Soul Merger

The light rain pattered annoyingly on the metal roof of the shelter above the Hedge Rows Labyrinth. Because of all the plant monsters below, the guild had built the inner ring of the protection zone out of metal. Which in Alissa's mind meant they'd replaced good protection that would sometimes fail with expensive garbage that would always fail, but the guild council seemed to think differently.

It at least gave her an excuse to stay under her cloak as long as possible. The Hedge Row was really popular, which meant there was a decent line to enter. But between her hood and the fact that the rest of her party were far more distracting right now she could hide next to Fili and avoid much notice.

"Should I be looking for any good plants to pick up while we're down there?" Clara asked. "Figure we're gonna be short on monster materials, since we're depending on Fili burning things to get the kill."

A good question. Alissa looked over at Rosalina. "We're going to get a fair amount of bounties, and we packed a meal so we're not pressed for time. But do we want to take the time to harvest plants?"

"Do any of us know what to harvest?" Rosalina asked. "I'm afraid I didn't pay attention to any plant that didn't taste good. And honestly they didn't try to teach me much botany either. It was all 'here's the special flowers for this ceremony' or some such nonsense."

"Um," Fili perked up. "I actually know a fair number. Especially the ones that mages use in experiments. I could pick out a few."

Clara nodded. "I've got a couple of ideas on what sells good on the market."

"Then if you see anything we should take your advice," Akari said. "It would be foolish to leave money sitting in the dirt for no good reason."

Everyone nodded in agreement. That settled Alissa turned back to the wait. Fortunately their conversation had led them close to the front of the line. After two more parties they moved to the free reception area.

"Hello," the guild secretary said. "Can I get your delve plan and duration?"

"Third layer," Rosalina said. "Going to clear out monsters from the top down. Planning a day trip but should be back this evening."

The lizardkin man nodded. "Probably a good thing. There's a group on the third layer second floor picking up live monsters but we haven't had anyone cleaning up in a couple of weeks."

Alissa felt a frown pulling at her lip and forced it away. She had no business judging people who picked up live monsters for others to kill. But she wasn't a fan.

"We'll try not to disturb them," Rosalina said, handing over the fee and showing her ID. Alissa and the others followed suit and soon they were heading down the winding ramp that led down to the first floor of the Hedge Rows.

The green topiary walls of the Garden Maze were fairly tight here. Fortunately the previous delver groups had swept most of them. They managed to get to the fourth floor before Alissa saw anything off. "Wait a second."

As the group halted behind her she looked over the path ahead. The hedges were berry bushes here, with vines along the ground. That was to be expected. But there were vines running across the path, which was unusual.

She traced them back to their origin, and that confirmed the trap. It looked at first glance to be a group of wild cucumbers surrounding a large, puke green melon. But the spiky cucumbers and the malformed melon were definitely attached to the same vine. Definitely some sort of trap.

After a few moments considering the matter she just shook her head. "I don't know how to disarm this and it's a little too dangerous to just have us all try to hop over. Fili can you burn that set of vines from a safe distance?"

"Sure," Fili chirped before hesitating. "Wait, what would be a safe distance?"

"Probably twenty feet," Alissa guessed based on the melon's size. "But let's just back up to the end of the passage to be extra safe."

Rosalina readied her rod. "I'll put up a barrier and prepare a Poison Cure just in case."

The group retreated and Fili aimed a simple spell. "Firebolt." The small blaze streaked over to the trap and hit the melon dead on. It exploded in a burst of seed shrapnel, with the cucumbers popping and sending spikes into the mix. Alissa was pleased to see she'd guessed the area of effect pretty accurately.

"Flamewash" Fili intoned after the popping was over, sending a wave of fire over the ground and burning up the seeds. "Good move," Clara said. No reason to find out if there were any dangers from the remains.

They pressed on into the second layer, the plant walls being replaced with Ivy covered chain fences. A few razorvine plants attacked, but were burnt without much trouble. Fili found a spotted death toadstool, and Clara picked a few leaves she claimed were tobacco, though Alissa couldn't see it. Alissa for her part picked a handful of glowberrys for later.

Finally they reached the ladder heading down to the third layer. Alissa looked down and saw several burnt wooden bodies. "Seems like there was an ambush here but the other party eliminated it."

"We should probably take an alternate route to the second floor," Rosalina said. "No reason to just waltz through more areas that have already been cleared."

Alissa nodded. The point of this expedition was to cull monsters. She dropped down and confirmed the area was dryad and trap free while the others followed.

The third layer was known as the Twisted Forest, and it was a series of larger corridors and rooms, with the 'walls' being thick ropes of uncuttable barbed wire between trees. But there were plenty of trees just randomly planted about. Trees that could be turned into treants by the dryads that stalked the area. Add in the other plant monsters and it was a forest of danger. Ironically, the lush fruits that screamed 'trap' were actually the safest part of the whole place.

Clara pulled out a map of the level and Rosalina traced a longer path to the stairs down. "Let's take this route. It's got enough room so Fili can cut loose without worrying about hurting the rest of us."

"Harder to get ambushed as well," Alissa agreed.

"You two are taking all the fun out of the fight," Ibaraki complained.

Fili sighed. "I vote for safe and boring."

Clara raised her hand. "And that makes it 5 to 1. Sorry miss oni you'll have to take another boring win."

"Tch." Ibaraki took a drink. "That shrine maiden could have voted with me, you know!"

That didn't really seem worth dignifying with a comment, so Alissa turned to the route they were going to take and went back to work. Her blade wasn't going to be getting much use, so she'd keep the traps away.

A few hours of walking, Alissa smelled something sweet ahead. She held up her hand and took another deep sniff. It was definitely maple, and it wasn't coming from Fili. "Dryads close by. Might even be just around that turn there." She pointed at a passage that led to another wide open area according to the map.

"Any idea on the number?" Clara asked quietly.

Alissa shook her head. Her senses weren't that good. Not that she had any practice determining how many dryads were in an area by smell.

"We'll chance it," Rosalina said. "If we hit them first we should be good."

It wasn't the best plan, but they didn't really have anything better. Alissa waited for Fili and Clara to agree they were good to go before nodding.

"Finally," Ibaraki muttered, hefting her club. "Countdown from five." The oni must be really hankering for a fight if it was willing to do anything like teamwork.

The fingers slowly disappeared, until Ibaraki was holding a closed fist. Alissa rushed past the shorter catgirl and tried to take in the situation as she moved forwards.

There were at least twelve dryads in the room, along with two animated treants. One of the fey women had a crown of mushrooms and Alissa made a note to point it out if it survived the initial barrage. For now she silently angled towards the second closest target.

Shocked cries rang out as the dryads realized they were under attack. And then a resounding explosion burst in between the two treants, setting the monsters on fire with wild hooting. Out of the corner of her eye Alissa saw an arrow take the crowned woman in the face before bursting into flame, while Ibaraki slammed into the closest enemy.

And then her prey was in front of her and she had no more time to keep track of others. The monster lashed out with a bramble whip and Alissa slashed with her dagger in return. The enemy's makeshift weapon snapped, but she wouldn't have enough power to behead the wooden woman with just one hand without a technique.

Alissa tried to focus. Lethal, cold, and dismissive. "Beheading Slash," she hissed as she cut at the dryad's neck.

The damn thing ducked. Her sword just trimmed some of the creature's mossy hair as it wiffed. It retaliated with a punch, which Alissa sidestepped. She kicked the thing in the shins as she regained her distance and the crack of its kneecap splintering gave her some comfort.

As the dryad staggered and screeched she planted her feet and slashed again with a reverse stroke. "Backhand Dismissal."

This one she'd had time to practice and it came out just that little bit faster, a red glow crawling up the weapon as it hissed through the air. The blade hit the wooden woman's neck with a meaty thunk, driving over half the way through. As the dryad slumped Alissa kicked the corpse and wrenched free her sword.

She turned back to the fight, but as expected there wasn't much for her to do. Ibaraki and Fili had torn through the opposition rather easily, and Clara's enchanted arrows had nipped any extra threats in the bud. The only remaining foes were a treant trying to extinguish itself and a dryad Ibaraki was exchanging punches with. Still no reason to slack. She checked for hidden dangers then moved to support Ibaraki.

The oni had broken both the dryad's arms and was pulling back for another punch, when the wooden woman opened her mouth and spat a cloud of spores into the catgirls face. Ibaraki fell back, her face locked up. The dryad kicked the catgirl in the chest with clawed feet, sending her to the ground.

"Poison," Alissa called out to Rosalina as she rushed forwards. She abandoned finesse and just chopped at the dryad's head. The blow sank only a few inches into the knotted roots that made up its skull, but the creature still was stunned.

Alissa hacked away at the dryad, refusing to let the thing recover from her onslaught. Wood splintered and cracked as her blade slammed into the monster over and over. It took several hard blows, but finally the green light in the creature's eyes flickered out. Alissa took a deep breath as she let her blade drop. Her arms were sore from the work, but that'd fade quickly.

Ibaraki's coughing caused Alissa to turn back to the others. It seemed the fight was over and Rosalina had gotten there in time to cure whatever had dropped the oni. However the dragon priestess looked winded. It must not have been an easy poison. Clara and Fili meanwhile were surveying the battlefield. At least they were untouched.

"What was that bullshit?!" Ibaraki finally managed to spit out.

"The reason you don't dismiss level III monsters so casually," Alissa replied.

Ibaraki glared at her. "If I had my own body that would've been nothing. Hell, I shouldn't be vulnerable to any poison anyway."

"Yes, but spores in your lungs don't count as a poison," Rosalina said sharply. "It's closer to a disease. You've very lucky I have the enhanced bank so I could have a counter for it on hand."

"That's bullshit," Ibaraki muttered. "But fine. Suppose I owe Miss goody two shoes some time back. Next time I kill the fuckers quick."

Well that was handled. Alissa looked over the open area. "This isn't a bad spot to take a break. Should we finish up here then begin the rest of the delve after lunch?"

"Bit early, but we probably won't have a better time," Clara said. "First we gotta tap these treants for sap though."

"Right." Alissa sheathed her weapons and headed over to the less burnt treant. It was time to get money.