The sed Degraded Kobold reached the forest, but the moment it stepped across the threshold betweerees it retreated, rushing back towards us. It made it to the Fae Stones, but before it could cross fungus was already starting to sprout from it, luminous, putrid-smelling mushrooms f in clusters, dev flesh. It fell, trying to fulfil my orders, crawling towards the Stones, hand outstretched, but it was too te. The kobold died, and my eyes could make out a puff of spores released by the fungus, which quickly withered and died as well, leaving little but unpleasant sludge behind.

  “Hmm.” I pursed my lips, thinking. “Looks like the fungus finds it hard to thrive outside its owory. It seems like the spores still sprout though, even with a brief exposure. I see why the Fae have struggled to take the Spring back.”

  “Yes, quite.” Ixitt shed his rubber-cd tail. “So, what’s the est?”

  “Seven a, please go.” I decred, and two elite Degraded Kobolds, the Miners, set off. They bypassed the dead remains of their fallen allies, aered the forest. The first stood there inside, while the sed retreated, just like the previous unlucky kobold. The one ihe forest began to erupt in growths and fungal bloom, though it survived marginally lohan its weaker kin. Pustules and tendrils of pnt life were also slowly starting to sprout oreating weaselkin, but it was stronger, so mao pass the stones before falling in front of us, dying rapidly.

  “Now!” I ordered, and Hyath activated the vacuum, sug at the air around the fallen kobold, while I immediately tried to heal it. Aether flowed from my rubber-cd hands, and it looked like it was w for a while, though eventually the rate of fungal growth was too much. Just like before, the pnts quickly died, g a host to feed on.

  “Right, I see. est.” I said, starting to get a clear picture of how the ination worked. Several ordinary kobolds set out, as well as one more Mihat Miner also successfully returned, dripping with rot and toadstools, but this time we were ready. “Use wind surgically.” I said, and Shaeu nodded, as we hewed away at the flesh of the kobold where the parasitits were, while we both stantly healed the areas we had damaged. The air was filled with dying pnt matter, and Hyath hoovered up the debris, cag to herself, enjoying it as though it was a fun game.

  “Yes, this would be impossible without these.” Ixitt tapped the gasmask he wore, the filter cartridge a mixture of more standard elements such as charcoal, and also bluesteel powder infused with wind energy. “Else destroying the pnt life merely spreads the tagion.”

  “Yeah, but we did it!” I grinned, and we had one alive Degraded Kobold Miner. “It’s no good just healing, all the seeds and spores have to be cut out. But since our vitality is much greater than these, it gives us a emergencies if one of us is promised.”

  “Grul sees enemies.” He rumbled suddenly, hefting the huge metal mace he carried. “Irees.”

  “it was iable we’d draw notice.” I agreed. “Ugly-looking buggers, aren’t they?”

  Shaeu ughed. “They most certainly are. I do not-not wish any of them under my rule. They must be disposed of. Besides, we wish for the spoils, do we not-not?”

  “Yeah, but we o capture a few alive for the set of tests. Right, Ixitt, you hang back with Hyath for this one. Shaeu and I will capture some spes. Grulgor, you… well, just smash, okay? This isn’t going to be quick or easy, so thinning their numbers now will… oh damn, I should have known!” when I finished saying he should smash them, Grulgor didn’t even wait for the rest of my instrus, but rushed through the Fae-Stones, mail jangling like discordant bells.

  “You expeothing less from that muscle-brained oaf.” Shaeu sniffed. “Well, shall we?” We also left the sanctuary of the Seelie Court, passing through the Stones, and within a couple of seds we crossed the grassy strip a amidst the sparse trees of the fungal forest entrance. I felt a shiver as I went in, the oppression of a Territory, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. A strong Rank 3 maybe? I feel a bit weaker and my aether doesn’t want to obey me without a fight, but… I was stronger now, a lot stronger, and my Aether Manipution had broken the first wall, reag Rank 6.

  “Grul will crush you, rend you, trample you to dust!” he boomed behind his massive respirator and mask. His giant mace sent trees as thick as my waist exploding apart, sending hails of deadly splinters everywhere, but luckily his armour was holding. What was also flying everywhere were corpses of the first set of oppos this forest had sent for us, a series of shambling mounds made up of deg pnt matter and mushrooms, that stantly exuded a deadly mist of spores, as well as rger walking pitcher-pnts, their colossal jaws reminding me of the Jaws Of The Questi that the Raven Knight jured, those many weeks ago.

