As a general rule I don't put comments before a chapter since I find it annoying to read an authors nonsense when expecting more of the story. However this chapter will feature a rare exception to this rule. This week already and continuing for the foreseeable future the pace of release is going to be fairly slow, probably a chapter every two weeks. There will be times when it is significantly quicker than this but as it currently stands that is approximately what you, as a reader, should expect.

If you are interested in the why feel free to read the rest of this paragraph, if not you can easily skip down to the next and start the chapter. The long and the short of it is simple: Work. As much as I enjoy writing it creates a rather problematic effect on me. Basically once I start it is very very difficult to stop my mind from advancing the story continuously. This probably sounds nice to you, and as a hobbyist writer it is certainly useful for planning ahead for the story, but it becomes a serious issue when I can't sleep for work the next day because my brain refuses shut up at night. So basically if I start write during a weekday my mind runs continuously when I lay down to sleep and I'm dead tired the following work day. I like writing, but I also like paying my rent and since I'd rather jam a plastic spoon into my own eye socket than put up a donation button this is just how it has to be. For those that troubled themselves to read my little spiel thanks, and enjoy the chapter.

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An acrid stench and the reek of smoke had already blanketed the area as Gray clambered out of the hole with the currently immobile Eri on his shoulder. With a sigh he walked roughly a hundred feet from the stone spire and away from the smoke. After laying the girl down on her back in the grass he did a quick inspection of his arm. From his bicep down was completely numb and he was unable to so much as twitch a finger. Further from carrying the girl covered in venom his left shoulder and back was also numbing, he expected it to also be completely numb shortly. A frown creased his face and he quickly leaned over and tucked Eri back into a fireman's carry before he completely lost control of his left shoulder.

"Hey. Are you alive?" Gray muttered to the limp woman as he surveyed the area.

Eri made made some noise from his shoulder, she was apparently conscious but her cheeks and jaw must have been paralyzed as her mouth failed to move at all. A dark chuckle escaped his mouth as he said, "Got his juice on your face eh? Hopefully he didn't get any in your mouth." The noise coming from Eri became lower pitched sounding more like a growl.

"Alright alright. At least I'm aware my sense of humor sucks. On a serious note we have a couple of problems and you know this place far better than I. So how about you grunt once if you agree and twice if you don't. Alright?" After a second or two a single "mmmMMmm" came from the woman on his shoulder. Gray then continued, "First then, carrying you is going to completely paralyze me eventually, if we can't get somewhere safe to wash this shit off we are going to have issues. I'm fairly certain we can at least get back to Festid before I'm totally locked up. If we head that way do you think that old bastard will help us?"

After a good ten second pause two rather pathetic sounding moans. "No... huh. I might have threatened to kill him before I left anyway, probably best not to show back up nearly helpless. Then the ocean. If I can get us there will washing it off be enough to remove the numbness?" Another long pause then a single slightly hesitant "MmmMmm."

"I wish that sounded more confident but we really only have one choice then, no use wasting any more time talking about it." Having said this Gray turns away from Festid and begins running at a brisk pace towards the nearest water source he could find. A rocky area of the coast with an inlet from the sea perhaps eight or so miles south-west.

As he ran Gray considered things; the paralyzing venom Eri was coated in had roughly the same consistency as syrup and Eri had been smeared liberally. Should he try and wipe her body down to minimize the contamination he would suffer carrying her? This sounded good in theory buy apart from his own leather clothing and her already saturated clothes he had nothing to clean her with and even if he had doing so would be highly likely to lose him motion in his right hand.

He had then considered just rolling her in the grass to remove some excess venom. But this idea was quickly discarded as well, since his shoulder and back were totally immobile now he doubted he could pick her back up without using his remaining arm and again losing its use there after. With an inward sigh he simply resigned himself to getting to the ocean as quickly as possible.

The first half of the trip to the coast was fairly simple, even without feeling or motion in his upper back and shoulder he was still able balance the girl and run at near his top speed. After the venom seeped to his lower back things began to get dicey. Gray slowed to roughly half speed and kept very close tabs on his lower back, if he relaxed his core she would probably fall as he could no longer detect or move to compensate for Eri's weight .

The last mile was much slower as he had to be far more cautious of his posture. The ground here was also littered with large rocks, if he dropped her here... Well better to just move a bit slower and not drop her. Just slightly after the sun had reached its apex in the sky they arrived at the coast. His entire left side and lower torso were completely paralyzed, and trails of sweat had begun to carry the poison down his legs. If the ocean had been another mile away he likely wouldn't have made it, but he had.

