Spiderman flung himself towards Groot XXCVII as I made over 15 weapons with Eldritch Magic. The speed at which he moved while swinging was frankly impressive. I still didn't understand why he was shooting webs from his wrists, but I can ask him later after we deal with Groot XXCVII.
The Floral colossus had grown far bigger than when I saw him, and at this point, I wasn't able to transport him out of there. I just couldn't make a big enough portal for that. We had to do this the old fashioned way.
"Just go down, you ugly arbor, you will be a lot more useful as firewood," Peter taunted him while flying around him on his webs.
"I AM GROOT!" It did work. The Floral colossus raged at him swinging his arms, trying to catch him. Branches grew out of his body, forming what almost looked like a spider's web, trying to capture Peter.
"I'm Spiderman!" However, he didn't have the title Spiderman for no reason. He wasn't going to get caught in a trap like that.
Peter was impressive. He snuck through the small gaps of the branches and ran up Groot's body, with feet stuck to the Floral colossus like glue.
Peter was fast, not as fast as Pietro, but he was way faster than me. Whatever that spider was that bit him, I want some of that as well.
I didn't stay idle and was already running towards Groot. My weapons following behind me. With a wave of my hand, I sent them all flying at the monster. They struck Groot and cut apart his wooden body.
Bits and pieces of wood flew around, but the wounds I caused regenerated in front of my eyes. I wish I was able to see his HP, but whatever damage I did, it was probably healed up in seconds.
Groot didn't even pay attention to my attempts to injure him as he was focused on Peter, who was running around his body while taunting him.
"Spider Punch!" Peter called out and punched Groot in the face. That's it, he just punched him, and nothing happened. I was seriously confused about that.
I didn't bother with it and continued doing whatever I can to try and injure Groot. I fired a barrage of Spinning Mana Bullet, but it was even less effecting than my conjured weapons as I suspected.
"Spider Kick!"
"Spider Webs!"
Peter was also trying his best and kept calling out his attacks as if he was expecting them to have a special effect this way.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked while doing anything I can to injure Groot.
"Calling out my attacks," Peter said and punched. "Spider Punch"
"Yes, but why?"
"I don't know. Isn't that how you do magic?"
"No!" I yelled, completely ignoring that's how I used to do it before.
"At least, I tried," Peter said, running around Groot while also taunting him. He was a good tank in that regard.
"Why haven't you killed him yet, didn't you say you just needed me to distract the Angel Oak?"
"I'm trying! My Magic isn't working. Groot has an ability called Cellular Regeneration and can heal from almost anything," I said.
I was slashing him apart as fast as I can, but Groot was healing even faster.
"Can't you use Fire Magic or something? That should work, right? Fire is supposed to be super effective against wood."
"I can't use Fire Magic!" If I could, I would've already done so. I was starting to get a bit desperate here. Nothing I did to him so far had worked.
We needed some help here, and the only one I knew that could assist was the Ancient One. I tried creating a portal to Kamar-Taj, but it didn't open. Well, it did, but it was super tiny and disappeared in an instant while also draining all of my MP.
My energy constructs disappeared, and my Mana Strengthening deactivated.
Fuck! That hasn't happened before. I knew the MP cost, and I was sure that I had more than enough for a portal to Kamar-Taj. It was almost as if the place was no longer on Earth.
Well, shit.
"Distract him for a bit, I have an idea," Peter said and flew out of there, leaving me alone against Groot with my MP exhausted. Double shit.
"I AM GROOT!" Yes, I'm aware. I'm also aware that I'm fucked.
Groot struck out with his wooden hand, but thankfully, he wasn't very fast. I hoped on top of it before flipping away, my Parkour skill helped me keep my balance and do it without making an ass of myself.
I kept running, bobbing and weaving, trying my best to keep myself alive while Peter was doing whatever he was doing. I really hoped he did it faster.
A minute later, Peter returned.
"Fire Magic: Gas Attack!" He threw a bunch of gas tanks he had collected in his webs. He threw them with such force, that they exploded upon contact, and covered the Floral Colossus in gas.
