frightfiction Chapter 534 Parasitic Vines
Chapter 534 Parasitic Vines
The group was about seven or eight meters away from the main trunk and the cocooned roots of the banyan tree, and they had no idea whether Leng Yuexiu was alive or dead.
Black Hawk's turbulent blood surged with his emotions, and dark energy materialized into a jet-black claw held in his hand.
He stood coldly beside Su Jiancheng, asking in a low voice, "What should we do? Can I flash over and cut them down?"
The rabbit stared unblinkingly at Leng Yuexiu's position, its pupils shifting and dilating violently, clearly observing him.
Su Jiancheng was afraid that Black Hawk would act impulsively and rush forward without understanding the situation, potentially taking another person with him. So he pressed down on Black Hawk's shoulder and whispered, "Calm down, don't make any rash moves."
Yan Lina’s voice was unwavering, as if afraid that no one would hear her: “What’s the panic? Master is not in any immediate danger. I haven’t sensed any loss of life in him. Right now, it looks more like he’s going into hibernation on his own.”
Yan Lina's words were like a thunderbolt, and everyone except Bai Mengyan looked at her.
Su Jiancheng hurriedly asked, "What do you mean? You mean the boss deliberately went into an unconscious state?"
Yan Lina shrugged. "Yes, that's all I can sense. I don't know the specifics."
Su Jiancheng had no choice but to give up on getting more information from Yan Lina. He focused his attention on the rabbit, whose supernatural abilities continued to fluctuate, indicating that it was still focused on observing the mutated banyan tree.
The appearance of the parasitic vines was an accident, and it was a mistake that the rabbit hadn't detected it before.
It now appears that the parasitic vines may pose a greater threat than the mutated banyan tree, with the two organisms complementing each other and forming their own world.
If we extrapolate in this way, then it's not just these two plants; there might also be some accompanying insects, such as fig wasps, and other organisms might also be present.
Su Jiancheng was anxious, but her strength was too weak to launch a surprise attack to rescue people, so she could only place her hopes on others.
Bai Mengyan suddenly spoke up, "Rabbit, pay attention to the energy fluctuations. I'm going to investigate."
"Yes."
The rabbit seemed to have been prepared all along, responding to Bai Mengyan's voice without any hesitation.
Bai Mengyan seemed to completely disregard whether the others were prepared. After giving her instructions, her body suddenly disappeared from the suspended mid-air, leaving only the distortion caused by the spatial collapse and the silver spatial dust.
The next instant, her figure appeared in front of Leng Yuexiu, but she was still floating in the air and did not land on the ground.
Irregular spatial fragments floated and danced around Bai Mengyan, as if they were her guardian spirits. Once they sensed any threat, they would immediately piece together an indestructible barrier to protect her.
Bai Mengyan's move made her teammates gasp for breath while standing inside the ring of fire. The densely packed, mummified corpses hanging from the vines were incredibly intimidating, as if going any further would lead to forbidden territory. Bai Mengyan's sudden intrusion into this area made everyone's hearts leap into their throats.
Su Jiancheng's eyes widened, her mind screaming, "They're all crazy! They're all crazy!" She kept her voice very low, afraid that shouting would disturb the vines' attack on Bai Mengyan.
"Cover her!"
The crossbow bolts that Niu Erzhu had made in his spare time came in handy. Although their superpowers were powerful, their current level was generally low and their control over them was average. Naturally, they were not as fast as firearms or instant weapons like these.
Only Bai Mengyan's spatial magic and Leng Yuexiu's wind magic can achieve precise kills on a small, single target without affecting others.
Su Jiancheng and Niu Erzhu's fireballs are more focused on area-of-effect damage, and their flight speed is not comparable to that of wind blades or space blades.
Cheng Kaixi does possess powerful superpowers, but her Light Slash would cause a wide-area attack, which is not suitable for the current situation.
Cheng Lu's water-type and the snow leopard's ice-type are more functional, with a long preparation time and insufficient destructive power.
In the event of a prolonged battle, one person can spread water while the other can cover the enemy with ice. As the battlefield environment changes, the combat effectiveness of these two individuals will increase exponentially.
They currently have "hostages" in the other side's hands, and they are both well aware that they cannot "wake up" the other side, so they cannot use their supernatural abilities on a large scale for the time being.
Bai Mengyan had no time to pay attention to what her teammates were doing. Up close, she could see that Leng Yuexiu was breathing evenly and that there were no injuries on his exposed body. Only then did she turn her attention to the roots that were binding Leng Yuexiu.
Rather than calling it a cocoon formed by roots, it's more accurate to say it's a product of the combination of the root system of the banyan tree and the root system of some kind of climbing parasitic plant.
If the green tree crystals they saw earlier belonged to mutated banyan trees, then all the crystal energy of the many dried corpses hanging on them should have been drained, and the tree crystals should not have been below the second tier yet, requiring Leng Yuexiu to transfer energy into them to advance.
Based on this reasoning, a vine that can cover such a large area as the bottom canopy should also have produced a fairly large crystal.
If this guess is correct, Leng Yuexiu's lack of struggle and resistance is most likely due to mimicking the state of the banyan tree, keeping himself as calm and undisturbed as possible, so as not to trigger the ferocity and predatory nature of the vines.
What should she do...?
Recalling the scene seen through the ring's spatial sensing, Leng Yuexiu must have separated the tree crystal from the mutated banyan tree; this is absolutely certain.
The fleeting image of roots clinging to and wrapping around Leng Yuexiu's arm was most likely dominated by vines.
The original plan was to obtain the tree crystal here and then set off to escape. By acting simultaneously, the mutated banyan tree would be unable to attend to both sides at the same time and would have to choose one side to stop it with all its might, which would be advantageous to their operation.
It now appears that after the tree crystal was removed, the mutated banyan tree's control over itself was reduced to a minimum, making it difficult for it to exhibit the same targeted attack behavior as before.
Losing the dendrites means losing the ability to mobilize energy and the ability to rapidly generate and transform.
In other words, the mutated banyan tree now is just an ordinary giant tree that has grown explosively.
Behind Bai Mengyan, a series of spatial steps solidified, trending upwards.
She gave Leng Yuexiu a deep look, turned around nimbly, and stepped onto the floating steps, gradually ascending to the height of the tree canopy at the bottom.
As she drew closer, the mummified corpses, bound and suspended by vines, came into view. She could even see the lines on their faces, the sunken veins, and the details of the damage to their muscle tissue.
The teammates standing in the ring of fire kept their eyes glued to Bai Mengyan as she floated through the air, completely unaware of what she was about to do.
Bai Mengyan stopped in a spot where her teammates could see her, and where there were no mummified corpses to obscure her view. She looked at the rabbit and saw that the rabbit was also looking at her.
She pointed to the horizontal branches of the banyan tree, and then to the vines that wrapped around the main trunk of the branches.
Without any explanation, Bai Mengyan reached out and grasped a branch that wasn't entwined with vines. Her eyes flashed, and she sliced it off with her spatial blade.