Two Hundred And Four
“Right, start spraying!” I ordered Ixitt, who was pointing the nozzle of the hose at the area of the tree I had just cleared the fungus from. Chunks of bark and wood were falling around us, flame energy blazing as we incinerated what we could. As the tree was quickly and savagely mutilated, Asha was letting out moans of pain.
“Is this necessary?” she gasped, writhing. “My tree, it suffers so!”
“I’m afraid so, though this is just a hack-job.” I admitted. “The corruption is in way too deep, we can only do surface-level maintenance, and we can’t spare the aether for any major healing. We just need the tree to last until we can get it somewhere safe.” Barrier cream was being sprayed over the tree, covering the areas of new growth, as well as older bark we hadn’t touched.
“Why the barrier solution?” Shaeula asked, still working. Grulgor was busy destroying some plant-creatures that had been drawn in by our presence, which meant our time was down to the wire here before the Myconids noticed. Sure, they were wary of this grove before thanks to the dryad managing to feed so many to the trees here, but when the Observers and Scouts get here, they’ll realise things have changed.
“Well, it’s mostly to protect our Territory from the spores. I don’t want the tree spreading corruption until we can fully heal it. We also need to keep the tree from getting worse too.” I continued to clamber up the trunk, doing as much work as quickly as I could. Removing the mushrooms, toadstools and visible fungal growths were easy enough, but anything more was beyond us with the extremely limited time we had left.
“Grul sees puny mushrooms!” he roared, before charging at the Scouts. He threw some metal balls he had been resupplied with, blowing them apart effortlessly, but the spores were spreading, beyond our capacity to stop.
“Shit, we need to hurry this the hell up.” Shaeula and I finished by air-blasting the surface of the giant tree, stripping it bare, snapping off an awful lot of the remaining barren branches by mistake. Asha screamed at that, hunched over, babbling that death might have been preferable to this, but Hyacinth patted her back consolingly, nature energy radiating out from her, strengthening the tree and starting to move the roots.
“Dooo not wooorry.” Hyacinth reassured her. “Sadness now just means more joooy later! Master and mistress are kind! Their hooome is warm. If you grooow there, I shall tend tooo the garden, sweep up all the leaves. Now stand and help Hyacinth, this tree is toooo heavy!”
“Yes, it’s too soon to falter.” Ixitt agreed, more and more of the tree covered in the gloopy slime. “We committed quite the effort to this. The materials used here alone… well, you don’t care about that, I get it. But still… pull yourself together, dryad, no, Asha. Fight for the future!”
“The puny fungi are massing!” Grulgor rumbled, dozens of plant-beasts flooding towards the grove from all angles. Arrows were starting to fly our way from Rangers, forcing me to counter with fire, yellow blasts of flame turning the Myconids into living torches. On seeing the fire Asha was even more panicked, naturally afraid of flame.
“Shaeula, I’ll finish here. Hold them off with Grulgor!” I dropped down and grabbed Ixitt, pulling him and the extending hose up the tree, finishing off the coating. As we did this, Hyacinth and the terrified Asha were gradually pulling up the roots of the tree, wrapping them around the trunk. This was causing the tree to list to one side alarmingly, and Ixitt bit back a curse as I supported him, though he didn’t stop spraying.
“This is madness, but not something one can see every day!” he barked, as we finished the top. It was a rough job, but enough.
“We can not-not hold for long!” Shaeula shouted, her pinwheels slicing though many plants and their Myconid masters. The puppets were also throwing themselves at the endless attackers, achieving little but slowing the advance at the cost of their existence.
“Yeah.” I answered, dropping to the ground, where Ixitt finished spraying the now exposed roots. “We have to move this big bastard right now. At least there’s plenty of ether here…” I drew in the bounty Shaeula and Grulgor had created, channelling it all to aether. I also gathered a great amount of earth energy, pouring it into the ground below us. Ixitt brought out the fan-shaped contraption, as well as several large wrapped bundles.
“Grulgor, get the hell over here! We need your strength!” I called out. “Shaeula, do whatever it takes to hold them off!” The fan-shape unfolded into a master-crafted circular plate, with various ridges inlaid below, detailed with a little bluesteel and some Dvergr crafts, the wind energy held within starting to awaken, the metal shivering and shaking.
“Well, this is going to be a damn joy.” I cried. I pulled on a harness from the mysterious bundle, and the strong dwarven-steel wires attached to it were wrapped around the truck of the tree, the vicious harpoon-like spikes at the end biting deep.
