Terrarium Adventure - Chapter 31

It was bizarre to express it as a human. It had a head, arms, and leg.

It wasn’t like it had a face and the way it was standing looked a little odd…like…like a…yes! Zombie! It was like a zombie.

To be more specific it was like a zombie that had melted in flames and was surrounded in flames.

It was moving slowly while turning it’s surrounding into ash. That thing was actually walking. Crazy, does Darwin’s theory of evolution apply to fires too? Why was a monster that had crawled the ground like a leech walking on two feet?

“Is that really a fire? I’m sure it is since it has a body of fire. But how is it able to walk like us? Ew, now that I think of it it’s disgusting. Why is the fire walking?”

“Yes, master Jay. Near the terrariums where it is blessed by the world tree, the fires’ powers are suppressed. It needs to maintain its power under pressure so it takes on an optimal form. That is to be rounded and condensed.”

Mesquite held up her shield and adopted her battle stance.

“The fires that are further away from the blessing of the tree are able to unleash their powers. And they try to become stronger by burning their surroundings. Their greed to become stronger sometimes takes on the form of things they identify as benign stronger than themselves. The other druid wiped out the area, right? This one must have luckily survived. From its point of view it would have identified the druid as a stronger identity. So it must have tried to imitate the form of the druid.”

Disgusting. I’m sure the druid did not look like that. Was that the best imitation they could adopt? Wow, I bet soon it would even try to imitate talking?

The sand that flowed from Mesquite’s shield was absorbed beneath Daisy’s feet and at that moment the fire identified us.

The large flames were emitted from its flailing arms and legs. The surroundings heated up in a blink of an eye.

I despised hot environments and couldn’t even enjoy saunas because of it!

My skin started to sting due to the sudden heatwave caused by the sea of fire. It was getting so difficult to breathe so I was about to take off my robe when Elder stopped me. Exposing my bare skin would result in burns.

I had no choice so I poured my bottle of water over my head. It felt like I had been standing under the direct sunlight in summer for a long period of time.

The cold water flowing from my head made it easier but that too was temporary. As the water soon turned hot…bloody hell….

It was evidently different from the fires we had encountered at the beginner’s hunting grounds.

Mesquite hadn’t stopped up from venturing out for no reason. Doesn’t this mean if we hadn’t leveled up by using the diamonds initially we would all have been wiped out? Then who was that druid who came before us and wiped out all the fires that were like this?

My driards were not lacking in any way as compared to others but I couldn’t help wondering what kind of driards that other druid had? No, did we differ in our levels too?

The fire that was in a human form started flailing it’s two arms.

I was watching the crazy thing behind Elder’s shield, it seemed like it was flailing a baseball bat. No, it seemed somewhat like a sword weapon of some sort.

The problem was that every time that thing flailed its arms, large flames were directed our way. Urgh, what had that fire seen and what was it trying to imitate?

Mesquite took the front and used her shield to avoid the flames once, then Elder added to the defense with red light from his ring acting as a second shield. With that, we were able to avoid any direct hits but the problem was the immense heat.

Now that I think of it I feel furious? This was only the second hunting ground past the beginner’s hunting ground right? One stage after the beginner’s step. So how could the level of difficulty jump this high?

If this was a game it would have received many complaints from users for its imbalance! This was equivalent to another game’s hell of fire difficulty level! Did I have to accomplish this level by not sleeping for 3 days and 3 nights as I had then?

Mesquite who had been on defense with her shield fronted her lens and ran out like a shooting star.

Whoosh, followed by an extremely loud sound the flames that were headed our way split into two. The lens that had flown like a grenade was embedded in the center of the fires body causing it to explode.

Boom! With that, the fire exploded into five parts. If it really had been a human it would have been a grotesque sight to watch. The thought of it made me cringe and shut my eyes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a one kill. But with the cleanly cut five parts, it had grown into a much smaller flame as compared to before.

Daisy quickly ran forward to complete the finishing stage and Elder swung his cane to give her the buffer she needed.

But something was odd.

I wasn’t smart enough to know what was wrong.

It was an instinct. To be exact, it was an instinctive feeling I felt from Mesquite based on our bond. Now was not the time for Daisy to step in.

“Daisy, come back!”

For someone who is running at full speed, it is not easy for them to listen to someone’s instructions and stop.

But Daisy immediately unleashed vines from her arm and rooted them to the ground and stopped herself.

She had bounced back a little towards us but had stopped.

And just like my instincts had told me, no our instinct to be exact, was right.

I had thought that things had been too smooth but as anticipated the fire was not easy to beat.

Just as Mesquite’s shield was planted to the ground and a large sand shield covered us, the fire that had been split in 5 started to project something collectively. It seemed like a glittering powder.

