Captain Tash:
"ANYONE WOUNDED?! REPORT!"
Tash carved the walking trees with her claws, laced with electric Saniya. While she needed to conserve her energy reserves, a small amount was enough to separate its branches and limit their offensive options. However, the manipulated, towering plants advanced at her with the violent intent of a raging bull, propelled by their slithering roots, cracking the ground with their graceless yet destructive steps.
"I AIN'T DYING ANYTIME SOON, NOR WILL THE BOY!" Tarb flared his white aura, curling into a ball while Locci swung his arm to throw him like a bowling ball! The combined potency of the two Wolves was enough to shatter one tree's bark into a pile of splinters.
"ME AND SIS ARE STILL IN THE GAME, CAP!" Euraidd shouted as he conjured a gigantic torrent of water out of his mouth that swirled around three conifers and trapped them in a massive, circular, watery cage. With a gentle tap of Hufen's staff, it solidified into a mesmerizing block of ice, the chilling vapor it radiated dropping the temperature significantly.
Tash sighed with relief as she prepared herself to confront another wooden puppet. Before her claws clashed against its twisting, razor-sharp branches, a beam of light cut through its thick bark, separating its upper and lower body.
As the mighty plant's halves fell in different directions, the not-so-welcome visage of The Silver Knight, triumphally doing his signature pose, cursed the captain's eyes.
"Mere puppets of evil are not enough to harm the shining sun of Sayama, The Silver Knight!"
Tash couldn't roll her eyes enough. "YOU COULD'VE JUST SAID YOU WERE FINE!" Geez, screaming as a form of communication was a pain in her tail. Wait a minute, he wasn't hearing anything, was he?! Argh! She had forgotten about the dial on his helmet...
Well, he knew how to read her facial expressions, at least. "SORRY FOR STEALING YOUR PREY, MY DEAR CAPTAIN!" The Human raised his index finger while placing a hand on his hip. "BUT! THIS HERO DOES NOT WASTE THE OPPORTUNITY OF DOING HIS JOB MOST DAZZLINGLY!"
Before she could groan with frustration, a rustling sound on Tash's right made her ears perk up and her body spin in its direction. Sure enough, her concerns were validated by the disappearance of the hairy cocoon.
"Shit!" She snarled, turning to her subordinates. "EVERYONE! EYES, EARS, AND NOSES PEELED!"
The thick roots of a second set of waking trees further ruined the earth. However, this new batch shook violently as their fallen brethren were torn apart and united into the newborn puppets. Their bark stretched and coiled around them, fortifying their bodies like an extra layer of muscles. Their branches thickened, the tips shaping into talons fit for an apex predator. Their leaves were lost, left dejected on the ground as a gaping hole formed on each tree trunk, accompanied by a set of large, sharp splinters acting as teeth.
"NEW CHALLENGERS HAVE ARRIVED?!" The Knight took on his fighting stance. "COME AND FACE ME, YOU-"
"NO!" Tash hold a paw on his chest. "BETTER PLAN! YOU CAN USE YOUR SPEED TO HUNT THE BARD WHILE WE KEEP HIS PAWNS BUSY!"
In a moment of foolishness, she remembered his condition after a few seconds of him staring at her, motionless.
"Oops!" He laughed shyly. "Let me adjust this..." He slightly rotated the dial. "PERFECT! NOW, CAN YOU-"
"CATCH THE DAIEN WHILE WE FIGHT THE TREES!" Tash snarled, out of patience to be in the Human's presence.
Her coworker's visor sparkled with his new directive. "AYE, AYE, MA'AM!" Then he dashed into the dark woods, the light he radiated flickering through multiple corners in seconds.
As much as she loathed his kind, she had some hope for him, even though she'd never admit it. The quicker he gets on with it, the easier their job would be, if stopping the bard would automatically stop his puppets, that was.
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Whatever. The captain didn't have the time to overthink as one of the mutated trees swung its weirdly flexible branch at her, missing her for a couple inches as she sidestepped, countering with a lightning-laced kick on its side! Their protection has improved, but not by a wide margin, as proven by the visible crack she left on its bark.
The tree silently crawled back towards her before stopping without warning. Each of its roots started convulsing and stretching to a concerning degree. After they stiffened, they bent not one, not two, but six times with a sickening crack as its being was agonizingly modified further. As the creature was now fully supported by crab-like legs, Tash's heart couldn't help but accelerate with dread as a monster pulled straight from nightmares was born in the womb of the dark forest.