“I am pierced deep, it hurts!” Asha cried, but I ignored her. Grulgor lumbered back, and I had to use some of my earth energy I was channelling under the tree and towards the lake to conjure a thicket of jagged stone spears to fend off the horde, though it only bought us mere moments. Putting on his even more massive harness, Grulgor pierced the tree as well, before rushing back to engage Myconid warriors and thorn-bears swarming past the obstruction.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! The entire grove was being surrounded now, the Myconids seemingly tired of all the cat-and-mouse we had been playing over the last few days. Their response had been several minutes faster than I had anticipated. Do we retreat? I know we can get out alive, though I’d have to abandon the tree and Asha… Sure this was risky as hell, but I wasn’t suicidal, I was confident that we could break their lines and flee. It was then Ixitt and Hyacinth, having secured themselves to the tree with metal spikes and wires, began to attack the oncoming hordes. Ixitt’s heavy shotgun boomed, and several warriors and some pitcher-plants burst apart, the exploding shells scattering explosive chemicals into the wind that ignited.
Hyacinth weas exhausted from pouring energy into the tree and moving the roots, but even so, she squeezed out all her might and a few tentacles made from vines ripped out of the dead ground, grabbing some Rangers and twisting them. She then blazed with a deep blue darkness, and suddenly the enemies faltered, the plant-beasts turning back on the Myconids around them, ripping into the Shepherds who died under thorny fangs, claws and tendrils, even as they frantically tried to regain control.
Ether spilled and I greedily drank it in. I hurled out a wall of Foehn just as Shaeula raced past me, and it caught the onrushing hordes flat-footed, dozens more burning. As she pulled on her harness and looped her wires around the tree, I ignored the level-up message I received and exploded the ground under the Foehn, sending burning stones falling across the battlefront like blazing meteors. Luckily that side is away from the other dying trees, though I can’t say for sure the flames won’t spread that way. Anyway…
I grabbed Asha and linked her to one more set of footholds with binding wires of dwarven steel. The surging tide of earth energy I had worked into the most complicated thing I had ever tried was ready, seeking to escape my control, so as we started coming under fire from a group of Aquamancers and Terramancers, lasers of water gouging the tree and the ground around it, volleys of stone missiles only being deflected by Shaeula, I drew on my aether, as much of it as I could, and worked a miracle I had done several times before, but never on such a scale.
Okay, so, I worked out five separate things that could go wrong here, but the most likely two are that I can’t lighten the tree enough, and the second is that it just topples over and crushes us… Sure, I’d taken precautions, and the Dvergr enchantments were supposed to help keep the disk and the great tree upon it balanced, but even so, it would come down to us…
Welcome to ten minutes of hell… “Become lighter! You weigh nothing!” Aether poured from me, the Territory battling me, trying to deny my authority, and I felt aether draining from me endlessly. Muscles flexing, Grulgor, Shaeula and I all heaved, every ounce of energy poured into our strength. Even so, the tree was too heavy, and I felt pain as impacts started hitting me, a chunk of stone breaking several of my ribs, even through the chainmail armour. Fine. I need more. I had brought all my scavenged Etherites, and the red ones shattered, pumping ether into me. It still wasn’t enough, and the orange ones followed. Then the yellow. Just as the green ones were about to crack, the tree lifted, and we slammed it down onto the disk, the flare of wind energy from the rune-enhanced bluesteel sparking into life, Shaeula turning from her efforts to hold back the innumerable foes to pouring her wind into the disk. Weasel-snakes grew out of it, biting into the trunk, anchoring it upright, and as I raced to the front, Shaeula and Grulgor beside me, I released my hold on the furiously building earth energies.
“Run!” I cried, through my voice was drowned out by the explosion as the very earth under us collapsed, washed away by a combination of earth energies and the water I had stolen from the lake, undermining and weakening this section of the hillside. Mudslides were a constant problem in the mountains. I’ve seen the aftermath, lorries and trucks weighing many tons tossed about like toys. So why not replicate that when we need to move something colossal?
Behind us dozens of Myconids and their creatures disappeared into the rapidly collapsing ground. The Rank 3 Rhyming Tree lurched, roots ripping free from the ground, though it was at the edge of the chaos so wasn’t washed away. However, as we picked up our pace, running down the slope, the surging tide of mud behind us and under the tree, the disk surfing on it, using the reduced friction, I had no time to rejoice. Ether was everywhere, fallen trees slamming into packed ranks of our enemies, yet in front of us the Myconids had formed a battleline, Rangers and ‘Mancers numerous and ready to strike.
“Foehn!” I cried, and unleashed the hungry blaze ahead of us, careful to avoid our direct path. Even so, many foes burned, and I unleashed a second wave, turning the hillside into a burning hell as we careened down at top speed, far faster than a car on an expressway. Wind was hurled towards us by the Aeromancers, but Shaeula’s Wind-Eating Breath consumed it and redirected it, the conjured gale hurling many enemies into the flames. My own wind was largely being used to keep the disk moving, but I did spare some to feed the Foehn, once more exploding the ground with my dwindling earth energies as we passed the flames, turning them into fiery shotgun-blasts that pierced through the enemies like flaming knives. Seriously, since my chakra network was enhanced and all my chakras dealing with the elements went up by a rank, I’ve been many times stronger. I'd have run dry long ago before.
