I Was Reincarnated As A Monster Flower - Chapter 18

Everyone has heard of swarm monsters and how they are the natural enemy of civilization itself, but has anyone given any thought as to what swarm monsters are and why they would be the enemy to civilization? If you’re like the common everyday person your answer to that question was probably no.

Which is completely alright! Even adventurers whose job is literally to hunt monsters more often than not have no idea of what the answer would be! That’s why monster researchers like myself exist. To be the ones to do the hard work in researching the monsters to answer these very questions.

So, lets first go over the common swarm species that threaten society. The first and most well known of course are the ants. How can you talk about swarm creatures and not talk about them when they are THE most common type and the most common cause of civilizations collapsing to monsters? Now ants as everyone knows come in many forms with various abilities, specialties, and environments. Because of this, it can be extremely difficult to form a general plan for pushing back invasions these bugs start. Paired up with their endless hunger for more territory and rapid reproduction rates and you can see why they’re such a big problem.

Next, are the less well known but still troublesome swarm species known as bees. While not as diverse as the ants they still have a number of different species and have the capability to fly on top of that. This allows them to cover massive amounts of territory in a single day which is part of why they are such a danger. When they attack another swarm species or a civilization, they strike fast, hard, and deep. A term that one ancient general coined a blitzkrieg invasion. A fitting name I must say considering the definition.

The next type is less numerous but much more individually powerful species known as wasps. They have all the physical capabilities of ants and bees but multiplied by ten. This level of combat prowess makes it difficult to combat them since they fight in groups like us. Thankfully where bees and ants can number in the thousands at the very least the wasps only will number in the hundreds with thousand large hives being a rare exception.

These three species types are the most common threats amongst the swarm monsters and through their coordination, power, and sheer numbers they can overwhelm small kingdoms and even empires quite easily so long as they are left alone long enough. There have even been several dozen occasions when one of these species appeared in a dungeon as a rare spawn and ended up taking over the dungeon and wiping out other monsters to the point of which the only monsters left are only them. Truly swarm species are one of the biggest threats to civilization and possibly life itself as a whole.

-Excerpt from the monster encyclopedia by Xander freerider.

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Faster! Faster! I must get back before the adventurers make it! And on the way, I must go on a killing spree and level up as quickly as possible! These adventurers are a big problem and if they kill the dryads, I’ll lose the safest place for me to rest in the whole forest! Not to mention they might just kill the fairies if they discover them… No, don’t think about it! Focus on the task at hand!

Sprinting through the forest at full speed I didn’t pay any mind to things like bushes and stones in my way using my thorn vines to cut through the bushes ahead of me and launch myself any stone to tall for me to run over. The ruckus I was making understandably caught the attention of small-time opportunistic monsters like the fanged frogs and the occasional jackalope. None of which survived long to launch an attack at me. Well, the jackalope was able to attack once before two dozen thorns pierced its innards and shredded it.

With this killing spree I did along the way I managed to kill 12 fanged frogs and a single jackalope before I finally arrived at the dryad’s grove. With my thorns still dripping fresh blood from the killing I did, I made my way towards Amelia.

{Amelia, we have a problem! A big big problem!} I exclaimed with panic lacing my pheromones. The panic was evidently enough to catch the attention of the other dryads who usually didn’t interact with me as they shook their branches lightly showing that I had their attention as well.

{What’s wrong? Did something happen while you went out?} Her pheromones tone was still calmed and composed unlike my own. Not that it would remain that way for very long with the bad news I brought.

{Hunters. I found three human hunter scouts in the forests and they’re looking for a grove of dryads. This grove of dryads! They must have more perhaps several teams of hunters that will be coming to kill everyone here!}

{I see. Then we must fight. And when we defeat the hunters, we’ll be stronger afterwards from the points we gain from the battle.} Amelia replied to me in a calm and composed tone.

That was not the reaction I had been expecting. Fear? Maybe. Denial? Possibly. Complete unflustered calmness though? Not really.

{You’re not concerned…?}

{Why would I be? I’m a monster. Even if I’m rooted in one place it’s in my sap to fight and kill. Be it man or monster they’re all the same to me.}

That actually makes sense… She said she’s a few years old. I took that as just a few years of being alive, but what it actually meant was a few years of killing just to survive another day till the point of which other monsters weren’t willing to pick a fight with her and her sisters. More proof of the fact that I haven’t completely lost my human way of thinking. Not that it will be of much use in a fight against human hunters…. Or will it…?

