"We are going to die." Urginok stared at the writhing mass of thorny vines in front of them. Past the vines, Izor's magic barrier shimmered where the plants invaded. Blue ripples spread in time with the writhing of the vines.

Above the city's wall, the barrier continued upward in a straight line. Instead of a domed barrier, it seemed to the friends that Izor was cutting costs. Fortunately, the barrier followed the city wall all the way around Grotto.

"Maybe," Rydr chuckled dryly. 

Before the pair left Lynn's shop, they decided that, for now, Rydr should keep the "hood" of his [Alpha's Pelt] pulled up. Their trip through town was swift, but they didn't travel to the rest of the defenders. 

The Eastside of Grotto was the most overrun by plants and where most of the defenders gathered. Rydr and Urginok took a circuitous route to reach the Northeast part of Grotto.

At first, Urginok questioned why they were going to a deserted part of the wall. On the way over, Rydr explained his plan, which was ludicrously simple.

However, it was much harder to convince himself to go through with it as he stared down the growing mass of thorny green outside the barrier. While numerous vines breached the barrier, the bulk of the plants were still held back outside the barrier.

Which produced an ever-growing wall of vines as they searched for the top of the barrier. Rydr wasn't certain if Izor would increase its height or form a dome or if the mage could.

At the moment, the vines were only a third of the way up the barrier. However, that put a definite time limit before Grotto was lost. If the pace kept up, the vines would climb over the wall within six days.

Rydr steeled his will and took a step toward the vines when Urginok grabbed his forearm.

"Run it by me again, okay?" Urginok's face paled visibly. The tank wanted to be reassured that the plan could work.

Rydr paused and looked at his friend, uncertain how to convince him. 

After a moment, Rydr asked, "What is a plant's only goal?"

Urginok frowned, "Find sunlight and water?"

Rydr nodded, "Correct, but what can that be called?" He coaxed his teammate to come to his own conclusion.

"Photosynthesis?" Urginok guessed.

"Eating." 

The tank pursed his lips, "So?"

Rydr explained, "You told me that the vines are dragging people into the forest. But that doesn't quite track. All the other monsters in the area seem determined to kill us, but the vines are dragging people away."

Urginok began to nod along before he cut in, "And the vines won't let up, no matter how many we cut off. It's like the thing doesn't care about being damaged...because it doesn't."

Urginok slapped his palm to his forehead, "The vines are just roots, bringing nutrients back to the plant where they can be absorbed." The tank started to nod again, then shook his head, "If that's true, why haven't any of the divers who were dragged away said anything about a 'core?'"

"Because they didn't survive their trip." Rydr was ninety percent certain the mass of vines had to have a "brain" or "heart" of some kind. Nothing that acted with this much intent and with a clear goal of kidnapping people could know to do that without something resembling instinct. 

So the Titan's grand plan was to lay down in the vines and let the plant-beast take him to its heart to be absorbed. What concerned Urginok so much was that they planned to tank the damage and hoped their health bars were large enough to take it.

Urginok finally nodded at Rydr, agreeing to do it. After the tank fought against the vines for three days straight, and now with no way out of town thanks to the wall of vines, he knew the plants had to go. 

No one approached the mines, and therefore the Wellspring until the plant-beast was gone. 

Now that Urginok thought about it, he remembered to ask, "Hey, man, what is your health bar, anyway?"

"You mean, what's my constitution score?"

Urginok chuckled, "Yeah."

"After I received the Legendary feat, my Con hit sixty-nine points, so 690 health points." Rydr tried to shrug away the large number, afraid the aspiring tank would grow envious.

The tank barked a short, harsh laugh and held his fingers up in a "V." 

"I've got you beat! Seventy-one points in Con, baby!" The shorter man danced on the spot, celebrating his small victory over the Titan.

Rydr executed a perfect double-take before his face split into a huge grin, "That's freaking awesome, dude! How'd you manage that?" His teammate's success pleased Rydr to no end. 

While the giant knew there were definitely divers with more Charisma, the Titan was surprised to hear Urginok eclipsed him already. 

