Pluvia: haah.  

Hearing system's confirmation, Pluvia knew that the Queen had died. Feeling the pressure on her body disappear, she knew that it finally over. But before she could revel in her victory, fatigue flooded her body. She suddenly felt as if she was standing in the middle of the ocean, resisting the waves with her body alone. This was the price for overusing her Qi. Forcing her already stressed body to increase in strength so quickly had completely burnt her out. As the dizzying waves assaulted her mind and body, she noticed the Qi in her muscles slowly leaking out. As that power kept leaving her body, she felt incredibly sick. As the only source of her energy at that point, the Qi was crucial to her. Without it, she'd barely be able to move, let alone fight. But no matter how she tried to prevent it, the used up Qi was naturally leaving her body. After a few seconds, she had already lost a tenth of it. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before it all vanished. Focusing her complete attention on holding in the dissipating energy, she closed her eyes. As the furrow on her brow grew deeper, she tried everything she could to hold in the Qi. As the pressure on her mind began affecting her body, Pluvia began swaying gently back and forth. Using her massive store of information, she tried dozens of methods. But even with all of her knowledge, she couldn't stop the natural flow of the energy.  

At some point, she became vaguely aware of someone calling out to her. But being so deeply focused, she couldn't take the time to answer that voice. So placing that noise out of her mind, she focused on her quickly escaping Qi. Knowing that she couldn't keep the energy in her body, she changed her method. wanting to retain as much power as she could, Pluvia went about absorbing back the Qi into her monster core. As it had come out of her core not too long ago, it wasn't difficult for her to pull it back inside. But as both her body and mind were exhausted, she couldn't efficiently recall the Qi. Though at fist she was absorbing back as much Qi as was lost, that didn't last long. As time went by, her condition only got worse. After a minute of struggling, she couldn't hold up anymore. Unable to fight the tide within her body, she watched helplessly as her power escaped. To make things even worse, her body was starting to revert back to its human form. Having run out the Qi sustaining her transformation, it was only natural for Pluvia to revert to her weakest form. Adding that pressure onto her already burdened mind had broken her resistance. Looking at the pitiful portion of Qi in her monster core, Pluvia couldn't help but smile derisively at herself. opening her eyes, Pluvia took a quick glance at Solomon. Seeing his worried expression and moving lips, she felt really guilty. Unable to hold her mind together any longer, Pluvia lost herself to the endless tide of fatigue. As she collapsed to the floor, the last sight she saw was Solomon's wide-eyed face.  

Solomon: PLUVIA!!!!!  

Seeing her suddenly collapse, Solomon panicked. Having already known that she'd overtaxed herself, Solomon planned on giving her time to recuperate. After all, it was because of him that she was forced to such a condition in the first place. But watching her sudden collapse, he realised that she was even more exhausted than he at first thought. Knowing that his actions had caused this, Solomon felt a deep pain in his heart. In part, he blamed himself for being too weak to protect her. Worried that she was more than just exhausted, he planned on running over to check on her her. But before he could, a heavy wave of fatigue hit his body. Focusing on his body, Solomon realised that his werewolf transformation was coming to an end.  

Solomon: Shit! Not now!  

Falling to one knee, Solomon tried desperately to delay his regression. But as the painful waves of fatigue battered against his brain, Solomon could barely hold himself together. After forcing himself to take a few unsteady steps, he finally gave in. Falling face first onto the hard cave floor, he lay completely still. Gazing at the still body of Pluvia laying a few metres away, he could barely contain his worry. But he knew if he forced himself to move now, he'd only end up in the same state as her. So after swallowing his bitter feelings, Solomon waited for his body to once again become human. Almost instantly, his body began shrinking. At first, his elongated, wolf-like legs reformed to their usual shape. Then his sharp teeth shrunk back down to their original length. Finally, his coating of silver hair shed off of his body. As the layer of fur fell to the floor a pile of needle-thin hairs stick into the floor. Even after leaving his body the fur retained it's sharpness, easily sinking several inches into the cave's rocky floor. While this Whole process was taking place, Solomon was desperately resisting his urge to rush over to Pluvia. Though he wanted to rush to her side and check on her right then, he knew that his changing body wouldn't allow it. Without any alternatives, he could only wait out his changing body. Clenching his jaw tightly, Solomon counted the seconds until his transformation ended. One minute and thirty-seven seconds later, it was finally over. Feeling as if he'd waited an eternity, Solomon quickly got back to his feet. But as he took his first step forwards, Solomon almost fell flat on his face. Having gone back to his human form, Solomon was very weakened. For the next few minute's he'd struggle to even walk. But unwilling to delay any longer, he forged onwards. Stumbling over to Pluvia, he almost tripped several times. But recovering quickly, he soon reached her side. Looking down at her limp body, he had a sudden surprise. She was completely naked, without a single piece of cloth on her body. Having passed out as soon as she reverted back to her human form, Pluvia naturally didn't have the time to get dressed. Looking down at her completely exposed body, Solomon had several impure thoughts. But after quickly forcing those out of his mind, he went about checking her condition.  

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Pluvia: huuuh, huuuh, huuuh.  

