Chapter 66: The reinforcements from beneath

The next day we head out for the muddy plains again, ready for another arduous eight-hour-grind of killing the never-ending bugs. Standing at a respectable level 7, it should be the last day, I hope. And seeing the number of Elites that continue to come out of the woodwork, it might as well be true. Where they first came in duos or small groups, now squads of six constantly harry Cobalt.

The pests use meagre tactics to get through the frozen storm that hangs around her, somehow thinking that she doesn’t freeze the ground under her feet solid. A bevvy of fire mages thought they could just burn the cold that hung around away…and she ripped their heads off.

Most Elites still come either with elemental capabilities or strange bodily enhancements. However, during the grind, the elements the bugs wield have grown more complex. It fits almost perfectly with what Sairal said and his premonitions of the future. I don’t like to back out of a fight, but it can’t be ignored that the Cave crawlers are growing stronger too quickly.

Yesterday, one of the simpler ones had a ranged attack and was actively throwing fireballs at us from a good kilometre away. The Cave crawler forced Cobalt to head to the bright speck of red amongst the masses, slamming her fist through its skull to end the rain of flame that battered against my walls.

Beyond the scorch marks and the constant assault on my outer walls, things remain relatively tame. I continue to have full reign over my world and between everyone who’s fighting off the pests and my gradually increasing prowess, we can easily manage.

The grind also hasn’t just been profitable to me but to everyone. Zerzia keeps rambling on about her rising skill levels with each boost she applies. Hornet reached his level cap yesterday and went off to evolve, and the smaller mushroom guardians are also getting close to (G) grade.

I hum along with my melody as one of the larger pests manages to get stuck in the corridors before quickly getting taken down by the vines until it's nothing more than a heap of chitin and insect meat. I’ve found that it’s best to fully destroy pests since they tend to stack up and serve as rampants for them to climb over my walls.

Inevitably, over the hours, my focus shifts towards Zillindial and his garden. The flowers look bedraggled as they explode and kill Cave crawlers before getting replenished. Even here, in his garden of war, everything remains tainted by the aftereffects of Corpse Flower.

The [Green Bear] pants loudly, his chest heaving as he gulps in air greedily. His fur is matted with sweat as it drifts off his body, sprouting into red flowers. It is as if the bear sees them as his only weapon, entirely foregoing the golds that can burst into light and the other variants with their effects.

It gives the entire garden a reddish hint, the crimson blooms eagerly waiting for one of the insects to get too close before exploding into shrapnel. And yet, saying that his garden of war sticks to one colour isn’t entirely true either. Close to the exit of the room sits a bush of Joys of Spring, the golden flowers cheering the bear on with their faded yellow petals.

“Fabled mandrake, a new group of Elites are approaching,” Zerzia whispers to me as she recovers from the wounds she earned from her battle with the pests.

I follow her gaze and spot a blotch of colour on the horizon. Several groups of Elites are congregating together before making their way over to us. They consist of a mix of pale blue and purple as they scuttle over the ground. Behind them lumbers one of the rhino-sized insects.

The mirth on my face, a high that persists as it lets out the pleasing chimes that signify the death of a Cave crawler, is pulled away and exchanged for a grimace.

I count the Elites and break out in a clammy sweat, “Four ice mages. Four wind mages. A force mage and a brute?” I turn to Zerzia as if disbelieving my eye.

“Yes, fabled mandrake,” she says as the blood drains away under her fur.

We have faced similar groups before and each of them was painful in some way. From the pack of water mages that conjured a miniature tsunami to the group that tried to plunge my entire domain into the depths with an earthquake that ripped the ground open. The bugs grow dangerous when several of the same element work in conjunction. And now there are two groups of mages going to take a swing at us.

I clear my throat and keep the unease off my face. Zerzia has grown more confident too over the past few days, though she is still skittish at best. “Start a boost on Cobalt, me, and Zillindial if you can. Oh, and get Cobalt inside my domain. I don’t like how the bugs are acting,” I say as I look at the group of Elites that just continues to stand in the muddy plains. Watching.

Zerzia’s magic flows into me like a slow seeping heat that pulls away any signs of tiredness I might have had. It is like Solar Storage that brings energy, yet her’s feels more comforting. Like a silent cheer or a strong hug. As if she is telling me that I can do anything.

She moves out of the chamber, heading for the outer walls while the Elites stand there with almost alien curiosity. That is, until I sense the faintest shift in the air. A second later it clicks in my mind. No one here, not even Zillindial, has the stats related to magic unlocked. But even without the stats, it’s still possible to sense the buildup in power like the premonition of a storm or a gut feeling.

