Chapter 248 – Arboreal Aftermath

Aki - Now

It could have been so much worse, I kept telling myself as I looked at Lilyth’s sleeping form in our bed in Ror-Bhyk keep.

She was curled up around Fluffy, her breathing uneven. I wanted to go join her, but someone had to keep watch over our entire party until everyone was out of treatment and that someone was me.

The fact all of us survived was nothing short of a miracle. The fact we got our asses handed back to us by a fucking tree… well… I doubted any of us would be interested in sharing this story. Hell, if I heard a story about something like that happening to another adventuring party, I would probably join in on ridiculing them.

Alas, seeing several of your friends, including your primary healer, evacuated from a dungeon in critical condition does wonders for one's perspective.

Savri - Then

Maintaining the spell through the Harvester plant's death throes was an insanely difficult task, but I did my best to hold on.

Alas, the world tree wouldn’t go down without a fight, and reaching out for that last burst of vitality that many creatures get before the final darkness claims them, it launched a barrage of vines at me. I did my best to dodge them, but you know… hip issues.

Several vines painfully slammed into my chest and stomach, knocking the wind out of me and sending me sprawling. My sight briefly went dark after I hit the floor with the back of my head.

Fuuuuuuuuuck…

The plant, seeing that it once again had the upper branch whipped me with the vines again and again.

I tried to move out of the way, but my body refused to respond.

I guess this is it then. Sorry, Nyxie.

The killing blow never came. Instead, I got… splashed with water?

Several heavy things thunked next to me.

With great difficulty, I opened my eyes and saw even more of the tree’s vines being cut off by a crescent blade of Water. Then, just before the merciful unconsciousness claimed me, I saw a bunch of orbs of Hellfire appear around the tree.

Fuck you, birch bitch.

Caeileera - Then

The building began to shake violently, and I started to hear the most terrifying sound possible: the floor beneath us cracking.

Shitshitshitshitshit!

Rennie was still partially covered by rubble and, to my horror, I realised that I wouldn’t have time to finish digging her out.

The biggest problem was that her left foot was trapped under a heavy piece of rubble I wasn't able to lift on my own. I was hoping that Persephone would help me, but with the floor collapsing…

I summoned my spear.

So… that’s three for three as far as wives whose limb loss I was involved in.

Aki - Now

From what I was told, Nyxie was already getting Ren a replacement foot. We'd already been visited by some specialists from the Realm of Air who took measurements, so Rennie would likely be able to walk the next day at the latest.

All things considered, she was taking the loss of her limb shockingly well. Part of that could have been shock, pun not intended, but I think she quickly accepted it was a “that or die” situation.

Lady Ireela, while thankful we got her daughter out of that mess, was horrified it happened to begin with, especially once we gave her the full details. In the end, she had Rennie moved to her chamber, and it was clear she would spend every waking moment doting on her daughter.

I thought she would be at least somewhat irked that we just popped up in the keep unannounced, but she was so happy to see Rennie that any potential chaos we caused was quickly forgotten.

Truth be told, we didn’t plan on returning to Ror-Bhyk. It was just the best Persephone could figure out on short notice. You see, the Harvester plant’s psychic death throes proved to be too much for the already slowly collapsing building, so Persephone had to resort to using the teleportation attack she used against us in Ror-Bhyk during our first meeting, what felt like a lifetime before.

As she explained, the spell can be locked in on a specific beacon, and the Ror-Bhyk portal room was the first place she could think of. After we were all safe, she popped back for Lilyth and Anika, and there we all were.

The first priority was getting Sav back on her feet. The tree did a real number on her, and I was genuinely afraid I was rescuing a corpse.

Aki - Then

My heart stopped when I saw the Harvester plant knock Sav off her feet.

Shouting to Deirdee to take care of the Angel, I started rushing towards the medic, cutting off the vines with two reasonably well-aimed [Water Blades]. Then, not giving the tree a moment of respite, I decided to finish it off with [Abyssal Bombardment].

