After consuming the Hypno-shroom, Technorg's massive body shuddered.
The brilliant gold in his eyes dimmed, replaced by two swirling purple vortexes, as if he'd been drugged.
"Ben!" Gwen shouted anxiously, but the Wall-nuts blocked her way, keeping her from reaching him.
Technorg seemed not to hear her at all. He staggered forward, stepping over the corpses of countless plants.
Like a zombie, he lurched deeper into the forest.
His skin turned a purplish-red, giving off a strange scent.
Along the path, the mutated plants parted for him, no longer treating him as an enemy.
Anyone who ate the Hypno-shroom became one of them.
Once Technorg disappeared into the woods, the remaining mutated plants turned and charged at Gwen and the others.
Fortunately, after the earlier fight, there weren't many left.
About forty or fifty at most.
The ash-type plants—like Doom-shroom and Cherry Bomb—had already self-destructed.
All that remained were a handful of Chompers, Wall-nuts, and the sinister Mushroom Zombies.
Gwen's face was pale as she fled with Gilbert and the two children.
Behind them, the mutated plants gave relentless chase, howling as they ran like a pack of feral beasts. The sound alone was enough to make one's heart pound.
By now, Gwen's magic was nearly drained. There was no way she could handle this many plants.
"Ah! Help! Someone help!" Gilbert screamed.
His heavy body suddenly burst with surprising speed. He sprinted past the twins and Gwen, taking the lead and not daring to look back.
Little Mandy's cheeks were flushed red, yet she still fell behind.
Suddenly, her foot slipped, and she crashed to the ground.
Dark mud smeared across her fair face.
"Sis!" Andy cried out, immediately turning back.
But just as he pulled Mandy to her feet, the Mushroom Zombies swarmed up from behind, closing in fast.
Andy's pupils shrank.
"Roar!"
A resounding dragon's cry split the air. A sapphire-blue Water Dragon Soul spiraled forward, unleashing overwhelming force that tore the terrifying Mushroom Zombies to pieces.
The two of them turned around in shock.
Sweat covered Gwen's forehead, sliding down her cheeks as she panted.
"Run… hurry…"
Even after the Mushroom Zombies were destroyed, the Chompers and Wall-nuts continued to chase, seemingly tireless.
Andy helped his trembling sister up, gritted his teeth, and pushed forward. Following Gwen, they reached the rock-climbing area.
A white climbing wall stood before them, studded with black holds that could be used to scale to the top.
"We need to climb," Gwen said.
If they kept running like this, the mutated plants would catch them sooner or later.
"But the rules say only grown-ups are allowed to climb…" Mandy hesitated, worry flickering in her eyes.
"In a life-or-death situation, rules don't matter," Gwen said firmly.
No more hesitation. Gwen started climbing at once.
Gilbert scrambled up right after her. The last thing he wanted was to end up as food for a Mushroom Zombie.
Andy and Mandy exchanged a look, then gathered their courage and followed.
They had only climbed three or four meters when the ground below filled with mutated plants.
The Chompers opened their mouths wide, stretching upward as if waiting for them to fall so they could swallow them whole.
The wall was nearly vertical—too steep for the Wall-nuts to roll up.
The Mushroom Zombies couldn't climb either. They could only stare up helplessly and shriek in frustration.
When the group finally reached the top of the climbing wall, they all let out a long breath of relief.
...
Deep within the dense forest.
The edge of the pit was strewn with the corpses of various plants. Multicolored sap pooled across the ground, giving off a sharp, choking stench.
A green plant-like humanoid stood there, a single bulb-like eye set in its face. Its limbs were slender, and below its torso extended five vine-like tendrils.
With a swipe of its claws, it tore the Bonk Choy in front of it to pieces. Shredded cabbage leaves scattered across the ground.
"Wildvine… nice."
It looked down at its hands, flexing them as they stretched and retracted at will, clearly pleased.
This Alien Hero was called [Wildvine].
After destroying the X Element last time, Lucian had opened the Alien Hero Chest and unlocked Wildvine's DNA.
Wildvine possessed extendable limbs and regenerative abilities. Black explosive seeds grew along its back, which it could hurl at enemies.
It could also burrow underground and communicate with plant-type sentient lifeforms.
In some ways, Wildvine's abilities were similar to Snare-Oh's.
But they were fundamentally different beings.
One belonged to the plant kingdom. The other to the undead.
The Doom-shroom's blood-red eyes glared as it shot upward, hovering high in the air.
Its body rapidly expanded before plunging down toward Wildvine.
"Trying to blow yourself up? Fine. Be my guest."
Wildvine let out a cold snort, plucked an explosive seed from its back, casually tossed it twice in its palm, then hurled it upward.
The pitch-black seed sliced through the air with a sharp howl and collided with the Doom-shroom.
Boom!
The explosive seed detonated instantly.
A violent burst of flames erupted midair, triggering the Doom-shroom ahead of time. The two explosions went off almost simultaneously.
Amid the blazing fire, a purple mushroom cloud rose into the sky. The destructive shockwave whipped up fierce gusts of wind, sending trees swaying wildly and grass flying everywhere.
A plump Squash crept up behind Wildvine, moving sneakily.
Then it leaped high into the air, attempting a crushing body slam.
Wildvine's eye narrowed. One arm shot out at lightning speed, stretching to grab a distant tree branch.
With a hard yank, it pulled itself away, landing lightly atop the branch.
Thud!
The Squash slammed into the ground, crushing two Chompers beneath it.
But it didn't come out unscathed.
Half of its backside had already been chewed away by a Chomper earlier. One more impact nearly finished it off.
Wildvine spun around and flicked out another explosive seed, blasting the Squash to pieces.
After a brutal string of fights, the surrounding mutated plants had almost all been wiped out by Wildvine.
With both long-range and close-quarters capabilities, dealing with these mutated plants was effortless.
Whether it was Chompers, Snow Peas, Wall-nuts, or Squash, none of them could so much as scratch Wildvine.
The only ones that posed any threat were Doom-shroom and Cherry Bomb.
But that didn't matter. A well-timed explosive seed was enough to detonate them in advance.
Time passed, second by second.
When the last mutated plant finally fell, not a speck of dirt clung to Wildvine's body.
It walked to the edge of the pit and looked down into the seemingly bottomless darkness.
"Time to find Grandpa…"
Suddenly, heavy footsteps sounded behind it.
Thud… thud…
Wildvine stiffened and slowly turned around.
A massive figure approached with steady steps—powerfully built, violet eyes gleaming, a meteor hammer embedded in his left hand. He moved like a heavily armored tank.
"Technorg?" Wildvine paused for a moment. When it spotted the Omnitrix emblem, realization dawned. "So it's you, Ben."
Technorg kept his head lowered, saying nothing.
"Ben… what's wrong?"
Sensing something was off, Wildvine stepped closer, leaning in toward him.
Without warning, Technorg exploded into motion.
"Roar!"
The fearsome meteor hammer tore through the air with a violent roar as it smashed straight toward Wildvine…