Placing his head next to hers, Solomon was relieved to hear her soft breathing. Lifting up her soft body, Solomon checked her for any obvious injuries. Though he wasn't a doctor, he'd easily be able to see any cuts or bruises. But even after checking her most intimate areas, Solomon surprisingly found nothing. She didn't even have a little bruise, let alone a grievous injury like he'd expected. It seemed that all of her injuries had remained on her dragon form and that only her fatigue seemed to have remained behind. At a guess, he imagined she was just overwhelmed by her fatigue and had passed out. If that was the case, she should recover in a relatively short amount of time. But just in case, Solomon would have Alice feed her a potion.  

Solomon; haagh. Don't worry me like that.   

Searching through dragon's fire, Solomon quickly found several sets of female clothes. Having used the space to carry all their supplies, Solomon had several sets of clothing for everyone. Taking Pluvia's clothes out, he began dressing her in them. But as he kept moving her around to put the clothes on, he was getting a good feel of her delicate body. Not to mention a full view of her exposed body. Looking at her fair skin and bare "assets" he struggled to keep his hands to himself. Luckily, after a few minutes, he'd gotten her dressed without losing himself to temptation. Lying her down on a bedding of rolled up clothes, he embarrassingly turned away from her. The guilty feeling in his heart couldn't help but make him avert his gaze from her. Though she was now wearing clothes, he had already seen the full extent her body had to offer. The thin layers of fabric covering her did little to prevent his mind from running wild. Hoping to alleviate his dirty thoughts, Solomon looked over towards Alice and Gareth. Having been preoccupied with Pluvia's sudden collapse, he hadn't had the time to think about them. But now remembering the massive horde of enemies they were facing, he couldn't help but worry. Though he had killed the Queen, he wasn't sure if it had any effect on the parasite's horde. So quickly staring towards them, he desperately hoped they were okay. But seeing the sight before his eyes, he could only stare wide-eyed. The Whole landscape in front of him was littered with parasite corpses. Not only were the parasites dead, but looking at their brutalised corpse it was plain to see that they had been decimated. Looking at the various different states of the bodies, Solomon couldn't help but feel amazed. Even after scanning the whole battlefield, he couldn't find a single living parasite.  

Gawking at the scene before him, Solomon failed to notice the figure slowly approaching him. From amidst the mountain of corpses, a short man wearing a green camouflaged shirt and shorts slowly walked towards him. Seeing the bewildered look on Solomon's face, and the unconscious Pluvia, that man spoke to him.  

Gareth: Hey, you alright?!  

Hearing a voice, Solomon snapped out of his amazement. Looking over at Gareth, he noticed him staring at Pluvia. Even through his haggard expression, Solomon could clearly see the panic in his eyes. Looking at her limp body, he was worried that the worst had happened.  

Solomon: she's okay, She just passed. Knowing her she'll be back on her feet in no time.  

Waving his hand dismissively, Solomon explained Pluvia's current condition. Though he did exaggerate her recovery time to soothe Gareth's nerves. In all likelihood, she would be knocked out for the rest of the mission. Even if she did wake up, what could she do with her injured body?    

Solomon: Besides, how the hell did you do this?  

Looking out at the sea of insect corpses, Solomon was eager to know how they'd died. Knowing that even he would struggle against this many enemies made him extremely curious as to their methods. For Alice and Gareth who were much weaker than himself to pull off such a mass execution meant that their plan had to be special. Otherwise, how would they have so easily wiped out several thousand parasites? looking over at Gareth, Solomon waited for his explanation. Seeing how impressed he was, Gareth couldn't help but let a cheeky smirk sneak onto his face. Knowing that his actions had even surprised Solomon left him feeling extremely prideful. It wasn't every day that one of his actions could leave Solomon in awe. 

Gareth: It's quite impressive, ain't it? Well, I'll explain as we walk.  

Crouching down, Gareth took a hold of Pluvia's unconscious body. After hefting her over his shoulder, he started walking away from Solomon. Still being in a fighting set of mind, Solomon was confused as to where he was going. looking blankly at Gareth, he asked him what he was doing. 

Solomon: walk?  

Gareth: Yeah, Alice and everyone else is still waiting for us.  

Nodding his head towards the distant tunnel where they were, Gareth explained to Solomon. Though he was a little confused that Solomon had asked him such a simple Question, he soon decided to forget about it. Having been in a high-stress situation himself, Gareth understood his slow uptake.  

Solomon: Oh yeah, let's get going then.  

Listening to Gareth, Solomon felt like an idiot. In an effort to hide his embarrassment, he started marching off towards their awaiting allies. luckily, Gareth didn't pursue his stupidity. Having made such a huge blunder, Solomon began to question his own condition. Up until then, he hadn't realised how mentally worn out he was. During his intense battle with the Queen, he hadn't had the luxury to relax. Forcing himself to focus, he didn't let any of the Queens actions pass him by. Though it put a huge strain on him, he was constantly analysing her every little behaviour. Having kept his mind in that constant state of tension for so long had undoubtedly affected him. Otherwise, how would the intelligent Solomon ever forget something so simple?