How much time had passed? Wolfsbane was propping himself up with his staff as his knees threatened to buckle, barely holding on. He looked so precarious that even a single hit might make him collapse.

It’s unlikely, but if Wolfsbane were to lose, what would happen? Would he be recruited into the Great Wolfsbane’s forest? But Wolfsbane is already bound to me by a soul connection. Unless he was a wild species, I’ve never heard of a druid’s dryad being taken away to another’s forest.

Just as I sensed defeat looming over Wolfsbane, something went wrong with the Great Wolfsbane. The one who had been toying with the stubbornly unyielding Wolfsbane like a plaything suddenly started looking around nervously with an uncomfortable expression.

Thud! Thud!

A dull sound rang out multiple times nearby.

In the midst of the chaotic battle, Papyrus had been up to something strange. Since escape was impossible with poison pools everywhere, he seized a moment when Daisy loosened her grip on his stem, approached the glass wall, and started striking it with a large stone.

Having been hit quite a few times, the glass wall was now densely cracked like a spiderweb.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

“All the seeds I was supposed to nurture are dead, so shouldn’t at least I survive? I can’t hold out much longer!”

The great Wolfsbane shouted at Papyrus. But it seemed too late to stop him. With a crash, a large hole was made in the glass wall. Wiping his brow with his sleeve, he looked at me with a proud expression. Sticking his face through the hole, he took a deep breath, then spoke with a relieved look.

“According to alchemy tower history, artifacts only function in designated spaces anyway. Damaging the space like this also impairs their function as artifacts. That’s the wisdom of those in the know. I just broke the wall, so I’m not joining the fight.”

Papyrus hurriedly avoided the great Wolfsbane’s fierce glare and hid behind Daisy. He then tied Daisy’s stem tightly around his own waist himself and asked for her to take good care of him.

As he said the artifact’s function was impaired, the unpleasant air that had filled the surroundings vanished.

“Even without an artifact, you can’t beat me. From the start, you dying from my poison shows who’s superior, doesn’t it?”

The great Wolfsbane maintained his composure and spoke to our Wolfsbane, who was now gripping his staff with both hands and kneeling on the ground. The trembling child’s shoulders looked so pitiful.

“Are you just going to leave him like that?”

Elder, as if offering support anytime, made the white flowers blooming softly on the staff glow as he asked me. Truly, leaving him like that… even if it was a pride battle, it seemed too dangerous.

Does pride put food on the table? You’ll kill the kid trying to evolve him. Just as I was about to push Elder away like waving a white flag.

A special change occurred in Wolfsbane.

Around the collapsed child, warm sand-colored flowers resembling angel feathers bloomed abundantly. Like early summer sunlight rising from the ground, flowers with intense vitality expanded their territory, stacking up as if building a sandcastle.

They grew straight upward, as if to fill the black pools and raise the collapsed Wolfsbane back up.

Instead of a sinking purple aura around the child, a dynamic beige aura rose like a heat haze.

“What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull!”

As the big aconite swung its staff toward the child, it clutched its chest and bent over. It muttered in a bewildered voice.

“What? Why suddenly? Since when?”

Like purple dye devouring white paper in an instant, the big aconite’s pale face turned blue and lifeless.

“The terror of poison isn’t just about its sheer strength…”

The child had gentle eyes, but its gaze glinted sharply like a snake stalking prey. That look brought to mind the Belladonna of Siedling. Compared to the child, which had slowly crumbled like a sandcastle in the rain, the big aconite collapsed helplessly as if struck by a massive wave.

“Like a fate drawing closer to death with the passage of time… They said the most terrifying poison is the one that quietly encroaches without you knowing. Left unnoticed, it eventually denies you any choice. What makes poison most fearsome is that it makes you submit to death without any struggle… They said that flowers bearing poison must always suppress their emotions and maintain a humble attitude, so as not to arbitrarily deprive others of their choices.”

“Nonsense. I have a stronger poison than you! There’s no way I’d lose to you. If I take you down first, this—!”

The big aconite swung its staff with all its might. The child, unable to dodge, took a direct hit from a black blob shot like a water balloon. Yet it was the attacker who, as if about to vomit, coughed and bent over.

Before long, the surroundings were filled with a pungent scent of mountain herbs that stung the tip of the nose. This entire space was the aconite’s domain.

“Oh ho… Did it awaken the special power of the improved strain? Something else is at work. That’s clearly reed grass.”

Papyrus, in a voice full of intrigue, grabbed its monocle. With gleaming eyes, it carefully observed the aconite, then couldn’t tear its gaze away from the flowers blooming around the child, radiating a warmth like morning sunlight.

“Unlike natural improved strains, even scouring history reveals no record of the improved strains from this alchemy tower awakening such a power. But that variety number three is truly unexpected.”

