Allan's POV

That... was unexpected. So unexpected, in fact, that I ran it over and over in my mind to grasp what had just happened... to me and this new ability that I possessed. That moment will probably change everything for me forever. 

It all began a few minutes ago, in the dungeon with Marcel, those girls, Silva, Valeria, and I, still adventuring through the plant-type dungeon, on the third circle that we are currently still at. 

As I said, it happened a few minutes ago and it all started after we began taking a relaxed stroll through the unending forest around us. The place we were at, and still at, was a more crowded part of the forest. The trees were fully interlocked with each other and there was almost no distance between the trees on all sides, well, apart from the part we were on. That should have been an indication from the get-go that it was a trap but none of us noticed. 

The trees covered the place, leaving only a small path in the forest for two people walking side by side to take through the middle. We walked across the narrow path, without any care at all since all three of us magic users, Silva, Marcel, and I, hadn’t sensed any monsters around as they seemed to be a bit wary of us now that we’ve dealt with so many of them.  

I mean, I would be staying out of sight too if my opponents could take care of me with a few slashes like Marcel or could launch a beautiful magic spell that was both esthetically pleasing and functional at the same time to obliterate me like Silva was. Seriously, those two are strong for people of the D-class; Marcel, because of his sword Sigurd and Silva, because of her unique spells specializing in wide-range attacks against large monsters like the Vine Grabbers. In this group, only Valeria and I are probably a bit lacking compared to the other two, but then again, Valeria can deal with circle bosses on her own, so I should probably not say that either. 

Point is that we were walking through the narrow path in the thick forest, Marcel and I at the front and the girls in the back. It seemed like a good formation too as Marcel and I were more suited to quick responses to unexpected attacks while the other two seemed more like the type to need a heads up if anything came up.  

After all, I needed about two to three seconds to cast a spell while Silva needed about five to six, so, you know. Marcel could also act fast as well as, unlike when I first saw him train in the courtyard in the Demon Lord’s castle, he seemed more connected to his inventory and storage space as if they were parts of his body, like a reflex. I guess the assessments about humans being very adaptive to their environment was right as he keeps growing at a remarkable pace. 

Marcel, ready to pull out his sword and me holding my staff, ready to cast a spell at any moment with the two girls in a similar position to us, all ready for battle, we walked on the narrow path forward, and then, we came to a site that sort of baffled us. 

After walking for a while, we came to a clearing; one that seemed like it was made very recently, and it was quite big too. The clearing stretched to about twenty meters in diameter and we immediately began asking ourselves why that was, which would later turn out to be a big mistake on our part. 

Silva looked around for a bit, courtesy of tracking magic as it was her specialty. After all, I can’t possibly look around with magic for more than the entirety of the first circle, if I stood at the entrance and searched, but she could track us all the way from the third floor to the first floor, which was remarkable. She might maybe take tracking to the extreme, I guess. 

She looked around, scanning for any beings close to us other than the tall trees that surrounded us, looking all the way to about a kilometer from her, a bit beyond the barrier to the fourth circle, and strange enough, there was no monster that looked hostile or in a frenzy like the ones we’d met on our way here, which was peculiar and baffled us. 

After Silva’s scan of the vicinity, we tried to examine what we knew and tried to come up with reasons why the monsters were the way they were, but that was going to be the death of us, or at least almost. 

We didn’t notice at all that while we were engaging in our little conversation, some green and orange-colored flower buds were growing all around us. We were so engrossed in our conversation that we let our guards down, and that was going to lead to something very bad, almost detrimental, happening. 

Marcel was the first to notice those green and orange flowers and tried to notify me and the others about the soon to be budding flowers around us, but my analytic instincts as an alchemic mage had already taken over me and for Silva, maybe the same since I still didn’t know which species she came from. We thought and thought and didn’t hear anything until Marcel tried his hardest to snap us out of our thought processes. 

“Guys! Something is happening around us. Look.” He yelled, bringing our minds back into reality. We snapped out of it, or at least, I did, but it... was already too late. 

The numerous buds that Marcel mentioned suddenly burst into bloom all at once and in the process, let out green fumes of gas into the air and before we knew it, it stood there, watching us. 

It was a humanoid-shaped monster with plant green skin covered in leaves and vines. On top of its head was a crown of the green and orange flowers growing everywhere and it looked female. Above her was: 

LV 39 D  

< BELLADONNA NIGHTSHADE > 

I used a skill that I possessed, [Observe] to analyze the green and orange flowers all around us and the results... weren’t good at all. 

