Grant was locked in a heated fight with the treant. The creature was large, resilient and powerful, but it lacked speed, making its body just a larger target. Grant had delivered a number of flaming blows to the creature at this point and flames were slowly eating away at the treants exterior. Unfortunately, the treant was not slowing down and the ring of death around the treant was growing, and quickly.
Grant dodged out of the way of a branchy fist and stabbed a glowing rapier into the arm of the creature, launching him into the sky. Grant was preparing to unleash a devastating attack and to make sure the treant received the most damage possible it needed to be from above.
Grant sailed into the sky, using the wind to reorient himself Grant saw a horrendous sight. From the sky Grant could see three more signal flares. 'Its in range of everyone. I have to end this now.' Grant began a chant in a low voice as his momentum gave out and he began his decent directly above the treant. "Oh great and cleansing flame of the sky grant me your unyielding fire in this time of need." A spectral white flame appeared on Grants left hand and on his right massive quantities of mana were wrapping around the rapier. He grasped onto the handle with both hands and the mana and flames combined becoming shimmering white flames. The treant saw what was happening and started to grow branches and roots to form a shield to divert Grants attack.
Grant only smirked at the shield. 'That won't be enough to protect you leech.' Bringing both arms down in a smooth arc the rapier contacted the shield, penetrating without resistance then the arms of the treant that crossed Infront of its chest. A moment before Grant's strike could land the treant's eyes widened in surprise and looked away from Grant. White flames exploded forth and bathed the surroundings in a bleach white.
-A few minutes before
Castus was sprinting as the creature covered in roots and vines behind him lumbered towards him.
"Graaaaant!" Castus called out again, hoping and praying his savior would arrive soon. Castus took a sharp right and watched the creature vault into a tree missing him. Panting he turned to look at the now destroyed tree and an unfazed creature. It turned towards Castus and continued its pursuit. Castus noticed something interesting though. Behind the creature was a thin branch that connected to this back and led all the way back the way they came, like a rope of sorts. Gaining a new hope to survive Castus started sprinting again in a straight line this time, gambling that that thin rope limited the creature's range of movement.
Castus pushed himself harder and harder, but the thumps of the creature behind Castus grew louder. Castus didn't dare to look behind himself as his feet sank into the mud and tree branches scrapped at his arms and face. Castus started to feel like his gamble was for nothing after twenty seconds of running. The thumps were just behind him now. The rhythmic beat of the thumps halted. At the last second in an act of desperation Castus spun the spear around and shoved the blunt end into the mud underneath him at an angle. His momentum has been completely consumed by the act, leaving Castus' only option to fall on his back. Laying down Castus watched the shadow of his pursuer fly past him and nail the spear. The iron spear cracked in half and the creature limply rolled a couple more feet. The spear had lodged itself deep near its neck and traveling into its chest. Castus willed himself to his knees and slowly walked towards the creature.
Getting closer Castus could see a lot of yellow translucent fluid leaking out of the wound. The creature twitched a little, but it seemed like the fight it had before was gone. Castus finally took a better look at the branch like rope that trailed past him, back the way he came. It pulsed like an IV with some kind of fluid. Reaching down and cleaning off the mud, it glowed with a red and green hue. Castus moved his gaze from the ground and back to the creature. It had started to shift its position. The flow of fluid out of its wound was decreasing at a noticeable rate. Every second it spent getting back to it's feet it seemed to be regaining strength.
'Shit its healing. I've got to cut this line.' Castus willed forth some crude iron and hastily shaped it to have a rough blade on one end. It resembled more of a triangular prism than any kind of weapon. Castus didn't need it to be pretty though. Just sharp enough to damage this cord that flowed into the creature. Castus slammed down on the line and the creature wailed in pain, thrashing around as part of it was severed. Castus slammed down again severing more of it. The creature weakly stood and began moving towards Castus. The remains of the spear had been moved by the creatures movements causing more fluid to seep from the wound. The creature was now five feet away. Castus grit his teeth. It was now or never. Slamming down the makeshift blade once more the line was severed. The creature let out a shriek and the roots and vines started to atrophy at a visible rate on its body.
Castus started to crawl backwards away from the wailing beast. It turned with rage in its eyes towards Castus and lunged at him. Castus held both arms up as it bit down on his shoulder. Castus cried out as teeth sawed into his shoulder. He could feel his muscle and bones shedding and creaking as the creature threatened to take Castus with him. He didn't have enough mana to make another weapon and Castus didn't know how much longer he had before the creature would die. Reaching up to the remaining half of the spear Castus took another desperate gamble. Gripped on to the spear Castus willed the remaining mana he had and started to push the spear into the creature while changing its shape randomly, trying to inflict more damage on the internals of the creature before it could rip him asunder.
40% of his mana left...30%...5% and the creature still hadn't died. The blood loss at this point was causing Castus' vision to fade in and out. He wouldn't be conscious much longer. He looked in the direction Grant had gone. "Safe my ass." He chuckled. He closed his eyes feeling his body growing weak and pushed with every ounce of strength he had left. Then he blacked out.