The air was thick. Green. Toxic.
Aria adjusted the straps of her gas mask. Her breathing sounded loud in her own ears. Hhh... Hhh...
Beside her, Kael looked like a futuristic soldier. He had swapped his M4 for the [Tactical Shotgun] he looted from the Vultures, knowing rifles were useless against vines.
Onyx sat on Aria's shoulder, his fur bristling. The cat hated this place. The ground was wet with slime.
"Welcome to St. Jude," Aria said, her voice muffled by the mask.
They walked through the university gates.
It was a nightmare.
The majestic brick buildings were strangled by thick, pulsating vines. The grass was gone, replaced by a carpet of red moss that squirmed when stepped on.
Squish. Squish.
"I hate this," Kael grumbled. "Give me zombies any day. At least zombies don't look like... that."
He pointed to a bench.
A student was sitting there. Or rather, what was left of a student.
Roots had grown through his jeans, anchoring him to the soil. A massive, colorful mushroom had burst out of his left eye socket, blooming like a grotesque flower.
The student was still alive. His mouth opened and closed silently, releasing puffs of yellow dust.
[Target: Spore Carrier (Level 2)]
[Status: Immobilized / Incubating]
[Warning: Do not inhale the yellow dust.]
"Don't touch them," Aria warned. "They are fertilizer."
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
Rustle...
The "dead" vines on the path surged to life.
Like snakes, they shot out from the moss, aiming for Kael's legs.
"Reflexes!" Kael shouted.
BOOM!
He fired the shotgun. The buckshot shredded the vines, sending green sap flying.
But the vines didn't stop. The severed ends wiggled and grew back instantly.
"Bullets don't work!" Kael cursed, racking the slide. Click-Clack. "It's like shooting water!"
"Stop wasting ammo," Aria stepped forward.
She drew her Sword-Cane.
[Skill: Blade Mastery]
She didn't hack wildly. She looked for the Nodes—the thick, heart-like lumps on the main stem where the mana concentrated.
Flash.
A silver arc cut through the green fog.
Aria sliced the thickest vine at its base.
SCREECH!
The plant let out a high-pitched scream, like a dying animal. It thrashed once, withered, and turned black.
"Cut the knots," Aria instructed. "Not the leaves."
Kael nodded. He pulled out a large combat knife from his boot. "Fine. We do it the old-fashioned way."
They moved deeper into the campus.
It was a grueling trek. Every few meters, a branch would try to strangle them, or a Spore Carrier would try to explode.
Aria danced through the attacks, her sword precise and deadly.
Kael covered her back, using his shotgun to blast away any swarms of pollen-flies that tried to get close.
Finally, they reached the central plaza.
Here, the scenery changed.
The overwhelming green was interrupted by a path of... Black.
A wide trail of scorched earth cut through the jungle. The vines here were turned to ash. The ground was glassed from extreme heat.
Aria knelt down and touched the ash. It was still warm.
"The Magician," she whispered.
"He literally paved a road with fire," Kael whistled. "Whoever 'P' is, he has a lot of mana. Burning this much plant matter takes serious power."
"We follow the ash," Aria said.
They followed the blackened path toward the Science Building.
The building looked like a beast's maw. The front doors were ripped open. Massive, thorny tentacles hung from the windows.
But directly in front of the entrance stood a barrier.
It wasn't a wall.
It was a Mutated Venus Flytrap.
But it was huge. Two stories tall. Its "mouth" was wide enough to swallow a truck. And inside the mouth, instead of trigger hairs... there were faces.
Human faces. Hundreds of them, fused into the plant's flesh, wailing silently.
[Boss Detected!]
[Target: The Corpse Eater (Tier 1 - Flora Type)]
[Ability: Acid Spit, Vine Whip, Sonic Scream.]
The Flytrap sensed them.
Its massive head turned. The faces inside its mouth opened their eyes.
GUUUURRGH...
A low, vibrating sound resonated through the plaza.
Kael aimed his shotgun at the giant flower.
"Aria," Kael said calmly. "Please tell me you have a giant can of weed killer in that bag of yours."
Aria looked at the giant plant. Then she looked at the scorched path leading under it.
The Magician hadn't killed this boss. He had... bypassed it? Or maybe he was fast enough to run past it?
"No weed killer," Aria said.
She pulled the pin on a Frag Grenade she looted from the helicopter.
"But I have salad dressing."
She threw the grenade.
It sailed through the air, right into the open maw of the Flytrap.
The plant instinctively snapped its jaws shut. Snap.
Aria grabbed Kael's collar.
"Run."
BOOM!
The muffled explosion shook the ground. Green slime and chunks of plant matter rained down.
The Flytrap roared in pain, its jaw blown open. But it wasn't dead. It was furious.
Vines thick as tree trunks smashed down where they had been standing.
"Inside! Go!" Aria shouted.
They sprinted past the thrashing monster, diving through the shattered doors of the Science Building.
They slid across the linoleum floor, scrambling to their feet.
Kael slammed the heavy fire doors shut and jammed a metal pipe through the handles.
THUD! THUD!
The monster pounded on the doors outside. The metal dented, but held.
Silence returned.
They were inside.
Aria pulled off her gas mask. The air inside was filtered, sterile.
"Safe?" Kael panted, wiping green slime off his armor.
Aria looked around.
The lobby of the Science Building was clean. Suspiciously clean. No vines. No moss.
Just cold, white laboratory walls.
And on the wall, another Tarot card was pinned with a dagger.
The High Priestess.
Aria walked over and read the note on the back:
"You made it past the garden? Impressive. Come to Lab 4. Let's talk. — P."
Aria crumpled the card.
"He knows we are here," she said.
Kael reloaded his shotgun. "Is that good or bad?"
Aria's red eyes glowed in the sterile light.
"It means he's arrogant," she smirked. "And arrogant men are easy to kill."