<~> CHAPTER 34

We were trekking through the forest again after being delayed the last few... days? It was hard to keep track of time in this place. Maxwell has some kind of system for keeping track of time but I've never seen him use any kind of timepiece or anything like that. He told me not to worry about the timeline and that he had it covered but it made me nervous. After hearing about the situation they were in, I've become more worried about making it back in time for them to make their payment. Especially now that Luna and I were talking about serious topics like engagements and marriage...

Once we were back on the move Luna had returned to her normal demeanor in the dungeon, alert and ready to use her magic. Despite how much closer we got, there wasn't any flirting or distraction while we were moving through the dungeon, even on a relatively safe floor like this one. It was reassuring to know that she was still serious when the time called for it, but it was also surreal to think that we were prospectively engaged now and nothing had changed outside of rest times. I was admittedly more distracted about the situation than she seemed to be.

Maxwell held up a hand and the three of us slowed to a stop behind him. The three of us looked around and took in the surroundings while Maxwell examined a spot on the forest floor. He said something quietly to us.

("Alraune,") Luna translated for me. ("It's a type of plant monster that can be very dangerous. It's also one of the few monsters on this floor that's worth going out of our way to hunt though, it has valuable magic materials.")

("Do we have the time to go out of our way for this? I thought Maxwell's bag was full,") I replied.

Luna stepped forward and started writing in the dirt. Maxwell and Piper had a short conversation before telling Luna something to relay to me.

("Maxwell says that we should have the time and the parts are worth the detour. As we keep going up, our opportunities for valuable monster parts will decrease and alraune pearls in particular have really good value for the space they take up according to Maxwell. That being said, we already have a lot of good stuff, we don't have to take this fight right now. It would be passing up a decent opportunity though,") Luna said.

("Is it up to me?") I asked.

Luna shrugged. ("Not entirely, but they want your input as well. Do you have any issues fighting plant monsters? This one will be a fair bit stronger than the others we've come across so far.")

I felt indecisive. I wasn't really sure if I was good at fighting them or not.

("I'll be okay fighting it if you three are. I don't know anything about this kind of monster so it's hard for me to judge how effective I'll be against it so I'll leave it up to Maxwell if he thinks we can take it,") This felt different from a lot of our other fights, most of the others fights had been something that had attacked us first. The only ones where we went into a fight intentionally had been things we had fought before. Except for those bears-things on the misty floor I suppose, but at least I had some idea of what fighting them would be like.

Piper and Maxwell discussed it out loud for a little while longer before they came to a conclusion.

("They said we should attempt it. Alraunes are more mobile than other plant monsters but they can't chase us if we decide to leave, so it shouldn't be hard to escape from it if we need to. My fire magic will be good against it as well.")

I nodded. ("I trust you three, if you think we can handle it, then we can handle it.")

Maxwell led us off the trail and followed these small green and purple sprouts with jagged leaves. The tree cover got thicker in this part of the forest and it started to get darker here. It wasn't nearly as dark as it had been on the other floors but the difference was noticeable. Large purple and green vines were crawling up the trees in the area, they looked parasitic and seemed to be slowly killing the trees they were attached to.

("Maxwell says that alraunes look like beautiful naked women and use pollen to dull your senses so that it can wrap you up in vines without a struggle and eat you. Since we know what we're walking into, the pollen will be less effective on us since we'll know to resist it, but it still may put you off balance. We'll need to get to the naked body that it uses as a lure and cut it off at the base of the flower. Decapitation or destroying parts of its lure isn't effective and the alraune doesn't feel pain through the lure or its vines. It needs to be completely removed to expose the flower. Once the flower is exposed, it'll raise its bulb out of the ground and more violently attack us with its vines. We need to destroy the bulb to kill it and then we can harvest the pearls.")

("Sounds straightforward,") I replied.

Luna nodded and I kept following her from the back. The forest was completely still around us I couldn't even hear animals or smaller insects in the area anymore. The only sounds were our own crunching through the thick grass here. The air was slightly more humid in this area and it smelled mossy with dead leaves decaying undisturbed.

"I see it," Maxwell whispered as he moved to a crouch. I lowered my body as well, my large wolf form was able to get surprisingly close to the ground as I stalked forward with the rest of the group.

Ahead of us was somewhat of a clearing. The trees above were bent in an unnatural way to create a soft canopy above that only let a small amount of light filter through but the floor was clear of any roots or tall grass and shrubs. The only things that were in the clearing were vines and a massive flower with a naked woman lying atop it. The 'lure' looked entirely human, rather than the green plant-woman I had been picturing. The petals of the flower were wide and open and were a dark blood-red color at the base and lightened to a soft pink at the edges.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

("Should we cover our mouths with something before we breathe in the pollen?") I asked.

Luna shook her head slightly in front of me. ("No, it won't matter. The air is full of it, if you can breathe at all, it will affect you.")

