~~~
Wyrmwood pulled his upper body out of the way once again as the bowvine launched another massive splinter at him.
When he had asked Mayflare about it before initiating the hunt, Mayflare had laughed before saying that it was a relatively weak foe, as long as you didn’t underestimate it by thinking it was a cow.
When Wyrmwood asked what a cow was, Mayflare just guffawed again before saying that he’d be fine to figure the bowvine’s weakness out on his own. So here he was, repeatedly dodging and throwing himself out of the way as the “relatively weak” bowvine launched splinters at him that were nearly the size of his head!
At first approach it just looked like a strange leafless tree covered in hanging vines, but once it noticed you, (Wyrmwood had yet to figure out how it did so), the vines quickly began to move, reaching out around itself and pulling up shoots and sprouts that were growing around it before nocking it into taut vines already wrapped around branches and firing whatever they had grabbed at their target. Right now, that target was Wyrmwood.
He ducked as a bamboo shoot narrowly missed his head, digging deeply into a tree far behind him. As far as Wyrmwood could tell, it was more plant than monster, also it really was weak from a physical standpoint. He had been able to swipe at it a single time before needing to run back for cover and the plant had torn rather easily when faced with his claws.
While his burgeoning intellect told him he could just keep baiting it before ducking behind cover until it was out of its makeshift ammo, his draconic pride demanded he could beat it with a feat of endurance or agility. It was an interesting dilemma that he’d find two options that warred with each other inside him. If he could just-
Suddenly, the forest shook with a howl that sounded like what could only be described as the wrath of nature itself! The bowvine instantly went limp at the noise, assumedly trying to play dead as Mayflare seemed to materialize beside Wyrmwood!
“Curses, I’d forgotten to do my patrols of that part of the forest for quite a while.” Instead of the tenseness that Wyrmwood thought was necessary in this situation, Mayflare looked more irritated. “Lemme think, what was over yonder recently?”
Mayflare tapped his feathered chin with a claw as he pondered. “Hatching season was a bit ago… the big tree was over there, right? Or was that two seasons before this? I’m pretty sure I remember that pretty lass Ferndew had been bragging to the other soon to be mothers about it…”
As the distant howling and rumbling only seemed to intensify, Wyrmwood decided it was probably best to help with his own knowledge.
“I… saw it!” He croaked out. “Big tree!”
“Oho! That’s excellent lad! Tell me, did ye see Ferndew’s nest there?” Mayflare asked nonchalantly as he did lazy loops in the air. “I’d warned er that that leaving the thing would turn it into a big ol 'timburn! Wonder what coulda upset it though.”
“No nest!” Wyrmwood chirped.
“Huh, then what else coulda ma-“
“Detoyed!… Tree dead! D-destoyed?” Wyrmwood had trouble remembering the correct pronunciation of that word. Despite his best efforts Wyrmwood was still learning the draconic language.
Upon hearing the hatchling’s words though, Mayflare tensed before focusing on Wyrmwood with uncharacteristic intensity.
“It was destroyed? Are ye sure lad? The tree had absolutely no life left in it?”
Instead of directly answering, Wyrmwood flexed his weak nature affinity. Strengthening his connection to the plants around him so that he could more easily tell their condition. He had learned from Mayflare that one could do this for a time with their affinities to give themself an advantage in certain situations. Strengthening his water affinity had helped him more easily control it, while his strengthened earth affinity had given him the general knowledge of any stone he touched.
“…Get back to the cave lad. There be trouble afoot and ye aren’t ready to face it just yet.”
Instead of arguing, the timid Wyrmwood nodded before slithering quickly away, back in the direction of the cave that he and Mayflare use.
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“Good lad.” Mayflare said before shooting up into the air to get a better look.
To the south, the woods had been seemingly set ablaze with a haunting turquoise flame. An emergency quest appeared for him now that he knew about the situation.
Warning! Emergency Quest Activated!
-Defeat the Newborn World Boss:
In’Fern’Al the Massive Rotted Timburn
“Darned humanoids.” Mayflare quietly cursed to himself as he began to fly towards the center of the roaring flames at great speed. This whole situation reeked of them.
~~~
If Sidney was being honest, he was impressed with himself that he had made it this long.
