Chapter 64: Corpse flower

The days seemingly blend together The only thing that marks the passing of time is the number of kills, event points gained, and the appearance of strange Cave crawlers. The one with the odd limbs, as it turned out was an outlier. For now.

However, where that one had a strange body, the magical Elites began to diversify Some of them even had gravity magic, or the same ice magic Cobalt wielded (she had a really bad time with that one). A few were seemingly made entirely of metal, not bleeding green but silver upon their death.

Their arrival is concerning, especially if combined with the warning Sairal gave. But as things are in this world, the danger comes with reward. My skills continue to grow and even my level is getting a nice boost, bringing me ever closer to level 8.

When we leave early in the morning on day four of this grind, Hornet asks if he can along. And somehow, all the tactics Sairal has used to distract him, from letting him play tag with the weaker mushroom guardians to having him spar and teaching him about skills, isn’t enough to hold him back anymore. Even when Chaco tried to tempt the young forest dweller with a particularly hard game of hide and seek, Hornet didn’t budge.

So, with yet another member in our group, we climb over the walls and head into insect territory again. I set up the domain and everyone goes through the motions, not even needing to ask Cobalt or me anything with all of us used to the steady rhythm of the grind.

I give Hornet a room smudged between Zillindial’s and the guardians’ while keeping Zerzia away from him. Somehow, the giant panda continues to listen to Hornet’s every whim, even when I told her not to. Not even an hour into the first shift, I’ve already had to tell her several times to stop boosting the waspish forest dweller, even if he continues to demand it.

It is yet another to deal with alongside the System-induced headache as I continue to push my skills in a myriad of directions. A part of me wants to head back to the Bastion and drop Hornet off before heading out for the second round. Though, knowing him he’ll either decide to strike out on his own or decide to visit us on his own time.

I adjust more of the walls, fully separating Zerzia from him, and push my mind back into the bindweed. With my skill soaring in levels and with even an upgrade or two under my belt, the vines sing with new vigour and the walls shift around with barely a thought.

The entire domain feels as if it is an extension of my body. My lungs are full of air, draining every scrap of energy and the leaves in my crown frantically pull in sunlight to fuel this operation. And I need every point, to keep up with the Cave crawlers.

What do you do, when a frost mage blasts an entire corridor with ice thick enough that no vine can more, or when no fire is used but straight-up decay magic, blackening the vines with rot?

The answer to those is as always, to find their weak points and kill them. The one with frost breath, as it turned out, was careless ignoring muddy patches of ground that exploded with bindweed when stepped upon. The Cave crawler with the Decay element found that even the black vines had enough strength behind them to squeeze the life out of any bug.

Humming along with my song, a dozen of the Cave crawlers are slain. I chatter to Zillindial still trying to make sense of his flowers and how he sees them. The conversation leads to his element, which is incidentally the same as my newest skill; Scent of Bloom.

We discuss skills and he lectures me on how to use Scent of Bloom. Some skills can be so wide that the System doesn’t put everything into the description. From what he knows, the skill is a passive one that works on all plants, as the description says.

But since it is Bloom-related and not Life-related, the skill is primarily focused on flowers. So, the skill didn’t have enough strength to properly work on the nearby foliage for it to gain experience. As he continues to prattle on about flowers, grass and blooms it also might be another issue entirely.

I make a promise to him to work on it later at the end of the day and turn back to the fighting. Cobalt has met with a wind mage who is trying to snipe her from afar.

***

On the second shift that day, another new surprise has been waiting for us. In my mind, it was supposed to be a break from monotony, a problem without mandibles for me to take down.

And yet, as the group of adventurers, six in total, storms towards my domain, likely attracted by a barely hidden blip of green on the horizon. I am forced to face my problems.

More than a week ago, I renounced my humanity, firmly putting it behind me once and for all. Humans would be just another monster on the seemingly endless list that tries to attack my home and kill my friends.

Now, I have to face that decision and stick to it like a promise drawn in blood.

As soon as I see them, I warn everyone in the domain, receiving a different reply from all. The mushroom guardians continue as if the presence of a band of human adventurers doesn’t mean anything. Zerzia flees from her room and enters the main chamber, pulling at the bindweed on the ground. She lifts the vines, careful to not damage them and uses them as a blanket while whispering of monsters.

