Four days later. Deep in the shifting forest, Lilie hid within one of the many crawling trees. She scanned the foggy forest floor for signs of disturbance.

Today, she was hunting. There. By the small bush below. I see you. Hidden among the grasses surrounding the bushes filled with sweet-smelling fruit were vines snaking through the area. They were still like any other plant, but if anyone were to look closer, they would discover a thin layer of fine hairs on them.

Her gaze swept forward, finding more and more of these vines. They were very thin. Almost invisible. And she frowned at the sight of them. When was the last time she had been unable to sense a nearby plant? It was probably before her apprentice ascension. Still, this meant that these vines carried their own sentience. And should she haven't noticed them...

Sighing, Lilie turned her attention to the tree beside her where Morgan hid. As if noticing her gaze, he turned to lock eyes with her before offering a thumbs-up and a charming smile. Caught peeking!

Dopey jerk. Lilie pouted at him before looking downwards. This is serious!

Her attempt to appear nonchalant was met with a chuckle, which made her even more embarrassed.

Get a hold of yourself. Team leader should be here soon... Lilie steeled her focus and reminded herself of the plan.

A sudden pitiful cry shocked her out of her daze. Down below, the sounds of leaves rustling and twigs snapping were heard until a fawn-like creature burst from the bushes. It wobbly stopped and licked at the long, bleeding gash on its leg. Fearfully, desperately, it then raced forward to escape its pursuer.

But in its attempt, it stepped on one of the vines.

At that moment, the vine sprang to life! Lighting fast, it wrapped around the doe's leg and trapped it in place. The doe shrieked as it struggled to escape, as more and more vines entangled around it.

But it was too late. The doe toppled over as the vines constricted it. They began discharging a purple and vicious liquid on the fine hairs that dug into the helpless doe. And soon, the doe stilled, eyes wide open. The vines began to pull it backward, dragging it along the ground and deeper into the forest.

Now, it was time to move. Lilie and Morgan jumped down and turned in the direction from which the doe emerged. Anari emerged from the bushes, her sword dripping with blood and a yellow liquid. With a head flick forward, she led Team Breeze and chased the vines.

But as they advanced, the vines began to infest the floor. Thus, Anari silently pointed at a creeping tree and started climbing. The two followed suit, and Team Breeze commenced hopping from one tree to another to move forward.

Yet the vines covered the path as they drew ever closer. The trees' lack of a clear path forced Team Breeze to take detours. Hours passed until they arrived at a hidden clearing.

And there it was. In the far distance, they witnessed the vines converge to a single point. Connected to these vines was a massive Venus flytrap as large as a tree with a stem covered in thick bark and sharp barbs. And from its large, bulbous mouth was a set of large, sharp thorns for teeth that dripped purple, viscous liquid onto the barren ground.

Speaking of the barren ground. All flora had died down to the very grass. Well, save for the vines that grew from its stem, with a particularly colossal vine as wide as a tree trunk that rested by the side.

The plant remained still—and for good reason. When Anari silently pointed at its stem, Lilie and Morgan witnessed a lump slowly moving down the gullet. The lump would occasionally twitch, forcing more purple liquid out of the plant's mouth.

The spirit beast appeared to have taken the bait and was currently digesting it.

Time to plan.

Wayfarer Leal silently gestured at the two, pointing two fingers toward her violet eyes before pressing them against her opposite palm. Lilie and Blake nodded in response and took a brief respite to memorize the terrain.

There. A pond snaked by vines. Lilie pointed toward it and drew the other's attention. Once Anari caught sight of it, she glanced at Morgan, who nodded and closed his eyes. Five seconds later, he nodded at the others.

However, they did not immediately strike. Instead, Anari nodded to Lilie, prompting her to whisk five glass jars from her spatial pouch. They appeared to be nothing special, save for the occasional luster from the clear liquid within.

But she wasn't done yet. Lilie also pulled out a small box and opened it. And inside was ammo. A lot of ammo. But Lilie had these rounds specifically enchanted with runes meant to erupt with concussive force.

Once she had reloaded her revolvers and repeater, Lilie stowed her ammo box and pulled out a quiver brimming with arrows. This was her expertise. To rain down on her enemies with rounds.

But Lilie still softly sighed. In the past few days, she attempted her floramancy to see if she could stun it, only to meet with disastrous results. It was a shame, but that only meant it had a higher affinity to the life domain, which was good. If it didn't, then they wouldn't have been here in the first place. Be it as it may, Lilie would have to sit back and pepper it with bullets while the others were the vanguard. And oh, how she hated being left behind. But now wasn't the time for such things.

Lilie nodded at the others, and Team Breeze slowly set off. They kept among the trees and made a detour around the clearing, heading to the pond. But mid-way through, Anari gestured a stop. The others halted and watched Anari slowly climb down and press her hand on the tree's trunk. Her hand emitted a brief cyan luster before revealing five wind runes on the bark's surface, aimed toward the clearing.

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Then they were off again. Anari planted more wind runes at different locations while the team took extra care to avoid making a sound. This was wasted time. But Team Breeze was all for it, as they had planted a nice little surprise that needed to be digested.

Soon, they were above the pond. Anari pointed at Lilie and then downwards at the tree.

She wants me to stay?!

