“Plant based lifeforms are one of the trickiest foes you will ever face. Their ability to blend into the existing surroundings render most detection skills almost useless. And their degree of lethality can heavily vary. Some hold a shocking strength in their leafy boughs, while others seduce with a tantalizing display of colors… only to reveal the poison within. Should you find yourself faced with one of these dreaded enemies, remember Adventurer’s Guild rule number four…

When in doubt, kill it with fire.”

Adventurer’s Guild Bestiary, AC 1321.

Luna rolls out of the way of the descending plant. For a single shocked moment, we all stare open mouthed as the tall stalks of kelp begin to writhe. Then, grasping strands of slimy foliage begin reaching towards our position. Wilhelm roars in anger and makes an abrupt stationary turn, his tail fin breaking the water to strike down the offending greenery.

As his fin makes contact with one of the surrounding plants, several things happen almost simultaneously. Instead of the kelp rocketing away from the strike, it barely moves. His strike has almost no effect, the bashing hit barely shaking the forest’s horrid strength. Instead, the force of his attack moves Wilhelm backward out of position, and closer to my own in the middle. With growing horror, a thin cloud of blood grows from where they met.

A quick glance at Wilhelm reveals the source. Despite the armor he is wearing, an almost surgical cut has rent through to the flesh beneath. I scuttle forward, trying to cover his limping swim and quickly take a closer look. It appears to be a flesh wound, already closing with Wilhelm’s rage induced regeneration. It looks like he’ll be fine.

Another giant kelp rockets from above, attempting to crush Mina with the descent. She sees it and manages to dodge in time. A glance at Bill and Billy reveals one of them in spear mode, and the other trying to shoot bolts at any plant that encroaches on their position. The tiny projectiles seem to be having no effect, almost bouncing off whenever they hit.

Between the rapid attacks and the scurrying around to dodge, the water has been growing murky with upturned silt. Between that and the reddish bloody tinge from Wilhelm’s injury, line of sight continues to decrease. As I’m covering Wilhelm, I rapidly pull up the combat logs. Maybe they can give me an idea of what we’re dealing with.

Your party has entered combat!

Luna (Lvl 25) dodges Demon Kelp Forest (Lvl 47)!

Wilhelm (Lvl 28) attacks Demon Kelp Forest (Lvl 47)!

Wilhelm deals no damage.

Wilhelm takes 15 retaliation damage.

I barely manage to glance over the logs before the forest attacks in a new way. Instead of telegraphing its descent from above, a strand next to my position starts growing sideways. A sharpened frond jets toward me. I barely have time to react and activate my skills in rapid succession. [Riding Mask] for increased speed and fluidity. [Earth Manipulation] pulls silt from the surrounding water and girds my claws, giving them increased weight and allowing [Coast] to quicken my strikes.

I burrow my legs into the sand, giving me added leverage and raise my claw to [Sever] the attacking plant.

To no avail.

As my armored claw comes into contact with the kelp, I can feel a strength greater than my own resist my skill. And the harder I attempt to cut the leaf, the more the thin edge of the plant seems to grow sharper. In a split second it begins cutting into the thin armor plating covering my claws. To my dismay, the armor is breached, and I run [Mana Manipulation] through my shell, attempting to reinforce it and prevent further damage. I disengage my legs from the floor as well, riding the momentum of the strike to create distance from the ravaging frond. I can feel a slight scoring on my chitin but manage to get away relatively unscathed.

Checking on everyone else’s status, I’m able to see that everyone’s come to the same conclusion that I have. It appears as though we’re not going to be able to do any kind of meaningful damage against the forest around us. And with slowly growing horror, I realize an additional fact. The minor clearing we are in has already begun to contract. The open space and position for us to maneuver and dodge has grown smaller and smaller. We need to disengage, get some breathing room. I make the call.

“Luna! Mina! Shock and Awe!”

“Shell formation!”

