Trinity's Entrance [3]

Sounds of air being sliced through and the rustling sound that follows from bundles of grass falling onto the ground could be heard.

Amelia has been cutting through the grass nonstop and producing silk to tie them together to make it easier to hit. Her efforts were not for nought, though, because she was able to stumble upon a tall green stem.

She took hesitant steps towards it. 'What is this thing?' She stared at it with curiosity. When she got close enough to it, the hairs on its Stem erupted towards her.

Amelia, frightened by such a sudden thing, unconsciously stumbled back and avoided it. She fell onto her rear and stared at how the hairs receded to its original length.

Quickly getting up, she began to circle and analyse its appearance. 'A green stem with a clearing around it.' She glanced around and saw how the grass was at least 4 metres away from it.

After circling back around, she took a step towards it. She noticed the hairs decorated on its body wiggle before expanding towards her.

She swiftly ducked under the hairs before severing it in two. The hairs wiggled sporadically. She clumsily danced in between the hairs before making her way to the Stem and stabbing towards it with her right knife.

Her eyes then caught a hair that hadn't lengthened pointed at her abdomen. She saw it wiggle and erupt towards her. Fortunately, she reacted fast enough to defend against the attack using her left knife.

The grass connected with the side of the knife and pushed her back a bit. Its earlier hairs that were cut have already receded, and now we are ready to get their revenge.

Amelia glimpsed down at her knife to see a small line on it. 'Did it pierce through my knife?' Her eyes widened in shock.

The hairs shot out towards her. She nimbly dodged them and sliced through some of them again. The hairs then waved out sporadically again.

Amelia then threw her knife. At the end of her handle was a thick line of silk connected to it. The knife cut through the air and embedded itself into the Stem. With a firm tug on the string, she pulled it and caught it. A dark translucent ooze leaked out through the gap.

The hairs near the wound covered it.

'Can it bleed out?' Amelia scrutinised it and concluded that she should see what would happen if she made several cuts over its body.

She held onto the string with both hands before swinging it towards the Stem. The remaining hairs grew to try and sever the string connecting to the knife.

Amelia could react to this with her current agility, so she pulled back the knife and swung it again in the other direction. The hairs were unable to intercept it because it was still stretched out.

A long gash stretched diagonally across its body. To prevent it from leaking - it wrapped its wound again with its hairs.

Amelia pulled back her knife and began thinking back to its hairs. 'Does it have to recede for it to attack again?' Her hands began to spin the string. The knife spun around quickly before being swung.

The generated momentum caused it to arrive at the Stem before it could even react. Another wound appeared on it.

Amelia repeated this cycle a few times. Whenever the Stem did attack her, she would always be able to react quickly enough to dodge it.

She spun her knife again. The wind from the spin blew a cool breeze into her face. The breeze lifted away the hair that dangled in front of her face.

Her glasses, which used to be in near-perfect condition at the start of the apocalypse, now held a small crack in the left lens. She coolly stared towards the Stem.

Its once pristine look was now wrapped in the hair that adorned its body—the hair it took pride in. Everywhere on its body, without fail, was covered in its dark, translucent blood. The hairs on its body did their best to prevent it from leaking.

It could feel its life force draining. It tried to call upon its drones to assist it throughout the fight. But it couldn't...

They were too far from it... It wanted to have the small area around it to itself without the need to share. Through its hair, it could feel the human charging up another attack.

Amelia caught the handle of her knife and dashed forward before crossing them over into an X. The Stem could feel her nearing through the vibrations travelling through the ground. It has also lost connection to the other hivemind in the lawn parallel to it.

It could feel that its end was near. All it wanted was to be able to be gifted the gift of sight. Through the use of all of its drones, it was able to generate its very first thought.

'I've failed as a Hivemind...'

It didn't know why, but... When it thought that, it felt a calm and comforting energy passing through its mind. The familiar malevolent energy it felt coursing through its body disappeared and was replaced by this one.

This energy caused it to think back to its time before it came like this. A blade of grass amongst many, A blade of grass that enjoyed the tranquillity of that time... A blade of grass that desired to be able to see the world around it.

The hairs that covered its wound receded back to their original size. It was tired... it wanted to go back to how it was... Before it became like this…

Just as Amelia was about to kill it, the centre, which was facing Amelia, began to contort to form a small red bulb.

The bulb's petals split open to reveal a plantlike eye in the very centre. The sclera was a dark green colour, while its iris was black before slowly shifting to a blue colour. The eye's pupil shook before relaxing. The Stem saw the human that was about to kill it but didn't care. Instead, it just gazed at the sky...

'I-its beautiful...'

The sky was clear of clouds and displayed the sun in all its glory. It had the most beautiful shade of blue. It didn't know why or how it could see... But...

It was grateful that its first... and last thing it saw was what it always wanted to see. The area around the eye began to water.

The bulb then began to close up and recede back into the body, almost like it had achieved its purpose and wasn't needed anymore.

Amelia's knives sunk deep into its body before exiting. Its body then separated into three parts before collapsing onto the ground. Its "Blood" shot out from its lower part before forming a puddle around it.

'...Thank you...'

["Ding! Level 10 Partially-Mutated Nostalgic Grass Hivemind killed!"]

She heard a voice in her mind. She glanced around to see that no one was around her. Amelia tilted her head before glancing down at the Stem.

A familiar golden glow came from the Stem. Amelia's eyes widen before taking a step closer.

["Ding! Genetic Nexus detected! Would you like to store it? [YES] or [NO]"]