Chapter 532 (1/2)

Nathan considered saying something, perhaps saying some action to Thorn to save the lives of these foreign soldiers. Yet he stayed still, simply watching what transpired. When Thorn went through the laborious effort of raising its core out of the ground, Nathan was aware that their fates had already been sealed. But there was still an impulse to act to protect them.

If Tykes were here to hear Nathan’s thoughts, Nathan knew the older man would tease him mercilessly. Tykes always had a sharp comment for how “soft” he deemed Nathan. For a while, Nathan had tried to argue with him, stating that he was a mage while Tykes was a physical fighter. Logic didn’t work with Tykes. When Nathan had inquired to Karlito what his options for addressing the issue were, the man had just winked and said “machismo.”

Luckily, Tykes was sent away on purpose to lure the lurking soldiers into their area of influence. Originally, they had planned to simply let Bruya toy with them. They had even kept the people wandering through the illusions close to their actual position, so they wouldn’t hurt themselves. It came as quite a surprise when they called down a freaking missile strike.

If Thorn hadn’t been here…

But of course, he was, cradling the Arbor sprout and keeping high-Level monsters from attacking those of the group that couldn’t fight. And Thorn had grown fat and strong on the blood of these powerful abominations over the last few months. Even Nathan didn’t know how far its roots spread, underneath them all, thirsty and watchful.

Thorn’s core, that messy sphere of rot and flesh, inflated then deflated. It inflated then deflated again. It was considering, thinking very hard about what it should do now. Everyone knew that the Ghosthound would disapprove of pointless violence. But they had clearly been attacked. Without the Ghosthound’s guidance, it was hesitant to act decisively, especially when there would be no way to take back its actions.

But then the core contracted and stayed contracted. With exaggerated slowness, it moved gingerly forward towards its opponents. The squad was on the ground and even now only two or three had moved. And those moves were exceedingly feeble. These were helpless targets.

‘They are also full of blood,’ Nathan thought to himself, considering Thorn.

Was this what Tykes would do? Standby and let the plant devour these people?

Thorn’s hundreds of vines with razor-sharp thorns moved up and down in the air as if they were buoyed by a soft wind. They seemed to drift casually, like a fog bank. Always onwards, always forwards, so large you couldn’t see the other side while staring at it, soon to engulf them all.

Within a minute, Nathan couldn’t see the soldiers any longer, as they were obscured by Thorn’s amorphous body. It sank lower, condensing itself, and Nathan saw how its appendages twined inwards. For a lover’s embrace, Nathan decided. It was descending to kiss the soldiers.

Those seconds seemed to last forever.

Then something changed. Thorn quivered. But unlike what Nathan was expecting, its limbs did not plunge into feast on the soldiers. On the contrary, Thorn straightened somewhat and half rotated, peering behind towards the horizon. Nathan followed its gaze, puzzled. Thorn was looking back towards their Zone, Zone 32, which he was now told was named Rawlands.

A low rumble emanated out from Thorn, making Nathan’s teeth buzz. Then it blurred into motion, becoming the deadly storm of thorns and violent momentum that it could become when angered. Like a tiger, it pounced back away from the soldiers. As Nathan watched, it sank right into the ground and disappeared from sight, its powerful vines leading the way and digging it a path down into the ground.

There was another rumble, and then Thorn was gone. Nathan frowned, looking over towards the Arbor sapling, which was twisting around nervously. Thorn shouldn’t have left like that. It was supposed to remain here and defend them and Arbor’s sapling. That was what the Ghosthound had said.

...did something happen? If he could just leave too…

The borderlands were honestly a pretty boring place. Besides that one time that the cowboy guy needed his help, Nathan had done very little that wasn’t theoretical with his Class. If he moved somewhere else.

Karlito and Bruya began flirting as they calmly walked over towards the cooking fire as if nothing had happened. Dinesh and Tykes wouldn’t be back for a while, and their final member of the squad was probably still hiding next to the Arbor sapling. Without much anxiety, Nathan walked towards the soldiers.

Most were still unconscious. Of those that seemed to be moving, only the most official of them seemed to notice Nathan’s arrival. The rest were blank-eyed zombies from what they had seen.

“What… was that….?” The man gasped out, his eyes fixed on Nathan.

Nathan smiled and raised a finger to his lips. “You spoke all you were allowed to with that missile. Now just wait for our answer.”

Following that, Nathan fired an Arcane Orb directly into the man’s face. He hadn’t Leveled it much, but his Intelligence was still reasonably high. The man’s head was slammed back into the ground with a crack, and he once more fell unconscious. With a wince, Nathan turned and walked quickly back towards the group.