Mason bent his knees, and fell into the dark. It felt a little like being back in his tutorial.

Then he struck soft ground, less than a foot from Rebecca, and rolled back before flipping to his feet with bow and sword in hand.

“Your left flank!” Calypsa shouted.

Mason pulled Rebecca to her feet and ran to his right. With strength surging from adrenaline, he tossed her away then unsummoned his claw and drew an arrow with Endless Quiver.

A giant, moving…flower was coming towards him.

It had a dozen tendrils that moved like spider legs, and where there should have been a pleasant smelling group of petals there was a huge, vaguely fanged maw belonging in a cheap horror flick.

He didn’t waste time asking questions. His Power Shot struck the thick, slimy-looking stem, and sprayed something gooey at the plant wall. He loosed several more, but most of these just stuck into the fleshy plant with little effect.

Apex predator flashed before Mason’s eyes.

[Player Blake Nimitz is attempting to effect you with a mind power. Would you like to activate Apex Predator?]

Mason sighed as he sprinted across the narrow space, blinking at ‘no’ and loosing arrows at the apparently carnivorous flower.

Ha! I don't even need the chair! I have good news and bad news, Blake’s cheery voice rung in Mason’s mind. The good news is that Telekinesis is in fact strong enough to hold a person or two from falling in a giant pit. The bad news is that I didn’t use it on you.

“I’m fucking aware of that!” Mason shouted, hoping his brother could hear. “And I’m a little…busy right now!”

The tendril-footed giant plant was now lurching after Mason like one of those inflated tire tube men, limbs flapping as its giant mouth opened and shut like a massive sphincter.

Calypsa followed after it, jabbing with her spear and spilling more fluid all over the floor.

Mason used a Crippling Strike and watched an error message flare without much surprise. He loosed at least a dozen arrows before finally accepting they weren’t doing a damn thing. Looked like it was time to get messy.

He dropped his bow and drew his sword and Claw, then activated Aspect of the Cheetah. With a running, brutal slice, he raked open the plant’s ‘side’ with a Predator’s Strike, then jumped and rolled as a thick tendril swiped at his face.

A giant spray of the plant’s oozy fluid followed the wound then continued leaking down its side. Mason turned for another pass and found Rebecca next to him, limping slightly but otherwise looking OK. She nodded to say she was ready, and Mason charged with both blades.

This time he didn’t immediately jump away, instead hacking at the same wound while two then three tendrils bounced off Rebecca’s shield. He could have used his sword’s long neglected Shield gem, but he trusted Rebecca.

The creature’s ‘stalk’ buckled and sagged, and the giant plant tipped like a damn tree as it collapsed towards Mason.

He stepped away from the falling maw, slashing any tendril that got too close. Calypsa hopped onto the creature’s back and skewered her spear through the ‘flower’, pinning it to the floor.

Mason made short work of it after that. With a dozen or so more cuts, the tendrils were all severed, and the slowly desiccating beast was mostly a messy puddle.

[You have slain a Devouring Lily. Group experience gained.]

“Everyone alright?” Mason really meant Rebecca, who shook her foot and put a little weight on it with a grimace, but nodded.

“Just twisted my ankle is all.”

Calypsa didn’t bother to respond, which Mason supposed was a good sign,

“Well.” He finally looked around the inside of the ‘plant’ and saw nothing but a pool of red fluid in a corner. “Please don’t tell me we have to swim through this plant monster’s guts.”

“No.” The nymph looked around their soft cage and frowned. “The great night lily has cycles. It will open eventually, just as it closed. We need only wait.”

“Well,” Mason tested the springy floor before sitting rather comfortably. “A little boring. But not so bad.”

Calypsa walked to the red water and dipped a finger as she muttered some words. Then her already pale skin lost some of its color, and she turned her green eyes to Mason.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“The flower…it releases digestive fluids, very slowly, not harmful to large creatures like us. But the corruption…it has made it poisonous. Anyone without natural affinity is going to choke to death on the fumes.”

Mason looked at the pool of water and sighed. “Of course they are. Can you cleanse it?”

“Yes, that’s possible, but it will take more time because I need…”

The pool began to bubble and soon overflowed, and Calypsa stepped away with her spear raised. Mason groaned to his feet as something emerged from the red water.

It looked like another giant plant—this one more like a cactus, with three thick ‘limbs’ from its torso, every piece of it covered in thorns.

“Yeah,” Mason muttered, “that figures, too.”

The plant shuddered, and several of the thorns shot from its body, almost chaotically around the room. None of them were on target, though one stuck an inch from Mason’s foot, and looked about as long and sharp as a rail spike.

So what’s this about slowly dying from poison? Apparently Blake was up there reading minds. I’m afraid we’re trapped up here, too.

Mason ran for his bow and tried another Power Shot, the missile blasting off at least a few of the creature’s spikes.

“As usual, I have bigger problems than your curiosity, Blake!” he shouted.

