Green hell

Facing a Dryad and the spirit of the forest himself, John quickly realized something: THERE WERE PLANTS EVERYWHERE!!!

The glade had turned in an instant from a bucolic view of paradise into a green hell. Already he could see the bushes and plants around him growing thorns and leaves that looked like nettles, which he would avoid touching at all cost, cursing once again the fact that he forgot to buy gloves.

He got a normal pair of boxers from his inventory that he had not worn already and poured some water on it before tying it to his face to protect himself from the pollen. He would have to buy one of those gas masks people wear to protect from fumes and dust on his next trip to the hardware store or a real military one if he could find one somewhere.

Running to another cover, he realized that the Dryad talked to him, and if she could talk, she could be reasoned with.

"Hey, look, I'm really sorry about what happened. But you attacked first and I had to defend myself, so why not call it quits and let me go? I won't bother you any-more," he shouted before putting his mask back in place. In the spirit of diplomacy, he waited for an answer before striking.

The Dryad was advancing in the middle of the glade wardens that were acting as bodyguards. It meant that she was as slow as they were unless she wanted to forgo their protection.

"Despoiler! You mock us! You fell a tree of our glade, and it must be avenged. You will die and a new tree will grow from your corpse, that's all you animals are good for," she announced.

Well, so much for diplomacy. He noticed that she was about to cast some sort of spell and used an interrupting shot with his Junk Thrower. The heavy metal ball hit her square in the forehead, stopping what she was doing and drawing blood. Except that it looked more like sap than blood and flowers and plants were growing every time a droplet fell to the ground.

12 dmg

It was a lot more than on the saplings before, but killing her with that would take ages. John didn't have much special ammo left, just enough to hit each warden once and keep one spare. Still, if it worked and he didn't have to fight enemies in heavy armor, it would be worth it. He acted like a sniper, letting go of one or two shots before running to another hiding spot.

The slime-water was working but would take longer to eat the hard bark of those than it would for clothes or the soft bark of the saplings. He looked again and saw that the Dryad was channelling some golden energy from the plants around her and was at full life once again.

"Oh yeah, life magic, that's right! Fuck my life. I have to split them up; it's my only chance," he swore.

He used Move to shake some bushes in different spots of the woods and used Stealth to disappear. After a second or so of confusion, the Dryad sent wardens to three of the spots, keeping two with her.

John had placed himself in a spot where one of them would have to pass by to reach one of his decoys and that had no direct line of sight to the place where the Dryad was.

He was ready when the lumbering warden passed in front of him. Axe in both hands, he used it to aim at a weak spot of his back where his armour was eaten by the slime water and used Charged Strike with lightning.

160 dmg (sneak attack, weak spot: crippled, crit, charged strike, weapon weakness)

Damn that was effective.

Using the crippled modifier that would slow him a lot, he went for another Charged Strike on his back; he wouldn't get the sneak attack bonus though.

42 dmg (charged strike, weapon weakness)

This time the warden was facing him, and John didn't trust his ability to actually fight with the long axe (which was absolutely not designed as a weapon, but to hit motionless targets). Once the tree creature fully noticed him, he threw a thorn at him, which made him lose 4hp, a lot more than the saplings managed; he would have to be careful.

John had switched to his Saber and hatchet. The hatchet wouldn't help with the vines that were trying to catch him, but would probably be more effective against the body than the Saber. Using both machete and hatchet would sacrifice too much range for John's comfort.

In a few attacks and defending against the vines, John managed to finish it without using any more mana but not before taking a punch to the chest from a heavy branch, losing *15hp.

60xp

"One down, four to go. I hope I can get a few more of them like that. Let's see... I'm at 151/180hp and 135/180mp. I'll have to be careful but it is doable. Fuck, I forgot to set my points from the lvl up again. What would help me the most? A fucking heal spell would help, I really have to work on that, there should be a way to get that from Biomancy. I should be able to change my body from wounded to healthy. I can't put all in one Stat, I'll have to split it up. There, 2 endurance and 3 intellect, that puts me at 161/190hp and 150/195mp. Now for the next part," he reflected under his breath. While he was thinking about it and hiding himself, he could hear the Dryad crying and raging.

"No! That can't be. No animal can defeat the wardens of the glade. Your supplice will never end," she shouted.

John walked carefully out of sight and used Move once again but this time on a single spot. He was drawing them away from the place they came from. This time, the Dryad and her two body guards went to investigate. John used this time to reach one of the lone wardens sent to an earlier decoy near the clearing.

He managed a sneak Charged Strike on a weak spot with his axe and changed weapons immediately, not waiting to see the results.

84 dmg (sneak attack, charged strike, weapon weakness, weak spot: bleeding)

Even with a bleeding effect, he would have to hurry before the Dryad noticed it and healed him. Thanks to his boots, John managed to jump backwards, the heavy counter-attack of the tree-man missing him by a hair's width.

In quick succession, he cast two Magic Projectiles with lightning before charging.

36dmg
48dmg (crit, stun)

The few seconds of stun let him hack at him without interference. He used his saber on the weak parts like the long vines dangling from his branches, while he went at the creature's face with the hatchet.

20dmg
20dmg (weapon weakness)

He just hit one last time before the end of the stun and got hit by a thorn and a branch in retaliation.

20dmg
-19hp

"Fucking die!" shouted John casting one last spell to kill him.

36dmg

60xp

"No! Monster leave them be, stop harming the forest," shouted the Dryad.

John couldn't continue like this. The last lone tree-man had rejoined his group, and they would not fall for this another time.

The second that he saw her and then again when he witnessed her powers, John wanted to capture the Dryad. She would make a fine addition to his realm, both as a fuck toy and to improve the place. The thing was that his idea to sneak the collar on her might not work. He had watched the wardens, and they had no inventory or equipment slots. With actually wearing nothing and not using any items or weapons, it might be the same for her. He would have to do it by hand probably, but even with a stun, getting close enough to do it without being killed by her three guards would be a challenge.