With the monster of wood out of the way, the path to the Spectrewood was clear. Z'aanta had said the forest just outside of Stonegard went by that name many years before, though H'aanit never imagined that it would be an important thing for her to remember prior to now. Then again, she also hadn't expected Z'aanta to randomly disappear for months at a time, so she supposed that this was just another strange event in a long line of peculiar happenings. The fact that she had fought against four gods in the last few weeks barely even seemed to scratch the surface.
The Spectrewood was open at first, offering dulled sunlight to filter through the clouds overhead. The Highlands always seemed to be somewhat dark thanks to the perpetual overcast skies, and H'aanit did her best to not let this bother her as the trees began to thicken around her. The sunlight grew scarce as she walked onwards, and Ophilia reached for the Lanthorn to keep the path ahead lit. H'aanit could tell that everyone else in the group was just as on edge as she was, all of them ready to reach for their weapons the instant any danger presented itself to them.
The group had been walking for a few minutes when Therion fell into pace alongside H'aanit. His hands had been shoved roughly and loosely in his pockets, and he refused to meet her gaze. This was nothing unusual for him, but H'aanit still found herself wary given the way he had spoken previously.
"So, you know where to go next," Therion replied simply as he kept his gaze trained on the path ahead. He wasn't attempting to make eye contact with H'aanit either, so she could only assume that he needed the time to consider what was happening the same way she did.
H'aanit nodded. "Yes. From the moment I sawe the landslide, I knew," she answered simply. She had been hunting long enough to be able to track down a path in case an obstacle presented itself. What sort of huntress would she be if she allowed herself to be stopped by the first sign of a challenge?
"Impressive... Though I guess a hunter's most at home in the woods, eh?" Therion questioned with a small smirk, though he still didn't exactly meet her gaze. Instead, he opted to look just off to the right of her face.
H'aanit nodded, not bothering to return the favor of attempting to make it seem like she was looking into his eyes. "Thanks be to my training. My master hath taught me well," she told him casually.
For a long moment, Therion was silent as he stared down at the ground. "I hear there's no fiend out there he couldn't slay," he said when he finally managed to find the courage to speak once again.
If H'aanit had to guess, he had heard of this from his time spent in taverns across Orsterra, and she found herself unsurprised that Z'aanta had made a name for himself there. "As a hunter, he is without peer, but..."
Therion waited for her to continue, but when she held back, he prompted her onwards. "But?"
"When he ventureth into town, he is too easily tempted by the alehouse and games of chance," H'aanit explained. "He lacketh anything resembling discipline. Many times have comen and gone where I have been given no choice but to repayen his debts when he gets carried awaye by luck and ideals of fortune."
Therion thought about her words for a long moment before looking up to meet her gaze for the first time since the conversation started. "I'm sure he's glad to have someone like you with him," he said, the words oddly tender and soft given his regularly prickly demeanor.
It caught H'aanit off guard for a moment, but if there was one thing she had learned to do over her years of hunting, it was controlling her emotions. She didn't let her shock flicker across her features, instead simply nodding with a small yet cautious smile. "I doe what I can," she told him simply.
Therion didn't say anything after that, but H'aanit could tell what was on his mind, at least to some degree. He had a few other kind words for Z'aanta and H'aanit, but he wasn't sure about how to phrase them, so he chose to fall silent instead. Even if he didn't express himself to the huntress, he remained close to her side, and H'aanit couldn't help smiling at his presence. Despite his previous harshness in Bolderfall, he was starting to open up to the rest of the group in small but certain ways. She was glad to be able to see him make so much progress even if he was hesitant to show it to the rest of the world. Even small steps were important, after all. That was how true change was made.
H'aanit stopped walking soon after her conversation with Therion drew to an unceremonious close. She glanced up to stare at the path ahead of her. The first thing she noticed was the plentiful number of broken tree branches that littered the clearing. There were footsteps covered in mud as well, and the area had fallen eerily still, like the animals of the Spectrewood were avoiding this area in particular. It was easy enough to see why.
