Chapter 289: The Blood-Sucking Forest (Patreon)

The severed vines dripped a red liquid, and the smell drifting through the air was unmistakable — this was no tree sap. Without a doubt, it was blood.

The forest's once-peaceful atmosphere had begun to feel unsettling as one strange phenomenon followed another.

"The plants are bleeding. Healing Magic — quick, use Healing Magic on it. How pitiable. Who knew plants could be this beautiful."

A dreadfully unfunny joke of a spell — words utterly devoid of humor spilled from Lois's mouth as a streak of white Mana swept across the severed vine, sealing the cut in ice.

"Whether or not that's really blood, I've taken a small precaution. If it can heal and grow back, that would be a problem."

Lois looked a little dejected, wearing an expression that seemed to ask, Was my joke really that unfunny?

"Lord Lois's improvised joke was, as usual, not funny this time either. Though at least it was a bit more normal than before,"

the nun offered her very objective assessment. Anything that could actually make someone laugh was clearly beyond his reach.

Crack!

Just as the group was about to press deeper, thick, ropelike thorns surged out from behind the ice-sealed curtain of severed vines, striking like venomous serpents! The ice crystals shattered under the piercing barbs, and the brambles filled the entire opening.

"Still trying to stop us from advancing?"

Lois pointed his staff at the sprawling thorns and unleashed a blast of Ordinary Offensive Magic.

Under the white beam of light, the thorns vanished in an instant.

"Ah!"

A startled cry suddenly rang out from the nun behind them.

While everyone's attention had been fixed on the thorns, a barbed vine had quietly broken through the soil and wrapped around the nun's leg!

"Watch the ground!"

Nanoda reacted fastest, releasing a miniature burst of Severance Magic.

The vine coiled around the nun's leg instantly split into several small pieces.

"Ngh... my leg."

Several fresh puncture wounds had appeared on the nun's leg, clearly torn open by something sharp. Blood sprayed from the ruptured vessels, staining her entire calf red.

"I'll heal you right away!"

The one-armed monk, clutching the Scripture, rushed over and caught her before she could fall. Murmuring under his breath, he pressed a hand glowing with golden light against her injured calf.

"A monster that can control plants? Or is it a plant monster itself?"

The nun's injury drew Nanoda's attention to the restless ground beneath them. The earth rose and fell intermittently — clearly something was moving below.

"Good thing she wasn't infiltrated and parasitized by the plant — she just lost a fair amount of blood in that instant. Be careful not to get caught by it; that vine drains blood."

The one-armed monk offered his assessment — that would explain why the vines bled: they fed on human blood.

"Ugh, I feel dizzy. My left leg's gone numb too."

Bathed in golden light, the nun — her external wounds now fully healed — slowly sank to the ground.

"Hmph! What a bunch of mischievous things!"

No sooner had the one-armed monk finished healing her than the ground around them loosened, and several vines burst up in an encircling pattern. But a pair of massive hands seized them all into two bundles — the dark-skinned, burly monk yanked the vines out by the roots as easily as pulling radishes!

Bright red welled up again from the vines' torn ends.

His attire might have looked shabby, but as a front-line fighter, the burly monk's toughness and strength were the real deal. The barbs on the vines couldn't even break his skin.

This was the effect of one of the New God's body-strengthening spells.

With one hand, the burly monk hoisted the now-immobile nun onto his shoulder, his bright eyes darting back and forth as he watched the shifting ground below.

"Now I finally know why my Mana Perception went haywire — this whole place is a monster's hunting ground. These Mana-infused vines are everywhere."

Lois eyed the small holes where the vines had burst from the ground, and the motionless tendrils still hanging from the trees.

The moment they'd stepped into the forest, they had already been surrounded by the creature.

"Keep pushing forward — these vines must have a root source sustaining them! Lois, lay Defensive Magic under everyone's feet!"

Hearing Nanoda's order, Lois — who had just leapt aside to dodge a vine — gave a wry smile. "This kind of fine-tuned Defensive Magic takes a lot out of me."

Still, Lois laid a layer of Defensive Magic across the ground. This wasn't the time to be stingy with Mana — he needed to clear the way for Nanoda before they found the monster's true body.

Even with the Defensive Magic in place, vines kept battering the same spot until they broke through the surface.

"Keep moving!"

The ground beneath them, flat one moment, could sprout a vine the next, so no one dared stop.

"Can you still use your Heavenly Eye? Can you pinpoint the monster's location now?"

"It's right behind those vines."

The nun's voice was very weak.

"Got it."

Nanoda charged in first, crunching over the ice shards. Severance Magic radiated from her body, tearing a wider gap for those behind her.

Close behind came the burly monk carrying the nun, the one-armed monk, and Lois bringing up the rear with his Defensive Magic.

Screech screech screech screech!

It was a massive tree draped in countless hanging vines, its trunk a deep green. A small portion of its roots, buried deep in the ground, showed through the soil — faintly translucent, with blood-red vessels pulsing inside like a human's. Atop its canopy bloomed a grotesque red flower, six blood-red petals swaying to reveal the center of its stamen: a gaping maw lined with jagged fangs, letting out a shrill, piercing shriek that made everyone's ears ache.

This was the first time Nanoda had seen a monster like this. She'd encountered plenty of beast-type monsters before, but never a plant-type one. Judging by the sheer abundance of Mana capacity it radiated, this monster's strength was nothing to underestimate — it had to be a creature that had lived for at least several centuries.

"Those are the missing workers and the scout team! Damn it."

Lois had finally found all the missing people. They'd still arrived too late.

Beneath the tree lay a row of unrecognizable, skeletal bodies, still dressed in the clothes they'd died in, each pierced through by a vine connected to the monster's roots. Drained entirely of blood and vital essence, they had become nothing more than nourishment for the creature.

Scattered near the monster were fragments of bleached bone as well — clear evidence that it had 'fed' on many Humans over its long years.

The vines spreading throughout the entire forest let it monitor everything happening within at all times, striking at the weakest members of any group from underground and luring Humans toward its maw to be devoured.

This monster possessed an intelligent instinct. Still, it remained impossible to communicate with — which was why it was a monster, while Nanoda was Demon Race.

"Looks like it's time for some tree-felling."

Nanoda drew out her two broken horns. Once this big one was dealt with, the forest's strange anomalies would probably come to an end.