บท 173: Vacation
"Hmm..." I examined the pale, smooth skin of the chimera lying on the stone slab with a meticulous eye. "I think that's it."
With an almost infinite source of energy with the right coloring and a rich arsenal of healing charms, along with a sculptor's spell that, when pumped full of mana, managed to somehow affect undead flesh, it didn't take long for Simon to get rid of the scars, so he was in for a very pleasant surprise upon awakening. The awakening was hinted at by the black and gray aura, which had almost regained its former density and volume by the end of the plastic surgery session.
"Then I'll go, I'm not comfortable being here."
"I'll see you at home, I have energy to share with you too," I said with a sly wink."
The green-haired beauty smiled faintly at such an uncomplicated joke, demonstrating that Harley and I weren't braking her for nothing, took two steps toward the forest and suddenly froze.
"Rot... I feel its presence in this world again..." the dryad said slowly, covering her greenish eyes and listening carefully to her own feelings.
"Weren't you the one who said the Rot wouldn't bother us for the next couple years?" asked the blonde, pulling out her Glock and eyeing the nearest grove as if an army of rotting dead were about to emerge.
"Yes, but I can feel it again for some reason... The host is very far away, and its power... It's even greater than Grundy's... I... I can't move there," he said, a concerned tone in his voice. - There aren't enough plants around!
The principle of Abby's "teleportation" is based on the fact that she forms a new body from the surrounding flora and transfers her consciousness into it. Such a maneuver, of course, causes serious damage to nature, because the creation of a suitable container uses not only ordinary matter, but also the life energy of plants. Because of this, the Guardian of the Forest prefers to use special beacons-bonsai, which can survive a sharp outflow of life forces, or to distribute the load on many nearby plants, forming a single biome. Although there is a third way, which is that the body is created very, very slowly, literally years, so as not to harm nature.
"What if it's not close by? Isn't there any suitable grove within ten kilometers? - I asked, realizing that the Earth had decided to give me another epic adventure. Hmm... And it's easy to check!
For once I decided to turn to the System to get a rough idea of the balance of power, but surprisingly there were no active quests. And for the destruction of Simon's brother came some pennies in the amount of fifteen units of ba-hion. And the monster was clearly stronger than even a dozen heavily armed bandits or a couple of possessed. Oh, don't give me the cliched System Failure twist. It's already a bit crooked and doesn't allow me to pump characteristics properly. Or did it happen because another party interfered in the person of an avatar of one of the higher entities of the universe, which is not averse to eating divine energy?
"In moments of displacement, my mind flies through the green web of life where there is no such thing as direction, so I can't get off at the 'next stop,'" Abby's serious voice interrupted my musings.
Green's avatar walking from side to side looked pretty funny, but the problem had to be solved somehow. Besides, it was both Harley and I's fault. The dryad's body had become more human after Ivy's interaction with her, and on the one hand, the green-skinned girl had become much more energetic and could have full-fledged sex, but on the other hand, she had recently complained that it had become more difficult for her to use movement, and even the beacons had to be strengthened, so that the bonsai had almost doubled in size.
"Okay, calm, just calm. You can feel it, right? - I gently intercept the beauty so she'll stop pacing back and forth and calm down a little.
"Very vaguely, it's like the rot carrier is hiding from me," she made an attempt to pull away, but I only pulled her tighter against me.
"You can already work with that, I was just about to try one interesting thing."
I had tried the triangulation method many times before, so it was no surprise that I wrote a simple application while I was figuring out the local programming. I had to walk around the ruins with the Guardian of the Forest for a while, and even got close to the cemetery before the program produced acceptable results.
"Africa? - Both girls looked with interest at the smartphone screen, which showed the outline of a black continent with a red flashing area at its top.
"Yeah, somewhere in the northeastern Sahara. No wonder you can't find enough plants to move."
In general, the desert is full of large oases, and along the banks of rivers there are often many trees. The other issue is that there is not much life force in them, and they are scattered over a vast territory, which, given the more energy-intensive body, does not allow to quickly create a new physical incarnation.
"That's too bad. I've never been to Africa before, and I'm not sure I can grow a suitable shell quickly."
"Listen, how do you travel to other planets? - My faithful companion suddenly inquired, distracting the avatar, who was beginning to get worked up again. - Green is responsible for all the plants in the universe, not just the ones on Earth. Or does he have many avatars and each has its own area of responsibility, like the Green Lantern Corps?
"Each planet has its own Guardian of the Forest who is closely connected to it, and even has its own Tree Parliaments. As for moving around, it's possible, but I've never tried it yet. Unlike the Earth, which looks like a boundless ocean of green web, other planets resemble very distant tangles of pale green threads, within which I can grow a body, but it will form only where there is a high concentration of Forest energy, and this process will be quite long..."
