Chapter 262: Hidden In Tall Grass

I gathered the rest of my Guardians and filled them in on what we found so far.

Olivia took a look at the map that Maylene found and a frown appeared on her face, "We don’t know how old this map is relative to this world..."

Maylene nodded at the yellowing paper, "It’s quite old at the very least... Maybe if I had to estimate, a few years at the very least."

Dan looked around at the streets that were overgrown with plants, "I think we should be measuring in decades right? For plants to take over the city like that... I think you would need at least ten years or more?"

Liliac shook her head, "These plants seem to be different... They might have been affected by the miasma to grow fast so this city could have been overgrown in a matter of days instead of years."

I turned to look around us at the plants, letting a rather morbid thought cross my mind.

I didn’t think about voicing it out but... Well... Dan said out what I was thinking anyway.

"Hey, do you think these plants eat people? That’s why they’re red?"

Yeah... Thanks Dan... At least I know I wasn’t alone in thinking that.

Thankfully, Liliac shook her head, "No, these plants are not carnivorous. From what I can feel about them... They’re just normal plants that have grown really fast after being exposed to the miasma."

That’s good to know.

I looked at the map again, "Let’s just head to where this path is first... Maybe we can find our way there."

All of them nodded and we let the Vanguards continue with the set up of the outpost around the portal while we walked a short distance away from the camp.

I would then teleport us to the location I believed was where the road should be, which was just a little past the town that I had seen earlier.

I appeared on the road and one Anomaly that had been nearby immediately let out a shriek and tried to rush towards me.

It didn’t even get to come close as I grabbed it with my floating arm and snapped its neck between my thumb and finger like I was snapping a twig.

The Anomaly’s shrieks end abruptly with a crack before I dumped its corpse aside while looking around, my mind not even registering it as a threat.

The area was more overgrown than I thought, plants and vines wrapped all around the surface of the road, looking like blood vessels with its red colouration.

I saw no roads aside from the one I was standing on that continued on towards the horizon.

The location was just a rough estimate on my part since I wasn’t really sure where exactly the fork in the road was so I guess we’ll just have to comb through this area to look for it.

I motioned at my Guardians as they stepped through the door and they understood, already spreading out to start searching for any signs of a road in the tall grass around us.

I decided to scan the area from above again, but this time flying at a lower altitude and focusing my search in a more confined area instead.

There were still a few Anomalies around but my Guardians made short work of them without breaking a sweat, especially since they were just stragglers and the smaller hybrids instead of the bigger ones.

Any Anomalies that tried to attack them were immediately dispatched without needing my help.

Even Maylene held her own as her use of super speed ensured the Anomalies could not even touch her. In return, she threw stones at them which expanded to become boulders after they left her palm, crashing down on top of the Anomalies and smashing them into meat paste.

That’s an... Interesting way to use her powers.

I didn’t have to wait long before I heard a shout coming from below and I looked down to see Olivia waving up at me.

I descended to the ground in front of her and she gave me a curt bow, "My Lord... There’s a reason why you were unable to find it..."

I was about to ask her what she meant until she grabbed parts of the grass and pushed them aside.

When she did so, I realised that hidden underneath the blades of grass was what looked like a dirt trail that had been flattened and leading away from the main road.

From above, the grass had completely hidden this trail from view which would have been obvious to someone on the ground since you would quite literally come across a break in the grass.

Checking the map again, it does seem to be heading in the direction of where the map said it was so this should be the path on the map that we were looking for.

But even though we found this... It’s still weird that I didn’t manage to find any notable signs of a building or even a collection of buildings that could match the description of being an ’estate’ around here while I was in the air.

I figured maybe the place was also overgrown or something which made it harder to see in the air and did not question it, opting to gather everyone with me as we pushed through the tall grass to follow the dirt path.

It was clear that this dirt path used to be wide enough to allow a vehicle to drive on top of it but the grass had grown so dense that we had to walk in a single file if we did not want to wade through the tall grass growing on either side of the trail.

"How long is this road gonna be, sia?" Dan asked, squeezing in between the blades of grass and walking sideways because his armour was too big to fit in between them if he walked normally.

Maylene pulled out the map again and took a moment to inspect it before speaking up, "Umm... If this map is accurate... It should be about a ten to twenty minute wa--"

She was interrupted by a rustle in the grass right before something jumped out towards her.

Olivia responded quickly as she grabbed the thing out of the air, revealing it to be another Anomaly that looked like a wolf monkey hybrid this time. And by that, I mean that it had the body, limbs and tail of a wolf but the head was a monkey’s, though the teeth in its mouth were sharpened into fangs instead of being flat.

It let out a growl as it struggled in Olivia’s grip but she snapped its neck and tossed its corpse aside without batting an eye at it.

"I believe there are more of them hidden in the tall grass, my Lord," She told me as a matter of factly.

I nodded and continued forward, this time being more alert as my group sank into silence, keeping an ear out for more sounds of rustling leaves in case more of them appeared.

We didn’t even need to wait long as the rustling sound came from both sides and we quickly formed into a defensive circle with me in the middle.

Liliac closed her eyes for a moment before speaking, "There’s seven on the left, eight on the right. They’re coming... Now!"

Two jumped out from the grass, one from each side.

The one on the left was targeting Maylene and the one on the right went for Dan.

Maylene reacted by shifting herself away faster than the Anomaly could move, letting the creature strike empty air and tumble onto the ground behind her.

It didn’t even manage to roll back up before she tossed a stone at it, allowing the stone to return to its full size as a boulder that smashed it back into the tall grass with a sickening crunch.

Dan simply raised his shield, letting the Anomaly smack itself against it before he swung it down to smash it into the ground, crushing the Anomaly’s head with the edge of his shield.

Two more jumped out from the left, trying to lunge at me but Olivia intercepted them with a lightning bolt that struck both of them away, their charred remains flung off into the distance.

Three of them came out to snap at Liliac only to have two of them caught by vines she was manipulating and got strangled to death.

The last one thought it was safe until my floating fist came smashing down on top of it, crushing it into pieces.

I was prepared for the rest to show up but... The rustling suddenly got further and further away.

I turned to Liliac and she frowned slightly in concentration, "They... Ran away... In the direction of the path..."

Anomalies that know how to run away... The last time that happened, we were dealing with a Commander Class Anomaly...

This can’t be good then...