Northern Forest of Tob, Lair of the Progenitor, one hour before the Zuranon Disaster
In truth, sitting around to wait for Blue Planet seemed like a bad idea at first glance, but Ankoro Mocchi Mochi knew that by this point, there was no other way.
Waiting for so long was also an issue, but she insisted they didn't leave, even at Coup De Grace and Nubo's request.
"Come on. At least just come back and stay in the observatory with me," the ophanim player pleaded over the messenger. "Watched paint dries the slowest, or whatever the saying is."
"Indeed, better we return home and rest while we wait," the feline hunter agreed. But Ankoro was having none of it.
"No. We stay here and make sure nothing else comes out to keep him like this. We know other players are here, and who knows what else may have come from Yggdrasil. I'd rather not risk it and leave him vulnerable just so we can be more comfortable."
Nubo sighed over the messenger. "You and your brother Mekongawa both are way too strong-willed. Fine, but I'll keep an eye out still. Anything happens and we'll come guns blazing if you need it. For you and Momonga both."
"Momonga is out and about?" Ankoro asked, surprised. "What's he doing? And does this have something to do with Mekon?"
"Momonga, Ariel, Ra Ra Rasputin, and CZ are all out playing adventurers with some humans. Your brother went out for some fun too, I suppose. Currently, they're shacked up at that village that Boss saved with Garnet and Bellriver. Not sure when they'll be back."
Now her brother's sudden need to leave at the start of their trip into the Forest of Tob made sense. Whatever he had to have been doing, must have been fun enough to warrant his attention like it did.
"See ya later, Pigeon," the she-wolf said, before cutting off her end of the communications. Coup De Grace followed along as well.
With the humans, dryads, cherubs, and Lupusregina gone, Ankoro and Coup De Grace had hunkered down on either side of Blue Planet to discuss their current predicament, leading to their previous conversation with the angel player.
"We can't touch him, we can't move him, and we can't even talk to him because BP's off in La La Land," the she-wolf stated in a huff. Her fur stood on end in worry.
The androsphinx, in comparison, merely stroked his chin. He was not in his usual quadrupedal form. "We are not wanting for help. Our friends will surely guide us and protect us should the need arise. Nubo has been watching ever since the start of our adventure. He even confirmed fire support should we require it."
Ankoro grunted. "Yeah, but I'm more worried about our charges too. I know Lupus and the Cherubs will keep things handled, but…I don't know, I didn't think I'd get attached to them the way I thought I would."
"You're concerned for their well-being," Coup De Grace said flatly. His cobalt blue eyes narrowed at her in an accusatory way.
Her face grew hot at that, but there was no sense in denying it. While she had had some concerning thoughts of her own regarding the lumberjacks of the Spriggan Settlement, she couldn't help but admit that they seemed unique.
Indeed, those little humans, who flailed like rabbits most of the time, had a fighting spirit that she could admire and relate with. They cared for each other and those not even of their own kind.
But when she thought of them as rabbits, like she just did, is where the confusion set in. Human instinct told her that she connected with the humans and dryads. She empathized with their struggles and desires, their will to regain what they had taken from them.
Yet something far darker in the back of her mind relished in their suffering, the way their fear and anguish seemed to "season" their meat as if she was preparing to hunt them all down and eat them.
It was a dark aspect of herself that had somewhat existed in her old life. To lead a vicious life required a vicious mindset, and she wouldn't deny that sometimes, she had taken things too far.
Mekon and her had to fight to live in the criminal underworld of Hong Kong. A constant battle for dominance and survival against those who would sooner kill them for fun or money rather than help them out.
Running with the Triad did have its advantages though, especially when it was run by their own father. But he was not the flowery, kind-hearted type. No, much like her, he had the same bloodlust and desire to hunt.
No rewards came from the family. They came by stealing, torturing, murder, blackmailing, and other vile deeds. If Ankoro or Mekon resisted, then oh well.
Their father ingrained a sense of twisted loyalty into both siblings. Either they fell in line, or they were beaten into it. Or left for dead after a shootout. Or hung upside down and thrown into the water of a desolate pier.
Eventually, her brother Mekon had had enough of the slaughter and abuse. He devised a plan for both of them to escape, to finally build something that was their own, away from the crime lords and gangs that permeated Hong Kong.
Back then, she couldn't care less because for her, the going was good and the cash was flowing. But Mekon was always her weak spot, and she did have to say that no reward was worth the punishment of Triad origins.
Had it not been for her big oaf of a brother, she may have stayed behind in that life, willing or not.
Which meant that ties had to be severed in one capacity or another. In the end, only one life had to end, that of their father's, before Ankoro and Mekon could truly walk free.
Now all these years later, she was here, in another world among friends she could truly trust and care for, even if her new heteromorphic nature seemed to be digging up old ways of thinking.
"And what if I do?" Ankoro asked her counterpart. "Do you mean to tell me that you don't care for these people yourself?"
Coup De Grace stared at her a moment, his nose twitching. "I shall say only that these lumberjacks and dryads are…interesting. Strange how much we have accomplished in only two days, now that we're thinking about it, yes?"
"Hey man, don't avoid the question. Do you care about these people or not?"
"They are…tolerable. Perhaps in time, I shall come to care for them as I have for you and all our friends. It is too soon for one such as I to say."
Then the androsphinx returned to his four-legged stance and began to walk away from the werewolf. His wings spread outwards and his runes flowed with magic.
"I will ensure that no one comes to bother us. Once I'm done, I shall have a better answer to your question."
By then, Coup De Grace was humming an unknown tune as he padded along the perimeter of the monstrous grove. His nose was incessantly twitching as he sniffed out potential threats from the forest.
This meant that Ankoro was left to her thoughts while she remained by Blue Planet's side.
Ankoro couldn't help but wonder if her new nature was merely enhancing those buried feelings of savagery and comradery, or if they were the direct result of becoming a werewolf. Was it possible her friends in Ainz Ooal Gown were experiencing the same thing?
Maybe. Coup has always been hard to read, but he's always had control over himself that not a lot of people do. Blue Planet seems more or less the same as he did back when it was just Yggdrasil.
Even then, the seilenoi had seemed somewhat more cold and distant than she remembered. Of course, her friend confessed his discomfort with working so closely with those associated with the systematic dismantling of what he swore to protect.
She hoped he'd moved past that, and if he hadn't already, then she was sure he would rather quickly.
Already Blue Planet expressed a fierce will to safeguard the humans, whether out of guilt for his feelings or because he wanted to somehow honor the late Grover Spriggansom was irrelevant.
After all, such grudges were best left behind, where they couldn't bother anybody with the emotional baggage they brought. Better to focus on more current problems.
Speaking of which, the magic caster was still enthralled in his comatose state. His jaw was slack and his eyes closed, but the werewolf scout could see his eyes frantically moving beneath the lids from her position on his left.
A subtle draft blew through the area, tickling Ankoro's fur and reminding her that her immediate vicinity was all the more open after the previous sequence of events.
Most of the grove had been destroyed in the brief fight between the beasts and the group of humans, dryads, and heteromorphs. The trees were blown away, rotten foliage disintegrated, and monstrosities were beaten back.
All that remained was the massive, dead tree that had once been Zy'tl Q'ae.
She was sure that back when it was alive, it was a sight to behold, but now it seemed almost sad to her. An apex predator laid low in its own home, by creatures it couldn't possibly understand.
The origins of the beasts were unsettling enough, the werewolf having caught sight of the growing plants where more were produced, but their ability to slay such a mighty gargantuan like Zy'tl Q'ae only spelled out Danger!
There was almost an air of ethereal spirituality to them, and their seeming ability to utilize the shadows to teleport from place to place. The more Ankoro thought about it, the more and more it made sense how something so alien could get the drop on the demon tree.
