Chapter 291 Pestering Skeletons
Chapter 291 Pestering Skeletons
When Sweeper shattered, the bones from its lower body spread across the root covered floor… and disappeared.
Jay squinted, watching thoughtfully. "Hmm… if the floor here is collecting bones, maybe it can spawn Ova here, too. But then, why are there no Ova here in the first place? Did no one ever make it through the passageway?" he wondered.
Blue pulled Sweeper's body from under the white claw-like stone, having to snap away some of its spine as it pulled out its upper body.
Sweeper wrapped its arms wrapped around Blue's neck, yet even after the attack it still gripped its sword firmly.
Jay smiled a little as he watched Blue wearing Sweeper like a backpack. They both rushed back, getting further away from the giant root tendril, which rose into the air once more.
The white pointed stone, which was embedded into the ground, moved again as the living root floor slowly pulled it back to the tentacle structure.
"Reloading? It won't be long before it attacks again." Jay thought.
"But how will I get close enough to kill the giant head, or to even analyze it? I don't want to deal with damn giant tentacles as well." He shook his head.
Jay continued to walk towards the portal while he waited for Blue to bring Sweeper back.
Meanwhile, Handy and Lamp had made it to the portal.
The portal was, thankfully, at the very edge of the room and made to look as if it were a part of the wall. Far away from any swatting tentacles.
It was about three times as tall as Jay, and the root that continually pumped the milky-white fluid blocked half of it.
Jay paused for a moment and watched the head as he gave direct orders to Handy and Lamp.
(Being cutting open the root.)
Jay's eyes remained fixed on the head while the skeletons brought their swords down, creating gashes in the large root.
Still, it didn't move. It didn't even blink. Jay wasn't even sure if it could.
He had not stared at it for this long, but its eyes seemed glazed over and its mind absent, as if it had been daydreaming for a millennium.
Seeing no response, Jay safely continued towards the portal. Blue brought Sweeper's upper body back and Jay fed bones to it as they walked. Blue had the humble duty of holding Sweeper's body until its legs regrew.
The thunder of rushing knights continued overhead while the sounds of clashing steel echoed from the passage.
Jay ignored them as he kept track of the crushing white stone, which was creeping back to the tentacle carried along by the root floor.
"I wonder how far it can throw that thing." He thought, hoping he was out of its range, "Perhaps it won't throw it near the edge of the room. The roots here seem too small to retrieve it again."
The tentacle was about 260 feet (80 meters) from the head, and probably not long enough to reach the other side, meaning skeletons could attack the head from the unguarded side - but Jay was not counting on it being the only one that the giant head could summon as defense.
By the time Jay made it to the portal, Sweeper was back to being whole, so he sent it, along with Blue, back towards the head.
This time, their task was simple: run frantically around the head and cause all the tentacles to spring up and reveal themselves. Practically, they were looking for gaps in the defense.
The tentacle had since reclaimed its white cap stone, but had not launched it at them, even while the skeletons chopped away at the portal root. These giant tentacles were only for defense, or perhaps the head cared little for the milk-liquid root.
Jay stood near the portal, seeing his vague reflection in its shimmering surface, though he decided not to go through to the other side - not until it was secure.
(Red, go through and secure the other side. Kill whatever needs to be killed. I'll be there shortly… use your head.)
Jay kept Lamp and Handy chopping away as he waited at the side. Of course, he kept a distance in case the root was under high pressure; he didn't want to die the same way the knight outside the stone doors did.
So far, progress was slow, as the root was much larger, older, and thicker than all the others they had come across.
With Red exploring the other side of the portal, Blue and Handy pestering around the giant head, all Jay could do was wait.
From the passageway, one armor clad figure appeared.
"Huh?" Jay raised a brow, barely spotting it from the other side of the room.
A knight had burst out at the edge of the room, rolling first before getting to his feet.
"One got through? I thought I would have longer. Damn." Jay pursed his lips.
The knight didn't even have a sword with it.
Behind it, a wall of green and gray colors had all been mixed; a mass of Ova and knights.
There were so many knights pushing their way through the passage, it was simply an over-flow. The Ova were being buried in a sea of knights, which was only growing bigger as they all charged into the meat grinder.
Oddly, the knight ignored the Ova behind it and turned, running towards Jay at the very back-right of the room.
"Seems like they have strict kill orders?" Jay guessed; it was already clear that this knight wasn't one of the intelligent ones.
The knight charged, without weapon and without reason. It was going to pass right by the giant tentacle.
"Well, I guess I have a moment to spectate." Jay's lips curled.
The tentacle, sensing something drawing near, swayed slightly from side to side as it prepared for the approaching enemy.
The knight charged into the trap without realizing, into range of the tentacle.
Perhaps the tentacle was simply too still for the knight to notice, or maybe the giant head and its fleshy-root tentacles were off-limits for the knights. They relied on it for the green fluids, after all.
Either way, it didn't matter. The tentacle was already falling.
It was too late.
*BOOM!~*
The tentacle slammed down with full force.
It hit even harder this time, making up for the attacks it had missed previously.
Green blood splattered everywhere - some from the tentacle, some from the floor, and some from the crushed knight.
After a few moments, the tentacle moved back, pulling itself back into its attack position.
Jay, curious as he was, climbed onto the root to see the sorry state of the knight.
"Damn…" he shook his head.
Embedded into the roots, the tentacle had completely flattened its armor, leaving it sitting in a pool of the green fluid.
It had crushed everything to oblivion.
Yet the tentacle was not finished.
"Ah fuck not again." Jay grimaced slightly.
*BOOM!~*
He took no pleasure in seeing the squished guts of the corpse being splattered to pieces even further.
With a sigh, he turned away, checking on Blue and Sweeper.
Each of them had just made it back near the head, and another tentacle root raised up in response.
However, before it could fully form, they were already gone, running out of its range and making their way around the outside of the head.
"Hopefully, I won't have to fight one of those tentacles, though I already see a few easy ways to bring them down." Jay thought.
He didn't want to waste time and effort, but having an attack plan would not do any harm.
Turning back to Lamp and Handy, they had carved a deep gash into the pulsing root, and the plant's flesh turned more damp.
They were close to cutting it open.
"Now… let's see what the head does once we cut off its precious white liquid."