The Carvini Cabbage was a squat leafy bulb more than a foot tall. If not for its size I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was different from a normal cabbage plant. Turning back I could see Colem’s wide unblinking eyes stare at us. The man was acting a bit odd, but I guess it wasn’t every day you saw Dreamers at work.

I picked up a small rock and rolled it across the ground. It went for several feet before suddenly the ground beneath it burst. Roots wrapped around the rock, yanking it toward the cabbage plant. The leaves unfurled and a oddly mamallian like mouth emerged, with rows of sharp canine teeth. The roots plopped the rock into the mouth and only a moment later it spit out the rock.

“Its fully grown,” I mumbled to the others.

Colem should not have let it grow to such a degree. Now not only would it be more dangerous due to the size compared to a smaller one, it could also propagate and spread across the farm.

“How do you know?” Elina asked wringing her clubs in her hand.

My own fist clenched around the slender dagger I carried.

“Its size and the area the roots have spread to. A younger Carvini Cabbage has a root radius of around five meters, but this one is double that.”

“Whats the plan?”

“We stay by the edge of the roots, dig one up and you smack it a few dozen times to let your Steamroll get going. Then the rest of us destract it while you finish it.”

It was one of the stratigies I had come up with for this Nightmare ahead of time. Another was to let me try and Dismantle it from the roots, but there was no definite information on a Carvini Cabbages anatomy and I didn’t want it to go berserk after only losing some roots. It was better for Elina to lightly hit it a few times then do a single large attack.

Her Firework Punch actually would have been quite useful in this scenario, but she agreed it should only be used in emergencies.

We dug out an area of the ground, showing the roots beneath and Elina, channeling her Steamroll, began to lightly tap away at the roots with her club. Pink energy that started out as a gentle candle flame steadily grew until it was a raging bonfire with small firecrackers popping off around her. The Carvini Cabbage seemed to finally get the message that something was wrong because its roots curled back upon itself. Luckily Elina was able to stop herself before attacking so she did not “miss” and attack.

Melanie, who was a bit too close to the roots, was not as lucky. Her foot got caught in the twisting roots and was yanked off her feet. The roots in turn wrapped around her like a spider spinning a web.

She had already summoned her cloak and had activated it. The cape swirled around her snapping away roots and protecting her limbs.

“Task, defeat opponent and protect team, begin,” a calm voice said from beside me.

A kitchen knife appeared in each of Vit’s hands and he dashed forward. He cut away at the main root that held Melanie and helped her get out of the entangling roots. Meanwhile both Elina and I moved forward toward the bulb.

Roots whiped toward us, and I was able to intercept one with my blade, but another smacked into my leg with bone shaking force. I rolled forward on my back, trying and failing to get to my feet. Another root came for my head, but a kitchen knife bisected it before it could land.

Melanie made it to the cabbage head a moment before Elina, which was perfect as the Carvini Cabbage sent out a glob of acid toward her. She used her cape to swipe it away. Then the cape flicked rapidly around, slicing most of the roots away from the base.

The Carvini Cabbage screamed and it sounded like splintering wood. The leaves opened and closed, the mouth coughing up acid, but plants didn’t die easily.

Its last remaining roots tried to wrap around its head, protecting it from further damage, and the bulbous body shifted back and forth, trying to burrow itself into the groud.

Elina’s club landed like a crashing wave. The sound was not unlike her Firework Punch, but not as loud or bright. Only her Steamroll was meant to be a continous beatdown.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

She hit the Carvini Cabbage three more times before the crackling bonfire was snuffed out suddenly.

It went from a constant explosion of light and sound to silence in just a blink. Elina was stood there, breathing a bit heavily, and I realized I too was taking rather deep breaths. I hadn’t even done anything, but the tension was still exausting.

“It’s dead,” she said, turing back to us. “Steamroll stopped even though I hit it.”

I sat criss cross and pulled up my pantleg. There were already purplish bruises where it had hit me along with a few scrapes that had torn through my pants. I did a few tests on my leg to see if it was broken, but I was still filled with adrenaline and could only feel a bit of tingling pain. I stood, dusting the dirt off of me the best I could, and moved to where the other three had gathered around the Nightmares corpse.

