“Get away from the trunk, fast!”
The first fallen tree formed a loose cage over Levi and Gremlin Two. As long as they stayed low, there was room to crawl around.
The trunk hung a foot or so above them, suspended atop a half-dozen broken branches. For now. The weight of a second tree slamming down on it very well might be enough to drive it into the ground and crush them.
Levi scrambled toward the thinnest branches; there was no time to see if Two had followed his instructions.
Before he’d moved more than a few feet, the second tree landed.
The weight of both trees slammed into Levi’s back and knocked him flat, just as he’d feared. A branch crushed him to the ground, pinning his arm.
Leaves and small branches filled his view, but he still heard the dire turkey boss screech in triumph.
Levi tried to squirm free, but there was too much weight pressing down. He grunted in pain. His shoulder throbbed and his arm was quickly going numb. He couldn't move it at all.
From the sounds of clawing and splintering wood, the boss had started in on another tree. He had to get free.
It occurred to him that this might not be a fight he could win. He glanced across at Gremlin Two, but couldn’t see him past the trunk. At least the gremlin’s info hadn’t gone gray, so he was still alive.
Levi felt the crash through his whole body as a third tree joined the pile. The trunk came down another few inches, branches gouging deep into the ground under the pressure.
A scream died in his throat, his breath coming jagged and uneven. Stamina was empty, no buffer against the impact. Health dropped steadily as it struggled to keep him in one piece.
With a triumphant gobble, the turkey flapped away again. Whether to return to guard the exit, or to find another tree to pile on, Levi didn’t know or care. Right now, his top priority was freeing his trapped arm from the crushing weight pinning him in place.
He grabbed a health restorative with his free arm and swallowed it. The sudden weakness through his body pushed him to the edge of panic. Reason pulled him back. Side effect of the restorative. Normal.
He fumbled in his belt for a stamina potion and drank that, too, then grabbed his dagger from the ground and started sawing at the branch pinning his other arm. Each motion sent pain vibrating through his shoulder, but he gritted his teeth and kept going.
No more trees fell. The dire turkey must have tired of its attacks and left. Small blessing, but he’d take anything right now.
His health continued to drop as he sawed through the branch, but at a relatively safe pace. He moved faster, sawing frantically with the dagger, cursing its lack of a power stone. A manablade with its edge active could have sliced through this in half a second, rather than half an hour.
His mana was full, but pushed through the circuits carved down the blade, it only flashed brightly, uselessly, then dissipated into nothing.
He tried twice more without success, fully draining his mana in the attempt. He had to accept manual activation as a skill that he couldn’t spontaneously manifest without practice or training.
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Finally, he sawed through far enough. The branch warped and cracked at the contact point as the tree shifted.
For a moment he feared that the whole thing would crash down on him. Then the tree settled, stopping on other branches without crushing him.
Levi exhaled in relief as the pressure abated. He shoved the detached branch aside.
For a time, he lay quiescent as feeling tingled back into his arm, letting his stamina recover while he tried to convince himself not to charge back into the fight.
He needed to beat this boss. He needed the experience, needed the treasures it guarded, needed the next piece of the quest.
But, however he looked at it, this fight was beyond him. Only the barest of margins kept him from death. If he’d stayed in the open...
He wasn’t strong enough yet. All his knowledge wasn’t enough. He needed the levels, and he needed them fast, damn it all! If he couldn’t even take on a level 1 boss reliably, he’d get nowhere. Bosses were where the best experience could be found.
He rolled onto his side, trembling. He felt hollow, struggling to reclaim any sense of power over his situation.
Gremlin Two made a sad whining sound, echoing his master’s grief.
For so long Levi had fought, knowing he had nothing to lose, no purpose left but to fight in defiance of the ones who’d kill them all without hesitation or pity.
Now he had to survive, had to win every time. Throwing himself recklessly into fight after fight could cost him everything.
Levi wasn’t sure he remembered how to do anything else.
Being this vulnerable was messing with his head. He couldn’t afford to let despair take control.
With a herculean effort of will, he forcibly relaxed, stifling his impatience and calming himself. He pushed away the fear, the dread, the anger, the helplessness, and focused only on breathing steadily and stilling his mind until he could assess things reasonably again.
He hadn’t failed yet.
He was still alive. He could try again.
Exhaling slowly, Levi rolled over to better assess his situation. His sleeves were shredded beyond recognition, bloody strips of cloth that would be more likely to snag on something than protect him. He cut them off, then began worming his way around the tree trunk.
“Two, you there?” His minion’s health had been slowly returning, so he was probably trapped but unhurt.
A happy squeak from the other side confirmed Two was indeed still present and fine.
“Can you get out?”
Sad squeak, negative.
Levi frowned at the branches surrounding them. The pile was quite thick, branches snapped half off, leaves everywhere. Just getting out would be a challenge, and then he had to decide whether to go after the dire turkey boss a second time or leave well enough alone.
There had to be a way to win. He couldn't go into this fight without a strategy. Running in blind would get him killed. This foe could not be underestimated, and there was no terrain advantage he could bring to bear. The trees were too small and fragile, easily toppled by the boss's attacks, and the cunning creature didn’t hesitate to use them as weapons.
Levi blinked and stared around at the trees’ remnants.
Weapons.
What he really needed was a reach weapon. Something to keep the turkey from closing in. Something to deal damage at range.
A spear. Javelins or arrows.
He had never been much of a crafter, but the more he looked around, the more the piled detritus looked like a treasure trove of potential weaponry.
He’d been thinking too narrowly, relying on mana weapons only. Yes, physical damage would stop being effective the higher creatures leveled. But it wasn’t ineffective yet. He’d proven that with the pillar trick against the ogre.
Time to prove it again.
“See if you can make your way over to me,” he called to Gremlin Two.
He searched around until he found the shortsword and started hacking the next nearest branch thick enough to suit his purposes.
“I think it’s time we made some traps.”
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