Reincarnated as a Dryad: Reclaiming the World from Humans

----Another short flashback

A few minutes before Sylvan and Erian reincarnated, on top of one of the giant branches of the Tree of Life, Cinder was standing on the edge. Wind was blowing in her face. Birds were chirping. The smell of bark made her feel at home.

Cinder took a deep breath and smiled.

"I won't be able to see you for a while, won't I?" a little girl said from behind her.

The woman turned around to look at her friend.

"Yeah... that's right."

"Do you have to leave?"

Cinder nodded.

The two stared at each other. One of them felt melancholic, the other felt a hint of guilt.

"There's a whole world out there," she said as she looked down from the branch, "I can't stay cooped up in here forever."

"I guess so..." the young girl trailed off and then she hugged Cinder.

"Come back alive okay?" she said.

Cinder chuckled.

"I promise."

The two released their embrace.

Cinder stood at the edge of the branch again. She looked back at what she was leaving behind, her future was set in stone but Cinder wanted adventure.

She jumped off.

Her body free-fell through the air, hurtling towards the clouds below her. The wind lifting her orange hair up. She could feel the coolness of the air brushing against her skin as she plummeted through the sky.

She smiled as she kept falling. One minute turned into 10 minute, then into an hour. And finally, she wasn't in the clouds anymore. The Forest was visible to her eyes now. It was still very far down and she had a lot more distance to fall through.

Cinder closed her eyes and channeled mana through her body. Her skin glowed orange. Her eyes turned into slits. Her body morphed into a phoenix. A fire bird with crimson red feathers.

She felt the wind beneath her wings now. She spread her wings wide open and started flapping them.

A giant creature passed by, it looked like a whale but it was flying. Cinder had seen it many times before, it ate falling leaves from the Tree of Life.

Its level was low but she knew it was strong, from the stories. She wanted to fight it. A small part of her did at least.

But she had to resist the urge.

"It's a sacred beast. I can't just kill it," Cinder said and flew past it. She kept flying downwards until she saw the forest beneath her.

The sun was almost setting in the distance. The sky had already started turning red and orange. Her father had told her at night, creature of shadows would roam around freely. He called them Night Stalkers, powerful creatures.

Cinder burst out laughing. Her father was obviously lying to her. To him, everything was weak—well maybe except that woman.

She looked to the east in the direction of Sylvan, further past that was the ocean. In between them was the Larze Province.

"The empress..." she muttered softly.

"I want to fight her," she smiled crazily.

She was flying towards the province until she sensed something.

"Shadow magic." Cinder stopped mid-flight and turned her body towards the location of the night stalker below in the forest.

"Let's see how tough you are."

She had a feral smile on her face as she dove straight down towards the forest.

----

The world was dizzy, Sylvan was being choked by his own shadow. He could feel his heart slowing down. It was getting harder to breathe. His vision blurred and he saw the night stalker in front of him.

A boom came from above. A flaming bird was flying towards them. It was descending quickly, its wings spread wide. Slamming straight into the Night stalker's body and crushing it beneath her.

Sylvan's eyes widened as he watched the creature burn alive under the fiery bird's feet.

He coughed, trying to get his breath and muttered, "One hit."

The tentacles were gone; he was no longer being choked.

The giant spider writhed in pain on the ground, flames licking its carapace. The flames burned so hot they turned white. The smell of burnt spider flesh hung heavy in the air. It smelled like someone was burning trash. The spider's legs curled up in a deathly manner as it let out one last high-pitched shriek.

"Weak," the bird muttered and turned towards Sylvan.

He felt like prey.

A shadow flickered next to him and then Nyx was there.

"Run."

It was a command.

She didn't wait for Sylvan's reply. She grabbed him by his collar and ran with him through the forest. Her foot pressed down against the forest floor with each step, launching herself forward with incredible speed.

Sylvan's head bobbed left and right, making him nauseus.

Behind them they could both hear the sound of wings flapping, getting louder as the bird creature pursued them through the trees and bushes that whipped past them. It landed in front of them. Nyx tried to change directions but flame pillars encircled them.

The heat made Sylvan sweat.

"Fuck," Nyx muttered as the fire bird morphed into a woman.

She had long orange hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a fiery river.

Sylvan was actually happy by this change. It meant the creature was intelligent right? He could convince it to let them go. He didn't want to be burned to death. Or maybe she'd agree to train him.

He opened his status.

─ NAME: ???

─ AFFINITY: PURE FIRE

─ LEVEL: ???

─ SKILLS: ??? (Level higher than Appraiser)

"Pure fire," the words left his lips without thinking.