Those buds that had grown into the beautiful green and orange-colored flowers that surrounded us and released the green fumes in the air were all poisonous. According to my skill, they were flowers that released a fast-acting paralytic poison in the air that did more than just paralyze its victims, and uh-oh, I... was currently already paralyzed, go figure. 

The fumes in the air, after peeking with my skill, was pollen that, apart from containing the paralytic poison, carried a unique kind of parasitic pollen that when in the body, after paralyzing it, made its way to the central nervous system and granted that plant monster in front of me a form of control over the owner of the body, meaning that we... were in serious danger now.  

“Cover your nose!” I said to the others, upon realizing what was happening, but I was already too late. I could only save Marcel in time. 

Marcel, upon hearing me, covered his nose, thus cutting off most of his supply of air and in the process, taking in minimal pollen. He was only paralyzed stuck in place like I was, but the other two weren’t as lucky as we were. 

Valeria and Silva, like all of us at that moment, were paralyzed stuck where they stood, but something else happened to them. They fell to the ground suddenly, then Valeria stood up a minute or so after that, drawing out two blades. I thought that she wasn’t affected by the poison from her actions, but I was wrong. 

The humanoid plant monster looked my way and then smiled slightly, her red eyes carrying a dangerous and ecstatic glare. I knew that something was definitely wrong with Valeria after a wide smile followed those red eyes looked my way. Something... was definitely wrong. 

Suddenly, Valeria, who’d drawn her blades, approached me attacked me, but luckily, I was taught a trick to wield magic even when my body was paralyzed. It’s a skill that allows me to use my body itself as a spell medium to cast magic instead of a staff, like Silva, or even my hands. This was how I regularly used magic anyway. 

I cast a quick protection spell, [Mana Barrier] on myself, blocking Valeria’s daggers as a result, although the barrier suffered a bit of damage as it was hastily made. She was powerful. She drew out her daggers again, this time, a different kind. They were black daggers unlike her former red daggers and I fortified the barrier for her next attack. I added a total of nine additional layers to the barrier since I had the magic to do so and then I looked at her while she attacked crazily again.  

Valeria was unconscious, although her body still attacked me... and it was probably all the plant monster’s doing. I had to do something, and fast, or else that girl would eventually break all the barriers as, after her first unsuccessful attack after I added nine more barriers, she enhanced herself and began striking at them with full force. I needed to think of something... and fast or else Silva might also join in on the fray. If she did, then this... was going to get ugly fast, I thought. 

I wish I hadn’t thought about Silva, because just when I did, she stood up as well and she attacked Marcel with the wind spell, [Wind Blade] and a full-powered one at that. 

“AAARGH!” Marcel screamed in pain after the attack. The plant monster looked at him now with that freaky smile on its face. 

Seeing as Silva’s attack on Marcel had taken effect, the plant monster made its parasites currently inside of Silva continue to him. It seemed delighted from hearing Marcel scream. 

Silva let out another wind attack spell, [Multi Wind Blades] at Marcel, the same spell that she’d used earlier, although one that launched multiple wind blades at the same time.  

“AAAAARRGH!!!” Marcel groaned in pain even more than before. After ever wind blade, he’d scream, trying his best to hold it in but in the end failing to do so. It was so painful to watch him in pain like that. I had to do something... and fast or else, none of us are getting out of this place alive. Where is Claude anyway?! 

As Marcel screamed, the monster in front of us forcing Valeria and Silva to attack us revealed an even freakier smile than the one it had prior. It was delighted and enjoyed the screams that Marcel let out. I had to do something. I had to think. Think! What could I do to help Marcel? I thought at that moment, but sadly, I always failed to come up with a solution that’d help him.  

Marcel wasn’t like me. He couldn’t turn his body into a spell medium like I could; at least, not yet anyway. He was also now injured as well as a result of the constant barrage of wind attack spells being thrown at him. Sure, his body was resilient to some extent of at least metal now because of the constant training, but he was still taking significant damage from Silva’s wind blade that could probably rip apart steel after about five attacks. Marcel had taken about fifteen now, so his internal organs might probably already be severely damaged. If only I could get rid of the paralysis effect of the pollen inside my body, and then it came to me. I couldn’t do that here since I didn’t possess the element needed to do so here, the light element. 

I needed to do something. Anything to stop hearing the agonizing screams that Marcel let out. It was very painful watching him suffer like that and not be able to do anything to help. I had finally found someone who promised to stay by my side but if I don’t do something soon, he’ll die.  

