Fight

Fuck it. First you get turned into a wolf, and now this? You've had enough. Someone's going pay for your bad mood, and it might as well be this idiot. You begin unwinding vines and sinking roots into the ground. Oh yeah! you challenge, You want some? Come and get it. The thing takes you at your word and rushes towards you. You whip an arm forward intending to wrap your vines around him. As you do though, they twist together into one long strand to strike at the creature. The fuck they do that for? Then you remember your abilities. Shit, fucking Vine Lash. You must automatically use your abilities when you fight, regardless of your intentions. You realization comes too late though. The creature slams into you. The sandy soil doesn't give your roots much grip and you go flying, smacking painfully into the wall. The creature howls at the ceiling, thinking it has won.

It hasn't. You rise, brushing sand and rock dust off you. Think it's over already? you shout, Please, that was nothing. The thing cuts off mid howl to snarl with fury. Yeah, fuck you too. The creature charges again. This time though, you're ready. Instead of lashing out with your vines, you start to create a Barrier, dropping it in front of you and rolling to the side as the creature nears. The Barrier doesn't stop it, but the thing does get tangled up enough so that you're able to get your feet and strike a few blows with your Vine Lash. You reach out a few roots, trying to hold it in place so you can grind it down. Your roots grasp it, but the thing is easily able to tear itself free. Shit, no Bind ability. You never actually thought you'd wish for some spiders. Cursing, you throw up another Barrier and dive to the side as it charges again. Unable to keep the creature in one place, you keep doing this over and over, hitting it with your Vine Lash while it recovers. While you might be able to do more damage if you got in closer to engage in full melee, you don't want to risk it. Despite keeping you distance though, you're not always able to get clear in time. The thing has gotten it a few hits of its own, leaving you oozing green fluid from several gashes.

Finally, your constant lashing takes effect. The thing is slowly losing strength; it barely has enough energy to pursue you. At this point you no longer need to use your Barrier to slow the creature down. You can simply dodge its slow lumbering charges, and **** it from the flanks and rear. You press the attack, sensing victory is near. The thing stops, not even trying to charge you anymore. It just stands in place, trying to turn and meet your onslaught. You launch a constant barrage of strikes, giving you cover while you close the distance. As you near, you draw you left fist back and slam it up into the creature's stomach. To your surprise, the **** of the blow sends the creature flying. Due to the angle and strength of the punch, the thing follows a smooth, high arc, almost floating in the air before gravity wrenches it back down to crash into the ground. You start to move in for the kill, but as you do, the creature disappears. You halt, not sure what's happening, until you hear music accompanied by a flash of light. You killed it. It's over.

You're tired, but also strangely satisfied. You showed that thing who was boss. You start to head towards the exit. As you do though, you hear a chime, and something appears in front of you: the creature. What!? How was this happening!? You just killed the thing. Then it hits you, this is its respawn location. Fuck! Not only that, it's respawning right between you and the exit. Double fuck. You charge straight at the creature hoping to catch it off guard. Your ploy works. Still disoriented by respawning, the creature never sees you coming as you smash into it knocking it on its back. You follow the creature to ground, hitting it over and over and over again. Having gotten it on the ground, you have no intention of letting the thing back up. You feel bones snap and flesh tear underneath your fists as you continue to hammer the creature. However, the thing manages to get its hands into position, and throw you off of it.

The two of you scramble back up to your feet. You unfurl your vines, forming them into your Vine Lash. You can see that your beating definitely had an effect. Quite a few of the creature's ribs are broken and its face is a battered mess. To top it all off, the creature is bleeding heavily from several wounds. The thing gives a roar of challenge, before rushing forward in a head-on ****. However, you can see that the creature is moving much slower after your pounding. You realize the damage to its face must be obscuring it vision. You decide to take advantage of that. You form a small Barrier, and throw it at the creature's legs while it charges. Due to its lack of visibility, the thing doesn't see the Barrier, and runs right into it. The Barrier gets caught between the thing's legs, causing it to lose its balance and tumble to the ground. You move closer to bring your Vine Lash in range. You start off striking at the creature's ruined face. When it moves its arms up to shield its head, you focus your **** on the creature's battered torso, making sure you target it wounds to inflict extra damage. You keep switching between the two areas as the creature tries to shield itself.

