Collide Gamer

Chapter 58 – The (Minor) Tree of Life

John had not given the I.D. any ‘guidance’ on how large it should be. He wasn’t allowed to do that anyway. When he spawned them with monsters, Gaia dictated the scope of the Illusion Barrier. The unknown dimensions were one thing that hindered their search. The other was that almost every tree in the medium density forest was a potential spawn point. The only ones that weren’t were those that were either too thin or that had already produced a Treant, marked with that cross shape.

Some of the higher level Treants had the basic intelligence to mimic the appearance of a regular plant. Shooting Observe at everything around until he stumbled upon a Treant was annoyingly unfeasible. Sending Aclysia ahead to take the initial strikes was the common strategy. The Artificial Spirit could take the hits without issue. Rave was right behind her. The two women then crushed the enemy, while John and Victoria hung back. The Slavic woman kept her weapon ready, but honoured his request to not act where she wasn’t needed. John was experiencing some mixed feelings about his own general lack of action. On one hand, he felt like he was doing nothing, on the other, anything Aclysia or Gnome did could be attributed to him.

‘I would feel a little less useless if these fights were harder. A backline coordinator is valuable if there’s something to coordinate,’ he thought.

“Don’t those leaves look suspicious?” Victoria’s question pulled him out of his thoughts. He followed the direction of her eyes. Now that she pointed it out, there was a tree with red and white leaves in the distance. It seemed oddly low to the ground too, for a forest that was older than the nation that had colonized these grounds.

“Good eyes,” John complimented. He had tried to warm up a bit to the gunslinger after their earlier altercations – with little success. She seemed to try to hold a conversation here and there, but failed miserably. Maybe some basic niceties would chip away at that frosty exterior. “Aclysia, lead the way.”

“Yes, Creator,” the Artificial Guardian responded and mechanically turned towards their new destination. Her cosplay was covered in gaps by now, revealing (what appeared to be) smooth skin underneath. If only that big bubble butt had been made out of something that could jiggle.

“…Siiinnnerssss…” The faux-ancient voice hissed through the leaves, confirming that they had found their target.

Up close, the tree was even more out of place. It looked unnaturally healthy, even for this time of year. Its dark bark and red and white leaves rose intensely from the surrounding browns and greens. What truly identified this flora as magical, however, were the three faces that shifted over the surface of the bark.

That Loot table looked juicy and John got a confirmation that first kill bonuses were a thing. ‘I kinda want that Lance Hardwood, just to see what it is. Also, the Hoe of Hoe’s?’ John thought as he looked over the rewards.

The level he wasn’t too fazed by. Monsters appeared to be generally weaker than people, following the standard MMO logic. If one either matched the Stats or was capable of dealing with the gimmicks, it was reasonable to defeat them.

If John’s gaming experience was of any use here, fighting a giant tree meant they would deal with a lot of branch swipes and root grabs. “We’ll try to keep our distance and slowly whittle it down,” John instructed.

“…my children… gather to me…” the Tree of Life whispered into the woods, its voice now gentle and beckoning. A cocoon of roots and branches extended from the ground, soon fully enveloping the boss monster. Its own branches were tucked away, making it safe but harmless as it sat there.

John whirled around, immediately guessing where this was going. In the distance, dozens, maybe a hundred, Treants formed from the forest floor. They lurched forwards, creating a loose circle that soon turned solid. Arms entangled and fused, while Victoria covered them in a spray of bullets.

Chunks of wood scattered everywhere. No matter how much lead the gunslinger pumped into the creatures, they did not go down. The presence of the Tree of Life, their linked vitality, or Gaia’s game mechanics prevented them from perishing. The advance stopped when the ring had entrapped them fully. The Treants closed ranks and just waited, effectively constricting them into an arena. John sent Aclysia towards the wall to investigate and she was quickly accosted by a series of lashes. He drew her back before she could take serious damage.

