned. The flame effect appeared once again, destroying the wooden flesh of the creatures. She couldn't believe it was that easy to kill these creatures. She had needed San Zhe's help in distracting it last time.

Four more of the creatures leapt towards her.

Cheng Xiu created sword copies to deal with them.

She killed off the creatures one or two at a time.

She heard the crack of a whip distantly.

Cheng Xiu felt her heart fall with a thump with that sound.

She instinctively knew what that meant. More of the creatures.

Almost like they were summoned by her thoughts, the creatures crawled out of the thick bark of the main tree.

She was surprised to find that a few were going away from her towards the other trees.

Cheng Xiu did not have time to think of the reason why it would do so but she kept up her vigilance against these creatures.

One of the Demonic Treeman released a long vine towards her.

Cheng Xiu's guts crunched up in phantom pain at the sight of them.

She leapt away from it and tried to move away from its attack range.

Just as the monster's appendage reached her again, Cheng Xiu had one of the sword copies cut into pieces. The things crawled for a few moments before settling down. It caught fire as well and burned to ashes.

Cheng Xiu huffed. That was tough to do. Even though she had fought with multiple enemies before she felt far more tired than she did ever before.

Cheng Xiu paused in her action of beheading the creature in front of her as she retraced her thoughts.

She looked up as her hands tore off the roots of the creature.

The sunlight was warm against her skin, giving her a feeling that she was losing her energy too quickly.

She was not sure what to make of this matter. She was sure that the trees that she had touched were free of the sunlight when she leapt at the tree. Yet, now, the tree was in the sun.

Cheng Xiu leapt away in the darker part of the tree branches, observing the environment that she was in.

Her eyes widened. Above her, the tree branches decreased in size as a Demonic Tree emerged from it.

So that was what had happened.

Last time, the demonic trees that she fought were those that were created using the lives of the trees in the forest completely. But now, the Demonic Trees created by the NPC woman were from the branches of the ancient tree that she stood on.

Perhaps it was because the tree that she stood on was so old that only its branches were being used instead of the entire trees, unlike the young trees that were used by the Emperor Spirit that she had to face before. There was also the chance that the reason she was able to kill the Demonic Treeman summoned by the Emperor Monster was that they were weaker.

What would have happened to her if the Demonic Treeman was created from this ancient tree instead of in that battle. A Demonic Treeman was summoned by the Emperor Spirit using the lifeforce of the Ancient Tree that she stood on.

Cheng Xiu did not have to think too hard to understand what would have happened. She would have experienced Death in the game already.

She couldn't deal with all these creatures to make her way towards San Zhe.

Even though it seemed like a long time, the truth was that it had only been a few minutes since she had started to fight these monsters.

San Zhe had also gotten out of the control that the NPC had put him in and was being held upside down.

San Zhe looked at Cheng Xiu who was dealing with the Demonic Treeman below with a concentrated face with complicated eyes.

He felt his heart fall into disappointment.

Isn't it always the Hero who saves the beauty? Did that make San Zhe a beauty?

He hoped not.

He would have liked to be the hero but seeing as it was Cheng Xiu who always saved him, he had to say that the Hero spot was taken.

He looked at Cheng Xiu with complicated eyes. He wanted to ask her why she was doing so much for him. But he couldn't. He knew why. He had been that person before. The person who would die for those who showed him even a bit of kindness.

He had learnt his lesson a long time back though. He wondered when she would. She had to. There was no way out of that kind of disillusionment.

Had Cheng Xiu heard his thoughts she would have laughed? She was not doing this because he showed her kindness. She was doing this because she considered him a part of the few people she cared about now. And for those few people, she was willing to risk even her identity.

"Ghost Flame," Cheng Xiu said calmly.