Why Won’t You Die?
Elijah wiped the blood from his naked body, grateful that he had chosen to go into this fight like a Dark Souls veteran; the few garments he had would have been shredded by the TreeAnt’s manic attacks.
Storm clouds brewed as the fight continued. Elijah dodged desperately for his life, struggling to outlast the vicious burst. His legs strained as they tossed his body about. His core arched; he had to constantly throw himself around to survive. His lungs stung. Too often the teen was forced to use his Dodge Skill to escape death, and his stamina was running low.
Finally, a break came in the constant storm of attacks. Elijah didn’t hesitate. He threw out the water mana stored in his arm. It formed into a blade, one foot in length. The liquid weapon zipped through the air, scoring one of the monster's eyes. It roared in pain, though barely a scratch was left on its bark. The onslaught began anew, fuelled by even more fury.
Despite his Agility, Elijah couldn’t outdistance the TreeAnt. Its roots were more than just deadly, spindly knives. They could also grab onto the terrain and pull it along. There was nothing the teen could do but grin and bear it.
After a minute that felt like an hour, his health was down by half. Shallow cuts infested his body, despite his best efforts. The red paint of blood, smeared all over by his desperate ducks and dives, was washed away as the heavens opened and rain began to fall.
Lightning struck a distant tree. It burst into sizzling flames, despite the falling sheets of water. The fire illuminated the darkening arena. The TreeAnt was exhausted. Its second wind had ended, and as the growing gale tousled raven-black hair, Elijah knew it was time to strike.
Except, he couldn’t. His body was broken; each step pushed him further into the depths of agony, but still he pushed on, closing the distance. Each second he wasted gave the TreeAnt time to recover. He wouldn’t survive another root storm.
The tang of ozone mixed with that of blood on his tongue. Red stripes followed him along the ground as he took limping step after limping step. Elijah grabbed the Tree through the eyehole with an iron grip. He shoved his hand into the flesh of its peeper, covering himself in viscous, transparent jelly.
The creature's laboured breath turned into a shriek of pain that then turned into a dying howl as Elijah released another water blade inside the creature. Water spewed from its openings; its roots wiggled about like hoses.
Elijah rested against the trunk for a moment; water rushed down his face and clung to his lip before drip, drip, dripping down to the ground. He was tired. His breath came out in ragged gasps, filling the suddenly cold air before him with condensation.
His mana and stamina were almost spent, his health was low, and the young man ached all over, but he had done it. The monster was finally dead.
…
No kill notification! Elijah’s adrenaline spiked once more as panic washed through him.
Electricity chose that moment to light up the sky and reveal the truth of the matter. Elijah was not resting against the corpse of a TreeAnt but a hollow husk. As he watched, the wood crumbled to dust, mixing with the intensifying rain and becoming sodden paste. It clung to his skin, sealing his weeping wounds.
The teen spun about, coating himself and stopping the Status Effect: Bleeding, but that wasn’t his aim. He desperately sought the TreeAnt, who had somehow slipped its bark and could end him any second.
The downpour had only gotten heavier. The sky was dark with clouds. Mixed with the blurry vision brought about by pain and rain, he struggled to see anything more than a foot away.
Still, he continued to spin, sure the next attack would come from behind. It did, and he wasn’t ready. A bloody red tentacle spouted from the boy’s right shoulder. The thrust had passed straight through him before he could react. His health dropped to 10. The spike of muscle fibres withdrew, leaving a leaking hole in the young man’s chest.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Unconsciousness nearly took him. He squeezed his own hand so hard his nails dug out the centre of his palms, but he was just able to hold on. His health dropped to 9.
His distraction had cost him, however; the monster had slipped back into the murky gloom. In an attempt to seal the wound, Elijah took a handful of mud and roughly shoved it into the hole, sending a fresh wave of agony through his twitching body.
His right arm was no longer functional, but that didn't matter. He would kill this monster if it were the last thing he did!
Looking for safety, he moved towards the only light in the ever-darkening storm: the still-burning husk of the lightning-struck tree. The world spun and wobbled as he dragged himself over with nothing but grit and determination.
