Ilgar began closing the gap over the massive expanse in mere moments, flying from the west side of the clearing to the east. The dryad stood idle, her eyes widening as she spotted a second light appear in Ilgar’s left palm, the orc reeling back his arm despite the speed at which he propelled through the air.

Her left fist tightened as she thrust it into the sky above, before opening her palm wide. A wall of vines erupted from the earth at an astounding speed just in front of her, the individual yet enormous creeping plants wrapping around one another. As they snaked and coiled, they developed into one solid mass of green about five meters tall and wide. As the orc was obscured from the dryad’s view by the grand wall, Ilgar slammed his palm into the collective of emerald vines. A loud boom cracked across the grassy expanse, as Ilgar fell through the large wall, a burning hole planted directly in the centre of it. He rolled as he landed, bouncing onto his two feet with a cocky smile on his face, as smoke began emanating from the mess he had already begun to create.

“You are daring aren’t you?” The woman commented to Ilgar, who had already begun to work up a sweat, panting softly. “But you’re also foolish, which will be the reason you die here.” The woman thrust her right arm towards the ground behind her as she finished, as she began to wince. A massive vine akin to the ones that structured the wall appeared from her shoulder and began slowly wrapping around her arm. Reaching the end of her fingertips, it formed a thick, sharp lance, that thinned as it got closer to her hand. The serpent-like vine which swimmed around her arm, acute as a spear, was aimed towards Ilgar swiftly as if- despite its massive size- it weighed nothing.

Ilgar drew his waraxe from his back with his right arm, gripping the bottom of the handle with his left, clenching tight. A flame erupted from the eye of the axe, flowing downwards towards the twin blades that rested either side of the head, slowly until both blades were engulfed in fire. The orc dashed towards his opponent, before leaping in the air, slamming a flaming axe blade down upon her. The woman raised her thick lance into the air, guarding horizontally above her head as the flaming axe crashed into it. The result of this attack ended up very lacklustre, as the axe barely managed to cave into the denseness of the weapon. Ilgar landed on his feet, as he continued to push the axe down on the woman from above.

“Very daring, but also ignorant.” The woman spat towards Ilgar, as he continued pressing down with all of his strength, a faint light appearing in his left hand as he continued to grip the axe tight. The woman’s eyes swiftly widened in a moment, as she flicked her lance upwards to knock Ilgar back, stepping to the left as a bullet of light passed by her head. “You dare!” She yelled, Ilgar’s left palm idle, released from the axe and aimed towards where the dryad was just standing. She reeled her arm back, anger painted across her face as the Orc simply tutted at his failing.“Do you know who I am, Orc?”

“A target.” He spat back at her, gripping his axe with both hands once again, this time slashing at her horizontally from her right.

“I am the Goddess of Nature itself- Crann.” She spoke down to him, while swiftly knocking the axe away with the tip of her blade. Ilgar stumbled as his axe was sent to his left, amongst the trees surrounding the edge of the clearing. “And I will mince you in an instant.” Crann then raised her left arm into the air as dozens of sharp creeping plants lunged from below starting close to the Goddess, but quickly appearing more and more in the direction of the orc. Ilgar looked disgruntled, but before he was even able to react to the attack he received a boot to the side of his face. Ilgar followed after his axe as he was launched into the woods to the right of Crann, as the collective attack she launched failed to pierce anything.

Michaelis stood to the left of Crann’s vine onslaught, after hopping back from delivering a kick to the side of Ilgar’s face. The coal-eyed mercenary kept his hands in his pockets, flicking his hair out of his eyes as he smirked towards the Goddess. “Insolence.” She spat, angered, dashing towards Michaelis. She reeled her right arm back before thrusting her lance towards him, only for him to strafe away, beginning to hop backwards as he laughed at her. “You don’t know who you’re messing with, child.” She announced, her voice was soft but her demeanour and tone mighty. Michaelis however, was completely unphased, continuing to laugh at the Goddess, smile unwavering. Crann was angered, as she clenched her left fist tight, the ground beneath Michaelis softly quaking.

