‘Damn. After everything I threw at him, he still had a hand to play.’
Aksai cursed in his heart as he saw what was in front of him.
The demon tree guardians were a sight to behold, monstrous and fearsome in their appearance. Emerging from the rifts, they took on humanoid forms, yet their bodies were anything but human.
Their skin resembled the bark of gnarled trees, cracked and rough, with a texture that seemed to absorb the very light around them.
Elongated limbs stretched out from their torsos, each arm and leg unnaturally long, giving them a distorted appearance. The limbs were pierced in multiple locations with metal rods, which jutted out at odd angles, reinforcing their already formidable structure.
Iron vines coiled around their torsos, wrapping tightly and pulsating as if alive, their dark metal sheen contrasting against the bark-like skin. These vines seemed to have a life of their own, occasionally writhing and tightening around the guardians’ bodies.
Their faces were those of woodland zombies, with features that could only be described as grotesque. Noseless and with mouths that could open unnaturally wide, they revealed long, serpent-like tongues that flicked in and out, tasting the air. Dark red claws extended from their fingers, ready to tear through flesh and bone with ease.
Their eyes were vicious, glowing with a malevolent red light. They lacked pupils, the entire eye a swirling mix of dark hues that seemed to peer into one’s very soul. These eyes never blinked, fixed in a perpetual state of alertness and aggression.
The demon tree guardians were different from all the other tree devils in that they wielded distinct weapons in their hands. They also seemed to have a certain intelligence in their eyes as they looked at Aksai with cruel intentions.
“You… you’ll pay for ruining my plans, you swine,” the corrupted druid spoke as he looked at Aksai with seething rage. “Go,” he commanded the demon tree guardians.
The demon tree guardians didn’t need to be told twice. They approached Aksai with ferocious momentum, attacking from multiple directions, intending to tear him apart.
“Haah! You think you are the only one who can make use of the puppets?”
Aksai asked as he summoned four Scarecrow Fiends from the Everwood farm.
Earlier, he had lost two Scarecrow Fiends during the battle of Emerald Cove. He had recently replenished their number and now deployed all of them against his enemies in one go.
The battle erupted as soon as Aksai summoned his puppets out.
The four Scarecrow Fiends squared off against the four demon tree guardians.
One of the Scarecrow Fiends lunged forward, its scythe aimed at the nearest guardian. The guardian countered with a swipe of its dark red claws, sparks flying as metal met enchanted wood.
Another Scarecrow Fiend flanked the guardian, swinging its scythe in a wide arc. The guardian, however, was ready. It twisted its body with an unnatural flexibility, dodging the attack and retaliating with a whip-like strike from its iron vines, which wrapped around the fiend and crushed it with a brutal force.
There were two more pairs of puppets from both sides who had gotten busy attacking each other. Soon, various Spirit spells erupted all around Aksai as the demon tree guardians made use of their elemental powers.
Aksai’s Scarecrow Fiends were considered as a top-notch line of puppets within the 1st order level. They were as strong as the martial artists in their last stage of the Bronze Body Realm. They were also equipped with good quality weapons and agility-boosting talismans.
However, the Scarecrow Fiends had a huge disadvantage against the demon tree guardians, which was their inability to cast elemental Spirit spells. Even though they were faster than the demon tree guardians, the Scarecrow Fiends obviously lacked the means to get rid of the corrupted druid’s special puppets in a short time.
Of course, Aksai knew about the fact that his Scarecrow Fiends were at a disadvantage more than anyone. This was why he had decided to fight fiercely from the start so that he would be able to get rid of the corrupted druid before he ran out of fuel and got overwhelmed by his puppets.
***
While his puppets were trying to buy him some time, Aksai faced off against the remaining two demon tree guardians.
His Lian Flying Sword buzzed with flying slash attack as he deftly parried their relentless attacks.
One guardian lunged at him with its elongated limbs, attempting to impale him with its metal rods. Aksai sidestepped with lightning speed, his sword slicing through the air and severing one of the rods. The guardian recoiled, but Aksai pressed his advantage, driving his sword deep into its bark-like torso.
“Scree!”
The demon tree guardian let out a scream but it didn’t look like he was really hurt by Aksai’s attack. If anything, it had made him madder.
The second guardian attacked from behind, its claws aiming for Aksai’s back. He sensed the danger and spun around, using his sword to deflect the blow.
The guardian’s mouth opened unnaturally wide, revealing its long, serpent-like tongue that lashed out at Aksai. He ducked under the tongue and countered with a powerful upward slash, cutting through the guardian’s face and leaving a gaping wound.
Back with the Scarecrow Fiends, the battle was equally intense. One fiend managed to slice off a guardian’s limb, only to be struck down by another’s iron vines.
Another fiend drove its sword into a guardian’s chest but was impaled by metal rods in return. The remaining two fiends teamed up against the last two guardians.
The guardians began to falter under the relentless assault. One by one, the Scarecrow Fiends found weaknesses in their bark-like armor, exploiting them with lethal precision. As one fiend decapitated a guardian, the other drove its hand into the heart of another.
Aksai, having dealt with one guardian, now faced the last one with renewed vigor.
Firstly, using his neural lin fabric’s automated function, he cast Sprit spells around him to help his puppets a bit. At the same time, he fought with his opponent using martial arts, dominating him with his master-level martial arts.
Aksai would have faced some troubles battling these puppets. However, he had obtained the Martial Intent Diagrams and upgraded all his martial arts skills to perfection.
The guardian, sensing its impending doom, fought with a desperate fury. It unleashed a barrage of attacks, its claws, and vines moving in a blur.
Aksai parried and dodged with incredible skill, his sword a blur of motion. With a final, decisive strike, he cleaved the guardian in two, its body collapsing in a heap at his feet.
‘Finally! A window of opportunity. I have to finish that druid before he summons more of them.’
As Aksai prepared to advance towards the corrupted druid, he felt a fleeting moment of relief. However, his momentary respite was abruptly shattered.
This was because he saw the demon tree guardians getting resurrected.
===
AN: Hi there. It seems that I got so immersed in writing this battle scene that it ended up being a bit longer than I planned. It was so much fun to write that I couldn’t help myself! Don’t worry though, we’ll see the end of the battle soon. I’ll be posting two more chapters shortly to keep the action flowing. Thanks for your patience! As a little bonus, check out the illustration of the demon tree guardians in this chapter’s comments section. 🙂