For the next few days, Dimos kept his eye on the dread saplings progress while Shiro and the dryad searched underground for some of its roots so that they could also keep a track on its progress.

During this time, a few of the reinforcements that Dimos had called over arrived surprisingly early and they included people that have completed at least one divinity. A few of them already had two completed.

The strongest warrior that he had invited was called Lena and she had completed two of the strongest divinities available. Divinity of War obtained from the tower of Ares and the Divinity of Weapons obtained from the tower of Perseus.

She was a 'delicate' looking woman similar to Shiro as her stature was a little small. However, despite her small stature, her muscles were brimming with power. Each swing of her sword could cleave a portion of the land apart.

Lena had long black hair and a set of menacing crimson eyes that seemed to radiate with malice. Wearing a set of silver armour that was finely carved with small details such as wings on the plate.

Watching from the top of the crater, Shiro was extremely impressed with her utilisation of Perseus' Divinity. It was similar to her when she would create and disassemble weapons in the midst of combat to give herself the upper hand.

When the enemy is a bit too far from her, she would switch her weapon to a spear for that extra reach. And if they closed the gap in order to take advantage of the spear's weakness, she'll switch to either a dagger of a short sword.

Normally, Shiro would have wanted to fight against someone like her seriously as their fighting style was rather similar but unfortunately, she was too weak right now and the moment she tried to fight against her seriously, she'd get her ass kicked in the end.

Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro figured that she can probably ask for a small spar with her bow.

However, due to the fact that she was resting in the town, Shiro couldn't meet her. The moment she entered the town, she would begin to breathe in the corruption emitted by the dread sapling and that was not what she wanted.

In the end, she had Dimos send a message to Lena for her.

Waiting at the top of the crater, she saw the black haired woman approach with an angry glare however Shiro couldn't detect any malic in her which was extremely strange.

"You called for me?" She asked while standing in front of Shiro.

"Yup. I was just wondering if we can have a quick spar or something along those lines. I don't have any divinities but after seeing your fighting style, I couldn't help but want to practice with you. If you don't mind of course." Shiro smiled.

Even though Lena was glaring at her, there wasn't any true anger in her eyes so Shiro dismissed it for now. Of course, once Shiro detected anger, then she won't be as courteous.

"Are you sure? Normally people don't want to spar with me since my fighting style is annoying to go against." Lena asked with slight traces of confusion.

"Don't worry. I won't complain as it is something I requested. However, due to some special circ.u.mstances, I cannot enter the town. If you don't mind, we'll be fighting around here. Ah also, try not to damage the forest." Shiro chuckled.

"Sure what weapon do you use?" Lena asked with a nod.

"I use the bow, daggers and a short sword." Shiro smiled while patting her belt of weapons on her waist.

"Where's your bow?"

"Here." Flicking her wrist, Shiro summoned Artemis' bow.

Surprised at the fact that Shiro had a bow blessed by the gods, Lena couldn't help but nod her head in appreciation.

"How should we do this? One hit victory or do you want to do more than just one hit?" Lena asked. They didn't need to worry about their injuries since there was someone with the Divinity of Healing received from the tower of Asclepius. Any minor wound they receive will be healed instantly.

"Let's go with three hits." Shiro suggested as Lena nodded her head.

Making some distance between them, Shiro stretched her body lightly and brought out her bow.

As they weren't allowed to go into the forest, her possibilities with the bow were a little restrained but she wasn't too worried since her close quarters combat was decent as well. Especially since she had received some training from her parents.

However, she could not deny the obvious physical difference between her and Lena so she had to be careful.

Since people discover their potential the more danger they were in, this was a good chance for Shiro to improve due to her lack of power at this moment.

"I'll let you take the first attack." Lena said while summoning a spear. Entering a stance, her fighting aura caused Shiro to grin.

Similar to when she was fighting against a Terca when she was extremely malnourished, a single bad move could end things for her.

'Show me what you got.' Shiro thought and pulled back on her bowstring.

Summoning an Arrow, Shiro fired without hesitation and dashed towards Lena straight away.

Surprised at the fact that Shiro immediately gave up her ranged advantage, Lena parried the arrow to the side with her spear and wanted to switch to the long sword.

However, the power of the arrow was much bigger than what she had expected from a person without divinity.

This gap in her defences was exactly what Shiro was looking for. Grabbing a dagger, she lunged towards Lena.

Quickly summoning her sword, Lena wanted to parry Shiro's dagger but before her sword could block the dagger, Shiro retracted her hand.

Pivoting on her right foot, Shiro brought both of Lena's arms down with her left leg, breaking open her guard in the process.

Shocked by this sudden movement, Lena made eye contact with Shiro and couldn't help but feel a shiver down her spine.

Trusting her instincts, she summoned a shield from her armoury.

*CLANK!!!

Blocking a dagger strike just in time, Lena dismissed the shield and reached out to Shiro.

Grabbing her ankles, Lena spun her body and flung Shiro into the air. Summoning a spear, Lena threw it towards her shoulder with a moderate amount of power. Not enough so that it'll completely tear her arm off but just enough so that it'll penetrate into her flesh.

Using the body of her bow to block the spear, Shiro gritted her teeth from the force that was transmitted through her body.

However, she did indeed succeed in blocking the attack. Quickly grabbing the spear, Shiro landed on the ground.

"I'll take it back now." Lena summoned the spear next to her.

"I'm surprised. You were able to keep up despite not having a single divinity." She smiled softly. But when paired with her glare, it looked as though she was mocking her opponent even though Shiro knew otherwise.

"I'll be honest, I was sure that my dagger would have struck you. Your reactions are impressive." Shiro chuckled. She had made sure to completely divert Lena's attention before her strike so that the dagger would hit but even after diverting her attention, the moment Lena felt danger, she was able to summon a shield just in time.

"Should we continue?" Lena asked with a smile.

"Of course."

Continuing their spar for a little longer, it took longer than what Lena had expected to determine a winner since Shiro was able to barely dodge some of her attacks. However, in the end, the difference in physical prowess was what allowed Lena to obtain Victory.

"Thank you, I was able to learn a lot from this spar. May I know your name?" Lena asked.

"It's Shiro. You want to spar some more occasionally while we wait for everyone else to arrive?" Shiro offered.

"That would be great." Lena nodded her head enthusiastically.

"So just a question from me but what's up with your glare? I couldn't detect anger from you so I know you're not always angry." Shiro asked as she was rather curious about her glare.

"Well… it's something that I've grown up with. My mum also has this glare but my brother doesn't so I'm guessing it's something that is common with the females in my family." Lena explained while scratching her hair.

"Ah I see… It must have been tough then." Shiro nodded her head.

"I've gotten used to it now and so have the people around me." Lena chuckled.

Hearing this, Shiro was happy for Lena.

The two would spar occasionally in the following days while more and more warriors arrived at the town. Soon, everyone was here and it was time to deal with the dread sapling.

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