“When the demon puddle came here, a few of us tried to fight it. They died. So, we decided to hide down here. We’ve been keeping quiet waiting for reinforcements to deal with the monster, but then you came here.”

“Upsetting the puddle and making a fuss in our hiding spot.” Another says, their grumpy attitude not lost in translation.

“Yes, and now you’re poking around at our stuff like you’re at some cheap corner store.” A third starts speaking, and I can only roll my eyes.

“Indeed.” The fourth sounds no happier. “Little thieves, they are.”

“Yes, yes, I get it.” I start rubbing my temple. “So, how long until your reinforcements arrive?”

“We have only recently been resupplied. So maybe in a month.”

“As in thirty days?” I ask, wondering just how they can say that so casually.

“That is what a month means, yes. You do have a support device, so why are you asking such silly things?” One of the group, I don’t really care which anymore, says, making sure to convey a snide sense of superiority.

“They’re stupid too.”

Their using the older form of the support devices, so unlike us they don’t have group chat. Which means they’re putting an unusual amount of effort into this conversation, just to bitch at us.

“Okay, that’s enough.” I reply forcing my frustration to be conveyed through the messaging system. “Are we going to work together to get rid of that thing or not?”

“Get rid of it? No, we called for reinforcements, and we’re going to wait for them.” One of the rebellious wall ornaments replies.

“I don’t want to sit around waiting.” This from the first one to show it’s face to us. “If they can get rid of it, we can give them a recommendation to get into the academies, and we all get what we want.”

“Or the demon puddle comes down here and burns us all.” Seems to be the general consensus among the others on the wall, some of them even dropping their faces and humanised affectations to retreat fully from the conversation.

“What about the others out there?” The young female one says. “Are we going to leave them all to die?”

“Yes. Now stop talking to the thieves and hide yourself.” Most fade back into the wall, but not all of them.

“We should try.” Agree’s another. Chip defines it as male… somehow.

I really do need to take a moment to fully breakdown how exactly Chip is coming up with these details. Is it a general reflection of genetic sex? Is it cultural? Is it just my impression pushed onto them? If it’s just based on my impression, will I one day start flirting with a girl just to find out that Chip has been lying to me, and it’s actually a guy?

I would like to figure that out before it’s a problem, but not now. Right now, I need to return to reality and the many painful issues that I’d like to forget about.

“I’d like to help make plans for fighting it. If they’re good plans, I’ll consider helping.” A few others seem to hold this stance, much to the relief of the first one to reach out to us.

“How were you planning on killing the puddle?” She asks us.

“Before we get to that, are any of you healers?” I ask hopefully. We can work around our injuries if we really need to, but if there’s a chance to recover, I’ll take it.

“Yes. Ydris.” She calls out to another of her species. Worryingly this one was one of the many that decided not to bother joining our earlier conversation.

“Do you have the Skills to help us recover?” I ask.

“I do.” She replies firmly, “But before you get ahead of yourselves. My services aren’t free. My mana is expensive, and if you want to repair your lost limbs, you’ll need to recover what’s missing or provide flesh to replace it. An expensive procedure either way.”

Glancing at the wounds on Vii and Eshya by my side, I can’t fully contain my flickering rage, but I do keep from sending the abusive messages that write themselves. Violence and anger won’t solve this problem, so it must be set aside.

“What sort of trade do you accept?” I ask. “I’m in charge of a small group, present in both the ruins and the dungeon. We have some goods that we can trade, but they’re obviously not here with us right now.”

“If you were to become students in our academies, treatment would be free, but as you are, trade can be accepted in the same nature of goods you see around you. Beast parts and valuable minerals.”

“Then if you’ll give me a moment to speak with my associate.” I reply, quickly drafting a message to Nel.

“Found a healer, they’re trying to squeeze me on the price. You’ve seen our wounds, what’s a good deal?” I ask, beginning a quick back and forth with the healer who is apparently offering a decent price by Nel’s reckoning.

“Acceptable.” They finally agree on a price, mid-liquid stage beast parts, minerals, or plant parts, with a capacity of 11,000 units of mana. Which they actually describe as 7500 motes of mana, apparently a unit of measurement that is more useful for trade.

With that one part of the net of roots slowly unravels herself from the wall and crawls over to us. Rather than forming into the shape as the corpses we found outside, she crawls towards us as a set of four legs without any other body shape.

“I will heal you first. You aren’t missing any parts.” She says, reaching out to me with a golden magic spell.

