Carnivorous forest...
* * *
"So it's clearly a trap, right?" I ask, wanting a second and third opinion from my only present teammates.
"... Most likely," Joshua says, nodding.
"Then we have to hurry ahead and help them out!" Liz says, clearly being more concerned about her brother than reason. Can't exactly blame her, but still. "Whatever drew them in could be fighting them right now!"
"That's a terrible idea and, most likely, what the forest wants," I say, turning around. I draw my sword and slowly begin walking forward. "Step by step is the only way to approach this. Joshua, come get against me. Liz, you stand behind us and watch flank. If that bird can do anything besides peck, make sure it's as ready as we are."
Great... despite my attempts, I ended up helming the damn operation anyways. Joshua nods and does as I said, getting to my side and drawing his sword. His sword reminds me of a French officer saber, albeit less ornamental.
We walk forward as a proper unit this time rather than 5 random people. Not saying that our earlier formation was bad, only that we didn't hold it whilst moving.
This forest... is far darker than it appeared from the outside. Vines drape from the canopy above, roots littering the ground. I don't doubt that there's a few venomous bugs in this dungeon. What I wasn't expecting however was...
"Is... that a finger in that plant?" I ask, looking over at a plant to our right. I completely stop walking and our formation as a whole.
Joshua looks unperturbed whilst Liz looks... perturbed. Sure enough, there's a human finger in that plant. Upon further examination, there's also blood on the ground. The blood isn't dragged or smeared or spraid, leading me to believe that something picked them up... up.
I look up at the canopy only to spot what I was hoping wasn't there. Yep, that's a plant monster. It's like a mass of stem that's coiled around a pod, although the pod seems jagged and spiny. Out of the pod sticks a scratched and cut arm.
"In the canopy, don't step forward," Joshua says, also having seen it at the same time as me. Is he sharp or what?
"Wasn't planning on it," My response is simple as I continue holding my sword. "Do you think it's John or Terrance?"
"Nah. Different color shirt," He says, looking at me. Weirdly specific thing to remember, but helpful. "We don't have to help them. The teachers will do it eventually."
"I mean, yeah, but I don't want to..." I pause for a second before realizing the unintentional pun I've formed in my head. I let it rip anyways. "Leave them hanging, y'know?"
"Not really, but if you can get up there, then go for it," He says, relaxing his posture for a moment. I could climb a tree to get up since we don't have a way to shoot him down... and I guess that's what I'll do.
The tree looks maybe 50 feet tall, dangerous if I was just a normal kid. Still a little dangerous, but not terrible. I sheathe my sword and grab onto the tree, simply getting a feel for it. I squeeze my hands against it and slowly begin to use my upper body strength to climb up.
I understand that climbing vegetation in a potentially carnivorous forest is probably a bad idea, but what else am I supposed to climb? I'm not seeing a ladder here, are you? A minute in, I'm maybe halfway up the tree when I notice the plants above slightly... stirring. It's like they're preparing to pounce... which probably means that they are.
Hell, let's push my luck. I continue the climb, looking up and at the plants. If they pounce, I could probably draw my sword with 1 hand and swing without falling, but not much else. I wish I had a rope or something.
Regardless of my grievances, I reach about 80% of the way when a plant finally does a major move. It drops down and snakes it's way towards me rather quickly, as if a reptile instead of a plant. I'm forced to let go of the tree with my left hand, my right arm supporting my entire weight.
Using the technique the school's D rank manual taught me, I draw my sword in a quick and brutal slash before sheathing it again. It severs the piece of the plant that had jumped for me, but doesn't kill the being as a whole.
To make matters worse, more than one of these plants begin to stir and wake. If I wait any, I'll have to deal with more than 1 of them in their preferred terrain.
I begin to retreat downwards the tree. I was able to counterattack once, but I would probably fall if I did it twice. I feel the bark scrape my hands as I descend only to find... there's now a branch rapidly growing in an attempt to skewer my ribcage. I push myself away which results in me falling off the tree.
As I fall, I hit into many small branches that seem to cut me with every touch. I swear to god, this forest is possessed... honestly, that probably isn't even that far off.
Man, this is going poorly. I take out my sword again and stab it into a different tree whilst I'm falling to slow my descent. The tree provides resistance enough to slow my fall, resulting in a simple few scrapes as a result.
"Man... that looked pretty shit," Joshua says. It's like everything that could go wrong did go wrong almost. "It is what it is. Let's move on now."
This time, I'm forced to nod in agreement. I can't retrieve the person without being heavily injured, which means it's more beneficial to leave them for now.
"Fine."
We get back into position. Right about now, I realize we could've just sent the damn bird up into the tree to... actually, no. The bird probably would've gotten killed because of how many plants were up there.
"Keep your eyes out for any plant that moves," I say, walking forward with my sword up once again. My sleeves got torn when I was hitting the branches on my descent, causing a few cuts. "At this point, I wouldn't doubt it if every single thing in this forest was hostile."
We walk in silence for a while, eyeing the trees as we walk past them. It's not like we're walking in a living minefield or anything... except we are. Everything in this forest has tried to kill me thus far except for my teammates... 2 of whom ran off.
"You know what would be helpful right now?" Liz says, looking left to right. It's probably something we wouldn't be able to get anyways. "A mage... of literally any kind. That would be so helpful right now..."
"You don't say?"
* * *