On the other side of the forest, the second team was getting closer to their objective. Thanks to Emily’s improved powers, she managed to detect the presence of all creatures around them, but that was not all.

The forest opened to let her walk freely, and her footsteps made the grass grow to hide them. It sounded almost like the magic of fairy tales or myths, but there was no other way to describe it.

The path of Azasie, huh, is pretty useful. It was part of the power she gained after she transformed into a plant creature, and this was her power without using the new orb. She could do much more if she used it, but she abstained for now, following Silas's warning and her own instincts.

"We’re getting close. It should be in a cave around here. How are we going to enter?" After deciding in a formation, they agreed to have Franco in front, followed by Nadine with the green sword, and in the back, Emily and Rebecca. Everyone had weapons, but they weren’t the best quality, with the exception of the green sword.

"It is a straight path with a turn to the left. The village there is like the one in our cave, and in the temple, it should be the staff we’re looking for. I can’t feel other creatures, but we should stay on guard."

"Leave it to me in case anything happens." Franco was ready to attack, but the path was empty.

Once they reached the village, they confirmed it was just like the one they used as a base. Some of the houses were in better condition. In the back, a temple was slightly above the earth. They explored the houses and looked for things that could be useful, but they didn’t find anything.

"This temple is empty. Where is the staff?"

"There is a secret passage behind that wall. We need to move, or maybe if we push a switch."

Franco walked to the wall and put one of his gloves on. With one swing, the wall crumbled and revealed the hidden passage. "There, it is faster this way."

"What if there was a trap on the other side?" Nadine reprimanded him, but he just shrugged it off.

The hidden passage was long, and Emily couldn’t see very well. There were no roots or any plants in the darkness. The tunnel got darker and darker until they could barely see in front of them. "Can you make a lamp or maybe a flashlight, Nadine?"

"No with these rocks. Maybe if we have a fire or something."

A wind came from the front; they were standing on the edge of an abyss. An empty void with only one thing in the center. It was a small altar with a staff resting on it. She could feel it in the middle, but her eyes only saw darkness in front.

"It’s right below us in the center, but there's nothing to walk on."

"Well, this is just perfect. No one here has the power to fly or walk on the walls. How are we supposed to go and grab it?"

"I wonder if I can make a bridge or maybe a rope to get across."

"Maybe I can try to help you with the orb." She took it out of her pocket.

"Are you sure? If something happens, we are kind of in a bad spot."

"What’s the point of having it if I can’t use it? I need to at least try and say it didn’t work with confidence." The orb began to glow as she focused on making a path to the staff. From her feet, a small path of vines emerged from the ground.

The plant bridge made its way to the center at great speed, but it stopped before reaching the altar. The vines were frozen in place, and Emily felt an unnatural reaction. "I can’t move."

"What do you mean?"

"My legs, no, my whole body is not responding." Her arms were frozen in place and the bridge collapsed. The vines were sapped of their life and crumbled into dust, but the same thing was happening to her arm.

Her arm was withering like a leaf, and it was expanding into her body. "Drop the orb!" Franco yelled.

"I can’t! I’m stuck in place!" Before he could punch it out of her hand, she screamed. "Don’t touch it! I don't know what could happen to you now!" Her arm had shriveled up like a raisin. Before the same could happen to her body, Nadine cut it off.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

A single slash to separate the arm She didn’t hesitate; she already knew that Rebecca could heal it later. The orb fell to the ground and the arm turned to dust. They were looking at Emily to see if she was fine. Nothing else happened to her. She could move again.

"Thanks, Can you heal me, Rebecca?"

"Y-Yes." She summoned her shadow and began to heal the flesh. This was the first time she had to heal a missing limb. With normal medicine, it would be impossible since the limb was lost, but with her ability, she was able to go beyond the point of modern medicine. The shadow pulled out a strange liquid and it started to reconstitute the arm piece by piece.

While Rebecca healed her arm, Emily looked at the others. "I don’t know what happened, but that staff is powerful."

"Is that why you started to wither? Are you sure it wasn’t the orb?"

"No, it overpowered me and the orb. I couldn’t get any closer. Sorry, I don’t think I can touch it or maybe I'll die if I do."

Nadine took the orb from the ground and gave it to her. "There is nothing to say sorry for. Without you, we wouldn’t even know this was here. Come Franco, help carry some of the stones in the village. I’m going to make a solid bridge."