But this isn’t some kind of faint sense. As soon as it clicks it feels like a punch in my gut. My voice, enhanced by Mandrake Scream bellows out forcing Zerzia and my world to halt for a second.

The air ripples again and the wind picks up. I call Zerzia back and yell for everyone to brace as the blowing wind is riled up by the mages into a roiling storm.

With the use of my skills, all of the Cave crawlers that remain in my domain are quickly taken care of. The entrances in the outer wall are closed off and I hunker down, reinforcing the bindweed with excess points of Stamina.

The mushroom guardians burst into the room, having caught onto the news as I shredded the bug they were fighting. Leo shakes his fist in anger but I pay the guardian no mind, my attention still on the mages.

The air outside of the walls flows as if it is water, like turbulence made manifest. And the Cave crawlers do something with it. They mould it like clay, forge the winds as if they are iron; their wills binding the currents together into a spear that’ll break my walls.

The bugs take aim right as Zerzia steps back into my core room. “Full boost!” I roar at her.

She doesn’t reply in words but in the new energy that saturates my body. It squeezes the air out of my lungs and almost makes my eyes pop out of my head under the pressure.

The wind mages unleash their spell with the click of a mandible. It flies through the air, bringing the scream of a jet engine and the clap of thunder along with it as it meets my outer wall. My entire domain buckles under the impact and the magic ripples out in angry strands that battle with bindweed. Corridors are shredded apart by the winds, the vines cut down or simply stripped off the walls in layers as the magic pulls at them. The world grows woozy for a second as so much of what was connected to me vanishes under the assault.

Hurriedly, I blink the spots out of my eyes and focus back on the domain in front of me, of which now more than a quarter has been torn to shreds. The outer wall fares somewhat better, yet that too is reduced to weeping stumps of green vines. Nothing remains of the paths and hallways I carefully optimized. The insects have almost a straight path to the central room, if not for the reinforced bindweed wall shielding us.

The mushroom guardians look in awe at the destruction while Zerzia quivers with fear behind them. The ice mages split off and meet Cobalt head-on as she charges at them with fury.

As if it isn’t enough to rip my entire domain to shreds, the air mages step to the side and make place for the brute and the lone force mage that has relocated itself onto the behemoth's head. The giant paws the ground like a bull before it heads for my domain, starting to build up speed.

“Full boost on Cobalt too, Zerzia. Minimal acclimation,” I say as I begin to push Resources into the failing network of bindweed.

A part of my attention stays on Cobalt, especially when the four ice mages begin to conjure up their spells. Like the wind mages, they pool their power together to form lances of ice the size of trucks that they fling at her.

Okay, first take out the behemoth and the force mage. Second, snap the necks of the wind mages before joining up with Cobalt.

I layer Stamina Surge upon Zerzia’s boost, wincing as the power rebels under my skill and my bindweed begins to glow with the soft hue of Stamina. I push the rampant energies into the entirety of my domain, letting it sprout in the form of angry, jagged vines.

The monstrous bug continues to build up speed as if there isn’t a wall of Stamina-reinforced bindweed in front of it.

“Go to Zillindial. Now!” I scream and slam more energy into the ground. Everywhere the wilting bindweed gains new life. I fill it with my anger and watch as jagged thorns sprout on every surface.

The behemoth passes the remains of the outer wall, still building momentum. It chitters in excitement as its eyes are locked on the wall separating us. Something twists in my gut again and I can almost see the mages reach out again, snipping away any air resistance the monstrous Cave crawler has.

A strangled hiss escapes my throat as I press on the attack. A dozen vines burst out from the ground around the behemoth. They wrap around limbs and are quickly wrenched apart as the giant passes them. Thorns break on cithin and the few that do manage to snag on and are crushed by the force mage on the beast’s head.

I lash out with my vines, begging the bindweed to take the edge of their speed as they close in on the wall. Already, I’m pushing more Stamina into the barrier of bindweed that separates it.

The monster collides with the wall, obliterating the first three layers on impact. The rest of the vines bend outwards with the force in what seems to be a single, stretched moment. My mind frays under the use of the skill as I control each vine that holds them back manually.

It’s all futile.

Even with some of my skills upgraded, even with some of the levels, I can’t beat this.

