Plant-Type Monsters 2
Just because you're in a hurry doesn't mean you can charge ahead recklessly — that's how you die.
This isn't a matter of losing some gold or taking a few scrapes. The Tower is a savage place packed with blasphemous monsters even the Goddess of Life herself doesn't know. Walking away badly hurt is the lucky outcome — most adventurers simply vanish inside without even leaving a corpse behind.
Food may not be rendered in the Tower, but appetite is — so you either become a meal for some hunger-maddened monster, or get swept away when the destroyed terrain restores itself.
"Plant monsters that turned undead… Wait, if they have roots and feed on Holy Power, are they even undead?"
"Right? We handed specimens over to the brothers at the Magic Tower, so they should be able to figure something out."
If she had her way, Irene would have charged straight back to the 35th floor to help anyone still in danger. But she knew she couldn't, so she quietly claimed a tent and started gearing up. The rest of the party gathered around her darkened expression, chattering away as if trying to lift the mood.
The topic of conversation was the plant-type monsters we'd encountered for the first time. Most monsters in this world were just animals twisted into something nastier, so there was plenty to be curious about. Then again, even I hadn't run into plant-type monsters all that often.
…Trying to cheer someone up by talking about monsters was a little weird, but it had to be better than sitting in silence, stewing in dark thoughts until you sank deeper into gloom.
"Roland? Do plant-type monsters have any particular traits?"
"Traits? Sure. But those things seem closer to undead than plant-type monsters."
Han Se-ah broke off mid-conversation, camera in tow, and came over to put the question to me. The way the rest of the party peered at me from behind her, it almost looked like they were setting up an interview.
As befitting the number-one clear stream, they were probably expecting some Upper-grade adventurer's monster trivia. Unfortunately, the monsters on the 35th floor defied common sense. Creatures that only sucked up Holy Power? Even the mages at the Magic Tower wouldn't believe it without proof.
Plant-type monsters typically camouflage themselves, lie still, and snatch unsuspecting animals that wander too close — they don't swarm like a zombie horde the moment they sense Holy Power.
"Most plant-type monsters turn up in the far southern reaches of the kingdom. They camouflage themselves as ordinary plants in the dense jungle, lie in wait, and snatch passing animals for a meal. There are species that live in clusters like the ones on the 35th floor, but none that actively charge you."
"Really? Hmm… so I guess the only way to learn more is to go head-to-head with them."
Those eyes, once brimming with anticipation, clouded over with disappointment — but what could I do? If Han Se-ah weren't the number-one streamer, I'd have been happy to look something up online and pretend I knew. But right now she was the first to witness these things as the top streamer.
Still, the party kept the conversation going — pointing out that the monsters' individual combat power was weak, that they didn't react to anything but Holy Power, and so on — doing their best to lighten the mood. Faced with such transparent effort, Irene finally let out a small giggle.
"Thank you, everyone. I'm planning to make stew for dinner, so let's fill our stomachs well and turn in early for tomorrow."
"I'll pull the ingredients from my inventory right now, sis."
We filled up on a stew thicker than usual — more ingredients than normal — then crawled straight into our tents. The next day, thanks to Irene getting up early and having soup ready, Han Se-ah filled her stomach the moment she logged back in, and we set off for the 35th floor.
After blowing up an approaching troll with a single arrow from a distance and dealing with the lizardman skeletons crawling up out of the swamp, we arrived at the passage to the 35th floor. About ten or so adventurers were milling around in front of it.
"…What the hell is this?"
"Well, that's an ominous look."
Ash-white vines had wrapped themselves around the passage leading to the 35th floor.
A passage was basically a freestanding stone doorframe standing alone in an empty plain. But ash-white vines had grown out from within the shimmering mana of the passage itself, coiling tightly around the frame and slowly creeping outward — anyone looking at it would worry about what waited on the other side.
Nobody wanted to charge through without knowing what might happen — that was why they were all hesitating. And of course, not every adventurer standing there was in the same party. Nobody was eager to risk their life for someone else's benefit.
"What should we do, Roland?"
"Same as last time — five minutes… no, better make it ten, just in case. Irene won't be able to use her protective holy arts, so plan on using shield magic."
"Got it."
Leaving behind my worried party and the other adventurers staring at me like I was insane, I threw myself into the passage. The frame might have been wrapped in those unsettling things, but the center was still wide open — nothing to stop me.
I emerged onto the 35th floor with Han Se-ah's camera stuck to me like a ghost. The parasitic vines didn't immediately swarm me, so I took my time surveying the surroundings.
"The trees have multiplied massively… in just one day."
The first thing that hit me was the ash-gray trees and ash-white vines choking what had once been an open view. I distinctly remembered almost no trees near the passage, with more of them appearing the closer you got to the safe zone — but they'd clearly proliferated.
Apparently the Temple knights, priests, and nuns who'd been swept away had been consumed whole. Faced with growth that was hard to believe had happened overnight, I swung my mace at the nearest tree.
With a dull crack, the ash-gray tree toppled limply. It felt like striking a dead, withered old trunk — and the vines coiled around it collapsed to the ground without any resistance either. So they wouldn't even fight back as long as you didn't use Holy Power?
I can't even begin to guess what kind of quest this is. Just a time-attack to root out infinitely proliferating monsters?
Even after I smashed trees and crushed vines, they didn't so much as twitch. I wanted to draw up Holy Power and check their reaction, but the party would be coming through soon, so I held back. Instead, I tore at the vines wrapping the passage I'd come through.
These vines had stretched from the 35th floor down to the 34th like an invasion — so if I ripped them out on this side, maybe the ones on the 34th would die too. My hunch proved right: the party started coming through one by one before the ten minutes were even up.
"What, you're already through?"
"The vines wrapped around the passage suddenly withered and died. We figured you'd cleared the area, so we came through."
"Whoa! Haven't these things multiplied like crazy?"
"They really have, haven't they."
Led by Han Se-ah, who came through without hesitation, the party arrived one by one and startled at the ash-gray trees packing the surroundings. A place that had been empty plain yesterday had turned into a forest overnight — of course they were shocked.
Once through, Katie drew her sword at the sight of the trees I'd smashed. Like a curious child poking at things with a stick, she started prodding the trees and vines with her blade.
"The trees are just ordinary trees. The vines are wrapped around them, but I don't see any roots… Maybe the fine roots disappear when they wither and die so suddenly?"
"If we carefully tear them off without killing them, maybe we can tell whether they have roots or not?"
Then Han Se-ah joined in, eager to give her viewers something useful, and the vines were promptly chopped up and dissected. Examining tree cross-sections, crushing withered vines between their fingers — as they poked and prodded from every angle, Irene and Grace started joining in too.
Of course, no amount of fiddling was going to yield any useful information.
After a stretch of smashing nearby trees and snipping vines with zero progress, the viewers' patience hit its limit. For reasons I couldn't fathom, Han Se-ah seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself — like actual sensory play — and she clicked her tongue softly at the chat.
"Doesn't look like we're going to learn anything hanging around here. How about we head toward the safe zone first, then try reverse-tracking where the vines came from?"
"Sounds good. There were definitely a lot of trees near the safe zone yesterday, so if we go check today, there should be something."
Like a child whose toy had been taken away, Han Se-ah tossed a few grumbles at her viewers before floating the idea to the party — and everyone got up with a look of mild regret. Hmm… was that actually fun for them?