While the Blue Moondew, which was still writhing around outside, luring in monsters and people alike, was a plant brought in from the system, spawned like all the other things foreign to this world, it seemed like those flytraps inside were plants from earth that were simply enhanced. There were also some other carnivorous plants scattered throughout. For example, there were pitcher plants all over the place, some of which were actually digesting something.
They weren't quite large enough to be a threat to a human, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous.
However...
"None of those are the boss.." Ashton whispered quietly, and Sam snapped his head over toward him.
"What do you mean? That's not the boss monster? Those are fucking insane, they could bite off your head!" he pointed out, staring at the plants with a confused stare. But Ashton simply shook his head and reiterated something important.
"Those are plants, not monsters. They aren't even acknowledged by the system as something that can be 'killed', just 'destroyed'. Of course, it's possible that this is the thing that's enhanced by the mana well, rather than a monster that was created here, but that would be a little surprising," he explained, trying to take a look around, "I feel like there'd be something else in there."
Sam let out a long sigh, "Then what do you think it is?"
"Probably a Broodmother, or a special variant," Ashton suggested, though it was clear that Sam didn't know what he meant. "Brood is the collective noun for Myconids. A 'brood of myconids'. And the Broodmother would be something like the queen of the myconids."
"Huh..."
"What?"
"No, it's just neat to see that a proto-society of mushroom people is matriarchal," Sam shrugged, and Ashton held back a laugh.
"Right, fair enough. Alright, most importantly, this probably means that the greenhouse is going to be trapped from top to bottom. That's probably why we're not being attacked too much right now, the myconids are most likely waiting for us to get inside. The ones outside were probably just regular tribesmen or scouts of some sort."
"... Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Should I cover up a bit more?"
Ashton laughed. "No, you'll be fine. It's going to make your attacks weaker, but if you want to fully avoid being poisoned, you can try to boost your physical defence with your 'Body Strengthening'," he explained.
"Hm? Wait, how do I do that?"
"Well, using the skill should circulate mana throughout your body. Just focus that on your skin," Ashton started, though it didn't seem like Sam really knew what that was supposed to mean. "Think of yourself like you're wearing thick metal armour as you're using the skill. That should do it."
Sam sighed, "If you say so. I'll try."
"Alrighty. Then let's go inside, yeah?" Ashton smiled, further approaching the greenhouse. The glass was either overgrown or broken, so you weren't able to see a lot beyond all the obvious stuff, such as the carnivorous plants. Since it was the most likely that there was a myconid broodmother acting as the boss inside there, the real threat couldn't be seen.
Ashton called the wisp out of his vessel, and the elemental floated next to him just as the undine did. As Ashton forced open the root-overgrown doors, he was almost immediately met by the first trap built by these sneaky little fucks.
A large wooden spear shot straight at Ashton at stomach-height. It was clearly just whittled from some kind of branch, but it was still lethal to get into your guts.
Ashton pulled his staff in front of his body and blocked the tip of the spear just perfectly. It fell to the ground, and Ashton quickly saw the contraption that actually shot this thing out. It was some kind of tightened pulley-network that was activated as the door was pushed open, snapping one of the vines used to tie it all together.
But before he could see anything else, Ashton had a large number of darts shot at his face. He quickly pulled the wisp in front of his face and made it grow as much as it could, and the small darts simply bounced off the elemental's hard surface. Immediately, he flicked his wrist and shot the wisp forward at the source of the darts, crushing a few myconids and throwing even more out into the distance. None of them were killed by this, though it must have been enough to disorient them for a while.
"Be careful!" Ashton warned Sam, but he barely even had to. By the time he finished speaking, Sam had already rushed forward and smashed his fist into some myconids standing on a thick root along the wall, shoving them away.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The unarmed fighter grabbed onto the vines that were clearly used to set up some traps along this place, tearing them apart with his hands. Some traps on the other side of the greenhouse seemed to be activated, apparently killing some myconids in the process.
"I got this, you look for the boss!" Sam said, trying to hide the smile on his face. It was clear that he simply enjoyed fighting like this.
Ashton started spinning his staff around, using it to control the wisp. It wasn't the most effective against the myconids, but that wasn't what Ashton was aiming for right now anyway.
Rather, he was going to use the magic elemental to shatter the thick, wood-like stalks that were holding up the carnivorous plants. The water whip was too weak to tear apart something like that, so this was the much better way to do it.
As the wisp impacted with those thick stalks of stringy wood, they practically shattered apart, and the venus flytraps tipped over like felled trees, while the pitcher plants fell to the ground and spread out their contents.