"And now for my finisher," Peter launched his webs at a ruined car and threw it at the gas covered area on Groot's body. "Fire Magic: Car Explosion!"
"I AM GROOT!" Groot burst in a pillar of flames, his body turning into charcoal.
"This is not how magic works!" Not like I had a great understanding of it since I just used the skills I had, but this was definitely not Magic.
"Well, it worked for me, and look, it did the job, now we have charcoal for days!" I looked at Groot, whose body was already regenerating.
"You're saying?" I turned towards Peter, but he was already gone, leaving me with the angry, but injured Groot.
"I AM GROOT!"
You would think he would stop introducing himself by now, but noo. Maybe, he just liked hearing his name a lot.
Fighting him in his injured state was a lot easier than before. He was even slower, and I was able to dodge his attacks by bobbing and weaving.
Peter returned with even more gas tanks and threw them at Groot. Since his wooden body was still burning, he erupted into even more flames. "Fire Magic: Double Gas Attack!"
Since my MP had recovered a bit, I conjured whips and picked up a few nearby cars and started throwing them at him. Peter was doing the same with his webs.
However, Groot was a juggernaut that refused to go down. His body regenerated almost as fast as it turned to charcoal.
"Well, my Magic didn't work," Peter looked at me. "You got any hidden cards up your sleeve? Just don't do a card trick, please."
"I can try teleporting him to the Ocean like I did with the rest now that he is smaller," I said
"Saltwater should be poisonous to plant life," Peter nodded sagely to me.
"What about to alien plant life?" I asked him while throwing anything around us that was explosive at Groot. Killing him didn't seem feasible with what he had on hand.
"Yeah, that's not my area of expertise," Peter said.
"Maybe we can try to dr..." I was interrupted by someone arriving behind us.
"It's clobbering time!"
Both me and Peter froze in place and robotically turned around.
[<The Thing of the Fantastic Four> Benjamin Grimm Lvl. ???]
The Thing's body was entirely covered by orange rock, and he was rushing towards Groot.
"FLAME ON!"
[<Human Torch of the Fantastic Four> Jonathan Storm Lvl. ???]
He looked as if his entire body was made of orange plasma.
Both of us gasped like school girls.
"It's the Fantastic Four. OMG! OMG! OMG!"
Peter was definitely the only one that was saying that.
[Lying has increased to 15.]
The two of us watched the Human Torch fly at Groot and shoot massive torrents of fire at it. The Thing reached the burning monster and started smashing it apart. He didn't seem to care the slightest about the fire and ignored it completely while punching away.
"It seems everyone has already been escorted to safety."
We turned around to see the last two members of the Fantastic Four.
[<Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four> Reed Richards Lvl. ???]
[<The Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four> Susan Richards Lvl. ???]
The two were wearing their signature blue outfits as they walked up to us.
"I'm so excited to meet you! You're my heroes! I'm Spiderman, and this is Mr. Magician Ninja Dude." Peter turned into a fangirl.
I was about to open my mouth, but then I heard a ding sound, signifying the completion of my Quest.
[Quest completed. 100 000 XP and the Magic Skill Book, Pyrokinesis, has been granted to the user.]
God damn it. I get the book now? Come on! If I had it during the fight, this would've been so much easier. I didn't think about it too much since there was something I had to do.
I turned around towards the spot where Groot had been earlier. Amidst the flames, I spotted The Thing and The Human Torch looking at something there, and I quickly created a portal and took the loot before they could grab it.
I felt my hand get burned, but it was worth it. I didn't look at what I got, but I stored everything in my Inventory. It was mine!
[Through a specific action, the skill, Fire Resistance, has been created.]
[Fire Resistance(Passive) Lvl. 1/100: Reduces fire damage by 1%]
Oh, yes. This was soo good. I need more skills like that. I have to find a way to get a resistance skill for everything out there.
"A Sorcerer?" I heard Reed question, and I looked at him with surprise.
"Don't look at me like that. We've seen quite a few strange things in our line of business, and we have an experienced Sorcerer working with us."
Oh, wow. I didn't know that. I wonder who that was?