The green-skinned beauty's shoulders slumped, but by this point I'd finally gotten a hold of the transmitter Bats had given me. Given the gravity of the situation, I decided to take advantage of my new status and get the Justice League on board. Superman would be a great help, as he could get us to Africa quickly and burn the contagion out of our eyes with lasers. The main thing is not to let him close to the rot, or it has a mystical nature and may well take over the body of a Kryptonian. It's scary to imagine what an incredibly strong and fast flying humanoid with off the scale molecular density could do.
"Abby, don't worry, I have a solution to your problem. Avengers, general assembly," I said pathetically, finally activating a device that looked like a miniature black walkie-talkie.
"What the hell Avengers," Hal Jordan's sleepy voice came from the speaker. - It's three o'clock in the morning.
"I hope it's a really serious matter and not just a communications test," Bats was pushing seriousness and grimness as usual.
"Hmm," I glanced at my contacts, noting that there were only three superheroes on the line: Grim Mouse, Flash, and Green Lantern. Victor is probably busy upgrading his body, Diana is back with the Amazons, and Arthur is probably underwater somewhere where the signal can't get through. All of those personalities didn't interest me much, though. - Where's Superman?
"He and Cyborg are working on the station," replied Bats.
"Too bad... Then I need transportation to Africa, and your help wouldn't hurt."
There was a barely audible tapping of fingers on the touchpad.
"The western district of Khartoum is in turmoil. Eyewitnesses report the appearance of hideous, skinless monsters," said Bruce, while some wailing and shouting in Arabic could be heard in the background.
"Oh, that's exactly what we need. I'm waiting for transport near the ruins of St. Martyr's Church, and bring plenty of area damage toys."
While Bats and the rest of the superheroes were getting to the rendezvous point, two things happened. A trio of multicolored monsters came out of the dungeon to find out where their friend had disappeared to, and in the process almost died when Swamp Girl tried to finish them off, sensing the concentrated demonic energy, and Simon woke up.
It took a lot of moral and magical energy to resolve the conflict. I had to promptly cast a shield and pour an obscene amount of mana and prana into it to save Susan's son from a spiky plant tentacle that threatened to take away his only eye, and then explain to the determined avatar of Green that these particular demons were our allies, and that they'd just been humans before. The chimera's awakening was a mundane affair, and no wonder. The detective lost his head and is alive and well, if this expression can be applied to the reanimated dead. Simon is many times stronger than Kirk, because he was created using the most advanced rituals and body parts that had undergone serious modification. Of course, he got a lot of trouble: his lungs were mangled with a penknife, a piece of his heart was cut off, and his rib cage was crudely opened. However, I was most concerned about the energy damage at the points of contact with the Rot, but they were handled by the mixture of demonic and necro-energy that filled the chimera's body.
"Uh... What happened? - asked the guy who had regained consciousness, writhing with phantom pain in his chest.
"Okay, don't worry, but your bro threw up a revived tumor that had infiltrated your system and we had to promptly cut it out."
"What?!" he frantically threw back the cloak that had been damaged during the fight and stared at his stomach, which was completely unscarred. His arms and legs were scrutinized next.
"It's a little bonus for being one of my calmest patients and not even squeaking when I cut off a piece of your heart," Harley commented with a satisfied smile.
"This..." the future superhero gingerly touched his stomach, feeling the slight indentation caused by the lack of fabric. - Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't even know how to thank you!
"Well, you've already thanked me when you saved Gotham from the Archdemon invasion, and the spells in the grimoire are pretty interesting," I was a little embarrassed by his sincere happiness. - You should thank our friend Abigail Arcane for helping me heal you so quickly.
"Thank you, - by the method of elimination, he easily realized who it was about, and in the best traditions of chivalry kneeled before the green-haired beauty.
Well, I should give him some modern books to broaden his horizons. Hmm, or dress him up gothic and give him a sword? It would be a kind of semi-demonic knight with a complicated fate, which would make a nice variety in the superhero camp.
"You don't have to. I wanted to kill you first, because your energy doesn't please the Forest," Swampy got out of the awkward situation with her usual tactfulness.
"Anyway, don't sweat it," I patted the guy on the shoulder.
At that moment, the rumble of jet engines was heard, and soon a futuristic airplane with a vertical takeoff and a bat symbol on board landed on the edge of the ruins.
"What is it? - Gaius asked warily, standing at the half-destroyed wall, ready for a fight. The trio of monsters had been there almost from the beginning of our meeting, to make the dryad less nervous.
"Looks like an airplane," came a voice with a hoarse hiss from the tangle of tentacles. "A flying machine for trans-sporting people."
"The airplane," Tony's one eye was gazing at the unusual machinery with delight. I didn't see Susan's son as a real demon at all now that he had regained normal speech, because most of his reactions were those of a child of seven.
