Monster Flower (5)
'No wonder it felt a bit bland.'
Yeah, fine, I'll admit it. I got a little cocky. When I first dropped into this place, even though the mutants I ran into had some seriously fucked-up looks, I figured I could handle them all no problem. But it didn't take long to realize that was pure arrogance.
Little monster flowers popping up out of the ground like weeds. Every single one of those mob-filler bastards was a Type 2 mutant. And mixed in among them, spewing out ominous auras like mid-bosses, were ones at the peak of Type 2... roughly Type 2.7 mutants.
Sorry. Eh? This is just boss room level? Lame~ Lame~ Forgive me for thinking that?
"Kieeeek!!"
"Keaak!!"
Fuck, looks like you're not in a forgiving mood at all. No opening act, they just charge straight at me, and I shout back.
"Come at me, all of you!!"
The monster flower's minions, their setup complete, rush in without a second's hesitation. And me? Same deal.
I explode the internal energy I'd subtly infused into Hope, scattering sword qi like flower petals in every direction. Three mutants charging in with gusto get caught in it, their flesh shredded into chunks. Like dumping them into a giant hand mixer and pureeing the whole lot—what a sight.
Great start, shitty finish. Behind the flying meat chunks and spraying blood fountains, more mutants come swooping in.
"Kieeeek!!"
These ones all have one arm stretched out long and spear-like. Like they were pieced together for the job, they swarm from all sides with fluid spearwork.
Pu-pu-pu-puk—
Spear blades thrusting out. I recall Hope and raise a sword barrier, but the result isn't as elegant as I'd hoped.
Up, down, left, right. I block the chaotic stabs successfully, but I can't fend off the tangled weight behind them.
Kiiikiiik—!!
A heavy dissonance, and an even heavier mass. The overwhelming density of that compressed, recompressed flesh crushes down on my knees.
I never realized it before since I hadn't clashed like this, but these fuckers...
They're insanely heavy. Like even those hulking, grotesque slabs of meat were squeezed down from something even bigger.
"Keaak!!"
"Kieeeek!!"
Feels like I've suddenly uncovered one of their secrets out of nowhere, but no time to ponder the mysteries of mutant biology right now. Aside from those four spearmen swarming chaotically, something's stirring underfoot too.
Kwaaang!!
Tentacles bursting up, shattering the ground. Indiscriminate as hell, they turn the whole area into a thorn hellscape.
Naturally, the spear mutants pinning me down get nicely skewered too. And me? What about me?
What do you think? Heaven's Mechanism Calculation: Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell.
Inner energy drains from my dantian like an ebbing tide, activating the technique. I drop Hope, my body wriggling like a maggot to slip out of the thorn hell.
Dopamine-rush thrill of a narrow escape. Even better than the searing pain exploding in every joint—I grit my teeth and reach out.
"Hope!!"
I call out with spirit, and she answers. True to form as a sword that stretches like a rubber band, her hilt elongates right into my grip.
Next up? Hope's Dance of Bloody Blades.
That side's a melee frenzy? This side's a frenzy too. Countless sword gleams sweep through them hot and heavy.
Nice. That took out eight of 'em—
"Kiyaaak!!"
"Kyaaak!!"
Fuck... is the math right here? How does cutting down eight spawn nineteen more?
I'm so pissed and aggrieved tears are welling up, but no time to whine. The tidal wave of mobs is violence incarnate. Their relentless barrage, no matter how many I slice, forces me back behind an endless curtain of flesh.
The mutants hound me like maniacs. As if shoving me back is their whole purpose.
...Wait, shoving me back is the purpose?
Kwak—!
"You fucking—!"
Just as my back hits what I thought was a wall, that "wall" splits into a massive maw and snaps shut.
I slam Hope into the ground like a thruster and rocket forward, dodging it. One beat slower and I'd have been swallowed whole.
"No way..."
A surging premonition hits me, so I circulate the Ley Line Resonance Art. Normally for finding dragon veins, but martial arts bend to your will.
I focus my mind, extending senses deep underground, and an unpleasant echo returns.
Far. Deep. With noise scattered throughout. The sharp malice radiating from them reveals an uncomfortable truth.
"No, it was really a stomach sac?"
Whatever happened, this whole space is the thing's gut. Calling the entire town the monster flower's digestion vat was metaphorical before, but this area? Literal.
Not just covered in mutant flesh out of sight—something unknowable writhes below. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so I can't know for sure.
Honestly, I can guess without looking.
