“[Phantasm: Break]!”

As Licht heard the voice of Racheal cry out a warm sensation overcame his body. In a few moments, a subtle heat blanketed his exterior, overpowering the agonizing burning of the acid latched onto his body. Even though he couldn’t see, the feeling of the slime on his head being stripped away was clear. After a moment, his vision returned to normal as well.

Though he had no physical eyes, his sense of vision still seemed to exude from where they would have been. It was likely a result of his subconscious when he first used [Construct Body], but the result was that the scene before him was only visible just now.

And that scene was carnage. The aftermath all around Licht was a sight to behold. Like a warzone, all vestiges of nature that had remained in the area were swept away. Trees had been toppled. Foliage crumbled and reduced to ash. The very earth of the forest floor had even been affected. Fuming stacks rose from the scorched surface like geysers. A conic ray of hardened grayed soil stretched out from the direction of the elves to Licht. The aftermath of a spell?

“What…was that?”

Licht held up a hand to his head, or, the molten gash where his face had been. His fingers fell through where the plate had been, feeling the smoothness of a glassy sphere. The acid of the sudden attack had burned through his wood plated skin and past the repurposed skull of Chuck. The acid had managed to come in contact with his core. It was scarred and had been partly shredded apart with the abrasiveness of the acid.

The physical shock of it was akin to a brain injury for Licht. Destabilizing and numbing.

“It reached my orb…?”

In his fuzzy state, it brought back the memory of being in the rabbit’s stomach. Licht looked at the system.

[Health: 37/500]

“Less than ten percent…”

He had been, and still was, extremely close to death.

Licht panned around himself. The scorched earth bubbled with equal parts acid and the embers of white fire. Whatever that blinding light had been that engulfed him, the colorless fire seemed to be all that was left of it.

Licht put himself back together and scanned the surroundings for something. Seeing the form of Racheal, who was clutching her chest a few trees deep into the woods, his emotional state rose.

“Racheal!”

He raced forward toward the woman. His wooden body stopped at her side. Racheal was on her knees, having let her tired arms drop. With clearly painful ragged breaths, her chest heaved.

Now up close, Licht was able to see in much clearer detail the wounds that Racheal had suffered. Large portions of her mushroom cap had been burned through, and acid that had spilled onto her skin had charred wide swaths.

Licht’s first thought was to verify her mental faculties. Despite the damage she received from the shower of acid, Racheal seemed to be in a far worse state than he would have expected. Whatever she had done to help him, that flash of light, it seemed to have put her in a worse state.

“Racheal, can you hear me?”

The woman’s face grew more pallid every second, but she was able to weakly nod yes to Licht’s question. This seemed to strain her even more however. As each movement she made, however small, appeared to exert her more. Driving her ever closer to the conclusion that Licht didn’t want to mention.

Licht was at a loss. What could he do? All of Licht’s healing ability was based around himself. Could he use [Bestowal] to heal? No, the risk of harming her was too high, and it wasn’t even really a healing skill. The minute instant benefits that Muan had received were likely to do with its own affinity with the wood-type virtue. And Licht didn’t want to gamble on Racheal’s life whether or not she had that same affinity.

Licht refocused himself instead. Diverting his attention from healing his broken body to the use of [Biogenical Growth], and attempting to extend its effects beyond his palms, which he had used to gently hold Racheal with.

[Skill Upgraded: Biogenical Growth (C) -> Biogenical Growth (C+)]

Licht paid no mind to the system notification, instead focusing on the condition of Racheal.

Luckily, within a few moments, the fungoid woman’s health changed for the better. Her breath became calmer, and her complexion seemed to improve a bit. However, the color of her skin was still pale, a far cry from the vibrant hue of orange it normally was. And although it still seemed that the acid was working its way into her system, her health seemed to be decreasing at a slower pace.

That was going to have to do for now.

Racheal opened her mouth. Her eyes betrayed a desperate sense of worry as she looked at Licht.

“Licht, stop. I’ll be fine. You need to help the kids.”