Vii grips my hand tight as the healer starts their work on me.

The healing magic threads itself through me, moving cells around and replacing parts that aren’t needed with those that are. The magical process takes time, but the healer is clearly talented, when finished, there’s not even a scar remaining.

While I play with the cut cloth of my armour, she quietly returns to her place on the wall.

“If promised payment doesn’t arrive with proper haste, your debt will be recorded with the authorities.” She says, her face and features forming just to give weight to her words.

Vii smiles up at me but flinches as her stump rubs on the ground. She’s trembling but trying not to show it. She nervously meets my eyes, as I lean down and press my forehead to hers.

“Are you okay?” I ask Vii, rubbing at her cheek. Her eyes shine with an unspoken terror.

“I’m okay.” She easily lies, blinking away her fear and pain. I’ve put her through too much. Again.

She chooses to be here with me, and I wouldn’t refuse her, but I hate seeing her like this.

“I really am okay.” She says, her smile trembling slightly. “I won’t hold you back. You’ll save us. I know it.”

“I will.” I say, slowly standing, careful not to make too much sound.

“What is your plan?” The impatient plant insists.

“Are any of you aware of any weaknesses we might be able to exploit, or any weapons or tools that might be useful in fighting this thing?” I ask. “I’d like to take that into consideration before voicing my thoughts.”

“It doesn’t like the light.” The wall plant says. “It keeps moaning about destroying the light every time it comes close to us. I hear it through the walls.”

“I thought as much, but it’s good to confirm it.” I say. “Water also seemed rather effective, so if any of you can cast water magic that could be useful.”

“Nothing dangerous.” One says. “I can fill a tub if the air is moist enough. I can’t fight that thing.”

“That’s fine. That’s good too.” I say encouragingly. “In fact. It could be really useful for this to work.”

“Does it stay in this area, do you know?” I ask.

“Since the original attack. Yes. Now, do you have a plan, or not?” The growingly frustrated creature asks.

“Yes, yes.” I groan. “I have the beginnings of a plan. Splash it in water, then hit it with some powerful attack magic.

“I’ll need to borrow a few things, but I think we can defeat it. Also, there were a few more wall flowers like yourselves up on the second floor, anyone you know?”

“Probably, yes.”

“Then I’d like to go and recover a few stray limbs and go bring them in on this.” I say. “Any objections?”

“Don’t bring the demon puddle down here.” One of the grumpier specimens says.

“I’ll be careful.” I say. “Also, I want to confirm. What’s everyone’s thoughts on escaping this beast?”

“If I can say something on that matter, first.” Rudolf speaks up for the first time in a while. “The creature has left some sort of tracking mark on us. I felt it when you were fighting it, but I’ve only just been able to figure out what it is.”

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t it come down here after us?” Adler asks.

“It’s likely one of the lesser tracking Skills. Something which can only track us to a broad range. It is possible that we can still escape, but it’s something to keep in mind.”

“Well, that is a problem.” I say, “Do you think it’ll follow us if we leave?”

“It’s possible.” He replies.

“Let’s try to ensure we have an escape before fighting it again.” I say. “Let’s put a few plans together.”

“We’re not fighters. We won’t battle it directly.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to, though I’d be happy to have you if you change your mind. I’ll just need a few things. Some of the weapons in the room above and some of the less valuable beast parts from this storage.”

“No. You’re just thieves demanding that we let you take as you want.” Another grumpy rebel says.

“Hardly. I appreciate the quality of your weapons, but the rest of this isn’t anything I can’t get for myself.” I say. “Also, I don’t think it’s safe for you to wait down here.

“That beast was eating the stone. It’s eating the walls, the ceiling… the floor. If you give it a month, it’ll be down here, chewing on the walls you’re clutching. I get the feeling it’s not going to politely ask you to move before it starts gnawing.”

That seems to be enough to quiet them. They’re not stupid, they’d already be dead if they were, so I doubt they knew this much. They were likely thinking that the beast would at most nest in their base, leaving them stranded down here.

They had no way of guessing that it might just eat its way down here while they wait for help to arrive.

“We will retain the remains of the beast to replace what you’ve taken, and what you’ll use to defeat it.” He grumpily starts to barter.

“The remains we’ll split half and half between us.” I say. I’m not certain how valuable the liquid is, but I’m sure I have someone who wants to try making something out of it. My alchemist would probably be drooling over it, and maybe my crafting group can do something with it too.