"So, we have you to thank for saving the people and holding the monster until we arrived. What you two did was admirable," Reed said.
Peter looked week in the legs and about to fall down from being praised.
I was a bit better in that regard. It was good to be praised, but I knew I intervened for selfish reasons. It was only due to the Quest and since I knew that Grandma would be hurt if I didn't do anything.
After I was caught off guard by that scary dude, I wanted to keep a low profile. I didn't want a repeat of that situation until I was strong enough to handle myself.
Susan also praised us, but I spotted someone else approaching. It was a group and one that I was familiar with.
The X-Men were arriving on the scene, dressed in their spandex suits. They were led by Ororo in the air, and a rough-looking man on the ground.
[<Wolverine of the X-Men> James 'Logan' Howlett Lvl. ???]
He took one good look at me before metal claws came out of his hands.
"YOU!" James yelled and rushed at me.
Oh, I recognize that voice. Scary dude was after me again.
Without even thinking about it, I made a portal on the ground, and I was out of there. I don't know how he recognized me so fast, but I didn't want to stay to find out.
"Whoo, that was close," I said to myself.
"Why did we run away?" I quickly turned to Peter, who was standing next to me on the building I had teleported to.
"Why did you follow me?" I asked, I hadn't expected him to jump into the portal.
"Well... I don't do well with crowds, and a lot of people were starting to pop off," Peter said and sat down. "So why did you run away?"
---
Reed looked at the X-Men with a scowl aimed at Logan.
"What are you doing?"
"None of your business!" Logan gruffly replied. He wasn't happy that the teleporter had escaped him for a second time.
"It is our business when you were about to attack someone who risked his life to save the people and fight the monster!" Susan said angrily.
From their voices, she knew that both of them were still young, yet they had risked their lives in fighting Groot. Now, after the fight had ended, someone arrives and wants to attack the young Sorcerer?
That didn't sit well with Susan at all. Especially since she was now a mother and her protective instincts kicked in.
Logan wasn't one to back down and looked threateningly at them, but Ororo intervened. Fighting the Fantastic Four was not a good idea. Not only were the kids with them, but the FF was the most loved group of heroes for saving the world numerous times.
Fighting them would be the worst decision they can make, and any chance of making the world accept mutants would be gone in a flash.
"We came here to help, not to cause trouble," Ororo said both to the FF and to Logan.
"Really? So attacking the people who risked their lives is your way of helping? Has Xavier already changed his views?" Susan was not happy. They were aware of who the X-Men were.
Reed knew his wife was getting a bit unreasonable and put a hand over her shoulder, trying to calm her down. She's been a lot more emotional ever since she became a mother.
"If you want to help, start by trying to fix the damage that's done around here," Reed said.
"And know that those two are under our protection!" Susan called out.
"Sue," Reed looked at her. "We haven't agreed on anything like that."
"We just did," Susan huffed. "Or are you going to say otherwise?"
Reed sighed but said nothing. It was obvious who wore the pants in that relationship.
[Name: William Williamson
Mutant Power: The Gamer
Level: 31 Next Level: 26%
Title: Apprentice Sorcerer]
[HP: 710
MP: 2,459]
[Strength: 21 + 13.44
Vitality: 25 + 16
Dexterity: 28 + 17.92
Intelligence: 101 + 62.62
Wisdom: 51 + 31.62
Luck: 11]
[Stat Points: 38
Cash: $23319.70]
[Skills:
Eldritch Magic(Active) Lvl. 44/100 (+3)
Spinning Mana Bullet(Active) Lvl. 34/100 (+1)
Mana Strengthening(Active) Lvl. 39/100 (+4)
Lying(Passive) Lvl. 15/50 (+1)
Martial Arts(Passive) Lvl. 32/100 (+1)
Weapon Mastery(Passive) Lvl. 12/100 (+3)
Parkour(Passive) Lvl. 11/100 (+1)
Fire Resistance(Passive) Lvl. 1/100]
Couldn't write yesterday. I had a heachace, well, it wasn't really a headache but my eyes hurt a lot. Couldn't stay in front of the laptot for more than a few minutes.