I cut the tip off a vine and, feeling like it wasn’t enough, I jumped forward and chopped it again before it retreated. I felt awkward and anxious for second guessing myself and the only result to show for it was two tiny vines, cut off like the ends of a carrot. Koda was stalking forward with narrowed eyes to find a thicker section to cut, when the mage scoffed and his soft and stern voice called out behind us.

“Don’t bother killing the vines. You need to finish it before it kills you. Get the others.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he ran forward in a powerful, vaulting stride, with his sword trailing behind him. At his intense movement, the vine beast reacted instantly. A few vines shot towards him like branch sized bullets, but he turned and kicked off the ground to sprint past them, barely slowing down. One knocked his shoulder and made him stumble sideways, but he didn’t lose his forward momentum. Most of the vines were twirled out and stretched to battle the original group, so the mage had little resistance as he neared the main body. I heard the little beast gnash it’s teeth loudly as the mage matched his body’s momentum with his arm and brought his sword close to his chest.

And then the crazy son of a bitch ran straight into it, slamming his sword into the main body, and thrusting it deeper by ramming his weight behind it. The vines spasmed and roiled in the air while he twisted and slammed his shoulder against the blade with crazed and frenetic motions. The vines began to retract as it screamed, but they were confused and distracted by pain. Over the course of, maybe 7-8 seconds, the vines had almost reached the mage, but slowed noticeably. They lost even more strength over the distance and the vine beast went silent as it’s legs curled loosely around its body like a dead spider.

The mage was shifting his weight and thrashing against the vines, but it seemed like it would take him a while to get out. Even with those sure and vibrantly energetic movements that suffused his movements ever since the fight started. The other vine beasts let a few tentacles release themselves from the fight and begin to drift over. I looked over at Koda. He had a wide eyed frown, and once our eyes met we came to an unspoken agreement on a few things.

Number one, that was a spectacle. Borderline insane. The mage did something completely unexpected, danced on a knife's edge, and made it look like a regular technique. I could see that we both were impressed, confused, and in reserved shock.

Number two, we would need to do something about the other vine beasts, because they were coming towards the Mage faster than he could get out.

It seems like a lot to communicate through expressions alone, but sometimes you just look at someone and you just know. People take on a very straightforward demeanor, I’d learned the past few days. Especially in high stress situations like these.

“Get one.”

Koda, still wide eyed, nodded at me and sprinted towards one of the main bodies. He was moving forward before he’d even turned completely around, and I was quick to follow suit. I started running at the third beast before Koda had even taken a few steps. I was afraid of charging straight in, but it wasn’t that scary compared to my fear of having it kill me. It took the hesitation away from me to know that the alternative was far worse.

There were people between me and my target. In the midst of yelling, sword clanging, and wounded crying, I shot forward. A few vines lanced towards me, and I tried to stay light on my feet. My eyes were unfocused to try to deal with the high speed movement, and I dodged two of them without slowing down much. A third came at my chest, and I thought I moved out of the way, but it caught me square in the shoulder. My body ached and burned immediately at the impact site as I fell backwards, reflexively hacking the vine away from me. I squeezed harder on my sword and scrambled up and as I took a few shaky steps to build up speed again. I heard the vine beast screaming from Koda’s side of the battle.

Another two vines came at me. I dodged it and finally got to the main body. I awkwardly thrust my sword in halfway before it shuddered and I lost momentum. The vine beast screamed and gnashed loudly beside my ears. I tried to throw my body against the sword like the mage, but it felt like I couldn’t get much force behind it. I panicked and tried to use just my arm muscles to finish it, but I could hear vines crinkle as they changed direction.

I could barely hear it over the noise of the beast, but I started screaming too. I wasn’t fast enough. I could see out of the corner of my eyes that there were vines sweeping in. They slammed on me all at once. I was muffled and groaning, still trying to finish the beast. I felt the vines getting weaker, but the pressure was so much. My ribs felt sore and grinding and my vision started dimming when I heard a final cry and the beast went limp.