The Sacred Forest II

"You're so smart." I praised Fredella's intelligence.

Chrono smiled excitedly as he followed me, "Cih! I can't wait to punch that creature again."

Fredella's lips immediately curved, "Haha, the last time you fought him you got trampled by him. How embarrassing."

"Not this time." Chrono denied.

We walked up the spiral stairs to the door of the ruins above.

The ruins were circular with a half-circle roof. Supporting pillars stood to support each circular floor that became the boundary of the ruins.

I stared at the star carvings that decorated the ruins. Many blue crystal ornaments were broken in the ruins.

"Wait did you just asked about this ruins? Did you don't know about the fact that all Asteria people know?! Are you an atheist for not believing the gods." Chrono suddenly looked at me mockingly.

I shook my head. Fredella and Clarice were also confused looking at me.

"W-why?" I asked, not understanding.

"You don't know there are gods in this world?" Clarice asked.

I shook my head.

"Seriously?" Chrono replied in confusion.

I didn't have time to reply to their words, we finally arrived at the first floor of the ruins. I walked towards the circular balcony wall in the ruins.

The upstairs was the same. In front of us was an empty room that connected from the lower floor to the upper floor.

There was a giant tree in the middle of the room with blue leaves and a giant statue standing in front of it.

The cracked statue sat while scattering flowers with its hands.

The sunlight shone through the roof of the collapsed ruins that had holes in it. Creating an image that the statue was a very majestic figure.

"Finally we're here." Fredella stared at the statue.

I was still fixated on the statue.

"Is that the statue of the Goddess of Life you guys were talking about?" I asked again.

"Yes. Beautiful and looks very gentle, right? That's Felicia." Fredella answered with a smile.

I felt a little familiar with the figure of the statue in front of me, "This statue feels a little familiar.."

"Eh why?" Fredella turned to me.

"If I'm not mistaken... Oh yeah, she-" I remembered the figure of the woman who cupped her face to me right before I reincarnated.

"Let's go downstairs." I suddenly invited her to start going down the stairs that connected the balcony to the lower floor.

"Awaii-..wait! If you go down. This ruin monster can be active.." Clarice reminded.

Chrono quickly jumped after me, "Let's go!"

"Hey you two." Clarice called worriedly.

"Are you scared?" Fredella asked while laughing.

"Of course. That creature is very strong. Last time we almost lost."

"It's okay, we can definitely defeat it." Fredella replied while also going down the stairs.

Clarice stared in fear before finally going down.

I looked at my feet that were stepping on the ground floor of the ruins. This floor was like a glass floor with a reflection of the watery night sky.

There was a circle in the shape of Gold that circled the statue in front of us that was plated in gold like a planet's orbit.

There were many golden prism star-shaped relics that shone that filled the ground floor.

I also stepped on the floor beneath me. Which when I stepped on it looked like water that was being stepped on. However, there was no splash that could wet us. As if it was just a hologram.

"Cool!" I said in awe.

Before I could finish my explanation, suddenly a splash of water appeared that formed a spiral current around us.

The current slowly turned into a giant octopus monster that was raging.

"Come on!" Chrono shouted excitedly.

Fredella suddenly taking out her grimoire.

The four of us gasped. I stared at the giant monster that was right in front of me. The monster then stood above us.

Water suddenly appeared in a spiral direction from the side of the ruins. And the monster spun around before turning into a woman with a cracked body. She opened her eyes and pulled out her hand towards us.

"Huh? What happened. Why didn't it attack with it's tentacles." Fredella exclaimed.

Something strange suddenly happened to my body. The purple crystals on the flower statue lit up and resonated with my body. And my eyes,lights up like the crystals on the statue.

The water around us closed the air and suddenly the arena where we were fighting turned into a domain.

My three friends immediately looked at me in surprise,

"Awaii, who are you?" asked Fredella with surprise.