  “We want one of each.” I told Shaeu. “I’ll take the mounds.”

  “Very well.” She agreed, wind biseg several of the walking jaws, ether spilling as they disied into putrid mist. We’ll take that. I grinned as we filched as much of the ether we could before it was reabsorbed by the hostile Territory, and perhaps due to the bonuses from my queror css, I retty certai more than half of it.

  I ducked under a pitcher-pnt, uhing my Twin Fangs and sshing out, and it toppled to the side, bance lost as I severed the vi was using to pull itself along. As it did so, Shaeu used her pinwheels which she had spent some time untangling after the st battle, though instead of wind, it taih energy I had provided, making the wires hard to break. The pnt-creature was caught, and I quickly sliced through another, cutting it near in half, colleg the spoils. Rushing over to where Grulgor had ploughed a path through, looking like a mini-tornado had passed by, I scooped up more ether then engaged a group of four mounds, each overtopping me by a head. “So, I’m guessing cutting you up won’t be too effective, but we o try so…” I spun, the acidic fumes they were spewing nasty, but wind swirled around me, dispersing it. My bdes did indeed slice the mass of pnt matter and filth easily enough, but to no avail. Thought so. In that case…

  Fme bzed citrine as I jured it. Now the Territory fought hard, as though fire was inimical to it, but though it e far more energy than I would have liked, I still kindled a bze, and soon three mounds were disiing, sparks fshing into the air like bright fireflies. The fourth I had herded with the fme towards Shaeu, her pinwheels also snaring it, f it together with the captured pitcher-pnt.

  “All right, great job.” I praised her. “Grulgor! Retreat, phase one is down!” I amplified my voice with wind. “let’s hope he heard me. Aer still, listens!”

  Shaeu shrugged. More pitcher-pnts were ing for us, a dozen, no, two dozen. “Here’s the all-we--eat buffet we ordered.” I grinned, and I raised my hand, Shaeu mirr me. Wind bdes, drills, wind-weasels and solid bullets of pressed air tore through the trees and into the packed mass of attackers, and a welter of green gore and torn foliage rained down amidst the rainbow glow of ether.

  “We’ll be having that!” I trated, drawing it in. “I’d love to stay and kill more but…” the forest was starting to tremble, and I could hear strange sibint whispers on the wind. “… we have some tests to run.” I grabbed one of the hao Shaeu’s pinwheels and helped her haul them out of the forest, back towards the Fae Stohey struggled, but our strength was superior. Yeah, these pnts are dangerous, sure, but most of it es from the lethal spores…

  On reag the barrier we passed through, but there was a moment of resistance as the Seelie Court Territory tried to repel us, sidering we were hauling enemies in, but it quickly ceased, perhaps intuiting we weren’t a threat, if such was even possible.

  “Oh, he’s ing at least.” I observed, seeing Grulgor, drenched in green ooze, rag towards the border from the forest, pnts trailing him, which he occasionally turned around to strike, blowing them apart.

  “Well, let us off-load these burdens.” Shaeu sighed, as we hauled the two pnts to separate Fae Stones, using a pinwheel on each to keep them restrained, like some a druidic sacrifi some of moms’ old British stories. It seemed that within the Fae Stohe creatures were much weaker, the pitcher-pnt barely struggling, and the mound uo spew its vile mist.

  “So, are there any problems?” Ixitt asked, , and I shook my head. “Nope, seems like the gear worked fihough it was a quigagement. ime won’t be.” The edge of the forest was seething with the living pnts, including some other types such as wolves made of thorny briars, and what looked like zombies, just covered in fungal growths with waxy, almost shiny skin. “Looks like there are hundreds, no, maybe even thousands of them there.”

  “All the more frul to crush.” He boomed with ughter. “Grul is pleased. Since ugly pig-beasts all died, Grul has been bored!”

  “Well, there’s no she of excitement to e.” I washed Shaeu, Grulgor and myself down with some water from the mansion, which I had the Degraded Kobolds ferry over, sihe survivors had doheir duty in the initial testing phase, at least until Hyath had started her tasks. “But first, we need ara termeasure for these. So, Hyath, you do it?” I asked, and she bobbed up and down, unsure.

  “I will dooo anything for you, master, mistress. But I dooo not know. I have ried something sooo difficult before.” Her silver-violet eyes were teary behind the goggles she wore.

