The pair continued past the pillars, travelling along the river. It didn’t take long for them to find something interesting. The river opened into a small lake with an island in its center on which stood nine similar pillars oriented in a circle around the it’s edges. A larger pillar, though it was more of an obelisk, sat in the island’s center - overgrown with thick roots.

  “That looks like a boss arena, if I’ve ever seen one.” Annabelle squinted at the island, then down at the water which separated them from it.

  “The question is how we get there.” Lucian quickly gauged the distance, “Too far for me to jump.”

  Annabelle walked past him, closer to the edge of the lake and the water’s surface began to ripple and churn at the edge of the island, disturbed by something below it moving. Lucian narrowed his eyes and saw a shape begin to rise from the water. “Oh, oops.” Annabelle scurried back behind Lucian.

  “No, I think this might be a good thing.” Lucian watched roots begin to emerge from the water at the island’s shore, tangling together before moving and extending across the water towards them, “You triggered a cutscene.” Lucian laughed.

  “Oh… It’s a bridge!” Annabelle clapped, “I’m simply fantastic, aren’t I?”

  “The best.” Lucian nodded. The two of them watched the roots extend and form a bridge across the lake, finally connecting and burying themselves into the shore. Lucian stepped onto the bridge first, more confident he could get off of it faster if it was a trap of some sort. When it didn’t seem to be one, Annabelle joined him and they crossed with caution, making sure not to trip on any of the roots that formed their pathway and fall into the water.

  They stepped onto the island and looked around, the pillars towered over them ominously, and their circular formation definitely made it seem like an arena of some sort - lending a sense of importance to the larger obelisk in the island’s center. Lucian eyed the thick roots wrapped around the obelisk, they had cracks across their surface that were discolored, “They look sick.” He gestured to them, and Annabelle followed his finger.

  “Oh, yeah, they do…” She frowned. She began to walk towards them for a closer look. Lucian suspiciously eyed the surrounding pillars before following her. She reached out and ran her hand across the roots, and as she did a pulse of energy emanated from the obelisk.

  Lucian shivered and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, “Fuck.” He glanced to the side and saw glowing sigils light up on the pillars around them, “Double fuck…”

  Annabelle grimaced and hurriedly backed away towards the pillars, “Sorry!”

  “You’re fine, just get ready for whatever comes next.” Lucian exhaled and put his hand out to the side, activating [Manifest Weapon], a sword of blue light formed in his grip and he brought his other hand to the handle switching to a two handed stance. He was already pushing the length and width of the blade as far as he could with his current level of [Manifest Weapon]. He took another breath and redoubled his focus on the skill, trying to push it even further.

  As Lucian focused on his sword, and Annabelle readied herself, the obelisk began to react. The roots that entangled it began to retreat into the ground, and a loud crack resounded from the obelisk as a crack formed across its stone surface.

  There was a pause before another, stronger, pulse of energy radiated from the stone and hundreds of hairline fractures spiderwebbed across its surface. Pieces of the obelisk began to break off and fall away.

  A clawed appendage that looked to be made of jagged bark broke through the side of the obelisk, causing more stone to fall away as the thing that was previously sealed within the stone pried its way out. A tall humanoid freed itself from the confines of its prison. It looked like a knight, but clad in armor of the same jagged bark instead of metal. Its right arm was blackened and cracked and from within those cracks a sickly purple glow shone. Two points of purple light beneath what resembled a helmet fixed on Lucian.

  Lucian moved his focus from his sword to the knight and took up a stance, “No sword?”

  The knight stood still for a moment, before flexing its corrupted arm. The bark shifted, elongating and sharpening until its arm became a sword.

  “I shouldn’t have asked.” Lucian launched himself forward and swung, aiming directly for its neck - though he wasn’t sure if beheading this thing would kill it, it was usually a safe bet. The knight pivoted and struck upwards, parrying Lucian’s attack with its arm blade and striking out with a punch from its left arm.

  “[Tanglethorns]!” Annabelle gestured and roots erupted from the ground, wrapping around its left forearm. The punch wasn’t stopped, only slowed as it ripped through the binding. But that was enough time for Lucian to twist his midsection out of the way, performing a strange half sidestep half pivot that let him barely dodge the attack.

