22 Disaster

Ian stabbed the Plague Hound in the head before slowly pulling his sword out with brain matter on it. He blew it away with a fast swing of his sword before looking around him. The group was surrounded by Plague Hounds, Murklichs, and monsters they never saw before.

"You three!" Ray shouted at Ian, Lily, and Conner. "Protect the others!"

Lily burned the monsters to crisps while Ray sliced into their bodies with his blade. With his other arm, Ray transformed it into an arm cannon and shot the monsters farther away. To improve accuracy and stability, Ray spun the bullet each time before he fired. Ray figured out the maximum times that he can fire repeatedly are three hundred rounds before he wears out due to mental fatigue.

Conner had been practicing Domain Control to use it in new ways. He developed a new idea to fold space around an enemy to generate spatial pressure. As space repeatedly folds into itself, the pressure increases around the enemy, crushing them. In addition, Conner applied spatial distortion to himself as a way to confuse the enemy. Recently, Slimebob had been devouring the monsters' corpses madly. Slimebob stretched out his body to swallow the corpse before dissolving it through absorption. He didn't seem to increase in size even after eating many monster corpses.

As for Bounye, Ian couldn't figure out how to evolve him further as the system never told him about it. For now, he decided to put the idea in the back of mind and think about it in another time. A long, green vine shot towards Ian with incredible speed, followed by another one. Ian effortlessly dodged them before slicing them off. However, branches sprouted from the ground and wrapped around Ian's legs, holding him in place.

A tall, bipedal monster stood before Ian, staring at him with its red eyes. Its body was made entirely out of tree bark, and numerous branches protruded out of its back. Long, glowing red veins covered the monster's entire body as they came together in the center of its chest. There was a large, gaping hole in the middle of its chest that revealed a beating heart, illuminating with a red color. The monster had no mouth and a set of large, wooden antlers on its head, spreading out in opposite directions. It had long arms with sharp claws as if it could easily break boulders.

[Name: Treant]

[Rank: F (BOSS)]

[Souls: 2000]

"It's another boss monster!" Conner shouted.

With pure strength, Ian broke free from the branches and backed away. Ray aimed his arm cannon and fired multiple shots. Four bullets pierced through its head cleanly, but in an instant, the Treant regenerated back to its original state. The Treant raised its arms and long, wooden branches, with the width of an average man's arm, sprouted from the ground. The tree branches shot towards Ray, but he dove to the ground, barely dodging them. The tree branches broke through the concrete before following him.

"Damn it!" Ray shouted before running away.

Before the tree branches reached him, numerous fireballs collided into them, and the tree branches burned to cinders. The branches broke apart with a crackling sound as the flame burned them.

Ray breathed a sigh of relief before turning towards Lily. "I owe you one, Lily."

"I hope you didn't piss your pants, Potty!" Lily said and giggled.

Ray's eyes madly twitched in response. Everyone that wasn't fighting followed Mrs.Willard and hid behind cover while watching the battle with awe. However, Hunter remained emotionless as he continued watching the battle with vigilance.

"That thing's uglier than the First Lady Harley Baynes!" Marvin yelled.

Ian charged at it with full speed and arrived in front of it at the blink of an eye. He threw an uppercut at its stomach, and the Treant flew upwards from the impact; pieces of wood broke apart and flew everywhere. A large hole appeared on its back as a result of the sheer force from Ian's punch. Ian launched himself up from the ground towards the Treant. Ian flipped his body before slamming his feet on the Treant's head. A small shockwave blew outwards, and the Treant's head blew apart. Its body slammed against the road, creating a large crater. Ian fell towards the monster, wanting to finish it off with a punch.

Just as Ian fell towards it, the Treant raised its arm, and a small hole opened up in its palm. Blue gas came out of the hole and covered Ian. Ian breathed in unintentionally, and his body grew limp before smashing into the ground. His eyes remained awake, but his body couldn't move. The Treant regenerated its body before picking him up by the neck. With its claws, the Treant pierced through his chest and tossed him away like trash.

"This asshole!" Ray continued firing his weapon at it.

"No, Ian!" Lily ran to Ian and held him with panic in her eyes.

"I'm alright, Lily." Ian calmed her down. "Somehow my body can't move."

The wound on Ian's chest rapidly regenerated, along with Mrs.Willard's Psionic Healing, before fully recovering. Lily looked at the Treant in rage. She carefully set Ian down before covering herself in flames. Conner flew down and grabbed Ian before escaping the battle. A loud boom rang out as the cyan flames under Lily's feet launched her towards the Treant. A large pillar of fire spewed out from her hands towards the monster. The Treant had a look of fear in its eyes and created a wall from intertwined tree branches, blocking the flames. The flames burned the wood with intensity and weakened it.

In an instant, Lily burst through the wall and threw a punch, covered in fire, at the Treant. It tried blocking it, but the Treant was weak against fire, and the flames began spreading all over its body. The regeneration couldn't keep up with the damage caused by the flames. In desperation, the Treant summoned a large, white flower, and the petals closed up to protect it from harm. The Treant began merging with the plant to enhance itself. The flames died down, and the Treant absorbed the nectar to strengthen its body.

Outside, Lily formed a fire blade covering her hands and sliced through the flower petals. She sliced it with ease, but the Treant shot large seeds at her. The seeds struck Lily's body, and she winced in pain. Lily continued to charge at it with determination. The Treant extended its arms, and its hands grew into branches that attacked her. Lily sneered, and a large wave of fire burst towards the Treant. The branches were burnt off, and the Treant's body scorched black.

More blue gas expelled from its palm, but Lily immediately backed away from it. Lily stretched out her arm and formed a finger gun at it. A small fireball, in the shape of a bullet, shot forth at the Treant with incredible speed and penetrated its heart. The Treant's body swelled as rays of light shined through the holes of its body. Moments later, its body exploded, and chunks of wood flew everywhere.

Screams echoed out as Mrs.Willard, Autumn, Mac, and Marvin ran towards Ray. A huge monster with the body of a horse appeared. The base of the neck branched out into three separate ones that held up three human-like heads with long, crimson hair. The heads had elongated jaws, white eyes, and mouths covered in sharp teeth. In their mouths held three lifeless bodies of Rebecca, Edwin, and Hunter as blood flowed down their necks.

[Name: Horse of Calamity]

[Rank: C (BOSS)]

[Souls: 75,000]

Everyone's hearts struck with fear and ran for their lives. A simple attack from it was enough to kill everyone easily. Ray and Lily ran behind everyone else and prepared to buy time if it attacks them. However, it remained still in place and only smiled at them. After half an hour of running, everyone ran inside a building and collapse on the floor.

"Holy hell, we nearly died back there!" Marvin heaved his chest and yelled.

Ray slammed his fist on the ground. "We lost three people back there!"

Conner slowly laid Ian on the floor, and everyone gathered around him. Ian felt that he was slowly regaining his movement, and he lifted his arm up.

Lily grabbed his hand. "Just relax, Ian. You don't have to move now."

At the scene of the battle, Hunter's eyes opened, and he stood up. He took off his clothes and revealed his naked body. Hunter's skin and flesh melted away, revealing a skeleton. Large horns grew out parallel to each other, and blue flames lit his eye sockets. With a snap of his fingers, a navy blue suit covered Hunter's body.

"Things has gotten a little interesting," Hunter said while caressing the Horse of Calamity.

He snapped his fingers again, and a black portal opened under his feet. Hunter slowly descended the portal with the Horse of Calamity.