The monsters' scope was ten meters…, and he'd have to assume it could go more than that just to be safe.

This meant he could not use the mid-range advantages of his long weapon. At best, he could use [Blade of Fire], but his reach was only a few meters at most at his level. If he encountered stronger spawns, then he could get in trouble.

"Watch out!" Durgan yelled, taking out his shield to the side.

BANG!

Apparently, a small group of monsters approached their group while they were just standing there. They were bloodthirsty as always.

The monsters immediately attacked, and the rest of them prepared to take them down. The mob was a mix of awakened and toughened monsters, so it wasn't quick to kill them.

As they were fighting, though, there was a toughened monster that seemed to be particularly difficult to deal with. It must be at the peak of its level, so dealing with it needed much more than just a human of the same level.

Victor and a few others were about to use a skill when Finn stopped them. "Wait."

"I want to see how the vines act when they find their prey."

It was a toughened monster, so it was large and should have a decent fight, and if it escaped the clutches of a cluster of 'weaker' monsters, maybe they could get an insight into the best ways to do so.

At the same time, it should weaken both sides, which was just advantageous to their group.

At this, without waiting for their approval, he used [Feather Step] and approached the monster, smacking it right in the head and taking out a D-class wrap he had been hiding.

"Let me have this one!" he yelled, and the team did step back, allowing the monster's attention to fix on him. At the same time, most of the team handled the rest of the monsters, while Leiah watched their backs, including Finn's.

Finn targeted the wounds already inflicted on the monster. He used his skill [Heated Arc] to make sure he could really cause damage (imagine burning sensations on an open wound), which definitely caught the monster's attention. To top it off, he took out one of his jerky in space, making sure he was a really attractive target.

ROAAR!

He lured it near the area with the massive wall of vines, feeling quite the violent goosebumps just because he got a closer look at it.

He felt something crawl on his feet, and he jumped up to avoid it. He leapt over the monster and dashed farther away, using the hoovensore's back as a bolster.

ROAAARR!!

Finn's heart was palpitating, especially when he almost lost his balance, but thankfully [Feather Step] saved him from falling down on his face.

The monster quickly turned to go after him, but the vines were already on its skin. Several vines crawled onto it, securing its hind legs first. It struggled well at first—it was a toughened monster, after all—but if one vine was cut off, several more would come to reinforce it.

Soon, half its body was covered while it tried to escape, and they saw several vines reach its front legs and then grab at its neck.

This process was long, probably ten minutes or so. After all, the strength difference was there. A toughened monster generally should not lose against an awakened plant-type monster.

However, it seemed like the vines released fluid that could also paralyze a monster. It shouldn't have much effect on a stronger monster, but the sheer amount and the wounds it already had probably contributed to the effectiveness of their poison.

They watched as the peak-tier toughened monster was held down by dozens of vines from different directions, slowly pulled back onto the cluster, farther and farther from escape.

The group watched with dread as the monster struggled wildly, but with less and less energy, until it couldn't do anything anymore. More and more vines surrounded its entire mass, until it wasn't moving anymore.

And it was pulled back to the wall of vines until it was completely covered. They watched the existing wounds fester and grow bigger.

Their faces paled as the large monster was consumed in front of their eyes. This was a monster that was stronger than at least half of them.

They saw how the vines seemed like tentacles that released some sort of poison that slowly but surely burned their skin, and soon they could see the muscles and the flesh, and then the innards.

Damn, he thought. This was more terrifying than they thought.

It was akin to a horror movie, but it was very real, and that monster could've been any of them.

Whoever ranked these vines as mere awakened level was a scammer!

"Well, it probably categorized them as individuals, and not when they combined with each other," Miya explained, and that was really the only explanation for it.

That said, this meant that every single one of those 'vines' was around his level. Fine if they moved just as individuals, but what was this? "Are there cases where these vines would live alone or in smaller groups?"

"Sure, but I don't know how to find those," Miya said, "Most of the time, they'd be found when they attacked someone already." Which meant they would lose not only the element of surprise, but also a proper vision because it'd be easier for the vines to camouflage around the forest in small numbers.

Sigh. Finn wished he had a bomb or something, but he was sadly no chemist. Even if there were ways to make smaller bombs using fertilizers, he didn't know how to make them.

At least he had magic, right? Or at least skills that required mana, anyway.

His brain-that-didn't-go-to-college tried to think of ways to get through this.

"How big is a single thornspawn, by the way?"

"Not big, probably a few meters."

"What?"

He turned back to the side of the mountain that was teeming with it.

Gulp

Now, he really wished he had a bomb.

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