Refocusing myself on my main body, I gathered what servants I could, and recalled the deer skull with all due haste. It wouldn't be here for a little while, and the rock covered crocodile would be much later still, but at least they were on their way. This left me with very little to defend myself with, save for bugs, rodents and a few smaller predators like foxes.

Time to find out if they are intelligent. I thought to myself.

Gathering up a buzzing swarm of insects, I commanded them to gather directly in the path of the wolves. Who walked right up to the cloud of winged creatures and observed them briefly before continuing on their way. I tried to sting, bite or otherwise annoy them with the swarm but they didn't seem to notice my meagre attacks.

So I recalled the horde, and focused purely on the small predators next. Assembling the critters, I waited patiently near a fallen log before leaping out all at once and ordering my servants to hiss menacingly. The act startled the lead wolf for a moment, but like with the bugs, they ignored my attempts at intimidation.

They recognize the threat, but aren't interested in attacking right away. Meaning they might be attempting diplomacy, or they simply acknowledge that there is no sustenance to be gained from zombies. I remarked to myself.

I pulled them all back and waited for a third time, this time it was in my grove, near my true body. Thankfully I didn't have to sit around for long, as soon the lead wolf and his wooden posse made their presence known. Stepping proudly into my humble abode, they spread out while the lead creature strode up to the pond, where he stopped.

It then gained a more regal, and curious stance, the lead wolf eying my form with a sharp, critical gaze. It seemed to be inspecting me, as it didn't make any sudden moves, nor did it seem intent on getting closer. At least for the moment anyway, which gave me the confidence to pull out my final test.

This came in the form of the filly, which I pushed out of my trunk and urged it to walk over to the wolf. This seemed to startle the creature more than the sudden appearance of a pack of undead, skeletal foxes leaping out at it. Though the wolf’s shock was quick to disappear, it remained somewhat unnerved even after recuperating.

It then opened its mouth and spoke, though the words were… difficult to comprehend.

I could pick out a couple, like lost, kid, and was able to garner that he was making a note of this change. My knowledge of his language was sparse though, leaving me with the impression that he was moreso talking to himself rather than me. From what I was able to gather, he knew this filly but wasn't angry or sad to find out that she had recently died.

So, sapient but cruel? Or perhaps a more simple predator that is just imitating speech? I ruminated, stopping my idly ponderings when the wolf stepped forward and began to speak again.

This time it seemed to be talking about me, but not to me as I could pick out the words ghoultree, rooted, mature, and fix. I pieced together that I was likely this ghoultree that he spoke of, and that he had apparently missed my presence. What exactly he meant by fixing this became more apparent when the rest of his wolves began to approach.

The pack leader also didn't seem angry, or distressed but rather just bored and grim. It was as if killing me was a task he had been assigned, rather then a murder he was about to carry out. This meant that either he was a cold blooded psychopath, or my race wasn't usually sapient which was possible. It's not exactly easy to measure the cognition level of a plant, but considering my skills it wouldn't be hard.

Such musings needed to be put away for the moment though, as I had a second death to avoid. So I spoke, using the filly to ask him to stop, engage in conversation and not attack me. I did all of this in deer, which I dearly hoped he spoke, or at least understood better then I understood his own language.

This move seemed to make him pause, and for a moment the lead wolf considered the filly. It then spoke again, this time I caught almost none of the words, which were all in his own language again. The bits I was able to parse seemed to be a dismissal of some kind, like he was brushing aside my attempt at diplomacy.

I offered him food, tribute, and territory, but that didn't stop nor slow his advance. Even pleading more desperately and laying a recent kill at his feet did not slow his steady march in my direction. It was at that moment that I realized just how little time I had left to truly consider my circumstances.

Evidently he knew of me, and my species considering the determination I saw in his eyes. Thus he at least had a plan on how to kill me, using tools he already had on him. This meant that simply allowing him to wear himself out clawing at my iron hard bark wasn't about to work. It also meant that diplomacy was completely out the window, though I couldn't discern why this was the case.

