Chapter 156 - 113: Silent Forest
CRACK~~
A sharp crack echoed through the forest.
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH—
Several whooshes cut through the air, then all fell silent.
Beside Yuan Xiaobo’s team, several mutant creatures lay in pools of blood. They resembled bobcats, but with scales covering their bodies, crimson eyes, a pair of oversized ears, and a few tentacles protruding from their backs.
No one spoke. They silently moved the mutant creatures aside and continued forward.
Dong Lin’s voice rang in everyone’s minds. ’This damn forest, why are these mutant creatures everywhere? I have to be so careful just to walk.’
’Captain Yuan, can’t we just go on a rampage and wipe these things out?’
’Our goal is to find the giant creature. Aburara said it’s hiding in this forest until the radical faction brings the other one. Who knows what kinds of mutant creatures will show up? If we had a few more like you, the team couldn’t handle it. It’s better to be cautious.’
’Also, this telepathic communication consumes everyone’s Spiritual Energy. Let’s not be too wasteful.’
Dong Lin said no more, accepting Yuan Xiaobo’s reasoning. The group continued deeper into the forest.
This forest at the foot of the mountain was home to a group of unique mutant creatures. No matter what made a sound, if they heard it, they would immediately attack.
If not eliminated quickly, the creatures would cry out and attract even more of their kind.
To avoid any complications, Mirus and Lin Yan had cast a "Silent Walk" Magic spell on the group. Unfortunately, Dong Lin’s own weight and size were so great that he would still inadvertently step on a dry branch and make a sound.
Every time a sound was made, several mutant creatures would attack, but they were always swiftly killed by the team members. Fortunately, they had yet to encounter any powerful ones.
Just then, Mirus spotted a beautiful ice flower and excitedly flew up to it.
A blast of cold air erupted from the ice flower, and Mirus was instantly turned into a block of ice.
At the same time, the forest floor began to freeze rapidly, the ice spreading outward from the flower.
Lin Yan reacted quickly, immediately casting a spell to dispel the frozen state on Mirus. Everyone else ran away from the ice flower as fast as they could.
Inevitably, their movements made a lot of noise, attracting a swarm of mutant creatures.
A short while later, the team members were resting in a clearing filled with trampled plants.
In order to make as little noise as possible, everyone had used silent skills or melee attacks, which inevitably left them splattered with the mutants’ blood.
As Lin Kong wiped the blue blood from his body, he asked Aburara, "What was that flower just now? Do you recognize it? It seemed pretty powerful."
"Mr. Lin, that was an Icy Ice Currant!"
"Huh? You actually know what it is?"
"Yes, it’s one of the powerful early-stage mutant plants. We have records of it in the Underground City’s archives."
"Oh? What are its characteristics?"
"Icy Ice Currants create an extremely cold aura between two plants. Any creatures frozen to death are slowly absorbed by them."
[Name]: Icy Ice Currant
[Description]: Can link with other Icy Ice Currants to create an Icy Ground attack (freezing the ground between two plants) and apply a Cold status to creatures on the Icy Ground once per second, while also dealing ice-type damage.
Direct contact will freeze the target for 5 seconds and trigger the Icy Ice Currant’s attack.
[Attack Power]: 30 (Bonus in cold environments)
[Special Effect]: Cold
[Attack Range]: Between two Icy Ice Currants within 100 meters
[Durability]: 800
"So it requires two Icy Ice Currants to be connected?"
Mirus flew into the forest surrounding the ice flower to check, and sure enough, discovered other Icy Ice Currants nearby.
’The harvest is finally here!’ Lin Kong was overjoyed. This plant’s attack power wasn’t high, but its control abilities were excellent. If he brought it back to his territory, it would not only enrich the local flora but also strengthen its defenses.
"That’s right! Let’s go pick some currants. It’d be even better if we could find seeds." Lin Yan was also delighted. She cheerfully walked up to an Icy Ice Currant and used her Druid ability to communicate with plants, soothing it so it wouldn’t attack her. Then, she slowly pulled the entire plant out of the soil.
She then took a special container from her backpack, carefully preserved the Icy Ice Currant inside, and put it back into her Space Backpack.
With the exception of Dong Lin and Aburara, the others followed her lead, each harvesting a few Icy Ice Currants.
With this new prize in hand, the team’s journey through the forest was no longer just about travel. They began to carefully observe their surroundings, hoping to find more unique mutant plants by checking them against the special ones Aburara had described.
While on the move, the sharp-eyed Mirus noticed something unusual again.
"Hey, I think there’s a reflection over there. Let’s go check it out!"
"Where?" Lin Kong looked up at Mirus, who was hovering in mid-air, then glanced around, but didn’t see any reflection.
"Over there!" Mirus pointed toward the depths of the forest.
Lin Kong leaped onto a nearby tree, and only then did he faintly spot a glint of light from within the dense vegetation.
"There really is a light. Should we go take a look?"
The others also spotted the light from their own high vantage points, and so they unanimously decided to head toward it.
...
"Whoa~ What beautiful flowers!"
When the group arrived at the source of the light, they found themselves before a patch of stunningly beautiful flowers.
Mirus, once again, couldn’t resist the urge to touch them.