Vadim PoV
I looked around as the vines flew at Noel and Eumhun as they tried to break them with their light.
"Noel!" I screamed, racing toward my cousin. I swung at the vines with Aventine but it got stuck as it failed to slice more than an inch into the bone-white bark. The fibrous wood clamped down on the steel like an iron vise, milky sap dripped out and began to melt the metal.
I quickly yanked my sword free, flicking the corrosive sludge from the tip, but there was no room to breathe.
The stalk I had struck whipped sideways, its gash already knitting shut with fresh, pale fiber. Behind it, two more tendrils lunged like striking vipers toward Noel and Eumhun.
"Look out!" I yelled.
Noel shoved Eumhun behind him, his boots skidding across the wet brick-like clay that had formed around Kaguya lake from our earlier battle against Bulgae and the subsequent storm.
