"The greenwood"-7
After some emergency first aid, the man suddenly let out a series of violent, heart-wrenching coughs!
"He's waking up!" Alan's eyes lit up, and he immediately pulled a small first-aid kit from his fanny pack, rushing over with Zephyr.
The man abruptly arched his back and began to vomit violently. His stomach seemed to have been empty for a long time; at first, he only brought up some stomach acid, but eventually, he could only retch up a viscous green liquid that smelled of decaying plants.
After he had nearly emptied his stomach, the man, amidst ragged gasps, slowly opened his eyes. He was extremely weak, so thin he was almost unrecognizable, as if all the nutrients in his body had been completely absorbed by the vine cocoon that had enveloped him and the small tendrils that had been forcibly feeding him nutrient solution.
However, when his unfocused eyes made out Zephyr, dressed in tactical gear with a cold, hard demeanor, an ingrained soldier's instinct instantly snapped him to attention!
He struggled, mustering all his strength, and in a rapid, professional, report-like tone, managed to say with great difficulty:
"Aurelia... trapped... deepest part... forest... trying... to devour her... but... difficult... save her!"
Saying those few short words seemed to drain all his remaining life force. He couldn't utter another useful word. His head lolled to the side, and he passed out again.
This sudden turn of events startled everyone. Alan quickly rushed forward to check his pulse and breathing, breathing a sigh of relief a moment later. "His pulse is very weak, but... at least he's still alive."
Aurelia!
Hearing this name, both Elara and Cassian's hearts jolted! This was one of their mission's targets—the seriously injured military VIP with healing abilities!
"Who knows how many days he's been trapped in there... If the forest was already trying to devour Aurelia when he was trapped, her situation now... is probably extremely dangerous," Elara concluded grimly, looking at the man who had fainted again.
Her gaze swept over Cassian and Zephyr. A single glance was all it took for them to reach a mutual conclusion.
"We have to speed up, every second counts!"
The new objective and the imminent crisis instantly ignited everyone's fighting spirit. Facing the writhing carpet of worms before them, they no longer hesitated.
"I'll clear the way!" Seraph shouted, a blazing fire igniting in her beautiful blue eyes! She pushed her hands forward, and a scorching, fan-shaped shockwave of fire, like an enraged dragon, surged ahead!
"Sizzle—"
Countless black worms were instantly turned to charcoal by the high-temperature flames, emitting a sickening, crackling sound! Wherever the fire passed, it forcibly cleared a path that reeked of black smoke and a burnt smell!
Gods would be burned, Buddhas would be incinerated! This powerful fire element showed an unparalleled advantage in clearing out this kind of large-scale biological obstacle!
Elara followed closely behind, her spatial ability also playing a huge, adaptable role. Any venomous worms that managed to escape the edges of the fire or fell from the canopy above were precisely and ruthlessly sliced in two mid-air by her spatial blades!
Vespera, in turn, became their invisible eyes. She pushed her psychic perception to its limit, constantly guiding them along the path with the weakest energy fluctuations and the lowest risk factor.
With the powerful coordination of their abilities, their advance reached an unprecedented speed!
Soon, they passed through the sea of worms and neared the very core of the forest. The trees here grew taller and more bizarre, and the humid, hot air was so thick it was almost suffocating.
Just then, Elara's steps suddenly faltered.
She keenly noticed that not far ahead, hanging from several massive, strange trees that resembled willows with their countless drooping vines, were several large… black cocoons, woven from black vines and viscous, silky threads!
The cocoons were semi-transparent, and they could vaguely see several human-like silhouettes wrapped inside, all exceptionally tall men. Below the cocoons, scattered on the ground, were several tactical daggers and a few standard-issue pistols with empty magazines.
Military personnel! They were ambushed here!
Elara's eyes narrowed slightly. Her space-time perception instantly locked onto the black cocoons, and she clearly felt the faint but definite signs of life within!