Lilie was about to protest, but ultimately sighed. Withdrawn, she knelt down and readied her rifle. Meanwhile, Anari and Morgan exchanged a glance. The two nodded, and both readied their jars.

Now! Channeling her life and wind runes in her arm, Anari vaulted the jar straight toward the plant's mouth. A direct hit! It shattered and spilled water across the mouth's surface. A moment later, it immediately froze into a layer of ice that glued its mouth shut. Meanwhile, Morgan followed suit, throwing three jars onto the vines below, including the massive one.

They shattered and froze their targets in an instant. Then Morgan jumped down first and used his aquamancy on the pond. Its water surged upwards and met him in the middle of his descent, changing into a frosty hammer.

Then Morgan smashed downwards. The force was more than enough to shatter ice and crush matter, killing the vines on their landing zone. The two anchored by the pond and prepared themselves.

Meanwhile, the flytrap gutturally roared. It pulled its jaw with all its might to break the ice, only to fail. But that hadn't meant it was left useless. Its massive vine moved against the groaning ice along with several high-speed tendrils and shot forward to Team Breeze.

But Anari was prepared. With a woosh, she brandished her sword and sliced through the air, launching several wind crescents. Then she raised a fist and clenched it.

Crack

All runes she planted shattered, unleashing a barrage of wind crescents to intersect the dozen approaching tendrils, effortlessly slicing through them.

Crack

Morgan followed suit. Dozens of runes on his arm shattered as he raised them. Behind him, a human-sized ice shard rose from the waters. He shot it forward, and it smashed into the massive fine. It struck! The massive vine was sent crashing backward with a resounding thud.

"It's not dead yet," Morgan grunted.

With a twist of his hands, he sacrificed more runes to form an icy barrier around the two just in time to meet the remaining shooting tendrils. They punctured into the cracking ice but couldn't pierce entirely through. But that was the plan. Blake closed his fists and closed the puncture holes around the vines, trapping them as bullets rained from above. They exploded on impact, shredding every trapped tendril to ruin.

But round two just came. More vines shot like spears along with the massive tendril.

"It's coming!" Lilie's cry echoed from above.

Morgan nodded and extended his arm, first gesturing to the pond and then to the wall. His body gleamed with blue light as water surged forward, reinforcing the barrier with more layers of ice.

At the same time, Anari pressed her hand on the cold barrier. Swirling in grey light, she embedded tens of arcane runes into the wall and reinforced its defenses just as the massive vine crashed into it.

The two gritted their teeth as the pressure pressed onto them, channeling their mana onto the cracking barrier.

"Lilie, now!" Anari yelled.

At that moment, a jar hurtled from above and smashed into the giant tendril, encasing it in ice.

Attack!

Anari and Morgan darted to the side as the icy barrier collapsed into slush, then flash-froze, trapping the vines within! Seizing the opportunity, all three Wayfarers launched their attacks simultaneously!

Lilie was first. She unloaded every round onto the giant tendril, exploding chunks from its stem. Then, there was the tired Morgan, who shot ice spikes at the smaller vines. Finally, there was Anari, who did the most damage as she launched arcane crescents one after another.

And their combined assault was enough. Anari made a final slash, and it tore straight through the limb and ripped it in half! And once that was down, Lilie drew her revolvers and fired at the remaining trapped vines, destroying them.

But there was no time to rest; Team Breeze heard the ice shattering before they watched the monster's mouth break free from its seal.

The creature roared with malice. Under the explosive shots of Lilie's revolvers, it unleashed a torrent of purple bile onto the retreating vanguard, not caring for the fleshy chunks that tore off of it.

And for good reason. Because every wound began to heal right before Team Breeze's eyes!

"Regenerator!" Anari's cry pierced the chaos as she sprinted forward, deftly dodging the sluggish vines.

She closed in and launched a salvo of wind crescents, each leaving a gaping wound on its massive stem. Meanwhile, Lilie struck with a hail of arrows enchanted with frost and force. Their combined attack became the main focus as Blake dipped through the crawling trees with watery tendrils on his back and circled around. But the two blows were left wanting. The plant's wounds healed almost as quickly as they appeared. The fight began to drag on, and it began to feel like an unwinnable battle. Anari, too, began to falter, her movements growing strained as she struggled to evade the onslaught of vines and bile.

And all it took was one misstep.

Anari stumbled during her leap as a flinging vine ensnared her foot. It released its toxic bile, paralyzing her leg. Then, with a yank, it dragged her closer and closer to the towering flytrap.

"Anari!" Lilie's desperate cry echoed as she fired arrows one after another. But the vine was too fast. It dragged Anari closer and closer to the awaiting jaws.

And that moment, she was consum—The fly trap lurched upwards as a pair of icy hooks tore through its lobe! Just moments before, Morgan had launched himself from the trees with his water limbs. Not wasting a second, he sacrificed even more water runes and willed his watery tendrils to launch downwards to grip the earth. And they yanked him along and forced the flytrap's maw wide open!

"Lilie, the bomb!" Morgan shouted.

Reacting swiftly, Lilie retrieved the jar of red liquid and wedged a seed between it and the arrowhead. Sacrificing several life runes, she spurred the seed to sprout into a thin rope of grass, binding the jar and arrow together.

Quickly, she pulled her bowstring taut and fired.

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