We looked at the view of the domain around us. A domain with the same floor as when we were in the ruins. The walls around the ruins were filled with water and there was no way out.

A blue-haired woman stood in front of us with a spear. Her appearance was a little strange. She was like a human with a body of water on his feet.

"That-the octopus monster from earlier?" Clarcice look at the woman who slowly opened her eyes and stared at me sharply.

"Finally, the day where I can meet you again has come. I am Hlyas Hydravollus Maharatlana Aeywalladja! The guardian of the temple in the legend of the Goddess of Life?" said the Hlyas

"Welcome back, Deus Auri." greeted the woman with the complicated name.

"Whos―Deus Auri? Me?" I stared in surprise.

I could feel her power so strong. Wait? What happened to her body? Her body cracked? But the cracks slowly disappeared.

The Hlyas then stretched his hand forward. A water energy gathered in his hand.

"Watch out!" I shouted.

I immediately shouted alertly, and pulled my three friends away.

SLASH! BUM!

The water slash came attacking us. We managed to avoid the first slash. But the second?!

"Urgh!" Clarice immediately freed herself and made a shield. Slam! The shield immediately broke. I immediately blocked the third slash with both of my hands.

Zrash! Blood immediately spurted from my hand and immediately the blood burned into a fire.

"Sorry Awaii!" From behind Fredella immediately appeared a giant rose stem and squeezed the woman.

The woman immediately shattered into pieces of water and rose again,

"What?" Fredella stared in surprise.

I stared in panic, "We can't hurt her."

Bum!! A ball then appeared behind us before exploding into pieces that attack us but luckily, Chrono saved us with her teleport.

"How do we defeat him?" Chrono ran back from behind. The Rubik's cube he had stored was immediately taken out. And immediately his hand turned into a rail gun.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He shot Hlyas, but he kept dodging. Fredella then opened her grimoire book while pointing her hand forward and saying a move, "The thorn of the sinner!"

A hole appeared around the domain and immediately shot giant rose thorns towards the woman.

Clashh.

The woman immediately created a water shield that surrounded herself. The rose thorns were instantly destroyed as soon as they touched the water that was spinning very fast.

I immediately thought hard. There was something strange about this domain. The statue resonated with me, so the way to defeat it must be me.

"Do any of you have weapons?" I asked quickly.

"Weapons? I have them." said Fredella while showing her grimoire book, "Choose, I keep them all here."

I didn't have time to choose and immediately put my hand into her grimoire and took out a claymore (great sword).

"Awaii? Can you fight?" Fredella asked.

"No, but I want to try something." I immediately lifted the very heavy Claymore and dashed forward.

The water vortex was getting bigger and sooner or later it would explode and kill the four of us.

"Chrono!" I shouted.

"What?"

"Keep shooting until her body is destroyed. We won't be able to attack her if she's still in the water body phase. At first her body was a normal human body!"

Chrono nodded and teleported right in front of the woman, "Phantom Echo Railgun!"

A giant railgun projection suddenly appeared behind Chrono and aimed right at the woman. And right before the water ball exploded, Chrono shouted, "Burst!"

Boom! The water ball instantly burst and the woman was thrown back. The energy effect from Chrono was so great that the water domain wall cracked and water started flowing in.

"No! Chrono you're overdoing it!" said Fredella.

"No, this is good." I immediately sped up and shouted, "Fredella, hold him!"

In less than a second, Hlyas was immediately wrapped in a giant rose stem and pulled towards me. I raised my claymore and immediately slashed the woman.

Prang!

The domain around us instantly faded. And the woman instantly disappeared. Before she could regenerating again I immediately broke the crystal on the statue.

"Argg!!" The monster screamed and its body cracked and shattered again before turning into a Claymore.

I gasped and stood back up. Staring as my friend who was also equally exhausted. I was about to walk, but suddenly my body collapsed.

"Awaii!" called Clarice and Fredella worriedly.

I gasp and ask, "Did we win?"