## Chapter 302 – Lingering Scent of Flowers
“Kyaaaaaaak!!!!!!”
Copson started screaming like a damsel, and the chaos intensified. Restrained in such an undignified manner, he was being dragged away by the tentacle plants like a tragic heroine!
This is insane!
You’re a dude, you son of a bitch!!
“Kieeeeeeeeeek!!!!”
ㅡPaaat!
Unleashing a frenzied roar, I leaped powerfully and used my aerial combat skills to sever the vine tentacles restraining Copson. However, a monster never gives up its prey.
As if mocking the severed tentacles, more sprouted from all directions, relentlessly targeting Copson.
Panicked, he screamed like a princess being kidnapped.
“Hey, hey! Don’t just scream, move!”
“Kuh…! It’s not working!! I can’t use my strength properly because of the position!”
“Shit!”
ㅡWhiriririk!!
The man-eating plant tried to attack me even in this situation. Tentacles surged from blind spots in my vision! I don’t have enough to save Copson and fend them off at the same time!
If I get caught, it’s over!
Let’s deal with this first!
“The power of Fusion Confucianism.”
Immediately, I drew mana from within to enhance my muscles. Using my strengthened body and honed senses, I raised my sword and sensed the number of incoming tentacles—sixteen tentacles coming from eight directions!
“ㅡYou won’t reach me.”
I unleashed the Sword Dance of Eight Directions!
ㅡSwaeak!
As the blade flashed, a ghostly wail erupted.
The tentacles sliced by the blade flew through the air, and the more powerfully swung blade gained even greater acceleration, tearing through space itself and slashing in all directions!
“Real Sword Dance Dejaaaaaaaat!!!!!!”
As the unleashed sword dance tore through the eight directions, all the incoming tentacles were shredded into pieces. Copson… was still being dragged away!
“Kiyaaaaaaaap!!!!”
I sprinted without stopping the sword dance.
ㅡWhiriririk!
I’d already cut down most of them, but there were still too many vines! They relentlessly shot out, trying to subdue me. Just cutting them down like this won’t end it! I need to target the main body!
ㅡTaktaktaktak!!!
Cautiously, I weaved and slid forward, watching out for possible traps or enemy schemes. In this accelerated world, I calmly checked the ground and surveyed my surroundings.
As soon as I determined there were no problems, I used the Heavenly Demon’s Descent Footwork to leap toward it.
ㅡJjeoeok!
The man-eating plant’s maw looked like a candy garden twisted into something malicious. Each tooth was a horrifying sight, covered in sticky fluid like a sundew.
It seemed to capture its prey with that and melt them to eat.
“You… monster!!!”
ㅡThen it’s best not to get close.
I quickly circled around and got behind it. Because its maw protruded forward, the back was relatively open, and the tentacles couldn’t penetrate properly.
“You son of a bitch! You motherfucking whore!”
ㅡPook!
Consumed by rage, I forcefully stabbed my sword into the stalk that corresponded to its neck, sawing back and forth as I cut.
ㅡTwitch! Twitch!
The man-eating plant spasmed, shaking its body like an executioner’s victim being beheaded. But since it was just a plant, it couldn’t move as violently as an animal.
ㅡChwarak!
Plant sap flowed out.
The attack was working!
To finish it off, I stabbed the sword in even more forcefully.
ㅡThud!
“Uwaaaaaaaak!!”
As I sawed with the embedded sword, I heard Copson’s scream.
Looking up, I saw the tentacles that had been flying like fierce arrows now limp like sea anemone dicks. The impact of striking the main body had taken its toll. It seemed the tentacles had released Copson.
ㅡTaktaktak!
And I heard footsteps.
“Copson! You’re free!”
“Thanks for the help! Let’s do this together!”
“Yeah!”
ㅡPook! Pook!
ㅡScratch scratch!
Completely consumed by madness, we fell into a state of oblivion and literally tore the man-eating plant, which couldn’t even move properly, to shreds.