He began stepping back, strafing, as dozens of spears of leaf erupted from the earth one by one, as Michaelis looked to the ground, seemingly knowing where they appeared. He looked up to Crann as he continued to retreat slowly, only to realise the dryad was right in front of him, having leapt over her field of blades. The Goddess while launching towards the shadowy figure, quickly rammed her right arms blade straight towards Michaelis’s face.

As he grimaced at the blade inches from his head, a burst of sand appeared just in front Michaelis’s eyes. He finished his retreat as the final spike of green erupted from the ground, looking ahead as he found Crann had been knocked to his left. A trail of crushed stone led from where she was hovering to both her jaw and lance, as she looked desperately angry, turning to the west as Michaelis did the same. Kaze and Fenrisolace stood there, with Karrow in front of them, his left arm aimed towards where Crann now stood.

Small wyverns, made entirely of crushed earth, rock and sand floated just overhead Karrow, two of them, around the size of his fists. Slowly more sand flowed from his sleeves into the air above him, adding to the dragons’ size. Before Crann could make another move she had realised Michaelis had seemingly vanished, no longer anywhere within view of where he just was. Looking around herself it took mere seconds before she felt a warm, sharp pain around her back. A hot liquid dripped down her spine as a deep pain was received. She spun around on the heels of her bare feet which shared a hue with the grass beneath her, thrusting her lance right behind where she stood. Her weapon only slashed into the air, as Michaelis hopped backwards before the spear came close to him.

Sweat beaded off of Mick’s face as he smiled devilishly, chain and blade in each hand as blood dripped from the tip of his dagger. Ilgar during this time recovered and began to approach from the east with his waraxe held in his right hand. Crann’s face was painted with anger, as she thrust her lance in Ilgar’s direction, detaching from the Goddess’ arm and swiftly flying towards him like a bullet. The orc barely avoided the attack as Crann began squeezing both of her fists tight, the lance digging into a tree deep.

“You’re all dead!”

The Goddess thrust her fists towards the ground, before slowly pulling them up as if she was weighed down by a pair of heavy chains. Until her hands reached her torso, she then lunged her fists into the sky, the entire clearing rumbling, as brambles and roots began erupting from the ground all around the God Hunters.

The God Hunters hopped out of the way of the seemingly slow attack until it became apparent to everyone except Ilgar. A maze of vines had formed around them all, separating them. Kaze, alone, attempted cutting through the walls to return to Fenrisolace and Karrow, though his sword was barely able to make a dent in the briars.

He looked in the direction he was facing previous, to find Crann approaching him with a new arm lance freshly wrapping around her right hand. “I’ll drop you all one by one, then I’ll deal with Titania herself.” She spat, as she began a dash towards Kaze with incredible speed. Thrusting her lance straight towards the Godhunter’s head, as the young man sidestepped with a very calm demeanour, slamming his left hand into the lance that had just passed by his head. The white-haired boy gripped his longsword tight in his right fist, as a massive thorn burst from the side of the spear and ran right through his palm. Blood began pouring immediately from the now massive hole that had taken refuge in the centre of Kaze’s left hand.

Kaze pulled his hand from the immense thorn, before hopping back a couple of meters, stabbing his sword into the dirt and tearing the kimono on his left sleeve. With his teeth and uninjured hand, he wrapped the ripped cloth around his palm, crimson blood turning the white flowers as scarlet as the rest of the kimono. “Phew…” Kaze exhaled, “That was close.” He muttered as he tightened his bandage which didn’t do a massive amount to stop the tsunami of blood pouring from his hand. Kaze’s gaze returned towards Crann as he retrieved his blade from the ground, aiming it towards her, clenching it, tight. Crann looked at him perplexed, as the swordsman began running towards her, his sword held across his chest diagonally. The Goddess thrust her lance towards Kaze’s chest, only for the lance to be slammed upwards by the god hunters sword, knocking Crann off balance. Sparks of lightning flowed across the blade as Kaze closed in and slashed across Crann’s chest from her left shoulder diagonally across her body. Crann stumbled backwards, as blood began to leak from all of her torso.

