Chương 72: 1-71 A massive mess

Taking the opportunity to slap a Regeneration on Bezzo, followed by more focused bursts of his healing magic to get the holes in his chest in order, Josef asked his companion the question that lay pressingly on his mind.

"Why are we fighting Aifreed?" It was one thing to have Zippa writhing on the ground after burning down his cocoon, but the elf looked wide awake, was moving around just fine, and positively lethal in combat. Compared to his prior experience, this didn't look like he was under the same kind of illusion as they had been.

"No idea. When we arrived, he was chasing down the bunny, and even managed to take an ear off. That's how we knew something was wrong," Bezzo took some deep breaths, testing the state of his lungs, then rushed back in to help Linda, who was getting overwhelmed by the knight's assault.

"Zip, can you get him off Linda?" Josef asked his friend. There was no need to explain his intentions, because the elven woman was in a rough enough spot to require healing as well. Of course, he also didn't miss the chance to apply his regenerative magic to Zippa, to make sure he'd stay in one piece as well. He also checked in with his familiars, now that the distance allowed for more than a basic exchange of emotions. Dusty was doing well enough, as he hadn't received any other injuries after losing an ear.

Pretzel was a little bruised, but thankfully the blood on her scales was mostly not hers. Neither of them followed his offer to pull back for treatment, desiring to continue their fight instead. Seeing that they were in stable enough conditions, Josef didn't argue with that. What he did want to argue with, though, was Linda's own refusal to disengage the fight after Zippa forced the knight back with a flaming charge.

She stubbornly continued to chase after Aifreed, disregarding all the blood she was losing in the meantime. He couldn't fault her for the complicated feelings she was no doubt going through, but it was aggravating nonetheless. But if the patient didn't come to the healer, then the healer would make a house visit. He was not so frail that getting close to the fight would suddenly scare him. Even if that swordsmanship looked terribly intimidating now that he was on the wrong side of it.

"Do you have a plan on how to wake him back up?" he asked his companions after joining the melee. After finally getting his magic onto the desperate elf, he could breathe a little easier, seeing as the gash on her torso scabbed over quickly.

"Can't you use the same thing you did to me?" Zippa grunted, swinging widely with gleaming hot fists, interrupting another combo from the sword-wielding elf.

"Only if we can pin him down first. I don't want to hurt him more than necessary." Josef shook his head, assessing the situation. If he wildly fired streams of mana at the knight to drain away that deceptive substance, then he would probably achieve more meaningless damage than actual progress. In fact, he couldn't even spot the telltale spots of sickly mana from this distance, having taken up position behind everyone else.

Only so many of them could crowd around Aifreed in close combat without stepping on each other's toes. It was sensible for the guy with supportive magic to stay back, especially since he wasn't really all that good up close. Something told him that trying to punch the old knight, befuddled mind or not, was a quick way to lose a hand. In the end, no such risk would be necessary because no matter how skilled the elf was, he could not hold out against all of them.

It only took one mistake for his position to become untenable. That mistake took the shape of a bunny going for his ankle, forcing an uncoordinated step that had him tumble into one of Zippa's hefty swings. Laid out on the ground, he was quickly bound by force and magic, as both Pretzel and Bezzo jumped him, using bodily strength and a sphere of water. During that, Linda took her knight's sword, significantly reducing all further danger he could pose. Only then did Josef move in, scanning the elf's mana closely.

It was no surprise he couldn't tell the intruding mana from his own, once he realized how well it had mixed with the body's own energy. Did Aifreed embrace this substance willingly? Just what could it have shown him to make the old elf embrace an illusion wholeheartedly? The only way they would find out was by asking. Which required him to wake up first, something Josef started on immediately. It was messy work, considering he couldn't easily separate the mixed mana, at least not with his current capabilities.

He could, however, aim for the thickest spots of the sticky energy and remove those first. With no outside source adding more of it, this approach eventually diluted what was present inside the elf's body, as his own mana naturally regenerated what was lost. It was only a little concerning how eagerly his own heart lapped up the mana of his companion, as if finally getting a treat it had hungered for. That was another concern for later.

Finally, the remaining substance was almost unperceivable by his newly upgraded eyes, and the knight opened his eyes soon after.

"Mirabelle?" Aifreed whispered, his eyes still unfocused.

"Did I fail you again?"

"Who is that?" Zippa was the first to ask, looking at Linda, who kneeled worriedly at her knight's side.

"His late wife." She answered briskly, her eyes wet and full of worry.

"Look at me, Aifreed. Please. You have to come back to us." She was gently shaking his shoulder, trying to get his reaction. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Aifreed, however, continued to stare blankly ahead, occasionally murmuring about his wife.

"It's like he's not even here." Josef felt reminded of something by the sight of this, though he couldn't quite recall what at the moment. Though where his own memory failed him, Dusty's didn't, as the bunny moved up to the downed knight and impatiently drummed a paw on the elf's stomach. Even without the link between them, it was clear where his familiar wanted him to look.

Ignoring the angry glare Linda threw at the rabbit, he leaned in closer and pushed his manasight to its limits, trying to see what he would otherwise have to check with an injection of his own mana. It was difficult, but with some strain, he managed to spot the origin of mana within the body. It was Aifreed's mana core, nestled in his lower abdomen like it was for everyone he had checked so far.