I was still putting most of my concentration into keeping the tree light (though even with all my will I had only managed to keep it at about a third of what it actually weighed), the aether I was pulling in barely keeping up with the strain. Grulgor was able to attack, his mace cleaving through all in his path, his armoured body hammering through anything that tried to block him as he pounded down the slope at full tilt. Shaeula was using her pinwheels too, though she had already accidentally caught the Rhyming Tree a few times, putting fairly savage gouges in the trunk, but even so, I was very glad we went with the harness idea, keeping our hands free for battle. Hyacinth was using what remaining darkness energy she had to confuse reinforcements that were coming, her dregs of nature energy poured into the tree to keep it as healthy as possible, while Ixitt continued to empty all his ammunition, as well as throwing out explosive potions, blowing holes in the enemy ranks.
And Asha? Well, she screamed a lot, writhed around and fainted. It’s a good job we anchored her to the tree, but she’s going to have one hell of a set of bruises when we get out of this. I found myself grinning, wondering if maybe this was how Tyr got started, doing seemingly impossible tasks. After all, in some mythologies, the gods were mortals once, heroes usually. I don’t think Norse mythology is like that, but who is to say what we know is true? Pulling out my pistols I began to shoot, emptying the ammunition, sniping various ‘Mancers, prioritising the earth ones, who were starting to grow forests of earthen spikes in our path. Increasing my pace, as I was holding my speed to the slowest of us, which was Grulgor, (though when Grulgor put his mind to it he could still outrun a car, especially while his earthen energy was strong), I holstered my pistols and used my Twin Fangs to sweep through, slicing the spikes. I was running so fast that I was pierced in several places, my chainmail failing, broken links scattering, and even the rubber protective suit tore.
Blood scattered, and I felt the burn of the spores entering my body. The pain was bad, but as long as I had aether I’d be fine. Oh wait, I’m using my aether lightening the tree. Green Etherites shattered, and now all I had left was my precious blue one. Even so, the influx was enough to keep my Ether Healing ticking.
This is crazy! Ignoring the pain, I continued to charge, the tree bouncing behind us on the mudslide, corpses of many enemies washed down behind us. Turning, I looked behind us to see a strange Myconid that I hadn’t seen before. It was larger than the others, tall, wiry limbs making it almost as large as Grulgor, and it had a vivid purple head, with tendrils dangling down like jellyfish fronds.
Myconid Sporecaster [Noble Dark Fae] huh? The first noble Myconid I’ve seen. And it deals with spores? That one has to go down. Seeing Ixitt and his exploding shotgun rounds, I put into play my version of it, using what dregs of power I could spare. I formed several large stone bullets, but they were hollow. Within I poured a trickle of Foehn, before launching the shells with wind. The Sporecaster saw them coming and made to dodge, but the Foehn ate through the thin rock and sprayed down like a burning drizzle. The Sporecaster caught fire, the thick spores around it igniting, and soon it toppled, joining the landslip in bouncing down the slope.
The second the Sporecaster fell, the nearby Myconids stopped their assault, seemingly confused. I filed away that information for later, as we had nearly reached the flat part of the trip, where we would be relying on momentum and the work Bjarki had done on the disk-sled device. The metal was already starting to smoke, stressed beyond reasonable limits. “Ixitt, send up the flare!” I ordered, and he pulled out a device that sent a brilliant ball of crimson light above the rotting treeline and into the sky. We could see the border clearly now, but as we hit the change from a slope to a flat gradient, the disk tipped, the tree lurching, tilting alarmingly.
Asha took that moment to wake up, finding herself staring at the ground, the tree still flying forwards. She promptly fainted again. “Damn, I thought this might happen. To be honest I’m amazed we made it this far without incident.”
Dropping back behind the tree, I activated my Crude Body Enhancement, magnifying my strength. Shaeula helped, pulling at the straining wind-weasels with further olivine energy, their fangs tearing into the wood as the inevitable force of gravity worked, even here. Still, it slowed the fall enough that I could wrench the tree back upright, the strain and my skill ravaging inside my body, blood trickling from my ears and mouth. Yeah, why the hell don’t I have a gravity element? That would make this damn easy!
