Magnus crouched hiding behind a bush, scouting out the clearing. In total, there were 15 Ents to take care of including the empowered ones. They all looked on high alert as if expecting his attack. That was quite frustrating in regards to his plan. Well, he had to execute it either way as he couldn’t let the Matriarch build up her defenses even more. If he waited even a little longer, she would empower another Ent and then it would be 3 elite ones instead of 2. And considering the trouble he had with 1 of them.
Yeah, it was better to strike now.
The Ents patrolled around the clearing in 3 groups of 4 to make sure that he couldn’t sneak by them and kill the Matriarch. The groups were made up of 3 Sentinels and 1 Mage. The remaining 5 Ents with the 2 empowered ones stood next to the Matriarch. Magnus figured that meant they would be reluctant to leave the tree alone and would let him bait the rest of the groups into the forest where his allied Ent Mage Curt waited. Getting an idea, he retreated further away from the clearing and tore off some green branches to cover himself with.
What better way to ambush someone than becoming one with the environment?
[Stealth is now Level 6]
The System seemed to agree with him. Though it was weird that he got a Level up when not actively using the Skill. Interesting.
If he could somehow get into the group’s backline, he could take out the vulnerable Mage in one hit and let Curt’s high damage take care of the rest of the group. On the other hand, if he let the Mage live the fight would be orders of magnitude more difficult. It would be next to impossible to get through 3 Sentinels while being peppered with deadly spears. Before he started the assault he went back and told Curt where to position himself so Magnus wouldn’t have to run too far.
Standing in his improvised ghillie suit on the other side of the clearing so the elites couldn’t see him through the big tree, Magnus waited for when a patrol came close to him. He clutched a rock in his uninjured left hand, not too small as to not get their attention but not too big as to alert more of the groups. It would be all for naught if he lured more than 4 of the Ents at once. Even 4 seemed a bit too much for him with his main hand useless, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. These weren’t some Level 6 Ents too, most of them were only slightly below Level 10. A 4-level difference may not seem like that much but even a few Stat Points could make or break the fight at this level.
Taking a deep breath as the patrol neared his spot, he mentally prepared himself for the fight. Magnus threw the rock at the nearest Sentinel, aiming for its torso. He didn’t necessarily need to hit the Ent to get his attention, but he figured that pissing them off would be a good way to lure them into the forest. Even before he saw the rock hit, he already retreated behind a tree, with only his leafy head poking out. His aim was thankfully true and the rock hit the Sentinel dead center. It turned its head into the forest, looking for its hidden attacker. But Magnus was already long gone, hidden in a nearby shallow hole in the ground completely covered in leaves and branches holding the severed arm of the Assassin he meant to use as a makeshift club.
About a minute and a half later he finally heard the rhythmic sound of wood hitting the forest floor. They were coming and as far as Magnus knew they couldn’t see him. Smiling he carefully turned his head so as to not give away his position, he saw the telltale green fire of an Ent hiding behind a tree, ready for the ambush. Curt was in position.
Hearing the footsteps move past him, barely missing him by a few centimeters, he finally struck. Grasping the Ent arm in his healthy left hand, Magnus jumped up on his feet as quickly as his low Agility permitted. Thankfully, Curt knew what to do and a spear struck one of the Sentinels in the head making it fall over, completely limp. The patrol, not ready for a ranged attack seemingly panicked leaving their only Mage unguarded from the back. Magnus unnoticed by the surprised Ent wound up his club. [Vicious Blow] worked with weapons, that much he learned earlier when getting in a few test swings with his new club. Better to try out new things before the actual fight than to get caught lacking during it.
The club rocketed toward the unsuspecting Mage who was already preparing to cast a spell. Nothing would come out of it as the Mage’s unprotected neck snapped and it fell lifelessly down on the ground, the spell in its hand sizzling out. Magnus was stronger, he could feel it. Even with the relatively light “club” he got from the oh-so-kind Assassin, he managed to kill the admittedly frail Mage. The Sentinels would be another issue entirely.
Both of the remaining combat-capable Ents turned toward him, one of them getting a spear stuck in its torso in return. The last one rushed for Magnus, who only managed to put a pathetic block with his current condition. The Sentinel’s wooden fist shot for Magnus’ arm. It hit like a truck even with his high Endurance. Even with his new Skill [Toughen], the attack would leave a bruise. The Skill wasn’t as good against blunt attacks as other attacks. Instead of Not letting the Sentinel get another hit on him, Magnus ducked under its next punch, narrowly avoiding the powerful blow, and swept its legs from under it with his club. It fell down like the tree it was. The Sentinel couldn’t protect itself well enough when grounded so it was only a matter of time before it joined its siblings in whatever place they go after death.
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With the last threat down, he went over to the headless one to finish it but already found Curt piercing its core with a wooden spear. What surprised Magnus however was that the dead Sentinel wasn’t so headless as he thought. The better half of its head was already as good as new. It seemed to have invested into Vitality or whatever Stat made trees regenerate faster. Nodding to Curt they prepared to repeat the ambush at least 2 more times.
