The Rise Of A Porter

The roots got denser and more fierce with their attacks as Arnold and company were nearing the 'heart' of the tree. However, Arnold was the sole target of the roots as he was the only one having a life force there as the rest of his summons were either already dead or made of metal. This made it easier for his summons to wreak havoc on the root suing their new gear.

As for Arnold, well he was having a fun time dodging and attacking the roots at the same time. He was being forced to always be on his toes. He had to be observant and cautious to not get entangled between the roots or else it might as well be over for him. 

But at the same time, it was exciting. Arnold had forgotten how it felt to have adrenaline rushing within his veins. And now, well, even though he was doing a dangerous job, he was having the time of his life. His energetic appearance was further boosting the performance of the summons. They had forgotten how it felt to be undefeatable ever since they started fighting against the tree and now they were grasping that feeling again.

One of the important reasons for their impending victory apart from their new weapons was also Arnold. He not only gave the summons a morale boost. But previously whenever the summons have tried to end the source of the roots, they had to do it in a limited time. It was due to the reason that they have been using livestock to lure the roots out, and well, the livestock couldn't last long enough for the summons to deal enough damage to the tree.

But Arnold was not someone who would go down so easily. He was repeatedly using all of his abilities to push the roots away while simultaneously killing off the roots one after another. Even now, when the roots were getting thicker and thicker, and their density was increasing, Arnold and summons were having little to no difficulty taking care of the roots.

"Do not get complacent!" Arnold's voice boomed over the chaos, "We are still -bang- not done -bang- here. Keep pressing on!"

Arnold could feel his summons were getting coc.ky and thus had to remind them that this was just the beginning. The more time they take to destroy the source of all this chaos, the stronger the roots would get. Thanks to his nature affinity, Arnold could almost feel the displeasure and discomfort of the roots as they were being chopped down one after another, and it was due to the sea reason that he was able to deduce where the heart of the roots was. 

However, not everything was going as planned. Arnold might have located the heart that caused all this trouble, but it was going to be incredibly tough to get rid of it because of the dense foliage of the roots at the centre of it all. Their individual attacks might not be enough to harm the tree at all. Thus they needed to concentrate their efforts to even make a dent on the thing. But that would mean the summons would have to leave Arnold unguarded for a while, which was never going to happen... unless Arnold commanded them to do that. 

His summons had an instinct to protect him. That was the reason why they were urging him not to go inside in the first place. Arnold, on the other hand, was already prepared to do something like this. If his summons could quickly take down the tree, then he would have no trouble in stalling for some time. But if they couldn't then he would probably end up dead.

"We have no choice." Arnold smiled and handed his guns to Talos, "Use these to open up a hole through that dense foliage along with the others. The moment that's done, back out and call for me. I'll take care of the rest."

"Got it. We'll do it as soon as possible." Talos accepted the guns and rushed in, to penetrate the heart of the roots with the others.

This time, no one complained or tried to persuade Arnold to do something else. They knew time was of the essence. Arnold had trusted them with his life and it was their turn to prove that he wasn't wrong to put his faith in them.

"I haven't danced in a while. Hopefully, I still have the elasticity I used to have." Arnold mumbled before he quickly drew two swords out of his inventory, "What is it? No expert comments this time?"

[I would rather let you concentrate on surviving for now. But believe me, I will have some dancer jokes prepared for you the moment you are done taking care of things here.]

"Fair enough," Arnold mumbled while he got ready for the forthcoming battle.

Without the protection of his summons, the roots rushed towards him. Arnold used all of his strength as well as his agility increasing ability to outrun the roots. The battle had turned out into something more like a game of tag. One in which you die if you get tagged. 

Arnold did not stop running, but the roots soon started surrounding him. It was as if the roots had a complicated hivemind that they were continuously communicating with. Their strategies to catch Arnold was nothing but a pain in the bu.tt for Arnold. Even though he was giving it his all, he was still only barely able to dodge the roots.

However, as mentioned above, the more he dodged them, the better their next plan got. It was as if the roots were getting used to his movement patterns. If the things kept going this way then it was only a matter of time before Arnold's luck ran out. 

"Talos! How much longer!?" Arnold yelled ver the radio before slashing yet another root in half.

"A couple of more minutes, Master! Come on, everyone! Hurry it up!!!"

Just as he was chatting with Talos, he accidentally tripped over a piece of root he had just shredded down. After that, it only took a second for the roots to envelope around Arnold. However, before they could even graze his skin, Arnold activated one of his most overpowered skills. The Guardian Angel Abdiel, was there to save his master.