The nerve of the worm to lecture her on her revenge plot. Of course, Draxxo will be punished. How better to punish him than to stab him in the heart twice. Her power erupts as her intentions to remove the rot before her manifests. Already she can feel the less cute man cowering… no, that can't be right. Why is he relaxed when he should be running for the woods? This man is a fool. Even the druid beside him is visibly shaking. The rook is so weak he doesn't even know he is courting death.
All of her power is unveiled at once, pushing her past the stages of templar. Her domain is nature and is hers to command. Her influence stretches wide, covering the base and surrounding forest to the edge of the river and lake. She has all the power here.
A push of energy into the underground roots sends her mana surging to the trees battling the spiders. Trees shape into combat-oriented forms, branches turn into hands, roots form into legs, and their bark is thickened into armor. The spiders giving her trees pause are pushed back. Their numbers advantage is dwindling.
So much power from just a thought. No wonder the shadow queen cut off sages from entering this realm. Her people would have been wiped out quickly. Another thought is sent to the roots, and the underground webbing bursts from the earth, grabbing at the two inconveniences in front of her.
The pesky goblin lashes out with his bladed arms. A golden barrier is already surrounding his body. He cuts low, savagely slicing through the snares trying to capture him and the man. Distracted by the roots, the goblin is not ready for the flurry of whips and branches Roxi launches at the pair. A squad of spider soldiers intercepts the attack. She grunts at the added obstruction, then quickly laughs it off. In the end, the obstacles will only add to her power.
****
Everyone is so quick to act. The tree stops laughing, and the whole forest turns on us. Roots threaten to ensnare us. I'm phasing in and out of shadow to avoid them while Cru cuts through them. His form is awful, but his slices are effective, and he cuts through multiple roots at a time, even discarding the roots that seem to have me wrapped up.
I'm about to take the initiative and drive my sword through the dryad's trunk when Cru's arachnoids burst from their cover and start working with the goblin to drive Roxi back. Their attacks are synchronized, much like the army of spiders I examined earlier. Cru and the sword spider cut at the tree recklessly, trusting the shield carrier to protect them.
Their attacks do little to hurt the tree. Every sword cut is blocked by a branch or root conjured by nature. Though Roxi, in her attacking tree form, is the size of two large bugbears, she is quick and nimble with her attacks. Her arms whip along with the branches, leaves, and roots constantly attacking us.
The fierce dance between Cru, his spiders, and Roxi makes it hard for me to join the melee. As much as I want to fight along Cru, our techniques are different, and I’d be getting in his way. The battle is delicate enough that the moment of incoordination is all Roxi needs to squash us. So I add my support with arrows blowing apart branches and puncturing holes into the warrior tree.
Our attacks are all in vain. Any hit we score, even the sizable holes shot clean through, Roxi quickly heals. She's not fazed at all. Instead, her attacks are doubled, and she forms various weapons out of her arm to slay us. Massive swords cleave through the air, falling one of the support spiders. Spears rain down. Cru takes a couple hits before the shield spider blocks the rest. Healing is spent on himself and the shield, and they continue to fight.
As the shield covers Cru from the spears, massive mallets begin to crush into the guardian. Each blow pushes the spider lower to the ground forcing Cru and the sword to retreat. I take the opening and launch my own melee attacks.
Though Roxi's power level is much higher than mine, she's missing a lot of skills. Her attacks are as clumsy as Cru. However, where Cru's slices have a practiced efficiency, Roxi only has power.
Shadow steps and my perception mask allow me to navigate the torrent of nature whirling about easily. In my hands, I hold two blades comfortably. One is formed of black steel scale, and the other is shadow. Both edges are infused with mind mana giving them a midnight purple glow. The purple energy bleeding from my blades is full of my intent. Sever.
Calmly, I close the distance. Roxi sends a tremor into the earth. To the tree's surprise, I disappear entirely. A half breath later, I'm at the tree's back, cutting deeply into the bark with the shadow blade and blocking attacks with the steel blade. Deep gashes are left behind after each swing. When Roxi tries to turn, I follow her and keep attacking her backside. Her form is too large to keep up with my expert level of sidestepping.
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I cut through a branch arm. When it grows back, I cut through it again. Along with my steel blade warding off incoming attacks, I phase in and out of shadow when a threat slips past my guard. Limbs and roots are severed, yet it isn't enough. The dryad keeps growing back all that's cut. My steel blade is discarded, and I summon another shadow sword and enhance it with mental mana. With the two swords, I rapidly cut into my foe.
