The ink-black liquid poured out of all the flowers in the room. The petals were being dyed in its colour, and even the soil underneath them was soaking in all the drops that fell onto it. It was streaming down the edges of the plant beds and forming a puddle on the ground that was creeping ever closer to Ryan.

  He looked over toward Maribelle. She was seated atop the largest flower in the greenhouse, leaning against its petals like sitting on a throne. Her pale green skin was almost completely white, and the dress made of petals was black and torn, like the petals were too weak to keep themselves together anymore, rotting away on Maribelle's body.

  Her wings were similar. Before, they were a light floral pink and mostly translucent, but now, they were almost completely torn apart, barely still hanging onto the spirit's back. It was a truly infuriating sight to Ryan. He could feel his anger well up inside of him more and more.

  "Shit," Ryan pulled his bag off his back and pushed his hand inside. He luckily didn't have to search for the bottle for all too long. He quickly pulled the slightly golden liquid out of the bag. It was still mostly full, and should be enough to help Maribelle out. He just had to find a way to properly give it to her. He couldn't tell for sure, but this corruption was different to the one that Kindly was afflicted with. While for the mimic, it was like a slug or a parasite that had latched onto him from the outside, Maribelle's was more deeply ingrained, just as Richie's was. It permeated throughout her whole body, inside and out, pulled deep into the roots. And it wasn't just her own body. All the plants in this space were affected by the corruption.

  Ryan figured that Maribelle had some kind of ability that gave her control over all the plants in, at the very least, this greenhouse. He had to cure those of the corruption as well. He glanced down at the gunman, who was still being pressed down under Gaia's foot, unable to get up from under the tight trap.

  "He left you behind," Ryan pointed out, squatting down in front of the man. He groaned in pain, and in the end just laughed.

  "As he should. I'm jeopardizing the mission," he pointed out. His voice still sounded as disgusting as Ryan remembered it, so he really wasn't able to hold back a scowl.

  "And you're not worried you're going to be corrupted? It hurts like a bitch, you know?"

  The man actually hesitated for a few moments, "Then so be it."

  "... Fucking hell, do the shadows have some kind of dirt on you? Are they blackmailing you? Holding someone hostage?" Ryan asked, grimacing annoyed, "Or are you just that much of as bootlicker that you see these big guys with power and think you have to do anything you can do get on their good side?"

  "Money."

  "What?" taken aback, Ryan stared down at him.

  "They pay good money, that's all."

  With an annoyed groan, Ryan stood back up properly. He didn't have any time to waste on a guy like this anymore. He hoped he would maybe be able to tell him something to, at the very least, get him to stop fighting back until all this was solved, but that clearly wasn't going to work. So, instead, Ryan just shut him up another way. With a swift kick, he was knocked out long enough for Ryan to pick him up. He was pretty damn heavy with all that body armour, but Ryan still managed to drag him over all the way to the entrance. If he couldn't convince this psychopath not to interrupt Ryan, at the very least, he could throw him out. Of course, he would have liked to call Yamada or Runar or maybe even the police to have this guy arrested, but with his phone blown up by Richie, that wasn't an option either. And it wasn't like Ryan could just kill this guy, either. Even if he seemed like the kind of guy that would be welcomed in a VIP suite in hell, the idea of killing someone made Ryan sick to the pit of his stomach.

  "Oh, come on!" Ryan yelled out as he tried to push against the greenhouse's door to open it. It was locked all of a sudden. And considering the electronical lock on the door and the half-dozen robots standing guard right outside of it, it was obvious that Richie had locked Ryan in here. The greenhouse's windows were safety glass as well, and Ryan wasn't strong enough to shatter it cleanly to get this guy outside, plus, the Roxies could attack him if he tried.

  So, instead, Ryan threw the mercenary onto the ground, and looked around. There were some vines that seemed sturdy enough. While Ripper was still usable, Ryan walked over and cut off as much of the vines as he could. They were pretty damn sturdy, but he managed to cut through it easily enough anyway with the saw-like blade. Using those vines, Ryan quickly tied the mercenary up by the door, tying him to some metal railings. He managed to do it just in time for Tiar's skill to run out, and Ripper fell apart onto the ground into its individual pieces.

