Tristan had never expected to prefer some types of stone to others when it came to being kicked through a building. Wood was still better, the brick walls were nice and segmented. They were feather soft compared to the ground’s fortifications. His back hit a table, the round wooden piece of furniture arresting what remained of his momentum.

Several ribs were cracked, but that was a short fix if he survived. The rest of the wall exploded as the ent rumbled through. The entire building creaked precariously as one of its load bearing walls had a giant hole torn into it. Tristan rolled backward over the table and cut the back two legs out after landing.

The ent was smart enough to recognize the tripping hazard for what it was but was unable to stop. So it jumped like it was leaping over a hurdle. Tristan sighed, running trees, jumping trees, talking trees. The only thing tree like about them was the lack of a soul.

Landing as gracelessly as one of the tortoises, the ent crushed two tables and had to brace itself on the far wall to stop. This wall separated the dining room from the kitchen and was not designed to stop a giant tree monster. The building was only standing because it was partially built into the ceiling of this floor.

Tristan knew he had to take every opening he was given, so he drove Vulcan into the axe blade that was still in the ent’s knee. Unfortunately, he was not quite able to remove the leg. The ent spun, swinging a back fist around to take off Tristan’s head. For once the height difference worked in Tristan’s favor as the bark covered knuckles passed just above him.

He went to swing Vulcan once more. This would take the leg off completely. The ent grabbed the nearest object and swung it at Tristan in an attempt to keep its leg. He had experienced getting hit by many things. A cooking stove was a new one.

It was made of metal and that gave Tristan the split second he needed to cross his arms before himself. He just had to hope reinforced absorption with a sprinkling of adamance would be enough to take the caste iron box. Then he got launched backward like a ball kicked by a child. Stars danced in his vision as the oven smashed his own knuckles into his face.

His arms burned. Looking down he saw them glowing dully and smoking slightly as the energy of the strike was released as heat. To his amazement, there was no damage to his arms. Well, he would never need gauntlets again. He had just taken a blow from a being at least two tiers higher and the only injury he had taken was self inflicted.

Blood ran down his forehead and into his eyes from where his knuckles had split it. Blindness could be lethal, so he used a quick application of architect alloy to staunch the bleeding. He was outside again, the stove was beside him and the adamance wall was to his back. Not the best spot to fight the ent.

Looking back towards the building, he watched as the ent tore the axe blade out of its knee. A cut as thin as physics would allow was also the easiest kind to heal. Between one step and the next the leg was completely healed. Its arm was also regrowing at a visible speed. All the foliage was gone, but if it was anything like the spriggons, that was just a storage force growth force. It would now need to tap into its natural storage of growth force if it wanted to heal.

It picked up Vulcan and glared at Tristan. He was hurt, his kern was being used to keep wounds from worsening, and he was tired. Tristan looked around for something he could use. His hammer had shrunk down to the size of a sledgehammer, but it had done nothing. He could use some of Vulcan’s fire, but this ent had shown itself able to defend against that with tough, expendable bark.

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His eyes fell on the stove. An idea sparked and Tristan grinned. It was the kind of thing that would let him win or die like a fool.

The ent raised Vulcan and pointed the flame at Tristan, “You die and servir al canopy.”

Tristan raised his eyebrows, “You are almost speaking people. I got you die, then you kind of lost me.”

It pushed its way through the wall. The building finally gave up and collapsed in on itself. Some of the walls clung to the ceiling like jagged teeth. Tristan frowned as the ent waited, letting the building fall behind him.

A wave of dust spread out, obscuring the ent from view. Normally the tree man would have been completely invisible, but as it was holding Vulcan he could still find it. Tristan backed up to the wall and then slid to the side. The ent changed directions to approach him. So the ent could sense him somehow. He remembered how his growth force had reacted strangely in the Colosseum.

He cursed, the monster had growth sense. That was overpowered. It would be able to see everything in its vicinity that was growing, something that living creatures did on a constant basis. Still, he only needed to know where it was for his idea to work.

“Come on!” Tristan yelled, “You scared of me! Do you need to hide!”

There was a thump, and the dust roiled. Tristan was expecting a charge, but Vulcan was catapulted upwards. The ent was aware of its shortcomings in the stealth department. So it jumped, moving silently through the air to land on Tristan’s position. If the ent had not been holding Vulcan this would have worked.

However, Tristan could use this. The ent could no longer change its course as it fell like a wooden meteorite. Tristan smiled summoning Vulcan and planting the flaming head of the lamp post into the dirt. The ent could not see the artifact, but it could guess what Tristan had just done. However, There was nothing it could do.

Tristan dove out of the way at the last moment, letting the ent impale itself on the lamppost’s shaft. It went through one leg and up into its lower torso. A harmless strike. The ent would walk it off in a few moments.

“Vulcan,” Tristan said, “Please use combustion on any material touching you.”

Vulcan sighed, “The things I do to get home.”

Then the ent lit on fire. Maybe the wood was not flammable. Combustion bypassed that issue, and with a good foot of metal inside the ent’s chest the fire essence was especially destructive. Water within the tree expanded violently, blowing apart large chunks of its body. The ent staggered back and reached down to grab the lamp post.

Tristan watched in shock as it tore the makeshift spear out of its body. Both hands were on fire, but that did not seem to matter. It simply disconnected the appendages like a lizard detaching its tale. A large portion of its abdomen fell to the ground, and the burning leg fell off. So much for lighting a fire inside it.

The ent hopped away from the fire on its remaining leg, it yelled something that sounded like a tree being torn in half. Tristan scowled, he couldn’t let the backup save this monster. He rushed in and shoulder checked the ent. Without both arms, a leg, and a quarter of its chest Tristan outweighed the ent. They fell to the ground, calling what followed grappling would be generous.

Tristan shoved his hand into the cavity occupying the ents torso, “You die today.”

He did not have much essence left, but it was enough. Using decay, he softened the wooden flesh and scooped it out. There was the patter of feet trying to find them, but the sensory range of a low tier spriggon was small. Tristan was just glad that only a few dozen had entered with the two ents. They had a huge city to search and Tristan could be hiding anywhere.

Another handful of gooey wood, then something different. It was spongey and lumpy. Tristan tore it out. The ent seized and went still, its cry for help silenced. Tristan stared at what he had removed. It was spherical and had a honeycomb support structure. It appeared to be partially filled with a liquid, though nothing dripped out.

“Keep that,” Vulcan’s voice startled Tristan but also stopped him from crushing the heart. He would not be surprised if a new ent could be regrown from this.

Tristan didn’t have time to ask questions, as he had a slowly cracking kern and a large number of spriggons following the ents last call to his location. He needed to get somewhere safe before his kern completely failed and stopped supporting his architect alloy. He backed to the edge and moved along it back towards the fort.

The spriggon missed him in their search for their boss. Tristan limped his way through the traps, thankful he knew where they were. When he got to the vault he removed the keys and closed the door behind him.