Chương 110: Chapter 109: Death

We have reached the second column, and the plants have intensified their assault further. Now everyone is fighting, even those who are protected. Ethan, Cooper, and Roth are fighting; they barely have any experience, but they are fighting with the experienced edge. One does not need years of experience; they only need skills. It is Viscount's skill, an army skill; that gave them knowledge and familiarity to fight.

It is a very desired skill in the army; one that promotes you to a certain level if you get this skill. Slash Slash Slash My saber slashed through one plant after another, but I am feeling no joy in doing that, instead, worry. We have reached only a second column, and the intensity of the attacks is this high. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of attacks we would receive when we reached the tenth column, the twentieth.

We do not know exactly how many columns we will need to pass to reach the exit, but from what I could deduce, it should be around fifty. That terrifies me, but there is nothing I could do about it.

"Pod!" I shouted as I saw the pod appearing from the group of plants ahead of me. A moment later it exploded, sending out a yellow cloud at us, but before it could come closer. A ball of water shot past me and exploded into a wave of mist and enveloping the yellow cloud and sending it away. I heaved a sigh of relief and kept cutting the plants.

"I thought with such a powerful team; we wouldn't need to worry about getting out of here, but now looking at these bloodthirsty plants, I think, I had been utterly wrong thinking that," said Heiman. He seemed to use the skill to talk; nobody seemed to hear that aside me and Brul. This is good because these are not motivational words that one would like to hear at a time like this.

"My uncle had said, more than half of the people of his party had died reaching for the exit and those who survived were nearly at death's door," replied Blur as effortlessly cut the vine thicker than my thigh.

"Though I still think we have great chances to survive," he added, looking at the Viscount. His sword is cutting through everything that came at him and freezing the whole thing to the end, killing it. He is the only one killing the plants to roots, while all of us are cutting them. A few minutes passed, and we crossed the third column and reached the fourth one, making attacks on us more intense.

"Fuck!" Roth screamed as the plant bit him on his thigh before Jon had cut it apart and sprinkled the potion on the wound, before moving to deal with the other plants coming. The wound was slight, but it had made everyone's expressions serious and their movements cautious. This is a small glimpse of what will happen in the coming minutes. It was Roth now, but soon it will be us, and the wounds we will get wouldn't be as small as this one.

I cut the plants, putting extra effort into conserving as much as energy I could. As I will be needing it ahead. Thankfully, I hadn't used my skills yet. I would have needed to use them if I hadn't gotten the buff from others, which is helping me a lot. Hun! I was dealing with the plants when I saw something strange. Tens of vines are coming at us like snakes. They are not only moving like a snake but also making a hissing sound like snakes.

They look so much like the snakes that, for a second, I thought they were snakes, but they are plants. No other living survives in this place other than the plants; these plants will kill anything that is living other than them. Slash Slash Slash Brul, Heiman, and I cut through the vine snakes. They tried to move away and jumped at us, but it was useless.

"These vines snakes are quite tough. If we did not have the enchanted weapons, cutting through them would have been hard," said Heiman and I couldn't help but nod. I felt the strength of the vine snakes and know how hard it would have to kill them without the enchantment sharpness on my saber. Especially for me, seeing I don't have any skill that increases the sharpness of my attack. My combat skill tends to focus on increasing the power of attacks, rather than the lethality of the weapon.

Those two are completely different things. We take one step after another, not stopping even for a second, cutting everything that came our way. Soon, we passed through the tenth column and plants have become denser. The untamed garden and the corridor, both of them filled so densely with the plants, that I could not see even a single inch of stone. Nearly all of these plants are deadly. Some are more than others. Hun!

I cut the four plants when another wave of plants came and, seeing it, my expression turned serious. Even with Brul and Heiman, it will be hard for me to defend against it.

'I guess, it leaves me no other choice,' I thought and moved my saber, but this time, it was no simple attack, but the one that is filled with the power of the Consecutive Strike. Slash Slash Slash My saber cut through one blue plant before moving to purple vines and then the red flower and again to the black plant. The saber moved with the power of a Consecutive Strike, becoming slightly more powerful with each strike.

It was a good thing I decided to use the skill otherwise; I wouldn't have been able to deal with the attack.

