Chapter 2135: Herbivores vs Plants
First of all, those were not like her vines. Her vines were thick for a climber plant, but not that thick. Its weight was also her limit of comfortable control, which also limited its power and durability, but it usually gets the job done.
This vine...well, thick could not even begin to explain it. It was as thick as a big man’s thigh, and its length should be tens of meters long, at least.
It seemed particularly sturdy, too, since level 18 or 19 young orcs couldn’t destroy it completely. At most, it would be wounded, releasing some sap, but it barely even slowed down.
The two orcs did not seem entirely helpless; they fought, kicked, and slashed, but in the end, the vines were strong and seemingly unstoppable, soon winning against them.
The vine wrapped around them, and then the climber started puncturing them with thorns and then releasing its sap on them. It probably worked like a Venus flytrap that released acid to slowly consume their prey.
Althea looked at the so-called prey. One was a male goat orc, and the other was a female deer orc. Considering their features, they seemed quite young.
Don’t be angry at Althea for just watching. First of all, only a couple of seconds in reality had passed since she arrived at this spot. Her brain just moved much faster than most.
Second, it was...fascinating to watch.
She could tell nothing was controlling the vine but itself. And it wasn’t just a reflexive action like touch-me-nots. She could tell with the way it moved and how it reacted. For example, once hit from a direction, it actively avoided it!
Did vines have nerves? Or was it simply taking away its damaged part and avoiding further damage?
...is it sentient?
Well, probably not, at least not exactly. It could be just a reflex. But...plants with this level of reflex? It was different from thigmonastic plants like touch-me-nots and Venus flytraps.
Those only had a few sets of movement and reactions in their genes. This one was much more flexible and reactive. She had never seen something like this before.
Interesting, interesting
"AHHH!"
"I can’t breathe!!"
"HELP! HELP!!!"
Althea flinched, remembering there were people dying nearby.
Althea wasn’t quite sure what to do, so she simply raised her palm and emitted wood elements from it. It would either attract the vine or repel it.
She willed that it stop whatever it was doing, though it was purely by instinct and she had no idea if it would work at all.
She watched as the moving vine paused its movements, loosening up a bit, and thus giving a chance for the two orcs to escape. It so happened that her [Woodland Camouflage] expired that time, and the plant’s hold loosened even more.
They gasped, eyes red from pain and shock, looking at the odd creature who appeared. "Go, go!"
The deer and the goat rushed towards her, pulling her away.
Interestingly, not only did they not think she could be behind the loosening, but they also thought to protect her. It was just a bit awkward because they pulled her with an arm each, so she was pretty much getting dragged along in the middle of them.
Still, the concern for a stranger was a bit touching, but it also meant her concentration was broken and the vine snapped out of its confusion.
Slap!
They watched as the vine snapped towards them. Fortunately, they managed to hide behind a large tree to protect themselves. They ran farther and saw...the vine following behind like a giant snake!
!!!!!
What in the world—
"Follow this path!" she told them, pointing at the clearing created by the large monster, the one she had been following since before. However, instead of heading deeper to where she suspected her husband was, they went to where she came from.
This was the first time she had seen such a plant—a deadly one, at that—so she naturally couldn’t continue heading deeper into the unknown. Perhaps she could figure out a few more things through these two rather than going into the unknown completely blind.
"We have to leave this forest!" they said, and it was then that Althea realized that the pseudo-sentient plant could’ve been an existence related to the Hollow Forest.
She was interested to know more, but she knew she had to keep her life first.
It was here that another monster that went along the path—seemingly entering the forest with the giant beast—came back out. One had a number of injuries in its body, while another seemed a bit better but more aggressive.
The enemies looked like large wild bulls but with reddish skin; one was at about level 15, and the other was a bit stronger at level 21. The latter was just right for her, but that was on the premise that there was no weird plant trying to kill her, too.
The two orcs had been weakened by the vine, and getting suddenly attacked from the side by strong monsters made them defenseless for a moment.
Althea dashed towards the weaker one, ready to meet its attack head-on. When the beast saw she was not intimidated, it dashed forward even more intensely as if determined to make her succumb.
At the last second before impact, she suddenly bolted high, supported by her earth ability, which also tripped one of the monsters.
ROAAAARRR
This animal was heavy. Once fallen, it’d be difficult to get back up. She took advantage of this to run over it and send continuous attacks to the enemy.
Her own vines wrapped around the other’s legs, and she immediately went to the two orcs to help them up. By the time she reached them, they had already stood up, though they were not quite sure what happened in between.
"RUN!" she yelled, pushing them forward, while at the same time using her momentum to spin, kicking the weakened monster back, straight to the creepy snake vine.
SQUELCH!
They watched as the vine wrapped around the level 15 or so beast, stabbing it with its thorns. It roared and struggled, biting the vine, but it wrapped around its head, strangling it too.
Althea stabbed the eye of the stronger one a few times, wrapping her own vines around its legs, before finally rushing away.
They did not stay to watch any more than that. They ran further and further, with the female deer pretty much scooping her up like a child, carrying her for speed.
They dashed beyond their usual limits when—after about ten or fifteen minutes—they saw the vine was following after them again!
It wasn’t technically so fast. How could a plant be faster than an orc?
Rather, it seemed like it was on its home ground, surrounded by a lot of wood energy. It also used the old trees as its bolsters, and its length was also an advantage to shorten the distance.
This meant that even if it was, in reality, much slower than they were, they could not take a breather, or it would really be able to catch up to them.
Soon, they managed to leave the so-called Hollow Forest. The boundary was quite obvious because it was brighter and the trees a bit sparser.
The orcs, breathless from their earlier fight and the succeeding dash, slowed down a little. Althea reckoned that the plant should stop following them after they left, which made the orcs relax a little.
Althea looked back as she was carried, watching the vine go past the thick forest. And...it was still following after them!
The goat let out a panicked ’baa’ sound. "WHAT’S GOING ON!?"
"It should’ve stopped following us by now!" the deer yelled as they ran further away, going a bit farther from the periphery.
Althea pursed her lips, having an inkling that she might be the one responsible for this problem.
Thinking for a moment, she decided to use [Woodland Camouflage], though she wasn’t sure if it would work considering she already captured its attention.
The skill worked by letting her body mimic the surrounding greens, but what if the thing she was hiding from would be a plant itself?
Goodness. She never would’ve imagined this was something she’d ponder about.
Fortunately, it really did slow down, looking less and less interested in them. After a few more minutes, it eventually stopped, and she could see it turn around.
It really looked like a snake, except it had no eyes or mouth, no skin, and had thorns.
Speaking of thorns, the two orcs’ injuries were now bleeding a lot more because of that plant. They essentially had holes in their skin, making their fur mottled and a bit bloody. The wounds weren’t too deep, but the fact that the plant’s thorn even punctured an orc’s hard skin showed how sharp it actually was.
The two orcs heaved a breath of relief, but they did not stop moving forward, as if afraid it would change its mind.
It was too scary, baa!!