  With that in mind, Ryan rushed back toward the greenhouse's main space, where Maribelle was patiently waiting for him. She stared down at Ryan from her flower throne. This corruption was different to the ones that Ryan had experienced so far. The one that had taken over Energiser was one that caused a rampage. It was similar to the one that had seemingly affected the berserker that ended up destroying part of the Channel. And then there was Kindly's corruption; while it didn't take him over and make him act off, the corruption itself was physically much more aggressive, trying to take over the mimic.

  The first kind corrupted reason, making them mindless monsters. The second corrupted the body, breaking it down. And this one? Just looking at Richie, it was like it corrupted their personality, twisting them into something worse. At the very least, they were clearly much more in control. The corruption, once it took hold, wasn't as aggressive as before. Frankly, it was probably the best thing for the white shadow society's goals. But it was also much more dangerous. Ryan couldn't imagine what would happen to the spirits that were with him if they were to be infected by this.

  "Maribelle, are you okay?" he asked, taking a few steps toward the flower spirit. Gaia, Maximus, and Gregor were inside their domains where they were a bit more safe.

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  Maribelle snarled at Ryan. That bright smile from earlier today turned into a sharp, predatory growl.

  "Listen, I can help you, you just have to let me. Please," Ryan looked up at the spirit. She was sitting higher up than before. Much higher, really. It happened without Ryan even fully noticing. Was Maribelle larger than she was earlier too? Initially, she was Gaia's size, about a metre tall, but now she had to be around as tall as the average human.

  A deeply uncanny sensation ran through Ryan's mind. Things were off, really, really off. He didn't know when it happened, sometime on the way back here from the entrance, but the greenhouse was larger than before. The flowers, taller and more plentiful than when Ryan first arrived. The air became extremely saturated with mana in an all too familiar way. It was like this place was being turned into a dungeon. Or at least something similar to it. If he had to pinpoint it, it was actually closer to... a domain.

  Domains were spaces that all spirits were supposed to have, not just the ones that were with Ryan. Like a representation of their magic, their essence, and most importantly, their 'concept'. Were dungeons and domains similar in that way? Though that idea was interesting to Ryan, he didn't have the time to really think about that right now. He knew of Maribelle's powers, and inside of their domain, a spirit was basically a god. And if Maribelle could deploy that domain here, then her powers would be just that much stronger here than normal.

  Regular spirits' powers seemed to act rather different to that of the spirits that were 'awakened' through the Spirit Keeper class. Frankly, a normal spirit should be much more powerful than the spirits that were with Ryan. They shouldn't have the sort of restraints that they had at the moment, but frankly, that might again be part of the 'seal' that was placed on them. And Maribelle, as a flower spirit, could manipulate many different plants, plenty of which were starting to get uncomfortably close to Ryan. Roots were crawling over the ground like snakes, slithering toward his legs, and leaves were speedily growing to cover the greenhouse's windows, blocking out the tiny bit of light that was supposed to be coming from outside. The only thing that was left was the soft, ethereal glow of the bioluminescent flowers growing around this space. This light was waving and shaking back and forth, throwing dark shadows in all directions. The pink glow of the flowers was the only thing that Ryan could use to see at this point.

  "Come on, you don't have to do this!" Ryan exclaimed, trying to talk to Maribelle. By now, he was surrounded by tall leaves and flowers and wasn't able to see the spirit anymore. Not that he was necessarily trying to see her either. Rather, Ryan was just trying to push through without touching the corruption. Though, there was already much less of it freely flowing around, like it was being fully absorbed by all the plants.

  "You were grown by Gaia, right? I came here because you wanted to see her again! Just get rid of all these plants, and we-" Ryan started as he pushed away the large leaf in front of him. But when he did, a large vine whipped at him. It hit Ryan straight into the stomach, throwing him backward. He was still carefully holding onto the corruption cure. If Ryan lost or broke this bottle, then he was screwed. He had to be careful.

