A Gentleman's Curse

Arc 2 Chapter 21: Excursion Pt. 2

"We need- HELP!" Arion yelled out as he lifted an invisible bouler, causing yet another wall to form out of the ground in front of his person as a gout of acid shot towards him.

Once it struck, he launched his wall forward with a kick, slamming it into the elongated snout of the monster they'd been fighting. Using the moment it was recoiling, Arion once again built up more of the surrounding ground to lock its left two legs further in place, hardening the material so it couldn't move. The monster roared out in pain as its eyes stayed fixated on him, as intended.

"You're fine," Alexa responded, leaning against a tree as the other three in her group fought. "You're the ones that wanted to try fighting without me. I doubt some Thrashers are going to actually kill you. Just use fire or ice."

"We aren't... we aren't good at that! And they're VINEThrashers!" one of her Combatants, a Dwarf, called out while avoiding another attack. "And we only thought there was one!"

Alexa shrugged and continued her passive stance. She'd step in if need be but that was all.

She watched on as the small man dove to his side to avoid the giant and jagged bark teeth of the Thrasher as they slammed closed vertically where he'd been. About twenty feet long, five wide, and seven tall, the monster stood before them with one of its smaller brethren to its side as both parties fought to keep their lives.

They'd stumbled across the two monsters when heading closer to the fifth layer. They'd asked if they could advance into the Diamond's area and Alexa had told them she'd consider it if they started fighting without her. They had agreed and provoked the larger Thrasher, only to realize there was a smaller one hidden nearby. The fight had reached a stalemate of sorts.

VineThrashers, named as such due to the fact that Thrashers had a tendency to sleep near Host trees and get ensnared the most often, had very thick hides, shorter legs, lean bodies, a mouth that split into four directions, and an extremely thick vine that connected it to a tree. The trees, called Host trees, looked exactly like any other tree but woud stab a needle into a nearby monster, putting it to sleep. After, it would drag the still living creature inside the ground by its roots and implant its will in the monsters brain like a parasite, rebuilding the body from the frame up. When young they were typically not too hard to deal with and docile so that they could grow but as they got older, they'd lash out and attack anything in the area for sustenance.

Both of these trees had captured Thrashers, the worst opponent for Combatants. They were large, slow, powerful, and hard to cut through without certain magical means. Hence, a stalemate.

The Thrasher cried out in pain as the Elf Combatant took a swing at the host vine with her longsword while it was distracted, still unable to find a spot she could shear through. It shot its back left leg out further than a normal Thrasher should be able to, twisting and turning it mid-air to slam the bottom of its clawed foot into the waiting Elf's shield, sending her careening toward the second Thrasher.

"Your turn!" the Elf cried out while airborn.

"AYE!" the Dwarf yelled back, leaping into the air and slaming one extremely large hammer down onto the monsters snout, destroying a few teeth and causing it to once again scream in pain as a blast of fire singed its eyeless face.

"See? You have some fi-"

"It just heals!" the Dwarf shouted, interrupting Alexa as Arion caught the Elf with a well-timed wall made from the ground.

The Elf landed into the wall in a crouch and lept to the ground, once again advancing on the larger beast. Arion refocused his attention on the smaller one.