The Carvini Cabbages blood was more of a translucent pink rather than red, making it looks like Elina had poured watermelon juice over the broken cabbage.

“It didn’t exactly go as planned…” Melanie mumbled to no one in particular. She waved her hand and the cape dissapeared from around her neck.

“That is normal,” Vit said.

“Still, no one really got hurt right? You okay Monty?”

“Yes, just a bruise… Can I look at the cabbage?”

“Sure… we finished pretty quickly so we have a few minutes to rest. We should also bring some of it with us for proof.”

Melanie and Vit moved away, Melanie to go and tell the Forged Order and Vit to talk to Colems. The farmer has come out of hiding and was staring at us with wide offputting eyes. Elina stayed and watched me. My heart fluxuated for a moment, but I pushed it down. Elina wouldn’t be too disgusted right? She was the one who had crushed the Nightmare, this wasn’t any worse.

Breating in my calming rythym I knelt next to the crushed cabbage head. Most of its teeth had snapped, and I could see a pink toungue that was very humanlike. The first thing I did was push Senses through its body to get a better understanding of it.

I learned that it shifted from a plantlike anatomy to a mamalian like anatomy as it got to the mouth. Initially I expected the Carvini Cabbage to be a more active Venus Flytrap, and it was to an extent. However intead of digesting the food inside of the mouth it actually what I thought was a mixture of a stomach and intestines, which also held the acid that it used to spit out.

What really made it a mix between a plant and an animal was the heart, lungs and blood it had. Which meant it was an oxygen based Nightmare. However the blood did not reach the leaves or the root system, which could mean it also use carbond dioxide like normal plants.Thankfully there was only trace amounts of acid in the mouth itself.

I added the knowledge I gained to my Carvini Cabbage book, though the broken body of the Nightmare meant there was a lot of blank spaces. Channeling Dismantle through my blade I pressed it to the junction between tooth and gums, one of the obvious seams and let my Intent go through the Nightmares body.

It was only after the teeth had fallen out, the mouth’s skin slophed off and the tounge disconnect from the rest of the body that I realized this was the first Nightmare I was Dismantling. The first monstrous being of the lower Layers I took apart was a cabbage. I felt my cheeks begin to ache as I smiled.

Even if it was just a chompy cabbage it was still very interesting.

“That’s so cool.”

I flinched with surprise and looked to where Elina was kneeling next to me. She picked up one of the few intact teeth and examined it.

“Dismantle is super useful for collecting material components. I was expecting it to be a lot more gruesome when you used it on a living thing, but I guess not.”

“... it is just a cabbage.”

“True, still it looked awesome when all the teeth popped out.”

“Thanks…”

“No problem, can you grab a few more pieces for us to show as proof?”

“Yes.”

Elina patted me on the back and stood, tossing me the tooth before picking her club back up and walking away.

Activated Dismantle a few more times, having to stop on some areas due to the blunt damage Elina caused. Once I was satisfied I could Dismantle most of a Carvini Cabbage if I ever saw one again I took the tongue and all intact teeth I could and placed them in a pouch.

A weathered hand was extended toward me and I looked up to see the farmer Colem standing next to me. He had a slight grin on his face, still chewing on whatever he had been earlier.

Being polite I took his hand and he helped me to my feet.

“Thank you sir.”

“No issue. So you’re the weakest one huh?” He said, his eyes boring into me.

What? That was an odd thing to say.

“Yes, I agree that among my group my combat capabilities are the lowest.”

I pulled my hand back, and it didn’t move. Yes I was fourteen, but my body had spent months being suffused in Intent. I should at least be a match for the man.

I looked into his eyes and his grin widened until his teeth were showing. Too many teeth. There looked to be a secondary set of teeth right above his others, they were a yellowish brown, and as sharp as a knife. I finally saw what he was chewing on too. It was a small, bloody finger.

I felt bones in my hand snap as the thing in front of me clenched down. I choked out a scream as the Nightmare sang with laughter like the wails of a hundred crying children.