Where’s Claude? Isn’t he supposed to watch over Marcel? At this rate, he’ll die. Where is he? Where is he?! I needed to do something. What to do? What to do?! I have got to do something. I have to save Marcel, I thought. 

And then it happened. A new world of possibilities opened before me. Quite literally, in fact. 

As I constantly thought of what I could do to help Marcel and those two blockheads who had managed to get themselves brainwashed, sort of, into doing the plant monster’s bidding, a path opened up in my mind. 

I... could suddenly see many things at that moment. I could see many things.  

I could see many things in almost a fraction of a second. I saw many things. I saw Marcel dying and then again and then again, all by either Silva or Valeria’s hand. 

In Silva’s case, the plant monster, after Marcel had done his best to hold in his groans of pain and screams of agony, the plant monster got fed up and angry. She wanted to continue hearing Marcel’s screams of pain and agony and so, she had the parasites inside of Silva crank up the wind spells. At least, I learned that she was limited to only one of Silva’s elements but that really wasn’t very useful, was it? 

She had her use an even more powerful spell on Marcel. She used a spell called [Barrier of Endless Blades], a spell that when Silva activated it, generated a barrier on Marcel, and then inside of it, the spell [Multi Wind Blades] would be used by Silva to constantly barrage and overwhelm Marcel. He was to be sliced by the endless barrage of wind blades and in the end, he was sliced until he lost all his strength as he bled profusely and died. Claude only made it there after that and it was already too late. He, himself, got stabbed by Valeria and lost consciousness after he dropped his guard after seeing Marcel dying in pain and soon, Valeria stabbed him until she was covered in his blood and he died. 

In Valeria’s case, the plant monster bored as well when Marcel stopped groaning and screaming, let the two of them, both Silva and Valeria, attack him simultaneously until Marcel bled to death and the plant monster devoured all of Marcel’s magic, which was a lot, evolved in mere moments, which was a very unusual occurrence and then she forcibly broke his barrier by having Silva attack him with wind blades and then Valeria finished him off. The plant monster then killed the two as well and that was the end. Claude and the guards only came to them after that to discover them. Apparently, the forest itself that they walked into was quite strange. 

From what I saw, one of these two cases was going to happen, or at least, did so most of the time. Wind spell, Marcel getting overwhelmed, bleeding and then death for Marcel or wind spell plus dagger attacks, Marcel getting overwhelmed, bleeding and death were the two outcomes I saw most of the time. After that, I saw similar events like that happening where Marcel and I either got killed by Silva and Valeria or that plant monster did the deed herself. In some of them, the parasites currently inside both Marcel’s and my body overpowered us and we fell unconscious whereby the plant monster took control over us and drained us till we died. Many things happened and they all lead to our deaths. 

What I saw... was like visions of the future or what will happen if I did nothing now. Since I could physically do nothing to help Marcel at the moment, I decided to keep looking at whatever it is that these visions were trying to show me. Maybe there was something in one of them that could save Marcel and maybe me. I was determined to do so and after hundreds of visions where Marcel and I including Silva and Valeria died before Claude and the guards got there, I saw one that could help me save Marcel. 

The minute I saw the vision where Marcel is saved, I accidentally let my guard down and, in the end, I really did get stabbed by Valeria in the gut... and I was losing blood, just like in the vision. I smiled at the chance to make that future a reality. I was going to save them all. I had to. 

I reactivated the magic barrier and then thought of the answer I had gotten. I had to do something before Silva activated her next spell upon the command of the plant monster like I had seen. I knew exactly what I had to do now. 

“Marcel...” I yelled, grabbing the attention of the plant monster and Marcel. Marcel looked my way, although barely as his body was still paralyzed. There was always something about getting paralyzed and pain that always went well together to bring the paralysis to a close. That’s one of the things I saw after many visions of Marcel in pain. He seemed to get control over a finger or two after the countless attacks from Silva in the vision I saw. 

“...try moving your fingers and send some magic from it to Sigurd lying beside you on the ground! It’ll allow you to control it like if you used levitation and then run Sigurd through the throat of that plant monster! Be sure to keep your eye on it and concentrate!” I said shouting. Luckily that this monster was still low-classed and didn’t know anything about language yet or else, I would have been in big trouble. 