  As he landed, clutching the bottle closely, Ryan tried to take in a deep breath, but that vine just knocked all the air out of his lungs. He could tell that the spirits wanted to come out to help him, but that was too dangerous to Ryan. Corruption specifically infected magic, and as beings with bodies created by magic, they weren't able to defend against it the same way that Ryan could. Rather, because of Tiar being with him, he should be able to hold back the corruption for a while even if he was drenched in it, since the symbiote was able to physically push back against it.

  Carefully, Ryan made his way through the thicket. This whole thing reminded him quite a bit of the pranks that the dryads would try to play on him, making plants grow along the path in a way that he was guided into what was basically a labyrinth of their creation. Similarly, Ryan found himself in a maze of roots and leaves.

  Again and again, roots would try to wrap themselves around his limbs to slow him down, while leaves grew right in front of him to prevent him from proceeding. And if that didn't work, vines would whip at him. But either way, all of this seemed mostly defensive.

  "You're still fighting against it, aren't you? Just hold out a bit longer! And don't-" once more, Ryan was interrupted by a vine. But this time, instead of being hit in the stomach by it, Ryan was able to drop down and dodge under it, taking advantage of the path that was opened to let the vine snap at him. The whole time, Ryan was following a specific object along the ceiling. Once he got to where that pipe was leading him, he should be able to undo all of this.

  A sickly sweet smell entered Ryan's nostrils. It was genuinely disgusting, like someone had eaten a bag of sugar and then thrown it all back up. Ryan heard something dripping down from above him, hitting his arm. It wasn't the corruption, at least; he was already hyper-focused on that. No, it was something else. It dug through Ryan's shirt and soon hit his skin, burning like acid.

  "Fuck-" Ryan swatted his arm trying to get rid of it, glancing up. It was a pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant. And what dripped down at him was its digestive fluids mixed with its nectar. Ryan knew that they had some carnivorous plants here at the botanical gardens, but he had no idea that Maribelle could control them. Either way, that wasn't important. The pitcher plant was slowly tipping over. And it wasn't the only one; numerous head-sized pitcher plants were hanging from the ceiling, bulging with digestive fluids, carefully tipping over as Ryan walked forward.

  Without hesitation, Ryan pushed forward, trying to push through the thick leaves and roots as fast as he could, avoiding the digestive fluids from tearing him apart. He got some splashes and droplets onto him here and there, digging through his clothes and eating apart his skin. Ryan was able to somehow keep it to a minimum, but it was still painful and startling. The fluid was so potent that if Ryan got hit by a full pitcher of it, he wouldn't get away from it that easily.

  He just needed to get through to the end of the pipes. If he did, then he could let Maximus out of his domain and he could cut down the plants while they went back to Maribelle to stop her.

  And just as he thought that, Ryan reached a room at the back of the greenhouse that the pipes were leading into. The door was locked, but Ryan jumped against it again and again, almost dislodging his shoulder in the process, when the door finally gave in. And there it was; the sprinkler system. There was a large water reservoir that was made to hold mana-enriched water, a system that the botanical gardens were extremely proud of. Ryan climbed on top of the tanks using the metal railings. He couldn't see much, but with the plants slowly encroaching into this room, he could at least tell that the water wasn't clear as it should be.

  "This must be what Richie used to infect Maribelle..." Ryan clicked his tongue, opening the bottle he was still tightly clutching. He didn't know how much he needed, but he would rather be safe than sorry. They could always grow more of the wildflowers if needed. So, Ryan poured the rest of what was left in the bottle into the reservoir. Almost immediately, he could hear something like a hissing sound, as if the corruption was screaming out in pain.

  Looking around, Ryan glanced at the buttons along the wall, and quickly ran up to them. He hit the button to turn the sprinklers on, hearing the pumps pull the cure-water out of the massive tank.

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