The other members of the group all stopped, and H'aanit leaned down to examine the grass below. She touched gently at the grass that still showed signs of having been walked on even a lifetime later. "A battle was fought here," she murmured to herself before rising to her full height once again. "But it was not beast versus beast. The destruction lieth only on one side of the field." H'aanit approached a tree that had been forced to the ground, and she touched gently at the wood like she was afraid the feat of collapsed nature would crumble beneath her fingertips if she used too much force to examine the area. At the base of the tree, a few rocks could be seen, though they were all sitting in unnatural, uncomfortable positions. The rocks had suffered notable damage, and the stones' surfaces were smeared with mud. H'aanit couldn't help frowning to herself. "Here, the rocks are marked with... Yes. Nicks made by steel weapons. Faded footprints, too. The signs of men."
H'aanit pulled away from the tree and the rocks, but she stopped when something gleamed out of the corner of her eye. She approached a patch of grass that remained relatively untouched save for the single splash of blood found beneath the blades. H'aanit reached her fingers through the greenery carefully before pulling out a single arrow with its tip stained in rusted scarlet. "This fletching... There is no mistaking it. This is one of Master's arrows!" she whispered to herself as she rose back to her full height, the arrow still pressed firmly yet delicately between her fingers. "He was among those who fought here. Was his foe the Redeye?"
"What do we do now?" Tressa questioned as she looked to the arrow. "Do you really think the Redeye is still here? You told us that the Redeye was supposed to be really dangerous... That was why Master Z'aanta was going to hunt it in the first place."
H'aanit was silent for a long moment before looking up. The path ahead was still littered with signs of combat, and she frowned even deeper at the sight. "The trail continueth farther into the woods. We must followe it," she announced to the other travelers. She kept Z'aanta's arrow in her hand as she stepped forward, clutching to it with masked desperation like it was the only shred of hope she had left. In some ways, it certainly did feel that way.
H'aanit only managed to take a few steps forward before she was cut off by the sound of footsteps ahead. She could already tell that the culprit wasn't a human, and she frowned as she shifted her attention up. There was a large outcropping of rock lined with grass and trees that stood out over the clearing, and at the very top of it all, another beast could be seen.
The monster looked like a dear made out of pure wood. The roots had woven together to create the appearance of a common creature despite it clearly being anything but. The creature's antlers were majestic and seemed almost like a crown of thorns, just as regal as it was dangerous. The monster was poised carefully, looking out over the clearing stoically. As far as H'aanit could tell, the deer was much more important than she could have ever expected initially. Given the way it carried itself, H'aanit could only think of one thing.
This was the Lord of the Forest.
Nobody dared to speak a word at the sight of the deer. In the end, the first move was made by the monster in question. The deer opened its mouth and let out a cry that pierced and echoed through the heavens. H'aanit remained firm in the face of the beast's scream, refusing to allow it to stop her. She had to press onwards if she was going to find Z'aanta, and she wasn't going to be stalled when she was so close to accomplishing her goal at last.
H'aanit continued to watch the deer for a long moment, though she could feel the tension and fear from the other members of the group crawling down the back of her neck. They had no idea what to do about the massive beast stopping their forward progression, and truth be told, H'aanit wasn't entirely sure either. Something told her that this encounter was going to devolve into combat, but for the time being, she did her best to remain as calm as possible. "The Lord of the Forest is in a foul temper, I see," she murmured simply. On either side of her, Linde and Hägen sunk into defensive, combative stances.
The Lord of the Forest took a small step forward, its teeth seeming more prominent than before. Everything about the creature was imposing and powerful the same way it was terrifying and impossible to understand. H'aanit could see what it was going to do long before it moved, and she took a step back while reaching for her bow as the Lord of the Forest launched itself down from its position atop the crag. The beast landed perfectly on the grass in front of the travelers, everything about its body poised in a defensive stance.