She wasn't sure how long the beasts themselves had existed, but it certainly made her wonder more about the tree itself.
What had led to it living in the Forest of Tob? How did it capture and eat its prey, and how did it elude would-be competition for so long?
All these questions and more swirled within Ankoro's headspace, and she flexed the talons of her hands and feet as a result. She was fidgeting again, and to her, that was never a good sign.
Where are the other beasts? Actually, I'm getting tired of just calling them that. They kinda remind me of something else…What were they called? Old World Native Americans had a name for them.
Images of exposed skulls and deer-like antlers came to mind. Though they were far more varied in form than their original counterparts, they still followed a uniform formula for their appearance.
The abominations' consistent need to feed, as well as their ability to mimic voices and other animal calls steadily painted a picture of the supernatural creatures she was thinking of.
It was when Ankoro's keen eyes settled on the lead monster, Progenitor, that the name jumped out at her and seized her by the metaphorical throat.
Wendigos! They used to call them Wendigos! That sounds infinitely better than just calling them beasts, monsters, or abominations, or whatever.
She nodded in self-satisfaction at her new name for the horrid creatures. Wendigos, is a fitting name for fittingly abhorrent beings.
A groan interrupted Ankoro's train of thought, just as another haunting howl pierced the now evening air. Coup De Grace was quick to return to the werewolf scout's side.
Both heteromorphs quickly identified the source as Blue Planet himself, his hands shaking in place on the temple of Progenitor.
Ankoro's hands found themselves on her friend's shoulders, momentarily forgetting the massive amount of magic coursing through the Druid as he kept up whatever spell he was using.
The electrical shock singed the pads of her hands, and she withdrew with a yelp. "Damn it! The first thing he's done for these last few hours and I still can't check up on him!"
Coup De Grace was far more reserved in his handling, only hovering his paws over the surface of Blue Planet's skin and fur.
"Blue Planet," he said, "Can you hear us? What is going on? How might we assist you?"
Another groan came instead of a reply, and the bells tied within the elder satyr's horns began to jingle as his head swayed.
It was so subtle and faint, but Ankoro's ears twitched the moment she caught it. Her counterpart did too, as his ears swiveled towards the new stimuli.
Blue Planet was whispering, so soft and light that under normal circumstances, it would be nigh impossible to comprehend it.
Thankfully, these were not normal circumstances in the slightest.
"I'm sorry Grover. I didn't know. I didn't know…," the Druid said, "It's okay. We're gonna get you out. We're gonna find you. We're gonna find you…"
That last portion was repeated, over and over again. But it was enough for the pair of heteromorphs to share a concerned glance.
"What's this about the kid? What's going on inside of his head?" Ankoro asked, her brow furrowed.
"I cannot say for certain, but given how close the two are, and the way the magic seems to be flowing between the both of them, it almost seems like they're communicating in some way." The androsphinx replied, visage calm and stoic as always.
It was difficult to pinpoint, but the she-wolf could see the worry flickering through the solid blue cobalt of the feline's eyes. He couldn't show it visibly through facial expressions, but it was there alright.
"That Progenitor creep is still hot to the touch too?"
Rather than a reply, Coup De Grace tapped the shoulder of the massive wendigo, a spark flying out and connecting with the tip to form an arc of magical lightning. After a second, it fizzled out.
"Whatever this creature is, it is powerful indeed," the feline hunter confirmed, "Its ability to harm me and be able to subjugate our friend as it has is worrisome indeed. I believe that you sending away the others was the best decision in this scenario."
Ankoro grunted, the whispering of her friend starting to bug her. "Yeah. You think there might be a fight?"
"At this point, it almost seems inevitable. Time's favor could fall on anyone, and frankly, I would appreciate it if it were us."
"Time to prepare just like old times?"
"Indeed."
Another grunt, and then she stood up from her crouched position. She was not the most magically focused individual in Ainz Ooal Gown, not by a long shot. However, that didn't mean that she was left with nothing.
"[Wolf's Eyes], [Greater Haste], [Greater Agility], [Heightened Rabbit Ears], [Element Absorption], [Fur of the Harbinger], [Body of Effulgent Beryl]…," she listed off, the spells activated and providing her with much-needed enhancements.
"[Mark of the Hunter], [Orion's Ambition], [Body of Effulgent Heliodor], [Greater Dexterity], [Falcon's Perception]…," the androsphinx said in kind, his arsenal of spells coming to the forefront.
Spells like [Wolf's Eyes] and [Falcon's Perception] granted the user a greater awareness of their surroundings visually. While it wouldn't increase the maximum range of sight for users, per se, it did mean they could notice a lot more in their general vicinity without having to expressly focus on it.
Other magic like [Element Absorption], [Fur of the Harbinger], and [Body of Effulgent] would essentially increase Ankoro's defense ratings, allowing her to tank more hits before she received tangible damage.
All three were similar enough to not warrant debate on differences save for an effect or two. But what made those three in particular special was that they could be stacked together and not negate one another.
Ankoro wasn't a glass cannon by any means, but she was squishier than her other guildmates. The same as her scouting partner. Better safe with the current spells than injured, or worse.
Likewise, Coup De Grace's [Mark of the Hunter], and [Orion's Ambition] modified his perception values, granting him greater success with scoring critical damage on single targets of his choosing.
All other spells were merely fillers to the heteromorph's overall stats. Ankoro may not be able to bring up a menu and physically see the numbers bump up, but she could feel the effects nonetheless.
The runes painted into the androsphinx's illustrious coat crackled with their brand of lightning, a shade of cobalt not dissimilar to his eyes. His trademark crossbow was loaded, this time with a Stygian Iron tip rather than the ethereal blue flame-cloaked one.
Imperial Gold Daggers were pulled from her inventory, the trusty weapons gleaming in the last vestiges of sunlight as if hungry for more blood. The golden thread rope that was a fragment of Gleiphnir was wrapped around her left arm for convenience.
With her proper armaments in place, the she-wolf felt as if she could take anything that came her way.
More ghostly howls echoed throughout the forest, perhaps the wendigos gathering their forces for a full-on assault.
Her eyes were honed in on the tree line, the shadows of their bulk slicing a hole through the earth and obscuring what might be lurking just beyond.
Thousands of eyes glared at the she-wolf, and the significant drop in temperature made its appearance to herald the arrival of the wendigos
Let them come. Coup and I will handle them with no problem, and then we can finally end this whole nightmare and go home.
A pleasant thought, one that conjured up ideas of Ankoro sliding into the hot springs of the Nazarick Bath House, cleaning away the dirt and grime before finding her brother and niece and dragging them both to the movie theatre to catch up on some favorite films.
It made her smile, and grasp that idea in full force. No matter what, that movie night with her loved ones would be her ultimate reward for the whole trip.
Well, that and making sure the Dryad-Born and Dryads themselves made it out alive, of course.
Blue Planet's whispers escalated to full-on mumbling, and his hands were slowly but steadily peeling away from Progenitor's skull. He began to lean back, and Ankoro could see from her position that twin streams of tears were carving their way down his cheeks.
POP!
The electrical currents of the unknown magic completely severed, allowing the Druid to fall to his back with heavy breathing. While she knew she should stay at the ready in case something jumped out at them, her concern outweighed the logical pathway for just the moment.
"Blue Planet! Dude, are you okay? What's going on with you?" Ankoro said, reaching down and catching the magic caster before he could slam his head. Fortunately, her partner remained standing to watch for them both.
Said Druid's eyes fluttered open, a thousand-yard stare obscured by the fog of his mind. His lips moved but produced no sound.
"Wake up man, we need you back here with us. Come back," the werewolf essentially pleaded, patting his cheek to a steady rhythm as her friend's sense of awareness returned to him.
