Chapter Forty

The attempt to pump herself up for this challenge fell a little flat.

"Gwack?" Hyacinth responded, dubious of the attempt as well.

Ambrosia and her band successfully tapped into energy that way before their big gigs. You'd think there wouldn't be a big difference between getting mentally prepared for a mob of excited fans and a giant angry tree.

"On three, one.... two..."

The pair launched themselves toward the tree lord, the saw-toothed chain stretched out between them. Prince Adric’s favorite training was tag, making sure running, dodging, and being light on her feet were beaten into her.

What [Keen Investigative Awareness] did was make the hits coming even more obvious. [Small Armor] and even [High Kick] contributed their input as well. They were the soldiers and [Awareness] the general, helping make those incoming striking vines and swinging branches obvious earlier. Not that it made this mad dash easy.

Every day teams of adventurers climb Nae’s Garden and grind through Tree Lords. Guides cover tactics and strategies for those resistant to hiring a member of The Grave Society handily dishing out [Rot] to ease the battle. Such a crutch would Make it difficult to level. Things like rotating positions, protecting the teammate with the most cutting power, and lighting the whole thing on fire with the intent of waiting it out. Dozens of different ways. One thing read was that [Silence] worked, though limited to half effectiveness.

Harmony tumbled forward under the huge branch swinging down. [Final Silence] was within range but every second mattered here. Closer…. Closer… Nearly Touching the trunk she activated [Stride]. Her first round of silence ground the tree lord to a halt.

The space between the tree and exit was so narrow she could Only fit an arm into the crack, but there was enough space to use [Manipulate Dead] to guide the chain around. With a metal chain, this would be impossible.

Time ticked down, Hyacinth on one side and the pair of Harmonies on the other they started to saw through the trunk. Even with a pair of her, in pure strength, she couldn't match the shadow toad. Fifteen Seconds the tree began to wake, shaking and dropping vines from above. Harmony hit it with her second [Final Silence].

Her skills weren’t dormant as they ground away at the tree lord. [High Kick] boosted her pulling, pushing harder than she could without it as she yanked back on the spine-made chain. [Manipulate Dead] kept the blades sharp as she battled friction dulling them while making sure the bone wouldn’t snap.

The backup plan had been to combine her soul strike technique on the tree. The part she needed to hit rested high among the branches, but if the tree lord was active it would have been near impossible to hit. Then there was the fact that it felt shielded. Call it a gut instinct from [Awareness] gained from her experience or reading guides that stressed the tree’s vitality. Even [Rot] took time. Enough that all the guides said to assault it after the tree when it was half rotted rather than wait.

Endurance. This wasn’t holding a tray for hours, or the stop-and-go action of tag, or the quick spars that ended in wins or losses. [Style and Grace], [Poise and Bearing], [High Kick], and all the little bits of physical action she squeezed out of skills could only help so much against the punishment of hauling her end of the saw. The mass of two of her working together was barely enough.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The shiver of the leaves was the first warning. It was the only warning. Harmony and Hyacinth had already let go. With a twirl the toad cut striking vines from the air, his spurs cutting with a flick.

As one Harmony ran another stayed behind. The one left behind let the escaping Harmony dodge even as the vines tried to strike at the runner's blind spots. Both playing interference and providing extra vision. Branches descended, slower to wake than the tree lord’s vines, but with massive force.

It was a quick death. Perception narrowed to one. Harmony and Hyacinth rested, panting outside of the range of the guardian. The chain of bone left in the groove it had created.

The tree wouldn’t heal. This was a test of fortitude for any team. The dungeon could make it impossible, but that wasn’t the point. It was a challenge for growth, and whatever deal was made with the dungeon spirit residing there. One harmony wouldn’t be enough to carry her side of the weight and effort. That tossed several potential plans of holding [Stride] in reserve aside.

“Think we can get the cut deeper next time?”

“Grack!”

“Yes, there will be a next time. Unless you have a better idea.”

“Skip it.” He croaked grumpily.

“That wouldn't be fair. It’ll only take five or six more attempts to bring that tree down. Like it will even let us get by.”

“Skip. It.” His voice now echoed with a hint of the authority he was shouldering from her.

How did he? Nevermind. It was rare for Hyacinth to take such a firm stance in planning anything other than lunch. How awful was the sawing for him?

“Fine, we'll attempt it your way.”

That didn't mean going in without her skills ready. The second mad dash towards the tree lord was easier than the first. She’d seen what it could do and couldn't. Easier didn't mean easy, and she could feel the effort of sawing in her back. Muscles were tweaked and raw after one attempt. What were the odds of a misstep on the fourth or fifth attempt of grinding away at the tree?

This time she used [Stride] and slapped on a [Silence] early. In the deep shadows of the bough, one of her joined Hyacinth and slipped into the shadows. The goal was to reach the enshadowed passage you could only peek at behind the trunk.

The bit of purple lingered as the pair tried to push through the shadows. Traveling through shadows in dungeons was always difficult. Hyacinth only managed short trips in the domains controlled by the dungeon spirits. Inside the shadow realm, layers of black teaming with life are mostly only visible by eyes in pairs, or clusters that watched from blackness. Strands of thick distorted space kept the pair from moving forward. Was the tree reaching into this space? While the distortions had some vitality they felt as asleep and stagnant as the tree lord looked in its silenced state. Is it connected?

Outside, Harmony kicked off, combining all the skills necessary for her soul strike, her armored foot swinging high, silenced blended into that unique synergy that let her touch beyond the physical. It crunched into that shield she sensed. Active defenses stirred but remained silenced. And she pushed through with all the experience she'd learned from practice and dying. One fracture formed and then another, not enough to break a skill completely, but enough for what she needed.

The resistance snapped one thread at a time, barely a step was moved and the pair tumbled out into the blocked exit, one set of stairs leading to the third floor and another out of Nae’s Garden.

Hyacinth lay sprawled out, limbs sprawled out flat, looking deflated, even lighter in color, a dark shade of gray rather than his inky blackness. “See. Skipped it.” He rasped out rather than rumbled in his normally gravelly croak.

Harmony responded from her sprawled-out position. Every muscle felt like she had sawed down that tree nonstop. “Yeah… that went… great.”

Now is not the time to relax. “Get your delving behinds down the stairs! The tree lord is waking up!” Harmony yelled at her partner and herself. Vines latched on, and it was only when the pair stumbled down the first few steps that she let her other dissipate. Next time would be better.