Zion gritted his teeth as pain shot through his arms.He shook his head, clearing out the unnecessary thoughts.

'I need to escape from here,' he thought, blade pushing through his knuckles.

Ents were anything but weak enemies. They excelled in physical strength, their hits capable of reaching peak C-grade. Not to mention their overwhelming size, being nearly ten times that of a human.

'Luckily the universe compensated for that by giving them poor intelligence,' Zion thought, jumping back and climbing on top of the massive mushroom. 'And their weakness to guns.'

He scanned the area around him, counting nearly twelve Ents above the ground, surrounding him completely.

None of the Ents charged at him immediately, their hollows instead concentrated on the ground.

'They are still wary of the suction power,' Zion thought, narrowing his eyes. 'I should make a run for it before they all figure out it's gone.'

Facing three at the same time seemed a lot better than waiting for all of them to get to him after all.

He dashed forward without hesitation.

The three Ents in front of him immediately reacted, their hollow eyes locking onto him while loud roars echoed from their mouths.

Much to Zion's pain, one of the Ent's roots touched the suctioning zone. Its hollow eyes stared down for a moment, feeling no energy disappearing.

Then, it roared loudly.

Zion cursed, eyes darting around.

All around him, the Ents roared in response, testing out the area themselves.

'I have to push through now,' he thought, gritting his teeth as he accelerated.

The ground trembled as the three Ents gathered in front of him.

Massive limbs swept toward him in wide arcs, some even overlapping to block his path completely.

"Tch," Zion let out, slowing down and jumping back to dodge the limbs.

But the Ents weren't done there. The middle one moved forward, swinging two branches toward Zion at the same time.

Zion jumped up, landing on the first branch. He immediately jumped again, barely dodging the second.

As he landed back on the ground, he took a quick glance behind him.

The Ents behind him had reached the massive mushroom, smashing it simply by walking past it.

'Can't go back any further,' he thought, running energy through his left arm.

He dashed toward the middle Ent at full speed, two branches piercing the forest ground behind him.

'Uriel, twenty-five percent,' he thought, eyes locking on an incoming branch.

Zion jumped to the side, the branch piercing where he'd stood just a second ago. He continued to the left, making sure the right Ent couldn't even see him anymore.

The pressure decreased noticeably when Uriel's voice echoed through his head.

[It's ready, host.]

Zion immediately raised his glowing arm and unclenched his hand.

A condensed energy ball shot out of his arm, soaring through the sky toward the Ent's midsection.

The Ents had little time to react before the ball reached them.

It tore straight through the first Ent's bark, molten lava dripping down as its body collapsed.

The energy ball exploded as it hit the second Ent, blasting it back with a massive hole in its body.

It crashed into the Ent behind it before catching on fire from the blast.

The third Ent, now stuck under its burning companion's corpse, let out wild screeches and roars as it attempted to escape.

Yet, nothing worked.

[Host, I'm counting twenty-five Ents now,] Uriel's voice echoed through his mind. [Even in the forest ahead, several are ripping themselves out of the ground.]

Zion's expression darkened.

'Let's get out of here,' he thought, jumping past the corpses.

He dashed through the dense forest, branches from normal trees leaving cuts all over his body.

Behind him, angry roars echoed through the forest.

[One coming up in forty yards,] Uriel warned.

On cue, an Ent appeared in front of him, its bark still shifting away from its eyes.

As it turned around, it swung a massive branch toward him.

Zion used his momentum, sliding under the branch to dodge it.

He jumped up and continued running while the map in his eye displayed dozens of red markers chasing him.

"How much further till we get to the ship!" Zion shouted.

[Five miles remaining,] Uriel replied, its voice low.

Zion swore under his breath and pushed harder, lungs burning as he tore through the bushes.

Suddenly, the ground ahead bulged.

Before he could react, a thick branch burst from the soil and snapped shut around his ankle.

"—!"

The force yanked his leg back, nearly ripping him off his feet. A sharp pain shot through his leg as the rough bark began to tighten.

Zion twisted his body instinctively, slashing his blade down with all his might.

His blade carved deep into the branch, cutting halfway through before getting stuck.

The Ent let out a loud roar, its hollow eyes now hanging over Zion.

Zion gritted his teeth, yanking his blade back.

He immediately slashed it down at the same spot again, cutting through the entire branch to free himself.

Zion staggered forward as warm blood trickled down his leg. He bit back the pain, dodging another branch, and continued running through the forest.

[There's now a total of thirty-four,] Uriel's voice came through. [But at least it seems like they've stopped appearing.]

Zion didn't respond, keeping his breathing steady as he accelerated.

He shifted his attention to the map for a split moment, watching all the red dots gather behind him.

'I've gained some distance,' he thought. 'But it doesn't look like they're going to stop following me.'

He ran for minutes, even as his legs started to cramp and burn.

Finally, the forest ahead began to thin again, and a large metallic object entered his vision.

"The ship," he breathed.

Behind him, roars still echoed through the forest, but it wasn't a concern anymore.

"Open it," Zion said, bursting past the trees.

The engines of the ship hummed to life as the ramp lowered.

Zion threw himself aboard, immediately looking behind him.

In the distance, a stampede of Ents pushed through the treeline, trampling everything in their path.

Their roars of frustration and fury echoed through the forest as the ramp snapped shut and the ship surged upward, lifting above the canopy while branches scraped uselessly against the hull.

The ship hovered above the treetops, engines humming steadily as the forest shrank beneath him.

Zion leaned back against the wall, chest rising and falling in controlled breaths.

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