"It cometh!" H'aanit exclaimed to the rest of the party. They all reached for their weapons as well, and H'aanit nocked an arrow on her bow, ready to let it fly free the instant she was given the opportunity. As soon as the others were prepared, she allowed the attack to streak through the air straight towards the beast.
H'aanit frowned when the arrow seemed to have little effect on the monster. Behind her, Cyrus was reaching for the Tome of Tundras, but he didn't appear to be planning on using the weapon for its signature ice magic. Instead, he glanced to the other members of the group. "The beast is made of wood, so it's bound to be weak to fire magic!" he exclaimed. "But I would advise you all to be careful! We don't want to burn down the forest, so keep your attacks as controlled as possible!"
Therion nodded before he seemingly sunk into the shadows, ready to deliver a silent strike to the beast from behind. H'aanit, meanwhile, opted to reach for her axe after she slid her bow away. The beast had strong defenses, and if there was any weapon that would be able to break through something like that, it would be an axe. She charged towards the monster once she was ready, ducking beneath a slashing attack made of thorns. It wasn't until a few moments later that H'aanit realized the strike hadn't come from the Lord of the Forest directly. Instead, it had controlled the trees nearby and forced them to lash out at H'aanit. She couldn't help her silent curiosity on the matter, but she did her best to control her questions for the time being. After all, she couldn't afford to get distracted now.
H'aanit was only able to get in a few attacks with her axe before she was forced backwards again. The Lord of the Forest's body was beginning to writhe with energy, and H'aanit realized that if any of them struck in the same place too many times with a physical weapon, the beast would start to cover the weakness with its thorns to ensure they couldn't break through. If they were going to deal any significant damage, they were going to have to spread out and deal many smaller blows to the beasts. In other words, they would bring it a death by a thousand cuts.
Ophilia pressed the Illumination Staff to her chest and created a large explosion of light that spread through the area rapidly. The Lord of the Forest recoiled from the glow, something that was admittedly to be expected. The creature thrived in the darkness of the Spectrewood, so too much light was bound to catch it off guard.
Therion reappeared behind the Lord of the Forest with his sword at the ready. He dealt a mighty slash with his sword before following up with a blast of fire magic centralized on the place he had struck the beast. The Lord of the Forest roared in pain and turned around to face its attacker, but when it was facing Therion's direction, he was already gone, having returned to the shadows seamlessly.
Alfyn was quick to follow up on the Lord of the Forest's distraction, and he launched himself forward with his axe at the ready. He charged the blade with as much fire magic as he could stand before slashing downwards. Once again, the Lord of the Forest screeched in agony, but before Alfyn could offer another attack, the monster kicked at the ground and created a cluster of vines that grabbed at Alfyn's body. He yelped in surprise as he was thrown mercilessly against a nearby tree, his back slamming against the trunk. A notable crack was left behind in the wood from where he had made impact, and his axe had slid away from him while he recovered from his daze.
"Alfyn!" Tressa shouted in surprise. She prepared a quick stabbing attack with her wind magic, but she wasn't able to do much damage to the beast. Because of how firmly fortified its defenses were, her tempest did little to push it away from its current goal of destroying the travelers. Tressa instead opted to deal a quick stab with her spear's physical strength instead, though she tore the weapon away as soon as she was sure that she had managed to fend off the beast for the time being.
While Tressa fell to her knees at Alfyn's side to tend to his injuries, Primrose slashed her knife firmly at the Lord of the Forest's leg. The creature began to buckle from the sudden strike, and H'aanit directed an arrow of electricity at the weak point before the Lord of the Forest could cover it with thorns. The beast screamed as his leg crumbled out from beneath it, leaving the front right side of its body to gracelessly fall as its knee slammed into the grass below. Aside from that, it managed to remain on its feet for the most part, though H'aanit could already tell this trick wasn't going to be working again. They had utilized it once, but the Lord of the Forest wouldn't be giving them the chance to take advantage of that crack in its defenses a second time.
