Chapter 18

“Huff… Huff… I should be safe inside the greenhouse…” Meanwhile, Zariché had done what she could to lose the elves chasing her and had escaped back to her glass lair. But when she looked outside, she saw that the other elves were gathering around the greenhouse in droves. They were hunting her down like a heretical witch. Wh-what is going on here…? Only a few hours prior, she had been revered as the village’s Savior. This had all happened so suddenly—there had been no warning sign that things were about to fall apart. Unless… …That girl. This all started when she showed up. The girl the elves now heralded as their Savior. From the moment she’d shown up, the entire situation had been turned on its head at an unfathomable speed. In a few short hours, a massive batch of Elven Nostrum had been brewed, Zariché’s plan had been laid bare, and the entire village had lost their trust in her. All that dependency she’d carefully built up—years of planning, undone in an instant. Wh-what is she…? She couldn’t possibly be the true Savior…could she? Zariché felt pursued by some unknowable monster. Her body began to tremble. If Margrave Guugelheit were to find out what I’ve allowed to happen, I’d— And just as she thought those words… “Zariché! Come in, Zariché. Is something the matter?” “…M-Margrave Guugelheit?!” …the margrave’s voice called out from the communications crystal at the worst possible time. “You seem flustered… Is there a problem?” “N-n-n-no! No problem at all! None whatsoever! Everything here is proceeding perfectly!” “Excellent, excellent. There have been reports of all manner of mysterious natural disasters lately, after all. Now, ahem… Well, you see… There was something I forgot to mention earlier—” “O-oh, dear! I am so terribly sorry! It seems something’s come up and I have to run. Let’s talk later!” “Uh? Wai—” Zariché ended the communication from her side. Bad, bad, bad… This is so very, very bad…! If the Guugelheits found out that Zariché’s plans had been foiled, she would immediately lose their support. There would be no coming back from a hit like that. “Th-then I suppose I have no choice… It’s time to unleash my ultimate weapon!” Zariché firmed her resolve and began adjusting the magical implements in her greenhouse. The next moment—woooooooom!—all the mana flowing through the space began to gather at the center of the room, inside the massive rose. “E-everything’s still fine… It may not be complete, but no one knows about my secret weapon, my true ambition…” Zariché looked up at the massive bud as it began to quiver. The Queen’s Heart Rose—a flower whose pollen had the power to bend anyone who breathed it to her will. Once the flower had fully blossomed, it would release its pollen into the air, and everyone within a radius of several hundred miles would be inflicted with the Charm status. It wouldn’t matter if they were commoner, noble, or royalty—they would all do Zariché’s bidding. Then she would command her new army of followers to spread Queen’s Heart Roses across the land. Zariché’s dominion would grow and grow until, finally, she would be queen of the entire world. A few small missteps now would soon be more than made up for. “Eee-hee-hee-hee-hee! . All I need to do is buy some time so my darling Queen’s Heart Rose can blossom. And then I’ll have won! ” Zariché grinned triumphantly. This greenhouse was her fortress. Its ramparts were made of thorns as strong as iron, and they gushed pollen that inflicted Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, and so on. What’s more, it was guarded by poison spike–firing cacti and man-eating plants with razor-sharp fangs. Every plant in the vicinity was a monster, and thanks to her Plant Control skill, they were all soldiers at her command. The greenhouse may as well have been an impregnable dungeon. A handful of unforeseen setbacks were no matter. Zariché still had everything under control. “Eee-hee-hee-hee! If they think they can reach me, then let them try! ” But as Zariché cackled maniacally… Craaaaaash!!! …the ceiling of the greenhouse shattered. “………What?” Shards of glass caught the light and sparkled as they rained down around her. Zariché looked up in shock. What…? Are they attacking from above? Through the rain of glittering glass shards, Zariché could just make something out. It was the silhouette of someone descending toward her, borne on wings of light. It looked like an angel. After staring for a moment, Zariché realized the figure was holding something—the Staff of World Tree. Um… Why is there a terrifying divine being crashing through my ceiling…? When the figure alighted before Zariché, her face went pale. It was Lorna, just as pale-faced as she was. Whoooooa…! thought Lorna. That scared me half to death…! What happened? The map on the internet said there was supposed to be a “secret path” up there… Lorna brought up the internet again to make sure she had read it right. Map: Poison Rose Gardens Dungeon found within the Hidden Village of the Elves. This dungeon is notorious for killing players on their first visit. The droves of plant monsters littering the dungeon spread pollen that inflicts a variety of status ailments across a large area. It is likely that the unprepared will find themselves unable to act due to Paralysis or Sleep, forced to watch themselves slowly die from Poison. If you level the exploration skill Climbing high enough beforehand, you can reach a secret path on the roof of the dungeon. This path is a shortcut that leads directly to the boss. Lorna had followed the internet’s instructions to the letter and walked out onto the glass roof of the greenhouse