Allies, for now

(authory author note: First of, thanks for waiting patiently for me to release again, I really appreciate the patience you guys have with me. Starting now, I will be publishing chapters again, but, I am going to change the schedule to something more manageable to myself. Publishing a chapter every 2 days was **** one me and will not improve the story in the long run, I am not sure how many chapters I will be releasing, but my goal is to publish at least two every week. Now, time for me to shut up, and let the story commence once more!)

The large tree slammed his fists onto the floor, causing the ground to cave slightly and small tendrils to shoot towards all three of them. John dodged to the side, the tendrils piercing up from the earth where he had just been. Ellen stomped her foot on the ground, the grass around her dying rapidly while the tendrils became blackened as they touched the soil. The bat merc clubbed the tendrils down, breaking them off with sheer ****.

“Hunter! You know these woods better than we do. Any idea on how to beat this big hunk of wood?” Ellen yelled as she kept most of her focus on the ent.

“Ehm, about that. I am, kinda…. new. I joined like four days ago!” John answered awkwardly. Sending out a probing arrow that harmlessly stuck in the wooden skin of the tree.

“Ok, forget I said anything then. Do you know anything that might be useful?”

“Well, it’s angry, and angry people make mistakes?”

“Great, a useless hunter.” The plate wearing merc cursed as she hit a hedgehog ball at the tree.

“Do you guys have anything that would be harmful to a plant?” John asked as he ignored the insult, trying a piercing shot. Seeing a damage value of one fly up.

“And he seems to be hard to hurt.” he added with a sigh.

“Toxin mage, physical ability holder,” Ellen responded, pointing at herself, then her companion before sending a globule of poison at the mouth of the ent. A loud hissing sound came from the wood before the ent’s eyes got bigger, the mouth closing but the wood around it dissolving quickly.

“Cheeky humans. Do you think that could hurt me?” the ent roared, his bark pulsing; the roots wriggled suddenly, then a large amount of liquids could be heard flowing through them. For a few seconds, they fattened considerably, the wood on the ent’s face regrowing visibly to the naked eye.

“The wood is my home, it keeps me alive. Give up now, and your deaths will be swift!”

“Fucking hell. That’s not fair!” John cursed, looking at the two mercenaries, their faces paling slightly. “Do you guys know of any weaknesses? I mean, you two have been in the Abyss far longer than I have!”

“Most…” the canadian merc started, rolling to the side when one of the arms of the ent smacked into the ground where she had just been standing. “Most plant based lifeforms have a core, like a heart.” She was **** to deflect a second blow as were John and Ellen, retreating backwards, trying to not get hit by the ever following roots, branches and flailing arms. “Lucky us… That this bastard has bark as tough as a dragon’s ass,” she cursed. Seconds later, she gave a sharp cry; having not dodged fast enough, her foot had gotten caught by some of the tendrils. The only thing she could do was bring her bat up to defend herself against one of the log like arms swinging at her torso. A loud, sickening crunch followed as the arm easily bend the bat and barreled onwards, shattering the steel plates and her arm with it, bone splinters sticking out from her flesh as blood sprayed out.

Cutting her losses, she threw away her useless weapon, using her healthy arm and striking at her feet, a hedgehog’s face materializing and gnawing at the tendrils, allowing her to roll out of the way for the next strike.

“You okay?” Ellen asked as she launched a concentrated burst of acid at the swinging arm, cutting off a smoking piece of wood that immediately started to regrow.

“Hurt, but I’ll live.” Mariel huffed, cradling her broken arm as she stared daggers at the tree that was still moving closer with each second that passed.

“Okay, core, I think I can sense it,” John interjected. “Halfway through his body, around the place his nose would be. You said that it was a heart, if we pierce it, it dies?” John asked hopefully.

“Basically, yeah, corrupt it, hurt it, set it ablaze, whatever you want. Do enough damage to it and it will die.”

“Not that you impudent fleshbags have any chance of doing so,” the ent responded with a sadistic laugh. “You are useless in the face of the might of this forest; obediently lay down your lives!”

With that cry a large wave of tendrils and roots moved through the clearing towards them like a flash flood. John managed to jump and roll out of the way, running for his life and dodging like mad. Ellen cast wave after wave of toxins at the ground, corroding the ever flowing waves of tendrils. Mariel on the other hand… was not as lucky. Already wounded and dressed in heavier armor, she could not exert as much power as before; she managed to smash a dozen or so, but more kept coming for her. Before long, she was overwhelmed, the tendrils wrapping around her, dragging her to the ground and towards the Ent. Ellen tried to save her, casting a few spells at the tendrils dragging her companion away, but she could only do so much before getting in danger herself. John even tried to help, firing arrows at the tough tendrils, cutting a few, but in the end, it was to no avail.

The ent lifted her up in front of him, dangling her by her feet as he laughed maniacally. “And the first one falls….” he said gravely; green tubelike tentacles snaked from his mouth, attaching themselves to the struggling mercenary, and blood seeped out as they dug under her skin, starting to pump something out of the screaming woman. “Draining…” she mumbled. “Fuck.” She wiggled, she struggled, but the draining got faster. “Ellen,” she said suddenly, her eyes growing dimmer and her hair visibly grayed, her vitality draining into the menacing tree. “Live!” she cried out, then slammed her good hand onto her chest, the image of a hedgehog materializing as the cracking sound of bones could be heard.

Ellen and John, both still fighting off the tendrils saw how the hedgehog started to swell, its pink body ballooning out before it let out an anguished screech. The ent tried to up his draining speed even further, a grim, dark chuckle flowing from Mariel’s lips. “Fuck you, tree face.”

Those would be her last words as the next second the hedgehog exploded, mana collapsing in on itself to create a shockwave that blasted both John and Ellen off of their feet. The explosion had blasted away a large part of the ent’s body, creating a gaping hole where one of its eyes and arms had been.

John crawled back to his feet while Ellen had a harder time getting back up to her feet, being blasted into the wooden wall and lying there limply. The first thing john saw was a partly uncovered, thick, green, pulsing vein slowly starting to drag wood towards itself, the wood regrowing as quick as possible to cover it again.

“Fat chance,” he mumbled, raising his bow, casting both piercing arrow and mana arrow at the same time, sending a bolt flying across the open space, rupturing the green vein moments before it was encapsulated again.

“Noooooo, IMPUDEEEEEENCE” the ent screamed as thick ichor sprayed out of the vein, John having accurately guessed it to be it’s heart. The wood slowly started to gray out, the menacing eyes of the ent dimmed, and the leaves withered.