The pockets of corrupted plant life remained small, but were beginning to grow more numerous in number. Soleil swore that the pockets of corrupted plants were deliberately arranged to be spread out. There was plenty of time to think between fights. More than enough time to wonder why they had not met a noticeably larger grouping of the easily dispatched flora.
They were midway through clearing their fourth encounter against thorn whip bushes when Soleil realized what was wrong.
"We're being surrounded." Despite being muttered under Soleil’s breath, a pair of black feline ears perked up. Filing the confirmation that Metis and Fia had sensitive hearing away for later, Soleil asked Metis for confirmation.
Sure enough, Metis soon reported that new trees and squads of bushes were moving just at the edge of their vision in an effort to block off the direction they had come from. Each group individually was denser than the ones they had been fighting up until now.
Aster and Maeve were finishing up the current trio of bushes now. All that remained was the tree that Fia had been keeping distracted by baiting out swings.
"That custom Emissary of yours is going to run out of mana before we run out of big targets, isn't it?" The concern in Metis's words did not reach their posture or face.
"Unfortunately, yeah." Soleil confirmed. "Go help Maeve and Aster finish up. I want to try knocking one of these trees off balance."
"Very well, leader." Metis bowed before departing, leaving Soleil feeling a different kind of discomfort.
Soleil was content to sit in the back and see the bigger picture unfold. But she remained uncomfortable with the idea of leading anyone anywhere. Who could she ask to follow her where future dealings with Calamity might take her?
Well, other than Maeve.
Her personal knight approached close enough to reveal fresh cuts adorning her face. "You have a plan." There was no question. Maeve was confident that Soleil already an idea fully formed.
Maeve wasn’t wrong. Soleil put effort into adopting a confident smile. "I do. It relies on your [Smash] skill."
Maeve seemed excited all of a sudden. Was this to be Soleil's lot in life? To not charge into battle at the behest of others but instead endear others to the point of fighting her battles for her?
Soleil did not bother to retrieve her wand. Instead she dismounted Hope in order to close the distance with Maeve. Tracing her fingers over the wounds allowed her to assess their scope before willing an appropriate amount of mana into [healing] them. Shallow cuts one and all, likely only superficial in Maeve's eyes.
But Soleil knew that Maeve was pushing herself. Better to keep that in mind when giving her orders. She would need to conserve her party’s strength. Maeve’s most of all. "These corrupted plants have uprooted themselves in order to travel. Have Aster or Fia bait out with a heavy blow. I want you to knock the tree off balance."
"Consider it done." Maeve said, so stone faced and determined.
Soleil kept hold of Maeve's face. "Wait for an opportunity. No reckless gambles, okay?"
Maeve's expression softened a bit. "Um. Yeah. I can do that."
Soleil wanted to say more. But there was no time.
Maeve turned to relay the plan to Aster before both rushed off to confront the gnarled tree. Its swings were reckless, with no chance of hitting the elusive calico rogue. But also left no opening. Fia would need to slow down, maybe even feign exhaustion for this to work.
Metis was at Soleil's side again. "Sorry I could not be of more use."
"It's alright." Soleil assured them. "You're going to be invaluable if they try to come at us from multiple directions."
"I suspect it is less a matter of if, so much as when." Metis had cast their eyes back out to the tree line. Soleil turned to find it all slowly encroaching.
"What are you and Fia fighting for?" Soleil asked. Not knowing bothered her.
"Already you go looking for more burdens to take on. Fia and I have discussed your determination to overwhelm yourself."
Soleil frowned, but Metis continued to speak.
"For now, content yourself knowing that Fia and I are in need of Goodwill. We each owe a debt we are not sure can be repaid."
"Oh. Sorry to hear that." Everywhere Soleil seemed to go, she kept finding people being crushed by something hard to grasp the scope of.
Metis permitted a small smile to grace their lips. "Do not mind us overly much. Unlike most, ours is a debt we are happy to repay."
Soleil decided to change the subject while she had Metis’s ear. “Isn’t this a bit much for a Bronze ranked request?”
The feline rogue in remarkably well fitted leathers stood in contemplative silence for a while. “I suspect Aster would say something along the lines of Soul Level ranges being a measure of having the resources necessary to complete a request. Difficulty and complications are difficult to account for.”
“I suppose everything we are fighting is rather low level.” Each thorned bush was only Soul Level 2 or 3. The trees had cost Soleil a Focus drought just to [Analyze] one in the mid 30s. She instructed the others to refrain from getting further insights. Curiously, none of them had proper names. [Analyze] [Identify] and [Herblore] all failed to name the flora forced to sprout thorny vines in order to lash out at the living world around them.
Soleil could almost imagine Caesar leading a dozen level one Fusiliers in a skirmish against these plants without much problem. Of course with an over reliance on magitech, there was precious little in the way of risk or reward.
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Soleil needed to get stronger. It remained a burning desire on the edge of her mind as much as anything else. There was so much in need of fixing.
Imagining Fusiliers lining up to fire upon their enemies did give Soleil an idea about how to get out of their current predicament. She very well might be forcing them into a situation that cost them in the long term, but being surrounded in the short term was unworkable.
***
Maeve saw her opportunity. Right as the tree reared back to swing, Maeve lunged in with a [Smash] aimed as high as she could place it.
Rotted wood cracked in a thunderous cacophony as the corrupted tree fell to the ground under its own weight being used against it. Half of its branched limbs immediately shattered under the weight. Impact with the ground split the rotted integrity of the trunk in a way that would have otherwise required repeated [Smashes.]