Then he loosed more arrows, and as before the shafts more or less snapped on contact, or else just seemed to add to the giant cactus’ collection of spiky objects.

Calypsa chanced a few stabs with her spear, but clearly wasn’t thrilled about getting near the creature. Becky couldn’t do much more than throw rocks. And though he was slow, the bastard was sliding forward.

“We have limited time, druid,” Calypsa said as she easily stepped away from the creature’s reach. “This foul miasma will drain your allies in hours, not days. They cannot wait for the flower to open.”

Mason leapt over some kind of giant mushroom growing out of the floor, then circled and searched the big plant creature for a weak spot. Nothing was obvious. He figured the smallest section was a ‘leg’ joint and decided he’d try that with his blades. Hopefully it didn’t turn him into a pin cushion.

“We’ll wait for one more blast, then I go in swinging. Have enough for another round, Becky?”

The brunette nodded and kept her distance from the creature, which seemed content for now just to keep sliding towards them like the worst parade float in existence.

Then it trembled and twitched, and the spikes all over its body shot in every direction around the room.

Mason’s vaguely superhuman reflexes saved him. A knife-sharp barb sailed straight at his face, just scratching his nose as he turned.

He instantly looked to the others, and saw Calypsa casually dodging around the room, Rebecca circled in blue shield.

“Here we go,” he shouted, then charged in to cut some vegetable.

This bastard had thicker skin. But not thick enough. His steel short sword struggled to pierce, but his Ranger’s Claw sliced and diced.

The giant cactus waved its arms and tried to turn, but it wasn’t nearly fast enough. With several well-placed blows, Mason hacked through one of the two supports, and like the other plant it toppled to the floor.

Mason hacked off enough spikes that they could all safely stand in the cleared space. The cactus fired off another round but to no effect, then Mason cut until he’d split it in two.

[You have slain a Devouring Cactus. Group experience gained.]

“The pool, druid,” Calypsa was standing at the edge of the reddish water, rubbing her fingers together after dipping them into the muck.

“You OK?” Mason walked to Becky and saw she was covered in sweat, her long brown hair out of its clip and tussled around her shoulders.

“I’m alright,” she smiled. “I’m out of everything, but it didn’t break my shields.”

Mason gave her a quick hug and kissed her brow. “I’ll admit, I’m impressed.”

“Told you I could handle myself,” she beamed, and Mason snorted with a laugh.

“Don’t get cocky, cowgirl. Apparently this giant flower is about to slowly kill you next.”

He let her go and walked to Calypsa with a sigh.

“Alright. So it’s corrupted. We knew that coming in. Why does that mean the others are going to die all of a sudden?”

“Because the acidic miasma is trapped in this flower,” said the nymph, a bit of strained patience in her voice. “Because your friends do not have the resistance required. And because this flower is not going to open for several hours while they breathe it in.”

Mason felt a small tickle of actual concern in his gut.

“I’ll cut us out.” He turned and hacked into the external covering of flower petal, slicing right through. He almost turned and said ‘see?’ before he watched the damage close as fast as it was caused, the plant flesh healing in an instant.

Calypsa shook her head, though she didn’t look terribly concerned.

“It must be cleansed, druid, that is why I came with you. But the corruption in this pool is far worse than the other. I don’t have enough strength left.”

The slight tickle turned into a noticeable pang.

“OK. How much time do you need?”

“Too long.” Calypsa was suddenly looking a bit too pleased about their situation. “The fastest way is to replenish my magic with some of your seed.” Without another word, she began stripping off her skintight bark-like armor, wiggling it down to reveal her perky breasts and toned shoulders and arms. “Hopefully you haven’t been spending it too recklessly, but you seem to have plenty.”

She had it down past her flat stomach now, struggling at her hips before Mason found his tongue.

“Umm.” He looked at Becky, whose eyes were wide and glued to the undressing nymph. “You said it’s the fastest way. Surely, it’s not the only way?”

Calypsa stopped and narrowed her eyes. “We can use mana, but my sister has far more. Even with your help it would take hours. Your friends may not survive.”

They had a mana-charger, of course.

But she was equally trapped above them, with no way to reach her. Mason turned to Becky with a helpless shrug. She looked between them with an expression that was far too hard to read.

“What exactly are you going to…do you mean, you have to…with her, right here? Is that what she’s saying?”

Calypsa shrugged, looking Becky up and down. “I merely require the druid’s seed inside my body. You can be the one to cause it’s release.”

Mason looked between them, again finding little in the way of actual words. Could he say he was…sorry? Its not like it was his fault. And he wasn’t sorry, like even a little.

“What do you want, druid?” Becky looked at him with a bit of challenge, and maybe a little jealousy, though he was struggling exactly to know.

He walked to her and put his hands on her arms. “I want you not to get hurt. I want you to live. That’s it. That’s all that matters.”

Her resistance drained as she nodded. Then she flushed slightly as she again looked at the half naked nymph, and met Mason’s eyes. “I guess we’ll just have to improvise.”