Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hime's pretty face disappeared into the tree as the tree sucked her whole body inside. Whether she was sucked in by the tree or she decided to sink into the tree, Hitori did not know.

While Hime the Dryad was busy planning something for Hohn the Duergar, Yagi the Satyr was having a little trouble.

His shortsword's blade was crippled from the rear end of the blade. Yagi was under pressure but he did not stop. He gave his best try to stab Hohn.

Clank!

Hohn's hammer's head clashed with Yagi's blade right above his head with enough force to push Yagi's cloven hooves into the mud.

Yagi grunted as he tried to transfer the pressure to the air and free his blade.

Hohn's hammer left the blade then it gave a harder swing which snapped Yagi's blade into two and pushed Yagi to the ground.

Before he could get up, Hohn turned its hammer and brought it down once again.

A frown formed on Hitori's face, full of anger. As blood sprung out from Yagi's back he let out a goat's scream.

Hitori could not help his anger, he needed to suppress it but he wanted to open his eyes and smash Hohn's head at the moment. How dare it kill Yagi?

This was the first time in a while when Hitori's anger was getting to him inside a game. He never really cared about the game's character.

In this game, Hitori started to care about his companions, his mates, and other creatures. Maybe because this game felt too real to be a game.

Hitori was about to open his eyes and let go of the conjured beings.

Yagi's body was pixilated and a screen popped up, it told Hitori that Yagi needed six minutes before it could be respawned.

It was a fucking dwarf. Just a four feet tall monster and yet, Hitori knew he would not be able to survive for another six minutes. What if Hohn decided to enlarge once again?

"Enough." Hitori snapped angrily without opening his eyes. He was still debating whether to open his eyes or not.

If he opened his eyes then he would not be able to see Hime as she executes her plan. If he keeps his eyes closed, he would not be able to see Hime's plan anyway.

Hohn pulled its hammer from the mud. It shook its hammer to shake off the blood and brown mud. Hohn groaned at Hitori.

Hohn started to advance in Hitori's direction with only a quarter of its health lost. Hohn had no visible wounds on it, its armor was covered in dust but still stood strong.

Now that time had come to this, Hitori was left with no choice. He was forced to open his eyes, there was no other way.

"Sorry, Hime… but I will have to do it myself." And so his cultivated mana was wasted.

Hitori wasted a good amount of almost one-thousand mana in order to conjure the woodland beings and order them. Finally, the time had come when Hitori had to do the rest of the things himself.

He realized that the woodland beings are more or less not so useful to fight a Duergar. In fact, mages and other beings who use mana were useless.

Hitori needed a samurai. A swordsman. An archer or an assassin. But he had none with him. All he had was a crippled katana, low-level parang, and a half-giant minotaur's war hammer.

Hitori's knees cracked as he tried to release his Seiza position, "ouch…" Hitori groaned in pain, "why would you make me experience this pain." Hitori forgot that it has been forever since he had sat in this position so his knees and ankles were not used to it.

He thought it would be alright in the game and it WAS… till now. Hitori sat like that for the span of a few minutes and did not feel the pain but when he tried to get up– oh, it hurts.

Hitori landed back on the hard ground. He could not feel the moisture in the ground.

Hitori pinched and closed his eyes in pain, he grunted as his hand reached for his knee and shin bone, "oh, crap…"

Hohn was confused for a bit but then it decided to let whatever the crap is happening to happen. Its quest was to kill Hitori which would grant it experience points then only it will be able to level up.

Hitori heard the loud rustling noises from ahead. 'It is coming.' He thought as he tried to stand up before he could open his eyes.

The magic screen started to fade as Hitori was slowly opening his eyes. 'Just what are you up to, Hime?' Hitori got no reply from Hime.

Hitori waited for a second but did otherwise. Soon, the magic screen started to turn into pixels but right before it would disappear, two vines flashed on the screen.

Hitori stopped. He pinched and closed his eyes to take a closer look. His vision was shifted to Hime's vision.

He watched as the two vines made their way towards Hohn's arm. Hohn peeked at its left like a cat and noticed the vines.

"This." Hitori heard a calm, exciting voice, "Woodland Magic." Hime completed.

Her vines dodged Hohn's hammer, they swirled like a snake– more complex than a snake– and grabbed onto Hohn's arm.

Hitori smiled as he dropped back to the ground and sat cross-legged this time.

Hitori released his cultivated mana like flowing tap water. He concentrated totally on the magic screen and transferred his mana to Hime.

When he sat down and concentrated, the picture of a burning flame appeared in front of him. He focused his attention on that flickering flame. The flame's flickering flame and Hitori's concentration were proportional to each other.

He watched as Hime stared at Hohn from the tree she was sucked into. Hohn had got rid of the vines so Hime prepared a branch for it.

At that exact time, she ordered the grass below Hohn's feet to wrap its feet tightly to the ground. The grass climbed Hohn's feet and bound its metallic shoes to the ground.

Hime's branch advanced. Hohn realized it was stuck and had no time to free itself. Hohn swung its hammer aimlessly yet managed to break the branch.

As the branch's broken end was falling to the ground, it suddenly extended and clanged with Hohn's chest plate, while the other end regenerated another twig.

Hitori was satisfied to see the armor's declining durability, "Hime, there is a gap between its hips and stomach,"

"Nah… just help me with mana, I will do the rest." Hitori's satisfied smile faded.

When he looked inside his heart, he saw the flame had reduced in size. Hitori took a deep breath and concentrated his calm on the flame. And Hime was eventually helped with mana.

When Hitori put his full concentration on the burning flame, he forgot about the magic screen. It was as if Hitori closed his eyes after closing his eyes.

The magic screen was not in his vision after he closed his eyes for the second time. Hitori continued transferring his mana. In this process, two whole minutes had passed.