Licht furrowed his brow, looking up at the kids who were a bit further into the woods, on the ground wincing in pain. He had neglected their states subconsciously it seemed, but even still they looked to be in far better health than Racheal. If Racheal had been in a near-death state, the two elf kids were at the most injured, but otherwise in much better condition. Licht looked back at Racheal and hesitated.

Though he didn’t want to leave her, Licht still had the basic moral fiber of a modern society. The children would always come before adults.

He nodded and began to stand up, before pulling a few Manacle Blossoms out of his chest and handing it to the woman. It wasn’t perfect, but they had proved to be the most effective tool in his repertoire for healing in the active sense, not just stabilizing.

Licht rushed over to Siya and Arjun. Kneeling down once again at both of their hunched over forms like a paramedic, he handed them both a handful of Manacle Blossoms, the supposed cure-all.

As Licht was closer now, he could see with a more detailed inspection that the conditions of the children weren’t as simple as he had assumed.

Like it was with everyone but Racheal, the hue of their skin had taken on a greener palette. Combined with feverish pulsations beneath their skin, Licht saw the similarities between their condition and the elves that had attacked him.

Making a connection with the slime-like creature, and some similar fauna from Earth, a word came to mind.

“A parasite.”

The conclusion came to Licht abruptly, and somewhat randomly. But his instincts told him it was right. Just as Licht held a blossom to the elf girl Siya, intended to mash it into a balm for the wound on across her neck, a glint flashed behind her eye.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

AHH!

Licht jumped back in time with the girl’s cry as a thin webbed mass shot out of her ear. It sprang toward the spot where Licht had been kneeling a moment before, but it was too slow.

WHAM!

In a single downward arc Licht slammed his fist into the ground. Dust erupted and scattered over the forest floor, and Licht was distracted for a brief moment by the familiar electronic ping of his system.

[Defeated Gossamer-Beryl Parasite - (Felfit)]

[+2,450 Experience]

Licht stayed alert with his fists still in the air, but nothing happened after the system ping. His gaze fell down to the crushed mass of green slime.

A sizzling fist-print was stained into the charred forest ground. It was all that had become of the parasite that Licht now realized to be the source of the attack.

“Felfit…the first named creature in the system that I’ve come across.”

Licht quickly checked the condition of the other elf, the boy Arjun. Like his sister, his hue seemed to be returning to normal after he crushed the parasite.

Somehow and without explanation, the green coloring that had been present below the skin of both kids was now thinning out. The part of the parasite that he had crushed had killed it, but nothing had come from the boy, who was clearly affected like the rest of the elves. Had he solved it on his own? Licht briefly touched both of them to check their conditions with [Psychometric Observation].

[Western Corsair Elf (Siya)]

“An elven child recovering from the effects of an attempted parasitic takeover. Thanks to the effects of her Talent, her body has been strengthened considerably by a supply of concentrated Ambient Force. Shows some affinity for magick, though has no ingrained spell of her own.”

[Western Corsair Elf (Arjun)]

“An elven child recuperating from self-inflicted physical shock. The mutations in his body that were brought about as a result of his physique and an infusion of concentrated Ambient Force have succeeded in repelling an invading parasite, at a great cost to his stamina. Has no aptitude for magick.”

All Licht could tell from the descriptions was that the two children were fine, although seemed to be a little strange. Oddly enough their descriptions bothered mentioning the Manacle Blossom extract that they had taken as a result of him. Was it that big of a deal?

Licht dismissed it for the moment.

“Nevermind that.”

All that mattered was that they were fine, and that the parasite was dead. He would have liked to verbally reassure him, but no matter his intention, the meaning of his words only seemed to be conveyed to plant lifeforms. That had been how he was able to speak openly to Racheal, or question the parasite that had taken root in the elven men’s bodies.

Licht remashed the blossoms he had been holding before the slime jumped at him. He took the balm and spread it across the feverish forms of both Arjun and Siya, and then picked them up with roots using [Wood Manipulation]. After setting them down outside the range of the peeling and rotting ground, he ran back to Racheal.

“What happened? Haven’t you used the blossoms?”