The Lord of the Forest attempted to rise once again, but it was cut off by Olberic coming up behind it with his sword at the ready. He stabbed fiercely at the creature, his earthen sword flashing in the minimal lighting. The earth began to tremble, and a few jagged rocks stuck up from the ground to pin the beast's fallen leg to the ground. The Lord of the Forest attempted to pull away from the bindings, but it was ultimately unsuccessful, leaving it wide open for Cyrus to flick his wrist and release a firm blast of fiery magic that slammed into its side.
The Lord of the Forest was pulled away from the stones with that hit, and it slammed into a nearby tree roughly enough to send a powerful crack screaming through the trunk. Alfyn and Tressa, who were by now uncomfortably close to the fighting, pulled away in a quick scramble of an escape. Tressa had managed to harness some of Ophilia's healing magic to cover the majority of Alfyn's injuries, though he still appeared to be rather disoriented from the attack.
The Lord of the Forest could sense the weakness, and it lashed out with a firm blast of wood using the brambles attached to nearby trees. Alfyn ducked out of the way at first, but when the branches curled around and grabbed at his torso, there was little he could do. The beast had him pinned against a tree, and Alfyn was left to thrash against the grip wildly in a desperate attempt to escape. His axe was still out of his reach, and it had been thrown even farther from him because of the Lord of the Forest's firm pursuit of him.
H'aanit reached for her own axe before dashing at the creature. She lashed out at the weakened leg before striking at another limb, leaving the Lord of the Forest incredibly unbalanced. The creature was forced to stagger backwards to keep from suffering another hit at H'aanit's hands. The brambles wrapped around Alfyn remained firm, and Therion reached for his sword before jumping into the air and cutting the branches away from Alfyn's body. The Lord of the Forest roared in anger at that as Alfyn collapsed to the ground, unceremoniously hitting the ground and letting out a groan as the air was pushed from his lungs. Primrose dashed to his side and pulled him away from the heat of the battle while Tressa did her best to prepare more healing magic.
H'aanit knew that the Lord of the Forest was going to keep going after Alfyn unless the other members of the group got involved. It was a beast that knew how to handle itself, and it was fully aware of how to pursue weaknesses once they appeared. The others were going to have to interfere to ensure that the Lord of the Forest didn't go after Alfyn until its prey was gone. H'aanit charged her axe with thunder magic while keeping this in mind before rushing at the beast.
Ophilia wound up taking a step in front of Alfyn while Tressa was healing him, and she called upon a powerful blast of light magic that pierced through the trees and left a small explosion of white and yellow illumination on the ground. The Lord of the Forest, accustomed only to exploring the darkened trees of the Spectrewood, couldn't force its vision to recover fast enough, and H'aanit lashed out with her axe from behind. At long last, the creature seemed ready to collapse in a dazed heap, but H'aanit could sense that it wouldn't be escaping any time soon. It wanted to carry this fight through to the end, and it fully intended on finding victory one way or another.
Cyrus was quick to follow up on Ophilia's attack. Now that the Lord of the Forest was dazed and unable to properly defend itself, he called upon ice magic to root the creature to the ground. Olberic did the same with earth magic through the Sword of Stone, leaving the monster trapped from the front by ice and behind by rocks. The beast was too disoriented to do much of anything at the moment, but H'aanit could tell that it was just a matter of time before the creature continued its assault.
H'aanit sent another quick blast of thunder at the creature before Linde and Hägen followed up on the strike with a team attack that went at the beast from both sides. Because the Lord of the Forest was distracted from being trapped, it was unable to heal its injuries, leaving gaping holes in the wood that made up its body. Olberic was quick to lash out at the remnants of the strikes with his sword at the ready while Therion did much the same nearby. Primrose opted to summon a curtain of dark magic over the creature, and at first, H'aanit was left wondering what exactly she was trying to do.
