Chapter 146: The Carnivorous Bloom
The team immediately launched a full-scale counterattack.
Sein was the first to move. Her eyes burned with fury after seeing Andrey get hurt. Flames exploded around her body as she activated her passive.
"Relentless Flame!"
Every consecutive hit on the same target increased her critical chance. She dashed forward like a blazing meteor and unleashed a barrage of fiery punches and kicks directly onto the Carnivorous Bloom’s main bulb.
Crimson Impact!
Crimson Impact!
Crimson Impact!
Her attack speed was relentless. The stacks of Relentless Flame quickly reached maximum (10 stacks), causing her flames to burn hotter and brighter with every strike. The monster’s thick flesh began to char and crack under the continuous assault.
At the same time, Sarah floated higher and unleashed a wide-area bombardment.
"Pink Rain!"
Hundreds of glowing pink projectiles rained down across the battlefield, exploding on impact and shredding the monster’s vines and smaller mouths. Lisa supported her by casting Mana Spring and Starlight Nova, sending waves of mint-green energy that boosted everyone’s mana regeneration and damaged the corrupted plant life.
Andrey, despite his bleeding shoulder, stepped forward. His Damage Absorb was now completely full.
He locked onto the Carnivorous Bloom and released everything at once.
"Ki Burst — Full Release!"
A devastating explosion of stored damage erupted from his body in the form of a concentrated blue energy beam. The blast smashed directly into the monster’s main bulb, creating a massive crater and blowing off large chunks of its flesh. The Carnivorous Bloom shrieked in agony as its body trembled violently.
But it still wasn’t enough to kill it.
Sein saw the opening. Her Relentless Flame stacks were at maximum. She leaped high into the air, flames roaring violently around her.
"Crimson Cataclysm!!"
She descended like a falling star and slammed both flaming fists into the monster’s cracked core. A gigantic explosion of crimson fire engulfed the entire Carnivorous Bloom. The monster’s screams reached a deafening pitch as its body began to collapse.
Sarah and Lisa didn’t waste the final chance.
"Lisa, now!" Sarah shouted.
Lisa nodded and cast Starlight Nova at full power, sending a massive wave of mint-green starlight energy that weakened the monster’s defenses and corrupted roots. Sarah immediately followed up with her strongest skill.
"Love’s Apocalypse!"
A colossal pillar of pink energy descended from the sky like divine judgment, slamming directly into the monster’s core. The combination of Lisa’s Starlight Nova and Sarah’s ultimate created a beautiful yet destructive explosion of pink and mint-green light.
The Carnivorous Bloom let out one final, ear-piercing screech before its massive body shattered completely. It collapsed into a pile of burning, withered remains before turning into black ash that scattered in the wind.
Silence finally fell across the battlefield.
Andrey lowered his guard, breathing heavily as blood still dripped from his shoulder. "...It’s dead."
Sein landed beside the ashes, flames slowly dying down around her body. "Hah... finally."
"Well, that was mildly annoying." Sarah landed lightly, though her legs looked ready to give out. "Remind me to never complain about easy B-rank gates again."
Lisa quickly moved to Andrey’s side and began healing his shoulder wound with a worried expression. "Are you okay? The bite was really deep..."
Andrey gave her a small nod. "I’ll live. Thanks to you."
After the intense battle, the team took a brief moment to catch their breath.
Sarah wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned to Andrey, breathing heavily.
"Andrey, give me some mana potions. My mana is almost drained after using the ultimate twice."
Andrey nodded and opened his Inventory Ring. He took out four bottles of high-grade mana potions and handed them to each member.
"Here. Drink up. We don’t know how much further we have to go."
All four of them quickly drank the potions. A refreshing wave of mana flowed through their bodies, restoring a significant portion of their depleted reserves.
Lisa looked toward the center of the ruined square where a dark, pulsing glow could be seen. She frowned slightly.
"The core... it doesn’t look as close as it seems," she said quietly. "It might be farther than our eyes can see."
Sein crossed her arms, still breathing a bit heavily as the flames around her slowly faded.
"Yeah... these monsters were more unique than they looked. That last one wasn’t just a normal plant-type. It kept evolving and adapting. This gate is definitely abnormal for a B-rank."
Andrey stared at the distant pulsing core, his expression serious. Blood still stained his torn suit, though Lisa’s healing had mostly closed the wound.
"We need to move quickly," he said firmly. "If the core keeps shifting or growing stronger, it’ll become even harder to reach. Let’s not give it any more time to prepare. Push forward."
Sein smirked and cracked her knuckles. "Good. I was just starting to warm up."
Sarah stretched her arms. "Let’s finish this already. I want to go home and take a long bath."
Lisa nodded, reinforcing her barrier once more. "I’ll keep supporting everyone. Be careful of any more surprise attacks."
Andrey took the lead again, his Ki energy flowing steadily around his body.
"Move out."
The team advanced cautiously deeper into the ruined square. The further they went, the more abnormal and twisted the flora became.
Thick purple vines covered nearly every surface, walls, ground, and broken buildings alike. Some vines pulsed faintly like living veins, while others had large, grotesque crimson flowers blooming along their length. The air grew thicker with dark mana, carrying a sweet but sickening scent.
Sarah looked around with a disgusted expression. "This place is creepy as hell. These flowers keep staring at us."
Sein kicked aside a twitching vine on the ground. "They’re not just decorations. I can feel dark mana flowing through them. It’s like the entire area is one big living organism."
Lisa stayed close to the center of the group, her eyes scanning their surroundings carefully. "The flora here is mutating rapidly. Look at those flowers, they’re absorbing the mana from the defeated monsters and using it to grow stronger. If we leave them alone too long, they might evolve into something worse."
Andrey walked at the front, carefully observing everything. He stopped in front of a particularly large cluster of blooming flowers. The petals were deep crimson with black veins running through them, and in the center was a glowing purple core.
"These aren’t normal plants," he said. "They’re acting like parasites. They’re feeding on the gate’s energy and the corpses of the monsters we killed earlier."
As if responding to his words, several of the flowers suddenly trembled. Their petals opened wider, releasing another small cloud of purple pollen. However, Lisa was ready this time. She quickly raised a small barrier to contain the pollen before it could spread.
Sein clicked her tongue. "Annoying. Should I just burn all of them?"
Andrey shook his head. "Not yet. Burning everything might trigger a bigger reaction. We need to reach the core first. But stay alert, these plants are reacting to our presence."
They continued moving forward. The deeper they went, the stranger the flora became. Some vines had grown human-like limbs and were slowly crawling across the ground. Large bulbous flowers emitted faint moaning sounds when they passed by. Purple crystalline fruits grew on other vines, pulsing with dark mana.
Sarah shivered. "This gate is seriously messed up. It feels less like a normal gate and more like a corrupted dungeon."
Lisa nodded. "The corruption level is unusually high. We need to destroy the core as soon as possible before the entire gate fully mutates."
Andrey stopped and raised his hand, signaling the team to halt. Ahead of them, a large area was completely covered by a massive network of glowing vines and flowers, forming what looked like a living nest. At the center of it all, a much larger and darker glow pulsed, the true core of the gate.
"Looks like we’ve found it," Andrey said quietly. "But the plants here are the densest we’ve seen so far. Be ready for a fight."
Sein grinned, flames flickering around her fists once again. "Good. I was getting tired of just walking."
Sarah and Lisa also prepared their skills, tension rising in the air.
The abnormal flora around them seemed to sense their presence. The flowers turned slightly toward them, and the vines began to writhe more actively.