ㅡKuoong.
The massive head fell to the ground, but our anger was not appeased.
“You son of a bitch! You fucking plant!”
“To dare inflict such humiliation on me… I won’t forgive you!”
“I’ll never forgive you!”
Only after about five minutes of kicking and stabbing it dozens of times did we regain our composure. When it stopped moving, we gasped for breath.
“Haa… haa… I don’t know what that thing was, but we won.”
“Yes. A valuable victory.”
We almost suffered great damage, but we succeeded in defeating the giant, unknown man-eating plant. This experience would further increase our survival rate in the jungle.
“So… is there anything worth taking?”
“Let’s take a look.”
This was a man-eating plant that moved its vine tentacles to attack and devour people. Judging that there might be something useful, we carefully searched through its remains.
“This… seems to be a bone.”
Copson pulled something out of the severed torso of the plant. A bone. I didn’t know if it was a human bone, but the thought that we could have ended up like this sent shivers down my spine.
ㅡWhoosh.
There was no time to collect bones.
ㅡPook.
I had them completely dismantle the plant to find loot.
There wasn’t much useful stuff, but we cut off the sticky tissue that seemed to be the plant’s teeth and wrapped it in leaves to take with us.
Things like this are usually used as magical ingredients.
“I don’t know if it’ll be worth anything, though.”
“Well, you can think of it as a souvenir. More importantly, everything we collected yesterday is ruined.”
“That’s really fucked up.”
When I opened the pouch, most of the materials we had collected yesterday were unusable. Freshness is the most important thing for these things.
Without regret, we threw them away and left.
We didn’t have any information about the monster, so we didn’t know what to take. That’s why knowledge is important.
But it was natural that we didn’t know, since this abnormal jungle suddenly appeared.
ㅡShwaaaa.
As we walked, we heard the sound of water.
“Isn’t that the sound of water?”
“There must be a stream nearby.”
“Shall we go?”
“Of course, we have to go.”
Our water bottles were starting to run dry. Immediately, we followed the sound of water and moved through the jungle, finding a stream with water flowing vigorously.
Cautious of encountering any monsters, we lowered our bodies and approached slowly.
ㅡShwaaaa.
“Oh. This water looks pretty clean.”
“It’s quite clear.”
Copson reached out, scooped up some water, held it in his mouth, and slowly swallowed it.
“The taste… seems fine. Let’s wait a bit and see what happens.”
So we settled down and rested. It had been a bit hot, but coming into this cool space made me feel like my body was healing.
After waiting for about ten minutes, I also drank the water.
I quenched my thirst and refilled my water bottle.
The cold water calmed me down.
“Ha. Fuck. When are we getting out of here?”
“I have no idea. I wonder if we’ll end up dying here with the barbarian.”
“Bullshit. Who’s dying?”
“Hehehe, we certainly can’t die. Well, if we follow this water, we’ll come out somewhere.”
Whether it’s hell or heaven, we’ll come out somewhere.
After a short rest and a time to reorganize, we decided to follow the water and move downstream.
ㅡGrrrruk!
ㅡKyuryuk!
Monsters with bizarre appearances appeared from time to time, but they all ran away into the jungle as soon as they saw us.
“Barbarian. Did you recognize that monster just now?”
“No. First time seeing it.”
The monsters, whether they were beast-like or insect-like, felt like mysterious creatures out of South American legends.
“Strange… it feels like the ecosystem itself has changed. For such an abnormal thing to happen so quickly… I could earn enough for drinks just by selling information to the mages.”
Only familiar friends like the giant bats that appeared from time to time soothed our homesickness. We didn’t hesitate to kill them as if we were possessed by how glad we were to see them.
Because we could eat them.
To save our dried rations and jerky, we roasted the hunted giant bats. Since the stream was right next to us, it wasn’t difficult to prepare them. We lit a fire with a fire starter and tore into the not-so-tasty meat.
I feel a bit stronger.
We moved again.
As Copson said, the jungle was truly bizarre.