("Maxwell and Piper will go first. You'll go in after them and start fighting once Maxwell attacks. I'll leave a break in the fire for you when that happens. After that, I'll stay up here and use a large fire attack that will spread to the other magical plants and keep the smaller vines off of you while you fight the lure. I can't distinguish between friend and foe with this magic so you need to stay out of its effect. Once the bulb is exposed I'll switch to shooting it from afar. Sound good?") Luna asked.

("Sure. I'm ready.")

Luna tapped Maxwell on the shoulder and he and Piper stood up and started walking into the clearing, feigning being sluggish and tipsy. The beautiful red-headed lure sat up with an arm covering her large breasts and she smiled brightly at them.

"Oh! Grand! I've been lost in this forest, hoping for someone to come save me!" the false woman cried out in jubilation. My brows furrowed when I realized I could understand her without any issue.

The thick parasitic vines in the area began to writhe and move. Luna next to me started to draw in magic, preparing for one of her large area attacks. The vines surrounded Maxwell and Piper who still held their swords loosely drawn at their sides. Maxwell hadn't yet unslung his shield but one of his thumbs was playing with his strap. I gripped the large axe with my hand, the blade was resting in the soft dirt, my instincts and my mind were in harmony, waiting for my moment to attack.

"You're .... .... ....? I would love .... .... you back up to the .... Did you get .... .... your friends?" Maxwell called out to the lure.

The woman slid down from the flower, large vines traveled behind her but she moved as if they weren't there at all. She slowly sauntered over to the two of them, eyes and convincing smile dancing between the two of them. But the moment the lure was in striking distance my two friends acted in tandem. They dashed to either side of the lure and slashed at the vines sticking out from its back. The softly glowing blade in Maxwell's hand was sharp and slashed through the vines as if they were air. In an instant the lure froze in place with the same expression on its face as it tumbled to the ground and fell over like a statue.

Luna took that moment to release her large fire magic spell. A huge tornado of fire spun around the group, burning the vines and keeping them from getting any closer to the two as they fought the nine large vines that had uncoiled from the back of the lure. I could see the base of the vines where they attached to the pistil of the flower, that was the spot that needed to be cut to expose the lower bulb of the flower.

The fire tornado parted and left an opening for me to dash in. I leapt forward through the opening in the curtain of fire that Luna had left for me and rocketed toward the flower. The vines were too focused on my packmates to notice me coming and with my large axe, I hacked through the base of the vines with one violent swing. Several vines snapped and fell to the ground instantly but even with my crushing strength, the vines were too thick to cut all of them in one go. Half of the vines that were left twisted back toward me and I was forced to roll away from the flower and take some distance from it.

The remaining vines were undulating around the flower, protecting itself now that it was aware that we were not enthralled by its pollen. The air smelled sweet despite the raging tornado of fire around us, like a flower I couldn't place. I could feel the subtle dizzyness I was warned about but it wasn't that strong, no more than if I was buzzed after a single cocktail at the bar.

One of the vines shot out at me, trying to shove me into the fire at my back, but Maxwell took the opportunity to slash at the pistil cutting off several more vines at their base, including the one that had attacked me. The nearby vine flopped over halfway into the magical fire and it began to spread up vines back toward the flower despite the vine's wet and waxy skin. Piper jumped forward and slashed at the dead vine before kicking it away, cutting off the path of the spreading fire toward the flower. If we let the fire spread to the bulb then the whole thing would go up in flames.

Maxwell jumped backward away from the flower as the vines redirected themselves and gave me a chance to attack again. Despite still having four vines, the flower seemed poor at multitasking, alternating between the two of us rather than attacking us at once. My large axe bit into the pistil again, cutting off two more vines at the base leaving only two remaining, the ones left were the thickest and hardest to cut.

Rather than trying to attack us individually, the remaining two vines whipped around the flower at high speeds, cracking like a whip at times as the vines rapidly changed directions.

"Luna!" Maxwell called out and two streaks of fire blasted through the fire tornado and crashed against the whipping vines. After they were hit, the vines stopped protecting their flower and began whipping against the dirt instead to smother the flames.

I dashed forward and chopped through the last two vines with one more swing of my axe. The remaining vines of its pistil rolled into the fire and the ground started to shift and rumble.

"Helena! Get back!" Maxwell called out.

I turned and leapt away just in time for the dirt to explode behind me and pelt rocks and dirt clods across my back. When I spun back to face the monster it was halfway through the process of pulling its giant bulb out of the ground. Dozens of vines as thick as the ones on its pistil were pulling the bulb out of the ground like giant spider legs. Parts of the stamen tipped with puffy fuzz spread more pollen into the air as they scraped across the ground as the giant plant monster pulled itself free.

The walls of the bulb were partially transparent and floating inside the fluid inside was the body of a person hanging from a vine that was buried deep in her throat. My eyes widened as I heard the subtle heartbeat of someone being kept alive inside, I could hear it clearly now that the bulb was free of the ground.

Unfortunately, they would have to wait a little longer, the next phase of this fight was starting.