“….Sinnerss…” The Tree of Life hissed again. “You will have to pay for your transgressions…. against tree kind… I smell the sap of my children, younglings and adults alike, on you… the forest will have its revenge!”

John scanned the battlefield. There were three other trees inside the arena, otherwise it was just standard, brown, even forest dirt. Nothing to be used to their advantage. While he looked around, the trees began to distort in that now familiar way. Three new Treants emerged and they left no mark.

 “…My roots…give strength to my children….” The Tree of Life monologued. “…Our onslaught will leave you… as fodder for the next generation….” While the first three Treants began to shamble towards the party, the trees already distorted again.

“Those gotta go first!” John exclaimed. “We can’t be swamped by enemies.”

“Cover me,” Victoria demanded and set her weapons case down. The lid flew up.

John had no idea what she was about to pull out but if she had something with more firepower he wouldn’t complain.

“I’ll try to take out the first one!” Rave shouted and stormed off to the closest spawning tree. John couldn’t have stopped her if he wanted to.

Rave stopped on her path only to reduce the already created Treant to splinter and ash. It only took a few swings and a guided blast. She knew well how to deal with these things by now. Then, she began to lay into the tree itself.

Clad in her aura and with flashing lights around her fists, she cracked open the bark. The supernatural power was displayed all over again, as this athletic woman punched a hole into the tree with her bare knuckles. John was in love with every last one of her motions, but he was way too concerned about a potential loss to let that entrance him. “Jane, your mana is running out! Retreat!”

“Tsk,” Rave vocalized her unhappiness, but backed off. She had ripped a sizable chunk out of the old tree’s trunk. Returning to the group, she took deep breaths to recover her mana. Aclysia was fending off the second Treant. The third hadn’t made its way to them yet. “I’m going back in once I get my mana back.

John just nodded, that would be the necessary strategy.

On the cocoon of the Tree of Life, the three faces appeared. Their lips moved, but the voice echoed from all around, “…You hurt…my children…but the wounds…shall heal…” The gap in the tree Rave had made began to shimmer green. Slowly, gradually, the splinters righted themselves and the tree began to regenerate.

“Fuck!” John cursed. It was time to try other solutions. He used Possession on the tree, maybe he could break it that way or at least unearth it.

“Shit!” He cursed again. ‘Okay, one more idea but this is going to cost a lot of mana. GNOME!’ He called upon the earth elemental.

‘Yes, John?’ the unconcerned voice of the elemental echoed in his mind.

‘Dig out that tree!’ He instructed as he narrowly dodged the strike of the third Treant. It had gotten past Aclysia and Rave, so the Gamer had to distract it. Once the second Treant was dispatched, Rave took care of the harasser with a roundhouse kick.

“…Grrhhh…” The angry snarl of the Tree of Life let John know that his strategy was paying off. Gnome had undermined the tree on one side. Red, thick roots in the ground pulsed with green energy. It seemed the boss monster was trying desperately to keep the spawner standing, but gravity was a harsh mistress. The large plant’s weight gradually pulled it over. It creaked and cracked, roots snapping, and then toppled over entirely. It smashed into the cocoon, then rolled off and came to a stop. No more distractions and no more Treants from that one.

“NOOOO, MY CHILD!!” The voice boomed through the forest. “YOU WILL PAY, SINNERS! MURDERERS! DEVIANTS! FIENDS!”

“Out of the way!” Victoria shouted. John obeyed first and checked second. An actual bazooka rested on her shoulder, as she took aim at a second tree. Being out of the way was not good enough, the Gamer decided, and threw himself onto the ground when she pulled the trigger.  A wave of fire and heat washed over him, accompanied by a rain of wooden splinters. When he raised his head again, he did it to the scene of a second tree toppling over. “Reloading.”

“Nice!” Rave stopped in her fight for a moment to give the gunslinger a thumbs up. Victoria did not even seem to acknowledge it, too busy pulling out a new projectile.

