I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 117: 117:Blocked.

Brian didn’t waste a second.

"The eastern road is gone," he said, his voice carrying clearly over the gathered contractors. "We’re taking the residential side streets. Keep your spacing. Nobody moves alone. If someone falls behind, call out immediately. We regroup before moving again. If you spot anyone suspicious, do not engage, call for back up."

The dozens of contractors quickly adjusted their formation. The experienced teams naturally drifted toward the outside of the convoy while newer hunters and support personnel remained closer to the center.

Silver noticed how instinctive it was. Nobody argued over positions or tried to take charge. Everyone understood that surviving outside the Sanctuaries meant trusting discipline over pride.

Ravenna quietly fell into step beside Silver.

"How’s your head?"

He flexed his fingers around the grip of his rifle before giving a small nod.

"Much better."

The Soul Restoration Elixir had worked as fast as he expected. The pounding behind his eyes had faded to a dull ache, leaving his thoughts far clearer than they had been only minutes earlier.

"If you hadn’t kept it..." he said softly.

She looked ahead instead of at him.

"You would’ve done the same."

Silver smiled behind his mask.

"...Yeah."

"I know."

For a brief moment, despite the tension surrounding them, the simple exchange eased the weight pressing on both of their shoulders.

Then the ground trembled. It felt more like standing near an enormous machine buried beneath the earth, a deep vibration that traveled through their boots before fading almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Every contractor stopped. Brian slowly raised a hand.

"Hold."

The convoy froze. No one spoke, the only sound came from the wind moving through abandoned buildings.

Silver narrowed his eyes.

’...Spatial Sense’

[Spatial Sense Lv2]

The familiar pressure settled behind his eyes as his perception expanded through the surrounding streets. He gazed underground, the roots had changed.

Where they had once lain quietly beneath the roads, they were now moving with unmistakable purpose. Thick strands slid through the soil like living muscles, converging toward the streets ahead.

Silver’s expression hardened.

"They’re moving."

Brian turned immediately.

"What?"

"The roots, they know where we are. It seems it’s tracking our vibrations... be careful!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the asphalt thirty meters ahead cracked apart with a deafening snap.

A root as thick as a man’s waist burst from beneath the road, sending broken concrete flying through the air. It didn’t lash out wildly. Instead, it curled across the street like a living barricade, followed by several thinner roots that intertwined around it.

More cracks echoed from adjoining streets, another root surfaced then another. Within seconds, what had been open roads were transformed into tangled barriers of wood and vine.

Claire stared in disbelief.

"They’re... blocking us."

Silver watched carefully.

"No. They’re herding us, it doesn’t want us to leave."

That realization chilled everyone nearby. The Moonlight Flower wasn’t attacking indiscriminately or trying to crush the convoy; it was cutting off their escape.

Brian reacted immediately.

"Engineers! Strength users! Open a path!"

Several contractors rushed forward. A massive hammer slammed into the nearest root, splintering bark and carving away a large section.

Another contractor swung an axe reinforced with beast energy and chunks of wood scattered across the pavement.

For a heartbeat, it looked like they were making progress, then the damaged root withdrew beneath the street. Almost instantly, another emerged several meters farther away, weaving across the road in a different direction.

"It’s adapting!" someone shouted.

"No," Silver corrected quietly. "It’s retreating probably buying time. It’s probably calling on the infected or something. They seem to be controlled by it."

More roots surfaced, not enough to overwhelm the contractors, but enough to keep forcing them to change direction.

Every street they attempted to take was blocked moments later, every shortcut vanished and every open path narrowed.

From the looks of it, Silver noticed that the moonlight flower wasn’t stronger than the combined contractors but was simply controlling the battlefield.

Brian saw it as well.

"We should stop chasing the openings!"

Everyone looked toward him.

"If we keep panicking like this, it’ll keep leading us exactly where it wants us."

Silver nodded.

"He’s right. The flower doesn’t want to fight us. I don’t think it’s strong enough, if it were that strong we would all have become its puppet just like the others. I think it can’t really indiscriminately affect everyone. "

He looked toward the wall of roots before continuing.

"Right now, it’s probably recharging just like every other beast. It’s been infecting a lot of people and beasts, which means, its core can’t sustain a lot. With so many deaths at the moment, it’s probably absorbing the corpse. The last time I checked some of the roots were red."

"I don’t think it can attack us at the moment, but that’s just my assumption. Even with that, it’s clear we’re completely isolated in the town and we’ll have to wait for rescue or find our own way out."

Ravenna looked toward the distant skyline where enormous trees marked the botanical gardens.

"The core."

Silver met her eyes.

"The core."

Another tremor rolled beneath the streets.

This time, abandoned vehicles shifted several centimeters across the pavement as roots pushed upward beneath them. One overturned bus slowly tilted sideways before crashing onto the road with a thunderous impact, sealing another route.

More roots shot out of the group, this time nearer to them than they had imagined.

"Everyone watch out!" Brian shouted as debris started raining down on them.

Dust filled the air, completely destroying any semblance of visibility.

"Aaaah!"

A scream filled the air before it completely died down a moment later. No one had the time to look for the victim, everyone was trying to get out of the way of a falling concrete or a thrown vehicle.

"Everyone, move to the smaller streets, try to get as far away from the wreckage as possible. Do not approach the roots."

The convoy instinctively split to avoid the falling debris. Brian shouted orders, directing people around the obstruction before anyone became trapped.

Even then, the separation couldn’t be completely avoided and not everyone managed to escape the sudden wreckage.

When the dust finally settled, several groups found themselves isolated on opposite sides of the tangled streets.

Silver quickly counted the people nearest him. Ravenna, Brian, Claire, and Jonah. Only about a dozen contractors remained together. The rest were visible only as silhouettes beyond walls of roots and abandoned vehicles.

Brian cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Report!"

Voices answered from different directions.

"We’re alright! But we’ve lost two people. "

"We’re completely blocked on the west side! Two of ours have broken their legs"

"We’ve got another route!"

Relief washed over Silver. They were separated but most were alive. It still saddened him that some people had died but there was really nothing he could do. It was a blessing enough that many had survived.

He closed his eyes once more and activated Spatial Sense for only a second. The answer appeared almost immediately. Every single root, barrier, and movement beneath the ground, all radiated outward from one place.

The botanical gardens.

Silver slowly opened his eyes. There was no longer any doubt. He looked at Brian.

"We’re not escaping this town."

Brian’s expression remained steady.

"Then what’s our way out?"

Silver looked toward the towering trees rising above the southern district.

"We’ll have to stop running, find the moonlight flower and destroy it."