The (Minor) Tree of Life

John hadn’t made the I.D. particularly huge or small but the fact that Treants could spawn from anywhere was slowing down their search. Every tree was a potential spawn point and the only thing that John could say with relative certainty was that there were two exceptions to that rule: A, Trees that were too small and B, Trees that already had spawned a Treant and were marked with that cross shape.

Some of the higher level Treants also had a slightly bigger intellect and hid amongst the actual plants until the group got close enough to strike. At such occasions it was Aclysia who blocked the strikes with her sturdy body, protecting the rest of them from harm as Rave then quickly took the attacker out. Eventually they planned a formation with Aclysia at the head, blocking incoming surprise attacks, Rave in the middle, taking care of attackers that were already close and John with Victoria at the back taking out whatever was approaching. The formation made their movement easier and so they fought through the woods without much danger.

It was Victoria who eventually spotted their target. “There, those leaves look suspicious!” She exclaimed and pointed at a tree in the distance. Indeed, John had a hard time spotting it but now that she pointed it out there was a tree with red and white leaves instead of green ones. “Aclysia, you lead us there.” He ordered his Guardian and they made their way. ‘Lucky us, no more Treants in the way.’ He thought as they arrived.

“…Siiinnnerssss…” The ancient voice hissed through the leaves as they finally go into range. The tree was obviously out of place. It looked unnaturally healthy looking, had dark bark and red as well as white leaves. What truly gave it away though were the three faces that shifted over the bark close to the ground.

That Loottable looked juice. Although it was nice to get conformation on first kill bonuses. ‘I kinda want that Lance Hardwood, just to see what it is. Also, the Hoe of Hoe’s?’ John thought as he looked over the rewards. He wasn’t that fazed by the monster’s level. If the past two encounters with over-levelled monsters had proven anything than that they were mostly one-trick ponies. The Wall Shadow was a joke after they had gotten it out of the Walls and the Spectre’s enormous disability to fight against fire or immobilization had made it laughable from the second attempt onwards.

Now they were fighting a, not particularly giant, tree. If they kept their distance from its roots and didn’t get hit by the branches they should be fine. “Okay, we keep our distance and slowly widdle it down.” John instructed. “…my children…gather to me…!” The Tree of Life whispered into the woods as a cocoon of wood started enveloping him, making attacks impossible for both sides.

Dozens, maybe a hundred, of Treants suddenly started moving. Many of them, John realized, from the path they had used to get here. They hadn’t attacked to get them entrapped. The Treants closed in on the group, forcing them closer to the Tree of Life. Eventually the plant-monsters stopped, having formed a tight circle. They stretched their branch arms to the side and grew together to one huge unit. Victoria started shooting them as soon as they started but either because of the Tree of Life or because they now shared a life ****, the Treants wouldn’t die. The group was effectively trapped in an arena by a one and a half metre tall wall of living wood. John sent Aclysia to try and climb over with a mental command. She was immediately beaten back by an **** of small branches. She and Rave maybe could have broken out but Victoria and himself lacked the physical capabilities.

“….Sinnerss…” The Tree of Life hissed again. “You will have to pay for your transgressions…..against treekind….I smell the sap of my children, younglings and adults alike, on you….the forest will never forgive you!”

John looked around their battlefield for something they could use as an advantage. Besides the Tree of Life there were three other trees but besides them it was a pretty smooth area with no cover. One of the trees bark started shifting as a new Treant was born. As it left the tree it left no cross shaped mark. “…My roots…give strength to my children….” The Tree of Life monologued. “…Our onslaught will leave you…as fodder for the next generation….” The tree’s bark started shifting again, as did the other two’s as they started to spew a first wave of Treants unto the battlefield

“Those gotta go first!” John exclaimed. “Monster Spawners are too dangerous!” “Cover me!” Victoria demanded and set her weapons case down again. He had no idea what she was about to pull out but it was probably a good idea. “I take out the first one!” Rave shouted and stormed towards the nearby tree. John couldn’t have stopped her if he wanted to.

First Rave reduced the already birthed Treant to smoulders as she had done with the very first one. Then she just started punching the tree with her aura. At first John was hopeful. Splinters flew everywhere as Rave hacked away at the tree relentlessly. A quick look at her Status revealed however that her mana would deplete before she would have gone through. “Come back, Jane!” He shouted when her mana was almost empty, “We have to do it in multiple attempts!”

Rave obeyed with an unhappy “Tsk.” And jumped back to the main group. Her breathing regular she refilled her mana. “…You hurt…my children…but the wounds…shall heal…” The Tree of Life whispered, faces appearing on the cocoon, lips moving as the sound echoed from everywhere. Rave had punched around a fourth of the tree away in her **** but now that gap was starting to close. “Fuck!” John cursed. It was time to try other solutions. He used Possession on the tree, maybe he could break it that way or at least unearth it.