One spawner was perfectly handleable. The mood around the arena relaxed, while Aclysia and Rave camped out the repeated Treants that surfaced, beating them to a pulp within a few seconds of their existence. ‘No Experience for these,’ John noted. Evidently, Gaia was preventing at least the most obvious exploits. For the time being, he kept Gnome incorporeal. He was out of mana now.

“Ready to fire!” Victoria informed everyone. They all backed off from the last tree, then the gunslinger pulled the trigger and turned the last of the trees into a smouldering stump. When the upper half hit the ground, the impact left the ground shaking. The quake only ramped up as the tree came to a rest.

 “…You…” The Tree of Life rumbled. “….YOU….YOU DARE TO BRING FIRE AND ASHES TO THE HOME OF THE TREES! YOU ARE THE GREATEST OF ALL SINNERS!”

The ground burst, a myriad of red roots wrapping around Victoria. In her shock, she dropped the bazooka. Tendrils lifted her from the floor, constricting her limbs, gripping her midriff tightly, and pressing down on her windpipe. It was that last thing that was most alarming of all.

John ran over and pulled at the roots. With his Strength of 10, he wasn’t of much help, but he could at least loosen the one root crushing her neck. Victoria stared at him, wide eyed, and took a desperate breath when he managed to get her just enough room to breathe. Aclysia and Rave arrived swiftly and began to actually rip the roots apart. The gunslinger fell to the ground again, coughing and heaving.

“Aclysia, watch over her.” John instructed, while the cocoon around the boss finally went down. “Jane and I will take out the boss.”

“…SINNERS!!!” The Tree of Life swung its branches at them like giant swats. Their size and girth was intimidating, but their speed was not. Even John could dodge them, which meant that Rave had an exceptionally easy time. Swerving left, then right, she effortlessly threaded through the attacks and arrived at the trunk.

“Lucky for me, ya got three faces!” the techno lover declared. “And all of them look very punchable! This is for my hair!”

Her fist crashed into the woman-like visage of the three faces. The deep voice turned into a high-pitched screech, as the smooth wood cracked. “THE PAIN! THE PAAAAAAIIIIIIN!” the boss wailed.

“It’s working,” John shouted.

“No?! REALLY?!” Rave screamed back, sarcastically. He deserved that one. Losing no time, she slammed her fist into the mask of the man second.

“I’M A TREE OF LIFE! I CANNOT BE BEATEN LIKE THIS!” The last mask, that of the child, retreated up the bark as roots expanded up to restrict Rave.

“Sorry, you’re just a Minor,” John tried his best at a punchline, as he raised his hand and fired a Mana Power Attack. His target was neither fast nor small and his aim was good enough. The unstable arcane energy slammed into the child’s face and ended the Minor Tree of Life’s existence. Screams of agony and anger came to an abrupt end.

Roots and branches curled inwards, like an octopus that was shrivelling up within seconds. Then, the monster began to dissolve into ash and dust, becoming one with the nothing John’s Skill had pulled it from. With it went the wall of Treants around them. Tranquility filled the forest.

“Whew, that got dangerous for a moment,” Rave declared with a smile and rolled her shoulders. He was very happy that she hadn’t heard his punchline. The more he thought about it, the more embarrassing it became.

John only kept looking at her for as long as he needed to make sure she was alright, then he turned to check on Victoria. There was a whole cavalcade of windows that he did not pay attention to at the moment.

The gunslinger laid on the forest floor, rubbing her neck. No lasting marks seemed to have been created, which was good to see. John stepped up and sighed in relief. “Sorry about that I-“

“I want you,” Victoria interrupted him.

He blinked a couple of times. Had he just heard that right? “Sorry can you…”

“I – want – you,” she repeated slowly, certainly. “Right here, right now. Both of you.”

“You heard the girl, tiger,” Rave encouraged him, hugging John from behind. “Someone likes the saviours.”

John gulped, this was happening way faster than he would have thought. Then again, everything good in his life recently had happened much faster than he would have thought.