Hornet sees them as yet another challenge to fling himself to, ending in his likely death if he manages to get to them. And Zillindial? The [Green Bear]’s fur stands on end, fully poofed out. The flowers in his garden rustle, stems coiling like snakes while the leaves shake in hatred and anger. The claws he mostly keeps hidden in his fur, rear their head, telling the world that he is ready for a rematch.

The bear turns to me, his face twisted in anger and glee. “Send them to me,” his voice is steady and doesn’t leave room for rebuttals. “My garden will have their blood.”

I turn back to the still advancing group of humans slowly pushing their way through the horde of Cave crawlers while screaming at each other about something. One of them donned in brown robes rimmed with black, raises a staff to the sky to conjure spikes of earth to clear the way.

Somehow, they evade Cobalt who has gotten entangled in yet another fight with an Elite, and manage to reach the walls. Their screams are still incoherent as they angrily point at each other. Even with all the humans from Zulis speaking perfect English, I’m barely able to make out words.

One of their warriors sets his sword aflame and begins sawing through the bindweed. I let them slowly cut through while I ponder on what to do. Zillindial wants them to end up in his garden. But is that the right thing for me to do? The forest dweller is growing stronger by the day. The skills he used for peace are now all shifting towards war with each level and subsequent upgrade.

The flowers he carefully keeps are not mere works of art anymore, the combinations of ‘building blocks’ not for beauty but for damage.

And while the bear doesn’t show it, he’s still recovering from his time before he entered the Bastion. Humans are the least of the things he needs right now. Best to give him some more time.

“Fabled mandrake, please get rid of them,” Zerzia whimpers from under the bindweed. “They torched the city and now they are going to burn us.”

I stare at the panda and am once more reminded that so many suffered. We all suffered. I kneel down and pat her on the shoulder awkwardly. “It’ll be fine. In my domain, they won’t be able to get to you,” I say confident in my words.

***

Lehria watched her friend cut into the strange foliage walls. For days they had searched through the remains of the outer forest. When the event broke, she and her team had expected to soar through the ranks, raking in the event points and getting some of the equipment and elixirs to push their party above the others. It would be their break, their stepping stone to fame as had happened many times in the past.

Whenever the mighty System decided to create an event, no matter what kind, many rose to power. Of course on the grand scale of things, the System Event: The Luxian Conflict was nothing compared to the Opening of the Abyss Eye, The Spire, or even The Borderless Ocean which had been completed many aeons ago. Yet it was something.

It was their ticket to fame.

Reality had been unkind, though. First, the army refused to give any adventurer party access to the teleportation circles they set up, with the only exception of some of the parties that had ties to the military or signed a contract that she deemed to be less favourable than signing a deal with a Xir or Seva.

They had spent much of their saved-up coin to buy provisions for the trek to the Luxian forest on foot, the distance be dammed. It took them more than thirty days of continuous running, excessive use of speed potions, and other means to reach the forest on time only to realise that everything had been picked clean. It only left the inner and central forest where the Zulissian armies and the monsters fought each other, slowly reaching a stalemate until the bigger parties joined in.

Days were spent scouring the muddy land, avoiding the local hive species, and searching for forest dwellers in hiding or any foliage that the System deemed to be Luxian property. Suffice it to say that the event points were few and far in between with them only getting a few of the stragglers that managed to hide from the Cave crawlers.

And then they stumbled upon it, a strange blip of green on the brown horizon, partly obscured by a persistent mist. Eager and already tasting the Elixirs they would buy with the points, they pushed through the horde of insects that surrounded the oasis of green, tearing at the walls.

Mernin, their strongest, broke through the hive species easily, letting his fellow warrior cut through the green wall while watching the guard of this place fight with one of the variants in the distance.

The blue insectoid defended the place as if it held something valuable, and seeing how much trouble Erik had with the walls, a natural treasure didn’t seem to be out of the question.

She had heard of the things that could be found in Luxia before the war. From strange plants that alchemists sought after as much as the things on the third layer, to the monsters that were basically walking pots of gold, their scales selling for dozens of gold coins in the auction house of the Assembly.