It seemed similar to pollen you see during spring but gave you the feeling you had when you spilled something and couldn’t do anything but look at it with feelings of desperation.

The sand wall seemed strong but had not been able to cover all four sides and I was worried that the bizarre attack would affect Mesquite.

What I did next was instinctive. It didn’t even register in my head and just came out instinctively.

I felt like my thoughts and Mesquite’s thoughts were one, whenever the connections in our souls were strong and firm.

She had previously mentioned that a main driard’s intention was the equivalent to the druid’s intention and vice versa. Now I could fully relate to what she meant then.

So instinctively I cut my ties with Mesquite and connected them to Daisy. I didn’t need any preparation. Things went according to what I intended.

Daisy’s eyes shined sharply as our souls connected. Daisy who had access to my thoughts spread out her vines and wrapped it around Mesquite’s waist.

Although the petite Daisy was weaker than Mesquite, with the team’s attack buffer and the little jump Mesquite added, things went accordingly.

Daisy pulled the vines and Mesquite escaped swiftly from her initial position. Elder surrounded his shield over Mesquite’s and as I quickly reconnected with Mesquite and received the team’s shield buffer, just by a few seconds, we had avoided a large explosion.

Dust explosion, the most dangerous explosions caused by fires in a chemical factory. Smokes embellished the areas as though a bomb had just gone off in front of us.

Elder’s large hands quickly covered my mouth and nose and threw my body behind himself. The explosive sound nearly burst my eardrums.

Mesquite’s sand wall had broken into small fractions from the explosion and rebounded against Elder’s shield. But neither of the shields was able to stop the smoke.

The shield that was in a critical state started lighting up red. The same color as the ring on Elder’s shield.

The current attack had been so powerful that it required Elder to use his battle bonus to avoid the consequences.

It was hot and hard to breathe and I felt like I was going to die, but there was a sense of accomplishment in my heart.

During the attack, one of the fires must have been caught in the middle of the explosion and been wiped out. Hence the level up.

It was a relief in this misfortune. If I leveled up, my driards were influenced as well. Just as my tiredness dissolved my driards also felt theirs dissolve.

The injuries from the battle remained, but the energy level was refreshed and recharged to the same level it had been before the battle.

The team had been separated in the smoke. I had been with Elder but Mesquite and Daisy’s locations were unknown.

The black smoke was horrible. I held onto Elder’s hand as though it was a respirator and looked beyond the smoke with squinting eyes.

Fortunately, a gust of wind split the smoke apart and I identified the figures in the smoke.

Mesquite had several charred marks and was kneeling on one knee. Her shield was surrounded in a yellow light and had increased a fold in size.

Fortunately, Daisy seemed fine inside Mesquite’s barrier. She had obvious signs of burns but seemed relatively unaffected.

Elder planted his staff to the ground and it caused a ripple of white petals to spread out in waves.

The light lay on the driards and melted away quickly like piled-up snow. I had seen individual healing before but this was the first time to see collective healing.

“It absorbed power.”

Mesquite glared at the fire while grinding her teeth. Her pumpkin-colored eyes blazed in rage.

From afar you could see 4 floating fires. But for fires that had absorbed powers, they appeared similar in size as to before.

“If it becomes smaller it will be able to use the explosive attack again. Are you able to wipe it out in one shot?”

“Yes!”

Daisy shouted her reply to Mesquite by clenching her dagger in her hands.

I will deal with the two right in front of us. Can I entrust you with the rest?”

“No worries!”

Mesquite got up and as she lifted her lens the shield returned to its original form. Elder spun his cane towards Daisy who was in her battle stance.

I had once before seen the explosion of lights and tornadoes of petals. When Elder had used the buffer on Mesquite who was rooting herself to the ground in search of Daisy. It emphasized on Elder’s skills and enhanced the luck of a buffer.

“You have to aim for their weak point. Right at the center. So that it can be wiped out straight away from the attack!”

“Yes!”

Just as the two driards took formation to attack, the fire started to flail itself.

How petty could they be? Did they not even have a resting period? Just as the flailing was about to create flames, Elder spread out his hand.

From the fire’s surroundings, elderflower seedlings started to sprout. The flying petals started to stick on to the flames and clumped up together.

“If you fail the fire will absorb my power and grow even bigger. I’ll stop the flames so make sure you wipe them out in one shot!”

At Elder’s words, the two driards sprinted forward. Like bullets, Mesquite’s lens wiped out the fires in her line of vision in one shot.

Daisy, who had received Elder’s buffer of luck, accurately threw her dagger and wiped out the two remaining flames as a finale.

The level instantly went up. Just as when we had first wiped out a fire near the village, I was filled with a sense of achievement.