The young man's desperate cry echoed through the trees, but the girl didn't let the silence of death take over her. Her face, previously softened by joy and then pale with shock, suddenly hardened into a mask of pure, fierce determination.
"Fuck," she hissed through her gritted teeth.
In one explosive motion, she unsheathed her sword. With a lightning-fast circular slash, she sliced the protruding spear-branch into splinters, clearing the wood from her body in an instant. She didn't fall. Instead, she stood her ground as a violent, crimson fire erupted from the wound in her chest.
The young man watched, horrified but at the same time mesmerized, as the magical flames cauterized the flesh, forced the bleeding to stop, and sealed the hole in her lung with raw fire.
Without missing a beat, she reached into her inventory. In a few seconds, she aquired a small glass bottle filled with a glowing liquid. she uncorked it with her teeth and drank the entire contents in a single gulp.
The earthquake began as a low, deep rumble that shook the very roots of the forest. From the earth itself, a massive figure began to rise. It was a giant made entirely of twisted, ancient wood. It stood fifteen meters tall, its body a mess of thick trunks and knotted vines that looked like muscles.
The most terrifying part was its head; it had a human shape, but the face was completely smooth. It had no eyes, no nose, and no mouth—just a blank, wooden mask.
Around its body, dozens of thin, spear-like branches moved on their own, slithering through the air like wooden snakes.
Suddenly, the blue system screen flashed with a warning:
[MINI-BOSS DETECTED: THE VOICELESS ARBOR]
[STAGE: USER]
[PROFICIENCY: 95%]
The girl looked up at the giant towering monster, her eyes fierce despite the blood still staining her chin. "What is a monster of this caliber doing in a place like this?" she hissed.
She turned to the young man for a split second. "He's technically stronger than me," she admitted, her voice tight, "but he's made of wood. My attribute is fire, his natural enemy."
She stood tall and placed the index and middle fingers of her right hand against her forehead. She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating with every bit left of her strength. A glowing, fiery red light began to swirl around her fingertips. With a swift, sharp motion, she slid those fingers down the length of her blade.
The sword didn't just glow but it was completely engulfed in a roaring crimson flame.
The girl smirked, the fire reflecting in her red eyes. "I'm going to turn you into a chunk of coal, you overgrown weed," she mocked. "By the time I'm done, there won't even be enough of you left to start a campfire!"
With a sparkle of light, her midnight-blue and silver armor reappeared, locking into place over her healed chest. She looked like a monarch of flame ready for war.
"Find cover! Now!" she shouted at the young man. "Get behind the biggest rock you can find and don't come out until the forest stops burning!"
She didn't wait for him to move. With a burst of speed that cracked the ground beneath her, she dashed toward the giant.
The young man, fully aware of his own weakness, didn't hesitate. He scrambled away as fast as his bruised legs could carry him, finding a safe hideout behind a massive rock. From there, he watched as the forest transformed into a battlefield of fire and wood.
The fight was fierce. The girl moved like a flickering flame, her sword left trailing arcs of brilliant red fire that sliced through the air. The Voiceless Arbor lashed out with its snake-like branches, but she was too fast.
She leaped into the air, spinning her blade in a storm of fire. Every time her sword bit into the giant's wooden flesh, the wood didn't just break but it ignited.
She unleashed a barrage of fire spells, snapping her fingers to create explosions that sent charred splinters flying. The giant roared a soundless, vibrating hum that shook the ground, trying to crush her with its massive trunk-like fists. But she was his arch-nemesis. Her fire ate through his thick bark, turning his limbs into glowing embers.
The monster realized it couldn't win a head-on fight. It began to back away, using its branches to create a wall of thorns just to buy a few precious seconds. As the girl descended from an epic overhead strike, a single, incredibly fast wooden branch shot out from the shadows. She sensed it, of course she wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. She tilted her head, and the wooden spear only grazed her cheek.
But as the scratch appeared on her face, a shivering, cold sense of death washed over her.
That branch wasn't just a weapon; it was a delivery system for a lethal poison. It was a power the monster hadn't created itself, but likely discovered and kept as a desperate trump card.
The girl pulled several antidotes and healing potions from her inventory, drinking them frantically, but it was all in vain. The poison was too strong.
She began coughing up dark, thick blood as her strength failed." After all these years", she thought bitterly, despair filling her mind, "just when we finally found him, I'm going to die like this?"
She refused to let it end there. Using a smoke bomb to create a gray cloud of cover to distract the monster, then she sprinted toward the young man. She looked awful, her skin was turning a sickly pale gray, but she reached him, threw him over her shoulder, and ran with every ounce of strength she had left, while coughing a huge amount of dark blood.