The bulbous head swelled to twice its size with grotesque pulses around the edges. Just as Veyra rushed behind me, the petals split open and released a cloud of bright purple spray that plagued over us.

  One of my hands extended out, Parasite! I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I had to try.

  The massive cloud of concentrated gas rushed towards us and was sucked into the glowing swirl in my palm. Its mass was completely absorbed in a matter of seconds and left nothing but confused mouth movements from the Flesh Eater.

  {Skill

  has successfully neutralised the effects of poison gas in the area}

  So it really was poison. Sigh… I got a bit worried because I wasn’t sure if it’d work. Luckily, Veyra didn’t get hit, but still, that was way too scary. She’s definitely sticking as far back as possible.

  I kept myself pretty close to her side and activated another flurry of magic circles in the air, then fired them off consecutively. The Flesh Eater weaved out of the way, but couldn’t avoid the sheer number of air blades and was torn apart again to nothing but the bulbous head.

  With a heavy thud, its head dropped to the ground, and I readied my thoughts,

  Veyra, you can–

  Swish!

  An arrow surrounded by green glow cut through the space between us and the monster and pierced the bulbous head. Bright purple liquid drained from the Flesh Eaters' head as it writhed back in pain.

  Not bad… I didn’t even have to tell her to attack; she actually reacted faster than me there. I guess that’s not too surprising, since she was in a party of adventurers before this. Maybe I’ve been babying her too much.

  Veyra chanted something softly under her breath and raised out a hand, then a moment later, the Flesh Eater bowed its head down with a struggle.

  What’s happening? Is it another weird attack?

  “Atlas…I’ve…got this!” Her words broke through confidently as she readied her bow.

  She drew back an arrow and closed one eye as her drawback reached its full extent. Then… Swish! The arrow zipped out again and bore into the Flesh Eaters' head with monstrous strength, wedging it to the ground with the arrow.

  Is this her skill or something? How is she able to fire off attacks so powerful from a bow?!

  {Analysing target}

  {Answer. Target is using the skill to amplify the strength and speed of her bow-based attacks}

  I had no idea she had a skill like that, that’s actually pretty amazing then! If she’s this capable, maybe we can take on stronger enemies than I thought.

  {50 Exp Gained}

  Oh, it’s over already? She must have gotten a lot of experience from that, since I didn’t do much. I wonder if she levelled up?

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  {Veyra Lv23}

  {Species: Half-Elf}

  {Condition: Exhausted}

  Still hasn’t levelled up, huh? Wait, what’s up with that condition status?

  After examining her a bit closer, she was panting pretty heavily. Even though there wasn’t that much running around, she had beads of sweat rolling down the sides of her face in aggressive streams.

  I guess she hasn't fully recovered yet… It didn’t seem like she was ready to give it her all just yet, not until she was in better condition. There was no point in pushing herself if she just ended up injured in the end.

  Good work, Veyra. Were you always this great with a bow? You should have said something sooner! I teased.

  Veyra’s face lit up red as she lowered her bow. “I…had to pull…my weight…in our party. It’s really nothing…” She added.

  The heavy stomps of metal on dirt entered the circle, and both of us turned in unison. Usually, there was no sound in the mist, so for something to make such a noise, it had to be in our immediate range.

  A metal shoe stepped out from the mist, wrapped in moss and vines, similar to most of the beasts we faced up to that point.

  Once in the circle, I realised it was a knight, at least, it used to be. A heavy amount of floral greenery took root in the spot where its heart would be and morphed the top of its body into a slightly hunched appearance. The chest plate was split open from three corners and filled with more plants than anything else.

  Even its steps were off. Like it wasn’t alive anymore and rather just some kind of puppet being half-heartedly pulled along by a string. As its one leg stepped closer, the other dragged along the ground in staggered brushes.

  A silver sword netted in thin leafy vines swung up from its side and hung in the air in front of its chest. Based on that stance, it had definitely planned on fighting us as a knight would.

  Weird, I guess even this world had something like knights. Still, isn’t this thing a little too cocky?

  {Rose Knight Lv16}

  {Targets movements and behaviour show that it is being controlled by an external source}

  {Analyzing}

  {Answer. The current target has been completely subdued by the parasitic plant buried in its chest. Destroying it will likely bring it to death}

  The system pretty much summed up what I was thinking. It definitely seemed to move the same way the golem and monsters from that dungeon were. Even so, isn’t it a little too weak?

  I felt a small tap on my shoulder from Veyra. Her meek expression was aimed in a completely different direction from the rose knight.

  What’s up with her? This isn’t the time to be spacing out…

  A sudden wave of dread rushed over me as Perception alerted me to another enemy. No, there was more than one. A lot more!

  The sound of metal stomps resonated from nearly every direction as more and more Rose Knights entered our circle in the mist.

  {Rose Knight Lv13}{Rose Knight Lv26}{Rose Knight Lv16}{Rose Knight Lv17}{Rose Knight Lv24}{Rose Knight Lv11}{Rose Knight Lv16}{Rose Knight Lv19}{Rose Knight Lv16}{Rose Knight Lv19}

  So that was their plan… outnumber us with these rose heads!

  Veyra pressed against my back with hers and fired off a shot at one of them, but it didn’t seem phased in the slightest. Her arrow didn’t have the same green effect as the ones she fired off before, so it barely dented their armour.

  “Oh no… not…working!” Veyra panicked. She reached into her quiver and shakily drew another arrow. She hadn’t even knocked it into her bow before one of the Rose Knights ran up to her with its vine-wrapped mace. “…No!” Her scream rang through my mind as she fell back.

  My claw flew into the Rose Knight's head and brought it into the ground with a thunderous crash that half-buried it in the dirt. Its body continued moving and swung randomly at the empty air, desperately trying to reach me.

  Tough deal, my body’s not even attached to my hands. Since you’re so weak, I’ll take you out with this! My hand raised the knight into the air and slammed it back down with another slam.

  Seriously, you guys are as durable as they come!

  It wasn’t until I crushed the flowers in its chest that it stopped moving completely.

  {100 Exp Gained}

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