It was mostly half-digested, massive insects, and even some myconids that had been trapped in there. However... there were traces of something even more terrible. It was just two or three in total, but this was something Ashton had seen before. The small bones of pixies and their carapaces. Despite being quite insect-like in nature, pixies still had a skeleton inside of them, rather than an exoskeleton as was common in insects.
Ashton ground his teeth. He was glad that he had asked Poppy to go into his vessel. She shouldn't have to see something like this with her own two eyes.
When those threats were taken out for now, Ashton focused back on the myconids. Sam had been doing a pretty good job fighting them. He crushed and tore them apart like Ashton had told him to, but that was just with one of their kind.
Ashton got something out of one of the pockets on his trousers. He had put it in there for this, since he wanted to try something out.
A small pocket notebook, a pot of ink, and the Pen of Insight. He flipped open the notebook, twisted the cap off the ink, and quickly tagged every variant of myconid that he could currently see. These guys weren't like the myconids that Ashton was used to, so he couldn't gather their potential ability-set just from looking at their species. It was a good idea to use the Pen for this.
There were five different types in plain view right now. Most of them weren't hiding all too well. And after tagging them, Ashton held forward the notebook and started spinning the staff around with his right hand, using the undine's water to attack those myconids. For now, he was trying to defend Sam, but he was obviously also quite the target. Ashton crushed the small monsters with his boots or his staff whenever they got too close, and then used the water-whip to cut apart groups of them that were clustered together.
Ashton was also cutting down some of the nearby leaves in the process, clearing out a larger area for him and Sam to move around freely. The pen seemed to have filled the small notebook fast enough and was done after just half a minute, which Ashton obviously spent fighting the myconids together with Sam.
After returning the ink and pen back into his pocket, he glanced down at the notebook's first entry.
Myconid Tribesman
Species - Field Mushroom (Agaricus Campestris)
Reward - 3 Coins
A common species of Myconid that often takes up more mundane and generalist roles in the tribe. They will attack using darts filled with venom harvested from nearby plants as well as hand-made spears. Taste great when cooked with some butter.
While he checked the note, those field mushrooms were quickly cut apart. Ashton was actually pretty excited to give them a try later, it had been a while since he had stir-fried myconid. Plus, these were a species he hadn't actually seen before.
But then again, they weren't the only ones that he had to focus on. While there were just a handful of them scattered around, some large, bulbous myconids were rushing at Ashton and Sam.
Myconid Brute
Species - Giant Puffball (Calvatia Gigantea)
Reward - 5 Coins
A powerful and sturdy species of Myconid that is known to pack quite a punch. They will attack without weapons, rather rushing at their target head-first. Taste great when breaded and fried in large slices.
"Ooh, I should try that later," Ashton smiled, as he jumped up over one of the brutes that came running at him. While the puffball was right below, he pushed his staff down at it and crushed it with his entire weight.
The death message quickly came. It still only read 'Myconid', though it gave a higher reward than the simple tribesman. As Ashton cut apart a few more of them, he looked around and spotted a group of the next few mushrooms. If he was right, then those should be...
Myconid Trapper
Species - Common Earthball (Scleroderma Citrinum)
Reward - 4 Coins
A small species of Myconid that, despite their hard exterior, is not suitable for direct combat. Instead, they work together to create complex traps. These Myconids are not recommended for ingestion and are potentially poisonous.
Those were the trappers. If that was the case, then they had to be lurking around the base of a trap. It seemed quite well-hidden. Sam was rushing around, stepping on branches and roots as he did. And then, he almost stepped right onto the tight-strung vine that seemed to be the trigger of the trap those myconids were gathered around, so Ashton quickly held onto one end of his staff and held it out toward Sam, pushing it into his back to stop him from moving further in that direction.
"Careful, dart launcher," Ashton warned, and Sam glanced down. He spotted the vine, and quickly hooked it with his foot, activating the trap while pulling it forward. A storm of darts was shot from the trap this vine was connected to, though it didn't actually hit anyone.
Before the group of earthballs could get upset, Ashton whipped them with the undine's water, before pushing his staff down and crushing a few more tribesmen to death.
But while he was doing this, he kept trying to look for the 'unique'. The actual boss monster. Broodmothers were quite large, so it wouldn't be able to hide all that easily, so that probably wasn't it. So, it was some kind of special, rare variant.
And a moment later, Ashton had a good idea of what that variant was. Not the species, just what its 'role' was.
The myconids that had already been killed, whether they were cut or torn in half, or crushed flat, slowly rose back up from the ground and started moving, letting out quiet, high-pitched groans.
The boss monster was a Myconid Necromancer.