Kaidu slid out from under his shoulder. “Can you fight?”

Rowan caught himself with the rake. He glanced down at the plant. Leaves thrust upward from his stomach, disconcertingly bright. A dull ache emanated from the place the roots met flesh, but no blood leaked out, and neither did his HP drop. Rowan sucked a short breath and put a hand to it, delicately. That’s going to hurt when it comes out. “I’ll do my best.”

Kaidu nodded tersely. He wiped his scissors on his pants, smearing ichor over the dark denim.

Rowan nodded back. He forced his blurry eyes to focus on the wings, themselves blazing past at full speed, almost too fast to make out. Kaidu can’t attack it while it’s in the air. I have to bring it down somehow.

He glanced at the ants. A pair of winged ants flew at an ordinary yellowjacket. The yellowjacket lashed out with head and tail at the same time. One ant’s head tumbled, decapitated by powerful mandibles, and the other screeched in pain and toppled out of the air, ichor bubbling up from a hole in its chest.

Not an option. They stand no chance against the boss if they can barely take on the normal yellowjackets.

The boss darted from side to side, almost searching. Rowan bent his knees and almost toppled sideways as the blood rushed from his head. Okay. Slow movements. Got it.

He glared at the boss furiously. Used all my skill points. Ants can’t help me. All the Plant Affinity in the world won’t make him like me or turn around and leave. How do I kill this thing?

A blur of yellow hurtled at him. He barely sidestepped in time to avoid getting splatted. The yellowjacket struck earth instead, and struggled there for a few seconds, stinger stuck in the earth. Kaidu rushed at it, scissors thrust at its underside. The yellowjacket whirled on him, momentarily forgetting its plight, and struck at him with its six legs, darting in with its mandibles from above. In a wild swirl of white and motion, Kaidu ducked most of them, but one struck him on the shoulder and spun him around. By the time he whirled around again, the yellowjacket buzzed through the air, long freed.

Rowan’s eyes lit up. “Kaidu! Let’s do the same thing, but with the boss!”

Kaidu glared at him. “It won’t work. You saw. Too many legs.”

“Trust me! I have an idea!” Without waiting for a response, Rowan turned and charged at the boss.

“Are you suicidal?” Kaidu grit, chasing after him.

“Boss! Hey! You! Come get me, you piece of shit! Yeah, you!” Rowan waved his arms, drawing as much attention as he could. His vision dipped black, and his head bobbled around, light as a feather, but he kept running. “Piece of shit boss! Come get me!”

The boss snapped around toward him, massive head swinging to lock onto his motion. Its antennae trembled, and its mandibles worked in excitement. Buzzing its wings even faster, it darted up, then surged down at him, stinger outstretched.

As a pile of insect bulk about the size of a sedan hurtled down on him, Rowan froze. Oh, shit. Did I essentially just proc a car into stabbing me?

“Rowan!”

“Right!” As his vision filled with yellow and black, he threw himself forward. His vision blacked out somewhere in the middle, but he came up on the other side conscious, rakeless, and most importantly, not stabbed. Behind him, the boss whirred frantically, stinger thrust into the earth.

Rowan thrust his hands into his bag and pulled out a pair of tools. “Kaidu, now!”

“I won’t hit!” Still, Kaidu rushed at the boss, scissors at the ready.

The boss turned on him. For a moment, it stopped struggling and focused all its attention on Kaidu. Its translucent wings settled against its back.

“Prune!” Rowan shouted, leaping onto the yellowjacket’s back. In one hand, he thrust the garden shears; in the other, his hand spade. Blue lights lit up along the edges of the yellowjacket’s wings.

Cut them! I want to cut!

The blue lights struggled, then rearranged themselves through the weak points, the joins and the thinnest panels. Rowan struck, bashing wildly with the shears and the shovel. Bits of gossamer rained down.

The yellowjacket boss roared and bucked. Rowan grabbed onto the wings and held on for dear life. He dug his fingers in while he was at it, puncturing holes in the weak fabric.His arms trembled, and his legs slipped off the wasp’s slick back. He thumped against its body, pain sparking through his gut where the plant jostled against the boss’s thorax. “Kaidu! For real this time!”

Kaidu charged in and sliced at the yellowjacket’s abdomen with an opened pair of scissors. The other pair he thrust into the monster’s thorax.

The yellowjacket bucked ferociously and ripped its stinger out of the earth. Rowan fell backward, onto hard ground. His head snapped against the earth, and stars danced in his vision.

Kaidu held on as the yellowjacket struggled. He stabbed over and over again, scissors too shallow to puncture deep. The yellowjacket clawed at him, tearing holes in his white jacket. It screeched and yanked its stinger out, then whirred its wings. Torn and ripped, they buzzed, but couldn’t lift it off the ground. It threw itself onto its legs instead. Kaidu darted back, but it curled out a claw and caught him. He fell to the ground. The yellowjacket boss lifted a claw and slammed it at Kaidu.

No! The rake laid on the floor beside Rowan. He snatched it up and charged at the yellowjacket. With all his might, he brought the tines down on its abdomen. “Come after me, you fucking bug!”

The boss paused, claw still in the air, inches above Kaidu. It craned its neck over its shoulder and screeched at Rowan.

Kaidu jumped up and stabbed his scissors deep into the boss’s eye. Ichor gushed out, thick and yellow. The boss screamed and thrashed, waving its claws wildly. Hanging from its eye, Kaidu flung after it. It jumped, trying to take to the air, but plopped back down, ragged wings useless. With one last kick, the boss dropped to the ground, lifeless.

Congratulations! Floor One, Pass!

You have defeated the Boss. +1500 EXP.

Lights filtered up from the ground around them, tiny stars that dissipated on the air. A final prompt appeared before them.

Proceed to Floor Two? Yes/No

“I can’t, not like this,” Rowan said, gesturing at his stomach. Leaves reached for the sky from the hole in his gut, the plant bushy and happy in his gut. It’s happy, but I’m not. If it starts stretching out its roots again, I might not survive.

Kaidu glanced at his own jacket, ripped to shreds and badly stained, and nodded. “We’ll return to the overworld.”

“The… what?” Rowan asked.

“Climber terminology. I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Kaidu said, looking down his nose at Rowan.

Rowan narrowed his eyes at Kaidu, then laughed. The laugh turned into a cough. He raised a hand to his mouth. Blood splattered over it, bright red.

Kaidu pressed on the air. “Let’s get you home.”

“Yeah,” Rowan agreed, pressing No as well.

The lights around them glowed brighter, whiting out the tower around them. Rowan could almost swear he saw an ant salute him goodbye, and then the world faded out around them.