Infinite Farmer: A Plants vs Dungeon

“Run?” Tulland looked at the furry, huge humanoid bounding towards them. “We should run.”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“No use.” Necia shook her head and unsheathed her sword. “Tulland, do you have those flowers?”

“Yeah?”

“Throw all of them as soon as I engage. I won’t be able to hold it long, but it should stop for at least a second. Can you do that?” Necia asked.

“Frankly? No. But can you time your hit? Stop it in a certain spot?”

“I can try.”

“Then do that. Right… there.” Tulland ran over and dumped his flowers out in the dirt. He wasn’t too keen on running the risk of having to add his throwing arm into the equation when he could just trigger them from afar. “Any plan otherwise?”

“Kill it fast. And don’t die.” Necia kissed him on the cheek. “And if we don’t make it, sorry. I didn’t expect this.”

Ley was already gone. Tulland could only hope he was hiding for a big hit. In the same position, he wasn’t sure he would have the bravery to stay.

The Bison King won. Necia’s shield clanged off her own armor as she was sent flying several steps back, landing on her left shoulder blade and skidding through the soft soil of the field as she uprooted every plant in one long, deep furrow. Tanking wasn’t going to be a thing here. She might be able to keep herself alive, or even taunt the enemy and run. But she wasn’t going to be able to hold it in place as a nice little package tied up in a bow, all ready to be killed.

This is going to be a short, violent thing. But at least I can make sure that thing suffers. Explode.

Forty flowers went off at once, engulfing every bit of the buffalo in dust. Tulland ran forward, shooting all four of the Giant’s Hairs into the confusion and praying they would find purchase. When they asked for permission to constrict, he knew they had and granted it immediately as he pulled his pitchfork. Jumping at the dissipating cloud, he put all of his weight behind one single, mighty pitchfork lunge.

He might as well have not tried at all. The bison-man was huffing and rubbing its eyes and took every tine of the pitchfork in its unarmored thigh. The weapon didn’t even pierce the skin, instead skidding off and into the thick fur of the animal’s leg and getting fully stuck. Tulland allowed the Clubber Vine to hit a few times as he ducked past the bison into what he hoped was its blind spot, leaving an open moment for Necia to bash it with her shield.

The bison faced the full force of Necia’s strike with a confused expression on its face that showed just how deeply the flowers had effected it and took a single step back. That had probably hurt it, Tulland thought, but in the way where it would take dozens or hundreds of that kind of hit to fall.

“Tulland? How long are those flowers going to work?” Necia asked as she kept up on her shield bashes.

“No idea. Seconds. Minutes,” Tulland replied.

“Then lay into it. Keep moving. I’ll block for you when you can. But if this thing sobers up…”

“We’ll be dead. I got it.”

The desperate fight began. Tulland couldn’t get his pitchfork back. There was just no way. He enhanced his Giant’s Hairs and Clubber Vine, hoping they’d be able to bring the big beast down. They couldn’t. There simply wasn’t enough force in the world to do that. His powerful Clubber Vine was bruising the thing, hitting it hard and fast while he did his best to keep out of the range of the flailing, confused animal.

“Any luck?” Necia’s sword bit into the same wound again and again. She had been stabbing the same square foot of real estate with everything she had, rarely landing a hit anywhere else as she tried to chisel through the iron defenses of the bison.

“Not much. But my magic is almost full again.”

“Does that matter?”

“It might. Especially since…” Tulland ducked just in time to avoid getting his head chopped off with the bison’s swung ax. “Since it looks like he’s coming around. Any sign of Ley?”

“No. Not yet. I think we better plan for things that work without him.”

“Ah. Well then.” Tulland held up his clubbing vine, which was still going strong. “Hold him in place for me. I’ll do what I can. Then…”

“Yeah. Then.” Necia rushed forward. “Now, Tulland.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Necia’s shield planted on the bison’s hip, managing to cock its body to the side as she pushed all her weight forward. As she did, Tulland used his Primal Growth again, not into all the plants he had before, but just one this time. The way his Broadcast skill worked, he could split the power of any one action among several plants. This was usually more efficient, allowing each plant to get a little more than its own fair share of Tulland’s boost. But sometimes, just every once in a while, enhancing just one thing a whole lot more made a lot more sense.

The Clubber Vine agreed. Tulland felt it get sturdier and meaner over the course of a fraction of a second, looking for a target to break. He gave it one: his own pitchfork, still wedged in the thigh-fur of the monster, tines pointed inwards towards its hip joint.

The hit was massive, almost shattering the handle of the pitchfork in one swipe. The tines shot forward, digging into the bison’s joint. The Bison King arched it’s back in pain and rage, swinging its ax over its own head and bringing it to bear directly on Tulland’s position.

Oh. Well, that’s it then. Good run.

It wasn’t quite that over. With a sliding step, Necia knocked Tulland a step out of the way and ate the hit herself, partially blocking it with her shield before the flat of the blade caught her on the side of the head and sent her flying through the air. She hit the ground hard, not moving this time.

When he saw that, Tulland’s world flashed red. Whatever atoms of magic Tulland had reloaded into his pool went back into the vine, which came around for one more hit to the pitchfork, splintering the pole to bits this time as it pushed the tines an inch further into the joint.

The bison’s leg buckled. It was still very much alive, and in a moment it would be able to pull out the tines with its hand, stand again, and crush what remained of Tulland and Necia. It had just freed one of its hands to do this when finally, like an arrow shot from a bow, Ley revealed himself at last.

Tulland never saw it happen. The first thing he knew about what happened was when Ley’s voice rang out from above him, confusingly happy.

“Thanks for bringing its head down. I wouldn’t have been able to kill it otherwise.” Ley tugged at his dagger, which was firmly caught in the buffalo’s dead, lifeless skull. “Could you hold on to the sides of this guy’s head, by chance? It keeps moving when I try to dislodge my knife.”

“Is Necia okay?” Tulland ignored Ley’s request about the bison head and rushed over to his fallen friend. By the time he got there, she had an arm under herself and was beginning to get up. “Oh, you’re fine. Thank the seas.”

“No seas here. Thank my armor.” Necia knocked her helmet with a knuckle. “Good to see you didn’t betray us, Ley. Appreciate it.”

“Me? Never.” Ley laughed, got a foot high enough in the air to push on the bison’s forehead, and finally dislodged his dagger. “Besides, I was stuck here unless that thing went down. I’m still a big hero, don’t get me wrong, but…”

“But you were also going to die if you didn’t help, yes. Got it.” Tulland laughed and sat down. He felt lighter than he had ever been, even more so than when he fought and defeated the Cannian Knight. That was a case where he was in danger himself. The Bison King was a real risk to Necia, and that made things that much more scary. “Everyone get some good stuff from that?”

“Oh, yes.” Ley held up a thin, fragile-looking knife. “A consumable weapon. I’ll take it.”

“Consumable?”

“Yes. It’s good for about five hits, according to the system description. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s because you don’t understand how important five carefully chosen hits can be.”

“Fair enough. You, Necia?”

“Levels, which we all probably got, and an improvement to my shield bash. I have more mass when I’m bashing now. Would have helped in that fight, at least.”

“Good.” Tulland laid down on his back before remembering something and springing back up. “Actually, we were supposed to be teleported out of here after that fight, right? I wouldn’t want to be caught with my back in the dirt, and…”

He was cut off as the world faded to black. There wasn’t a level complete reward this time, probably because they had simply gained as much as they could from it. He was still given a few minutes in the white room, which he accepted gratefully, sitting on his now familiar block seat and soaking in the absolute safety for a bit before being thrust back out into the cold, cruel world.