2 v 1! Fight!

Ellen didn’t look up, sending a wave with her naginata at the spot she heard the sound come from, hitting the spot John had just been in.

“I know that voice, and that fluffball. I guess I should have killed him anyway,” Ellen whispered softly as she took her last drag from her cigarette, tossing it away as she saw Mariel sprinkle a bit of a health potion on her wounded shoulder, rolling it back and forth before nodding.

“I’m in fighting condition again. Let's get this bastard,” the fighter hissed, her eyes glowing slightly pink as her plate covered shoulder slowly grew spikes. “Hey! Smartass! Don’t you have the balls to fight us fair and square? Afraid a pair of ladies can beat you?!”

John swallowed lightly, yelling back: “Fair? What’s fair about a two versus one fight? And if I recall, your friend there ambushed me before! You have no moral high ground here!”

The bat wielding merc laughed softly as she mouthed: “Got him” at Ellen, a pink ball materializing in front of her, the shape of a hedgehog. She swung her bat, sending the hedgehog ball flying at the spot John’s voice had come from.

John realized he fucked up when he saw the attack come flying at him; he evaded it just barely, the attack striking the tree behind him, causing John’s face to go pale. Just when he wanted to brush his forehead and take a shot back, he felt a sharp pain on his back, his hp dropping by eight. Instead of returning fire, he jumped onto another branch and started to move away slowly, not falling for her taunting another time.

When he was confident he was far enough away, he pulled his cloak around his body, seeing a ball made from tiny spikes sticking in it. “Fucking splash damage,” he mumbled. The ball disappeared in a puff of pink smoke moments after it got dislodged from his cloak, the mana sustaining it running out.

John made his way around the clearing, intentionally breaking a branch, a dry snapping sound audible. Ellen, quick like a viper, thrust her polearm at his direction, a glob of poison flying at the tree John was in. The other merc followed suit, hitting another one of her hedgehog balls in his direction.

John stayed low on his branch, the two attacks flying over him as he fired back. Punching a bloody hole in the bat wielding mercs’ upper left leg. “Putain madre,” she cursed, her french accent getting heavier now that she was angry.

John was about to move from his hiding spot again when the tree he was in shook. “Fuck!” he cursed while the branch slowly started to curve down. John landed heavily on his feet as he found himself in the clearing with two angry women raising their weapons at him.
Ellen thrust her polearm at him, though she preserved her mana; the bat wielding merc pulled the arrow from her leg as she glared at him. “Guess someone lost his footing. Well, we will make sure that doesn’t happen again,” she said with a grim smirk.

John crawled up to his feet, raising his bow at them when the tree behind him let out a loud groan.

“Hrm, that. Hurt.” an aged, low voice rang out. John looked over his shoulder. Both Ellen and her friend’s mouths fell open as the tree John had just been in slowly rose up higher.

The tree slowly turned towards the clearing. “Hey, what happened to Wildred? Why is he laying down on the ground?” the same old voice rang from the tree, a pair of yellow eyes appearing on its bark. The eyes looking directly at the felled tree, then at the three humans in the clearing. “Monkeys. Tell me. Why is Wildred laying down?”

John’s mind worked quickly, connecting the name Wildred to the tree. “Well, sir tree sir. The woman dressed in metal broke Wildred down because she was too lazy to climb him.”

“You. Did. WHAT?!” the tree spoke, a loud, thundering boom echoing through the forest. “I knew Wildred since he was an acorn! I watched him grow his first leaves!”

“Sir tree! It’s true that I broke the tree down, but that is because he trapped one of my companions in him!” the bat wielding merc responded, glaring daggers at John.

“So you admit it!” the tree growled. Two arms slowly grew from the bark, branches moving over the wooden shell, converging until they formed long, large arms with six fingered hands. The bark split open underneath the eyes to reveal a mouth, the sound it made even louder now.

“It was not my intention! He **** me to because of my companion!” the merc tried to rationalize it to the angry plant.

“Just like a god cares not for an ant… So do I not give a flying pollen about the **** of a single human. I will squash you and take **** for my fallen friend,” the tree hissed, the roots starting to wriggle like snakes as he approached the three of them.

Ellen and the merc paled as John took this moment to get the fuck out of there, dashing to the edge of the woods, only to be blocked by a net of roots that sprung up around the clearing.

“Impudence! Where are you going, little monkey? Did I say you could leave?” the aged voice asked with a grim tone.

“Ehm, I thought you said you would kill her because you didn’t care her companion died?” John asked as the roots grew higher, intertwining to create a wooden wall.

“You had a hand in Wildred’s ****, do you think you are getting off that easily? Impudence!”

John swallowed, cursing internally as he raised his bow at the tree. “I guess that means we are fighting?”

Ellen and the merc where whispering while the tree paid attention to John.

“Hunter! We propose a truce; you can’t beat him on your own, and we can’t fight him and you at the same time. What say you?”

John groaned. “You tried to kill Jack, but… Sure. Let’s turn this old hunk o’ wood into a nice little bonfire.