The special power used by improved strains. Like us Red Daisies, when combined with other species to become an improved strain, it’s said that a rare, unknown special power is etched into the soul. Daisy could use the power of resurrection.

According to Papyrus, it seems such cases are very rare among artificial improved strains… So what is the special power etched into our aconite? If it unleashes explosive attack power while dying like that…

“I will never… submit to you… Either way, you’ve been poisoned longer, so you’ll fall first… Once you fall, I’ll use you as my fertilizer and grow stronger, with this much…”

Big Wolfsbane maintained his pride to the end, even with a trembling voice. When both were collapsed as if on the verge of death, Wolfsbane used his staff to support himself and rose up.

On a moonlit night, like the children of the dandelion colony that had closed their buds to sleep, the fragment of Dandelion’s staff, which had been embracing yellow petals, trembled softly.

Bright yellow petals, like a radiant sun that sweeps away the dawn and greets the morning, fully revealed their faces.

Small, cute yellow petals spiraled around Wolfsbane’s staff, emitting light. Soon, a refreshing herbal scent filled the area. At the same time, Wolfsbane’s robe began to change. A deep indigo robe, nearly black, now had a white shoulder cape.

The staff held high like a vanguard flag, a burst of pure white light full of abundant life, and a white cape fluttering like petals in the wind. Wolfsbane, having turned over to a support recovery type, looked like a battlefield cleric.

The gloomy aura that had been consuming Wolfsbane was instantly dispelled. All debuffs on him were easily removed. In contrast, Big Wolfsbane merely scratched the ground with a despairing expression.

Wolfsbane’s support and recovery traits were a very special power awakened in a turnover form, blessed by Dandelion’s ‘Divine Revelation.’ He, of the same species but unable to open a different path, ultimately faced certain defeat.

Then, in a situation where his retirement seemed certain, he suddenly raised his staff and drove its sharp end into his own chest.

In the sudden turn of events, everyone was stunned, merely watching the blue transparent liquid burst out like fireworks.

“Rather than serve another king without becoming king myself… I would rather die…”

Muttering his last words, Big Wolfsbane was enveloped in a white light. The pure white light seemed to drape a white cloth over him. The light cluster steadily shrank until it became the size of a small fruit. Then it turned to dust and vanished.

Choosing death over being dragged to the forest. It was so shocking, having never seen a dryad commit suicide before. The elder shook his head, saying this is why dryads who don’t know their mission are dangerous.

“A dryad born without understanding reason, living only for itself… I had planned to awaken them when enough of their kind gathered in the distant future…”

Papyrus clicked his tongue sympathetically.

“Dryads born unprepared from the Alchemy Tower are so uncontrollable…”

Mesquite watched me as I still blankly stared at the spot where the large monkshood had vanished. She lowered her shield and carefully placed a hand on my shoulder, saying in a low voice that she hadn’t wanted to show me such a scene.

I knew well that since it all happened in an instant, she couldn’t have helped it. I shook my head vigorously, hoping the sight from moments ago would fade from my mind.

“Wolfsbane… Right, our Wolfsbane! Are you okay?”

At my call, Wolfsbane scurried over and hugged me. Normally, it was Daisy’s role to collapse into me like that in comfort, but now Wolfsbane, who had grown so suddenly, took her place. The child, who had once sunk down as if about to die, returned to me as if nothing had happened.

“How did you grow up so well and skillfully? Did you awaken your special powers without me knowing? I wonder how you knew.”

Still, proud of having won the battle alone, I hugged her back firmly.

Wolfsbane, who had been acting spoiled while glancing at Mesquite, hesitated, then pointed to the stone tablet by the cylindrical glass. She gently tugged my hand and led me there.

“This told me.”

The stone tablet Wolfsbane pointed to was still fixed on the ‘Traits’ section. The child fidgeted for a moment, then walked into the cylinder on his own. At that, the stone tablet was once again enveloped in a blue light.

All the text that had occupied the stone tablet vanished. Then it began to be rewritten from the start. The text slowly filled the spaces.

And astonishingly, my nickname appeared on the stone tablet alongside Wolfsbane’s name.

Druid Jae’s Alpine Monkshood

Title: The One Who Decides Fate

Flower Meaning: A radiant morning will surely come

Habitat: Swamp Field (★★★☆☆)

Field Generation Rate: None

Value: Poison, Medicine (★★★★★)

Trait: Offensive (Locked) / Supporter, Healer

Confirmed Grade: Original

An artificially improved hybrid of Alpine Monkshood, White Monkshood, and Reed Canary Grass.

Receives a battle bonus in August.

A double-edged sword-like flower that can become poison or medicine depending on its use.

Therefore, its traits cannot coexist in a turn-over form.

It has many alternative names including ‘Wolfsbane’, ‘Wolfsbane’, and ‘Wolfsbane’, and the flower has as many legends as its names.

In desperate situations, the flower blooms even more strongly.