His massive shield now barely protected him thanks to all the dent and pits in it. Sidney didn’t like that he could now sympathize with the stones people kicked down the road. He braced once again as a thick root slammed into his shield, angling upward slightly so that it got deflected instead of stopped, also he had learned that doing it this way was only a little crushing, he had feared doing this against such powerful blows might squish him outright.
The main things he had to watch out for were-
He ran and jumped to the side, barely dodging a screaming goat of turquoise flame that spewed from the blazing hole of In’Fern’Al!
-that and the willow-wisps that seemed to be attracted by the ominous flames.
The forest spirits weren’t necessarily harmful, but they tended to cast illusions on anything that was too close. And like Sidney said, they were everywhere right now.
Seemingly realizing that it still hadn’t been able to squash this infuriating humanoid, the rotted timburn turned to the graves of adventurers instead and cast some kind of spell on them. Sidney watched in growing horror as burning undead burst from the ground, screaming for the pain and death of the living. There were zombies, skeletons, a living armor or two and even a dullahan! Yet worst of all was when with a particularly loud crackle of its flames, In’Fern’Al’s spell expanded once more, nearly covering the clearing in its enormity as it seemed to start to awaken something that should have passed on from this world.
Warning: World Boss In’Fern’Al is attempting to raise potential World Boss Fern’Ace the Phantom Mother.
New Emergency Mission: Stop the spell before the summoning is complete
Completion: A unique skill or armor
Failure: There is a high likelihood that they will work compatibly together in some form, creating an apocalyptic level threat
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Sidney groaned. He was just one man! What did the system really think he could do?!
Suddenly there was a massive *BOOM* as something struck the branches of the rotted timburn with enough force to shatter many of them, causing chunks of splinters of wood filled with black oozing tar-like sap to rain from the sky all over the clearing, including onto Sidney.
“What the-“
A roar sounding somewhere between a dragon and a bird of prey bellowed out overhead as Sidney saw a large quetzalcoatl fly forward from above the flames and dive at In’Fern’Al, breaking off chunks of wood with large magic spells or the snapping of its tail.
“Guess I’ll take on the undead. I might just make it through this after all.” Sidney mused as he turned his back on the clashing titans and focused on the approaching hoard of undead.
~~~
Elsewhere in the forest, Wyrmwood was frantically slithering in the direction of the cave. In the hatchling’s panic, he had forgotten to use cover and camouflage to his advantage. This turned out to be a big mistake as screech of rage came from above him, giving only a few seconds to dodge as a massive body slammed into where he would have been if he had simply kept going.
The gryphon was back once more. And as they locked eyes, Wyrmwood realized that they both knew that Mayflare wouldn’t be here to protect him this time.
Wyrmwood immediately did a little hop with his front half, preparing his strongest move as he could instinctually tell he’d only get one chance.
The gryphon approached slowly, dragging out its imagined victory as its mane floofed up and its hackles raised in pure rage and aggression towards the perceived youngling of its hated enemy.
Just before the gryphon reached the hatchling, the arc in Wyrmwood’s coils reached the end of his tail and the crack of thunder rang out as blood sprayed over the surroundings! The gryphon lay there, a massive bleeding gash across its back that had one of its wings hanging by a thread, blood covering its fur as it dripped down its back from the wound.
Yet, to Wyrmwood’s dismay, the gryphon lived. It stirred, getting its wobbly legs back under it. Wyrmwood checked his tail quickly and found that the spike now had a second crack going across it, nearly perpendicular to the first. He couldn’t afford to try that again. Coiling up, he desperately sprang at his weakened foe, hoping he’d be able to end the gryphon once and for all!
Yet instead, he felt a sudden disconnect with his bottom half. A strange gust of wind carried him right over the gryphon where he landed in a heap in a pool of strangely rusty mud.
Wyrmwood didn’t understand what had happened. He looked back over to the gryphon who was now looking at him triumphantly. What was that snake beside it? Why did it look like… He turned his gaze back to look at his body, only to find he was missing his lower half! In his desire for victory, Wyrmwood had forgotten that the gryphon was smart enough to use magic! Fear and terror filled the hatchling, as he passed out from blood loss, the pooling liquid creating rusty mud as it mixed with the earth under him.
~~~