“Get away from the trunk, fast!”

Right now, the fallen tree formed a loose cage over Levi and Gremlin Two. As long as they stayed low, there was room to crawl around.

The trunk currently hung suspended atop a half dozen broken branches, a foot or so above them. But the weight of a second tree slamming down on it very well might drive it into the ground.

Levi scrambled out toward the thinnest and weakest branches. There was no time to check if Two had followed his instructions. Before he’d moved more than a few feet, the second tree landed. As he’d feared, its added weight drove the first tree into the ground, pressing its branches down.

The weight of two trees slammed into Levi’s arm and back, a branch he was too slow to roll away from pinning him to the ground. The dire turkey boss screeched in triumph, then attacked another tree.

Levi tried to squirm free, but there was too much weight pressing down. He couldn't move the arm at all. He grunted in pain, his shoulder throbbing and his arm quickly going numb.

It was finally beginning to dawn on him that… this might not be a fight he could win. He glanced across at Gremlin Two, but couldn’t see him past the trunk. At least his info hadn’t gone grey yet, so he was still alive.

He felt the crash through his whole body as a third tree joined the pile. A scream died in his throat, his breath coming jagged and uneven.

Health was dropping. Stamina was empty, no buffer against the impact. The pain made it hard to think straight.

With a triumphant gobble, the turkey flapped away again. He wasn’t sure if it was leaving to return to guarding the exit, or off to find another tree to pile on, and he didn’t much care. Right now, freeing his trapped arm from the crushing weight of the tree was foremost in his mind.

He grabbed for a potion and swallowed it, not sure whether it was health or stamina, and not caring. Either would help.

Health. The sudden weakness through his body pushed him to the edge of panic. Reason pulled him back. Side effect of the restorative. Normal.

He fumbled in his belt for a stamina potion and swallowed that too, then grabbed his dagger from the ground and started sawing at the branch. Each motion sent pain vibrating through his shoulder, but he gritted his teeth and kept going.

No more trees fell. The dire turkey must have tired of its attacks and left for real. It was a small blessing, but he’d take anything right now.

His health continued dropping but at a relatively safe pace as he sawed through the branch. He moved faster, sawing frantically with the dagger, cursing its lack of a power stone. A manablade with its edge active could have sliced through this in half a second, rather than half an hour.

His mana was full. Theoretically he could activate it manually. He tried pushing his mana through the circuits carved down the blade, forcing it to stay in the channels, but the power only glowed brightly, uselessly, before it dissipated into nothing.

After trying twice more without success and fully draining his mana, he had to accept that manual activation was one of those skills he’d never picked up and couldn’t suddenly manifest without practice or training.

Finally he sawed through far enough. The branch warped and crackled at the contact point as the tree shifted.

For a moment he feared that the whole thing would crash down on him. Then it settled, stopped on other branches without crushing him.

Levi exhaled in relief. He shoved the branch aside easily now that there was no longer weight pressing it down into him.

For a time he lay quiescent as feeling tingled back into his arm. Then he lay a bit longer, letting his stamina recover while he tried to convince himself not to charge back into the fight.

He needed to beat this boss. He needed the experience, needed the treasures it guarded, needed the next piece of the secret quest.

But however he looked at it, this fight was beyond him. Only the barest of margins kept him from death. If he’d stayed in the open…

Even now, his heart continued to pound in his ears, breath coming ragged.

He wasn’t strong enough yet. All his knowledge wasn’t enough. He needed to be faster, stronger. Less than a week ago, he’d have been able to walk through this place without a scratch; less than a week ago, this body hadn’t done anything more strenuous than a jog in the park.

He needed the levels and he needed them fast, damn it all! He refused to be weak, refused to wind up watching helplessly while people he cared about were slaughtered!

Tears of frustration swam in his eyes at the thought of following that path to its inevitable conclusion.

How long would it take him to become strong enough if he had to back down now? Too long. If he couldn’t even take on a level 1 boss reliably, he'd get nowhere. Bosses were where the best experience could be found.

He’d fail them again. And this time he doubted he’d get another miraculous second chance.

“No! Not again!" Levi screamed, his fists clenched tight, venting his over-heavy emotion. "I can’t let that happen. Not again!”

But what could he do? He couldn't even beat one turkey. How many times could he cheat death before his luck and ingenuity ran out?

He rolled onto his side, trembling. Tears slipped across his face and he struggled to reclaim any sense of power over his situation.

Gremlin Two made a sad whining sound, echoing his master's grief.

The weight of his obligation pressed on him more heavily than any pile of trees ever could. For so long he'd fought, knowing he had nothing to lose, no purpose left but to fight in defiance of the ones who'd kill them all without a moment's hesitation or pity.

Now he had to survive, had to win every time. Throwing himself recklessly into fight after fight could cost him everything.

Levi wasn't sure he remembered how to do anything else.

Being this vulnerable was messing with his head, but he knew he couldn’t afford to let it control him. Couldn’t let despair take control.

With a herculean effort of will he forcibly relaxed, stifling his impatience and calming himself. He pushed away the fear, the dread, the anger, the helplessness, and focused only on breathing steadily and stilling his mind until he could assess things reasonably again.

He hadn’t failed yet.

He was still alive. He could try again.

There was still time. He just had to approach this like a serious campaign. He knew better than to rush in blind. Easy fights kept lulling him into forgetting. No more. He had to stop his confidence from bleeding over into arrogance.

Exhaling slowly, Levi rolled over to better assess his situation. His sleeves were shredded beyond recognition, bloody strips of cloth that would be more likely to snag on something than protect him. He cut them off, then began worming his way around the tree trunk.

“Two, you there?” His minion’s health had been slowly returning rather than dropping, so he was probably trapped but unhurt.

A happy squeak from the other side confirmed that Two was indeed still present and fine.

"Can you get out?"

Sad, negative.

Levi frowned around at the branches surrounding them. The pile was quite thick by now, branches snapped half off by the collisions, leaves everywhere. It was going to be a serious challenge just to get out, and then he had to face the decision of whether to go after the dire turkey boss a second time, or leave well enough alone.

There had to be a way to win. He refused to admit defeat. So many others had died, but not Levi. Never him. Not until the very end.

But he couldn't go into this fight without a strategy. Running in blind would get him killed. This foe could not be underestimated, and there was no terrain advantage he could bring to bear. The trees were too small and fragile, easily toppled by the boss's deadly claw attacks, and it was cunning enough to use them as weapons.

Levi blinked and stared around at the trees remnants.

Weapons.

He had never been much of a crafter, but what he really needed was a reach weapon. Something to keep the turkey from closing in too fast and too close. Maybe something to deal damage at range.

A spear. Javelins or arrows.

The more he looked around, the more the piled detritus looked like a treasure trove of potential weaponry.

He’d been thinking too narrowly, relying on actual mana weapons only. Yes, physical damage would stop being effective the higher creatures leveled. But it hadn’t grown ineffective yet. He’d proven that with the pillar trick against the ogre.

Time to prove it again.

“See if you can make your way over to me,” he called to Gremlin Two.

He searched around until he found the shortsword, and got started hacking the next nearest branch that was thick enough to suit his purposes.

“I think it’s time we make some traps.”