The seilenoi groaned, grabbing her hand and stopping her ministrations. "I felt you the first time. Can you stop? My head is pounding."
He sat up on his own, cradling the side of his head with what Ankoro imagined to be the absolute worst magic-induced hangover. There were still sparks of the spell surging across his locks of hair.
"What happened to me? We came to the grove, then we met up with those animals and me and that Progenitor… we…" he started, trailing off as his eyes fell onto the wendigo in question.
"Wait! Grover! Grover, are you alright? It's me!" The Druid spouted, quickly getting to his hooves and stumbling. He caught himself, then leaned in closer to the still comatose behemoth.
This time around, Ankoro's friends kept his hands well away from the creature, but he got as close as feasibly possible without touching.
"Grover! I don't know what they did to you, but we'll fix it, buddy. We'll fix it! Can you hear me? Grover!" Blue Planet practically shouted, his face etched with frantic desperation.
The she-wolf could hardly believe her ears, but between the words of her comrade and how he seemed so eager to call out to the long-passed treant, she knew that something else was afoot.
Even Coup De Grace looked back, lowering his crossbow. Both eyebrows were raised. "The child? Blue Planet, old friend, what are you talking about? He's gone, and disappeared nearly two centuries ago."
Yet the magic caster shook his head insistently. "No damn it! Everything that's been going on? The monsters? The kidnappings? It was him. This creature in front of us? This is him. But he's been changed, I don't know how, but-but he-"
"Woah, woah, okay, slow down man. Take a deep breath and start from the top. You were out for hours, doing whatever you were doing with the big guy. What did you do?" Ankoro said, grasping onto her friend's shoulders to calm him down.
Indignation crossed the seilenoi's handsome features, only to soften as logic returned to him. He took a deep breath, just as instructed before he backed away from the massive wendigo.
He met both Ankoro and Coup's eyes, a somber and dejected gloom reflecting in his honey-colored irises.
"Okay. I'm sorry. It's just everything I saw while I was down, it came back to me all at once, and I… alright, here's what I can remember."
Over the next ten minutes, the Druid recounted everything he had witnessed while he and Progenitor shared a mind space, or so he claimed.
The werewolf and androsphinx were dumbstruck as they listened to every detail. When she looked over at her counterpart, she noted that for the first time since they had arrived, the feline hunter looked genuinely shocked.
Everything from the beginning of Grover's arrival to the new world to his eventual meet-up with both humans and dryads alike was laid bare for both to internalize and understand.
Then the treant's downfall as he succumbed to his mental illnesses, how he had changed and become the very demon tree that haunted the forest for centuries. Only for others, the black-cloaked magic casters, to come along and change him further.
Now the result of their meddling sat right there, an amalgamation of a dryad, human, and player to form something…entirely demented.
Just as soon as Blue Planet finished his tale, another howl shattered the now nighttime air. All three heteromorphs turned to the tree line to see that the darkness itself shifted, shadows brimming with more wendigos.
The vast array of animal skulls bristled, flaming red eyes glowing eerily and spreading out along the borders of the former grove.
They snapped their jaws and lowered their horns, calling to one another in a myriad of voices ranging from the familiar to the downright animalistic. All jeered and jabbed at the heteromorphs.
"Little things…little things…hide big strength…," one voice called out from the mass.
"Murderers…liars…deceivers…," another answered, disgust dripping from every halting syllable.
Leading the pack was a familiar face, Ankoro noticed. A wendigo that, rather than having the usual skull, had the pulpy, meat flower that opened to display rows of spike teeth and tendrils.
It prowled on all fours, but its stubby horned companion was absent. The werewolf scout didn't doubt that it likely died from the wounds inflicted upon it by her niece.
All other wendigos stayed close to the borders, remaining mostly out of sight save for their eyes. The flower headed beast was the only one brave enough to walk up to the three guildmates.
Fleshy petals rippled as it breathed, hesitating slightly as it passed to join the side of Progenitor. It rose to its hind legs, reaching out a paw to its leader.
For the first time since it went dormant with Blue Planet, the alpha wendigo stirred. The crackling of bark and what Ankoro believed to be bone assailed her sensitive ears, enough to be uncomfortable to tolerate for long.
Dim, flaming eyes reignited in full, but she sensed that something was off as the creature awoke.
Maybe it was the change in its scent, previously sickly sweet to musty and dirt smelling, like dust. Maybe it was the way the limbs twitched violently, or even how Progenitor inhaled so deeply its pitch skin vibrated in waves.
It was only when those dark red beacons of light shifted to an emerald green that Ankoro realized that her instincts were screaming at her to be on guard.
Imperial gold daggers were raised to form a protective barrier with razor tips pointed outwards. Coup De Grace's crossbow snapped to aim directly between the alpha's brows, and Blue Planet's staff glowed with mana and Forest green runes.
The Titan slowly stood, body twitching all over as the skin crawled, shedding off in pieces. Each split in its body was moist and leaked rivers of the black tar it called blood.
Beneath the originally absolute dark skin tone was bone-white, then Ankoro saw that it was indeed bones tearing themselves out of their containment. An actual skeleton, smudged with the stains of bodily fluids
Progenitor gurgled, bigger and bigger pieces of its skin flaking off to reveal the new form under all its mighty bulk.
Whereas the red eyes of the massive wendigo had seemed calm and indifferent, these new fiery orbs were fully aware and conscious. It eyed every single guildmate with an intense desire.
By the time it fully stood, all of its skin had torn away, baring a bony body with patches of fur and scales along the forearms and shins. A collar of the new organic matter also ringed the neck, leading up to a skull that no longer looked like a deer's.
The horns were still the shape of antlers, yet looked to be composed of tree branches rather than the bony structure as the rest of the body. The head itself seemed more reptilian. The arms and legs had also filled out more, fuller in their definition.
Overall, Progenitor had grown taller, bulkier, and far more hulking in its stature. Before, it had been somewhat awkward and gangly in appearance. Now it seemed more…complete.
Had the kid just been growing all this time? Why now? Why all this nonsense beforehand? Ankoro pondered, keeping her eyes on the beast.
As if reading her thoughts, the being once known as Grover Sprigganson, focused its newly colored flames at her.
"An honor to meet with those I have so anxiously awaited for. There is much to discuss," it said in a hollow, echoing voice. Its mouth was no more than a tunnel for the vocalizations to travel through.
At least, that's what Ankoro thought as she drew her daggers even tighter to her body. Whoever had just spoken from the maw of Progenitor spoke from a separate, far-away area altogether.
Not-Progenitor, as the she-wolf mentally named it, flexed its right hand, gazing in wonder as its phalanges clicked together. "This is more suitable than what that fool from Zuranon has to offer. A player's body never fails to provide a taste of my old power."
"Speak plainly, beast," Coup De Grace stated bluntly and aiming down the sights of his weapon, "What foulness is this? Who are you? What are you?"
Blue Planet growled in frustration. "I told you guys, it's Grover! Or, it was once. I don't know anymore, but we need to help him."
"Not looking like an option there man," Ankoro shot back. Not-Progenitor took a step forward, the furry grass shriveling as it was leached to feed the skeletal wendigo before her.
"The Sapling of Yggdrasil served his purpose in bringing you all together. Whatever you hoped to find, Son of Pan, is long gone," the monstrous creature said.
Another resounding boom as it took a step, sinking in talon-capped claws on its feet. It was no longer the stumpy, flat ends of its original form.
"I am one of many, shards of a greater whole at work," it rasped, its emerald fire blazing with cold savagery, "Just as I entertain you here, another shard of my consciousness does its part in E-Rantel. It is the only way to gain your attention, after all."
BOOM!
"You asked what I am, Temple Guardian? I have long searched to regain my purpose, to become the darkness that encompasses all. Entropy in its purest form."
BOOM!
"I am the hunger that can never be sated. I am the tide of blood that drowns all hope. I am the strife that seethes in the hearts of mortals and immortals alike. I am the whisper that sows strife into your ranks. Among all of these, I am the final reckoning of this world."
BOOM!
With each step, the heteromorphs moved back, bunching together and covering one another's blind spots. At the same time, Ankoro and her friends' attention was completely focused on the abomination.
The other wendigos had been whipped into a frenzy, cackling and snarling from the shadows. Many more were emboldened and joined the flower-headed Wendigo's side.
Eventually, Ankoro, Coup De Grace, and Blue Planet stopped as one, their natural synchronization coming into play from the old days when they played Yggdrasil together.
With her acute hearing, the werewolf scout could hear several spells being muttered a kilometer a minute by the seilenoi. His hands were glowing so brightly she couldn't stare for long without getting a headache.
Not-Progenitor spread its arms as if showing off some elaborate, evil designs. "I have many titles, but you shall call me Linnormr, He of Legion. In time, you shall know all of me against all of you."
Ankoro's eyes widened as she heard the name. She recognized it, for it meant "Lindwyrm" in Old Norse. She did not get much time to think about it before the beast readied itself.
The alpha raised a single claw to point at the heteromorphs. "Die…"
A collective howl battered Ankoro and her friends, a tidal wave of teeth and claws rising against them at the behest of Linnormr.
Blue Planet reacted the quickest, thrusting a hand outwards. "[Aegis of Athena]!"
A lime-colored force field erupted in front of all three of them, the hastiest of the wendigos slamming directly into it and howling as the blessed magic seared their unnatural flesh.
Those closer in the back attempted to screech to a halt, but the momentum of their charging caused them to stumble into the magic ward just like their companions.
At the same time, they tripped up those behind them, leading more and more of the horrid abominations to burn on the magically induced obstacle.
Some near the very back, like the ones closest to the alpha, avoided the collision altogether and managed to skirt around.
Ankoro's daggers were already at their throats, relieving them of their heads and sending them sailing off into the night. God-like strength and speed propelled her from the safety of the [Aegis of Athena] and into the mass of beasts.
The world around her slowed to a crawl, at times appearing no more as a blur of muted colors and whistling noises. At times like these, the werewolf scout's new abilities proved addicting.
Once she started, she hardly found herself wanting to stop. To rip and tear was the name of the game, and old habits of bloodlust reared their ugly head.
Linnormr's bone-white bulk towered over its "children", making for an easy target to slice into.
"Go to Hell!" Ankoro barked, her gleaming, dripping blades zooming through the air at a rate no normal being could ever hope to match on their own.
The titan's flaming eyes burst with excitement, raising its right arm to catch the blade. Imperial golden edges sank up to the hilt with a thunk. A shockwave of air burst out from the force of the blow.
Ankoro grinned cruelly, expecting the titan to fall any minute from the full might of her swing. Against two daggers from both of her arms, it should have been laughably simple to knock down the child killer.
Only it did not fall, and twin emerald flames flickered to meet her gaze.
"Daughter of the Harbinger…," it clicked with its jaws, "I wonder what your upper limits are. You are… strong."
It raised its other hand, a colossal hammer to swat her down like a common fly. Talons shimmered like scimitars to cut her to ribbons.
TWANG!
An arrow flew directly through the palm, the Stygian Iron tip flaring out barbs to catch onto its target and tear off the offending appendage before it could strike Ankoro. There was a sickening tearing sound as tendons and bone separated.
Within a split second, the now amputated hand found itself nailed to a tree. Linnormr stared at the missing limb, then at its stump of a wrist.
"Well aimed, Temple Guardian."
It then raised the arm that Ankoro was still stuck on with her daggers, dangling her and slamming her into the earth with its forearm. The she-wolf was forced to let go of her weapons to try and push back against her assailer, but she was met with strength that exceeded even hers.
The contest lasted a moment, the handles of her beloved daggers digging into Ankoro's diaphragm and knocking all the wind out of her. Her body, combined with the immovable might of Linnormr, slammed a sizable crater into the dirt.
They both sank deep, leaving Ankoro gasping for air. Her defenses held, protecting her from the worst of the damage. Even still, the fact that she felt anything at all meant this monster's attack power was great enough to wind her through [Body of Effulgent Beryl]. In a single motion, the alpha crouched, getting ready to leap at Coup De Grace.
Coughing and in pain, she was able to look up from her spot in the crater to see Linnormr reach both her friends with the same, dizzying speed that she and everyone else in Ainz Ooal Gown seemed to have. The flames of its eyes left trails in the wind, its wounded arm rearing back and curling into a fist to strike at the shield that so many of its spawn had fallen onto.
For a brief lapse, Ankoro worried that it would somehow break through the [Aegis of Athena] and land a blow against Blue Planet or Coup De Grace.
Thankfully, the smell of burning bone marrow and flesh met her nostrils, and the alpha wendigo howled in untold fury as its ministrations were thwarted. The aegis glowed ever brighter as the kinetic energy fed its defenses and reinforced them.
Even still, the titanic beast was able to push back the magic field, forcing both the caster and feline back a few steps. The smaller wendigos that had piled on the wall scampered away, whimpering from their burns.
"Cursed Seidr!" Linnormr howled, drooling fangs gnashing at Ankoro's friends. "Do not think yourselves so powerful that it can hold me back!"
Before it could strike again, the androsphinx had already loaded another bolt of the same make as the first one. He aimed and pulled the trigger.
With another high-pitched twang, the arrow soared through the air aimed directly at the skull of Linnormr. Like before, it moved with blinding speed and reflexes, catching the barbed bolt and snapping it in two.
"Do not think to test your luck twice, Temple Guardian..." it snarled, before shoving its remaining hand into the dirt beneath it.
Ankoro could hear the crumbling of soil and rocks, and the ground of the crater she was still in vibrated around her. Rows of roots shot out, their sharpened tips escaping out into the open to seek their quarry on the opposite side of Blue Planet's aegis.
The Druid yelped, cutting off his magic quickly to jump back. His body glowed with several protection spells, diverting the flow of the razor-edged tendrils that extended from the alpha wendigo's mitt.
Once the field deactivated, Linnormr freed its buried appendage, stomping right up to Coup De Grace and slugging him in the left temple with a right hook. Blasts of wind exploded from the blow, and the androsphinx was forced to his knees.
"Coup!" Ankoro cried, staggering to her feet and hacking her lungs up from the sudden shift in position. She wasted no time in utilizing her speed, reaching the wendigo in the blink of an eye.
"Get away from him you goddamn bastard!" She roared, raking her claws against its back since her daggers were still embedded in her enemy's forearm.
They left deep and wide gashes in the beast's back, causing it to howl and stumble away from Ankoro's wounded guildmate. To add to the assault, Blue Planet smacked it with the pinecone end of his staff, the tip glowing with teal mana as a spell activated.
"[Vines of Dionysus]," the seilenoi uttered, spectral vines erupting and encircling Linnormr's disgusting form. The blood-red thorns raked against and grew deeper into the beast's flesh.
Sheets of skin seemed to be falling off with each scrap, and the bony aspects were steadily cut open to reveal putrid, yellow marrow that drizzled from within. The smell that wafted from it was so horrid that Ankoro threw up in her mouth.
Dozens of the wendigos that had slammed into the [Aegis of Athena] swarmed the feet of all three heteromorphs, grasping desperately in a bid to free their master from the confinement of the druid.
Coup De Grace was swarmed more heavily than his compatriots, but with a quick flick of his wings, the ones that dared to pile onto him were eviscerated into a fine mist.