Something that managed to survive the onslaught of the military, the hive species and any groups that went before them was bound to be Elite rarity or higher. It wasn’t the bounty of Event points they were after but it could be something else that might kickstart their journey. Perhaps they’d sell it for enough gold to buy a delving permit, allowing access to the monsters in the Underworld and leaving the tamed lands that lay between Zulis’ inner and outer wall behind.

Contrary to what the Zulissian farmers might think, the tamed lands were desolate of strong monsters. Occasionally an (F) or (E) grade popped up, somehow able to evade the protections set in place. But those were outliers, not the norm.

Their ventures into the farmland and dense forests allowed them to gain enough levels, but not enough for them all to advance into (F) grade. At the moment, only her leader Merin was in that grade, standing at a highly respectable level of 22.

The sword cut through the wall of green and they huddled together, pressing into the gap and leaving the land of mud behind for the search of the natural treasure.

And just like Lehria thought, this place was strange, the wall of thick vines only a prelude to this secluded spot of safety in the war. In front of her was a long corridor made out of the same material. The walls, the floor, and everywhere were the coiling green vines creating a maze to get lost in.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

They took position and she readied her wand, a spell pressed against her lips. Kern, an archer they recruited after a clash with some monsters that needed ranged attacks to be dealt with, took place behind an arrow strung to his bow to kill any offending monster.

It wasn’t likely that a monster was in this place she thought, guardian beasts that feed on treasures never left room for negotiation. So, as long as that thing commanding frost was out there, Lerhia and her team were free to explore and steal whatever the monster guarded.

They moved down the hallway, glaring at the vines as if the things could come alive at any moment.

Quietly, they whispered to each other, already speculating what might lie at the centre of this place. Erik chuckled under his breath, “I’m telling you that it’s something with enough energy to power all these vines and keep the bugs away. It must be Epic and strong at that.”

She rolled her eyes at him. That was a given in her mind. She had to admit that Erik was better with his sword than with his mind. Perhaps they should replace him with someone with a sword dancer class. Lehria had heard that people with the class were abnormally strong for their level.

“Be quiet,” Mern whispered. “This place might still be dangerous.” The giant man turned around with a severe look on his face, scanning over the rest of his team. His eyes widened, “Where is Kern?”

Lerhia looked behind her and found the man missing, only a hallway of green behind them. It was strange, they hadn’t reached any junctions, so the man couldn’t have wandered off. Unless…unless he decided to back out.

She looked at the opening at the end of the hallway, revealing some of the Cave crawlers that were drawn to the guardian monster.

Mern sighed and shook his head, “We paid him in advance.”

Lerhia cursed knowing that the sly archer went off with their hard-earned gold. “No matter,” she huffed. “It isn’t like we need him anyway. What good is an archer in these tight corridors?”

Her leader nodded and they moved on. She glared at the offending green walls, feeling mana leach out of her body into the wand where it was converted into ice mana.

Slowly, they made their way deeper into the maze, careful of any traps that might’ve been placed. Monsters often were stupid, until they were not. In those cases, adventurers died.

Mern tapped the green vines with his sword every few paces, testing for spells inlaid in the plants. The corridor began to curve and he turned around to tell them something. He never got the chance as the walls started to move. Quick as a {lightning ball}, Both Erika, their earth mage, and Sern the assassin were cut off from the group.

Lerha unleashed the spell behind her lips, blowing the vines away with each {ice spike}. “Mern! Quick!" She didn’t need to tell the warrior anything, as he unsheathed the sword on his back in a blink, already slashing down at the wall.

The vines parted and revealed the hallway that they walked through. Erika and Sern were gone. Nowhere to be seen. And suddenly, Lerha thought that maybe Kern didn’t flee from this place.

Sweat started to bead on her forehead as she realised that there was something in here with them. Some kind of monster that tried to pick them off, whittling them down one by one.

“We will retreat,” Said Mern, having the same thoughts as her.

He didn’t bother checking the ground anymore, wanting to get out as fast as possible. With his large strides, she found it difficult to keep pace. Even Erik with his high agility had trouble keeping up.

They continued to walk, the moments dragging on as they rounded the bend. The hole they had carved at the end of the tunnel was gone. It was as if the wall had sprung back, trapping them.

The sweat that was beading on Lerha’s forehead began rolling down her cheeks as the danger grew. Mern began to cut at the walls, uncaring if it angered the vines, only the hope of an exit in his mind.