The landing hatch slowly opened, revealing a welcoming delegation that consisted of Green Lantern, Flash, and Bats, the latter's cape fluttering slightly, adding to the pathos of the moment.
"Uh," Hal yawned widely, completely ruining the sublime atmosphere, "so, I really hope the reason for the gathering isn't because you wanted to show us the pokémon you caught. Hmm..." he squinted at Simon, whose outfit as a psychotic maniac had a few details, like a torn, dirty raincoat and a red-and-black striped sweater cut across his chest. "And Ash had changed quite a bit over the summer. Or maybe I'd been watching the wrong Pokémon as a kid..."
"So we're facing semi-magical monsters that feed off the energy of death and decay and can infect other people," Bats sat at the briefing table in the best tradition of Ikari Gendo, palms folded and eyes glinting mysteriously through the eyepieces of his mask. - Am I alone in noticing a slight contradiction here? - he glanced at Simon with a hint. - In addition, according to you, if not for the surgical intervention, you would have had to defend yourself against two extremely strong monsters.
Thanks to the transportation upgrade, the whole trip to Khartoum should take about two and a half hours, so we decided to spend some of our free time getting acquainted and explaining what was going on, which Abby did well, briefly telling us about Black's power.
"Oh, come on, the guy was just confused and didn't have time to use magic. The more his energy can resist the infection, the main thing is not to swallow the revived tumor, even if it insistently climbs right into your mouth."
In general, Rot can be perceived as a distorted death, so you can fight it as an energy-antagonist, and pure necroenergy, which is a force of higher rank. Demonic mana, by the way, should also be quite good against emanations of Rot, but the thing is that it is quite aggressive in itself.
"Good. Since the situation is critical, his help won't be unreasonable," the man tapped the touchpad a couple of times, displaying images of the rot-stricken metropolis on the holographic screen.
The images were really creepy and conjured up the Steppenwolf base, the design of which had been improved by Gentek from the Prototype universe. Here and there huge hills of bloody flesh and bones rose from the ground, crowds of grotesque skinless monsters roamed the streets, preying on the rare survivors, even the buildings seemed to have been infected by the contagion, acquiring huge, ghastly pulsating growths that periodically spewed new batches of disgusting creatures from their bowels.
"The first clashes with the infected occurred half an hour ago and so far the entire northwestern part of Khartoum has been lost. The situation could have been much worse, but someone has erected a barrier of unknown origin over the infected area that prevents the infected from leaving. From what I can tell, something similar happened fifty years ago in northern Romania in a small town owned by the Arcane family."
The gazes of everyone present immediately focused on Swampy, who looked frightened. This was quite unusual for an immortal incarnation of Earth's flora.
"It... My uncle arranged it," she said quietly, pulling herself together. - Only a true avatar of Rot could have the strength to escape the attention of the Forest and arrange something like this. My past incarnations had caused me quite a bit of trouble, but they couldn't take over new territory at such a rate.
"Can you tell me why he attacked the city? Is there a reason?"
She shook her head silently, unable to continue the conversation. Harley, sitting next to her, stroked the Forest Guardian's arm soothingly.
"Maybe you know any vulnerable spots? Or how do we get to Arcane? - Bats continued to ask. I understood him perfectly well, for the situation was really serious, but it was obvious that the dryad was simply unable to speak. And there was clearly not only fear of the immortal incarnation of Black, but also of Anton's very personality.
"So, most of the questions can be answered here," I said, pulling out my tablet and opening the scans of the pages of the magical folio. - To summarize, the avatar has no special vulnerabilities, and only another avatar can kill it permanently. The problem is that Anton was considered to be one of the toughest blacksmiths alive, so before Abby rips the bastard's head off, it's advisable to weaken him as much as possible, which can be done with the usual physical and energy damage. Anyway, if you're interested, you can read the information on the incarnations of the Elemental Realm, but don't put spy programs, and we need to calm our friend down.
Handing over the device, I joined Harley in leading the harried girl to the far side of the plane.
The dome of privacy charms was deployed in a minute, and then I climbed onto the nearest crate and began kissing the green-skinned beauty.
"Hmm?" she mumbled perplexedly, waking up from her unhappy thoughts when my tongue penetrated her tempting mouth. The faithful companion, having understood my ingenious plan, at the same time began to knead the appetizing buns of the mighty dryad. "What are you doing?"
"We're helping you take your mind off things. We're gonna fuck for an hour, and then we're gonna go get ready for the fight. You just have to realize you're not fighting alone, so you don't have to sacrifice yourself to seal the Rot."
"Yeah, think of it as an interesting adventure," the blonde said contentedly, burying her face into Abby's ass, causing Abby to arch her back erotically. "Oh, or a vacation! We'll get your uncle's eye on his ass, and then we'll steal a plane from Bats and fly to the Red Sea, where it's just the right season!"
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