{Alright I’m going to go out and start some hunting to get a level up. I’ll help fight back against the humans.} I told her.

{Thank you for your help. Good luck little rose.}

I turned to run back to the woods when a branch stretched out and tapped my head.

{But before you go what’s your name?}

I hesitated thinking about why she’d want to know my name. To track me down? Not possible. Unlike with people, a name won’t help you much when tracking down a monster. To know what to carve on my gravestone if/when I die? I don’t think monsters do graves. She’d probably just eat my corpse or something. In the end, though I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell her my name.

{My name’s Joe. Joe Johnson.}

{Be careful then Joe Johnson. Be careful.}

Maybe it was just my imagination but based on the tone of her pheromones it almost sounded like she was smiling. Well more smell than anything I guess considering we talk through pheromones. What does a smile smell like though I have absolutely no idea. It was only a faint sensation that I felt.

Shaking my petals slightly to clear my head I went to start some level grinding. Hopefully with this being a real-world situation and being able to literally feel the blood of my foes coating my thorns will make it not so mind-numbing to do level grinding. I know for a fact it was absolutely unbearable to do so back when I was human and playing videogames. After checking my XP, I found I had 35/110 XP stocked up. It looks like I should hunt down a few tusked deer if I want to gain as much XP as possible for a creature of my level.

That or kill some wolves but I’m not so dumb as to try and do something as crazy unless I absolutely had to. Which I didn’t since the attack likely wouldn’t begin until the hunters found the location of the dryads then prepared themselves to fight. People like being prepared when it comes to fighting wars so I guess I figured that hunters would be the same in that regard.

I went out and started my search for a tusked deer. So far, they’ve been rather common in the forest and I still shouldn’t be too close to the hunters. So, it shouldn’t take too long for me to find one. Before going further, I decided to use 4 of the remaining 8 skill points to level up stealth from level 3 to level 4. With this, I’ll be able to be stealthier and possibly get a few good hits in against the deer I’m hunting. Which considering my messy eater perk can very well be the finisher hits depending on how many times I bite them. With it, my attacks will do an additional 12 points of damage to their health.

It shouldn’t be too unrealistic to kill a deer in a few bites in the right places. Just like I had thought I soon found a tusked deer to kill. It was currently eating some red berries from a bush near a tree. This provided me the perfect opportunity for me to get a good ambush on it. I climbed up onto a nearby tree and navigated the branches between the tree it was grazing under and the ones I climbed up. Using them I climbed over to a spot above the deer.

During the whole time, I was completely silent thanks to my stealth skill and managed to prevent the tusked deer from sensing my presence. Ten of my thorn-tipped tentacles slowly slid from my body the thorns glittering dangerously with the dried blood from my previous kills. I then dropped down from the branch mouth wide open and landed onto the deer’s neck sinking my thorny teeth into it and the thorn vines I had out.

My chainsaw teeth activated shredding through the monster’s flesh with ease as the toxins inside of them were injected continuously into its body. My vines wrapped themselves around the animal’s neck and buried their thorns into its soft neck. The deer stood up onto its hind legs bellowing in pain as it began shaking its head vigorously in an attempt to dislodge me.

But that only made things worse as it made my teeth scrape through it while sawing at it causing more blood to flow from its wound and soak its fur. It staggered around slamming into a tree trunk with a thud before sliding to the ground its chest heaving as it breathed in ragged weak breaths. With one final bite, I sawed down to its spinal cord and tore it apart.

[Tusked deer slain. 6 XP earned. 2 MP absorbed. 2 skill points earned. 2 mutation points earned.]

There we go. That was rather messy but, in the end, it was unable to stand against my sneak attack. Actually, that was surprisingly easy. It should be an entire tier above me but yet it was helpless against my chain of attacks on that one spot. I suppose that means tiers aren’t everything. Which in turn means that it’s a possibility I could…. disable one or two humans in the fight ahead. With that, I went out to target my next prey after munching a bit on the deer’s corpse.

Over the course of the next five hours, I killed 12 more tusked deer before returning to the dryad’s grove for my level up. By now the scouts would have found the grove and returned to their comrades to prepare. Considering we plants get a boost during the day they’d likely attack during the night when we’re at our weakest. But unlike they’d think I would be their worst nightmare during the night when the human senses were at its weakest. Especially with the help of my stealth skills.

{Did you have a good hunt?} Amelia asked me as soon as I arrived.

[Yes, I did. I’m ready for the next level up. Let’s hope it’s enough to let me partake in the defense of the grove.}

{Just do what you can. We dryads will be enough to handle the frail humans.} One of the other dryads replied in place of their sister.