expecting to find a path. Much to her surprise, that had landed her here. She hadn’t expected the “shortcut” to literally cut a hole in the greenhouse’s ceiling. “I… I’m still paying off the loan on this place…,” muttered Zariché incredulously as she stared in horror at the shattered ceiling. But after a moment, she snapped out of her daze and turned to face Lorna. “…Eee-hee-hee! Welcome, foolish intruder, to my garden of venom. ” Zariché, having regained her composure, lifted her skirt slightly and offered Lorna a curtsy. Hmph… I haven’t lost yet. Zariché snickered to herself. Yes, she had been taken aback—but that was all and nothing more. She had not lost her advantage. “So you’ve come expecting to fight me, have you? What a shaaame. From the moment you entered my glass fortress, your fate was sealed. I win! ” “…Wh-what do you mean?” asked Lorna. “Eee-hee-hee. You’ll see soon enough. My special poisonous pollen should begin to take effect aaany moment now. ” “Huh…? Oh.” The girl must have finally realized what was happening. But it was too late. “Even if you somehow saw through my plans…it would be impossible for you to avoid all the ailments about to befall you here in this greenhouse. Not even Elven Nostrum can save you once my paralyzing and sleep-inducing pollens have you immobilized! You wouldn’t even be able to bring it to your lips! ” “Um. Right.” It didn’t matter how much HP Zariché’s opponents had, nor how strong they were—not once they were inundated with the pollen’s countless status ailments. Unable to move from Paralysis and Sleep, the victim would slowly succumb to Poison and die. That was Zariché’s invincible combat strategy. “Eee-hee-hee-hee! Panic all you want; it’s already too late. Now show me… Let me see your dance of agony! Eeeee-hee-hee-hee! ” “……” “Eee-hee-hee-hee… You’ll be feeling it soon! So, so soon! Eee-hee-hee-hee-hee! ” “………” “Eee…hee… Eee-hee-hee… ” “…………” “…………” “…………” “…My pollen isn’t working on you, is it?” “Um… N-no, it isn’t… Sorry…” Lorna felt bad, but she couldn’t exactly tell Zariché that she’d simply looked up how to counter her status ailment–based strategy ahead of time using the internet. The page Lorna had read told her everything she needed to know about the poisonous boss. Boss: Queen’s Heart Rose & Zariché Spawn Location: Poison Rose Gardens Level: 53 Weakness: Fire, Ice Resistance: Water, Earth, Poison, Paralysis, Darkness Rewards: Queen’s Heart Thorn (80 percent), Queen’s Heart Petal (50 percent), Queen’s Heart Crown (20 percent) Details: A tough boss fight full of status ailments and traps. The boss area is full of Toxiblooms, Paraflowers, and Dozeblossoms that inflict status ailments and need to be dealt with promptly. Moreover, this boss must be defeated before the Queen’s Heart Rose in the center of the room blossoms. Because it is only possible to protect against a limited number of status ailments at one time, players must be prepared to deal with at least some of their negative effects past the halfway point. However, this can be circumvented completely by equipping a Substitute Doll, which renders all the boss’s status ailments ineffective. “I…can’t believe this actually worked…,” muttered Lorna as she stared down at the Substitute Doll. The item’s description stated that it could only prevent damage a single time. However, according to the internet, a more accurate description of the effect was this: Substitute Doll will continue to take damage for the user until its 1 HP is depleted. In effect, that meant that attacks like poisonous pollen, which only inflicted status ailments and did no damage, could be intercepted by the doll an infinite number of times. A single physical strike would tear the doll to shreds, of course. But thankfully, the plant monsters were rooted to the soil and unable to move, severely limiting their attack range. And for Lorna, who was floating above the ground, avoiding the monsters’ attacks was trivial. In other words—Lorna was completely protected from the effects of Zariché’s status ailments. All she had to do now was attack from a distance and secure her victory. “Okay, let’s start with—Terra Drain!” Fwooooooosh!!! A massive amount of MP flowed out from the poisonous flowers and into her staff, and she put it to use right away. “Next, a full poweeeer…Petit Ice!” Lorna pointed her staff at the Queen’s Heart Rose as she called out the name of her spell. Crack-crickle-crackk! Ice gushed forth like a massive frozen tidal wave. The frigid blast easily engulfed the Queen’s Heart Rose and still had enough force left to wash over the rest of the plants in the greenhouse, freezing them all. Queen’s Heart Rose defeated! You gained 8,787 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 42 Lv. 44 Dozeblossom swarm defeated! You gained 820 EXP! Toxibloom swarm defeated! You gained 1,260 EXP! Paraflower swarm defeated! You gained 1,040 EXP! You learned the Plant Killer I skill! SKILL UP! Art of Slaughter I Art of Slaughter II SKILL UP! Magic VII Magic VIII You learned the Petit Bind and Petit Charge starter spells! Obtained Title: “Queen’s Heart Rose Exterminator” “Wh-wh-wh…whaaaaaaaaat?!” Zariché’s jaw dropped. She had never seen such powerful magic, not even among the elves, who were renowned for their long history of spellcraft. She couldn’t comprehend the fact that a single human had unleashed such a terrifying spell. “Wh-what was that…? Some manner of wide-scale eradication magic…?!” “Wide-scale what? I just used a basic starter spell.” Zariché had indeed heard the girl incant the name of a simple starter spell. In other words, this winged girl was trying to make a point…