Chapter 286 Clone Resurgence 1

More necrotic bolts landed on the Ora's body, and they disabled it a few times, yet it was only temporary as the living roots replaced the damaged parts.

Seeing that the necrotic bolts are not very effective, Jay called the attacks off, stopping the helminth from launching bolts; its ethereal skull disappeared and nursed itself back on his shoulder.

"Better to save them for emergency," Jay thought.

Four skeletons surrounded the Ora in on each side, cutting and slicing away at its flesh, whittling down its health.

After sorting the skeletons into an attack formation, Blue waited at Jay's side, awaiting his orders.

(Blue, time to scout.) Jay pointed through the long room to the giant, pulsing head in the next.

Jay assumed there would be traps or more Ora hiding among the roots, so Blue was really there to reveal them. Not that it knew.

"I could warn Blue, but I want it to learn for itself." Jay thought, watching the skeleton march towards the middle of the room.

The fight was going well, and so far, the skeletons had dodged any serious damage. The Ora's needle-like claws simply didn't have enough range.

The Ora was down to fifty-four health, and gradually dropping as more hacking swords dug into its flesh.

Slashes landed across the root, cutting more away, but the root connecting the Ora to the Elder tree had not been severed yet.

The Ova prioritized the root-connection for healing, and it could heal the damage before anymore could be done.

Having landed no attacks of its own, the Ova lashed out with its spine claws, yet it wasn't a normal attack as each of them had a slender vine curled around them.

Suddenly, the coiled vines sprung from the claws towards Handy.

The unexpected attack left the skeleton defenseless.

Handy slapped away some of them, but the others all landed on its body, quickly clinging to its bones.

The vines coiled around Handy's leg, gripping it tightly and sinking into it.

*Snap!*

To Jay's shock, it snapped, twisted and ripped the leg it off.

The vines shock back to the Ova as quickly as they left it, pulling the bones apart and drawing them somewhere into its body.

The Ova continued to fight, yet Jay was focused on the bones. He could still vaguely sense them.

The roots traveled through its chest, down its torso and into its leg. It was clear what it was doing.

"You little bastard…" Jay smiled, shaking its head.

The Ova used its [Construct Scavenging] ability.

While Jay had melted the knee of the Ova using necrotic bolts, it was for nothing.

The stolen skeleton bones moved into position and quickly replaced the missing parts, giving itself a new knee.

Handy stood there, limping on one leg. The Ova attack had pulled closer it and out of position. Finally, the Ova could return some damage.

It slashed its claws, piercing and grazing Handy's ribcage.

Handy raised its weapon but could not defend itself on one leg. Bones chipped and cracked away.

Swinging its sword, it toppled backwards, getting away from the Ova's attacks.

The skeletons were out of range again, but the Ova had learnt a valuable lesson; it found a way to strike back.

Turning to another skeleton, it released a second swarm of vines. Each of them hungrily grabbed onto the bones of Sweeper.

"Damn. I guess its intelligence is somewhere between the lesser and smart knights." Jay thought, still watching the fight, analysing the enemy.

Crackling sounds of dry snapping twigs sounded as they invaded the bones.

Ripping away an arm, the Ova disabled another skeleton.

Only two skeletons remained whole after the Ova forced the other two back.

With fewer enemies harassing it, its health stopped dropping.

Jay checked the health of the skeletons; Sweeper lost eleven HP, while Handy lost eight.

It was not a lot, but Jay made a mental note to go nowhere near the creature. Seeing the limbs being twisted off, it looked far too painful.

(Blue, replace Handy and Sweeper.) Jay ordered, and had Handy and Sweeper came to him, at the side of the fight.

Jay held out some bones for the skeletons, summoning them in his hand for them to consume, but one broken jaw bone appeared from the necrotic gas and slipped from his hand, falling to the ground.

The jaw bone landed on the roots below, and before a skeleton could reach it, the roots moved.

A green tendril coiled around the bone. The roots parted and swallowed it; the jaw bone disappeared.

Immediately, Jay stepped back as his eyes widened in fear.

"Fuck. What is stopping them from dragging me or the skeletons under?" he thought, but didn't let himself panic.

The skeletons continued to eat and reformed themselves.

Jay made sure to not drop anymore bones, but as he looked up to the fight, he noticed something else was wrong.

Blue had not returned to help with the fight.

Looking through the room, Blue was hacking away at roots ensnaring its legs. Each of them reaching up and winding through the gaps in its bones, holding it in place.

Immediately, Jay looked down at his own feet, glad to see they were free of entangling roots.

"I need to get off these damn roots." he thought.

Jay kept himself calm, not daring to take a step.

"The skeletons could move across the room, and forwards through the room, but not backwards towards the stairs? Other than Blue being deeper into the room, that's the only difference."

(Handy. Move back towards the stairs.) Jay ordered.

The skeleton took a few steps backwards, but suddenly the roots under its legs came alive, reaching up and grasping at the skeleton, stopping it from reaching the stairs.

Immediately Handy hacked away, trying to free itself.

Meanwhile, the Ora fought back against the two skeletons, harassing them back. Its health was stable, and no longer dropped, but it couldn't rise because of the two skeletons, so for now it was stuck at forty-six HP.

The skeletons attacked less, becoming more wary after seeing the Ora's [Construct Scavenging] ability.

Yet this was no longer Jay's concern.

"So, the roots ensnare anything moving back to the stairs." He thought.

"Then there's only one way forward."

His eyes drifted across the giant pulsing head, and the roots trailing around it.

"But how many more of Ora are waiting under the roots? How many are below my feet?"

"That thing wants us to come towards it. What else could it be hiding…"

(Handy, come back and kill the Ora. Sweeper, join Red and Lamp to slay it. Don't let it grab you this time.) Jay ordered.

Handy cut away some roots and moved away from the stairs. Feeling the skeleton move into the room, the roots settled and stopped grasping at its legs. It gave Jay some relief, seeing that the roots would let them go as long as they moved away from the stairs.

"So it's a one-way trap?" he slyly smiled, "well, I wasn't planning to go back, anyway."