Chương 77: 1-76 Fire and botany

Josef could only stare with his mouth agape as the flaming figure streaked down from the cliff above and violently tore into the boss monster in front of him. Zippa's descent saw him pierce straight through one of the monster's wings before striking its shoulder, sending the whole creature reeling. More than that, the destruction of its wing had it veer sideways, falling over awkwardly, like a blimp that was going lopsided.

Then, he urgently closed his mouth, just in time to avoid swallowing any of the debris raining down on them. Debris that was thin, wriggling, and on fire, as the worms making up the monster's additional limbs were sent flying in the explosive impact.

"Zip!" His body was on the move without his brain even fully processing what was going on. Barely remembering his accumulated space mana, he bridged the remainder of the distance with a blink and appeared at the side of his friend. The still smoking reptile pulled himself from a small crater in the ground, covered in bits of charred gore, smiling wryly.

"Hey there, Jo. Missed me?" The idiot lizard coughed up some blood.

"Ugh, that was one of my worse ideas." Immediately swapping to channel healing energies, Josef flooded his friend with a panicked burst of Regeneration before switching to more direct healing. Looking him over, he saw more than just a few scales out of place, with some shattered or even ripped off by the forces involved. At least most of the charred blood on him didn't belong to the guy, considering the lack of open wounds.

"You fucking moron. Why would you jump down like that?" He was equally upset and grateful for his friend's timely intervention. If only he hadn't gotten hurt taking a risk for his sake.

"I could ask you the same thing." There was no more humor in Zippa's tone, as his eyes met the human's with an accusatory stare.

"I was really worried, you know? We all were. I swear I saw your snake crying when you disappeared into the darkness." Averting his eyes to the ground, Josef took a shuddering breath.

"I know." Of course he did. He wasn't daft, blind, or stupid. The link with Pretzel was right there, and he had noticed her distress, even when the illusion had momentarily blurred the connection.

"But what was I supposed to do? I saw a chance to end this, and I couldn't let it pass by."

"And it worked out, I guess," Zippa sighed, shaking his head.

"Otherwise, I would have already punched you in the face. If she didn't strangle you first." He nodded at the furious snake as he spoke that last part.

"Don't forget about my poison." A third voice interrupted them, as Bezzo dropped from the wall he had apparently scaled down.

"Both of you could use a dose, it might even fix your reckless brains." Their reunion was brief, as a hiss from Pretzel directed their attention toward the remaining danger. The devourer had overcome the shock of the impact and began to lift itself off the ground, using its tentacles. Additionally, the burning hole in its wing had closed up, though it now looked a fair bit smaller than the uninjured one. Sadly, that was not enough to keep the creature on the ground.

"How are you still flying? That makes no sense," he mumbled, disgruntled at the ridiculous sight. Then, out loud, he asked, "Is Linda not coming?" Bezzo grunted dismissively.

"The moment those worms withered away, she bolted in the direction Aifreed got dragged off to. Don't count on her coming back anytime soon." Josef couldn't help but feel disappointed, even if that reaction wasn't at all surprising. She hadn't been in the best state of mind since her knight went down. Picking up another information from those words, though, he looked around and realized just how dead the surrounding area looked.

He had noticed the change in color, as all those meaty red surfaces had turned a pallid grey, but now he came to understand that their entire surroundings were literally dying off. It looked like everything in this room depended on that one monster to exist. Now that it was no longer buried inside the flower-like structure, it all came apart quickly.

"Let's finish this before the ceiling falls on our heads." Their opening strike came from an off angle, as Dusty charged in from where he had tumbled into the wall. Rushing the ascending monster, he lunged with all the force of his weirdly stocky legs, and latched onto its side with all of his massive bulk. Just as the devourer had righted itself enough to glare angrily at its expanded menu, it was once more taken down by an attack from outside its field of vision.

This creature had no situational awareness outside of chasing its next meal, Josef noted. Not waiting for another invitation, Zippa joined the melee, throwing himself at the disoriented boss with flaming fists, carving chunks of seared flesh from their opponent. His brother was not far behind either, as Bezzo's claws were positively churning with poison, ready to give the devourer a taste of its own parasitic medicine.

Last but not least was Pretzel, who used her newly improved Water Prison, which was more of a Water Serpent now, to entangle one of the monster's tentacles in a wrestling match. That contest soon swayed in her favor, as the raging current seemingly bit chunks out of the appendage, crushing all the worms trapped inside of it. Just as Josef wanted to capitalize on the opening himself, a quiet whine had him turn to the origin of the noise.

There he spotted the acorn they had pulled from the monster's jaws, dragging itself forward on four wobbly vines, emerging from a dent in the cliff-side where it must have been crushed by Dusty's body. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. If nothing else, the creature was quite durable. Reduced to nothing but its core, something he was more than clear about now, it had still held on against getting devoured.

However, everything that had happened had taken a toll on it, because the movement of its vines was looking much less coordinated than when it was struggling to free itself. What remained was the question of why it was in the boss chamber to begin with. Heedless of that, Josef stretched out an open palm towards the creature, pulling out some restorative mana.

