The roots roped the bird and pulled it towards the flower tree's trunk. Like a noose, the roots strangled the bird until it cracked. The bird's neck broke with little resistance from the victim. Zack watched on in horror as thousands of tiny roots wormed into the bird's dead body.
Zack warily scanned his surroundings for any roots. Surprisingly, the flower tree hadn't tried to nab Zack while he was immobilized. Whatever the reason Zack didn't want to try his luck by staying any longer. Zack extracted himself away from the flower tree and returned back to his base in the Flower Forest.
Zack needed to recover from his injuries before going out for another hunt. The oncoming molt should speed up the recovery process. That night, Zack struggled to fall asleep. Thankfully, his base had no alarm clock that told him to get up.
A week passed since Zack's encounter with the flower tree. Zack checked the back of his exoskeleton, the damaged wings had healed and regrew. However, it was not possible to even move his wings. Zack guessed the lack of control was due to the damaged nerves connecting to his wings. He was no doctor though, so that guess could be completely wrong.
Within that week Zack has molted two times since the encounter with the bird and flower tree. Zack's techniques of his abilities were refined and some were even improved. Especially Flowery Aroma, the sleeping poison from the flower tree was the focus. Although Flowery Aroma was only limited to smells, the poisonous flower still worked with the ability. The effects however were extremely diluted much to Zack's disappointment.
After repeated testing, Zack determined the effects. Short exposure to the poison causes the target to relax and slow their reaction speeds. Repeated and prolonged exposures induce drowsiness, immobilization, and eventually involuntarily loss of consciousness. It took half an hour to cause the immobilization. The loss of consciousness was only a theory after seeing the bird die so pitifully. The amount of poison back near the flower tree must've been immense to cause severe effects within only a few minutes.
Other than the new use of the Flowery Aroma ability, nothing else changed much. Zack focused on refining his timing, battle senses, and awareness. The bird had gotten the jump on Zack despite his usual carefulness. So, to remedy Zack paying extra attention to his surroundings. Paying attention to possible hidden dens, dangerous spots, tracks, leftover pheromones, and more in his environment. Zack now kept constant surveillance whenever he was out hunting. The effects were not immediate, but as he practiced it became easier.
Zack examined his updated status panel while waiting for the prey to take the bait. Zack had returned to the size of his previous evolution, but with more room to grow bigger. Zack estimated himself to be as big as a large rodent. That wasn't even bigger than that abnormal bird, it had been a good fifty millimeters bigger than Zack's current size. After healing from his wing injury he hadn't stopped hunting, and it showed in his Biomass collection. The prey were also more solitary in nature which led to his Prayers taking a dip.
---
Name: Zack Huntt
Species: Devils Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica)
Age: 2 Months, 5 Days old
Lifespan: 3~ Year
Lifecycle: Nymph
Size: 22.8 cm / 228 mm
Prayers Collected: 64 Prayers
Biomass Collected: 52 Biomass
Abilities: Flowery Aroma, Mimic Mundane Flora, Enchanting Luminance
---
Zack's musing ended as the earth tremored with vibrations. A worm broke through the soils and went to grab a dead bug. Two foreclaws grabbed the worm before it could even register that there was a predator nearby. The worm struggled and squirmed trying to escape his grasp, but it was futile. Zack didn't kill the worm though. It was too small and it had better uses.
Zack traversed from the Flower Forest to the Tall Grass Forest. However, these two places were less like forests and were much less intimidating compared to before. Since their names no longer fitted his new perspective Zack opted to call them the Flower Field and Tall Grass Stalks. Back to the Tall Grass Stalks, Zack slowly walked through the grass with familiarity following a specific route. In 10 minutes or so the stalks opened up and Zack saw a stream of water.
The stream came from the Reed Fields and into the regular forest. Zack had been using this spot to hunt for fish. They were bigger and provided a lot more biomass. Of course, there was a danger to it, but as long as he didn't enter the water it was safe. Carrying the worm to the stream, Zack found a more calm spot in the water and threw the worm in. The worm panicked and soon a shadow rose from under the water.
