Frontier Online

Suicide Mission Part 37

"We are going to die." Urginok stared at the writhing mass of thorny vines in front of them. Past the vines, Izor's magic barrier shimmered where the plants invaded. Blue ripples spread in time with the writhing of the vines.

Above the city's wall, the barrier continued upward in a straight line. Instead of a domed barrier, it seemed to the friends that Izor was cutting costs. Fortunately, the barrier followed the city wall all the way around Grotto.

"Maybe," Rydr chuckled dryly. 

Before the pair left Lynn's shop, they decided that, for now, Rydr should keep the "hood" of his [Alpha's Pelt] pulled up. Their trip through town was swift, but they didn't travel to the rest of the defenders. 

The Eastside of Grotto was the most overrun by plants and where most of the defenders gathered. Rydr and Urginok took a circuitous route to reach the Northeast part of Grotto.

At first, Urginok questioned why they were going to a deserted part of the wall. On the way over, Rydr explained his plan, which was ludicrously simple.

However, it was much harder to convince himself to go through with it as he stared down the growing mass of thorny green outside the barrier. While numerous vines breached the barrier, the bulk of the plants were still held back outside the barrier.

Which produced an ever-growing wall of vines as they searched for the top of the barrier. Rydr wasn't certain if Izor would increase its height or form a dome or if the mage could.

At the moment, the vines were only a third of the way up the barrier. However, that put a definite time limit before Grotto was lost. If the pace kept up, the vines would climb over the wall within six days.

Rydr steeled his will and took a step toward the vines when Urginok grabbed his forearm.

"Run it by me again, okay?" Urginok's face paled visibly. The tank wanted to be reassured that the plan could work.

Rydr paused and looked at his friend, uncertain how to convince him. 

After a moment, Rydr asked, "What is a plant's only goal?"

Urginok frowned, "Find sunlight and water?"

Rydr nodded, "Correct, but what can that be called?" He coaxed his teammate to come to his own conclusion.

"Photosynthesis?" Urginok guessed.

"Eating." 

The tank pursed his lips, "So?"

Rydr explained, "You told me that the vines are dragging people into the forest. But that doesn't quite track. All the other monsters in the area seem determined to kill us, but the vines are dragging people away."

Urginok began to nod along before he cut in, "And the vines won't let up, no matter how many we cut off. It's like the thing doesn't care about being damaged...because it doesn't."

Urginok slapped his palm to his forehead, "The vines are just roots, bringing nutrients back to the plant where they can be absorbed." The tank started to nod again, then shook his head, "If that's true, why haven't any of the divers who were dragged away said anything about a 'core?'"

"Because they didn't survive their trip." Rydr was ninety percent certain the mass of vines had to have a "brain" or "heart" of some kind. Nothing that acted with this much intent and with a clear goal of kidnapping people could know to do that without something resembling instinct. 

So the Titan's grand plan was to lay down in the vines and let the plant-beast take him to its heart to be absorbed. What concerned Urginok so much was that they planned to tank the damage and hoped their health bars were large enough to take it.