[Maeve’s Soul gained a level.]
[Maeve gained a deeper understanding of [Smash.] The skill can now be raised to Rank 2.]
Maeve made sure to conserve her stamina and mana from that point on. Level seven was not enough. The most she could hope for with that would be to cut Soleil’s corruption down from Moderate to Minor.
With the tree in a fallen position, severing its last remaining roots and limbed branches was a simple enough affair.
Maeve made sure to cast frequent glances in Soleil’s direction. No matter how bad things got, Soleil must not be allowed to use [Calamitous Wings.] Not while it was so frustratingly within reach. She just had to see this request through to the end and keep Soleil out of harm’s way for a while longer.
Veilura's demon daughter had become increasingly herself as she gained new levels and restored her stats to something resembling their earlier levels. Maeve had desperately needed to see the fire back in Soleil’s eyes. Now she just had to keep that delicate balance between corruption and fiery determination from accepting any further corruption or level drain.
Suddenly, Metis climbed atop Hope and the six legged Magitech Armor began to charge in their direction.
"That way!" Soleil shouted, gesturing for the party to turn east. "We need to put our backs to the river!"
Backs against the wall then instead of being surrounded. Fia might grumble, but this arrangement suited Maeve just fine. If they had their backs to the river, she might actually be able to prevent anything from directly engaging Soleil in melee.
Lances of scarlet fire mana cut corrupted three trees in half in quick succession as Soleil aimed to cut the party a path through the encirclement.
Metis hopped off behind Hope and fell into step alongside Maeve. With increased numbers arranged against them, Maeve had suggested they pair up.
Three groups of bushes advanced on Soleil and her Magitech Armor. Soleil was already rushing to equip the axe attachment while the others caught up and took positions on either flank.
Aster gestured for Fia to get behind her as she took a few weighty steps forward. The higher leveled Knight was gathering her strength and taking a wide stance in preparation for meeting the charge of a dozen vine whip flailing bushes.
“Brace yourselves.” The antlered knight growled.
Channeling a considerable amount of Strength and Endurance, Aster’s boot deformed the earth with a single [Stomp.] The nearest eight bushes were all knocked unsteady, tripping under their own advance.
Soleil urged Hope into the fight alongside Fia. The three of them made short work of over half their opponents before the last two could recover and another four came into range.
Maeve breathed an easy sigh of relief. Soleil would be fine. She could focus on handling six of her own bushes alongside Metis. Rapping on her shield, Maeve issued a shouted challenge to the approaching opponents before barking orders to Metis. “You go right.”
Positioning herself between two of the nearest bushes, Maeve fended off one with the shield while cutting away towards the core of a second. As soon as she finished her first, the one behind it fell to Metis’s knives. Maeve turned to handle the three on the left while Metis stood at her back, only having one to contend with.
“We have to be quick.” Metis cautioned.
Other groups were closing in. They would need to end this quickly if they wanted to break free.
Maeve cut her shield free and oriented herself to the side a few paces. With a grin, she [Smashed] one bush into the path of another. The last bushed paused, as if hesitant upon so quickly losing its number advantage.
Pushing herself by fueling each of her opening swings with Strength had been the right call. A protracted fight would be in the plant's favor.
Curiously, Maeve and Metis’s final opponents turned to flee. Maeve was sure to stab the one pinned beneath the one she [Smashed] earlier. One less opponent to have to deal with later.
Metis for her part cursed as her opponent began to swerve, dodging knives as it fled. “I’m down another two knives.”
“Where does that leave you?”
“Down to fourteen from my initial twenty.”
Narrowing her eyes, Maeve wondered just how purposeful the decisions of their opponent were. Each engagement seemed easy enough, but something felt off about how these allegedly undead plants were beginning to act. “Don’t waste anymore. I suspect we are soon going to need every resource we have left.”
Nodding, Metis stowed their throwing knives back into the many custom belt sheathes. The leather armor looked like a custom job meant to be layered atop their finely tailored dress.
Metis was something else, Maeve decided. She really did not have time to admire the craftsmanship of the gear Metis wore. How much of it had been commissioned compared to additions they added themselves? Everything they wore was meticulously custom fitted.
Relatively unscathed, the party began to run towards the valley’s central river. Behind them, nearly a hundred plants of various sizes crawled forward atop spiked vines and gnarled tree root systems.
It soon became clear that there would be no time for anything more than catching their breath before engaging the bulk of the rotted flora.
Maeve was cautiously optimistic of their chances. But morale plummeted upon cresting a hill and getting a look at the river shore.
Another party entirely was already making a desperate defense along the shore. Seven bodies lay still and bloody along the beach. Five times their number in remains of rotted plants began to paint a similar picture of Soleil’s plan falling apart just short of reaching a defensible position.
Only a single Beast Tamer and a pair of wolf-like creatures remained to fight a desperately losing battle.
Soleil screamed, her eyes burning with fury as she channeled some of her own mana into refilling Hope’s reserves. Two lances of [Fire Beams] cut through the bulk of the surrounding plants in a V pattern.
Knives thrown by Metis made the last of the difference necessary to rescue the tamer and her wolves.
Maeve stopped short as it dawned on her just how bad the situation was. Metis’s knuckles turned white as they gripped each throwing knife. Fia’s down-turned ears and Soleil’s dying scream told Maeve everything she needed to know. There would be no time to plan much of anything.
All seven of the Beast Tamer’s party members that lay scattered along the shore were dead.