However, it all became perfectly clear as Ophilia let out a careful breath and a wave of healing magic that fell over the group. Afterwards, she reached into her bag, pulled out an inspiriting plum to restore her magical strength, and concentrated her energy into a single attack of light magic fixed on the Lord of the Forest. Primrose had bathed the creature in darkness to give it even less of a chance of adapting to Ophilia's next attack, which meant that even when the beast broke free of its bindings, it would still find itself struggling to do much to attack those around them.
As a matter of fact, the plan worked out perfectly, and the Lord of the Forest screeched in pain as it finally managed to stagger away from the ice and rocks. H'aanit had assumed that the bindings would only be able to hold it for so long, and she was right. Still, they had done significant damage while the beast was held down, and the chances of it being able to heal its injuries were next to none.
At least, that was what she thought before a pair of other creatures came out of the trees. Something told her that they had been summoned by the sound of the Lord of the Forest's screaming. They knew that their liege in the natural world was suffering and fighting something, so they came to its aid. H'aanit couldn't quite pick out the details of the creatures, but she could say conclusively that they were similar plant creatures to the Lord of the Forest.
The monsters immediately fell into a defensive stance on either side of the Lord of the Forest, and H'aanit could tell that the group was going to have to fight through the pair if they wanted to make any progress. She pulled together her thunder magic once again, though this time, she nocked an arrow on her bow as a channel for her energy. They had to get rid of the smaller beasts as soon as possible. If they didn't act quickly, the Lord of the Forest would simply heal its injuries with the time it had been given, and they couldn't afford to let that happen.
Cyrus was quick to strike at the beasts with a blast of fire, and Ophilia followed up with an explosion of light that rocked the area. H'aanit sent an electrocuted arrow flying towards the first of the two monsters while Olberic slashed at the other with his sword as soon as he was close enough to do so. Therion came up behind the first of the two and offered a quick stab into its back before slinking back into the shadows, giving H'aanit the perfect chance to fire an arrow straight into the creature's head.
The second beast of the two immediately noticed the weakness found in Alfyn's slumped posture near the back of the battlefield, and it launched at him with everything it had. Tressa reached for her spear and managed to strike the creature in the arm just in time to ensure that it wasn't able to get too close. The beast staggered backwards before attending to strike from another angle.
However, it never got the chance as Alfyn reached for his axe, barely managing to grab onto it after the blade was knocked from his hand a few minutes prior, before flicking his wrist and sending it flying sideways through the air. The weapon pierced through the monster and found a home wedged firmly in a tree trunk. The monster immediately collapsed to the ground, and Alfyn stared in stunned silence for a long moment before smiling to himself. "Bullseye," he muttered.
The Lord of the Forest was none too pleased about this outcome though, and it prepared to charge towards Alfyn and Tressa once again. Olberic stabbed his blade into the ground, and a quick column of rock flew up from the grass to create a blockade between the Lord of the Forest and its two targets. Tressa sighed with relief before using one last spell of healing magic on Alfyn. He pushed himself to his feet a few moments later, testing his body to ensure that he didn't fall over. He still didn't seem to be entirely present as far as concentration was concerned, but he was back on his feet, and that had to count for something.
With the Lord of the Forest stopped by the earthen blockade, Primrose jumped behind the beast. It had been forced to slow down significantly and suddenly when Olberic created the shield, and that left it lacking in balance. Primrose slashed her dagger at one of its weak spots before lashing out with a quick dark magic strike that left the Lord of the Forest disoriented and seemingly blinded. An explosion of light magic ensured that the beast would be unable to see for another few moments, and the monster let out a cry of pain before stumbling around in an attempt to escape its assailants.
H'aanit nocked yet another arrow on her bow before she primed herself for a shot. Linde and Hägen lashed out at the creature from either side, and the Lord of the Forest roared in anger and anguish. Cyrus sent out another attack of fire magic that forced the Lord of the Forest to stumble once again. This time, the beast fell backwards as its legs began to give way beneath it. H'aanit somehow doubted that the creature would be rising to fight again this time though.