Urginok revealed an aggrieved expression, "I'm one of three, you heard right, three main tanks left in Grotto. Coming to meet you, and doing this, leaves just those two on the front lines." The tank winced as he remembered diving into the vines repeatedly to retrieve NPC's and divers who went down.

It turned out that cheese grating himself in the vines and his other stunts in the mines earned the tank a few feats. Urginok just made the same mistake as Rydr for a long time and let them build up because he was too busy to check for a while.

"It helps that I hit level six while you were offline," Urginok waved away Rydr's praise, sympathizing with the Titan's shyness when he received feats on the launch night.

Rydr whistled, admiring his friend's hard work. Currently, the Titan lagged behind Urginok by two levels. 

Urginok shrugged, "Plenty of Uncommon quests to deal with what's going on." Weirdly, Urginok was one of the few divers who managed to take advantage of the disaster Rydr caused.

The brief moment of levity came to an end as the pair turned to face the wall of vines.

"Remind me, why didn't we grab Syrna?" Rydr questioned as he walked forward. 

Urginok swallowed his nerves and followed the Titan, "She's busy learning a profession in Izor's tower..."

Rydr grunted his acknowledgment. If it's anything like the [Aether Smith] Trial, she should be free before too long. Or it might take a week...she doesn't seem to be in a subspace like I was.

As the pair approached the thorny vines, the plants seemed to sense their presence. Bands of green wrapped around their ankles, crawling up the divers' legs as they walked deeper into the writhing mass.

Blood began to run freely down Rydr's legs as the thorns dug in, trying to drag him down.

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

As more vines wrapped around Rydr, the small ticks of damage increased their pace. Just before the Titan reached Izor's barrier, Rydr stopped walking and lay down in the throng of plants. The vines were laughably weak in the giant's opinion, and he had to lay down willingly.

The colossus made sure to wrap his wolf pelt tightly around his body as the vines began to cover him completely. 

Urginok lacked the absurd strength score of Rydr's and was forced to the ground by the vines before Rydr began to lay down. The tank's bloody vine bundle dragged itself by the behemoth while he was arranging his wolf pelt.

Before they were out of earshot of each other, Urginok called out, "You'd better be right about this because this sh*t sucks!"

Rydr almost laughed, but the vines were wrapped too tightly around his chest to manage that. Such was the Titan's bulk that it took a full minute for the vines to have enough mass to start dragging the giant away.

If anyone were around to witness the spectacle, they would see an enormous, green cocoon being slowly dragged through the barrier.

*****

Rydr's journey through the forest was spent completely blind to the outside world. Fortunately, once enough vines wrapped around his prone form, the inner layer stopped moving.

The Titan's health regeneration kept up with the health depletion from Rydr's open wounds, maintaining the giant's health bar at nearly full.

Every once in a while, Rydr would test his strength against the vines around him, making sure he could still free himself. Perhaps because the vine monster was still so young, it wasn't powerful yet. 

Sooner than the behemoth expected, he felt that his avatar was getting pulled down a slope. Rydr's heart rate began to pick up as he prepared for a fight.

Not yet. The Titan thought to himself. For his plan to have the best chance of success, Rydr had to rely on a faint hope. He hoped the vines were taking him to the heart chamber, nesting the plant's nutrients as near as possible to speed its own growth.

So Rydr continued to wait patiently as the vines dragged him deeper into the plant monster's lair. 

Eventually, Rydr sensed his forward motion stopped, and the vines were beginning to spin him and drag his avatar sideways. Rydr hoped the plant-beast was unintelligent as he flexed his arms to make space for the giant to draw a full breath.

All around, Rydr heard what sounded like muffled cries. 

The Titan called out, "Urginok, are you here?" Rydr shouted at the top of his lungs from within his cocoon of vines. 

Somewhere in the space, Rydr heard a faint response, "Get me out of here!" The tank's voice sounded as if he were already struggling to free himself.

In response to their exchange, the muffled cries around Rydr picked up, allowing the giant to make out the voices of multiple people surrounding him clearly.

"Please! Help us!"

"Get us out!"

More voices tried to call out, but they were either too far away or too weak to make themselves heard.

Rydr took a deep breath and flexed his arms. 

