As painful as it was, I wasnt able to heal myself yet.
Wills frozen body needed to be dealt with before anything else; with my slow-venom having run dry and my body horribly injured, I didnt have any desire to tangle with him again. He needed to be freed from the Lesser Cores influence, and it needed to happen fast.
I let a few drops of vigor flow through my fangs, ford from the ager bits of life essence that remained within my mana core, and imdiately noticed The Grateful Ones strength surge as the thought-light flickered twice.
Lesser Core Skill: [Life - Vigor II] Increased.
[Life - Vigor III] Acquired.
Lesser Core Skill: [Life Essence Manipulation V] Increased.
[Life Essence Manipulation VI] Acquired.
It wasnt just the increase to the strength of [Life - Vigor] brought on by the thought-light; The Grateful One just sohow responded to the altered life essence far more than she should have. I was thankful for that. If she hadnt, things might have gone poorly. More poorly, anyway. Even in victory, the situation was far from perfect.
My ribs were still shattered, my mana was almost out, and we still needed to sohow drag Will outside of the spore-mists influence.
I was glad that I wouldnt have to be the one to do it.
The Grateful One stepped forward, already recovered from the excitent of battle, and kneeled down beside the corrupted disciples paralyzed body. Her hand slipped towards his chest, reaching underneath the ore-flesh plating, fishing for sothing.
His [Little Guardians Totem] ca out a mont later, and I finally realized sothing. Though Will was the most durable of the Great Cores disciples, it hadnt been his body alone that had been resisting my heavily mana-infused slow-venom. The [Little Guardians Focus] had been fighting it as well, reducing its effectiveness to a degree.
That was both good and bad. The good part was that it ant that my slow-venom might not have been as outmatched as I thought; for all I knew, the fight would have ended much faster had I been able to separate him from the healing it provided.
At the sa ti, it ant that I needed to watch for the sa with the other stolen disciples. True, they wouldnt be as resistant as Will turned out to be, but their ability to heal - even hindered by a portion of the healing going towards the [Little Guardians Focus]s constant efforts to remove the spore-roots infecting them - would an that they could take more damage than I might have guessed.
It was lucky that The Grateful One had noticed the problem. If Will had broken out of the slow-venoms effect earlier than expected, we would have been forced to run away. The thought rankled; we had earned that victory, as bloody as it had been.
Having taken the corrupted disciples [Little Guardians Totem] for herself, draping the carving around her neck alongside the one she already possessed, The Grateful One stood. She dusted off her hands, the motion bouncing up and down slightly on her arm, prompting to break free from my thoughts.
I think that I was still in shock; it had been a long ti since I had co so close to dying. I had almost forgotten what that felt like. Even more, I had almost forgotten what feeling helpless felt like.
My length finally loosened with a distracted thought-hiss, another sending it winding upwards towards the Coreless shoulder. A set of fingers ghosted across my scale-flesh, almost tentative in the lightness of their touch.
You okay? I heard The Grateful One murmur in the incomprehensible language of the Coreless, the sound low and careful. I imagined that she felt the sa way that I did. Her own blessings from the Great Core were powerful as well; it had likely been a while since she was forced to struggle, based on the way that she normally flowed through battle.
I gave her a conciliatory hiss, and we moved on.
The Grateful One strained again, pulling at Wills body. Her arms hooked underneath both of his, reaching around to et at his chest as she dragged him backwards.
Cmon, Erik. Were almost there, dont you dare wake up yet, she grunted, a hint of [frustration] marring the otherwise-placid surface of our connection before it wisped away. His body slid behind her as she continued backing up, leaving a long and sowhat winding trail like the slithering of a giant snake to mark our path.
More than once, we had been forced to stop so that The Grateful One could reorient herself; our original path to the corrupted disciple had been less than straight, having been forced to adjust it as he moved so that we could sneak up on him unseen. Unfortunately, that ant that our path back was just as winding.
Despite that, I urged The Grateful One to press even further, a frustrating array of illusions finally succeeding in the goal of getting my ssage across. Wills body was too strong without the slow-venom to keep him down, and any attempt to heal the spore-root infection would finish removing the effects of the slow-venom first.
Besides, I didnt have enough mana left in the first place. I needed more - the pool of mana-water was the key to that. We would have to go back, even if that ant the venoms influence would deteriorate further. There was nothing else we could do other than simply move faster. I did all that I could to ease us along, donating the last bits of life essence I had left to The Grateful One in the form of vitality-laden droplets.
Finally, the spore-mist swirled again, brushed aside as we stepped into blissfully clean air.
The once-corrupted Coreless burst into a smattering of sounds at the sa ti, one of them even jumping back with a shriek before muffling the sound with a hand.
Elara, youre back! the waiting disciple said, face brightening and [Little Guardians Totem] alighting with [relief].
Help pull him in, would you? We need to move fast. The Grateful One asked, nodding towards Wills body. The disciple rushed forward, reaching out and helping to drag the paralyzed corrupted further in.
Soon enough, they had carefully set him down at the banks of the mana-water. My body slithered down from The Grateful Ones shoulders, collecting a smattering of still-drying blood as I went, only to wash it off again as I slipped into the mana-waters depths.
The liquid slipped over like a comforting veil, drowning out the world for a few peaceful monts. I let it, but only for those few monts. I needed to hurry.
My jaws opened wide. Mana-water flowed in.
By the ti that I broke the surface, I was already beginning to feel a burning sensation within my mana core, that too-stretched sensitivity that I knew heralded a sharp dive into sothing far worse; the sa warning signs that I had experienced when fighting the Aridae in the first few slithers of my journey.
The once-corrupted had already gathered, managing with sheer numbers what The Grateful One and I alone could not. Their combined weight pressed against his arms, his legs, and his chest until I almost lost sight of Will himself.
Keep holding him down, I heard the once-corrupted disciple say. It wont be much longer now.
Propelled by another thought-hiss, my body painfully slithered forward. anwhile, my mind was busy with [Mana-Life Conversion], forcing the mana I had gathered to shift its hues. Blue turned to gold, and then gold split in two.
That done, my fangs pressed against his flesh. It was just as frustratingly resistant as before. Yet, unlike before, there was little danger. A new thought-hiss forced them to press down harder.
They pierced the surface, and vitality was finally able to flow - and flow, it did. Both slow-venom and spore-roots were defeated in turn, the efforts of the gathered Coreless preventing the spore-roots final efforts from accomplishing anything.
Lesser Core Skill: [Life - Vitality IX] Increased.
[Life - Vitality X] Acquired.
Just like that, another stolen disciple was freed from the Lesser Cores corruption.
Still, there was another challenge waiting for . My near-death had shown how easily this life - and everything that I had accomplished in it - could be lost; it was too risky to venture out into the spore-mist with only The Grateful One in tow. She was strong, but her strength was in her grace and dexterity; it wasnt in defense.
I needed sothing different to defend while I was in the mists.
I needed a protector.
I needed Will.
Hopefully he would agree with that.
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