We hunted another phasing lizard, and then another. Each time I intercepted a fireball with my blade, I felt the lingering effect in the metal grow stronger. After about an hour of hunting these creatures, it seemed to have reached its zenith. My weapon’s edge was searing hot, even for me, and it seemed no further kills increased its efficacy.

Not only did it feel hot, but it was also visible, for the usual blue with a slight purple glow was now almost entirely white, with a red outline along the edges.

Satisfied with the preliminary testing results, we ventured deeper into the dungeon until we’d left the area where these nasty ambushing lizards roamed, and took a break to replenish our energy and mana pools.

After a few minutes, I noticed a slight change in temperature in the weapon. It was slowly cooling off over time, the absorbed energies dissipating as was expected.

Nonetheless, we, me especially, were happy with the results. In prolonged combat, particularly against foes using spells, this enchantment would really shine, and we hadn’t even seen the secondary effect yet.

That prompted another question: would using this enchantment allow me to kill those tree enemies without shattering their orbs? Then again, even if I could, would it have any use? I couldn’t eat wood so they didn’t have anything to offer me in terms of strength.

We then went on to fulfill our intentions: explore beyond the Firag fields. We actively tried to avoid coming into contact with the blazing deer creatures but kept them in the back of our minds as we would hunt one on our way back.

At least they weren’t nearly as aggressive as the hippos on the second floor, so sneaking past was easy.

The fields were vast, and there was no end in sight, which I found odd, to say the least. I’d expected the floor to end somewhere soon, possibly after whatever lurked here… if we could find that.

There was nothing to be seen, and I came to a sudden halt as I felt a shiver run down my spine.

“I hate this,” I stated clearly. “I hate not being able to see what we’re up against.”

“Is there anything nearby?”

“I can’t tell. I sure as hell don’t see anything.”

Then, in the blink of an eye, a green vine shot upward from the earth before coming directly at me. A swing from my halberd was quick enough to sever it, but multiple others had appeared.

“Not this shit again,” I complained, referring to the roots the living trees had used against me, although those had been far, far slower, and more cumbersome.

Fortunately for me, these were not protected, and although quick, they still withered quickly when I started using fire. Even small fireballs, flung in quick succession were enough to burn through the weeds.

And I knew from experience that the best way to fight this type of enemy was to constantly be on the move.

The only difference this time was that I had no idea what entity the vines connected to, or where it was.

I created some distance between me and where the vines had popped up to inspect the field, to try to notice anything. Our adversary was either invisible, like the lizards, or underground.

And that last one made much more sense to me. The only question was: where?

I traced the shriveled appendages back, trying to find their source but found that they had appeared from such haphazard and random locations that it was impossible for me to see them connected to one, central structure.

I charged through the area, swiping my blade through whatever weeds made themselves known, and using fireballs on those that tried to entangle my legs from the other side. If nothing else, I hoped this would at least weaken the plant-based monster.

At least I assumed that was what it was. I’d say it was a safe bet.

Unfortunately for me, it also seemed to anger our target as that was when the spitting thorns happened.

Large barbs were fired from new, and apparently hollow vines from all directions and in rapid succession. I could only manage to block so many of them with my double ice wall and my main target of protection was Cellestra. They didn’t seem too deadly regarding pure penetrative power, but when I saw their impact on the walls, I noticed they were laden with toxins, their contents splattering all over the place.

I did the only thing I could do and continued hacking everything that moved down.

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“Not sure what would be the better place to weed, here or the fields at the farm,” I stated in the brief respite we got.

“This is getting ridiculous. What is this thing even?”

“No idea, but it has to be killable, right?”

She reacted with a nod, just as the next wave of tendrils surfaced. These were much thicker and slower than the others, and a set of twelve of them converged at us from a near-perfect circle.

I immediately broke out of the encirclement and took down one large root with fire, and another with my halberd. Cellestra also burned one to a crisp with a large fireball.

Strangely enough, the roots didn’t aim for us, and instead, continued their advance to a central point where they intertwined and grew upward. I was about to charge again when I saw a green orb starting to grow quickly on top of the tendrils.

Not knowing what was going on, I opted to take a defensive stance and wait it out, hoping that this would herald the revelation of our enemy.

Instead, I saw the temperature of the object rise rapidly, and knowing what it could mean, I faced it and put up two barriers, one fire, and one ice behind it.

Not a moment too soon as the orb shattered and exploded, sending a wave of strange, green flames in all directions. When the heat faded, I saw numerous barbs embedded in the ice. They had bypassed the fire wall due to the nature of their attack which left me feeling satisfied with my precaution. However, there was no time to celebrate.

The roots that had congregated at the center were dead and withered from the powerful attack, yet the plant seemed to ready another similar attack as I saw the same thick vines emerge from the ground and crawl their way to a central point.

“Oh no you don’t,” I exclaimed as I charged forward, taking down several vines with my blade while Cellestra cast several well-aimed fireballs, completely obliterating a multitude of them as well.

Within the span of just a few seconds, we managed to destroy all the appendages, yet another orb on a single vine rose upward from the center of the dead foliage. It too was green in color, but much less bright. In fact, it was nothing more than white with the slightest tint of green. This time, I didn’t allow any time for it to ready its attack as I sliced through the stem in the blink of an eye.

This, in turn, caused a tremor to run through the ground, followed by another, and then another.

Without hesitation, I quickly skittered backward as I had traced the origin to be directly beneath the object that I’d just severed.

Then, from beneath the dirt, a bulbous orange object surfaced, pushing its way through the dirt. As it forced its way up, its shape and material became clearer.

I was looking at what appeared to be a giant pumpkin.

“What the actual…” Was all I managed to say before tens of vines surfaced with it, surrounding the massive vegetable in the center. As soon as I took a step closer, they reacted and one lashed out at me.

I cut it in two before it could hit me from above and tossed the severed vine aside with a leg.

“It would appear we found what we were looking for,” Cellestra said.

“It would seem that way. Now what? Burn it?”

“Sounds like a reasonable solution,” She said, creating a large fireball before flinging it at the plant monster.

But things were never as simple as they seemed. Before the spell could impact the creature, it shattered on an invisible barrier, and in reaction to the aggression, the being used its many roots to cover its ‘heart’ in a cocoon of sorts.

Yet, there were plenty more roots at its disposal as more and more emerged from the ground, and I recognized some of them as the ones that shot venomous barbs earlier. I quickly put up my walls again, blocking the incoming barrage as I created distance between us to think about a plan of assault.

“Whatever it is, it’s got at least one barrier, and means of attacking from range. I would suggest taking out those vines first as they didn’t seem to be protected earlier. What do you say?”

“You block, I attack?” Cellestra asked.

“Yeah. I’ll assist where I can.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.”