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

Blood ran in rivulets down Rydr's arms as he forced them through the thorny maw of the vines. Undaunted, Rydr grabbed the vines and braced his forearms against their tension. Through the game's pain settings, the shredding vines felt like rough scrapes and road rash.

The Titan's [Stone-Guard Vambraces] bore most of the plant's damage as Rydr heaved his arms apart and tore the vines to pieces. 

In the same instant, more vines began to wrap around Rydr's avatar at great speed. A battle of attrition ensued as Rydr sat up, tearing thorny vines away from his body as quickly as they ensnared him.

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

The more vines Rydr tore away, the faster they seemed to come, forcing the Titan to activate [Berserker's Rage] for the boost in speed the Dexterity bump gave him.

From the outside of the cocoon, steam began to seep between the vines as they heaved and rolled around on the ground. 

Finally, Rydr managed to work his feet beneath him within the cocoon. The giant forewent grace and attempted to jump straight up. 

Rydr's [Springform] passive added half again as much force to the Titan's jump, sending his avatar straight up in an explosion of plant material. A shower of damage notification dropped Rydr's health bar to eighty percent, sending a wave of blood and steam outward with the plant matter.

After the diver's experience in the mines, he kept his arms outstretched above his head. An instant later, Rydr's palms met the ceiling, leaving small craters on its surface.

The giant leveraged his momentum to jack-knife his body around, bringing his feet to the ceiling. Rydr pushed off the pressed earth in one fluid movement and began a rotation as he fell through the air. 

For a brief moment, while the colossus faced the ground while in the air, he had the chance to look at the chamber, he was in. Beneath the giant, a carpet of thorny vines writhed on the floor, tendrils stretching toward him from all directions.

Very little light filtered into the space through breaks in the patchy ceiling. Almost unnoticeable in the throng of vines were the swells placed around the chamber- the cocoons belonging to the other victims.

Soil continued to fall from the ceiling and walls where the vines thrashed against the walls, eroding the space. By now, the underground space spanned nearly twelve meters across. 

Rydr fell roughly four meters while his body spun, landing hard on his hands and knees in the vines. Despite how soft the soil must be from the erosion, Rydr couldn't even penetrate the layer of vines to touch the ground.

The giant bolted forward toward where he thought he heard Urginok's voice, leaving bloody vines in his wake where they tore at his ankles.

Unlike the avalanche of stone shards which reduced Rydr's calves into bloody tissue, the vines still couldn't pierce Rydr's skin deeply. The stone shards left nothing in their wake for the diver to walk on.

Around the diver, cries for help died down as the victims listened to the battle they were blind to. 

Where is it? Where is it? As Rydr raced across the chamber, calling Urginok's name, he kept his head on a swivel to locate the plant-beast's core. 

He searched as best he could while dodging vines, but anything resembling a core or heart was nowhere to be found. 

*****

Back at Grotto's outskirts, the city's defenders threw themselves continuously into the mass of vines. Only twenty divers remained to defend the city alongside the town guards.

Among the divers, there were clear groups of two or three working in teams. The rest were individuals who had no one to pull them out of the vines when they were dragged down.

In front of the crowd of defenders fought, two divers dressed in half sets of plate mail fought to keep the vines focused on them. The task was nearly impossible because the vines were so spread out.

It seemed that no matter what they tried, another diver or NPC was going down in a wave of vines. Each time one of the defenders went down, the tanks immediately abandoned them, letting the person get dragged away screaming. 

Both divers and NPC's grew malcontent and wished the third tank hadn't disappeared. All the divers assumed he'd had enough and logged off to delete his account. 

As a result, the two tanks that remained stopped trying to measure up to the eccentric, shieldless tank who threw himself into the vines after people. They felt quite comfortable as they fought at their leisure safely and leveled up without risking themselves. 

"Remember! For a silver coin, I'll get you out of the vines! Don't hesitate if you need help!" One of the tanks, a blond man who wore nearly all of his armor except for a missing breastplate. 

Almost as soon as the diver crowed his services, another diver went down, thrashing in the vines as they tried to free themselves. 

They struggled onto their stomach and clawed at the packed dirt, trying to pull themselves away. More vines piled onto them until only their hand was left visible, outstretched toward the tanks.

