My first instinct was to stand and fight, but the issue was that I didn’t quite know what I was up against. The tree in the middle of this little paradise started swaying from right to left very slowly as it seemed to awaken or something.

The vines that had sprouted from the ground now shot forward in an attempt to stab me, but I had anticipated the move and jumped out of the way.

The tree’s roots started moving and I felt the ground shake as well.

Hoping that this tree would award me a significant amount of experience, I fired a fireball at its trunk. Trees burned well, right? Moreover, this tree was more than isolated. There was no way I could start a forest fire here.

However, instead of putting the tree ablaze, the fireball shattered before it even hit the wood. It appeared this living tree possessed a magical barrier of some sort.

That was it.

I decided to hightail it out of here. There was no way I would be able to fight something that was many times my size, mass, and possessed a way to withstand the spell that I had deemed most effective against it. I turned around and skittered away from the tree as fast as I could.

“There is no escape!” I heard the tree yell angrily behind me.

Truly, what had I done to upset it so much?

I ran to the edge of the clearing where I found out the hard way that a large, nearly invisible wall surrounded the place. I bumped into it head-first. Thankfully some part of the collision was lessened by the fact that I had my own barrier active.

It seemed there truly was no escape. There was no mistaking that this barrier had been put in place by the tree at the center of this place.

I turned around and noticed the tree’s roots emerging from the ground piece by piece. The trunk was still swaying back and forth. It looked like it was uprooting itself.

What was this thing?

If the tree was uprooting itself, I figured the best time to fight it would be now. It seemed like there was no escaping this place, either way. I didn’t seem to have much of a choice here.

Worry started building within me as I knew it would be hard to damage this opponent, but I couldn’t let it distract me. I would have to stay focused if I wanted to make it out of here alive. I said a quick prayer to Elysa and hoped she had given me the means to get through this.

I ran back to the tree as more vines sprouted from the ground and lunged at me. I dodged them by jumping from side to side. I managed to dodge a multitude of attacks this way until one of them lunged at me right as I landed after a jump. I did the only thing I could think of to block it and summoned an earthen elemental wall before me.

A solid wall formed before me and floated in mid-air. I heard the vine crash into it from the other side. I then continued jumping and dodging my way to the tree.

I started thinking about a possible way to defeat it. I could try to continue firing spells at it until its magical barrier broke. If it did, I imagined wood would still burn well enough for me to set it ablaze. The problem was that I had no idea how strong its barrier was. If I spent my mana on it recklessly and I wasn’t able to break it, I was as good as dead.

I would have to find a weak spot.

I just didn’t see any…

More vines came my way as I got within range of my spells. I thought about using lightning arc, but the vines would make it near impossible to keep my focus on the channel. If I at any point broke the channel I would have to start from scratch, potentially wasting a lot of mana.

And there was still that pesky barrier…

The tree was still moving, putting pressure on me as I tried to find a way to hurt it with limited time remaining. I approached the tree with small steps while looking out for vines when I saw thicker, slow-moving roots grow outward from the trunk.

On a whim, I decided to try something.

I moved to one of the roots, or rather, I jumped to one as I dodged a vine that flew in my direction. I then summoned an earth spike from the ground under the root to see what would happen.

A solid spike shot up from the ground and cut right through the root. The root was snapped in two, and I could see some sort of green liquid ooze from where it had been severed.

That sure as hell wasn’t my poison. I hadn’t summoned a venom spike.

I heard a roar coming from the tree. It seemed like it experienced pain from the sound of it.

I jumped to the side and processed the information quickly. It appeared I had managed to damage this creature with that attack. It meant that these roots were not protected by the barrier. It caused me to shift my focus to the slow-moving roots and that now seemed to be converging on me.

I summoned two more earthen spikes, severing two more roots as they approached me. More vines sprouted from the ground. One of them managed to hit me while I was jumping from another one, but it was blocked by my barrier spell, causing me to suffer no damage.

More cries of pain resonated from the tree which came as music to my ears. It meant there was a way for me to win this fight. The problem was that the tree seemed to be making progress. Its trunk was already hovering above the ground, leaving a massive, gaping maw beneath it. It was held by its roots, which were now starting to uproot, starting from its position.

I severed several more before the creature managed to uproot the remaining ones. It then started using them to move around.

The roots crawled over the grass as the largest enemy I’d yet faced started moving my way. I did notice, however, that the vines had stopped appearing. That was a relief, although it was quickly washed away as I now faced something far more dangerous.

Then, the enemy brought down a heavy branch, intending to crush me under it.

I jumped as far as I could, but the branch was wide and still managed to partially strike me. Although it wasn’t lethal, as the part that struck me was lacking in mass, it still triggered the holy barrier explosion, indicating that my barrier was at least half depleted.

I quickly recast the barrier as I saw that the explosion had done no damage when it was blocked by the angry tree’s magical barrier.

The tree crept ever closer, putting me at a disadvantage. I couldn’t easily sever its roots anymore as I was in the range of its heavy-hitting attack. I stayed as far away as I could and decided to use a high-velocity Ice Lance instead.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite seem to have enough force behind it to successfully sever the roots. It did manage to cut into them, but not nearly enough. I could theoretically do it this way, but I’d spend a lot more mana than I wanted to.

There was also the problem that I had to aim really, really well in order to do damage.

An idea entered my mind.

Instead of running away from the branches, I jumped towards the trunk instead. It didn’t take long for my opponent to try to strike again. Another jump dodged the attack, and brought me close enough to the center of the creature that its branch attacks couldn’t hit me.

I didn’t dare to go all the way under its trunk, as it could simply crush me by lowering itself, but this should be enough for what I intended to do.

I summoned another spike, severing a root just inches from where it connected to the trunk.. After I did so, I saw an odd, blue glow under the trunk.

I didn’t bother to check what it was. Instead, I jumped as the tree started using its roots to try to strike me. Fortunately for me, they were quite slow, and easily dodged. I summoned spike after spike, severing this tree’s connection to its roots. Roars of pain filled the air around me as I worked on the weak spot that I’d found.

I believe at one point I even saw the barrier surrounding the clearing shatter, opening up a path of escape. I wasn’t interested in fleeing anymore. I was too focused on the battle before me.

I was also angry, which served to fuel my need for vengeance against this enemy that had dared to attack me. Now that I was starting to fight back successfully, fleeing was out of the question.

I was going to make firewood out of this tree.