Slamming aside enemies, the weight of the tree shattering the intervening obstacles, we left the forest, speeding across the grasslands. The landslip petered out, leaving us relying on the rapidly disintegrating disk for the last few metres. As we passed the Fae Stones the Territory barrier allowed us passage, which was another thing I worried about, since the tree was tainted, and in front of us the trench lurked, surrounded by the four Kamaitachi.
“Wind, now!” I gasped, forcing my tortured body forwards. Still, my stats were higher than ever, so my body was slowly healing even without Ether Healing. Mud splattered as we ran faster, pushing our limits, now free to concentrate just on moving the tree as my aether depleted, the tree starting to regain its weight. Emerald and jade winds surged, Shaeula, me and the Kamaitachi pouring all of our remaining essence into the disk, boosting it far beyond its structure could handle. Bluesteel sparked away in puffs of green light, but the sudden lift from the wind, coupled with our rapid forward motion, kept the great tree surfing along the channel of carefully prepared mud, with just the right viscosity to have minimal friction. Yeah, a water element to create ice would have been even better…
We could see the mansion in the distance now, as well as our destination, the elemental energies that powered the Faerie Ring Gate rising into the sky. At the pace we were running, it would only be a minute or so, but could we hold on that long? We were slowing as the tree fought my dwindling aether, as without Myconids to top up with, I was just about dry. It was then that Asha opened her eyes again, blinking blearily as though everything was but a bad dream. For a moment she was confused, before she realised she was outside the tainted forest, beautiful, living trees on either side of the channel.
“I’m… I’m free?” She whispered, watching the greenery whip past. “So many living trees. So much nature!”
“Not yet.” I grated, coughing up more blood, my body overtaxed. “We have to get you rooted, then decontaminated, lest you affect the surrounding land. So hang on tight, as this is going to be a bumpy landing!” the disk was melting, even the Dwarven steel enhanced by Bjarki unable to handle the strain. Five hundred metres. Four hundred. Three. Two. One… “Here we go!” I cried, as we slammed into one of the giant mushrooms that made up the Ring Gate, before careening inside, the ruby curtain swallowing us up…
********
On the other side we tumbled out, the disk catching the ground and shattering, the metal finally giving way. Still, I was back now, so I pulled in a significant amount of ether from my silo, momentarily arresting the flight of the tree, sending it slamming into the ground amidst the ruby flows of earth energy that constantly exhaled from the grounds of the shrine. The moment it landed it tilted alarmingly once more, but Grulgor, Shaeula and I all slammed into it, holding it steady, our feet slowly being pushed back, digging furrows in the ground.
“Root it, get the roots in!” I cried. Hyacinth was already working, the roots coming free from the trunk, burrowing into the ground, and at my cry Asha responded, closing her waterlogged eyes and manipulating the Rhyming Tree that was her other body. A crowd was gathering at our rather dramatic entrance, a massive fifty-metre tall tree surging through the gate. Ulfuric was there, and when he saw Shaeula unhurt, he showed an expression of relief. “Stay back, it may well not be safe!” he rumbled, ordering the white snakes to use their earth element to pile up rock and mud, keeping the tree upright while it was sunk into the hill and the rich wellspring of elemental earth, and having the weaselkin mages maintain a dome of air around the gateway and us, preventing contamination.
Desperately exhausted, I crashed to the ground, Shaeula beside me. Even Grulgor, with his seemingly inexhaustible stamina was defeated, dropping his heavy mace with a meaty thud. Ixitt undid his restraints and hopped down, followed by Hyacinth. We then released Asha. As she reached the ground she bent down, reaching for the growing grasses, wanting to touch nature, but her hands were covered in rubber. She went to take them off, but I staggered to my weary feet and rested a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Sorry, we have to remove all the tainted spores and seeds first, the corruption, from you and your tree. But that’ll have to wait. I think we are about done for now, I’m exhausted…" We need to go back for those other two trees too, if we can. Although if not… well, we did good anyway.
I collapsed again, starting to work Ether Healing. Shaeula joined me, healing my injuries, and I smiled. “Anyway, I believe I’ve kept my promise, right? Soon we’ll purify both you and your tree. It’s only a matter of time.” Feeling the burn of satisfaction at an implausible act of heroism completed, I grinned. It wasn’t as reckless as it seemed, as we have nullified the Myconids’ most potent weapon, so if we were prepared to abandon Asha I’m certain I could have got everyone out safely, Shaeula at the least, even in the worst-case scenario. But even so, I’m living up to the kanji that makes up my name today!
My Eye flared and I concentrated on my Territory. The tree was now listed. It was a Corrupted Earth Rhyming Tree Rank 5 Special, so when we purified it… damn, the ether. So much ether will be ours, to say nothing of the strengthening of the earth elements and ether around here… Suddenly my many internal injuries didn’t seem to hurt so much, and I pulled Shaeula down for a hug, not caring who was watching…