The captain glanced at the rest of the trees, which her squad kept busy. The transformation was not limited to one puppet...
Her instincts blared as her towering opponent used its new legs to close the gap much faster. The Wolf leader dodged the storm of puncturing strikes with her still superior agility and reflexes. Her eyes quickly locked on the creature's branch, extending beyond what its body allowed her. Fortunately, she diverged its path with a powerful gust of wind expelled from her mouth, forming a dent in its foundation.
The captain backflipped a few meters to regain space to charge a devastating spell. However, as she flared her aura to tear another hole in the unholy monster, something wrapped around her ankles and squeezed them tight like a serpent's loving embrace. As she looked forward, she saw two black bindings...
This moment of distraction was enough for the creature to catch up on its prey. Tash had to create a Saniya barrier to protect herself from the incoming branch strike. Then another. And another...
...Her spell wouldn't contain many blows before it became a waste of energy.
After the fifth strike, the shield's surface was filled with deep cracks. The hair strands started to spread and consume the captain's leg in its overbearing embrace. No weak spell would free her from this predicament...
Tash took a deep breath, conjuring her aura again as the mutated conifer prepared for the sixth swing. Moments before its branch touched the barrier with its lethal talons, the Wolf converted all the Saniya in the protective spell into pure electricity! The crackling energy spread and tore through the monster's insides, burning its branch and a significant part of its trunk into ash! The improved mouth blended into the damage, adding to its decrepit state.
The captain ran on four legs towards the monstrous plant, her bindings atomized by the electric explosion. Before it could attack, she boldly jumped into its intimidating yet useless maw, trusting the bard wouldn't go through the work of developing a digestive system for a tree.
She dug her claws into the monster's wooden walls, concentrating a smaller but costly amount of Saniya into them. She had refined her fire magic to an astounding degree where lighting manipulation wasn't as taxing as the common Saniya-wielder. She was so reliant on this specific branch that regular fire wasn't something she often used, favoring spells that didn't come along with devastating collateral damage to the environment. Fortunately, the horde of mutated trees resulted in the birth of a clearing expansive enough to make her next move a safe option.
The tip of her fingers and toes tickled with radiating heat as it quickly went from flickering embers to four blazing flamethrowers! The flames crackled and snapped as they consumed the puppet from the inside out. The thick, black smoke started to seep through her nostrils, prompting her to swiftly escape.
Captain Tash watched with awe and pride swirling in her mind, the creature turning into the largest pyre she had ever lit. A vortex of bright, orange, and yellow flames escaped from its mouth and the hole it tore at its top. Its branches and legs separated from its body, being reduced to blazing, blackened stumps while the trunk kept burning with no end in sight.
Breathing heavily, she sat back and glimpsed at her subordinates, still clashing against their enemies. Hufen froze the legs of four trees before Tarb rolled into a ball and shattered them into frozen splinters. Euraidd followed his captain's lead and doused two wooden monsters in flames conjured from his staff, its potency strengthened by Locci's air spell.
The captain smiled, satisfied by her comrades' fighting prowess. However, it didn't last long as she felt the same thin Saniya slithering behind her.
...
"I SEE YOU!" Tash stood up, lacing her paw with electricity again. With one fell swoop, she disintegrated any follicle that dared attempt to make her fall for the same trick twice! Thrice, if you want to be picky with my wording, you lousy prick.
Sorry, it's just... It's tiresome narrating all this, you know. I'd grab a glass of water, but...
Ahem. Moving on...
Tash snarled at the cowardly Yūrei. "RECOVERED ALREADY?! THEN I GUESS YOU'RE ITCHING FOR A SECOND ROUND, I PRESUME!?"
Thank goodness, the pale Monoke understood she had to shout at the top of her lungs so her taunting would be audible. "THANKS FOR THE OFFER! DUT I NUST ATTEND TO OTHER DUSINESS! WE CAN TALK IN THE WAY IF YOU CAN CATCH NE!" The humanoid figure turned away and sank deep into the darkness.
It was an obvious trap. However, the captain could sense the Yūrei's Saniya signature flying towards the Knight's and someone else's, presumably the bard's. She hated it, but if that Human perished, she would have to answer to the queen herself...
...
She glanced at her comrades, still fighting with the fierceness and determination expected of Wolf warriors, one more time before stepping towards unquestionable danger.