Chapter 17: Overdrive
It seemed to. Tulland’s farmer sense started tingling in the back part of his head, telling him the plant was changing. It got greener, and while it didn’t get thicker, it did seem denser somehow, like it was growing in weight instead of in length or width. The strength of the vine was radiating off of it, and it felt entirely unlike any plant Tulland had ever dealt with before. It was filling up his farmer sense, the least defined of his ways of observing the world. And it was doing it so powerfully he could barely breathe in its presence.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed the change. The Forest Duke bellowed as its head was suddenly jerked downward, then managed to force it back up to glare at Tulland through it’s one good eye. As terrifying as that was, there was something different about the encounter now. The Forest Duke was strong, but the vine was at least as powerful, at least from its superior positioning on the duke’s body. Even when the elk finally lowered its head to take a bite, it couldn’t get through the vine in one go or even make much progress at all.
Tulland started clubbing as hard as he could with the Ironbranch club, now able to land any of his shots at will. Individually, none of them were much, maybe making the duke care about half as much as a boxer getting hit with a jab would.
But hits like that add up. I have to make them count.
As the Forest Duke continued to try and dislodge the overpowered vine, Tulland readied himself and gave all of his strength to his next strike.
As the stick swished through the air, Tulland felt almost out of control of his weapon, like he had put so much weight into the hit that he was going to tumble over after it once it landed. High vitality or not, the Forest Duke was going to feel this one. And then, like it had been waiting for this level of danger the entire time, the Forest Duke exploded with light.
What is that? Tulland activated his connection to the System as fast as he could, so quickly that the stick was still in motion as he did. His blow impacted before the System could answer. But it was almost like he hit the light instead of the animal. The stick slid off to the side as Tulland really did stumble after it. The Forest Duke swung it’s head to the side, pulling the ultra-briar as it clipped Tulland’s side and sent him tumbling into his own briar wall, which luckily was thick enough with his own creations that it didn’t hurt him much.
An overdrive skill, or something like it. He’s stronger now. A skill like that is meant to even the playing field, but it doesn’t last forever. Survive long enough, and the day is yours.
Every vine on the wall jumped out at the Forest Duke as it followed after Tulland, making the animal hesitate just long enough for Tulland to stuff the end of the sapling into its face. The combined delay of both was enough for him to skirt around back towards the entrance of the enclosure. The duke followed, now encumbered with another five or six vines that had got a good enough grip to be dragged along for the ride.