Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 134: Strange Plants.

He realized that the rattle of him getting dragged through the dirt or whatever wasn’t the only sound around him.

It seemed that something else was also getting dragged in the same direction as him! This also assured him that there indeed really was one central area where the vines bring the victims.

What happened to them at that place was still unknown. Ozul could only wait and see for himself what was going on there.

He just closed his eyes since it was getting boring, only getting dragged without doing anything.

. . .

The next moment he opened his eyes was the time when the vines suddenly tightened their grip on Ozul, and something started to force its way into them as well.

He did not know how many hours he’d spent here. But there was one thing that he understood very well – the things that started to force their way into the vines were actually sharp blades!

.....

From all his sides, the sharp white blades were going to stab him. Ozul sighed because he didn’t know if he had reached the primary location where he would be able to get the answers. But now he would have to stop acting dead.

Although the vines were as thick as an adult man’s arm, they were all cut away like butter with the blades Ozul had made from Ball of Purity.

*Swish*

The vines fell on the ground before Ozul also landed. He wasn’t aware of it, but now that he looked around him, he realized that he was hanging in the air before!

Not only that, but there was also the giant red mouth-like thing with the inside filled with those white blades which now appeared to be its teeth. That thing looked like some kind of plant monster that Ozul had never come across before. It consisted only of a green tree trunk with that big mouth on top instead of the leaves.

“Is it also a part of all these strange plants and fog?” Ozul muttered before taking a look around as to know where he was.

What he saw surprised him because there wasn’t any fog around him anymore!

Moreover, since there was no fog around him, he could see almost everything in his view. He spun 360 degrees and noticed that he was in the middle of an area littered with those plant monsters. Some of them had cocoons made up of the vines above them, just like his.

He sensed that all of them contained some kind living creatures in it.

‘All of these creatures are weak. Did these vines put me in the same category as these Rank-3 bugs?’ Ozul thought. It amused him that there were even categories of the victims here. The vines had probably brought him here because they could not sense any Mana from him.

There were only some bugs type beasts here since they were probably considered the weakest in here.

But looking at this scene, Ozul had confirmed that he was right in his guess. It all really was a set-up, and now he just needed to figure out what the purpose was and who is behind all of this.

Fortunately for him, he could easily find his way out by following the direction where he sensed the stronger creatures.

Just as he was about to walk forward, the red monster plant that was about to eat him previously turned its head towards him after it could only munch on empty air.

*Kaurkk*

It could obviously not see since Ozul noticed that it had no eyes, but he was proven wrong when the plant suddenly screeched!

It wouldn’t have been a problem to him since Ozul could’ve just cut it off. However, the plant monster’s screech attracted all the other plants’ attention to him as well.

Under a few seconds, Ozul found himself the target of hundreds of plant monsters that could only hiss at him with their gigantic mouth filled with teeth.

“In the end, they are still plants...” Ozul muttered before his eyes twitched when he looked at the next scene.

The thick vines that previously decorated the sky, blocking the sun, all of a sudden began to twist and turn as if they had gained the spirits of snakes!

*Sigh...*

Ozul sighed realizing that he would not be able to afford to be leisure while exploring this place anymore.

“Whatever,” muttered Ozul under his breath before he summoned all of the Ball of Purity out of him and divided all of it into flat blades that started rotating around him.

And just as he thought, the vines started shooting at him like flying snakes from the sky!

However, the blades that rotated around him started to increase their speed until the point where only the passing black images could be seen. Ozul had made it like a shield that would cut everything down that came near him.

The vines shot at him from every side, but all of them were reduced to mere pieces after coming into contact with the shield made of those blades.

Although Ozul seemed to be doing nothing as he leisurely stood there, he actually had to put a part of his focus onto the blades.

Unlike a Mage’s Spell, he had to continually keep his focus on the Ball of Purity to direct its movement. It had both its advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage was that Ozul had to keep his focus if he wanted to keep the Ball of Purity moving. In contrast, if it was a Spell from a Mage, he was required only to cast it once.

With a part of his attention on the blades to keep them spinning around him, Ozul walked forward in the direction where he sensed more creatures.

As he walked further, more and more plant monsters started to hiss at him while the clutter of vines also increased. However, Ozul still stepped forward unbothered by all of this.

As he advanced, Ozul noticed that the number of creatures started to decrease, but their ranks were higher than the ones behind him now.

For a few minutes, he kept walking straight since there was nothing that could stop him on his path as of yet. He only stopped when he noticed something different.

Focusing on one of the vine cocoons in the air, Ozul realized that it contained a human! Moreover, that human was already dead!

Since he was dead, Ozul could not really sense what his rank was before death, but judging from the creatures around him, he was most likely a Rank-5 Mage.

“They managed to lose one of their men even with such a big group?” Ozul was indifferent, as he commented. He was sure that this man belonged to one of the groups of mercenaries.

Many things pointed this to be the case, such as why else would there be another Rank-5 Mage in the middle of this dangerous forest?

He passed by that cocoon without any care. Why would he care about a random man that he could probably not even remember the face of?

Anyway, this area seemed to be rather large since he had probably walked for 30 minutes without coming across anything different.

A few minutes later, he noticed that there were almost no cocoons hung up in the air anymore. Because of the number of vines that attacked him, his figure was almost hidden in the storm of green.

Ozul realized that he had come across a different section, but the vines surrounding him did not let him see anything. He sighed before standing still on his spot. His focus was directed towards the blades to increase the radius of the circle in which they spun around him.

The blades started to get farther and farther away from Ozul, cutting all the vines, which let him have a broad view around him.

It was almost unbelievable for any other Mage to see this scene. Those vines could probably overwhelm even Rank-8 Mages if caught unprepared, but Ozul was dealing with it like some kind of child’s play.

As he had a better view now, Ozul realized that he was in another strange place now. Although there weren’t any of those plant monsters here, it still contained the vines above him.

“What is this?” Ozul muttered when he looked at the ground, littered with the giant roots protruding out of the dirt.

The giant roots came from the direction of the plant monsters just as he did and seemed to be heading towards the inner area. The strange thing, however, was not that they were giant. Instead, it was because occasionally, a bright pulse seemed to pass through them!

Like some kind of energy beam, the pulses headed toward the same direction as well. When Ozul was focusing on the next pulse, he sensed that these were energy beams, but they were made out of Mana!

The Mana was also in compressed form. Such type of Mana was unusable by any Mage because only touching it could cause their skin to melt!

This also showcased the sturdiness of these roots. They could contain such dangerously compressed Mana, which even high-rank Fighters would keep their hands away from.

Although Ozul wanted to cut open one of the roots and check the Mana for himself, he refrained from doing so since it would most likely cause another commotion here. If he really wanted to, he could just come back here after checking what was ahead.

“This is only getting more interesting...” Ozul whispered under his breath, excited to be able to find something new. However, his face showed no emotions at all, as usual.