~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
[The effects of the 'Witch Wood' has amplified]
[All stats temporarily reduced by 2]
[Maximum HP reduced to 240]
[Maximum MP reduced to 96]
***
[Faith has been excluded from this hex]
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Matthew tossed the screen aside as he shot towards the wooden shell. He grabbed the spear from the ground and raised it to the exposed form of Susain as she glared up at him.
Susain's dull green eyes met the wrathful gold of Matthew's as she thrust a hand out towards the hunter.
Several sharp tendrils burst from her palm.
Matthew began to follow through on his attack, not bothering with the sharp spindles of wood aiming for his neck and chest.
However suddenly heavy figure pushed him aside and raised a shield to block the tendrils, many of them breaking on his armor, which now glowed a dull red.
"I had her!" Matthew shouted at Berret. The spearman's jaw was clenched so hard it felt like his teeth may fracture.
"She had you!" The tanker shouted back as he raised his hammer.
The hole in the wooden shell mended itself as the head of Berret's hammer slammed against it. A web of cracks rippled across the wood.
He began to raise his hammer for another swing when the large roots that had impaled the trees began to retract, uprooting the trees they had latched onto.
Berret turned and held up his shield- a futile attempt to stand against an entire tree flying towards him.
Suddenly, a blue blur struck his side, pushing out of the way as the tree collided with the wooden shell.
Berret fell alongside Matthew, followed shortly by Sanri as the blur skidded to a halt.
Valine and Audri, too, regrouped with the squad.
Tyler quickly appeared behind them all after a moment.
Audri's eyes were glassy as she stole a glance at Cereiana. "Did... did that just happen?" No one could look her in the eyes.
Matthew's vision fell on his warrior of light; standing idly by, awaiting any orders. His jaw tightened. It just stood there? While people were dying? While his friends were dying.
Matthew whispered a command to the warrior. One he wasn't even sure it could hear.
Bring her back.
In an instant, the warrior dashed forward. Not toward the corpse of their former ally. But towards Matthew himself.
Berret instinctively moved ahead and raised his shield at the warrior, before it stopped in front of him.
The warrior's eyeless face glared directly at Matthew, unmoving.
"Bring her back!"
The warrior still glared at Matthew before a gentle chime rang in his heard. A voice broke through.
'That power is beyond an angel warrior like myself. No being of my kind short of a Seraphim could accomplish such feats. But let not your anger guide you yet. In time you will grow stronger to achieve things far beyond the revitalization of a fallen ally.'
Matthew clenched his jaw. He was powerless again. A hand set on Matthew's shoulder.
"We need to mourn later." Audri looked passed Matthew, towards the wooden shell.
Matthew watched as the uprooted trees collided with the shell and, rather than destroying it, melded with it.
Two trunks became a set of arms. Another two trunks sprouted from the ground and became legs. Another trunk broke into fragments to make a head and several thick wooden plates across its body.
The monstrosity loomed as tall as the trees around it and several times as wide.
In the center of the amalgamation's chest sat Susain, partially melded with the tree-beast she had made. Strands of green mana flowed across her body like veins, funneling into the wooden amalgamation.
Her voice rang out. Ear-splittingly loud and layered over by the sound of wood grinding against itself. "I'm surprised you were able to make it out, Fragment. But I'm wasting no more time on you. Nor your allies. Behold my magnum opus. My [Deadwood Titan]"
Berret quickly moved in front of the group. "Everyone get ready!" He shouted.
No sooner did the Titan real back a fist and bring it forward. Berret held up his shield, the slab of steel pulsing red. A fist the size of Berret's entire body struck his shield. The red mana coating the shield burst open like a balloon and disappeared. A second later a deafening metal clang shot through the air.
Berret was sent back hurling into a tree, his shield dented inward at the front.
Matthew's eyes drifted from Berret to his warrior who simply glared at the Titan.
"Kill it."
With a simple command, the warrior dashed forward. A silver longsword appeared in its hand. Its golden wings sprouted from his back as it leapt into the air.
The warrior flew around the titan's arm as it brought it back to its side before the warrior cut across the abomination's shoulder.
A tree's-worth of wood was blown off of the titan to fall at its feet. However more branches began to grow and meld together to reform the beast's shoulder.
The warrior swooped down between the titan's legs, cutting across one of its wooden calves.
It veered upwards and made a large cut across the beast's chest before changing direction and cutting across the titan's other shoulder.
The warrior flapped its wings again to fly 15 feet up to gaze down at its work.
The wounds across the titan began to regrow as strands of wood, pulsing with green mana, grew and melded themselves together.
Back on the ground, Valine hand ran towards Berret as he rose to his feet. She held out a glowing hand to Berret when a sliver of golden light reached him first.
The healer looked back to see Matthew whispering under his breath. As his lips moved, strings of golden light flowed from his mouth and connected to Berret like a tether.
[MP: 15/96 > 5/96]
The strings of light stopped flowing as Matthew spoke up. "I'll take up the healing role. You just keep everyone's mana topped off." Her ordered.
