Chapter 34
Meanwhile, just as the purple cloud descended, the horde of goblins marched, their ragged feet stomping in unison as raucous cheers of joy escaped their gnarled lips. But in an instant, their revelry turned to horror.
The creatures abruptly stiffened, eyes bulging, as a thick miasma of sickly purple fumes descended upon them like a noxious veil. A chorus of harsh, ragged coughs erupted from their throats as they collapsed to their knees, clawing at the air.
'Poison...' The word flashed like lightning through the elf's mind as she witnessed the unmistakable signs - the stiffened postures, the violent fits of coughing, the crumpled bodies strewn across the ground. Her nostrils flared, catching the acrid stench of the toxic cloud.
'Nightshade?' she wondered, though doubt tinged her thoughts like a sour taste. The symptoms and lurid purple hue closely resembled the effects of Nightshade, a common poisonous plant in the forests of her world As she pondered, the noxious fumes swiftly overwhelmed the goblins, their rasping breaths growing faint.
However, a creeping sense of unease gripped her. This was not her world, and she could scarcely fathom how such a virulent toxin could have spread so widely, so rapidly.
As the billowing cloud rolled inexorably toward the nearby houses, she grasped the imminent danger. "Cover your noses!" she cried out in warning to the townsfolk around her, already pinching her nostrils shut and gripping her bow tightly.
Sadly, some had already inhaled deep draughts of the poison before her voice carried over the chaos.
"My lady..."
"Help me...Help!"
"Aghk! This is...painful!"
The elf watched with rising anxiety as the villagers succumbed one by one, doubling over in fits of racking coughs. Whether truly Nightshade or some other insidious toxin, it rapidly infiltrated their lungs and veins with each desperate gasp. Precious time was slipping away.
'Should I use Cleansing Wind?' she deliberated inwardly, her gaze shifting to the villagers scrambling for refuge in their homes, slamming doors and shuttering windows against the encroaching threat.
A young child stumbled in the road, coughing violently, before their panic-stricken parent scooped them up and dragged them to safety within a nearby dwelling.
But these are humans...
Her thoughts took an ominous turn as bitter memories resurfaced, cold as the grave. The screams and pleas seemed to fade into the distance as her eyes glazed over.
'Just let them die... all humans are selfish creatures... because of them, we are suffering right now...'
The voices of her kin echoed through her mind like vengeful spirits. Her wavering gaze solidified with grim determination as the purple haze expanded into an obscuring mist, blotting out the village homes ahead.
'The objective is to defend this village... thus...' Ignoring the feeble cries for aid from several elderly villagers huddled behind her, the elf squared her shoulders and gazing at the struggling goblins, who still gasped and retched under the poison's relentless assault.
CLICK-!
A metallic sound resonated as a peculiar item materialized in the elf's palm—a small azure blossom with five delicate petals unfurling like a tiny star.
Without a moment's hesitation, she raised the fragile flower to her face and consumed it whole, feeling the velvety softness of the petals against her lips before crunching down.
[!] You have ingested Mor'vea!
[!] The flower has purged all the poison from your body, granting you temporary immunity to all toxins for the next 5 minutes!
A strange, tingling warmth bloomed in her chest as she swallowed the last few crumbs. After consuming the entire cerulean blossom and chewing its magically fortifying essence, she felt the tightness in her lungs immediately begin to ease, the pressure relieved.
'No time to waste…' she thought inwardly, as she retrieved a clutch of arrows from her quiver, the feathered shafts whispering against each other.
However, her gaze flickered with heightened alertness as a furtive shadow, an agile figure, flitted through the violet mist swirling in the distance. Her eyes narrowed, senses heightened as she tracked the indistinct shape.
...
At the same time, in the narrow gap between the village walls where Belev stood amidst the thick, choking cloud of poison, searing agony coursed through his veins like liquid fire. His lungs felt constricted in a vise grip with each labored gasp for air.
Was this to be his end, brought low by a mere toxin after all his battles? Once again the thought was bitterly unacceptable.
No, he refused to fall here!
Tightening his grip on his sword until his knuckles turned white, he met the bloodshot, hate-filled eyes of the goblins through the slits of his helmet with his own steely, defiant glare.
"EEK-!" One of the twisted creatures exclaimed in surprise as its misshapen head was violently severed from its body in a spraying arc of green blood. The lifeless goblin crumpled to the ground, still twitching.
After dispatching the foe, Belev doubled over, racked by a convulsive fit of heavy coughing that rattled his very bones.
His chain mail armor showed the battle-worn signs of many clashes, the metal dented and scored, but what stood out were the wicked goblin daggers protruding from between the gaps in the links covering his arms and legs.
Crimson blood continued to seep from the punctured wounds with each shallow, wheezing breath he took.
"Huff...huff..." Gasping for air, Belev's grim struggle against death's inexorable advance caught the baleful attention of the remaining goblins, still crouched and coughing on the ground from the effects of the virulent poison.
"I-I will die with honor!" Belev exclaimed, his addled brain and tunneling vision clouded by the potent toxins he had inhaled.
His entire right arm, concealed beneath the armor, had turned a deep, mottled purple long ago, and his lips were dry and cracked.
An unbearable heaviness weighed upon his chest, and the view through the spaces in his helmet grew increasingly blurred, the world fading.
The poisonous miasma seemed to twist and distort Belev's surroundings in dizzying ways as the toxins took their toll.
His vision swam so violently that even his sword, gripped white-knuckle tight in his gauntleted fist, appeared to bend and warp unnaturally by 180 degrees before his eyes. Coherent thought eluded him in his increasingly delirious state.
THUD-!
Eventually, his legs buckled beneath him and he sank heavily to the ground, using his warped sword as a crutch to prop himself upright.
However, a sudden series of sharp clicks pierced the fog, followed by a chorus of anguished screams that just as abruptly fell deathly silent.
"What great performance, wake up, Knight of Averial House—this poison only works on those monsters," rang out in an amused tone, its sound instantly freezing Belev in place and relieving the burning pain and confusion clouding his mind.
But the dazed knight had no time to dwell on the strange voice, as a large translucent screen abruptly materialized before him.
[!] Congratulations, Hero Belev Averial, on your successful defense of Kenlan Village!
[>>[INFORMATION]<<]
Challenger Belev Averial,
Congratulations on clearing the third floor!
[!] Your heroic defense of the villagers has been recognized...
[!] The total number of casualties in the village due to your actions...
[!] You have assumed a leadership role, guiding the villagers in...
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