It was full of dreamy plants and monsters that I had never seen before. I haven’t lived in this other world for that long, but almost everything was new to me.
ㅡAmble amble.
A monster that looked like a combination of a beetle and a crab appeared and we trampled it. This was also a monster I had never seen before.
“It’s really amazing. I’ve never seen these monsters before either.”
“Me too… what is this? What’s this phenomenon?”
“Just because a jungle appeared doesn’t mean creatures that aren’t native to this area would suddenly appear… I really don’t know.”
We cut down countless monsters and searched for a way out.
ㅡChyujujujut!!
“Heok!”
The giant caterpillar, about the size of an adult male, that appeared in the middle of it all was enough to give us an inhuman shock. It looked like a giant version of a butterfly larva.
“You son of a bitch!”
Of course, it was just a simple caterpillar, so it wasn’t that difficult to kill. We just had to stab it with a sword and cut off its head, and it would die quickly.
Yeah.
Things like that weren’t a problem.
ㅡShishishit.
ㅡShishit.
ㅡShishishit.
The problem was those things.
“Hey. Copson.”
“…I already know.”
“Not that, you idiot. Cover your nose first.”
Beyond our vision, between the vines.
And from the tops of the sparsely growing trees, we heard a familiar laughter. ㅡShishishit. Yes, it was the laughter of dryads.
ㅡSreuk.
They disappeared again before we could even recognize their briefly revealed forms. And then we heard the laughter… There were many of them.
ㅡThey’re toying with us.
“It’s a dryad. You almost died earlier, so be careful. If you fall for their sorcery, you’re really done for.”
“Kuh…! Those beauties! Heok! There!”
“Keep your eyes down, you idiot!”
If Copson had another mental breakdown, there would be no hope.
Just from what we could see, there were more than five of them. If I were alone, I could somehow escape from five of them. But if Copson fell for their seduction in this state, there was no hope.
Having received my warning, Copson quickly tore off the end of his cloak and covered his nose. It wouldn’t be very effective, but since we had already tested that they seemed to cast their sorcery through smell, this much would at least work to some extent.
ㅡShishishit.
“Ba, Barbarian! There!”
“I’m looking, you son of a bitch!”
Then, a tall dryad appeared from inside the bushes, revealing her upper body. She had a flower in her hair, and she seemed to be a different individual from the one we fought yesterday.
Above all, she wasn’t covering her body at all.
She was showing off her full breasts and smiling seductively at us.
“Hey! Get lost! Get lost! Get lost if you don’t want to die!”
I stood in front of Copson and threatened her by waving my sword around. ㅡShishishit! She laughed at us mockingly, then disappeared back into the bushes.
“This is fucked. We’re surrounded. Copson! Run! Let’s escape from here!”
“W, what if we get even more lost!”
“We’re already fucking lost!”
ㅡTaktaktak!
Immediately, Copson and I ran as fast as we could, like we were in a marathon.
ㅡSsuk!
ㅡSsuk!
The dryads were also keeping pace with our speed and chasing us…! We couldn’t gauge their numbers! The plants all around were shaking and making noise! It looked like there were more than ten of them!
ㅡScent.
The scent of flowers was getting stronger and stronger.
A very dangerous chase had begun. I had a feeling this would happen, but it made me anxious now that it was actually happening.
“Hey! Copson!”
“…Heok! What, what is it!”
“Be careful of this smell! It’s that!”
“Indeed!”
He was almost in danger, judging by how late his reply was.
“I thought there was a strange scent, so that’s what it was!”
Copson exclaimed and gave a positive answer.
“It’s strange… my chest is tickling!”
“Resist! You’ll die if you give in! Splash water on your face or something!”
“I understand! Don’t worry too much! I’m keeping my wits about me!”
“Yeah! That kind of will is important! Anyway, run!”
Copson and I ran while doing a butt dance to avoid falling for the seduction. The dryads, hiding all around, chased us while giggling.
You son of a bitch!