Valine took the hint and raced to Matthew's side, placing a glowing palm on his back. "When did-"
"No time. I'm just gonna need everyone to trust me for a bit."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
[HP: 200/240 > 220/240]
[MP: 5/96 > 25/96]
Matthew stepped towards the Titan, away from Valine's hand. "That's enough." He held out a hand as a horn appeared in his palm. "Everyone!" He shouted, holding the horn to his lips. "I am taking command!"
The low rumble of the horn blasted through the trees. In the same instant a thin shell of light began to cover not only Matthew and his warrior, but his squad mates as well.
[Strength: 41 > 73]
"Tyler, Sanri," Matthew shouted. "Attack its legs and torso. Back out as soon as you attack, keep away from the titan!" He shouted. "Berret, protect Valine and Audri. Audri, keep the limbs weakened with your lightning and attack any weak points you see as Sanri and Tyler make them. And Valine, keep my mana topped as well as anyone who needs it. Everyone, if you get hit, keep fighting, I can heal you as long as I have a supply of mana."
Squad 12 quickly fell into order. With newfound speed, Tyler and Sanri began cutting across the entirety of the Titan's legs, flinging wood chips away just faster than they could regrow. Several spindles of wood shot from the exposed thin branches of the inner leg, but by the time they had fully protruded, Tyler and Sanri were already out of range.
The warrior, who had been hanging in the air, swooped down, cutting a horridly deep gnash in the titan's wooden shoulder blade. The sheet of wood exploded into splinters as the light under the warrior's armor flared with newfound vigor.
Beneath the quickly regenerating branches, the warrior saw the back of a torso. One not of wood, but flesh. The warrior reared back the tip of its sword and thrust forward. However half a dozen branches and vines wrapped around the warrior's metal arm. The vines constricted the metal plates, holding the warrior in place and crushing his armor.
The warrior repositioned its body to plant its boots onto the regenerating back plates of the titan. In a single forceful motion, the warrior pushed off the titan while flapping its golden wings. A mix of cracking wood and tearing metal pierced the air as the warrior flew nearly 80 feet away before stopping itself to hover in the air.
The warrior glanced down at its arm, at least, where its arm was. At its elbow, the armor that made up the outer part of its form had been torn off. Trickles of golden mana leaked from the broken metal like blood.
Suddenly, the back of a wooden hand slammed into the side of the warrior. The armored summon cast out both its wings to stop itself from being sent flying from the force of the large swing. But it was for not as the armored warrior hurled clean through a nearby tree. As it struck a second on its decent, the armor that made up its torso was torn asunder.
Matthew watched as the titan's torso rotated independently from its waist, nearly turning a full 180 degrees to raise an arm and promptly backhand his warrior of light as if it were a bug.
The titan's torso completed a full rotation as it slammed a palm downwards at Sanri as he backed away from a sharp branch rapidly growing from the titan's leg.
Sanri's legs pulsed blue as he shot backwards in a blue and gold blur. In the same instant, he activated [Blitz] again to gain momentum and cut across the entire length of the titan's arm. He only stopped once he reached the beast's shoulder. However, the hunter was immediately forced to flee when rapidly growing wood nearly impaled him.
A blue blur stopped next to Matthew. Valine placed a hand on Sanri's back as he began to fill his mana stores refill. "So the light show is cool and all, but this thing just keeps regenerating." He nodded to the arm he'd nearly cut in two beginning to meld back together. "Pretty sure we've killed it near twice over at this point."
Berret quickly leaped in front of the two as a large branch the size of his torso shot towards Matthew. The tank swung his hammer into the tip of the branch as it broke into splinters before its remnants retracted back into the titan's hand before trying to swat Tyler from cutting across its side with a flaming dagger followed in turn by another attack with his other dagger coated in a thin layer of frost.
"Susana is in its chest, beyond several feet of branches and vines that will impale us if we break through the first layer of its armor." Matthew explained. "Though I do have an idea." Matthew glanced to Valine. "How much mana do you have left?"
"Half maybe?"
"That's plenty. Alright, you guys keep distracting the titan. Valine, try to fuel me with as much mana as you can. Sanri," the two hunter's eyes met. "Do you think you have it in you for a Red Rush?"
Sanri looked down at the soft golden glow surrounding his body. "Probably. Do you think you have enough healing to counteract its drawback?"
Matthew nodded. "You shouldn't need to be in the form that long. Just enough time to impale that thing."
Valine placed a hand on Matthew's back and began funneling mana into his body.
[MP: 25/96 > 65/96]
Sanri stepped forward towards the massive wooden beast and took a deep breath. His mana began to seep from his body. Turning from blue to a bright red. The red and gold mana melded together as they collided. With a light twirl of his blades, Sanri dashed forward, a light boom bursting through the air as he sped forward.
Sanri activated [Blitz] for another burst of speed as he approached one of the titan's legs. His vision blurred as the world sped passed him, a sonic boom being left in the dust behind him.
The swordsman skidded to a halt, blades outstretched in in the finale of a swing. The sound of snapping wood finally caught up to his ears.