  “I know. Hence why we made you the vacuum catcher to help.” I went over and patted her head. She could probably feel little through the heavy hood and gear she wore, but even so the gesture pleased her. “And Ixitt and I help you. Shaeu too. Just think, yoing above and beyond what any brownie ever has before!”

  At my words she danced a capering jig, the gss vacuum swaying armingly, so I stopped her. She pulled a trite pose, and I once more praised her. Now then…

  The description of the device was as follows. Sample-capture vacuum – Item Css: [Suffit], Item Type: [plex]

  A device w on mortal principles, somewhat improved by Ixitt, a practitioner of Mortal Engineering. Wind energy is elled by the bluesteel to create an inrushing flow, drawing in airborne dust, seeds, spores and other debris, which be filtered out by closing various gates in the pipe. Ohe items are trapped ihe master-crafted gss fsk, the built-in lens magnify the tents by up to five-huimes.

  The item css and type wasn’t very special, but really the item was simple, it was the added use of wind to draw in the spores that was against sce. The lehemselves were done from memory, but luckily I had pyed with microscopes before and had also studied the shapes ibooks. With the mortal ideas imparted to him, Ixitt was able to make several and install them itom of the fsk, with the requisite meisms, as he already used various lenses and gssware in his own experiments. Ixitt is getting ever more useful.

  “Okay, so here is how it works.” I showed her the small gss knobs that trolled the lenses, and after moving several of them, I could see the spores within clearly. “See, take a look!”

  As she pushed her covered eye to the viewfinder, she let out aion. “I see them, I dooo!”

  “Great, so, they are a type of pnt, right? Well, you trol pnts, so you modify these?”

  “Mooodify? How so?” she asked, puzzled.

  “Okay, I thought this might be hard, so we have some test subjects.” I grinned, pointing to the captured pnts. “Well, you trol these to start with? After all, you use vines you grow, which must be simir, right?”

  She cocked her head, and after some more encement and expining, she made her first attempt. It ended with me having to fort her, as the pitcher-pnt had been torn to shreds by vines she had called forth from the ground. “There, there.” I patted her back solingly. “You just misuood, I get it. We still have o…”

  Mier, we had no, only some ether. “Well, there’s no problem. There’s plenty more out there for us to experiment ht?”

  “I see this shall be a long-long day!” Shaeu sighed, readying her pinwheels. Still, at least Grulgor is excited…

  ********

  “You think I’ll fall for that?” I sneered, dodging volleys of arrow-like thorns from the thorn-hounds. As long as I kept sensing my surroundings and didn’t run into an ambush or any trees, they were slow pared to bullets. My swords sshed out, and one hound disied, beheaded, while a bilious mushroom-like walking ball exploded as I pierced it, a cloud of spores engulfing the area, momentarily leaving my sight obscured. I still hear ahough. My bdes swung, and two more hounds slid apart.

  “Eves like to make dogs to pgue me.” I pined, only for Shaeu to snort with ughter.

  “Should you not-not be over that now? Any dog that threatened Eri or Aiko, they could crush easily, to say nothing of what you could do!”

  “I know that.” I said, as wind bdes arced oher side of me, slig through the packed horde of enemies. “Oh, finally, my first level-up of this war of attrition. It really seems to have slowed right down after fifty. Anyway, I know they ’t hurt me…” fme bzed yellow, and moss-zombies and shambling mounds exploded into char, burning away. “…but old fears die hard, okay?” a pitcher-pnt was eatly into four by two swift sshes. “Oops, meant to catch that one.”

  I could see Grulgaging something rger that had e to iigate. We had barely made it fifty metres into the forest so far, but even so, enemies swarmed us like ants. Hundreds, many hundreds of enemies had met their end before us, yet there seemed to be o them. Which is great I guess. Spaing is ba the menu!

  The bear made of moss and grass that towered over even Grulgor smmed down one paw, only for the maeet it. The grassy arm exploded, and as it staggered Grulgor rained down blow after blow until the head and much of the upper body shattered. It then burst apart, and several thorn hounds leapt out, g at him, but the mail, whi Grulgor was obsely thid multi-yered, easily blocked the sharp projectiles.