The two of them went back to the temple and began to grab all the pieces and walls they could. Franco demolished the houses like a machine with his fist and carried the pieces back while Nadine made the bridge.

It was long and hard work. After Emily’s arm was healed, Rebecca was too exhausted to help. So, they had to work with only three people. It took them half a day to make the bridge. They couldn’t waste too much time if they wanted to go back to base at the agreed time.

"S-sorry that I can’t help with the bridge."

"Don’t worry, you gave me a new arm. You need to save your energy for things like that."

"It wasn’t me who healed you."

"Mmm?"

"It was my shadow. I don’t even know how it heals you. I just have the power, but it would be more useful in someone like you or Nadine."

"Don’t be too hard on yourself. None of us asked for the powers. We just got it randomly. I didn’t have any interest in plants before all this."

"Really? W-Well I can’t argue with you on that. I wasn’t interested in medicine either. I was just pretending." She said it with a depressed look in her eyes. Emily was about to ask her to tell her more about it, but Nadine called them.

"I think I’m getting close over here!" The bridge was crude but solid. Unlike the one made with vines, this one used the walls around them as support. It was narrow, they had to walk on a line. The alter was barely visible in the dark.

"Can you jump from here, Franco?"

"Yeah, it should be close enough. But what if the stone collapses with my weight."

"I have more material to try to make something, like a net to catch you or a rope."

"I would try to help, but I can get close."

"Huh, fine I’ll do it. Nadine, make sure to throw me something if it cracks." He waited for her to take a good position and for Emily to go back to the edge. He measured the distance and leaped to the altar.

His feet hit the stone with a loud noise. A wave of dust came up, but it was stable. He was a bit more relaxed but couldn’t take too long. A wrong step could cause it to break, and he had no idea how deep the fall was. He took firm steps and reached the staff. He was about to touch it when he got a disturbing feeling.

This is like Tomas’s power, but it’s not alone. It's like Nadine used her own power to make it a weapon. It was the same sensation he felt when he saw Tomas using his power against the alpha wolf in the cave. Whatever this thing did, it had a power similar to that.

The memory of Tomas's bleeding from his face made him hesitate for a moment, but he didn’t have to use it. Holding it should be fine. The moment he touched the cave, it began to shake and stones came from above.

"What is this a movie? Nadine!" He ran back, but the ground was already falling. He jumped up and grabbed the makeshift rope.

She had to use all of her strength to get him back up. More rocks were about to fall on the bridge.

With two punches, Franco blew them apart, but another fell behind. The bridge was shattered, and they jumped to the edge. Both managed to hold onto it and the others helped them get up.

They ran back into the tunnel as the sound of the cave collapsing behind them was getting closer. Suddenly, they stopped in their tracks. A giant stone destroyed the exit. There was no way out anymore.

"What do we do, we’re about to be crushed like insects?"

"I’m going to use the orb and try to open a path from above in the forest." Emily was decided, but she was still tired after the staff incident and her new arm was still feeling weird. She watched as Franco threw the staff at Nadine to hold while he took a posture.

"What are you doing? You can’t punch our way out or the whole cave is going to collapse."

"Is already collapsing, just make sure you three run as soon as it’s open." He focused all his power on his right hand. The glove started to shine bright red. Between all of us, the one who has the most useless ability is me. I can’t heal, make weapons, or detect animals. The only thing I can do is punch hard.

He didn’t listen to the voices behind him as he threw a hook. The stone was obliterated, and the path was open. Emily used the orb and made vines to take them to the other side, but she couldn’t touch the staff. If she did, the same thing would happen.

"Nadine, drop the staff!" It was a split-second decision. Emily used the vines to push them throughout the opening. A loud crashing sound could be heard in the cave.

The cave collapsed, but they made it out. They were on the floor of the temple. Behind them, the hidden passage was buried in rocks.

"Oh, thank God we’re alive."

"But we lost the staff. That was the whole point of coming here."

"Maybe it is better. I don’t know what the price was to use it, but I sure didn’t want to be the one to pay it."

"Yes, it felt weird when I touched it. I got the feeling that it was like when Emily and I made the orb together."

After that, they went back with empty hands. Despite failing to get the staff, they weren’t feeling too bad; their powers were becoming stronger. With each step, they discover something new.

"Let’s hope the others get the ore."