Soleil felt wrong.

The air tasted funny. She had to take laborious breaths in order to force the air into her lungs.

It was as if the air didn't want to be breathed in.

Soleil was surprised to find herself enjoying the feeling of being carried in Maeve's arms so soon after the unpleasant flight at Calamity’s mercy.

It was not Maeve's scent and sweat that bothered her, even if a part of her wished it would. It took glimpses into her surroundings to grasp the extent of the rotted woods around her exploding into bloom. Dead grays gave way to vibrant if sickly yellows and oranges.

Calamity and whoever caused the forest to rot were setting an impression that stood in stark defiance to what books suggested ruin and decay would look like. Soleil had to resist wondering if all corruption could be described as beautiful.

On to more pressing matters like making herself feel useful. Soleil started by willing Focus into [Herblore] as she attempted to identify threats.

The wrongness of the world around her intensified.

Some large and bulbous flower called a Glitter Bloom curled away and inflated itself as they past. [Herblore] suggested that the plant felt threatened enough to release a cloud of sleep inducing spores. Something tugged at her senses. Sensitivity would probably tell her more, but she was not willing to gamble on that.

Beneath her, a mana engine hummed. Maeve devoted one hand to interfacing with Hope while the other kept Soleil atop the Magitech armor.

“B-behind.” Soleil mumbled.

“Yeah. We're kinda surrounded.” Maeve’s words were undercut by the whine of mana being condensed into a beam skill that Soleil could not identify from sound alone.

Fine. She’d handle this herself. Soleil willed heat to answer the call of her Focus. Just before the flower opened wide, Soleil [manipulated] a mote of flame into the bulb of the flower.

The Glitter Bloom did not catch fire like she had expected it to.

Instead the mote of flame winked out of sight. The mana dispersed as the Glitter Bloom sagged backwards. Its color suddenly changed dramatically. And her situation became alarmingly clear.

They were surrounded by corrupted plants and mana that were canceling out any of the ‘purified’ mana that came out of their souls or Hope’s mana engine.

"You're awake." Maeve said with a start. And after glancing over her shoulder at the burning flower she gave Soleil a raised eyebrow.

"Glitter Bloom.” Soleil mumbled. She sucked in a breath, finding the air of this part of the forest hard to breathe for some reason. “Did not want to find out what the corrupted form of spores that forced us to sleep would do to us." Soleil tried her best to smile, but her body took that opportunity to inform her just how much pain she was in.

“Easy there. You uh. Survived quite a fall.”

“Yeah. You could say that. Anyway, are we winning?”

The Knight Adjutant laughed bitterly. “Veilura is. I have this custom Emissary and I’m still barely keeping up with her.”

“I can help.” Soleil declared.

Maeve seemed unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

Soleil’s whole body complained at any attempt to move. “Okay, um. Well I can channel mana. But don’t expect me to swing a sword.”

“Mind if I borrow yours then?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.”

“Mine got ripped out of my hands. We uh, do not attempt to recover our weapons when confronting Rot.”

That made sense. Rot sounded unpleasant. “I’m going to need potions.”

“Veilura already entrusted me with an assorted dozen of them. They’re droughts though.”

“I prefer droughts actually.” Soleil unfastened her satchel and accepted the bottled curatives, couching the cheap and delicate glass bottles in the spare pouches that held spare clothing. It wasn’t much, but hopefully less of them would shatter if she took a hit when surrounded by some padding.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“You say that like you did not just fall out of the sky twenty minutes ago.”

Soleil huffed. “I took a small nap!” Shaking her head, she unfastened one of the vitality and endurance droughts before downing both. The Vitality drought filled her with an invigorated feeling, while the liquid Endurance was surprisingly thick and filling. With a small payment of the recently imbibed attributes, Soleil could push away and numb the pain.

It would still not be wise to physically push herself unnecessarily, but it was better to be ready than not.

Maeve accepted Soleil’s offered sword before sliding off the Magitech armor.

A moment later, Soleil took her place at the orb interface and found that the mana tank was running dry. Lovely. She was going to have to budget her mana usage.

