Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 64: Wooden Giant

"Barrier!" Conner called out as the giant ent put both of its hands together and was moving to crush their entire party with them. Though thankfully the experienced adventurers reacted in time as Conner lifted his shield above his head and the priests created their barriers above him, creating multiple layers of defenses before the ent's fists crashed down onto them and Conner let out a yell of exertion as he used his defensive skills. And as the ent's limbs reached them, Koko suddenly found herself lifted off of her feet as the blast from the attack hitting the barriers knocked everyone that wasn't behind Conner away. Though in the end the barriers had only managed to slow down the attack and the knight had ended up taking the brunt of the force.

"Go now! Try to cripple it!" Conner yelled out, obviously not wanting to take any more hits before Koko and Austin complied immediately by running to the sides. Though Koko had to brace herself against another blast as an enormous fireball hit the ent's chest before a series of light beams hit the already weakened area, causing the the ent to let out another roar from the pain before it's entire body seemed to erupt in thousands of vines with some of them being the same size as the creatures arms that immediately converged around the creature's chest in order to protect it. However, not all of the vines moved to protect it as three of the larger ones moved behind the ent before whipping forward. And while Conner took the hit again, only one of the vines had been aimed at him as Austin dodged the one that had been aimed at him and Koko could do nothing but hold her arms up and attempt to block her's as it was moving to fast for her to evade.

Finding herself being thrown backwards, Koko didn't even know if she'd successfully defended herself or not seeing as her arms were completely numb and the only thing she could feel was her back slamming into the side of the crater, which didn't feel very good at all. Though as the black dirt settled around her, Koko inspected her forearms to find they they had a good excuse for being numb seeing as most of her skin was missing from where the vine had hit them. But her bones didn't seem to be broken at least, which ment that she could still fight.

"Koko! Are you alright?!" Christina yelled with worry from behind Conner as Koko rose out of the indent she'd created when she hit the side of the crater.

"Good to go!" Koko replied as she wasn't feeling the pain yet, even though she desperately wanted one of the priests to heal her so that her skin wouldn't scar. However, after seeing another vine coming down towards her, Koko figured she had other things to worry about rather than just how her skin would look like. And she thankfully managed to dodge the attack this time before lunging forward so that she could punch the vine, only for her entire body to shiver from the impact as the vine wasn't effected at all and her hand felt as if she'd just punched a giant block of iron.

"M-maybe I'm not so good to go..." Koko laughed hesitantly, backing away from the slowly rising vine in front of her as she guessed that she was finally seeing the leveling system for what it was. After all, while she would perhaps take on a level thirty or fifty swordsmen with just her stats alone, they were nothing compared to a boss that was over a hundred levels above her.

"Try to distract its attention if you can't harm it!" Austin suddenly yelled from above her, and Koko looked up in admiration at her instructor as the man was unknowingly reconstructing a seen from a pirate movie that she once saw as he swung from a vine, moving across the monster's back while cutting a deep gouge in it with one of his daggers as he went.

"Austin, you're being really cool right now!" Koko called out as she jumped to the side to evade another vine that smashed to the ground beside her before clouds started gathering around the giant ent's head and everyone had to cover their eyes as a enormous bolt of electricity nearly blinded them. Though apparently it caused the monster even worse damage seeing as it's vines started convulsing, leaving it's chest wide-open to another barrage of beams from Christina that detonated a fraction of a second afterwards.

As the giant ent recoiled from the explosion and summoned even more vines in order to protect it's chest, Koko took the opportunity to start running up the vine that had attempted to crush earlier. Though when she was only a few meters up it, the end of the vine started lifting, making Koko have to start running downhill before she eventually stopped altogether and slid on it, zooming past several other vines that had attempted to hit her before she finally reached the base of the vine and had full access to to the giant ent's side.

Thrusting her palm forward, Koko hit the side of the ent with a Serpent's Sting while Conner simultaneously hit the front of the giant ent with what looked like a giant blade made of visible wind. However, while his attack shattered the bark and made the ent cry out in pain yet again, Koko's attack didn't seem to have done anything as her frustration grew. And without a word, she started hitting the ent with a series of Serpent Stings while also activating Lion's Barrage.

Growing more irked by the second as the giant ent continued fighting the others while completely ignoring her, Koko ended her Lion's Barrage with a final Serpent's Sting before she grinned as the nearby bark flew away and she finally harmed her opponent. Though her feeling of accomplishment didn't last for long as a thin vine started wrapping around her leg and she  was pulled through the air at a rapid pace. And before she knew it, Koko found herself well above the head of the giant ent, being waved around like a toy airplane in the hands of a toddler before she was thankfully saved by a flying golden sword that cut the vine near Koko's leg. Though even though she was saved from the vine, she now found herself in a new predicament as she was falling to what was possibly her death.

"Koko, use it like we did while repairing the road!" Koko barely heard Christina yell, though she knew what her friend ment as the golden sword that had saved her had returned and flipped onto its side as it grew closer. And as she didn't want  to fall to her death just yet, Koko angled herself so that she would grow close to the sword before she landed on it with her feet and felt her stomach drop as both of them stopped falling without almost any attempt at slowing her momentum first. And if it had been anyone other than Koko who had trained her balance to a ridiculous degree, they would have certainly still fallen to their deaths. Though as they'd never practiced this before, Koko could hardly blame her friend for the rough treatment. However, after looking down to see that the giant ent had somehow repaired the hole in its chest by stitching it together with the vines, Koko took a deep breath as she prepared herself. This fight wasn't close to being over, and as all of the vines that had once been used for defense were now twisting in the air with each being ready to attack at any moment, Koko knew that things were only going to get more difficult from this moment onward.