He looked behind himself and smiled as the right leg of the wooden titan broke off at the shin.
[MP: 65/96 > 85/96]
Susana let out a bellow as the titan fell to one knee.
Sanri turned to the other leg and began to enter a running stance again. Then his heart- literally- skipped a beat. A pulse of pain scattered across his body. Sanri nearly fell to his knees before a stand of gold stuck into his chest, making the pain fade just as it had arrived.
[MP: 85/96 > 60/96]
Sanri prepared to dash at the titan's other leg, when a shadow encompassed him. He quickly shot to the side in a blur as a wooden fist came down, cracking the ground with its blows.
Sanri's legs flashed blue again as he shot forward before the titan could retract its hand. He slept onto its arm and ran up it, swinging down dozens of times as he ran.
[MP: 60/96 > 80/96]
As he reached the shoulder, he lept from it to touch his foot to the trunk of a tree before pushing off of it, snapping the tree in two.
Sanri shot into and through the back of the beast's head before rolling into the ground before it.
Another pulse of pain shot through Sanri's body only to be cast away by a tether of light.
[MP: 80/96 > 65/96]
Sanri looked up into the head of the beast, expecting to the see hunter who rested within it, but all he saw was the head slowly beginning to reform.
"It's the chest!" Matthew shouted, only barly audible from the distance between them. "She's in the chest!"
Sanri nodded before his legs pulsed blue before he shot upward toward's the beast's chest.
He swung both of his blade as the world sped passed him, but something struck his side rather then his front.
The swordsman was sent veering off course as the hand of the titan batted him out of the air, though the hand nearly broke apart in the process.
[MP: 65/96 > 85/96]
Sanri kept much of his forward momentum as he was sent hurling into, and through, the titan's shoulder, followed a tree. Only to finally be halted by yet another sturdy trunk.
Sanri tore his sore body off the ground as his red aura flickered. He looked through the treeline to see his squadmates quickly scatter as the titan's attention turned towards them. Its leg had already regenerated as he most of its arm and head.
He saw a bolt of lightning streak across the titan's torso as the outer layer of bark was peeled off.
He saw the titan throw a fist at the squad only for it to be blocked by an empowered swing of Berret's hammer.
He saw Valine continuing to fuel mana into Matthew's body as he protected her from several wooden spikes that began protruding from the ground.
[MP: 85/96 > 95/96]
Sanri stumbled forward. His red aura waning. His muscles tensed up as he leaned against a tree just as he began to join his squad.
His ears were ringing, but he could see a golden tether emit from Matthew's mouth as he spoke words the swordsman couldn't hear, before it latched to his chest.
[MP: 95/96 > 85/96]
Slowly, his senses began tingling return. He felt the hilts of his blades in his hands. The ringing in his ears subsided and he could finally look forward without feeling like he was going to puke up his guts.
Matthew was about to say something when Sanri shot forward again, leaving a sonic boom in his wake.
He swung his blades. A leg off the titan fell. Sanri could feel his lungs struggle to hold his breaths.
He turned and shot forward again, weaving away from a first as it came to crush him. Another leg broke off. Sanri could no longer feel his left leg. He was sure a bone was broken in there somewhere.
He shot back as the titan fell to cleave off one of its arms. His head began to pound with his heartbeat. He just needed to last a little longer.
He watched the titan fall onto its back.
He shot forward again. The final arm was cut loose. His ears were ringing again.
He leapt onto the titan's torso and ran towards the center of its chest, cutting through several sharp wooden protrusions as they tried to pierce him. He could no longer feel the arms that held his blades. Another tether latched into his back, granting him a temporary burst of strength.
[MP: 85/96 > 70/96]
He sent out dozens of slashes across the titan's chest. He tore through the plates of wood as well as wooden spikes and ensnaring vines.
Finally, Sanri began to catch a glimpse of the hunter within. A few more slashes and he could see her body was slowly being assimilated into the beast.
Susana's left arm, leg, and half of her face has been transformed into mana-infused wood that vaguely formed the sharp of the body parts they replaced.
[MP: 80/96 > 90/96]
"Sanri! Get away!" Matthew's words fell on deaf ears, as Sanri's body went numb. His onslaught having finally ended.
The hunter watched as the ground beneath the titan began to shine and turn gold; shinning as bright as the sun.
[MP: 90/96 > 0/96]
He didn't move as a massive spear, the size of a small building erupted through the titan's chest.
Sanri was hardly grazed by the massive spear, its golden shaft only coming to graze his forehead. All the swordsman had the strength to do was smile at how strong his friend had become, as the gold and red aura consuming his body was suddenly snuffed out like the flame of a candle.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
[Quest: Monarch of Witchcraft]
[Rank: B-]
[Objective: You have encountered the vessel of the Monarch of Witchcraft who may one day threaten the world. End this threat before they can grow too powerful.]
[Rewards: Random B-rank item]
[Bonus Objective: Evacuate all allies]
[Bonus Reward: Varies based on number of allies extracted]
[Allies extracted: 0/5]
***
[Allies extracted: 0/5 > 0/4]
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-