Foolish thinking but at least she’s confident. But I was once human and knew just how crafty they are. I’m pretty sure even with my own human intellect I won’t be able to change the tide of battle. But I can at least be a painful thorn in their side and get a few of them taken out of the fight by the dryads. Time to level up though.

[Level up? Y/N]

Yes.

[Level: 4

XP: 110/110

Species: Monster cave rose

Perks: Messy eater

Intelligence: 50

Will: 15

Strength: 20

Toughness: 21

Agility: 45

Perception: 20

Endurance: 15

Charisma: 20

HP: 35/35

MP: 102/102]

[10 stat points available for use. 25 additional stat points available for usage. 5 points of HP will be added to your health pool.]

Let’s see here. I’ll need to speck into the stealthy glass cannon build further unfortunately if I want to be able to handle the armor the hunters will have. So that means 20 points into strength will be able to double the amount of damage my perk allows me to dish out. And putting 5 points into my endurance should let me run around a bit longer. Finally I’ll put 10 points into my will. I’ve been ignoring it for too long and I’m starting to get worried that its leaving a gap in my defenses. With that its time to level up skill and mutations.

[Current skills: Universal plant language (Common) level 2; Thorny defense (Common) level 1; Enhanced photosynthesis (Uncommon) level 1; basic mana sense (Uncommon) level 3; Stealth (Common) level 4; Climbing (Common) level 2; drowsy pollen (Common) level 3; Feather fall (Common) level 1; Tunnel sense (Common) level 1; Czech translation skill (Common) level 3; MP to HP convertor (Common) level 3

Available skills: No available skills.

Available skill points: 22

Current mutations: Petals level 1; Stem level 1; Iron thorn’s level 1; Iron leaf level 1; thorny teeth level 3; Enhanced root strength level 3; Toxic thorns (Common weak) level 1; Serrated thorns (Common) level 1; Thorn vines (Uncommon) level 1; Chainsaw teeth (Common) level 1

Available mutations: No available mutations.

Available mutation points: 28]

Now, this is where things will really matter. I’ll need to strengthen my strong points so that I’ll be able to inflict actual damage against the hunters. First skills. I’ll need to capitalize on my senses to try and get an advantage against the hunters. This means I’ll have to spend 12 skill points on mana sense to raise it to level 5 for an upgrade.

[Basic mana sense has reached level 5.

Intermediate mana sense is available. Allows the user to sense everything 5 meters around it with increased precision even in lowlight conditions.]

And that’s going to be a must-have. One more skill point spent to get me that skill. Since there’s not much I can upgrade that will be useful for the upcoming battle I’ll save the rest of my skill points. Next would be mutations. And what better to spend 14 points on than the mutation that makes my thorns toxic?

[Toxic thorn (Weak) has reached level 5.

Toxic thorn (Potent) available. Causes toxin HP loss of hosts level by endurance divided by 5.]

Well, I’ll spend another mutation point on it but now I’m wondering if I should have spent more points on endurance earlier. Oh well, there’s always the next level. If I survive the hunters that is. Next 9 points will be spent on my thorny teeth mutation to upgrade them.

[Thorny teeth (Common) has reached level 5.

Iron thorny teeth (Common) is available. Thorny teeth are now as durable as iron.

Iron thorn mutation already in effect.

Resolving….

Resolving….

Steel thorny teeth (Uncommon) now available. Increases the durability of thorny teeth to that of steel.}

And one more point to purchase the upgraded version. Now here comes my favorite part. Perks!!

[Otherworlder bonus- Perks (Perks add an additional bonus effect. One perk will be available every 5 levels:

Quick learner (Requirement intelligence 10): 5% increase in XP gained

Regrowth (Requirement lose 1/3 of your HP at once): 1% of HP regenerated every second. Can be upgraded twice. Level 2 increases it to 2% HP/s

Hmmm…. No new available perks? That sucks. Actually, wait I declare that this is downright unfair! I’m about to go fight adventurers! Human adventurers and you don’t give me more combat orientated perks!? Your evil Alfred…. Evil. But never mind that. I mind as well choose regrowth since it might save my life.

Can’t ever have too many ways to recover your health, right? I can already imagine how frustrated people will be when trying to kill me. Just regenerating from every single attack, they use. Huehuehue. I’ll be the undying flower! Now for the upgrade pains…

SCREEEEW THIS PAA- wait. There’s no pa- My body went limp as I went unconscious.