Without hesitation, in a tone that brooked no argument, she gave the order:
"They're alive. Rescue them!"
Her words had barely faded when Zephyr, who had remained on high alert, shot forward like an arrow released from its bow, even before the others could react! His longsword, unsheathed at some unknown point, sliced through the air with a cold gleam. A highly condensed blade of ice, carrying the sharp force of tearing air, flew viciously towards one of the black cocoons!
The moment Zephyr's ice blade left his hand, the surrounding black vines, which had seemed motionless, instantly "came alive" as if a switch had been flipped!
Like countless awakening pythons, they surged towards Elara and her group from all directions in a frenzied, crazed assault!
What made one's scalp tingle even more was that in an instant, the surfaces of the once-smooth black vines "grew" a dense layer of white fuzz, like dandelion seeds! The fuzz looked soft and harmless, but as the vines whipped through the air at high speed, it acted like countless poison-tipped steel needles. It whistled sharply as it cut through the air, not only easily piercing clothing but also inflicting an unbearable, bone-deep pain upon entering the skin!
"Hiss—"
Alan, hiding at the very back, was grazed on the arm by a vine whipping past from the side. The white fuzz instantly pierced his protective suit, making him suck in a sharp breath of pain. He scrambled behind a massive tree trunk for cover.
However, though he was afraid of dying, his mind worked incredibly fast. As he hid, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "These are some kind of mutated nettles or something similar! Their hairs are hollow and contain an irritating toxin! They're most likely afraid of fire! Burn them! Burn off the hairs first!"
He didn't need to remind her; Seraph was already in motion!
"Hah!"
With a sharp cry, she thrust her hands forward, and two searing fire dragons roared out, precisely meeting the attacking vines!
It was the same battle-tested, consistently effective coordinated technique!
Cassian's water streams coiled around the vines like nimble snakes. Aided by Zephyr's ice ability, they instantly froze a thin layer of ice on the vines' surfaces, significantly slowing their speed and attack frequency.
Immediately after, Seraph's flames swept over them! The seemingly tough white fuzz crackled and popped under the high heat, instantly scorched clean! The vines, stripped of their fuzz, were still tough and strong, but their threat level was drastically reduced!
Finally, Elara's spatial blades, like the most precise scalpels, moved under the cover of ice and fire, cleanly and efficiently severing the weakened vines at their roots!
As Seraph's control over her abilities grew more proficient, she could even, without completely burning the main body of the vine, use just the residual heat and force of the flames to singe off the annoying fuzz, creating the perfect conditions for Elara's subsequent kills.
"I should thank this strange forest," Elara thought to herself with a sigh of relief after they had successfully cleared all the aggressive vines nearby. "This high-temperature, high-humidity environment is a natural training ground for Seraph. It's boosted her power considerably."
They quickly moved forward and used their daggers to cut open the black cocoons encasing the soldiers.
The men they rescued were in significantly better condition than the thin man from before. Although they were also unconscious, their breathing was stable, and apart from a few minor wounds from the fuzz, they had no serious injuries. Judging by their tall, burly frames and solid muscles, they were clearly combat personnel.
"It seems the thinner man from before was likely their accompanying medic or technician," Elara quickly deduced.
Without a moment's hesitation, she went to the "medic," who was still being carried by Zephyr and hadn't fully regained consciousness. She poured some water from her canteen and rather brusquely slapped his cheeks, trying to force him awake.
Sure enough, after being forced to drink a few mouthfuls of water and slapped hard a few times, the man finally stirred.
The moment he woke up, he didn't even have time to assess the situation before he immediately snapped into work mode. He struggled down from Zephyr's shoulder, glanced at his still-unconscious companions, and immediately began to methodically direct Alan, who was also a "professional," and the other researchers in examining the tall men, inducing vomiting, performing gastric lavage, and emergency wake-up procedures.
His professional and calm demeanor was a world away from the weak, near-death state he had been in just moments before, as if he were a completely different person.