Alfyn reclaimed his axe in a quick dash before slashing at the Lord of the Forest one last time. The creature seemed to lose all sense of orientation with the hit, and Tressa used her bow to strike at its shoulder from there. H'aanit, meanwhile, jumped into the air, her bow at the ready, before letting the arrow fly forward with all the force she had.
The arrow slammed fiercely into the Lord of the Forest's head, and H'aanit heard it let out one final scream before it fell silent and still. Its legs collapsed beneath it, and the beast did not move again after it hit the ground. The sound of the Lord of the Forest's body hitting the grass seemed to echo throughout the Spectrewood, and H'aanit remained silent and statuesque for a long time even after she landed just to make sure that she had truly accomplished her goal.
H'aanit let out a careful breath and lowered her bow as soon as she was sure that it was safe to do so. The Lord of the Forest had been a difficult opponent, but she was confident that this was not the Redeye Z'aanta had sought a year prior. The Lord of the Forest seemed rather standard as far as creatures from this area were concerned. The Redeye, meanwhile, had been much stronger than this and had been described as invasive and destructive multiple times by Eliza. In other words, Redeye was still out there, and H'aanit could only hope that the path ahead would lead her to some clue about how the beast was connected with her master's disappearance.
"Our true target still lieth ahead," H'aanit told the rest of the group. They watched her carefully, none of them wanting to believe what they were hearing. The Lord of the Forest had been difficult enough for them to defeat, and Alfyn still didn't seem to be back to normal after the powerful hit he had sustained earlier. H'aanit didn't know if they would be ready to face another beast if such a battle came to pass.
Hägen was quick to bound forward from there, and H'aanit frowned. His behavior didn't make it seem as if there were any other notable monsters in the area. Linde had relaxed as well, and H'aanit knew to trust her hunting partner when she believed that the battle was over. In other words, they were safe, at least for the time being. Redeye wasn't here, and that meant the only thing ahead of them was the truth about Z'aanta.
H'aanit followed Hägen and Linde deeper into the forest, and a silhouette came into view. She frowned to herself as she recognized the outline of Z'aanta. He had been here all this time. H'aanit didn't know why he was still here if Redeye was long gone, but she suspected that she would find her answers soon enough. At long last, the truth was within her reach.
H'aanit stopped a few steps away from Z'aanta. He was motionless, and everything about him seemed dulled somehow. She stared at him carefully, and her eyes went hollow and ghastly. "Master...?" she questioned. Around her, the wind seemed to fall silent, too afraid to even whisper as the twisted reunion unfolded beneath the trees.
H'aanit's eyes went wide as a stray stream of sunlight fell upon Z'aanta's body. Something was wrong, so grievously horrifying that she could hardly believe what she was seeing. Deep within her chest, air was pushed from her lungs from pure shock.
Z'aanta had been turned to stone.
Well... That's a nice way to leave off this chapter, huh?
This fight was tons of fun to work on, and I'm really happy that I was able to fit it all into one chapter. Because this chapter was mostly combat though, there's not all that much to say here like there would be with most other chapters. That's the price of having a fun fight sequence, I suppose.
There is one thing I wish to point out here though. I'm not going to say what it was exactly quite yet, but I did have a little nugget of foreshadowing in here for a character moment. There are going to be a few important character scenes after this chapter is over, and one of them was sort of hinted at in this chapter. I don't know if anybody is going to pick up on it, but I wanted to point out that it was here in case anybody was curious about why this chapter turned out the way it did. I like to be a bit cheeky with my character development, and hinting at it in fight sequences is always a good time.
With that said, I don't think there's all that much to talk about this time around, so I'm going to leave things off here and maybe face plant my bed for a while. Next week, we're going to pick up from that awful cliffhanger and finally get some answers. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital