"We need to move as soon as those things are out of the woods. There is a risk that the Appendage will circle back, but we are going to have to take it," I said, choking up my grip on the naginata.

"That stuff is going to be like soup," Daniela said, pointing to the bog. The ruddy tracks and furrows the Tendril creatures had carved on their way east all but confirmed that.

"I'll take care of it," I said, taking a deep breath. "Just step where I step."

The group nodded and we crept down the small island of integrity the cypress had carved out for itself. When my boots sunk four inches into the ground, I stepped back and focused on the straight path to the cavern. I didn't pay attention to the creatures that were already turning to eye the interlopers, but instead focused solely on vibro. It wasn't a straight path that would serve us the best, but it should let me save enough mana that we actually made it across.

I slapped the Skill into action in my mind. I kept it to a quarter power, dipping 5% of my mana pool with each cast, but creating a three by three platform out of the garbage terrain. Then I rushed forward. The New Hopers and the others followed not one platform behind as I raised platform after platform, veering us to the left to one of the sturdier islands amidst the swamp. The moment my foot touched down, vibro practically screamed at me.

The stuttered warning was enough for me to miss putting my foot right in the gullet of a Q3 Death Alligator that had been lurking just out of sight and hadn't moved until we arrived at his doorstep. The creature snapping its jaw closed actually set my ears ringing with the force of the air displaced. Vibro was scrambled slightly, but not enough to put me out of commission as I shunted the sense for my eyesight. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one able to navigate the environment to cover up my blunder.

Frost sprung up as a wall, punching up on the creature's mouth before it formed a rough band around it. With its jaw clenched shut, it threw itself into a wild roll, cracking the ice and flopping its way onto land, where it was swiftly decapitated by a triple dose of Rommel's fire disks. Its information flitted across my vision for the briefest second before the life winked out of the gator.

Unfortunately, the delay of dealing with the creature was enough for the beasties to lock in. A handful of crows had risen from some of the nearby shrubs to circle above us. These were swiftly handled by Devon as he used gusts of wind to rebuff the bile raining down on us, and snips of lightning to cause the creatures to crash down. Godfrey huffed it to the front, covering for me as I got my bearings and we alternated using our Earth Skills to make progress. He materialized boulders far ahead where I pointed while I cut the distance between the islands.

Daniela snapped out her wisp, a constant presence over our shoulder that sent out tracing fireballs against any creatures trying to approach us. Dennis, Diana and Ophelia hit the party with the occasional heal, doing their best to stay in the middle of the formation as Clara and Anthony brought up the rear.

Three frogs were waiting at the next island, each sending out sticky tongues that dripped with acid towards us. With a grunt, I smacked them aside using my tower shield. The chitin hissed, but was mostly unaffected as the force of the impacts, plus my arm swing, evaporated the frog saliva. A small snake tried to pounce on me from the side, but I had a sneaky companion also watching my back. Blobby intercepted the creature with its body, almost instantly drowning it as it swallowed a mouthful of slime.

Rebuffed by my defense, the creatures weren't expecting the that landed in their midst. Just like with the alligator, my eyes locked on their bodies long enough for my Implant to trigger.

It was somewhat surprising that Tendril and non-Tendril creatures were interacting, but it wasn't the first time. The apparent disparity in power was also interesting, but I didn't have the time to contemplate why that was the case. As more creatures started to spring up around us, I started to ignore the Implant callouts. Nothing drew my attention, power wise, but I knew their numbers could easily overwhelm us. Pushing through to that cavern was our only option now that we were in the middle of the bog.

Burning through a bit more mana than I wanted, I skipped pointing out the next low spot for Godfrey and rushed the last fifty feet to the edge of the cavern. Instantly upon arriving, I set about casting sized adjusted . My mana flowed like a river, and the discomfort in my abdomen climbed with each Skill I channeled through my helm, but we needed to be able to defend. With four walls, two short and two tall, lining the perimeter our team dug in.

Dennis immediately set about reinforcing my walls. Growths of the same bushy grass lined the entire space, a series of them making a point of growing overtop the cavern mouth in the direction of the overly fertile land around the metier crystal. Almost immediately, he straightened and his playing picked up tempo.

"Three. West," he panted between breaths into his flute. Godfrey didn't need more direction and clambered up the side of the cavern more deftly than I would have expected from a dwarf.

"Anthony, back him up. Burn anything that tries to splash him," Daniela said, concentrating on maneuvering her wisp to keep tagging targets approaching the group.

"Ron, what's your mana at?" Clara asked, tearing her eyes away from the tide of creatures heading towards them.