Roughly 20 minutes later Magnus and Curt stood in the cover of the trees looking out at the elite guard standing watch over the tree. They had to take a risk in baiting the last patrol into the forest, causing the bait to nearly get impaled by a nasty-looking spear dripping with poison from the empowered Mage. The bait being Magnus of course. His close brush with death wasn’t all for nothing as they got to see some of the capabilities of the Corrupted Mage. Overall, that didn’t change the plan much at all considering the Mage was already quite high on the list of who to kill first. They didn’t have much time to formulate a more complicated plan due to the Ent that could already be seen being made on the bark of the Matriarch. Magnus expected the spawning time to be decreased with the Dryad in question being a Matriarch, but maybe the sheer amount of poison coursing through the tree made spawning Ents a bit more complicated.
Cracking his shoulders, Magnus nodded toward Curt and with his club in his hands strode out into the clear. Magnus would once again act as bait and pray that the guards didn’t know about his allied Mage. If they didn’t it would hopefully mean that they would open themselves up to an attack from another angle. Magnus jumped a bit in place to prepare both physically and mentally and then ran out of the forest cover as fast as he could while waving his arms to get the guards’ attention. Most of the corrupted Ents were pretty stupid so they probably wouldn’t find out about the bait in time. They decided to first target the Mages so Magnus had to get their attention and run to the opposite side of the clearing to give Curt the opening he needed.
As he was running, 2 of the 5 remaining Ents broke off from the group and started running toward him, both of them Level 10 Sentinels. The empowered Sentinel wielding a rough-looking sword and shield stood back, most likely to protect the Mages from a sneak attack. He hoped to bait all 3 Sentinels into following him but it wasn’t such a problem. They weren’t fighting in the forest with lots of trees as cover. It was time for Curt to show some of his new moves.
The good mood he was in soon left him as both of the corrupted Mages sent out their own projectiles. Even though he dreaded dodging them his mood recovered a bit when he saw 3 spears shoot out of the thick foliage, each one on course to another target. The first of the spears hit the empowered Sentinel in its foot pinning it in place, so it couldn’t protect its more vulnerable allies. The second hit the normal Mage in its chest, its fiery green eyes going out instantly. They weren’t so lucky as to kill the empowered Mage as it managed to deflect the spear with a wooden shield. It wasn’t empowered just for show. Curt was also empowered, however, and the spear exploded shortly before colliding with the shield, a few of the fragments getting lodged into the Mage each sprouting thorns.
Magnus decided to shift his focus when [Danger Sense] had to warn him of the spears coming his way. The nasty dark green one from the empowered one was aiming for center mass while the normal spear was aiming for his legs hoping to disable him as Curt did for the Sentinel. He couldn’t stop his run in time to dodge them so he went with the safer option and threw himself on the ground while Toughening his leg. The vile spear flew over his body but the other one shattered on contact with his tough skin and sent shrapnel into his other leg. Cursing, he rolled over onto his back and tore out the biggest fragment with his now less injured right arm. The other fragments started to sprout thorns but thankfully stopped as the last of the dead Mage’s Mana left them. They would hamper his movement a bit but he would have to live with it.
Getting up on his feet just as the first of the Sentinels approached him, Magnus got into a fighting stance holding his club with both of his arms but still favoring his not dominant left arm. The Sentinel foolishly tried to tackle Magnus, its bulky hands widespread, but Magnus with his longer range got the first hit. His club didn’t manage to do much damage but the Sentinel lost its momentum and fell sideways onto the ground. Pressing his advantage, he shuffled closer to its prone form and started bashing its wooden head in. It wouldn’t die from it but it meant that it would be out of the fight until he managed to down its comrade. Magnus whipped around to face the other incoming Sentinel.
[Danger Sense is now Level 5]
It was awfully close considering the relatively low volume [Danger Sense] screamed in. The Sentinel was too close for him to use his club so he didn’t. Instead, he turned sideways and drove his right shoulder into it. Not letting it fall, Magnus grabbed its neck and spun it so he could hold it around its neck with his club. Curt, like the good Ent he was even when focused on the Mage fight with the elite guard noticed the opportunity and shot out the spear. As it was Magnus had no good way to defeat such tough opponents so he left that role to his more deadly ally. The hit right where its core was and its struggle immediately stopped. Magnus let its dead body fall to the ground and moved to execute the Sentinel with the bashed-in head.
“This is looking to be quite an easy fight,” Magnus thought, smiling.
The smile he had quickly left his face when he noticed something. Something he couldn’t notice in the noise of the battle. A quiet hum of [Danger Sense]. Exactly like when the Assassin stalked them. Cursing he turned around, just to see Curt running zig-zags and motioning with his arms. Out of the cover of the forest. That wasn’t part of the plan. Examining Curt more closely, Magnus spotted a branch sticking out of his shoulder. Magnus turned his head to look at the forest, straining his eyes. There it was. A glint of the disgustingly green corrupted color in the forest canopy. Of course, he had to fucking jinx it.