Chapter 793: The Oozebloom Abomination
Adam watched Desmond clutch his chest. Lips contorted, and purple eyes flickering between fearful hope and despair, Desmond kept his trembling finger pointed at him, as if it could compel him to answer.
"A true friend?" Adam let out a teasing chuckle. "What’s next, a love confession? Sorry, I’m engaged—to a girl. But hey, to each their own preferences."
Desmond choked on his breath, his face burning. "What?! No! How did you jump to weird conclusions? I love girls too!" He swung his palm between them, his nose scrunching, then realised Adam hadn’t answered. Or perhaps this had been an answer, just not the clear no he had feared, but a no nevertheless.
As he slumped to the ground, face lowered and shoulders slumped, Adam sighed.
Had Desmond been ostracised for so long that the mere thought of spending another academic year alone terrified him? Perhaps. It didn’t matter. Bonds of true friendship were hard to forge, took time, patience, and trust. He had few himself. Julius and Misha definitely, then Arun, Asha, Louise, and Quintella. Even Shepard, despite their fun times together, had never made it onto the list. So, a Desmond he barely knew—not a chance.
"The answer’s no." He rubbed his bruised neck as Desmond turned away. "But it’s not definitive. Let things settle without jumping steps. Ask me again in a few months, and who knows?" He shrugged. "I might answer yes."
Desmond snapped his face back toward Adam, his wide eyes lit up with rekindled hope. "Really?" he muttered, then pointed at the somber edge of the forest.
The roots were still twirling at the edge with grudging hunger but unable to cross into the sunlight.
"What about them? As if I’d let mere wood ruin our hunt. We went together. We’ll return together." Adam rose and gestured to his bare torso and shredded pants. "Well, I won’t return like that for sure. Lend me your robes."
"You wish," Desmond smirked back, reaching for his pouch. He threw a fresh set of uniforms at Adam, his eyes lingering on his perfect muscles with exaggerated indifference. "I’ve seen girls with more muscles. You don’t want to ridicule yourself when we go back."
Adam put on the uniform, chuckling. "They already call me a pervert because of Mathilde’s stunt, so what would it change?"
Desmond laughed before seriousness crept on his features. "What now? We can’t continue this way, and time’s running out. Some have likely presented their talismans already."
"We can circle it, or go back empty-handed." A frown creased Adam’s brow, then he waved north. "Let’s try this way."
Noticing Desmond wrapping himself in lightning, he bolted north. "What was that beast?" He asked as trees blurred past his vision.
"I’ve never heard of it, but I’m sure of one thing. Something that can absorb mana and forbid sounds is definitely stronger than we are. Wait!" Desmond’s lightning fizzled as he matched Adam’s pace. "How did you free me with just a few bruises?"
"Tore its coil." Adam shrugged. "Anyway, it was just toying with us as if we were fertiliser for whatever main body it hides. I doubt we could have escaped if we were deeper into its territory."
He felt Desmond’s doubtful glare but ignored it as he forged northward. The soft soil slowly hardened beneath his feet, making them echo between the new variety of trees surrounding him. Their sinuous trunks stretched into branches twisted like fused spines. The air thickened, smelling of cold fire, ashes, and burnt meat that spilt from a dense cluster of orange leaves.
"Wait!" Desmond’s panicked shout made him halt before he could reach it.
At this moment, the leaves trembled, not from wind but as if something beneath breathed.
"We must leave. Now!" Desmond screamed, his lightning flickering in panic.
But Adam locked his eyes on the leaves as they parted.
In front of him, a lower jaw split with a wet crack, like a rotting log giving way to a dark pit large enough to swallow him and four other students. Slimy venom like tar dripped from rows of jagged fangs that accentuated the rancid stench of meat burnt, not by fire, but acid potent enough to gouge steamy holes in the hard ground.
It had no face. Just too many eyes to count writhing at the end of squirming tentacles. Its lower body was the same—a writhing mass of roots barely supporting the plant beast’s abysmal jaws.
SHRIEK
Toxic spite flew everywhere, dissolving young buds like ancient trees with disturbing sizzles.
Adam’s eyes widened as Desmond grabbed his shoulder and dragged him back. "It’s an Oozebloom Abomination!" His voice cracked in visceral horror. "Just breathing the same air it does can kill us."
"Poison?" Adam asked, his face solemn.
"Not just one. Hundreds. That bastard is a walking sack of diseases." Desmond shuddered, but held Adam’s shoulder tight as he bolted back. "We’re so unlucky... These mana-absorbing roots first, now this archmage-tiered beast... Guess we can kiss those two hundred points goodbye."
However, Adam’s eyes lit up at the archmage tier. "Wait." His stomp created two trenches, forcing Desmond to a halt. "That’s our two hundred points."
When he spoke, his voice carried a certitude that made Desmond falter. The teenager’s grip turned bruising as the sound of slithering vines grew closer. "Are you mad?! That thing will devour us before we know why we can’t move!"
Adam simply waved his palm. Mana erupted into a tight, purple veil that covered Desmond. It hissed, neutralising the stray spore that had already clung to the teenager’s skin. "I stop it. Bombard it from behind. That veil will dissolve toxins if they ever reach you."
"But—" Desmond’s voice died in his throat. Adam had already lunged toward the towering beast.
An ant against a sylvan titan, that’s how he saw this fight. For a moment, his eyes snapped southward. Escaping was the only option. He still could, alone. After all, Teacher Haldris would most likely save Adam before he died, so why should he suffer for his mad idea? Yet, he froze half-step when he saw roots shoot at Adam’s exposed flank.
"Shit." He clenched his jaw, lightning rumbling in his palms into a scalding javelin. "You didn’t abandon me earlier. I won’t either!"