"Kieeeek!!!"
"Keaak!!"
"Yeah, so you lot must be the digestive enzymes."
I blend back into the fray with the maniacally charging horde. Swing Hope to shred the incoming ones, occasionally stabbing sword tips into their bellies to refill my energy. Sometimes I grab their heads barehanded and unleash the Absorption Great Law.
"Kiiiieeeek...!!"
"There, there. It'll be over quick."
The now-familiar technique activates in seconds. The mutant withers like a mummy. I toss it aside like a spent cig butt and—
"Ughhhkk!!"
—hack up another glob of black dead blood.
"Kuhk... kuh..."
We've fought so fiercely my lungs are burning hot. Crack 'em open and you'd probably find blood sausage inside. My overworked heart's screaming for a break. We'll all die at this rate!!
But what can I do? It's not up to me.
"Kieeeek!"
"Keaak!!"
"You rude fucks. Don't you know emergency stop?!"
While I'm puking blood, they see an opening and swarm again. Stab, slash, swing, carve, poke, parry, slice, suck dry.
Lost in the trance of swordplay, my wounds pile up fast.
Pu-shuk, pu-uk!
Pit—!
Not bred for propagation anyway—these mutants, all-in on aggression. They throw their lives away like trash, and even grazes turn fatal. Inevitable injuries stack relentlessly.
Each time, blood trickles out, soaking the ground. It's a proper feeding frenzy.
"I eat you to refill my blood, and you drink mine."
Tzuzuguguk—!
I murmur while decapitating a Type 2.6? Or 2.7 mutant.
"Vicious cycle, huh?"
Doesn't matter if it hears me. Point is, I think I know where the big one is now.
"Right?!"
Ku-gugugugugugu!!!
I slam Hope into the ground with all my might. Not the stop-lurker thrust I've been using.
This drives the sword tip deeper, more covertly. More precisely, using Hope's elasticity to extend the blade to deep and distant spots.
Deep enough to reach the dragon vein buried in flesh and roots.
Pu-uk!
Hit it. I feel the hand sense. The sensation from the Ley Line Resonance Art earlier, reaching this place's dragon vein.
Too far for me alone, so Hope's help was key. But I feel the tip connect.
And plus, as expected, you're there.
The presence of that horrific, nauseating tumor-like mass rooted beside it.
Yeah, no need to say it. That flower blooming high on the building? A trap. Its true body is the roots sunk deep below.
Not surprising. Common knowledge: a plant's real body is the roots, not the flower.
Gegegegegege—
But the bastard that just got its obvious secret read is pissed. Sensing danger from something probing its core, it shakes the underground space and vomits up more mutants.
The small monster flowers blooming around flaunt their saw-tooth maws and charge in.
Guess I stabbed somewhere vital? Makes sense. What I pierced is its nutrient-absorbing roots. It's in the middle of slurping up a massive Type 3 mutant right now.
But hey.
Frankly, that's kinda unfair.
"You bloodsucking prick. After guzzling all my blood, you can't spare one bite?!"
Too cheap to bear.
"Hope! You take a big bite at least!"
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!!!
Hope's blade, stretched deep underground, splits into dozens of prongs. And like it's proving its origins, it voraciously devours all the nutrients flowing around.
Including what the monster flower was feeding on.
Jjuwaaaaaap!!
"Ooooh!"
Massive power overflows. Clearly the premium stash the flower was saving—
"Itadakimasu!!!"
Eh? Flower girl, you hate this? Fine, I'll eat it for you!!
Like the school bully snatching my treasured Vienna sausages back in the day. I greedily steal and gulp the power source.
Overflowing energy. Unlike the flower, I don't hoard—I unleash it wildly.
Kwa-guguguguk!!!
I let Hope keep sucking it up, while swinging my sub-weapons, the two machetes I brought, scattering sword qi everywhere.
The charging small monster flowers bloom into oblivion together. Stronger mutants get scattered like decorations on top.
Amazing part? My internal energy's still got plenty left.
—Giiiiaaaaaaaa!!!!
The monster flower, stung hard by my bite, roars from deep underground.
"Whoa, whoa. Don't take it so hard."
I offer hollow comfort to the enraged flower whose meal I stole. Don't worry. We pay back in full.
"Here, payback for what I ate."
Grip Hope's hilt tight, channel the overflowing energy.
300% Ley Line Resonance Art.
Ku-uuuung—!!
A solemn boom echoes, and the buried dragon vein below belches forth.