  “Well, you up frabbing some more samples? I have a good feeling about this time. Hyath didn’t strahe st oo death!” I ducked under a burst of thorns and charged, the ground exploding under me, rocky projectiles rapidly accelerated with wind, f a devastating grapeshot-style barrage that riddled the oning enemies, ether scattering. I saw something glittering amidst the fallen trees, and smiled. “Hey look, aherite. It’s yellow too. That’s mine…” elling a little aether, pushing through the Territory resistance, I s, popping it in my belt.

  “The st one simply exploded, did it not-not?” Shaeu scoffed. “I hardly call that progress. Hmm, I am nearing my level cap again-again. Even with the growth of my Lovers’ Link skill from when we made love in bined Fae and mortal fashion, this massacre is catg me up. You must grow faster!”

  “Cut her some sck. She doesn’t really uand, hell, this sort of bio-engineering would be tough for a top stist ba Earth. But the more I see her use her nature element, the more I’m sure she make it work.” Ario of bears rushed through the forest, knog massive mushrooms aside and felling trees. Underh I saw a glitter and snatched at it with aether, only to sigh in disappoi. “A red one. Well, better than nothing I suppose. Farewell!” Shaeu and I unleashed wind and fmes, and the bears burhrashing about as they died, starting several smaller fires, the wolves within not even having the ce to strike before turning to ether. “Look, over there! More pitcher-pnts and some predator sunflowers! They are the easiest to catch set the pinwheels out!”

  ********

  “We have been at this all-all day. I am rather exhausted.” Shaeu bemoaned. She had backed away from the Fae Stoo a safe distance, and after a very thh precautionary wash had removed her mask and goggles.

  “Yeah but, she’s getting there, right Hyath?”

  “This one doooes not explode!” she puffed out her chest proudly, mail coat king. She was using her nature element to manipute the tied-up pitcher pnt, making it move as she willed.

  “Great! Of course, that’s sadly the easiest step. But you did fantastic!” Hyath responded well to praise, so I offered it vishly, while I looked down at the small chest we had brought from the mansion. Smiling, I tossed in a pair of red Etherites, adding to the small, glittering pile within. “Only one yellow so far, but we’ve gathered a det amount of red and e ones. A Territory like this that’s long been untouched is a goldmine.”

  “Maybe so.” Shaeu allowed, spshing some water on her face to refresh herself. “But we are making little-little headway.” She sighed then. “Still, it is only to be expected. A Territory the Seelie Court has failed to retake for mauries will not fall in a day.” She gnced back to the forest, where swarms of pnt-creatures still waited. A few had tried to cross the grassy border, but they were easy pigs for us. Still, it seemed there were just as many as whearted.

  “True, but these are all just their expendable grunts.” New and stras had joihe mob, such as masses of wiry tendrils that shed out simir to Shaeu’s pinwheels, clusters of poisonous fruits, and even what looked like slithering green pumpkins, plete with leering faces, that had the ability to fire bsts of wind from their gaping mouths. “They aren’t weak, by any means, but they ’t challenge us unless we get careless or overwhelmed. Still, their numbers seem endless. But in a way that’s good for us, right?” I grinned.

  “Grul agrees. Grul enjoys crushing them!” he gurgled happily, able to vent his homicidal rages as much as he wanted.

  “For the rewards, I get it.” Shaeu agreed. “It is far-far more lucrative than clearing out weak, worthless Territories ba the Boundary, we leave that to our-our kin. But if we pn to recim the Spring, we will need a better way than this.”

  “Yep, and Hyath and Ixitt are going to help us with that.” I promised, looking at the capering Hyath, as she practise maniputing our captive pnt. It was leaking green fluid from many tears as her powers over-stressed it, but the main thing was she had crossed the first hurdle.

  “Okay, Hyath, if we release the pnt, you make it move outside the Fae Stones and release spores?” I gestured for everyoo back up and put on their protective gear again.

  “For yooou, master, I shall try!” she decred, and as Shaeu unwound her pihe pnt shuddered, scattering green fluids everywhere, before lurg out through the Stoaking a few more steps. It the out a hissing noise, a nearly invisible mist leaving it, before it exploded.

  “Sorry, Hyath broke it again!” she wailed, but I shook my head, my Eye telling me all I o know.

  “It’s fi released the spores. You saw it, right?” I asked, and she nodded.

  “So in that case, if you trol the pnt, and spores are part of the pnt, you trol the spores, right?”

  “I think sooo?” she said slowly. It was a difficult cept for her, to see them as the same thing, but if she could do what I wahen our ces of capturing the spring would be much greater.

