I stepped out from behind the trees, waving at the Treants. The monsters turned and started lumbering their way toward me. I didn’t move, holding the end of the rope in my hand, just waiting. And waiting for the stupid things to come my way. They moved slowly or that was just how they appeared to me.

  I wasn’t the best with waiting.

  Finally, they got where I wanted them.

  Pushing kinetic energy into my legs, I took off running. I knew a guy that had the Motion Essence as his Primary like I did, but this guy was like the old superhero the Flash. He used the Essence to greatly increase his speed. And was he fast. Crazy fast. Maybe not superhero speed like the Flash but damn close. But when I used my Essence like this, I was fast.

  Faster than the Treants.

  With the rope in my hand, holding it as high as I could, I ran in front of the Treants. The things tried to turn as I ran around them, feeling the energy running out quickly. Unlike punching, running used the stored up energy two or three times as fast. I ran around the back of the Treants, circling back around the front as the things kept trying to catch me but they kept getting tangled up as they moved at different speeds. Reaching the front, I started running around them again, feeling the things straining against the rope.

  Thankfully this wasn’t just any rope from the old world. It was Arcanum-infused and crafted out of vines dropped by monsters. It was pretty strong stuff. With them still turning to try to get me, they weren’t straining that hard.

  I managed to wrap it around three times before I ran out of speed. I stopped behind them, taking the end of the rope that I held, which was tied to a stake, and slammed the stake into the ground as hard as I could with the last of the stored kinetic energy.

  That was the other annoying aspect of using it to run. When I punched or got hit, I could always absorb some of the energy. But with running, even though the energy was generated, I couldn’t absorb any of it.

  With the rope secured, the Treants kept trying to turn and grab at me. This was only working because they were stupid. I stepped away from the tied up Treants. The rope wouldn’t hold them for long, so it was time to start the second part of the plan.

  I pulled the flint, tinder and a torch from my Spatial Storage. Holding the torch under one shoulder, I quickly got the torch lit. It caught quickly and I tossed it at the treants. I grabbed the other one, lighting it and tossing it onto the pile of monsters.

  I ran around the other side, throwing another torch.

  The Treants started catching on fire, the flames moving quickly up their trucks and branches. Lighting the things on fire wouldn’t kill them before they got out of the rope, but it was going to hurt them and help me out. My biggest issue with fighting the half-dozen was the numbers and their ability to completely surround me with those bodies and grasping arms.

  Quickly I ran back to the treeline, grabbing the last thing I’d prepared. Picking up the thick tree trunk that would serve as a nice bashing club, I jogged back to the tree fire. Moving around, where the arms couldn’t get me, I swung the club, slamming it into the trunks.

  I kept moving around, bashing the Treants. The flames were getting hot, but nothing that my Resistance Essence couldn’t handle.

  It took a bit of time, but slowly I managed to kill the six Corrupted Treants.

  YOU HAVE SLAIN 6 CORRUPTED WILD TREANTS.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +120 TUTORIAL POINTS AND +120 MULTIVERSAL POINTS

  YOU HAVE COMPLETED AN OBJECTIVE OF THE GROWLING OAK GROVE DUNGEON.

  DESTROY CORRUPTED WILD TREANTS 31/30

  I let the flames die down before I touched them and got the loot.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +2 TREANT BARKSKIN, +2 TREAT SPEAR SHAFT, +2 TREANT BOARD

  YOU HAVE GAINED

  YOU HAVE GAINED +1 TEMPERATURE ESSENCE AND +1 ELEMENTAL ESSENCE

  Pretty good Essence. Knew a couple Pathers back in Solace that would love those.

  01:23:33

  Still had plenty of time and only the Boss to deal with. Did the Infinite Tower give Achievements for speed running a Dungeon? Only one way to find out.

  ***

  I was going to need another stupid plan.

  The Growling Oak Treant was huge. It crouched down in the middle of the large grove made of the tightly packed trees. This Treant had real legs and arms, the overly sized hands still having sharp branch fingers. The head was at the top of the six foot wide trunk, eyes glowing red. It looked to be sleeping.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The grove was not an ideal battleground for this fight. Stumps littered the field, no set pattern, some two feet tall, some one and a couple four. The Oak Treant was in the middle like it was just waiting. Tracy and Harry would love this setup. They could stay at range all fight.

  But they would have been at a slight disadvantage out in the main part of the Dungeon. They had space to move and fight, but would run the risk of aggro-ing other creatures.

  So this battlefield had to be a way to help even everything out. The System wanted to Challenge us, at all times, but it also wanted to provide a way for us to win. What was the point of a Challenge if it just led to constant failure? There had to be a way to push ourselves to win.

  I had no doubt I could handle the Growling Oak Treant one-on-one but the layout meant I had to approach this with more strategy, just like the last fight. It’d be too easy to get caught up in one of the stumps, which would limit my mobility, and that was the main aspect of my brawler fighting style. But they were also a limiter in the movements of the giant Treant.

