Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

A man in black stepped out of the two-story house. He looked forward and climbed down the two stairs that stood below the porch. His feet landed on the green grass.

From behind him, two more pairs of feet stepped onto the grass.

The boss walked to the center of the area. He looked straight at the empty ground which did not have even a single person around. Then he lifted his head into the night's sky.

Hidari and his junior followed their boss till he stopped in the middle of the front yard. They both exchanged glances. They noticed their boss admiring the moon and celebrating their victory inside his heart.

Those two did not say anything either and moved their heads to look around themselves.

Dark green trees covered the whole house. On the left side, on the right side, there were dried-up twigs of bramble plants. Deep within the trees were a few green bramble plants with berries hanging on their vines.

Strange that nobody lived around this lone house. Behind was the swamp area, ahead was empty ground with not a single house in sight. No neighbors in at least a radius of two-hundred to three-hundred meters. This must be the border of the monster-free area because nobody wants to live around here.

"Boss," the voice of his right-hand man entered his ears, "We should get going," he said in a prompt voice.

"Yep." the boss brought his head down, "Let us head inside the woods," he turned around to the woods.

They all took a step forward towards the woods. After they got a few feet closer to the woods, their boss stopped right away.

"Weapons…" he raised his head at the woods, his hand moved to his katana, "...At the ready,"

Both Hidari and the freshman were confused but they did not dare to ignore their boss's commands.

The man in black pulled out his katana which then landed on his right shoulder. Hidari too got equipped with his gun, and the freshman stretched his arm forward.

"What is it, boss?" Hidari asked but soon saw the reason himself.

The tree that his boss had chopped off the time he appeared from the woods… moved. No, it would be safe to say that the tree was 'growing' back.

In a few seconds, it was a full-grown tree with dark green leaves, a thick trunk, and long and strong branches.

Before they could move their eyes away from that supernatural tree, almost every tree 'moved'.

The freshman turned around and saw dried-up bramble vines crawling on the ground. The grass they stood on had started to wrap around their feet.

"Sir…" he started, "I think… we should–" he raised his air cannon and shot at a tree that attacked him, "Retreat, as soon as possible,"

The boss raised his katana without saying anything. With a strong slash from his katana, he cut a number of trees and watched as they all fell on the ground.

The trees that were cut had grown back, the same as the first tree. 'Is it of no use?' the boss thought by glancing at his katana's blade.

Hidari and the freshman went all out with their attacks. There was no stopping the trees that grew spontaneously, no way to deflect the vines that tried to wrap themselves around Hidari and his junior's legs.

As if all this mess was not enough, the roots of trees sprouted out from the ground.

The freshman jumped in the air to defend himself against the roots, "We should really run!" he shouted.

"Fool! Do you think we are enjoying ourselves fighting these things? If it was possible then we would have fled a long time ago!" Hidari reloaded his gun and fired at the branches again.

"He is right…" the boss spoke, "We can not run into the mage city, their patrolling officers will be delighted to welcome us, in a great number,"

He raised his katana to cut down a tree.

The freshman blew up another tree, "And this tree monster, this way, we can not make our way to the portal either,"

"Fuck these filthy magic users," Hidari bit his lip, "These woods must be enchanted with a protection spell,"

"Most likely, Hidari," his boss sped up to him and swung his katana.

"What do we do, boss?" he did not answer Hidari's question. He fought off the trees, branches, roots, and bramble plants.

"Alright," after a more minute or so, the boss stopped, "I will create a path for you, as soon as the opening appears, run inside the woods,"

"Sir?"

"No, we can not-"

"Use your wide-ranged, wide area, and high impact attacks to continue clearing the path that I am going to create… do not look back," with that being said, the boss pulled his katana to his left side.

"Keep the front clear, am I clear?" he asked. His subordinates nodded their heads, "Now!" he slashed his katana diagonally up through the woods.

Tens of trees fell at once, thirty, no forty trees cut down in a straight line which created a straight path for them.

Hidari and his junior did not wait for another second, they followed their boss's order and ran down the path.

The boss followed them. "Keep the path clear!" he shouted from behind.

They all went deeper into the woods. The freshman was leading the group, he blew away the trees that blocked their way.

The boss continued clearing the trees that tried to attack them from behind. Soon, they all disappeared into the deep woods.

On the straight path that was created by the boss, more trees grew and patched up the path.

A bright light lightened from the freshman's battlesuit. "Ah!" and he fell- "help me!" he shouted. The boss' eyes fell on his junior.

A vine had grabbed him by his ankle. The vine pulled the freshman to the ground and pulled him.

On seeing that, the boss quickly lifted his katana and cut his junior's leg by the knee before the vine would pull him any further.

"Fuck you!" he turned his head to Hidari who was fighting another group of vines.

If he cuts the vines, a few more will attack him. And the new vines will be stronger, and faster.

"There is no other way," the boss did not ask for permission, he slashed Hidari's left arm from the elbow.

"Get up!" the boss turned and glanced at his junior.

'Huh?' he paused, 'Get up? You are saying that after chopping off my leg?'

The boss and Hidari noticed more branches and vines coming their way, and they both turned around, "Sorry, Migi!" the boss shouted.

Hidari cleared the path once again and there it was… a shiny blue portal waiting for them to pass through it.

Migi's eyes went wide, 'You are leaving me…here?' he could not suppress his shock, 'No.' He threw himself on the ground and tried to crawl forward when he felt something grab his leg. Another vine.

The boss glanced at Migi for the last time before he jumped into the portal with Hidari.

"You motherfucker!!" his voice rang through the woods as a vine pulled him into the woods.

It lifted him off the ground, a few more vines appeared from the trees, from the ground.

In the end, Migi stopped struggling. He let the vines crawl up his body, he let the vines cover his body.

His eyes were fixed on the portal that was let open even after his boss and Hidari passed through it.

The vines wrapped Migi's body from head to toe. They finally reached the last spot that was yet to be covered… his eyes.

The anger flashed in his eyes before his whole body was wrapped by the vines and taken away into the deep dark woods.