We had an unspoken agreement that enough of the building was on fire already, but well… You need to be alive to burn to death in the first place, so there really was no downside to the plan if you think about it.

The tree’s roar of pain sent me tumbling onto the floor, but I somehow managed to break into a roll and was quickly back on my feet.

There will be time to gush over being cool later, Aki.

Suddenly, a bunch of notifications popped up in my vision.

Level 323 World Tree Sapling has been slain. You have received 10767 experience points (32342/34000 total experience points progress to level 34).

Dungeon Cleared: Royal Magical Agriculture Institute MTLR-Black Research Facility.

You have received 50000 experience points (82342/34000 total experience points progress to level 34).

You are now level 35 (13342/36000 total experience points progress to level 36).

You have received 2 perk points (Current Number of Perk Points: 5).

Please contact your patron (Irmen) for the additional reward.

Fucking finally!

There was no triumph to our victory, though. Why would there be? Lilyth possibly blew herself up to give us an opening, and Savri… Savri…

I finally reached her broken, bloody form and, to my relief, saw that she was still breathing, though judging by the terrifying rattling sound coming from her throat, it wouldn’t be for long.

A healing potion helped stabilise Sav a bit, so I just cradled her and began soothing her with one of the lullabies my mom sang to me.

Moments later, Deirdee joined us, the unconscious Angel freed but left lying where she was, and, as the building came down around us, we just waited for the end together.

Aki - Now

Despite suffering no casualties, our numbers decreased, as Anika used the chance that being back in Ror-Bhyk gave her and decided to return home.

‘I’ve seen what you girls can do,’ she explained apologetically. ‘The fact that, despite what I can only describe as divine power, you almost all got killed by a fucking tree of all things tells me enough. I’m just a waitress who is good at tech, and I have no trouble admitting this is out of my league.’

I couldn’t argue with that. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if our numbers took a further hit after people finished processing the events. Hell, even I just wanted to go back home to Dan-Hem. Of course, I would never abandon my friends, but I was just… tired.

The second person who almost departed was Phosi. She didn’t feel comfortable staying around us, or in a large city for that matter, after she tried to kill Savri. My response to that was to just give her a hug and tell her that it would all be okay. To my surprise, she actually hugged me back.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

‘Don’t worry,’ I smiled. ‘We will figure it out.’

Lilyth woke up around three in the afternoon later that day, and judging by her expression, she wished she didn’t.

‘Fuck…’ she groaned.

By then, things had quieted down, so I was able to sit by her side.

‘Try not to move too much,’ Caei said in an exhausted voice.

She got off the healer duty moments before, dragged herself to our room and collapsed onto our couch.

‘We did our best to put you back together, but between… everyone really, we had to cut some corners,’ my alabaster beauty shook her head.

‘W-was it really that bad?’ Lilyth asked, bracing herself for the bad news.

‘Yes,’ I simply said and gave her the lowdown. ‘Besides you, Savri got it the worst. The tree beat her within an inch of her life. All of her ribs and multiple bones were broken, as well as several organ ruptures. Ren lost a foot. Caei had to amputate it after it got trapped under the rubble. You can imagine what having a ceiling come down on her did to the rest of her body. Caei and Persephone suffered severe magical burns. My arm and ribs were broken.’

I absentmindedly rubbed the place the bone pierced my skin. It still… itched from time to time.

‘Deirdee got away lucky with no major injuries,’ I finished. ‘Other than that, we all had our share of burns, scrapes, bruises, sprains… you know… the usual.’

Lilyth winced.

‘We sure made a royal mess of things,’ she sighed. ‘How’s Phosi?’

‘Shaken. Wouldn’t be surprised if she came by to pay you a visit.’

‘And the Angel?’

‘We rescued her, though she is still unconscious.’

Lilyth simply nodded in response. Then Fluffy rubbed himself against her body, so she lifted him, hugged and started giving him scritches