"Fuck!" Ethan cursed as the plant pierced a needle inside him and begin to drink his blood before he cut it and removed the needle. I barely glance at him before I needed to look up and attack again with Consecutive Strikes, to deal with the wave of flowers with a sharp tooth. I had cut the plants when another large wave of plants come from the left and attacked it, without breaking the rhythm of the skill. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Things are getting harder," said Joseph from the other side and it is true, in these few seconds, things have become harder all of a sudden. I dealt with the wave of vines and cut them before another wave came of plants came and I dealt with them too. It is like in these past few seconds; some switch had flipped, making things difficult. A few minutes passed, and things got even more intense. Three times, I had been nearly bit and cut by the plants.

Now, I am using Consecutive Strikes constantly; there is no other option. If I did not, the plant will injure me, and I can't have that. I can't be like Ethan and the other two, who are getting injuries all over them. Jon is helping them now, and then, but they need to protect themselves and pushed harder. The sooner they understand that, the better would be or they wouldn't be able to come out alive from this place. If things kept getting back at this rate. Rip!

Minutes passed when the plant was able to avoid my saber and cut my shoulder. The wound was slight, and barely a drop of blood come out, but it was an important moment. This injury signifies that things are finally going to be dangerous for me. I am not careful, one of the blades of plants will decapitate me or needle me to drain my blood. I cut the plant that cut me before moving my saber, to deal with another wave of plants with the Consecutive Strikes.

A minute passed, and I nearly broke the record of Consecutive Strikes, I had made fighting the undead on the island. Still, despite that, the two plants came and injure me lightly. Things are becoming dangerous with every step; Zela is casting a poison detection more often. Hun! Suddenly, a loud rustle rang out and another wave of vines came, and this wave is different from all the others we have faced. They are ropes. The tens of vines bungled together into the ropes, which are thick as my waist.

Tens of these thick rope vines are coming, with sharp thorns, all over them; a direct hit and it will be a game over for me. Consecutive Strikes Weighted Strike I was already attacking with the Consecutive Strike and added a Weighted Strike on top of it as I attacked. One part of my mind is calling it an overreaction, but the other is accenting. The enchanted weapon is sharp, but I could not take the risk. If it failed to cut them, they will come at me.

SLICE With a powerful attack, my saber touched the thick rope vines and begin to cut through them like butter. It took a fraction of a second for it to cut through it, and it moved to the second rope vine and cut it, before moving to cut another wave of plants coming behind it. The speed of my saber is fast, as it cut through the attacks coming from above. It is all thanks to the Consecutive Strikes. This skill is broken when it comes to dealing with a wave of dumb enemies.

Still, even with the broken skill, defending every attack is not easy. One of them had been able to avoid it with my saber and struck my shoulder guard. I cut it before moving to defend against another wave of attack. A few more minutes passed, and things have become even more difficult. Especially for Ethan and the other two; a lot of injuries have appeared on their bodies and so are the changes in their fighting style. Roth and Cooper are panicking with every attack that hit them; making them fight worse.

The opposite is happening with Ethan. He seemed to understand, while he is protected, he will need to defend against the attack that slips through protection. If he could not, then he will die. Soon, we reached the fifteenth column and kept moving while dealing with the attacks. Rip Rip! Suddenly, two attacks came from the crack and gave two cuts on my legs before I was able to deal with them. This was no normal injury, but the painful one; those fucking plants release pain toxins, making it hurt like hell.

I don't know whether it is simple pain or a nasty toxin; I wanted to drink anti-toxin medicine immediately, but I waited. Zela is using a poison-detection spell every minute; it had been nearly a minute since she had done and used it in a few seconds. I will drink it after she cast a spell. I have only three bottles and did not spend them before, I am sure. A few seconds later, she cast the spell, and I was relieved, seeing there is no poison or other toxins that are harmful to me. Puch!

Barely a second passed after she had cast a spell when a sharp vine come from above and pierced through Roth's helmet into his brain. Killing him immediately. It happened so suddenly that, nobody had time to save him. It could be even said, it happened at the perfect moment, when everyone who could save him was far too away from him.

"Roth!" Cooper shouted, seeing his body falling. Jon appeared beside and cut the vine that killed him, before taking the weapon off his hand.

"We keep moving," said Viscount. He did not stop, nor did we. We knew there will be death and were prepared for such a scenario, which is to keep moving. Our destination is exit and till we reach it, we will keep moving, no matter who dies. Still, the death had hit me harder than I thought. It made me realize how close I am to death. These plants only need a single well-placed attack to kill me.

"Roth!" Cooper said with tears dripping from his eyes as he moved with us and soon Roth's body moved out of the formation. The moment it had happened, the plants moved toward it ravenously, covering it like a mound. A couple of seconds later, they moved away and there was nothing aside from his clothes. The plants did not leave behind, even bones or hair; they ate everything.