  Stupid plan time.

  I walked into the Grove, axes in hand, the Treant immediately noticing me. It’s head lifted, watching me. Wood creaked and groaned as the thing stood up. It was easily fifteen feet tall, the arms eight long. It didn’t move, waiting for me to come closer. So I did.

  I ran, approaching the ring of stumps around the clear space the Treant was in. Jumping onto the stump, I avoided the first grasping arm, striking it with the axe as I jumped to the next stump. The Treant turned, trying to grab at me again, giving me an opening to chop at it as I jumped to the next stump.

  Around and around I went. This was the stupid part, since I was counting on my own Stats for the jumping and not using any Abilities. Tracy used her Motion Essence to jump and such, but that wasn’t me. She would have had no problem jumping around and shooting the Treant full of holes. But me, I had to be careful with my jumps. The different heights of stumps made it trickier.

  I almost overbalanced and fell, going from a one foot high to a four foot high stump. The branch-fingers grazed me, making me mistime the next jump, but I managed to get my balance back. No attacks though.

  This wasn’t working out great. I was only damaging one arm and slowly at that. Just from the size and amount of kinetic energy I could absorb from the just missing hands, the grip strength of the Treant was crazy. I didn’t want it latching onto me. I’d probably tire out long before the damn tree did. I had to change this up.

  My next jump I moved back a row of stumps. The rows were uneven, which had made the jumps even harder, but it was laid out enough to call them rows. The Treant tried to follow me but stopped as stumps got in its way. It could still reach me, so I moved back again.

  The Treant turned, sliding its body between stumps, coming closer. I laughed. The thing had just shown me how to beat it. I got to work on the revised stupid plan, because it was still stupid just a little less.

  Waiting until the thing got wedged, I dodged the reaching arm and jumped at it, fist empowered with force and stored kinetic energy. I slammed into the trunk with both fists leading. The Treant rocked back and I landed on the ground. I jumped onto the stump and jumped back to another, moving away from the monster. The Treant righted itself and tried to come toward me but had to move itself back through the stumps. As it was doing that, I hopped off the stumps, ran across the ground, came up behind it and slammed a fist into the Treant’s back.

  The Treant couldn’t rotate around that fast. Just wasn’t built that way. No waist.

  So I punched it again, a solid blow, before retreating.

  I’d gotten the Force Essence so my punches would still have Arcanum-infused power behind them. I couldn’t always empower them with kinetic energy since I could use up my stores and I still needed some of the energy to power the field to protect my hands. The Force Essence complimented the Motion one in a strange way but it worked for me.

  The Treant managed to get its way out of the stumps, stumbling after me. The arms reached for me and I ducked under, running right at it with my fists glowing. I punched it in the center of the trunk, with as much force and kinetic energy as I could channel, blowing a huge hole in the side. The monster stumbled back and then I felt the strangest thing.

  Something big and hard slammed into my stomach, throwing me back against the ground, slamming into a stump. I forced myself up, holding onto the stump. I shook my head, getting my bearings back, hearing the Treant stomping its way toward me.

  The thing had kicked me. Somehow it had managed to kick me. And it hurt. Ugh.

  I saw the branch-fingers reaching for me. Ducking under, I struck it aside with my arm, wishing I had my tonfas. The Spatial Storage was great for storing lots of weapons, but it wasn’t great for quickly switching them out. I got a good chunk of kinetic energy from the smack, pushing the arm away enough for me to rush the Treant again. A couple of punches and I was circling around behind, punching the back of it. More wood and pulp exploded with each impact. I lowered my next hit, aiming for the leg, getting a solid connection.

  Running back to the other side, I moved between the stumps, waiting for the Treant to come at me again. This one wasn’t any smarter than the others.

  Back and forth a couple more times and I finally ended the things quasi-life.

  YOU HAVE SLAIN GROWLING OAK TREANT

  YOU HAVE GAINED +50 TUTORIAL POINTS AND +50 MULTIVERSAL POINTS

  YOU HAVE COMPLETED AN OBJECTIVE OF THE GROWLING OAK GROVE DUNGEON.

  DESTROY THE GROWLING OAK TREANT 1/1

  YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE GROWLING OAK GROVE DUNGEON.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +5,000 TUTORIAL POINTS AND +5,000 MULTIVERSAL POINTS

  YOU COMPLETED THE GROWLING OAK GROVE DUNGEON WITH 00:27:23 LEFT. YOU HAVE PLACED AS THE 156TH BEST TIME AT RUNNING THE GROWLING OAK GROVE DUNGEON.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +6,500 TUTORIAL POINTS AND +6,500 MULTIVERSAL POINTS

  YOU HAVE GAINED +2 TREANT BARKSKIN, +2 TREAT SPEAR SHAFT, +2 TREANT BOARD

  YOU HAVE GAINED +1 FORCE ESSENCE

  YOU HAVE GAINED +1 LEVEL-UP

  Sweet loot.