Reaching the ruin took three days, compared to the seven when they stumbled around and stopped frequently to gather herbs and materials for Theo. The lightest area of the void corruption spread a couple hundred feet, but that was expected. According to Metilia, the area around the clearing might stay barren for a long time, but once the main source is dealt with the rest should fade away, only leaving marks where the void corruption ate into things.
The drain on their energies proved negligible in the lightest area, so they took the time to go over their plan, well away from the clearing. They still hid, knowing that the trees at some point either patrolled around the area or simply wandered off. They quietly shifted and adjusted their gear as they talked.
“You have the bottles ready, Theo?” Tahir looked to the alchemist, who pulled a heavy bag in front of her chest and opened it to reveal six glass bottles of oil.
“Yep. I feel kind of bad for taking the rest of master Callipho’s stock, but we should be able to pay him back with what we find in the ruins, right?”
“Definitely. Now, Metila, you need to be somewhat close to control that floating hand of yours, are you going to be alright so close to the void corruption?”
“I’ll have enough mana to do what I need to do before the drain affects me. Can I count on you to save me the trouble of trudging my way back and stepping on the roots like the last time?”
“We should be good, right?” Tahir turned his head to look at his spirit. For the low, low cost of half his mana pool, he could manifest the tier one spirit physically. They had an androgynous face with shoulder length silver hair and similarly gray eyes. They wore a blue suit with purple and silver markings, complete with a top hat and a cane, none of which seemed to get dirty or scratch. They never told Tahir their name, but told him to refer to them as the Traveler, and so the trio did.
“All will be well. The void’s touch here shall not impede our movements.” Tahir picked the traveler after feeling a deep sense of wanderlust. The desire to explore, to wander the world and see new horizons across Odium and possibly beyond. To that end, they imparted several abilities that helped immensely with travel, including teleportation.
With his current mana pool, he could handle a couple of short range jumps of a couple dozen feet each, or a single longer range jump that would move him around a hundred or so. He could also take things, including people if they were willing. Even so, the Traveler themselves could also teleport.
With the bonding and summoning process, the spirits occupied a portion of his soul, and took a portion of Tahir’s mana pool to give it corporeal form. The spirit took his mana pool and combined it with its own internal force, creating something that researchers dubbed as ‘spiritual energy’ that worked similar to mana. The spirit fueled all of its abilities with spirit energy, and it could do more if Tahir had more mana to offer.
In essence, Tahir brought a being with an impressive affinity for all travel-based magics, that imparted a similar but much weaker affinity to him, and could aid them in their efforts. This magic compared to another form of summoning that involved drawing things through planar barriers for a short amount of time, but a mage needed an immense mana pool to even begin to think about using those types of magics.
“Then let’s go.” Metilia began moving forward toward the clearing. “Theo, let us know if anything’s approaching from behind.”
“Got it!” She handed Tahir the bag, and stayed behind while the other two - three, now, crept ahead.
When they reached the clearing, they could see four trees besides the massive one in the center. Three of them bore the scars of the oil igniting on them, and one of them looked oddly fresh. Tahir sat the bag down as quietly as he could beside Metilia, aided by the stuffed cloth between them to keep them from clinking together. “We’re up, Traveler.” Tahir whispered to the spirit, who gave a quiet nod in response.
They crept, paying special attention to the roots on the ground in front of the clearing, around the edge. Once they were far enough away, Tahir waved the spirit forward as he jumped up and cracked as many roots as his feet could manage. Like before, the trees immediately began running toward him, and the closest two made to slam down on the intruders and only hit void-corrupted ground.
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Tahir and the traveler blinked back ten feet, then took off into the forest. The trees followed, leaving Metilia still hiding with a bag of highly volatile oil nearby. Satisfied that she would remain undetected, Metilia uncorked a bottle of oil, and conjured a floating, spectral hand to lift the bottle into the clearing, and start pouring.
The duo leading the smaller trees ran together as fast as they could. The traveler blinked them over large patches of void-corrupted foliage, and had no trouble doing so as they could blink short distances basically at-will. This meant they could actually flee at relatively full speed without worry about the void-corrupted space, guiding the trees after them as they lumbered at full speed. They weren’t very fast, all things considered. Tahir’s overall speed increased while he had the traveler bonded as well, but they seemed intent on chasing them down as long as they were in sight. Something they found fantastic as they led them a fair distance away from the clearing.
