Feeling a large mass of wood enter his perception and fly towards his position quickly, Matt jumped to the side and managed to barely avoid the flying trunk. Matt felt the earth shake under him as the trees around him were broken and fell around him. Feeling the lumbar around him stop moving, Matt poked his head up and looked back to where the log had come from, or better known as the battlefield where the wood fiend was being fought.

It looks like Drost had pulled out their axe and instead of blocking the monster's attack, they had met wood with blade and severed the limb. Unfortunately for Matt, this caused the end of the limb to fly in what just so happened to be Matt's direction. The wood fiend roared in anger and pain as one of its main limbs was cut, and as it thrashed around, Karrn and Drost had to back up out of range as the monster wildly slammed its limbs around.

Matt watched in shock as the roots that had been firmly placed into the ground started to tear away the earth around them and begin to rise up, now also joining the fight with renewed vigor. With the addition of several new limbs, the party was forced to focus more on defense as they were unable to find an opening and deal more damage.

However, Matt had to focus on his job and got up, moving over to a tree stalker that was still alive but pinned under a fallen tree. Matt reached forward, grabbed the squirming creature and used his utility knife to slit its throat, killing it. Fusing the core into his other gauntlet, Matt started moving to his next target while trying to think of a way to help.

He was limited in his abilities, and even if he was able to shape wood that was animated in some way, his range was limited and the monster had a lot more reach. Before Matt could even get close enough to destroy the monster's body with his shaping, it would tear him apart.

Stepping around the brush, Matt trapped another stalker and took care of it, continuing forward around the clearing after taking the core. Matt discovered he could split the core in half and enhance both of his gauntlets at the same time. Obviously it was less of a boost than using the full core, but it was an even growth so he didn’t need to worry about his gear being at different levels of manipulability.

Looking back at the battle, Matt frowned a bit as he observed the situation. The wood fiend was still attacking the clearing indiscriminately, making it harder for the group to predict the monster's movements and act accordingly. And it was even worse since it had started using its roots as weapons in addition to its branches. Drost was still being an excellent tank, standing in the way of the most devastating attacks but Matt could see that the dwarf was being pushed back ever so slightly with each attack.

Karrn wasn’t able to jump around through the monster's attacks anymore and was now moving along the edge and after Drost blocked an attack, he would jump in and slash at the limb a few times before moving back. The slashes were leaving marks in the wood, but they weren't very deep and didn’t seem to be doing much besides making the monster angrier.

The mages were now hanging back in the same area, maybe twenty or so feet behind Drost which was probably the best place in the clearing to be. Janica now wasn’t moving around and launching spells at the monster's body, she was holding her spell in her wand and waiting for an opening to launch it toward the monster. It was mostly the same limb that Karrn was attacking when he could, but it was impressive how even though they were targeting the same area, Karrn managed to always step away in time for the fire spell to strike the same area he was slashing at. It was a testament to how well they could work together.

Florven was similarly standing back as he waited for an opening, but he didn’t cast as many spells as Janica did, which made sense. None of his spells were as small as the fire bolts that Janica was launching, so he probably needed more time to regenerate mana in between each spell. Taking a deep breath, Florven held out his hand and started to cast a spell.

“Rejuvenate Greater Vitality!” He called out and pulled the spell into his staff, waiting a second as he pulled the wand back and swung the staff forward, sending the ball of energy into Drosts back where they glowed softly for a moment before they moved forward and blocked another attack with renewed energy.

The limb slammed into Drosts shield with a loud crack, and Karrn jumped forward to capitalize on the moment. As he went to bring his greatsword down, he was suddenly halted as a second limb struck from behind the first and lashed out, striking the swordsman in the chest and sending him flying back as a streaking projectile of green energy to the edge of the clearing and directly into a tree, which he impacted with a loud crack as the tree shook from the impact.

“Dammit, Karrn! Rejuvenate Vitality!” Florven said as he hurried over to Karrn’s position and held out his hand to cast the spell. Instead of using his staff, the healer just pressed the glyph directly into Karrn’s body as soft light washed over the swordsman. It looked like Karrn was mostly alright, having enhanced himself with his aura, but that was definitely a rough hit and he needed a moment to recover. It was honestly impressive how aura made it so an attack that would easily have killed a normal person only left Karrn very bruised with a few fractured bones at worst.

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Looking back to the fight, it looks like Drost was slowing down a bit as they were forced to handle every attack as they came by themself, with the only aid coming from Janica who was no longer sending a lot of spells but focusing on quality rather than quantity. “Exploding Fire Arrow!” the pyromancer called out as she launched a projectile of flaming energy that struck the still limb with a loud blast of fire. Much like her other attacks it only left the monster's wooden hide charred, but it definitely was a larger spot of black ash.