Theoretically she could empty half her reserves to power a few beams. But she would likely have more success if she budgeted her mana on individual targets with the use of magic skills.

There were just so many small targets, a whole forest of them, really. No sooner had Maeve dismounted than she was within engagement range with three approaching vines riddled with thorns. Maeve hacked away in wide arcs, aiming to take down multiple corrupted flora with each swing.

Soleil got a glimpse of Maeve’s brown eyes, surprised to find them not glowing. The Knight Adjutant was fighting under her own personal reserves of strength and energy.

Curious, Soleil fished out her blue crystal lens and leveled it at Maeve. If she was going to waste time and mana on an unnecessary [Analyze,] better to spend the lens’s stored mana instead of her own.

Name: Maeve

Class: Guardian

Soul Level: 1/2 (Level Drain)

Soleil frowned at the sight. Maeve was only Soul Level two, and she’d willingly sacrificed a level. On what?

On who?

Veilura was right there, following the path of trees encased in ice with hundreds of levels to spare. No sacrifice was necessary on Maeve’’s part.

And yet the Knight soon stood over the remains of two dozen plants twisted out of shape and beyond recognition before being sliced apart by a blade. Her breathing seemed well paced enough that Soleil’s concern seemed misplaced.

Clearly there were gaps in her reading material. She had thought the Knights more reliant on their Magitech than Maeve was displaying with only a moderate amount of effort.

Soleil drew upon her Focus, using her comparatively safe position to activate her [Fire Affinity] three times. This gave her a handful of flaming motes that could remain on hand for emergencies.

No sooner had the thought occurred to her, a projectile flew out of a nearby bush and pinged off Maeve’s armor with enough force to cause her to stumble.

It did not do any meaningful damage, but it did cost her the initiative. Suddenly it was the vines lashing out at her.

Soleil willed a mote into the bush, turning the leaves from a deadened pus yellow and into a fire mana infused red as the corruption burned out. Thankfully whatever had surprised Maeve had been low level.

Maeve was slowly regaining the initiative, but just to be sure, Soleil incinerated a thorned vine attempting to trip her up.

“I appreciate you. Uh, helping me, I mean.” Maeve grunted, before resuming her intention of cutting a path through the rot-infected forest.

“Sure.” Soleil said, absentmindedly replying as mana attempted to distract her from the present with memories of fighting corruption with fire belching from strange magitech tubes.

Soleil’s Soul gained a level.

Soul Level ten. Soleil wanted to wait until one of her magical skills ranked up before spending that particular skill point. She really wanted more Focus to play with.

For now, Soleil contented herself with downing a calming Focus drought that reminded her of a warm cup of tea. Nine curatives left, with absolutely no end to the hostile foliage in sight.

A tightness suddenly constricted Soleil’s throat after a vine descended from the trees above. Curiously, this vine seemed alive and untainted by corruption.

“Now now. I think you three have had enough excitement for one day.” A sultry voice sang from the forest canopy up above. “It is quite rude of you to burn, cut, and freeze your way through my humble garden. But I am willing to forgive you if you indulge my curiosity.”

With her Focus broken, Soleil lost control of the last mote of mana. Instead she reached for her knife and with an investiture of Intensity, [pierced] through the vine binding her.

“Soleil!” Veilura called as she stepped back into view from handling the bulk of enemies ahead of them.

“I’m okay.” Soleil gasped for breath, suddenly having to fight even harder to breathe through what she could only describe as a cloying miasma.

“Careful.” Maeve barked a warning as more vines descended from the canopy.

Leaves of sickly yellows and deadened grays adorned a shapely woman who wore long petrified wood as if it were skin. Four slits carved into the trunk of her face erupted with yellow light as Rot mana spilled from them and began to drip to the ground with an ominous sizzle.

“Where are my manners? If memory serves, it is only proper that we each introduce ourselves. I am called Malady.” Twisted and gnarled hands clasped together as the corrupted forest entity expressed what Soleil could only describe as delight. “Oh, and forgive the mess. I had not intended to reveal myself and entertain guests for another few days. Now, if you would please, introduce me to the young demonling that Calamity has quite literally dropped into my lap. ”