Gray thought since they had made it here there was no reason to stand around, and he reached his remaining hand over the the girl still dangling ponderously off his shoulder. Grabbing her belt he lifted her and placed her gently on the ground well away from the tide line saying, "Ill keep watch of you from the water, once I've recovered enough movement in my left side to keep you from drowning Ill be back."

As he trotted awkwardly on half numb legs to the shore he shed his backpack and decided to check on his burned arm. Even in the dim light of the burrow he hadn't really been able to see exactly how bad the damage had been, though judging from the pain it was quite severe. Sticking his already numbing right hand into the hem of the pant leg he gingerly lifted the cloth away from his skin. A scowl formed on his face almost immediately. In the burrow he had seen blackened muscle and even some patches of white bone, now all he could see was smooth unbroken skin. His injured arm was completely whole again.

"Guess my life price isn't ridiculously high for nothing." He muttered to himself and stripped the pant leg off and waded into the ocean, loosing the rest of the feeling in his right hand as he did so. Once the water was chest deep he paused and began walking as vigorously as his half numb legs would allow in a small circle; letting his motion against the water wash away the venom. After fifteen minutes there was noticeable improvement in his arms, but little improvement in his back and legs.

After considering for a moment he decided that his clothing must be saturated, so using his newly recovered hands he peeled his tunic and pants off and flung them the twenty five feet or so to the beach. As he had expected removing his venom soaked clothing greatly accelerated his recovery, and now also being able to rub his limbs with his hands underwater further hastened the process. After barely ten more minutes had passed he had recovered most of the feeling in all parts of his body.

As he strode back to the prone Eri on the beach he couldn't help himself, and a rare smile floated across his face. As he reached the paralyzed girl and began undressing her he couldn't help being impressed by her proportions. Gray had never really considered himself a fan of extreme physiques, he had always given precedence to intelligence and personality over a big butt or large breasts. However if he were to describe his concept of the ideal female form Eri was quite close. Long pale legs, wide hips, a slim but still round butt coupled with a very thin waist and topped off with pert C cup breasts. Added to her long red hair and cute face, it was basically impossible for Gray not to be aroused, however he wasn't an animal and had always placed an emphasis on his own self control. Especially when it came to women as he had found in his previous life that there was few things as dangerous as an angry woman.

So though he enjoyed the view of her as she was carried to the ocean he made it a point not to ogle her excessively. Reaching chest depth again he released her legs and slid his arm around her waist, drawing her back firmly against himself. With her height being six inches shorter than his, her feet didn't quite reach the bottom while up to her collar bones were submerged. With his free hand he began scrubbing her arms and neck, occasionally splashing her cheeks and face. After a few moments she began to squirm slightly against his chest.

"Just relax, once you can support yourself I'll let you free and you can finish cleaning yourself while I take care of our clothing." As he finished speaking Eri stopped squirming, instead her arms slowly moved to to her own face, clumsily splashing water and wiping. After a few more moments she managed a slurred but understandable sentence, "Why did you bring your dagger, the pommel is poking me in the back. Its hard and it kind of hurts."

Gray chuckled softly as he replied, "That isn't a dagger, your going to have to put up with it for the moment. You should be able to move around decently soon."

"If its not your dagger..." She started to say something but abruptly went silent. Again a small grin appeared on Gray's face as he whispered in her ear from behind. "As soon as you can stand let me know and Ill release your waist."

Eri only nodded in response and began scrubbing again but Gray could plainly see her ears were burning as red as her hair. After approximately ten minutes had passed she was able to stand by herself. As promised Gray released her and withdrew to the shoreline gathering up their clothing and scrubbing it clean. After another forty five minutes they were both dressed again though their clothing was sopping wet.

Gray looked over at the Eri, who was dripping with sea water and said, "Its too damn cold out here to be wet. Lets find some wood and get a fire going. Also, you know this area far better than I. Should we camp early here on the beach or dry off and try to head inland before night fall?"

Eri, her face still slightly blushing avoided his gaze and replied quietly, "We should probably camp, the shore is one of the safest places at night. The monsters in the ocean generally don't leave it, even at night. Also I think there is a small cave in the cliffs not far down the beach from here. We could have a fire there and be warm and dry for the night."

Gray nodded back to her, replying. "Sounds like a plan, lets collect driftwood and head that way then. We'll camp there tonight and tomorrow start toward Harshe."

The blushing girl just replied with a simple "Un."

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Thanks for reading.

-Alan0n