"It's okay. I can heal you. Probably." While it would have been easy to try, he had never considered using his healing magic on a plant. Having his focus on caring for the strange plant, he still sent out several streams of mana to rob more energy from their current quarry. There was no such thing as too much mana, and he could always dump the extra on his familiars.

A decision which was soon reaffirmed after the critter extended a vine towards his palm, hovering around it hesitantly, before finally touching the magic. After that, all pretenses dropped as it eagerly lapped up all the mana, quickly begging for more.

"Well, someone's parched." He smiled faintly at the antics of the creature. Its behaviour was kinda endearing, and it was sprouting more vines to create a solid shape. After only taking his eyes off it for a second, it had already grown considerably, its core almost fully inside an expanding body of lush greenery. Unfortunately, it was about time he rushed back into the fray, because the devourer was not taking its end lying down.

Well, it literally was, but now it was frantically raking at anyone in range, trying to shove its squirming tentacle claws into his friends. So far, only Zippa had been struck by it, because Dusty held on at too odd an angle, but the hardness of his ignited scales mostly blocked the blow, with his body temperature taking care of whatever infestation the boss attempted. However, he knew he had to be at the ready in case someone got infected by this parasite.

"Sorry, little one. If you were my familiar, I could share my mana more easily. You'll have to wait until after the fight if you want more." At least it was no longer at risk of accidentally getting snuffed out by a stray attack, having gained a much healthier luster. As the creature complained about the loss of its food, pleading pitifully, Josef turned away, only to have his attention snag on a notification that suddenly took the forefront in his awareness. A Seed of Spring is attempting to form a bond with you.

Would you like to accept this creature as your familiar? (3/4) What? It could be his familiar? Wanted it, even? When had his maximum increased, anyway? The answer to that was easy enough to pull from the plethora of messages swirling around just outside of his awareness. ☆☆☆ Summon Familiar (Exceptional) -> ☆☆☆☆ Summon Familiar (Inferior) Current limit: 4 It must have happened at some point during their ongoing fight, pushing his magic far enough to reach the next rank and unlocking another slot.

There had certainly been enough coordination between them recently, so the upgrade was to be expected. Still, should he just take in some random creature he had only met minutes ago? It clearly possessed some level of intelligence, seemingly following along with what he had said, but did it know what it was offering? Did he? Then, it made the most adorable puppy eyes at him, as two flowers sprouted to form an expression on its growing muzzle.

This creature was growing into the form of a dog, albeit with some creative freedoms, considering it was made from plant matter.

"Fuck it, you're in." He patted its head affectionately. Dogs were men's best friend for a reason, and he was pretty certain he had once successfully taken care of a cactus. All things considered, he was more than capable of raising an intelligent plant. Something was still missing, though, as the magic didn't snap into place, even as it spread to connect the both of them. Experienced as Josef was after going through the summoning process several times, he had a good idea of what he had to do.

This time, the physical appearance was already set, as much as that could apply to a being like that. The same was likely true for its affinity, whatever it was, something that he intended to find out later. How would an entirely new affinity even affect him, considering his skills? He couldn't linger on that thought, because the one thing that remained to be done was giving it a name.

Looking at the leafy critter, which was now shaking from excitement, its backside bobbing back and forth under the force of a short twig-tail, he came to a conclusion.

"You're a good girl." She agreed with a noise that barely sounded reminiscent of a bark.

"And you're a seed of spring…" he hummed, trying to find something that went with that description. Finally, he decided.

"Sprout!" He could feel the excitement and happiness flooding him just as the link was barely establishing itself. This plant proved to be much more emotional than any of his other familiars currently present. At least, as far as sheer intensity was concerned. Both Dusty and Pretzel briefly focused their attention on him, taking notice of the sudden addition to their growing family.

The bunny sent only some vague acknowledgment before returning his focus to the fight, and Pretzel followed suit soon after, though he could feel some jealousy seep through their link. That was something he would have to address at some point. He would not let these two fight over him when he had two hands perfectly capable of petting them at the same time. At least this one wouldn't vie for a spot on his shoulder.

"Alright, girl, let's see what you can do with massive amounts of mana." Fortunately, his bunny had little qualms about giving up his share of the mana overflow that had been sent his way so far, and the serpent followed soon after, unwilling to turn down a request from her summoner. Going all in on draining the boss, the flow of energy he received picked up considerably, making him wonder if starving the devourer had even been an option.

From his point of view, there was a ridiculous amount of mana left inside the creature. Much of which now actively surged into Sprout, who was drinking it all up greedily like the plant she was. And where Dusty's transformations were breathtaking in their own way, hers was of an entirely different caliber. Clearly, she was meant to grow while energy was in abundance, and the fresh supply was massive.

Finalizing the shape of a dog, including floppy ears like a retriever's, she quickly gained size as all of her proportions grew. In the beginning, it was rapid, though the required mana soon increased along with her volume. Still, she expanded beyond the size of a horse, and was now approaching the dimensions of Dusty's current body.

As the devourer finally took notice of the expanding greenery at the edge of the battle, Josef could have sworn there was a moment of fear in its eyes as it looked up into the face of its former meal. Now the tables had turned.

"Woof!" Sprout's bark shook the ground.