Chapter 34: Fighting the Forest Spirit

Vidar had grown a lot in the past few days. Not just in size but also intellectual. Instead of doing things compulsively now, he would think and act.

That was the reason why he wasn’t outright attacking the mysterious woman; he knew what his instinct meant when it gave red light about how powerful this woman was.

But before anything could be said or done, he heard a commotion, and a small thin dog came out from behind the woman and rushed toward him.

Vidar looked at the dog; at first he wasn’t sure where he had seen this dog but then he remembered it was the same dog he had seen in those memories of this Erik.

The dog was barely two feet away from him when it stopped. It kept looking at him for a few moments then it released a low growl at him and started to bark at him.

While Vidar didn’t understand what the dog was saying, his instinct understood it. The dog was asking him to leave.

A puny, sickly pup was asking him—Vidar—to leave the Forest. The same forest which belonged to him.

For the first time in the past few days, his primal instinct took over. Without thinking about anything, his left leg moved. It lifted itself and with full force came down with the intent to crush this little bitch under his foot.

He wanted to smash this stinky bitch to the forest floor.

All this was happening so fast that the dog hadn’t even moved from its position when the foot came down.

But before the foot could land on the dog’s small body, a thick tree root came out of the forest floor and raised itself in the path of Vidar’s attack.

His leg landed on the tree root; with a cracking sound, his foot broke the tree root, but that short delay was time enough for another root to come out, which was thicker than the first one. His leg got stuck halfway through that root.

A tree branch came from the side of the woman, wrapped itself around the small dog, picked it up and placed the dog beside the woman.

The dog started to wag its tail while looking at the woman; the woman looked at the dog and waved her hand. As if understanding the gesture of the woman the dog rushed inside the forest.

Vidar pulled his foot out of the tree root. He looked at the woman with impatience clear on his face.

The woman spoke in the same cold yet firm voice.

“So, you are a Spirit, and seeing whom you are protecting you two must have come from the same place.”

The woman looked at Tanha while speaking, who was still shocked and was looking at Vidar with clear confusion on her face.

Expressions of anger were gone at the woman’s declaration now replaced by curiosity. While he had given himself a name he wasn’t sure who he was. From where had he come from?

“Why do you think I am a Spirit and I have come from hell?”

He asked with genuine interest.

“Because that’s where you will be going soon!”

The woman spoke while raising her hand; his instinct was quick to warn him. He leapt a few feet back from his place, dodging a huge tree branch that landed on the forest floor where he was standing.

He looked at Tanha who was in his hands; most of her wounds had healed already. He placed her down; she was still having trouble standing properly.

He looked at the woman. Her face was devoid of any expression; she was looking at him without any fear of retaliation from him.

His instinct was blaring red since he came here but now there wasn’t any backing down for him.

He rushed at the woman; a tree branch came to collide with him but he dodged it. A tree root came out of the forest floor but he had already jumped over it.

In a moment or two, he was standing before the mysterious woman and his fist was about to land on her face but a thick tree trunk came between his fist and the woman’s face.

The tree trunk was as thick as his upper body but a huge chunk of it was blown away from the impact of his fist.

His other hand moved fast to land a fist on her upper body but a tree root came out of the forest floor to bear his attack.

He moved his right leg to hit her from the side but a tree branch came down to foil his assault.

He was getting frustrated, which was the reason he failed to dodge when the woman’s fist landed on his chest.

His body was flung backwards for a few feet and collided with a huge tree, which came down due to the impact.

Breath came out of his mouth when her fist landed on his upper body. He could feel how bruised his chest had become from the attack and it was a painful experience for him.

He felt a bit dizzy while trying to get up. His breathing pattern had changed and he could still feel pain in his chest.

Just a few nights ago he had taken a direct impact from an assault vehicle and hadn’t even budged from his place but the attack of this woman had not only just flung him aside, but had also hurt him.

“The human body is not strong but you must be a powerful Spirit if you could strengthen the body to such an extent.”

The woman spoke while looking at him like he was some kind of test subject.

Vidar slowly got up while using the fallen tree as support; he looked at the woman who was still standing there calmly.

He took hold of the same tree lifted it off the ground and swung it with intent to hit the woman; she was quick and jumped a few feet back like a skilled acrobat.

Once the tree passed her previous position, she rushed forward with the intent to attack him but before she could reach him, he gave the tree a reverse swing. She was quick to jump over the swinging tree and ended up right in front of him.

Again, she attacked with her fist, which landed on the tree trunk that he was holding; the force of the attack was such that he was flung back a few meters along with the tree that he was holding.

The attack made him feel dizzy again but still, he was fast enough to dodge a fist that was about to land on his face. He had already let go of the fallen tree so he retaliated with a kick but the woman dodged it by jumping back.

Again, he rushed forward and started to attack her with his fists and kicks, but she just kept dodging his every attack skilfully.