The vine beast reached the edge of the desert as it followed its lunch.
Jay made it to the middle of the desert right as the beast entered. He had to do something to slow the beast down, but the damn lizards were almost right underneath him, each having a fruit in their mouths ready to stick to Jay's flesh.
He had to either keep moving or die.
A few of the underground lizards haphazardly poked their heads up right below a mushroom fruit, and became victims themselves, releasing little cooing noises as they were slowly pulled into the air, becoming food for the mushrooms, which disappeared shortly after.
When a mushroom disappeared it made some extra space and even allowed the beast to run faster.
The mushrooms at the centre of the desert were larger, taller, and one was right in the middle of Jay's path, so the skeletons mostly trimmed every single one underneath.
Jay quickly took shelter under it, and thinking fast, he summoned a bone pile around the trunk of the mushroom and stood on top of it, using the trunk for his own support.
With the bones below him, the lizards wouldn't be able to reach him now.
Next, he tossed the spears in the sand and summoned the skeletons again.
He cast the summoning spell four times before the first skeleton was even summoned, and a large volume of the glowing necrotic mana surrounded a portion of the bone pile, which began to assemble four skeletons at the same time as many bones floated around and were distriubted to where they were needed.
Looking back, the vine bear was already making its way through the mushrooms, navigating them with deadly precision.
Contrary to Jay's expectations, the beast easily dodge through the mushrooms as its body was now, somehow, more long and slender.
The vines which had been coiled around its body were now piled up on its back and even seemed to squeeze its ribs, making its body even more slender, allowing it to weave between the dangerous mushrooms as nimbly as Jay did.
Seeing more of its body now, Jay was surprised at how slender it truly was; its bones were protruding from its flesh, and its flesh was loosely clinging to its bones.
Essentially, it looked like it was starving.
Jay received a notification but ignored it as he caught his breath for a moment, but before the skeletons even formed he was running again, pushing through the curtains of hanging tendrils.
He kept running, and as soon as his foot touched the sand again, the lizards were already swarming around him like a school of hungry piranhas.
As each of the skeletons formed, Jay commanded them to grab the spears and form a spear-wall.
One spear was not very hazardous to the bear, but a small wall of them with the dangerous mushrooms at their side was another matter.
What formed was essentially a blockade, and the beast would have to charge right into them.
This was Jay's only hope to slow the beast down as his mana dwindled to dangerously low levels - his body was coursing with adrenaline though, but right now it was barely keeping his mind focused.
Since Jay momentarily stopped on the bone pile, most of the had caught up now that Jay had stopped, and he was like a magnet.
The only good thing about this situation was that some of the lizards had wasted some fruit, attaching them to the bottom of the bone pile Jay was standing on - but the middle of the desert was brimming with these fruit, and they only had to search for a second before plucking another one to chase Jay with.
Handy, Heavy and Dark had made it to the other side by now. Heavy and Dark guarded the exit of the mushroom path with Handy was running through the trees somewhere deeper in the jungle, scouring it for enemies and looking for hidden threats.
Thankfully, after scouting for some time, Handy was still alive. There were no threats in the forest.
It seemed that the blood-vine bear had feasted on every living thing in its territory. Not even birds escaped the insatiable appetite of its blood vines.
Jay sprinted frantically across the sand, dodging mushroom fruit sometimes only by a hair, while the lizards followed closely behind with their exploding red fruits ready to trap Jay if he ever dared to slow down. The lizards were just as fast underground as Jay was above ground, and only had to stop when they poked their head above the surface to trap him.
Jay was making good speed across the desert, and was nearly across.
Despite the dangers, Jay smiled a little when he heard something behind him. It almost sounded like a hissing noise as the spears dug into the sand.
The beast crashed into the spear wall.
It took 200% extra damage from every spear, but it already had so much health that it was an acceptable trade off to catch its prey - though perhaps even to its own surprise it was stopped by four measly spears.
The four spears were enough to stop it, as each of them had the anti-charge ability to stop fifty kilograms (110 pounds), and with four of the spears combined, they had enough stopping power to halt two hundred kilograms - enough to stop the starved beast.
Jay expected it to weigh more, but it seemed that the bear was severely malnourished. It was no wonder it was hunting with with such endless resoluteness; it was right after winter too, so perhaps it burned through all its fat - or blood storage - while food was scarce.
It's really no wonder the vines were grey instead of a blood red.
The blood vine bear was forced to smash away the spears with a flick of its claws, but as it knocked two away, another two would take its place.
With a roar it summoned its vine again.
The spears didn't have a chance against the shifting vines, and soon enough another skeleton was entombed in them and crushed to pieces.
The other spears prodded it, stinging its flesh as if they were little more than ants, but it seemed that only one skeleton had to fall before the others would follow shortly after.
A single breach in the spear wall was enough to break it, and the skeletons began dodging backwards to hold its attention. It was the only way they could go.
Jay however was already out of the desert - the pursuing lizards all stopped at the edge... a few still hopelessly waved their heads around as they followed the smell of the human - but it was no use. He had escaped.
Escaped the lizards and the desert anyway. The beast was still travelling across and Jay was out of mana, and pretty low energy too. There was nowhere to run.
Jay let out some frustration on the lizards.
“I should've killed you little fuckers when I had the chance...” he said, spitting right onto the heads of one of the lizards.
Jay smiled slyly, satisfied that he hit one. There was something satisfying to him about spitting in the faces of his enemies.
Suddenly, the lizards began moving again.
They seemed to be smelling something else.
Something with a stronger scent - the blood-vine bear.
The lizards had let one meal escape, but now there was another one, and coincidentally they were right in front of it - it was even heading right towards them.
The blood-vine bear, while observant, did not notice the lizards that were attacking Jay from below. It was more preoccupied with dodging between the mushrooms and the delicious scent of blood coming from Jay.
Little did it know, it was now the one being hunted.
Small waves of sand covertly swarmed towards the blood-vine bear.