Abandoning any attempt to talk them down, I used my servants to gather up all the rope I had made previously. I also made sure that absolutely everyone was there, the ground and air quickly filling with my many undead followers. The largest of my creatures also grabbed the biggest rocks they could carry, and hauled anything capable of cracking wood.

This was about all the preparation I was able to do though, as the wolves soon broke into a sprint. The pack converged toward my main body, but was met with a tide of vermin that stopped their advance dead in its tracks. I knew this likely wouldn't last long, as there were a full dozen of the wolves, but I didn't need to win, only survive.

Stopping them wasn't even that difficult, as I merely threw everything I had directly into their eyes. Masses of undead insects, and swarms of small animals crowded their glowing sockets, blinding the pack. This was a bit of a hail mary given that undead didn't have to actually see using eyes, yet here we were.

The wolves scrambled, clawing at their faces, and taking off chunks of themselves by accident. The lesser beast’s movements were mechanical, unlike the lead wolf who was scooping the cloying bugs from his face. He at least had some manner of intelligence, and dunked his head in the pond before shaking himself vigorously.

When he pulled his head back out, his sopping wet assailants couldn't follow him any further. I was ready for this however, and leapt upon him as well as a few of his fellows with rope and sap in my many furry claws. Winding the fibrous strands around his body, I swiftly bound his limbs together all while slathering his form in sticky sap.

Confusion crossed the beast’s face a second before it was replaced by rage and he exploded outward with violent force. The weak ropes snapped, and the sap did little to restrain his incredible strength. His lessers werent quite so lucky though, as over half of them were already tied up and snapping ineffectively against their attackers.

Once bound, I got my various critters to pull at individual parts of the wolf, tearing off chunks and separating the smaller bits. This seemed to work, as whatever magic held them together couldn't overcome a thousand tiny hands yanking in all directions. With a scream and a pop, the first wolf exploded, releasing a cloud of black smoke before its various chunks fell inert.

My sense of victory was marred a second later when the lead wolf released a powerful howl that caused his fellows to glow a faint green. Whatever magic he had used had been powerful, as the lesser beasts were quickly growing stronger. Ropes snapped, and several escaped but not before I pulled apart two more of them, reducing them to piles of kindling.

I immediately fell back on simply clouding their vision and filling their skulls with vermin. This didn't work the second time, as my opponent had seemingly altered his creations in some way. Now when their eyes were full of squirming bugs, they didn't even bother to scoop them out, seemingly unbothered by the mass of undead.

Instead, they targeted the foxes, squirrels, and other pests I threw their way, clawing and biting at all they could reach. The first to fall was a young fox caught in the lead wolf’s jaws, the ensuing bite causing my essence to fly from the creature. This stung, and though it wasn't more painful than a pinch, it was the first of what I knew would be many.

Sure enough, with their senses having been altered, the wolves didn't need to use their eyes anymore. So they were free to target the largest of my tiny soldiers with relative impunity. My ropes and sap didn't do much either, so I focused my efforts almost completely on two of the lesser wolves.

My distraction worked just long enough for me to drag down and pull apart one of the creatures. His ally however, was saved by the alpha wolf, who was quick to kill off the trio of foxes attacking the downed beast. With the death of the third small predator I had officially lost almost everything bigger than a shoebox.

With grim irritation I summoned the last of my reserves and for a moment the sun vanished behind a cloud. A cloud of undead wings, and rotten feathers filled the sky, the various zombified birds having gorged themselves on stones. Bodies heavy with rock and earth, they rained down from the heaven, pelting the wolves in a seducidal dive bomb.

This would have been relatively easy to dodge, however several seconds before they began their descent I had sent another order. This one sent all my rats, squirrels, and other small four legged creatures into not the wolf's eyes but their joints. Limbs now full of twisting creatures and rotten meat, my attackers struggled to move with any amount of grace.

