Chapter 007

Zip!

Canis tightens his leather armor.

Shing!

Then he put the sword in the scabbard.

Tug tug!

Then he checks his shoes if they fit properly.

Rustle! Rustle!

He put several mushrooms and plants on a bag strap on his legs.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

He also checks the tool bag he is carrying and fills it with different kinds of potions and a stone.

Then he looks at Maple who is now standing behind him.

"Maple… Do you know what 'level' you are?"

(Human know their current ability and level, and they can definitely feel the difference in attributes whenever they level up.)

"We don't have any level…"

!

"Wait, how did you know if you grew, and became much stronger?"

"We have rings, father…"

"Ring?"

Canis felt confused but continued to ask questions.

"Then can you tell me the number of rings you have before you start absorbing crystals and after you absorb enough of them?"

Canis pointed at the remaining crystal in the crate.

At some point, Maple cannot absorb more crystal just like how he experienced at some point.

"I have 1 ring at the beginning and it becomes 60 rings right after I consume the crystals, Father."

"Then Maple, what about your limit? How many rings can you make?"

(Do they have the same concept of level cap?)

"147, Father."

(Father? I still can't get used to that… but 147 ha… they have much higher level caps, however, do their attributes increase similarly to humans?)

Canis didn't know this yet because most of the research on Earth about 'levels' is only done on humans. 

But the concept of 'level' that he knew, and assumed is different from how real 'level' works.

…

Canis slightly shook his head when he remembered something.

"Maple… did you receive any Level Quest, or mission to increase your rings?"

Canis looks at the remaining crystals.

The crate of green crystals wasn't even consumed yet.

(It's clear that he already hit the 'Champion's Wall', for humans that would be level 50, and for Grandiflorians it thinks it's 60 rings, so I was wondering what kind of unreasonable quest appears to break the first wall.)

"...Father, I need to find the Crystal Moon Flower and absorb it."

"Crystal Moon Flower? I haven't heard that… How about you, do you know where to find it?"

(Such a standard item-finding quest, however, the unique feature of the quest is the 'absorb' part.)

Maple shook his hand and the leaves rustled as he did it.

(The Champion's Wall lives up to its name, a notorious place where Champion became stagnant.)

"I see, for now, let's not think about it… We have to survive first and look for more information on Earth."

Canis looks at Maple's face once again.

The golden eye shines brightly in those slits.

(Now, I have to brief Maple about my plan.)

"Maple, we are going out in the meantime and we need to keep our distance from the other monster outside. Can you tell me about your abilities? Maybe you have something that can help us out?"

…

The two began to chat about his abilities and created a plan to survive outside.

After that, they wait until the time is over and… 

…

*****

"Eh!?"

Canis looked around, he was in an unfamiliar alleyway however that was not his concern.

"Maple?"

He could not find Maple around him.

Suddenly he remembered the 'knowledge' that he forgot.

He gained this 'knowledge' back then 9 years ago, however, he could not use it back then because of some prerequisites.

"Call Forth"

He thought of Maple, his Grandiflorain son.

A large white dimensional door appeared in front of him and Maple came out from it.

"Father…"

Canis was satisfied, it is the feature of 'My Home' that he still hasn't used.

"I guess that's how it works ha."

Canis checks the surroundings once again. 

"We will stay here until-"

"Father, something is approaching us."

!?

Canis eyes widen.

(We just got out of the house and some are approaching us already.)

"What? Are you sure?"

"I can detect the enemy moving towards us."

"Detecting creatures… Yes… you're capable of that…"

(That is one of his abilities.)

Canis remembered the earlier discussion and just nodded.

"For now let's go in another direction, this might just be a coincidence. Where is the enemy coming from?" 

Maple pointed in a certain direction.

"Alright let's go the other way."

Maple began to grow.

The branch increased and his body became bulkier.

Instead of a meter tall, Canis is now 3-meters tall.

He became a towering giant in a matter of minutes.

(This is one of the abilities that he receives when leveled up. Basically, it allows him to change his form, but there will be pros and cons to it.) 

Maple opened his left palm and Canis sat on that hand, a vine gently wrapped around him and acting as a seatbelt, and they began to move.

Maple movement is not proportional to his large build.

The agility of movement is very fluid.

He shoots up multiple vines, attaches themselves to the building, and moves easily by swinging around.

