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Chapter 185 - Venus Flytraps
🕑 Added 2024-12-03 07:00:08 +0000 UTCThe moment after Nala commenced the counterattacks, a figure burst forward faster than anyone else.
It was Lilian!
She charged straight towards the sole Blooming Stage Demonic Strangler Fig in the group.
The Boss Strangler Fig noticed that it was being targeted, so it immediately redirected its roots and tendrils to defend itself by attacking Lilian. The ground trembled as the boss fig merged and intertwined its roots and tendrils, forming a massive, whip-like tendril that lashed out with terrifying force.
Unfazed, Lilian raised her hand, summoning her plant-based morning star. Thick, spiraling vines emerged from her hand, weaving together to form the flail's handle. At its end, hung a massive, spiked Metallic Durian, giving off terrifying feelings.
As the massive tendril came crashing down, Lilian swung her flail with all her strength. The Metallic Durian connected with the tendril, unleashing a resounding boom.
BOOM!
The durian's spiked surface punctured and shredded the tendril, scattering fragments of wood and sap in all directions.
She continued her rampage by using the flail's flexibility to chain attacks, striking the tendril repeatedly before it could recover.
Some of the splattered corrosive sap fell on her, but she immediately neutralized and cleansed it with her wood Qi.
Lilian's relentless assault drove her closer to the strangler fig's main trunk. With a final, powerful swing, she crushed through its outer bark, exposing the glowing demonic heart embedded within.
Lilian stepped forward, vines extending from her other hand to pluck the demonic heart from the shattered trunk.
Pluck!
The boss demonic strangler fig trembled, its roots and tendrils convulsing as its energy waned.
She held the crystal aloft, its vibrant energy pulsing in her hand. "Leyvi, Leyvi! I got it!" her sound transmissions reached everyone. She looked very excited, jumping up and down, shaking the mountains to the core, as the strangler fig collapsed behind her.
Leyvi, who had been watching Lilian from start to finish, had his mouth agape from how strong Lilian had become while ignoring the relentless attacks from a few strangler figs.
Is this the same shy, adorable Lilian from the past? Her fighting style is so aggressive now. She is still adorable, though.
Suddenly, Leyvi felt that his body wasn't subjected to attacks anymore.
"Huh? They are trying to run away! Oi, come back!" Leyvi chased after them.
It turned out that all the Budding Stage strangler figs became timid after their boss died and chose survival by running away.
While Lilian was still holding the crystal overhead, suddenly the crystal disappeared.
Eh? Where did it go? My plant crystal!
Lilian began to search for it.
Not long later, Leyvi and the group finally defeated the demonic strangler figs group. However, a few of them managed to escape successfully because they had more in number and Leyvi was too lazy to chase further. He couldn't go far from the group because he was their watchtower.
Anda let them consume a detoxification pill to be safe. After all, the demonic strangler figs used quite a lot of poisonous attacks.
"Eh? Why can't I store the demonic heart in the space bag? There's no problem at all when storing the other parts." Valenia felt confused as she held the crystal in her hand.
"The demonic heart is their consciousness. So it's considered a living thing and couldn't be stored in a space bag. After it gets separated from its body, it might take some time before the consciousness dissipates and truly dies. So Val, you just have to wait," Nala explained.
"They are still alive?" Valenia observed the crystals in her hands. Even Slashy was carrying one. Isn't this inconvenient?
Suddenly, everyone received a sound transmission. "Hand them over to me. I can store them."
"Eh? You can store them, Lilian?" Leyvi didn't see the crystal that she prized earlier.
"Hmm....let me see...." Leyvi extended his hand and dug into Lilian's deep valley to search for the crystal.
"Oh no! Val, help! It's devouring my hand!" Leyvi was acting goofy again.
"Darling! Let me help you!" Nala hugged Leyvi from the back while her hands landed on Leyvi's crotch, as she tried to 'help' pull Leyvi away from the bottomless valley.
Valenia rolled her eyes. This guy always started a comedy skit out of nowhere. Before this, only her madam would follow along with his nonsense. Now he had another assistant.
"It entered my garden. The demonic heart's body sprouted again inside." Lilian secretly told Leyvi while his hand was still inside her valley.