But what he saw left Josef reeling, forcing him to check a second time with his own mana, just to verify if his eyes were still working. A large chunk of the core had dimmed, like a lightbulb that only shone in one direction, and what he found upon contact with his own energy only confirmed this. Parts of the core felt dry and crumbled, not unlike what happened to his own body when mana got scarce. The core was damaged.

It was not as extensive as what had happened to that woman they rescued from the alleyway all those nights prior, but now he knew where he had seen similar behavior before. Her gaze was just as vacant after Dusty had broken her core, freeing her of that feral state at a cost they couldn't fathom. He relayed as much to the others, shocking them all. Having a damaged or broken core was considered barely better than outright death.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know if or how my magic could heal that," he told Linda, who had asked him with some hope in her eyes.

"At least for now," he added, trying to restore some of the hope he had just quenched. Was this the aim of that creature's magic, to ensnare them with illusions until they gave up and had their power and minds stripped away? To think that this was what the substance intended to do with a person's core, it caused no small scare in Josef. He had willingly absorbed that stuff into his very heart, never considering what would happen if it couldn't digest the mana.

Or was there something more at play with the knight's fate? Either way, the damage was done, and Aifreed was in no state to be questioned on what exactly had happened to him while they were separated. Unfortunately, there was little time for them to come to terms with effectively losing one of their own, because the boss would not give them any more respite. With the last victim freed from its vile trap, the surrounding darkness lifted.

It didn't just pull back and weaken, like it had done before, but simply vanished, as if it had never been there. What it revealed was terrifying in more ways than one. They really had been running around on a massive slab of meat, as they could now see it contrast against a faraway stone wall, showing that both this room and the thing underneath them were absolutely gargantuan.

He always found it ridiculous to try measuring things against the size of football fields, but one of those could have easily fit on their particular cut of the massive creature filling this room. Nor was that the limit of its dimensions, as he could see the dying inferno Zippa had unleashed in the distance, on an entirely different segment of its own, which was just as large.

Looking across the teeth-filled pit next to them, he could make out several more of these segments, forming the full shape of what was undoubtedly their enemy. The size difference and angle made it a bit awkward to put the image together, but in the end, Josef was left with little doubt that they were standing on top of a flower. A massive flower made from meat, which was trying to trap and drain them dry. Like a flytrap hunting insects, the scent of progress had lured all of them into its embrace.

And from within the center, between those endless gnashing teeth, three worms, thick as massive trees, rose up, thrashing about momentarily before their eyeless perception locked onto them. No, those weren't worms, he corrected himself. Those were the things inside a flower's bud. What were they called again? Stamen? Were the parasites they had fought before this thing's offspring? Not worms but seeds, looking around for the right soil to burrow in? Somehow, that imagery only made the whole thing worse.

"It's been plants all along." Bezzo had also picked up on it, muttering darkly.

"Fucking plants." Even Josef considered becoming an obligate carnivore after this. At least it would fit the image of a dragon. Then again, he might just turn vegetarian out of sheer spite, eating all of those evil plants before they could sink their roots into him. But if plants could be made of meat, then what did those terms even mean anymore? Before he could descend deeper into a confused rage, a violent, angry chime forcefully pushed into his mind.

✌︎●︎●︎ ⧫︎♒︎□︎⬧︎♏︎ ⬥︎♒︎□︎ ⧫︎❒︎♏︎⬧︎◻︎♋︎⬧︎⬧︎ ⬧︎♒︎♋︎●︎●︎ ♌︎♏︎♍︎□︎❍︎♏︎ ♐︎◆︎♏︎●︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎ □︎◆︎❒︎ ♑︎❒︎□︎⬥︎⧫︎♒︎📬︎ 🕈︎♏︎●︎♍︎□︎❍︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎︎︎♒︎︎︎♏︎︎︎⬧︎︎︎♏︎︎︎ ♒︎︎︎♋︎︎︎●︎︎︎●︎︎︎⬧︎︎︎📪︎︎︎ ♐︎︎︎□︎︎︎◆︎︎︎●︎︎︎ ♓︎︎︎■︎︎︎⧫︎︎︎❒︎︎︎◆︎︎︎♎︎︎︎♏︎︎︎❒︎︎︎📬︎︎︎ Of course the boss had to announce itself with invasive gibberish. He had almost hoped there wouldn't be one of those this time around, after going so long without it. In the end, it was only waiting for the final reveal to make its introduction.

Looking down at the knight at their feet, Josef could tell that this was going to be a mess. They would have to keep the elf safe in the middle of a fight, while the enemy was technically all around them already. If they had to lug him around all fight long, then one person came to mind who would do it gladly and had the strength to do so. And she probably wasn't in a good mental state to fight in, either.

"Hey Linda-" The words died in his throat, as the elven lady had already gripped her greatsword with both hands and charged at the nearest appendage with a roar that would have put a wild animal to shame.

"I'll cut you down to size! This is for Aifreed!" The elf swung with wild abandon, and her hit rate had returned to its previous low, as her target was simply out of reach. That didn't stop her from stepping up to the very edge of the gnashing abyss below, and swinging at whatever worm was closest. As his gaze shifted quickly between the unconscious knight and the raging berserker, he could only sigh. A mess indeed.