Licht knelt next to Racheal, who had transitioned to a fully reclined position on her back. He took the azure petals from her loose grip, seeing that she hadn’t done anything with them he crushed them up and prepared to administer the balm. Not everyone could ingest them as they were.

How he had overlooked something as simple as that, he had no idea. Perhaps Licht had subconsciously compared Racheal more with himself, both being similar to plant lives.

Suddenly Licht felt a cold hand on his wrist.

“Licht, how are the children?”

Racheal’s voice was weak, though her concern was evident. There was also a hint of peace in it, Licht thought, as if the fungoid woman didn’t think he would have come back before seeing to their safety.

Licht still looked back into the woods for a moment to confirm once again.

“They’re okay. A little injured, but they are both very strong.”

Racheal weakley smiled.

“And the parasite is dead.”

Added Licht, though when he said it he saw a shift in the woman’s demeanor.

“A parasite? So that was what caused this. It makes more sense now, why those two acted like they did…”

Racheal’s voice tittered out as her head fell to the side.

“Racheal?”

She held up a hand before Licht could ask what was wrong.

“Don’t bother with the blossoms…I can’t use them.”

“What? Look, there’s more than enough for both you and the kids to use! Your condition is still getting worse, and this will stabilize it!”

Licht was getting nervous, seeing the woman reject his help made him think of all of the depressed old people that he had been around at the end of his life. Refusing treatment from the hospital because they simply didn’t want to live any longer.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s that the blossoms won’t work. Arjun and Siya are special, only they can get away with absorbing mana in such a concentrated form. Do you remember our conversation?”

Like a hammer, it hit Licht. That was right. Most people couldn’t absorb Ambient Force in such a raw form. How the kids had been able to do so he had no idea, but for now it meant that he had no way to heal Racheal directly.

Think! What could I do besides [Biogenical Growth]?

Knowing that using the growth skill more on Racheal’s condition would be superfluous, in his mind he exhausted the list of his skills that could possibly be used. Considering all of his skills, even constructing a prosthetic body for Racheal didn’t sound so bad in his mind.

But Rachael’s tired voice snapped him out of it before he could plan too far.

“Licht. I’m sorry about how this turned out.”

The wooden giant’s head turned downward to the woman. Watery beads started to form under her eyes.

“I really thought that we could make a home here in your forest…but this…this is what happened.”

Racheal was too weak to motion around to the environment’s destruction, but Licht nodded in understanding.

…

Racheal’s mind was calm. Licht, the nature spirit that had finally found form, knelt at her side. Though the residue of acid had scarred her vision, she could still see the nervously-sloped shoulders of the giant with her eyes.

In her mind she chuckled. What was there to be nervous about? The kids were alright it seemed, and she, well. As soon as she had used [Phantasm: Break], her death was a foregone conclusion.

“Aw, you’re really going to make me cry, looking like that.”

Racheal murmured. She felt ashamed that she hadn’t the strength to reach out and comfort Licht, but her body was already breaking down. Even her ability to speak was growing harder to use, but she had to say goodbye to Licht. Even if not Siya and Arjun, then at least Licht. Because as it appeared to Racheal, Licht seemed like he felt even more lost in this world than either of the kids.

A silent stream traced down Racheal’s cheek.

“I’m sorry Licht. I was cruel to you, to give you false hope that I could be healed. In truth, I did something I shouldn’t have done, and now my body is bearing the consequences.”

“...The spell. The white fire? That was you, wasn’t it?”

Racheal nodded.

There was a natural order to everything. Racheal, being a non-spectral and casting a spell…well, of course she was going to have to pay some kind of price.

And the price this time just so happened to push her body to the limits. Causing it to collapse. There was no amount of induced healing nor medicine that could save her at this point. So Racheal apologized. Though she had done it to help Licht, she felt it was extraordinarily cruel to give him false hope of her survival.

But the kids came first.

Mustering up the last of her strength, Racheal left her palm on Licht’s chest.

“Thank you Licht. Please look out for them. In the future.”

And no more words needed to be said.