"Ah, that hurt quite a bit," the androsphinx groaned, cradling the side of his head as he swatted away the other abominations that stampeded him.
Ankoro herself was able to grip back onto her daggers, ripping out entire chunks from Linnormr's forearms and yanking the creature back. It fell to a kneeling position, the vines growing tighter and practically suffocating the monstrosity.
As it attempted to rise, Blue Planet stamped his hoof into the center of its sternum hard enough to leave an imprint, which in itself caused the alpha to spit up blackish tar. It stumbled back into its previous position.
Twin imperial gold daggers made their mark on either side of its spine, and Ankoro dragged it downwards with all her might, to force it onto the ground. Whether through sheer, dumb luck, or the beast being able to recover its bearings far more quickly than it should, it dug its clawed feet into the dirt to steady itself, gritting needle fangs in its struggle to remain upright.
A wendigo had crawled up Ankoro's back, using clumps of her fur as footholds to reach her head and start beating against it. The attack was no more than a slight brushing of her hair. She plucked it off incredibly easily, gripping one of its legs and wielding the creature as a makeshift club.
With a war cry and baring of her fangs, she swung the screaming abomination in a wide arc, obliterating the drove of wendigos that had surrounded her and were trying to climb up themselves. By the time she was finished, she was drenched in their abhorrent blood, only the leg she was holding onto remaining of her "weapon".
A roar caught her attention, her eyes drawn to Coup De Grace as he stood back up and flared his wings to their fullest length. His foes made fine mist for the wind, and those that reached him were blown back and slammed into others.
Both the scout and the hunter had been relieved of their battles, leaving only a few wendigos behind to observe the fight from afar. Among them was the flower-headed beast.
Blue Planet stalked up to the still-entrapped Linnormr, who even kneeling was still head and shoulders over the Druid, excluding his impressive antlers, of course.
"This is for Grover," he snarled, swinging his staff at the alpha's snout. The strike knocked out several teeth and cracked the nasal ridge. "How dare you hurt an innocent child?! He was lost and confused! All he wanted was to make some friends and make sense of his surroundings!"
Linnormr breathed heavily, trails of blood tracing their way along the gums of recently excavated teeth. "Man, woman, child, none of them matter in the grand scheme. They all have their part to play, just as I will. It was inevitable that he would fall to me."
An unacceptable answer, as another strike knocked the beast's head sideways and even more teeth fell out.
"That was for Naaru and Pops, and their people, for all the hell you've put them through for the last month," Blue Planet uttered darkly. His horns were lowered as if to gore the beast. The tips of both pairs of antlers are locked together.
"They were not worthy of true death," it wheezed, "In that, their lives are a gift from me. What use have I to crush the ants unless they crawl directly beneath my feet?"
"A gift?" Coup De Grace demanded his voice quiet to exacerbate the massive headache he must be feeling. He was cradling his head. "This grows tiresome, and I'd sooner dispose of you than accept anything you have to offer."
"Oh? And yet you accepted one of mine so readily. Was Bellriver not to your liking?"
Realistically, Ankoro and her friends should've ignored its question and simply finished it there and then.
Realistically, she should have called foul on that and ended the beast herself with twin knives to the back and straight into the heart.
Realistically… well, there were a thousand different things that the guildmates could've done, to end the abominations threat and finally get to go home and forget the entire venture had even happened.
But the suddenness of it bringing up Bellriver's name of all things absolutely floored the werewolf, as it did to her friends. The furious scowling of Blue Planet, which was so intense it made him look like an entirely different person, vanished and was replaced by astounded horror.
The creature did not possess facial features, on account of it having an exposed skull, but the aura of smugness it exhibited was thick, suffocating in its totality. It was the air of someone completely confident in the truth of what they said, unable to be refuted in their truthfulness.
Ankoro couldn't bring herself to say anything, her mind racing a kilometer a minute to rationalize what she'd heard and what it could mean.
Every answer she could come up with was quickly shot down, as she reflected on the strangeness of Bellriver's arrival to the new world. Nothing made sense or didn't appeal to her in a way that was satisfactory, at least.
Bellriver standing in a field all by himself, with a crown of dandelions upon his head. His loss of memory from the last four years of Yggdrasil's lifespan. All of it didn't add up when she put dedicated thought into it.
We were so happy to see him, that I don't think we really questioned it beyond the general stuff. I'm positive this thing is lying out of its ass…right?
Doubts lingered for Ankoro even as Blue Planet regained his senses and his rage. He shoved his staff up against Linnormr's throat.
"Don't you dare mention his name! You're not worthy of it, you vile piece of shit! What would you know about him anyways?!"
Linnormr clicked his jaws. "Son of Pan, there is far more to this than you yet realize. In time, you will understand this. What I want… It can only be done with the pieces I have moved across the board."
"Oh yeah? And what could something like you possibly want?"
"Entropy. I would consume the spirit of this world in my quest."
Ankoro's ears beat with a thumping pulse as her blood rushed. The longer she heard the creature speak, the more she wanted to cave in its skull and finish it.
Just as she went to move in for the kill, to separate the wendigo's neck from its shoulders, the very air seemed to stagnate and grow stale. Her muscles rippled with unprecedented agitation, and her fur stood on end.
She almost felt sick to her stomach, with the way bile rose to the back of her throat and how her stomach twisted itself into knots.
The effect wasn't limited to just her, as both Blue Planet and Coup De Grace looked queasy as well. The androsphinx snuck a hand to his stomach and held it, from what the she-wolf could see.
The seilenoi slightly lowered his staff. "That feeling is almost like a massive amount of negative energy. What? I don't understand-"
But it was clear to Ankoro, as her sensitive nose caught a whiff of the familiar scent of decay that came standard with all undead, at least now that she could experience it for herself.
Ever since she started spending time in the tomb, there was a pervading scent of decay and rot, but it quickly vanished as she continued to get used to her surroundings. The only time she ever really dealt with it in full was when dealing with other undead.
People like Momonga, Shijuuten Suzaku, Tepas Smith, Shalltear, and a few others all possessed similar but still distinct smells to them that Ankoro attributed to their undead status.
What she was detecting now put all those previously mentioned to shame. A gas bomb of almost a thousand years of musty, sickly death. Bones cracking to reveal fetid marrow, blood crystallizing and leaving behind the scent of rusted iron.
It was what she imagined hundreds of corpses in a single cemetery left out in the open to rot for perhaps decades would smell like, and then some.
"Ah," Linnormr sighed pleasantly as he slumped in on himself, "So it comes to pass. I am pleased. May their deaths feed me."
Then the emerald flames locked onto Blue Planet, and Ankoro saw how his spectral vines had begun to shimmer and fade in and out of existence.
"BP! Move-" Ankoro tried to warn, dashing forward to tackle the beast before it could fully escape its confines.
The vines shattered into a dozen pieces, wilting away into nothingness. Linnormr raised its incredible bulk in an instant, towering over Blue Planet and casting him in shadow.
She wasn't sure what tipped her off, but something about the way the alpha Wendigo moved was different than before. Despite its movements and battle prowess, it seemed sluggish in a sense, as if getting used to the body was taking longer than it expected.
Now its movements were more fluid and dynamic, the horrid muscles and exposed bone working in conjunction to ensure the most movement possible.
Its only paw was reared back in another fist, dark green energy swirling around its fist as it rocketed forward to the Druid.
Right as it was set to connect, a blur rushed at it perpendicular, thin, and long in its shape. It pierced through the wrist, tearing out a chunk of flesh and bone with it as it whistled through the air.
Ankoro's eyes traced the trail of smoke it left behind to the riser of Coup De Grace's crossbow. The androsphinx, it seemed, had one arm aimed at his weapon while using his free hand to still cup his aching temple.