His large hands can grab and penetrate the walls of the building.

Then his large feet help him boost in moving forward.

They moved up the building and began running on the rooftop.

Boom!

Boom!

In the distance, Canis saw several explosions in the middle of the city.

Black smoke is rising together with the sound of fighting.

And from his point of view, he saw the so-called Vanishing Cloud at the very end of the city.

A dark cloud surrounded a small part of the city.

"That's the boundary of the pillars… once you enter those clouds there is no turning back even if you use thread as a guide to return."

"Why? Father."

Canis explained it to Maple.

"The thread or rope will instantly get cut and the person who tried to walk inside the Vanishing Cloud disappears forever, it doesn't matter if their teammates clear the Pillar, that guy who lost inside the Cloud will not return."

"Do you know the reason, Father? Why couldn't they return back?"

Canis shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no one knows, Earth's technology and even the 'Skills' wasn't helpful in determining the reason why they disappeared and where could they possibly go."

Canis then gently taps the hand of Maple.

"For now, we just need to avoid going inside the Vanishing Cloud."

Woosshhh! Woosssh! Step! Step!

Canis looks back at looks around the area.

"Is it still following us?"

Canis was optimistic that the enemy was not following them.

"Yes, Father… we have gained a bit of distance but it is still following us."

"Huh? Wait… if you have this detecting ability… should we assume that those creatures that are similar races to you also have one."

(Damn, we don't have any information about these Grandiflorians…)

"I… I don't know my father."

Maple continues to move from rooftop to rooftop.

(It's a bit scary… I feel like I am in a carnival… but for some reason, I knew that Maple would be there for me, so I am a bit relaxed, somehow I really trust Maple.)

The cold wind hit his face, together with the bright sun that warmed his skin.

Canis looks at the ground, at the street.

Cars have been heavily damaged like a heavy pillar was slammed on it.

Several dead bodies of humans can be seen down there.

(This isn't normal?! What happened?)

There are also dead monsters in those streets, but those monsters have collars or straps in them.

(Pets, those monsters didn't even look like they lasted on the enemies.)

Right now the smell of iron and smoke is becoming more prominent.

His eyes continue to widen as he realizes the horror of the event that happened on Earth.

Blood can be seen everywhere.

There are also signs of battle.

Broken window.

Damaged asphalt.

Burning buildings and cars.

Some buildings are standing in half and some already collapse.

Leaves are scattered everywhere.

There are unusual formations of rocks, ice, and plants all over the place.

Pools of blood and water can even be seen in the vicinity.

(Those might come from the people who fought back from the monsters.)

This is what Canis thought.

Looking around it feels like a large earthquake hit the city.

"I knew something wrong happened but this is a disaster… This place looks similar to the places outside the 'Barricade'."

"Father, May I ask what happened to the creature down there?"

"Creature?"

Canis glances at the dead bodies.

"Humans, we are humans, and to answer your question, this might be a large accident or terrorist attack."

Canis wasn't offended he just wanted to inform Maple.

"Accident? Terrorist?"

Maple curiously asked.

"Someone obtained a Conquering Pillar Stone and used it in the city…"

Canis looks at Maple with a serious face.

"Those things should be used in a controlled environment because it will use the affected environment as a battlefield and all Champions within the area will be forced to go in the 'Conquering Mission'."

Canis then looks at the Champions lying on the ground, they don't have armor or weapons on them. 

Some of them have one, but they are basic equipment that any Champion would have in their house, they are not 'Raid Level Equipment'.

"Very disturbing…" 

The number of humans who died is enormous; at least a thousand Champion died, and that is only based on the location that he has been to.

Then his eyes widen when he realizes something as he scans the area.

He looked at Maple.

"If… if there are this many Champions… then… what would be the level of this pillar?"

(There is a small amount of information regarding Conquering Pillars that appears on the net, usually, information regarding this is blocked by guilds, but some information was released to the public, and one important piece of information is that the Pillar difficulty is proportional to the number of people inside the pillar and their level.)

"At a minimum, this will be Indigo."

(The reason was simple, 12 years have passed since The Descend, in those 12 years even though it is limited, there are a lot of people who reach Green Ranker… this is not surprising because this is the highest limit you can achieve without doing the Level Quest…)

Canis looks around the area.

