As the black-wooded entity twisted and swayed in front of them, DruidMan and Sylk both realised that there was a potentially dangerous fight to be had. The spider woman reinforced her already resilient exoskeleton with and even harder, and heavier set of red scales. The cracked ground under her feet creaked in protest, but it held for now. DruidMan, meanwhile, called upon his winged ally and took to the air, moving to get a better look at the tree from the air, though as he approached, he would swiftly realise that staying out of the way of this ancient tree's gnarled, whipping branches was going to be harder than it seemed.
From a little higher up, he could see the tree pulse with the heart-beat glow that suffused its reaching root systems, and as it seemed to draw itself up to a moor looming and impressive stance, a series of knotted bark-like growths spiralled across its already warped trunk, covering the black wood completely in something that looked more rotten and grey. As it stretched, however, he also felt an extremely unpleasant emanation rolling off the tree; he could almost taste it in the air, so befouled and cloying was the sense. If not for Simurgh holding him aloft, he might have reeled drunkenly as a nauseating wave of weakness assailed his mind and body. The tree seemed to grow stronger, despite the way DruidMan's support program buffeted and scoured at the newly formed bark as she flew.
Down below, Sylk was planning to decimate the corrupted plant with an all out assault, now that she was well defended. With everything lined up and all of her offence capabilities as buffed up as she could manage, she triggered her intricate weave of webbing and struck. As the ground around the tree attempted to metalicise itself, and augment her strike, the ripple of metal panels was immediately chased by another pulse of dark purple wisps; the panels were upturned by more corrupted roots and by the time her lighting strikes were falling, the roots around the tree were as cursed and darkened as ever, with only a slim ring of metal remaining, at the outer edges of her transformed area.
The first bolts struck inwards anyway, jolting through branches and against the trunk of the tree, and the greyish bark was immediately rent away. As it was burst apart by Sylk's electricity, however, something unsettling revealed itself underneath. The dark black wood practically shone with a sickly glow and Sylk's remaining storm of attacks skittered off and around it, cascading to the ground in so many sparks that didn't seem to phase the corrupted tree at all. As the remainder of her lighting spent itself, Sylk felt her mind assaulted by a cloying psychic reverberation, similar to the one DruidMan had just experienced, and she felt her own strength sapped away as the trees presence seemed to swell even further. It was growing stronger; so much stronger.
Druidman had managed to shake off the mental assault enough to continue his own stratagem, now moving to burn the tree instead. He launched his small seed of lava down at the base of the entity below him, and was rewarded with the bright glow of magma splashing out and around the base of the plan for a few moments. The lava itself seemed to have slid of the glowing trunk of the tree without effect, but at least the ground beneath it was changing. The moment of victory was short-lived, however. The lava barely had time to settle or spread before more blackened tendrils began to rise up from it, and the red glow drained away to leave scorched, cursed earth, overrun by more of the writhing roots.
Sylk was following the same plan with the wave of lava she sent after it, attempting to draw as much of the remaining strength from the small pool as she could to further fuel the chip, and though the flood of magma crashed against the tree and circled around it, the attack seemed to lack any impact; not so much as a scorch remained on the warped bole of their target. Their struggles to make impact tangibly seemed to draw the hope from the air and the darkness crept in, growing deeper around the dull, slow pulse of the tree's heart-beat. Its branches moved with sudden vicious mtions int hat moment, lashing out in all directions. Sylk had to dart to one side to avoid a heavy branch that slammed out at her; the panel beneath her feet crumbled and she barely managed to scramble to safety, weighed down by her heavy defence. Her decoy drew the ire of another heavy branch, and was too busy taunting the dark entity to avoid being smashed into data particles; better it than anyone else, though.
Up above, DruidMan and Simurgh weren't exempt either, as a barrage of reaching, clawing branches whipped up and raked at them both, attempting to bat them out of the sky. Aided by his support program, DruidMan was able to twist away from the slashing branches, but Simurgh herself caught a nasty gash in the process, causing them both to wobble in the air for a moment.
DruidMan pulled out his shield to protect them both a little better, while Sylk prepared another trap for future attacks in the hope of catching the thing out while it was attacking, but even as the tree itself settled back again into its writhing, swaying rhythm, something moved in the north. Vines and roots on the wall above the missing patch shifted and pulsed, and then Sylk saw what was really happening. One of the thick, twisted roots wasn't a root at all. It was the emaciated, withered length of a Bluegon, restrained, drained and shrunken yet unmistakable now that she looked at it. The body was so wrung out it could be missed for a particularly thick branch, but the head was obvious now. Especially since it was moving. The eyes were blind and roots pierces many places through its skull, but as the vines holding it flexed, the head lifted up and a pained hiss escaped. A moment later, a blast of frost launched upwards, aimed directly at DruidMan and his SP.
