Ch 56: Luminous flower seed
<span style="font-weight:400">On the 7th floor of the Altamirabyrinth.
<span style="font-weight:400">[Fierce Hyena Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Giant Mantis Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Fire Ant Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">''This is an unavoidable fight.''
<span style="font-weight:400">Normally, when entering a floor, the corridor will be straight for a few seconds, and then it can divide in up to 3 different directions.
<span style="font-weight:400">The thing is, right in the middle of that divide are the three previous monsters. The probability of this happening is low, but not impossible. Since they are monsters that we have fought countless times, I could say that our luck attribute had something to do with it.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I will try to defeat the mantis before it gets close to us."
<span style="font-weight:400">"I''ll go after the fire ant, and if the hyenaes near, I''ll fight both."
<span style="font-weight:400">I shot two arrows, one after another. The first one damaged its eye, while the second one was inserted in the center of its head, causing the mantis to go into berserker mode with itsst breath, attacking in all directions without thinking about anything else.
<span style="font-weight:400">Alessia ran in the direction of the ant and, with her spear, pierced in the direction of its head. Thetter protected itself with its jaw, but the weight of the spear was much greater in this encounter, piercing its jaw and then going through its head.
<span style="font-weight:400">At that precise moment, the hyena charged, its snout attempting to bite her.
<span style="font-weight:400">She dodged the attack by moving to the side, but in the process, she hurt the hyena''s nose.
<span style="font-weight:400">The hyena became enraged and began attacking with its legs continuously. Thanks to her agility points, Alessia perfectly dodged all the monster attacks, and at some point, the opportunity arose to deliver a lethal attack.
<span style="font-weight:400">Piercing with its spear, she struck right in the center of the hyena''s eyes, brutally destroying its skull and piercing through its head.
<span style="font-weight:400">[Thin de]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Antenna]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Hyena Paw]
<span style="font-weight:400">"Good job"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Thanks"
<span style="font-weight:400">Lately, I haven''t interfered in her fights since Alessia is strong and doesn''t need my help. In this way, we can divide the enemies in two and only focus on our respective objectives. By the looks of its results, this is the most efficient way we have as a team.
<span style="font-weight:400">"The floor''s default monster is the Carnivorous Flower; it disguises itself with the environment and attacks the adventurers by surprise."
<span style="font-weight:400">"What is it disguised as?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"I skipped that information since it is one of the few enemies on lower floors that can really go unnoticed even at close range. As the path of the adventurer''s temper dictated, I did not inform myself too much to increase its difficulty."
<span style="font-weight:400">We are slowly approaching the 10th floor, where information is sparse, maps are nonexistent, and monsters are not fixed. Onlyrge guilds have this information, and because of this, we must learn everything we can on the lower floors firsthand. Only then will we decrease the probability of death on the upper floors.
<span style="font-weight:400">''Even if my user interface lowers the difficulty, the danger will still be present.''
<span style="font-weight:400">"Well, then, let''s walk slowly to avoid problems."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Yes"
<span style="font-weight:400">And so, we walk longer than usual, hoping to find the monster that is hiding deep in the environment.
<span style="font-weight:400">[Carnivorous Flower Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">''Oh, I knew it. The UI will put all monsters that cloak as primary weapon out of work.''
<span style="font-weight:400">"There it is," I pointed to the monster hideout.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Mm? It''s a little different from the rest but... No, you''re right. It''s these minimal differences that enemies use to deceive us"
<span style="font-weight:400">The corridors of thebyrinth are illuminated thanks to certain flowers that emit a golden light; they are always the same color and will always be the same type of nt.
<span style="font-weight:400">Now the nt in front of us emits a slightly reddish color and has ck markings on its stem. Another of its peculiarities is that, even when there is no wind, it moves slightly from one side to the other. Such differences are so minorpared to the original that anyone could confuse them, even more so in the heat of battle.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I will willingly fall into its trap; if something happens, I expect the support of your arrows."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Yes, go ahead. I''ll have your back covered"
<span style="font-weight:400">At the same time that Alessia moved her spear to touch the ground near the flower, I kept the string taut to shoot at any moment.
<span style="font-weight:400">The instant the ground was struck, a rumble urred.
<span style="font-weight:400">Something came out of the ground at high speed, sending all the rocks used as cover flying. The next second a grotesque flower, 1.5m tall and with a snout simr to that of a beast, without hesitation bit the ce where Alessia struck with her spear.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I''ll shoot at it, get down!"
<span style="font-weight:400">As Alessia crouched down, I fired arrows continuously at what seemed to be its head but… One after another, the arrows piled into it and the monster showed no sign of being weakened in any way.