I disconnect from the network and sprint to the edges of the room while the behemoth uses a skill that boosts its speed. The last pieces of my domain shudder, rip, and burst like a balloon. Fragments of shredded bindweed rain down and the monster steps into the heart of my world.

A quick scan of the room reveals that Zerzia managed to drag everyone away into Zillindial’s garden where they might have a modicum of safety. I stare at the Cave crawler and note that it is another time to go fully out again with nothing standing in my way. It’s the perfect opportunity to get that last level and strike back at the Cave crawlers. Special as these ones are, they don’t grow on trees just like the queens. It’ll be a blow to the hives. If I survive.

The Elite facing me stands at a respectable level 15 of (F) grade. Quite a bit higher than me, yet it has dared to tread into my world. Fragmented it may be, but there is still plenty of bindweed remaining for me to use.

My eyes flick to the force mage on its head and the four air mages that stand a dozen metres beyond where my walls used to be. They seem to ignore Cobalt who has vanished into a blizzard of her own making, the dull shattering of ice is the only thing that makes it past the silencing snow. Even so, the blizzard warbles. It frays at the edges, as though someone is unmaking it by pulling out threads one by one. I need to hurry this up.

While the mages aren’t inclined to intervene, I don’t want to be torn apart by the wind if the bugs get into the mood or regain enough magic. They’ll be the first to go. A part of my mind spins off, spending precious points of Stamina to stretch the range of my domain under the feet of the air mages beyond. With them staying that far away, the Stamina penalty of using the skill is quite hefty but support needs to be killed first.

Without remorse, I pull on the stocks of Stamina built up in my body, greedily wrenching dozens of points from my body to add it to my Resources before quickly slamming it down into the bindweed. Everything comes alive with my command. The vines throw themselves at the beast and the walls unmake themselves before reconfiguring into creations of hungering greenery.

But it isn’t enough.

Again my vines crash upon carapace. Thorns crumple against the impregnable surface. The skill is simply not made for it. It is manipulation yes, though not an attack.

However, damage isn’t what I was aiming for. The lumbering giant lets out a low buzzing hum as gigantic mandibles slam together, crunching the vines into paste. It pushes through bindweed, ignoring the vines that shoot overhead, until suddenly, the force mage that guarded its flanks is dragged away.

It struggles against me futilely as the bindweed pulls the monster up into the air. Vines collapse in on themselves under the force the monster wields until the thing is ripped apart, turning into a rain of ichor.

Far away, the air mages move, interrupting the battle now that one of them has fallen—wind hurdles into the room, leaving no space for me. My feet slide over the ground, the hooks I create on the soles of my feet not enough to keep me standing. I’m picked up by the wind and pinned onto the wall.

And the giant turns to me, wrath on its alien face now that I got rid of the force mage. It closes on me, the mandibles on its face the executioner’s axe.

More of my mind segments and shifts as it travels away from my body into the bindweed network below ground.

I peel myself off the walls, only to end up stuck again as the wind in the room redoubles its efforts to constrain me. So be it, then, I grimace.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The monster opens its mandibles wide to fit me between them, ready to snip me in two at the hips. As the mandibles close around me, I pull myself into the wall. The bindweed wraps around my form and just like the humans, I vanish from the room. I drag myself through the bindweed, exiting on the other side.

The wind leaves the central room, bounding over the walls and chases me. Far away the blizzard still rages on in a cyclone that seems to move into my domain before getting dragged back as it grows on the verge of breaking. All it leaves behind is a landscape of crystalline spires of ice and snow.

My legs burn with Stamina as I head to one of the more intact parts of my domain. The corridors are nothing to the behemoth, but it’ll be an excellent hiding place until the bindweed reaches the air mages.

Behind me, the wall of the central room bursts outwards and the giant rushes out aiming its mandibles at me. I take a sharp turn to the left, taking satisfaction out of the angry snapping of mandibles and the tearing bindweed as the monster doesn’t turn on time.

The bindweed corridors around me are reshaped into a fortress of my making before I head out again. Sitting still is death. Checking my Stamina, I cut off the supply that reinforced Zillindial’s garden. They’ll have to manage on their own against the weaker Cave crawlers that are flooding into the holes of my world. Even now, the weaklings try to get in my way, stealing seconds for the behemoth.

The giant laughs at me in a high chittering sound. Its legs tear up more of the bindweed as it charges at me. It ignores the fortress I made and only a sharp turn to the right helps me avoid the death its mandibles promise.

From the blizzard Cobalt’s screams echo out in off-tones. The storm is pulled back once more, out of reach.

