Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 43: Willow's End

"Right! We've come this far and we're not letting you monstrosities run amok in this forest anymore!"

With that, both of us continued our crusade against the vines. Using Kazu's staff as a flint, I continued to ignite the tips of my [Wooden Arrows] and turn them into makeshift fire arrows. And to make this a bit confusing for the [Black Willow], we continuously switched places so that Kazu could cast his [Thunder] spells towards the vines, which he took advantage of his newfound ability to cast spells without incantations to use each of them in quick succession. Eventually, after a few minutes, most of the vines were burned to ashes, and we rushed in front of the boss monster itself, ready to take on the haunted tree.

"It's over, [Black Willow]! You have no more vines left! Give up and face your destiny!"

Unlike the previous one, I didn't cringe when I heard his declaration towards the tree monster. To be honest, it might've been for the best since I could see how mad the twisted tree was upon seeing its weapons destroyed by our own hands. Before it could attack though, I quickly aimed my fire arrow at it and shouted, "[Corkscrew Pierce]!"

Once I fired it, the arrow started to spin in mid-air before it pierced the monster's lower area, causing it to screech in pain. The attack's effects allowed the arrow to pierce through its defenses, both statistically and figuratively in this game and the tree flailed around even more. I quickly moved out of the way as Kazu aimed his charged staff at the Willow.

"My turn! [Lightning Scatter]!"

Once more, several lightning bolts scattered around the area as the trees' flames began to increase. At this point, I started to become a bit worried. Due to Kazu's abilities as a magician, his spells were much more powerful than my [Wind] skills and that meant there was a chance he might unknowingly spread the flames to other unaffected trees. So it was up to me to let him know when to stop.

As this whole battle is unfolding, Kazu and I managed to deal heavy damage to the [Black Willow] and its cronies. But I was surprised that what we had turned this into an equal battle against the monsters. Not to mention his ability allowed him to switch between spells during each cooldown, allowing him to shoot down several stray vines that the Willow summoned.

And as time passed, I saw its stats via my [Investigate] ability.

[Black Willow]

[Level: 25]

[HP: 419/800]

[Condition: Burned]

[Burned]

[The person afflicted to this condition will cause their [HP] to decrease over time and incapacitate them at random times. The damage will increase if the afflicted is weak to Fire.]

Nice. Not only was their health half-gone, but the effects of this status condition will increase the ongoing damage due to its weakness. It might've been a monster, but it was based on an ordinary tree before and retained all weaknesses. The Black Willow might have known this as it continued to screech painfully as it sprouted more living vines from the ground to attack us.

"Kazu, switch!" I quickly took a step back as he raised his staff and gathered more electricity into it.

"Right! We already know your tricks, [Black Willow]! So give it up already!"

As he released several more lightning bolts, I drew my sword and charged in with several slashes on the burning vines before I turning to the boss monster next. This caused it to strike back by spitting out several seeds and threw hard apples towards me. However, I quickly reacted by using my sword's blade as a shield to block them before I shouted, "[Counter Slash]!"