But once the abominations were close enough the trees on the edge of the grove uprooted themselves and walloped them. All of the abominations were launched backwards as the tree's branches slammed into them.
Rooaar.
Standing up they roared at the offensive trees and moved to attack again. Meanwhile the knights moved forward to support the abominations.
This assault didn't make sense to Chronos, no matter how much they attacked the grove they wouldn't be able to break in with every spare tree attacking them.
Holy groves were protected by the power of a god or the world, giving every grove a different power to defend itself with. Unless you could counter the grove's power attacking it was no different from attacking a fortress or worse.
This holy grove was blessed by the blue dragon goddess whose divine power embodied growth and had made it her divine responsibility to protect children wherever possible. She wasn't the main five-headed dragon god of the dragon church, but she was a part of the same pantheon as a mid-tier god.
The grove also had the power of a swamp hag imbued into it which turned the trees into guardians. So, if anything attacked the grove the blue dragon's power would wake up the guardians and cause all sorts of other effects in its surroundings.
Like how the plants around the outer edge of the grove were rapidly growing now to block out the knights.
It looked like everything was going fine for the grove then the black robed priests chanted a particularly loud word in an unknown language that grated on Chronos's ears. A black beam came out of the ritual circle and slammed into the plants causing them to begin withering.
"That's not good! Even the trees are being affected, I need to attack now." With that thought Chronos rushed forward while wielding his axes.
He thought he had taken them by surprise but the twin sword knight suddenly reversed directions charging straight at him.
Clang!
"I knew someone was following us. Good to see you again wolf." He said with a big smile.
"You again? This time I'll be sure to remember your scent; you won't escape my hunt again." Chronos snarled in his werewolf form.
The knight was covered in armor from neck to toe and had a hood drawn low over his head. His face was covered by a mask that hid the upper part of his face.
Memorizing what little he could see of his appearance and scent Chronos began rapidly clashing against the knight forcing him backwards multiple times. Despite Chronos' greater strength he shockingly realized that he was slower than the knight.
Still killing the knight right now wasn't his goal. The knight was dangerous, but that ritual had to be stopped, or the other knights and abominations would get inside of the grove. And that was unacceptable.
Pushing his opponent back again and again Chronos got close enough to the black robed priests to attack them, but the knight doubled his speed forcing Chronos to focus on defense.
During all of this Chornos's smile grew bigger and bigger, the knight's smile however slowly turned into a scowl.
"Why are you so happy, wolf?"
"It's the first time someone my age has managed to keep up with me. How can I not be happy with that?" Chronos said
The knight twitched, "What makes you think I'm your age?"
They changed positions as they talked, each one looking for a gap in the other's movements.
"Your smell. Sniff. Sniff. You smell like you're only 20, maybe a bit younger or older than that." Chronos smiled as the knight cursed, confirming his suspicions.
"You werewolves are such a pain to deal with."
"Hahahaha, my apologies but as fun as this is I have to end it now. That ritual looks like it's preparing something bad."
The ritual was gathering red light as the voices of the black robed priests started shouting. If they completed it there was no doubt in Chronos' mind that the grove would be severely damaged.
"Well, I'm afraid you have to stay here, I can't let you interfere in my job."
Chronos just smiled before taking a deep breath and then... [Roar] echoed around them pushing the knight and the rain away from Chronos. The priests were also knocked over as his roar sent out a wall of force in their direction.
Throwing his axes Chronos killed the leader and one of the others before they could stand up the other two however stood up and stabilized the ritual's effect on the grove, but the gathering red light dissipated before they could stop it.
Sensing danger coming from behind him Chronos cast [Isolate: Shield] just in time to block one of the knight's swords. Taking out his war sword he parried the second then the two of them were engaged in their dance of death once again.
"Curse you, luckily you didn't completely stop the ritual." He growled.
Glancing at the grove Chronos saw something that made him smirk, "But can your knights fight uncontrolled abominations?"
The knight's eyes widened as he realized that without the head priest at least two of the abominations would run wild.
"Aaaah!"
Out of the corner of his eye the knight watched as one of the others was ripped in two by a rogue abomination before he could be warned about them.
The other knights now had to fight guardian trees, and rogue abominations up close while dodging thrown weapons from Gregory and spears from Gorvak.
"Where did Gorvak get the spears?" Chronos thought as he deflected another blow.
Looking at his shield he could tell it wouldn't last much longer, casting another one in this high-speed battle was going to be difficult. Seeing him try to make space the knight pressed his attack.
"I won't let you cast again, even if the mission fails, you'll suffer today." The knight said with a vicious gleam in his eyes.
Chronos couldn't make distance for casting, nor could he keep fighting like this or he really would suffer. He needed to find a way to break this deadlock but every time he tried the knight would use his speed to interrupt his attempt.
Even using his [Bone-reading Touch] and [Spatial Awareness] together, which let him map the knight's muscle movements and even follow his aura precisely from a distance, didn't help. He could see what was coming but he couldn't keep up; the knight was just too fast.
"Are you faster than the last time we fought? You feel faster." Chronos asked.
"Hmph, I worked hard to avoid being in the same situation as before. It didn't feel great to be pressured on the losing side." The knight said as a smile slowly crossed his face.
"You know I think this is the first time anyone has managed to shut me down so effectively. Even my aunt can't press me this hard at the same rank." Chronos said with a smile.
Despite being on the defensive, he was greatly enjoying this battle.
"Hmph, speed is king in close combat for a reason." He proudly said.
"Is that so? Then let's see how you handle this."
Booom!
Chronos's fist struck the ground with his full strength and an [Impact] throwing dirt and rocks into the air.
The knight was forced back as the rocks flew at him, "Tch, what is up with that absurd strength of yours?"
"Hahaha, I've got to have something to survive my bloodline. If my body gives out, I might actually die." He said as his grin grew larger.
The knight got the distinct feeling that this wolf actually enjoyed having his life on the line.
He was about to engage him again when he heard another scream coming from his knights. Glancing over he saw that half of them were dead with the rest injured and a couple of abominations were dead while one more was running wild.
Sighing he made a drastic call, "We're retreating. Everyone fall back!" He shouted.
The priests immediately gave up on the ritual, one of the abominations ran back picking them up and rushing towards the wasteland while the remaining two went wild. The knights began to retreat as the tree guardians engaged the rampaging abominations.
The knights barely avoided getting trapped as the swamp hag cast a spell causing a small bog to appear and dropping both abominations inside of it.
"Are you sure you can make that call?"
"If I don't, all of us will die. Until next time, wolf." With a small mocking salute he turned and ran before Chronos could catch him.
"Geez, that speed of his really is absurd." Chronos complained as the knight was already crossing the second hill from him after just a couple of seconds. "Hah, well two left to deal with."
Chronos turned to the abominations who were mud wrestling with the tree guardians right now. Walking towards them he picked up his axes while waiting for an opportunity to strike.