Elijah was lucky; just before he made it to the halo of firelight, he caught sight of the next questing tendril reflected in a puddle. It struck like lightning towards his back. Elijah wasn’t allowed to be lucky.
The wobbly perspective glimpsed in a watery mirror was misleading. His lurch to the side caused the drill-like tentacle, covered in lamprey teeth, to puncture his already useless arm, mangling it. Had he done nothing, it would have missed.
A scream leapt unbidden from the teen’s mouth as he fell towards the burning pillar of illumination. Even as his health dropped to 5, he was determined not to waste this opportunity. He grabbed the fleshy tendril, bringing the peak Strength of Eliajianity to bear.
It squirmed disturbingly in his grasp, but he refused to let go. When its struggling became tired, he started reeling in the monster, morbidly curious what shape it had taken.
The silhouette was the first thing to resolve itself from the rain. It looked like a melted candle clodged haphazardly into the shape of a human. Its arms and legs, a malformed mess.
With a final heave, the creature was brought into the circle of burning radiance, and Elijah had to struggle to keep from throwing up.
The thing was nightmarishly hideous. It looked like someone had skinned a person, leaving their muscles and still pulsating organs on full display. His Intelligence informed him that, since the bark was this creature’s hide, that was basically exactly what had happened. It didn’t help. He still felt sick.
When it was finally dragged close enough, the pair locked eye. One of the TreeAnts seeing Orbs was completely mangled. Rage filled Elijah. Rage filled the TreeAnt.
The monster lunged out with the twelve-foot, needle-pointed arm that wasn’t trapped, determined to kill its attacker. Elijah had just enough stamina left to use Dodge and evade the attack, but he was too slow to avoid the follow-up.
A trunk-like foot made a heavy squelching sound as it struck the side of his head. Colours flipped. Red was blue. Blue was black. Elijah’s vision filled with the turquoise of blood as he desperately held onto the monster. That attack had taken a lot out of the creature, and it was still recovering.
Elijah’s health dropped to 3.
Both combatants were exhausted, and there was nothing left but to slug it out. Elijah summoned what little Strength he had left, pulled on the appendage that was still lodged in his arm, and put his whole body into a punch that sent the monster’s teeth flying.
They both stood there for a moment, leaning on each other to stay upright before the TreeAnt returned the favour, ringing Elijah’s bell.
His health fell to 2, but he was still standing, barely.
The slight lessening of the stinging in his ears told the teen that his Mana Heart had recovered some of his mana. Lacking the focus for any kind of sophisticated attack, Elijah just summoned as much water as he could in an attempt to crush his foe.
It worked… kind of. The creature was squished against the muddy ground, and Elijah, still tethered to it, was brought down into the muck as well. The two rolled about, desperate to survive. Its wooden teeth bit into his side, dropping his health to 1.
All reason left the lad, and, with pure anger coursing through his dangerously empty veins, Elijah picked up a rock and just kept hammering away at what looked to him like a wooden-encased brain, over and over, over and over again. Each strike bled away what little energy he had left. Only after the monster was still for several minutes did he stop.
But that wasn’t enough. Gulping down a lungful of air, Elijah heaved the corpse of the TreeAnt over his head before slamming it down onto the still-burning pyre, impaling it on the splintering spike of flaming wood. Madness filled the young man’s eyes, and he barely saw the notification that appeared before him.
You have defeated a Lv 26 TreeAnt:
Extra Xp is awarded for defeating an opponent of a greater level. 1072 Xp awarded. Xp automatically placed in escrow, US 2.7.1.
Congratulations!
You have completed the Trial of Evolution 1: Treeling.
Grade: C
Objectives:
- Defeat the Evolved Treeling without dying: ?
- Defeat the Evolved Treeling within 25 minutes: ?
- Outlast the Evolved Treeling in a direct confrontation: ?
Rewards:
You have earned the right to Evolve from an immature Treeling into 1 of 3 Treeling Evolutions:
- TreeAnt
- Birch Lurker
- Beech Berserker
Choose Now!
patrons: