There was something about pain that could ground you. A reminder of your mortality. The feeling that you actually existed and had feelings - or at least the necessary bodily parts to make you think that. Too much though, and you would wish you didn’t have those things. Everything in moderation. I had drowned once, in causing pain and in causing myself anguish and agony. Did I learn much from that? Maybe I’ll know when I’m dead.

“There is definitely something ahead,” Jakob whispered from our crouched position.

“Define ‘something’.” Florence hissed from behind him.

Bad things. I could see it too. Another clearing, perhaps, but much smaller. The canopy was domed over this area and lit by something. Luminescent yellows and greens. My jaw was sore from clenching it. If we were this close, surely she would know. And if she did, then was this a trap?

One deep breath cleared my thoughts from getting too overactive. Certainly, she would have felt the death of the plants prior and the carnage we wrought in carving our path to her. We were expected. But to what degree? A dozen feet back, a hundred, or could she already see us squatting down behind this bush? Things were so much easier when you were the one with the upper hand. As a high Rank I could walk into danger and expect to come out on top. My weakness here and fuzzy mind had put me on a weaker footing.

“…not sure.” The Ranger shrugged, eventually.

“I think this is the place,” I confirmed with a low voice. “She will be expecting us, so again, I don’t think a subtle entrance would help.”

Basil idly ran his finger on the corner of his book, staring straight ahead but with nothing to add to the delegation. Although he hadn’t lost as much as I had, he still had the prize possession in his grasp - his life.

For a moment, we were frozen with indecision. Naturally, I would be the one to lead the charge - and in that manner, they were waiting for my go-ahead. Personally, I was trying to gauge any sort of advantage we could muster from the situation. There was the slightest movement - but it could just be the slight breeze or the rhythmic movement of some strange plant. There were no discernable humanoid shapes or convenient shadows to signify our target. Then again, the Wanted poster did not exactly paint the picture of a normal Villain.

With nothing left to lose except time, I stood and readied my footing. The Party behind me did similar - drawing their weapons or readying spells. There was still a tang in the back of my mouth, something I could not know until it happened, but it still disgusted me so much I had felt it in the past.

Could it be my death? Was that why I was hesitating?

Truly that would be the worst thing imaginable, but it didn’t feel exactly right. A painting wrought from rocks instead of fine brush strokes. If it wasn’t my death, however - then I had nothing to fear. I held this false promise close as my boots bit into the ground, and I ran forth.

I did not yell or allow a battlecry to usher itself from my lips - while subtlety was way out of the window, I still did not invite attention where it was yet to be given. Every footstep brought us closer to the odd bulbous shapes of greenery - past trees and over shrubs. Surprise and trepidation filled me as no traps were sprung on our approach. This either meant something bad or something very bad.

Shadows flickered past me as darkened trees faded into my peripheral. I could hear the footsteps of my Party behind me. Following in my tread, they too had not encountered any issues on the approach.

With the last treeline ahead, I braced to breach into the clearing. That’s when the trap was sprung.

Vines shot out from behind us, grabbing the Mage and Cleric - the Ranger stumbled hard to the floor in an attempted roll and dropped his bow. I slid and wedged my blade into the earth to slow my approach, barely staying within the jungle. With a twist, I leaped back and ran after them.

[Enrage] filled me with the energy to catch up faster than the vines could drag the bodies. A flare of fire burst against the floor, illuminating the area in a flash of amber, as several vines cowered away and smoldered against the attack. Arrows flew over my shoulder, one after the other, to strike away two of the vines wrapped around Basil, slowing him so that I could speed past to cut him free.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

A hideous groan came from the clearing as I helped the Cleric to his feet. He gave a brief heal to the Mage as I stomped back in front of them. Rage was boiling within me, and I didn’t want to waste it all running around chasing down the probing hairs of this monster.

“Let’s end this,” I growled, stepping forward slowly. We rejoined and approached cautiously - speed almost had us separated, for no doubt, should I have entered the clearing, I would have become trapped in some manner.

We broke through the last of the vegetation to fully see what we were up against.

The clearing was larger than I had first anticipated, easily a good fifty feet and forty wide. The ceiling was a domed mass of thick canopy, green and yellow hues pulsing with ill light. At the opposite end of the lair, at first I thought I recognized a large church organ - but the pipes were askew and of different sizes. As two beady yellow eyes turned towards us, I recognized what it really was.

The Villain.

She was… large. Easily twenty feet tall. A complete mass of various shades of green and brown as if she was made up of collected woodland matter. From the Wanted poster, what had looked like breasts now seemed to be some kind of large pustules or sacs of some kind. Opaque and a milky yellow color, they encircled her midsection like a belt. For all the disgusting horror that she had become, her face was beautiful, almost like a wood-carved statue.

“You are the ones who have been desecrating my grove,” she hissed, with an empty-echoed tone, as though it reverberated from the very trees around us.

“And now we come to destroy you,” I spat and leveled my sword, the crimson hue alighting along the blade.

Immediately, Jakob unleashed two arrows of blazing green energy, and a fireball flew beside them. I charged.

The floor was covered with large leaves like lilies. Not quite as slick as the mud or mulch, but it was still an interesting battlefield to try and get used to. It dampened my footfalls on my approach.

I watched as the arrows struck her upper body, a thunk as if just striking wood. The fireball was blocked by a plant creature that leaped from a shadowed part of the canopy. My brow furrowed as I saw more run in from the sidelines, hidden in the shadowed bushes.

They were around four feet tall, clearly mushrooms given life. Short and stocky legs carried them across the vegetative flooring, tiny hands with shards of metal or glass as weapons threatened me. As far as minions went, they were not too frightening. They looked like the sort of Monsters adventurers would hunt in dungeons - not something a Ranker would be bothered by.

As the first one came into range, I slashed forward with my advantage of range. A good half of their bulbous head was cloven to the floor, and I kicked the remainder of the monster away. Likewise, with a quick flick on the return, my sword took a chunk from the second assailant. A quick glance showed thirteen left standing - their true effectiveness was in delaying and bogging me down.

An arrow and further fireball flew overhead, striking out against the Villain again. Good. My hope was that they would continue in that manner rather than try to assist me. The smell of burnt wood washed across the area as the second attack was not blocked.

In acting from an unspoken bond, the mushrooms turned from me and began to head towards the Mage. Now I found myself at a brief impasse. I could turn and assist them - or I could allow the distraction to turn my blade to the Villain.

Odd emotions fought within me. The Heroism, the cold heart, the warmth of friendship, centuries of experience, and the Badge inside my chest.

With a clench of my jaw and a frustrated growl, I turned back and ran amongst the throng heading towards my Party. With each swing of my sword, another bisected creature as their soft spongey skin was rent easily against my sharp blade.

In as many steps as it took to reach the group, I had lowered their number to five. Just as they were able to engage in melee, the burst of [Fire Wall] shot up in front of them - two mushrooms knocking back and on fire as the rest paused in brief panic. Enough time for me to do what was necessary.

The wall of flame dissipated as I split the last of the minions in half, and I turned back to the Villain with burning anger in my eyes.

I ran as my Party began their assault once more.

The Necromancer grinned and leaned forward, seemingly not bothered by the peppering of arrows across her chest and the burnt patch on her shoulder. One of her sacs pulsed and flexed outwards as if it was about to-

I dodged and rolled across the slick floor as a huge gob of foul yellowish substance shot across the room. With a brief glance backward, I was horrified to see the Mage struck by it. With a thick splash, it knocked her back to the floor and pinned her there. Some kind of glue-sap covering her like a spider web.

As I stood back to my feet, a second one narrowly missed me, the brush of air as it whizzed past, cooling the burning fury that continued to rise. Jakob attempted to dodge but had started trying to free Florence, the goop pushing back to a tree where he was stuck.

With his head hanging free, he looked at me. “Kill it!” he yelled.

Fire enveloped my insides, and I burst towards the Villain, the joy in her eyes was soon mine to extinguish. In slow motion, I watched as she burst another of her sacs in my direction. Moving too fast to dodge. As it approached me, I slashed downwards, my blazing crimson blade easily cutting through it.

Only that was because it wasn’t the sticky goop.

I stumbled to my knees as pain wracked my body. Whatever burning fury remained was quickly overtaken by my nerves being on fire. My hand grasped around for the Antidote, but my muscles were seizing up. I couldn’t stand, my nostrils and mouth burned, and my eyes were bleary. Thankfully, I managed to put the bottle to my lips… and it was…

It was empty.