Regardless, the force of the projectile didn't tear off the wendigo's fist, like before, but had steered it off course from the sternum of Ankoro's and Coup's friend.
FWOOSH!
The crash of several trees being torn out from their roots and thrown against each other practically deafened the werewolf scout. She had to cover her ears to avoid the worst of the noise, but could still hear it through her impromptu shielding.
Meters of grass were torn from their place in the soil. Shrubbery was obliterated and their essence scattered to the night. The trees which found themselves uprooted continued to crash amongst their brethren.
Acres of forest were upturned and devastated, and animals that'd been in hiding were sent flying and either impaled upon the branches of trees or smashed against the exposed rocks.
Soil boiled. Rocks melted into dust. The air was hot and heavy by the raw kinetic energy unleashed.
A single punch. That was all it took to level an entire section of the Forest of Tob.
Yet, that was not the most important detail of the minute attack. Instead, it was how Ankoro's friend had almost been on the receiving end of that attack. Blue Planet, a sweet, nurturing man, who cared for and was beloved by almost all, had almost been hit by that.
The thought made her blood boil and her fur coat stand on end. The handles of her daggers nearly cracked from how hard she was gripping them. The rope around her arm glowed with the presence of her animalistic fury.
With a roar, she hurled both weapons at the end of the beast, the creature turning just in time for both to pierce the forehead of its skull and one of the sockets where it's flaming green eye resided.
It howled in intensity and pain, reaching up with its stump to claw at the embedded weapons. It took a step back and staggered from the throw.
The tip of another of Coup De Grace's bolts erupted from the stomach of the beast, its other limb reaching down to grab at the barbed head. In the confrontation, the androsphinx must have snuck around to the back to take his shot.
Blue Planet himself recovered from the shock of his close miss with mortal agony, thrusting his staff forward and striking the spot in the beast's chest where his hoof made an indent.
This time, Linnormr fell, landing on its side as it held itself up and attempted to remove both weapons. Its sternum cracked open, revealing a mess of bark-coated organs.
Ankoro's golden rope was unraveled from her forearm, the werewolf arcing it like a whip and slicing at its legs. The fibers hummed with energy as they completely severed the weakened being's limbs.
"No running away this time," Ankoro muttered, "This is it for you."
Linnormr snarled, clacking its jaws in a nonsensical rhythm. "I highly doubt that, Harbinger. Not even the Dragon Lords at the height of their power could kill me forever. Whether I win or lose, the end is the same."
Another bolt was fired, piercing the shoulder of the wendigo. It was forced to lay on its back, holding the guts that were spilling out of its abominable form. A weak chuckle escaped its maw.
"Do you feel satisfied with this victory, Blue Planet? Has battering this body granted you the release you desire? I would think it should, how you tear me apart."
THUNK!
A piece of its skull was shot off, taking an entire branch of antlers with it. Tar-like blood drooled from the snout as a suitable replacement for the wendigo's saliva.
It could not grin, but from the way, the emerald green flames flickered, Ankoro got the impression that it was. In its way, at least.
"The body is lost, but the Sapling's soul is mine," it hissed at the resident Druid. "His power belongs to me now. You cannot have him back."
Blue Planet said nothing, shadows obscuring his eyes. In perhaps the longest time, this was the quietest the nature enthusiast had ever been.
Ankoro considered herself a rather good "people" person, being able to gauge the mood and thoughts of even someone like Coup De Grace. She could glean nothing from the seilenoi.
Blue Planet said nothing. His gloomy expression was ghoulish for someone as naturally cheerful and full of life as Blue Planet. Only for the veil to lift, and his eyes filled with determination.
"For Grover Sprigganson," the Druid finally said, raising his staff with both arms above his head. The whole length of wood coursed with pulsating mana.
"[Lord of the Forest]," he whispered, slamming the charged instrument down upon the skull of his foe. It split open as easily as an over-inflated balloon.
Energy cascaded from the impact sight, a bed of flowers growing beneath the beast and spreading at a blistering pace. Where there had been mutations or alterations done to the natural environment, it was quickly overgrown and replaced.
Trees that had been uprooted were returned to their spots. Bushes and other greenery found new life in the wake of the spout of natural energy.
Fresh soil was laid out and varieties of wildflowers and flora both native and not to the Forest sprouted upwards. The fresh smell of lavender and honeysuckle washed away the dull aches of Ankoro.
When she looked down, she saw that her body had a faint sheen to it, as did Coup De Grace and Blue Planet. The former lowered his hand from his temple, while the latter leaned his head back and drank it all in.
The spell that Blue Planet had just enacted, if Ankoro recalled correctly, was an Area of Effect type that produces a visible effect on the environment, in the form of healing flowers for allies in its range.
Undead players who were caught within its radius were often heavily penalized and suffocated by the flowers, according to the spell's flavor text in Yggdrasil. There was no defense high enough save for those specializing in Druidic or nature-themed builds, or the protection of a World Item.
Other visual effects included the growth of new life in the area, as well as hostile roots to join in the strangulation of the user's foes. It was a tenth-tier spell, for it did not dissipate unless the wielder was killed or until it was manually done away with.
Linnormr, as expected, didn't survive the initial hit. Its body was propped up by the various roots that sprang from the dirt and impaled its body. Where there were open wounds, bunches of flowers now filled them.
The eye sockets dimmed, their ethereal flames sputtering out. All three heteromorphs quietly contemplated the corpse of the now-deceased Wendigo.
For the moment, the grove which had been so clamoring and hellish was restored.
The clacking of several pairs of jaws sounded off, Ankoro's head snapping up as she saw that some of the wendigos had survived. Rather than being on the ground as before, they were high up in the branches of far-off trees.
The only reason the she-wolf could see them at all was due to her dark vision and the embers of their eye sockets.
One by one, they flickered out of existence, diving or falling or slipping into their shadows to escape. The only one left, it seemed, was the flower-headed abomination.
Though it possessed no eyes of its own, it stared obsessively between the three guildmates, before settling on the body of its leader. Fleshy lips and petals trembled in an alien emotion.
Ankoro smirked. "Coup, would you mind loading another bolt and finishing this one off?"
"It would be my pleasure," the androsphinx replied, the slow twang of the string and cables being drawn back. He aimed and rested his index on the trigger.
The body of Linnormr shifted in its stabbing entanglement, black smoke pouring out of the remaining orifices not covered by wildflowers. The shapeless mist congealed at a point above the split skull into an orb the size of its head.
Familiar flames sparked into existence, glaring at them all with dark amusement. Within its mass, there were three smaller orbs. Two looked no bigger than ping-pong balls, while the third was about half the size of the black sphere.
The largest of the three switched between shades of mahogany brown and leaf green. It battered violently against the edges of the black orb but found no purchase. The other two, one grass colored and the other sky-blue, huddled closely together.
"I look forward to putting this soul to good use. Until then, godlings," a disembodied voice spoke. The emerald flames winked out, and the orb dashed toward the flower-headed wendigo.
Coup De Grace fired without hesitation, the bolt zipping towards the orb. It passed harmlessly through its immaterial form, and then it landed in the flower-headed wendigo's claws.
It fell backwards off its foothold, sinking into another puddle of inky shadow and disappearing altogether.
"No!" Blue Planet cried, racing towards the spot where the supernatural entity disappeared. While Ankoro wished with all her hope that they would catch up, she already knew what they would find.
"Goddammit, that can't be it! They can't have gotten away so easily!" The Druid wailed, falling to his knees at the spot. Even as Blue Planet cast a [Mage Light] to illuminate the area, there was no sign that the wendigos ever existed.
In increasingly mounting signs of anger, the seilenoi pounded the earth in frustration. Miniature earthquakes rocked the area around Ankoro and her friends.