The giant charges again and I slide under the insect and push my claws futilely into the monster’s stomach. It was always a weakness, an opportunity to take out something stronger than me. However, this beast doesn’t have that weak point; its carapace inviolable.

The monster, catching onto what I'm trying to do as the tips of my fingers attempt to worm into the grooves between its armoured plating, lowers to the ground. I roll out under it, avoid the pincers on its butt and evade as it swings at me with its mandibles.

The part of my mind I sectioned off notifies me that the bindweed has spread under the air mages and is ready to stop the wind that buffets me from all sides. I pull the trigger on my skill and count the notifications in my head. Mages don’t always have the bodily stats to survive these kinds of attacks. Especially when they think to are beyond my reach.

One of the blue pests evades one of the vines that flow out of the ground, chittering with glee as it charges up another attack as it hovers in the sky, held aloft by air magic. The stupid bug isn’t quick enough and is cut in two by a vine with serrated thorns.

The giant (F) grade doesn’t notice that the rest of its support has just perished, madly rushing through my domain as it does its best to spear me with its mandibles. I kick Stamina Surge into the second gear, buckling under the weight. My bindweed bruises under the energy and the sweet taste of blood and death fills my mouth. Even the extra points in Constitution are barely enough to keep standing under every boosting skill that Zerzia and I put together.

I roll away from the monster, walls sprouting in my wake to keep it off me for just a moment longer. Cobalt is the only one who can take this monster down with her ice and she’s occupied. My eyes flick above the walls and I realise that the blizzard has morphed into a dying snowstorm.

The aberrant Cave crawler bursts the walls and locks onto me. In a flash, it uses a movement skill and speeds up. Every step it takes seems to carry it over the world as if distance is a mere triviality for it.

I crumple to the ground, my mind barely having caught onto what is going on before I feel the wind swish above my head. Where I stood not even a second ago, now is a set of closed mandibles with three leaves off my crown in them.

A twisted cry of pain escapes from me as the agony my crown sends through my body catches up to me. My nerves pulse painfully in conjunction with the pressure on my eyes, and blood or tears leak out. I push the pain into my throat, compressing it into a skill, and let out a scream that stalls it for a second.

Bindweed swirls around the monster’s legs. Thorns scratch and gnaw on its shell, seeking the most vulnerable parts. They grab onto something and grow into the monster’s joints. Stamina flows into the bindweed and more thorns sprout, cutting into the most vulnerable parts until the beast's front leg pops out of its socket with a spurt of ichor.

I’m rewarded with an angry chitter and meet the monster’s body as it slams into me. It launches me with all the force it can muster away, heading straight for the walls I set up with the velocity of an aeroplane taking off.

Energy slams into the vines and they stretch out, pull me into a hug and bleed of momentum as I hit the wall. More of my body collapses and my brain rattles around in my skull. Bindweed in my crown bleeds sap and energy. The delicate leaves on my head are starting to wilt and droop.

And as if waiting, he arrives. Ragged flowers and verdant fur drifting in the air herald his entrance. He steps out of a broken corridor, his face marred with rage. Zillindial scans the room, his eyes meeting mine before turning back to the behemoth.

The blooming world around him draws the Cave crawler’s attention. In response, the bear reaches out and the fur leaves his body. Flowers germinate in the air in crimson red and navy blue. Like an avalanche it disseminates through the room, pulling the word into a vibrancy that promises death.

I spit out golden blood as the vines that make up my throat slowly collapse into themselves and croak out words for the bear. “Don’t,” I manage to sputter out, the words wet and sickly.

The bindweed that saved my life by draining off my speed has turned into a cage of my making, the shredded vines now tying me to the wall.

The bear ignores me and continues his attack. Red shrapnel flies through the room, ricocheting off the monster or catching in seams where it seemingly morphs into bleeding moss that eats into skill-reinforced carapace.

But like me, the bear doesn’t have enough concentrated firepower. I see the thoughts on Zillindial’s naked face as he contemplates using the skill I forbade him to.

On the edges of my awareness, I feel the cold crawl over bindweed once more, this time travelling inwards like an infection. Though, it is wrenched away again, Cobalt’s screams for help are a reminder that this is not the only battle being fought.

Fur regrows on Zillindial’s body before drifting into the air again growing into an endless assault of hungering flowers.

Sweat flows from the bear’s bare skin and I see the words on his lips; the skill construct in his soul already turning on as it is fed Stamina and Health.

