The vines are too thick for me to break through with sheer force . Even with the help of telekinesis, I can feel that it's not working . I tried burning the whole vines using the flames but it seems the vines manage to stop it from burning . It's very hard to deal with and it seems that the dryad is starting to suck my energy dry . My vision is still blurry as h.e.l.l and I can feel my whole body weakening . Am I going to die here?

'Bullish*t, you? Die here? Are you joking? You are the Kazuma and just a mere amount of vines constricting you are not enough to bring you down . '

I was startled . That is not the seeds' voice . And from what I heard, this guy has an arrogant tone on his voice . I frowned but I have no time to dwell with it . I can definitely problem it later once I escaped this vine shackles that bind me down . I closed my eyes and concentrated all of my energy to my whole body . I sucked in a mouthful of air before blowing it out . My mana started surging within me like boiling water, steaming and scorching hot . I can feel my whole body is getting warmer . Indeed, the voice in my head earlier is right . This amount of vines are not enough to bring the great Kazuma down to the drains .

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"GRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

I screamed with my all as a burst of mana surge out of me . The vines constricting my body started to change colour from lush green vine to yellowish vine . It was like being boiled into very hot water . The vines slowly lose their hardness and fell limply into the ground, devoid of its former life . It wilted and will never be revived again .

The dryad that is controlling the vines suddenly fell into the ground and spasms a bit . It seems that having the vines that drains my energy attached to me when I was releasing the mana affected the energy that the dryad sucked in . It was too volatile for the dryad that she did not manage to deal with the overflowing energy . In short, she is bloated .

After being freed from the vines, weakness surged into my body . It seems that doing that sort of trick would cost you a lot of energy and has a side-effect of a temporary weakness . However, that was really worth it . I immediately took note on it in case I would be needing to use it in the near future .

My clothes are a bit tattered and have some holes after the skirmish against the dryad . Oh well, I have spare back in the ruins . I can change on those for later . Then m, I remembered that a certain elemental pixie is currently hiding in my clothes . F*ck, I forgot about her!

"Hikari! Are you there? You still alive?" I murmured as I check the pockets of my s.h.i.+rt and pants .

"Daddy!" Hikari suddenly appeared out of nowhere and circled around my head . I sighed in relief, seeing the small pixie safe and sound . Still, I need to double-check .

"Hikari! Are you hurt? No injuries anywhere?"

Hikari tilted her head like she didn't understand what I am talking about . Or I guess she never did because she is just born yesterday . She had yet to learn any kind of language a human speak except for the word daddy . After making sure she is not injured, I let her go back into hiding .

With Hikari back into hiding to safety, I looked at the collapsed Dryad . I check her vital signs and from the looks of it, she is not yet dead but is extremely weakened by me . I think for a while as I try to think what should I do to her . Then, a thought struck into me . Since she is a dryad, does that mean, she controls plants easily right? She would be an essential part of me properly learning how to use the skill "Forestry Control . " What is more, if I do it right, I might be able to persuade this dryad to allow me and the others to pa.s.s this part of the forest without getting under the illusions . Not bad for me, I rarely think nice ways to do things like this so I guess it would be quite a good idea .

I pull out the rope in my sling bag that is also tattered . This rope is meant to be used in case we fell or in need to gain access to a certain place that needed ropes . Who would have thought that the rope originally for emergency purposes only became a very useful tool for today? I quickly tied up the dryad using the rope before she wakes up . It would be horrible for me to let her die so I decided to rest on the nearby tree . Also, from what I heard, dryads are something that is one with nature . If I don't want her to escape, I have to do and seal her escape .

I summoned one Pillar of Doom and quickly tied up the dryad on it . Since the pillar of doom is not part of nature, she would be having a hard time to return to it easily . I tied her up tightly to avoid her from escaping while of course, letting her be a bit comfortable on the pillar . I sat on the nearby rock and observed the dryad . The dryad that I am looking at, is not the dryad I expected to see . Instead of being a naked one, she has clothes that seemed to be ready-made for her . The colour of her skin is green and her hair is also colour green . She is a bit smaller than me and much skinnier than me . From what I can see, she is not that different from a normal human girl . Her only problem is the unnatural skin colour on her body .

But then, I heard a mesmerising voice not too far from my position . This voice is clearly the voice I heard last time before I confronted the dryad . I thought at first that that voice earlier came from the dryad . Now I am sure that it's not from the dryad but from another ent.i.ty itself . Something else is here, currently has the same objective as this dryad: to lure men to their location . I frowned on this one . So that means that this dryad is not the only perpetrator for the illusions? There is another one responsible for it?