Chapter 38: Fighting all the way to the Dungeon

Once Titus had ripped the flower out of the ground it had already started withering as if it had lost its source of energy. It no longer put up a struggle as Titus ripped it in half causing Joshua to feel that something wasn't right. The situation just seemed too simple. Henry quickly used a spell that created a strong gust of wind that dispersed all of the spores and mist in the surroundings so that they could get a good view of the area that the flower was rooted.

It was only for a split second but in that moment Joshua swore that he could see long tendrils that looked like infected roots where the flower was located burrow their way back into the ground. He used his aura to follow where the roots were going with his senses, but after a few seconds they had moved out of his range to sense things. Luckily he knew exactly where they were headed. The tendrils were headed back in the direction of the center of the forest which meant all of these sources of corruption had to be connected to whatever was happening at the center of the forest.

Titus tried to absorb the remains of the flower he destroyed, but it just crumbled into red dust within seconds after the tendrils had left the area. "It seems the flower is only a side effect of whatever is really causing this infection to occur." Henry said after noticing the same thing that Joshua had.

"At least we get some experience for taking them down. Sorry big guy, but it doesn't seem like you'll be able to absorb these things. Best stick to plants that were originally in the forest if you want some power upgrades." Joshua said after noticing the slight disappointed look of the gorilla. Titus simply nodded in response before shrinking back down to a more reasonable size and walking over to stand next to Lilly.

"Well the experience we get from them isn't all that much." Adrian said with a sigh. All of the original members from the group knew that the amount of experience they would be gaining from this territory would be less than they were used to since they were going in with both a large group and they were in an area that was around their own level for the most part. Joshua had grown used to fighting beast several levels above his own over the months so it was a bit odd going up against creatures that were actually within his level range. "Though it should do fairly well for our new members."

Adrian was right with that comment. So far they had already seen a few members of their group that were new recruits gain a level and that would only become more commonplace when they got to the dungeon part of the territory. Joshua needed them to all get to at least level seventy before he would even think of taking them to the other side of the prairie, otherwise they would just freeze up against the normal beast in that area.

"All we can do now is head in the direction of the dungeon to see if we can figure what exactly is causing all of these problems." Henry said gaining everyone's attention. "It'll be a lot of fighting going forward with the corrupted plants being more common to come across the further we go in so keep alert."

Joshua nodded before taking the lead and pushing further into the forest. Once they had left the area where the spawn flora was the forest became rich with life once more and the plants didn't have the obvious signs of corruption anymore. Even so they did come across more plants that seemed to be out to get them the further they went into the forest. The types of plants they were coming across were becoming more varied as they went along as well.

They ended up finding this group of pine trees that were annoying to deal with the way they fought. The trees weren't as thick as some of the others they had come across, but the bark seemed almost like it was armor plating which made it impossible to cut them down in one swing for anyone in the group including Joshua. The way the trees attacked were different from the other ones that they found in the forest. The branches on the pine tree were too far up and away from the group to use as weapons, but all of the needle like leaves were shot down at the group. They had incredible piercing force and did some serious damage to Jayce's shield wall forcing him to constantly pour mana into it to fix it.

The pine trees also had one other trump card that made them rather annoying. They would hurl down their pinecones which would explode like grenades sending pieces everywhere like shrapnel that could do some serious damage if not avoided. Since the pine trees seemed to stick together in groups they were a problem to deal with, but Julia was able to scorch off the bark with her flame spells making it easier for Joshua to cut through them or for Titus to tear them apart. Cinder was also able to freeze the roots stiffening up the trees and slowing down their actions.

They also came across a large plant that would send out dandelion like puffs that would explode on contact with anything and send spores all over the area. The spores could possibly have some bad side effects to him so the group had to be extra careful when it came to dealing with those plants. Julia would burn those plants down from a distance so that the group wouldn't get sick with some kind of weird illness that Monika wouldn't be able to cure. Grace wasn't around for the expedition yet since it was too dangerous for her until she got some type of combat job so they had to be careful about such things.

They spent the entire day pushing through the forest until it started getting late. The infection seemed to spread at night so it was best for them to avoid moving during the night and just protecting their campsite from any of the spores that tried to drift into their area. Throughout the night they maintained a rotation of guards making sure at all times that there was at least one guard with either an ability or spell that could be used to destroy the spores that drifted above the forest at night or knock them away from their campsite.

They were already close to the center of the forest so the amount of spores that drifted above the area at night was far greater than it had been the previous day. This kept everyone on edge, but they were used to getting rest while being put under such harrowing circumstances. The next morning they all got set to make the final push towards the center of the forest while knowing that several plants had been corrupted again overnight. The reason they were pushing straight to their objective so relentlessly was because of this fact. The more plants that got corrupted the harder it would be for them to make it to the center of the dungeon.

As they pushed forward the plants seemed to become more aggressive and started to appear in larger groups the further they went. Along the way they ran into several more of the flowers and the group would either allow Titus to take them out in the hope that they would leave some remains for him to absorb or had Julia burn the entire thing down along with its surroundings. In both situations the flower would die while the vine like roots would sink into the ground and rush away from the area towards the center of the forest.

They repeated the same process several times as they moved towards the center of the forest at a fairly fast pace, but were continuously slowed down with more corrupted plants constantly appearing. It took over half the day to make it to the center of the forest, but when they did they knew they had reached it right away. The place was a massive clearing that explained how so many spores were able to float up and out of the area. Unlike the other clearings all of the plants in the surrounding weren't dried up husk, but instead were corrupted and already preparing to attack Joshua's group.

Behind all of the corrupted plants that stood in their way was a massive amount of spores that were so thick that it was impossible to see what laid inside of it. Since it seemed to be the source of all the spores that kept drifting up and out of the center of the forest. The corrupted plants in the area started freaking out the moment Joshua stepped forward as they all took up defensive positions around the giant dome. Joshua didn't know what laid inside the dome, but it must have been something important for every plant in the surroundings to react in such a way.

Immediately all of the long range plants started firing thorns needles and anything else they could possibly use towards their group, but Ivan and Jayce took the lead blocking the barrage. Joshua charged ahead surrounded in his hardened aura shroud and started tearing into the trees since he knew that he was one of the few people in the group that could take down the trees quickly on his own. Titus followed in after him and released some spores that created some new plants in the area that followed his commands. They were thorn covered vines that fended off the other plants while Titus started tearing into the trees ripping them out of the ground.

The rest of the group quickly joined in on the fight helping out as a unit that knew which roles they needed to fulfill to clear out all of the plants as quickly as possible. Adrian, Allen, and Victor all rushed forward and started cleaving through all of the vines in the surroundings. Working together they were easily able to handle them without too much trouble. On the other hand Julia focused on taking down all of the bushes in the area with her fireballs while Brook drained the moisture out of several of the trees making it easier for Titus, Joshua, and Amy to tear them apart with their attacks.

As the battle raged on strikes of lightning would occasionally descend from the sky and destroy a target as Robin did her best to take down the more powerful pine trees before they wore down Jayce's shield wall. The entire group worked together to take down all of the plants. Even the love struck couple helped out with their music. Evelyn used her music to increase the movement speed of all of her allies making it easier for everyone to dodge the plants attacks. Jacob on the other hand started strumming his guitar playing a depressing tone that seemed to slowly drain the energy of the plants and make them slow down their movements.

With everyone working together they were able to take out every single plant in the clearing leaving only the giant dome of spores left to clear out. Julia quickly casted a powerful flame spell with Henry giving an extra boost to it that surrounded the entire dome of spores in a flame tornado. They all waited with baited breaths to see what the spores were hiding.