At my orders, Mina seems to swell up for a moment, as if taking a giant gulp of air. Her head then rockets forward, and a screeching wail sounds out from her tiny form. I’m not sure how the skill works but even though it’s shrill, it doesn’t seem to overly affect us. I can see some sort of change amidst the kelp though. The reverberations from the shout, and the piercing nature of her cry seems to make them hesitant. A quick glance at the logs confirms that there is still no damage being done. Maybe it’s just the nature of the attack that’s surprised it? Luna follows up with a series of teleportation’s around us, dropping legs from her spatial storage and detonating them in quick succession.

Between the shockwaves from the explosions and Mina’s cry, a thin area of open ground is formed and we’re able to regroup, our backs to each other staring at the menacing plants. Billy speaks up,

“Our weapons aren’t working! Why aren’t our weapons working!”

He sounds more upset by the fact that their carefully constructed weapons doesn’t seem to have any effect. The other brother seems to be staring off in the distance. I can tell he’s still alert, his eyes are still scanning the area, waiting for the kelp to attack. And yet I can tell the ineffectual nature of his skills are getting to him.

Luna finishes with her distracting tactics and reappears with a *clink* back on top of my shell. Mina’s cry cuts off and as we’re all together I activate phase two.

“Defensive positions!”

“Building the shell!”

“Shift to subterranean movement!”

I activate [Earth Manipulation] forming a thin shell around us from the sand and dirt I’m taking from underneath our position. The last view I see before the dome closes is a kelp tree swinging down once more. Luna see’s it as well and can spare the proper warning.

“Brace!”

I’m continually trying to hold and harden the earth construct around us. With a heave of will, I run [Mana Manipulation] through the shell as well, trying to keep it together against the coming attack. Mina begins to sing a quiet song, and I feel a bolster in my stats, making the entire process easier.

Bill and Billy are almost spinning in place, tiny independent appendages emerging from their shell as they push sand from the floor to the wall, allowing me to save effort moving the dirt.

As the final grain of sand blocks out the light from above, a shuddering *crash* shakes the structure. It barely holds, the weight of the kelp stalk weighing down and stressing my control of the dome. At this point, we’ve barely cleared the surface of the sea floor, we need to get lower, have to get out of reach of the clawing and slicing fronds. The initial crash is followed by successive blows from above. I can no longer focus on lowering the floor, my entire mind strained by the effort needed to hold the cover against the attacks of the plant.

The edges of my vision begin to slowly darken, an even deeper darkness than the lightless water that surrounds us. Another crash, another impact, another blow against the bastion of my control over the construct.

Then, in the water, in the ground, in the entire surrounding area, a plodding shudder resounds. It’s as if a giant is taking a plodding step forward, as I can feel the vibrations of its impact deep within my shell. Another BOOM!

And it’s closer.

Whatever it is, it must be huge. There is no way it crossed the assumed distance without either extreme speed or a giant stride. I let out a quick mana pulse, trying to get an idea of what we might be facing. The pulse races out of the bottom of the slowly growing well we are in. It clears the now thick dome and gives me an idea of what is happening outside.

There is a humanoid figure standing beside the dome. And yet… there is something wrong with him. The figure appears frayed, as if a thousand threads were growing from its shape. It takes a second to parse the confusing images and then I realize.

The thing is MADE out of kelp.

It is at least 50 meters tall, and as I watch, almost transfixed by the scale of this plant monster, it ponderously raises a fist above its head.

Oh no.

I’m already struggling with holding the dome cap above us against the previous attacks and weight of the kelp lying across it. I’m running [Earth] and [Mana Manipulation] full bore, straining to push more mana through the skill. A quick glance at my mana shows that I’m already below half. We’re only about 10 meters underground. If the shell breaks, it’ll be able to reach right in and grab us one by one.

I reconsider the size of the thing.

Or maybe grab us all at once.

I grit my mandibles and raise my claws high. My journey will not end here. This is only the beginning. I need to protect my friends, old and new. I can feel Luna gently shaking on my shell. I think of Erica and my coast. All the paths I have yet to walk.

I will not fall.

With an effort of will, and my mind straining, with the black walls of unconscious closing in, I activate [Water Manipulation], using my remaining mana to shove the entire mass of water between us and the dome upwards. I time the rush of water to match the impact of the descending fist and as the two forces meet, I pass out.

My last thought before I drift away is a thin hope that my efforts will be enough.