“FUCK!” He cursed again. ‘Okay, one more idea but this is going to cost a lot of mana. GNOME!’ He called upon the earth elemental. ‘Yes, John?’ ‘Burrow out that tree!’ He instructed as he narrowly dodged the strike of Treant that had managed to get by Aclysia and Rave who were currently on the defensive. Rave quickly took care of that problem with a roundhouse kick that ripped the Treants arm off. A moment later she finished it with a blast of heated light.

John’s mana bar was depleting quickly but the tactic showed progress. “…Grrhhh…” It echoed through the forest as the Tree of Life felt his control over the tree slipping. Gnome created a huge crater around the tree and finally it started tilting. John saw red, thick roots, pulsating with green energy, desperately trying to hold unto the tree but the big plant’s weight was now pulling it down and the roots snapped with a pained cry of the Tree of Life. “NOOOO, MY CHILD!!” The voice boomed through the forest. “YOU WILL PAY, SINNERS! MURDERERS! DEVIANTS! FIENDS!”

Victoria finally pulled out what she had been searching for. “Out of the way!” She instructed John as she took aim with a bazooka. ‘Holy Mother of whaaaaa-?’ He thought as he threw himself to the ground. The explosive boomed through the air and hit the tree at its base taking out the second tree quickly after the second in a wave of heat and fire.

“Reloading!” Victoria shouted and rummaged for a new explosive in her pocketdimensional case. “Nice!” Rave gave a thumbs-up towards Victoria but she was not looking. “Let’s cover her and clean up the remaining Treants.” John said, he had used up most of his mana but if he left the guard duty, which was now much easier with two of the Spawners gone, to Rave and Aclysia he would be able to regenerate a good amount of mana. He quickly checked if the Treants in this fight gave him Experience, so that he could try to get an instant-refill. They didn’t. Gaia took care of some exploits it seemed.

Victoria produced the next warhead much quicker than the first. “Caution!” She advised and pulled the trigger. The last of the Spawners went down as the remaining Treants did. A moment of silence amidst the burning, smoking remains of two trees.

The ground started vibrating. “…You…” The Tree of Life said. “….YOU….YOU DARE TO BRING FIRE AND ASHES TO THE HOME OF THE TREES! YOU ARE THE GREATEST OF ALL SINNERS!” Roots broke from the ground underneath Victoria and lifted her into the air in one smooth motion. The rest of the group reacted as quickly as they could as roots wrapped around the Gunwoman in a very indecent way.

A scene that could have been straight out of a hentai the roots winded around her breasts, wiggled underneath her clothes, rubbed along her crotch and entered her mouth. John would have been probably very much into the scene if it wouldn’t have been real. He still was a bit. Just a bit though.

He still tried to free her but with Strength Stat of 10 he wasn’t of much help to Aclysia and Rave who ripped apart the roots at their base until Victoria finally was free again and fell. Rave caught her and helped to free her of the remaining roots afterwards. When then one in her mouth was released she started coughing up some thick liquid. “She has been poisoned!” She said and carefully put her on the ground. “Aclysia, watch over her.” John instructed as he watched the cocoon around the Tree of Life finally go down. “Jane and me take out the boss.”

“…SINNERS!!!” The Tree of Life swung its branches at them like giant whips. The size and girth of the was intimidating but they didn’t move at a speed that John couldn’t handle while Rave had a very easy time to dodge and get to the trunk. “I said I would punch whatever you had for a face in that face! Lucky me, you have three of those!” Rave said with a smile and punched the child’s face, which happened to be closest to hers.

“NOOO! THE PAIN, THE PAIN!” The voice wailed. “It’s working!” John commented, “YOU DON’T SAY?” Rave returned and punched the man’s face second. “URGH! I AM A TREE OF LIFE! I CANNOT BE BEATEN LIKE THIS!” The womans face retreat up the bark as roots exploded from the earth to attack John and Rave. They were in a pinch, between thrashing branches and tentacle like roots. John however knew exactly what he needed to do.

“Sorry, but to my knowledge you are just a ‘Minor’.” John tried his best at a punchline as he raised his hand and fired a Mana Power Attack. The face wasn’t moving particularly fast, neither could it escape to anywhere but the surface of the Tree of Life and so the attack connected easily. In an explosion of mana the face tore apart, leaving the world with a last scream of agony and hatred.

The branches and roots froze in place, curled up and then sunk together like a lifeless octopus before slowly vanishing from existence together with the ring of Treants that had blocked their escape. “Wuh, that was dangerous for a moment.” John sighed and wiped the sweat of his forehead as he pushed the windows to the side of his field of view, he would need to get through them later, there was something more urgent.

John walked over to the lying gunwoman. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, breath irregular and heavy, face flushed red. It was like she had an **** fever. “Let’s get her out here.”