Lena, gasping from the hit, inhaled a lungful of the sparkling dust.

A fit of violent, wracking coughs seized her as soon as she did that. She pushed herself off the boulder, stumbling away from the front line, but not without problems doing so, and with her usual grace gone.

She retreated toward Reidar's position, clutching her throat and fighting to get even a little bit of air.

She collapsed on one knee beside him, and then the coughing turned into shallow breaths.

"Lena, are you ok?"

But she was unable to talk.

Reidar focused his attention fully on her. He checked the area where she was, but the pollen had already been scattered by the wind. The flower was gone, crushed into the stone or burned by some skill.

"Lena?!"

She didn't reply; her coughing fits got worse.

"Shit!"

Reidar kept a wary eye on the battle. The raid was holding, but Lena's sudden incapacitation created a gap in their offensive pressure.

"Stay here. Catch your breath. Don't push it."

The numbers were thinning. The raid had killed over three hundred Thorn-Lashers already, and they were trying to keep pushing, but the monsters were proving too hard for them to kill in a direct confrontation.

What further complicated the matter were the vine-like bodies that now littered the street. Their matter quickly decomposed into foul-smelling sludge, which was making moving around harder.

Reidar cast Summon Feral Pack again. The wolves appeared, engaged, and got recalled. Another Cast and …

—[Summon Feral Pack has reached 50% proficiency]—

That damned notification appeared in his vision.

<Finally!>

He dismissed it immediately. The battle continued around him, and his attention was needed.

The survivors had killed hundreds of the monsters, but the remaining creatures weren't showing signs of wanting to stop coming.

Seraphine got to his side.

"Casualties?" he asked.

"Thirty injured," she said. "The healers are working on them, but it's not easy given the situation."

Helga then arrived.

"What are you waiting for, Reidar? Summon your monsters!"

"That's something that needs a little thought!" He said.

Helga was flabbergasted. "What do you mean you th—"

But Seraphine pointed a dagger at her throat. Helga looked at her in disbelief.

"F-fine! Do what you want, but if people die, that will be on you! These monsters are too strong for my guys, and their regeneration is a problem; we can't always target their cores!"

Then Aldric came.

"Reidar, we must retreat!"

The problem was that Reidar didn't know if the monsters would chase. Though he nodded. "That's what I was thinking of doing." He paused.

"I will summon something to keep them at bay, and at bay only." He didn't want to get too many merits, or the quest would yield worse results. "They will just do that; remember it!"

Reidar focused his will on using Summon Feral Pack. Mana surged from his body, and five immense shapes materialized in front of the raid members.

The Feral Pack manifested as bears as per Reidar's decision, each the size of an elephant. Their level 118 dwarfed the Thorn-Lashers' by quite a few levels.

A guttural roar from the lead bear shook the very air. The Thorn-Lashers, which had been gaining advantages against the human survivors, froze.

Their primitive instincts screamed at the new, hard-to-ignore threat. As one, the vine-creatures turned away from the raid, their limbs lashing toward the colossal bears.

"Fall back!" Reidar said.

The raid didn't need him to say it twice. The survivors broke from their positions, leaving the summoned creatures back to kill more monsters while they focused on Reidar's monstrous creatures.

They scrambled over rubble and through broken streets, putting distance between themselves and the monstrous confrontation.

The five bears waded into the horde, swiping their massive clawed paws and crushing the Thorn-Lashers that got unlucky enough to end up on their path into pulp.

Vines wrapped around their thick legs, but the bears simply powered through, the lashers' thorns failing to penetrate the dense hide or to restrain them.

The level gap was too vast; the bears were an unstoppable avalanche of flesh and fury. They could not be harmed, but at the same time Reidar had to stop them from killing all the monsters. Plus, they were going to help only until they got out of the ruined town.

Reidar glanced back at Lena as they fled. She was slumped over a wolf summoned by his Shadow Guardian, her body wracked with coughs. A thin line of blood ran from her nose, which was not a good sign.

"Lena." He grabbed her arm. Her skin felt clammy.

"I… can't…" she wheezed, her eyes glazed with pain. "Lungs… burning…"

Helga, falling back with her Ironsides, shot a grim look their way. "What's wrong with her?"

"Pollen from a flower," Reidar said. He tried to cast Circle of Renewal, channeling healing energy into her. The spell washed over her, but the coughing only subsided for a moment before returning with renewed violence. It wasn't a physical wound; it was a poison, a debilitation his standard healing couldn't purge because he didn't have the skill for it, and based on what Seraphine said, having one wouldn't assure it would work.

"We need to get her out of this place," Seraphine said as she scanned their flanks. "She needs to be treated."

They reached the edge of the town, the grotesque crimson vegetation thinning out into the relatively normal forest.

The sounds of the bear's destructive rampage echoed behind them, a distant symphony of splintering wood and tearing vines. The raid regrouped in a defensive clearing, fighters panting, healers rushing to attend to the wounded.

Reidar lowered Lena to the ground, propping her against a tree. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. She clutched at her chest, her face pale.

"The quest…" she managed between gasps. "The… Elder…"

"Forget the quest." Reidar checked the raid interface. The kill count for the Thorn-Lashers was climbing thanks to the summon dealing with them while the bears grabbed aggro, but the main goal, the Elder, remained stuck at 0. The beast didn't even appear.

He looked back toward the blighted town. His five bears would eventually time out or be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

They had bought an escape, not a victory. And now, with Lena incapacitated, the raid had lost its primary scout and one of its strongest fighters. The Crimson Briar Patch had drawn first blood in a way they hadn't anticipated.

Jake went beside them; he was worried. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know." Reidar said there was no point in lying. Their world didn't allow it anymore. His only option was to get Lena to a safe place and then see if someone had a way to heal her.

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