Chapter 156: It’s pollination season

Kanan caught the attack with his bare hand, noticing a vine sprouting out of the ground, but it wasn’t strong enough to pierce through his palm.

Sending a wave of spirit energy through the vine, it began to shrivel and started breaking into small pieces.

"What was that?" Nyalok wondered

"Looks like we’re not alone out here." The spirits started to disperse, disappearing as if there were something they were scared of. To Kanan, that could only mean one thing.

"No." Nyalok’s voice cracked as she saw who had attacked Kanan. It was hard enough seeing her friend dead, but now, after seeing her being controlled by the plant, it made her extremely angry.

Kanan stepped forward, placing himself between Nyalok and Seejuk. He could already tell that she was emotionally compromised and didn’t wish for her to freeze when facing her friend.

"I’ll handle this. You take a step back and collect your thoughts." Kanan said while releasing his power.

Seejuk didn’t respond to his overwhelming power. Instead, she lunged at him like a starved beast, eager to put Kanan down or infect him with the plant.

He easily avoided Seejuk’s attack by dodging to the side, then blasted her in the back, sending her flying into a tree. With his spirit energy oozing from her back, he curled his fingers but didn’t close them completely, allowing him to manipulate his spirit energy inside Seejuk.

The corpse was launched into the air, then was slammed into the ground, and dragged before Kanan’s feet. When looking up, the last thing the plant saw was Kanan’s finger beaming brightly with spirit energy, and it was blasted into oblivion until there was nothing left of Seejuk’s body.

"Burn this area with your Flame spirit bird." Kanan didn’t want to take any chances. It was times like these when he wished he could control the elements.

Sure, his spirit energy could burn things, but that wasn’t the same as being turned to ash and was more akin to boiling water.

"K-Kanan–"

"Don’t think about it." He interrupted. "The more you do, the more you’ll wallow in despair. Make things quick."

Gulping down her worries, Nyalok summoned her bird and burned the areas where Seejuk had touched. Her flames were contained by Kanan’s spirit energy, and just to be sure, they backtracked to where Seejuk was found and burned the area as well.

"What did we do to deserve this? Does nature hate us? Maybe the spirits are angry at us?" Nyalok couldn’t understand why their people were suffering in such a way. It felt as if something was out to get them.

"This is a dangerous world, Nyalok. If we aren’t strong, then we won’t survive. It’s as simple as that. So, to survive, we need to become strong and knowledgeable. Only then can we survive anything that comes our way."

Nyalok slapped her cheeks to clear her head. After sighing deeply, she smiled. "Thanks, Kanan. You’re pretty good at cheering people up. That’s another quality I find great in you."

"Heh, thanks. Now, let’s go back to–Akkk!" Kanan’s leg got caught on something, causing him to fall face-first into the wet dirt. It wasn’t a pleasant expierence, but he was at least happy that Nyalok wasn’t laughing.

"What the heck tripped me? Nya–" When getting up, he saw Nyalok covering her mouth, clearly trying to hold in her laugh. It was even to the point where she began tearing up, which only tore at Kanan’s pride.

"Just get it all out. Go ahead, laugh."

"N-No. No, no. It’s...pfft....it’s fine! It’s fine. But it seems like you tripped on that fruit. Or is it a vegetable? I can’t tell. I’ve never seen this plant before."

Disregarding Nyalok’s not-so-subtle snickering, Kanan examined the weird plant that made him fall. It looked like an all-green dragon fruit, but as he looked closer, using his spiritually enhanced eyes, he saw the spirits fleeing like crazy.

Danger. That was the first thing that came to Kanan’s mind, and without thinking any further, he made a bubble of spirit energy around Nyalok’s head and around the plant. Thanks to his fast thinking, he managed to catch the small explosion that released pollen into the spirit bubble.

"So that’s how it works." Finally, Kanan knew where the spores had come from.

"What is that? And why did you put this bubble around my head? I’m breathing in my own breath, and it’s not pleasant."

"That’s...gross."

"Oh, like you don’t have morning breath. Bastard."

"Answering your question, Nyalok, I think this is a sprouting Vermionus Plant. It looks like it’s releasing pollen." And when Kanan took a closer look with his spirit-enhanced eyes, it seemed to be releasing spores as well, which was odd.

Typically, plants that release pollen don’t release spores, and vice versa.

’Could it be because it’s a monster that it’s releasing both? That’s the only explanation that would make sense.’

"We need to take this back to my mother. If this is truly what you say it is, then we need to find more like it if they exist. If not, then the tribe could be in danger. Have you encountered something like this?" Nyalok asked

Kanan shook his head. "No. Every encounter that I’ve had with the plant has been with something that was already infected. I’ve never seen the plant by itself." He placed the plant into his inventory, and it was registered in his system.

"Let’s head back," Nyalok suggested. "Who knows what’s happening back home. I hope that Carl hasn’t done anything funny."

"I doubt it. If the attack earlier today was part of his plan to weaken your people, then he failed. Only a tiny fraction of your warriors lost their lives, and those who were infected can now be treated. If I were Carl, I’d be setting up for a big operation while biding my time."

"What do you mean?"

"If Carl’s goal is to destroy your people, then he has to do something that would not only guarantee your destruction, but also weaken you in the process."

Nyalok’s eyes widened. "Like taking out our scouts so they can’t report any incoming threats."

"Exactly like that. And I suspect that that’s only part one of his plan."