“Fuck!” Crann spat, as she planted her left hand on the grass beneath her, lance aimed towards Kaze, as she began to kneel. “You’re a bigger pest than I expected…” She continued, Kaze keeping distance with his longsword aimed right towards her. The blades of grass touched by Crann extended and flowed up her body, wrapping around her torso like a thin tunic, covering her front and rear injuries and stopping any more bleeding completely.

As she stood back up, she raised her left palm, before slamming it through the air to the right, dozens of brambles to the side of Kaze flowing like snakes as they slashed against his body. One of the thorns would snake directly through Kaze’s right forearm, the different spiked vines wrapping around his wrists and ankles. Blood began to leak from where he was pierced, as panic began to draw across his face. “I’m going to enjoy running you through, brat,” Crann exclaimed with dark glee, stomping forward towards Kaze, reeling her right arm back as she approached, preparing to skewer him.

“Warrior of the Sun!” Fenrisolace bellowed, slamming his metal fist into the Goddess’s head from above, knocking her to the ground. As the dryad lifted her face from the dirt, she quickly pushed herself to her feet, turning on her heels towards her attacker. As the Goddess turned, she swiftly received a right hook to the forehead, knocking her backwards towards Kaze. The dryad held her head as she recovered, dazed, blood dripping from her brow. As the blood continued flowing down the bridge of her nose, Fenris looked down on her with complete excitement across his face. “Come get some!” He bellowed, fists held tight to his head, hands very slightly open, his beady yellow eyes leaking through the cracks of his gauntlet’s fingers. The Goddess had anger painted on her face, before leaping straight into the briars to the left of Kaze, disappearing amongst them.

Fenrisolace tutted as he approached Kaze, tightening the grip on his right fist. He stopped just in front of Kaze, as the air around his arm began to look fuzzy to the white-haired young man. The beastman continued to flex, before snapping his arm upwards into the air, a sudden flame would ignite at his shoulder. Slowly creeping up his arm, towards the tips of his fingers an orange flame coiled upwards, before all at once it flared, beaming with power. “Combustion Fist.” He muttered as he finished performing the technique, before beginning to chop with his iron dressed fist through Kaze’s restraints.

“Ah, thank you, Fenris,” Kaze muttered, rubbing his newer wounds. “I think I’ll have to stay out of the rest of this fight, I’m bleeding a whole lot.” He said with disposition, as he began to tear into his kimono some more, starting with rewrapping his left palm, before working on the impalement in his right forearm.

Fenrisolace clasped his hands together, one of them burning with flames as he stretched his hands forward, cracking his knuckles “Don’t worry. I can likely handle her all by myself anyways.” He responded with a cocky smile, the fire that ignited around his arm slowly fizzling out. Kaze sighed as he treated his cuts, as Fenrisolace began stomping further into the maze.

Karrow proceeded with caution corner to corner of the immense labyrinth, a pair of fluttering sand drakes just above his head being constantly fed sand as they do laps in the air. The sound of a branch snapped behind the Godhunter, who reacted by quickly turning on his heels and thrusting his right palm forward to send one of his small beasts. The wyvern rocketed through the air only to slam headfirst into one of the maze’s root walls, bursting into dust.

At the same time he turned around to check his rear, Crann rushed to him with a gauntlet around her right arm made of wrapped vines. Each individual finger of the gauntlet, sharp and deadly, like a beast's claw. She slashed into his right arm, taking a large chunk from it as the sand warrior jumped backwards, howling in pain. “Bitch!” He yelled to her, as he extended his left hand to the sky.

