Upping The Ante

55. Salad ala Carte

[You have defeated a Level 13 Venenum Flos Caligo.]

Seriously?

The spell was not only powerful enough to rip the plant monster from the wall, it also crushed it to death on the floor of the cavern!

Forceful Mana is no joke!

By compressing the Mana used to fuel the spell, it completely supercharged it. What would happen if I were to do the same for the Javelin… or the Domain!

My mind is boggling. It’s boggling right out of my head, Gandalf! If it boggles even a little bit more it’s going to join my eyeballs on the floor.

My control is still lacking though. It took over a minute to carefully charge the spell. Almost as long as it would take to make a charged Gravity Bomb. Hopefully with practice I’ll be able to get quicker at forming the charged spells.

As impressed as I am with the effects of this spell, Tiny is currently battling on his own, getting drenched in acid and what appear to be poisonous fumes while I diddle about playing with magic.

Mind you, he seems happy. Roaring at the top of his lungs, fists crackling with electricity as he lashes out with wild abandon, even as the wounds pile up on his body. I swear, with his unquenchable thirst for battle and reckless fighting style, this ape is like a protagonist from a generic novel.

Chill out, big guy! I’m coming to help!

Once again, Dash!

“Wheeeeee!”

It is SO hard to keep my mind focused on fighting with that going on!

[Dash has reached Level 2.]

Wheeeeee!

Level ups bring me a lot of joy… don’t judge me!

I engage in the vicious melee that is swirling around my giant ape pet. The plant-type monsters we’re engaging now are significantly more threatening than those we encountered earlier.

The purple flowers are shooting blasts of pollen or gas that I suspect may cause some sort of poison effect. I’m not too game to find out, so every time it’s aimed at me, I Dash the heck out of there. Sizing up the creatures firing at us from range, I decide to present the commercial district and allow them to sample my wares.

POW! POW! POW!

Blast after blast of acid is fired off, gumming up the pestering plants and eating into their fibrous bodies. Take that, you flowery foes! In all, I fire off six shots of acid, nearly emptying my tank. It’s worth it if it keeps those poisonous flowers off our backs.

Suddenly I feel myself being bombarded by savage lashes. What the heck? In my peripheral vision, the vines I’d seen lying on the ground and creeping up the tunnel walls have come alive, whipping through the air so fast that all they leave are blurred afterimages as they strike me over and over.

That stings, dammit!

My Diamond Carapace is extremely tough, able to absorb most of the impact with only slivers of my HP being drained, but the pain of having the continuous impacts roll through my body is still there.

Stupid Vine Beast! Turning to face my new opponent, this isn’t the same tangle of vines we’d run into before. The individual vines are thicker, more dexterous, and amongst the web of vines are several thick clusters where numerous vines have tangled together in thick clumps.

I brighten up seeing this. I must be facing an evolved Vine Beast here. Excellent! This should yield a decent amount of Biomass.

Posturing left and right, I start constructing a Gravity Bolt, firing it off in a matter of seconds. I target one of the vine clumps, hoping to see how debilitated the creature becomes when they are affected.

To my surprise, the plant monster blocks the spell, thwipping several vines in the way to disperse the magic before it can strike home. Interesting!

The struck vines immediately succumb to the gravitational pull, slumping to the ground despite their best efforts. The rest of the creature seems curiously unaffected, the gravity pulling down on only those vines that were struck by the spell.

Hmmm.

There are still dozens of vines thrashing through the air, lashing out to batter my carapace. Even Vibrant is forced to be vigilant and shift left and right to avoid getting clapped by a vine. I certainly don’t want to have this promising worker get squished on top of my scalp! I’ll have to do this a little more directly.

Dash!

Revving up my speed, I rush forward and spread my mandibles wide.

As the vines whip toward me, I cut them with my chomp.

Slice! Slice!

Julienne veggies, like a pro!

Sliced vines rain down, but still they keep coming!

Slice! Slice! Slice!

As the vines keep coming, I keep chomping. The ethereal mandibles slash through the vines at record speed until I arrive beneath one of the clumps. Rearing back with my head, I unleash my longer-range bite.

Shattering Bite!

CRUNCH!

The mandibles smash shut, grinding the knot of twisting vines to paste. A number of the connected vines become limp, falling to the floor drained of their strength.

Interesting. Perhaps each of these dispersed clumps is in control of a number of vines. This monster having its vitals spread across the network of vines makes it rather a pain in the end-zone to deal with quickly.

I continue to slash my way through the endless vines, crunching each clump until the entire creature finally goes still.

[You have defeated a Level 8 Vinea Trames.]

Finally!

Puffing, I’m exhausted. Constantly using the advanced Bite skills is super draining on my stamina. So much effort for a creature so much weaker than me!

At least I gained a Level on both skills.

What’s Tiny doing?

Turning, Tiny is holding a plant in one hand that he’s uprooted while punching it fiercely with his other hand. Around him is a veritable farmer’s market of deceased plant monsters. I think the plant he’s holding is already dead, which he should know, since he would have heard the announcement…

He’s just punching it…

[I think it’s dead there, big guy.]

He turns to look at me before slamming his fist into the very deceased plant one more time.

[Annoying,] he grunts.

[The poison effect?]

He just grunts.

[You going to be ok with that?] I wonder. Does he need healing?

[Ok, I fix myself.]

Fair enough. He must have some way of healing himself by now. Good purchase, Tiny!

Since he’s cleaned up most of the monsters, we settle down to eat.

NOM. NOM. NOM.

The crunching sounds of four monsters filling themselves to stuffed echoes through the tunnels of the Dungeon.

I don’t stop eating until every stomach is so full, I can barely walk, my gigantic shopping district dragging on the floor behind me. Tiny is in similar condition, looking comically round with a massive, distended belly.

I gained seventeen Biomass from that feast, plus three for new species! It feels so good to finally get some points.

And I don’t plan on stopping here. With Tiny’s reluctant help, I excavate a small chamber out of the side of the tunnel, digging in a slight upward diagonal direction. Once I’ve created enough space, I seal the entrance and the four of us settle in to sleep off our meal.

When we wake up, I’m going back in there again!