A rusty axe tore through the air, descending downward and cutting a wooden piece in two parts.

After that, another one was placed and met the same fate.

This repeated a couple of times and stopped when every wooden block was torn in two.

"That's enough for today," Kiesh said, ignoring the freshly accumulated small mountain of wood surrounded by multiple stumps around him. Passing by, Kiesh stood away from his nemesis.

In the past seven days, woodcutting was one of the important parts of his daily life. But it was not the only thing in his routine.

Kiesh's day went like this: the first-ever sunray filtered through bushes to land on his face so he could wake up and reminded him it was time to train

After training his muscles while woodcutting and refining his attacks, he challenged the Damned Tree.

After the battles, if Kiesh's hunger was unbearable, he calmed it down by eating leaves, although he wanted to eat something good. But in the entire kilometre area, there was nothing edible – neither any prey to hunt nor any fruits.

And if his hunger was not much, he slept as it is. The next day, he woke up and repeated this routine.

Kiesh wanted to eat some good food and sleep under a rough comfy bed, but alas, more than that, he wanted to finish that freaking enemy.

Now, after seven days of obsessive training and fighting, Kiesh is going to reap the sweet fruit of victory, as that was the only sweet thing he would gain in the past week. 

Kiesh had practised enough as well as weakened the tree's defence.

So now it was time for the final battle to end the fight once and for all. 

Kiesh started to walk, and after half a dozen slow steps, his stroll transformed into a run. His worn-toned cloth, tainted with blood, danced in the air, the tattered gaps revealing his body full of bruises and scratches. The axe emitted a sign of breaking apart, and his eyes were full of dark circles.

Kiesh entered the domain of the tree in the range where it could sense him.

The initial wave of attack came from all sides.

Kiesh avoided them without any difficulty.

When he reached halfway near the distance, the number of branches increased.

Again, they were easily dealt with.

Finally, he was at the centre.

This is where the real problem started: the closer he got to the trunk, the greater the number of attacks and the strength behind the vines became, and now he was at the very core.

Kiesh knew he couldn't evade all of these attacks at once because those thin branches were now thick and more agile, as well as precise in finding him out.

But again, in the past week, he had encountered it multiple times and learned to evade and counterattack.at least Some of it.

Kiesh used his axe to reflect some of the branches while ducking down to avoid the rest.

Just like that the warrior reached the trunk.

Finally, the scene repeated where he landed his very first strike 

This time too, Kiesh summoned his strength, which was more than previously; his techniques more refined.

And more importantly, the body of the trunk was injured.

With multiple marks on the axe, trimming it considerably and reducing the trunk's thickness, it was evident that with one or two more attacks, his final blow would land, bringing an end to the battle.

Thud, two more pillar-like branches merged, forming another powerful attack.

Altogether, Kiesh avoided it while ducking down and attacking the trunk again.

This repeated a couple of times, leading all of the branches to constrict together and forming one single gigantic missile-like structure akin to a boulder.

Ignoring it, Kiesh took a breath, not trying to block it as he knew he couldn't avoid a massive branch.

In the past, Kiesh tried but failed, so he didn't try it again and he knew if this final attack landed on him, it would leave him immobile for the entire day.

But Kiesh didn't care.

Hi focused on his counterattack, leaving everything on it.

His life.

His chance.

And his future.

Slashing, his axe landed on the trunk, and the vines behind him rushed like menacing beasts, closing the distance with each passing second. 

They began to untangle while shaking, as if suffering from a seizure, becoming different, and lastly, the massive form deconstructed as every branch unit lost its life.

This marks the end of the gigantic tree, finally ending the first-ever battle for Kiesh. 

It moved aside to the right, falling and breaking nearby trees in its path.

–Ding!–

[Congratulations, you have completed a 3-star mission]

[Name - Subjugation  of the Demon Tree]

< Description: The Demon Tree is a type of beast that uses its branches as arms. After entrapping the prey, it wraps them in a cocoon to use as cultivation material. After absorbing their spiritual essence, the corpse is submerged and used as fertilizer. Due to this nature, the Vatika forest is experiencing a lack of wild beasts in the eastern parts. >

[Important note:]

< The closer you are, the more branches are active. >

< This beast does not have a mind of its own; it works on instinct and senses the vibrations around it to locate prey. This field is limited in size. >

[Status: Completed]

[Rewards are issued]

< 250 merit points gained >

< Skill book: Vines gained >

< 5 spirit stones gained >

–Ding!–

[Congratulations, you have finished your first mission.]

[Additional rewards are provided]

[First-time bonus applied]

[Additional merit points gained]

[Art of cutting wood gained]:

<In the past few days, you have been practising this art. You have mastered the basic level. As a first-time reward from the Deepstok sect, you have gained the complete weapon art from Elder Paras.>

[Disciples ranking updated]

<You are in the 1010108th place.>