A flick to the display in the corner of my vision flashed the number 27% as I focused on it. I relayed as much. Even as she grimaced, the demoness started rambling. A plan clearly forming in her head. "Keep watch on the cavern, we want to make sure that nothing is going to jump out of there to attack us. Unlikely considering it hasn't already, but I am not going to bet on anything. When you hit 80%, take Daniela and Ophelia down there. We'll hold the line, but if at all possible don't take too long. I'm not liking what I see..."

On cue, a bombardment of bile rained down on us, but was met by yet another gust of wind from Devon. Instead of just spraying it wildly, the elf redirected the attack towards the vulture that was sweeping down on one of their earlier kills. The bird thrashed wildly as the corrosive contents of the crows’ stomach burned its wings. An opportunistic gator snapped up the bird, even as a handful of frogs harassed it.

The offensive against the group wasn't organized in the least, but they had the numbers advantage. Not only that, even if it wasn't intentional like the Fire Ants, a mid-fight feast would cause some of the small threats to possibly jump a Quotient.

After letting her know about that possibility and receiving a stern nod in return, I set into the frustrating task of recovering. While my time spent as an invalid had improved my patience by a noticeable degree, the sounds of the fight behind me set me on edge. In the hopes of being somewhat useful, I extended vibro as far as it could go while keeping my eyes closed. The fight on the bog side was relentless as Devon and Lilly released Skills regularly, but with a steady pace.

A number of creatures, large and small, rushed towards the walls I'd created and through their strange resonance I could see that they'd already been weakened by a variety of acidic, basic and generally caustic substances. Thankfully, we had our own erosions expert as Blobby intercepted the smaller creatures attempting to circumvent our defenses. The slime split and rejoined its two bodies with a smoothness that beguiled its gelatinous body. With each successful creature eaten, however, I could see it slowing even as its bulk continued to grow. Even while attacking, the slime made a distinct effort to protect Ophelia and Diana whenever they were threatened as the women released heals sparingly.

The thing that really disturbed me wasn't the controlled chaos of the fight behind me, but the utter silence from the cavern. As if it was a black hole, the constant ripples of battle penetrated a few feet before the force was dispersed almost immediately. This cavern is made from mana-created rock. The densest rock I've encountered so far... I certainly didn't like where that thought led, but I did my best to use my 2+ Perception Attribute to pierce into the murky darkness of the cavern. The black spread deep, much like the blackspace inside the Afflicted...

As if it had heard the earlier pronouncement, a notification flashed announcing my mana was at 80%. The battle had died down some behind me, but I could see Rommel clambering up the cavern's side to swap with Godfrey as the healers went to work on the dwarf. It was going to be a rough defense.

"I'm up," I said through the comm-plant. Hopefully that's the least disruptive way of communicating right now.

"Danny, Ophelia. Godfrey, up and at 'em," Clara responded. As I watched, the woman's eyes once more burned with purple and red. A screech pierced the air before she turned and puked on the ground just over one of my short walls. She added quietly. "Don't take too long."

Grim faced, I stood and adjusted my straps on my shield so it was vertical to the ground. My grip on my naginata loosened as I popped half the Rot Tater in my mouth. Instantly, a combination of sour, bitter and ashy rattled my tongue but I swallowed anyway. It was quickly followed by a gag-inducing second half. My Affliction popped up, stating I had the Boon of Death. The timer showed eight minutes and twenty seconds, already counting down. As Daniela and Ophelia copied my actions, we headed into the cavern.

Daniela kept her wisp right overhead as we power walked down an increasing slope. A strange muted light started to suffuse the vibro-dead rock around us. After the straight minute walk, I risked a look at my minimap.

"We are almost at the--" My whisper cut off as the slope flattened completely and we found ourselves inside an impossibly hollowed out space.

The source of the muted light became readily apparent. Instead of the vibro-dead rock around us, the back wall of the cavern was made up of the iridescent kaleidoscope of what had to be the Metier Crystal hidden within the fertile territory. The things that truly threw me off were what was standing at the foot of the truly massive crystal.

Galloway. The humanoid Tendril we'd encountered, the first to actually communicate and negotiate with Wildwood, stood with its arms tucked behind its back. Its palm frond wings were spread wide over his shoulders as the creature regarded us with a flat expression. Just over its head, attached so much like an engorged tick to the Metier Crystal, was the Dreg Entity. Thick veins of black spread over the surface of the untainted crystal, suppressing its rainbow glow in many areas of its exposed facet.

"It appears the children have come to play," Galloway said, his mouth splitting to reveal its needle teeth. A warning flashed on the edge of my vision, and I took an involuntary step back.

"Oh, shi--" Daniela's voice fell on deaf ears as I reread the words. My Implant even deemed it pertinent enough to highlight the concerning bits of information revealed.