After a little back and forth we come to an agreement on the terms of our limited alliance. It’s practically guaranteed that we’ll be able to manage some sort of long term relationship with this faction, but I can already tell that it’s going to be tiresome trade and politics that keeps it going.

“For any of my ideas to work, we need to gather some weapons from the room above. Which means we need to know where that puddle is. Does anyone have a Skill that’ll help?”

I receive only silence in response, as everyone looks to one another in expectation. After a few seconds of waiting, I get to the point where I’m already figuring out what to do if we stumble onto the liquid beast yet again.

“I tagged it.” Eshya says aloud, pushing herself up off of her back. “I managed to tag it before it got me.”

Her voice reverberates around the room, the first actual sound that I’ve heard since the bubbling beast left. The silence not broken but shattered by her uncaring attitude.

“Don’t lose your shit. We’re safe.” She continues, groaning as she brushes a hand over the twisted remains of the stumps of her limbs. “It’s not here right now.

“If you don’t mind, could we go back up now? I’m rather fond of that arm, and I’d rather not leave it around for the rodents to make a meal out of it.”

“Are you okay?” I ask, automatically talking in a whisper though Eshya doesn’t much care.

“I feel like shit, my mana feels wrong. Like it’s been poisoned or something.” She says, trying to push herself up to her last remaining foot.

“You are staying down here,” I say. “Adler and I will go grab your lost limbs, a few weapons too. You’re sure that that thing is gone?”

“It’s a few hundred metres that way.” Eshya says, waving over to her right. “It’s moving slowly but… don’t waste time.”

“Got it.” I say. “Adler, we’re up.”

“Don’t bring it down here.” One of the rebels reminds me, and I don’t bother replying to it. Obviously I’m not going to drag it back to where Vii and Eshya are lying wounded.

I climb the ladder, my new feet working just as well as the ones I had before. The hatch at the top is disturbingly easy to open, the latch flipping with a single flick of my finger, and the weight of the door next to nothing while my mana is at its current soft limit, near 4000.

The armoury is in a surprisingly good condition, only a few weapons melted by the dark spears that were meant for us. It seems to me that when that demon puddle swept into the room it just sat poking around for us. It didn’t even start eating the walls or anything.

Perhaps it’s just defending what it sees as it’s own territory?

“Let’s go.” I say to Adler pulling her up after me, while keeping as quiet as I can. Who knows how good this things hearing really is, she eases the hatch closed and follows me down the hall to where our battle took place.

The corpses of the dead rebels lie as they had before, tossed a little, but undamaged. If I had doubts before, then now I’m sure, this thing doesn’t eat people. We’re just in its way.

Eshya’s two limbs are lying where they fell, the fires from the dark spears having charred the flesh closed. Part of the flesh is gone, burnt away by the overwhelming fires.

Vii’s wing is in even worse of a condition, the feathers all burnt to nothing, and the remaining flesh and bone withered away by the heat. A large rat, like the one that nearly took my arm off, is chewing on it.

I blast it’s head with a small annihilation bolt, before I can even think.

That it dares to touch her wing. To chew on it.

Adler grabs my hand before I can start casting anything more. Stopping me from destroying the rat.

Good. The rat’s flesh should serve better to replace what it stole.

I don’t need to direct Adler, she quickly goes around picking up the loose body parts and rushing back to the base.

“Weapons too.” I urge her as we get to the door and the ladder. “I have a few ideas for them.”

While she works on that I head back out to find those other rebels that I found hiding in the upper parts of the building, but I’m surprised when a large plant, sneaks down the stairs to reach me.

“I will fight with you.” The rebel says, looking down at the corpses of his allies. “I will see that beast dead.”

“Sure, just head down there for now. We need to prepare. Is everyone coming?”

“Everyone has been warned. Let us prepare for battle.” He says, reaching the ladder and crawling down into the basement.

I follow after in a rush, carrying a bundle of swords under my arm. Nel is still a couple of hours away, so that’s all the time we have to prepare.

While pressing the healer to get back to work, I quiet my rage and force myself to consider our situation, embracing my doubts.

Am I doing the smart thing? Or is this a mistake?

We can run now, but should we really abandon these rebels?

If we do run, what’s the risk that this monster chases us back to our own base?

Who will die if I stay and fight?

Who will die if I turn and run?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 4072 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 40% 99% Offense 20% 94% Mana Sense 40% 100% Recovery 0% 77% Gluttony 0% 79% Misc. 0% 93% Efficiency 100% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net