They ignored the diver; their hands stuck out as if the victim could throw a silver coin at the pair in their situation. 

The diver never tried to call out for help, resigned to their fate after the selfless tank left the front line. So certain of their death, the diver failed to notice when the vines began to retreat quickly, leaving the bloody diver curled up on the ground.

The NPC defenders began to cheer as they watched the vines retreat past the blue barrier. Divers collapsed on the spot, mentally exhausted from the never-ending fight. 

On the ground, the hapless diver sat up, "Why are they leaving?"

Each of the defenders around them froze, the same thought racing through their minds as they stared at the ruined East guard tower. 

*****

"Here, man, In here!" Urginok's voice called out from the back of the chamber, cattycorner to where Rydr was heading. 

The Titan altered his course, tearing through vines faster than they could grab him. Urginok's cocoon was slightly elevated, about a meter off the ground. 

Rydr hurled himself against the mass of vines, wrapping his arms around the tank's green prison and hauling back. More vines sprouted from the wall, reaching for Rydr's forearms as he heaved back and forth, dislodging Urginok's cocoon from the wall.

Once the Titan was able to dig his fingers into the mass of vines where they pressed against the loose soil, Rydr pressed one of his legs against the wall and pulled as hard as he could.

Urginok's cocoon separated from the wall in a shower of soil, blinding Rydr as he spun around and dropped the cocoon on the carpet of vines.

More attempted to spread from the floor, trying to drag the tank's cocoon away from the giant. 

Before they had the chance, Rydr rubbed the dirt from his stinging, watery eyes and grabbed two handfuls of vines.

Then the giant braced his foot on the center of the cocoon and pulled back shredding vines and his hands alike.

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

*-5 HP*

Rydr's health bar shrank to just seventy percent of its max as his regeneration fought to keep him alive. Under Rydr's foot, the vines exploded into small pieces.

As soon as the giant ripped away chunks of his green prison, Urginok thrashed his way free. Blood covered the tank's whole body, drenching his blue tunic. 

Despite Urginok's complaints about the plan and less than half his health bar remaining, the tank rolled to his feet as soon as he was free, shouting instructions at Rydr.

"I'll distract the vines! Get everyone else out!" Urginok sprinted to the other side of the chamber while he dodged vines. 

As soon as Urginok reached the other side, he activated his new taunt ability, [Tempt Offense].

"How is it possible that a monster can attack from every direction, and I still have to let you hit me?" Part of [Tempt Offense]'s condition to activate was Urginok's cocksure attitude. 

While the tank fought against the vines for three days, he found out that the plant-beast tended to go after the most vulnerable. While it wasn't quite sapient, the monster clearly had instincts.

So the tank began to sh*it talk the plant, on top of showing off, leaving himself even more vulnerable to attack than he normally would.

After a day of fighting, the system rewarded Urginok with his own taunt ability. Alongside the taunt, the system awarded ten points of Con because the tank invented his own style of taunt instead of "discovering" one.

Urginok continued to shout taunts at the plant-beast as he started to dance, dodging the vines and constantly moving to keep from being dragged down.

On the opposite side of the chamber, Rydr ran to the next cocoon and wrestled it free from the wall. Once the cocoon was on the floor, the Titan looked around for an exit to the chamber and found it behind his teammate. 

The giant released a growl of frustration as he picked up the cocoon and sprinted across the chamber. As he passed the tank and entered the tunnel behind him, Rydr immediately crashed into a wall, stumbling to a stop.

While Rydr fought to free himself from his cocoon, the Titan's struggling collapsed the narrow tunnel the vines dragged his avatar down.

F*ck! There's no way out! Rydr screamed inside his head as he backed into the chamber. 

Rydr's chest heaved, drawing in desperate breaths as the giant whirled around. His thoughts raced as Rydr looked around the underground space until the behemoth looked up.

Sunlight streamed into the space from the patchy sections of the ceiling. As Rydr watched, more vines spread across the roof and blocked the sunlight. 

This thing is trapping us in a giant cocoon!

 

AN:

Thanks for reading the new chapter! If you see a typo, let me know ASAP~

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