Trigger-Happy Potioneer

My Beautiful Arm!?

Dodge, dodge, shoot, repeat. It became kind of monotonous, just picking off his eyes like that. Luckily, my pattern began to fail after the twelfth eye, since the boss started changing tactics. It switched to the ramming attack and began bouncing all over the place in erratic patterns. I had to stop aiming and start dodging the white cannonball of certain doom. I could barely hold up as I dodge his body while also avoiding poison droplets that fly off his fangs as he moved randomly. I just needed to survive.

Suddenly, he stopped moving and vibrated in place, as if electricity was coursing through his body. Wasting no time, I quickly nocked an arrow and took out another eye with a precise shot. I took one more before he finally broke free of the paralysis and starting crashing into everything again. Thank God for [Stun Stack] effect! [Stun] from Wine-dipped arrows somehow stacked on a monster when multiple arrows hit their target successfully. With now fourteen Stuns (and Poisons) in him, I hope for a higher chance of activation.

Another random pause. Lord Gayettse loses another eye.

His white shell suddenly turned crimson red, and he barreled directly at me without even trying to block his last eye. I backstepped and shot, but the arrow bounced off some strange shield. The boss kept coming, closing in on my position. I dodged right, hoping to make it in time.

My left side exploded with pain and my body was thrown off-course by the loss of a limb. My left arm twirled away in the opposite direction, and Gayettse followed it from close behind.

My HP was draining fast. I bit the corks off three potions and drank them down, struggling to remain conscious. My eyesight cleared as the pain diminished, and I checked my health.

HP: 42/114

That took out more than half of my HP! Wait, probably more, since I had to drink some potions. Nevertheless, I can't take another hit. I can't attack either; a bow needs two hands to use.

"Nio! <Heal>!" Eoin called. I felt my body become lighter and the open wound covered itself with a new layer of skin.

HP: 74/114

Oh, that's really good. Is it a Light spell, maybe? "Thank you, Eoin!" I gasped as I sat myself up.

"No problem! Now if we could only grab your arm, we could re-attach it!" A crunching sound made me look up, and I watched as my arm broke into fragments as Gayettse snapped it in half with his pincers.

"That just became a pipe dream." I said somewhat mournfully. It doesn't look like removed limbs regrow, since the heal just covered the wound rather than replaced the lost arm.

"Oh, well maybe you can attack by hitting him with your bow!"

I looked at her. "Are you serious? Do you think a starter bow will do anything to him at this point?" I snapped.

She dropped her head. "I'm sorry..." she whined.

I almost laughed at the sight, a tiny girl pouting in mid-air. Gayettse's screech, fortunately, distracted us from the situation. He had turned towards me, his legs shaking tremendously. His last eye looked brighter than ever, as if glowing with malice. Yet, he wouldn't move. I felt my eyes widen as it dawned on me what was happening.

"Actually, Eoin, help me with this." I said quietly.

"With what, mister..."

"Nio." She forgot again, darn it. "I'll aim the bow, you shoot the arrow. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" She grabbed an arrow from my quiver and fit it into the bow. I tensed my right arm as I carefully matched the tip to his remaining eye. To make it easier for Eoin, I held the bow parallel to the ground.

"Ready?" I confirmed.

"Ready!" She was straining to keep the string taut, her wings fluttering like a hummingbird's wings.

"<Precise Shot><Follow Shot><Precise Shot>!" I called out skills rapidly to improve my accuracy. My mental state grew more and more fatigued, a sign that my MP was draining.

"Let Loeta redeem your crime! <Loeta's Melancholy>!" Eoin screamed. The light blue arrow turned dark red as Eoin released the arrow.

The arrow flew straight and true. The paralyzed spider could only watch as the crimson bolt flew directly at its last eye. The moment the arrow connected, a chime reverberated throughout the alcove, the sound waves shaking my body as we watched the arrow pierce straight through Lord Gayettse's weakened form. A small thump sounded from behind Gayettse, and his body collapsed, dissolving into fragments and pixels as he fell.

I kneeled quietly and sat vigil next to Eoin, who had already gotten on the ground and was bowing to the dissolved body, muttering what sounded like ancient blessings. A small red light floated out of the dissolving carapace, turned blue, then shot into the air, disappearing in mere moments. The alcove became dark, having lost the light of battle and the glow of Lord Gayettse's passing.

But only for a moment.

In the next moment, a warm yellow light began filling the alcove. I turned towards the source and saw the gigantic tree from earlier glowing with ambient light, with small yellow wisps floating in the air around it. Eoin gasped. "Milady Loeta!" She disappeared, only to reappear in front of the tree, near the bank of the pool surrounding the tree. I followed awkwardly, unused to walking without an arm. I put one knee down and kneeled a little further away, since I couldn't get any closer without being pushed back by the little wisps. I watched in amazement as a woman floated out of the tree, like she was waking up from a deep sleep.

She was beautiful. I have to hand it to the graphic designer; he really knows how to bring out the mystical feel. Her skin was flawless, pale with a golden tinge from the aura of the tree. Her head was crowned with a circlet of roots and leaves, and emerald-green hair cascaded from her head down to her waist. She wasn't what some would call "well-endowed", but her body shape was still quite provocative. She was also translucent, and I could see the parts of the aged trunk behind her.

"Thank you, good hero. Unfortunately, my strength was not enough to defend myself my old comrade. For your valor, let me gift you." Her voice was like a bell, echoing around the grove.

With an arm, I hope? A small notification appeared in front of me.

You have received the [Wood Element] from the Ilidas Guardian.

No such luck. Hold the phone, Wood wasn't one of the acquirable elements! What is this!?

"Forgive me for giving you only such little compensation. My power has been stretched thin from my efforts to stop the miasma from entering the roots of my tree. Now that you have defeated the root cause, I am at peace, but sadly I do not have the power to stop the poison from eroding the core. Soon I will disappear, when the dawn comes to its end." she murmured sorrowfully.

"Milady, no!" Eoin was crying green-tinted tears. She was crying chlorophyll, I guessed. That's amusing. "You must survive, or this forest will perish!"

"I'm sorry, my dear Eoin," Loeta said soothingly. "But to replenish my power and repel the darkness, we need Freya's Elixir, which is composed of the mixtures Odin's Draught and Loki's Wine. There is no way for us to acquire both at this time, as only Odin's Draught can be produced now. Furthermore, neither of us have the ability to craft such concoctions." Both sides went completely silent.

A gear clicked in my head. I broke the silence. "Um, milady, if I may." I asked. It sounded awkward after the silence.

She looked at me. "Yes, hero? What have you on your mind?" Her face was smiling, but her eyes were bereft of any hope.

"I am maker of potions by trade. Additionally, I have a bottle of Loki's Wine with me. I only lack the recipe to Odin's Draught..."

Both entities looked at me in surprise.

"What?" I asked.

"W-Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Loeta's olden tongue had replaced itself with a very modern style.

"Please help!" Eoin cried. "We have the recipe for the Draught, but please help us once more! Dawn is breaking!"