A dark-colored root rose from where we had been standing, shattering the solid concrete.
At the same time, through my sense that covered everything around us, I felt all the roots of this flower that had spread through this area over time.
"That was close." I heard Elliot’s voice beside me as he had already drawn his sword.
His hand tightened around the hilt, while light spread across its surface, pushing away the darkness of the storm.
With a swift motion, he swung toward the thick root, leaving an arc of light behind him.
His sword reached it, attempting to cut it in a single strike, leaving a deep wound from which a glowing blue liquid seeped.
I didn’t know if it could be called blood or if it was something else.
While he dealt with that, I didn’t remain idle. My swords were already in my hands, and the essence surged through my body with force and precision.
I took a step to the side and slashed toward the spot where I had been standing. Another root rose, targeting me, only to be met by one of my essence-coated swords.
Metal clashed with that thing, and the sensation of cutting traveled into my hand.
At first, I thought these roots had a wooden nature given their dark, solid surface... but now, after feeling my sword cut through it, I reconsidered.
It felt more like flesh.
I split the head of that root into two, the severed part falling to the ground and scattering the rainwater gathered everywhere... just like its glowing blue blood.
A white flash devoured the world before me, and the sound of thunder roared in my ears.
Behind me, I sensed Elliot finishing his own, but this was only the beginning.
The ground beneath us shook and cracked, and I shouted toward Elliot, warning him one last time. "Don’t let it touch you... and don’t look at the flower too much."
The moment the words left my mouth, numerous roots emerged around us, surrounding us, but as if that wasn’t enough, I felt the ground beneath my feet vanish.
I was falling.
I didn’t need to look down to realize the ground beneath us had collapsed, turning into concrete fragments plunging downward with us.
At the same time I began falling, many roots rushed toward me from all directions, smashing everything in their path as they tried to coil around me and grab me instead of striking me.
Just as looking at its petals caused the urge to sleep, touching these things meant giving the Nightmare Flower a chance to drag us into its domain.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elliot amid the chaos, falling a few meters away. Like me, roots surged toward him, surrounding him, only for the world around him to light up as white lightning serpents surged in all directions.
Lightning struck the roots, paralyzing them.
At the same time, I reached a large piece of debris falling with me, and just before those things could close around me, my foot struck the debris, essence exploding beneath it.
Anticipating their movements, I launched myself backward, slipping between those tendrils.
But things don’t always go as planned.
In front of me, one of the roots bent, changing its path and lashing directly toward me from above, and I could hear the whistle of air caused by its movement.
I was still falling, so I couldn’t control or change my position. All I could do was raise my swords in front of me in a crossed stance.
The root—or tendril—came down at immense speed, colliding with the swords I had placed before me.
I felt the cheap metal tremble and threaten to shatter, while the impact traveled into my arms, making them go numb.
I gritted my teeth as I was hurled downward like a ball.
Essence surged through my body as I condensed it on my back, forming a solid layer to protect me from the impact.
Or at least lessen it.
Because in the next moment, my back slammed into the second level of these underground paths with enough force to shatter both the concrete and the essence surrounding me.
And so, I began falling again.
My vision was filled with dust and debris falling with me, while the loud sounds of collapse and the storm overwhelmed my hearing.
It was pure chaos.
I couldn’t see Elliot anywhere my eyes reached... but my sense could.
And I knew what would happen next.
In the next moment, streaks of lightning ignited the space above me, striking every tendril around us.
It wasn’t strong enough to cause real damage, but it was enough to freeze them for a moment.
A moment enough for me to land on my feet once more inside a wide tunnel, debris falling around me.
Ahead of me was the opening overlooking that annoying flower dozens of meters away, and from there, more roots were already rising.
I felt Elliot land behind me, his shout echoing through the walls. "You alright?"
"Of course."
The next moment, he arrived beside me, stepping through space. "These roots are stronger than they look."
I nodded.
For me, this place on the verge of collapse was the real problem.
I let out a long breath, essence surging and igniting around my swords.
In the next moment, a tendril pierced through the wall to my right, heading toward us.
At the last instant before it touched me, I stepped back and slashed downward, splitting it into two.
The thing trembled in pain, while a ball of fire passed beside me, heading toward the group coming from ahead.