<span style="font-weight:400">Seeing this, Alessia quickly ran away from there.
<span style="font-weight:400">Her instincts were right, because the flower attacked right away with its nose where Alessia had been.
<span style="font-weight:400">While Alessia is a few meters to my right, the carnivorous flower is a few meters away. We wait patiently for its next move, but… Nothing. Thanks to its big stem, the monster can attack in 360 degrees, but in return, it can''t move from its current position.
<span style="font-weight:400">"It is born, grows, and dies there. Its attack range ispletely limited, and as long as you dodge its surprise attack, it will no longer pose much of a threat." Alessia said.
<span style="font-weight:400">"From the looks of the stem, it seems to be its weakness. It''s so thick that a spear or an arrow can''t cut through it."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Then, when fighting against it, we will have to use our swords," Alessia agreed.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Changing weapons in battle, huh? Do you want me to equip your weapons, or will you?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"If I want to prepare for the future, it is best if I am responsible for my own weapons. The inventory has a great improvementpared to before, so the idea seems feasible"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Mn, you''re right."
<span style="font-weight:400">After removing her sword from my inventory, I handed it over to her. For her part, Alessia took a few seconds to put the spear in her inventory, so that she only had the sword in her hand.
<span style="font-weight:400">''It''s so much easier for me to do this. With just a thought, I can unequip and equip weapons in less than a second.''
<span style="font-weight:400">With the change of weapons finished, we slowly approach the flower in order to measure its attack range. At the same moment that we got within 1.5 meters of it, it made its move.
<span style="font-weight:400">Stretching its body, it opened its snout, showing an infinity of teeth, something impossible for the body of an animal. Alessia simply took a step back and managed to get out of its attack range.
<span style="font-weight:400">Taking advantage of this, I quickly approached its body and swung my sword horizontally. Without any obstacles in between, its stem was severed and the body of the carnivorous flower fell lifelessly to the side.
<span style="font-weight:400">Withering at high speed, it was surrounded by golden particles and disappeared into thin air.
<span style="font-weight:400">[Luminous Flower Seed]
<span style="font-weight:400">Loot in hand, I looked at Alessia.
<span style="font-weight:400">"We can nt it in the garden of the house, generating a path illuminated by them"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Eh? Does a luminous flower really bloom?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Mn, yes. This is one of the loots my parents told me about. As long as you water it like a normal flower, at some point it will generate light. Depending on your luck, each flower can light up with a different color."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Oh, it will be wonderful to enter the house through a path beautifully lit with different colors"
<span style="font-weight:400">Hearing my description, Alessia''s eyes immediately showed a different light, as she did not see this seed as somethinging from a horrible monster but as a priceless treasure.
<span style="font-weight:400">''Well, it''s decided. Tomorrow morning, we will nt it.''
<span style="font-weight:400">"We will have to collect more to make that beautiful imagee true."
<span style="font-weight:400">On her own initiative, Alessia began to walk down the hall in search of the next monster.
<span style="font-weight:400">''Is it toote to tell her that this is the longest way to find the next monster? Mm, well, I won''t say anything. Seeing her like this also has a touch of charm.''
<span style="font-weight:400">[Carnivorous Flower Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Archer Bee Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Archer Bee Lvl7]
<span style="font-weight:400">''A strangebination, huh? Will they collect the pollen from the carnivorous flower? Well, I don''t think so. This is very simr to the past event between the hyena and the shadow cat.''
<span style="font-weight:400">While the two bees fell under my arrows, the carnivorous flower continued to camouge itself on the ground, waiting for us to walk alongside it to attack us by surprise.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Let''s see if it also reacts to the arrow attack."
<span style="font-weight:400">In the instant that the arrow embedded itself in the ground near the flower, the carnivorous flower quickly appeared from the ground, biting in that same ce. Everything indicates that it reacts to the pressure of any type of object, regardless of its weight.
<span style="font-weight:400">In the shortest possible time, Alessia changed her spear for the sword and approached the monster. Entering its attack range, it immediately lunged at Alessia trying to bite her.
<span style="font-weight:400">She dodged to the side and tried to get closer to its stem, but then the flower made an unnatural move. Bending its body again, it directed its snout towards her new position.
<span style="font-weight:400">''— Grass-type monsters don''t perform the same movements as those with a flesh body, huh? I''ll keep that in mind from now on.''
<span style="font-weight:400">Using her sword, she stopped the flower from approaching.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then she attacked vertically and then horizontally. Although the cuts seemed to regenerate to the naked eye, this caused great lethargy in its movements.
<span style="font-weight:400">Alessia approached the center of its body again and attacked in a straight line with her sword. This time, the carnivorous flower could not follow her movements and fell to the floor lifeless.
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