My perception mask and shadow shroud are my only defense. My perception is forcing my image to appear where it is not. Sometimes I cover my image completely, keeping me hidden unless someone has a keen spirit — Roxi doesn't. Other times, my image fakes attacks. The confusion and my shroud are enough to keep me out of danger.
Despite the wild nature of the fight, I keep myself calm and controlled, unwilling to let my footing or attacks become complacent. Even though roots seek to entangle me, they either miss or are cut off by a quick slice of my blade. More mind mana is pushed into the sword edges. The power from the blades is almost as palpable as the aroma of cedar lingering in the air.
Sword energy fuses with my blades taking my attacks to a new level of devastation. I carefully control the power so that I don't cut down my new allies. Roxi's desire to destroy my friends fuels my fight to cut her down quickly.
****
Why isn't Jack, whatever his name is, dead yet? She has hit him so many times already; at least eleven of them have been killing blows. Yet the pesky man is still cutting into her. The utter lack of dead bodies before Roxi has her at a complete loss.
What frustrates her the most is that she keeps taking damage from these silly blades, and each hit messes with her mind a little. It's like a fogginess is being added, or she is feeling heavy. She isn't worried. Eventually, Jack will realize he is already dead, and the pointless fighting will stop. Still, she is tired of taking hits, so she shifts out of tree form into her quicker dryad body. It helps, if only a little.
Though her new form does little to reduce her incoming damage, her attack speed and accuracy have doubled. Combo hits land, taking huge chunks out of the man's life. It could be that Jack is using death mana to keep him standing. That is the only thing that makes sense. His life is fueled by death… No, it is the damn life goblin.
Roxi turns her attention to the life leach, looking to end his support. Only she can't find the goblin or his spiders. Her mind is a complete fog except for the peculiar thought of severing running through her mind. No matter how hard she tries to discard the idea, she cannot.
Sever. She tries to summon some nature spirits to come aid in her attack. She thinks she can feel the mana forming to follow her command. It is close but so distant. Her spell is suspended. She just needs to finish the order.
Sever. Her mind clouds for a second, and she forgets what she is trying to do. The golden tree tied to her soul is pulling away. She pours some focus on it, demanding that her power stays.
The golden mana heeds her command. The energy empowers her as it flows through her channels. Several dryads of her images begin to form on the battlefield. However, deep cuts into her spine break her focus once again. She can no longer tell if she is laughing or screaming.
Sever. The horrid thought plagues her mind. Sever what? What needs to be cut? Why? Where? She no longer cares about control and lets her mana and nature break into chaos.
The very air is infused with her power. Nature mana is so thick she can taste its bitterness. The grove will soon become a graveyard that will further nourish and enrich her cultivation. Just a moment longer. Just a little more power. Her goals are within reach. This is her time.
With passionate anger, Roxi tries to command her mana to destroy.
****
The last hit, fueled with sword energy, hit hard. Roxi is looking... Well, she isn't looking good. The mighty woman in the tree battle dress no longer focuses on the fight. Even the tornado of nature is calming down. Instead of attacking, Roxi holds her head and mutters some words I can't understand.
I move to end the fight when the dryad's crazy eyes catch mine. Roxi's white eyes are wide open and distant. "I... est mated you... Won't hap time. Until, fun Fury." It's trash talk, for sure.
My blade strikes, and the dryad's limp body falls hard on the ground. A new blade forms in my hand. I'm about to absorb the dryad when her body evaporates, and a withering golden tree takes her place.
I stretch my energy reading to see if I can get information about the golden tree. I get nothing. I can feel weak energy radiating from the tree. It feels essential. Essential for what? I don't know. All I can tell is that it's dying. Strangely its soul stirs, sending me a rather uncomfortable feeling. I'm not sure that it's a sick feeling. It's hard to place. All I know is that it feels off.
Besides my uncomfortable feeling, the woods become calm again. The distant battle of trees and spiders comes to an immediate halt. The only movement is the dragon flying over the glass dome. Fury is on a direct path toward us. I take in a couple deep breaths.
The only consolation is that there is no first impression I need to worry about botching. I already did that with the dragon. I take a few more breaths and loosen up my limbs again, preparing for one more dreadful fight.