The tunnels

Adventurer-"Please! I don't want to go back!"

The man continues to be pulled further into the forest. Adam and Elise run after him with Julius flying right behind them. 

Julius-"Light skill: laser beam"

Julius shoots out a blue laser than severs the vine from his legs. Suddenly more vines surround the man. Adam dashes in and grabs him. Immediately after grabbing him he jumped out of the way of the vines.

Elise-"Evolved skill: solar storm"

Elise creates a typhoon of plasma that burns away all of the vines. Adam falls back to the ground carrying the injured man. He sets him down.

Adam-"Are you alright?"

Elise-"What was that thing pulling you? Was it a monster"

Julius-"Do you have any injuries, I can heal them"

Adventurer-"Please help me"

Julius-"I will, I can cast some healing magic"

Adventurer-"I never should have come here"

Adam-"It's alright now. We're here to help you"

Adventurer-"What is that thing!?"

Elise-"What!"

Adam and Elise turn around but don't see anything besides trees.

Elise-"What do you see?"

Adventurer-"Please help me, I don't want to be here anymore"

Elise grabs the man's shoulders.

Elise-"Listen! Tell us what did you see"

Adventurer-"Is anyone there, please I need help"

Julius-"Is he in shock?"

Adam-"Something is wrong here"

Marigold-"What are you guys doing!? I thought we were making a plan. Why would you run in guns blazing?"

Marigold came flying in on a blast of water with Damion running beside her. Joe was running behind them.

Julius-"Marigold? We had to help him!"

Damion-"If you guys were going to chase a monster in here you shouldn't have left us behind"

Adam-"What are you talking-"

Adam looks behind his shoulder to see the man they rescued turned into a bunch of vines in a humanoid shape. The vines have two holes where the eyes would be. The vine creature reaches his hand out to Adam. Adam quickly uses his sword to slash the creatures arm off. Suddenly the creature shoots out vines everywhere. Adam and Elise jump away while Julius dodges between the vines. 

Joe-"What's happening? I thought you guys were following a person"

Marigold-"You saw a person?"

Elise-"It must have been an illusion"

Adam-"We have to get out of here now!"

Adam and Elise land back on the ground and suddenly the ground opens up. Hundreds of more vines launch out of the ground surrounding the group.

Elise-"Evolved skill: solar beam"

Adam-"Evolved skill: orbital slashes"

Julius-"Gravity skill: giant gravity beam"

Marigold-"Holy skill: holy water blast"

Damion-"Dark skill: mana unbinding"

Joe-"Archery skill: triple arrows"

The group all unleash attacks on the vines destroying them. More and more vines continue to flail around even spreading above the tops of the trees. The vines surround them as the group starts to fall through the open gap.

Elise-"This isn't over you hear me!?"

The vines launch downwards pushing the group into the ground and sealing the hole above them. The trees shake from the shockwaves of the battle before settling back into stillness. 

The group is falling into a massive unground area. The area is filled with moving dark vines like the ones above. When falling the group enters different paths and becomes separated. 

Joe-"What is happening!? Why is there so much space down here!?"

Joe falls into some vines that slow down his fall and then lands on a big patch of dirt.

Joe-"Ow!"

Joe slowly stands up rubbing his head.

Joe-"Where am I now?"

Joe looks around and sees dark vines moving around the area. There are dozens of tunnels around him.

Joe-"Am I in a cave?"

Joe walks over to the walls.

Joe-"There are roots all over these walls. They have even carved their way through the stone"

Suddenly the vines that had slowed down Joe's fall began moving towards the ground.

Joe-"Those are totally trying to grab me! I have to get back to the others fast!"

Joe looks around at all of the tunnels. 

Joe-"Which tunnel should I go through!? I don't have time, I have to just pick one!"

Joe picks a tunnel on his right and runs into it as the vines reach the ground. 

Marigold-"Water skill: water jet"

Marigold creates a blast of water to slow her fall and land softly on the ground in a cave chamber with eleven tunnels around her. Marigold looks at all of the vines and roots on the walls and sees a dark energy radiating off of them.

Marigold-"This entire place wreaks of dark magic. Seriously why were they just standing around that plant monster instead of just killing it right away"

Julius-"You were able to tell it was a monster?"

Marigold-"Julius?"

Julius floats down to Marigold.

Marigold-"Where is everybody else"

Julius-"We all got separated from the fall. I was only able to follow you"

Voice-"Well you could have followed somebody else but you chose her"

Marigold-"It makes sense, being able to fly at high speeds like you can would prevent you from falling"

Voice-"Being as small as you are also helped you pass between all of the vines"

Julius-"How were you able to tell it was a monster immediately?"

Marigold-"Because it looked like a monster. Wait did it look different to you?"

Julius-"To us it seemed like a human man wearing armor"

Marigold-"It must have been an illusion then, maybe it didn't work on me because I have holy magic. I don't think it worked on Damion either because he has dark magic"

Julius-"Yeah he also knew it was a monster like you did. We need to find the others and regroup to get out of here"

Marigold-"The fact that this place is filled with dark magic means this place has to have been created by someone or something. We need to stop whoever or whatever created this place"

Julius-"I think you're right. By the looks of it these roots have spread deep underground. Plus with how big the forest was it's likely spreading both outwards and downwards. If we don't stop whats causing it soon who knows how big it will get"

Marigold-"First we need to find everyone else, for someone to use this much dark magic they would have to be incredibly powerful, we may need everybody's help to fight them. Plus our friends could be danger"

Julius-"We should hurry, these plants are likely looking for sustenance to sustain themselves.

Marigold-"Why do you think that?"

Julius-"All of the water you created was almost instantly absorbed by all of the roots on the ground. If they are that desperate for water they are probably desperate for food too"

Marigold-"I hadn't noticed that all the water was gone. Let's hurry, which tunnel should we go down first?"

Julius-"Here, machine creation skill: drones"

Julius creates ten small drones with four propellers each.

Julius-"Next, machine creation skill: control tablet"

Julius creates a touchscreen tablet.

Julius-"All of these drones have cameras on them that will connect to this tablet. I will have them automatically search through the ten of these eleven tunnels while we go down the other one. With these hopefully we can locate the others without having to split up"

Marigold-"It's a good idea not to split up. Although we need to hurry up, our friends are probably in trouble"

A plant monster similar to the one on the surface is burnt to a crisp.

Elise-"Alright, now... do any one of you know where my squad mates are?"

Dozens of plant monsters surround Elise jumping into the attack.

Elise-"Alright then, guess I'll have to find them myself!"

Elise cracks her knuckles and creates a flaming aura around herself.

End of chapter 77.