The surface tension of the water broke and small fish surfaced in a mighty fashion. Except all its displays held nothing against Zack's own. In that instant, a bright light blinded and disorientated the fish. Stunned, it could do nothing when a pair of scythes hooked and pulled it out of the water.
It worked. The first few attempts of this method were unsuccessful. But after a successful catch, Zack's timing grew more accurate. Now he could reliably catch a fish almost every time. Zack quickly ate the fish and prayed. Then he noticed something odd. Two straight lines with notches had imprinted into the dirt and silt. In fact, there were multiple of them and they were recent. Zack felt they were oddly familiar, but he couldn't place his mind on why.
They were tire tracks! A truck or some other vehicle had come by recently. Likely today, since Zack had gone hunting the previous day and hadn't seen them. Vehicles meant humans or some semblance of civilization. It was decided, that Zack would find them. If they were kind, maybe they might be open-minded enough to accept a sapient mantis as a companion. Zack scratched that idea off, no one in their right mind would accompany a rodent-sized mantis even if it had previously been a human. And those that didn't mind likely had ulterior motives. Still, Zack followed the tracks, deep down some part of him hoped.
---
Two vehicles and a motorcycle drove through a rarely trailed dirt path. Soon they stopped at the edge of the forest. The trees blocked the path further in, so the group had to set out on foot. A gruff middle-aged man pulled on straps ensuring his equipment wasn't loose. Glen's single usable eye glanced over his firearms before patting them. After confirming he had everything Glen jumped out of the jeep with his squad.
Everyone already knew their tasks, so Glen didn't need to tell them what to do. The only person who looked out of place was a tanned young man without any equipment. Glen immediately fixed that issue as he chucked a spare military vest at the young man.
"Take this," Glen couldn't have their guide dying on them even if the commission seemed peaceful. For all he knew, the commission might be an ambush or the employer might be holding out on some other information.
"T-thanks. I'm Flynn," The guide stiffly replied, introduced himself, and extended his hand.
"Glen. Bring me that box will ya," Glen pointed his chin to one from the group of boxes his comrades were moving. Glen's hands were busy loading his assault rifle, so he didn't bother shaking Flynn's hand. Flynn stiffly pulled back his hand before grabbing the box.
"Great," Glen took the box before Flynn could set it down. Glen opened the lid to reveal multiple neatly laid grenades and flashbangs. Glen looked at his new toys his glee. Flynn on the other hand backed up in fear having never seen such objects other than in movies.
"W-what, why do you have those... things?" Flynn asked, he needed to know. Flynn's commission only stated he needed to bring the mercenary group to the site of the sacred tree, not what happened afterward. In his village, there were stories that those trees that bloomed flowers were the homes of forest spirits. Although not as superstitious as his fellow villagers, Flynn didn't want to offend any forest spirits by destroying their homes.
"To make those 'things' go BOOM!" Glen chuckled at his subpar joke and continued examining the explosives.
Glen even felt these explosives were overkill. At most, some pious villagers would place themselves in front of the tree, but just a single warning shot would be more effective than these explosives. In fact, the employer was the one who had supplied his mercenary band with these explosives and there were even more. Most of them were left in the trucks, but they still brought a few sticks of dynamite on the motorcycle. The motorcycle could slip between the trees in the forest, so it was very suitable for transportation. The dynamite should speed up the collection process since the employer wanted the whole tree, from the roots to the leaves and flowers. Thankfully they didn't need to use only axes to do the job. If that was the case a lot of Glen's men might've gotten right up and quit. It was understandable, the Glen's mercenaries were exactly that, mercenaries not lumberjacks.
Glen checked his watch before he gave his crew the signal to set off into the forest. Glen took to the front and dragged Flynn with him. Flynn's eyes were full of hesitancy, but he didn't want to give up the generous commission. In the end, Flynn decided he would lead the mercenary band to the sacred flower tree. The pay was just too great to give up.
"After all, it's only a tree," Flynn mumbled under his breath to comfort himself.