One of the red vines whipped past his face and wrapped around a tree instead of snapping back right away. Bark cracked under the pressure, and even while he kept moving, Shu’s eyes stayed on it for that extra beat.
’Wait,’ he thought, ducking under another lash. ’That one stayed on.’
The next one hit a trunk too, and this ti he saw it clearly. Once the vine found wood, it clung to it for a mont before it tore loose again, and that was all he needed.
He changed direction at once and ran toward the thickest part of the roots instead of away from it. The tyrant roared behind him, dragged its twisted body forward, and sent three more lashes after his back.
He cut between two trees so close together that one vine slamd into the trunk on his left while another wrapped around the one on his right. He did not stop there, just kept running and counted in his head.
’One.’
The third lash ca low, right where he wanted it. He jumped, felt it tear through the space under his boots, then landed beside a fallen log and hooked the bat under it with both hands.
’Two,’ he thought, and the tyrant charged straight into the middle of it.
All three vines pulled at once, one wrapped hard around the left trunk, one around the right, and the last one dragged the log into the roots just as the monster’s front leg ca down. The whole thing tightened in a nasty jerk, the tyrant’s own montum did the rest, and its front half dropped so hard the ground jumped under his shoes.
For a second he just stared, then his mouth split into a grin, yanking the bat free as he moved. "Oh," he muttered. "That actually worked."
The tyrant tried to rise, but the vines only bit deeper when it pulled. One arm got stuck between the trunks, its front leg twisted against the dragged log, and that ruined eye turned right toward him with pure rage.
’Good,’ he thought, sprinting straight in. ’Stay mad.’
He brought the bat up for the ruined eye, closing the last few steps while the tyrant was still wrenching against the trunks, but the thing ripped one shoulder hard enough to tear a vine loose and twisted with it.
Sense scread a beat too late, and by the ti he saw the free arm coming, there was nowhere left to go.
The punch hit him in the ribs instead of the center of his chest, mostly because he turned at the last second, and that tiny bit of luck was probably the only reason he did not die there.
Even so, the fist folded him in half, tore the air out of him, and launched him sideways so hard he did not feel himself hit the ground before he went plowing through roots and broken branches.
His back slamd into a trunk, then everything blurred so hard he lost track of up for a second.
Air would not co in, his right arm went numb, and the side that took the hit felt less like pain and more like dead weight hanging off his ribs.
He tried to move, but his legs dragged a bit behind the order, his vision was flickering at the edges, and sothing warm ran out of his mouth when he coughed.
’No,’ he thought, though even that ca out thin in his own head, ’I did not expect that.’
The tyrant was moving again, the vines around it tearing through the trees while it dragged itself after him. He saw all of that through a blur, lying there with the bat still in his hand and one stupid thought pounding harder than the pain: ’Move.’
Panic should have hit first, but [Unwavering Spirit] crushed it flat before it could spread, leaving nothing in him except the cold fact that he was still alive and the colder fact that the next hit would finish it.
At the sa ti [Slaughterer] answered the shove in his chest, flooding his limbs with enough violence to make his wrecked body obey when it had started shutting down.
He rolled just as a vine smashed the ground where his head had been, the impact kicking dirt into his face while another one tore past his legs. Everything in his side scread when he pushed up, his knees nearly folding again, but he forced one foot under himself, then the other, and staggered into a run before the tyrant could line up the next clean hit.
Breathing felt broken now, every pull coming sharp, along with the taste of blood that kept filling his mouth no matter how often he spat. His body wanted to slow down, curl up, and stop, but the skills kept dragging him forward one step at a ti.
’Dammit, I got cocky again,’ he thought, his feet about to give out, ’at this rate, I will die.’
He spat blood, cut around another root, and forced himself to look back. The tyrant was dragging itself through the trees with vines thrashing all around it, but the more he watched, the more sothing felt off.
One lash wrapped a trunk and pulled its shoulder sideways, another caught low in the roots and dragged at the ruined side of its ribs, and the thing had to wrench its whole body free before it could keep coming. The vines were making it worse for him, sure, but they were not helping it cleanly either.
’Wait,’ he thought, breath tearing on the next pull. ’It is fighting that crap too.’
He nearly stumbled when a shot of pain ran through his side, but Sense kept his feet under him while his eyes flicked from the tyrant’s shoulder to its ribs and ruined eye.
All the red growth was piled on the sa half, and if he turned that side into the trees again, the thing would keep snagging and tearing itself up.
’Okay,’ he thought, tightening his grip on the bat while another cough burned up his throat. ’One more trap.’
Ahead, three thick trunks stood close enough together to turn the ground between them into a ss of raised roots and dead wood. He changed direction and ran for them, this was the first thing he had seen since that punch landed that looked even close to survival.
He lowered his shoulder and drove himself harder, each step sending a stab through his ribs while the tyrant roared behind him and the vines slashed through bark on both sides. The trunks were close now, tight enough that if he cut at the right ti, the tyrant’s ruined side would have to scrape through them.
’Co on,’ he thought, cutting left at the last second and dragging the ruined side of the monster toward the gap.
One vine struck the first tree and tightened, another caught in the roots, and for a mont he thought he had it.
Then the ground under the middle trunk split with a dry crack, sothing huge shifted beneath the roots, and the whole patch of earth rose under his feet.
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