Only the lead wolf was able to ignore my attempts to bog him down, his more powerful limbs simply turning my servants to paste. His allies werent quite as strong, or as fast, so they found themselves pelted by birds dive bombing them in a single massive wave. The winged creatures weighed down by rocks, struck true, shattering wood as well as their own tiny bodies.

Their thin, hallow bones couldn't handle the punishment and shattered almost immediately but I didn't need them to survive. Several hundred birds slamming into the wooden wolves at a little faster than terminal velocity had done plenty of damage. Four wolves went down immediately, their heads crumpling under my barrage of undead suicide bombers. A sixth was rendered unable to move as I had crippled three out of four of his legs, leaving him crawling weakly with his remaining limb.

My smaller servants soon swarmed the downed beast and tore him apart within seconds. The remaining four wolves had taken only glancing hits, or had managed to take cover and avoid my attack. The lead wolf was completely unharmed, and quickly freed his subordinates from the mass of rodents clogging up their movements.

This left me with next to no one left other than a few swarms of insects, and the filly which I knew wouldn't be able to do much. She was simply too small, and weak, plus I was hesitant to risk her given the fact that she was my only semi normal servant. The rest were either insects, rodents, or a floating glowing deer skull which people werent likely to want to have a conversation with.

As I scrambled to come up with something, and the four remaining wolves neared me, I felt a ping at the back of my mind. The deer skull had returned, and was sailing over the treetops near my position, magic already building in its empty head. This confluence of magic seemed to startle the lead wolf, who sensed it and looked up in search of its origin.

What he found was a flaming head that burned white hot with eldritch energy. Which was unleashed in an orb that shot towards the ground, and upon hitting it, turned into a rippling wave of green. Roots large enough to grapple a creature twice the size of a wolf wrapped about their many limbs, dragging the wooden beasts to the earth.

This seemed to work for the moment, which was good as it was the only spell the deer knew which didn't take five or more minutes to cast. Worse still, it took a good chunk of my remaining magical reserves, leaving me with dangerously little to call upon. The various trees and plants of my network were giving back what they could, but it was a slow, drawn out process to return that borrowed energy.

Thankfully the lesser wolves had been completely immobilized with only the largest wolf able to even stay standing. That was being generous however, as it was still being slowly dragged down beneath the wave of crushing wooden tentacles. Which I urged to constrict and snuff out the remaining lesser wolves in an effort to destroy them once and for all.

With another pulse of energy the command was sent out, and a bit more of my magic was used. A second later and the three smaller wolves were turned to tinder, their forms crumpling under the wrathful roots. I did not, however, see several puffs of black smoke that signalled their demise, and instead saw several motes of green energy.

These orbs gathered up the dead wood that had once housed their essence and pulled it towards a central point. Which happened to be the lead wolf, who called all of the remaining energy into himself, or at least he tried to. I attempted to stop this by throwing insects into the orbs, and restraining them physically with what few servants I had left.

This effort was unfortunately in vain, as the various spheres travelled uneringly into the larger wolf. Who grew exponentially larger, and stronger with each one of the orbs he managed to take into himself. I tried to counter this by focusing all the roots on him, but that proved ineffectual, as the sole remaining wolf shrugged them all off.

He then swiped away the remaining wooden tentacles, freeing himself completely from my grasp. Now utterly unrestrained, and four times as big as he had been a few seconds earlier, there was little I could do. That didn't mean I gave up however, as I threw everything I had at him in a single go, attempting to slow him down.

I didn't need to keep him at bay for long, as the rock crocodile was closing in, but that didn't mean I liked my chances. Unfortunately for me, the various swarms were completely ignored, as the great wooden monster leapt at me. In a single bound it traveled the last of the way up to my trunk and slammed into me with all the force of what felt like a runaway freight train.

