That's when his emperor beetle came back towards him and he came out of the cave. The beetle had preyed on several small animals all this time and had reached new heights in its level. Nicola remembered his conversation with Tuatha about atavism and looked at the beetle in his palm, it had evolved from Nicola's superior blood present in the bodies of its fallen brothers, which he had absorbed and mutated. The mark on his carapace was a crown, but looking closely, the crown had seven points, just like Nicola's horns, its design was very similar.
[Demon servant level 13]
But before continuing forward he spoke into the air, turning towards the trees. "Since you've waited all this time, why don't you show up?" He said to the air, looking around and waiting something.
A beautiful woman came out from behind the trees. Thorns, the plant folk born of shrubs, was nothing like the creatures he had met earlier in the forest. She was human in appearance, like the vegetation the Six Rings Academy gardener trimmed to give the impression of being a mythical creature or a hero from the past.
Usually the others he'd encountered before looked more like beasts, standing on all fours and apparently sniffing the air like hunting dogs or even shapeless, just a mass of moving leaves and twigs. Its shape, size and even color varied greatly from one individual to another, but he soon realized that its shape depended solely on his choice. Thorns could take on any appearance they wished, as long as the final mass did not exceed their own.
Her entire body was a mass of vines and foliage that reminded him of a woman of Tiane's height, with violet hair made of flowers and eyes as dark as moss.
"You should deliver what you found down there" She said in an intimidating tone as she took several steps towards Nicola, the skin made of leaves trembled and shifted, her form transformed into her battle form, looking like a green and purple wave of barbed vines.
"I assume you're the one who sealed the entrance, right? Usually someone would introduce themselves as they approached." Nicola said.
"A dead man has no need to know this information." The woman replied. Creatures at the silver level possessed sentience and the ability to communicate, due to the aura it emanated, was an even stronger enemy than the hydra, above Nicola's current level.
A cruel smile turned what had been a beautiful face into the mask of a bloodthirsty warrior. Her green eyes changed to reddish purple that burned like torches as the ground shook. Under the enemy's guidance, the ground broke and sprouted thorny vines that used everything alive as nutrients to develop and fed on Nicola before he could even scream in surprise.
Using the black flames to burn the plants. Fire normally didn't do much damage in green and liquid-filled vegetation, but the vines created by the enemy were more like dry, gnarled branches, fire and darkness were the most damaging elements, so a fusion of the two was able to release Nicola of this grasp.
He promptly leapt to a nearby tree activating the sins of pride, whath, envy and lust, while drawing his daggers from the personal space granted by the power of greed.
The wooden tentacles stopped attacking the ground and turned against him again. Nicola did his best to protect himself, but only managed to slow the tentacles. The tentacles glowed brightly, as if they were fluorescent, blue, green, and purple vines were being braided as they headed toward Nicola.
He could feel the presence of three elements within these tentacles, she was a plant that had the elements of wood, poison and water.
'Sin Fox Song Style, first movement form, Bolero steps'. Nicola used the movement ability as if he were dancing among the vines while dodging the poisonous attacks. "I have no interest in fighting you"
"Then deliver everything you found down there demon, the inheritance you obtained was very good, you shouldn't die for that alone, maybe I even have a place for a person like you in my organization." She said still calm.
"En. Inheritance?" Nicola remembered all the items he had gotten inside the main building. With her strength alone, she couldn't get past the mold golems that were protecting the place, to be honest, because of her innate attributes she was at a disadvantage against them. Nicola had only a slight advantage of being in a group and possessing a lot of knowledge.
Then he remembered the little seed he found on the elf's throne.
"You mean this?" He took the seed from the personal space and showed it to her, holding the seed between his thumb and forefinger.