Marcel, after my words, tried his best to move his right hand’s fingers. He barely managed to do so as he was still being hit with Silva’s spells. He did it. He pointed the fingers he managed to free from the paralysis, his right index and ring fingers, towards Sigurd and then concentrated as he slowly brought it up from the ground, added more magic to it, and then as quickly as he could, sent the levitated sword straight into the plant monster’s body. The monster was too slow to react in time and Sigurd as if sensing its master’s distress ran through the monster without hesitation. 

Sigurd, after coming into contact with the monster, who stood about 5 meters from Marcel and about 6 from me, did its usual thing and began freezing up the monster’s body. The monster was no match against the super sacred weapon and so, its entire body slowly froze up until it turned solid ice, bringing about the monster’s end as a process as it couldn’t survive after being frozen solid. 

The monster met its end after being impaled and Silva and Valeria, like programmed machines, stopped moving after that. They fell to the ground and that was about it. Marcel also collapsed after that from the continuous blood loss and the pain that would have already killed him if he wasn’t a hero. This was the one time I was grateful that Marcel was a hero. The world was still on his side. 

I hastily ran to Marcel after that, without any regard for myself as I was more concerned about him than I was myself. After all, I not only have an Alchemic witch’s blessing but also my werewolf blood, so I would be fine. If I tried alchemy right now, the blessing that I have will deem me unfit for performing any alchemy in my current state and will try to heal me for a bit before stopping but unlike me, Marcel didn’t have any healing blessing nor the world’s continuous luck on his side now, or so I thought. 

I took out a few healing potions that I had in my inventory and gave them to him, although it was a bit hard to do so as he had already fainted, so I drank it and gave it to him (That was embarrassing) and then I hoped that it wasn’t too late, only to be surprised as apparently, I was wrong again and he did indeed have some blessing or at least, something close to it as his body’s wounds began quickly clotting up and closing. He healed enough that his life was no longer in danger, only, he stayed unconscious. I could swear that the vine insignia on his body lit up when he was being healed. Oh well~. 

I then tended to the other two with a few healing potions as well to help their bodies cleanse the body controlling parasites that may still be inside their bodies even though the plant monster had already been defeated. Parasites can be quite resilient, you see. 

I then sat there and waited until the others came to after Claude and the guards arrived, just like in my vision. 

Silva was the first to come to. 

 

Narrator’s POV 

While Allan sat there and waited for the others to come to, Claude and the guards had arrived. Claude used a healing spell to further heal Marcel. He managed to heal all his injuries and made sure that none of it left a scar on him. The Demon Lord would reprimand him otherwise for failing to protect Marcel if he didn’t at least do that much. 

Someone’s probably wondering: 

Why didn’t Claude and the guards come to the group’s aid when they needed it? 

Well, the answer is simple. It’s because they couldn’t, or rather, they were too occupied to come to their aid.  

Claude and the guards keep a constant watch on Marcel, Allan, and now the girls as well. They had been doing so since this morning. Claude secretly placed a tracking spell on their bodies last night to know their location all the time and has been using that to keep a close watch on the group. By doing so, he can also provide them with any help beforehand if they’ll approach a monster too much for them to deal with.  

The monster from the species Belladonna Nightshade is one that Claude noticed as they entered the third floor, but he decided to do nothing about it since he decided that it would be good training for Marcel and the rest to face later as they headed further. It was usually a monster that one met at the fourth circle and not the third and what’s so special about it is that it’s a parasite; a very small one that infected other lifeforms and took control over their bodies. It then spread its parasite over the host’s body until it had gained almost all control over it, then makes it its host body and transform it if it was suitable.  

Belladonna Nightshades are quite weak compared to other monsters of the fourth circle as they have no attack power except for when they’re inhabiting a host. Their control over their hosts also gets slightly more powerful close to nighttime in the dungeon. For magic wielders like Silva, after they take over, they gain control over one element under the original host body’s control, which explains why it only used the wind element when it took over her body with its parasites while for non-magic wielders who may or may use have magic at all, the parasites control their bodies functions and skills, like the original host’s body enhancements. They’re fairly weak; powerless even, if one takes the proper measures and doesn’t ingest the pollen from it or has poison resistance, then one can simply kill off its main host body optimally with a fire or ice spell and that’s about it. 

Claude had never thought that the weak monster would actually give the group such a big problem and that he wouldn’t be able to do anything for a time. The reason why he wasn’t able to come right away even though he should have sensed from the state of the group that something was wrong was because of that weird forest that Marcel and the others went through. Little did he know that it was a Magic Sensory Distortion forest. 