When she looked at her counterpart, she saw he was studying his fabled crossbow most closely. His face hardened from stone to steel. His whiskers every so often quivered before abiding.
Ankoro herself felt a strange twitch in the back of her throat, perhaps the beginning of a sob, or just a sigh of resignation. After all, there was nothing more she or the others could do.
That didn't seem to deter her Druidic friend, who angrily raised two fingers to his ear.
"Nubo, I need you to do something for me. Now," Blue Planet shakily demanded. "Did you see the fight? Do you know what that Linnormr bastard looks like?"
The she-wolf couldn't hear what the ophanim said on the opposite end of the line, but evidently, it didn't please the elder satyr in the slightest.
"What do you mean you're busy? Don't you have a few dozen eyes-What? A city in flames? Momonga and his group are involved? Nubo, I don't care! I need you to do this for me, please."
It was the most heartbreaking thing, to hear her friend's voice warble like it did. His head was slumped, as was his posture. He almost seemed ready to just curl in on himself and let go of madness.
His spine went rigid as Ainz Ooal Gown's surveillance chief replied. From her vantage point, Ankoro could see Blue Planet's visage contort in anguish.
"Nothing…You can't see…anything…? No…That can't be it! You have to keep trying! I-No! I'm not gonna give up on the kid! I can't. I can't-"
Fingers lowered in defeat, and the Druid's shoulders shook with the weight of what he'd been told. Ankoro wasn't sure exactly what the angelic player said, but she could venture a guess.
But that wasn't necessary, not when she had a friend to comfort her after his loss.
She sank to her knees, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and holding the Druid close to her. Blue Planet desperately clung to her as he let loose the rampant feelings of guilt and despair at what happened.
Soft, padded footsteps trudged to them both, and feathery wings enclosed around the heteromorphs to create a shield from the outside world. Weapons had been discarded back to their respective inventories to free their hands.
In that group huddle, under the moonlight that shined ever so brightly down upon all three of them, they shared in a moment of sorrow and compassion for the lost child.
For Grover Sprigganson, the one who had been left to wander all on his own, and driven mad by forces beyond his comprehension. Bestial instinct compelled Ankoro to unleash her raw emotions.
So she did the only thing her body could do. She howled to the moon.
Everything afterward was a blur. Most events tend to be in the wake of loss. Yet, there were some things worth recollecting, especially concerning what the three hetermorphs found.
Ankoro wasn't sure when they left the battle site, but it must have been late in the evening by then. The moon was at its zenith, unobstructed by clouds or weather.
As they left, the she-Wolf and Coup De Grace did a once-over of the former grove of the late treant-turned-demon tree. Per her expectations, all traces of the wendigos had been wiped clean.
Save, of course, for the corpse of the Linnormr itself. Without the power that sustained it, it steadily fell into a pile of bones and discarded skin. The skull collapsed into dust and stand-alone shards.
All that really remained was the chest cavity, and while she wasn't sure why she did so, she snuck a peek inside the exposed ribcage.
Many of the organs had shriveled up, bark flaking off to cover, strangely, a cloth sack near the top of where the stomach would be.
She reached a hand inside, grabbed the dusty bag, and pulled it out. Like with the ribcage, she undid the string that held it closed and looked inside.
Seeds. A couple of dozen by the looks of it. Only these seeds were lined through with etches of silver. They hummed to an unknown rhythm, beating much like a heart would.
"Hey guys," Ankoro called to her friends, "you might want to come and see this."
Coup De Grace rushed over to see what she uncovered, gently handing off the palm-sized bag to her partner to look over. Blue Planet was much more lethargic in his approach, but he came all the same.
The Druid peered with disinterest. "A bag of…seeds? Where'd you find this, Ankoro?"
"This was in the chest cavity," Ankoro said, "Not sure what it is, but it seems a little strange to be there. Any idea what it is?"
A quick change of hands, and now the nature enthusiast was the one holding the bag. His eyes glowed as he quietly murmured an appraisal spell. Dull eyes slightly widened at the strange artifact.
"Ankoro, Coup, as soon as we get home, bring this to Nearata. He'll want to catalog this and have it inspected by Grievous Sin for possible references," Blue Planet said, tossing the bag of seeds back to Ankoro.
She caught it easily. "What? Why? What is it?"
The Druid turned around to activate his mirror item, the gate-like piece refracting and spreading into a surface large enough to accommodate most players of any size. He looked over his cape-laden shoulders to the hunter and scout.
"Because that right there is a world-class item. They're called the Seeds of Hesperides. I don't know what it does or how it got here, but I think it might have been Grover's, if you found it on his body."
He said it so casually and directly that it took Ankoro a moment to evaluate what her friend had just said. She glanced between the back of the seilenoi and the bag of seeds in her hands.
Coup De Grace himself was peering at the inconspicuous bag, raising an eyebrow. "This…is a world item? I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised, seeing as how players are here as well. Yet, to see one here…"
Such an item shouldn't even be possible. Or at least, that's what Ankoro thought. Typically, they were gear of game breaking power or player-defying feats. Something more grandiose and intricate than a-than a bag of seeds!
However, not all world items had been physically found. If she recalled correctly, around fifty of the extremely rare and sought-after items were owned by one player or another.
That didn't mean that the others were completely unknown though. The developers of Yggdrasil themselves had stated that two hundred total world items existed in the game.
Of those two hundred, fifty were publicly acknowledged to be owned by guilds or extraordinarily lucky solos who found them. Even more, were theorized to be floating around among the nine worlds.
A global release of Yggdrasil, after the first year or two of being a Japanese exclusive, had seen an explosion in the number of players actively seeking and cataloging such treasures.
So if one were being technical, the names of more than one hundred and fifty world items were discovered but were so shrouded in mystery or deceit that Ankoro couldn't take the findings of explorer and discovery players at their word alone.
Regardless, one was here in her hands, and now she would have to bring it to Ainz Ooal Gown's attention.
Blue Planet's mirror tinkled as he walked through it. Both the werewolf and androsphinx followed, their attention torn between watching where they were going and looking at the newly claimed world item in their hands.
On the other side of the portal, Ankoro and her complement found themselves in the community grove of the dryads. The Dryad-Born, along with their tree spirit companions, were all gathered together whispering to one another.
The cherub summons floated diligently at haphazard spots around the space. Their innate glow illuminated the area far better than a [Mage Light] could ever hope to accomplish.
Which is how they came to find the sight that greeted them.
All three of the heteromorphs had been gone for a few hours, which meant that the rescued received the proper care and healing they needed to more or less get back on their feet.
Tulipa, the eldest granddaughter of Naaru, was up and about. Her physical form still bore some nasty scars, but for the most part, she was healed. Her sister Pinison, who was no longer under the effects of the strange weight spell, was standing by her side.
A dead human boy was laying on his back, pale as paper and dusted with stagnant mud. Dried blood caked his chest from a hole the size of an arm punched right through.
His deathly expression was peaceful, the eyes closed and his mouth set in a permanent line. He stank of carrion, and had it not been for the other humans and dryads swatting them away, a horde of flies would have covered him.
Tulipa wept into his chest, holding the youthful man close to her as sap tears stained his already destroyed tunic. Her lips moved soundlessly in prayer or some sort of command for him to come back.
Ankoro picked up some of the wording. "You stupid, stupid man…," from the eldest daughter, and then more sobbing.
Naaru himself was kneeling next to her, holding her close with one arm around her shoulders. The other hand rested on Pops's upper back, who silently cried as he stared at the dead man.
"Hey Aunt Ankoro. Sorry, you had to come and see this. The Tulipa dryad woke up just before you arrived and found the human Svend like this," Lupusregina said, announcing her presence and slotting herself next to the elder werewolf.