“Don’t,” I warn the bear again as I wrench myself free of the wall. He can’t use it. Not again. It takes too much from him.

I pull on the dregs of Solar Storage and slam the energy into Bindweed Conjuration. Instantly, I’m rewarded by a blinding headache from the system with a tingle of possible soul damage. I’ve already pushed too far, and most of the skills are tired beyond belief.

This isn’t the time to back down. Do or Die.

I stop asking the construct what to do and take charge myself. All the energy I have collects itself under the monster that continues to weather Zillindial’s assault, shrugging off the fleshy layers of red moss that try to encapsulate it.

The bindweed under it morphs and shifts. The thorns grow serrated and jagged, as much as I can with my current skill level but it isn't enough. These thorns aren’t made to attack, only to ward off. They are meant for flesh and not the hard carapace the behemoth is clad in. What I need are razors and needles. Unbending and unbreaking.

The amassed energy revolts against me, unwilling to leave the bindweed and flow into the thorns. I press against the skill, wrenching free all control. If it isn’t willing to do it for me. I’ll do it myself.

Bright spots of black and white singe themselves into my eyes and are reluctant to leave as blink them away.

Zillindial’s mouth moves, his lips hanging onto the first letter as he sets up the stage around the monster. Moss makes place for the Joys of spring and the wrathful crimson flowers that press against the monster, offering the barest of restraints.

The Cave crawler frees itself from the cloying moss and clacks its mandibles with finality as it takes its first step in minutes. With contempt in its eyes, it shears a swath of flowers apart, taking satisfaction in the destruction it brings.

The [Green Bear]’s skin starts to turn grey and devoid of colour as he charges it up. Zillindial rasps out the skill with satisfaction and suffering on his face, “Corpse-”

I redirect the effects of Stamina Surge to my brain, feeling my thoughts blur in my head with speed. The Stamina underground clings to the bindweed, still not willing to enter the thorns properly and give it the needed punch.

It shouldn’t matter.

That bindweed is as much of me as my body is, only separated by distance.

The bright spots in my vision grow larger as I bend the skill in a fundamental way it shouldn’t be supposed to. I can hear it groan under the pressure, as if I’m breaking an ironclad law. It whispers like branches barely holding on in a storm, like glass shattering, and it echoes like ice surrendering to a summer’s sun.

My thoughts reinforce the skill and my vision begins to fade to white static.

It doesn’t matter.

The bindweed, it is all me. I take Control and the thorns begin to press out of the bindweed. The vines darken and shrivel as the skill struggles with the concepts I instil into it.

The red grows brighter and Zillindial gasps for air, his breath not enough to fully pronounce the skill. “-Flower,” he wheezes and collapses to the ground, somehow having grown unrecognisable.

The effect is immediate and all colour fades around him and the Cave crawler. The angry blooms fall away into grey and make place for the hungry crimson that wraps around the beast. Concurrently, pillars of bindweed rise from the ground, trapping the beast in place as the thorns reach out and cut slivers out of the carapace, digging their way into the behemoth.

It snarls and tries to free itself from the vines and the flowers that press into its eyes, ready to bloom in the colour of blood.

Blotches of grey bleed out further, going as far as to mar the Stamina-reinforced bindweed. But to call it grey would be a misnomer. It isn’t a colour but the very absence of it.

Again, I slam my head against one of my skills demanding it to follow me. The bindweed curls around limbs and the thorns take the monster apart. The vines slip into grooves and sharp thorns follow. The insectile legs that carry its weight are removed and it falls to the ground.

The Corpse flower presses itself into the grooves made by my thorns, leeching into the Cave crawler’s insides before blooming in the wretched pus yellow and green of ichor. It pitifully clacks its mandibles once more as the flowers that have taken up residency in its eyes take root in the monster’s brain and end its life.

The notification is like a balm to my soul and a weight off my back. Though, all my energy has left me. New notifications ding in the back of my mind and my vision is a mess of blurry shapes and pallid colours.

My eyes try to pull close over my swollen eyes but a freezing cold at the edge of my awareness pulls me back. Throughout the fight, it has been steadily crawling closer into my destroyed domain, before getting pulled back again. But as Cobalt’s screams for help echo once more, an unfamiliar tone of desperation to it, I’m pulled away from sleep.

This isn’t over yet.

I turn to Zillindial who has passed out. He looks worse off than the day he entered the bastion. I heave myself off the ground and spend a few points of Stamina on widening my feet to keep me standing. The rest is shoved into the network of bindweed vines, spreading my awareness further out.