(And I cannot find any dead Grandiflorian in this mountain of corpses, which means they are at least 2 higher level than Green… If the enemy is Blue rank then we can see some dead corpses of the trees here and there.)

Canis also accounted for how these random people will do a team play, not efficiently.

"But because of the number of deaths on the street seeing how strong the 'enemy' that entered, and the fact that the number of enemies is low. The range must be from Indigo to… Violet, the highest level difficulty."

That's also an additional factor, the lack of enemy monsters on the street makes Canis put this Pillar into a Higher rank category.

"Then…"

Canis looks at Maple and realizes something about his child.

He didn't see the golden eyes of Maple.

"What is it? Father."

Canis has this relaxed and beautiful smile.

In this moment of realization, Canis felt that this 'event' was a blessing rather than a disaster.

"Nothing, I just wanted to look at you."

Canis continued to smile and he felt really good.

"..."

Maple continues to run and they change direction several times.

"Father… We have a problem?"

Maple's voice is deep, there is no sense of urgency in it.

"What is it?" 

"The number of chasers increases."

"How many!?"

"Two more, they began to chase us from another direction."

"This is becoming troublesome…"

(If we get cornered by those three, it will be troublesome, and moving around the city might increase the number of monsters we will attract.)

Canis looks at Maple once again, as he thinks of different ways to handle the situation.

(His ancestry on the mother's side is quite good, considering her status as a 'queen', I assume that it is also a strong monster. In addition, he has First Successor and Born In A Day buff which increase his overall attributes. I believe he is very reliable.)

Canis glanced at his hands.

(If things get ugly, I could use 'it'... I just hope that they will not kill me first.)

"MAPLE! Change of plans!"

Maple stops for a bit and looks at me 

His golden eyes glimmer even in this scorching sun.

"What is it? Father."

"Point the location of the enemies?"

Maple has three different locations, two of them are behind us, apart from each other while the other one is located northeast of our location.

Canis pointed at the northeast location.

"There! We have to kill the enemy at that location!"

Maple started to move toward the enemy.

"And… Kill it using everything you have! Pour everything! We need to kill it as fast as possible so that we will not get surrounded by the others."

Canis then gently taps the bag with herbs in it.

It's like he instinctively reflexes.

"As you wish Father… I fight it with all the ability I have."

Maple's voice is serious.

Jump from rooftop to rooftop and just a moment later we saw the enemy.

A Grandiflorian similar to the one that attacked me.

It has a tree as a body and octopus legs that are made up of roots.

This one has blue and yellow leaves, and it has 3 large branches that look like horns.

However, compared to the 'mother' of Maple which is about 5 meters wide in diameter.

This monster is only 2 meters wide.

(Much smaller than the one that attacked me earlier.)

The Grandiflorian moves towards us and Maple charges in reply to it.

Maple gently puts down Canis, using his vines, while keeping his momentum on dashing forward, when they arrive at the large rooftop.

He shot out his vines on the ground in front of him.

Plant his feet firmly then… 

Boom!

With a kick Maple began his attack.

Looking like a slingshot he flew towards the monster.

Tok! Tok! Toook!

The sound of wood hitting another can be heard from the enemy.

That is the similar sound that he heard when he was being played by a Grandiflorian, the mother of Maple.

Bam!

Maple's huge fist slammed the tree.

A huge dent appeared in the area of the attack.

The monster flew but Maple Green Vines immediately grabbed the monster and brought him in.

The 'horn-like' branch extended, with the intent to pierce Maple's body.

Bam!

The horn met Maple's chest body and he was pushed back by the impact and the impact made a crack.

Using the momentum of his pushback while his vines are wrapped around the enemy, Maple planted one of his feet on the ground and swung the enemy above him and towards his opposite side.

Bam!

The bark of the monster breaks and one of the 'horns' also breaks.

A giant hole was made, and the monster fell down two floors.

The enemy released several kinds of pollen.

Due to its intensity, it became invisible even at Canis' spot.

Wooosshh!

The monster jumps up from the lower floor to the rooftop.

Boom!

The rooftop collapsed.

Canis ran in the distance near the edge, a place that was not affected by the collapse.

Maple and the monster are now standing on the rooftop debris.

One horn is missing.

A large dent on the right side and front side of the body.

Several branches are already broken.

Tok! Tok! Tok! Tok!