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  Lucian felt the power of [Spirit Recovery] tank as he clashed with the knight, dropping from +2 Spirit per minute to +1, its potency cut in half, “But it’s still enough to permanently maintain my sword!” He stepped to the side and swung again, but so did the knight, parrying his attack a second time. The knight looked down at him and the glow of its eyes flared in challenge.

  “[Poison Bolt]!” Annabelle flung a bolt of green light at the knight from behind as it faced off with Lucian. The spell struck the knight and the light diffused into its bark armor. It ignored the attack, focused on Lucian, who launched himself back to narrowly avoid being grabbed by the collar before immediately lunging forwards at the knight again with an overhead swing, activating [Slash]. The knight activated a skill of its own, coating its weapon in a similar white light.

  The two swords met with a crash, and Lucian grunted as the knight overpowered him, flinging him away.

  Lucian spun through the air before managing to land on his feet, sliding back across the ground a short distance and grunting. He took a step forward and activated [Quickstep] and [Slash] in conjunction. He crossed the space to the knight in an instant, swinging his sword as he moved. The knight didn’t have time to parry. As Lucian’s sword struck the knight’s upper arm a glow shone across the bark and he found his sword bouncing away as if it had struck solid metal. Lucian’s pupils dilated and he leapt away to avoid a retaliatory swing.

  “[Witch’s Hex]!” Annabelle cast her spell as Lucian moved back, the curse taking hold of the knight with its glow, “Should help!” The knight’s head whipped sideways towards her as she shouted to Lucian, and it moved.

  Lucian didn’t have time to think about what to do, he just had to do it. A second [Quickstep] launched him after the knight. He needed his sword to do more than it was. He poured his will into it, demanding the weapon cooperate with him. He felt his Spirit fluctuate and push against the skill.

  His dash shot him past the knight, and he tackled Annabelle out of the way as its sword cleaved into the ground where she stood a moment before, sending dirt into the air. The knight immediately followed up with a second swing towards the pair and Lucian twisted himself to block the attack with his own blade, the force of the strike making him shudder.

  He pushed his skill harder as he managed to block another strike that shook him to the bones. There was resistance from the skill, a pause, and then the dam broke.

  His blade shone with a bright blue light as the width and length of the blade increased further. Lucian laughed and grabbed Annabelle by the waist, using [Quickstep] to move them both far out of the way of another strike - this time empowered by a skill from the knight.

  “Woah!” She yelped as he set her down and stood fully up, readjusting his grip on the sword.

  “Alright, that was close… But… There are silver linings to everything!” Lucian launched himself back towards the knight, “Ignore her! Focus on me!” He shouted, attacking with an overhead swing.

  The knight blocked it but shifted back slightly, surprised by the sudden boost in the weapon’s power. Its increased size combined with the flat bonus proving a significant boon. The knight immediately struck back with a punch. By this point, the glow of [Spirit Barrier] surrounding Lucian was very pronounced, like an aura of bluish white flame - and the punch connected with the barrier and slowed down, meeting a shocking resistance from the skill.

  Lucian grinned and spun sideways stepping around the knight, avoiding the slowed down punch and lifting his sword into a sideways strike, adding [Penetrating Strike] to the attack. The knight twisted to follow him but he was faster than it. His sword struck its midsection and the same glow flashed across the bark, but this time the sword bit into it regardless.

  “[Tanglethorns]!” Annabelle cast her binding spell again, this time the roots wrapped around the knight’s legs, momentarily preventing it from turning further. Lucian immediately capitalized on the opportunity, pulling the sword away and stepping further around the knight with another spin, striking at its over side with another [Penetrating Strike]. His sword struck the knight’s upper left arm, and cut deep. There was no glow this time, “It has a cooldown!” Lucian grinned as he pushed the sword harder, nearly cutting through the arm entirely before pulling back and taking a few steps away from the knight.

  The knight reared back and let out a roar that made Lucian and Annabelle shiver. The corrupted looking sickness on its arm began to spread across its chest and head.

  “That doesn’t look good…” Annabelle took a breath and readied herself to cast [Tanglethorns] again.

  “Great… Phase 2…” Lucian rolled his eyes, “Bring it on, then!”