Two ice mages fire shards of ice at Cobalt while she runs for the ruins of Zillindia’s garden. Claws of ice grasp onto her shoulder, dragging her back as she tries to find bindweed to cling onto with her remaining arm. She lets go and slams her fist into the ground, cracking the ice on her as her skills momentarily trump over the Cave crawlers'.

She dashes further into my domain and I sprint on my wobbly legs through corridors to meet her in the garden where Zerzia and the guardians are hiding.

Screams come from the panda as she sees the Elites and Cobalt square off against each other, using pitiful remains of Stamina to fight.

I enter the garden and rasp out Cobalt’s name. Though the coleptera doesn’t seem to notice any changes in the world around her, all her focus is set on the two Cave crawlers in front of her. In my hazy vision, it is difficult to make out her exact health, but to everyone, it’s clear that she’s barely standing on her feet.

Frozen wind, devoid of snow and mist, crawls around the room as I push through the flowers and make my way to Zerzia.

“Remove my boost and place it onto Cobalt when I give the signal.”

She turns to me, shock and horror on her face. “Green, you-”

“There isn’t any time,” I wheeze and hack out more blood.

The boost on my body she supplied fades away and so does my awareness of the world. Her boosting abilities, while damaging, were one of the few things that kept me going. But for this, for the last move, I don’t need to move at all.

Air and blood fill my lungs as I charge up the skill that has given me a moment’s advantage in almost every battle. Now I only need to hope that I don’t blow my throat.

I almost choke on my sap before I let the skill go. The scream that comes from my throat is silent. Barely a whisper. It is filled with pain and gurgling blood. It is something of loss, a lamentation and an admission of guilt.

I wanted to push. I wanted levels and now everyone is hurt. Cobalt is missing limbs and I don’t even want to know what Zillindial has lost.

It draws the attention of the two ice mages and Zerzia boots Cobalt for the two seconds she needs.

Blood violently spurts out of her stump but as her fist crashes into one of the insect’s skulls before entering a second, I know it was the right choice.

With nothing left, I land on the ground again. A battle won but a war lost.

Cobalt steps closer to me and reaches out with her single hand, pulling me off the ground again. This close, I can see how her body is barely holding together. Her blue shell is cracked all over, blood and other bits seeping out of the cracks. In several places, there are entire holes in her body where shards of ice must have taken up residence during her own battle.

“Mandrake Green, you look unwell,” she says with broken dignity in her voice.

I look down at myself and agree. It is less than before, I’m certain of that. My enhanced Health and Constitution are enough to take the edge off. However, with this much Stamina at my disposal, the damage I can do to myself is more than enough to kill me twice over.

She shakes her head while freezing the wound on her arm shut, “We need to go, Mandrake Green, I cannot hold the insects off and neither can you.” Without a word, she tosses me over her shoulder and we all head back into the central room that now lies in ruins.

Together we find Zillindial bowed over the corpse of the behemoth Cave crawler. While a semblance of colour has returned to him, the same can’t be said about the flowers surrounding the dead monster.

Wild bushes of Joys of Spring have weathered away into dull statues that only evoke grief. No matter what, those flowers will never bloom again. Their colour will never come back now that it is consumed by that skill.

Sobs come from the bear as he bows down to the plants, cupping their flowers as if something freely given can be so easily returned.

“Zillindial,” I say. Already there are more of the bugs making their way to us.

The [Green Bear] turns to me and Cobalt. “What did I do? I-I can’t. Not anymore.” He doubles over, hands on his stomach as new shivers not born out of sadness wreck his body. Black bile seeps out of his mouth into the ground; the sign of a skill discarded and a reprimand of the system.

“We need to go,” Cobalt says coldly as she lifts up the bear and hands him to Zerzia.

My awareness fades as she walks back to the Bastion. The smaller mushroom guardians that have been left out of the fight take on the assault of the weaker pests, determined to let not a single one reach any of us

A ringing in my ear keeps me from restful sleep and the incessant pinging of the system continues to draw my focus.

In my hazy vision, I read a prompt that is new and different.

*Congratulations! You have achieved a Minor Feat.

*The skill Bindweed Manipulation (R) lvl 48/50 can upgrade into the following:

*Bindweed Control.

I don’t bother reading the description and select the upgrade with my mind. I don’t know what minor feats are or how I got one, but hey, free upgrades. And with the incessant pinging of the system gone, I finally drift away into sleep.