Cinder grinned, " Sylvan the dryad." She looked at Nyx. "Shadow siren..."

Nyx stepped forward and stood defensively in front of Sylvan. She was trying to figure out how to escape from this situation. Shadow magic is perfect for escaping but its weak to fire. Not to mention pure fire.

"What do you want?" Nyx asked, her voice low as if she was speaking to a predator.

Cinder pointed to Sylvan.

"I want to fight you."

Sylvan gulped. A chill went down his spine as he saw the grin on her face.

"Why?" Nyx interjected.

Cinder tilted her head.

"Because I've never seen a dryad before let alone fight them."

Nyx was about to reply but Sylvan moved forward.

"I'll fight you."

Cinder smirked "Perfect."

"Are you crazy?" Nyx muttered, "She's a phoenix."

He didn't reply and summoned two vines from both hands. The flame pillar barrier prevented escape. It was the only choice.

"Great!" Cinder said excitedly. Flames engulfed her entire body. Her orange hair ignited into a blaze of red.

Sylvan felt the heat increase even more. He could barely breathe.

'I'm stupid. I'm stupid,' Sylvan thought.

Cinder dashed forward. She was quick, too quick. Sylvan barely had time to react as she appeared before him and a fire engulfed hand hit him in the stomach, tearing a hole through his abdomen.

Green blood spurted out from his mouth. Sylvan collapsed onto the ground, clutching at his gaping wound. The fire still burned around the edges of the wound. It was more painful than the wolf bite. The fire ate at his skin and muscle, burning them away. He tried to crawl away but couldn't find the strength.

Nyx stood frozen, unable to do anything. Against the adventurers she had a chance of winning but this was a phoenix. They were one of the strongest species in the world. Her eyes widened when she saw what Cinder did next.

Cinder bent down and grabbed Sylvan's head.

"Ash to flesh, ember to vein," she said and pressed her hand on his stomach, burning it closed.

Sylvan felt the pain and then he felt relief. Cinder had healed him using pure fire. A warm sensation filled his entire body.

He coughed, "Why'd you heal me?"

"It's your turn," she smiled and made a come here gesture.

Sylvan gritted his teeth as he got up and used his vine spell. It burned before touching her.

"My turn again!" she dashed forward and punched him in the shoulder.

He fell to the ground, green blood pouring out.

Cinder's flames sealed his wounds shut.

"Your turn!"

Nyx was quiet the whole time. She watched Sylvan struggle with the phoenix, over and over again. His vines were too slow, they'd be burned to ashes before reaching her. He couldn't even put his hand on her body or it would burn.

Sylvan's mind raced as he tried to think of something that would work.

'Treeify?' No. Too high level.'

'Vines? No. Too low level.'

The cycle continued. Cinder hit him, she healed him, then Sylvan hit back, well tried to.

Sylvan lay on his back, panting heavily, his body covered in sweat and blood. His mind was numb from the pain. He could barely lift his arm anymore.

He looked at Nyx who was just watching. He didn't blame her, it's not her fight.

He closed his eyes, he wanted Erian back so much. He wanted to eat burgers and pizza again.

"Kill me," Sylvan whispered.

"What?" Cinder asked.

"I can't beat you."

She frowned and punched a hole through his chest.

Green blood poured out of the wound like a waterfall. Sylvan coughed, splattering more blood onto his legs. This time she didn't heal him. The fire kept burning him.

Sylvan was dying. This time it was painless. He only felt the world fade away. He hoped for a different god.

"Please heal him, I beg you," Nyx finally spoke. Her blue eyes looked at Cinder with sadness as she stepped closer to her.

Cinder stopped smiling.

"He wanted to die," she said.

"He's grieving."

The flames around them died out. Cinder stood there for a moment, staring at the corpse of the dryad she had just killed. His face was gone, only a scorched skull remained.

"Tch. Fine, I'll bring him back," Cinder muttered, irritated.

She walked over to Sylvan's lifeless body and knelt beside him. Her eyes widened when she noticed something strange about his body. It was slowly repairing itself, the skin knitting back together and regaining its color. A brown root sprouted from the ground and merged with his body.

The hole in Sylvan's chest healed completely and his eyelids opened.

"Huh?"

He sat up, looking around at the two women staring at him.

Cinder stuttered, "Did you stop my fire magic somehow? That's not possible, pure fire should be able to burn through anything!"

Nyx just watched quietly. A small smile appeared on her face before she turned stone cold again.

─SKILL LEVEL UP!: Treeify (Lvl 3)