Back at said clearing, the larger tree had noticed that something was amiss. It even detected the bottles of oil floating in the air. It would swipe at them and break them, only to be showered in oil. Metilia herself remained undetected, and her spectral hand would flicker and disappear at times when it came in contact with the void-corrupted tree, but her massive mana pool allowed her to easily resummon it and take another bottle with it. She’d already completed her immediate goal of pouring four bottles in the clearing, and she let the last two be destroyed by the big tree’s strikes after more than half the oil had been poured out onto it. The clearing remained soaked with the oil all the same.
Satisfied she began creeping back, staying out of sight. Once she moved to an area where the large tree wouldn’t see her, she pointed her staff upwards, creating a bright blue light that could be spotted from a distance in the air.
Tahir spotted it against the overcast sky, then called to the Traveler. “We’re good to go, time to start heading back toward Theo!” They had led the trees far enough away that they didn’t have to worry about teleporting through major patches of foliage. The Traveler pivoted quickly, having an impeccable sense of direction, and led Tahir back to a waiting Theo.
“Is it ‘go’ time?” She asked, though the sight and sound of the trees running after them answered the question for her. She joined them in running, keeping up with aura enhancing her steps. With she and Tahir on either side of the spirit, they ran back toward the clearing, teleporting occasionally. “Are you sure you’re good to light up everything by yourself?” She asked Tahir.
“I should be fine.” He had about a third of his mana pool left, enough for a couple separate firebolts to ignite in different places. “Plus I gave Metilia a couple throwing knives just in case.”
Metilia didn’t know a large amount of spells, but she could use the ones that aided her in her smithing exceptionally well. Heating up the knife to a near molten degree and then tossing it would work in a pinch.
“My friends. We are approaching the creature. Take care not to get grabbed. Engaging in a tug-of-war may be difficult in this space.” The traveler warned. They approached the clearing and the tree, and Tahir could hear the creak and cracking of roots, branches and the desiccated trunk as it turned to face them. They leaped into the clearing proper, feeling the ground underneath them squish at the oil it had yet to absorb, and looked around briefly before Metilia joined close.
“Heads up!” At Tahir’s shout, the four of them ducked as a massive branch from the main tree swung around, catching nothing but air. The other trees followed at their full speed, looking like they were about to simply ram them into the larger tree. “Alright, go time.” He manipulated his remaining mana into a spell, using the base fire bolt spell and his knowledge of earth and water to create something that existed more like a ball than a shapeless orb of fire that would fly off until it exhausted its energy.
“Tahir hurry!” Theo pushed as close to them as she could without moving further to the larger tree, as the others crashed their way into the clearing.
“Take us away, Traveler.” Tahir tossed the orb into the air. The modification to the spell didn’t make it any more powerful, but it gave it weight, and gravity. Add in a little wind, and it would create a sizable explosion wherever it landed. The Traveler reached around wide and flicked both of their wrists, and the four of them reappeared 50 feet away from the clearing, just in time to turn their heads as a blinding blaze erupted inside.
Seconds passed, and Tahir had to back away from the waves of heat coming out of the clearing. He heard the cracking sound and loud thuds of the charred trees hitting the ground. A part of him felt mortified that they had just started a massive forest fire, but Metilia assured everyone beforehand that the void corruption in the area should eat away at the flames before they can spread too far.
A rumble from an unknown source sent all of them looking around, but they calmed down when they noticed that it was thunder, and the rain beginning to fall. Metilia raised her staff, and a domed panel appeared that kept them relatively dry.
Tahir was about to ask if they’d done it, when the Traveler placed a hand up to silence him preemptively. “Hold fast, fellows. Your fight is not over yet.” As they spoke, Tahir could hear the creaking and cracking sound of one of the trees, on a much larger scale.
“Aw! We didn’t get the big one!?” Theo cried. In the embers, they could see the severely burnt tree lumbering in their direction .