The kind of forest was one that gave its visitors false information regarding magic perception; one of the many mysteries of dungeons. That was why Silva couldn’t sense the presence of the Belladonna Nightshade in the vicinity and that the other dungeon beasts were still the same as always. It was because the forest was distorting the information that she received. The same thing happened to Claude in fact the moment he entered that forest, so his ‘Marcel and the rest are in danger’ alarm went back to normal until he overwhelmed the forest’s ability with his magic power and got his alarm working again. He then, with the guards, headed straight for the group but alas, he arrived a bit late. Too late in fact. 

He healed Marcel and then the others, including Allan, the only one still conscious, although very fatigued and mentally strained as well as bleeding ever so slightly. He fixed him up good as new and then inquired about what had happened. He was still explaining what had happened when Silva woke up. 

“That... was awesome, Allan! I saw what you did, all of it.” She said, smiling at Allan. If someone as straightforward as she was saying that it was awesome, then it is awesome. 

“Hahaha! Was it really?” Allan asked shyly. 

“Yes, I sensed and saw all that you did. It was awesome! I sensed your psychic wavelength and it was and currently still is a bit more powerful than mine. I was unconscious but I still sensed it as clear as day.” She said happily. This was the first time she looked happy about something that wasn’t food. 

“Hahaha~” Allan laughed awkwardly. 

Silva looked at him with inquiring eyes that sparkled for some reason and confronted him without hesitation,  

“You can see the future, can’t you?” She asked, already knowing the answer. Claude looked shocked after her question and even more so Allan when he answered. 

“Huh? Yes. How do you know that?” He looked very curious to know. 

“Huh, what do you mean how do I know that? Of course, I have the same ability to see the future. Your psychic wavelength was very similar to mine whenever I used it, so that's how I knew when I sensed it. I have a similar ability although I can only use it three times a day when I’m not home. But from what I sensed while I was still unconscious, you can use yours for as many times as you needed, although it still comes with a few restrictions like only giving you the good stuff when you’re in danger. Check your classes and tell me what your new class is.” She spoke. 

Allan checked his Informer’s ‘Classes List’, and she was right. There was something new there. 

“Yes, you’re right. I have unlocked this new class, [Prophet] and under that as a subclass, [The Seer].” Allan answered, happy grin on his face as he stared closely at it and tried reading what it entailed. 

“Hmm. I see. Prophet, huh? So, that must mean that you are in contact with some kind of divine being, I guess. It makes you more like a priest, you know, divine element and all but then again, you aren’t like a priest, although you can summon the power of a god. It’s kind of cool.” Silva said, slight smile appearing on her face. Her smiling over something that wasn’t food felt weird to everyone currently not unconscious. 

“Huh, so you mean that I’m connected to some divine being that’ll help me now like whatever it is that helps the heroes?”  

“Of course, that’s literally what I just said. Your luck stats and all your abilities will skyrocket, your magic will get even stronger, although, there’s a risk that whichever god it is that’s giving you power might want to borrow your body to do a few things, which is referred to as you becoming a ‘Divine Vessel’ and when that happens, there’s a chance that you might never stay yourself again, but that’s about it.” Silva finished her explanation. 

Allan didn’t inquire any further about that and stayed happy about his new ability that may or may not be detrimental to his very wellbeing someday and then later when the other two awoke as well, Allan told them as well, which the two congratulated him for. Valeria felt very jealous of him though she still congratulated him for his new gift. 

Marcel wanted to know more about it and he wasn’t the only one. Claude was also very curious about it and so were the guards. 

Silva and Allan talked a bit and they discovered that Allan’s ability went way beyond Silva’s current abilities. He could see the many possibilities of the future and then change them through his actions while Silva, according to herself, could only see the normal outline of the future that hadn’t been tampered with: the colored but still blank canvas, meaning that if they wanted, they could both manipulate the course of future as they willed it together when Allan learned to control it as he didn’t know when it’d come back again. The other two, Marcel and Valeria, congratulated Allan once again, then thanked him for saving them.  

Claude looked at Marcel who was laughing with the others and then wondered if this was somehow his fault. All his suspicions about him and also Silva’s identity had been confirmed, or at least, to some degree. Marcel really might be the one to bring harm to the Demon Lord and now that he’d confirmed that. He had to take special measures to make sure that it didn’t happen. He must find some way to further their relationship to a more favorable point that it was currently at, but that would have to wait for another time, he thought.