Wielding his staff, Andir began muttering a spell. On the ground around him spread a bright red rune.
Isla and Sila didn't know what language the rune came from, but they felt incredible heat emanating from the brightly lit area, forcing them to take a few steps back.
As soon as Andir finished casting the spell, he raised the staff and tapped it back on the ground. After a split second, a wall of flames rushed forward from the rune, charging into the gloomy and twisted woods.
The group watched as the eerie woods burned under the wall of flames. The trees crackled and as each one burned, it sounded as if it was screaming.
Isla wondered if the trees, like the vines, were alive, but as the flames pushed further in, none of the trees ever moved. Only letting out shrieking sounds as they burned.
The vines hiding further in the darkness seemed to feel the oncoming threat. Knowing they couldn't just wait, rushed forward, trying to break through the flames.
Seeing the vines passing through the flames made the group straighten up, thinking that they were strong enough to break through, but after a while the vines that had gone through the flames approached more and more slowly, until they just stopped, charred and smoking.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, until the twins heard a sound coming towards them. In unison they shouted, "Beneath us".
The group only had enough time to get into formation before countless vines broke free from the ground, surrounding them. The vines lurched forward, intending to encase them. Harold and Irene stood at the front and back of the team, swinging their weapons towards the oncoming vines.
Andir retreated to the middle of the group with Edrii, while Rale took one of the sides left open to the two magic users. Isla and Sila naturally filled up the last open side, completely protecting the magicians inside.
The twins used the daggers in their hands to swing at the vines that twisted towards them. Hacking and slicing as fast as they could.
Isla herself hadn't noticed anything strange about the vines, until she felt a sharp pain coming from her leg. Looking down she noticed a vine had quietly crept from beneath her and attacked her leg. Feeling the increasing pain, she noticed that these vines were covered in needle like hairs, she quickly swung a dagger down, severing the attacking vine. She used the dagger to pull out the part that had dug itself into her leg, gritting her teeth. The level of pain seemed unusual for such a simple injury, which made her a little worried.
The fight continued unabated as the group began to incur more injuries. Only the sounds of hacking and slashing around them allowed the group to know that their comrades hadn't yet fallen,
Andir couldn't conjure another slwall of flames so close to his team, for fear of injuring them, but he knew this couldn't continue, otherwise they'd definitely be overrun by the quantity of these vines. His mind went blank as he watched all the warriors being attacked by the countless vines. Watching Edrii grit her teeth as she forced out more power to heal the constant injuries they were receiving.
No one complained about how long they had been fighting. No one blamed Andir, they just continued to defend. None of them expected that these vines were this hard to deal with.
After some time Andir could only think of making a barrier around the area, which couldn't be kept for long, otherwise the group wouldn't be killed by vines, they'd suffocate from lack of oxygen first.
If the barrier was opened, then he would use one of his strongest spells to scorch the ground outside until it was dead.
Deciding on the plan, he once again began to mutter. A ring appeared just outside the attacking range of the group, and a fine, transparent film like shield began to emerge, travelling upwards.
The vines that interacted with this film seemed to have been cut, and all parts inside instantly fell to the ground lifeless. When the dome completely encompassed the group, they suddenly started to feel slightly breathless. The smouldering heat caused them to sweat, which began to seep into their unhealed wounds, arousing more pain.
Andir didn't stop, the group watched through the transparent film as the vines continued to circle around the film, leaving a gap that they dared not touch. But it wasn't long before the others saw the flames gathering in the sky.
They turned around to look at Andir, and saw his face was completely pale. Unlike theirs that were already red from the heat.
Following Andir's muttering, countless balls of fire fell towards the area where the vines had entrenched them. Nowhere was spared, the vines tried to flee back towards where they had come from, but the flames made the entire area a purgatory.
When the group could finally see the area around them, the barrier shattered and Andir spurted out a mouthful of blood.
Rale rushed to catch him before he fell to the ground, while Edrii went to check how bad his situation was.
Everyone waited with bated breath, keeping an eye on their surroundings while listening for Edrii's diagnosis.
Thankfully she didn't keep them waiting long. She took out a vial from her ring and carefully fed it to him before saying, "It's okay. He has overused his abilities, which will probably keep him out of action for a while. But he'll be awake shortly".
The group relaxed after they heard that. Taking the time to look around at Andir's devastating power. The area that was initially a dark and gloomy forest, able to hide countless vines in its depths, is now a barren and scorched piece of earth. Smoke rises from the black and cracked ground, and small pieces of the originally tenacious vines could be seen scattered around the entire area.
However what caught the groups attention was a stone archway, standing alone in the middle of the barren earth, in the direction where the vines appeared from.
Everyone knew the archway was their destination, but with how difficult just the vines were, many of them couldn't help but start to worry what was inside.