[color=A0A0A0][h2]Fleuri Jodeau[/h2][/color]

Fleuri had never seen a creature like this before.  A giant serpent, formed from the very trees, bearing down upon them.  Fleuri weaved to the side as it crashed towards them, only for the beast to strike a magical barrier.

He wasn't a mage, but from how the snake knocked through the first of the barriers, the magical bulwark would only likely be able to hold back one more strike.  However, with the knights scattering around it, the arboreal beast no longer had reason to put all of its might behind getting past the shield.  It now had targets all around.

That's how he figured it, at least.  Knowing this thing's likely connection to the fae, its behavior could be utterly unlike that of a 
territorial predator.

A couple of weeks ago, Fleuri would not have considered his greatsword to be an ideal weapon for taking on a beast made of wood.  That was before he witnessed a tree felled by a single blow from Jeremiah, before he saw Rui generate shockwaves from the swings of her blade, before he spent time in Merilia's world training with the original Roses.

He wasn't nearly at the level of Rui or Jeremiah, of course, but he was much further along than he was back when they first set out to deal with the bandit problem.  Now was the time to assess just [i]how[/i] far.

Fleuri bolted past the neck towards where the serpent's body rested on the ground, raising his sword and bringing it down with all of his might upon the woooden abomination.