Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Nightfall in the forest outside Demon Gate...

Liam and his group had used the afternoon to cultivate for the four hours straight that each of them needed to ensure their health against the malicious fungus that was behind the situation in City Five.

In the early evening, the last of them who needed to cultivate finished his period of special care, when the group finally got moving again.

Jane had already prepared the mixture she had talked about earlier and, as she estimated, the plant behind the parasitic fungus was indeed close to where the two corpses from earlier had fallen.

Those two hadn't moved to that area at random. They were heading towards the place where the plant was, in a last desperate attempt to get it before their deaths.

What made them act in such a way? It's hard to estimate what a mind in chaos, aware of its own mortality and imminent end, could understand about the world around it.

Perhaps those two had spotted a chance that no one else would? Perhaps they were simply hoping that something would change, since they were going to die and only a miracle would save them.

The group didn't bother looking for a reason for those people's behavior and soon they were approaching the person responsible for this mission that had already put all their lives at risk.

After almost an hour and a half of cautious searching, Jane indicated to her companions that she had sensed something, prompting Liam and the others to lead the way.

She followed at Liam's side, confident that her leader and friend would protect her if anything happened from then on.

The group passed through the trees surrounding this area until they finally spotted a purple mist starting from the point they were approaching.

Everyone redoubled their attentions, their hearts beating harder, gradually feeling the magical buoyancy of the creature they had been hunting for over a day.

Liam moved slowly, taking care of himself and Jane, gradually reaching a position from where he could see a large purple plant with black and white flowers, responsible for the malicious mist making their hearts pound.

"That's her." Not only Jane but also the group's Alchemist confirmed it simultaneously, a moment before the Healer circulated her mana and prepared herself.

The two First Officers and Liam consumed the pills that the group's Alchemist had made in the previous hours, using the properties of the leaf they had got earlier as a target.

The three support members of the group did the same while taking a step back. They weren't there to fight, but to give support on how the three strongest ones there could deal with their target.

Jane began by saying to Liam, "Necrotic Parsnip is a powerful plant, even more so if it has reached the end of the fourth realm, as seems to be the case with this plant. But they have their weaknesses, Chief Porter.

Firstly, plants are limited in their movement to where they have their roots in the ground. Secondly, they are weakened at certain times in the day. In the case of our enemy, it's strengthened now because it's night, but that may show how to deal with it, too. Thirdly, its roots are its weak points. If you can poison or destroy them, that can be the quick way to take it down.

But there are several other methods. The important thing is that you ensure the death of the whole plant. It doesn't have a brain which, if cut off, would mean the end of the whole organism. Even if you cut it in half, it can still be dangerous if you don't ensure that all of it is dead or incapacitated."

As Jane spoke, the Spirits of the three Spirit Masters who could still summon their warriors appeared over there, while the leaves of the strange plant moved in an unnatural way, sensing something.

Jane continued, "Be careful not to let yourself be touched by its leaves. The roots are less dangerous, but they can injure you and consume your body. Necrotic Parsnip is the kind of plant with formidable powers that can absorb even an ox in a few minutes. Don't underestimate it."

She glanced toward Liam's face and he could almost see the face covered with a black mask, feeling Jane's cautious gaze in his direction, warning him sternly.

"Don't worry about the fungi it'll try to inoculate into your bodies. They're only lethal in the long term. Before that, it could kill you in a dozen different ways if you're not smart."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Liam looked at his two First Officers and said, "Can you eliminate it with your remaining Spirits?"

"Not me. At most, I could defend us temporarily," said the woman, her voice, and expression not at all positive. "This plant doesn't look as strong as the monkey that almost killed us, because of its limitations, but an attack from it is much worse than an attack from that monkey. That's for sure."

Toby agreed. "I could land a fatal blow, but the chance that I'd miss and get us into a much worse situation than earlier wouldn't be small. The most I could do is temporarily suppress it."

"I could buy a few more seconds by acting with Toby," said the woman, already positioned to act, without even looking at her companions.

The plant couldn't hear them, so speaking their plan just before they acted wouldn't affect them.

Few magical creatures developed intelligence, even among beasts. But among plants, the chances of something like this happening were close to zero.

Liam thought of something, standing in the limit position he had established with his sharp senses. "If you hold her off for a few moments, there's something I can do that might give us victory here."

As he spoke, he summoned from his spatial ring a faint ink and a brush, both Fourth Class items.

Jane narrowed her eyes and asked, "Runes?"

He smiled as he shook his head. "I can't create Fourth Class inscriptions, but I can make something superior to Third Class. I have something in mind that will, or rather can, end this plant's life without us having to fight it brutally. But I'd need a few seconds with it totally immobile."

The two First Officers understood that this would be up to them and nodded in agreement to Liam after giving it some thought.

They wanted to complete the mission and saw no other way than the alternative suggested by Liam.

"That's good," Jane said. "If we can preserve its body, the better our results will be in the event of victory."

The group's Healer ignored the Herbalist interested in studying that high-level body and asked Liam, "What exactly do you have in mind? This creature could break your runes if they're not deadly as soon as they touch its body."

Liam said, "Let's dehydrate it. I want to see how it will behave if it loses all the water in its body to my runes."

The Healer saw what he wanted and didn't doubt that it could work. She moved closer to him, interested in advising him at the time of the inscription.

Although Healers were focused on humans, they could treat all kinds of living creatures, even beasts and plants. Every living thing was made of water, which formed a large part of its cells, so dehydration could work.

"We're ready when you say so," said Toby as Thal'Korr and the Silver-Winged Leopard prepared to move as well.

Two Spirit Puppets were also already in position with their respective Spirits summoned, waiting for Liam's signal.

Liam finished his preparations and, while sweating under the strain of the decisive moment that could mean the end of his group, he took a deep breath and ordered. "Now!"

The Spirits moved forward, with the two First Officers advancing behind them, using their artifacts and techniques to suppress the creature.

Thal'Korr and the Silver-Winged Leopard used their abilities or the artifacts Liam had given them to pressure the plant without touching it, while their allies did similar things from different points around the plant.

The puppets' Spirits served as pawns to deal with the most dangerous moment of the assault, dealing first with the creature's movement.

The plant felt itself under attack at last, noticing that the malicious feeling around it had brought it to the situation where it was under attack from more than almost two dozen opponents.

Its leaves and more flexible branches moved, while its roots made the ground tremble subtly.

The three professionals next to Liam used their skills to cast a defensive sphere around him when he finally saw his allies stopping each of the Necrotic Parsnip plant's attempts.

It really was powerful for a plant. But still being a fourth realm creature, it found it quite difficult to ignore the two First Officers and their respective Spirits.

Thal'Korr and the leopard contributed less, but with Fourth Class weapons, they bought the seconds Liam needed while the Spirits of the puppets disappeared.

Liam moved, casting special characters against the plant's body, causing it to struggle as he charged the symbols he brushed onto it with a great dehydrating power.

The plant sweat almost immediately, as Liam showed what a Runemaster could do in combat.

As if he were writing the letters of that creature's fate, he finished the simplest formation he had ever created, one with only one purpose: pull all the water inside the plant and end the creature's nervous responses!

This wouldn't happen in an instant, and even after he had finished forming that inscription, the creature would still show its power, struggling furiously as it lost the water inside its body, facing a major threat to its life.