A few hours after the destruction of his house Z finally arrives at the outskirt of the town. The reason it took so long is that while Z lives on the south eastern edge of town the city is west by northwest of there. He had to even go a little long way around since those monsters were still going at it at first but halfway through the trip a loud cry could be heard from all three and then the fighting stopped. Of course Z just moved even quicker and even the rabbits seem to be hiding which helped him move faster.
With the shadow wolf cloak that shrouded his entire body while not limiting his movements helped him stick to the shadows of the trees and buildings he was finally about to leave his cover. Thankfully death bird seems to not have been the victor or at least wasn't flying now. Still Z gripped his dagger under his cloak in case he was ambushed. So with the sac of things strapped in his rib cage cause why not he began moving into the plains that once been the road to the interstate.
Nothing happened but the further away from the town Z went he began feeling a strange sense of something. He could not figure out weather it was a sense of foreboding or lose or maybe even both. Z ignored it though because one thing he was sure of that he had to leave and this feeling did not feel exactly real. Z started to think about how his emotions seem to be out of whack ever since he woke up like this but still all his feelings felt like his plus a lot of the stories told him about places that made you think you should never leave to keep you there. Thus with these in mind he decided to push forward at even a faster pace.
Right as he was getting to were the road begins a bend around a hill and the view of the town would be cut off the strange feeling peaked but Z just completely ignored it and the next step it vanished. This once again more than anything confirmed to Z that magic definitely is a thing he just is unlucky and has none. With that thought and a sigh he resumes to move forward however not even three steps afterwards Z immediately rolled to the side. Where he was standing just a second before explodes right afterwards with a brown and red thing stretching out now.
Once the dirt settled Z could see the shape better just in time for his senses to tell him to move once again and thus he dodged as another thing exploded out from where he was kneeling. Of course Z knew in an instant once he saw the shape since he has dealt with two of these before. The third flower is here.
"Son of a bitch why is it even stronger than the last one. I swear this bullshit is getting old and I am the one being ambushed this time." Z said out loud this time the frustration of everything that has happened lately making him vent outwards but still he was able to access the situation fairly well. "At least I can somewhat feel when it is attacking me maybe cause I ate the other cores. Ah fuck it let's just kill this thing and I won't have to deal with any more of these."
With that Z pulled his dagger from the sheath but still kept it under the cloak. Not even a second after Z was forced to move once again but this time he decided to step away just far enough to not suffer from the ground being blasted under him. Once he saw the vine extended his hand moved at top speed even faster than the vine and sliced it in half. This caused to things to happen at once. The first being that Z was happy that he did not have to worry about not being able to cut the flower. The second was a soul piercing wail coming from the ground. The second of these caused Z to move his ass by sprinting down the hill. No he was not running away he just knew it was coming. And come it did.
With a massive explosion of dirt hundreds if not thousands of vines erupt from the ground but in the middle of it all a colorful array of red and purple could be seen. Ironically the petals were smaller than the last one like this one focused more on its vines than its ability to ingest large amounts of food. Yeah Z was certain things were evolving but he was not. Totally bullshit.
Anyways now the question of the hour how does he get to the flower without ending up like a tentacle porn victim with a gore caption. Well the only thing he could think of was to prune. So Z slowly approaches the vines trying to bait one or two into attacking. And bait the attack he did just with 12 instead of two. Z did manage to cut about four while dodging the problem was the thorns still hit him. Thankfully they were more for gripping things than cutting so they did not cut deep and he managed to dodge them enough to not get stuck. Still these things feel even sharper than his dagger. Z knew this was gonna be rough.
Of course the flower did not take kindly to being cut and sent over 30 vines this next time. Z knew his chances were low but he decided to just dodge and parry this time only striking at the few that he could not avoid any other way. Somehow he managed to keep himself from being caught again but now his body was covered in cuts on his bones his cloak though was fine. Thankfully videos games gave him the answer to this conundrum. The thorns while not looking like it had a armor penetration. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Oh and the number of vines are increasing. Apparently the flower decided to become hydra like. So the pruning plan was just doing one thing and that was pissing it off. Oh wait it was also making it deadlier. So I guess that is two things. Any ways Z decided that since he had to finish the fight quickly he had to do something dumb. With that thought in mind, keeping his arm holding the dagger close to him hiding it to where it will not be restrained, he charged.
Needless to say this plan went just about as to be expected he was quickly entrapped in vines. Though he did manage to last longer than he though getting halfway still he was caught. He was unable to move even a little his limbs restrained to his body even the upper portion of the arm holding the dagger. Though weirdly enough he was not immediately kill him but was pulling it toward its petals. The mouth-like flower growing closer Z prepared himself only to have a surprise.
"Hate.... You..."
Those words came from the flower itself nearly causing Z to forget his plan. Yes Z was still trying to kill this thing. The flower was drawing him closer the petals began to move closer around him. Now was the time though as Z did something no one would think is possible. His arm holding the dagger completely spun around moving in a way that would normally be prevented by muscles and skin that caused it to cut the petal from the stem. This killed it effectively but unlike the other two no screeching wail could be heard only two things.
"Curse....Father"