Quick as the (F) grade was, the vines continued to regrow. For each of the walls he cut through, another one sprung up right before he could step into the new hallway. Growling with frustration, he paced through the labyrinth with her and the other warrior in his wake.

Lerha’s mind wandered from place to place, wondering what this labyrinth might be. From the outside, it didn’t look that large, at most only a 100 metres across. Yet it felt larger in here. The walls easily towered over them, cutting off the blazing sun.

Even when they began to put down tracks, in the hope of getting some knowledge on this place, or at least being able to track back, they continued to get lost. Every marker they left vanished. The scratches on the bindweed or the puddles of water she left in her wake, were always gone the moment she turned around. Or, she figured, this space was spatially expanded.

It made her face feel frozen and her mouth sluggish, the blood having left her face.

Mern suddenly lowered to the ground and hissed at them, “There is something here.”

That shouldn’t be possible Lerhia thought. Monsters never worked together when it came to natural treasures. It was one of the golden rules many more experienced in the art of adventuring told to her team; sneak past the guardian monster and steal whatever they were guarding out from straight under them.

She readied all of her spells as images of mighty beasts flashed through her mind. What would it be? Some kind of forest creature, a powerful drayd that managed to evade the army, or something even worse.

The more she thought about it, the more it clicked in her mind. The vine walls. The insectoid creature defending this place. What if it wasn’t a magical treasure at the heart of this oasis but a dryad tree? It made sense. The guardian monster served the dryad, protecting the vile weed from the onslaught of insects.

She had to finish this with a single blast of magic. Faster than the monster could react. Swifter than Merns sword.

Lerhia pulled every scrap of magic out of her body and into her mouth. Whatever incantation she would scream, it had all her strength behind it.

They breathed in as one, the moisture in the air pressing against her skin as the footsteps from beyond the bend grew louder.

The first thing she could make out was green, not in the colour of the vines but a deeper dark, as if it might pull you in, suffocate you in thick fur. A small, humanoid bear stopped in front of them. Claws dangerously sharp, it roared death at them.

[Green Bear] lvl 14/40 (F)

Lerha’s mouth fell open. This monster was responsible for all of this? Did this pitiful creature conjure up all these walls of coiling vines?

The surprise made her hold on the spells lapse for a single second, allowing the mana to unwind itself.

Cursing she prepared new spells as Kern marched forward to relieve the monster from its misery.

The small bear exploded. Every strand of fur leapt from his body to cover the nearby surroundings.

Lerha conjured a water shield, blocking the green projectiles just in time, only to watch them sprout into flowers, greedily consuming the water and magic before collapsing onto the ground as her shield failed.

The monster screamed in its bestial tongue while it loomed over Erik. The world dimmed. The colour drained from the vines as they turned an ashen grey. The verant fur that came from the bear suffered the same fate along with the flowers and even the gear her party members wore.

Everything grew silent except for Erik who writhed in on the ground, screams bellowing out from him as he pulled onto chalky vines that searched for gaps in his armour.

His screams sputtered out and devolved into quiet whimpers for mercy as the stringy plant found purchase. The plant spread its roots through him, pulling in the blood and blooming in ghastly shades of black and crimson.

Erik, her friend, stopped moving.

She pulled on the dregs of magic. Much was wasted on her inattention, yet if she and Mern pooled their strength, they might still have a chance against this monster.

The other warrior freed himself and Lerha let go of her spells, calling forth a rushing tide of water as she began conjuring another shield of water in front of her.

Around her, the walls shifted. The vines, ever silent and watching reached for her. They wrenched the wand out of her hand, tearing the necklace that enhanced her magic off her, before wrapping around her mouth, cutting off her ability to speak.

She tried to scream as the walls came closer. Lerha saw the eyes in the vines, those vengeful eyes. With all her strength she pushed against the bindweed, wishing for something, for Mern to turn around and save her.

Lerha flopped over on the ground and was reeled in like a fish stuck on a hook.

Her hands scrabbled on the ground, pulling on the muddy earth but finding no purchase.

The wall subsumed her, beginning with her legs as it ate her body, any sense of touch fading. She tried to reach out with her hand, wishing to pull on the vine that held her wand or her charm. She bit on the vines that covered her mouth, tasting painfully sweet sap.