"Yeah, I can see that," Ankoro said dryly. "Anything else been going on while we were away?"
Lupusregina shrugged, giving the scout a concise report of everything that transpired after the group of humans and dryads had gone through Nubo's [Gate].
The pleiade had stood guard over both groups as dryad healers came out and tended to the rescued. Meanwhile, the younger werewolf prowled the community grove's borders to ensure nothing else came through.
"I'm guessing that dead man is Pops's grandson," she finished, folding her hands in front of her in deference. "They've been grieving for him not long now. What happened to you and Lo-Blue Planet and Coup De Grace, Aunt Ankoro?"
"I'll tell you later when we can get everybody else of AOG together. But I have something I want to show you."
She hefted the bag of seeds up to Lupusregina's eye level, jiggling it to make the seeds clatter together. The younger werewolf stared at it with bewilderment.
"Seeds of Hesperides. A World Class Item," Ankoro whispered, and then put a finger to her lips and shushed her niece before she could say anything.
Eyes widened in amazement and excitement, part of the pleiade's dress swished with her body as she seemed to dance within herself.
Of course, she responded to her aunt's orders and remained quiet, but she was bouncing on her heels at the news she received.
The sound of a cape billowing bought Ankoro's attention, watching as Blue Planet strode up to the kneeling group of dryads and humans around the body of Svend.
Everyone save Tulipa looked up, meeting the Druid's gaze. Something must have passed between them, because they silently moved away to give Blue Planet, Tulipa, and Svend's body space.
It was only then that the eldest granddaughter tore away her face from her beloved's tunic.
"Yo-you're the one from Grover's stories. You're Blue Planet, ar-aren't you?" The sniveling dryad asked, wiping away some of her tears with the back of her hand.
There was no response. Shadows obscured his eyes from Ankoro's sight. It was the most blank appearance he'd ever worn up to that point.
Instead, he gently nudged Tulipa out of the way, who merely clutched the dead human tighter to her chest. She even stroked his hair absentmindedly.
"I can't help him if you don't let me," was all Blue Planet said. He kneeled on both knees now, and removed his mask to reveal his true face. Now his eyes were no longer hidden by the darkness and seemed to have regained some of their former kind-hearted twinkle.
Tulipa opened her mouth as if to argue, to tell him to go away and leave her alone to grieve. Then she seemed to think better of it, sparing a glance to her grandfather.
Naaru merely waved for her to come over and join them. That must have been enough for her, for she gently lowered Svend's head and stood up. As she walked over, she looked over her shoulder at the towering Druid.
Once she was far enough away, Blue Planet reached into the void of his inventory space and pulled out two items. One was a small vial of clear water that shimmered, and the other was a small pouch of glittering diamonds.
He uncorked the bottle and sprinkled the water all around the body, and then dumped the pouch onto a space right below the gaping tear. Both hands surged with mana as he placed them over the hole in the young man's chest.
"[True Resurrection]," Blue Planet invoked, the magic surging and enveloping the young man's body in a light green glow. A hum pervaded the grove as the light reached a climax and the diamonds faded away.
After a few seconds of this, it all died down, leaving only the seilenoi and Svend. The lumberjack's skin was restored to a healthy tan, the wound had completely sealed up. The most noticeable improvement was the slow rise and fall of his chest.
Ankoro grinned at the druid, who stood up and backed off to allow the previous group of dryads and humans to rush over and check on the boy. Coup De Grace patted him on the back as he rejoined the heteromorphs of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Svend…? Svend, can you…hear me?" Tulipa whimpered tentatively, reaching out and patting the spot where his fatal wound once was. Naaru, Pops, and Pinison all leaned in for a closer inspection.
The young man's eyes fluttered open as he drew in a sharp breath, coughing as he labored to sit up. He covered his mouth with his arm as he continued to choke and gasp for necessary oxygen.
"Tulipa? Where are we? How'd we end up here? What happened-" the young man suddenly started saying, before drawing in another intake of breath to start violently coughing.
Said eldest Dryad holding him close in disbelief, more tears being shed and gliding down her timber features. Only now they were open displays of gratitude and true, genuine happiness.
"Svend…you silly, silly man," the tree spirit shakily laughed, as both grandfathers sighed in relief. Pinison cheered, as did the rest of the community grove. They only stopped when Svend groaned and Tulipa glared at them all to stop.
A few nervous but good-spirited chuckles escaped the men and women of the two species. All around, feelings of excitement permeated the atmosphere. If Ankoro was being honest, she could just sit there and soak it all in.
The opening of a [Gate] cut off that notion, hers and everyone else's heads whipping around to see that the obsidian doorway had been opened once more.
Gasps from the human men and dryad women rang out, and the werewolf saw that Blue Planet stood directly in front of it. He was faced away from them.
He turned. "Come on. We've got a lot of stuff to discuss, and we should do it as soon as possible before it gets any later. We can come back in the morning and wrap things up here."
"Are you certain?" Coup De Grace asked, now in his quadrupedal stance, "We are not on a time limit. Even with the discovery of the world item, we do not need to force ourselves to move out already."
"On the contrary, Coup De Grace," Ancient One said, strolling through the portal with Tempest Aizawa in tow. In the demon's hands was a hooked, snakewood cane, studded with rubies. The metallic scent of rain and lighting occupied the air elemental.
Ankoro worried that the second strategist of Ainz Ooal Gown would have frightened their allies of the Forest with his ghastly appearance, only for her to realize that his body glowed with a neon violet outline.
An illusion spell! Damn coot is already ahead of the game.
The Aminuzu seer continued, holding up a single finger. "Though you requested no aid, I and Punitto Moe have been watching you most closely. The discovery of those seeds and the appearance of that wretched creature you fought has prompted decisive action. Come, and let us settle matters. You can all come back tomorrow if you so wish."
Without another word, the disguised demon soothsayer walked back into the portal, his royal purple and gold robes swaying. Tempest Aizawa's stones for eyes glowered menacingly at the mixed group behind the guildmates.
For good measure, she summoned bouts of lighting to surge around her cyclone form, singing the grass around her into scorched earth. Thunder echoed throughout the grove.
"Don't need to do that," Blue Planet warned, before waving for the werewolves and androsphinx to pass the portal's threshold.
"Very well," Coup De Grace said, padding along up to the [Gate]. Just as he was about to pass through, he looked over his shoulder to the humans and dryads that remained.
"Perhaps there is something to you all after all," the androsphinx said simply. Then he disappeared in the mass of swirling blackness.
"Go ahead, Lupus," Ankoro said, resting her hand on her upper back, "I'll be right behind you. Go find your dad and get the theatre set up. I think we earned ourselves a movie."
The pleiade beamed at her, giving her a quick hug and walking with a pep in her step. She too, passed through.
Right before she could pass through herself, she felt a pair of eyes boring into the back of her neck. Blue Planet must have felt it too, because he was right beside her ready to walk in when they both turned.
Svend, the resurrected human, was standing now. Tulipa clung to his arm, her void-like eyes still moist but no longer crying. The couple gave the heteromorphs a radiant smile.
"Thanks," the young lumberjack said, "For bringing me back. For making sure everybody got to come home. I don't know how we could ever repay you."
Ankoro watched Blue Planet with her peripheral vision, noting the small, sad smile he returned to them.
"I figured if I couldn't save the one I wanted to the most tonight, I could at least make sure you guys got a happy ending," the Druid remarked and then passed into the [Gate].
As a final goodbye, the werewolf scout held up two fingers in a V shape. Something from the old world that felt oddly appropriate after the given circumstances.
"See you guys on the flipside. We'll be back in time for breakfast," she said, earning a few laughs amongst the mingled species.
And with that, she and Tempest Aizawa were the last to enter, the portal closing right behind them.