“The village head is in here.” The stall woman opened the door. “Again, thank you, sir.”

Ezra walked in without another word. Behind him, Pete and Yuki followed. Pete’s eyes darting around the inside of the house while Yuki, on the other hand, shook as she looked at her hands.

Ezra nodded. Truly, he had the perfect team.

There was an old man inside the wooden shack, with only a table and chair. There was something to be said about minimalism, But Ezra thought this guy was taking it too far.

“Suppota, dear,” the old man said. “Who are these people you have brought before me?”

Suppota bowed her head.

“Honored elder,” she said. “These three defeated one of the corrupted creatures. I have asked them to assist us, and they have agreed.”

The elder’s eyes widened at the first part; then his jaw dropped at the second.

“But I…” He glanced at Suppota. “How much are they asking in return?”

Suppota leaned in. “Six weeks’ worth of food for each of them.”

The elder blinked and then laughed aloud. “Suppota, please, don’t joke. What are they actually asking?”

Ezra marched forward, his arms crossed. “That’s right. No negotiation. Six weeks or no deal.”

The elder’s jaw repeatedly opened, then closed.

“I’m sorry, what?” he said.

“Fine then. Seven weeks because you keep on questioning me.”

The elder furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at Suppota. Suppota shrugged.

“Well, I… we agree?” he said.

Ezra marched forward and slammed his hands onto the table. “Right. Come on, give me the quest details.”

The elder took a second to start talking.

“W-well, here in Rivertown, we rely upon the river’s blessings to survive. It serves as irrigation for our crops, water for our animals, and a breeding ground for our fish.”

“I didn’t see any river coming in,” Pete said.

The elder faced Pete and nodded.

“Indeed. It started slowly, the river lowering. We just attributed it to natural causes at first,” he said. “But It kept getting lower and lower. We sent some of our boys in to investigate, most of them didn’t come back, save for one.”

There was no sadness, no grief in his tone. This was an old wound, one that had long since scabbed over.

“What did he say?” Yuki said.

She wasn’t shaking anymore—it looked like she’d managed to pull herself together. That was good.

“He said there was a creature at the river’s source. Something was covering the spring, consuming the water. That same creature killed all the people we sent in.”

The elder sighed and looked down at the table.

“We would’ve hired an adventurer, but they weren’t… they were too expensive, unfortunately. The few good ones are too far south. The ones near here asked prices we couldn’t afford.”

“Yeah, great,” Ezra said. “Anything we need to know about the monster?”

The elder shook his head.

“If we knew anything, we’d tell you. Unfortunately, the only survivor wasn’t able to tell us much of interest. There were too many things happening too quickly.”

“Where exactly are we supposed to go?” Pete said.

Suppota raised her hand.

“I’ll show you the way,” she said.

The elder looked at her with wide eyes. “Suppota! You can’t—“

Suppota shook her head. “Grandfather, I must. It’s the least we can do for them.”

Hadn’t Ezra seen this plotline a half-dozen times somewhere else?

“Yeah, no,” Ezra said. “She’s staying right there. It’s a river. We can just follow it up to the source.”

Suppota and her grandfather paused.

“Oh,” Suppota said. “That’s a good point.”

“Just show us where this river is, please,” Ezra said.

They were led outside toward the center of the village, where a large section of the ground had been dug up. Ezra knew it was just the river.

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“Right, so you can just follow the river up there,” Suppota trailed off. “Good luck, I guess.”

Ezra stepped forward, his black jacket fluttering behind him.

“You’ll know we’ve succeeded once the river starts flowing,” he said.

Ezra gave her a thumbs-up, then hopped into the riverbed. Yuki and Pete followed behind him.

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The ground was dry and barren even though water had been flowing through it at one point. The forest around them grew steadily thicker as they wound their way toward the interior. The rot became stronger and stronger, and a foul smell filled the air. The trees had long since died, and thick, gnarled branches littered the ground. The sun was becoming harder and harder to see, and the canopy grew thicker by the second.

Ezra’s boots padded against the dirt.

“So, Yuki, what was that ability you used?” Ezra said.

Yuki almost stumbled but quickly regained her balance.

“What ability?” she said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you know,” Ezra said. “That ability you used to slice that boar in half. Very impressive stuff.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The look in your eyes—it was a rather startling shift. Tell me, do you have an ability that influences your emotions?”

Yuki stopped and whipped her head toward Ezra. “Uh, no…? Do you?”

“So then what is it? Answer my questions, Yuki.”

Yuki’s breath came in a bit quicker before she turned and continued marching ahead. Pete gave Ezra a look before catching up with Yuki. Ezra stuck his hands in his pockets. They were so dramatic.

After a few minutes, Pete broke the silence.

“I think I see the spring,” Pete said.

Ezra looked up ahead.

Pete was right.

A grotesque, pulsating creature clung to the ground, its slimy, purple skin glistening in the dim light. Resembling an octopus, its bulbous body throbbed, each pulse sending ripples across its gelatinous surface. Its flesh stretched out, covering the entire spring. From this flesh, jets of green water intermittently sprayed out with a hiss, creating a foul mist that hung in the air.

Interlocutor - Lv. 16

Ezra pulled out his needle.

