Chapter 258: Giant Creatures 16

The girl wasn’t happy to hear that. "I haven’t showered in days," she complained, looking annoyed. "I stink! Having a flower around could at least freshen up the air a bit."

Seeing the girl get angry, the boy with the glasses pursed his lips. "I’m just trying to look out for everyone," he said timidly.

But no one paid any mind to his good intentions. The person who had offered to pick the flower started pushing through the dense weeds, heading toward the rose bush.

By this time, Perry Yates and Sheridan had already left the flower bed and were heading elsewhere. The boy who was supposed to pick the flower saw them leaving and was about to call out, but the girl’s voice from behind him cut him off.

"Are you done yet? We need to get back before dark."

「Day nineteen of the game.」

Overnight, a thick layer of moss had covered the ground.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Amber Sheridan said, frowning at the dark green moss on the ground.

Just as he was about to bend down to take a closer look, he suddenly lost his footing and fell flat on his face.

Amber Sheridan cried out, then quickly scrambled up and started brushing himself off.

But as he did, he realized something was wrong.

"Why is your face bleeding?"

They were both bundled up from head to toe, so the only skin they had exposed was on their faces.

And right then, on Amber Sheridan’s cheek—the same side that had hit the ground—beads of blood were steadily seeping out.

There were no visible wounds on Amber Sheridan’s face. Or rather, if there were, they were too small for the naked eye to see.

After disinfecting the wound and stopping the bleeding, Perry Yates looked over at the spot where Amber Sheridan had fallen.

She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but Perry Yates felt that the moss in that spot—especially where Amber Sheridan’s face had touched it—was noticeably more lush than the surrounding moss.

"AH!!"

Just as Perry Yates was preparing to investigate the moss further, Amber Sheridan suddenly screamed again.

Perry Yates turned and saw that Amber Sheridan’s clothes, especially around his arms and legs, were slowly turning red. The faint scent of blood filled the air.

At that moment, Perry Yates noticed the moss on the ground seemed to twitch, as if it had come to life.

Seeing this, Perry Yates had no time to worry about Amber Sheridan. ’He’s not in any life-threatening danger, anyway.’ She pulled out her dagger, made a couple of cuts in the moss, and peeled the entire patch back.

Peeling back its harmless exterior revealed a devilish secret.

Beneath the moss were countless writhing roots, as if they were alive.

These roots looked slender and fragile, but they were incredibly sharp. The moment they sensed pressure from above, they would shoot out like bullets, burrowing deep into flesh to absorb blood.

The only reason they hadn’t noticed anything unusual was that the soles of their shoes were very thick. This was especially true for Perry Yates, whose shoes had undergone Ascension and were exceptionally tough. It wasn’t until Amber Sheridan fell that the moss had an opportunity to feed.

Both Perry Yates and Amber Sheridan couldn’t help but gag at the sight. And this kind of moss was everywhere.

"Maybe we should travel through the trees," Perry Yates suggested.

’There’s a risk of running into bugs up there,’ Perry Yates thought, ’but compared to this stuff, even the bugs seem downright pleasant.’

Hearing this, Amber Sheridan nodded. "I’ll follow your lead."

「Day twenty of the game.」

Perry Yates and Amber Sheridan found a house in a residential area that was still in decent condition. They immediately decided to stay there.

After two days of living like nomads, they both dearly missed their RV.

Unfortunately, their RV had been torn to shreds—the kind of shreds that couldn’t be pieced back together.

After confirming that there were no other people around—only plants and animals—the pair immediately began clearing the vegetation.

With Perry Yates there, she could negotiate with the surrounding plants and ask them not to attack the house. There was one exception, however: the moss on the ground had to be removed.

This was not only because the moss was blood-sucking and utterly disgusting in its true form, but also because of the speed at which it spread.

The fact that it could cover every inch of the ground overnight was a testament to its incredible growth rate.

To prevent the moss from spreading inside, they had to clear it all away.

The two of them spent an entire day clearing away all the moss around the house.

The cleared moss formed a veritable mountain. The disgusting roots didn’t die right away, even after being torn from the ground; they continued to wriggle about, searching for food.

The things were too disgusting to look at. Deciding to finish the job, Perry Yates took out the gasoline she had siphoned from the RV, doused the moss pile, and set it ablaze.

As the flames consumed the moss, a foul smell filled the air.

The fire burned for about an hour before finally dying down. Perry Yates didn’t dare leave during that time, afraid the flames might spread. Because she stayed, she saw it: after the moss had been burned to ash and the fire was gone, a card appeared in front of her.

It was a one-star card, glowing with a faint yellow light.

"It’s a Skill Card."

**Name:** Abyssal Root System

**Category:** Skill Card

**Level:** One-Star

**Attributes:** Wood Attribute, Earth Attribute

**Ability:** Plunge roots into the earth and connect them to yourself to continuously and rapidly absorb energy from the ground. This energy can be used to quickly heal injuries and strengthen your attacks. Additionally, the Abyssal Roots can connect to an opponent to absorb their energy and blood.

Staring at the Card Ability, Perry Yates’s eyes widened. ’When did one-star cards get this powerful?’

However, after examining it more closely, Perry Yates realized that was only the description of the Card Ability.

This Abyssal Root System card could indeed do everything described, but it came with significant limitations. For example: the roots were fragile, the energy absorption rate was slow, the ability was easily detected, and the user couldn’t move while it was active. These were all major weaknesses.

’An Ascension should be able to compensate for these weaknesses.’

Perry Yates put the card away for now, planning to perform an Ascension on it when she had time. She had a feeling that if this card was Ascended into an Advanced Card, it would bring a wonderful surprise.