Yet, despite its incredible size I not only managed to stay standing, but my bark was unmarred by the attack. I reasoned that my defence stat was quite high which allowed me to shake off the attack. A move which annoyed the wolf, who had seemingly thought he could bowl me over with a single powerful tackle.

With that strike all but thwarted, the wolf scratched at my trunk, raking its enormous razor sharp claws down my body. This did a little more, but it still felt more like getting a rather aggressive back scratching rather than a lethal attack. The wolf also seemed to realize this and adjusted his aim to remove my branches with his massive paws.

This was more effective, but even then he could only manage to tear off the smaller ones. Though not pleasant, and akin to having a finger cut off, I, fortunately, had a lot of them. So as the minutes ticked by, and I lost more limbs, I felt my panic turn to indignant rage.

No longer was I worried for my demise, but was instead eagerly looking forward to crushing the fool who dare attack me. My foe seemed to detect my burgeoning confidence as well and threw himself at me with increasing ferocity. Abandoning all attempts at a measured, calm response, he bellowed loudly, announcing his intention on ending me.

His jaws clamped onto a rather large low hanging branch while all four of his legs scratched down my trunk. Suspended only by a single limb, the beast shook its head violently, attempting to take the branch off while cutting through my iron hard defences. This unfortunately succeeded, as the bough was torn from my main body with a loud, and painful crack.

My bark received a dozen new gouges, but the damage was superficial at best. I had also lost a good majority of my leaves, the things having been shaken clean off me due to the wolf’s attack. Which ended soon after, as the crack thump of the arriving rocky crocodile grabbed its attention as surely as the winding roots had done only a few seconds earlier.

The wolf released an angry, surprised yelp the second his eyes landed on my returning servant. It then tried to intimidate it with a loud, powerful howl that would have sent any living creature running in terror. The stone covered lizard however, was not alive, and barreled forward without so much as slowing down for a single second.

This surprised the wolf yet again, though this time he didn't get the chance to adjust and change tactics. As my monstrous servant lowered its shoulder and leapt into a tackle aimed straight at the wolf’s midsection. Too startled to move very far, my attacker was caught and then crushed between me and my servant.

Like a rat caught between hammer and anvil, the wolf was dashed asunder, crushed utterly by the attack. His form simply crumpled under the immense weight, and my unmoving, implaccable mass. In an instant his body was turned to little more than shattered timber and numerous half rotten splinters.

A second later a large billowing cloud of black smoke belched forth from the wolf’s former center of mass. This time however, I didn't let it get far, and like it was a creature laid at my roots, I pulled hard, attempting to drink the energy. I was immediately hit by one of the most unpleasant flavours I had ever had the misfortune of tasting. It did not however, feel like it was poisonous or harmful to me, rather it was like drinking some manner of organic perfume.

No matter how gross it was, I persevered through it all, intent on adding insult to injury by devouring the essenece.

The black cloud was stopped in mid air, though it was trying to escape my grasp by floating away. Thin trickles of smog slipped eastward from the main mass, as if sliding through my metaphysical fingers. This attempt was ultimately useless however, as I was determined to gorge myself on the strange energy.

So with a second, more powerful tug, I pulled the cloud towards my roots. Though it resisted my efforts, this was a fight it could not win. I was, after all, many things, and spiteful was near the top of that list of attributes.

When the cloud neared the ground, it seemingly accepted its fate, and sank into the earth without further struggling. Like the meat I had consumed before it, this mass of energy filled me with power, only this time it felt much different. Where before I knew I could share that strength with the grove, this was not something that they would be able to store for me.

This necromantic energy was the antithesis to life, and though poison to my neighbors, it was sweet ambrosia to me. Like the most sugary of wines, it filled me with warmth, excitement and an unexpected amount of vitality. I felt almost high for a second, my entire wooden form trembling as power coursed through the core of my being.

Then it was gone, and I though I gained no new skills or abilities, I knew one thing with absolute certainty.

This was not the end of the fight, rather this was just the calm before my foe struck me with every last ounce of strength he had.

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