“[Polymorphism],” he whispered under his breath.

It was right then and there that the ground erupted with water, slammed into Ezra, and sent him flying into the air. Ezra flew through the air, his body limp and lifeless. His heart was pounding in his chest while his brain struggled to catch up with what had happened.

He was in the air, with no safe landing place.

His eyes scanned around for some kind of solution.

A branch.

“[Restrain]!”

Threads brushed out of a nearby tree branch and around his body. He swung through the air like a discount Spider-Man before falling and crashing through a half-dozen branches. They acted as buffers, preventing the worst of the damage.

Ezra pushed himself up and looked over at the battlefield.

Pete fired an arrow, and the arrow hit the purple, octopus-like skin before deflecting away. Yuki waved her staff back and forth, applying various enchantments to Pete’s attacks.

“The weak spot! Look for the head!” Ezra shouted.

Pete glanced back and forth, stopping his blows.

“I don’t see anything!” he shouted.

Ezra’s eyes washed over the amorphous mass of flesh. Nothing seemed to be popping out.

“[Poisonous Prick].”

He wasn’t sure if this would help, but it would probably do something at least.

He threw his needle at the blob.

There was a screech as soon as the Interlocutor was hit.

Ezra’s eyes noticed an area that was bubbling. The brain? He jumped forward and onto the creature’s skin. Immediately, water jetted out from the flesh, hitting him. This wasn’t your cousin’s water gun, either. It was sharp and painful, blasting him with what felt like a dozen hard punches at the same time. Ezra flew through the air and back onto the ground near Pete and Yuki.

He pushed himself up, then coughed.

“I saw the brain,” he said. “I think I did, anyway.”

“I think I saw it too, but how are we going to get over there?” Pete said.

Ezra held out his hand, and his needle appeared in his fingers.

“We don’t need to,” Ezra said. “We have ranged weapons, don’t we? Shoot it in the head!”

Pete gulped, then faced toward the bubbling section of the monster. He pulled back his bowstring—

And missed entirely.

Ezra blinked.

“What.”

Pete’s face convulsed with a series of expressions before he pulled back his bowstring for another attack. Once again, he missed.

“Use an ability, you idiot!” Ezra said.

“I—I can’t!”

“What do you mean you can’t!?”

“I mean that I can’t!“

Ezra felt a chill go down his spine and instinctively leaped to the side. Pete wasn’t so lucky. Another jet of water launched him into the air.

“Shit! [Restrain]!”

Ezra pulled the same maneuver that he’d done to himself. Thread wrapped around Pete from a nearby branch, swinging him into the overgrown trees and protecting him from the worst of it. Ezra mentally diminished the skill, allowing Pete to go free. He then turned his attention back to his enemy.

“Yuki! Please tell me you have some way to get me over there!” Ezra said

“If you want movement spells, that’s Dorian’s domain, not mine!”

Ezra dodged another water jet erupting from the ground.

“Well then, what can you do!?”

Yuki bit her lips.

“I can manipulate space,” she said. “You saw. I was able to hide things in dimensional storage. But I’ve already used up that ability! It has a huge cooldown!”

Ezra groaned while jumping clear of another attack.

“Damn it all to hell!”

Ezra’s instincts went haywire. Once again, he leaped to the side, dodging a water jet exploding from the ground. But he didn’t see the follow-up. Another water jet came from the creature itself.

This one was thin and narrow, shredding through his armor and straight through his shoulder.

Ezra grunted and put pressure on the wound. It was already bleeding. Of course, it was.

“Ezra!” Yuki said. “Let me heal you—!”

“No!” Ezra took a step back. “Save your mana, we need an offensive weapon. Come on, Yuki, what else do you have!?”

“I…” Her head snapped up. “I can launch you!”

“What?”

Yuki pointed her staff at him.

“Gravity Well! It’s supposed to splatter enemies into the ground, but I bet I can make you go up instead!”

Ezra raised a hand. “Wait a second, hold on.”

“Get ready, Ezra!”

Ezra didn’t have time to reject her or say anything else. One second, he was standing still, the next, he’d been shot into the air. He flailed his arms around, desperate to find some kind of stability. After a few seconds of this, he managed to spot the center of the creature, the area where they believed the brain was.

“We’d better be right about this,” he said.

He spread his arms open, angling himself just right. He began to fall. He shifted his position, allowing him to get closer and closer to the target. The air cut across his face. It was hard to keep his eyes open, but even so, he forced it. He had to land correctly.

He was getting closer. He brought out his needle.

The creature gurgled.

He landed.

Ezra’s needle pierced through the flesh while he followed right afterward. His weight ripped through the piercing, sending him into the water. There was an erupting sensation, and water flooded Ezra’s lungs. He fought to get air but couldn’t. He tried to swim to the top but was unable to. Where was up? Where was down? He couldn’t tell.

Darkness swept his vision, and he knew no more.

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Except he did.

He couldn’t see a thing save for a light in the distance. Instinctively, he tried to move toward it. The yellow threads that characterized his ability could be seen, extending out and weaving through the black void, lighting it up with a yellow glow.

“Ezra. Wake up.”

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Charles - Otherworlder - Lv. 20