I didn’t leave everything to Elliot. I raised my other sword, and a compressed sphere of essence formed and shot toward the tendrils as well.
In the next moment, the area ahead of us was engulfed in the light of explosions and scattering flames, a loud boom echoing as small debris struck my face.
The tendrils disappeared into the dust, while Elliot’s voice came from beside me. "Any idea how to deal with this... I can’t even look at the main body."
I had a somewhat crazy idea to end this quickly, so I didn’t hesitate to say it. "Let’s move toward the pit, and once you get the chance, release all your lightning into the streams of water flowing from above."
With those words, I dashed forward at full speed, weaving through the surviving tendrils rushing toward us, leaving my final words behind.
"I’ll handle the rest... and don’t hold back."
I didn’t cut them or resist them. Instead, I weaved between them, predicting their movements, and when they failed to catch me, they continued toward Elliot.
He couldn’t do what I did, so it seemed he did what I couldn’t.
Breaking through with brute force.
Vibrations spread behind me, along with the heat from the flames and lightning he unleashed.
That made the flower focus on him more, while I approached the end of the wide passage overlooking the flower below.
The ceiling above me shattered, a tendril lunging toward me from above, while at the same time the ground beneath my feet collapsed and more of those things came from below.
I felt Elliot preparing his big move behind me, so without hesitation, essence gathered beneath my feet as I propelled myself forward.
Behind me, the tendrils sealed the path, chaos erupted everywhere, and large debris crashed all around.
I reached the edge, my eyes catching sight of the Nightmare Flower below—beautiful and hypnotic.
But for me, its most important power wasn’t effective.
That effect that made anything looking at it fall asleep within seconds didn’t work on me.
After all, I possessed the Anchor of the Mind.
Behind me, blinding white light surged, scorching heat spreading everywhere, beginning to melt the walls... and the tendrils as well.
But more of them came.
Without hesitation, I gathered strength in my legs and launched myself into the air, moving away from the edge and soaring dozens of meters forward, directly above the Nightmare Flower.
At the same time, through the collapsed ceilings, I sensed Elliot descending to the lower levels, moving toward the edge in an instant using his ability.
From the right and the left, from above and below... from everywhere, tendrils rose within that massive pit... and most of them shared one thing.
All of them were touching the water flowing from above and through the tunnels this flower had made its home.
I turned my head, catching sight of Elliot as he reached near a stream of flowing water, avoiding looking at the flower as he extended his hand toward the water just before the tendrils reached him.
The essence in his body drained rapidly, lightning forming in his hand.
But it didn’t stop there. It spread from his hand into the flowing water, traveling upward and downward to where all the streams met, before branching out and spreading everywhere around the pit flooded by the storm’s torrents.
In the next moment, the world lit up around me, lightning devouring the water before transferring from it into every wet tendril.
And from those tendrils, it spread to others that hadn’t touched the water.
It wasn’t strong enough to kill them or even truly harm them... but it was enough to freeze them and render them immobile for a short time.
And so, in that moment, the circular pit shone with lightning dancing everywhere... this was something Elliot created by exhausting all his essence, meaning we had one chance.
And now, I was falling onto the main body of the flower with no way for it to defend itself.
Whether it was its tendrils or its ability to drag me into sleep, neither could protect it now... at least for a few moments.
Essence drained from my body as it formed in my hand, compressing together as I fell downward.
Only a few meters remained between me and the Nightmare Flower, so at that moment, I released the sphere of essence downward... directly at it.
That action slowed my movement, halting my fall for a brief moment.
In that instant, the essence reached the flower’s defenseless body as its petals trembled, trying to close around its core, while some tendrils attempted to rush toward it, but the electricity Elliot created affected its body and slowed it down.
The essence struck, piercing one of its petals before a powerful explosion echoed.
Fragments of its beautiful petals were blown apart.
But it wasn’t enough to kill it.
At the same time, the lightning shocking it faded, and its tendrils came back to life, rushing toward me to protect its main body.
Before the explosion of essence settled and before the tendrils could reach me, I had already reached the main body, my feet landing on those enchanting blue petals, while my swords burned brighter than ever.
Just as I cornered the wounded flower at that moment, it too cornered me with dozens of tendrils.
So the question was—who would end this first?
My swords... or its tendrils?