  “Good. Just practise moving them around ihe vial for now. When you do that, then I want you to try moving the spores without being able to see them…” I trailed off, as Shaeu suddenly spoke.

  “I see one. A Myid, vile Unseelie filth.” Her voice hissed through her retly-donned gasmask, full of anger.

  “It was iable they’d e see what all the otion was about sooner or ter. We’ve been making quite a mess here.” I grinned. Sing the forest I could see it, and my Eye glimmered as I appraised it.

  Myid Scout [Dark Fae] - ???????

  Still with the question-marks I see, still all the use I’m putting my Eye to must surely be helping it grow towards Rank 2. “Ugly bastard, isn’t it?” I observed. It was amidst the hundreds of waiting pnt foes, looking like a roughly humanoid mushroom-person, though its head was a toadstool, sickly and yellow. The colouration of its body was brown, grey and green, the better to blend in. A scout indeed.

  “Well, Ixitt, might want to watch this.” I grinned. “When you move onto bigger aer guns like sniper rifles, it should work like this.” I used earth element to craft a sharp, hardened roto the shape of a high-calibre bullet. “Normally it’d have rifling to make it spin for accuracy, but with wind element assistance I don’t .” I created a small tube of wind in the air, glittering green, before sliding the bullet inside. Running the calcutions in my head, my grin turned into a malicious smirk. “Time to strike a blow for the Seelie Court.” If the ps aren’t truly se, the Dark Fae certainly are, so this is… well, murder, I guess. But this is a war, Shaeu’s war, I’ve taken up, on behalf of her and her people, and as the Myids spread death wherever they go… damn, no point whining. My hands are already stained with human and monster blood. To save the world and those I love, I’ll do it…

  There was a soni, and the Myid exploded, the head and half the torso shattering apart before it even had ce to react. At a few hundred metres and not knowing what I was doing, even an inhumanly fast oppo will struggle…

  “That is most-most satisfying!” Shaeu decred, seeing the Unseelie ally fall. As it did so though, a puff of spores scattered from it, which drew my attention.

  Myid Alert Spores – These spores are released by a dying Myid, carrying information about its death to other nearby Myids. It also has an effect of enraging their nearby pnt sves.

  Okay, two problems there, but only one immediate one. “It released spores oh, I think we o… okay, too te!” I ged what I was about to say as hundreds of the pnts rushed out from the forest, trampling the brasses uheir weight, ing the ground to mud, rushing towards us in a mad frenzy. “Don’t let them cross the Fae Stohe st thing we need is Way-Wardens ing aing killed by the fungal pestilence! Hyath, Ixitt, help us out!”

  “I do not-not think you o fear that.” Shaeu said, but she was already firing bsts of wind and fme into the onrushing hordes, felling them. Grulgor was amongst them, kig, trampling and crushing them into filthy pastes of green goo and gore, and having bee loose, Hyath was calling upon her vines, seizing them and twisting, killing them mercilessly.

  “I shall save my ammunition. I see no problems here.” Ixitt said, rexing. Shaking my head, I called forth a wall of fmes. Not Foehn, as there was no need, but even so, the brilliant citrine bze ied many of the packed ehe weight of their massed charge them no way to stop.

  “Watch out, a few are getting past… oh.” The pnts smmed into the gap between the Fae Stones and bounced off with a crackle of sparks. As they did, Shaeu bisected them with wind.

  “If the barrier did not-not work, then the Unseelie filth would have corrupted all these nds too.” Shaeu observed. “It is only the wily Wild Hunt who somehow evade our defences so readily.”

  “Good to know.” I said, tinuing to mow doack of the green pumpkis, spears of rock erupting from the ground, shredding them intnisable pieces. The battle tinued for a few more minutes, until the st of the pnts enraged by the pollen had fallen, the muddy field strewn with glitteriher, which I cheerfully collected.

  “All right, good job everyone. I still didn’t level again, which is a bit annoying, but surely soon. Anyway, we might as well head back to the mansion, it’s gettiomorrow we’ll try peing through a differeion of their border.”

  “Good-good. I am quite tired.” Shaeu decred. “Akio, we should take a bath, the stench of these filthy abominations is quite-quite unpleasant.”

  “Master, mistress, I shall wash yooour backs for yooou!” Hyath decred, and I smiled as the rexed atmosphere returned now that we had achieved all we could for now. So, the defensive gear works, Hyath is making progress, ahered intel on the Myids. All in all, a very promising first day…