Eventually, the thing stops its futile attempts to protect itself, and rolls over. It's obviously planning to get back up and charge you again. You continue to whip the thing as you close the distance between the two of you. The creature rises to its feet, and turns to face you. It endeavors to charge, but you calmly sidestep to the creature's right, twisting as you do to drive you left fist into its shattered ribs. The thing screams in agony and falls to its knees, hunched over it pain. You show no mercy, bringing you left knee up to smash into the creature's face. The creature's head snaps up, just as you bring your right arm down to hammer the thing's face back into your knee. The creature lets out another tortured cry, slighted muffled due to its ruined mouth. It slowly slumps to the side. You move to start striking the creature again, but the body fades away, as you are rewarded with more XP.

Having defeated the creature for a second time, you start to hurry towards the exit, hoping to make it out before the creature respawns. You barely make one step though, before you hear the chime and the creature reappears, restored to full health. This time, you're too far away to charge the thing. It turns to you and gives a low, angry snarl, almost as if it remembers it two previous deaths. Shit. The creature rushes towards you. Unable to do anything else, you resort to your old tactic of slowing it with Barriers, dodging, and attacking with Vine Lash on the recovery. The difference is: this time you're exhausted, while the creature is at full strength.

After repeating this little dance a half a dozen times, you decide you need to change things up. During one charge, you form a smaller, bowl-shaped Barrier and throw it over the creature's head while it's still recovering. You're able to buy yourself a few extra minutes as it desperately tries to claw it off. You fall back trying to regain your strength. You can't go on like this. Your obviously hurting it, but you're not sure you'll be able to kill it, before it gets you. You need to think outside the box. Suddenly, you recall how you won the fight that set you on this path; you used the environment to kill the heroes for you. You look up. The roof is low here, you can almost touch it. You have an idea. You stretch your arms up, and reach your vines out to the roof above you. You send your thinner tendrils delving into the cracks and fissures in the rock, while the thicker vines wrap around various outcroppings and stalactites. Finally, the creature rips the bowl of its head and turns towards you roaring. You ignore it. It begins charging you, but you still pay it no attention. You're focused on the task at hand, or vine as it were. You tense as it approaches. Closer... Closer... There! With a roar of your own you wrench your arms down, bringing a thundering cascade of falling rock on top of the creature.

Panting, you pause to survey your work. Amazingly, the creature is still alive, however it is pinned to the ground underneath a giant pile of stone. It struggles against its bonds, but the rock pile doesn't even shift. With your enemy now immobile, you begin to strike it with Vine Lash again and again. You're tired though, the rock fall took a lot out you. You frequently have to stop for breaks. Finally, you get another idea. You reach some vines down and start forming an airtight Barrier inside the thing's nose and mouth. As its air is cut off, the creature starts struggle with renewed urgency. At last, the Barrier is done, and you disconnect it, drawing your vines back. You watch the thing's frantic struggles dispassionately. You're too tired to feel sorry for it, and it looks too pathetic for you to feel victorious. Eventually, the creature ceases to struggle, and the pile of stone shifts as its body evaporates. There is a flash of light and music plays as you gain XP again. You're too exhausted to care. You turn to go, but as you do, the chime sounds and the thing reappears. Resigned, you ready yourself to keep fighting. However, it is unnecessary. When the creature sees you, it lets out a terrified shriek and start to lope towards the exit. Huh, apparently it did not enjoy suffocating to ****. Who would of thought? You can't say you're sorry to see it go.

As you leave through the caverns, you can't help but curse you're earlier spirit of adventure. That fight was brutal. On the bright side though, you're pretty sure that thing won't be coming back, so the spiders should be able to move in.

When you leave the cave, you immediately start to feel better. You realize that you must have been using mana during the fight. You're so used to regenerating it, thanks to the sunlight, that it must have taken an extra toll. You wonder which ability used mana. Probably Barrier, if it was Vine Lash you would have been dead. Still, the sunlight doesn't give back any of the health you lost or all the energy you expended.

You drag yourself towards the path. At this point, you don't care if you run into any heroes. **** would almost be welcome. You head for home, trudging wearily.