"Eh? Really? Can you tame it?" Leyvi felt curious. If Lilian could tame a bunch of demonic plants, would that make her a plant tamer?
Lilian shrugged. She hadn't tried it yet.
"Alright, give all the crystals to Lilian. She can store them in her special valley." Leyvi took out his hand and instructed.
"Darling, can Lilian really do that?" Nala found it hard to believe.
Besides Leyvi and Anda, nobody else knew about Lilian's cheat yet. While they have some suspicion, they were tactful enough not to pry on anyone's secret.
"Hehe, you don't believe me? Watch this." Leyvi put the two demonic heart crystals he got into Lilian's valley while Lilian cooperated by sending them to her garden.
"What? They are really gone! Lilian, your valley is amazing! It's better than a space bag or a space ring!" Nala was amazed.
She also tried putting her crystal in the valley, and it disappeared, too. She didn't doubt the legend of Lilian's bottomless valley anymore. It wasn't just Nala; even Valenia started to believe in Lilian's ability and kept staring at the valley.
Anda giggled at the back, holding up her laugh, seeing the funny situation.
After they stored all the demonic heart crystals in Lilian's garden, they continued moving further along the Serpent's Path.
Leyvi didn't sense any demonic beast or plant along the path. It seemed that the area around here was controlled by the strangler figs group. He was sure that there were many creatures within his spiritual sense range, but as long as they kept hiding, Leyvi wouldn't be able to find them easily.
Although spiritual sense allowed one to have a wider range of sight, it didn't necessarily mean one could notice everything. There were plenty of cases where people couldn't see something directly in their line of sight. The more things people can see, the easier they become distracted.
However, he did find many rare plants that Lilian didn't possess yet. The entire exploration so far has been like a festival to her.
A couple hours later, they finally reached the end of the Serpent's Path and entered the deeper part of Verdant Labyrinth.
The canopies were thicker here, blocking most sunlight and reducing visibility.
In this area, Leyvi and the ladies met with a group of Demonic Venus Flytraps. They had enlarged jaws with sharp teeth lining and glowing red veins inside. They didn't behave like a normal venus flytrap anymore, where they opened their jaws wide, waiting for insects to land inside.
Instead, they hang on the tall tree branches, waiting for their unsuspecting prey to move below them. When Leyvi noticed a bunch of them hanging together on the trees, he acted as the bait to lure them down.
The moment Leyvi walked below them, they released themselves and fell from the trees. However, their attempts to trap and swallow Leyvi failed as he used Big Bang Punch to explode them.
After that, many more poor Venus Flytraps fell victim to their experiments. It seemed that these Demonic Venus Flytraps weren't as smart as the strangler figs and posed less threat. This made Nala feel ashamed. Her information was probably already outdated.
Anda, Lilian, Valenia, and Nala had all tried standing below the Demonic Flytraps, baiting them to attack.
Some were burned to death after they fell into Anda's fire box.
Some were smashed apart by a Metallic Durian.
Some got sliced in half.
And some got shredded by the water umbrella, a smaller version of the water dome.
Lilian then happily collected all the demonic heart crystals from all the defeated demonic plants.
Many hours later, after they encountered other kinds of demonic plants and defeated them, the night fell.
They picked a pleasant spot with an opening between the canopies, where stars could be seen to spend the night. Leyvi brought out one of their carriages for them to stay inside.
Leyvi and the ladies were all meditating to digest the experience they acquired from today's training and to maintain their mental state.
Late that night, Leyvi opened his eyes as something entered the range of his spiritual sense.
"Humans! A bunch of mercenaries were chasing after a few women! What is going on?" Leyvi said.
"Hmph! What else! They wanted to rape those women. Many mercenaries here are scum! In the city, they behaved well because of the law. When outside, especially on the hunting grounds, they act like this! The same thing happened to many ladies in my previous mercenary group." Nala explained angrily.
This was the first time Leyvi saw Nala's angry expression. No wonder Nala said they hated men. Such horrible things happened to them in the past.
"Don't these girls not know about this?" Leyvi asked. He noticed that the chased girls were wearing the same badges as the men chasing them. So they were most likely from the same mercenary group.
"There are probably new recruits. This is one of the easiest hunting grounds, after all." Nala replied.
"Leyvi, let's save the ladies." Anda stared into his eyes and said calmly.