Karrow’s final wyvern flew into his palm, bursting into dust before it began wrapping and snaking around his hand. A gauntlet of sandstone formed, much more hardened and powerful looking than Crann’s sleek and sharp fist. Karrow lunged forward, thrusting a left hook towards the Goddess’s head, only for it to be caught within her moss-green claw.

“This was your counterattack? Punching me?” She scoffed, laughing softly as she crushed the sandstone fist within her hand, rubble and dust flying through the cracks of her claws. The dust exploded in both parties' visions, as she continued to squeeze Karrow’s bare hand. “I’ve already taken your right arm, why not your left.” The Goddess cackled.

Crann then stumbled backwards, putting her left hand to her face, as she became confused from a sharp pain flowing through her jaw. The dust would clear as Crann’s fingers rubbed against a sand knife embedded within her cheek.

“You’re overconfident” Karrow spat back towards Crann, his right hand by his side, with his index and middle fingers, pointed towards the Goddess. He smiled, but only as sweat dripped down the side of his temple, a large gash out of his right arm, he could begin to retreat slowly as the Goddess loosened her grip on his now crushed hand.

Crann would be enraged as she reeled her arm backwards, extending her fingers in preparation to stab into Karrow. However, at the same time just above her arrived a green blur. Karrow was the first to see him, as the orc hovered in the air just a handful of meters above the Goddess. Aiming his left palm down towards her, and gripping it tight with his right a yellow light would be primed and ready within the grasp of his hand. Upon recognising Karrow’s gaze change, she looked up to where his sights were set, only to raise her right hand in defence. A powerful blinding light projected immediately downwards onto the Goddess, blocked seemingly entirely by the grassy gauntlet.

Crann’s vine fist turned to cinders as it fell apart around her hand, charred and destroyed by the power of the blast. As her gauntlet fell apart, the blade stabbed into her cheek reduced to rubble, falling from just above her jaw alongside the dripping red blood. Ilgar rolled onto the ground just behind Karrow as he landed, Crann’s hand blackened. The Goddess covered in wounds hidden by a tunic of grass, blood leaking from her forehead. She stumbled backwards, her blood-red eyes glaring at the two who now opposed her.

She screamed in anger. “I’ve had enough of this!” As her right arm dug into the wall to her right, the briars and thorns that made up the labyrinth began to flow onto her body. The entire maze began to swim towards Crann, as it built around her- power and size exploding as the small Goddess became one with her trap.

Michaelis, just around the maze's corner from where Crann and her opposition lay, began to back up as she combined with her jungle. Disappointment painted his face as he gripped his dagger tight, retreating towards the rest of the group, who had begun huddling up as they opposed the ever-growing giant, the maze acting like a distant memory.

Kaze’s arm and hand while wrapped up with tatters of his kimono, still dripped blood, his eyes looking heavy. In a similar situation, Karrow’s right arm having a large chunk removed from it and his left hand now purple and red from being crushed within Crann’s grasp. Ilgar was in just as bad shape, as despite taking no damage he was panting heavily. Sweat beaded down from his temple as some smoke escaped his palm, from the previous blast he had launched.

The vines continued to wrap and envelop one another until finally, the form was complete- a large briar dragon. Thorns, vines and leaves all binding one another to create an immense structure. Claws like drills the size of a human, and a gaping maw that screamed power. Her eyes formed out of bundles of red roses, as crimson as the Goddess’s own.

“You all seem tired, so I suggest staying back.” Michaelis sighed, as he walked around the left side of the huddled injured three, blade in his hand as he stared up at the dragon, unphased.

“You can stay back too if you feel like complaining more.” Fenris spat back at Michaelis, walking around the right side of the group, cracking his knuckles through his iron gauntlets.

“Just don’t hold me back wolf-boy.” Michaelis jabbed, laughing to himself as alongside the beastman, they approached the immense dragon, releasing a chilling roar towards its challengers.

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