"How... how dare you trap me, vegetables," he said between breaths. After all, being inside that cocoon was suffocating.

Kiesh raced toward the tree, determined to finish it.

Vines rapidly moved, surrounding him like prey in an octopus's arms.

Skillfully avoiding these sinister tentacles, Kiesh emerged like a shooting star.

But

He wasn't the only one who leapt into action; these viperous branches became active, each one gaining life.

A branch solidified into a spear-like form, lunging at Kiesh. who easily sidestepped.

As another branch struck like a spear, Kiesh swiftly rotated, closing the gap between himself and the trunk.

Suddenly, he felt a force colliding: it was that dreadful vine.

Boom.

The impact sent Kiesh hurtling sideways, crashing and bouncing on the ground.

Mid-air, he twisted his body knowing this was not the time to get beaten up; he attacked the ground itself, using the axe as an anchor to gain some footing, scratching the mouth to generate friction aiding in reducing his speed.

Kiesh regained his balance, limbs outstretched, face hanging low.

After a moment to catch his breath, he glanced up and saw another horde of branches rushing toward him.

"Huf…"

Standing up, he said…

"You are dead!"

And raced toward his opponent; this time, his entire attention was focused on the branches currently they were the only thing in the field of his vision.

As he closed the distance, more and more branches became active; one particular one came from the left.

Slashed by the axe.

Another from the right slashed.

Above, sidestepped.

A branch came from the front horizontally, a series of thorns present.

Kiesh jumped up, avoiding this one.

After that, he ducked down.

Another branch passed above his head.

Rolling on the ground he reached the trunk which was the origin and controller of all those vines.

Smirking in satisfaction, he summoned every ounce of strength channelling it into the grip for a last strike.

Behind him, a bundle of brown rope-like structures condensed together, forming a more powerful strike.

This was not the only one; more and more materialised.

Kiesh ignored them, thinking that if he successfully landed this attack, there would be no need to worry about another one.

So, he let a smile of triumph bloom on his face.

And boom!

His axe was deep within the tree trunks.

_Screech.....

Kiesh's eyes widened, sensing immense danger from all around; it was as if this tree had activated a life-saving technique.

This one was too intense.

He blinked and found himself in the middle of the air, propelled dozens of metres away; the next breath he took was painful and short.

Back collided with another trunk of the tree.

The body slid downward and thudded onto the ground.

It was not the end; his nemesis launched another attack, this time with the branch's tip, pointy like a spear, thick like a pillar, agile like a viper.

Rushing at intense speed, tearing apart the air in two.

Giving no time for Kiesh to think or act; he did try to back away, but the solid structure behind him blocked his advance.

That was the only time he was able to make a move, as the next second, that pointy peak was in front of his eyes.

—Patak…

The sound of the whip echoed.

And Kiesh's eyes shut down.

His breath echoed in the silence accompanied by rhythms of heartbeat pumping adrenaline-infused blood, which was of no use.

This attack was aimed at his head and was now inches away from it, surely this would pierce his head, spilling some of his brain matter and blood.

"Damn, I didn't slay my first opponent."

Kiesh thought, remembering his last strike, which was successful in counterattacks but lacked sufficient strength to injure this damn tree.

 After summoning every ounce of strength from his body; he found himself lacking.

That's aside, this tree branch is taking too much time to finish him.

What's up with this?

"Last thing I remember was moving my arms and axe in a cross position."

Saying that Kiesh opened his eyes only to witness the main body of his axe blocking the sharp tip of the branch. The branch was straight and stretched to the limit; this was the only distance it could reach.

Kiesh moved the axe aside, and the branches retreated at rapid speed.

"Ah, I see I am out of his reach."

—Hahaha….

Kiesh said and closed his eyes, exhaustion hugging him bringing deep slumber.

His body lay with the support of tree branches.

For the next couple of hours, he remained motionless.

Surrounded by chirping birds, the descending sun, and the rising moon, which reached the peak and again set, allowing the next morning of the day to greet the forest.

Throughout the entire night, Kiesh had a good night's sleep.

Opening his eyes in rejuvenated form, and standing up, the first thing he did was to gaze at his enemy.

Which looked like any normal tree but more dense with branches looming over the sky not revealing an ounce of trunks covering it from every direction like it was a priceless treasure.

"Wait for me, I am hungry."

Saying that Kiesh carefully walked around, searching for anything to eat. After hours of searching, he found nothing nearby, so he settled on the tree leaves.

After eating to calm his hunger, he lunged into action with determination to finish this Damned Tree.

But when he reached the trunk, again, the power behind his strike was inefficient.

That prompted him to retreat.

After recovering, Kiesh understood the need to strengthen his attack power and refine his techniques, and to solve it he came up with a strategy.

That was woodcutting.

So he began his training.

***