DruidMan had enough time to turn himself to the sudden attack, though not enough to dodge clear of it. The best he could do was put his shield between the withered up creature and himself, absorbing the frigid blast as it washed over him and curled around. the shield responded, sending an arcing bolt back down to strike the creature in return. It roared weakly and slumped for a moment, but DruidMan had a bigger problem. Carrying him, Simurgh shuddered and the frost led to a swift lock-up. It was too much for the SP to endure and a moment later, DruidMan felt himself free-falling towards the upraised branches of the tree below.
He crashed through the thinned branches and managed to land safely, more or less, right by the base of the shifting wood. He was unharmed for now, but the ground was dark and sapping, and the roots covering it began to grope and twitch at him, attempting to ensnare his feet. This close, he could get an impression of just how large this tree had grown, for however long it had fed down here in the depths.
The withered up Bluegon was forced up again, still alive after the returned blast it had received, though barely. It focused on Sylk instead and tried to breath a wall of frost in her direction instead. Fortunately for the spider-lady, this second attack was far less accurate, and the head of the trapped virus slumped down again after it failed. The smooth, almost impervious-seeming shine faded from the tree as the duo gathered themselves and it began to sway with a more fluid vigour instead. What next? There had to be something that would work...
-=Dark Tree=-
ВитаяСердце.КореньКрови (Twisted-Heart, the Blood Root): 600Hp [Cursed][Strengthen: 450][SteelBody: Expired][Folder-Lock][Self-Slow1][???]
Withered Bluegon2Bluegon2 (Bluegon)
Bluegons do not appear before Battle 6. They are extremely territorial among their own kind, so only one HoleDragon can appear per battle. Because they live among holes, they cannot appear without at least 5% Missing terrain.
Area: Sharo
HP: 290
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 60 Aqua + Wide Attack
Primary Attack Accuracy: A
Primary Attack Description: Exhales a wide stream of ice breath.
Secondary Attack Damage/Effect: 70 Aqua + Knockback + Ground Attack
Secondary Attack Accuracy: C
Secondary Attack Description: Creates a wave of ice water that crashes into an enemy.
Element: Aqua
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): WaterStream (Rare), IceDragon2 (Rare), Zenny
Special: As this virus is always in a hole, it is immune to all Ground attacks.
Special: While this virus will never leave holes, it may still swerve to avoid attacks.
Special: This virus can use an action to duck inside its hole. This counts as a dodge. It may reemerge from that same hole, or a different hole on the battlefield, as a free action afterward.: 40Hp [Bound to the wall above Missing]
-=Determined Gardeners=-
Sylk.Exe: 500Hp [Cracked][HardBody][10Hp Fire StoneBody Casing][Slow][Anti-Wood Trap]
DruidMan.Exe: 470Hp [Cursed][Directly behind Twisted-Heart][HardBody]
Simurgh: EJO
-=Court of the Fountain=-
35% Cursed
- Doubles Final Damage.
- Cannot be in Sigs.
- PanelShot: Converts attack to Self-Damage.
15% Poison
- -10 HP/action standing, -20 HP/action submerged.
- Zombie nullifies damage, heals 10 HP/action on contact.
- Cannot be in Sigs.
- PanelShot: Poison(20).
15% Cracked
- Changes to Broken when stepped on, chance to fall in when triggered.
- Burrow: Change terrain to Broken, Null 50 to burrower.
- Panel Crack attacks, >100 Damage Break/Impact/Drop attacks: Change terrain hit to Broken.
- PanelShot: Splash1.
20% Metal
- Cannot be Broken or Cracked except with Geddon/PanelShot, cannot be Burrowed into.
- Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
- 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Cracked.
- 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to Furnace.
- PanelShot: Imbue Elec + Break.
10% Missing
- Permanent bottomless hole.
- Doubles dodge penalties for bad RP.
- EJO if you fall in.
5% Broken
- Not bottomless.
- Reverts to Normal after a time, if no one is inside.
- Doubles dodge penalties for bad RP.
- 1-4 Movements actions to climb back out depending on method.
-=Observations=-
[???] This entity is mysterious; you don't know its full details or behaviours, nor what might be affecting it. Players will automatically learn more as the fight progresses, but can also take deliberate efforts to learn more about its strengths and weaknesses.
The tree does not appear to be negatively affected by cursed or poison terrain. It has been observed that viruses fully corrupted by the roots also enjoy this benefit.
Appears immobile, but its roots and branches reach surprisingly far.
Can't really dodge, but appears capable of raising strong defences
Thus far, attacks have not had any elemental alignment.
Strengthens itself and weakens foes.
Spreads its cursed ground and seems to respond swiftly to attempts to change it.