An Owl's Rise

Now the monster more resembled a spider from rearranging its body to function even after being cut in half.

Nevertheless, it did not have the power to fly anymore, and its chances of escape were pretty much zero.

Evelyn and Aralee were easily able to catch up to it, and while it did turn its head around and start firing at them with more jets of poison, its overall power had greatly diminished, and it was easy enough to corner.

Soon, Evelyn had landed right on top of it and using her claws she slammed its head into the ground to prevent it from firing off any more blasts of poison.

Then she carefully extracted its bulbs so that she could use the poison to create a perfect antidote to neutralize the poison still coursing through her and Aralee that their current medicine could only slow down.

"You gave us a run for our money, but this is the end for you." Evelyn said as she engulfed the remains of the once powerful monster in her heavenly flame.

It let out a hellish screech as it went up in flames, but soon its body was reduced to only to ash.

Following its destruction, the clanging of several iron tokens resounded through the area as they rained down around where the monster had once been.

Except along with these tokens was something that Evelyn and Aralee had not seen before after defeating one of the monsters in the maze.

'A key?'

Tilting her head, Evelyn looked at the item in bewilderment for a moment, before her eyes went wide in realization.

While she and Aralee had not personally come across any yet, Bylur had come across an area of the maze that had been locked behind a sealed door that needed a key to access it and later Rehni had reported finding one of her own.

Naturally they had all assumed that this key would show up as an item that could be purchased from the terminals through the maze, but now it seemed that these keys were dropped by defeated monsters.

"I suppose if we ever come across one of those sealed doors we can see if this will open it." Evelyn said as she picked up and examined the key.

It was ornate and resembled the creature that it had dropped from. Having two slightly glowing gems embedded in it and begin made out of a metal Evelyn did not recognize.

After she had finished looking over the key, Evelyn stored it away and began gathering the iron tokens along with Aralee. Overall, the bramble dragonfly had dropped one hundred eighty-seven tokens. Far less than Evelyn thought was fair after how much trouble it had given her.

Unfortunately, their high spirits did not last long, as the poison that was still afflicting them quickly made its presence known again.

Evelyn and Aralee began to feel a sharp pain in their bodies and their temperatures rose as their immune systems tried to fight off the poison. It had been easy to ignore the effects while in the heat of a desperate battle, but now that they had calmed down, the damage the poison was doing to them was more apparent.

Their extreme movements and excessive use of their magic had not helped either and it seemed that the effects of the antidotes they had taken could only go so far.

'This sure is one hell of a poison. Probably strong enough to bring down even stronger tyrant ranks if they do not receive any treatment.' 

Evelyn began to feel her head become hazy, but she bit down on her tongue to give herself a spike of pain and refocus.

The poison was strong but far from enough to kill her right away. Even if she did nothing it would probably take a couple of days for her to whittle her down before she died thanks to the antidotes and healing potions she had already taken.

So long as she pushed through the pain and discomfort she could still function mostly normally.

"Just give me a bit of time. I will make us a more potent antidote." Evelyn said to Aralee, who was clearly not doing as well. Having slumped up against the hedge maze and breathing heavily. Her body was not nearly as tough as Evelyn's.

Without wasting another moment, Evelyn took out her alchemy equipment and the ingredients she would need.

'And the magic spring water for good measure.'

Evelyn poured in a healthy amount of the water she had collected from the magic spring to enhance the true antidote she was making.

Normally antidotes would be of a universal kind that worked to eliminate or diminish most poisons of the same rank as the medicine, but a true antidote used the poison one was inflicted with as a base for the antidote. 

However, as Evelyn was close to finishing the brew, disaster stuck.

Coming around the corner of the maze was a giant glowing pumpkin that had a monstrous face on it like a Jack-o'-Lantern, with wriggling tendrils carrying its body.

This was the absolute worst timing as Evelyn was ill prepared to defend herself, and stopping the brewing where she was at would certainly ruin it.

"Aralee, what are you doing!?" Evelyn shouted.

Her little sister had gotten up off the wall of the maze she had been resting on and was moving to face the monstrosity that was rushing towards them.

But unlike Evelyn who, was still in fairly decent condition, Aralee was faring far worse. Evelyn was certain that any more fighting would only make the poison speed up and kill her faster.

"Just keep focused on the antidote. I will hold it off until you are finished. Then you can come and rescue me again" Aralee said resolutely.

Yet, as she prepared to fight with her line on the line, it became apparent that the monster Jack-o'-Lantern was not coming to attack them but running from something else.