The Grandiflorians created a noise once again.

But surprisingly,

Tok! Tok!

Maple replied.

But he didn't wait for the reply, he charged once again.

Using a similar slingshot attack.

The monster then uses his horn and roots to block the attack by forming a large wall using those things in front of him.

Maple then anchored himself using his large green vines.

However, using the momentum he redirected his trajectory and flew towards the side of the monster.

Then grab the monster using his vines and fly towards it.

Bam!

The monster fell down but it recovered immediately by using his roots to maneuver his movement.

The blue leaves from the monster glow

Rustle! Rustle!

The monster shot his tree and leaves began to scatter around the area.

Kling! Kling!

When the leaves touched anything, a large ice and crystal were formed. 

Bam!

Maple was hit by multiple leaves in his left hand.

The heaviness of the crystal forces his hand to fall down and due to the crystal that acts as an anchor on the debris, he cannot move his hand anymore.

Without a second thought.

Maple grabs his left arm, tears it up, up until the shoulder, and jumps back to create a distance from the monster.

Suddenly yellow leaves rain and scatter.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Coming from the body of the enemy, lightning came out and ran towards the yellow leaves that acted as a lightning rod.

Lightning rained down in the area.

It's a good thing that Maple avoids the attack by exiting the area of effect. 

Then Canis watches as Maple uses one of his 'abilities'.

He glanced at the sky and looked at the sun then looked back at Maple's left arm.

The lost arm began to grow again.

A branch-like thing sprouted from the cut arm.

Vines tangled around it and other small branches appeared too and began to expand.

(It's like when I watch the MeTube video with x100 speed of growing plant… Amazing… Is this the Grandiflorian recovery that Maple's is talking about? Just by being under the Sun or rain or being over a Fertile Land, he can recover immediately.)

Canis looked at the enemy Grandiflorian but unlike Maple who began its recovery, the monster didn't even have any signs of recovery.

(Is… this not a race ability?)

Canis tried to remember the earlier discussion with Maple regarding his 'abilities'.

(Hmmm… Maple didn't say it. Did I just assume it was a racial ability because of his 'characteristics'… I should look into it after our current problem is dealt with.)

Maple arm recovery is very fast and immediate.

He picks up several mushrooms located on his legs and throws them towards the enemy,

This mushroom is obligated in nature and has a green and black spot on it.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! 

Canis instinctively covered his ears.

(Granade! That must be the Exploding Mushroom!)

The explosions destroyed the ice and crystal forming in the ground and also destroyed several more footholds.

Debris started to fall down from the rooftop towards the street.

Bam! Bam!

Some of the explosions also hit the Grandiflorian which made it pushback for a bit.

Using that chance.

Maple used the 'slingshot' strategy earlier and tackled the enemies.

Bam!

Then he plants his feet on the monster.

Tok! Tok! Tok!

The monster began making those weird sounds but Maple continued on his assault.

Using his large hands, he grabs the large hole in the Treant.

And slowly he breaks it in half.

Crack!

Crack!

Tok! Tok!

The sound of wood hitting each other is speeding up.

Like the sound of desperation.

Crack!

He is forcing the tree to break in half.

Crack!

The roots of the monsters tried to strangle him but he held down the roots using the vines that appeared around his body.

Crack!

The crack grew and grew.

Crack!

And finally.

CRACK!

The Grandiflorian is greatly weakened, his roots cannot move up anymore.

Maple grabs the fist-sized seed inside the Grandiflorian.

There are vines attached to his seed but Maple doesn't care and crushes it using one of his gigantic hands.

CRACK!

The enemy roots fall down and the movement stops.

Canis was surprised at how strong Maple was and ran toward him.

"Good job Maple…"

He touched Maple's wooden body and he felt like touching a tree.

Then he immediately looks at the monster lying down on the ground and rushes towards it.

"Where is it? Where?"

He looked at the hole and the debris in front of him.

"Here!"

He picked up something inside the tree and raised it.

"Violet… damn!!!"

He remembers thousands of dead Champions in the street.

The dead monster together with them.

The destruction of the city.

The number of enemies that died is not proportional to the number of Champions who died 

in this pillar.

Lastly, the monster that he encountered earlier put him in a death state in just a matter of seconds.

"I am sure of it now, this is… a Violet Pillar."