Lerha was pulled into the wall, the bindweed coiling around her like snakes.

She was trapped in their den.

And she would never get out.

***

The adventurers passed through my maze and I picked them off one by one, pulling the humans into my walls, somewhat uncertain of what to do with them.

Humans have always been a threat to me. It was either kill or be killed. Though now, as I watch the adventurers panic as more of their teammates vanish in my domain? They are all so pitiful. Weak.

It can’t even be called a fight anymore. This is just a slaughter. Just like they did with the forest dwellers they must’ve found. They came here for this, I remind myself. As weak as they might seem, they decided to go to Luxia, ready to kill us for event points.

They made this choice. They instigated the event by setting up a dam. Zulis along with the Pleateu, provoked the system.

I turn back to the fight, cursing as Zillindial suddenly stands before the trio of remaining humans. His fur explodes and the flowers crawl forth. “You killed them! You killed all of them!” he screams while the flowers bloom on the weakest warrior. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you all! Corpse Flower.”

The blooms shift and warp, their petals twisting into crooked shapes. The bright Joys of spring fade away, the colour draining as his newest skill touches them. The plants grow hungry and eat into the soldier, killing him in what I’ll deem the most painful way to go.

The remaining mage unleashes her spells which I block by letting a wall rise while pulling her into another wall for later disposal.

Zillindial, now mostly defenceless, is facing off against the middle (F) grade human. As much as he said that he wants them, he can’t take the human on alone.

The walls come alive and the vines sprout thorns ready to cut through the armour. Zerzia lends me her strength, this time slowly building it up, and I work with the bear to take the last one out.

Strangely, with only Rare evolutions under his belt, Zillindial manages to hold out, batting the sword away with his claws before a vine wraps around his ankle, pulling him out of the fight.

I finish off the human and let out a sigh. It was them, I remind myself once more. It was never us.

With that over, only the trapped humans are left. I know that Sairal is resourceful, able to find a use for everything from the insect gunk to the chitin. He’ll certainly have a use for four (G) grade humans.

With that previous one I accidentally captured, he wanted to use spores to do something-

I shake my head, that’s too cruel. Even for me. I won’t stoop to the using mind magic or the likes to scrape secrets out of them while their brains melt.

The vines pass them along, through the walls and in a few minutes I have all four lined up in front of me. They are indistinct blobs of bindweed, cocooned as they wriggle to get free.

I do not need to know their names. As far as I am concerned they are just oddly shaped monsters. Particularly intelligent ones. I stare at them for a moment longer, figuring out how to take them out with the least pain possible. No thorns piercing every part of their body, no vines squeezing the life out of them.

Somewhere, in my past life, I read that after you behead someone, they still have a few seconds. With stats thrown into the mix, that too is out of the question.

I head to Hornet and lend his needle for a few moments.

This must be done, I remind myself. I am the Wall Bearer. To defend in war is to kill. Safety comes at a cost. And here in Luxia, it is measured in lives; in misdeeds and murder.

I remind myself of every encounter I had with humans in this world. How many times have they tried to kill me? How many forest dwellers have the Zulizian armies killed? How many cities did they burn?

And in the face of all of that, how do these humans compare? Just four in number. Even if I kill them, the scales remain unbalanced. I’m not as bad as them. I’ll never be.

I’ll never be because I didn’t start this. None of us did.

Zillindial storms into the room, wriggling free from the vines. The bear, enraged, lunges for me claws already outstretched to rend bindweed. With a swipe of my hand, the vines coil around him and restrain him once more.

“I had them!” he screams repeatedly. His voice breaks down, cracking as new sobs push themselves into the words.

I don’t have the energy to argue with him. “Maybe,” I finally say and let him free from my vines.

Zilindial pushes himself off the ground and opens his mouth to speak, though, he is silenced by a long wail coming from one of the human’s throats.

The fight temporarily forgotten, we step closer to the monster. Her entire body is still bound. With the snap of a finger, I can end it for her.

“Please,” she begs before I can let the bindweed wrap around her mouth. “I have a sister. I need to return home.”

I lean closer to her. She can’t understand the screeches that come from me or either Zillindial. But the words are not for her. They are for me.

“Then you shouldn’t have come to Luxia.”

The needle in my hand stabs down and the system chimes.