But the party definitely took a large hit with Karrn being taken out and Florven being occupied helping the swordsman, something that the monster had not yet really experienced.

This was not sustainable, but Matt didn't know what he could do besides just watching. He didn’t have any way to contribute, Matt can only control wood that isn’t part of the creature, and the only things around here that qualify is his equipment, the pushes, all the wrecked lumbar around him and the huge trees surrounding the clearing- The huge trees surrounding the clearing.

Matt froze as he looked away from the fight and looked at the environment instead. The trees in this part of the forest were huge, between thirty and forty feet tall, and they were everywhere. They grew taller the deeper they got towards the forest's center, and just behind the monster almost ten feet away was the largest type of the ivor trees, standing thick and straight up with a large canopy. That was an idea.

Seeing Karrn stand back up and catch his breath, Matt decided and started sprinting around the clearing edge, still hidden in the tree line as he moved through the foliage to his target. He felt a tree stalker hiding in the branches enter his perception as he moved deeper into the forest, but he didn’t have the time to take care of it properly so he just entangled it with the twigs and kept running.

Rounding about the clearing, Matt reached the opposite end of the clearing and stood before a large tree. It was tall, easily forty feet and so thick that if he tried to wrap his arms around it, he would only be able to get his hands halfway around the trunk. Placing his hand against the base, Matt took a deep breath and bonded with the wood and desired separation.

“Get back! Out of the way! To the edge!” Matt yelled out to the party as he started to run away. He was dangerously close to the monster's range but it was thankfully occupied with Drost and Janica. Now being able to face the party and see their expressions, Matt saw shock when they registered where he was, and then confusion on what his warning was supposed to be. And then they heard it; the deep, reverberating groan of wood as gravity took hold of the slanted gap he had created in the giant tree. The woods creaking echoed through the clearing and Matt watched as realization washed over the party and they started running to the edge. Drost stood still for a few moments more, keeping the monster occupied but once he was satisfied with the distance the mages and Karrn had made they also turned around and started sprinting.

While Matt was also running, he would be safe even if he stayed still since he wasn’t in the clearing. But he still wanted to reconvene with the party and so he moved along the clearings edge. And since he was at the edge, he could watch in glorious detail as the tree started falling. It was slow at first, but as the tree slipped off the slope he created it started to pick up speed.

The creature also noticed the falling tree, and it began to thrash around in its area as it tried to pull itself free. Matt watched as roots continued to rip free from the ground. Matt was worried for a moment that it would get itself out of the way, but it was evident that the wood fiend was having trouble freeing some of it’s main roots out of the ground. And it continued to struggle as the tree sped up and slammed into the ground, and most importantly, into the monster.

Matt was nicked to the ground as the impact shook the ground and kicked debris into the clearing. The monster let out a pained screech as it was knocked down into the dirt, and continued to roar in protest as it tried to move the very heavy heavy tree off of it. The canopy was the main part of the tree that had impacted the monster, but a lot of the branches had broken under the weight so the monster was stuck both in a cage of wood, but it was also pinned directly under the thick trunk.

Standing up, Matt smiled at the restrained monster as he watched it struggle, before his attention was drawn over to the party as Karrn yelled out.

“Drost! Meteor Axe!” The swordsman called as he kneeled down in between the party and the trapped monster, and cupped his hands in front of him. Matt watched as the party got into position at Karrns command; Janica and Florven getting into casting stances, and Drost dropping their shield, readying their axe and sprinting forward to Karrn.

Amber aura started burning off of Drosts body as they sped forward and stepped into Karrns hands, ready to jump, and as dark green aura burned off of Karrns arms, the swordsman yelled in exertion as he lifted Drost and threw them hard into the sky.

“Blazing Blade!” Janica yelled as she flicked her wand towards and as the ball of fiery energy shot toward Drost, the dwarf held out their axe and caught the spell, causing orange energy to glow off of the weapon as the edge heated up. As Drost continued to move through the sky, they pulled back their axe and at their peak, Florven also cast a spell.

“Greater Enhance Weight!” The healer yelled as he grabbed the spell and flung it towards Drost, and at the zenith of their arc they began to plummet down towards the trapped monster and as the dwarf began to shout towards their target, amber energy flared off of them and they struck the pile of wood with a bang, cleaving through the tree and the monster under it, shaking the ground with a second impact.

The monster let out one last pained shriek as it stopped thrashing and stilled, having been finally killed. They had done it, and more importantly for Matt, he was important. He had helped out in a meaningful way and had been instrumental to the act of defeating a monster that severely outclassed him. He had done it, proven he could make a difference in this new world and he would never stop trying to do his best for those around him.