“Good?” Necia asked.
“Looks like it. Do you have your shield? We could do a test hit,” Tulland said.
“Of course.” Necia scooped her shield from the ground and held it in front of her, digging her feet into the soil for traction. Tulland appreciated that vote of confidence. “I’m ready when you are.”
The vine whipped out as soon as Tulland gave it permission, hitting the center of Necia’s shield like a sledgehammer.
“Strong,” Necia said. “Not as strong as one of those Stumpers, but strong.”
“Oh, you haven’t see anything yet. Do you think you could take a harder hit?”
“Of course. Bring it on.”
Tulland pushed Primal Growth into the vine, feeling the heavy, uncomfortable pull on his magic he had expected. The vine whipped out again, this time about twice as fast as it had moved before. When it hit, it hit hard. Necia wasn’t using any skills that Tulland could tell, but the fact that she had to take a sliding step back to maintain her position was something that boded good future tidings.
“That’s going to change the game,” Ley said after seeing the show of strength. “No question. One or two of those whacks will take out a hare. Even if you don’t get another level the entire time we are in here…”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Tulland grinned like a maniac. “This is a new plant, Ley. That’s never existed anywhere before. Guess what that does to my experience levels.”
“Good things?”
“Very good.”
Tulland had gained two levels just from the vine, both of which went into force. If he had been expecting some kind of threshold bonus at 100 points in a single stat, he didn’t get it here. But the bigger deal was the skill levels that came with them, which were truly excessive.
“It’s a growth spurt, Necia. Just like you said. I don’t think I’ll get a single thing more out of this level, and I just don’t care. It’s that much.”
“And my farm here is as good as my one back home. Just as good. Whatever this vine is, it’s special. Let’s get going.” Tulland turned and walked. He couldn’t wait to find something to smack. “I need to test this out now.”
—
In a new field picked specifically because it was in the direction of Ley’s pointing arrow, Necia ducked as a Mass Hare flew over her head. This time, it wasn’t an attack the rabbit had planned. It had been batted there, courtesy of the Clubber Vine.
This thing just can’t miss.
It can. But you did get this at a timing I would consider to be early. The enemies you are hitting don’t move fast enough to dodge its attacks, and don’t have any way to block it. You are invincible to the hares unless they attack in sync.
Can they do that? Coordinate in that way, I mean.
No idea. I wouldn’t advise finding out. Keep moving.
This group of enemies was gargantuan compared to any they had seen before, a full ten hares accompanying four Stumpers. Tulland had dumped his Giant’s Hairs on the heavy attackers before moving on to take on the hares. At this point, Ley wasn’t even attempting to help him with the hares, having opted to hide and build up intellectual potential to use taking down the bigger enemies.
Necia held the Stumpers at bay with some difficulty before Ley’s first big single-target skill hit and put one of them down permanently. After that, it was a massacre. Tulland chased down the rabbits, turning them into jelly with his vines as he finished off anything he could reach with his pitchfork. After the first hare, he hit his experience cap, but he refused to stop until every single enemy was down. By that point, there were still two Stumpers left, each of whom proved much more resistant to the Clubber Vine than the hares had been.
But much more resistant is not immune. It’s still screwing them up pretty badly.
Freed of having to aim or wait for its moments, the Clubber Vine whipped out again and again, smacking into the flesh of the Stumper with repeated dull thuds. Necia took advantage of the help, shoving her sword deep into the back of the distracted boar’s neck, then using her shield bash to put the next enemy in Tulland’s range.
With that group down, they moved onto the next, and the next. By the time they had finished two more, Tulland was capped on Stumpers too. His vines were still in good condition, which was good because at this point there seemed like there was no going back.
“Enemy density is just getting thicker and thicker. I don’t know how bad it’s going to get.” Ley looked into the distance, where another big group of enemies milled around. “Are you two sure you want to keep going? It’s going to end up being a slog.”
“Of course.” Necia laughed. “Let’s hit the cap, Ley. That’s the point of this, right?”
“Sure. And if there’s some extra treasure at the end of this road, then…”
“Then we’ll get that too,” Tulland said. “Come on, guys. Let’s go.”
The next group fell as easily as the last one did, and the next three got Necia to her cap on experience. Everyone was about as strong as they could be on this level now. Five more fights passed, and there was pretty much no break between them anymore. They’d clear one group, then run into the next within a minute or so of walking.
“I think this next one has to be it, Ley. If they get any closer, we’ll be pulling multiple groups. We might be able to beat two, but three?” Tulland asked.
“I understand,” Ley said softly. “It’s a shame, though. If we were a little tougher, we’d find whatever’s at the end of this violence.”
“Maybe we still will.” Tulland leaned back as his Clubber Vine smacked away a Mass Hare, which signaled the start of their next fight with a new group of monsters. “But we have to live through this first.”
The fight was as hard as any had been. By the end, half of Tulland’s Giant’s Hairs were ripped to shreds, a first on this particular walk out into the wilderness. No one was hurt yet, but he could tell every member of the party had spent some resources staying alive.
Which was all the worse for them when a wooshing sound blew out over the plains, and in the distance they saw something clearly and truly powerful rushing towards them, it’s muscles straining against each other.
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